Very similar to Tremblant but I find the hills worse as you don't finish with a fun winding downhill. I highly suggest taking it easier than you'd think on the baby, momma and poppa bears AND walk to two hills on your first lap of the run!

In! IM race No. 9.

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Sharon McN
@IronCharo
#TeamZoot
Clif Bar Pace Team 2003-2018

Any issues running a 90 front and rear disc? I'm 175 lbs, but will admit there are times when the 90 feels like too much in heavy winds. I'm reconing the course in a few weeks and plan on testing it out, but was curious if you had an opinion. First full in over 10 years, looking forward to an awesome day.

I pretty much ran that depth last year. I think it’s a mistake not to run it unless you really don’t feel confident with that front with a good side breeze.

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Editor-in-Chief, Slowtwitch.com | Twitter

I ran 808's both times I did it with no problem. I was always told when you start the decent you pass a lake and if the waves are white capping, hold on there are going to be cross winds. Its happened both years and usually on lap 2. No big deal really. Just hold on tight.

Anyone been to Lake Placid and ride the updated course? I'm trying to use Best Bike Split, but there are a whole bunch of versions of the course, and I'm not sure if any are accurate based on the changes for 2018. If anyone has a garmin file for the bike course, could you possible share it.

Down to just over three weeks - hope training is going well for all!

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Blog: http://262toboylstonstreet.blogspot.com/
https://twitter.com/NateThomasTri
Coaching: https://bybtricoaching.com/ - accepting athletes for 2023

We were up this past weekend for training camp.

In terms of what's new relative to the 2018 course:

• The out and back at the Olympic Center is the same as 2017. It is false flat down to the left hand turn, with a minor plateau to the turnaround in the parking lot. It is false flat back. It's a nice break-up of the slog out of town.
• You obviously turn left onto 86 in Upper Jay. This means the wall comes early - which should help with fresher legs each loop.
• You turn right onto Bilhuber Road. Pretty good pavement here, easy to go fast. You turn right at the bottom of a hill onto Haselton.
• Haselton out and back had been mismarked. The turnaround is before you get to the first house out there - this is why there's now the out and back at Whiteface. If you went past the vacation house on the left, you probably went too far.
• Haselton is nice on the way back until you pass Bilhuber Road. Then it's a grind for a ways until you can sight the turn back onto 86.
• The out and back at Whiteface is going to feature a mean little punch in the gut coming out of there, which you turn right back onto 86 for more punishment. You will be glad that you did that new section on the Quassy bike.

Although the changes don't result in much of a difference in terms of elevation gain/loss, I would say that it did make some of the climbing punchier - particularly that last bit at Whiteface. That's just adding insult to injury at that point of the day.


No Garmin file as I was playing a lot of hopscotch all over the place with bikes breaking down, rain, trying to support athletes, etc.

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Editor-in-Chief, Slowtwitch.com | Twitter

For PIacid was a DNS in 2010 (due to injury, but spectated and supported friends) ; Finisher in 2011 (current IM PR to date) ; 2012 - DNF (due to dehydration) ; 2016 - Finisher.

Weather conditions for those dates all started relatively cool, and got into mid 80's by the Run portion. I believe it was 2009 it poured rain THE ENTIRE EVENT - from start to finish. So as mentioned, weather is unpredictable.

Aside from what everyone else said, I'll add that the run from the Lake to Transition is longer than most races. Not a big deal obviously, but from a mental preparation standpoint I found it useful prior to the race to walk the distance from the Swim Out, down the path to Parkside Drive and then a right on Shore downhill to the Oval. The streets are lines with screaming spectators so it's fun, but easy to sucked into sprinting 2/10th of a mile run.

For the bike, if you haven't ridden the full loop, you'll be surprised how much flat there is. After the Keene descent it's all flat, except for one proper climb in Wilmington. This is a GREAT Course for a disc. This course is cake compared to Quassy. I couldn't even imagine doing Quassy course twice!

As suggested in a prior post, during race week I like riding the Bike course backwards. I ride around the backside of the lake - Mirror Lake Dr. (opposite direction of main st. in town which is crazy packed) Mmake a left onto Northwood Rd, Left onto 86, and take that down the Bear Hills, down to River Rd (Run Course) and make a right on River Rd and ride the Bike course. Turn around, and ride back up 86 -- back up the Bears. Great warm-up ride.

