how critical (scale 1-10) is it to spend time on the LP course before racing?
I will probably be signing on to this, but I don't realistically see a weekend that I could make the trip to ride the course, etc etc etc. I know I'm doing myself a disservice, but how much, in your opinion?
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I did LP in 2015 without a previous visit to the venue. During the 3-4 days before the race, I paid attention to three locations on the course, two bike and one run, as well as the usual pre swim of the two lap course. The downhill into Keene was number one on my agenda---the quality of the pavement was important, as well as the length of the downhill. The "Three Bears" coming back into town was also useful to pay attention to. The rest of the bike course is pretty nominal. On the run, the hill into town from about mile 23.5 to 25 (also done on the first lap) is really the crux of the whole race. Having knowledge of your abilities there, as well as having enough in the tank to manage it at the end is critical. Luckily, it is right in town, so easy to get to.
Given your experience in IMs, especially in Whistler and Kona, I;d say you don't need to worry about pre-riding the course, assuming you can get out on those three spots 3-4 days ahead of the race.
gold. thanks Al.
@Dave Tallo Lake Placid and Wisconsin are the 2 courses I got the most benefit from actually riding several times before I raced them (vs. the other ~7 courses I've done where it would matter much less).
The Downhill into Keene is important to have ridden, but as a guy who likes to bomb descents, I didn't get all that much value out of practicing it because you only get the shoulder during training and you get 2 full lanes downhill during the race. Just bomb it and you'll be fine.
There are a whole bunch of "other" places on the course that are useful to have experience on, like on the 2nd half of each loop (little downhills or rollers, or varying stair stepping uphills) where experience simply helps you save energy and carry speed better. And even the many little punchy hills before you ever even get to the Keene descent.
However, it's still just a 112 mile bike ride, and you have a ton of experience racing IM, so if you can't make it to the course logistically, why even ask the question? Just go do the race, ride conservatively and crush the run. Lake Placid is an easy swim, and a hard-ish bike course, but it is ABSOLUTELY a runner's course... The hills into town are no joke. That's where that race is won/lost, not on the ~5 mins gain/lost from being slightly more/less efficient on the bike course.
@Dave Tallo - comments above are both right, but you can only do what you can do. I have done the race 3x and ridden/ driven the course numerous other times. After reviewing what you can find, feel free to ping me with any questions, we could also do a screen share and discuss certain elements. THE best resource of course is Coach P since he's an ace on this course and will be there too!
I am likely doing my own mini-camp 2 weeks before race weekend if you are interested in joining me. I could even grab you from and drop you off at the Albany airport.
1-dig up the old coach talks that Coach P did with screen cast of the course. the racing page below has the screen cast of the course changes and the old full course review.
2-on thursday before the race have someone (me & jill can help you out here) "ski lift" you to the top of the keene descent and ride it 3x without having to climb back up. assuming you will have a rental car, after we ride it 3x, you should drive the rest of the course.
http://members.endurancenation.us/Resources/MasterRacingPages/IronmanLakePlacid.aspx
@Dave Tallo I have raced there many times and I would agreee with @John Withrow . The knowledge of the course is very helpful to me. The Keene descent is a minor issue. 1 - The first 7 miles climb to the top of Keene descent, 2 - the three stair step climbs to Wilmington ( very well described in @Coach Patrick screencasts as @scott dinhofer recommended) and 3- the 10 mile return to Lake Placid (@Coach Patrick "ride the hard stuff easy and the easy stuff hard")can be done more efficiently and with less mental stress if you've ridden them previously. I would not say YOU couldn't do it successfully without pre riding and running the course. I would say that you would probably save at least 5 minutes on the bike course alone.
@ Dave Tallo How critical would you rank the Kona course on a 1-10?
For me I would say knowledge of the Keene descent and both the first/last mile of the bike course, would save a few minutes and increase the safety factor a lot.
@Dave Tallo Having raced and been on the course many times I agree the knowledge can save you time.
For me
1) Road surfaces change from year to year and doing the descent is good prior to.
2) As Rob mentioned there is a climb out of town that people hammer, give your experience and EN execution I don't expect this to be an issues but it is good to drive/see on the way out to the descent.
2) As mentioned the ride up to Wilimgton is a nice kicker, more for the fat boys in triathlon than Kona qualifiers but still good to see the sustained climb.
3) With bringing back the Haselton road out and back this does break up the climbing to Wilimgton and then the 12 miles or so climbing back in to town. If you can ride out of town counter clock wise and do some riding back in to town or drive the Three Bears as mention by Al that's important.
3) Given you like to coast on the down hills a little more than the average bear knowledge of the course could help with that. Getting some loops on the course could be invaluable to your riding strategy.
4) For the run Al's hit it the miles after the turning right off river road are key. It's net downhill out and then climbing back. I also find I get lost in the vortex mentally at 16-18 miles on lap two before the turn in the dark for me.
Having only done Penticton (DNF) and LP numerous times it's hard to quantify but over the years my 2 volunteer stints, 4X racing and 1 pre ride in 2003 provided invaluable knowledge to better execution which I finally hit in 2017, aligning with my fitness, not fast but good execution. I'd call it a 7/10 for me but again this is 225-235lb guy that should be racing Florida not LP so I need to be on point for the bike and not burn matches. For an experience guy like you still high up there.
If you are looking for minutes as I know you are those ~5 minutes saved biking, or 2-3' and more coasting on the bike leading to a better run are important and only you can quantify that. I'm thinking 5' on an IM course is higher than a 6-7 out of 10 to you. How much of this can you get before hand and soak in the week before hard to say.