Ironman Recovery Update

Eight days post IMLP:

-  First day I woke up feeling like it was time to run, but I didn't go. I figured that the ten miles we were about to do would suffice. Tomorrow is the day to run perhaps.  

- Found an apropos breakfast this morning in Santa Monica at The Hive. It was chia pudding with granola, almonds. vanilla, honey, strawberries and blueberries. So good.  

- Also picked up the best juice today at The Grove with orange, lemon, ginger and cayenne. My second love :-)

July 24, 2004 - Me and Robin

Just going through old photos and found this one… from the Tour de France from before a time trial stage.  I was walking along and saw Robin Williams and asked him if he'd take a photo with me.  He say yes!  Pretty cool.  

Lake Placid Success!

Ryan and I successfully finished Ironman Lake Placid. It was a 140.6 mile day of suffering and fun. 

Thanks to Stephanie, Jean (Mom), Sue, Hannah, Zach, Mary, Karl, Rachel, Jim and Edna Mae for being our cheering section! We appreciated it so much!

Ryan Finishing Ironman #1

Ryan Karr from Canton, Michigan...YOU ARE AND IRONMAN RYAN!!!

Finishing Ironman #3

It was a good day. In a nutshell:
- GREAT 🏊‍♂️
- Tough 🚲 but it was tough for everyone
- Really good 🏃🏼.

Short story:
After the race I recovered in the athlete area eating food and talking to two other guys who had just finished. While they were talking, one guy said "I bet everyone had to walk some of the run today. The hills were just too much." I smiled and said I ran the whole way. No walking except to drink water, Coke and Red Bull at the aid stations.

Full race report to come.

Ironman Eve

It was a good Ironman Lake Placid Eve with friends, family, some spinning on the bike course, and a lot of food.  Here's a picture from about 5 miles into the bike course:

As of 7 PM on Ironman Eve, I am RTG.  Thanks for asking.

The numbers for me:
- 50 years old
- Number 3 Ironman race attempt (with two finishes)
- Hopefully completing the first half of my Ironman 2 Boston year tomorrow

No matter what, it will be a great adventure and will be a day I won't soon forget.

I'm probably most excited for Ryan.  Good luck, RCK!  You are most certainly ready for this.  Have a smart, safe and fast day!  Love.

He and I should both be in the water by 7 AM in the morning.  Sweet dreams.

More Bike and Gear Check-in

Bike and Gear Check-in

Afternoon Swim and Fun in LP

Registration and Bike Prep

Ironman Tracking On Sunday

The IRONMAN Tracker app is the best tool if you want to track on Sunday. It sounds like bib numbers have been loaded.

Ryan - 1514
Kevin - 2555

The direct link to the app for iPhone users:
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/ironman-tracker/id1183983404?mt=8

Breakfast In Ontario

We found Mom and Sue at the hotel and had breakfast!

I can't wait to hear Mom cheering on Sunday ❤️

3 DTG

It is Thursday, and the race is on Sunday. I'm pretty sure that means there are three days to go. Yes? :-)

Made it to Kingston, Ontario tonight about 4 hours away from Lake Placid. Not too bad. We just need to be at the registration tent by 4 PM tomorrow so we can race on Sunday. Should be no problem barring unforeseen circumstances.

On my mind today FWIW:
1. I really like Canada. I always do. When I cross the border, it feels good. The grass, the trees, the fact they have a retailer called "The Beer Store", that one of the stop triathletes in the world lives in Windsor, the leader of the country...all good. I also find that the slower Canadian highway speeds (62 mph) relaxing compared to what ends up being 75+ mph in Michigan. I should come to Canada more often.

2. I discovered 1st Wave radio on Sirius and loved it! This is a lot of MY music as a young adult:
- R.E.M.
- U2
- The Cure
And a lot of what was called "New Wave" back in the day. It was a fun couple hours of listening today after passing Toronto.

3. I wish I hadn't posted the cartoon yesterday with the foul language. I liked that it was abut the elevation of the Lake Placid bike course, but it really didn't need to be posted in my blog. Apologies if you were offended. I will remove it.

