Clermont 2020 Camps

I know it's only the middle of July and it's hard to wrap your head around the fact that winter is 6 months away.  But it will be here before we know it.  Which is why we wanted to get this out there now.    I also know that many of you have been waiting for dates and details on this so you can start planning your out your 2020 trips / season.    

What am I talking about?  For those of you that are new to this blog, I’m talking about our Clermont Training Camps. Eric D’Arcy and I have been hosting these camps since 2018 and they’ve sold out every year.  Clermont is located in Lake County, Florida and is a hotbed for triathlon training.  It’s not uncommon to see pros training at the National Training Centre (NTC) or running along the Waterfront Trail.  Clermont offers great cycling options, open water swimming, trail running as well as a top notch training facility at the NTC.  It’s the perfect place to escape winter and get in some early season volume.

After some great suggestions from our campers this year, we have decided to do things a bit differently in 2020.  We will be doing two weeks again but the format has changed slightly.  These are the offerings and dates for next year:

February 2 to February 8th:  The Fierce Females Camp.  This camp is geared towards the beginner or middle of the pack female triathlete.  If you've ever wanted to experience a triathlon camp but felt intimidated by the thought, then this camp is for you.   The focus of this week will be skill development and confidence building, in addition to volume.  I promise you, it will be a transformative week.

Getting ready to run on the infamous Clay Trail

 We will cover everything from nutrition, strength & mobility to goal setting.  We limit camps to 8 athletes so we keep the coach to athlete ratio low.  This year we are implementing some pacing guidelines for cycling so we can keep the groups closer together.   Your average speed on the bike for a 2 hour ride should be between 22 to 25 kph.  

 February 16th to February 22nd:  The Open Season Camp.  This camp is geared towards athletes that are at the intermediate level and are looking for a high volume, informative week of training.  The focus of this week will be skill refinement in all three sports in addition to volume.  

Swim skills with ex pro triathlete, Sara McClarty

We will cover everything from nutrition, strength & mobility to goal setting.  Once again, space is limited to 8 athletes so we can keep the coach to athlete ratio low.  Pacing guidelines for a 2 hour ride would be 26 to 29 kph.  

New for this year, we will be including food for lunches + some snacks, in addition to breakfast foods.  Coach Eric and I will once again be cooking dinners for the week so you can all focus on recovery.   This is YOUR week to train and relax. 

We will also be including downloadable maps for all the rides.  You will have to have either a Strava or Ride with GPS account. 

For full details and itinerary click here

Big Day on the VanFleet Trail

Open water swimming at Waterfront Park

Happy Campers!

Monday Musings: And just like that, it's over..

Hello!

This time next week I will be writing from my living room couch back in Toronto.  We are in our last few days of our time down south and I feel like I only scratched the surface of all the things I wanted to see and do.  8 weeks seems like a long time but in the grand scheme of things, it isn't really.  Throw in a week of training camp + a week with a guest for said training camp and time flies quickly.  That being said, I had a BLAST these last 8 weeks.  I went to Disney, we hosted some USAT athletes, toured around the Gulf Coast, met some internet friends, ran my first triathlon camp and rode my bike A LOT.  As of today, I've ridden a total of 1,775km during my time here and I still have 4 days left.  I've averaged over 200km a week on 2 wheels.  Suffice to say my running and swimming have suffered a little bit.  But I figured they would when the riding here is SO good and all I want to do is be out on my bike.   I will be doing an FTP test as soon as we're back to see how much I've improved and if my Garmin head unit is accurate in it's predictions.

Selfie at the Leafs / Lighting Game in Tampa.  The Leafs blew a 3-1 lead and lost 4-3.  Still a good game though!

The old pier at Anna Maria Island

IG / FB meets in IRL:  Alison a.k.a Racing Tales and I met up for a hilly ride.  

