IMLP - Saturday T minus 24 hours

Less than 24 hours until the cannon goes off for the 2011 Ironman Lake Placid. Shaun and I were up at 5 a.m. so that we could watch the Great QT2 Swim Off between Jesse and Mary (Pat -- in the khaki shorts above -- was there to help pace Mary, it didn't really work that way, Pat dropped both Jesse and Mary pretty early on).  The race was originally supposed to be two loops (2.4 miles) but because of time constraints they decided one loop (1.2 miles) would be more than enough. Winner would be the person who touched the yellow "No life guard on duty" sign first.  At about 6:20 a.m., they finally started and 27 minutes or so later they emerged.

From a few hundred yards out you could see Mary in lead with Jesse right on her feet.  Then with about 200 yards Jesse attacked and beat Mary to the shore.  Lucky for Mary, she had a little help and the sign was moved so Mary could touch first.  I just wish that I could swim as fast as Jesse and Mary.  A 27 minute split for 1.2 miles is fast.  After the swim off, we all headed to the QT2 team breakfast at the Crown Plaza.  I had the usual -- pancakes, two eggs over easy, an English muffin and a bowl of syrup (yes, a bowl).  It was good to catch up with people I haven't seen in a while and to hear Jesse and Tim give an overview of the Lake Placid course.

It was especially good to see Amanda Kourtz (below in the Red Sox shirt). Amanda is a wicked fast age grouper who is looking to race a low 10 tomorrow. If all things go well Amanda should be able to both qualify for Kona and grab her pro card. Pretty impressive stuff.

After breakfast, we headed over to transition to drop off my bike and transition bags. I kept the transition bags super simple. In my swim to bike bag: helmet, glasses, bike shoes, socks, race belt, number and thermo tabs. In my bike to run bag: running shoes, socks, fuel belt pouch with gels and shot bloks, banana and visor.

As always, I had a fantastic volunteer to walk me through the process and help me get everything in the right spot.

Once I was done dropping everything off, Shaun, Molly (Shaun's coach) and I headed back to the hotel so Molly could give Shaun a threshold test on the bike.  I got to lay on the bed and watch as Molly kept increasing the watts on the CompuTrainer.  Shaun is still pretty happy in the picture.  By the end of the test he didn't look quite so good.  Molly is an awesome coach and a really good triathlete, she'll be racing Ironman Texas next May and I'll be chasing after her on the run.

After Shaun's test we dropped Molly back off at her hotel and Shaun relegated me to bed for the rest of the day. Right now he's off doing his long ride and I'm trying to get the internet to work in the hotel room. Light dinner tonight and then early to bed. Tomorrow the wake up call is for 3:30 a.m. and hopefully I'll be done racing by 7 p.m.