Ironman Lake Placid : Official Thread (Page 75)

Though I haven't done the event, I've done the bike course a couple times.  My garmin readout for grades is similar to what Mikfinne reports on grades - mostly 4-6%, with a couple portions higher than that - and the placement is deceiving/killer.

Here are my basic mental notes:
- Don't underestimate hill coming out of town.  It's not steep/tall, but don't let excitement coming out of the swim make me burn matches unintentionally here.
- Miles 15-30 or so are all gentle downhill.  Very easy to get caught up in speed/power output that will result in burnout later on.
- Miles 33-33 very gentle uphill - not bad, but depending on wind direction could start being a PITA.
- Miles 33-38 are deceptive.  Mentally tend to be thinking of hills at 40+, so this can be a surprise.
- Miles 38-40 - last break, flat or slightly downhill
- Miles 40-55.  Spin fast, steady, high gear, maintain even effort throughout to keep from spiking.
- Miles 56-112 - hold on for dear life.

for the run:
miles 1-26: be glad I'm not on the bike anymore.

But thats just me. 

Not that it makes a huge difference in the context of strategizing where hills and such are, but that link is from an old route.  The new route goes out to Au Sable forks, turns around - and the old route extension has been cut short.  I think a bridge or something washed out.

Found a nice blog and course description that I'd thought I'd share for those who are newbies and not sure what they have gotten themselves into.

http://www.runningalife.com/?p=763

I echo this. The 'funny' thing is that the minutes people will 'save' on the bike by cranking on a downhill in their 11 or hammering flats on the first loop can easily turn into lost HOURS on the run. We will feel awesome during the bike, because we put in the work, it won't catch up to us until the run. I think I can set my 310xt to alert me if I am going too hard power wise, HR wise, pace wise etc. and I will be sure to set those parameters up for the race. Riding at 70-75% is going to feel easy because, well, it IS. I've heard the following quote a lot from seasoned athletes.... triathlon is ONE sport that many confuse as 3 different sports. Then you add transition into the mix.

Not to get off topic but how much do you work on your transition?? I bust my behind on the S/B/R just to give away MINUTES in T1 and T2. We are devoting training days to transition. It is the only part of the sport that you can work on in days, get very good at it and knock off significant time. Look at results of your previous races... I have... and if you run an 8min mile you can beat the 7:50 guy/gal out of T1 and T2... it can be a TREMENDOUS equalizer. Not to mention add frustration to your opponents.

Tranistions are important but in Ironman they are exteremly long!!  The avg T1 time at LP  is close to 7 mins T2 is much shorter. In IM I rather be comfortable first and I will make up the time I lost in tranistion. If you rush and are uncomforatble that will bother you the whole bike or whole run!!

If anyone is interested, myself and a few other triathletes are meeting at Lake Welch in Harriman State Park early Saturday morning and riding the 14-mile Harryman loop and then heading north on Seven Lakes Drive to climb Bear Mountain, then come back and do another 14-mile loop.  So total mileage will be around 44 miles, and close to 5,000 feet of climbing.  We are starting at 8 AM.  If you're interested, send me a PM. 

My one buddy who I am going up there with was coming down from Canada yesterday, and he stopped off and roade Whiteface Mountain, which you see (you don't rideon race day!) around mile 45 and 90 of the LP Bike course.  He took some incredible pictures -- note the snow at the top!!  It's 3800 feet of climbing in like 15 miles.  Crazy!!  The lake in the first picture is Lake Placid. 

yes, I agree with IM... I should have prefaced in sprints, DU's, OLY's maybe even half's... not so much IM. I have heard it is a cluster phuck, especially if you are a 1:20-1:40 swimmer

The only place I'll probably coast is the Keene decent everything else I plan on pedaling.

The Keene dscent is LONG 7 Miles however not that Steep you could pedal the whole thing, I suggest keeping weight on your pedals no matter what you do orelse you will get rocked due to the roads and the winds

As already mentioned, keep weight on the pedals. Yet, I do not plan on spinning hard down hill. If I am going to average 20mph, just an arbitrary number, and I find myself 'coasting' at 23, personally I do not see the benefit in hammering to keep 23 for a long time or even increase my speed to 25. The amount of effort it takes to keep 23 or get to 25 does not make sense for the amount of time you are going to be there. As a result, after adding all that effort up to the amount of time you 'saved' is going to hurt you in the long run (no pun intended).

