TUCSON TRAINING CAMP

Tucson was named the number one place to go for winter training by Triathlete Magazine. Tucson is known as the winter training capital of the world and is a popular winter training destination for both cyclists and triathletes.  It has a mild climate, seemingly endless well paved roads with few stop signs, mountains for climbing, and miles of trails for running.  Tucson also has something like 27 public lap pools only charging $1.50 per visit.

Our swims were in this YMCA pool

My coach put together a four day training camp in Tucson over the holiday weekend in February.   I enthusiastically signed up, and as the date approached I questioned what I had gotten myself into. Anyone who has been to any kind of camp knows that it can be difficult to be thrown into a situation where you don’t know anyone and are expected to perform. I met three of my fellow campers, who were on my same flight, at the airport; I recognized one of them from cycling class. Three of us were newbies and have been coached by Chris for less than a year. The fourth had been to camp last year. I liked these three guys right away as we discussed our upcoming events and what to expect over the next four days.  I was relieved to know that I wasn’t the only camp rookie. We met up with most of the rest of the campers at the Tucson airport and were picked up by our coach and The Sag Monkey who had transported our bikes from the Bay Area.  

 

Monkey Mobiles

We rented a large house and there were 10 athletes (four women), our coach and The Sag Monkey (Nick). Most were from the Bay Area, and one each from Portland, San Diego and Honolulu. Staying in a house was great especially with Nick there to cater our meals and to clean up. He worked amazingly hard to support us throughout the long weekend including preparing special gluten, dairy, and egg free meals for me, providing liquids, food and mechanical support on our rides, transporting us everywhere, cleaning up after every meal and even washing and lubing our bikes. We were treated like professional athletes so all we had to worry about was getting up on time, eating enough to fuel ourselves and focusing on the training.
 

Sag Monkey providing support at our 92 mile turnaround in Patagonia.

Nick preparing dinner while we snacked on hummus, trail mix and chips and guacamole.

Bikes all cleaned, lubed and ready for our next ride. 

The weekend looked like this for me:

Friday: Out the door around 7 am returning to the house about 5 pm

• Swim 3500 yards
• Bike 55 miles with 2251 feet of climbing
• Transition run for 40 minutes (3.61 miles)

Sag Monkey geting us ready for the first ride of camp. 

Saturday: Out the door around 7 am returning about 5pm, out to dinner at 6

• Bike 92 miles with 4313 miles of climbing – Riding to Patagonia, AZ into a strong headwind
• Transition run 45 minutes (4.27 miles)

Sunday: Out the door around 7 am back to the house around 2pm and some free time

• Running drills for 30 minutes
• Run for 1:40 (8.32 miles
• 6 sets of strides
• Swim for 1:20, about 3000 yards

Monday: Out the door around 7 am back by 4 to get cleaned up and to the airport for 7pm flight

• Bike up Mount Lemon for 44 miles climbing 5042 feet
• We fortunately didn’t have time to do the planned swim! 

The Mount Lemon climb starts in the desert at a litle over 2,000 feet and climbe to 9,000. I made it a little beyond 7,000 and well into the snow level before I turned around. It was hot going up and a chilly (and fast) descent. My favorite ride of camp.

Lots of beauty on the Mount Lemon ride.

Over 4 days, My Totals:

• Biked 191 miles, climbing 11,606 feet
• Swam 3.7 miles
• Ran 16.2 miles plus drills

This is how I felt at the end of each day. This is Jack, Sag Monkey's co-pilot.

The amount of time each of us spent doing each segment was the pretty much the same, the distance varied since we were all of varying abilities. I was the oldest by 10 years at the least and was able to keep up with a few of the other athletes except for on the Mount Lemon climb. Looking back on the weekend I think it was great for building a base for my fitness this year, besides getting specific coaching feedback and being a ton of fun.

Nick loading up my bike afer the final ride. Lots of weary campers.

I WOULD LOVE TO DO IT AGAIN NEXT YEAR!