T minus 2
They say that the weather in Lake Placid can change from minute to minute. That’s exactly what we’ve been experiencing up here this week. I woke up this morning at around 6:30 to meet up with a few friends for a swim in Mirror Lake. I looked outside and noticed that it was pouring, POURING, rain. My first thought was that I should just get back in bed… But this is not the time for sleeping in. I met up with Matt and Drew (friends from college; Matt is racing Sunday, Drew just did Coeur d’Alene and is here to spectate and cheer) and Jeremy. Jeremy’s also been blogging for this, his first Ironman. He and I have been emailing and communicating via blog for months now, but we’d never actually met in person. It was great to finally meet him! By the time we got in the water, the rain had mostly stopped and during the swim I even noticed some bright blue sky. My swim went well – I took it easy and did a couple short pick-ups. The lake is a joy to swim in – it’s clear and clean and pretty warm right now. Plus, the wetsuit makes you float without doing any work. It was all so different from swimming at Brighton Beach! I felt great in the water.
The rest of the morning was nice and clear and even sunny at times (see below, taken from the back porch of our house):
After lunch, my parents and Charlie and I got our stuff together to go back into town. Of course, about the moment that we were finally walking out, the rain started coming down. Undeterred, we pressed on! We spent a couple hours walking around town and checking out the Athlete’s Village. While we were there, the skies really opened up:
To avoid the rain, we ventured into the Ironman®-branded goodies tent. Damn, they put their M-Dot logo on everything! Of course it’s on the T-shirts and hats, but you can get all kinds of bags, water bottles, stickers, keychains, jackets, shorts, baby clothes, banners, you name it. I escaped with just a visor… for now.
The rain has stopped again, for the time being. The forecast for tomorrow and Sunday is pretty good, but I’m not worried about it. It’s something fun to think about and talk about right now, but come Sunday, it will be what it is. At this point, worrying about something stupid like the weather is just wasted energy.
Swim – July 20
Distance: 1.2 miles (2,112 yards)
Time: 34 minutes
Average heart rate: 116
Mirror Lake – one loop