This past weekend, 30 strong, willing, and determined triathletes rolled away from the Sandias of New Mexico and across the border into the Sonoran desert of Tucson.  A step away from their everyday lives of work, training and family, and into Jaime’s water, wheel and running shoe driven life.  450 miles to have a taste of the sweet training ground we call home.
   Every day I go out for my ride and am amazed at where I am and how beautiful and perfect it is to train here.  Just looking around I am driven to work that much harder and dedicate myself that much more… if its possible.  But as with all places, the longer I’m here, the more it becomes a routine and it looses that initial lust.  That just one reason why this camp was such a motivation to me as well.  It made me re-realize that I have such an opportunity being here and a unique chance to train in a place that can only make me better and closer to my goal.
   Since I’m training for cycling, I wasn’t able to participate in the runs, but I did spend a lot of time meeting these athletes and pedaling alongside them.  These 30 triathletes have everyday jobs and lives away from training that makes me have respect for their dedication to such a demanding sport.  Not just running, or swimming, or biking… but all 3!  After spending my college days at Columbia balancing school work and training I understand the difficulty and sacrifice that multiple commitments takes.  So I admire all those that step into an athletic world to compete.

If you want a brief taste of the days, read on…

Day 1: The camp started off with a relaxed ride Thursday evening along “the river trail” as I call it.  Where I realized leading a group and trying to keep everyone together was harder then it seemed.  Traffic, lights, who was feeling fast, who was feeling relaxed, who decided to get a flat tire… Troy 😉  It was fun getting to meet people and cruise along with someone besides just Jaime for company, he can get to be a real bore 🙂  Halfway through the ride though I had to roll back home for dinner prep.  That night I did the catering/cooking.

   It brought back memories to camp planning back at Columbia when my teammate and I planned and coordinated everything for our team training camps before going back to school.  It takes so much organization and work to make everything go smoothly.
   So in the end over 30 mouths were fed with my Italian hands of making lasagna, risotto, pasta, bread, fruit salad, and can’t forget the power packed protein bars that I have yet to come up with a name for.  It was a successful dinner and everyone had a full belly for the 3 days ahead.

Day 2:  I did some awesome morning yoga with Maya to loosen up, then I swam before everyone else so I could enjoy watching the eager faces enter their first swim workout.

   Then at noon I joined them for the epic mt. Lemmon experience.  I rolled with the 2 hour group talking technique and life stuff before they headed back.  Then thinking Jaime was insane for making me do this, I jumped right into my catchup drill.  Powering up at a solid effort and speed I was able to make it to the sag wagon car and shout a Hey at Maya.  It was fun riding with people along the way and sharing my favorite hill climb with so many others.  As the temperature just started getting cooler around 5,000ft I make it to Lauren and not much longer the lead guys are just turning back.  Take a few minutes for a photo op and to enjoy the view before turning back and speeding down at 65+ km per hr.

   That evening we had dinner out at a nearby restaurant where pro triathlete Lauren Goss joined us.  I had a good time chatting with her about everything from college to training to diet.  She is in Tucson for a few weeks before heading back to Florida where she lives and trains.  It was cooling meeting someone who has really dedicated everything to their sport and succeeded to become pro, especially since she’s 25 I feel like I’m not too far off.

Day 3:  Started out rainy, windy and just not nice.  I went over to the lodge where they were staying and did some stretching and rolling with Lawrence.  Then I headed out for my workout ride, while they went to swim.  The weather was luckily on our side and clearing up, so I was able to get some good interval work once it stopped raining.
   I rolled on back to the track where the campers mid-day brick workout was well underway.  Bikes on trainers along the track is intense to say the least.  Straight from spinning to running, there’s a triathletes work for ya.

    After my admiring detour I headed home to start the burners.  It was cooking time again and this time we had dinner over at TriSport with fajitas on the menu.  I loaded up my car and drove across town with the smell of chicken, beans, rice, and other goodies overwhelming the plasticy leathery smell of my car.  Dinner went smoothly and all the athletes left for their final day with a filled belly.

Day 4:  A quick morning for me as I went over for a little stretch and farewell.  After riding, stretching, eating and hanging out with everyone it was sad to say bye to my new friends.  It was a tough few days even for me who didn’t do all the workouts, but I think I can say that my cooking marathon may have made up a little for that 😉

  It was great to be around others from New Mexico and let them into the not so secret paradise of Tuscon winter training.  I am grateful for everyday I am here and glad others could enjoy a few days of the warm weather, rolling roads, and mountainous back drop of my winter home.