The Good, Bad, and Ugly From IM Lake Placid

For the first time in five years, I took to the starting line of a triathlon this past weekend. And, well, a lot like my introduction to the sport over a decade ago, I went with the mindset of “go big or go home,” with the return coming at the 25th anniversary edition of IRONMAN Lake Placid.

Between Kelly and myself, we’ve gone up to Lake Placid nearly every year for the last 15 years. We’ve seen the race through the explosive growth period, when next year’s race would sell out in mere minutes, as well as the return of the race post-COVID, and the somewhat contentious negotiations that led to a contract renewal that will see the race through at least 2027.

Looking through the lens of athlete experience from before and through race day, let’s review the weekend.

The Good

Placid Planet: I view Placid Planet as my “home” bike shop away from home. Kenny and his team there are always welcoming to all athletes. There’s an espresso machine in store while you wait. Prices are extremely reasonable, especially given how quickly they can often turnaround your bike.

Case-in point: I took my bike out for a shakedown ride Friday afternoon. Everything was great. I plugged the Di2 in overnight to fully charge the battery. I woke up Saturday morning, unplugged the charger, and the left shifters refused to work. I deduced pretty quickly that it was likely a bad port in the junction box after plugging different wiring in, and drove myself off to Placid Planet to confirm. A quick diagnostic check later and it was worse than I thought; the junction box was about to fully brick itself. Having an older bike, I thought I was screwed, but Placid Planet had an older 5-port junction box in stock. A quick install and a firmware update and I was off to the races. Total time at the shop: 25 minutes.

I can’t recommend this place enough.

IRONMAN Staff Excellence: Every single IM employee this weekend was an absolute joy. Race Director Greg Borzilleri was everywhere; from the beach at Mirror Lake to the iconic Oval to check-in to the run course. And even when logistics got interesting at times (like when water tables weren’t set up as the first finishers were about to cross the line for the IRONKIDS event), guess who was there fixing it? Greg.

That do-all mentality was spread across each and every team member I interacted with while in Lake Placid. Having worked in race production in various capacities for nearly my entire time in triathlon, it was a well-oiled machine that killed athletes, spectators, and the surrounding communities with kindness. And a special shout-out to Ryan Lobato in Communications, who I got to talk to and then made sure that Kelly (who took the pictures here, and will have photo galleries coming up the rest of the week) was set with credentials and access.

And, well, there was also the return of Mike Reilly. IRONMAN events do not feel, or sound, the same without him. They are yet to find someone who can fill half of one of his shoes. It's an impossible task…but, well, his voice booming throughout the weekend helped make it special.

Course Changes: As part of the renewal process, IRONMAN made some significant modifications to both the bike and run courses. On the bike course, this meant a new looped section in Jay that took you off of the main road (9N) through quiet, rolling countryside and a much shorter trip on Haselton Road. The run course chopped a significant section off of River Road, moving to a new out-and-back section at the top of Mill Hill on Route 86 to run past the golf course to the top of Papa Bear.

These changes were made to benefit local residents (through lessened traffic impacts), as well as spectators and volunteers (more of the run course in town, in particular, meant more opportunity to see your athlete). It was phenomenal as an athlete as well; in particular, the bike course changes made the sections of course easier to digest, and the new descent in Upper Jay was possibly my favorite section of the bike.

Improved Expo and Swag: Tackling swag first: the IRONMAN bag this year is an *excellent* one. High quality, fit just about everything, it’s an excellent replacement for a transition bag…assuming you can make sure you find yours in a sea of about 2,000 other ones. (I’ll need to dump some tape, etc. on it to make it more visible). There was also a discount coupon for restaurants in the area, which saw expanded numbers of places to visit this year.

The expo, although a far cry from the heyday period, was significantly improved over the last few years. There was more on offer over the last few years, with local vendors alongside IRONMAN partners. Hyperice had their own set-up versus being embedded into the IRONMAN tent. Same with OrcaPlunge, the new cold plunge sponsor. And even in retail, there’s new gems to be found — the Lululemon line of gear is extremely comfortable.

