Today is officially the first day of camp. We started by meeting at 6:45am for the short drive over to the trails that I scouted out earlier in the week. It was in the low 60's and sunny - perfect running weather. We ran 90 minutes on the trails. The turnaround of the run was at a damn on a lake that used Mt. Marcy, the highest peak in New York, as it's backdrop. I took a bunch of pictures, so hopefully Alan will post them soon! There are a ton of athletes that come up here to LP to train and they never leave the IM course. Don't get me wrong, it's great to learn the course, but this area has so much more to offer. This is something that I wanted to show everyone attending this camp. They all seemed to really love the run today.
Everyone ran really well also. We finished the run at a beautiful lake where we soaked our legs while downing some warm bagels. Soulshine Bakery here in LP makes a graham cracker bagel that is amazing.
At 11am, we headed out on our bikes to ride a loop of teh course (56 miles). Since most here are racing LP in a month, I wanted to break down each section of the course and discuss how to tactfully race it. On the stretch along route 9, I gathered everyone up and had them paceline, taking short pulls at the front. Most did well, but Jen Collister earned the days mvp for hanging tough when the line was broken down to only four.
The weather was ideal - cloud cover and light wind and low 70's. On the ride back up 86 towards LP, a thunderstorm rolled through and gave everyone a soaking, only to let up and have the sun breakthrough for the finish. We were going to ride more, but it was getting late and I still had a nutrition discussion to do and then a swim.
The swim was in mirror lake. I doubled my 2007 swim mileage today! My second swim thus far of 2007. I used my new Nineteen wetsuit which is by far, the best wetsuit I have ever swam in. Here's why: it felt very buoyant, especially in the legs which was great, and the shoulders were way flexible, but the main reason is the comfort. The neck is very wide and low and never ever chafed. Plus, I swam somewhat decent today! Swimming in Mirror Lake certainly helps.
We just returned from a fun dinner at Nicolas followed by Ben and Jerry's once again. I talked at dinner how I noticed today that many athletes here would benefit the most from working on their limiters/weaknesses, yet most continue to play to their strengths. It was evident that many are still fearfull of their weaknesses. Overcoming this would make the most significant impact on the success of these athletes.
Tomorrow I'll update on the characters attending this camp. We have a fun group here. Tomorrow is also another big day, so time to crash.
Cheers,
EH
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