Ironman Lake Placid 2010: help cure ALS by donating to MDA

Hey all. The end of months and months training paid off and I can now call myself an Ironman! I had one of the best days of my life on July 25th- the race was awesome and my support crew was everywhere and unbelievable. Here is the recap of the days before and after the race along with my official race report...put the reading glasses on, this is a long one.

PRE-RACE
WEDNESDAY
We (my wife and three kids) left for Lake Placid on Wednesday around 10 in the morning and meandered our way through New York, stopping in Watertown for lunch (Panera), and arriving at our motel at about 4pm. We stayed at the Edelweiss Motel and, besides the very vintage decor, was perfect for our needs- it is within walking distance of the transition/start/finish areas and had a (solar) heated pool that the kids loved. The lady who runs the place is a nice, old German lady who seemed to like our kids (what's up with that?). We unpacked and started to get hungry so we hopped into the car to look for restaurants and ended up eating at "Mr. Mike's"; we ordered some pizza (Cate says it is her absolute favorite pizza ever) and pasta- service was a bit slow but we left with full bellies. The kids swam in the pool and then we hit the sack.

THURSDAY
On Thursday went for a 40 minute jog, really slow and easy, and felt pretty good. I found it hard to follow my taper plan during this last week- everything was in zone 1 (the slow zone) and it was hard to be in good shape and not pound the pavement. After the run I took the kids for a walk into town and picked up my packet. This was more involved than I thought it would be; there is a USAT check-in table, an ID check, a medical/personal history form to check, weigh in (151 pounds), poster pick-up, and time chip test. After all of that was done the kids wanted to check out the free swag at the expo. They found free face painting, balloon animals, Ironman Perform (drink), PowerBar Chews, snowcones, sweatbands, and race belts (for race numbers). If that wasn't enough, they also made some sign to cheer me on- one set of signs was put out on River Road (purgatory!) and the other set they kept to hold themselves during the race. We met up with Jen, after she finished with the bookstore in town (for the first time), and headed to Subway for lunch- yum. Next, we took the car to the ski jumps and took the chairlift and elevator to the top of the 90 meter jump; you can't believe how high and steep the takeoff is until you are staring down it. It is amazing that anyone ever thought to build such a thing and even more amazing that people willing launch themselves off of it. At the bottom of hill, we watched kids doing freestyle jumping on regular alpine skis into an in-ground swimming pool. It was a nice day and we enjoyed watching the Olympic hopefuls. As if the days wasn't full enough, we grabbed our suits at the motel and walked to Mirror Lake, where the Ironman swim takes place, for the kids to swim and splash around. For dinner, Jen and I had Chinese food (pretty good) and the kids were treated to chicken sandwiches from McDonald's.

FRIDAY
On Friday morning I woke up at 4:45 and got my swimsuit on, along with jeans and a jacket (it was only 52), grabbed my wetsuit and goggles and headed for Mirror Lake. I took my time getting there and enjoyed a beautiful morning for a walk. When I got to the lake there was no one swimming so I hung out for a bit until some other brave (foolish?) souls showed up. The three guys already had their wetsuits on so I hurriedly got mine on and jumped into the water. One of the guys (Jack) and I swam at the same easy pace and did one loop of the course- 1.2 miles; it was one of the prettiest swims of my life and I felt fast and slippery to boot. I mostly used trees and mountains to sight on during the swim but used the cable (there is a cable in the lake) for a while just in case I found it during the race. After the swim we shook hands, wished each other good luck and I headed back to the hotel to go for a quick and easy spin on my bike. I rode to the three last climbs on the bike loop and rode up each very easily and then through town and out past the ski jumps, where the run course also goes. I left the bike course and followed River Road to the run turnaround (which was much farther than I imagined- but at least I knew where it was and could prepare for it mentally now). After the 22 mile ride, I showered and we all walked into town to check out the shops; there are lots of nice shops and the crowds were down a little because of some intermittent showers. I bought a half gallon of milk for breakfast and drank most of it. We had some chicken burritos for lunch and then went back to the race expo for more snowcones, etc... Friday night was the athlete dinner and mandatory meeting (so I decided to go). The food there was OK but I didn't get enough. The pre-meeting talks were outstanding- we heard about the youngest and oldest competitors, who lost the most weight, and who the "Everyday Heroes" were. All of these talks were super inspirational and I wish that more of my crew could have listened in. The meeting part was boring and a little scary, hearing about all of the penalties and infractions that could occur during the race. Leaving the horse grounds, where the dinner meeting was held, took about 30 minutes so I sat in the van and ate trail mix for a while to make sure I was full before going to bed.

