Race Report - QuarterMax Triathlon

After a cross-country move and starting a somewhat intense, 6-week session of school, my training has been a bit sporadic.  Regardless, now that my shoulder is finally back to (almost) normal, I wanted to get some racing under my belt.  Five years ago, I was visiting my in-laws in Southern Illinois and found a local race to do called the QuarterMax – a 1000 yd swim, 28 mile bike, and 6.5 mile run (at the time).  My parents were also traveling through the area at the time, so I had a substantial support crew there.  That morning, I was standing on the beach waiting for my wave to start and next thing I know I heard a scream from one of the kayakers saying that “somebody went down – we need help!”  The shorter race had some waves before mine and one of the swimmers, on his way back toward the beach about 100 yards out, went under the water.  We all ran from the beach into the water trying to find him and after 5-10 minutes a couple of guys did.  They pulled him up on to the beach and a doctor spectator tried to revive him for what seemed like forever.  In the mean time, they called for help and a helicopter showed up another few minutes later and the life-flighted him out of there.  We found out later he did not survive.

Meanwhile, we were all left on the beach just dumbfounded and gutted.  It was a surreal experience and none of us knew what was going on.  Obviously we were not all that worried about the race.  Eventually, the race director, in tears, gathered us all together and told us the race was going to happen, but the swim would be shortened.  So we all went through the motions.

 

Going back 5 years later was a little unnerving because of what had happened, but it also felt like some closure in some ways.  Nobody mentioned anything at the race, but I had the athlete in my head a large part of the morning.

As far as the race goes, this one is a good one for me with a slight emphasis on the bike/run combo.  Now that I moved to the area, I figured it’d be fun to go back to QuarterMax and get into the local race scene.  And though my wife and kids were in Florida for the week (as I finish school for the summer), my folks have moved to the area also and decided to come out to the race again.  Plus another good friend of mine that lives in St. Louis came out --- it was great to see him out there!

One thing about races in this area is that the water is warm and there are no wetsuits.  This one was no exception – the water was 81.  I decided to swim in my tri shorts and put on my HR monitor and shirt in transition.  Probably not the best decision with respect to having quick transitions, but I did want HR data from the race.  In future events, I’ll need a better solution.

My goals for this race were:

• Focus on not dropping my left elbow during the swim and continue working on correcting that bad habit / motor pattern.
• Impair myself on the bike, as if I didn’t have to run afterwards.
• Get in ~300 cals on the bike to see how my gut would do at that intensity.
• Run in search of the hurt box and crank up the RPE in the 2^nd lap.

The swim went fine.  I attempted to get behind a few people, but it didn’t last long and I was on my own for most of it.  After getting over a shoulder injury (finally), I have just recently started swimming more.  I am not fast, but I at least managed the distance OK (yes, only 1000 meters, but you have to start somewhere) and was able to focus on form and not dropping my left elbow.  I was out of the water somewhere mid-back of my wave. 

Once I got on the bike, I started hard from the beginning trying to make up as much deficit as I could.  I was watching HR/power some, but was mostly focused on keeping the effort up and getting around as many people as possible.  I had forgotten how hilly and technical this course was.  The roads in and out of the park were windy and had some short, steep climbs.  I was hoping to get near my FTP from a power standpoint, but had a hard time keeping the effort up with all the turns, etc.  Once I got out on the country roads, I was able to get into a good rhythm and start getting some calories in.  I had my watch set to auto-lap every 7 miles for 4 laps and was getting some of my EFS down at each lap.  By the end, I had gotten in about 200 of the 300 calories in the bottle and though my avg/norm power was a little lower than expected (avg 261, norm 277), I had a good ride, finishing in 1:07:xx with the 2^nd fastest split in the entire field and the fastest in my AG by over 3 minutes.

A shot of me coming out of transition - compliments of my friend Rob.

