I hate this Blog - Lake Placid Race Recap

Well, my blogging is falling apart due to work and lack of training activity. At least that is my excuse. I used to have lots of time to keep all my readers, about 4 of them, intrigued and inspired by my training activities and the funny things that accompany it. Recently, I've got nothing funny to say and only a few workouts since Lake Placid. I'll get to my race recap in a bit but first I would like to point out that I've had the following insults hurled my way by some very hurtful people. They even lacked the courage to post them on my blog and only emailed them to me.

"How about focusing on priorities? It's great you have a job and all, but I'd really like to read a race report on MRC(am)'s blog sometime before you do your next race..." - Signed: Some Jerk

"I have checked that blog for the past 3 day's. I given up. " - Signed: Bitter Man

"I too have given up checking for updates. I used to enjoy the light hearted comments.....now nothing, just plain old boring." - Signed: I won't give compliments on your blog only insults

“Give him a break. He just finished is A race, and his recovery plan requires him to consume as many cases of beer and as many dozens of donuts he can this week, before he can blog….” - Signed: Mr. A$$ Hole

So to all those haters...well...wait for it...

You are right. This has become boring and not updated enough. I'll give it a few more weeks and if it doesn't come around, I'll shut it down.

Lake Placid Race Report:
OK, so I was staying about a 20-minute walk from the race start. Up at 4:00 am for 2 cups of coffee and a breakfast of yogurt and oatmeal. Nice start, feeling good.

Walking in a light drizzle, jamming to my iPod, heading over the race start. I really enjoyed this moment to chill, relax, and get my race face on. I went to check my bike, add water bottles, and drop special needs bags.

I get to the swim start about and hour before the race started. I applied a ton of Body Glide and then as I sat idle, I applied a bunch more. Keep that in mind, I applied a TON of Body Glide specifically to my neck. I sat in the rain for a while and made small talk with a few other racers but decided I didn’t like them so I headed into the water for a warm-up swim.

I made my way over the mat and into the water. Obviously I pee to warm everything up and swim around so as to not soak in my own urine. I placed myself at the back, standing on the shore. As I had planned, I would let all the rest of the idiots fight it out at the start and I would give up 2 minutes just to not get beaten up. This plan lasted about 10 seconds when I looked around and see that about 75% of the people there had the same plan. As the gun sounds, I swim right into the middle of the carnage. It was rough going for the first 800 or so. There were many slaps to my head, kicks to the ribs and arms over my legs. There should be a special place in hell for those that “frog kick” or stop to look around. I got wrapped up into my own thing and went into a Zen like trance. Actually, it was more of a panic and prayer cycle but it didn't last long. The first turn was stupid crowded and physical. I muscled an inside line and by the turn back of the first loop, I was sitting in clear space right over the underwater cable on the course. I came out of lap one, quick check of the watch 36:00) and back in. The whole second lap was mostly contact free, behind some big feet, and right over the cable. I occasionally popped around a slower swimmer but did very little work. Out of the water in 1:12 and happy as a clam. Despite the absorbent amount of Body Glide, it looks like I got 50 lashes with a whip across my neck. The scab is still hurting today. I thought I was going to cry when I put on a tie 4 days later.

I hustled the ½ mile into transition and got into the bike kit. As I mounted the bike, I had some cleat troubles. The SpeedPlay cleats can get a little mud in them. At this time, I decided that I was done with SpeedPlay and will now switch back to Look cleats and pedals. I goofed with that a bit and then off I went. The bike course is 2 loops. Fast first 36 miles (down hill) averaging about 20 mph then a slow 20 miles (up hill) averaging about 15 mph. The second lap was about the same. Nothing really interesting. I saw a wicked wreck, lots of blood, people dropping water bottles like Snoop Dogg drops rhymes, and lots of compression socks. I hit 51 mph and then quit looking. I also noticed that some riders are oblivious to the rule about riding on the right and do not know what “on your left” means. They tended to respond more to “on your f**king left you idiot”. The bike pace was right where I wanted to be.

Funny enough, just after the bike special needs bag, I saw this dude pull a McDonalds cheeseburger from his jersey pocket. I’m not even kidding about this. So, there was no McDonalds on course…do you think he had this in special needs or carried it in his jersey pocket all day. I don’t know. The wind picked up a bit on the second lap and I slowed a bit but came off the bike in just over 6 hours. I wanted to be out on the run by 7:30 and just see what my run could do. I was a few minutes late starting the run. I think it was officially like 7:36 but it was close enough. 6 minutes wasn’t going to bother me too much. I’ve had a ton of run miles this year and I was banking on that to carry me to a good result.

The run started well. I was cruising out of Lake Placid at a good pace and just really enjoying the run. It is a 2 loop out and back course. As the run came back in to Lake Placid, it has 3 steep climbs. Nothing more than about a hundred yards each and they hurt a little. I hit the first lap at 1:55. Good news! I was on pace for a sub 4:00. I was running conservatively and maybe I could even negative split it. I hit the GU every 45 minutes and checked my watch regularly…somewhere I lost count I think. At mile 17, the wheels came off the cart and I pulled into a food station and came to a sudden stop. I was done. I managed a soda/water/ice mix and started to shuffle along. As I came to each food station at each mile it was a walk/drink mix/ start to run again. This is how the next 5 miles went. It was a slug fest between me and the road. The last 3 hills back in to town were a combination of determination and complex division. I was trying to calculate my pace so I could still go sub-12. I resigned my negative split, I promised my legs I would never ask anything more, I swore I would never run again and I lastly I promised myself I would never put myself through this again. As I came down the final straight into the finish oval, someone sprinted past me. I don’t like that guy. I finished satisfied with my 11:51, sat down, had some water and took a moment of reflection.

About 15 minutes later, I gathered my race stuff and walked the 20 minutes back to my hotel to plan my race celebration. I popped a cold beer and warmed the shower. After a refreshing shower, I walked back to the finish area. I grabbed a drink with one of the guys I met at the Giro on May and almost fell asleep at the table. I then decided that I wouldn’t stay awake until the last finisher at midnight and walked home.

By Monday, I was thinking about my next race and how to overcome my running shortcoming. I’ll break every promise I made to myself late in the race before the end of the year. You know it and I know it.

Stats
2.4 mile swim (1:12)
112 mile bike (6:06)
26.2 mile run (4:15)
Throw in a couple transitions and you get 11:51….

LEG DISTANCE PACE RANK
SWIM SPLIT 1:1.2 mi 1.2 mi (36:45) 1:56/100m
SWIM SPLIT 2:2.4 mi 1.2 mi (35:58) 1:53/100m
TOTAL SWIM:2.4 mi 2.4 mi (1:12:43) 1:54/100m 974

BIKE SPLIT 1:36 mi. 36 mi. (1:44:02) 20.76 mph
BIKE SPLIT 2:56 mi. 20 mi. (1:13:07) 16.41 mph
BIKE SPLIT 3:92 mi. 36 mi. (1:50:16) 19.59 mph
BIKE SPLIT 4:112 mi. 20 mi. (1:19:21) 15.12 mph
TOTAL BIKE 112 mi. (6:06:46) 18.32 mph 660

RUN SPLIT 1: 13.1 13.1 mi. (1:55:47) 8:50/mile
RUN SPLIT 2: 26.2 mi 13.1 mi. (2:20:03) 10:41/mile
TOTAL RUN 26.2 mi. (4:15:50) 9:45/mile 501