Wednesday, August 22, 2012

Ironman Revenge at Lake Placid to finish is to win

Race Day Quotes

  • "Ryan Tarrant, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania... Way to go Ry, you are an Ironman!" - The Voice of Ironman
  • "Ironman is like having kids, you spend many months preparing to put yourself through excruciating pain, and then after it's over, you forget about all the pain and do it again" - a woman I met on the second loop of the run course
  • "Ruuuun Faster!" - a poster on River Road and the voice of K-Fo in my head during the run
  • "I can't believe that all of these people are ahead of us, it's just unbelievable" - Nace when he catches me on the run
  • "Forget Kona! I don't know how anyone can do that in extreme heat" - Me as I crossed the finish line
  • "Race 4 Oreos" - One of the minions signs
  • "Don't worry Ryan, we saved oreos and brownies for you" - Mom and Steven halfway through the run course after I told them I couldn't hold down food for the last 13 miles.
  • "I think you're going to swim faster than 1:10:00" - Barbie before the race
  • "If you don't win, don't come back to work" - Anonymous
  • "Go Ryan" - Everyone in the support crew
  • "We thought you were in an ambulance" - concerned fan when I came around with 2 miles to go
  • "Holy Headwind!" - fellow competitor on the climb of loop 2 on the bike course
  • "Show me your abs" - sign of a teenage girl
  • "You smell pretty bad" - entire support crew back at the house post race

Swim Session

6:30AM the pre-race poops are out (all 4 of them!) I meet up with the support crew one last time before the race as I struggle getting my wetsuit on. Nothing but smiles because the swim is the part of the race I feel most prepared for. This is a lot different from last year when I didn't know if I'd make it out of the water.

7:00AM I line up in the water near the front close to the buoy line. 2962 fish, I mean people on their way to a single point in the water. School of humans results in: being kicked in the goggles 3 times, breast stroke kicked in the collar bone, ankle pulled on 3 times, swam on top of, and elbowed twice. 

I meet the first turn buoy at 14:57, holy crap I'm flying and feeling good. I reach 1.2 miles at 32:40, faster than any 1/2 Ironman race I've been in. Barbie would be dead on. I had no problem breaking 1:10:00 in the swim. I finished in 1:09:25 (1:38/100yds) and I'm setup perfectly for the rest of the day. I have a shot at challenging people and going beyond all of my goals!

Vengeance Ride

8:09AM Head through the 1/4 mile transition all smiles after having strangers strip me! No worries they only got my wetsuit off :). For those that don't know, the changing tents are pretty adventurous, filled with pee troughs, volunteers to help get gear in and out of bags, and volunteers to glob tons of sunblock on each competitor.  

8:15AM Time to mount the felt and dodge some guard rails! First few miles are fun with short rolling uphills then finally to the descent into Keene, time to let it rip! Lap 1 I hit 50.3 MPH on the descent into Keene, risky but tons of fun! 

10:10AM I've been riding for almost 2 hours and I haven't peed my pants yet... CRAP! As I was keeping a strong cadence for the ride about 40 miles into the 112 mile bike, everything started catching up to me. My right leg completely locks up straight cramping in my calf, hammy and quad. What the hell? I was diligent through practice and so far in this race with eating particular foods on a given schedule. It turns out as we'll find out later. I should have adjusted my nutrition for the heat and should have been eating a lot more salt than I was. It's too late as this downward spiral of dehydrations pulls me down the drain of what we call "Ironman".  I start doubling up on water & perform (essentially gatorade) at the rest of the bike aid stations and devoured approximately 7 or 8 bananas. Mentally with each banana I ate it was like magic masking the cramping in my legs.

10:50AM I finally pee myself as I passed the site of my crash in 2011. 

11:13AM Loop 1 of the bike course complete! I almost cried because I knew my Minions... I mean support crew, would be thrilled to see me, especially my mom, dad, and Barbie who had to meet me at the hospital at this point last year... Huge WIN, but now to do it again while recovering from dehydration. The second lap was a lot more work mixed with spur of the moment charlie horses, head wind up climbs, and steering clear of guard rails.