I am very sad to be leaving.  I love it here.  That's not to say I hate Toronto, because I don't.  It's just different here.  The pace of life is much slower and I generally feel much more relaxed.  Seeing the sunshine every day probably helps with that immensely.  That and the fact that EVERYONE here is so friendly.  All that being said, it will be good to be home and back into the land of our regular health care providers.  Both G and I have beaten ourselves up pretty well.  Even though Clermont is touted as a great training place, they don't have the sports therapist staff to back it up.  We found a great RMT but there isn't anyone in the area that practices ART or FST.  We'd have to go to Orlando for that.  It's mainly because the athletic population is actually quite transient.  People come in to train from January to the end of April and then they go back to where ever home may be.   Clermont is growing at a rapid rate as evidenced by all the new homes that have appeared over the last year but it is a suburb, so it's attracting a lot of young families.  The demand for the athletic care just isn't there yet.  But perhaps it will get there down the road.  I'm pretty surprised that I've managed to hold up to the volume.   Things are just starting to get cranky and sore, probably because I had a 3 week period where I hardly did any of my physio exercises (sorry Lauren!) Life happened and I fell off the wagon.  But I'm back on it now.  I'm still going to need some good old fashioned manual therapy when I get back to get me back to 100%.

Even thought I'm sad to be leaving Florida, I do have some fun things lined up for when I get back home.  I will be leading a free run clinic for beginners at Lole Yorkville on April 18th.   I've also signed up to do a cycling skills workshop on April 7th, which will be really helpful in improving my bike handling skills and passing along those skills to others.  And, on the really fun side of things, I'm going to see Franz Ferdinand on April 8th.  I'm shining up the dancing shoes already!

And PKPC athletes, keep your eyes peeled for an email from me in regards to a new partnership with Xact nutrition.  It's all about helping you guys #fuelyourgoals 😀

Catch you all back in The Six....

~ Coach PK

Monday Musings: Back on Home Soil

HOW-DAY!

I'm coming to you from my favourite chair in our living room.  Yup, we're back on home soil.  I'm happy but sad at the same time.  It's really nice to be back in our own house, sleeping in our own bed.    And of course, the first thing I did as soon as we got in after grocery shopping, was fill up the tub with some lavender scented epsom salts and bubble bath.  HEAVENLY.  I'd like to say the drive home was a breeze, well the second half of it was but the first half was BRUTAL.  I think March 31st is probably NOT the smartest day to leave Florida.  At one point when we were crawling along the interstate, I looked around and noticed that the occupants of pretty much every single car around us were at least 75 years old.  It was the senior citizens exodus.  Which might have explained why the traffic was so freaking brutal.   It took us over 3 hours to get through 2/3 of Georgia.  Georgia isn't that big!  Our first day drive was about 13 hours.  It should have been 10.   Traffic karma made up for it the next day.  We flew through Virginia & West Virginia.   Even with stops, we still managed to make up time.  The Border was smooth sailing as well.  Gotta love having a Nexus card!

I was fully expecting to freeze my butt off when we got back but it was actually quite nice.  The sun was shining as we drove across the border and there was a nice breeze.  It definitely feels like spring. That being said, I don't remember how to dress for these temps so getting ready for yesterday's run was challenging.  It was 14 degrees but in Florida that would have been chilly so I put on capris and a very light long sleeve shirt.  WRONG.  I was quite toasty.  Shorts would have been a better idea, even after the sun disappeared, I was still pretty warm.  Lesson learned.

Now that I'm back home and I have an idea as to what the weather is really like, I think I'm going to try to brave things and ride outside.  I honestly don't know that I can face being back in the basement.  I know that Morning Glory has been out riding during the week and this past weekend and it was only 4 degrees out!  THAT'S crazy talk.  Although there is a good chance I will be drinking that Kool-Aid this weekend.  And I'm planning on suiting up and heading out on two wheels this afternoon to test the waters.

Now that I'm back home, a lot of people have asked me "Now What?".  Well, I currently have a nicely manageable roster of athletes and planning for and monitoring them keeps me trucking along.  I still have to do my practical exam for my personal training certification so that will probably take up a lot of my time over the next few weeks.  I'm also doing some part time work for the Canadian Public Relations Society so I have just enough on my plate to keep me busy-ish, which is perfect.   There are a few other things in the works but I'll keep them under wraps for now until they get firmed up.  That's all I'm going to say about that, he he.

Anyway, let's get to the real meat of this post.  My last week of fun in the sun!  Again, it was all about the bike, however, I surprisingly had a huge week in the pool as well.  Wonders never cease.

Monday:  2286m recovery swim.  My legs were pretty sore from the clay trail run so I had nice easy swim at the NTC.

Tuesday:  2469m swim with SLAP followed by a 90.5km ride to almost the top of the Apopka Trail.  I thought I reached the top when I got to Apopka Station but realized when I stopped at a map on my way back that the trail actually went 1.6 miles FURTHER.  UGH.  Guess I'll have to wait until next year to see what's at the top of the trail!  But I love that I was able to ride 90km on TRAILS.  I wasn't on the road ONCE during this ride other than to cross the street.  Florida has definitely got this whole trail thing right!

