General
2022 IRONMAN Lake Placid Vegan Guide
A quick guide for all the vegan IRONMAN out there headed to Lake Placid in 2022
June 25, 2022
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A quick guide for all the vegan IRONMAN out there headed to Lake Placid in 2022
Since I’m neither a food expert or a local in Lake Placid - I’m going to preface this with, download Happy Cow. It’s the best vegan resource available and has hardly ever failed my wife and I while we are out searching for food. Download it here
Also, Lake Placid Tourism did a pretty great blog post last year on this topic, you can see that here.
There are really three categories of vegan options in Lake Placid; Breakfast/Brunch, Lunch/Dinner & Ice Cream… that’s right. We live in a world where vegan ice cream is so prevalent that it has it’s own category. If you are thinking, Ice Cream shouldn’t even be listed on a post like this - you’ll be up here for race week… which means the work is behind you. It’s time to enjoy the race week experience - and it’s ok to enjoy yourself now.
Lastly - this is not an exhaustive list. These are really just the options that I can talk about first hand. But I’ve linked to multiple other resources throughout that can also help in your search for a vegan meal.
As a vegan; the hardest meal of the day.
Located toward the “end” of Main Street - which really means the opposite end of Main St from the Olympic Oval (IRONMAN Finish Line). This is probably your best bet for breakfast.
You can view the entire menu here, but below are a few options or modifications to ensure you stay plant based.
As of June 25th, 2022 every one of the smoothie bowls on their menu is vegan (the Yogurt Bowl is not vegan).
Green Giant Smoothie Bowl
Acai Smoothie Bowl
Oatmeal Bowl
Very Berry Smoothie Bowl
Where the non-vegan options come in are with toppings. Vegan options are: Almonds, Craisins, Chia, Flax, Maple Syrup, Peanut Butter, walnuts. (On the hard menus the “chocolate cookie crumble” is listed as “oreo crumble”, when asked - they weren’t able to identify if it was actually brand name oreos or something else. So I’d avoid and go for the maple syrup if you have a sweet tooth.
You can heavily modify their egg sandwiches to swap egg for mushrooms to create a “sort of vegan” breakfast sandwich, but there is no guarantee on this. They do not make their own bagels, so making sure that the bagels don’t have an egg wash would be my major suggestion for taking this approach.
This one was one of our Main St vegan dining staples since we started coming up here in 2016, but they’ve closed their Main St location - and now are just a minute or two further down the road near Hanafords Grocery Store.
You can see all their items on their menu located here.
This is such a good option for vegans I would be doing an injustice to try to explain things here. No modifications needed to many items, do peruse for yourself.
Wraps, Sandwiches, Soups, Juice Bar, CBD and so much more. Listen to a interview with the owner here on the Yogi Triathlete Podcast.
I’m going to give away my biggest LP secret spot…
I’m a sucker for a good sub, hogie, grinder, long sandwhich… whatever your part of the country calls it. On mile 18 of my first IRONMAN I was climbing the steep hill back into town on the way to the finish line and my wife asked what do you want after the race… I said “There is a place called the ADK Corner Store about 1.5 miles back that way… I want a veggie sub”... She looked at me like I had three heads… but went to get one. See their menu here.
Also a great place to stop on a training ride and stock up on bars or electrolytes. It’s at about mile 1-1.5 of both the run and bike course.
White Sub Roll, Lettuce, Tomato, Onion, Cucumber, Roasted Red Peppers, Pickles, Green Peppers, Mustard, Salt & Pepper. ← Thats the secret.
3 Vegan options labeled right on the menu. No need for a big section about this one, they cater to us already. It’s going to be popular race week, you can put your name in on their website before heading down.
The menu has a “v” for vegetarian but there is a small “VEGAN” written next to the vegan options. Right now it’s a Buffalo Pizza, Jackfruit Sandwhich and a salad.
Check out the menu here.
This is a very popular spot IRONMAN week, if you are up here meeting people. It’s very possible they’ll suggest meeting up here. Options have fluctuate over the years, so I’m hesitant to write specifics incase it changes before race week. But right now there is a Curry Noodle Bowl that is vegan - in the past they’ve had some pretty creative vegan options.
Monitor the menu here.
Right on Main St (far end) and always has atleast two vegan options. Just always make sure, they have some “non-dairy” options that are not vegan. Vegan options have a “v” next to them along with being in the non-dairy section.
I was blown away to find this staple of Upstate NY to have non-dairy and label vegan options. I haven’t seen it available in their “freshly scooped” section but they do have pre-packaged in the freezer section.
Has a Vegan Dole Whip and is located very close to the oval.
So thats that, my quick wrap up of vegan options while out here in Lake Placid. You’ll never be able to stick to eating healthy, whole food plant based or raw this way - but it offers relief in those “emergency” situations. For grocery shopping, I suggest Hanafords which is a few minutes from Main St.
Enjoy race week and as always - contact me if you’d like to meet up!
Kevin is a Cyclist, Triathlete, and Runner from Newark Delaware. He has taken his lifelong passion for endurance and marketing and combined the two when he created Amos Digital.
