Tucson Training

Hillary & I K-Swissed out Near the top of Mt. Lemmon

I’ve survived nearly a full week of training camp in Tucson–this was my closer to home substitute for the March camp in Australia which I reluctantly decided to give a miss when I switched my plan from IM Australia to IM St George.  My partner in crime for this adventure is Amy, a good friend who just did her first Ironman race this winter, but is already well on her way to full time IM racing gig.

I knew there must be something to the desert training, as T-town has quietly been amassing an impressive collection of world class triathletes–Hillary Biscay, Chris & Marilyn McDonald, TJ Tollakson, Samantha McGlone, and Leanda Cave, just to name a few.  Hillary and I have been great friends since long before our days as pros–before we followed training plans, knew how to change a tire, or had any clue what we were doing, quite frankly.  I credit Hills with inspiring me to sign up for my first Ironman, Ironman Coeur d’ Alene in 2003, where we earned the matching nickname “BH” or “Better Half”, as we were quite inseperable–pre race, at least.

It’s been slightly more difficult to keep up with her (in more than one sense!) since she began her world tour of Ironman domination, but it’s always fun to try!  So far, the pre St. G camp highlights have been:

$4 yoga with Hillary, Amy, and Samantha the first night upon arrival.  Perfect way to stretch out from a looong car ride, and about the same cost as mat rental for a class in SD.

Saturday Shoot out Group Ride.  Besides the ridiculously bumpy roads (seriously, did someone forget to tell them about Obama’s stimulus for road repair? for one or two sections I actually wished I’d brought my mountain bike) was a really fun, really tough group ride.  I’ll admit, even the cracked and pothole filled roads added to the rugged charm, though it’s much easier to admit now that I’m on the safer side of the day!

Sunday loooong ride with Chris MacDonald, aka “Big Sexy” and Jake Rubelt, a former cycling pro and now coach (who is still darn fast, btw).  I’m sure it was a beautiful route, but for 120 something miles, I saw little else but their back tires.

3 hour run on the rock and cactus studded trails. . .which left me with a little souvenir to take home after taking a little tumble late in the game.

Mt. Lemmon–the 25 mile climb that’s a fixture of Tuscon cycling.  Most importantly, there is a stop at the top known (for good reason) as The Cookie Cabin, which features dinner plate size cookies.  We topped that off with a treadmill smashfest, then

We capped off this last day of T-town training with a track session this AM– 20 x 400 on 1′ rest.  Company for this was a treat in and of itself, but we decided to jazz it up a bit with some eye catching matching outfits. I’ll post some pics from that soon–camera is in the other car and we are rushing out the door–on to the next stop. . .

The road adventure continues! We (Hillary, Amy, Chris McDonald & I) are off to Vegas for a very last minute (yes, sort of a trend with me) race–the BBSCTri Rage Half Ironman.  for me, it’s just a training day–no race wheels, aero helmet, taper, or expectations–other than to have a blast!