So, Friday morning I left my wife and kids whom I haven't seen much due to training and work and went to pick up my Coach. We left around 10am and made a couple of stops along the way. Once we got off of the Main highway (Route 87) and headed on Route 73 West into Lake Placid I knew that one thing was for sure. This place was gorgeous. We travelled through Keene and up what I later learned would be the decent into Keene. In fact, while heading to our rental house we nearly crashed into an iceberg in the middle of the road. It's May 2nd and their is still ice on and falling off the Mountains, Pretty cool.
My coach and I were the first to arrive at the rental house on Colden Avenue. This house was right in the middle of everything. It was literally, one block from the Skating Oval where transition will be come July. Once settled in we awaited everyone's arrival. To say we all got along from the start would be a serious understatement. I couldn't have found a better group of people to hang out with and train with.. We all settled in on Friday night, had a great meal and chatted into the night. Now, I don't know if I was nervous about the next day's ride or if it was due to staying in a strange bed or what but I didn't sleep well at all.
The next morning we were going to ride the bike and run course. We hadn't planned to head out until around 10am because this time of year in the Adirondacks it is quite cold in the morning and we needed it to warm up. One of our training partners had headed to the local bike shop for a bike fit and to pick up a few things for her tri-bike. Once she was set up, we set out on our ride. It was sometime around 10:30 in the AM. The weather called for a 30% chance of rain and it was about 40ish or so degrees. We all dressed pretty warm.
Most of us were first timers except for Laurie who has completed IMLP before and knows the course well. She took the lead but we all had cue sheets in case we got lost. We headed out of town for the first few miles. Now, I thought we weren't going to pedal much headed out of town but it was quite hilly. In fact until the "decent into Keene" we peddled quite hard. OK, so I have read about the decent into Keene. I have read about it's beauty and speed. It was everything that I had imagined. Their was a river below and from the mountain was huge cascaded water fall....Oh yeah the fact that you only have to pedal lightly through the "rollers" is awesome. I reached a maximum speed of 42.7 MPH. The only problem with the decent is the poor condition of the road. It does appear though the road will be freshly paved prior to the actual event!
After the decent, the road was pretty flat and you can average some pretty good speeds. This is going to be a good time for me to get a bunch of food in me for the climbs coming up. We made it to the turn around at Golden Oaks (Frontier Communications) and headed back. Made the right turn up Route 86. This is a pretty tough hill and I imagine on the second lap of IMLP it will be extremely difficult. It's long and has a constant rise. After you make it to the top you travel a bit until around mile 40ish and you take a right onto Haselton. Haselton is a flat 1 mile out and back and you turn back onto Route 86. At the next stop sign you take a left onto Still Rd.. This is a tough little ten miles but another great spot to get some nutrition in your body. This is another constant climb but it comes with spectacular views of the river below and of White Face Mountain. At the end of this 10ish mile stretch are the infamous bears (Mama, Baby, Papa). Coming from a hilly part of Massachusetts I thought the bears were manageable and the fact that they have three different names really breaks them up. Then, it was a right turn onto Northwood, left onto Mirror drive and on to the Olympic complex.
Finally, we came back down to our rental house on Colden Ave. and a few of us continued on to bike the Run course. The run course was mostly flat with one big hill.
I was so glad that I had an opportunity to tackle this course prior to IMLP. I have learned where I can push myself on the bike course and where to take it easy. Most importantly, I have seen where it is easy to fuel up for this long day. This training weekend has showed me that I have a lot more training to do in the next 12 weeks in order to complete the 140.6 miles. I have learned that I need more Bike, Run bricks as well. Heading up to Lake Placid has also provided me with confidence that, with the proper training and nutrition that I can actually finish this beast. I have been training for 7 straight months. These months have been a delicate balance between work, family and training. It has not been easy for me or my family but it has been awesome seeing my children take an interest in triathlon. It is great to see my son's running back and forth in the living room while I'm spending two hours on the bike trainer. After this weekend, there is no stopping the 9 of us now! Push yourself, Push your limits, Don't stop! 3 months to go!
Until next time, Keep training
@1st_marathon
AveragemantoIronman
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