SATURDAY
Saturday! One day to go! Who's starting to freak out!?! Actually, I held my cool pretty well for this whole ordeal. On my easy 35 minute run on this morning, it was a little surreal to think about what was going to go down on the following morning, though. We all walked back to the race expo area (which is in the transition/finish area and also where the Olympic speed skating took place in 1980- Eric Heiden won 5 gold medals or something) and had a free pancake breakfast; the local churches put this on and I had a bunch of plain pancakes. After some more expo time (and free stuff for the kids) we finally met up with my parents, sister, and sister's friend, Jodi. It was great to see everyone (all the way from Colorado)! They headed into town for lunch and, while having peanut butter sandwiches for lunch in the motel room, Uncle Jim and Bill arrived. We walked into town and got the crew together to do a pre-race explanation of where the race went and where a good place to be for the various events was. We ended up down at the beach again and also met up with Mark and Kathy Seastead (friends from college), their twins, and a couple they know from Colorado (the guy did the race too). We chatted and most of our people went back to Elizabethtown. As I was pushing Cate on the swings though, I saw Jerri, Paolo, Josh, Ben and Emily wandering around at the beach- great timing! I gave them a quick rundown of the course and Cate and I headed to the motel for my last meal- half a pound of pasta with some EVOO (extra virgin olive oil for those of you who don't watch the Food Network) and spices. While leaving the transition area for the last time, I walked past Michael Phelps! Super cool. Between my excitement and constantly full bladder, I didn't sleep very well on Saturday night. On Sunday I awoke before 445 without my alarm but was ready to go...

RACE DAY!!!
I took a quick shower (just because I felt like it), put my race clothes and chip on, made my bottles for the morning and start of the bike, grabbed my race morning backpack and headed out. Again, I had a nice walk into town (arriving at about 5:30) and the streets were filling quickly with athletes and fans. First I headed to the bike rack area; I put the bottles in the cages (one Gatorade, one bottle of Ensure Max (vanilla), and left one cage open), pumped up my tires, cleared my computer, spun the wheels... done with the bike and off to body marking. Sometimes getting marked takes a long time but I only had to wait for one person ahead of me and then got my numbers- 98 was my race number and 38 when on my right calf to let everyone know how old I am. Next I headed past the beach to drop off my two "special needs" bags- one for halfway through the bike and the other for halfway through the run. Finally it was time to head to the beach and stand in line for a porta-potty (what else do you do at the the beach?). By this time, the first of my fans started to arrive: Mom, Dad, Katie, and Jodi. I have never had such support while waiting for, and coming out of, a potty- this had all the makings of a truly great day! I then decided to be smart and sat down under a tree for a while, and more people showed up: Jen, Will, Gracie, and Cate. Then the rest of my fans came: Steve, Shelly, Jim, Jerri, Paolo, Josh, Ben, Emily, and even Jake (at 6 in the morning it was actually really late at night for him)! At about 6:30 I started to get my wetsuit on and gave lots of hugs before heading into the water to warm up a little. I think I only did about 30 strokes before finding a rock to stand on, I figured that the race was plenty long enough to warm me up sufficiently.

THE SWIM
I remember looking at the clock on the dock and saying "Holy crap, there are only 15 seconds to go!" I gulped and awaited the canon. Boom! Off it went, right on time, and I began to swim...hey not so bad. I started about halfway down the starting line and about 10 people back. During the start I fully expected to become "almost fully drowned" but that didn't happen- at the start. I found some open-ish water here and there and tried to settle into my pace and keep an efficient stroke. This all went away about 10 minutes in, when I started to run into serious space issues. I thought this might be a good time to try to find the cable in the water, so I wouldn't have to keep sighting, so I headed left. I actually found the cable and was about two people away for a while but the congestion kept getting worse so I headed back to the right and away from the cable. Around this time I got kicked in the face and felt a sharp pain in my left brow; this happed 4 more times in exactly the same spot and I was waiting for my goggle to fill with blood but it never did- yay. Also around this time, I found my nemesis: a true giant of a guy with feet as wide as dinner plates, shoulders like old growth trees, and fists like 30-pound sledgehammers. This freaking guy was impossible to get around: I would head to the right for a while- he was there. I would head to the left- he was there. Swimming behind him was like swimming behind one of those old Mississippi riverboats with the big paddle wheels on the back (except with sledgehammers attached). It wasn't until I was heading to shore on my second lap that I finally lost him (except that Steve got a great shot of him running out of the water behind me- thanks Steve!). After the race I found out that it "poured" during the swim but it was so rough in the water, I wasn't sure if I was feeling rain or my fellow swimmers- that is how crazy the swim was. I finally got out of the water and looked at the clock to find a time that was faster than I thought I would swim, under an hour and ten minutes! I got my arms out of my suit and then sat down for a "wetsuit ripper" to yank the suit from my legs; she was good and got it off in one pull. I grabbed the suit and ran up the street to the transition area to start the next leg of my journey.
2.4 mile swim is done! 130th of 355 in my age group. 789th overall. 1:09:50

