Ironman Lake Placid : Official Thread (Page 16)

Happy New Year - first day back after a 25day honeymoon.  Currently 20lbs over the target race weight.  Let the training begin (in a couple weeks)....

Hope you are all injury free....

12 miles on the treadmill sucks. But you know what's worse? 14 this weekend if the weather is lousy

I am just so afraid to slip and get hurt. I can deal with the cold, I just don't want to get injured. Again. I'm still taking tramadol for pain some days!

The TM at the gym is waiting for me

Hi Vets-

Couple of questions. I have done two HIM in the past two years and would like to crack the LPIM...what is the best way to get in the darn race? I have heard that volunteering helps but how can I sign up to be a volunteer? 

AND...since this is my off year (hubby has big events) any thoughts about training a year out? What do people recommend? 

d

The elevations aren't 100% scaled together, but just looking at it Quassy has a lot more undulating terrain while LP seems to be either up up up or down down down.  I think that constant change from up to down up to down makes Quassy a little more difficult than Placid terrain wise, but obviously distance wise LP deserves more patients.  Awesome charts, thanks

I didn't volunteer or attend the event last year, but stalked Active.com a couple of minutes before general registration opened and got a spot within the first couple minutes it was open.

However, here's a link to volunteer.  It doesn't open up until February.

http://www.ironman.com/triathlon/events/ironman/lake-placid/volunteer.aspx#axzz2H35g8Eyp

Hi deeomara - welcome to the group and to BT!

This will be my 3rd IMLP in a row. I registered online the first two years. In 2011 online registration was open for all of 10 minutes. In 2012 I did not register before the race as I was not sure I would want to race LP again. I registered online from my hotel room on the day after the race; registration was open for approximately 1 hour. Last year I did register the day before the race, but I heard registration was open online for several hours. So based on my experience, my best guess is that you would be able to register online the day after, but you would want to be sitting at your computer ready to go as soon as it opened.

All that said, I HIGHLY recommend volunteering if you can. I wish I had been able to as the race-day experience it obviously provides is tremendous. And you can incorporate some great reconnaissance training into your visit a year in advance. IMLP is a GREAT first Ironman.

As to training this far out? First, go back and read the last three year or so groups on BT - that alone is a tremendous resource that will allow you to race the course like a vet. You haven't really given much information about you that would allow specific advice (age, athletic background, current training, race accomplishments outside of completion, strengths, weaknesses, limiters, etc). For me (46 years old, training and racing consistently for 20+ years) I would be focusing on strength training targeted toward injury prevention (not mass building). Core focus first (Pilates, yoga) then isolateral bodyweight stuff (plyometrics, TRX). It won't directly make you faster, but taking the time to build up the appropriate strength to make you more resilient and less prone to overuse injury, which for obvious reasons will make you tangentially faster. Consistency is key to training for IM, and staying injury free is the key to consistency. Overuse injuries are probably the single most common thing that keeps IM athletes from showing up at the starting line. Also, if you have any weight issues that you want to work on, do it now - many have found weight loss and focused IM training to be counterproductive to one another.

Good luck, and keep us posted as to your progress. This is fun stuff!

Okay freaks ... how did week one go for those of you on a 30 week plan?

I managed 3.5 hours on the bike, 2h 20m for the run, and just over an hour in the water (3000 yds).
While I completed all that was scheduled by Fink, I'll be slightly ahead of those numbers now that my winter break is ending and I'll be back on my regular schedule.

Onward!! 

Still have my bike tomorrow (likely a bit over the 1 hour in the plan), but I was 70 min in the pool, 2 hours on the run, and should be 2.5 to 3 in the saddle.  At the end of training, if all goes okay, I hope to end up 66-75% of the prescribed swim times, 120-150% of the bike, and 80-90% of the swim.  (This is using the intermediate plan as a baseline.)  For me, the swim is something to get thru, but an extra 10 or 15 minutes of improvement is not a big target (I expect to swim a 1:25 to 1:35).  I really don't think it likely I will add a third swim workout, either, which I think is planned at some point.  The bike is a big area of focus for me, as I think that bike fitness can drag into the run and I am on the bike for the longest!  The run will be a bit under as I don't like to have training runs over 2 to 2.5 hours.  Too much wear and tear on my body.  

All that said, we are in week one.  Let's see what life brings!  

BTW, great earlier comparison between Quassy and IMLP.  It looks like Quassy will be a more difficult bike, which is great for preparation!

I agree with you on the swim.  It doesn't matter how much time I put into the pool I usually end up around the same swim time.  I except to be somewhere between 1:10 - 1:15 and that little extra time you gain for IM doesn't make too much of a difference over the 140.6 miles.  I actually put 0 hours into the pool this week, 2.5 hours running, and 2 hours biking.  I have another hour bike tomorrow.  I was sick this past weekend and took tuesday and wednesday off to get back to 100%.  I'm not too worried about it since I did a good amount of base building over the past 2 months.

Thanks! That was immensely helpful.

I decided to do a marathon this fall and so I will be training for some Olympics and maybe a half IM but the focus will be the marathon.  For info purposes 42, Mom of three, full time job, and I am race timer on the weekend for a computer racing/ scoring company so not a lot of free time! I am in the base phase for marathon, and still swimming and biking on the trainer- obviously still thinking ahead.

Planning on volunteering at LP and doing some IM camps prior to the race. Looking forward to being full of iron..instead of half full! 

Will go back and read for sure. 

It is more expensive, but one can sometimes get into an IM event via a Carmichael Training Camp; I am pretty sure you get an entry if you pay for the camp.  Not positive on LP specifically, but may be an option if you are willing/able to pay for it.

I live really close to the Boston course, so I try to make my long runs coincide with the training programs', which are mostly Saturday.  I love to feed off the energy!  Someday I will do another outright marathon...at least it would be easier gearwise for a while.  Do those of you that do marathons regularly do so because you are more runners, or you find it to be good for training?  Just curious how it impacts your tri training.

I've been a life long runner, and have run marathons for a long time. I was injured last summer, so I bought a bike to keep fit. One of my cycling partners suggested I might as well learn to swim, so here I am.

For me, I'll be running beyond the time suggested by the Fink competitive plan ... today's long run, for example, was a 12 miler ... which is the minimal I've ever done for a Sunday run while not training for a marathon.

As for how it will impact my training ... that remains to be seen. I may end up backing off the run miles a bit in order to really nail the bike training. I've always been a single sport athlete, and IMLP will only be my third formal tri race (one sprint and one Oly this past summer). So the balancing act is all pretty new to me. Thankfully, I learned a while ago about the pitfalls of pushing too hard, and I'm pretty good at backing off when my body tells me I need to. I'm very appreciative for the time in the pool and on the bike that allows me fitness without the impact that running provides.