Training hell has begun!

[Triathlete]

After a short (4 weeks) break to let the little aches and pains heal and the brain recover mentaly the triathlon training started fresh over Thanksgiving week. After easing into the training, Friday Dec. 26 started our winter training camp. 9 days of fun in the sun...after all this is Tucson...the desert! My coach has a cruel sense of humor!

Day 1 Dec.26 '08
Woke cold and rain...great, off to a great start. On the agenda for the day was running, cycling and swimming (oh boy!). The high temp for the day (49) came at about 8 a.m. and then began to plumet from there.
After putting on plenty of warm clothing we started the day with a 1 hour run. Due to the rain we canceled our ride and instaed ventured to the pool for a quick 35 minute swim.

Day 2 Dec.27 '08
Woke up to even colder temps...28 degrees (in Tucson!). Fortunately the rain had stopped...but, EVERYTHING was frozen. Packed on the layers of warm clothing and then it was off for another hour run. Next up after thawing and changing into layers of warm cycling gear we were off for a cold, cold, cold (did I say it was cold?) 2 hour 45 minute ride which included the climb up and over Gates Pass which is a climb that averages about 10-12 percent grade with a short 15 percent grade at the top.Freezing toes, fingers and face were the highlight of the day! After thawing we took a quick trip to the pool for a 45 minute swim workout. The pool water was the warmest part of the day!

Day 3 Dec.28 '08
Another cold morning...27 degrees! But today we had the something to look forward to...temp warming to near 60 and sunny! Started the morning with a brisk 2 hour 50 minute run on the Phoneline trail in Sabino Canyon. This is a very tough trail but the scenery is incredible! The scenery makes the pain almost bearable. After a brief thawing/recovery time we again mounted our bikes and were off on a 1 hour 30 minute ride. This time it was the hills of Starr Pass that awaited us. I ride this area a lot but the hills seemed twice as big with tired legs.
Good news is...its is suppose to be in the mid to upper 60's for the rest of the camp!

Stay tuned for the continuing saga!
Only 6 more days to suffer....err i mean go!

[don moore]

chin up...we are all with you ...GO GO GO

[Triathlete]

Day 4 Dec.29 '08
Today started off with much more typical Az. weather! A 40 minute morning run with temps in the 40's followed by a 2 hour bike in sunshine and mid to upper 50's! Of course the ride included 6 miles of climbing up Mt. Lemmon on the Catalina Highway...so much fun when your legs are already tired from the day before! The scenery on the climb makes most of the pain go away. Of course what goes up must come down...40+ MPH through down a twisting turning mountain road on skinny tires is hard to put in words...Weeeeeeeee!
For recovery...8 hours of standing on my feet at work ( I need to invest in some compression socks soon)

[VX crazy]

Day 4 Dec.29 '08
Today started off with much more typical Az. weather! A 40 minute morning run with temps in the 40's followed by a 2 hour bike in sunshine and mid to upper 50's! Of course the ride included 6 miles of climbing up Mt. Lemmon on the Catalina Highway...so much fun when your legs are already tired from the day before! The scenery on the climb makes most of the pain go away. Of course what goes up must come down...40+ MPH through down a twisting turning mountain road on skinny tires is hard to put in words...Weeeeeeeee!
For recovery...8 hours of standing on my feet at work ( I need to invest in some compression socks soon)

DANG! I lived outside of Tuscon as a child at the base of Mt. Lemmon....that IS beautiful! My family would ride dirt bikes in the desert from our back yard! THAT was almost 30 yrs ago tho....

[Triathlete]

Day 5 Dec.30 '08
Another day with sweet weather...high of 75 and sun-sweet-shine!
Though it started in the 40's. Woke up with legs feeling like lead. But they quickly started feling good during the mornings 1 hour run on the Pima College cross country trail affectionately known as "The Gauntlet". Lots of hills...up and down...not so much flat! After a short rest we mounted our bikes and went for a quick 2 hour blast up Oracle road which took us just short of the town of Catalina. Traffic was a bit on the heavy side but the views of the west side of the Catalina Mountains was great uder the sunny blue skies. Then it was back to my home to quickly get ready for work.

