On Wednesday afternoon we loaded up the car, made plans to meet our teammate to grab some food on our way to Tucson for the annual Team HPB Training Camp. Camp is open to anyone, and approximately half of the athletes were members of Team HPB. I was super excited to test out my progress over the last year and to meet some new teammates...
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| Bikes loaded, Beav and I are ready to roll on down to the Dirty T. |
We got settled in our casita at Star Pass and made plans to meet another teammate Ben who had flown in from my home state (Go Hawkeyes!) for camp. We were tired and hungry and rather than drive around all night looking for food, we headed up to the Marriott Star Pass resort for some pizza. We had fun chatting and laughing and getting excited for the days ahead.
Day 1: Social Run
Thursday morning we slept in. Actually this was the nice thing about camp- I had zero responsibility besides training, eating and sleeping- so I got a ton of sleep over the 5 days. I was wonderfully rested. We went for a nice easy ride over Gates Pass with some friends and hung out waiting for our official camp kick off that afternoon.
At 4 pm campers gathered near the Star Pass pool. After a few brief introductions, we were off on our hour long social run. Following the run, we met for a group dinner at La Cocina for further bonding. Then it was off to bed before the first big workout of the week.
Day 2: Madera Canyon Ride/ Forever Swim Set
I was pretty excited about the long bike ride on day two. Last year heading out for the ride someone crashed in front of me and that ended up being the separation between group A and B. I was comfortable in group B. A long ride is a long ride, but it was social and easy going.
This year -- a different story. Coach told me to be in the "first third" of the group. So with roughly 25 athletes, this means I need to be in the top 8ish. Fortunately or unfortunately, this was our first bike ride so she had no idea of the level of athletes that had shown up. Let's just say, I was sitting in about 16th place, holding higher than sprint-distance watts for 10 miles before I finally got dropped.
The route we were taking is pretty straightforward. Once I got dropped I figured I would just hold a hard effort as long as I could, keeping the A group in sight, and if I lost track of them I'd stop and wait for the B group. The wind was ridiculous. The whole thing was completely demoralizing. At one point a truck went by me a little too close for my comfort and I immediately burst into tears. Totally in pity party mode, I wanted to be in the group, not riding alone. I was working my ass off... for what? Part of me wanted to stop and wait for the B group... the other part of me knew that I had already failed my assignment and I better do my best to get a good workout out of this.... so onward I went.
Soon we hit some rollers and the A group slowed significantly, allowing me to catch back up. I stayed with them through our first SAG stop, and through town until we started the climb through Madera Canyon. After a mile or so of the climb I got dropped, and the group in general splintered a little. I couldn't even see the front group. Every once in a while I'd catch a glimpse of another rider in front of me.
The second crying...
Madera is a slow climb over about 10 miles. It actually looks flat, and you don't even realize how much you climbed until you descend the same stretch later in the day. After the slow false flat, you climb through a camp ground area and hit a couple of 12-14% grades. At the top there is a circular drive with a parking lot-- this is where we regrouped last year. This year, they were doing road construction and so we regrouped as far up the climb as we could go which happened to be on the 12% grade.
So I'm in my granniest gear, barely turning the pedals over. My teammate (who I love and adore) finished the climb and stopped in the middle of the road. I am shouting at him not to stop in the middle of the road (ie: where am I supposed to go?)... but it's too late. I can't get unclipped in time and fall over. Uninjured of course as I was moving at less than 3 mph. Then, since I had gone from climbing in zone 5 to stopped, I proceed to have an exercise-induced asthma attack. Yes, the image you have of me is correct. Just fell off my bike and now I'm lying in a heap on the ground struggling to breathe. I am a hot mess.
I am familiar with this type of asthma attack, and the remedy is to move. To keep moving until my heart rate comes down on it's own. I'm shaking and crying and struggling to get my foot unclipped while lying on my side on the asphalt. Finally, I get up and on this 12% grade I am walking back and forth across the 5 foot section of road, and into the woods to try to get my heart rate calmed down while gasping for air. I am praying my teammates (the ones who legit belong in the A group) can't see me crying as I am totally humiliated at this point. Oh, I didn't even mention the construction workers who had stopped working to stare at me very confusedly during all this commotion. Yep. That happened.
