3 day training weekend ideas

Triathlon Forum
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So i’ve managed to get myself a free place to say on Lake Tahoe for the 4th of july weekend. my next race is half vineman (july 31st). i will be up at the cabin friday evening (around 7ish) and will leave either monday night or tuesday morning. I’m planning on making a big weekend out of it, focusing on the bike especially. any suggestions on how to structure the 3 day block? I’m guessing all the swimming i will do will be in the lake, unless i can motivate myself to find a pool, which might be difficult after a long day in the saddle with a gigantic lake right across the street. :slight_smile:

as for my background, i’ve raced mostly olympic distance races, this will be my first HIM. bike endurance is probably my limiter, i come from a high volume running background. i race a little over 2 hours on flat olympic courses, more like 2:14 at something like wildflower. any help is much appreciated, i’ll leave any more details about my background if it will help!

Best,

Mike

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Ill be up in Tahoe this weekend too - wanna train together? Im looking to do a ride all the way around the Lake, and Id always be up for swimming.

Do you know the way around the Lake? You want to ask anyone on the list for preferred routes?

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There is a nice municipal lap pool in South Lake Tahoe (CA side), probably 2± miles from the CA / NV border.

I was just up there this weekend and it was beautiful. The elevation can be brutal on your body though. It is 6100+ Feet above Sea level. This can be quite a change on the system.

As for a route around the lake - it pretty simple and you shouldn’t have much trouble. Just keep turning to teh right (unless you go counter clockwise). It is 72± miles around the lake. For the Tahoe Century, you make a side trip out to Truckee and back.

Have fun.

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lived in tahoe for 2 years… here are some thoughts.

riding… the truckee to tahoe city to kings beach back to truckee loop is nice… good bike shoulder most the way… traffic will be bad around the lake especially this weekend… if you want less traffic, you can drive down to carson city. couple miles south of the hwy 50/395 intersection there is a bunch of retails (k-mart. etc.) park there and head down hwy 206, or Jacks Valley Road through Genoa, and south… nice farm country, some hills, but nothing too bad… main thing is traffic is pretty quiet. another good route is to park in Truckee, and head up old Donner pass, and down the back side… that is the ride for the Donner Tri…

swimming… good public pool in Incline Village. Also I thnk Truckee has a good pool… If you go to the beaches at Incline, there are some roped off sections so you don’t have to worry about boats. lake water will be nice and cold. can also swim at Donner lake…

running… i used to run the the Flume trail a lot… go to any bike shop and get a trail map… they can tell you where to find it… views are absolutely awesome. also any leg of the Tahoe Rim Trail.

anyway… just my 2 cents… i am jealous… have a great weekend.

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The ride up and over Mt. Rose is nice, and not as much traffic as around the lake. There is a recommended route around the lake that is safer. I forget if it’s clockwise or counter-clockwise, but it has to do with the fact that people drive while looking at the lake and not the road ahead of them. Can’t figure that out in my head, but several employees at two of the bike shops up on the north side mentioned this to me and a friend.

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have to agree with sojourner. as nice as it would be to ride around the lake… july 4th is when the tourist season really gets going up there. without a doubt the busiest weekend of the year, and lots of those tourists will be looking at the awesome lake views instead of the road. also parts of the lake hwy have no bike-lane or shoulder at all… if you ride around the lake… just be extra careful.

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…also…

Depending on what side of the lake you are on, and if you want to drive much or not, HWY 89 is pretty sweet. Either that, or it connects to some roads that are. I forget the exact details. I remember riding something we caught onto off the 89 and it goes a ways until it dead ends at a lake, I think. Right before it dead ends though there is parking where you can access the Pacific Crest Trail. I think it’d make for a nice bike/run brick if you were feeling like doing that.

Also, if you wanted a bike/run brick on the north side, you can hook up with the PCT up just before the summit of Mount Rose. Of course you can find it other places as well, but those are two spots I’ve accessed it on for sure that are also nice low traffic places to ride. In the case of the road over near, or on 89, it was a no traffic road. Absolutely incredible, except it was only about 10 miles long, but it connected with many other roads.

