Fun in the Sun at Arizona Training Camp!

I just got back from one of the best training camps I've had the pleasure of joining. Four days in sunny Scottsdale, Arizona supplied a great mix of challenging workouts, educational clinics and talks, and perfect weather for relaxing by the pool (that is, if we had the time)! Arizona was an excellent spot for the PacWest Athletics Triathlon training camp. If you have not heard, I joined the top bay area fitness and training group, PacWest Athletics, to race for their Triathlon Race Team. They provide athletes of all calibers with strength, boot camp, cycling, running, and swimming workouts and clinics. A great group of athletes, so I was already amped on training with them in Arizona. 

Prior to camp, I borrowed my buddy Jordan Bethke's Blue Triad SL TT bike to try out a new setup that I might invest in. For a while now I've been riding a Cervelo P3 SL, but I'm sold that it fits me properly. So I did a very risky move and dialed in the position that worked for me while on the spin bike and then shipped it off to the Arizona camp. With no riding time on the bike I was a little nervous, especially about the big bike miles you will soon learn about. But it all felt great. Must be all those indoor spin sessions I've been doing at the Rec Gym. Those spin bikes are never perfectly fit to each person. So my knees handled it just fine.

Day 1                                                           

Camp begins!

Woke up bright and early. 6AM to devour the all-you-can-eat breakfast buffet. We all shuttled in two comfy white vans over to the McDowell Ranch Aquatic Center where we got our swim thang on! The facility was quite impressive. Very modern building and the pool had a sweeet slide! Too bad it wasn't running while we were there.

After all the hard work I've done in the pool the past 3 months, I made my way into the fastest lane. While I was joined by some previously collegiate swimmers, I still was able to hit the intervals as we logged in 5500 yards in the pool. Felt great!

We all piled back in the vans and headed over to FASTER Performance Cycling Center. This place does almost everything you can think of regarding cycling. They offer 2D and 3D bike fits, physical therapy, recovery care (ice plunge: go from hot tub to 38F water, that'll get the blood flowing!), a bike shop, and a state of the art Wind Tunnel test center to test the newest aero bikes and equipment with or without a cyclist on the bike. Today we walked around the shop and then they presented an introduction to the capabilities of the facility and how they do the bike fitting with multiple cameras spaced around the room. Pretty neat!

Of course, with all this bike talk we had to get out on the bike ourselves.  The guys at FASTER had helped us map out a great 48 mile loop where we would throw down the hammer a bit and get in multiple race pace intervals. They even sent a SAG vehicle, a mechanic, nutrition support, and 4 of their legit cyclists to ride alongside. I only took a few breathers to get some photos.

As soon as we returned to the FASTER bike shop, we hopped off to test our legs for a tame 30+ minute run. It was all smiles!

We got back, did some dynamic stretching, downed a bottle or two of MUSCLE MILK (probably Cookies n' Cream flavor because it's the best) and headed back to the hotel for some relaxing before heading out with the group to grab some brew and dinner.

Off to bed!

Day 2                                                            

Oh how I love waking up early...NOT. But when you're training hard and that's all you have to think about, it's really not so bad. Up early at 6AM for another solid eating fest. Great mix of 2 waffles with strawberry sauce, bowl of eggs, potatoes, yogurt parfait, and a cup of coffee. Love it! 

Off we went to the pool for a long swim (yea I know, 5500 yards the day prior did seem like a long swim, but we got even higher). I ended up hitting 5800 yards in the pool (missed that 200 yards of Warmup as I hit up the bathroom to let nature take its course, TMI ?). A perfect day for a morning swim.

Guess what we did next! Yup, we went for another bike ride. This time straight from the pool. We only rode for 2 hours. A fellow stud teammate, John Murphy (at the young age of 48 years old) pulled me along as we traded turns breaking the heavy Arizona winds. We threw down some solid wattage. That's us on the left there. We both knew that after this ride, we would be kicking our legs up at a SF Giants Spring baseball game at Scottsdale, AZ. So basically it was a fun steady effort after the hard intervals we did the day before.

I prepared ahead of time for the SF Giants baseball game as I made sure to pack the Panda hat in support of Pablo Sandoval. It was worth it! Oh and I packed some avocados from a Berkeley organic market. They came in handy with my recovery avocado turkey sandwich.

The game was a blast. A warm sunny day, a cold 24 ouncer in hand, and a view from behind home plate. Couldn't be better! I even saw Buster Posey  (SF Giants star catcher) come up to bat. It was his first day swinging a bat in a game since his bad injury where some dufus charged into home plate and clearly intentionally took Posey out hard, causing an injury to linger for a year. On the upside, he's back!

After the game, we piled in the vans and got ready to do a little run clinic and track workout (well sorta, a track workout on the nearby soccer fields). Our head coach Jay Ridgeway led a great clinic on midfoot running strides (where you land on the middle of your foot instead of striking your heel first when running). We all played his little clinic games and sure enough people were running more efficient by the end. I switched to a midfoot run stride back 3 years ago when I spent a summer in Boulder. I slowly built up to running all my mileage midfoot strike. It's more efficient and easier on the body.

