Wednesday, March 18, 2009

And so it begins

Tucson Camp.

Our trip here had a few hitches with delayed flights, missing bikes, wheels forgotten at customs (oops..), and relying on a crappy map and a Canadian GPS, giving us a late-night tour of Tucson in the rental car. But, we did arrive to our condos in one piece around midnight, going straight to bed. I had a little trouble falling asleep so made the mistake of picking up my novel, Water For Elephants, to help me unwind. Every once and awhile I find a book that is hard to put down, and this is definitely the case with this one. I was too caught up in the story to sleep so I have set limits on this novel, only 1 chapter before bed. NO exceptions. 

We were up early Tuesday morning for a 6300 yard swim (that's a lot of flip turns). We had the entire pool to ourselves, it was sunny, warm and we did my favourite type of swim, short rest 100's. What a great session! From there it was straight to the grocery store because none of us could bear to eat another 'bar.' Our missing bikes weren't scheduled to arrive until that night, so we went for a run in the afternoon, exploring the trails behind the condo. Thankfully, I did not see any mountain lions, bobcats or rattlesnakes and honestly, I will be terrified of this possibility everytime I run here.

Today started with another swim, 5500 yards, full of sprints. On the board the set looked short and sweet, but once we got rolling on the first round, we realized just how sweet it was. 25's and 50's can be tough! This afternoon was a 2.5 hour ride with 2 x 20-ish minutes of threshold work, finishing each effort at the top of Gate's Pass. I rode well today on my new bike. I can now confirm that my LOVE for this bike goes beyond aesthetics! We transitioned off the bike for a 30 minute build run. This was solid: hilly, HOT, windy, dry, just a real tough session. 

We just finished a team meeting with coach Phil and HP director Kurt. Based on the support provided and our enthusiasm to get the work done, I think this is the start of a great camp.

Simon's new recovery toy. Kyle is sporting the upper body sleeves. We have yet to try the entire suit at once (this may require an emergency medic on hand!)

2 comments:

Fe-lady said...

LOVED the "Water for Elephants" book too! Glad you are enjoying Tucson!

Petrina said...

I feel like I'm 10 steps behind you guys. I read Water For Elephants on the plane from Toronto to Hawaii - I was there a few weeks after you guys, and am now in Arizona, I'm not stalking, I swear. You'll probably like the book The TIme Travelers Wife too.

Sounds like you're off to a great start to the season, good luck.