Lake George Last Big Training Weekend Day #1

This past weekend marked the two week out mark from Ironman Timberman 70.3, so this meant I could throw the kitchen sink at myself and still have time to recover. I was up in Lake George, NY, which meant a perfect training playground to accomplish everything I needed to accomplish.

Overall, I accomplished more running and biking than anticipated, but fell flat on the swimming, which was fine because that was just icing on the cake anyways.

So on Saturday, the debate was to do 2 loops of a 24 mile course that was on the easier side, OR! do a 30 mile out, 30 mile back, 60 miler on some challenging terrain. What did I have to lose? I went with the 60 miler. When I told me uncle I was going to do that course, he did the eyebrows raise, "What are you nuts?" look. YEP! Here is the course:


And elevation:

Nothing that steep, but LOTs of looooooooong slogging climbs in the easiest gear just grinding it out

And power profile:

Notice the constant up and down? Thats the hillyness. I was either going up, or going down. Few flats.

So I did almost 60 miles in around 3:11:xx, for a mid 18mph average over some hilly terrain. The main road, Rt 22, was a 25 mile stretch without a single stop sign or stop light with a wide shoulder on both sides and perfect pavement. It was incredible!

I hit my wattage on the dot with a 192 average and my legs felt totally fried by the end. But! I threw on the running shoes regardless and headed out for a short brick.

I went 3.2 miles in 24:40 for a 7:44 pace. Mile Splits:
Mile 1: 8:06
Mile 2: 7:37
Mile 3: 7:21

So that run calmed my fears. I wasn't sure if last weekend was an anomaly-freakish-good-day or if I actually do run faster off of the bike. It really is that I run faster off of the bike. Phew! And the fact that my mile splits were getting down into the mid-low 7's after a MUCH more challenging 60 miler than the flatter 56 mile Timberman course has REALLY artificially boosted my ego and confidence. (aka I paced the bike perfectly)

Will report more on Sunday's efforts. Here is a poll for you: What do you think a run up a mountain called Mount Defiance would be like?