Tucson Training Camp Day 2

Training camp day 2 had the group start off with a plentiful breakfast followed by a talk on nutrition and various types of calories to take in before, during, and after a swim, bike, or run.  Then at 0930 hrs we mounted up and headed for Gates Pass.  Deets and pics below.

Detail here http://connect.garmin.com/activity/157436185#.T15-e2CTB8A.facebook to a brick run on the river path.

Minimum Speed Limits were imposed up the back side of Gates Pass

This didn't happen to anyone, although there was a rather interesting bike mechanical that took one campers bike out.

...and no ducks were hurt during this ride or in the making of this blog.

Heading back up the back side of Gates Pass

I'm working on a picture montage of sorts but is taking a little longer than I thought, but it's coming.

After cresting the front side of Gates Pass I got to be part of the speed fest around McCain Loop with some Uber Bikers, then down to the end of the road and up the hill to the Visitor Center.  After refueling, pictures, and biology breaks we headed back out to McCain Loop in reverse and then headed up to the back side of Gates Pass and WHOA nelly is it steep but we did and then flew home, nearly.  Upon arriving home we made for our rooms only to return ready to run.  Because a few of us have an Ironman as an "A" race we had to run 45 minutes.  We went a little long and made it a cool 6 miles.  Deets below, sorry no running pics today.

Details here http://connect.garmin.com/activity/157422771#.T15-2MqZdik.facebook


A few from the Group went to TriSports tonight to listen to Scout Bassett speak who is one of the athletes with the Challenged Athletes Fund (CAF).  Amazing story! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Ld6Lj6WNic  She did recently graduate UCLA with a double major so the video is a little dated but the story is real and lasts a lifetime.

Tucson Training Camp Day 1

Well, not the greatest first nights sleep but I'll chalk it up to a different bed, new sounds, about 2100 feet more of altitude than my body is accustomed to and a really bad dream.  But I'm still in Tucson staying at The Windmill and I'm up on a Sunday morning at 0530 hrs (turns out it was 0430, dam daylight savings everywhere else except here) AZ time getting some food and coffee into my body and preparing for a amazing trail run at around 0730 hours followed by some more food and then a swim, followed by some more food and then a bike, and you guessed it, more food.  Suffice it to say all three on the first day.  Will post results of todays events this evening.


Here's the Run  http://connect.garmin.com/activity/157140669 and the pics are in order of occurrence.


Sorry no pics while on the bike
...but the bike details are here http://connect.garmin.com/activity/157140688

Transportation to the Run

From the parking lot

Last year in this same spot there was snow all around me.

This was a very nice pool and there quite a lot of people out catching some crazy strong rays.

Tucson Training Camp Day 0

March 10, 2012 and I'm sitting on a plane headed to Tucson, AZ to train like a Professional Triathlete.  For seven days I will swim, bike, and run in the beautiful Arizona climate.  Google says Tucson experiences over 300 days on average of sunny clear blue ski's a year.  I guess we'll see how accurate that is at least for seven days.  For this east coaster, heading to the desert is like traveling to the moon, only I can breathe without the help of an oxygen tank…maybe.  You see this week I will train some 30 hours and at times will approach altitudes of 9000 feet so maybe I will need that oxygen tank after all.  For the next week I will attempt to post images and thoughts about the views I experienced, the people I met, and the great joy I experienced.  While it is fun to experience these great joys by one's self, I will be training with a great group of athletes from all over the country with Coach Brian Grasky of Grasky Endurance Coaching and the rest of his coaching team.  I'm also going to include our my routes each day for your amusement.  Today I ran with a young lady that hails from somewhere in Canada and Coach Bill.

Transportation for the week...to Dinner

Here's today workout http://connect.garmin.com/activity/156632655#.T1wineASNoI.facebook