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| Top of Madera, post trauma. |
Finally my breathing is restored and I just want off the top of this mountain ASAP. I pick my bike back up throw a leg over and start down the descent. At the bottom we stop for the second SAG of the trip to refuel/ swap out water bottles. I am cramming calories down my throat and dreading the second half of the ride home in the wind.
The third watershed....
Since there were only 3 distinct groups and 4 coaches on the road by this time, Coach Alyssa was assigned to bring up the rear of the "first group", which basically meant that she biked behind me on the way home and we occasionally swept up another athlete that had been dropped by the A group. The winds had picked up throughout the day and I was being blown all over the road in the cross winds. I gave myself tendonitis because I was gripping my handlebars so tightly that afternoon. I was bordering on hysterical at times and was choking back the tears that trickled from under my eyelids.
One of the reasons that for 5 years after starting triathlon I never had any desire to race in Kona was because I've biked the world championship course, and I know how brutal those cross winds are. Wind is my kryptonite. Alyssa was so patient and gave me some pointers which helped me relax a little and just go with the flow. I KNOW that when I get the chance to race in Kona, I will hear her tips in the back of my mind and I will be safer because of it. If I gained nothing else from this ride, I learned some valuable tricks.
After an eternity, we were back at the casitas and making plans for our afternoon swim at 3 pm. Less than 2 hours later. Already in survival mode, I immediately went into the condo and mixed up a huge plate of rice and avocado (thank god for rice cookers with a timer!). Last year I cramped in the swim so I knew that refueling/ hydrating was going to be key. I kept drinking Osmo Hydration and put my legs into the Recovery Boots. I didn't fall asleep, but I tried to relax as much as possible.
The Forever Set is a three times through band only sprinting set followed by a 200 sprint PBB (paddles/ buoy/ band). After a brief warm-up the coaches divided us into lanes so that we could race the people in adjacent lanes. I led my lane and raced 2 professional triathletes and another swimmer-dude. I swim in a meter pool during the winter so I wasn't sure how my sprint 200 times stacked up to my normal, but Coach seemed pretty happy with the first couple. I did fade badly, and by the 3rd 200 Alyssa (who was in the lane next to me) beat me to the wall.
For as bad as I felt during the bike ride, I felt equally good in the swim session and considered it a successful day overall. We finished up and went for salads and pizza with Ben, Marc, and Maggie.
Day 3: The 10k Swim/ Gates Pass Ride
Last year I fell apart during the 10k swim. Cried actual tears inside my goggles. (Are you picking up on a camp theme here??) Coming to camp this year, I had the most anxiety about the 10k swim. After the bike ride on Friday, I figured things couldn't get any worse and no matter what happened in the swim, I was NOT going to cry.
I woke up and began my morning routine. I turned on my phone to check messages and share my daily #selfiewithmoo on social media. I flipped to Facebook and saw this comment on a photo from Friday: "Hope MK's arms are in the Recovery Pump cause someone is swimming in the fast lane tomorrow!" Coach had posted this at 9:30 pm- thankfully I was sleeping because I probably would have been too stressed out after reading it to fall asleep.
Immediately I was wide awake and filled with dread. WHAT???!!!??? NO!! This is a mistake. I do not belong in the fast lane. May day! May day!! *waving white flag* I could barely choke down my breakfast.
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| Swim orders: 100 x 100 FAST LANE |
We caravan'd to the University of Arizona rec center for the 10k swim. Each swimmer was given a lane assignment and a specific workout to follow. My instructions simply said: FAST LANE 100 x 100! Coach was going to make it up as we went along.
We started out with a 10 x 100 swim on 1:30. And followed that up with 10 x 100 as 75 free/ 25 back also on 1:30. And then 10 x 100 25 fly/ 75 back... still on 1:30. I was toast. It felt like I swam a 3000 straight faster than race pace time trial. I attempted 3 backstrokes, and one fly, but I fell too far behind and was afraid to get lapped and completely dusted so I just swam freestyle as hard as I could. We paused for a quick water/ fuel break and then it was on to 10 x 100 band only on 1:40, and 10 x 100 buoy/ band on 1:30. This was a bit more comfortable pace-wise and I was able to get at least a couple seconds on the wall between each 100.
