Lake Placid Trip #1 2012

As I woke up in another hotel room this morning I thought to myself “I wonder when the last time these sheets were laundered”.  Then I realized I was once again in the land of swim, bike and run which is Lake Placid, NY.  A cozy little town nestled in the Adirondack Mountains which every summer comes alive with triathletes from all over.  This trip marks that fourth summer I have come to Lake Placid to do some type of training/relaxing.  It all started way back in August of 2009.  Having just discovered the sport and promptly signed up for IMLP 2010 I needed to see what I was getting myself into.  The lasting memory from that trip was the fact that I was on a new TT bike and the first loop felt good…but the second was hell.  I am not sure how much has changed since then.  The second loop always hurts!

Lake Placid is a comfortable place for me.  I know where things are and the good places to ride, run and swim.  In the summer months motivation and energy are plentiful due to the sheer volume of athletes in town.  I guess that is one of the main reasons I enjoy it up here so much.  Sure, the scenery is beautiful and mountains are majestic…but really it is the energy from all the people that makes the most impact on me.  Its the same reasons that Boulder, San Diego and many other training destinations are so popular.  The landscape and scenery are a bonus but the thing that matters is the fact so many people are around for constant motivation.

So while I continue to get back into it training wise having a little extra boost will be great.  It’s funny just how much fitness I lost form taking about 10 complete days off after the Boise race.  I drove across the country (sat on my butt a lot), could have ate better, didn’t exercise and really just tried to chill out as much as I could.  The first couple days after Boise weren’t hard since my legs were a tad sore from the Boise run and the driving was paramount to me getting across the country as fast as possible.  However, once back East and recovered I definitely had an itch.  Luckily the fact that I had a wedding last weekend made the time go by quickly.

Now that I am back a it, I am just astounded at just how much you lose when you back off a bit.  I honestly haven’t taken that much time off since last November after Florida.  In the long run it will be good for me as I have a full schedule over the next 4.5 months…and that is what matters.  And now that the first few workouts back are done I am confident that things will start getting back to normal this weekend.  At least I hope they will as my long ride on Saturday won’t be much fun if the fitness doesn’t return 🙂