Epic Long Weekend

So it’s been way too long since I’ve written down what’s been happening in my tri training.  Work has been super busy, and I’ve been doing much more writing there so it’s been hard to get motivated to write more when I get home.  Anyway, here’s a recap of my Labor Day weekend and the days leading up to this weekend’s race, Mighty Hamptons Olympic Tri.

Labor Day weekend means one thing, and one thing only... Annual Lake George Camping Trip!!  This year we had a group of 12 heading upstate and we were all psyched for all the activities we had planned.  Friday night we got up there late after work, set up camp then told past camping stories with some beers.  It was pretty chilly out and the sky was clear so we had plenty of stars to do some “space class”.  heh - long story about space class so I’ll spare you here, but trust me, it’s funny!

Saturday BQ and I woke up early to do our long run of the week.  We originally had to do 18-20 miles but with Saturday’s activities planned out it didn’t leave us much running time.  SO we opted to do 10 miles at a slighter faster pace than our training pace.  The run was great, despite the first mile feeling extremely tough and slow.  We ended on a high fast note and when we got back to camp, the rest of the troops were up and had coffee waiting!

Our adventure didn’t end with a run.  Half of us went to Garnett Hill Lodge, which is where we go mountain biking.  Unfortunately, most of the bikes were out already so we had to wait.  Our bad luck turned into some really good fortune because we decided to go on a hike.  We hiked up to an old quarry and wound up climbing up these really steep rocks to get an amazing view of the Hudson River and surrounding mountains.  We felt like kings of the world up there!  It was a little scary climbing up and down but it was definitely one of the highlights of the weekend.

After we hiked back to the lodge our bikes were ready!  So we geared up and went racing down one of the easy tracks called Old Faithful.  After that 20 minute warmup we decided to tackle a trickier trail.  Yeah, tricky it was when the hard trail turned into a full blown swampy mess! SO we had to carry our bikes through the mud until it was safe to ride again.  After that trail, we were happy to spot one of our favorite lakes, the 13th Lake.  It was way too cold to go swimming so we just took a break then headed back up the mountain to the lodge.

After a protein filled cookout Saturday night we were all fueled up and ready to tackle white water rafting on Sunday!  Our guide was a really funny guy named Heath.  He was our guide 2 years ago and he was a blast so we all were super excited we got to hang with him again. 

Heath our guide

Miraculously we fit 12 people into a raft (plus Heath) and we were paddling down the rapids of the Indian and Hudson Rivers.  It was so much fun!!  So when you go rafting there’s some special calls Heath will yell out, like back left, paddle right! or hit the deck! (that happens when we’re about to hit a big rapid and we just have to hold on and make sure we don’t fall out).  One of our favorite calls of his, is Moon Left and Moon Right.  I’m sure you can guess what those mean!  Every single raft out on the river on Sunday saw our scarily white butts!!  It was hilarious!  We definitely were the most entertaining bunch and I am sure we had the most fun out there on that river!  

Once we got back to the store, changed and got warm, we needed a team picture.  Instead of a normal group picture, we climbed on top of the bus that chartered us back and forth, then climbed even higher on top of the rafts on the roof!!  It was kinda scary but it was hilarious!

After the 10 mile run I considered every other weekend activity “active recovery”.  I was sore from paddling that was for sure!

On Tuesday, I had a 10 mile tempo run on the schedule.  I was pretty nervous about it.  I woke up at 5am to get it done but I realized that it’s pitch black dark out and the sun’s not rising til 625.... yeah my run in Central Park is NOT happening by myself.  (Aren’t you proud mom??)  So I did the workout after work on the east river.  

The first 2 miles were “easy” then I was to do 4 miles at a hard pace.  Those 4 miles weren’t so bad, it actually felt good to stretch the legs and make them work a bit harder.  But the last 4 miles??  yeah, those were tough!  But I did the workout and I ran my fastest 10 miles ever!

So now It’s the day before the Mighty Hamptons tri and I’m gearing up to race!  Hopefully I stay calm during the swim, pedal fast and run faster!!  Have a great weekend!