The Return of Boot Camp

I'm writing this post from home, with a glass of Vitamin C mix in hand, and sporting my 2xu's to aid in the recovery of my fatigued muscles. Believe it or not, I've been wearing them actually for about fourteen hours now. They're just too comfortable to take off...

Despite the packed bags and carpool arrangements already made for the Day 2 South Bay workout, I made the call at about 5:45 this morning (upon waking up with a chest cold and cough) that it'd be wiser to stay in and rest up. I had actually been fighting a sore throat all week but wanted to get in as much as I could training-wise this weekend, without forfeiting any extra days in the week (for work or work-outs). So I'm conserving my energy so I can be back to 100% for the week ahead.

As we speak, my Team is in the midst of a 7-hour training day, as part our Boot Camp II in San Jose. I can only imagine what incredible feats they're doing at this very moment ~ and on top of their own fatigued muscles, tired bodies and minds, they're tackling it all in the rain and wind chilling temps. Like I'm always saying, I train with an incredible group of individuals and consider it a privilege to do so.

So on to Saturday's workout, i.e. Day 1. We were in for another big day, venued at Pleasanton's Shadow Cliffs Park (15 mins from my house -- yes!) and were given these instructions during the earlier part of the week:



8:00 AM to 1:00PM - Swim 1000 yards, bike 9 miles, run 3 miles. Wash rinse and repeat as many times as you can in 5 hours. We will reconvene at 1:30 for a final stretch session before going about our day. Wherever you are at 1:00 PM, your day is "officially" over, head back to transition.



This was enough to instill the fear in all of us and so we marched into P-Town yesterday morning, anxious to see what the day would bring us. Low and behold, we had some great bike racks and a whole transition area set up for us. This always makes a difference because it gives you a much more official (and familiar) idea of what race day transitions will actually feel like. After setting up and inching my way into the wetsuit, we all headed to the beach area to prepare for our [1st] swim. Little would I realize, we were to swim from one buoy to another, get out of the water, do a short run to the beginning, and start again. x4. It made sense, once I did the math and added up the distance in yardage, but there was something about that method, that broke up my stroke and it ended up taking me a while to find my rhythm. I kept asking myself as went to breathe... why can't I find my groove like I did at Wildflower? It's hard to compare. Totally different bodies of water, different conditions, and no swim is exactly like another. It just took a little longer than I had anticipated to get as comfortable in the lake as I have in the past.



Upon reaching transition to change into bike mode, I noticed a slew of my teammates off to the side, with their back wheels removed and empty tubes flying all over the place. It then occurred to me to check my own back tire. Out of air. Yep, this would be the time I'd have to hunker down, get greasy, and repair my own [intentionally made] flat. Luckilly (and honestly, thankfully), I had just replaced this tire completely, and so it wouldn't be nearly as difficult to remove off the wheel as my front tire. So once I was fully changed (conveniently put together a makeshift changing room by switching swimsuit bottoms to bike shorts, under Kathryn's parka)... I took off my rear wheel and got to work. To my surprise, I had very little trouble at all. Even with the flat stopper (a rubber strip I had installed in between the tire and tube) adding an extra layer of thickness. I blew a little air manually into the tire valve, stuck it right back on the wheel, pumped that puppy up and locked the wheel back into place.

Soon after, I acquired my signal on the Garmin and headed out on the bike course. This time, I had a little concern over the "new fit" I had gotten earlier in the week. Some of you might recall, that my seat was raised a whole 2+ inches. So that would mean, hoisting myself up with an extra boost at traffic lights, stop signs, etc. in order to make sure I "land" on the seat fully. Well, let's just say, there was no trauma to my 'lady parts', but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't worried about some kind of mishap occurring. You know the bike & I.

Training Captain, Les, hung with me for awhile and was baffled by my fluctuating heart rate. I told him it was likely my nerves and feeling a little tense. Shortly after, though, any tension subsided ~ and I think it was because I was actually feeling comfortable on the new fit, and it helped that I was in somewhat familiar territory, riding through Pleasanton. Les rode on and I was on my own. It was a good ride, and I recalled all the previous workouts with lactate threshold I had been doing for the last two weeks. I made sure to keep my heart rate above 160 and to push it on the flats (which was the majority of the ride) ;) After passing through a few familiar vineyards and wineries in Livermore, I was back at Shadow Cliffs entering transition again, alongside Carol. I made sure to downshift just before getting off the bike (so it would make for an easy launch the second time around).

As I removed my helmet, I kept repeating to myself don't forget to change your shoes! The last thing I'd want is to storm out of transition clicking around in my cleats. [I'd later be glad I reminded myself of this, as somewhere during the run, I saw someone from the South Bay running around the trails with her bike helmet on.] So off I went, changing watches again (this was now my third ~ a regular waterproof stopwatch for the swim; Coach Mike's Garmin 305 for the bike; and now my Garmin 405 for the run, since it was already set up specifically on run mode ~ don't worry, I plan to minimize this process!).

Suprisingly, I went out pretty fast and had no trouble transitioning from 'bike legs' to 'run legs'. While I had originally planned to run/walk it, I figured it might be good to catch up on lost time (from the tire-changing) and push the envelope wherever I could. So I kept with my momentum and maintained a 10:15 min/mile pace until I reached Les on the run course. We ended up running the remainder of the 5k together, and managed to keep a good conversation going, while staying at that 10:10-10:15 min/mile pace. Came in strong at the end, and got ready for the next transition.



