Day Two Lake Placid Walkthrough

Early Morning Walk Through

We kicked the day off with an early morning walkthrough of the Swim Start and Transition areas. One of the most unique areas of the Ironman® Lake Placid course is the long transition from Mirror Lake to the Olympic Oval. Add in the different transition race set ups, the layout of the oval and you have some real learning to do.

We also reviewed the bike mount line area and discussed strategies on how to handle the quick turns and instant speed that comes with descending down to the actual course. This is, in my mind, the most dangerous part of the course.

I even got to show the campers our Race Morning Meet Up location and the top secret port-o-potty area that beats standing in massive lines. Camp pays for itself!!!

Mom and Baby Deer!

Riding Long…Again!

The plan was to ride two loops, but not everyone was on board with more mega-suffering. I got a verbal commitment for at least one loop out of everyone; their tweaks included 2.4-mile swim first, or a nice post ride swim all the way down to a short run in preparation for tomorrow’s final long run.

I personally decided to head off the beaten path and travel down to Lake Champlain for a different flavor of a century ride. The terrain is friendly to start, hard at the end and beautiful in between.

Here is my ride file: https://www.strava.com/activities/324732178

Yes, that’s a mountain behind a mountain behind a mountain with just one more mountain behind it. Like you used to draw when you were a kid! Epic!

Day Two Camp Lecture: Race Execution

This is by far my most favorite evening of the camp, as we get to discuss — even briefly — how much better it was to “Ride With Our Heads” vs “Riding With Our Legs.” Almost everyone had a story of improvement, with the most common theme being some version of “I was just about 15 minutes faster on my loop today than yesterday, and on fewer watts!”  In case math isn’t your strength, that’s a potential 30-minute savings on race day!

Once we were done high-fiving one another, it was time to review our Four Keys of Race Execution talk in preparation for the big day — and eat some yummy Team Dinner calories. I reviewed critical parts of the course and well as our overall big picture strategy. You can view the same talk live on race week, for FREE at the Main Street Movie Theater.

>> Learn More and RSVP here

Day Three Recap: The Long Run and Why “Camping” is So Critical

It was an early 7am start for the Sunday run, given the Lake Placid Marathon was in town for the weekend and was starting at 8am. This would give us enough time to get out of town and be heading back in before the lead runners swallowed us up.

Running the course in Lake Placid is just as important as the bike. The two key hills (Lisa G to the Pub and the Ski Jump) is just part of the mix…there’s also getting oriented to the rolling terrain of River Road. It’s a stunning course, with fir trees on one side and the Ausable River rolling by on the other…but it can be deadly as well. Net downhill out and uphill back, everyone benefits from experience on this part of the course.

After sending out the campers, I ran the outbound portion of the run and continued through on the final portion of the bike course over the Cherries and Bears for a solid 10-miler. I was pretty darn tired but interesting to see my pace was the same as it has been in 2013 and 2014 for this run.

Here is the link to my run file: https://www.strava.com/activities/325225990

Additional Resources

Not on the Team or not at Camp? No worries! We have great resources to get you up to speed even if you didn’t make the weekend.

For those of you who are not on the Team, please check out the Unofficial Ironman® Lake Placid Race 411 page, which has everything you need to know about the race.

We are also doing a FREE Lake Placid Race Strategy talk at the Main Street Movie Theater — Friday July 24th @ 10:00 AM. This is open to the public, so bring your friends. You can all RSVP here (capacity is limited): http://the4keysoflakeplacid2015.splashthat.com/

Want to Camp with Endurance Nation?

Check out all of our Race Specific Camp options online here. We run several key training camps each season; they are an excellent opportunity to meet the coaches, get familiar with your race course and build some critical fitness!