Thursday
In order to get an early start on my work day, I decided to work from home on Thursday so we could get on the road to Lake Placid by 4pm. Due to some bad storms that day, Denise got out of work early, so we decided to get on the road earlier. It was a windy, raining drive up to Lake Placid for what would be my own little mini training camp for Ironman Lake Placid. My wife had driven the whole way up, so I had some time to catch up on some blog posts that I had not completed. We did have a bit of an issue at the Sloatesburg Rest Stop on I-87 when we pulled out of the enclosed parking garage and my bike clipped the hanging clearance guards, marked with the lowest clearance possible of the parking garage ON THE EXIT of the garage??? Really, why are these located on the exit of the parking garage?? Anyway there was no damage other than the brief panic we felt as we heard my bike clip them.
We stopped in Clifton Park, just north of Albany, at a Vietnamese restaurant for dinner called Saigon Spring. It was pretty empty when we got there, so we were a bit skeptical about it. By the time we left the place was packed and people were waiting for an empty table. Food was really good. I had the Curried Tofu and vegan Summer Rolls which were excellent. Denise had some Seafood Pho(big bowl of noodle soup)
The sky began to clear as we exited Interstate 87 and drove through the Keene Valley. With the dramatic clouds and the sunset it made for a beautiful welcoming into the Adirondacks. We arrived at the house around 9:15pm, unpacked the car and quickly settled in for the evening.
Friday
After a good nights sleep, we awoke and headed into to town for some breakfast at the Breakfast club, I broke a bit from my plant-based regimen for some Blueberry/raspberry pancakes. I would eventually pay for this later. We then took a cruise around Mirror Lake to find a Stand Up Paddleboard(SUP) rental place for Denise. The plan was she would rent a SUP and paddle around with me while I swam. She had never done it before, so we weren’t totally sure how that would go. We found a place called Placid Boat Rentals located on the narrow strip of land right between Lake Placid and Mirror Lake. Steve, the owner, was putting out a paddleboard as we drove by so we stopped in. He was very nice and gave us a great deal.
We then sorted out the transaction details, got changed into our lake gear and headed across the street to the portage trail where we embarked. Denise was on the paddleboard and paddling around the lake rather quickly. I snapped a couple pictures with her phone and by the time I was done getting myself together she was halfway across the lake already. So much for my lifeguard.
This little guy was hanging out on the dock while I was getting ready for my swim. He was pretty tame and let me get pretty close to him.
I slipped into the water off the end of the dock. It was pretty chilly. Even with a wetsuit on. We were at the far end of the lake, so I had a bit of a swim just to get to the Ironman swim course. By the time I reached the swim course buoys, Denise was pretty far on the other side of the lake already. I began my swim watching the yellow rope that runs below the course. The water was a bit cloudy this morning so it wasn’t as easy to see as I remembered. I was still sighting above the water as usual since I am just so used to doing that. I settled into my rhythm and cruised down the lake.
The water was pretty chilly. It must have been in the low 60’s(F) . My hands and feet were a bit uncomfortable at this point do to the cold water. I was wishing I could just hold them above the water and let the bright sunlight above warm them up. I pushed on and continued on to the end of the lake. The pancakes began to explode in my digestive system since I am not used to eating that kind of food anymore. I think the “inflation” of my wetsuit provided even more buoyancy than a typical wetsuit provides. Perhaps the USAT may want to outlaw these pancakes along with 5mm DeSoto wetsuits?
Why does Strava shorten my distance and lengthen my time? My Garmin said 1:24 and 2.44 miles when I was done, but Strava says 2.1 miles and 1:29? WTH? Ripping me off!
Denise finally caught up with me by the time I reached the other end of the lake near the usual starting point for the Ironman. We chatted a bit and then started making our way towards the other end of the lake. Denise tried to take some pictures of me with her phone, but the breeze blew her back towards shore as soon as she stopped paddling. I was in full gear at this point and my hands and feet were no longer cold. Maybe they were numb at this point. I took a look around when I reached halfway down the lake and she was still down the other end. I continued on.
I reached the other end of the lake and started swimming back to meet up with Denise who had made some progress now. We then made our way back towards the put-in dock, but Denise kept on paddling around. I glanced at my watch and saw I was ~2 miles now, so I thought I might as well go for the full 2.4 miles now. I then swam around the quiet cove part of the lake trying to catch her on SUP. I ended up with 2.44 miles in around 1:24. My goal for Ironman was around 1:20, so I think I can definitely hit that.
We headed over to The Good Bite Kitchen on Main St. for some lunch. I was starving, so I had some Kale and spicy Seitan Sausage soup, a Pinto bean Hand Pie, and then an Arugula stromboli. We enjoyed our lunch on the little 2-person bar on the outside of the narrow eatery. We entertained ourselves while we ate watching the food purveyor delivery man who was dropping F-bombs every other word with whoever he was speaking to on his Bluetooth earbud. Interesting character. After lunch we stopped down at EMS for some shopping for a little bit.
We headed back to the house and I geared up for a bike ride. I did a single, basic loop of the Ironman course without the out-and-back to Ausable Forks and Haselton Road. I also turned in at River Road and avoided the section into town. The ride ended up being around 38 miles which was perfect to get the legs ready for tomorrows’ long ride.
This canoe was floating down the Ausable River near the town of Jay as I was riding by. Seemed like a fairly decent canoe and there was no one to be found around it. It also had a branch laying across it.
I worked up quite an appetite with the days activities, so we headed over to the Cowboy for some dinner. They have a killer veggie burger and sweet potato fries. The only thing I hate about the burger is it falls apart so easily and I usually end up eating the bun and burger separately. Denise had a customized version of the Green Curry entrée which the waitress had given sufficient attitude about her substitution making. Regardless it was all very good.
We got back to the house and after watching a little tube, it was time to hit the rack. Tomorrow was going to be a big day.
