2009 IronMan Lake Placid - race report by Klaus Fritzsche

Aug 12, 2009

My day started at 4:15 AM. This was a new first - most triathlons have you getting up pretty early due to the nature of the race - but this was REALLY early! Rosanne and I were in our VW camper parked beside a house on Placid Heights Lane, a short fifteen minute walk from the swim start on Mirror Lake. In the house were 14 more FMCT Club members including Gavin, Brent, Terri, and Bill who were also up early to get ready to race. Most of our gear was already at the race site in the transition area as it had to be in place the day before. I have to say the whole process is very well organized. In our race kits were a number of plastic bags and a sheet of labels with our name and race number. In each bag goes the stuff we need at each transition. For example, in the swim-to-ride bag I had my riding shorts and shirt, bike shoes, socks and helmet. In the bike-to-run bag were my running shoes, dry socks, running shorts (so you don't have to run in bike shorts) etc. All this is done the day before and placed, along with our bikes, in the assigned-by-number spot in the transition area (The infield of the Olympic Speed-skating Oval). So that morning all we needed to bring was one bag with our swim gear (wet suit, goggles, special numbered swim cap etc. Plus another bag called the 'dry clothes bag' which included stuff to change into after the race. Finally, we had to bring whatever fluids and nutrition we needed for the day that we did not want to leave outside overnight. I have to admit my mind was not working very well that morning and I kept asking Bill about this and that - I was sure I was missing something. I'm glad Rosanne was there to prepare my race-day oatmeal for me - otherwise I don't think I would have eaten. At 5:00 am five of us left the house and started our walk to the starting area. I remember looking up and seeing that the stars were out. It was still dark.

I remember asking Bill why we had to get there so early - after all the race didn't start until 7:00 am. He assured me knowingly that the 2 hours goes by very easily - It turns out he was right - again. Along the route to the start we picked up other competitors that were leaving their accommodations and heading over. By the time we got to Mirror Lake Drive we were part of a pretty large group. There is a section of Mirror Lake Drive that is included in the Bike course and the Run course. There was a special area set up where we could leave a "special Needs Bag". This was another numbered bag with stuff in it that you could access while passing on the bike and again (a different bag) while passing on the run. I dropped off my bag with a second bottle of "Infinit" (a concentrated energy/nutrition formula) that I would pick up for my second bike loop. We met Laura at that point and headed on to Body Marking. It was starting to get light by now and we were in a sea of people.

I had a nice young volunteer ask me age and race number. She wrote 54 on my right calf and 1764 across my left shoulder and left quad. It's always a deep comfort to know that emergency medical teams can identify me even if I can't speak and my race bib has been ripped off. Yes sir!

On to the transition area where we had access to our 'bike' and 'run' bags and to our bicycles. I quickly unwrapped the plastic bags that I had taped over the seat and handlebars, added my first bottle of Infinit and filled up my one water bottle. Everything looked good. A quick check of the tires and -- "Shit!" the front tire was completely flat! Up to that point I was pretty calm but this gave my heart rate a jump! I needed a tire pump and right now! I didn't have one but I knew Terri had hers. But where was she in this sea of some 2500 bikes? I scanned around and found Brent - thank goodness for those FMCT colours! He had seen Terri a few rows over. I found her pumping up her own tires. She had let some air out the night before with the intention of re-inflating them this morning. By the time she was done I had made up my mind to simply change the tube rather than just pump it up and hope it was OK. By this time it was after 6 - I could here the race announcer telling us that we had to clear the transition area by 6:30 and get moving toward the swim start. With Bill's help I got the old tube out and inserted my spare. It pumped up Ok and felt fine.

As we headed toward the swim start it began to drizzle. There had been talk of serious thunderstorms for this morning but so far - just rain. We stood under a tree near the lake and started putting on our wet suits. At that point the skies opened up and soaked everybody and then, almost immediately, stopped again. By this time we had made our way over the timing mats and were standing in the shallow water on the edge of the lake. While putting my arms into my wetsuit I realized I had another problem. A small tear in the suit under my right armpit was growing. I tried to be as careful as possible but by the time I had wriggled in completely the seam had opened up from my armpit to my wrist! It was now only 5 minutes to the start for the Elite Athletes and the announcer was encouraging all of us to move into the water to make room for more athletes who were by now streaming across the timing mats and filling up the beach. I had no choice and no options. I moved into the lake with the rest of my team and we made our way to the far right - well away from the 'line'.

At 6:50 the Elite triathletes took off in a flurry of churning water. All I could see was a maze of wind milling arms through a curtain of foam. It looked like the wake of a power boat under full throttle! At 7:00 am the gun sounded and we were underway. I had planned to hang back at the start to try to avoid the crush of all these swimmers but as it turned out I was pretty much at the front when the gun went off. As crazy as these swim starts look, it wasn't as bad as I had expected. Yes, there were lots of bodies swimming around me but I did not get kicked and I never felt panicky. I sighted for the last buoy I could see and angled in toward the 'line'. I had also been told that, because the 'line' is the best place to swim, it would be pretty much plugged with other swimmers but, to my surprise, I picked it up about 500 meters along and held it for the entire swim. ( The 'line' is a continuous wire that runs five feet beneath the surface of the water and is used to tie the large marking buoys too. It is clearly visible and provides a swimmer with a sense of of movement and position.) Near the 1000 meter mark my wetsuit started to feel really awkward. It felt like it was filling up with water - that I had a huge bubble on my back. I tried several times to feel around to my back - while still swimming - to see if it had come undone or something. Then I realized that it was the huge rip in my sleeve that was letting a lot of water in. I had it checked when I came out of the water before starting my second loop but there was nothing wrong in the back - just the hole in the sleeve. My first loop took about 50 minutes, the second almost 1 hour. This was pretty frustrating as I had done one loop of the course in 45 minutes just two days earlier. Total swim time: 1:51:35