2:40PM "Mission Complete" or so I thought... at least at this point I have finished the bike course free of crashes and injuries!

Broth the Ironman's Secret Sauce

3:13PM 3 miles into the run, the legs feel great, and I'm as happy as a kid in a candy store! After seeing me off, my Minions... I mean support crew, venture to the finish line to watch the speedy Andy Potts pump up the crowd to another win (8:25:07). The only problem I'm running into is my inability to eat any food or salt because of my grumbling tummy. There was a ball of liquid sloshing up and down with every step.

4:07PM I'm surprised with encouragement from a fellow Philly runner, Nace Mullen. At this point I was 8.2 miles into the run and I was walking/running. Nace moved me along forcing me to continuously run (except through aid stations) and he even slowed down to ensure I would continue running. 

4:55PM 12 miles in, I see all of the minions spread along this section of the course. High fiving through pain, excitement in their voices forced me into a jog when I wanted to do nothing but walk. I still haven't eaten anything and I hear from a couple of people "We saved brownies and oreos for you" as I'm trying not to dry heave in front of Barbie. I venture off to my second loop of the course leaving my minions to take a much needed break of cards and Stewart's ice cream, they're going to need this break because it's going to be a looooooong time until I'm back around the finish line.

5:52PM I'm around mile 16 and the pain has already been setting in for the past mile or so. At this point I was forced into walking these blurry few miles. What time am I going to finish.. 9:30/10PM? Wait a minute am I going downhill or uphill and why is the road banking in both directions? Holy crap this is bad this is why you eat while doing a marathon. Okay, aid station dead ahead and at this time of day the broth is out! I stop and guzzle down 2 cups of broth and 1 cup of water, dry heave for a couple of steps then continue walking. By the time I hit the next aid station my swagger is coming back. UGH again I failed with nutrition today, I definitely needed a lot more sodium than I was actually taking in. From here on out I take 1 broth and 1 water from every aid station.

7:14PM Where's Ryan? I went from stumbling on the course to being able to run between an 8:30/mile and a 10:15/mile. It's such a turnaround physically in my body that you would think chicken broth is a banned substance from triathlons. Luckily it's just the everyday Ironman's secret sauce.

7:53PM Ryan, you're not in an ambulance, oh thank God! We were so worried we would have to get you from the hospital. These were the concerned/relieved words of my mom while she was half in tears. Mom was waiting for me at the bottom of the hill at an aid station with just over a mile left and motivated me to run, not walk up the hill one final time! Time? Wait just over a mile, about 7 or 8 minutes until 8:00PM. Ryan, you have a shot... you can break 13hrs and get in under 8:00PM. Wait that's crazy you didn't think you could get close to the finish line until 10:00PM... push it now you can do it! This was me pushing myself through to the end.

8:02PM Ryan Tarrant, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania... Way to go Ry, You Are an IRONMAN! I kicked into high gear for the last 1/2 mile high fiving and flexing my scrawny muscles with a great big yell across the finish line. This feeling was awesome so what was my immediate reaction to the race? Forget Kona! I don't know how anybody can handle doing that in the extreme heat of the lava fields. I don't know how people go fast enough to qualify for that thing. This whole idea is crazy!

Approximately 48 hours from the start of the race Yeah I want to go to Kona... let's find another Ironman to do before Lake Placid next year so I can workout some of my race day nutrition issues and excel in Lake Placid 2013! I think if my nutrition was better I could have gone anywhere from 1.5 - 2 hrs faster than I did but then there are so many other unknown variables that I would have run into. Ironman, to finish is to win especially when I crashed last year and was forced to DNF. 13:02:44 first ever Ironman time, sounds like a great time to setup for a PR next year. This season is over for me, time to relax for a couple of months and then oil up the gears of my body in October to start working for next season.