Then we jumped into a 32 x 100 PBB as 2 @1:30, 2 @ 1:25, 2 @ 1:20, and 2 @ 1:15 (4 times through obviously). The first two sets I was fine until we hit the sub 1:20, then it became a straight swim until we were back at the 1:30. I was thrilled to be feeling a little bit better (took me long enough to warm up!) and actually hit all the targets on the final two sets.
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| Beav recovering with a social kick in his 10k swim lane. |
We recovered with a 3 x 100 social kick. And ended with 8 x 100 with roving 25 yard sprint on 1:30 followed by 7 x 100 alternating 25 breast / 75 free and 100 kick on 10 seconds rest. When I got out of the pool I was a) very tired and hungry b) so proud of myself. Though I can't say I had much fun, especially in the first half of the swim, I stayed focused and got the job done without any drama. This was a huge improvement over last year, and by far the fastest 10k I've swum.
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| Lane 2: My peeps from last year's 10k swim. |
We had a couple of hours to kill and get food before we met for the afternoon social ride over Gates Pass and McCain Loop. We met at 3 for the afternoon ride. We had a good time and the scenery is gorgeous on this ride. I hung mostly with Maggie and Dawn, but when we started the climb it was every man for himself. Thankfully it's not long, but the climb is steep and on tired legs I was at threshhold when we hit the top. Maggie and I rolled over the top and down the other side before stopping to wait on the rest of the group.
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| Maggie snapped this photo of me preparing for the climb up Gates. You can see the switchback in the distance. |
Back at the casita we were given instructions for Sunday morning meet up and instructed to get a good meal in tonight for the climb up Mt. Lemmon tomorrow. Our little dinner group opted on Coach's recommendation to hit up Choice Greens. She had us at mac and cheese.
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| Per boss's orders, we had enough food for 10 people. |
Day 4: Technique Swim/ Mt. Lemmon Ride/ Transition Run
Sunday morning dawned with a short, sweet technique session in the Star Pass pool. We were divided into groups based on how we would start the ride on Mt. Lemmon. We each had an opportunity to practice on the straps- a way to simulate race start, basically focusing on high turnover and powerful stroke. And then we swam some sprints/ easy 25s and took individual feedback from the coaches on deck.
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| A common HPB swim torture device: The straps. |
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| Taking feedback from Coach. |
After our swim we loaded up our bikes/ run gear, ate a quick breakfast and headed toward Le Buzz where we would start our assault on Mt. Lemmon. I was given instructions to try to stay with Dawn on the climb. We took off out of the parking lot with a 4 mile warm up to the base of the climb.
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| Ready to ride. |
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| Warm up to Mt. Lemmon. |
As soon as we started the climb, Dawn took off and I was left instantly in the dust. At first I thought, great, another failed ride. And then I thought, who gives a shit? I can still f*ing climb Mt. Lemmon. And so I set off to hold a consistent, strong pace to the top. I actually caught up with Dawn at mile 6, but could only stay with her for about a mile. I hit a rough patch around mile 11-14 so I opted to stop at SAG to grab a little extra fuel for the rest of the climb. Within a mile I was feeling good again and charged on. Though it wasn't a PR to the top, I was happy with the effort level and was ready to start the descent.
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| Team HPB Camp at the Cookie Cabin, Summerhaven, AZ |
At the top, Coach gave us orders for the transition run before sending us off. "You're running with me!" was the instruction I got and I did my best to stay with her on the descent. I am terrified of heights so when we reached Windy Point (approx mile 14) I am totally in survival mode until we pick up the mountain on our right side again around mile 6.
We got back to Le Buzz and I threw on my run gear. I was one of the last ones off the mountain and so most of my teammates were already running. We took off and at mile one, my watch beeped 7:30 pace. "This is where my legs start to burn," I announced and Hillary suggested we slow a little up to the turnaround (mile 2) before crushing it back to the car. Mile two was a leisurely 8 minutes. We crushed the last 2 miles in 7:30 and high-fived a job well done. Turns out, I missed the part of the orders where I was supposed to do a progression run. I just went balls out from the start because that's what I thought I needed to do.
