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Nathan Smith
Well, I'm back...and actually went for a swim this morning. My legs and
feet aren't 100% but they should be for the 24 hours of great glen in
about 10 days (Heh...why the heck did I do that to myself?)
At any rate, here's a much anticipated race report from a couple of days
leading up to the race, to post-race.
So I got up to LP a couple of days before to race just to kinda hang out
and chill with some friends. It's amazing how the town changes for this
event. One of the bike stores stayed open 24 hours during "Iron Week" in
anticipation of all the cyclists that were coming into town. The bike
shops were prepared for the increase in business...but some of the food
places just haven't figured it out. I went to a few restaurants that had
to close b/c they actually ran out of food. I mean...come on. If that
many people are coming, you'd kinda anticipate it. My friends and I were
joking that people in LP were afraid of leftovers! They even ran out of
food at the awards banquet....
Anyways, the few days leading up to the race, I was kinda getting a
little nervous b/c I had a really nasty shin split. I thought I had
actually torn a muscle near my calf, but one of my friends assessed that
it was infact just a shin splint. Fortunately, there was a place to get
free ART (Active Release Therapy), so I managed to get two or three
treatments of ART prior to the race which really helped to work out the
huge honkin' knot that I had right next to my shin.
Come race day, I hadn't run in about 1.5 weeks due to my shin split so I
was obviously worried about that whole marathon thing, but until that
came, I had to travel 114.2 miles first...
After figuring out what I need to pack in all of my transition bags and
where to put all the freakin' stickers that they give you to mark all
your stuff, I dropped off my bike and bags the day before the race. On
race day I show up, got body marked, and headed to the swim start.
Looking up at the sky, it looked like a hurricane was on its way. The
sky was grey, the wind was picking up and the weather report said
15-25mph winds were expected during the day.
The cannon goes off and I was on the front line of the mass swim start
battle. A few days after the race, we were walking around and saw a
t-shirt that said "Trample the weak, hurdle the dead" That saying pretty
much sums up the mass swim! People really don't care about you and they
let you know it to. If you touch someone's foot, they kick harder so you
don't do it again. It's nutso...
I managed to make it out of the swim in like 1:04 or something like
that with only getting punched in the eye twice :-) I had help getting
stripped of my wetsuit and ran to T1. Changed and ready for the bike I
hop on for my 112 mile ride.
At this point, I put on my arm warmers b/c it was freakin' cold. The
rain started to come and the wind had picked up. It was awful. It was
worse than some of the mountain bike races that I've done. So I pedal
around the 56 mile loop in about 2:50. Which was 5 minutes slower than
what I wanted...but I was happy to be done with the first loop of the
bike and ready for the second loop. During the second, I start to catch
up to some of the folks who big-ringed the first loop (Yes, that's
right, I used my little ring in the front!!). At around mile 90 my back
started to seize up which didn't bode well for the 10 mile uphill that
was about to begin. Fortunately my back settled down just as I began to
make the ascent back into Lake Placid. Oh, and it was at this time that
the wind decided to pick up the most. It would normally take me about an
hour to do this 10 mile climb. But due to the wind and the rain it
took me about 1:20. It was crazy. Everyone around me was just slogging
along. Oh, and mind you, the rain had eaten away my chain. After the
race it was more rusted that a chain that's been a un-cared for 20 year
old bike. It was amazing what my bike looked like after the two loops.
Hopping off my bike I was read for my run. My shins felt great so I was
kinda amped up about that. I trod along at a pace that I felt I could
hold for the marathon. And immediately I'm passed left and right like I
Was standing still. I'm a slow slow slow runner!!! However, I knew this
going into the race, so whatever. I ran the entire first loop of the run
and it wasn't until the second loop did I walk the aid stations to grab
me so "cola". Apparently I was amazingly consistant since my first loop
mile pace was like 10:04 and my second loop was 10:13 or something like
that. Close enough as far as I'm concerned.
All said and done, I wasn't as fast as I wanted to be, but heck, I did
what I came there to do. I didn't collapse, I didn't have stomach
problems, and I was cripped to the point where I couldn't make forward
progress.
However, the most fun part of the whole day is a recap of what I
actually consumed during the whole thing!! The morning of I had a half a
bagel and a half of a banana. Then during the bike I had about 2-3
servings of hammer gel with some water. Two bottles of cytomax and a
can of boost :-) Then during the run I had a couple cups of gatorade
and about 12 small servings of cola. Looking at the caloric intake of it
all...I had about 900 calories on the bike and about 400 calories on the
run. Which brings me to a grand total of about 1300 calories. Assuming
you burn about 700 cal/hour, I burned about 8000 calories...pretty fun
eh? And I felt fine too :-) I think I have my nutrition plan down pat...
.nathan.
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