IMUSA Race Report - Part 1

Shoot, I could sum the race up like this: swim was good, bike was ugly, run was ok. But what's the fun in that? The race was a bitch, a couple of bears, some cherries, and a bastard all rolled into one big long day of moving forward. Lake Placid is a very nice town, and we had a great house of racers (Rick E, BlakeE, Shelley MyKaren and myself) and sherpas (some prefer domestique) which was so nice. I need to thank all of the sherpas, because without their wonderful pre-race care, we would have all been in trouble: Sharon, Lisa, Twila and Susie were the best ever! They fed us great meals, made us relax and took care of us throughout the race and afterwards. An IM race simply cannot be done without sherpas, and we had the best! So THANK YOU!!!!!!!

So, the pre-race stuff was all good, we all arrived safely, as did our bikes (MyKaren had a bike scare shortly before leaving, but it worked out) and other equipment. The weather up to the race was nice, not cold, not hot, not humid and surpisingly, not rainy! After last year's torrential downpour and all the rain we trained in this year, we expected rain and more rain. Race day was a bit warm and humid, which took its toll on everyone.

For this race, I had two goals, one was to officially finish the darn thing and the other was to PR in some part of the race...keeping in mind that even a better transition time would count!

The swim start was a crazy as it looks in the photos and from the shore, I waded in about 30 seconds behind the start gun (which has, on both occassions, seemed anticlimatic) and after rounding the dock, found myself in a mosh-pit of swimmers about 5 feet from the golden ticket: the cable. This swim was much more congested and thrashy than the IMFL swim, and I realized pretty fast that being close the cable was not where I really wanted to be! I nearly ran into a safety canoe as it kept moving around, and my goggles fogged up so badly that I really could not see, but I found a spot about 15 feet from the cable and managed to fend off being kicked or punched in the face. The first lap was not as bad as I had feared, I pushed some people away from me and had to stop about 1/2 to clear my goggles, but I finished the 1st lap at 41 minutes or so. For the second lap, I had decided to swim inside the cable and I found a super sweet spot behind a woman and beside a guy and there I happily drafted to the first turn. It was some sweet action! I kept touching the woman's feet, so she was probably pissed off by that, but I didn't mean to! I lost that sweet spot at the turn and the inside line became very congested so I just kept as close as I could to the line and finished the swim. Only really cool thing was at the very end, when I caught a glimpse of a diver below me! I know they are there, but had not seen them, except for some random bubbles!

I was hoping for a swim pr, but missed it by 30 seconds: 1:23:38. The run to T-1 is long, and I took my time changing, since there was sand everywhere and I didn't have anyone helping me change. As it was, I missed some sand in a place that sand should not be when one rides a bike! My t-1 time was abismal, 13:30is, but I felt ready to ride when I left the tent and then waited while the bike people found my bike and got it to me. So, no pr on T-1!