Picture and Video Links


Brittani's Pictures including freestyle ski jumping and pre-race swim: https://picasaweb.google.com/108020159960837106309/LakePlacid2012Brittani?authkey=Gv1sRgCK3t-_rgzOb30QE 



Finishing my first Ironman: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t-c8UTGMowY


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Wednesday, July 4, 2012

How Not to Crash at Lake Placid


Last year I learned how to crash my bike in Lake Placid by someone cutting me off and guiding me directly into a guard rail. How many more lessons can I learn in a year before my rematch in Lake Placid this summer?

I learned how to tighten the cables on my bike before a race so I don't get stuck in my hardest gear like on the hills of St Croix. I learned how to pee while riding my bike during Mooseman. I learned how to swim faster thanks to the Philadelphia Fins Masters team. I learned how to correctly corner my bike thanks to Todd Lippin from Breakaway Bikes. I learned that people only get faster each year thanks to the Philly Tri, and I finally learned that previewing a course is one of the smartest things to do.

This past weekend (just 3 weeks before race day) I drove 6.5 hrs up to Lake Placid to go through the course and then drive back 6.5 hours. Driving a lot by yourself stinks almost as much as unnecessary traffic in Albany on my journey, but this was totally worth it.

I started my bike course preview at 6:30AM to hopefully avoid traffic. This pretty much worked for the first loop. I was also able to avoid the fun heavy blowing wind on the first loop. Meaning yes I learned that on the second loop Lake Placid blows like the best of them... mostly head and side winds. Lessons learned are that 9 GUs, 34 salt tablets, 6 bottles of gatorade, 3 bottles of water all add up to grumble volcano Mario Kart style in my belly! Come race day I'll be adding small pretzels and some bread to my bento box to help absorb the sugar. I also learned (for the 4th or 5th time) that I cannot take 2 GUs any less than 45 minutes apart. I rode the first loop in 2:56 (19.1MPH) but ended up cutting the second loop short by 1 mile and struggled with the wind/nutrition and totaled 111.4 miles in 6:15:23 (17.8 MPH). I think the ride from the flat area in the ride is the easiest place to push and make up time. I went a lot faster here in my first loop than I did in my second loop. The climbs at Mooseman were by far more difficult than the climbs at Placid, which is relieving when you've participated in harder courses earlier this season. The most nerve racking part of the ride is hitting 48 MPH on the descent when there is traffic and a side wind trying to take you across the road. I envisioned myself being blown across the road and just leaned in and stayed smart/safe and away from all guard rails. Here's my Garmin data for the entire ride: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/194847432

How do you make a full course training weekend enjoyable? Meet two random people Tim and Nick who are friends of a Wild Blue Racing teammate from NYC for a late afternoon swim and dinner. I keep meeting more and more people who amaze me with their abilities to run marathons. Tim and Nick shared there stories with me of how they finished together running a 2:54! Simply remarkable!

Swimming in the lake was a lot different than last year because there was well no one in the water really. I did cut my swim short because of leg cramps and I knew I had to get up early the next morning to run the course before checking out of my motel room.

So what's the best way to prepare for a 6:30AM run, stay awake until 11:45PM watching LA vs San Jose in an awesome MLS match? Yup that's what I did because I'm an idiot. At least woke up early enough to eat Frosted Flakes before running! Anyways, the run the next morning was fun, well on the way out of the out and back (aka downhill). Whoever decided to make the run end uphill is just silly. Not only does it feel like I was in Colorado trying to run the beginning of "the Incline" when heading back into town, but the so called "flat" section of the run is really a rolling hill surrounded but bullfrogs! Overall nutrition was good on the run. I cut it short because I didn't want to go down another hill at the very end to turn around and go right back up it. I took the day easy only running 17.5 miles at 8:08/mile, but I feel like if I plan things correctly I'll be able to push the rolling part of the course and come close to a marathon PR on race day! Here's the run course data: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/194847458

Overall Lessons Learned from the weekend: Wind blows, GU grumbles in my belly, 3 people swimming instead of 2900 people swimming is a lot roomier, hills on a run course are silly, horse stables smell like poo, peeing your pants is cool, and Frosted Flakes are Grrrrreat!
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