Wednesday:  20.5km Another really easy spin on another local trail.  I had planned to do a run and go to the gym but that never happened.

I did come home to this email though, which made me chuckle.   Can I represent Canada instead???

Thursday:  2100m:  last swim with SLAP in the 50m pool and then my last ride with the Clermont Crew.  They even took me on a different route!  My goal was to ride 100km that day but I was pretty pooched by the time I got back and it was scorching hot out.  I realized shortly after I got in that I was just shy of my 200km weekly cycling goal so I went back out and did another 5.8km  Total for the day was 91km.  I didn't have it in me to ride the extra 9km, not after fighting a headwind all the way back, ha ha.

Serious #RideMatchy action happening!  This WAS NOT planned!

Friday:  I had big plans for this morning, I was going to run and go to the gym but we were out the night before and I had a splitting headache when I went to bed so I slept in until 6:45 and then had to finish packing and cleaning out the fridge.  So no workouts.

Saturday:  Another day spent in the car.

Sunday:  Back home and up early to go swim with Normac.  3200m done, followed by a 12km run.

Totals:

Swim:  10,550m  the biggest week I've ever had swimming!

Bike:  201km

Run:  12.3km

Total time:  11h 50 minutes.

Now that I'm back home, my workout schedule will be changing.  I'll be back to early mornings once again.  I'm kind of looking forward to that.  It's nice to come home after a workout and know that you still have most of your day to be productive.   That should result in some more content on the blog!

Now I need to finally finish unpacking and then go get on the bike!

I'll leave you with this Monday Mantra:

~ Happy Monday!

How was your week of training?  Has spring arrived for you yet??

Coach PK

Monday Musings: The Final Days

Well, I've gone from weeks left to just days now.   We've met so many great people here over the last two months, I'm definitely going to miss them.  I'm REALLY going to miss the weather and the fact that I can just walk outside with my bike and start riding without having to deal with much in the way of traffic.   The two month stay was going to be a test to see if we'd like being here and the answer is a resounding YES.  Now if only the dollar would rebound a bit!!

As I mentioned last week G was on holidays this week so we did some exploring.  I had every intention of getting my race report done but alas, that has yet to happen.  Once again, it was too nice to sit inside.  With the exception of one day where it rained but I happened to be outside in that anyway, ha ha.  

On Monday we drove out to St. Augustine, which is apparently the oldest city in the US and spent the  afternoon walking around.  It's quite beautiful.  Very touristy but still really lovely.  It was a gorgeous sunny day so it was just nice to be outside enjoying the weather.  Both of us really needed to move around as we were both pretty stiff from the race the day before.  I think a couple of hours on our feet helped get the blood flowing.   By the end of the day we both felt a lot better.  I think the sunshine and lobster & shrimp tacos helped, ha ha.

Totally reminds me of Europe.  

Castillo de San Marcos - built by the Spanish in the 17th Century

On Tuesday G was hell bent on going for a ride as we both ended up sleeping in and skipping swimming.  I wasn't sure if I'd be recovered enough but I didn't want to sit around doing nothing so I agreed to go with him and just said I'd keep my HR in zone 1-2.  Which is exactly what I did.  We ended up riding WAY longer than we had anticipated.  It was just so perfect outside, it we didn't want to stop.  

On Wednesday G had a little bit of work to do and he wanted to ride again and go for a run.  I wasn't ready to run and I wanted to give my legs another day so we did our own thing.   I ended up going to the pool for a short swim and a very short weight workout.   For some reason on Wednesday night I developed a brutal sinus headache.  It woke me up at about 2:00 am so I used a bit of nasal spray and tried to go back to sleep.  That didn't happen.  I tossed and turned for another hour, my head pounding.  I resorted to taking Sinex Night, which is kinda like NyQuil.  Needless to say, I missed my Thursday morning swim AND my normal ride.  I finally got myself out the door around 9:30 and opted to ride to the top of the Apopka Trail.  I didn't quite make it there because the clouds were rolling in fast so I turned around and hammered back trying to beat the weather.  It didn't happen.  I got caught in my first Florida downpour.  Holy CRAP.  I was soaked.

