AIMP Training Camp 2011

The Official Kickoff to 2011---Training Camp in Tucson with the AIMP Group

Thursday:  drove down into Tucson, made my yearly trip to Tri Sports, got settled in, had a nice dinner with the gang, and in bed early...falling asleep while watching Chariots of Fire.  Love that movie, but just couldn't keep my eyes open!  I hope Breaking Away is on tomorrow!
I'm getting my chances to catch up with everyone I met here last year (the Blancos, Leishia, Bo, Ariane, Kevin, Chris,...)...all great people and great to train with people with the same plans/training program as me...we are definitely a group with a common goal, and everyone is so mellow...looks to be a great camp!  I notice that I am much more relaxed than last year...I guess I'm back as a veteran versus "just getting back into it" as I was last year.  While we'll be doing a lot of training, I'm not feeling like it will be hard---hard will be training in the heat this summer....
Friday:  Started the day with a Starbucks run, and somewhat paid for it in the pool---something about the pool we swim at or maybe the coffee is stronger than I am used to?  We swam 3500:  500 warm up, 4 x 125 (75 fast, 50 EZ), 400 swim, 4 x 125 (75 drill, 50 EZ), 300 swim, 4 x 125 (75 kick, 50 EZ), 200 swim, 4 x 125 (75 pull breathing every 5th, 50 EZ), 100 warm down...decent start to camp!  Compared to the swimming Chris has given me at home, this was a pretty easy workout.

Calm waters

The Pool...

The Deck

Saturday: Today was supposed to be our long ride to Patagonia and back, but with the weather system looming, we switched days, and ended up running for 90 minutes (13 miles) first thing, then a swim at lunch 4000 yds:  400 warm up, 6 x 150 with various intervals, 6 x 400 (1st two: pull, negative split, 2nd two: free negative split, 5th: 4 x 100 5' rest, 6th: 8 x 50, alternating EZ, then HARD!!!), 8 x 25 EZ, Hard, 100 warm down.  The rest of the day was R & R, with dinner at Pei Wei, and a massage before bed...I should be ready for more, and tomorrow is the true test with a 90+ mile ride to Patagonia...all rollers with virtually no flat land.

Base Camp for our Kitt Peak Ride

Patagonia Ride: Maybe time to turn around?
Well, we needed 5 more miles!

Sunday: Okay, this was a bit brutal riding to Patagonia and back...20 mph winds all day long with no escaping!  I ended up riding 90% of the day on a solo mission...kind of by design as I prefer to do the work versus sitting on a wheel of someone faster (read: better!) than me.  So, I rode getting battered by the wind, sometimes with it being harder to hold onto the handlebars than pedal.  At the end, I was DONE!  I made the 90 miles, but was just crushed and barely made it through a 20 minute brick run---I actually ran for 5 minutes, stopped, then ran for 15 more....not a strong transition run (and probably my weakest.....ever).  The rest of the day was more R & R...and I needed every bit of R that I can get.  We did have a great group dinner at Wildflower Cafe (pre-gamed at Blanco Restaurant, in honor of the Blancos ;)

Near Mile 14 on Mt Lemmon

A view of Tucson from Mt Lemmon

Monday:  Final day already!  I was feeling a little fatigued, but ready to roll for another swim and the Mt Lemmon climb.  In the pool, we did just 2600 yds---we were all lagging a bit...not the day to work on technique, but this was Chris' last chance  to give swim instruction, so I hung in there---and felt like a washing machine with no particular "fine motor skills" moving me efficiently through the water.  then it was off to Mt Lemmon...a 22 mile climb that is just spectacular.  On the rollout, I for some reason decided to push hard the first 60 minutes of the climb--this was going to be my last tough workout until Ragnar Relay on Friday, and I think I just wanted to get a good burn going!!!  I worked HARD for that 60 minutes, but Blanco still managed to catch me at minute 61...he is a monster!  I then went into tourist mode...spinning for 40 minutes, taking photos and video as I climbed.  At about 7300 ft of elevation, I started to FREEZE, and decided that my work was done, so I headed back down after bundling up...and was shivering almost unconrtrollably.  Back in Tucson, I did some flatland riding until Chris and Blanco made it down....

My Ride(s)

I MADE IT!

All in all, I'm burnt!  Not physically; more-so mentally from the wind, the cold...and being away from home really was eating at me on those rides---I ended up riding 220 miles alone over 3 rides.  Yeah, I made the choice to ride alone, but with the elements hitting us the way they did, I'm worn out...now it's time for some recovery and turn around and get ready for Ragnar!

Time to get serious

I'm coming off a "recovery week," although I've swam 4000+ yards on 3 of the last 4 days...it should be obvious, but we are working on the swim.  In 2 days, I'm off to Tucson for Training Camp---tons more swimming and add in 240+ miles on the bike and some running, and the base part of this year should be completed.  I get home monday, then turn around and start the Ragnar Relay Ragnar Del Sol ...running 28 miles---divided into 3 legs over 36 hours.  I'm gonna be fried come Feb 27th!

The hardest part of these two weeks will be that I'll be away from home---I'm missing Jenny and Fia already and I haven't even left :^(

I have to keep convincing myself that Kona is just a race---one day, that's it.  I'm telling myself that all of this preparation is to move my body as fast as it can over this 9+ hour period---it seems so easy when I think of it like that. How hard can it be?  IM AZ was the same distance--crappy weather and all!  I'll be ready for the heat (summer training in 105+ degree heat!), but the humidity will be the x-factor.  It's hard for me to imagine I need to get down to 160 lbs from my current weight of 170---I'm already skinny to almost everyone, but I feel that 10 pounds as drag and know where it is on my body---it's wasted space!  I won't try to lose the weight, but I have a feeling the summer training will chase it away no matter what I eat.  And looking at my workouts so far, I can only assume that Chris' Kona plan will be daunting compared to what I did for AZ.  234 days to Kona---we all know how fast time flies!

Past Ragnar Relay on Feb 25-26, I'm set up to do Marquee Half Ironman here in AZ...actually the course is an abbreviated IM AZ course---swim in Tempe Town Lake, bike is  2 loops on a slightly shorter IM AZ bike route, and the run is also 2 loops on an abbreviated IM AZ run course.  It should be a great early season race!  I've decided to really focus on IM Kona and IM AZ and keep me as fresh as possible through the year, so I think I'll race less---but who knows what will happen.  Probably some Olympic Distance Races and one or two half IMs at the most--I need my family time!

But for now, off to Tucson---Camp report next!