Lake Placid 70.3 Race

The time is drawing near to join 2,000+ other athletes in Lake Placid, NY on a 70.3mile adventure. Fortunately I am a member of a three person relay team and only have to do the 1.2m swim. My goal is to beat last year's time when I was trying to complete the entire distance myself. That turned into a big fat DNF. My swim time was around 42 minutes last year, the ultimate goal will be to break 40 minutes this year. Not having to worry about hopping on my bike for 56 miles in the mountains and then running 13.1 miles should help my swim time.

My wife and two friends are attempting the complete distance. I will be able to go back to our rental house, shower, eat and meander out to cheer on the full distance competitors (and two members of my team). I'm kind of looking forward to that.

There will be nerves before the start of the swim, of course, but once getting away a couple of hundred yards into the lake I hope my breathing and stroke get into a nice rhythm. No one is allowed to swim over me, kick or elbow my face and no goggle fogging up problems. 

 

Jan and I swam in Canandaigua Lake many times over the summer and did a wide variety of drills and workouts in preparation for this race. I'm not a great swimmer, even in my age group I'm just average, but I've come a long way in ten years or so. When Jan first made me begin swimming in a nearby college pool I didn't know how to breathe with my head/face in the water and couldn't go 25 yards. I'm proof even old guys and gals can learn new sports.