Training Camps in Anaheim and Nashville

~ I forgot my camera, however the camera would not do justice to the experiences of Camp Alpha or Bravo ~

I figured the best way to start off the triathlon season was with a solid training camp. I wanted to get in a good block of training time; so far I have done just that. I spent the first week of the season training at Base Camp Alpha in Anaheim. The 70 plus degree weather was just what I needed to get out the door and have fabulous run training. My favorite run was a loop that went right by Disney Land.

After a week I jetted off to Base Camp Bravo in Nashville, Tennessee. While both camps have been great, I will be dedicating the majority of my time in Bravo location. The weather is 85 percent gorgeous in Tennessee, the other 15 percent is perfect for building mental toughness that I miss from Spring time training in Montana.

Like Anaheim, I have had a phenomenal training camp here. I have been putting in great run training. On top of that, I have been doing 2 hour swim sessions at the swim center. They like their pools hot in Nashville, 85 degrees hot, so that has been a great element of mental training to add in the top physical conditioning.

My swimming has been great, I have been doing a bunch of different strokes and everyone is so nice.   My fly is coming along nicely, I have made a lot of improvements by training such a demanding stroke.  In the pst I have not trained a huge amount of swimming or alternative strokes, but Camp Bravo is all about breaking the routine of what I ordinarly do for training.  New ideas and training tactics have the potential to bring huge amounts of progress.

I have 3 more weeks in Nashville, by the time I return to the Tri Palace I will be ready to enter final prep for the early summer races. It is a new experience to train in the South, I don't know if triathlon is big down here, but it seems like everywhere I go everyone is so interested in why I am here to do swimming, biking, and running.  When my training is done for the day and I have down time, I retreat to the relaxing confines of my 4th floor studio suite for recovery.

It is important for me to travel to a base camp.  I have always done my best training when I am alone and isolated, Peter Reid, a crazy character, is the same way.  Some do well with large groups, I do not.  My best training is distraction and interaction free.  My time spent training day after day, after day, alone in Bozeman a few years back or at the Tri Pad the last 3 summers have gained me the most measurable physical and mental benefits of any other type of training.  Being alone while training makes you tough period. 
 
Three more weeks of Nashville, training camp, and country music.  Ahh the life of a triathlete…

Do Not Tell Anyone I Rollerblade...

The first, Brodacious is training, lightly. I have a had a few runs of 5-10 minutes, and 2 ten-minute trainer rides on the P3 with no issues. I have kept up on my swimming, and I have picked up a new secret weapon, rollerblading! I was a bit skeptical at first, yes it was cool in the '90s and yes rollerblading is not on the list of street cred items.

*Radical blades dude

However, it is a good workout. Rollerblading is not a hard as skate-skiing, but it is close. I can skate 800 meters in about two and a half minutes and end up with a heart rate of 165 bpm. Like skiing, it works your legs harder than cycling or running. After and hour of blading the section of muscles from my lower back to hamstrings are worked hard. Plus, blading is pretty fun, I have a pavement track I do laps on so it is sort of like speed skating at the Olympics.

*Here comes the hill

 *Aero tuck the downhill in totally radical fashion

*This is what a totally insande blading looks like at 160bpm  

*Don't tell ANYONE I rollerblade...I'm so ashamed :)

The second, what is it with sports cars? They are so finicky with their maintenance, high-octane gas, special tires, German sport tuned suspensions, and ridiculous prices. Apparently, my legs are like a sports car. The podiatrist told me when he looks at my Achilles tendon and feet "it is like looking under the hood of a sports car. Everything about your feet is built for speed." Unfortunately, sports cars are not the most comfortable rides, and like sports cars, my feet are prone to issues related to their "built for speed" nature.

The podiatrist told me, as advice, he would dedicate less amount of training to running, and more to non-impact sports like cycling. The first thing I thought of when he said that was this recommendation won't be a huge change for me, I have never been an advocate of huge run volume. When I win and/or do well, I do so with a fast swim, a super hard bike, and then a decent, top 5ish, run split.

Rarely do I have the fastest run split, but I can count on my bike and swim split to be near the top. My strength has always been riding hard and trying to slow down the faster runners by putting them through the "meat-grinder (Jens Voight style)" on the bike. The strategy has been proven to work, however, I have been run down by faster runners a lot in the past when my run does not come through.

So my sports car feet are getting a special set of custom treads to help with a few of my leg issues. It was refreshing to go to podiatrist and be treated like an athlete. The most brilliant medical statement I have ever heard was in 2007 when a doctor said, "you can't treat triathletes, runners, and cyclists like you treat a normal person. They live a different lifestyle and the normal rules of medicine don't apply to them." In my opinion the doctor is exactly right, the only treatment that I buy into is one in which my status as an athlete is considered. When I have triathlon related issues, I expect to have triathlon be included in the prevention and correction process.

I am hoping my cycling and run training progresses without issue and I can soon be back on track and ready for the spring and early summer races. I have had a pretty good winter of swimming so it will be interesting to see if I can break a few swim PRs this season.  I move into my "Tri Palace" next month, it would be awesome to utilize it to the maximum by being at 100 percent.