Camp Totals

Yes, I'm still alive, but I've been too tired to post! I'll put up another post soon, but here are the camp totals

Bike: 371 miles
Run: 49.3 miles
Swim: 31,168 yards (it was a meter pool)

Total time training:

39 hours

Now it's time to sleep

:-)

Jonnyo camp Day 5

Smartass coach had to go to an emergency meeting in Washington today, so it was officially Jonnyo camp today.

We arrived at the pool to Jonny explaining our swim set



As eager triathletes, we all ran to gear up and were ready for our swim in a jiffy!



Of course, being a former IMer in high school I was psyched to get in some quality fly:



But others in our group weren't so good, and Jonny had to lay the smack down on Will:



Then we ended the day with more triathlon swimming:



A quick change, a ton of food and an hour later and it was time for our ride. We were given strict instructions:

3 hour ride Zone 2 with
20 minutes low Zone 3
20 minutes high Zone 3
20 minutes low Zone 3

No drafting!

So we followed his instructions strictly with Khai as our fearless leader:




The funny thing about this pic, is that 8 miles down the road Khai actually broke the crank arm right off his bike! I told him he needs to take it easy... bikes can only safely hold so many watts!

But seriously, after we took this pic we were all off on our own for a 3 hour sufferfest. The sun was BRUTAL today and it was quite hot. And cranking out 1 hour of zone 3 work is quite a challenge when you're going long. But it was a challenge that I really wanted because I desperately wanted to guage my bike performance for Oceanside. The first 5 or so miles was easy zone 1 as we got to the highway and I decided that I was going to do my intervals at minutes 30-50 (low zone 3), 1:10-1:30 (high zone 3), and 2:10- 2:30 (low zone 3). As I started pushing I was amazed at how quickly my average speed was increasing. 16...17...17.5...18...18.5.... then the second interval....19...19.5... And then I had a goal- Get to mile 30 before I hit 1:30. That would put my average speed on the highway at about 21-22mph. I pushed the hell out of the second interval and just about tossed my Cliff Bar (I actually considered learning the art of hurling off the bike) when my odometer rolled over 30 miles right when the interval was over at 90 minutes. Yes!

But then I was spent! And when I turned around I hit a headwind. It really wasn't that bad, just a good gust every once in awhile to keep you honest. I had to will myself to do the third interval. I was so tired! And 2 minutes into the third Z3 I ran into Will who was chilling and told me how he just thought he was going to hurl as well. At least I'm not the only one!

I was SO happy to see the odometer roll past mile 56 with minutes to spare before 3 hours. Especially since the first 5 miles were easy. It shouldn't be too hard to do my half IM bike comfortably in under 3 hours if everything goes well. It's really hard to go through the winter putting in countless hours on the fluid trainer with absolutely no way to measure progress. Don't get me wrong- I'm no speed demon! I'm the slowest cyclist at the camp, but I have NO problems with that since I'm in such amazing company.

When we got back from the bike everyone was spent. Since Judy and I didn't have a run scheduled for the afternoon, we went out for huge burritos. We felt a little guilty for our indulgences so we went and took some pics of the guys on the run and served as a moving water station for big Will, our running buddy, and Andrea.

Then I ate more food.... 2 bowls of Captain Crunch Cereal (the healthy high fiber stuff has been a little too... um... high fiber for the camp), half a baguette, and a nectarine. I'm like a freaking eating machine. It's sick really. Don't anyone worry that I will waste away. I'm sure that I'll gain weight this week. But the last thing you need to do is let nutrition get behind you when you're in the middle of a 25-30 hour training week. I don't need to get sick before my race!