That evening we had a group dinner at Smashfest Queen Headquarters (aka: Hillary and Maik's house). The food was catered by a local gal- ALL vegan and gluten free- every last bite!! It was so amazingly good. We had fun chatting, laughing and shopping, of course. It was bittersweet, knowing that this was our last night together and tomorrow camp would be over.
Day 5: Long Trail Run
As we did for our bike rides, we divided up into 3 groups for the trail run. Coach Alyssa led my group and we headed out at a conversational pace. Last year by the time we hit day 5 my legs were trashed and every step was a huge effort. Today, I was happy to find that after the first hour my legs felt normal. All this means is that they are used to feeling tired, and running tired. We ran an out-n-back course and on the way back we got lost. If I had my brain screwed on I would have remembered that my Garmin has a breadcrumb feature and I could have easily pointed us in the right direction. As it was we made it back on a slightly different, slightly longer, slightly more uphill route. I was happy that my training on Pass Mountain had prepared me well for this.
After the run we said goodbye to some of the group that had to travel home. We had debated driving home, but we had the condo until Tuesday and there was mention of margaritas on Monday evening so we decided to stay (twist our arms). Beav and I joined the others for lunch and beers and then crashed at the casita for a much needed nap.
That evening we met everyone on the terrace at the Marriott Star Pass. We enjoyed some fancy margaritas (mine was a version with blackberry and jalapeno- highly recommended!), tapas, and s'mores complete with marshmallows that we toasted in our fire pit. We had fun relaxing and chatting long after the sun set and the stars covered the sky.
As always there are lessons learned and friends made. Here are some of my takeaways from camp this year.
1. I am not as strong as I think I am. There is more work to be done. I had gotten a little comfortable in my training, thinking that I was ready to crush whatever comes my way. After the ride on Friday I was humbled. Despite how much improvement I've made over the last few months, I have a LONG way to go. I cannot delude myself into thinking this is locked up.
2. Laughter cures EVERYTHING! Every day during training my body was punished and I finished aching and tired. Every evening I gathered with Beav, Marc, Ben and Maggie to eat dinner and we laughed for hours on end. We did not stop laughing the entire time we were together. It was the best medicine. By the time I fell into bed at night I was recovered, content and lighter.
3. I am stronger than I think I am. Every time I thought, "there's no way I can do this," I did it and it was fine. I thought I would blow up in the fast lane. I didn't. I thought I couldn't climb up the back of Gates Pass a second time. I did. I thought I was going to suffer through the trail run. I didn't. It's fine. My body has adapted and made huge gains over the last year. It will continue to absorb the work and improve.
4. Time is short, don't wait. For months, I have been telling my husband that my teammate, Jen, is my long lost twin. She is the coolest person I had ever cyber stalked that I hadn't actually met yet. She is a nurse and works nights in trauma/ ICU. She thru-hiked the AT. Ya. How fucking cool is that?! With her dog!! I feel we are kindred spirits. I met Jen on Thursday evening at dinner and talked with her a little. But the rest of the weekend we were in separate groups for the swim/ bike/ run and I didn't have a lot of time with her. For some reason I thought she was staying in a house with some other campers so when making dinner plans I didn't want to interfere with what I thought they had going on. On Sunday, coach told me that Jen had been staying alone in a hotel and I was crushed. We had an extra bed in our condo she could have crashed in and I would have loved to drag her to dinner with our little 5-some. Lesson learned. And, Jen, if you're reading this-- I'm praying you're still in CA when I visit in June!! We must run trails together!!
Recovery
Since coming home from camp I have been working non-stop. I moved the contents of our home in 3 days (literally packing boxes, loading my car, driving 1 mile, unloading boxes into the new house). Thank God I had two of the greatest friends on the planet volunteer to help me! I orchestrated movers to transport furniture. And I have been living under boxes and trying to scrape meals together without a fully stocked/ operational kitchen for 10 days. I have been overwhelmed and exhausted. Coach must have recognized the strain I have been under as my week leading up to my first race of the season has been very refreshing. I am super exicted to head to California next weekend for the Oceanside 70.3. I will try to share a timely update post race. And maybe even announce the winner of my name-my-bike contest before the gun goes off! My only hint... there was one name that gave me instant goosebumps when I read it. When that happens, it's a good fit. So I'm keeping my options open as more suggestions come in, but there is one clear leader.
