It was a beautiful summer day in Lake Placid, which has been a rarity this year.  Among the rainy days and crowds of loud kids, this afternoon was a peaceful gem and I truly enjoyed water ramping.  The days where the option of training in your bathing suit and not a wetsuit are few and far between.  The sun was strong and the water, significantly warmer than the 50 degrees that it was at the beginning of the season. I set a new personal record for jumps in one day: 33.  This means I climbed 1,749 stairs in ski boots.  The prospect of a dinner with friends from grade school and a day off the following day gave m the energy to get through the long day. That and the 20 minute nap I take everyday between jumping sessions. Summer is short in New England to begin with and it becomes even shorter when I spend a month on snow between June and September.  For this reason, I treasure these special summer days and I savored the delicious outdoor dinner with friends who were in the area for a legendary Adirondack hike.

     Generally, my days of rest involve nothing worth writing about as I try to recapture as much energy as possible by sleeping, watching television, checking my email, and spending time with Lola.  Occasionally, I fit in a game of tennis which helps keep my blood flowing. However, my last day free from training was a special day in Lake Placid.  It was the Iron Man Triathlon where competitors, both amateur and professional, swim 2.4 miles, bike 112 miles then run a marathon.  This year, I decided to get myself up at 6:15 in the morning to bike into town to the Boathouse Restaurant overlooking the lake, and watch the beginning of this epic race.  Eleven hours later I returned to town to watch a few of the 2,200 triathletes of all ages and body shapes cross the finish line on the speed skating oval in front of the high school. It was inspirational and chaotic.  I am told that I missed the most incredible finishes as the last people struggle to cross the line before they stop the official timing at midnight.  I was long since asleep gearing up for my own marathon of training the next day.  I was under the impression that  I was training hard while I was here in Lake Placid, but I realized that the only thing I have ever done for eleven hours straight is sleep and that you can always be working harder. Several of the Iron men and women came to the show we put on weekly at the pool as a demonstration for our sport, and I am sure they probably thought we were crazy to be flipping upside down with skis on our feet and hiking the stairs to repeat the process.  Which is funny, because I was thinking the same thing as I watched them push through a seemingly endless race.  I guess it is all relative. 

-Hannah Kearney