T1
I ran into the transition area and found the row of racks with my bike bag hanging on its hook. I grabbed it and ran into the change tent (everyone has to go through the change tent). It was dark and chaotic. I hustled over to the first open spot that I found and it happened to be near a corner so some natural light was coming in and that helped me change a little quicker. Here's what I did: I threw my wetsuit on the ground and dumped the bag next to it; I buckled on my helmet, clicked on my race belt, bit down on the arms of my sunglasses, slipped into my socks and bike shoes; finally I jammed my wetsuit, cap and goggles into the bag. I consciously decided to skip putting on my arm warmers because it was in the mid-60s and I didn't want to overheat- this turned out to be a good decision because I was very comfortable throughout the ride. Just as I was ready to run off I realized that I didn't have my bag of salt pills- crap! I dumped the wetsuit out of the bag again and a volunteer helped me find the salt pills then told me to go and packed my wetsuit back into the bag for me- thank you volunteer! I ran out of the change tent and started yelling my race number, "98! 98!" A volunteer heard me and yelled my number into his megaphone and by the time I got to the row that my bike was racked in, it was waiting for me. I took my bike, ran out of the transition zone, past over the "mount line" and found an open spot to hop on and ride off.
6:22

THE BIKE
Once on the bike I was determined to ride easy for the first 40 miles. This took some restraint because my legs felt great and people were cheering (including my support squad- thanks again, everyone). I settled in for about 10 minutes and then started to take in some liquids and two salt pills. Rode past Carl! Throughout the race I kept up with taking two salt tablets (I use S-caps) every two hours and didn't have a cramp all day. I took my first gel at 20 minutes in, followed by three gulps of Ensure at 40 minutes, and then about a third of a PowerBar at the hour, along with more salt pills. I tried to keep on this nutrition regimen but I also added a few banana halves along the way. I talked with some nice people along the way but rode mostly by myself. Early on during the bike, I talked with a lady who complained about the same guy in the sleeveless wetsuit that was thrashing around during the swim, so it was good to know I wasn't alone in my annoyance with him. The downhills were pretty crazy and I'm not a huge fan of speed; I kept my speed at less than 40 mph because it was a little rainy and gusty. I managed to keep myself under control and not doing any hammering for the first few hours but started to feel a little bloated. About 40 miles in I had to relieve my bladder and flew into an aid station where I had a volunteer hold my bike for me while I used the porta-potty. Between the potty break and sitting up to climb the hills my bloating went away...for a while. I stopped for my special needs bag and refilled my Ensure bottle. I started to ride a little harder but eventually my bloating came back and held me from riding as hard as I wanted to and by the time I got off the bike, I was feeling uncomfortable. During the last few aid stations I took only water which I drank some gulps of and poured the rest down my back. Also, I skipped the PowerBar at the 4th and 5th hour. I got off the bike feeling BLOATED.
112 miles on the bike is done! 135th of 355 in my age group. 681st overall. 6:01:50 18.6mph average

T2
I rode into the bike in area, dismounted before the line, stepped off my bike (leaving my shoes clipped into the peddles), and handed it off to a volunteer who racked it for me. I ran back down the same gear aisle and picked up my run bag, hit another porta-potty, and stepped back into the same dark and smelly change tent. This time I took off my cycling shorts (leaving my tri-shorts on), found a chair and had a seat so that I could slip on my calf compression guards, shoes, and visor. I jammed my helmet and cycling shoes into the run bag and gave it to a volunteer and I ran out to start the marathon.
4:10