Friday we planned on heading into Dunedin to see if we could get perhaps get Jays tickets but it was totally sold out.  They were playing the Red Sox and it was March Break.  We probably should have tried to get them before hand.  G was hoping to pick up something for our nephew but since we couldn't get tickets, we couldn't get inside to see what kind of merchandise they had.  We made the most of our trek and wandered around downtown Dunedin.  We stopped for lunch and once again I had fish tacos.  So.  GOOD.  We took the scenic route back to Clermont and I had a monster nap in the car.  Not sure why I was so tired but I was.

Saturday we had signed up to do the Clear Air ride.  They had multiple distances and we chose the 160km.  Mainly because you got a little finishers medallion at the end, ha ha.  And because I really wanted to get out and do a really long ride.  The ride started in Inverness, which was about a 55 minute drive from Clermont.  We got out there for about 7:30 am witnessed the most beautiful sunrise, got ourselves registered and started riding.

We were cooking along comfortably at about 28kph.  I felt good.  G felt good.  The sun was playing hide and seek in the clouds and then at around 10:30 it finally came out.  It was a stunner of a day.  At the rate we were going I figured we'd be done the 160km in under 6 hours, especially since the way back to the finish was mostly downhill.  We were motoring along, almost at 95km, when all of a sudden I heard a small pop followed by what sounded like steam escaping a bag.  I could feel myself slowing down.  CRAP.  I had a flat.  So I yelled to G to stop and we pulled off to see what the damage was.  He checked the wheel and couldn't see anything so out came the pit stop and he tried to fill up the tire.  I could hear air coming out of somewhere.  So we spun the tire around and sure enough, the pit stop was coming out of the sidewall.  With no spare tubular, I was done.  When you're riding tubulars, it's generally a good idea to bring a back up so you don't get stuck doing what I had to do, which was ride back on a flat tire.  When your tire is flat and you're on carbon rims, you cannot move quickly or you risk potentially damaging the rim.  I went from averaging just over 28 /kph to 10 kph.  It took me 26 minutes to cover the first 5km back.  I could have run the 5km faster than that.  I picked up the pace to about 13 kph and stayed there.  It took me almost an hour and 15 minutes to go 17km.  I was hungry and disappointed by the time I met up with G.  I had really hoped to be able to ride the 160km but alas, I'll have to save the century for another day.  I'm sure I'll have plenty of opportunities this summer!

My Garmin Connect speed file from Saturday's ride.  Gee, wonder where I got the flat??

Anyway,  it was a pretty action packed week of fun in the sun.  The weather cooperated for the most part (save the rain storm I was caught in) and we got to explore a few more parts of Florida.

In terms of training, I had a pretty big week even with taking two rest days.  This is how it went down:

Monday:  OFF

Tuesday:  74.3km ride in zone 2.

Wednesday:  1829m swim (2000y) + 35 minutes in the gym.  I REALLY need to get back to lifting regularly again.  I had just gotten into a good groove then I slacked off again.

Thursday:  87km ride including a hammerfest back to the house.

Friday:  OFF

Saturday:  112.5km ride.

Sunday:  16km brutally hot (but stunning) run on the Clay Trail + 28km spin for coffee in the afternoon + obsessively checking Sports Stats for my athletes results from Around the Bay!  :)

Swim:  1829m
Bike:  301.5km - my biggest week of riding since I've been here!
Run:  16km

Total time:  14h 56 minutes.

Our days are numbered here and while I'm sad that this adventure has come to an end, I'm excited for the next round of adventures!

I hope everyone had a fabulous weekend! I'm going to try to bottle up this Florida sunshine and bring it back with me!

Coach PK

Monday Musings: The Best Birthday Ever

I'm sitting here writing this in an eerily quiet house.  24 hours ago it was filled with the chatter and laughter of 3 fabulous women that I am lucky to have in my life.  This weekend was exactly what all of us needed.  Some time together and some time away.   The shenanigans started on Thursday night and went through the entire weekend.  I honestly don't remember the last time I went to bed at 4:00 am only to get up 3 hours later so we could hit the road.  I don't know how I made the two hour drive to Clearwater without falling asleep at the wheel but I did.  I'm 99.9% sure it was the company.

En Route to Clearwater after 3 hours of sleep.  

While I'm sad that G wasn't here for my birthday, it was really special to share it with my girlfriends.  They all have young kids so getting together is challenging.  Weekends away are even more so but, when a girlfriend is going to be solo for her birthday, well, that's not going to happen on their watch.  And thanks to G, we all got treated to some awesome down time at the Sheraton Sand Key Resort in Clearwater.

