After a good nights sleep, we had a good breakfast and headed into town to the athlete check-in for the race. The Athlete check-in was held in the new Lake Placid Conference Center at the Olympic Ice Rink complex. It was a pretty smooth operation and I walked right up the steps and was greeted by a volunteer who looked up my information and wrote my bib number(#234) on a yellow card. The funny thing was the volunteer actually new where Alburtis, PA. Turns out she was from Allentown and a member of the local Endurance Multisport triathlon club. She mentioned that she rides through our town frequently which is not too surprising since we are in the hub of some of the best cycling in PA. She then directed me back to the next station and wished me good luck.
Next up was the waiver signing station. A nice elderly lady with a southern accent then proceeded to rattle of a formal speech that she obviously had repeated hundreds or thousands of times over the last 2 days. When another guy came up next to me, she stopped and started over again to try to “kill two birds with one stone”. I signed my death waivers freeing the World Triathlon Corporation, the State of New York, and Lake Placid of responsibility in the event that I injure myself or croak during this event. Hope that life insurance is paid up!
Next up was weigh in. I am not sure exactly why they weigh you before the event, but I think it may be in case you dehydrate or something so they have something to compare to. I was able to ditch my shoes but I had a bunch of stuff in my pockets…had to be at least 5 lbs! Really!! Anyway the scale read 178! Wow…fat boy! I was 174 when I left home the day before. Hmmm. After that I was directed to a few more stations were I was given my swim cap, race number stickers, gear bags, and some swag consisting of a IMLP license plate holder and event poster. Finally, a race chip was programmed with my race number which I would wear on my ankle for the entire race so that my times are recorded along the course. On the way out another volunteer directed me down to the Ironman Store at the race expo in the speed skating oval to pick up my swag backpack.
I like how they force you through the Ironman Store to pick up your backpack so you go buy some more stuff. We poked around the store a bit, but never ended up buying anything. I have a bit of a superstition now of buying race garb before a race after the Ironman Pocono 70.3 incident where I purchased a race bike jersey and then ended up DNF-ing the race. Fortunately, we were able to convince them to let us return it. We walked around the expo stands that were situated around the speed skating oval. Nothing really that exciting. There was a big station of dairy council propaganda for the whole Refuel with chocolate milk advertising campaign which I have some major issues with. They are trying to pass off a sugar-laden, cancer promoting drink as some kind of healthy sports drink which is a bunch of crap. Just another of big money corporations trying to dupe the public into thinking something unhealthy is good for you. Ok, enough of that rant.
We headed to The Good Bite Kitchen in town for some lunch. Had some broccoli rabe soup and a broccoli curry for lunch. Really good as always. The Good Bite Kitchen is the only true vegetarian/vegan place in town and is always a must stop. It is tiny, but we never have a problem getting a quick lunch. We sat on the little bar outside the place and listening to all the triathlon chatter was starting to get annoying. I prefer to be away from all before a race and I was looking forward to being back to the house.
Next, we headed down to Mirror Lake beach and I headed out for a 20 minute swim in the lake. The Kid’s race was going on while I did that so there was a big crowd on Mirror Lake Driver watching that. Denise sat on the beach and read while I swam. The swim felt good and the water seemed to be the perfect temperature even with my wetsuit on. I cruised out 10 minutes, turned around and headed back to the beach in a little under 10 minutes. The swim felt effortless and it really restored my confidence for Sunday. I changed out of my wetsuit on the beach and then we headed back to the car in town. Finally time to head back to River Rd and get away from all the triathlon-ville banter.
Denise headed out for a head start on our afternoon bike ride, while I putzed around a bit back at the house. I ended up chatting with our host family for a bit and got a late start out. I probably would not catch up with Denise. It was another beautiful day. Our plan was to ride out River Rd to Rt. 86 and then follow the IMLP bike course in through town and then head back down River Rd at the ski jumps. I had received a text from Denise saying she was heading out farther towards Mt. Van Hoevenburg since she was really enjoying the ride. I also decided to go up to the Adirondack Log road just to extend my ride a bit too.
I thought I would catch her coming back but never did. I rode up the road to Adirondack Loj and took a few pictures of the mountains with my phone. I took a few minutes to reflect on the upcoming event and how happy I was to compete in an event in such a beautiful place. I then remounted my bike and cruised back down the hill and down River Rd to the house. A nice hour ride which also restored more confidence due to feeling so well.
We showered up and headed over to the Cowboy for some dinner. I had a black bean burger and sweet potato fries which is always good. They didn’t have the green curry entrée on the menu anymore which we pretty bummed about. Denise ended up having the Salmon entrée with a mix capers, olives and veggies on a bed of quinoa. Also very good.
Next, we headed to the Herb Brooks Ice Arena for the “Mandatory” Athlete Meeting. They had an athlete dinner beforehand which overran its time so we got to hear some of the leftover speeches from that. One of interest was the 5 members of the same family that were all competing in the race together. Pretty cool stuff. Each one of them dedicated the race to different people that have suffered recently. The other thing that was cool was that when I looked up at the scoreboard in the arena it had the final score of the US vs. USSR “Miracle on Ice” olympic hockey game posted…4-3. The athlete meeting was the same old stuff really. The only thing of note was that the weather could play a factor and they mentioned possibility that the swim could be shortened or cancelled due to lightning. Hope that doesn’t happen.
After the meeting we headed back to the house and off to sleep. One more day until the big event. I can feel it getting closer.
