Lake Placid, Sunday

Sunday was originally planned to be a very big training day - one loop swim, one loop bike and one loop run, essentially a half Ironman but without the excitement of race day. The run was the priority so if I was feeling beat I was planning to either cut or shorten the bike and do the full run. But all plans changed and Sunday ended up being a pretty easy day. Two things influenced this: (1) After three consecutive days in the saddle, and particularly after Saturday's big ride, I couldn't bear the thought of getting back on the bike; and (2) We did a bit of celebrating our big accomplishment on Saturday.

I was out the door and running by 8:30 Sunday morning. The Lake Placid Marathon and Half Marathon were on the IMLP course and I didn't want to bandit the race so I decided to run elsewhere. I kept it simple - I did 6.5 miles out and back on the end of the bike course. The hilly, hilly end of the bike course. It was nice to be on my feet rather than the bike so I could enjoy the surroundings a bit more without the risk of crashing. I really wasn't ready for the weekend to be over.

I was planning to swim after, but when I got back to the room, everyone had decided to hit the road early. I could have stayed and done the swim, but I started thinking about the long trip back and the long week ahead and decided to call it quits as well. I'll have multiple opportunities to swim in Madison next week. After spending the weekend training up there I'm 100% certain I will do IMLP next year. Now I just need to decide if I'm going to head back up there for race weekend to sign up in person or pay for a community fund spot. The New York City Triathlon is the same day so it makes getting up there a challenge.

This week went by in a flash. I was insanely busy at work and barely had a moment to breathe. Monday was a rest day, Tuesday an easy hour on the bike and today was a short, continuous swim. My bike is all packed up in this amazingly small case lent to me by a guy from the Brooklyn Tri Club. Not only did he loan it to me, but he also packed up my bike. I can't thank him enough.


I'm off to Madison tomorrow for 10 days of serious training. If all goes as planned I'll have my first 20 hour training week and will get two solid experiences on the actual bike course. I'm spending a lot of time in the lake and will try to run a bit of the course as well. But to kick off the fun I'll be riding the Horribly Hilly Hundred on Saturday with a group of friends. My coach tells me I can do it and it will make me stronger, but I can't guarantee I won't cry on the final climb - 6-8% grade over more than three miles. The contact number for the event is (608) 437-HURT. I think that says a lot. At least the Ironman course will seem easy in comparison.


Running (Sunday)
Distance - 13 miles
Time - 1:53:29

Biking (Tuesday)
Time - 1:00:00

Swimming (Wednesday)
Distance - 1,600 yards
Time - 33:11