Charlie's Angels ain't got nothin on us!  Afternoon beach walk....

I honestly didn't think I'd do much in the way of workouts this weekend but, the girls wanted to get out and enjoy the weather so I managed 2 runs in 2 days, which I normally wouldn't do but they were both short and one was nice and easy.   Two of the girls I trained with all the time during my Ironman days and one of them I currently train with from time to time in the summer.   We are all at different levels of ability now but we still love to get out and move and the fact that we got to do it together was awesome.

The girls flew in on Thursday night and we stayed up until 4:00 am drinking and talking.  The only reason we actually went to bed is because we wanted to get to the beach before noon, ha ha.  That didn't end up happening as we were all moving a little slowly the next morning.  40+ year olds need more than 3 hours sleep to function properly.  But we made it to Clearwater around 12:30 and went straight to the hotel.  We couldn't check in yet but they let us go to the pool.  We had all put our bathing suits on before we left the house so we were pretty much ready to get our lounge on.   I haven't spent a day lounging by a pool in a very long time.  It was divine.  Add to that, the conversation, the laughter and the cocktails and it was a perfect way to spend my birthday.  We had big plans for the evening but, the previous nights shenanigans killed us all.  We like to think we can still party with the best of them but alas, we can't at least not two nights in a row, ha ha.  I was sitting at dinner and I could feel the wind leaving my sails.  It had also gotten very cold and we were all underprepared for that.  So we were back in the room by 10:30 pm and I think we were all in bed asleep by 11:30, ha ha.  But not after I had my "cake".

Ice Cream Sandwich for the WIN!!!

Saturday morning we all wanted to get out and do something so 3 of us went for a run and one of us went for a walk.  Sue and I didn't want to run on the beach so we opted to run together.  She was my training buddy when we did Ironman together and we had matching everything.  So it stood to reason that we'd match today.

Team Awesome out for a run in Clearwater

We spent a large part of Saturday lounging by the pool.  The girls really wanted to go to Target so we said we'd do that on our way home.  Apparently we treat shopping like any other endurance sport ha ha.  We were in Target for over 2 hours.  We went in when it was light, came out and it was dark.  The drive home was good until we got closer to Clermont and the street lights disappeared.  Nothing like driving on a pitch black two lane highway.  I missed one turn but the GPS corrected itself and we were back in business.  We got back to Clermont and made it to 12:30 am before we all pulled the pin.  G got home about 30 minutes later so I saw him for about a minute before I fell back asleep.  I slept for about 7 hours.  G was up when I got up so we got to hang out together for a bit before the girls got up.  The plan was to go down to Waterfront Park and The Energy Lab so we could go for a little run and have a coffee.  It was a cooler day and the wind was brutal.  But that didn't dampen our spirits.

Then it was another trip to Target to pick up things that they opted not to get the day before, ha ha. We hit up Panera for a late lunch then it was back to the house so the girls could pack up.  Then we all hung out on the couch with G and chatted.   There was so much snacking and drinking this weekend, I think I put on all the weight I lost after I got here, ha ha.  But, it was worth every sip and every bite.  I had SO much fun.  It was exactly what my heart and soul needed.

To top it all off, I got a text from one of my athletes telling me she nailed her race at the Chilly Half this weekend.   That was a great way to cap off an already amazing weekend.

I knew that this weekend would be all about the hang time, not the training time so I tried to make sure I got most of my volume earlier in the week.  We had a lot of humidity earlier in the week so I got totally killed with most of my workouts.  I was also due for a recovery week so the timing was pretty much perfect.  This is how my week rolled out:

Monday:  2286m swim

Tuesday:  2544m swim, 90km bike at pretty much tempo effort in the wind and humidity, then a 5km run off the bike at noon in 32 degree temps.  Yup, I died.  My Garmin said it was going to take me 48 hours to recover from those workouts.

Wednesday:  31.9km ride.  10 minutes into this ride my Garmin recovery advisor beeped to tell me that my recovery was only "Fair".  Ha.  No kidding.  I could feel it in my legs.  I had hoped to ride 50km but realized that was ambitious so I cut it short.

Thursday: 10.77km run.  I was up super late on Wednesday so I skipped my swim (again!).  I at least managed to get another run in with Shannon.

Friday:  OFF

Saturday:  7.5km run with 3km at tempo pace.  This felt pretty freaking awesome other than the wind.

