Kerry Becomes an Ironman!

Up early and can’t sleep the morning after finishing IM Lake Placid (everything aches and my mind is racing). Here’s my half-awake attempt to capture some memories from this journey.

The days leading up to the ironman were spent enjoying Lake Placid with my family (three boys and Mark, parents, sister and her three boys), friends and doing last minute race training/prep. I also really enjoyed getting to know some other NC triathletes a bit better– Nas, Sophie, Blake, Dave and Monette Williams, Joanna and Ken Younts. And I can’t forget to thank my friends back in NC who sent tons of warm wishes and support and took my calls at odd hours when I was freaking out – many thanks!!

Nerves held up pretty well until night before when I started to crack. This was my first ironman and I was petrified. I played a lot of games of checkers and watched a movie with the kids to take my mind off things.

Race morning. All the pre-race prep went pretty well (tires pumped, body marked, body ‘glided’ – the usual). Walked down to swim start and made my way in to Mirror Lake to join the sea of 3,000 athletes gathered to start at the same time, same place. Luckily, I found two friends, Blake and Sophie and we doggie-paddled to find a spot off to the side and about 6 rows from the start.

The horn blows and we are off. I can’t even describe the craziness that happened then- bodies, arms everywhere. I tried to keep my cool but kind of freaked out for the first few minutes. It stayed REALLY crazy for about 20 minutes and then was just pretty crowded for whole 2.4 miles of the swim.

One guy really was obnoxious and pushed me under and bonked me in the back. “I stopped my swim and said, “Please down drown me, I have three small children”. He looked at me like I was loony (which I kind of was at that point) and swam off. Didn’t realize how much I got pushed around at the time but this morning I am finding several really sore spots on my back from getting wacked.

Ended up having good swim getting out of the water in 1:09 (started swimming 3 years ago so was pumped). Think trying to escape the meanies made me go faster. Felt good the whole swim – kudos to Dave, my coach, for giving me torturous "Death by Dave" swim workouts over the past couple of months to prepare me for this.

The 112 mile, two loop bike course was beautiful. Running rivers, scenic mountain views – amazing. Loved the first loop, felt great. Held back to avoid bonking later. Route has 7 miles of descent in first 20 miles – hit 40 mph and was getting passed by guys like I was standing still. But it was really fun. The last 20 miles is pretty much uphill. Focused on being patient and not overdoing things.

Started second loop and started to feel a little ‘loopy’ and that things weren’t quite right. Couldn’t figure out what I needed and noticed that I couldn’t push as hard as I’d like. Stomach not good as well so didn’t know what food I could take in. Hammer gel, carbo pro and water seemed to sit OK but weren’t pulling me out of my funk. Had planned to go bit harder on second loop of bike course. Just did what I could and ended second loop about 15 minutes slower than the first.

At the dismount line, put foot down and fell over. Felt kind of dizzy. Didn’t want volunteers to notice in fear they’d pull me from the course so I blamed it on slippery shoes and tried to laugh it off. They bought it and I walked VERY slowly through transition.

First few miles of run were pretty scary. Still didn’t feel very good and had no pep. At that point I thought I might not finish the 26.2 mile run. Took guess my blood sugar might be off so stopped at an aid station and got a good dose of oranges and grapes in. I was able to keep jogging – albeit at a slower pace than I had planned.

Hung in there by walking the aid stations and continuing to keep my sugar levels up with fruit and sports drink. About mile 16 a new development occurred – very painful right calf cramp. Told a fellow runner “I feel like sh&t”. Lucky for me he was a seasoned ironman and talked me through it – how I could finish this, how good I was doing, how I’d tortured myself for 9 hours so why quit now, etc. Had been taking salt tabs the whole race but cramps didn’t subside and travelled up my leg to quad.

At that point I was able to partially remove my mind from the present. I pretended I was just on a training run around the Y neighborhood, had imaginary chats with my friends– all kinds of odd things. I didn’t know if I could finish so focused on finishing one mile at a time. Shuffled to mile 23 and at that point knew I had to walk. Pain was too much. Finished last three miles running a couple of miles, walking a couple minutes.

Came in to stadium and was able to jog past the crowds. Crossed finish line to “Kerry Troester from Raleigh, you are an ironman” in 11:25. Happy.

Then the medics spotted me. I couldn’t walk so they grabbed me and asked me all the usual “What’s your name, where do you live?” Passed these questions with flying colors. However, when they asked me my t-shirt size for the finishers shirt I couldn’t remember. That did the trick and I was quickly escorted to the med tent.

Didn’t need an IV (my weight didn’t drop enough to warrant it) but did the lie down and feel nauseous routine. Had a wonderful nurse that kept me in there for an hour under blankets and released me after about an hour when my color returned and the room stopped spinning.

It was an amazing day but I have an incredible respect for this distance and the athletes that conquer it. This is a race that requires a huge amount of training and support from family. Despite all my training and nutrition testing before the race, things didn’t digest the same way that they do in training and never felt that dizzy/loopy feeling before. But the day was just amazing – to find strength within when things are tougher than tough, to enjoy an unspoiled, beautiful part of our country, to treasure moments with friends and family.