Conquering Ironman, By SCOTT MILLER

Levesque tops goal of finishing Ironman USA
Taken from: Laconia Citizen Newspaper, Tuesday, August 12, 2008

David Levesque received plenty of support in completing his first Ironman triathlon from his wife, Tammy, and daughter, Jordan. Levesque, Laconia High School Director of Guidance and girls' basketball coach, finished Ironman USA in Lake Placid, N.Y. under his goal of 11 hours.

LACONIA — Imagine yourself doing intense exercise for eleven straight hours. An unthinkable feat for most of us, but if you are competing in an Ironman triathlon it's what you could expect to do.Local resident Dave Levesque, the Director of Guidance and girls' basketball coach at Laconia High School, recently took part in the Ironman USA race in Lake Placid, N.Y., completing the 2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike and 26 mile run in under eleven hours. There are six Ironman events that take place in the continental U.S. and the Lake Placid race is the only one of it's kind on the East coast. Competition to get into the event is difficult and you have to register a year in advance just to be ensured a spot in the race.

PREPARATION

No other athletic event compares to an Ironman triathlon, considered to be the ultimate in athletic endurance achievement. Levesque, who had been racing in smaller events, decided over a year ago that he wanted to see how far he could push his body mentally and physically."For me, I had to take the preparation in stages," said Levesque. "I started by doing a 100 mile bike ride and then last fall I ran the Manchester Marathon just to see if I could do it."Swim training was an obstacle for Levesque as it is hard to practice during the winter months in New Hampshire. He was able to use the pool at Gunstock in the early mornings before going to work."I enjoy running the least but I've learned to deal with it," he said. "Swimming was most difficult because finding time was hard. Most of the swim time was at 6 a.m. and then off to school. Training is really isolated and hard to do and during basketball season I had to find a way to stay in shape."

Levesque gives much credit to his coach, Suzan Ballmer, for helping him prepare for such a grueling event. Ballmer, owner of Breakaway Coaching for Granite State triathletes, has been with Levesque for a few years, training him at shorter distance triathlons."There are some people who want to do an Ironman and I advise against it," Ballmer said. "Dave is very talented and he has the ability to do the things you need to do. You spend a lot of time by yourself and you need to keep mentally there and not get injured mentally. His results came through the training he put in."To finish at around 10:45 in his first Ironman shows his ability," she added.Besides training and work, Levesque also had to be a father and husband. His wife Tammy and daughter Jordan provided the much needed support especially during the yearlong training sessions."It's a lot of work," said Tammy, owner of The Fitness Edge in Meredith. "Trying to figure out our schedules was difficult but it was amazing to see what he accomplished. In the end it was impressive.""There is a lot of sacrifice," added Levesque. "It is a challenge to balance job, coaching and for anyone who has a family there is always a lot of quit in your mind. If you go for a long run or bike, you are missing things with your family because it is your only free time.

RACE DAY

The Lake Placid terrain is not what one would call flat and easy making the run and bike even more difficult. Planning for the day is mind-boggling for the racer and you have to be sure you cover everything so the race will go as smoothly as possible. There are two transitions (swim-bike, bike-run) and each requires careful attention to details like equipment, clothing and energy nutrients.A field of 2,400 athletes began the swim all at once and you have to plan on being in the water for almost two hours, all the time trying to avoid the human obstacles. Levesque, who got mistakenly punched in the face during the swim, came out of the water in a time of 1:06."The day is full of ups and downs," he said. "You do a year of training for one day and something could go wrong at any time. When I got to the beach and looked up I thought 'are you kidding me?' because I did not think I would swim that fast."Transition from swim to bike took a little over five minutes and Levesque had another issue to deal with; rain. Rain was not a big deal in the swim portion but on the bike and during the run it was a nuisance. Still, he forged on, pedaling an average of almost 20 miles per hour through the less-than-ideal conditions. He only had one race breakdown and that was on mile 99 of the bike, sighting a loss of thought or a 'lights off' condition. He recovered from the temporary setback and finished the bike phase at 5:44, ahead of his eleven hour finishing pace he was hoping for.But he still had a marathon to run in order to become an Ironman. Levesque had been slowed earlier in the summer by a hamstring problem and wasn't quite sure what to expect. His strategy was to run as long as he could and then figure it out from there."I was concerned getting off of the bike," he explained. "I was amazed that there were no issues with my leg as I did not run for a month prior to the race. I ran as far as I could and finished.

As Levesque crossed the line he heard the public address announcer say 'David Levesque, you are an ironman.' His ending time was 10:49:59 good for 220th overall and 46th in his age group. More importantly, he beat his goal of eleven hours."When I finished it was like 'ok I've done it,'" he said. "It was a culmination of a year of hard work and it was almost surreal. I had done something special that only a few people have done.

RECOVERY

Levesque was ill for about 30 hours following the race, his body rejecting almost anything he tried to put into it. That is the nature of the beast in endurance events and following such a demanding race your body needs time to recover. The event was on July 20th and he is just now resuming a limited amount of physical activity. He has had time to let it sink in, thinking of the months leading up to the event, and realizing how much goes into that one day of competition."Anyone who says the Ironman is an individual sport is crazy," said Levesque. "It takes your family to buy into it and with out Tammy and Jordan I couldn't have done it. It's a sacrifice on everybody, not just the person training."The big question is whether or not Levesque will try the Ironman Triathlon again? "I've already registered for next year," he said. "But am I going to do it again? At this point I have no idea."

Either way, Levesque is an Ironman.