Bonus pic of the day... the start of our long run from yesterday. Paulo made us run it at Zone 5:

Smartass Camp Day 4- flat part deux and long run pain

Oh, man it was a long night. Who would have thought that exercising a bazillion hours a day would have you tossing and turning for 8 hours? Well after finally falling asleep at 5am it was time to get up at 6:30 to get ready for the swim. Well I realized what may have been keeping me up... I was STARVING! I did remember at one point in the middle of the night having the distinct urge to go grab a Cliff bar, but I'm so sick of those damn things that the thought passed quickly. So when I got up this morning I parked my butt on the floor with 2 giant bagels and a jar of peanut butter and ate until I was nearly sick. Welcome to Smartass camp.

The swim this morning was an uneventful 2700 meters. I shared the lane with Dave and Miranda and we just cranked it out without too much enthusiasm. After the swim we had to quickly get ready for the ride. Smartass coach had suggested that maybe I skip the bike since I looked like such crap from my restless night, but since it was just a 90 minute Zone 2 ride I figured what the hell...

Well, a mile into the ride I got another surprise from the bad luck fairy. I'm riding along, minding my own damn business, when bump, bump, bump, bump.... ugh. The tire was FUBARed. I stopped and luckily Will R and Will W stopped with me to fix the tire. The tube hadn't set properly near the valve and it was bulging out of the tire. I was probably less than a minute from tire explosion. Thankfully we were able to get it fixed on the fly.

So now there was only one problem... By the time I was up and rolling I was riding with 2 pros and 2 solid age group men who were all set to do Zone 3 intervals. Good stuff. Dave was nice enough to ride his warm up with me and then off he went hammering out his set. I figured it would be fine because we were doing an out and back and the rest of the group should be heading back shortly and I could jump back with them. This is where the fun began...

I was riding along not paying attention when all of a suddon the group went flying by me in the other direction.

Ok, I just have to turn around and catch them.

But of course this happened to be at the busiest section of road so I had to continue in the other direction for a good 2 minutes before I could pull a U-turn. By this point I was a good mile behind the group.

So here I am, by myself with a sketchy tire situation and no tire levers with the nearest group 1 mile ahead and gaining distance.

Time for a hammerfest!

I started riding like there was no tomorrow. When I started the pursuit my average speed for the ride was 17 mph at mile 12. With my basic math skills I figured that I would need to ride 4 mph faster than them to catch up in 15 minutes. Hmmm... can I do 23 mph? Well, I figured out the answer was yes... in zone 3... and after 20 minutes I was going to be friggin SPENT! I caught up with them at mile 20 and my average speed had increased to 18.8 mph by that point. Holy hell!

I was so trashed when I caught up with them. Thankfully Khai was nice enough to spin back to Paulo's with me because I don't think my body was up to any more intensity for the day, especially with a 2 hour run on the schedule!

After the ride we force fed ourselves pasta and went to take a 45 minute nap and then it was already time for the run. No rest at Smartasscamp.

When we started the run along the Rio Grande it was hot and we were tired. But we forged ahead. The run was just like any other 2 hour run I've had except... no treadmill or 7 layers of clothes WOOHOO!!!!

The only downside to the run is my foot. I've had a nagging pain on the inside of my foot just below the ankle. The nagging pain turned into a real pain at mile 9 and now I'm praying to the allmighty triathlon gods that I don't have a stress fracture. Damn it! Just when I was getting the hang of this training thing. Thankfully Sophie comes in tomorrow so I will enlist her ART help for an opinion on the matter. I think I'll be skipping the trail run tomorrow evening just to be safe.

Your moment of zen...

Smartass Camp Day 3- The Flat

I woke up this morning way before the alarm... again. Once you get used to getting up at 4:45 am it's really hard to break the habit. Ate a ton of food for breakfast- peanut butter toast, a nectarine, a bunch of cereal and 2 cups of coffee. Again, not the greatest of meals before a long training day, but I eat pretty much anything I can get my grubby little hands on right now.

I felt like crap when I started the swim today. People were passing me like I was doing the survival float- anyone who has gone to open at a pool at a major University with a prominant engineering program will understand that gem of a stroke.