4. Tapering and healing my body is underway. I noticed the graph in this post and the yellow line on the far right with the upward trend. This is the line that theoretically represents my rested state. As we get to Sunday's cannon start, it will continue to go up coinciding with my reduced training load and showing greater readiness to put out the effort needed to complete the 140.6 miles of the Ironman. We'll see shortly whether or not my training and planning adequately prepared me for this. It should be a fun experiment.

Night Before We Leave Post

Is it 3 or 4 days to go now?  I might have miscounted the days on previous posts.  Oh well....no matter!  On the night before we leave for Lake Placid, I have three things:

1.  This YouTube video hits really close to home.  Three minutes of funny if you've talked to me in the last seven months about training.

2. Regarding race strategy for a guy like me, it comes down to this:  START SLOW!  There is nothing more dangerous for me than pushing too hard early on.

On the swim, this means stroke easy for the first 500 meters.  Hopefully, after that, I will find my calm place, an easy gliding stroke and not have a bunch of torsos on top of me in the water.  I will most certainly be happy to finish this swim in anything less than 1 hour, 25 minutes. Would be great to do that.....please, please :-)

On the bike, this means keep in the power zone of about 160 - 170 watts.  This is going to take some discipline but (I hope) will have a pay off on the run if I can stay focused.  It is well-known that the Lake Placid bike course has a lot of climbing...just gotta take it easy going up the hills!  No idea what to expect in time.  Anywhere from 5 hours, 30 minutes to 6 hours, 30 minutes will be just fine.

On the run, I suspect that after riding 112 miles the first couple run miles will be over 10-minute pace.  After that, if my nutrition is in the right place and I'm physically OK, I'm hoping for around 9-minute pace.  Slow and steady is the key in all three legs of the Ironman for a guy like me.

3.  And in case you are wondering, I am finished packing.  The bag is big, but you need a lot of gear for triathlon!

That's it for tonight!  Peace and thanks for reading.

4 DTG

With four days to go, it is definitely feeling like race week!

I am excited about the upcoming adventure and even had some nerves when I woke up this morning.  Mostly, I'm excited though....and reminding myself to stay calm and relaxed.  Nerves don't help anything right now ;-)

Race Day Prep:

I spent some time yesterday updating my bike Garmin to have just the screens I want/think I'll need on race day.  I settled on:

• Heart rate - looking for a number from about 120 - 135....no higher on the bike
• 3 second power - the current power overaged over the past three seconds. The goal here is to be around 165 watts and hoping to top out at around 210, if needed, on the climbs.
• Lap power - the average power over the last five miles.  Again, about 165 watts.  If it says 200+ watts, it will not bode well for the run.
• Cadence - looking for a number from 80 - 90.

The old screen data fields is on the left; the updated set of data fields is on the right.  What do you think?  The point here is to only have screens that focus your attention on what is helpful when you are riding 112 miles.

Last Workouts

This is the last week of workouts, and yesterday was a day of rest!  It felt so good.  I spent part of the day with my favorite 4-year old.  It was awesome!

Today was a swim and bike workout.  Got it all done early. It was awesome to be on the dirt roads with SJCK today! 

Race Day Chat
In the online forums, there is a lot of talk about the race....what to pack, when people are arriving in LP, what goes in which bag on race day, whether or not Mirror Lake will be wetsuit legal, etc.  It is fun to read and sometimes gives reminders about things I have forgotten. Regarding the temperature of Mirror Lake the cartoon below was posted.  Forgive me if the cartoon is offensive...I thought it was funny.

Two days until it is time to drive and four days until GO TIME.

Time To Freak Out - The Hay Is In The Barn

Thanks to RCK's research and encouragement, we started training for Lake Placid on December 17, 2017.  I think that was 28 weeks ago.  Since then, there have been A LOT of early training mornings and A LOT workouts in the evening.  Thanks to both SJCK and RCK for you support.  You really don't make it to Ironman race day by yourself, and both of you were really great to support me.  I owe thanks to many others as well.  Friends, family, coworkers have all encouraged, supported in a lot of ways, or just took the time to read these posts.  I'm really fortunate. Thank you.

