Bike review: Coming from Miami, where bridges are considered hills, I was in for a real treat when I got to Lake Placid. I did a little hill training in Clermont, Florida, but never in my life had I climbed through/up a mountain. I read dozens (probably an understatement of the year as the week before the Ironman I was consumed with reading everything there was available about Placid) of race reports, and I’m so surprised at how terribly inaccurate 99.9% of them were, granted this is coming from a Miami- land of the flats- girl. For starters, all you mostly hear about are the bears- baby, mama, papa. To be honest, I have no idea where baby and mama were, and the only reason I knew I was at papa was because there were amazing spectators cheering you up the way. I get that they’re perhaps difficult because they’re at the end of each loop, but they were the least of my worries. In fact, the 3(maybe less) minutes it took me to climb papa was insignificant to me. But let’s start with the beginning of the course. Why does no one talk about the climb out of town!!!! Be patient. There are some steep, and slow climbs when you first get out of town. You don’t reach those famous descents (which were awesome by the way- incredible feeling for me to reach 45mph on a bike) until 11ish miles into the race. After the descent, you have “the flats” which I was surprised they were not false flats. Granted, it seemed like it was maybe 3-5 miles (sorry for not taking better note of how long that part exactly lasted). After “the flats” you have the out and back, which unfortunately we had some pretty strong opposition with the wind. Therefore, even though the out part was a gradual descent (stair steppy- little baby climbs in the mix but overall going down), it was hard to really gain speed due to the wind. Then the back part, yup you’re climbing back. There’s maybe 2 memorable climbs in that stretch, and by memorable not necessarily steep just long. Again, this is stair steppy too so you get some relief. Then, the WORST climb of the bike course in my opinion. Why has no one talked about the climb out (maybe in?) to Wilmington (I believe around mile 41)!!!! As soon as you make the right at the gas station after the back part, be prepared for a taxing climb. Long. Steep. Be very patient. Next come some “rollers”. Not what I would define as true rollers, more like medium length climbs, then a little descent. Lastly, the most mentally draining part of the course! The last 11 miles, ouch. Doesn’t look like you’re going up. But you’re going up! Mentally, very hard because you look at the speed and it’s slowww (at least for me it was between 7-15mph), but you don’t physically see a climb. The scenery is beautiful, I’ll give it that. There’s maybe 1 mile of relief in the middle, so that’s nice. But for me, it was a long solid hour climb that just ate away my time. And then the bears, which once again, very quick overhyped hills. After papa bear, you make a right, and there is another (maybe equally steep, just shorter) climb into town. You go around town (flat and lined with spectators), and then loop 2. No way to sugar coat it, this bike course is hard. Very hard. But if I can do it, anybody can. Train hard, and train with climbs, and you’ll rock it! And definitely save some legs for the run because you’re going to need them!

Run Review: Once again, I was definitely surprised by how the run was and what race reports said. Everyone talks about this crazy downhill at the beginning of the run. Yes, it starts with a descent. No, it’s not this long, scary descent that kills your legs. And yes, the run is hilly!!! It’s a stair-step fashion run, where you go up, then a little flat, up, a little flat, up, a little flat, down, a little flat, up a little flat, you get the point (perhaps I could have called them rolling hills). You run about 5.5 miles out, then 5.5 miles back (which on the way back towards mile 10/11 there is a very steep climb), and then you run around town to finish off the loop. When you’re running back into town, there are VERY STEEP inclines!!! Leg killers. I walked up the those killer inclines on the first loop, and then ran them on the second (wanted to make sure I could run another 13 miles after aka why I walked the first one). The last 2 miles for me of each loop seemed soooo long. Namely, part of that is those steep inclines, and part of that is an out and back in town where the out seems wayyy longer then 0.5ish miles (but thank gosh it’s flat). The end of the run is incredible! You run partially around the Olympic oval, and the crowd support is awesome!!! I saw many people sprint through that 0.1ish mile, and not acknowledge the crowd. My advice, ENJOY IT! Embrace the crowd. Give some high fives. Throw up your hands and celebrate. You just completed an Ironman!!! And an impressive one at that.