My mini-training 'camp' weekend

My second 1/2 Ironman distance race this year is 4 weeks away and training is right on track according to my coach - Patricia Brownell - Apex Coaching Group.

My training partners were going to be busy this weekend - Janice Biederman was racing Lake Placid, Adena Schutzberg was going to CA for her new job and Linda Davey was racing Whistler 70.3 - so I decided to have a mini training camp for myself.  I was able to get a motel on the run course and right on Lake Winnipesaukee.  I mentioned my plans to my friend and traveling 'gnome' Dan McCallum and he was interested in joining me.  I talked to Peej and she made sure that my training plan took full advantage of the opportunity to train on the course.

Friday
Dan and I arrived at Lake Winni mid-afternoon and decided to ride the bike course before our swim.  Dan has never done this race so he was seeing it for the first time.  This was an opportunity to figure out where he was going to turn around and head back to the motel - the traveling 'gnome' forgot that he had a birthday party in CT on Saturday afternoon.

Sunset on Lake Winni

Last year at the beginning of the swim I had a bit of a panic attack, the buoys looked so far away that in my head it had to be more than 1.2 miles. My goal for this swim was to take some of that anxiety away.  I was glad to have Dan with me this time - he led the way and we stopped a couple of times so that I could take in the scenery but also so I could get a 'feel' for the enormity of Lake Winni.  The lake didn't disappoint - it was a bit choppy and there were a lot of waves from the boats.  When we turned around to head back to the motel we were battered about as it got quite a bite more choppy,  I had to breathe to my non-preferred side - which was really good practice.

By the way.... a local boater told us that they really like that we were wearing brightly colored swim caps and had our little buoys trailing along behind us.

Saturday
We decided to head out around 7:00 am to try and beat as much of the heat as possible and so Dan would be able to ride and have enough time to get to CT by mid-afternoon.

Before we took off there was a Lake Winni water ski marathon. It only happens one day a year, because the boaters have to get special permission - the boats go 70 mph (20 mph over the limit) and tow the water skier 200 ft behind them - 7 boats total.  They were a bit far from shore but we did see them as we were getting our gear together.

We headed out for our ride - and there is new pavement as you turn onto the street next to Sawyer's Ice Cream - which is a perfect post-workout stop.  I forgot how hard this course is, especially for someone who is not that great at climbing but it is what it is and at least the 'auto-pause' on my Garmin didn't go on.  Dan stayed with me for the first 15ish miles - when we hit Rt. 106 - where he headed back and I continued on.

I was pretty pleased with my ride.  My nutrition and hydration was spot on.  I stopped a couple of times to get more water, something I didn't do last year.  I also made a stop on Brown Hill Rd. - the scene of my crash at last years race - and Oz and I had discussion with the road and we came to an understanding that it wasn't allowed to knock me over this year.

I got back to the motel and headed out for my brick.  It was nice to see Brian Kearney and Kristin Lawhorn go flying by me.

Sunday

Pretty nice scenery

I headed down to Ellacoya for my run and walked into the park to the 'swim' start.  I spent a fair amount of time looking out at Lake Winni, imagining where the buoys are going to be and how far out they go.  Last year I had a bit of a panic attack because it looked like the buoys went forever.  After a bit I headed out to complete my run. 

Post-run cool down

I need to work on my post-workout nutrition.  My legs felt dead and I just didn't have any energy.  I pushed as hard as I could but had to resign myself to the fact that I wasn't going to hit my paces but I could enjoy running along Lake Winni and not let myself walk -  good race day training.

All in all it was a great weekend!!!