Ironman USA Lake Placid : Official Thread (Page 63)

Morning! Happy Memorial Day to you all!

Well I have made it to Vancouver. I live on the side of a mountain...literally. What goes down, must come up. My run this morning was brutal with the hills. You know when you watch the Tour and you see the switchbacks up the big mountain stages like Alp d-Huez...that is my mental image of where I live...not the the same extreme...there might be like 3 switchbacks compared to 21 but still...whew...haha. I guess that is my hill training taken care of for the next little while?

I went swimming in a part of Van called Kitsilano yesterday. There is a 137m pool. It is really cool and right on the beach surrounded by the mountains. Super cool!

Need to figure out somewhere to ride...Van is pretty congested and I'm in one of the burbs..so ya....I've got the trainer set up now incase I need it.

Have a good day everyone!

Hope you are alright!

Always lube the chamois, that way no spots get missed   Sorry you learned the hardway

mogulbumm - 2011-05-30 7:07 AM

mrbbrad - 2011-05-29 2:35 PM Did my longest run to date for this training cycle; 16 miles. Feel pretty good except for new blisters on top of and next to old blisters. Once that skin get irritated it's hard to protect it. I used duct tape but it pulled in some areas causing irritation. I haven't had blister issues since marathon training. Such is life

Ha! Did a 15 mile run yesterday (was supposed to be 17-19) and had to stop since my nipples were hurting so bad!  I forgot to bring my Body Glide stick and the cream doesn't work the same.  Didn't help that I've lost weight so my running shirt was a bit big (and sweaty).  I literally had blood running down my chest and had to run the last three miles shirtless (and be one of "those" guys....)

I will NOT make that mistake again!

Ouch. I must say this is one of the perks to having to wear a sports bra...I cannot relate but empathize: No fun!

Anyone? Also we don't have many hills around here to practice on.

always better to be over geared than under. You can always not use it.

Thanks for all the support, rode 80 yesterday after the crash. Bike seems fine, may need a few small adjustments with the shifting. Other than a bruised shoulder and hip I seem to be fine.

Hope everyone had a great training weekend.

Ryan, how cold was the lake?

yep.  You still have enough top end as well.  I'm trying to ride close to a 5:30 bike split and will have a compact 50/34 with an 11/25 in the back.  I practice climbing on 8-10% grades by me and it's always nice to just have the bailout gear when you don't want to spike the power too much.  You will be much happier not going into the red zone.

Happy Memorial Day!

Congrats Melissa on being a half M.D.  Dream Chaser hope that welt crusts over nice an quick !Dweeks hope you are ok after that fall.

I am sooo excited to report I rode the IMLP course on Saturday, yippee.  For this city girl, the fresh literally lilac scented air was like a surreal dream.  That place is pure magic.  On a less upbeat note  , I have never been on a bike that long and it was a little shocking and humbling !!! Yow.  The upside is that I was amazed how good my legs felt the next day (because they felt pretty crappy at the end of that ride) and at least they were in way better shape than a 20 mile stand alone marathon training run (which is the only thing I can really compare it to).  I ran 13.8 today and felt ok. 

FWIW, I have a compact in the front and a 12-27 (on a scrappy road bike at that!!), felt ok (and I am slow), and was interesting in that I think I used every single gear.  I am a little bummed because I don't think I will be able to take advantage of the descents as much as I could because I am quite a newbie cyclist and too scared to go too fast. 

Have a great day, kate

Hmmm... I always lube my skin directly and let the chamois worry about itself.

Thank you. This is just what I needed to hear.

Sweet! Wish I could get out there to practice.

So glad to hear that you enjoyed the IMLP ride. How long did it take you to cover the distance?

I'll be there in Mid-June to ride it.

mrbbrad - 2011-05-29 2:35 PM Did my longest run to date for this training cycle; 16 miles. Feel pretty good except for new blisters on top of and next to old blisters. Once that skin get irritated it's hard to protect it. I used duct tape but it pulled in some areas causing irritation. I haven't had blister issues since marathon training. Such is life

Sorry to hear about blisters issue. Maybe it's time to invest in new running shoes?

Hey Igor, it took me a looong time.... the ride was every bit of 7 hours and maybe 10 min? I wouldn't be scared for yourself, though, brother ... I am female, limited experience, on a scrappy road bike so I knew I wouldn't be rocking any great time (really I laugh when I think how I must look out there , with my rag tag equipment and all).  This seemed definitely scary slow (I was passed many times ) but I feel much calmer when I went to the results page of last year's race in the female 40-44 group that time was kinda MOP (or like back of MOP) so I'll take it.  I don't think I need new gears, slow as I am, because I am OK going up hills. 

Dream Chaser - 2011-05-30 10:12 AM

RJohnson1979 - 2011-05-30 7:19 AM

Happy Memorial Day! Just checking in from Lake Placid before heading home later on this afternoon. The training weekend up here was awesome and I'm feeling even more excited for the race after training on the course. Highlights of the course for me: the Keene descent (surprisingly since this was the part I was most terrified of) and the swim in mirror lake was freakin awesome.

