Ultimate Endurance Test Beckons Livingston Athlete

Louise Goldsmith has some details to iron out: Should she go for a fast time on the bike but risk bonking on the run? Will she carry one, two, or three water bottles on her bike? Should she eat an energy bar or only Gu over the seven-hour bike ride? These are just a few of the strategy questions Louise has been sorting through during her months-long training for the 140.6-mile Ironman™ Lake Placid, NY, on July 24. Ironman races are comprised of a 2.4 mile swim, a 112 mile bike ride, and 26.2 mile run.

I caught up with after her return from a recent weekend of training in Lake Placid. Even though it was an expensive and long trip, Louise is grateful to her coach, Mel Fink, for suggesting that she go to Lake Placid to train. Louise and some fellow Maplewood South Orange Triathlon Club (MAPSO) members drove upstate, swam in the lake, rode most of the 112-mile bike course, and followed it up with an hour or so of the hilly run.

The two-loop Lake Placid bike course is “weird” in that it starts with the “Keene descent,” a six-to-seven mile downhill, which takes riders from Lake Placid to Keene, NY. From there the cyclists cover about 30  miles of rolling hills only to face a 12 mile ascent back into Lake Placid. That long uphill can be a real doozy, especially on the second loop, after 100 miles of cycling. Louise is glad to have tried out what’s in store for her on race day so she can be mentally prepared, in addition to all of her physical preparations.

Since January Louise has put in countless hours of training in the pool, on the bike and running the roads of Essex County. She is in her training peak right now, putting in 17-19 hours weekly. Her preparation has also included numerous races. In early June Louise raced in Rev 3, a 70.3-mile race, which is equivalent to half of the Ironman distance. While completion of Rev 3 gave Louise confidence and encouragement, the New Jersey Marathon in May didn’t go as well for Louise: she cramped at mile 21 and was forced to walk the remaining four or five miles.

Coach Mel thought Louise’s cramping in the NJ Marathon was likely due to dehydration, which highlighted for Louise that she needs to take fueling and hydration a lot more seriously. Even so, Louise says she let herself get under-fueled while training in Lake Placid. She keeps reminding herself that “even if you feel like you’re going to throw up, even if you’re not thirsty or hungry, just [keep fueling and hydrating].” For Ironman, that means that she will drink a full water bottle every 45 minutes and eat 100 calories -- usually in the form of Gu -- every 30 minutes.

Other advice that Louise plans to take to heart comes from Jed Kwartler, an Ironman veteran, who suggested to Louise that the 2.4-mile swim “means nothing,” that “it’s not about the bike,” and that the whole race is about “setting up for the marathon run.” Louise claims running is her weakest of the three sports and she plans to reserve as much energy as she can to get through the marathon at the end.

Lake Placid, home of the 1980 Winter Olympics, is a fitness haven, and Louise said that being there and training in Olympic Village really made her feel like an Olympian. Last weekend the town was practically overrun with triathletes, many of whom were clearly veteran Ironman participants, evidenced by the “IM” logo tattooed on their ankles. Louise says she is not tempted to follow the tattooing trend.

While Louise was in Lake Placid, her husband was driving their two sons to sleep-away camp. Louise is sorry that her race will conflict with visitor’s weekend at their camp, but the whole family has been anticipating and working towards this race for almost two years. The boys will be able to watch their mom’s progress online on the Ironman athlete tracker. If you are interested in seeing how Louise, or any other racer, is doing on July 24, take a look at Ironman.com. Louise hopes to finish the swim in under 1:20, the bike in under 7 hours, and the marathon in under 5 hours.

Louise notes that most people who are training for Ironman are men, and most of them are younger than her. She feels those fellow triathletes have been very supportive and friendly, maybe because that’s their nature or maybe it’s particular to her. Louise imagines them seeing her on the field, with her age, 48, temporarily tattooed to her calf, and saying to themselves “Hey look at her! She’s old enough to be my mother!”

Acknowledging that Louise’s pursuit is somewhat atypical for a woman, especially one over 40, she says that her goal is just to get to the starting line healthy and be safe during the race. Louise is not trying to qualify for Kona, which is the original Ironman in Hawaii, and when fellow triathletes suggest that she should push for a certain time or speed she reminds herself of the need “to be clear about goals and why you’re doing it, because it’s easy to get caught up in someone else’s goals, and you don’t want to do that.”

In August, look for an update on how the race went for Louise. In the meantime, I, for one, will be wishing her a healthy, fun, and safe race experience.