Out on the run and the hills started from the beginning.  It was a 2-looper on some gravel roads through the resort, but to get out to the loop, you ran up the park road with a solid “false flat.”  I tried to get the pace up from the beginning and focused on getting into a good rhythm and continuing to pass people.  I had auto lap set for 1.5 miles and was planning on doing each in about 10 minutes or less.  The hills slowed me down some, but I did manage a 39:xx run and really kept the effort up in the 2^nd half.  Avg pace was 6:33 and avg HR was 166, pushing up to 174 by the end of the run.  I was satisfied with the effort on a hard, hot, hilly course and it was good for the fastest run in my AG and 3^rd fastest in the field.   There were ~330 finishers and 52 guys in my AG and it turns out my 2:11 was good for 6^th OA 1st AG be a few minutes. 

With respect to my goals above, I’d say I did fairly well on the first one and kept my left elbow up through most of the swim.  I probably could’ve gone harder on the bike, but am still working on finding that effort level and holding it.  I also didn’t get all my calories down and need to keep improving on that, too.  Finally, on the run, I was satisfied  with my effort.  All in all, good race to kick off 2012.

Race Reports and Early Season Update

I’ve had several things up in the air recently and hadn’t really dialed in my schedule.  I was planning on doing Oceanside and St. George, but I have had some shoulder issues and was not able to do either.  On top of that, I am in the midst of planning a cross-country move, so racing an Ironman was probably a little ambitious in hindsight.  Since I wasn’t able to do either of these races, I changed up my schedule a bit to accommodate.  I decided to do a bike race in March and a half-marathon in April as some early season events, just to keep things interesting and keep me motivated.

The road race was a new experience and I definitely learned a lot!  It came in the middle of March and I had been biking quite a bit in the early season via my previous St. George training and the Endurance Corner camp in Tucson.  My TSS/day was up to ~108, but I had tapered some for the race and was down to about ~95 for the event. 

PMC chart --- decent fitness for early season due to faux-St.George training, Tucson camp, and quitting work.

However, it turns out steady-state bike fitness doesn’t necessarily equate to success in bike racing.  The race was a CAT5 road race consisting of 3 10-mile laps; the route was mostly flat, but it did have one “hill” which we encountered on each lap.  It wasn’t much of a hill, but was enough to play into the tactics/dynamics of the race.  The wind would also be a factor.  I was warned that the CAT5 guys would essentially go “full gas” from the beginning; I think largely out of inexperience (although maybe that’s just my rationalization).  Shortly after we started we turned straight into the wind  so I just hid in the pack as much as possible and tried to stay with my teammates. 

We actually had 4 people in the race, but it didn't work out as planned and Cesar was the only one who made the front group.

However, the 2nd turn took us onto a frontage road with a gnarly cross-wind.  Not much of a draft and we got strung out big time – I barely hung on to the front group and we split the pack.  The next few miles were fast and furious.  Around the back side of the 10 mile loop was the lone hill on the route and the front guys really put the pedal to the metal up the hill.  I was able to hang on and stay with the group, but barely.  Through the 1st lap I averaged 304 watts with a norm of 321.

First lap of Bariani race - avg 304 norm 321.  Ouch.  And to think, some people ride an entire Ironman at this effort!

The frontage road on the 2nd lap really cracked me and I couldn’t hang on, getting yo-yo’d off the back at ~400 watts.  I was simply not prepared for the short, high-intensity efforts, in spite of my fitness level.  I got dropped like a hot-potato and spent most of the 2nd lap and part of the 3rd on my own, bummed that I was not able to help Cesar at all (not that he needed it).  Towards the back of the 3rd lap, I regrouped with 3 other guys and worked with them a little bit up the back side of the loop.  However, I didn’t want a sprint finish for something close to 27th place, so when we got to the hill, I attacked and took off.  Fortunately, none of them went with me.  Then I just kept the effort high until the finish. It was a 90 minute effort with an average of 275 watts and norm of 290, probably just a little below threshold, really stretching me for an hour and a half.

Nice action shot.

It was a fun experience and I definitely need to work on some short, high-intensity riding to hang in a road race.  Even though my power-to-weight ratio at threshold is respectable, I am definitely more of a steady-state athlete on the bike.

