This past weekend was another hot one and the heat even made it down to Lake Placid! On a race course more known for cool wet weather (they had had frost on Tuesday morning last week) it was a bit of a change to have temperatures in excess of 35C but a good test for everyone at the camp. The support car with cold water and Gatorade was a welcome sight for everyone!!
The camp started on Friday with a 90min bike ride to take a look at the final hill back into Lake Placid and then a loop of the swim course and some video analysis. The Friday night talk centered around nutrition; which was a key factor in the long ride the next day.
Saturday morning started quite early with a 30min swim at 6:45am,then on the bikes by 8am heading out for a 4-8hour ride. It was already hot by 8am and only got hotter as the day went on!! It was a great test of nutrition and hydration for everyone and a realization of how important salt pills can be. This was followed by a short run off the bike then a relaxing soak in the hotel pool. This was a challenging day for everyone but also a great learning experience. We had a great group dinner followed by a talk on Ironman racing strategies and then off to bed for some much needed sleep!
8am Sunday morning the start of the long run and it was still hot!! Despite tired legs and bodies from a big day on Saturday everyone had a solid run and got a good look at the Lake Placid IM run course. Most athletes enjoyed a nice soak in the relatively cool (’80degree’) pool. The camp wrapped up with an optional swim in the lake. It was a very successful camp with everyone getting in a huge weekend of training and learning a lot about what it takes to have a successful day at Ironman.
Some pictures from the camp are posted in the scrapbook section. We stayed in a great hotel right on the bike and run course and a 5min walk to the swim start, they had a nice cool pool to relax in after training and most importantly they had AC!
Guelph Lake I also took place this past weekend with NRG PT athletes Mike Apted and Adam Oliveira racing. Both over came some difficulties (Mike’s bag disappeared on a flight home that left him with only half his racing gear and Adam broke a spoke mid bike ride that required some road side repair) to have great days and both beat their time goals despite the extremely hot conditions! Congratulations!