Last year I learned how to crash my bike in Lake Placid by someone cutting me off and guiding me directly into a guard rail. How many more lessons can I learn in a year before my rematch in Lake Placid this summer?
I learned how to tighten the cables on my bike before a race so I don't get stuck in my hardest gear like on the hills of St Croix. I learned how to pee while riding my bike during Mooseman. I learned how to swim faster thanks to the Philadelphia Fins Masters team. I learned how to correctly corner my bike thanks to Todd Lippin from Breakaway Bikes. I learned that people only get faster each year thanks to the Philly Tri, and I finally learned that previewing a course is one of the smartest things to do.
This past weekend (just 3 weeks before race day) I drove 6.5 hrs up to Lake Placid to go through the course and then drive back 6.5 hours. Driving a lot by yourself stinks almost as much as unnecessary traffic in Albany on my journey, but this was totally worth it.
I started my bike course preview at 6:30AM to hopefully avoid traffic. This pretty much worked for the first loop. I was also able to avoid the fun heavy blowing wind on the first loop. Meaning yes I learned that on the second loop Lake Placid blows like the best of them... mostly head and side winds. Lessons learned are that 9 GUs, 34 salt tablets, 6 bottles of gatorade, 3 bottles of water all add up to grumble volcano Mario Kart style in my belly! Come race day I'll be adding small pretzels and some bread to my bento box to help absorb the sugar. I also learned (for the 4th or 5th time) that I cannot take 2 GUs any less than 45 minutes apart. I rode the first loop in 2:56 (19.1MPH) but ended up cutting the second loop short by 1 mile and struggled with the wind/nutrition and totaled 111.4 miles in 6:15:23 (17.8 MPH). I think the ride from the flat area in the ride is the easiest place to push and make up time. I went a lot faster here in my first loop than I did in my second loop. The climbs at Mooseman were by far more difficult than the climbs at Placid, which is relieving when you've participated in harder courses earlier this season. The most nerve racking part of the ride is hitting 48 MPH on the descent when there is traffic and a side wind trying to take you across the road. I envisioned myself being blown across the road and just leaned in and stayed smart/safe and away from all guard rails. Here's my Garmin data for the entire ride: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/194847432
How do you make a full course training weekend enjoyable? Meet two random people Tim and Nick who are friends of a Wild Blue Racing teammate from NYC for a late afternoon swim and dinner. I keep meeting more and more people who amaze me with their abilities to run marathons. Tim and Nick shared there stories with me of how they finished together running a 2:54! Simply remarkable!
Swimming in the lake was a lot different than last year because there was well no one in the water really. I did cut my swim short because of leg cramps and I knew I had to get up early the next morning to run the course before checking out of my motel room.
So what's the best way to prepare for a 6:30AM run, stay awake until 11:45PM watching LA vs San Jose in an awesome MLS match? Yup that's what I did because I'm an idiot. At least woke up early enough to eat Frosted Flakes before running! Anyways, the run the next morning was fun, well on the way out of the out and back (aka downhill). Whoever decided to make the run end uphill is just silly. Not only does it feel like I was in Colorado trying to run the beginning of "the Incline" when heading back into town, but the so called "flat" section of the run is really a rolling hill surrounded but bullfrogs! Overall nutrition was good on the run. I cut it short because I didn't want to go down another hill at the very end to turn around and go right back up it. I took the day easy only running 17.5 miles at 8:08/mile, but I feel like if I plan things correctly I'll be able to push the rolling part of the course and come close to a marathon PR on race day! Here's the run course data: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/194847458
Overall Lessons Learned from the weekend: Wind blows, GU grumbles in my belly, 3 people swimming instead of 2900 people swimming is a lot roomier, hills on a run course are silly, horse stables smell like poo, peeing your pants is cool, and Frosted Flakes are Grrrrreat!