Thanks also to friends and family who are making the journey to Lake Placid to see RCK and me.  It will be awesome to have a cheering section.  I'm pretty sure my Mom will be the loudest!

In terms of distances since December, here it is:

• Swimming: 178,783 yards or 101.6 miles
• Biking: 3027 miles
• Running: 615 miles
• Hours: ~316 hours or about 1.6 hours per day 

So...the hay is in the barn as they say.  Not much left to do, at least in terms of training.  Just 4 hours of working out left, this week just to keep the legs and arms moving this week.   It is time to trust the training, be prepared for race day with a sound plan and and calm mind.  And just have fun.

Many of you know I love an experiment. Ironman race day is the culmination of a grand and fun experiment.  I'm looking forward to it, especially being on the start line with RCK, without whom I'm pretty sure I would have NEVER signed up for Ironman #3.

A few other updates:
- Gotta tighten the bolts on the bike tomorrow
- RCK recommended deflating my tires and looking for cuts that should be Super Glued....it's on the list for tomorrow morning
- Race day chain bagged up and ready for installation on Saturday

- Lots of things packed and ready to go.  Here's one example with bike nutrition portioned and bagged up.  There are a few more things to still do, but mostly ready to go.

- Found this image from another tapering Ironman athlete and their dinner tonight...kinda funny:

That's it for now.  6 DTG.

7 DTG

On my mind today: 

- My current favorite Dean Meyer quote: "The Ironman swim is pass/fail."  Amen brother. 

- Packed two wetsuits (full sleeve and sleeveless) and swimskin.  Can't believe I'd go compete with the swimskin because I don't hopes of getting a Kona spot....but I did it at Boulder.  I'm smarter now... so probably will go with full-sleeve wetsuit.

- Had a really nice 3.3 hour bike ride this morning. Feeling good about new gearing and overall set up. RTG pretty much. 

- Did you know there is an underwear run before full Ironman events where everyone gets together and just wears their underwear and running shoes?  Lake Placid's is Friday at noon. Good idea? Kinda want to do it. 

- Packing again today (does it seem like I've been new doing this forever?).  Current packing focus: 

- Morning nutrition bag or box

- Morning swim bag

- Bike transition bag 

- Bike special needs bag

- Run transition bag

- Run special needs bag

I will take a picture of them and post when they are done. 

- Also made a list of things I'm missing and need to get...and went out to get them:  CO2 inflator/adapter, extra tube with removable valve cores, Ensure for morning nutrition. 

8 DTG

What's up now?  Here it is:

1. Had a good swim this morning.  Feeling stronger than ever in the pool.  Don't get me wrong, I'm still slow but strong and slow....I'll take it.
2. Really enjoying watching the Tour de France on nbcsports.com.  Love the scenery in France.  Feeling like I need to go back soon.  A road trip in France?  With an RV, you could enjoy le Tour, baguettes, cheese and wine in the French countryside.
3. CTL at 109 eight days out.  Interesting. Before Ironman Mont Tremblant in 2012, my CTL was 94 eight days out, 85 on race day, and 102 after race day.  I guess if I'm looking for parallels, a CTL of 100 on race day would be the ticket.  I'm looking forward to feeling more rested in the next days with lots of sleep and no stress (wink).
4. Can you say "AMAZING LONG-TERM FORECAST?!!!!"
   
5. Mirror Lake was 74 degrees this morning. #wetsuitlegal
   
6. Training this weekend is still pretty big.... 3 hours, 30 on the bike; 2 hours, ten minutes running; 1 hour, ten minutes swimming.  This is the training plan recommendation.  Hmmm....do it as written?
   
7. If I were a woman, the Super Kitty kit would be fun....(BUT I'm not):
   

Things about today - 10 DTG

10 Days To Go...here's what is on my mind.

1. Started supplementing electrolytes…. gotta build up those stores and get some deep muscle hydration.  Hoping this will payoff around mile 16 of the marathon.

