I have been meaning to fill you all in on my training in Lake Placid. We arrived Thursday evening and I started my training Friday morning. At 7a.m. I met up with some of my “team” members Jill, Mark and Roy at the Arrow Hotel. Our bikes were loaded with fuel, water and electrolytes and we were ready to roll. Jill, Mark and Roy were so helpful and did an awesome job showing me the whole bike course and sharing strategies with me. Thank you so much Jill, Mark and Roy.
The bike course is a two loop 56 mile course. It starts in town weaving around a couple small streets and then you follow Rt. 73 for awhile. Once on 73 you hit a little climb out of town and then one heck of a downhill. The downhill is fast and furious. At the end of the downhill you take a left on 9N and roll along on flats and little rollers for awhile. The last 17-20 miles of the course is a climb. It’s not bad but doing the 17-20 mile climb twice before a full marathon could be killer. I have some training to do. J There were so many bikers on the course. Most everyone we talked to was volunteering on race day and getting ready to race the course 2012. Some of the bikers were doing the race the following Sunday and wanted to check out different sections of the course. We met up with one group of women that had parked a car at the top of the downhill and at the bottom. They were from Florida and had done the Florida Ironman and admitted to being only use to flats. They were not use to such a downhill and felt the need to practice it.
On Monday Matt H. and I did a loop of the run course. The run course is also a two loop course. The run starts by running downhill out of town and then it levels out. You have mostly flats and rollers. The last bit of the two loop course is uphill. It’s a nice course that loops you through town several times. I felt great on the course even though it was raining. Matt and I had a map of the course so we knew where to go but all we really needed to do was follow the litter of empty Gu pouches and PowerBar pouches, pretzels, bananas and you name it. Usually you see one too many cigarettes on the side of the road, well, in Lake Placid it’s all different types of fuels.
On Tuesday Matt H. and I did the bike course. This is was my second time so I knew what to expect. We had full intentions of doing the whole 112 miles but I had some issues with my bike seat and was only able to do one loop. I will have to blog about my bike seat at some point. Let’s just leave it at bruising, swelling and bleeding.
The only thing I was unable to do was get in Mirror Lake. I wadded into the water but never got to do the course. I got a swim in but it was in Saranac Lake.
Doing the course well before race day is the way to go. I know what to expect and I have an idea how to train. Let the training begin!!
Smiles, Alicia
No comments:
Post a Comment