After the bike race, I had resigned from my job (in preparation for our move) and did a couple of ~20 hour weeks in a row just because I had the time and wanted to see how I felt doing several solid weeks in a row and got the CTL up to 114, but then started tapering some and just focusing on quality run work to prepare for my 2nd early season event, a half-marathon.  I was still planning on resting my shoulder through about the end of April, so I gave up some work on the bike, continued my swim-hiatus, and focused a bit on some quality run work.  I hit the track a few times and did some quality tempo at just below half-marathon pace.  I was interested to see where my run fitness was at this point and though I might be able to PR.  Last year, I did a 1:22:05 at Davis Stampede and thought that would be within reach.

But before I would run myself, perhaps the best thing about my season so far was another trip to Boston for the marathon!  Emily crushed it at CIM in 2010 doing a 3:29, so she registered for Boston for 2012 when registration first opened.  We had a great trip to Boston, catching up with old friends, seeing the Aquarium, surviving the heat on race day, walking the Freedom trail, catching a game at Fenway, and visiting the Children’s museum.

Here are some pictures/highlights of our adventures…

Emily and our kids as we entered the expo and packet pickup.

Sending Emily off to wait in Hopkinton.

The kids did great walking around the city and handling the heat.

We visted "Make Way for Ducklings" and the Swan Boats as we made our way over to the race!

Proud Husband at the finish ;-)

 We hung around for a few days after the race....

Starting the Freedom Trail at Boston Common.

Fenway Park with Lance!

100 Years Old.

Boston Children's Museum

 

With respect to the actual race, Emily did a great job, staying strong in tough heat.  It was not the hottest Boston Marathon ever, but it did approach 90 degrees, topping out around 88 I think --- really tough to run in, particularly for a race that doesn't start until 10 AM.  Emily started in the wave at 10:20 and would be running until around 2 or even after, so she really had to manage her pace and effort level.  I was really proud of her and the way she approached the race, knowing it was not a day for a PR.  She enjoyed the experience and soaked it all in.  Perhaps one day we’ll go back and do it again; it’s an incredible race and we love visiting Boston.  I got in a few good runs in Boston along the Charles.  It’s a great place to run and we had really good weather most of the time there.  Early morning runs in big cities are hard to beat!

Early AM run along the Charles.

When I got home, I started dialing it back and tapering for the half-marathon.  One of the things I wanted to work on was my mental strategy for racing.  An open half-marathon provides a great opportunity for this as I can get just below my “red-line” and stay there --- in a place that is sufficiently uncomfortable that I have to manage my head.  My strategy was to compartmentalize the race into 3 “laps” plus 1 hard last mile, running 25 minutes at a time right around a 6:15/mile pace.  With that plan, I should have about 1.1 miles to go and ~7 minutes to a PR.  My Garmin over-estimates speed just a touch, so I knew I would need to monitor the mile markers, too.  I had 3 mantras to use for each of the 3 laps, the first 2 were a couple I have used before, but the last lap, I focused on one to keep my form at the front of my mind – “strong core, floppy feet, forward lean.”  I wanted to stay relaxed, but strong and focus on turning the legs over. 

When they sent us off, I started near the front and stayed with some guys for a short time.  However, it was clear pretty quick that I was not going to run with the front or even the chase group.  I ended up in “no-man’s” land for the first 5-6 miles, running somewhere in the top 15.  I was fine with that and just stuck to my mental strategy.  It was basically an out-and-back course and just after the turnaround, one guy caught me.  I ran with him for about 2 miles, but then, when I hit the end of my 2nd lap and switched to my 3rd, I started pulling away from him and just kept rolling.  I could also see 2 guys up the road and just kept chasing.  It definitely got harder and harder and I did have a few fleeting negative thoughts towards the finish and just wishing to be done, but then I’d bring it right back to my mantra.  It hurt, but I did my best to stick with it.  The last 2-3 miles were tough and I did let my pace drop some, but I was working quite hard.  My average HR for the 2nd half of the race was 174, which is probably right at threshold.

Parkway Half Marathon - you can see the pacing was not spot on (see slight downward trend of blue line)  and I declined in the 2nd half, running it ~36 seconds slower than the first half of the race.