2. Laid out bike nutrition for Lake Placid....383 grams of carbs for lap 1 (about 2.75 hours) and 383 grams for lap 2 (hopefully 2.75 hours).  More than I will need but it is good to have choices.

3. Had a good, easy 5-mile run.  Loved it!  You should have been there!

4. It was 45 ºF in Lake Placid this morning.  Can you say HOLY COW!  Going to pack some cool weather warm up clothes for sure.  Also packing hat, gloves, rain coat, etc.

5. Veins

6.  New kicks in the mail today. These are the Nike Epic React trainer.  I won't try them out until after LP, but walking around the house they feel reeeeeally good.

Lake Placid Course Tips.... Posting here to keep track of this

Pre-race stuff to know about:

• On training weekends, watch out for people who insist that you swim the swim course the "right" way. Heaven forbid you swim from the historic spot...
• Wait an hour or so after athlete check-in opens. It dies right down after the initial surge.
• Riding and running in town is, in my opinion, batshit insane. I recommend trying to get out of town going reverse on the bike course to spin out your legs down the bears, turnaround on River Road, and come back on up. For running, again, avoid the main drag and do stuff further out on Mirror Lake Drive.
• Bike check in is a gong show right at the start. I'd wait until a little later to go.
• You can't go wrong with some Saranac Sourdough at some point in the weekend.

Race Day

• Special Needs bag locations are a ways apart from one another. Somebody will usually offer to help run them for you.
• The line for the air compressor gets huge. If you run a disc and forgot your crack pipe at home, go early. They tend to overinflate.
• People start heading towards the beach bright and early. The area on the beach is small. If you want to be in the right seeding area, be prepared to head over early. Bring any last minute food/drink with you - the aid station doesn't get set up yet.

Swim

• The swim course I find is more crowded on loop 2 with the rolling start. If you want to be right on the line, you can be. Just know that 3000 of your closest friends are also looking to be right on the cable too.
• Breathing to your right is easier to keep an eye on the buoys.
• It does wind up creating a little bit of a whirlpool effect with so many people swimming at once.
• Water is super clear - so you can see the foot that is about to kick you in the jaw easily!

Bike

• The hardest part of the bike course, IMO, is the climb out of the ski jumps. On loop 1 it's easy to hammer this. You know you've paced your first loop well if you hit this on loop 2 and it feels like nothing.
• Look to your right at the ponds on the descent. If you see whitecaps, it's going to be an interesting lower part of the descent.
• The descent gets steepest and curviest at the bottom. There is one right hand corner that feels like it will never end and tightens up a little bit at the end of it. If you don't hit 55 at some point you sandbagged it. Try again.
• The stretch from here until the left turn in Upper Jay is false flat for the most part. It's easy to blow your race here. Don't.
• The left to climb up toward Wilmington begins the "what goes down must eventually go back up" part of the course. You really don't get to ever stop pedaling from now until you're back into town. Seriously. This is where I find having done plenty of work on the CompuTrainer helps - because, well, you never get to stop pedaling.
• Your first trip up from Wilmington will feel easy. You will regret that next time around.
• There's an unnamed fourth bear after the three proper ones. You make the right turn at the top of Papa and, well, it goes uphill again. I dropped my chain here and ruined my race by fucking up getting the chain back on. Just be ready for it.
• Special needs is at the skating rink. Be prepared - it's a right hand turn, and you'll likely need a lighter gear to come back onto course.

Run

• It is so easy to overcook the first couple miles of this run, just because of the downhill out of town. Be prepared.
• The ski jump hill is the devil.
• River Road can be a sauna and miserable experience. Stay positive. Stay shuffling.
• As other's have mentioned, the climb from Lisa G's doesn't stop until just past the brewery on Mirror Lake Drive. It is a soul-sucking experience.
• This finish line is, in my estimation, the best in all of triathlon. Big crowds, plenty of love from everyone. Enjoy it.

Post-Race

• You will feel like a truck ran you over. It's fine.
• Do not follow my diet of a half pint of Ben and Jerry's and two bourbons.
• You will wake up in the middle of the night starving. Have food ready.