Ryan

Great to here you had a good LP Training weekend.   What are your thoughts on the bike course? 

Thanks Bobby!

My general thought is that riding the bike course in LP made biking seem more fun and refreshing than it has felt lately on my long rides out of DC. The bike course is AWESOME!!!

Road Conditions: There have been a lot of storms, snow, rain, and flooding this winter and I was surprised about the condition of the roads. I wouldn't consider the roads I've been riding on to be great but they were much better than up there. 73 (especailly in the descent) definitely had sections where you needed to get out of the shoulder and into the road. Keene to Jay seemed to be OK and Jay to Wilmington was ok but Wilmington to Whiteface was pretty bad. I spoke with a local cyclist up there from Keene who warned us about the sand on the roads from all the repair work they're doing. Not a huge issue but I expected they'd be a bit better.

Scenery: I thought the course was just completely gorgeous. Loved the cascade lakes, following ausable river, and seeing whiteface mountain and all the scenery on that long climb. I've never biked somewhere like that!

Difficulty: I only rode 65 miles so I can't comment on the difficulty of the combined loops... but what I came away with was what I had been hearing - pace conservatively in the first 3/4 to leave room for the hills at the end and start of the 2nd loop. I was a little surprised about the level of difficulty coming out of town and on the rollers before the descent and was surprised by the hill coming out of Jay... probably because you have to turn and don't really have any momentum going up it. Just need to be mentally prepared for the climbing once you hit Wilmington and also aware that the climbing doesnt end at the start of the 2nd loop. I thought it was challenging but definitely doable!

Gearing: I have a compact 12/27 and this worked great for me. I defintiely used all the gears... there weren't any giant hills where I felt like I would fall over or need to get off the bike or anything like that - so definitely doable.

So I came away from it feeling great... The biggest mental hurdle for me was the descent and that turned out to be one of my favorite parts... should be a challenging, but fun bike!

Doug - Not sure what the water temperature was. Did you do Rumpus in April? It felt like that. I'd say probably mid 50s.

I wore a sleeveless suit, regular swim cap, no booties or anything special... just what I will wear on race day. Swam for 1 hour without stopping. It was cold at first but after about 5 min I got used to it and felt GREAT... the air temp was warm so that helped.

Was interesting to swim along the cable - I've never done an open water swim looking at one - For some reason I was picturing it looking like a giant thick metal elevator cable, not sure why... it was a bright yellow twine like string... I can see why its so popular to use for sighting!

On a side note, I'm convinced mirror lake has some kind of magic healing qualities. haha

Mid 50's - It was nature's ice bath lol...  Thanks for the detailed description!  I'm also going to run a compact and 12-27 (though toying with an 11-28 but not sure I like the bigger gear jumps).  Did you find that you ran the gears through the middle a lot or felt like you would need the 28 on the 2nd loop?

Yes it was! I did stand in it for 10 minutes after my run. Felt great! For me the 12/27 was totally fine for the first loop and I don't think I would need it for the 2nd loop. I didn't use those middle gears when I was in the small ring too much...

igorkiev - 2011-05-30 5:36 PM

mrbbrad - 2011-05-29 2:35 PM Did my longest run to date for this training cycle; 16 miles. Feel pretty good except for new blisters on top of and next to old blisters. Once that skin get irritated it's hard to protect it. I used duct tape but it pulled in some areas causing irritation. I haven't had blister issues since marathon training. Such is life

Sorry to hear about blisters issue. Maybe it's time to invest in new running shoes?

It's not the shoes; my socks got soaked from water and sweat at my HIM, and there was some pretty steep terrain so that created a lot of friction and blisters. Those spots never fully healed before I did 16 Saturday.

Respect...and for the record I never laugh at a bike rider. Slow is steady and steady is good. Always tell my family and friends to respect ALL bike riders and share the road. The fact that you had a courage to get out there and finish that ride is very impressive.

I read it in a magazine and can't resist to share it: "...Triathlon is 90 percent mental and the other half is physical." My wife laughs every time I say that, but I think it's so true.  

I am registered for this Fireman training camp. Will be my first with this group and based on all the reviews and feedbacks, I got the impression that it's totally worth a try.  

mrbbrad - 2011-05-31 9:12 AM

igorkiev - 2011-05-30 5:36 PM

mrbbrad - 2011-05-29 2:35 PM Did my longest run to date for this training cycle; 16 miles. Feel pretty good except for new blisters on top of and next to old blisters. Once that skin get irritated it's hard to protect it. I used duct tape but it pulled in some areas causing irritation. I haven't had blister issues since marathon training. Such is life

Sorry to hear about blisters issue. Maybe it's time to invest in new running shoes?

It's not the shoes; my socks got soaked from water and sweat at my HIM, and there was some pretty steep terrain so that created a lot of friction and blisters. Those spots never fully healed before I did 16 Saturday.

I hear ya man...in that case I use medical tape to cover any blisters I have and it helps most of the time...http://www.fixingyourfeet.com/Taping-for-Blisters.html