Tucson Tri Camp 2015 - Easy Does It

I have to be honest, when I signed up for a third visit to Hillary Biscay's Tucson tri camp, I wasn't sure what I'd get out of it. In 2012, when Shelly and I attended our first-ever camp, my longest ride up to that point was 60 miles and we had no idea what we were getting ourselves into. That year was about surviving all the workouts (we did). I was super excited to go back in 2013 with Aixa, Linda, and Herb to do all the same rides/runs/swims. I wanted to see how much I had improved since the year before (I had - a lot). I didn't go to camp last year, but I did go to Tucson twice to train for the mountains I'd be climbing at Norseman. What more could I learn from training in Tucson? As teammate Chris and I drove towards Arizona last Wednesday, I wondered if I'd get enough out of the experience to make it worth the money and a week of vacation from work.

This year's San Antonio Tri-Belief crew - Chris, me, Dawn, and Kelley

Well, of course I did. It was exactly what I needed, in many ways. Getting out of the rainy, cold weather of San Antonio was a start. Spending several days focused only on swim/bike/run/eat/sleep was an amazing mental break. And as always, interacting with a group of 25 talented, driven triathletes was an inspiring way to kick off the season.

My main takeaway from camp was not at all what I expected, and it is this: sometimes, you're supposed to go EASY.

On the third day of camp, before a 25 mile ride from Starr Pass over Gates Pass and around the famed McCain Loop, Hillary told us that we were going to ride easy. She explained that there's a benefit to doing easy workouts, and that we were going to learn how to do it. Going easy on easy days means you can really go hard on hard days, and that's how you improve. I would guess that many age groupers, like me, tend to try to go hard every day - which means you really go "medium" every day, and that doesn't help you. It just puts you in a "grey zone" where you end up not having the capacity to ever go really hard, Hillary explained.

I was skeptical about how "easy" this easy ride would be. There's some steady climbing for about 8 miles until a huge descent...then a gorgeous rolling loop through a valley filled with Saguaro cactus, then an enormous half-mile climb before a fun descent back to the start. I've done this ride 4 times, and even when it was described as an "easy shakeout ride," it Was Not Easy.

I was assigned to ride with Maik (Twelsiek). The instructions were to stay behind him at all times. The athletes in my group looked at each other and almost laughed - yeah, we'd have no problem staying behind Maik. This is the guy we'd all watched on TV last October as he absolutely CRUSHED the bike at Kona. It might be an easy ride for him, but there's no way it would be easy for me.

Maik and his campers at the Gates Pass scenic overlook. 

To my surprise, we really did roll out easy, five campers like ducks in a row behind Coach Maik. We began the steady climb, spun up the hill in the tiniest of gears, with my power meter reading only 100 watts. And that's how it went for an hour and a half. I had to really concentrate on spinning behind Maik and not trying to crush it up any of the hills. Sometimes I held my brakes because I was terrified to accidentally go around him.

My legs weren't tired, my breathing wasn't labored, and we were climbing easy up towards Gates Pass. And around McCain Loop. And even though it took some work to get back up the other side, that part only lasted a minute or so, and it was back to easy spinning and flying back down to the start without even pedaling. A truly Easy Ride.

Right before the climb back over Gates Pass.

Ironically, the first time we went to camp in 2012, the main takeaway that Shelly and I brought home was that everyone works much harder at this than we ever imagined. We vowed to crush every workout from that day forward. It made sense at the time. I know it made us stronger. But I know now that learning how to go easy on easy days will make me stronger too.

Of course, I also realized that there's always something new to learn. So...see you next year, Tucson tri camp.

Chris checked Facebook on a gorgeous, sunny morning, and we congratulated ourselves for not having to ride in the rain like the folks doing the Castroville time trial that day. The weather in Tucson was perfect this time of year!

I met some of the coolest, strongest ladies on this trip. This is Whiting with me in our "before" picture for the 100x100 swim. We were smiling afterwards too. She, Cherryl, and I had the happiest of super happy fun times switching off leading our lane.

Coaches Emily Cocks and Hillary Biscay providing life-changing instruction (well, swim-changing, anyway) at the technique-focus swim on Sunday.

The L.A. Ladies - Cherryl, Terri, and Lynne at the top of Mt. Lemmon. They may look like your San Antonio matchy matchy Iron Whiners...but with one difference - these ladies race Kona like every year. It was so fun and inspiring to meet and spend time with them.

