Just came back from Tucson where a small group of us experienced what can only be described as "all that is good about the sport".
We spent four days running, biking and swimming. And of course, we were also eating, drinking and talking. Not surprisingly, after doing number two (drinking...not pooping), we mainly talked about triathlon.
One of the many highlights of the trip came on the first day when the entire crew went to the track to meet with Triathlon Coach Extraordinaire - Cliff English. For those of you who don't know, Cliff is one of the best triathlon coaches on the planet. He gratiously agreed to work with us for two days and was absolutely great! We started out with some dynamic stretching and much to our pleasure, his wife (Sam McGlone) joined us. She was incredibly down to earth and chatted about her rehab and her upcoming race plans. After that, we completed an easy three mile run and then moved to a grassy field. Cliff watched us all run and provided technique tips. We then went through a series of drills and finished up with a short Q and A session.
After a quick change, we headed for the pool. After an 600 yard warm up, Cliff watched us all swim and again provided some great technique tips. We finished up with some really cool drafting drills where we would hang on the toes or hip of the person in front of us.
In the afternoon, we got in a short one hour ride around Oro Valley.
On day, two we met up with Cliff again at Buzz Cafe. After a brief talk, he then led us on a ride up the legendary Mount Lemmon. Apparently, the Cafe Parking lot is the unofficial start for the ride because we saw at least 60 to 70 riders coming and going. There's a four to five mile ride in to the mountain, then you start climbing. The cool thing is that while the grade isn't too hard (5% to 6%), it never ends. Or at least it seems to never end. In reality, it does end after 25 miles at 9,000 feet. Due to time constraints (and snow), we had to turn at mile 12. On the way up, Cliff spent time riding next to all of us. Perhaps the most humbling part of the ride was when he was ahead of me with my neighbor Stephanie and he demonstrated one-legged cycling drills for about five minutes. What's humbling about that you ask? Well...that was exactly when I decided to pick up the pace and "close the gap". Only problem was that the gap stayed as wide open as the back door of the barn! I couldn't even catch him when he was peddling with one f'ing leg!!! Did I mention that Cliff (or Cliff Bar as we privately called him) used to ride professionally???
Anyway, despite the ego ding, the ride was just fantastic.
Cliff had to fly out that afternoon, so the rest of the camp was spent without our "big toe" (extra points if you get that movie reference). We got in a short run with hill repeats that evening. The next two days were pretty much a blur of run, bike, swim and core workouts.
So, just like with our Kona camp, I'm hoping that we can build on this momentum and have a couple of great weeks of training.
We spent four days running, biking and swimming. And of course, we were also eating, drinking and talking. Not surprisingly, after doing number two (drinking...not pooping), we mainly talked about triathlon.
One of the many highlights of the trip came on the first day when the entire crew went to the track to meet with Triathlon Coach Extraordinaire - Cliff English. For those of you who don't know, Cliff is one of the best triathlon coaches on the planet. He gratiously agreed to work with us for two days and was absolutely great! We started out with some dynamic stretching and much to our pleasure, his wife (Sam McGlone) joined us. She was incredibly down to earth and chatted about her rehab and her upcoming race plans. After that, we completed an easy three mile run and then moved to a grassy field. Cliff watched us all run and provided technique tips. We then went through a series of drills and finished up with a short Q and A session.
After a quick change, we headed for the pool. After an 600 yard warm up, Cliff watched us all swim and again provided some great technique tips. We finished up with some really cool drafting drills where we would hang on the toes or hip of the person in front of us.
In the afternoon, we got in a short one hour ride around Oro Valley.
On day, two we met up with Cliff again at Buzz Cafe. After a brief talk, he then led us on a ride up the legendary Mount Lemmon. Apparently, the Cafe Parking lot is the unofficial start for the ride because we saw at least 60 to 70 riders coming and going. There's a four to five mile ride in to the mountain, then you start climbing. The cool thing is that while the grade isn't too hard (5% to 6%), it never ends. Or at least it seems to never end. In reality, it does end after 25 miles at 9,000 feet. Due to time constraints (and snow), we had to turn at mile 12. On the way up, Cliff spent time riding next to all of us. Perhaps the most humbling part of the ride was when he was ahead of me with my neighbor Stephanie and he demonstrated one-legged cycling drills for about five minutes. What's humbling about that you ask? Well...that was exactly when I decided to pick up the pace and "close the gap". Only problem was that the gap stayed as wide open as the back door of the barn! I couldn't even catch him when he was peddling with one f'ing leg!!! Did I mention that Cliff (or Cliff Bar as we privately called him) used to ride professionally???
Anyway, despite the ego ding, the ride was just fantastic.
Cliff had to fly out that afternoon, so the rest of the camp was spent without our "big toe" (extra points if you get that movie reference). We got in a short run with hill repeats that evening. The next two days were pretty much a blur of run, bike, swim and core workouts.
So, just like with our Kona camp, I'm hoping that we can build on this momentum and have a couple of great weeks of training.
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