With about 1.5 miles to go, I caught another guy and just flew right by him.  That felt good.  It wasn't so much that I was a speed demon at that point --- he had definitely popped.  Then with about a half-mile to go, I caught another guy.  When I passed him, he tried to stay with me, but I kept the effort up (and it was also slightly uphill), and I could hear him really breathing hard and slowly fall back.  I approached the finish and saw the clock around 1:21:45 and knew it was going to be close!  I gave it all I had (new max HR of 185) and got across the line with a 3-second PR at 1:22:02.  Turns out it was 11th overall and 2nd AG.  I had managed my head fairly well and was satisfied with the effort.  I’ll have more work to do to see if I can keep getting closer to 1:20, but this wasn’t bad considering the race was not in my original plan and I only did about 3 weeks of “real” run training.  I had built a decent amount of fitness in the early season (mostly on the bike) and even though I haven’t been able to swim, it was good to “use” the fitness a little bit --- you can never take a PR for granted!

I’ve had fun so far this season with a training camp, a bike race, spectating at the Boston Marathon, and running my own half-marathon.  Up next is a cross-country move; then I’ll have to tackle some races in the Midwest, hopefully of the triathlon variety.  I will miss the local triathlon scene in California, but am also looking forward to experiencing some new events.

Endurance Corner Tucson Camp 2012

I spent last week in Tucson, training at the Endurance Corner camp. Here's a breakdown of the daily activity and some thoughts on life at camp...

Day 1 - arrival

We arrived Sunday afternoon – my flight got into Tuscon around 1:30 and Camp Director, Justin Daerr picked me and one other camper up at the airport and drove us to the hotel. It was a pretty easy-going start to camp while everyone arrived; I just watched a hoops game on TV while I built up my bike for the upcoming festivities. That night at 6 PM, we had the evening session with dinner and debriefing on logistics for the week. The camp was based at Hotel Tuscon and all meals (while not training) were served there, making for a convenient setup. I met a few of the other campers, had dinner, and then Justin introduced the Endurance Corner staff. He also had us give a brief introduction, which was nice – there are only about 18-20 campers so you do get to know people. Then it was off to my room to get organized for the next days’ training.

Day 2 – AM Swim / Run; PM Bike

The next morning we had breakfast around 6:30 and headed off to the pool for a benchmark set at the Oro Valley pool. Unfortunately because of my shoulder injury I am sitting out the swim sessions. I took my exercise band and did my shoulder exercises instead. Also, the set for the AM was a benchmark 1000 yd TT so I could help record times for that. Coaches Justin and Marilyn McDonald were on deck to guide the campers. The workout went something like this:

Easy 500-ish warmup;
Some fast 25s
1000 yd TT
8x75 paddles and buoy – easy

I didn’t get the details quite right because I wasn’t swimming, but that was the gist of it. I’m guessing the group swam about 2500 or so in about an hour – it was a pretty relaxed session to get the week started. Here’s a shot of the pool where the camp swims take place.


Not too shabby. And I didn’t really get the good view in the background because of the sun light. There were all different levels of swimmers – the guys in the fast lane did the 1000 in 12-something; those in the slower lanes were in the 16-17+ range. After the swim, we all get ready and went for an easy out and back ~10K run. People ran at their own pace and I settled into an easy 7:30 ish pace to get my week started as I didn’t want to get too crazy in my first workout – plenty of time for that later in the week. It was a touch windy, but a pretty easy effort to start off the day.

After the run, we went back to the hotel for lunch, a break, and then our afternoon bike session. The bike session was an easy ride for about 45 minutes and then an all-out TT for 5.9 miles and an easy return back to the hotel. Sound simple. But the wind was right in our faces and it was no joke. I brought my road bike to camp, so doing a TT on that felt a little strange to me, but with the way the wind was, 317 watts for 24+ minutes resulted in 14.5 miles per hour average. The return trip home in the opposite direction was fun, though!

That night, we had a talk by Alan Couzens on using benchmarks to enhance performance. Being the data junkie and analytical type that I am, it was right up my alley. He has a good way to approximate fitness using a “VO2 score” and correlating that to training load so you can start to understand how to infer performance from training. Typically, with VDOT, etc. from Daniels Running Formula, usually it’s inferring training paces from race performances, but this allows you to do the opposite, which is quite useful.


