This past weekend we headed up to Lake Placid to ride the course and do some training. Lake Placid is quite a drive from here in MA. The car GPS says 5 hours, but with the stops for lunch and the ferry, it is longer. I did like going the way we went up through NH and VT and crossing the ferry. I travel on the Mass Pike so much that if I can go a different way just to see some different scenery it is worth it.
Saturday morning we were scheduled to head out at 7:00 am for our course ride. It was pouring, I looked out my room at 6:30 it was just coming down in buckets and I was not happy. My thoughts were, I’ll do one loop in this crap and that will be good. I just wanted to see the course and know what to expect. We waited until 7:30 when there was a tiny break in the rain and headed out.
Lake Placid to Keene – This is definitely one of the hardest parts of the course, you have to climb for 10 to 12 miles and then you have the killer decent. The decent in pouring rain is rather frightening, lucky for me it was dry the second time around because I was thinking after the first time and it was pouring that I wasn’t going to see that again until Ironman. I’m glad the rain let up so I could do it again in drier conditions.
Keene to Jay and Out and Back – This part of the ride is rather enjoyable and will definitely be the time to take in as much nutrition as possible. I’m sure people will be hammering away on this part of the course, but it seems to me that you would want to be in control here and save your legs for the next section.
Jay to Willmington – I think this may be the toughest part of the course if the first section isn’t. It is just a very long climb and steep in a few spots. I didn’t feel like I needed to get out of the saddle on any sections of the course so while I say that there are some steep sections there is nothing that you can’t shift down to an easy gear and spin up.
Willimington back to Lake Placid – This section is easier than I thought it would be, not that it is easy, but it certainly not as hard as other parts of the course. Coming through High Falls Gorge it is important to stay down in the aero position as you are going into the wind. Once through that section though there are few more climbs but nothing killer. The Bears are not bad at all. I didn’t even realize I had gone over them the first time.
The bike course is definitely a tough course and I will really need to pay attention to nutrition and keep myself from working too hard on the hills.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/94827005
Sunday morning we went out for a run on parts of the run course. The run is two loops like the bike. The run is pretty much a down hill followed by a long flat, easy rollers stretch and then back up the hill. I can imagine that the second time down the hill my quads are going to be screaming at me. I did 13 miles on Sunday and my legs felt a little heavy from the ride the day before so I didn’t try to push too hard. Kept my heart rate down except for the last push up the hill.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/95129794
Very happy I went up for the training weekend. The weather sucked for that first loop on the bike, but other than that it was a good time. It is so important to know the course you are riding and running or at least know the major portions of it.