Maybe look up the route for the Death Ride. Isn’t that up by Markleeville, near where I’m talking about, Jago?

I’d bring a wetsuit if you’ve got one, that lake is really cold and if it’s an overcast day it wouldn’t be so fun to swim in probably.

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Head on over to Donner Lake / Donner Pass. You can do the course where they hold an Oly race every year. The lake isn’t nearly as cold as Tahoe and the ride up to Donner Summit is great. It’s a short drive (20 min??) from Truckee, but it should be a little less crowded.

Have you ever swam at altitude before? If not, have fun with the ass-kicking.

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tribear? do i know you?

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i raced the olympic last year. tough course, i’d prefer to stay somewhere i can get aero, i get plenty of climbing in my day to day training. and yes, swimming at altitude is a bitch.

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can find course layout and info on Death Ride at www.deathride.com.

as far as wetsuit in the lake ya… if it is cool and overcast, it won’t be a whole lot of fun without a wetsuit. you can tolerate it if it is hot and sunny. also… Pooks is right, Donner lake isn’t as cold, when I did the Oly there a couple years ago, lots of people went without wetsuits.

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I’m suprised Slowman hasn’t chimed in yet. Tahoe is his old skool stompin ground.

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Mike,

I spend about 20 weekends a year in Truckee and I’ve got to tell you, the 4th of July is ugly around the lake. Leaave VERY early if you plan to to the lake rim ride, too many people with cousin Fred’s motohome, who are learning how to drive it for the first time today, are out there. To be safe, take the advice of going over to Carson City and riding out there. If you are looking for a good hill climb, mount Rose is great.

Also, you are going to be in Mountain Biking Heaven and you want to road bike? Sounds nuts to me. I’d be renting a free ride bike and going ball out on the trails. Better yet take a day off and go to Northstar at Tahoe and rent a downhill bike and get a trail pass. Nothing compares to 40 miles per hour down ski runs on a bomber bike for thrills! They have sweet trails set up with jumps and everything.

If you are at the North side of the lake, stop in Carneilain Bay at the post office cafe for breakfast, it’s a great place to load up before a full day of riding. Take a trail run at South shore to fallen leaf lake area and pull up to the Rubicon Trail. An agressive mountain bike ride up ther Rubicon will put you at Spider Lake where you will be required to stop and do some of the best fisshing you have had in your life!

There is an outdoor pool at Tahoe Donner, day use fees apply and it can get crowded after 9:00 AM.

Nice Trail running out of Spooner Lake area near the UC research station. Fire roads, but very nice too.

The pacific Crest trail runs right by Donner summit on HWY 80. The trail running up there is great and it’s 7000+ feet so it’s a lung buster. My dogs and I run up there often.

I second the thought of doing the flume trail, but then again it’s a lot more fun to do on a mountain bike than running because if you run it you will be dodging yahoos on mountain bikes all day. If you decide to run it, do it uphill so you can see the buggers coming at you!

The lake is cold, bring your wetsuit if you plan on swimming in it. Donner lake is only marginally warmer due to the tremendous snowpack of this year. In fact be prpared for colder than usual nights. It’s been into the 30’s in the past few weeks and even snowed only 10 days ago in the high country.

About 20 minutes south of the South shore of Tahoe is upper and lower Blue Lakes. Trails from Upper Blue will take you back into some beatutiful places with not many people.

Have a great time, I’ll be painting the house and repairing a sprinkler system (oh joy)

Cheers, Karma

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i love the idea of mnt biking but i have to keep focused on the task at hand, half vineman. i happen to have a free place to stay which will help me focus on training. if i get a kona spot, i’ll take a week off, get myself a mountain bike, and do some fun rides in tahoe. until then, it’s time to ride the p3. :slight_smile:

mike