Day 3 – AM Run; PM Long Bike

Tuesday brought our first long ride of the week – Madera Canyon. But before that, we did an easy 6-mile run to a small mountain just on the outskirts of town with a big A on the side in the U of A colors. It was called Sentinel mountain and made for a great AM run.

It was flat for the first couple miles, then we did the loop up and back down the mountain for a good 400+ foot climb with a beautiful view from the top. After the run, we had breakfast, a short break (with some more shoulder rehab for me) and we headed out for our long ride.

The long ride was to Madera Canyon – a park south of Tucson with a steady, long, gradual climb and then a short steeper grade to the top. The group ride was fun, it has been a while since I’ve ridden in a bigger group and it definitely teaches you some good riding and bike handling skills. About 5 minutes after we rolled out, I realized my powertap computer wasn’t reading anything, which really bummed me out because this was a big ride, but I figured, I’d just go by HR and RPE and see what happened. Turns out that power meter is quite useful in preventing yourself from digging too deep too early! The pace seemed pretty moderate for the first hour or so, but then we picked it up and my HR was already up over 150 and pushing 160, which isn’t quite threshold for me, but I knew if I kept that up, my legs would pay for it later. Here we are regrouping at an aid station on the way out to the canyon.


Once we made it into the park, it was a gradual climb – the grade wasn’t much compared to what I’m used to in Northern California, but there were 2 pro triathletes and some other-worldly age-groupers pushing the pace at the front and I decided I’d best drop back some. My legs were already tired and I knew I still had more work to do up the steep part. I just kept rolling at my own pace and kept the work rate at a reasonable level – didn’t have power, so I just watched my HR. The climb was nice; I probably really would have enjoyed it had I not ridden at such a hard effort (am guessing close to HIM-effort for me) for an extended period leading up to it. My legs were really tired and I just grinded the best I could up the top. It was nice and cool at the top and the descent down was a bit chilly, but fun. We regrouped at the bottom for a nice rest stop and refuel and then headed home. It ended up being a 5:50 ride on the clock and we covered about 100 miles (my 310XT always measures distance a little short). Garmin data is here: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/153546458.

That night after dinner, a local athlete named Paul Thomas gave a talk on his recent experience in the Leadville 100 mile mountain bike race. If you haven’t heard of it, check it out on Google. It’s all above 10,000 feet and it’s 100 miles on a mountain bike. He is a crazy fast athlete in his early forties that still beats pro cyclists in races. He was 23rd in Leadville and had never really raced mountain bikes much before.


Day 4 – AM Swim / Run; PM Ride

Wednesday brought another “easy” day. Although after the previous day, I’m not sure anything would have felt easy. We went to the pool in the AM and while I was relegated to my shoulder exercises, the group did a solid 90 minute swim with an emphasis on strength. The main set was something like 500, 400, 300 with paddles, buoy and band and then 5x100 hard. I think the fast group did 3x500 and the slower group did 400, 300, 200. Either way, it was a solid main set. Then they did some head-up swimming to work on keeping the front end of the stroke flowing and not over-gliding. Although I haven’t been able to swim with the group, I am still learning bits at the sessions.


After the swim we regrouped and got ready for a great run session led by Justin Daerr. He walked us through his dynamic warmup, an easy jog, and exercises he uses to get ready for key runs. Some are things I am quite familiar with, but he showed us some other good stuff I had not seen before. He also has a great perspective on running in general and running in triathlon. After the warmup, jog, and strides, we did a short 30 minute run with some pickups. It was easy, but my legs were definitely tired from the previous days’ effort.

After the run, we had lunch and a nice break prior to riding at 3 PM. On the docket for day number 4 was going up and over Gates pass and then returning back the same way. Here’s the group getting ready for the ride…



The back side was actually steeper than the front which made for a nice climb. Justin Daerr and Chris McDonald were leading the ride and although my legs were fatigued, after I warmed into it, I felt pretty decent. I didn’t think to get a good picture from the top, but here’s a shot looking back at the mountain.


One of the excellent camp staff, Gail (a.k.a. Justin’s mother-in-law), managed to find me some batteries so I had my powertap again. Avg for this ride was 169, but norm was 221 for a solid effort.