Our wetsuits had all been neatly draped along a rope to 'hang dry' while we rode and ran, but unfortunately, due to the sun's absence, they didn't dry much at all. I had contemplated bypassing the swim and doing a bike/run brick instead (as I felt that sore throat looming, but was urged to get back into the water). I had some frustration getting back into the wet wetsuit (feeling like I must now be the only person going out into the lake at this point), but once I took a few deep breaths, got my bearings, and suited back up, I calmly walked back to the beach to conquer another open water swim. Just then, Captain Tony walked up to me and asked, So are we ready to do this? And I said, Yep, I guess so. But why do you have your wetsuit on? Tony had been on volunteer staff all day so it surprised me to see him not only walking with me on the beach, but fully suited up as well. I'm going to swim with you. Do you mind? And I said, Of course not! It was great to have the company ~ especially when we found out our swim course was slightly modified. This time, we were to swim out to one buoy, and then do six lengths back and forth to and from another buoy. So Tony and I swam the first length together and I noticed I was feeling a little parched. I was worried I hadn't drank enough water leading up to that point. Tony gave me a choice as to whether I wanted to return back to shore, fill a bottle, and keep it close by, and swim back and forth to take sips whenever I felt I needed it. After giving it some thought, I felt I really couldn't afford to lose any more time. So I decided to just keep on going. But through and through, whenever I'd finish one length and prepare to start another, Tony would wait for me. And I just can't thank him enough for being there for me. As tired as I would get, his head would pop up out of the water, and with a smile on his face, and say something as simple as, "one more out and back and we're done!" and it would completely change my perspective of the rest of the swim. It's not that I dreaded it or wasn't enjoying my time in the water ~ but I was starting to get overwhelmed by everything I had ahead of me, and needless to say, got caught up in thinking where I was in terms of a race (I felt like I was dead last), which took a huge chunk out of my morale. But sure enough, we finished another 1000 yd swim and I unzipped out of the wetsuit again and prepared to hop on the bike.

This time, I felt much more confident. This bike course was now nothing new to me, I knew what to expect in terms of how the bike would feel, and I was determined to not lose any more momentum. Off I went... I felt like I barely saw anyone on the road from my Team, but it didn't matter any more at this point. I had a couple more hours in my day, and a run coming up. I just kept my eye on the prize.

Once I reached T2 for the second time, one of the South Bay IronTeam coaches told me I had twenty minutes left before my day would be done (I later found out I was misinstructed, but it sure made for a good pickup for the first half of my second 5k! ~In reality, I had double the amount of time to run it). So I picked up the pace for my second run... just in time for my stomach to get a little antsy. All my liquid nutrition was sloshing around in my tummy by Mile 2. My mentor, Michelle, offered to run the rest of the leg with me and I was happy to have her keep me company. We hadn't ran together in over a month, and whenever we pair up, we seem to do our absolute best and most consistent. So I welcomed her with open arms!

As we ran more, my stomach sloshed around some more. It was tough to find the balance between pushing it and not being too hard on my poor digestive system (likely confused by all the activity of these multiple sprint triathlons). We walked the hills, which seemed to give me a reprieve, but picked up the pace for the flats. It was basically mind over matter for the final mile. Michelle would later go her own way, leaving me to sprint to the transition and finish out strong. And so I did just that.

Two sprint tri's, an impromptu tire-changing, two costume changes in and out of the wetsuit, and some more duels with the demons... in five hours. It was another day wrought with challenge and adversity, but I made it through unscathed and have another victory to celebrate.

We finished up with some foam-rolling exercises and stretching on the lawn, and had another great post-workout team lunch at The Hopyard in Pleasanton.



I would like to give special mention and my heartfelt thanks to the following people for helping me get through the toughest parts of my day:

Les Giang
Tony Collins
Michelle Carter
Sedonia Yoshida
Mike Kyle
Rocky Reyes
Brian Kinion

Each of you, in your own unique ways, lead by extraordinary example, exhibit patience and true generosity with your time and doling out the pearls of wisdom on a continual basis :) Thank you for all you do. And thank you for being such supportive teammates to me.

On the progression front, I have some great news! Coach Mike was kind enough to extrapolate my bike times, and compare them to my most recent bike marker. Now, they're not over the same exact bike courses, but it'll give a good idea of how my speed in general has improved in the last month or so (especially considering my new goal to stay in line with my lactate threshold):

Last bike marker: 10.08 mph average speed
4/10/10 Bootcamp 1st loop: 13.7 mph (161 average HR)
4/10/10 Bootcamp 2nd loop: 13.1 mph (151 average HR)

This translates into a 36% increase in average speed! This definitely gave me the boost in morale I've been needing.

So on to another week. It hasn't been the prettiest these last few days... and I've had all sorts of mental and emotional distractions to keep me busy. But I'm powerin' on through, putting my all into it, and having faith it'll all come together.

***
Week #22 Workout Summary:

Swim: 3 hours and 0 minutes
Bike: 3 hours and 0 minutes
Run: 1 hour and 0 minutes
Core/Strength: 0 hours and 30 minutes
Total Workout: 7 hours and 30 minutes

My Fundraising Progress to Date: $7,855