I think we forget our training, our logs, our efforts when race day comes. It all happens so quickly. But if you have never hit xxx in power or xxx in speed or held xxx HR and on top of that have never run off of that, why try it in the race itself? Go into the race with a plan and execute that plan. Don't get caught up in what anyone else is doing or going to do. If we do that then we will be thinking of 5 different race plans and none of which will be yours.

I know there will be a time in the swim and the bike and the run in which I will say,"I can go harder, faster..." and I, personally, need to hold tight the reins. I think, again personally, that if/when towards the end of the run I can beat an even number... 12hrs, 12.5hrs, 13hrs, 13.5, 14...I will amp it up no doubt. I will, however, race within myself. I know my adrenaline will be PUMPING through my body and my efforts at first will seem easy, but that adrenaline will run out. I am not being debbie downer, I am just being realistic.

So, again my 2 cents turning into a nickel, my rule of thumb is going to be my race plan. At the iron distance I will not be disappointed if I left some on the table as I would in a sprint or OLY. Because, for me, leaving some on the table in an IM can help me from be on a table during or after the race.

I echo this last statement x100

The multisport expo came through Boston recently, and one of the items in the swag bag was a DVD by Endurance Nation talking about long course triathlon success.  They distilled things down to four basic points - one of which being execution trumps fitness in something like this. 

Much of the details are what Boo has been mentioning - you may feel you can go faster.  Dont.  The real race is between miles 5-18 of the run.  There is no such thing as a great bike split followed by a bad run - if you have a bad run, it means you did the bike too hard.  From mile 18-26 of the run, it's all about hanging on at that point because sometimes you hit a massive wall, sometimes you don't. 

The other thing I've found on descents is that I get massive adrenaline rushes while going downhill, and the peddling feels effortless.  Yet when I look at my HR - I'm way beyond Zone2.  Not good.  Much better to keep legs spinning loosely if the descent is that steep, and save the heartbeats for later.  Why burn matches to go 30 mph when you can just about coast at 27 mpg and save the energy?

(of course, having never done an IM, I could be full of crap.  Just repeating what wisdom I've gleened from others )

I've never done an IM either. Yet, as you, I have learned from others... especially those who made mistakes... I WANT TO HEAR THEM TALK!. Has anyone else here read people's RR from Placid?? I try to read a few a week... just google them or go to the RR section on here. wow, the knowledge you will gain. Maybe some do not pertain to you but some tips and tricks you learn from people's RR is amazing. I would rather cherry pick from 50 RR than read 5 and hope for the best. Try things out. Diet, exercises, rituals etc. Now is the time to experiement not 3-4 weeks out. 3-4 weeks out I want my plans in place and working those plans. Just as I will work my plan, if Trek came to me with a 9.9, Di2 Spartacus with a zipp disc and 808's on the front the week of the race I would respectfully decline.

Hello Dreamchaser...fwiw you can participate in a run or/and bike race up to the top of WHiteface.  The race has previously always been held in June but this year it is in September.  It is 8.0 to 8.3 mile to the top from the base of the intersection w/(I think route 86)...nice challenging race to put in your race plans.  http://www.whitefacerace.com/

Thepics do not do the mountain view justice....it is awesome at the top!  

what up my peeps?!?!? what you got this weekend?? This is my last long (training) ride for a couple weels. Duathlon next saturday and Triple T week after that...

4 hours tomorrow zone 2 for 3:30 and temp for :30 then 20 min run

sunday 1:30 run

Friday - Hamtrek Sprint Triathlon (525 pool swim, 9 mile bike, 5k x-country run)

Sat - 4 hr Z2 ride 30 min run

Sunday - 1:30 Z1-Z2 run & 1:15 recovery ride (Afternoon

Good Luck to all those racing!!!

Saturday 4 hour bike followed by a 45 min run

Sunday 1:30 run and 1 hour bike

Hopefully next Saturday will be my first Century ride if the weather cooperates

Weekend plans:

Going to try to have an easy week.  I tried that last weekend but ended up doing an 80 mile ride followed by a 10 mile run on Sunday. 

Will run 15 miles on Saturday and swim 100 laps.  Sunday going to do an easy 50 - 60 mile ride and then Im going to put grape jelly inbetween my toes and let my dog lick it out. 

Interesting massage variant...Ill stick with my hot tub. 

my weekend plans=a little of this -S

a little of that- B

and today i'll have done enough of that other thing- R