We rolled back to the hotel and regrouped for dinner and another evening presentation, this time by Dr. Jeff Shilt, an orthopedic surgeon and also very good athlete. He gave us a talk on his thoughts on minimalist running. The talk was most excellent -- I’m somewhat interested in this topic and have read up on it, but he had a great perspective and I did learn a thing or two.

Day 5 – AM Ride / PM Run

Thursday at Camp was Mt. Lemmon day! It is a well-known ride and provides a great opportunity for some solid work on the bike with a ~21 mile consistent climb up to ~9000 feet. The plan for our group was to commute across town over to the park at which we would regroup with the other folks and ride over to the base of Lemmon. Here’s the group round-up at the park before we headed over to the mountain.


Once we got to the “mile 0” marker on the climb, we gathered again and Endurance Corner coach Chris McDonald gave some pointers on descending.



Once we got rolling I dialed in my target effort and just tried to stay there; I was thinking a 2-hour climb should be in the 80-85% FTP range for me – I could probably do it harder than that, but had never done it before and wanted to be conservative. I followed this group up the hill for awhile.


We had picked up a random cyclist heading up to marker 14 so we rode behind him for a while, too. I just stayed as comfortable as possible and watched my target HR and power for the whole ride. It’s a long, steady grind so every few minutes I would stretch just a bit, but kept on rolling. Here’s a shot from about half-way up at a point where it levels off for about a quarter of a mile or so. As you can tell, it was a great day to be riding a bike up a mountain.



As we rolled on, the group got a little smaller and eventually there were 2 of us sharing the load heading to the top. We were pretty evenly matched so it worked out pretty well. Only a short stop at the van for a quick gel and then back to work. I kept a steady tempo and Randy eventually fell off my wheel a bit around mile 18 or 19. I made it to the peak in about 1:54 and rolled up to our turnaround point in 1:57. I had an avg power of 247 and norm 251 – a little conservative, but solid effort for 2 hours. As an aside, Chris, Justin, and one of the stronger AG athletes here did the climb in 1:35 working together.

I refueled at the turnaround and got my warmer clothes back on for the long descent. 21 miles on the way up took about 2 hours, but on the way down it was 40-45 minutes. I did stop at one point to get a shot of some of the rocks.



After getting back down, we regrouped into a team of 4 and made our way back over to the park for a quick lunch prior to commuting by bike back across town, through the University of Arizona, and to the hotel. Once back at the hotel, I changed into some run clothes and went for an easy 30 minute jog through town. Then it was a quick shower and a 1-hour massage, which was quite awesome after a few days’ of hard efforts.

That evening after dinner, Alan Couzens presented again, this time focusing more on how to use TSS and CTL as a target for Ironman training. I really enjoyed the discussion and have some new ideas how to use these tools for myself and those that I work with.

Day 6 - AM swim / longer run

Friday had us up at the usual time and headed to the pool at 7:30. The group did a long-ish aerobic set, but I decided to do an easy jog and some shoulder exercises. I’m hoping to be swimming again soon, but am not quite ready yet. I went for an easy 40 minute run and then we regrouped and headed over to the “river” trail for our longer run. The river is dried up, but there is still a nice path to run on. Justin took us through his dynamic warmup and strides prior to the run and then the main set was a 3x12 minute effort at 10-20 sec faster than target IM pace followed by 3x4 minutes at a “hard” pace. I decided to ease into it and did the first one at around 7:30, but then wanted to explore my pace/HR relationship a bit so I pushed it to 6:45 on the next one and 6:40-ish on the last one. My HR was relatively low for these paces, so I know I’m fit, but my legs are also pretty tired so I don’t think I can get my HR up there quite as easily. All-in-all, between the two runs, I ended up with about 15 miles total with some good quality mixed in. Friday afternoon was off and a much needed break to get us primed for the Kitt Peak ride on Saturday.