THE RUN
Did I mention that I was feeling bloated? I really think this worked to my advantage and here's why: I ran slowly for the first six miles. This was my plan all along- to run easy to the first turnaround. Running slow is really hard to do at the start though because it is almost completely downhill for the first mile and there are TONS of people screaming at you...plus your quads aren't screaming at you yet. With a fully belly of gas though, running slow is easy; all I had to do was concentrate on burping out the gas that was still up high and using other means of getting rid of the lower gas (to my fellow competitors: I'm really sorry about all the noise!). I stopped at yet another porta-potty to try to get rid of some gas (which wasn't very successful) and this was the closest I came to passing out; I got a bit unsteady and leaned against the wall for a few seconds but then I pulled myself together. Anyway, by the time I got to the first turn around I was starting to feel pretty good. I kept my cadence high by singing "Stayin' Alive", by the Bee Gees, along with my left foot strikes. When I teach CPR to my EMT students sometimes they do chest compressions too quickly or slowly; having them sing Stayin' Alive allows them to keep their rhythm around 100 compressions per minute. Therefore, using the song during the run (and bike too) kept my cadence high, which keeps my form closer to ideal, and allows me to use less energy. Thoughts on River Road: it is a mix between purgatory and a death march; I know that it is a pretty road but without anyone cheering, it was a tough haul. I should say that there are aid stations about every mile on the run and walked through every station except for the last two. I'm super happy that I ran the marathon- even the steep uphills. I felt great, especially when I was in town and my personal cheering section yelled at me. I also saw Shawn, Larry, Marilyn, and Terry that I swim with and they yelled their heads off at me too. On my second loop I saw Adem and Brittany who drove all the way to Lake Placid from Plattsburg to cheer me on and give me a sweet shirt- thanks! Again, I met a few nice people that I ran with but didn't hang with anyone too long. I just couldn't believe how good I felt. I took an Ensure out of my special needs bag and drank most of that. I also had 3 or 4 gels along the way and drank Coke, Perform, and water at every station- I think the two things that kept me running were the walking and liberal nutrition. I kept cool by keeping sponges on my shoulders and one under the rear of my visor. I had to stop and stretch my calf about five times along the run and My quads did start to burn a little around mile 20. About a tenth of a mile before the end I saw Michael Phelps on the side of the road cheering people on. I ran up near to him and held my hand out and he gave me a high five- sweet! I ran into the oval and felt like I hadn't run a step. About 100 yard before the finish line I heard extra loud cheering and looked to see the majority of my cheering section yelling their heads off for me (I really wish I would have run over and given hugs and high fives) so I waved and kept running and heard the magic words, "Brian McDowell....you are an Ironman!" Yea! When I crossed the line I got my finisher hat, medal, and t-shirt then got my picture taken at the finishers' wall and got a piece of pizza and a Coke. My parents found me and we celebrated a bit before I grabbed my gear and bike and met up with everyone out on the sidewalk. I didn't realize that Aunt Ginny and David had made it for the finish but there they were. What a great day, truly one of the best of my life.
26.2 mile run done. 110th of 355 in my age group. 655th overall. 4:11:25 9:36 per mile pace
140.6 miles for the day. 11:33:29 109th of 355 in my age group and 565th overall out of 2611 people.

POST RACE
We all hugged and I recapped some of the highlights for the day (bloating!) and I walked back to our motel for more pizza (thanks Katie!) and some stretching and eventually sleep. I woke up at 6:30 on Monday and felt pretty good. I showered and walked back to the beach area to get my special needs bags then back to the motel. We packed up the van and drove to meet up with everyone else in Elizabethtown at the biggest house I have ever stayed in (think: "The Shining") for two very relaxing days. Aunt Ginny cooked the heck out of Monday night's dinner and it was a great night. My legs felt tight and going down stairs was harder than going up because of my quads but all-in-all, I felt great.

A nod to Katie and Steve who flew home and found it less than efficient- Katie took a day and a half to get to Colorado and Steve took almost a day to get to California. A super huge thanks to all of my family and friends who cheered me on during the race and/or encouraged me to keep training over the last year. But the biggest thanks goes to Jen and my kids for putting up with me either not being home all the time or falling asleep at 8:30. Thank you so much!!!!!!!

I had trouble embedding pictures so that is why there are all of the links. There are a few more pictures here, in case you are interested.