A trail run with Hillary wouldn't be complete without getting lost - this time we ended up climbing through a barb-wire fence trying to find our way back to the trail.

Super happy fun times on the trail at Starr Pass (before we got lost). 

Camp isn't camp without a visit to Frog and Firkin afterwards to celebrate.

Smashed

Camp is officially over. All that is left is a celebratory evening and then a long drive home. I'm tired, exhausted, smashed, and I am proud to say that I left everything out there; I gave it everything I had.

We had a huge day yesterday - a technique focused swim in the morning, followed by a 60 mile ride to the top of Mt. Lemmon and back down, then a 30 minute transition run, and then a dinner at Hillary and Maik's house that ended with us raiding the Smashfest Queen closet (awesome!!!!)

The day was amazing. I took some instruction from Hillary on my swim stroke (still completely star struck, I mean how completely cool is it to get swim instruction from one of the top pro swimmers in Ironman?!) and I can't wait to try swimming again when I get home to incorporate the tweaks to my technique.

Swim buddies - conquered a 10K swim together! - me, Taryn, and Aixa. 

For the ride, Hillary would lead me, Aixa, Linda, Taryn, and Kate up the mountain. As we rolled out, I immediately noticed how much hotter than it was last year. Throughout the ride, I remembered the scenery pretty clearly from the year before, and I was thrilled to see the first sag stop at a point that seemed to appear way earlier than it should have. I think I got a little overexcited by this and I took off from that stop, rushing ahead of everyone up the climb. I wanted to prove that I could do better than last year. However, I didn't know how to calculate that, because all I knew was that it took just under 5 hours to do the entire ride last year, ascent and descent combined.

Linda followed and then we reached the second stop at Windy Point, about halfway up. By that time, I was a mess. I had stopped drinking, I felt nauseated, and I couldn't eat anything. This has pretty much been a standard between workouts this week, but during workouts I have been able to continue fueling, until this time. I just couldn't stand the thought of eating or drinking anything. Gail forced me to drink an entire bottle of sports drink and water and then refilled them both. As we pulled away again, Linda took off ahead and I couldn't even try to keep up with her. I just drank from my bottles (managed to drop one in the road, and watch it roll away from me downhill in slow motion) and tried pull myself out of the hole. I was miserable for at least an hour. Then, magically, everything came together and I started to feel better. Hillary appeared on my wheel and provided encouragement and distraction, and before I knew it, I made it to the top! Hillary guessed that we arrived 45 minutes earlier than I had climbed the previous year.

Snacks and drinks at the Cookie Cabin with the whole crew (we headed up in waves this year instead of starting all at the same time) and we headed back down. Just like last year, I asked Hillary if I could sit behind her and watch her descend, and I screamed at Linda to come up and get the same instruction. We are both chickens in descending and we both learned so much from Hillary in the hour+ that it took to get down the mountain. I hit 41 miles per hour without feeling like I was going to crash off my bike! When we returned to the car, I determined that I took over 30 minutes off my time from last year. So incredibly cool.

Then we ran. Again I felt shaky and terrible. But I said "I can do anything for 30 minutes" - the old mantra Shelly and I have always had. As I was finishing up the run and starting to feel better, Maik was running up the road the other way to check on everyone. He ran beside me for a moment or two, long enough to give me some instruction on my technique (loosen up those shoulders) and to tell me, and I quote, "You have improved so much from last year. It's amazing to watch you." (Again - completely star struck. One of the top pros in Ironman is telling me that it's amazing to watch me. I didn't even think that he even saw me at all last year, he was very busy leading the fast group, and did not spend much time with me and Shelly.) At that point I started to get emotional and I told him that he couldn't make me cry while I was running. He laughed and ran off to the next person and I was left alone to hyperventilate and try to breathe, run, and stop crying at the same time. I think this was my proudest moment of this whole experience.

From high highs to low lows - today's trail run on the Starr Pass trails was something else entirely. I had no more energy left. I couldn't eat another peanut butter and honey sandwich for breakfast, so I tried cheerios and I couldn't do it. So I showed up unfueled and unhappy to the run. I was distressed to hear that I'd be running with Hillary today and that Herb would not. The entire time that we've been signed up for camp, I've been looking forward to seeing Herb in his element and to have him teach me a thing or two (he had an awesome run today!). But I was not going to argue with Grand Coachie. Instead I tried to toughen up and figure out how I'd keep up with her on this run.