Day 7 – AM bike

Saturday brought the epic ride to Kitt Peak, which is an observatory at the top of a mountain (http://www.noao.edu/kpno/). The ride consisted of a ~41 mile trek to the base of the mountain and then a 12 mile climb at an average of about 8%. The 41 miles was pretty flat and on the way over there, we had a group of 8 working together in a rotating pace line pretty well. It wasn’t a huge effort, but I could still tell my legs were really fatigued already from the long week. Once to the base of the climb, you could see the white observatory up above; we regrouped and then got rolling.




The first bit wasn’t that steep, but it didn’t take long before it turned upward. Here’s a shot of what the road looked like as the the first two guys up rode away from me.



My climb didn’t go as well as Lemmon in that I couldn’t really hang with the group I rode most of Lemmon with, but I still did fairly well, making it up the 12 miles in 1:10 and an average power of 268 for the effort. The descent was cold and windy and gave new meaning to the idea of an “ice cream headache.” Once back down, we regrouped at the van and refueled – I grabbed just about anything I could find. A bagel with Nutella, a cookie, a baby snickers, a coke, etc. I was pretty low on calories and knew I needed them. We rolled back across the desert towards Tucson and not long into the ride, the paceline got really aggressive. Next thing I know I’m surging to 400+ watts just to try to hang on. After the long weeks’ effort, it just wasn’t happening (in spite of Justin literally giving me a boost a few times). In any case, we dropped back and let the group go. After a few more miles 2 more guys came back and then we had a nice group of 4 to make our way through the tough headwind. On top of that the road was gnarly and more than once I almost ate my handlebars. Even though the ride was more tame, we still were rolling around 200-220 watts for the most part. It was a long hard ride and I ended with 106 miles in 6:30 overall time (about 5:45 ride time). Avg power was 195 and norm was 224, a legitimate effort for me over 6.5 hours. I topped out over 4000 kJ for the whole ride – substantially more than I would produce for an Ironman bike ride.

Once back to the hotel, we ate “lunch,” and then I packed up my bike. We had a brief gathering at the hotel and then headed to Chile’s for dinner (turns out one of the campers is actually the President of Chili’s). It was an excellent cap to a great week.

Overall, I had a most excellent time at camp – I met some great, like-minded people, and was pushed outside of my comfort zone several times. Totals for the week were:

Bike – 350 miles in 22.5 hours
Run – 35 miles in 4.5 hours

My TSS for the week was 1419 and my average TSS for the 3-week mini-build I did to lead into camp was 828. On the bike alone, I did almost 10,000 kJ (a “normal” Ironman ride for me is ~3300-3700 kJ)

I also spent a fair amount of time rehabbing my shoulder, so I put in 29+ hours of “training.” It is the most I’ve ever done in a week and I wasn’t sure how things would go for me with that much time on the bike. I did really well overall, but the ride home from Kitt Peak on Saturday really was a mental test. I was fatigued and it was a long flat grind back to town on roads that were not in good condition. But I made it with some help from the group and was satisfied with the weeks’ effort.

After the experience, here are some observations about the people and life at camp:

- Sleep – This is always important in triathlon, but when you are pushing yourself for days in a row, it is critical that you try to get good sleep. I did not sleep well all week and not surprisingly I ended up with a small cold at the end of the week.

- Nutrition – With the amount of calories we were burning, we definitely had to fuel, not only during workouts, but immediately after.

- Group Training – Triathlon is mostly an individual sport, but training in a group can help stretch us in new ways. After the hard, hard ride on Tuesday, I was pretty shelled, but by Thursday, even though I was tired, I could still muster some amount of energy for the climb up Mt. Lemmon and I think a large part of this is due to the “group” effect.

- This is a Hard Sport – The stronger athletes at camp have lives conducive to training. They either have some amount of flexibility in their lives or are younger and have fewer life commitments.

- Hard Work Pays Off – Having said that, some of the people are evidence that hard work pays off. It is a sport that requires some talent, but persistence, dedication, and commitment can take you a long way, it just takes consistent work over time.

- This is a Fun Sport – It is GREAT to be out in nature riding your bike up a mountain. There is nothing like the smell, the hard breathing, just you on your machine riding in a steady rhythm to the top of a mountain. The endorphin high is well worth it.

If you ever are interested in a training camp, I highly recommend it. Spending a week with like-minded people, doing a sport you love, with no other commitments is hard to beat.