Other than that, if you have a family in-tow it's kind of disappointing in regards for kid activities. There's actually more kid activities in nearby Saranac Lake, mini golf etc.

If you have a mini kitchen and are looking for food, there's a really nice Hannafords Supermarket on Saranac Ave, a 10 min drive past Main St.

LP resident and kinda herd the cats here. Ask me anything if you'd like help to make this a great race. We are pretty stoked about the 20th iteration. Hope everyone makes it to the Welcome Ceremony on Friday where we will honor a bunch of people involved from Day 1 and 5 athletes who have raced every year since they partied like it's 1999....

Do you recall the gearing you used at IMLP and would share? Thanks.

I ride a 52/36 up front and an 11-28 rear. Rode 2 loops of the course 3 weeks ago. With the new course(Whiteface ski resort out & back), you may need a big climbing gear to get out of the ski resort. This loop adds about 200-300ft of climbing. After that you turn right, there is another big hill =(

I have the same gearing as you...good enough for the new course in your opinoin?

You should be fine.

To those of you who have raced Lake Placid before - Are clear goggles fine for the swim? My pair of polarized goggles are very leaky and I'm debating whether or not to pick up a new pair prior to the race. But if clear is fine, I might as well use the pair that I've been swimming in and am comfortable with!

Funny shit. Same exact issue. Jumped in the pool tuesday and had forgotten my clears. Pulled my polarized out (first swim with them actually) and leaky AF. Walked out of the pool looking like Bob Marley. Nuts. Hoping clear is cool and sending the polarized back to Tyr ASAP.

Ain't that the truth. There's a MyBikeSplit course out there and the Haselton climb is nothing wild, but avg of 5% for a bit which will def slow things down. That Whiteface "punch" sharpens to 12.25% for a quick shot. That outta zap even the strongest legs for a few minutes. It looks like it's a super quick segment, but still, up out of the saddle burning matches at that gradient.

According to Devanshish's IMLP guide here, seems like clear is OK: https://www.slowtwitch.com/...acid_guide_3785.html

But would love to get confirmation from anybody else who's done the course as well.

Bizarre thing is that my tinted goggles are the exact same model as my clear ones (Aqua Sphere Kayennes). Not idea why they leak.

I contacted Best Bike Split and they should now have a verified course up, and with it nearly being a week away, we can begin factoring in weather for their calculator.

Unfortunately I’m battling some peroneal tendon issues that cropped up this past weekend. The weird thing is that it started to hurt Sat afternoon, several hours after finishing my morning bike/run. I’ve seen a sports podiatrist and am getting EPAT & probably won’t run before race day. Biking, swimming & elliptical don’t bother it, so fitness shouldn’t degrade much. Really hopping run will be ok!

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Blog: http://262toboylstonstreet.blogspot.com/
https://twitter.com/NateThomasTri
Coaching: https://bybtricoaching.com/ - accepting athletes for 2023

I always use lightly tinted goggles. No issues with sighting, since there is a cable and a thousand feet to follow.

Thanks!

How important is sighting to this course? Of course everyone should be responsible for their own navigation, but it seems like you're basically just swimming in a big pack and playing follow-the-leader. If you're to the right/left of the cable by 10-20 feet, can you still see it underwater? I'm having trouble picturing what this legendary cable actually looks like...

That's a bummer. Wish you the best for a good race. I'm a walk/runner as it is, so I'm signed up for a long day.

I've always only used BBS for info, never for an actual race plan. I'm just using the free account at this point, so not sure how it works. Do you load the power plan gpx course file onto Garmin and then Garmin will set a target power for me to follow? So I can have fields for target power vs actual power?

The cable is about 5 feet under water and is used to anchor the buoys for rowing races. (cable is about 1/2 or 3/4 inch in diameter?) It's usually easy to see when you're about 5' to either side if not more. It's great to follow when training, but everyone wants to be on it during the race so a PIA. In the race I swim about 10 - 15 to the left of it, easy to see the buoys and avoid the scrum. Between the buoys you can sight off the mass of people fighting over the cable. :)

Sorry to hear about that. I've been desperately trying to rehab a torn labrum for the last three weeks - PT, cortisone shot and just today, acupuncture. I was hoping for a 12 hour finish (first IM), now I'm just hoping to make it to the start line. :-(

Super helpful - thank you! Given your description, not sure why anybody would want to be part of the horde fighting to swim over the cable? What's the advantage over swimming slightly wider to the side and just following the crowd?