70.3 Plus 1 Minus 5

I have to say, Lake Placid is beautiful.

Sandy and I made it up here on Thursday with an uneventful drive. Well, Sandy let out her inner Jersey with a bump it, but that was about it. We headed right dinner and realized that it was not much cooler or less humid up here. Not 119 heat index like DC, but still, 90 in Lake Placid is HOT.

The first thing I did Friday was go the Mirror Lake for a swim. And it was beautiful. The swim course is known for being fast, largely due to a cord under water that you can see while swimming. This way, sighting is not a problem, and it's basically swimming with a lane line. And my swim was FANTASTIC. It almost felt like I had flippers or a sail.
The rest of the afternoon was spent prepping some cookie dough and making a full on carbo loading dinner for 22. Yay Sherpa-ing!

And today was my half. Lake Placid is a 2 loop Ironman. In other words it's a 1.2 mile swim, twice; 56 mile loop, twice; 13.1 mile run, twice. So, I decided to do my own half. With Coach's permission of course.
This morning, at 7 am, I got a ride with Alejandro to the lake and swam my 1.2 miles. And it felt great! 36 minutes and 10 seconds. If that was 'real', it would have PR'ed my 1.2 mile swim (Augusta doesn't count as it was point to point and faster than some of my Oly swim times!).

I walked the mile (the Plus 1) back to the house and quickly changed into my bike stuff and rolled out with Sandy, Laural, and Katie. My goals were to not get frustrated with myself on the hills (mountains), not let the fact that the other ladies were faster, and just spin.
For the most part, I was successful. I did take off early from the refuel stop, knowing the hills that were coming and they would catch me (which they did), but overall, it wasn't as bad as I expected. Whenever I thought about taking a break at the top of a hill, I finished (56 miles) and thought "that wasn't so bad", and kept going.
And the best part, the scenery. It was beautiful. I wish I could have taken a few pictures, but I was either going down the mountain, fighting wind, trying to shield from the sun, or going back up. Not the best time for me to take a picture. But trust me, it was gorgeous.

I made it back to the house, changed, washed my salt filled face and headed out for my run. I was immediately concerned when I went through my water in under 30 minutes. I filled up at a gas station and that hardly lasted either. And the run wasn't feeling good and I started feeling sorry for myself. Then something happened. I told myself "Amanda, SUCK IT UP! You ARE an Ironman, and you will be AGAIN!" And I stared power walking. I was still out of water so I changed my course, and started walking with a purpose. I made it to a corner store, got a Gatorade and water, and had a Gu. 5 minutes later I was on my way with a very slosh-ie stomach. Oops. I know better...
So I did the best I could with power walking, running when there was shade, and keeping my stomach semi-happy. I also decided that 13.1 miles probably wasn't the best and headed back to the house. I am 100% confident that I made the right decision. I was 5 miles short of my goal but super happy I even went out in the first place.

I rewarded myself with a large glass of chocolate milk and a long shower, until the warm shower, until the hot water ran out.

Now tomorrow, I get to sherpa and I am so excited. Karen, Alejandro, Dirk, Bryan, Janie, AJ, Toby, Travis, TJ, Phil, Emily, Sue - and everyone else, have fun. To quote something I saw on a car window today:
Swim like a fish
Bike like a train
Run like a Kenyon

CRUSH IT!