Sunday:  Easy 6.5km run with the girls.

I didn't manage a single strength training session which is disappointing but this week I'll get back on track.  On Tuesday I'm planning to ride with the same group I rode with last week, this time I'm going to take my tri bike out so we'll see how that goes.  And I need to get back to swimming.  I also need to get some more open water swims in as we have a race coming up in a couple of weeks and I know that water can get really choppy so I need to practice.

Swim:  4830m

Bike:  122km

Run:  24.77km

Total time:  8h 33 minutes

How was your week of training?  What was one of your most memorable birthday celebrations?  I think this one will go down as one of the best ever.

This quote perfectly sums up my weekend:

"Best friends are people you don't need to talk to every single day.   You don't need to talk to each other for weeks but when you do, it's like you've never stopped talking...."

Have an awesome Monday!  

Coach PK

A New Start + Another Trip Around the Sun

Remember my sneak peak from Monday?  Well, I'm happy to say that my new website is LIVE.  You can check it out here.   You may also notice a slight change in the header of my blog as well to tie in with my coaching website.

Everything was done by Chick and Owl Design.  They are a brother and sister duo and the sister, Katie, happens to be friends with my little sister for what seems like forever.  They were great to work with and I am thrilled with the end result.   I highly recommend them.  

The original plan was to launch on my birthday but they delivered early so I launched yesterday (happy early birthday to me!).  Quite frankly it's just as well because I spent a lot of time on social media yesterday and given that my girlfriends are coming in tonight, I don't think I would have been able to devote the time to do much if I was playing hostess. 

Tomorrow is my 46th birthday.  Forty Six.  WTH.   I still feel like I'm 30 something.  My body tells me otherwise every damn day but that's part of getting older, right?  Normally I'd have something clever to post like last year but alas, I do not.   Perhaps later on next week so I can reflect on turing 46.  

I did get a second early birthday present in the form of a meeting (along with an actual present - yay!).  It's not every day you get to meet Instagram / Facebook friends from another country but today I got that chance.  I finally got to meet my IG friend Shannon.  Today was an absolutely fabulous day.  We went for a run (as you do!) and she took me around her neighbourhood.  The conversation was easy.  I felt like I've known her for years.   It's funny how social media makes you feel that way about people.  And of course, as social media runners do, we had to document it.  You can see Shannon's post here.  So much laughing.  It was a lovely way to spend a morning and I'm grateful I got the opportunity.   I also can't believe that I got that much air!  ha ha ha.

Happy Almost Friday!

Coach PK

#Operation Top 5 Weeks 11 & 12: Playing Catch Up + Training Camp

Hellooooooooo!

I'm BA-ACK!

I had every intention of blogging while we were away last week but it never happened.  I needed to take some time away from my computer.  The week leading up to our trip was one of the most stressful weeks I've had in a very long time.  I was mentally exhausted by the time I walked out the door on Friday night.  I didn't "catch up" on my rest until Monday.  Our flight out on Saturday was at 6:15 am which meant that I only got about 5 hours sleep.  But I'm getting ahead of myself.

The week leading up to our trip was a pretty easy week for me workout wise.  My coach wanted me to go into training camp rested.  Which I wasn't really, given the week of work I had.  I only had 4 hours and 20 minutes of workouts.  Had I done the Olympic race I signed up for, I would have been closer to 7 hours but I opted not to race.  I was feeling so worn out and my head wasn't even remotely in the game.  I just wanted to sleep.  I don't like to go into races feeling stressed or tired so as much I think that would have been a good benchmark race for me, I also didn't want to stress my body even further by pushing myself.  If it was a sprint race I probably would have done it as it would have been less than 1h 45 minutes but an Olympic distance race probably would have put me at 2h 40 minutes or so of going hard.  Given that I had a full week of training ahead of me that I wanted to feel good for, I opted to skip it and watch G instead.

When I got up race morning to pouring rain, I was REALLY happy with my decision.  The sun ended up coming out on the run, which made it smoking hot on the run course.  I certainly wasn't ready for that heat!  It was nice to spectate in though, ha ha.

After the race, the camp kicked off with an easy ride out to a town called Winter Garden.  It was beautiful and it had a local brewery so of course G and I made a mental note to go back there later on in the week and check it out.   The ride was pancake flat and we rode to this great little coffee shop to chat and get to know everyone.  We rode back nice and easy with a few sprints thrown in for those of us that were feeling energetic and then we regrouped for dinner at Sheri's house (the other coach who runs the camp).  G and I were staying at the Marriott nearby but ended up moving to a beautiful townhouse owned by one of Sheri's friends that was just around the corner from Sheri.  We had more room than we needed and a full kitchen.  It was perfect.

