Jody, a very strong athlete (9:38--IM Lake Placid) showed up not feeling so well and couldn't seem to shake it. Not being able to put done calories during a camp like this makes it impossible to put yourself back together day after day especially when sick. I think he made the best choice to head back to Toronto. I wouldn't want to hang out with a bunch of training athletes if I'm laid up.
Robert, who was having one heck of a camp received some bad news. The family was having to put down the dog who was suffering from a tumor. The dog had basically been a member of the family for the past 15 years. Robert is a very intense athlete and has been looking forward to this camp all winter. It must have been difficult for him to leave, but we will being seeing him again very soon. Robert will be joining us again for our camp in April.
Today was supposed to be a "put yourself back together day", but I'm not sure we all got the memo.
The day started out with a 6 a.m. swim...
Warm-Up
500 steady
5x100
400 steady
4x100
300 steady
3x100
200 steady
2x100
100 steady
1x100
Warm-down
The ride for the day had two options
1. 40+ mile steady ride
2. 20+ mile ez/steady ride
I opted for option one and it ended up being a pretty tough ride. We rode fairly easy out of town and then it some short climbs and rollers and then Gordo started putting a hurtin on the entire group.
Early efforts at a higher intensity don't feel especially good to me, but once I've sat out the storm I usually feel really good. It's almost like my body wakes up and knows it is ready to do some work.
I wouldn't recommend this to be a standard staple before every training ride because it is a good way to burn through a lot of glycogen. However, I'm pretty efficient and knew this ride wasn't going to be long enough to leave me bonked and stranded out in the middle of the desert.
The remainder of the ride was steady to upper steady depending on if you were at the front and the grouped worked on sticking together. Sticking together is something I learned a lot about during camp in Solvang. Most triathletes are not accustomed to riding in a group and usually try and avoid it all together.
When I first started riding about 2 years ago, I'd never draft. I'd be riding either next to or several meters behind other riders. I've since changed my opinion on group riding. I don't think that your key race simulation rides should be done on a wheel, but done properly, group riding can be beneficial.
It is important the athletes you are riding with know how to ride in a group. I prefer to roll with a maximum of 4-6 athletes, where the pace is kept high so that the man at the front is riding mod-hard to hard with the riders in the group riding steady.
This is an ideal situation for group riding, but usually things aren't "ideal." Stay flexible, patient, and teach the athletes around you how to ride in a group instead of getting upset with them. They probably aren't purposely trying to scare the hell out of you, but just don't know. We've all been the ignorant one at some point.
More tomorrow,
Mat
