LP Camp

The campers arrive this afternoon. Camp officially begins this evening with an easy run at 5pm. Jeff and I however had a very busy day planned.

What is it about swimming, biking or running that is fulfilling? Sure, going fast on race day is fulfilling but what about the day to day grind of training is fulfilling? I'm sure there are many different answers here but I know that Jeff and I both had that deep sense of satisfaction after a day like today. It was cool to have a calmer day before the hecticness begins. Don't get me wrong - I love the camps but there is a lot of behind the scenes to pull these things off and the days are busy and long.

Jeff and I headed out at 6:30am to run some trails Jeff was familiar with that were close to town. They were very, very cool, taking us around parts of Lake Placid - not the village but the actual Lake. We then had some breakfast, caught up on some emails, and headed out for a ride. We rode down 86 and began the Whiteface climb. It was after 8:30am so we could only go as far as the toll booth which is a steady 3 mile grind. It was big time foggy - so much that you couldn't see that far ahead. It was dry though. I wanted to work this ride today. I hit the hill hard and felt good, averaging 385 watts for the 3.5 miles. What took 20 minutes to climb, took less than 5 minutes to descend. I then told Jeff I wanted him to work it the 11 miles back on 86 to LP. He's riding very well - all that 90+ rpm work he did this winter is paying off. For this section along 86 back to LP, I rode 2 minutes on, 1 min off. It's a great hard session and I felt it as I rolled back along Mirror Lake back to our hotel. It was one of those good, tired, hazy feelings that you get after hitting a solid strong effort.

We ran a few more errands and searched for a decent smoothie. That's the one thing this place is missing is a good smoothie shop. Kenny arrived and he, Jeff and I went for a swim in Mirror Lake. That's right, I began my swim training. This was my first swim since AZ camp. the water was COLD!!! But after 10 minutes, we were fine and moving along. Open water swimming leaves you feeling great afterwards.

A quick change and it was time to meet the campers for a run around mirror lake and off mirror lake drive onto some secret trails. A great introduction to camp run although the real fun begins tomorrow.

I usually don't hand out the agenda up front for camp. It's easy to limit yourself when you see a schedule in front of you that can look daunting. If it's Thursday morning and we're running, I want everyone focused on running, not that we still have a bike and swim to do that day and that we are riding 112 miles in a couple of days. I want them focused on the task at hand. The whole idea of camp is to free your limitations. However, I did pass out agendas because we have so much jammed into the next four days and I want people to plan with nutrition accordingly.

OK, that's enough for today. I'll make these more entertaining (hopefully) in the next couple of days but it's late and I need a few hours of sleep.

Cheers,

EH