Lisa, the area near the base of Mt. Lemmon has seen some serious development. There is not a lot of area there for dirt bikes any longer. I have been here 35+ years and there was only 250,000 people here then...we are now over 1 million! However if you head just a little east of there to the Reddington area there is lots of great trails for riding and wheeling!

More "fun" tomorrow!

[Triathlete]

Day 6 Dec.31 '08
The last day of 2008 served up another day of beautiful Arizona weather...clear skies and 74 degrees. Tucson is a training oasis. The training on the other hand is not nearly as nice. The legs again felt like lead when I woke early this morning. A quick bowl of oat meal and then it was off to the Tucson Mountains to run the rockey, hilly, sandy 10 mile Yetman trail loop. Another trail with awesome scenery in which I have logged a few thousand miles over the years. The legs actually came alive and felt good for most of the run. The last long climb at the end of the trail took its tole though...man did it hurt. Another 1 hour 20 minutes of running to add to the total talley. After returning home and downing 5 eggs scrambled with cheese it was off for a 2 hour bike ride. Hills were in the future with climbs through Starr Pass followed by Gates Pass and then some rollers on the way home. More food and then it was off to work...another 8 hours on the feet!

3 more days of fun to go...of course once camp is over I still have a lot of training on the books. In case anyone is wondering, all this is to get ready for a race that is in November of '09...Ironman Arizona!

[CrnCnn]

Keep it going Billy. I wish I had motivation to get after it, I am way out of shape.

My wife is in Tucson and keeps me updated plenty on the weather, just to rub it in.

[VCrossfan]

So it's going to be a day by day post until November 09 ?? lol

[Triathlete]

So it's going to be a day by day post until November 09 ?? lol

Hmmm! I hadn't thought of that!

[Triathlete]

Day 7 Jan.1 '09
The new year started with another sun filled cloudless sky and high temp 75! An early morning 50 minute run got the blood flowing. Nothing exceptional about the run...it was just a run. That was followed up with a 2 hour 45 minute bike. The route today could best be described as a rollercoaster...up and down and up and down and up.... Climbed Starr Pass followed by Gates Pass and then did a few loops through the Saguro National Park west. More spectacular desert scenery and perfect weather. Looking forward to tomorrow...it is sort of an easy day!

[Triathlete]

Day 8 Jan.2 '09
Another great day of weather! Got a bit of reprive from the training. It was an easy day...35 minute run and then a 1 hour 20 minute bike through Starr Pass and then home.
Of course there is a reason for the easy day...tomorrow is going to be painfull!

[Triathlete]

Day 9 The Finally Jan.3 '09
Started the day off nice and early with a short 30 minute run that included a few hill repeats. Now it was time for the real fun to start. After mounting our bikes at 10 a.m. we headed off to the Catalina Highway at a nice pace. We got to the base of Mt. Lemmon at 10:45. 24 miles of climbing followed. We climbed about 7000 feet. The temp was nice as we climbed. Soon we were at the snow level but the effert of the climb kept us warm (sweating). The road was pretty well clear with only a few icey spots. The higher we got the colder it got (go figure). We turned around just a few miles shy of Winterhaven. My legs were pretty well fried by then. I piled on my arm warmers, leg warmers, gloves, and vest and began the fast decent down the mountain. The first 5-6 miles was extremely cold. I could not feel my fingers. But then the sun began to warm my body and we cruised down the last 18 miles of twisty mountain road at close to 40 mph! Thats the fun part! All said the bike ride was 4 hours and 20 minutes! Now its nap time

[Triathlete]

A few totals for the 9 day camp...
Bike: 18 hours and 40 minutes which equals 330+ miles
Run: 9 hours 45 minutes which equals 65+ miles
Swim: the camp was light on swimming with only 1 hour 40 minutes in the pool.

[Triathlete]

Here are a few pics my coach (Brian) took during the ride yesterday...most were no look over the shoulder shot so keep that in mind!

Departing...


I'm in the yellow with the rear mounted bottles...




over the shoulder




Everyone still happy...still warm...








A little scenery...


The person responsible for my daily torture sessions (notice all that white stuff...we were no longer warm and happy)


More white stuff...and a finger!


Group shot minus me...I was still putting on my warm stuff!




Then we started the cold, fast descent!