G and I taking a break in Winter Garden

 Monday was our first big day.   It started with stroke analysis in a lovely outdoor pool.  Unfortunately the temperature had dropped the night before due to the rain so it was quite chilly.  Still warmer than Toronto but chilly none the less.  We were in the water for a couple of hours and then it was on to the bike.  We were going to be riding on the Van Fleet Trail.  It was totally flat.  We had some rollers at the start but once we got on the trail it was pancake flat.  Paolina took myself, G and Dierdre (another one of her athletes) ahead of the group and told us we were going to be doing a tempo set.  So we essentially pace lined like you see in the team time trial at the Tour de France.  We'd take turns going super hard at the front for a couple of minutes each and then pull off and go to the back of the Pain Train.  We got up to 46 kph!  It was insane.

Deirdre and Paolina before the Pain Train started

I worked really hard for that section of the ride.  Thankfully the ride back was easy.  We even stopped to check out some gators.  Total mileage for the day was just over 100km on the bike.  Not a bad way to start off my week!

Tuesday was a 12km trail run in the morning followed by an easy ride to a bakery in the afternoon.  The temperature had started to rise and I was overdressed for the run.   It was pretty awesome and I was surprised at how good my legs felt after the previous days ride.

Wednesday we went out to the National Training Centre for more swim stroke work and an actual workout.  It was a 25 yard pool set up but I didn't care.  It was amazing to be outside in the sunshine.  I wore my Garmin but kept forgetting to turn it on so I think we ended up doing almost 4000m vs. the 2450m that it actually counted.  We were in the water for a very long time.  And of course I had to test out the underwater capabilities of my new toy.  After the swim, we did a quick upper body workout at the gym with Paolina.

Yup.  It's waterproof!

After the swim we headed out to the Clermont Hills.  By this point it was scorching hot.  We did loops of Buckhorn Road, which is a road filled with rollers and a couple of good steep climbs.  Then we circled around and climbed Sugarloaf Mountain Road.  By that point my legs were toast.  I squeaked up that hill.   We took the easy way back and I was very happy to be off my bike.  63km done that day. 

The next day (Thursday) was our long run of the week.  We were headed to the Orange Grove clay trail.  It was also a really early start (7:00 am).  The plan was to run 16km.  That would be my longest run this year.  I wasn't sure how my legs would feel given the beating they had been subjected to the day before but that's what my Zoot recovery tights + Vega recovery accelerator were for!  I slept in my recovery tights until about 3 am and then got up to take them off.  I swear they made a huge difference.

16km of this.  Plus some rollers for good measure.

Nothing beats running with the sunrise

Spectators

I ran that 16km at a very comfortable pace.  I had no knee pain except for a few tweaks in the latter km's when I was running down hill.  My legs never felt tired or sore.  I was over the moon happy when I finished. I was even able to pick it up over the last km.   That was the best run I've had in ages.  I was expecting to be sore and tired but as the week progressed I started to feel better and stronger.  I'm chalking it up to not sitting all day.  I'm convinced the more you stand and move, the better you feel.

After the run we headed back home for a second breakfast and then made our way over to Lake Minneola to practice our open water swimming.  Both Sheri and Paolina gave me some instruction on what they wanted to see me change.  My body position is good as is my kick but my upper body isn't rolling and I'm very "delicate" when I enter the water.  I worked on my stroke when we were at the NTC and practiced the things they wanted me to practice when we were in open water.  This new technique has me using my shoulders way more.  I was so tired after swimming 50m like that, that I had to stop and take a break.  It's going to take me a while to get used to swimming this way and I'm definitely going to have to work on my shoulder strength.  I was actually a bit sore the next day.

Friday was our hardest day yet.  It was our brick day.  I thought it would be a long ride followed by a long run but boy was I mistaken.  We went to Lake Louisa State Park and practiced our transitions.  We set up our bikes and everything else we'd need to go from swim to bike to run.  We weren't going to actually swim, but we did practice running in bare feet to our bikes.  The park had a 13.5km beautifully paved loop and the plan was to ride that 3-4 times, with a 2km run after each loop.  Paolina had told me to build into it and that my 3rd lap should be the hardest.  We did a warm up lap to check out the course and then we were off.   I rode the first lap pretty hard.  Probably a bit too hard.  I came back in "racked" my bike, threw on my shoes and started running.  My knees were killing me, which was not good.  I ran on the trail which seemed to aggravate them a bit more so I quickly made my way out to the pavement where they seemed to settle down.  