Then I got to use swim paddles for the first time ever. How I managed to go through my life without using those dreadful torture devices I'll never know. But my happy swimming life ended today with 5 x 400 meters with the paddles. Smartasscoach got more daggers from me today in the pool after my third set:

So how do you like the paddles?

I hate them- they hurt my fingers

Good. Go!

And I lost my 30 second rest. Bastard

But the swim got better as I went along and finished with a negative split 800 meter swim led by a pro. Good stuff!

Then it was off for a wonderful bike ride. Nice and easy Zone 2 34 mile ride in the 65 degree no wind air.

Pre-ride pics:







We started and I was so happy to be out riding again. I can't really explain how much I love my bike. I will miss it dearly when I have to ship it to Oceanside next week.

Anywho, I start the ride totally stoked and riding in front of the group enjoying the hell out of my day when I heard an all too familiar sound. pfffttt... pffffttt....pffffttttt

Please, Please, Please- tell me that is just something rubbing on my tire. Please! And right as the group rolled by me, my front tired rolled to a flat.

Sons of bitches!

I yelled out- Who has a pump! I'm flat!

And my savior Miranda came to my rescue. She is about the sweetest and most enthusiastic person I've ever met. She was awesome and helped me fix the flat as the entire group rode off. After having more troubles with the flat than expected, we were off to enjoy the ride. And let me tell you... that girl is a friggin rock star! She pulled me along for 32 miles at 20 mph in her comfy zone 2 pace. I can only dream of that! Everytime I lost her wheel my heart rate soared into zone 3. So I was stuck like white on rice to her back wheel for 1:40. But it was a great time and I found a kindred spirit in Miranda- another crazy overachieving girl who is never quite happy with her performance. But watch out for her at IMAZ because she is going to rock it!

Here we are after the ride:



What the boys do after workouts:





I got back a little tired but the ride was wonderful. The next workout for the day was a killer run. Here is what was in store:

30 minute Zone 2
30 minute build to Zone 4
10 minute cool down

Holy shit that was a tough run. Probably my hardest run of my life. Could have something to do with the fact that I trained 4 hours Saturday, 5.5 Sunday, and 3 already today... but my legs did NOT want to run in zone 4. It was a struggle, and I was cursing the sand, cursing Smartasscoach, cursing my trail shoes... but I made it.

Then I went shopping, made jumbalaya for the boys and am ready for bed. Tomorrow is going to be

H...A...R...D

So if I survive, I'll write tomorrow

Smartass Camp Day 2- The long ride...

Camp Day 2 here in Las Cruces and it was our first epic day. On the schedule:

4 hour ride (no intervals- just ride) with 20 minute transition run

1 hour swim

I haven't been on a four hour ride since September- but my memories of that are still fresh- A metric century with Daisy Duc in the 50 degree rain. It was painful to say the least. So as I awoke this morning to see the sky clear and the temps already in the mid 50's with a forecasted high of 73 I was stoked to say the least. And to top things off, the wind was predicted to be light.

Score!

We all met over at Paulo's at 8. Judy and I went early so I could set up my water bottles. I had one large and 2 small bottles on the bike with a 2 large bottles in reserve in Paulo's car for the halfway point. I threw 3 gels in pocket and we headed down for our pre-ride briefing.






The air was crisp, but I know from all my rides with Janet, that as long as it's at least 50 in the morning, sleeveless is the way to go. I live in friggin Cleveland, it's not like I'm going to freeze my butt off in 60 degree weather. It feels like a sauna when it hits 70.

So off we went heading on a twisty turny ride lead by Jonny out to our main road for today's ride. It was a bit confusing, but we made it. However, we soon realized one thing... about that calm day?... Yeah, um... not so much. The wind. was. brutal.