Well, I didn't. Within an hour, Linda had fallen and cut up her hands pretty well, and suffered a mini-meltdown in the process. I tried to talk her out of it but did a terrible job because I was a mess myself. Aixa cleaned Linda up at the car and we were off again for another hour...that turned into 2 and a half. Three and a half total hours on the trail, 11 something miles, and Linda and I walked/stumbled/jogged/grumbled most of it together, with Hillary running back to check on us every so often. We fantasized about being eaten by bears, dreamed about being rescued by helicopters, and joked about thowing hissy fits. Then we all ran out of water because it was taking so long to get back. This run was a total beatdown for the two of us, but Aixa kept up with Hillary and looked strong and steady every time we saw her - I was impressed!

Dr. Alvarez at work.

Linda and I in the 7th circle of hell.

Dawn is going to ask what I've learned from camp and I think it's this - I finally understand what people are talking about when they say that you can go through high highs and low lows within the same day. They're usually talking about the day of an Ironman race, but I experienced this on the bike yesterday and the run today. These things come and go, and I need to remember that when race day arrives.

Maybe after I've had some time to reflect, I'll have more to say about this experience. For the moment, I'll say I'm so glad I came back a second time to see what I can do compared to just a year ago. It's completely awesome. Now it's time to get home, get some sleep (AND SOME WHATABURGER) and get focused on the race prep phase for IMTX.

Camp Day 3 - Gates Pass/McCain Loop and 100x100 Swim

When Shelly and I came to camp last year, there were two things we didn't get to do - the McCain Loop section of the Gates Pass ride, and the full 100x100 swim (we only got to do 100x75, which was still my longest swim ever by a long shot). So this year there were two things I refused to leave here without doing - and we did them both today.

Doug led our group this morning for the ride (the Gold Group, the other groups were the A Group and Group 1 - haha). Here we are getting ready to roll out:

And the obligatory matchy matchy group shot:

This ride was beautiful. It was nicely overcast so we had a little reprieve from yesterday's blazing hot sun. Jeff, Aixa, Linda, Taryn, Kate and I rode up and over Gates Pass and then down to the end of the road. I still didn't know if we were going to be able to ride the McCain Loop until we all regrouped at the bottom and Doug said OK! Let's roll to McCain Loop! Yessssss!!!

I swear I smiled the whole time I was riding that section of beautiful rollers in the middle of miles and miles of saguaro cactus as far as you could see. I got a huge boost as well when Doug rolled up and told me that I was riding strong "like an ox." How cool is that?! He later told me and Linda and Aixa that we were riding really strong and that he had a hard time catching up with us, which made us all beam like crazy.

Then, we tackled the big hill on the way back home. This half-mile climb was difficult for me last year on my road bike with easier gears to climb in - I remember having to stand up for the whole climb and being afraid to topple over. I was really truly scared approaching it today. I was in front of Linda, and I started to panic and wanted to tell her that I needed her to back off in case I fell over on the climb. At that very moment, I realized that Linda was getting ready for a self-described "mini meltdown" and that her fear had her close to tears. I yelled at her and told her to remember that she grew balls yesterday and that she should use them. And with that exchange, we both HTFUed and climbed that hill. Here's proof (the scenic overlook at the top):

I was jubilant after the ride but then immediately began to feel nauseated and couldn't really eat anything once we got back to the condo. This would be a problem later during the swim.

Here's the before shot - more matchy matchy. Not sure what the other campers are thinking of us at this point, but it's still fun for us! 

At the pool, Hillary handed out the workouts and I was happy to see that mine was for 100x100. Aixa, Taryn and I would share a lane and Aixa and I were expected to take turns leading. 

I led the warmup and then Aixa took the next set. Somewhere along the way, I started to feel nauseated and tired and couldn't keep up with the pace. I apologized and asked Aixa to continue leading. And then I had to drop back and let Taryn go because I couldn't keep up the pace. And I wanted to cry and I wanted to quit and my shoulders hurt and I could barely move through the water and I was trying not to throw up in the pool and I hated my life. But I kept going! And I decided that today's swim was the check that my ego needed and a good reminder that I have lots to still learn. I spent about 5000 yards learning every detail of Taryn's feet, and I am thoroughly grateful to her for allowing me to do so. :)

Linda enjoyed a similar sufferfest with Hillary in Lane 1. So I'm in good company. Here they are happy and smiling and finished!

