The thought of doing my first Ironman Triathlon became reality when on February 15, 2013 my request to volunteer for the 2013 race was confirmed, which besides helping this year’s athletes to have a great race, it also gave me a chance to get familiar with the course and almost a guaranteed entry into the 2014 race.
It also dawned on me quickly that I needed some serious help if I wanted this to be a successful entry into the world of Ironman, if I was to become an ”Ironman”. The help I was looking for was a coach, the best in the GTA that I knew was Cindy Lewis, Pro-Triathlete and Coach Extraordinaire.
Needless to say that my life changed dramatically last October when my training started in earnest. Being sore and tired became the norm and there were many days when normally I would not have left my front door to do some hill intervals on an ice cold morning with the wind hauling, or a brick workout when it looked really miserable outside. Most of my feeble protests were replied to by the Coach with comments such as “well you are the one that signed up for this crazy thing” or similar truly heartfelt comments. At one point I told the Coach how nice it would be to go for a run on fresh legs which prompted a “…not until after the race” and that was still six months away. But in all honesty I was looking for a coach that would push me to get the most out of me, and that is what I got. Whenever I was looking for guidance and advice, Cindy was there to help.
July 15/2014:
We travel with the Motorhome, cats and all to Wilmington NY, about 19km outside of Lake Placid. The campground where we planned to stay was actually right on the bike route of the race. Naturally, training wasn’t over yet and it gave me another chance to run and bike along the roads I was going to race on. And it scared me. I did not remember all those sharp little hills between Jay and Wilmington and then the longer drawn out ascents into to Lake Placid. However I was looking forward to swim in Mirror Lake, with a name that was a clear reflection of the surface of the lake. The only thing that marred my first time at the lake was that little incident with the locked car doors, my keys and cell phone inside and me standing outside my tri shorts and a T-shirt.
July 24/2014:
Check-in at the Conference Center, signing three different waivers, filling out forms, get weighed-in, banded and picking up the race package. Later in the afternoon at the Speed Skating Oval, I got to pick-up the backpack with some very useful goodies which was followed by an orientation session, especially helpful for all the newbies like me. I started to get excited and also just a little scared. A conversation with the Coach, assuring me that I would be fine, that having done all the training, I would be ready to go.
Before I headed back to Wilmington I was even able to get a quick massage to loosen up my legs.
July 26/2014:
Time to check-in the bike and drop off the gear bags as well as finding out how to get in and out of the transition area, the change room, etc.
July 27/2014:
2:20am. Shower, breakfast and a final check to make sure I had everything I needed for the next 12 hours.
3:30am. Driving from Wilmington to Lake Placid.
4:30am. Body marking, pump up the tires and put the bottles and nutrition on the bike, then drop-off the special needs bags. Slip into the wetsuit and go for a warm-up swim. I feel good in the water this morning and had a great warm-up. We all gather at the starting area behind the signs indicating our appropriate swim time. 1:21 to 1:30 is where I was hoping to be.
6:20am was the start for the male Pros,
6:25am for the female Pro Triathletes.
6:30am the start for the 1st wave of Age groupers. I’m in the water around 6:43am, starting off slowly until I find my rhythm. It is nice to swim in a group of other swimmers of roughly the same ability, no getting kicked and punched. I finish the first lap right on time, 43’37”, back on the beach, around the gate and continue on with the second lap. I was feeling even better than for the first lap and started to pass other athletes, rounding the top buoys and heading for home when several kayaks and a police boat blocked our path and told us to head straight to the nearest shore and get out of the water. Only then I noticed all the lightning all around us and the rain coming down in buckets. Once out of the water, we had to wait for instructions of how to proceed. Eventually word came through that we were to head back to the transition on foot to and continue on with the bike leg of the race.
With almost half of the competitors in the transition at the same time, it’s needless to say there was a bit of chaos. The same also goes for the start of the bike leg with the rain still coming down and a huge number of riders out on the course, some very timid due to the slippery conditions, others almost recklessly forcing their way thru left and right, creating even more chaos. It wasn’t easy to get by safely, and I got almost caught for drafting because I was a bit too impatient to pass another rider who was blocking my way and not heeding my call “ON YOUR LEFT”.
The Lake Placid bike course, two loops, is over 1800 m of ascending, which naturally means just about the same amount of descending. The only problem is that almost all of the descend is over a 10km stretch towards Keene (twice) and that meant a very steep and fast downhill with curves and for the first lap very wet and slippery. With the temperatures in the low teens and the wind-chill of the downhill, it was freezing. Several competitors were stopping in Keene to warm-up with blankets provided by waiting ambulances. Apparently a number of competitors had to give up due to hypothermia. For the first two hours my body was shivering and my fingers too cold to even consume any nutrition other than maybe a few sips from my bottle.
Eventually the road started to go back uphill, from Jay towards Wilmington, and even the sun made a feeble attempt to poke her face through the clouds. I started to feel good again as I was heading back to Lake Placid to complete the first lap.
Lap two, dry roads and much lighter traffic with no problem to pass and this time, a fast downhill to Keene. I was making good time and was looking forward to see my support crew of one, my wife Theres, in Wilmington for the second time. My only concern during the second bike leg was, and I’m not sure about that, but it appeared that the road from Wilmington to Lake Placid was just a bit longer than the first time around. Since we had started the bike course in the rain it naturally also had to end with a short shower.
After a quick change (relatively) into running gear I was back on the road again. One would think it would be nice to start the run on a downhill, a steep downhill. Not so, according to my screaming Quads, they and I found it very painful at least for the first few minutes. I realized very quickly that the next 42.2km were not going to be a pleasant run in the country but I also knew that I was going to finish what I had started at 6:43am this morning.
The last kilometer after the final turn-around along Mirror Lake was by far my best run of the whole day, all the way into the Speed Skating Oval and half way around to the finish line. Coming around that last turn on the Oval, I could hear the announcer on the loud speaker calling my name followed by “… YOU ARE AN IRONMAN”. This one sentence, spoken with all the intensity made it all worthwhile.
This one day was by far the easiest part of the whole journey, all those laps in the pool that in the beginning I was not very fond off but eventually started to look forward to, my coach had warned me that she would make a swimmer out of me yet, all the long and even longer bike rides which I actually enjoyed the most and the training runs, which I still need to improve on, it was all part of the means to an end, and the end was the most enjoyable part of it all.
I am extremely thankful to my Coach, Cindy Lewis, for guiding me safely through this journey, pushing me when I needed it and backing off at just right time to keep me free of injury, to make this, my first Ironman, a fantastic experience, and to finish in 1st in my age group was just a bonus.
I don’t have any better words to describe Coach Cindy Lewis as I did in the beginning, Coach Extraordinaire!
Peter Geering