Cereal Power - 11 DTG

Eleven days out from Lake Placid and here are the highlights of the day:
- Swam in the lane with RCK and kept up for one length of the pool.
- Used new bowl for breakfast
- Listened to 3 episodes of The Move podcast about the Tour de France
- Finished a really hard bike workout and the results gave me some exciting feedback. Check out the pic of my TrainingPeaks.com screen!

Looking forward to some relaxation and slow walking in AA this afternoon.

PHOTO: Clean, Fast Chain

Lake Placid race day chain. #moltenspeedwax

Note: I'm trying to look like Jon Voight in the show Ray Donovan.

It's Taper Time!

Dear Ironman Training Plan, 

Thank you Ironman Training Plan (i.e. TrainerRoad.com Full Distance Triathlon - Mid Volume Plan)! You've led me to TAPER TIME before Ironman Lake Placid on July 22.  
As Matt Fitzgerald reminds us, "most Ironman triathletes should begin reducing their training two weeks before race day." Well....I've got two weeks to go, so it must be time to taper!

Looking at the upcoming workouts, I see the next two weeks are a bit less of an "ask" than in the previous weeks.  These final two weeks ask for 12 hours and 4 hours of working out, respectively, as opposed to asking for 19 and 16 hours in the two weeks previous.  That's a big difference I'm looking forward to, especially that last week with 4 hours of training. 


I feel some excitement about Taper Time:
- I'm not injured
- I'm relaxed
- I've got a new Wattie Ink two-piece race kit that I tried out this past weekend.  It is just what I need.
- I tested as larger cassette this weekend to help with the elevation around Lake Placid.
- I feel strong during my workouts (especially this past Saturday's 4 hour bike followed by 1.5 hour run.  I felt great during that.)
- I'm loving that RCK and I will compete at Lake Placid together...huge father and son moment for me!  I have to get a photo with him at the finish!
- I've got a fitness score of 112 (see diagram on right). For the second week in a row, this is my highest score ever.  #goodsign  BUT, check out the pink fatigue score of 135 (and pink line on the graph). That is a big number that will come down over the next two weeks.
- I'm upbeat about the possibilities on July 22, but I'm also feeling cautious to keep my planning and race preparation focused on having a successful day at Lake Placid.  I'd like to think my learning from Ironman Boulder 2015 and Ironman Wisconsin 70.3 2018 will come in handy two weeks from now.  We will see!

Between now and race day, I'm going to finish workouts, do some work for my real job and pack for race day. Stay tuned for some updates in the days to come!

Two weeks until Go Time!  Thanks!

Sincerely,
KK
Your Athlete

Things I’m Thinking About Now

1. My all-time highest fitness score EVA! 

A Chronic Training Load (CTL) fitness score of 110 on TrainingPeaks.com. Of course this is nothing for athletes like "The Elite One" but it was a milestone I noticed after uploading today's workouts.

2. Taproot in TC!

I love this place and all that the chef creates. The visit this past weekend was great again as I enjoyed the black bean burger and El Chavo (on tap).  It is a must visit for Ironman in training athletes in the TC area.

3. Up North!

Sure there are lots of nice places downstate that might be closer, but COME ON!  Nothing beats up north:

• TC
• M-22
• Old Misssion
• Empire
• Glen Arbor
• Sleeping Bear
• Frankfort
• Beulah
• Wineries
• Taproot
• Lake Michigan - like with blue water.

I could go on and on.  And on.  And yes, it is worth the drive.  :-)

4. Mirror Lake
I'm regularly dreaming of a flat and welcoming lake that pulls me through the water in 1:20:00.  Could you make that happen for me please?

5. Health
Still uninjured which bodes well to show up on the starting line RTG.  After Sunday's 18 miler, my left hip/glute area was pretty sore, but doing OK today.

I hope all is well for all of my so many :-) readers...get out for your daily workouts with some occasional high-intensity intervals. 

Ciao.

Thanks Uncle Cal and Aunt Jayne

We had a party event with the best view of TC! Thanks Cal and Jayne!