Great training day in Lake Placid

Here is the deal.  I left Rochester at 8:30 at night and it is a 5.5 hour drive to Lake Placid.  I didn't want to load up on coffee because I was worried about sleeping when I needed to so I had a little Coca-Cola Classic (more on that to follow).  I drove about 1 hour past Watertown and then needed sleep.  Luckily there are a lot of pull-offs on Route 3 (which goes all the way to LP).  So at 1AM I pulled over and slept for 2 hours, then woke up and drove to LP, arriving at 400AM and I slept for another 2.5 hours in the Aubuchon Hardware parking lot (my favorite parking lot to sleep in).  Feeling rested, I woke up at 630 and drove to the municipal parking lot which happens to also be on the bike course.  I switched to my race wheels, packed my jersey with enough calories for one loop (56 miles), put 3 water bottles on the bike, and was off by 7AM.

It was only 50 degrees so I had a vest, arm warmers, cycling gloves, and calf guards on for warmth- it was a good combo for the beginning of the day.  I rode one loop of the course in October so, when I realized that I forgot the directions and map in the van, thought I would be just fine in following the course on my own.  Luckily there were lots of other "IM hopefuls" on the course too and it made the day much easier to have company here and there.  So, I made the first major turn in Keene and headed North on 9N and was looking for the left on 86 (in Jay) but must have been eating or zoning out because I missed it.  I was riding along for a while thinking "maybe I'm off course" but decided to ride around the bend in the road (I actually did this about 4 times) before I decided to pull over.  I wish I had a smartphone (but I don't) so I called Jen to have her look up the course on the internet but just as she was doing this, two other riders came along and said that we were on course. Great!  I hung up with Jen and caught up with my new friends and we were off on our misguided journey (although we didn't know it yet).  So, we were chatting it up- they were from Maine, 1st IM for Jeff, second for Carrie, etc... when we saw the sign for a junction to get on Interstate 87.  Interstate 87?!?  We were off course by a lot.  Jeff pulled out is iphone and found out where we were- a little over 16 miles off course.  Well, we took off our cool weather gear because the day was heating up nicely and headed back to the course- another 16 miles.

How could I have missed this?

We decided to skip the out-and-back section and instead followed the major loop back to LP.  This took us over some decent climbs but nothing crazy.  The problem was that by the time we were 10 miles from my van, I was out of food and water- not a huge deal but not ideal.  Anyway, instead of the first loop being 56 miles, it ended up being 75 miles.  I hit the van, refueled/refilled my bottles and pockets and took off for the second loop.  This time I made the turn in Jay- yea!- and did part of the out-and-back to see if the bridge (that is currently out) would be done for the race- I think it will.  I did the climbs again and they were a little tougher on the second loop and, again, I ran out of liquids as the day was heating up nicely.  I was hoping to do 90 to 100 miles on the bike but got a little over 121 miles in.  All done with the bike!

This is what a 6 hour 36 minute ride looks like on a graph- thrilling!

I stuck my bike and shoes in the van and switched into my running shoes and visor.  I was feeling a little over-heated so I dumped some water on my head drank my Coke from the night before (I told you there was more to come on the pop) an instantly felt like a new man.  Leaving the parking lot, I headed down to about the first mile of the course, turned around and climbed back up to the transition zone and headed down to the second turnaround of the run course.  All told, I ran 5 miles and my legs felt awesome- so stopping to stretch or tightness.  I think I might have my calf figured out, all I have to do is ride 120 miles on a hot day (with calf guards on) and they are fine.  Seriously, I think a big warm up helps them; I've moved my runs to the afternoons this week and it has seemed to help.

I took a quick dip in Mirror Lake to cool off and rinse the salt off and headed back to Rochester.  It was a great day of training.