That evening we had a group dinner at Smashfest Queen Headquarters (aka: Hillary and Maik's house). The food was catered by a local gal- ALL vegan and gluten free- every last bite!! It was so amazingly good. We had fun chatting, laughing and shopping, of course. It was bittersweet, knowing that this was our last night together and tomorrow camp would be over.
Day 5: Long Trail Run
As we did for our bike rides, we divided up into 3 groups for the trail run. Coach Alyssa led my group and we headed out at a conversational pace. Last year by the time we hit day 5 my legs were trashed and every step was a huge effort. Today, I was happy to find that after the first hour my legs felt normal. All this means is that they are used to feeling tired, and running tired. We ran an out-n-back course and on the way back we got lost. If I had my brain screwed on I would have remembered that my Garmin has a breadcrumb feature and I could have easily pointed us in the right direction. As it was we made it back on a slightly different, slightly longer, slightly more uphill route. I was happy that my training on Pass Mountain had prepared me well for this.
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| One of the runners had a GoPro and tripod. We set it up mid run and goofed off a bit... |
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| Coach Hillary's run group heading to the SAG stop half way. |
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| Me and Kona Dawn post run. Love this girl!! |
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| Toasting a successful week at Team HPB Camp. |
As always there are lessons learned and friends made. Here are some of my takeaways from camp this year.
1. I am not as strong as I think I am. There is more work to be done. I had gotten a little comfortable in my training, thinking that I was ready to crush whatever comes my way. After the ride on Friday I was humbled. Despite how much improvement I've made over the last few months, I have a LONG way to go. I cannot delude myself into thinking this is locked up.
2. Laughter cures EVERYTHING! Every day during training my body was punished and I finished aching and tired. Every evening I gathered with Beav, Marc, Ben and Maggie to eat dinner and we laughed for hours on end. We did not stop laughing the entire time we were together. It was the best medicine. By the time I fell into bed at night I was recovered, content and lighter.
3. I am stronger than I think I am. Every time I thought, "there's no way I can do this," I did it and it was fine. I thought I would blow up in the fast lane. I didn't. I thought I couldn't climb up the back of Gates Pass a second time. I did. I thought I was going to suffer through the trail run. I didn't. It's fine. My body has adapted and made huge gains over the last year. It will continue to absorb the work and improve.
4. Time is short, don't wait. For months, I have been telling my husband that my teammate, Jen, is my long lost twin. She is the coolest person I had ever cyber stalked that I hadn't actually met yet. She is a nurse and works nights in trauma/ ICU. She thru-hiked the AT. Ya. How fucking cool is that?! With her dog!! I feel we are kindred spirits. I met Jen on Thursday evening at dinner and talked with her a little. But the rest of the weekend we were in separate groups for the swim/ bike/ run and I didn't have a lot of time with her. For some reason I thought she was staying in a house with some other campers so when making dinner plans I didn't want to interfere with what I thought they had going on. On Sunday, coach told me that Jen had been staying alone in a hotel and I was crushed. We had an extra bed in our condo she could have crashed in and I would have loved to drag her to dinner with our little 5-some. Lesson learned. And, Jen, if you're reading this-- I'm praying you're still in CA when I visit in June!! We must run trails together!!
Recovery
Since coming home from camp I have been working non-stop. I moved the contents of our home in 3 days (literally packing boxes, loading my car, driving 1 mile, unloading boxes into the new house). Thank God I had two of the greatest friends on the planet volunteer to help me! I orchestrated movers to transport furniture. And I have been living under boxes and trying to scrape meals together without a fully stocked/ operational kitchen for 10 days. I have been overwhelmed and exhausted. Coach must have recognized the strain I have been under as my week leading up to my first race of the season has been very refreshing. I am super exicted to head to California next weekend for the Oceanside 70.3. I will try to share a timely update post race. And maybe even announce the winner of my name-my-bike contest before the gun goes off! My only hint... there was one name that gave me instant goosebumps when I read it. When that happens, it's a good fit. So I'm keeping my options open as more suggestions come in, but there is one clear leader.
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| My gem needs a name! |
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