This picture tells you what Lake Placid is like. Athletes everywhere. The whole town is centered around athletics since the Olympics were there twice, once in 1932 and again 1980. There is an Olympic training center there complete with ski jumps, bobsledding, the hockey rink where the US beat Russia in 1980, ice skating rinks, etc. While we were there the women's hockey team was trying out for the Olympics for next year, we watched ski jumpers practice their jumps into a pool of water and we toured the Olympic training center.As if all of the Olympic stuff isn't enough athletics, Lake Placid has now hosted Ironman USA for 7 years. There are Ironman athletes everywhere training on the course. I couldn't believe how many people were there training. I was so glad I went. This sign was on the run course making sure cars knew to watch out for us runners- where else do you see a sign like that?
I invited my mom to come with me since she can't come to my actual Ironman. This was great as she got to see the course, see me training on the course and experience Lake Placid and probably spend more time with me than she would have if she came the actual weekend of. She was great support during the weekend- thanks mom!
To start off, my biggest fear is this whole traveling with my bike which I have never done before. And ofcourse my first time traveling with my bike, I got to Lake Placid and my bike didn't. We arrived Thursday night in Albany New York after being delayed and missing our flight to Lake Placid(a whole other story) and my bike did not come off the plane. Ofcourse, the airline employee was less than helpful with no real compassion for someone losing their bike- he looked at me like- "It's a bike, calm down." No, it isn't just a bike!!! I freaked out a little bit, alright a lot. And we ended up renting a car and driving to Lake Placid(about a 2 hour drive) with no bike and checking in to our hotel at about 2am Thursday night. Woke up Friday and immediatley called the airline to find out where my bike was. Long story short, I ended up driving back to Albany to get my bike and by the time I got back to the hotel no bike shops were open so I put it together myself and rode 112 miles on it first thing Saturday morning. I got to know my bike quite well this weekend. Moral of the story- know how to take apart and put together your bike just in case.
I have decided to use Tribike transport for my race and not deal with the headaches of traveling with my bike. Airlines don't really care. Tri bike transport will drive my bike to the race and have it waiting for me when I get there all put together and ready to go. One less thing to worry about.
Anyway, I got everything I could have out of the training weekend.
Saturday- 112 mile bike on the actual course, 4 mile run. So I did the course and it wasn't too bad, definitely challenging with some good climbing but a great downhill too!
Sunday- 2.4 mile swim(the course) in beautiful Mirror Lake, 18 mile run on the race course.
It is so beautiful there! The scenery is amazing!
Monday- 1 loop of bike course- 56 miles and 2 loops of swim course again 2.4 miles. Felt good.
Tuesday- I finished with one last 8 mile run on the run course.
I had a great weekend of training and feel ready to go for the race!
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