T1 - I was kind of groggy coming out of the water and somewhat disoriented as I was helped out of my wet suit (stripped!). I was also quite chilled. I was sitting in the change tent shivering as I struggled to get my socks over my wet feet. As I left the tent a volunteer handed me my bike - one of only a few left in the transition area. T1 time: 12:12. Position after T1: 2227 out of 2259

One of the advantages of being way behind in a race is that there are lots of people in front of you to overtake and very few behind trying to overtake you. My day improved steadily as my legs warmed up. It was partially sunny by now but not hot with only a slight breeze. I began to feel better and better as I started reeling in and passing slower riders. Before long I was cruising along in a nice rhythm - every ten minutes I would take in some of my energy bar, some Infinit, a shot of Gatorade and water. I caught up with Terri at the start of the Hazelton Road 10k out-and-back and saw the rest of my team-mates coming back the other way as I went 'out'. I saw numerous riders fixing flats at the side of the roads and I passed one girl with some pretty fresh scrapes on her legs and shoulders. She was still riding well though. It was clearly turning out to be a tough day for some competitors! The real piece of excitement came on the second loop however. I was on the long downhill stretch into Keene. On the first loop at this point I had hit a top speed of 71 km/h - a new record! This time I was going even faster. There seemed to be less wind in my face as I sunk down over the aero bars. The road was a blur. Stealing quick looks at my speedometer I saw 72, 74, 75, 75.9 km/h! Suddenly up ahead I saw someone standing in the road waving me over to the left - to the center of the road. There were cars coming the other way and now I could see an EMS vehicle partially blocking my lane. There was barely 3 feet of open roadway to shoot through. As I blew through this gap I caught a brief glimpse of the accident scene. Another cyclist was being lowered onto a stretcher. I could only imagine the severity of this situation as this was the fastest section of the course. I learned later that there were actually two riders involved and both were recovering, thank goodness. The rest of the bike course was completed without incident. The only other highlight for me was catching Gavin at the start of the cherries - about 5 km from the end of the bike course - erasing a 24 minute lead he had over me from the swim. Total Bike Time: 6:47:46

T2 - I came into transition feeling pretty good considering. My feet were sore and my legs were pretty stiff but other than that.... I changed as quickly as I could and headed out for the start of the marathon. T2 time: 7:26

I have to say that this run was the most difficult I had ever done. My legs did not hurt, at least not after the initial stiffness dissipated but it took a huge amount of will to keep myself running. I stopped to use a porta-potty after the first 4 km and after that tried to run from one water station to the next (about 1 mile) without stopping. Then I would walk by the water station sampling something different each time, cookies, grapes, bananas, water, Gatorade, chicken broth (my favorite). Then I would try to run to the next one and try to eat or drink something else. Unfortunately, these walk breaks started to get longer and longer and then when I started running, I was not always able to keep running to the next aid station. At about 8:00 pm the huge portable lights were turned on to illuminate sections of the run course. So much for my first goal - to be done before the lights came on. I still had about 16 km to go. At one point I could see the moon, a lovely orange half-crescent rising over the Olympic ski jumps. It was a stark reminder of how long ago our day had started. We had been out here for over 13 hours now and the strain was really starting to show. There were a fair number of us still going but most were walking - some briskly, others - not so much. Occasionally someone would jog by, imparting some inspiration to the rest of us walkers, but even they would be walking again just up ahead. With about 6 km to go I fell in with another fellow (Mike) who was pretty much in the same condition as I was. We had been leap-frogging past each for the last few kms so we finally started to talk. We had both seen our 13 hour goals slip away and we agreed that if we didn't pick it up we would definitely see 15 hours come and go. We decided then and there to work together to come in under 15 hours. We started setting short targets - "OK from the next light post we'll run from there to that sign up ahead - OK lets go!". And we would. Then he would set the next target. We tried to challenge each other a little but still make each goal achievable. After each mile marker we would recalculate to see if we could still make it or did we need to pick it up some more. We passed the final mile sign with 12 minutes to go. This one would have to be done with more running than walking. A few more run-walk segments and the finish area was finally in sight. With 500 meters to go we said "let's do it!" and started our final run. There was a slight down hill, a sharp right, a sharp left and then I was on the Olympic Oval with 200 meters to go. It was an amazing feeling. All the fatigue seemed to melt away as I ran all alone through the dark toward the lighted finishing arch. I sensed but did not see the crowd in the stands. I heard a huge roar as I crossed the finishing mat. If Mike Reilly told me I was an Ironman, I didn't hear him. But that didn't diminish the moment - I was an Ironman! Final time: 14:59:18

PS I shook Mike's hand as he crossed the line - he also made it under 15 hours!

I can't say often enough how huge it was to have such support during the lead-up to this event and on race day. Just to know that your friends and family are just up ahead and to hear your name being yelled as you go by - it is such a huge lift. Thank-you, Thank-you, Thank-you! And again, to all of you that were able to follow my progress on line - I hear there was a live video feed on some web sites and some of you actually saw the finish - thank you all - I hope you enjoyed it!

Klaus