The Local Community and Volunteers: There were more local spectators this year than I think I have ever seen for this race. Out on the new loop of the bike course, residents took up chairs and coolers to watch the bikes roll by for hours on end. The police at intersections were chatty with athletes. And the volunteers at every aid station were amazing, with a combination of themes (at the bobsled run) or high-quality attitude to lift your spirits, or even helping be the one to decide when you really needed medical (thanks, mile 9 aid…)

The Bad

Swim Course Logistics: Let’s get the good part of this out of the way: the five-person rolling start countdown is excellent. My first loop was terrific, with little traffic, outside of a couple of folks who had *ahem* lined up at the very front who clearly were trying to give themselves bonus buffer time over the swim time cutoff.

However, this was the first year where I’ve seen athletes blocked from being inside of the site buoys. Traditionally this has been where athletes have gone for the second loop when encountering athletes still rolling through loop one. It’s also typically been where pros have been instructed to swim on lap two, especially in years (like this one) where the professionals are in swimskins and age-groupers are in wetsuits. That change made for a much larger washing machine for the second lap, particularly when returning to the beach to finish the swim. Letting folks swim just inside those sight buoys would have saved many back-of-packers from being swum over.

Mortal Hydration: Aid stations were running out of water with dozens of dozens of bottles, or entire coolers full of, Mortal Hydration still sitting out. Athlete feedback in the many IRONMAN Facebook groups has been significantly negative, with the majority of comments focused around either the taste profile due to the use of Stevia or GI issues associated with that sweetener. I’ve never seen, in any race, so many athletes going for potato chips or pretzels early in the run seeking sodium from any source than the hydration on course.

That said, the rest of the aid stations were wonderfully stocked. I did not realize how much I was going to enjoy Maurten gels, and there was plenty of ice, cola, and fruit.

Athlete Behavior Prior to Race Day: Part of the reason the negotiations to renew the race were so difficult is that many local residents have grown tired of athlete behavior in the build-up to the race, and then the nightmare that is race day logistics if you have to travel through Lake Placid to get somewhere else (like, say, from Saranac Lake to Wilmington or Elizabethtown). It’s why, for instance, there’s now signage on the bike course denoting where port-o-johns are located so as to avoid instances of athletes relieving themselves on private property (which has sadly happened a lot).

So, when on Friday and Saturday, there are waves of athletes weaving in and out of cars on Main Street attempting to get a shakedown run in, or athletes riding through stop signs, or riding four abreast on one of the main roads out of town — you start to see why residents would get frustrated, fast.

We have to be better guests in the communities we visit. Lake Placid is a special home for IRONMAN. But it doesn’t mean we can’t be shown the door, either.

The Ugly

My Race: Welp, looks like this distance really, really isn’t my forte. Of the 140.6 events I’ve actually started, I now have a .200 batting average of finishes. I DNF the next one and I’m below the Mendoza line for mediocrity.

I had a forced hard taper, nursing some type of issue with either the ischial tuberosity or high hamstring area. It felt OK in the days leading up to the race, so I opted to start with the mindset of “baby the body until the run.” For perspective, I’ve swam around an hour and ridden 5:40 here before. I swam an extremely comfortable (well, minus the washing machine described above) 1:08 swim, took my time in transition, and then set out for a bike where I told myself I had exactly zero matches to burn in my book, so came home in a cautious but well-fueled 6:30.

Running out of town actually felt OK; not great, but survivable. Pain in that same area started to show up around mile 3, but it was manageable. I ran between aid stations, walking the aid to get hydration on board. My bottle nozzle top had broken, so I was taking the top completely off, pouring the mix on ice, and drinking it. And this worked until the 10K mark, when I planted my right foot at one point and felt a small pop and like someone had shot me from behind.

I hobbled my rear end back into town, where a combination of Kelly, myself and an aid station captain made the determination that I was done. Ortho suspects I tore a tendon. We’ll see.

But I guess it means I’ll have to be back…

All Photos: Kelly Burns Gallagher for Slowtwitch