Staying busy in Lake Placid

Now that we are all settled in and we have made Lake Placid our home away from home until Tuesday, it's time to look back on the past 48 hours as we have been very busy! 

My train-cation started on Wednesday morning with a 1.2 mile swim in beautiful Mirror Lake. Oh do I love swimming in this lake. With an underwater cable to keep me on course, floating small buoys to break up the swim and lots to look at in the lake, I am reminded of how much I love open water swimming when I swim in this lake. After my swim, I walked back to our house (1/2 mile away) and got myself ready for my second workout of the day - a 75- minute interval run. 

Although I got a little warm during my run, it was nothing compared to the heat that I have been training in in Greenville. Plus, the dry air was so welcoming. I was running happy, despite working hard with my body.

WU: 20 minutes on the start of the IM run course
MS: 6 x 6 minutes as (#1-2 build by 2 min to strong. #3-4 2 min EZ, 4 min strong. #5-6 strong) w/ 30 sec rest in between. 

Steady effort back home

I just love this part of the IM run course (River road) as you are running by farms, which eventually turn into a flowing river and plenty of mountain views. 

The roads were semi quiet, with only a few Ironman athletes out training, so it was nice to enjoy nature while working hard during my main set. 

As I was finishing my run, Karel headed off for a 3- hour ride (joined by his friend from Czech for 1/2 of the ride) so that he could get out on the course and wake up his legs. While Karel was gone, I got some work done on the computer, while hanging out with still-exhausted Campy. 

Later in the afternoon, as Karel was resting and watching the Tour de France on the NBC Sport Gold app, I headed out for an endurance 2 hour ride. It was nice to spin my legs and to not have to focus on structure in a workout. 

So happy riding here in Lake Placid! 

I rode out to the new out and back section on the bike course and although it is a short section, it is so historic! I rode by the Olympic biathlon and bobsleeding courses - so cool! The athletes are in for a treat! 

You can see the Olympic ski jumps in the far distance. 

After my ride, I grabbed a recovery drink (Clif protein) and Campy and I walked with Karel to Mirror Lake so that Karel could swim a loop of the course. We bumped into Trimarni athletes Adam and Ariel (Adam is the host of the Intelligent Racer Podcast - check it out!) and it was nice to see the town becoming more crowded with triathletes. 

With so much fueling/refueling and snacking between workouts, I was looking forward to a refreshing dinner so I made lettuce wraps stuffed with rice, crumbled cooked tempeh and provolone cheese. Around 9pm, it was time for bed and it was a great night of sleep to conclude our first official day in Lake Placid. 

Thursday morning started with another swim at the Lake - not complaining, I love open water swimming at Mirror Lake! But this time, I was joined by Karel and we both swam together for 1 loop of the swim course (1.2 miles). We started out smooth and comfortable on the way out, swimming side by side and then after passing the two turn buoys (~25 yards apart), we picked it up - swimming from one buoy to the next as strong and then smooth. It was nice to have the big buoys on the course as we used those as our markers for when we would pick up the effort. Karel has improved his swimming so much over the years and it was nice to be able to clock 29 minutes with him by my side for a semi-comfortable 1.2 mile swim. 

Karel has been a great guide and translator for his friend Roman who is from Prague. This is Roman's first time to the US (and first time racing in the US) and Karel is enjoying speaking so much Czech (his native language) here in Placid. Although, I think his brain is a little tired because he often forgets to switch from Czech to English when he talks to me right after having a conversation with Roman. 

After the swim, we walked back to our house and I got ready for my ride. I snacked on a Clif Mojo PB bar as I started my ride as the first 20 minutes or so was very easy before settling into a rhythm down to Wilmington. I reversed the IM bike course and ended up in the town of Jay, where I started my main set of intervals. It was fun to be on the IM Lake Placid course and to reflect on my first time racing here in 2013 with Karel (our first IM together). We were living in FL and I thought the Placid hills were so hard! Although our Greenville training has strengthened our legs, the wind was a bit exhausting today on my ride - and you can never beat the wind, no matter how hard you try. At least the views were pretty! 

I didn't have much time (or energy) to take a lot of pictures so I took a lot of mental pictures as I was enjoying my time on two wheels.

MS:
6 x 8 minutes build to strong w/ 2 min EZ spin in between (In Jay, toward Keen and back)
20 min recovery/smooth
30 min strong (starting from Wilmington)

The wind was straight in my face for my first 3 intervals but I managed to stay focused and to remind myself how lucky I am to be able to do what I can do with my body. 

It's been good for me to have my own training to focus on so that Karel can spend the time that he needs to focus on himself, without me being in his way. I know there are times when he just wants to be alone so it's been nice to have our own time to do what we both need to do here in Placid.

When I returned back from my ride, I was exhausted and just crashed on the couch with my recovery partner Campy. Karel was getting ready for a 20 minute shake out run so it was nice to have a quick chat with him before he headed out for his run. 

Around 2:30pm, we walked up to the lake and met up with our small group of Trimarnis who are racing at Lake Placid (Chris, Adam and Heidi. Also Chris's fiance Michaela is racing her first IM here in Placid) and we gave them a course talk and last minute tips for race execution. Our athletes are very prepared and we are excited to cheer for them on race day.

After our talk, Karel headed over to registration to make his Ironman Lake Placid athlete status official (with a wrist band) and I walked through the expo to say hi to a few familiar faces at the HOT SHOT and Ventum booth. It was also great to see Clif Bar in the expo.

When Karel returned home, I was prepping some food for dinner (roasted potatoes with garlic, salt and olive oil) and he got ready for an EZ 1 hour spin with Roman. As you can tell, Karel has been keeping himself moving with a good amount of resting, just to make sure he doesn't get too stale for race day.

The past two days have been great and we are just loving our time in Lake Placid. The weather has been amazing but it's expected to cool off over the next few days, which should be a great thing for all the athletes who are training/racing here in Lake Placid.

from Trimarni Coaching and Nutrition http://ift.tt/2vp2U6i