Once we got to the main road it was Judy and Khai and I and we decided that if we were going to make it back in one piece we had to share the work on the way out. So every 8-10 minutes we rotated who had to pull the group. Want an idea of how windy it was? We were going 16 miles per hour. When I was in the lead my HR was about 170. As soon as I fell to the back in the draft, my HR fell to 130. It was crazy. And it didn't get any easier. At about 1:55, just before our turnaround we hit a hill and a HUGE wind. Judy's powermeter hit 291 watts and we were going 14 mph. damn. When we came up upon 2 hours, Paulo was like an oasis! Eureka! We can turn around! We got to him, haggard, worn out, and what did he say?

Hurry up- this isn't a rest stop- GO- Keep going to 2:15 before you turn around because your return trip will be faster

I'm afraid that if looks could kill, Smartasscoach would have seen his last day today. So we went ahead. It was my turn to pull (dammit) and we moved on. The winds picked up some more, and we came upon 2:15 what seemed like 45 minutes later. OK, let's see what this wind can do.

Well... now I know how it feels to be a pro. I haven't had that much fun on a ride. Ever! As SOON as we turned around we hit 25 mph and never looked back. At one point we were going 28 mph with our heart rates steady Zone 2. And the crazy thing was- no wind. None. Know what that means? We battled 28 mph winds for 2 hours and 15 minutes. Talk about mental toughness. Sheesh.

The entire time on our main road we held over 20 mph and we were feeling fresh. Our spirits were high. We were triumphant. Until....

Hmmmmm...

What was the name of that road again? Uh oh. This is not going to be good for our speed limit average. Ok, so I'm not exactly good with directions. Or really direction, for that matter. I'm lucky I know which way is up most times. So we got horribly lost for about 10 minutes before we just went on faith and turned down a road that looked kind of right... and let me tell you- it's not the attitude you want to have when you are 3 hours and 30 minutes into a ride. But alas- we made it.

Back to Paulo's in almost exactly 4 hours with getting lost and stopping at a ton of stoplights in the last 2 miles.

Total mileage 71 bike- 2.1 transition run

What triathletes look like after a workout like this:








I think we ended up with about 18 mph average if you don't count our getting lost and stopping at lights. Not too shabby when you have a 28 mph wind to contend with. A short transition run of 2.1 miles and we were on for the third event of the day...

lunch!

I consumed more calories in one sitting than is really safe or necessary. A 9 inch turkey/bacon/avacado sandwich. One tip for the vegans out there that go back to the land of the carnivore. Don't try this at home. Please. I got to do a 3000 meter swim workout with about 4 liters of gas in my stomach. Damn, I was buoyant.

One last thing... We did the best swim set ever tonight.

20 x 50

5-6 people per lane

All leaving at the same time

There were elbows and fists and waves and...

I loved every minute of it. It's called- triathlon swim.

Day 3 starts at 8am in the pool, so it's time to get some Zzzzssss.

Training Camp Day 1

I'm tuckered. It was an absolutely marvelous day in Las Cruces! We started the day by heading to the 50 meter outdoor pool at 8am. I got to share the lane with a Jacqui, who is a very sweet pro-triathlete. We pounded out 4500 meters in about an hour and half. I kept up with her quite well for the first half, and then she started kicking my boot-ay. Our set looked like this:

800 warm up

200 (50 just left arm, 50 right arm, repeat)

200 (3 strokes left, 5 strokes normal, 3 strokes right)

200 (single arm 50, swim 50)

Main set

500, 400,300,200,100

twice

20 seconds rest quickly turned into 5 for me as I tried to keep up with Jacqui. I swear that damn pool got longer and longer as the set progressed. One day I'll catch the jerks that are responsible for that. It was tough, but wonderful to be swimming long course again.

We then went back to Paulo's and regrouped for our 2 hour ride. I ate cookies and a cliff bar (my nutrition is top notch, let me tell you) threw on my sleeveless tri-top- Yes, SLEEVELESS! It is that warm here. And we were off.

