This is the grand-daddy of them all. Ironman Lake Placid.
Whether you are a pro triathlete, an amateur or a local racer with personal goals, this will test all your physical and mental faculties. If you seek the ultimate competition, where you can forget about the others and just manage yourself, welcome to one of the sternest tests in all of endurance sports.
However, the Ironman Lake Placid – This link opens in a new browser tab event, at the full triathlon distance, is very easy on the eyes and maybe that makes it bearable on the body. Very few Ironman competitions will offer athletes such eye-popping scenery as they will see in our part of the Adirondacks where the courses take one alongside lakes and mountains, and are lined with scores of supportive fans.
After spending weekend after weekend training on the three courses, well over 2,000 competitors will enter Mirror Lake on the morning of July 24 by 7:00 for a 2.2-mile swim. It’s actually two laps in the water, beginning and ending at the Lake Placid municipal beach.
Athletes swim toward the Mirror Lake Inn. So our hotel guests can either watch the swim portion from the comfort of their rooms, or come outside with a cup of Joe and see it up close. From a distance, all one sees are the flapping of arms and legs.
What you don’t see are the scuba divers who patrol the lake several feet below the surface. This is mandated by the nature of the race, where athletes don’t swim around each other. Instead, they go over the top of them. The divers make sure everyone is at the surface.
Once this leg is complete – they must be out before 9:30 – now it’s time for a 112-mile bike ride that covers all manner of uphill, downhill, slow speed and high speed roadways.
From Mirror Lake, the racers strip out of their wet suits as they jog down the street to the Olympic Oval for a change of clothes into biking attire.
From the oval, they head out of Lake Placid on Route 73 to Keene. Going past the Cascade Lakes down the Keene hill, they will reach breakneck speeds approaching 60 miles-per-hour. Upon entering the town, they approach the V-intersection and must turn hard left.
Hopefully they’ve stored up lots of energy going downhill because now it’s time for the long climb up Springfield Road. They will make their way to Ward Lumber Company in Jay, turn around, and head back to Lake Placid on Route 86. This is the half-way point which means keep going and do it again!
The bike leg concludes at the oval, marking the start of the full marathon at 26.3 miles.
By this stage of the Ironman Lake Placid race, the mind can take over the body. Athletes have all day to talk to themselves. It’s probably a fascinating psychological study – finding out what enables these athletes to strive past some discomfort, even pain, to reach their personal finish line.
The race shuts down at midnight. Anyone finishing after that will not receive an official time. At the other end of the spectrum, the top athletes in each class will punch their tickets to Hawaii for the World Championships in October.
Visitors to Lake Placid, not competing, will notice the influx of athletes by Thursday, July 21. Interestingly, very few racers depart immediately as many are too lame and fatigued to sit in a car or plane for hours at a time.
They will remain in Lake Placid for a few extra days with family, take in the sights, maybe visit some restaurants and eat some entrees that are forbidden on the training menu, and in general, decompress.
But prior to departure, there is one mandatory chore on July 25 for most of them – standing in line to register for the 2017 Ironman Lake Placid.
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Photos courtesy ROOST, World Triathlon Corporation