As soon as the clinic ended, it was time for a solid tempo/track workout. Not sure what you'd call it, but it was solid, especially considering the 5800 yards of swimming and 38 miles of biking we did earlier. We ran only 5 miles or so, but I threw down some 4:45 to 5:20 efforts throughout. First hard run workout of the season. Felt great!

I finished up the evening with grilling two juicy hamburgers on the hotel grill. Just ate burgers and sat by the fire.

Day 3                                                          

Now this was the day I was scared about all along. A big day of training was about to unfold. Prior to this training camp my longest ride was no more than 48 miles as I kept my biking in check while I pushed higher than normal yardage in the pool. Today was the day to see if my consistent quality training would assist me in completing the 100+ mile bike ride that was on the agenda. At first I told everyone, "No way!". I was only going to do 60, maybe 70 miles. But that was before I put in two quality days of training and my body was responding super well. So I got up at 7AM and got pumped to go all the way! I did this pumping up while shoveling food into my mouth as the all you can eat buffet that barely opened up in time for our 8AM send off. We all huddled in for a cute photo opportunity of the training campers.

The pack of riders congregated outside the hotel. I had spoken with a few of the top cyclists and the goal of the ride was not to kill each other (which we did by the end), but to keep a steady effort throughout. Keep a Heart rate of between 130-140 for the majority of the ride and if we felt good at miles 70 onward we would consider pushing the pace (which we did). I'll just share a few of the highlights of the 105 mile ride in photo form:

TOUCHDOWN! Actually only at mile 30. Lots to go...

Best Coca-Cola slurpie I've ever had. Period. Mile 80.

After 90 miles, the legs felt good so a few of us turned up the pace and held race pace effort for the next 10 miles. The last 5 miles were cruising back to the hotel where our running shoes were ready for us. That's right, we got done with a 105 mile bike ride in 5.5 hrs and took off on a 30-40 minute run. I told myself I'd listen to how my legs felt. If they were tight, I'd do 10 minutes, if they felt good, do more. 

A lot of times when you first start racing triathlons, when running after biking, your legs feel like bricks, super jelly-like and sluggish. But after some years of doing "brick" runs, you start to feel like you are winding your legs up during the bike so that they can unwind when you get off and run. Well that's what I felt surprisingly. I took the first mile easy and to my surprise I hit a 6:00 mile, then for the next 3 miles I steadily dropped the pace down to 5:30 and felt great. I turned off the engine at that point and got hydrated and headed back to the hotel. I was super stoked on my fitness and mental effort to leave my ego at home and ride 105 solid miles and be able to feel fine running afterward.

Good thing I already packed myself a delicious pasta bowl to go so I wouldn't starve before the next dinner because we were off to the next activity. Not more than an hour after this epic bike ride, we all piled in the vans to head back to the FASTER Performance Center for a glimpse of the high tech capabilities they provide with the wind tunnel testing. They had a great presentation planned for us discussing how much energy they could help us save on the bike leg by simply changing the aerodynamics of the bike, wheels, and rider positioning.  They then took us on a tour of the wind tunnel. It's an interesting design, the wind circles around a small oval shaped room, getting up to speeds of 40-50 mph. The air then comes into the testing chamber very uniform and then sensors, tassles, and computer simulations do the rest. 

I felt I deserved an extra treat after such a great day. Why not have scotch. Thanks Frank. That's what teammates are all about, helping me recovery properly.

Day 4                                                        

Last day of hell...I mean camp. Nah, it wasn't that bad. It was a blast so far, but who knew how we all were going to feel after three days of crazy training. The agenda called for another early wake up call (sadly my phone was retarded and thought that Arizona did Day light savings time, but it really doesn't, so I woke up at 5:30AM rather than an hour later). We munched on some food in the room and got ready for a light day of training in comparison. All aerobic and easy.

It was a day to reflect on what we had just accomplished. We started off with a 1.5 hr bike ride that ended in a natural preserve that had some running/hiking trails to do a steady long run. I'm not sure we knew what these trails were all about beforehand. I was hoping to lope along a flat groomed trail, but instead we were hit with lots of hills and tons of rocky surfaces. It was a bit of a game to avoid the rocks. It kept the Heart rate low and helped with strength which is good I suppose. After doing one shorter loop, I figured if everything is this rocky and hilly, I might as well go up to a peak and get a great view. I  must have climbed 1500 feet to get to the peak where I met a family who had hiked all morning to get there. They were training to hike up Mount Kilimanjaro. Yikes! What did I just get myself into. I finished the loop, getting in only 11 miles in just over 1.5 hrs. So you do the math, 8-9 minute miles. Definitely some strength work going on there.

Well that about sums up the weekend of training. For the remaining 3 hours before we all grabbed our flights, we drank beer and sat by the pool. Pretty boring stuff. :)

I've been back for about a week now and my body has been good to go. I took 1-2 days super easy and then got back into my consistent training.

Actually had the privilege of running hard tempo with some Olympic hopefuls in the 800m, 1500 m, and 5km. They know how to throw down. Thanks Michael Coe and David Torrence for the invite. It was a good wake up call of where my fitness is at.  

I'll keep you all up to date on my next phase of training, how St. Patricks day treats me, and any races that randomly appear in the next few weeks. Until then, take care.