Paulo was nice enough to ride with me as I was quickly dropped by everyone in the first 30 minutes of riding into the New Mexico wind. I'm pretty sure that both my tires were flat. Yeah, that's it.... But when we turned around with the wind at our backs, the tires magically re-inflated to 120. It was a rare miracle of cycling... My new bike feels SO wonderful on the road. So yes, it not only looks HOT, it also rides well. Of course, next to Jonny's hot pink bike, Mike Honcho looks rather vanilla. I can't believe how comfy it is in the aero position, though. Paulo actually gave me a little grief for spending TOO much time aero. We came back into town a bit early because of the tailwind on the way back. We ended up averaging about 18.5 mph, which is A-OK for me for the first ride out this year :-)

Then it was veg-out time where I ate as much as I could stuff in my face (more cookies and leftover tacos... again, my nutrition is friggin awesome) for an hour and then laid around like a zombie until 3:00pm when the girls came over to visit. And then it was time for our run clinic.

Paulo gave a nice talk about improving our running and the important things to keep in mind when out on our runs this week, and forever more. It was very interesting and helpful. Thankfully, my roommate Judy came in in time for the run because we are perfect running buddies. Yeah, like I'm going to run with Jonny whose Zone 2 pace is 6:40 miles. Uh huh.

We headed out on a 50 minute run into the Las Cruces trails. Have I mentioned we're at altitude? No? Well, we're at about 4000 feet and you can definitely feel it. Well, if you're anemic you can. It's not that bad, you just feel winded at a slower pace than normal. I'm hoping that this might help out my anemia by increasing my Epo production a bit. We'll see. It's a little too low to have a real effect. But when I'm draggin ass through my 4 hour ride tomorrow I can blame it on the altitude. Man, if this was at sea level, I'm sure I could hold 20mph!

When we got back from the 50 minutes, we did 8 strides at a fast pace while Paulo critiqued our form. That was nice. I get so tired of running slow all the time that just to run fast for 100 yards or less is a nice change of pace (pun wasn't intended...). Of course, fast is all relative when you're a snail like me.

After the run it was time to get ready for our group dinner. It was italian, which I love, but since it was buffet style and everything had dairy in it, so lactose intolerant me had to order pasta with red sauce. I am apparently not evolved enough to handle lactose. Maybe 1000 more years of evolution will help out my germline. Thankfully there were 4 of us, so it wasn't just me being a pain. Here are some pics from dinner

Judy and I

Jonny Showing Coach Paulo how much he loves him

SmartassCoach himself

Group Photos!

More tomorrow if I can prop my eyes open to blog after our 4 hour ride/ 45 minute run/ 1.5 hour swim...

Wish me luck...

:-)

Prelude to a camp...

I leave for camp on Friday!!!!

I can't even describe how excited I am about this. Even more so when I woke up to a zero degree wind chill here for my 1 hour run. But you know what? I REFUSE to go to the gym to do this on the treadmill. I'm done with the hamster wheel. I just can't even bear the thought of getting on that thing. So I will bundle up, and I will run outside, and I will think of Las Cruces, NM, where the 10 day forecast has temps in the 80's every day. Yes, my whiter than snow skin is going to see the SUN.

I will run on the trails

I will swim in the 50 meter outdoor pool

I will bike.... OUTSIDE

I will.... possibly not survive the volume. Holy moly, is it going to be a tough week!

Let me give you just a taste. Here's my weekend:

Saturday:
1-1.5 hour swim
2-3 hour bike with zone 3 work
1.5 hour run technique clinic with strides

Sunday:
4-5 hour bike with 30-45 minute brick run
1-1.5 hour swim
Chill out at the coffee shop (this sounds wonderful!)

Sounds like a good weekend to me! Oh, how I have longed for a long ride outside!

I haven't been a very consistent blogger lately, but you will get sick of me next week, don't worry. If I have the energy to type I'm planning to keep a training blog with pics of the madness.

Now I'm going to go bundle up. I have a frigid run to do.