Weekend in Lake Placid Recap

What a great weekend! Lots of work done, lots of knowledge gained, and lots of fun had. My buddy Chaz was a great host, and his house was the perfect home base for a weekend based on training and getting away from it all. The only minor setbacks were the rain and the lack of running water at his house. Yes - I went 3 days, over 10 hours of training without a shower.

So here's the summary...
Friday it took us just over 7 hours to drive up to Elizabethtown, where Chaz's house is about 20 miles to LP. When we got there we crashed. Saturday morning I got up, ate, packed up, and Chaz took me to Lake Placid then dropped me off at Mirror Lake. Since he needed the car, I asked if I could use High Point Cyclery as my changing/storage room. The wonderful people inside were more than accommodating, AND they gave me some great tips on the bike course. I hit the course about 10am. As I was heading out I noticed all the little turns right out of transition. I'll take it easy here as there is no need for a crash that early on. Then heading down to Keene it gets FAST! There was a stretch of a couple miles where I didn't dip below 30mph, and I think I hit 48mph at one point while sitting up - not even down in the aero position! I was then lucky enough to meet some brothers from Connecticut, Billy and David, who I rode the first loop with. They have ridden the loop before so knew the distance of the out and backs, and having people to talk to made the ride go sooo much faster. Taking the climbs I realized a couple things... 1- I don't think I need to change up my gearing. I could maybe use one more gear... but I don't know if it will be worth it. The hills are more long and gradual than steep in my opinion. And for the downhills I really like having the eleven tooth ring so I can rip it. I'm still kind of up in the air, but leading toward NOT changing my gearing for the race. 2- I also learned that I can do it! The longest ride I had done before this was about 4 hours (maybe 4.5), and I felt fine for the most part. I just have to be patient, come up with a plan, and stick to it. 3- Certain places are made to push it, others are not. I'll be making a more concrete plan as I get closer, but it will probably go something like this: rip it for the first half, easy up 86, push hard coming up the 3 bears (**side note- did anyone else notice there are "the 3 bears", and then another decent hill right after that is somehow forgotten even though it's just as steep??), easy around the lake before starting lap 2, and repeat.

Anyway, I broke off from the Connecticut brothers after the first lap (timed at 2:58) and set off on my own. The second lap I cut out the out and backs (shame on me), but I wanted to get done. It also started to rain. And I mean downpour. For like 40 minutes. I was 88ish miles in for the day, and it just opened up. Not the motivation I needed, but I rode through it. I finished with 100 miles even in 5:23. I canned the t-run (more shame...), but the rain was just coming down hard. I'm over it. I'm still happy with the day.

On our way out of Lake Placid we swung by Saranac Lake, where my support crew and I will be staying during the race. The places look great!

Parents' place

Where Mad and I will stay

Both places are right on the water and a block apart. It should be very nice.


By the time I got back to E-town we just went to a little restaurant, sat outside bc the weather cleared up, and I had a burger and a beer. A great day. Capped it off with a little male bonding over the most recent James Bond movie - Quantum of Solace.

Sunday I got up and ate. It was pouring rain again so I opted not to head all the way to LP. When the rain stopped I went out on the bike to loosen up the legs before my long run. Chaz told me an "easy" route to take. It was a 7 mile climb out of town. At one point I literally just yelled some profanity out of frustration.

it just kept going up

looking back down

After my 1:30 minute "easy" ride from hell, I hit the road for a run. It was hot and humid. I only went 1:40, and not the same route as I biked, more rolling hills. The run felt pretty good, although I was hurting at the end. I was sweating a TON and had no water with me so I think I slowed down a bit near the end. I need to bump up my mileage, so I think I'm going to do about 16 miles today. Anyway, after the run it was just after 1pm, and Chaz wanted to take me out to see some cool hiking trails. Why not? Not like my legs were tired... About a 2.5 hour hike around Lake Champlain later I was good for the day. Great views, and a really cool day, but the trails were flooded, and my legs were toast. 

Monday I wound down a 1:45 ride through some rolling hills. It was really nice. I set out going north on rt 9 and just went. Very few cars passed. There were some nice hills. Beautiful day. Really couldn't have been happier. 

Just after lunchtime we headed home. On our way we did stop to see this waterfall...

A great weekend. I'll check back in later this week. Happy training, folks!