And because I'm a crazy fan, here's our workout again for posterity:

And our reward afterwards. I think I'm still in a calorie hole but I'm climbing out. Gotta gain some strength for tomorrow!

Tucson Smashfest - Days 1 and 2

Ahhhh so great to once again feel the tired soreness that can only come from a couple days of smashing yourself at camp!

Yesterday, we met the other campers (16 total) and went for an "easy" 1 hour run. Easy - haha. My heart rate was sky high but I kept a happy face and kept up with Linda (well, she waited for me). Later I found out from the other kids that their heart rates were all super high as well, so at least I wasn't alone. But at least we looked cute! Nearly every female camper showed up in a pink Lululemon top. Here's a few of us (with Grand Coachie in the middle).

The girls and I have been so excited for months to get our goodie bags - imagine the joy when fabulous brand new pink Tyr swim bags filled with amazing stuff appeared after our run! Linda's expression says it all:

Out to dinner at El Charro with all the campers to get to know each other a little better and eat a giant burrito:

Day 2! We met first thing in the morning to ride. Here's a shot of our coaches, Hillary and Maik, and our sag driver, Gail, getting ready for the ride:

And here's Doug Friman, also coaching us this year. Here's a pic of him on his size 63 Team Liquigas Cannondale holding Linda's tiny QR with 650 wheels. He was admiring her pink cables:

Today's ride was 90+ miles out to Madera Canyon and back. This involves a 3-mile Category 1 climb in the middle of the ride. Everyone handled themselves like rockstars and we were happy campers at the top! Here's a shot of Aixa and Linda (Linda crushed this climb today - Coachie says she grew balls today. Haha!)

It was a beautiful warm day without the gale force winds of last year, so I had a remarkable improvement over last year's ride - finished it almost an hour faster than last year, which allowed me to do this before our swim:

Eating food and hanging around in recovery boots for 2 hours after a ride like that is amazing. Last year Shelly and I arrived back at the hotel just in time to hop in the pool for the swim. So this was wonderful.

The swim! - Linda led the fast lane and Aixa and I shared lane 3 with Jeff, Kate (whose nickname is Kat which means we have to be friends), and Taryn (Taryn is also a stepmom and is super cool and I want to learn a lot from her this weekend!). We were coached by Doug and swam 3250 yards of mostly band-only (ugggg) and pull (yay!). It was a good swim and I led the lane which was cool and scary because I felt responsible to count for the whole lane and also to not fall too much off the pace.

Here's a pic of the set because I'm a crazy fan, so I saved it:

And I have to post the picture of us before the swim in our Captain America suits:

At the end of the swim, Hillary asked me how many hundreds I want to swim tomorrow, and I bellowed "ONE HUNDRED!" without showing any fear. And she said ok. So now I can think about that all night.

Only one negative for the day - Coachie crashed and has some pretty good road rash and a black eye. We are now Arizona-induced knee-scar twins, so that's kind of cool.

Ok. Time to get some shut eye and get ready for tomorrow!

Tucson - We're Here!

We made it here to Tucson from San Antonio in one piece. Five people, six bikes, and a ton of luggage crammed into one Escalade driven by Coachie. Here we are at Jeff's house in Boerne, packing the bikes and stuff in tight. Note the cargo on top of the vehicle.

...about 2 hours later the wind ripped the thing off the top of the car, Aixa's suitcase tumbled out onto I-10, and the rest of it went swinging against the side of the vehicle. We salvaged our luggage and stuffed it all into the car and we were on our way again. Phew. The rest of the ride was pretty uneventful (except when we stopped at the next gas station and learned that Jeff's bike was dangerously close to sliding off the back; we rearranged it all and drove to Tucson with our stuff intact. Dawn didn't even get a speeding ticket this time).

We don't have anything to do today until 4 pm when camp officially kicks off with a 1-hour run. We're staying in a condo at the JW Marriott, and it's really nice. Here's a view from our back porch (Starr Pass! It's right there!!!):

On our way out to get some coffee at Starbucks and stock up on groceries at Albertsons, we happened upon a famous Jumping Cactus (these things are real and they will hurt you - just ask Dawn!):

Here's Aixa, Herb, and Linda touristing it up at the JW:

And then we shopped our faces off at Albertsons. We have enough groceries for an army. Mostly chocolate milk and Gatorade!

On our way back from shopping we saw Hillary and Maik running on the side of the road. Can't wait to see them and run with them later today!