Another weekend of training is officially in the books and Deep Creek Lake Training Camp was a success. Deep Creek Lake is located in the beautiful mountains of western Maryland and is home to some of the greatest biking and running on earth in my opinion. Friday Jennifer and I drove from Pittsburgh and arrived at the lake around noon. Our first business of the day was a nice long open water swim. The swim was awesome and I really didn't want to get out of the water but it was time to go check into our rental house. Our house was a nice little cottage that had a great view of the lake. Our friends Jeremy and Jocelyn joined us later Friday evening for a full day of training on Saturday morning.
The morning came waaayyyyyy too fast and all I kept telling myself was that today would be one of the last "hardest" days of training before Ironman Lake Placid. And boy did the day shape up to one of the hardest I've ever experienced. The morning began with another one hour open water swim followed by coffee and breakfast at a local coffee and bagel shop. After we filled our tummies it was time for our epic bike journey through Savage mountain. The four of us started off together but it only took two miles or so before Jeremy and I broke away from the girls. I was looking forward to riding with Jeremy all week. Jeremy just qualified for Kona at Eagleman and is a very strong cyclist (and very strong runner and swimmer for that matter). I guess that would explain the "Kona qualification". :)
Our plan was to ride for over six hours, bike the Savageman 56 mile course and then we would add on another 55 miles on another course that I had mapped out. The bike course is truly beautiful as it travels on remote and scenic Garrett County roads and through Deep Creek State Park, Savage River State Forest, and New Germany State Parks. The bike course is just insane as it scales the vaunted Westernport Wall, and summits Big Savage Mountain.
The Savageman course includes over 5,700 feet of climbing which if you do the math is over 100 feet of climbing per mile (even though the first 20 miles are downhill).
That being said, after the 20 mile descent you scale the Westernport wall which hits 31%. Now they do have a bypass option which Jeremy and I considered, but as soon as we got to the bottom of the wall we just had to pedal up it. Sorry coach, no way to keep the heart rate below 160 for this hill!!!
Jeremy and I both felt really good the first 56 miles even though it took us 3 hours and 17 minutes. The next 50 or so miles I thought would be much easier. Unfortunately about halfway into the second loop we were biking directly into a 15-20+ mph headwind. NOT FUN!
We made it back to the house with well over six hours in the saddle and 111 miles total. This would be my seventh 100+ mile ride of the season. We transitioned to a short three mile run and called it a day. Today was another 8 hour training day and I really hope it pays off at IMLP.
Later that night we all celebrated the 4th of July with amazing fireworks on the lake.
Sunday morning we were up and at 'em at 7:00 AM. We headed to Swallow Falls State Park (where Jen and I got married in 2007) and did a 16 mile trail run from Swallow Falls to Herrington Manor Lake. The trail run was a great way to finish off a fantastic weekend of training.
The four of us are all doing IMLP in three weeks and I can't believe that we ONLY HAVE THREE MORE WEEKS. It's hard to believe that I've been training for this one race since I came up short last year, but seriously I have. Every day of my life the past 11 months has been centered around this one day. I'm looking forward to making the best out of it!
The morning came waaayyyyyy too fast and all I kept telling myself was that today would be one of the last "hardest" days of training before Ironman Lake Placid. And boy did the day shape up to one of the hardest I've ever experienced. The morning began with another one hour open water swim followed by coffee and breakfast at a local coffee and bagel shop. After we filled our tummies it was time for our epic bike journey through Savage mountain. The four of us started off together but it only took two miles or so before Jeremy and I broke away from the girls. I was looking forward to riding with Jeremy all week. Jeremy just qualified for Kona at Eagleman and is a very strong cyclist (and very strong runner and swimmer for that matter). I guess that would explain the "Kona qualification". :)
Our plan was to ride for over six hours, bike the Savageman 56 mile course and then we would add on another 55 miles on another course that I had mapped out. The bike course is truly beautiful as it travels on remote and scenic Garrett County roads and through Deep Creek State Park, Savage River State Forest, and New Germany State Parks. The bike course is just insane as it scales the vaunted Westernport Wall, and summits Big Savage Mountain.
The Savageman course includes over 5,700 feet of climbing which if you do the math is over 100 feet of climbing per mile (even though the first 20 miles are downhill).
That being said, after the 20 mile descent you scale the Westernport wall which hits 31%. Now they do have a bypass option which Jeremy and I considered, but as soon as we got to the bottom of the wall we just had to pedal up it. Sorry coach, no way to keep the heart rate below 160 for this hill!!!
Jeremy and I both felt really good the first 56 miles even though it took us 3 hours and 17 minutes. The next 50 or so miles I thought would be much easier. Unfortunately about halfway into the second loop we were biking directly into a 15-20+ mph headwind. NOT FUN!
We made it back to the house with well over six hours in the saddle and 111 miles total. This would be my seventh 100+ mile ride of the season. We transitioned to a short three mile run and called it a day. Today was another 8 hour training day and I really hope it pays off at IMLP.
Later that night we all celebrated the 4th of July with amazing fireworks on the lake.
Sunday morning we were up and at 'em at 7:00 AM. We headed to Swallow Falls State Park (where Jen and I got married in 2007) and did a 16 mile trail run from Swallow Falls to Herrington Manor Lake. The trail run was a great way to finish off a fantastic weekend of training.
The four of us are all doing IMLP in three weeks and I can't believe that we ONLY HAVE THREE MORE WEEKS. It's hard to believe that I've been training for this one race since I came up short last year, but seriously I have. Every day of my life the past 11 months has been centered around this one day. I'm looking forward to making the best out of it!
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3 comments:
Thanks for the shout-out/props Chad! Jocelyn and I had a great time as well, and thanks again for pushing me on that epic ride! We will definitely have to do another camp there. Btw, Bjorn did the bike last year in 2:36! Wtf...
sounds like another fun training weekend chad! i hope the next 3 weeks continue to be as good for you and jen :) must say i'm a little jealous! for now i'll have to stick to my lame 3 mile runs on soft surfaces hahahhaha
Hi Chad. My parents are moving to Deep Creek Lake at the end of the summer. Good to know there are lots of great places to train for when I visit them. Best of luck at Lake Placid!
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