Then I had a couple of minutes rest and it was back onto the bike.  I told Paolina that I had gone too hard on that first lap so I cruised the second lap.  I pushed on the flats and downhills but spun easy up the climbs.  I came back in and then went out on my second run.  I ran with Paolina and we were cranking out a pretty good pace.  I actually ran 2.6km for that brick.  We ran back, and I took another 2 minute break and then Paolina said it was go time.  This was going to be my hardest lap.  I hopped on my bike, and started chasing her.  Holy crap.  I was able to hang on to her until we got to any sort of incline and then I slowed down.  My legs and lungs were screaming at me.  I just don't have the leg strength to power up hills like she does.  I got into "transition" and almost barfed.  I racked my bike and pulled on my shoes.  I tried to pick up the pace but my legs were toast.  My Garmin will beep and tell me what my recovery is like and part way through my 2km run it beeped to tell me my recovery had gone from "Good" to "Fair".  Ha.  No kidding.  I was toast.  That last 2km run was the slowest of the day for me.  But I didn't care.  I had just done a triple brick.  I've never done anything like that before in my life.  It was hard.  It hurt.  But it was also AWESOME.  I've been told I'll be getting a few more workouts like that over the coming months.  Bring it on I say!

After that we went back to Sheri's and did about 40 minutes of yoga.  I really needed that.  We then went back home, showered refueled and chilled out before heading out to dinner with the group.  Some people were heading home early the next day so we thought it would be nice to have dinner together before people left.

Saturday was the last day of official camp activities and it started with a free 5km Park Run race.  They hold this free race every Saturday morning in Waterfront Park.  Paolina and I talked game plan the night before.  I wasn't sure what I'd be capable of since I've done ZERO speed work this year and I had just put quite the beatdown on my legs.  I figured somewhere between 21-22 minutes would be ideal.  She told me not to start out too fast but to build into it.

G and I ran to the park, it was roughly 2km from the condo so I had a nice little warm up run.  My knees were very sore when I started running.  They felt like they weren't tracking properly.  But once I got going, they were totally fine.  It was hot and muggy even at 7:30 am.  Thankfully it was also overcast.  There was a decent crowd of people ranging in age.  We all lined up and listened to announcements, had a round of applause for the volunteers and waited for the MC to yell GO.  Then we were off.  Of course I took off like a shot and had to dodge people because I didn't seed myself correctly.   My legs didn't fresh but they didn't feel awful either.  I was pleasantly surprised.  I pushed it through that first km and when my Garmin beeped I saw 4:09/km.  Oops.  That was too fast.  I tried to settle into a more sustainable pace.   I chugged along trying to keep the leaders in my sight.  One guy was pulling away from the group really quickly.  At the 2km mark the race had strung out.  I was the lead female and had no clue how close the second place woman was.  My 2nd km was 4:10.  Still too fast.  I figured I'd pay for that towards the end of the race.  We turned around and the first thing I noticed was the wind.  It was in my face.  That slowed me down a fair bit.  I really struggled running into it.  We were also running slightly uphill and I felt that.  My 3rd and 4th km were 4:17 and 4:19.  Ouch.  We ran out to another turn around so I knew I'd have the wind at my back on the way back in.  My goal was to pick it up over the last km.  I started reeling the guy in front of me in.  Had we had another 500m, I may have caught him but he rolled across the line about 5 seconds in front of me.  I ran down the chute and heard them call out 21:16.   After everything I put my body through that week and my lack of speed work, I was really happy with that time.

We walked back to our condo and got ourselves ready for our "recovery ride".  We were heading back to Winter Garden for a nice easy ride to spin out our legs and stop for a coffee and brunch.  The sun had started to come out and it was nice and warm.  It was the perfect morning for a ride.  We cruised along the bike path at a nice clip.  G and I had brunch and a cappuccino while the rest of the crew went out and checked out the local market.  We sat outside for an hour or so and then got on our bikes and rode back.  An easy 40km.  It was perfect.  

When we got back, G and I packed up our bikes, did some laundry and then packed up most of our stuff.  We were going to Sheri's for dinner so we grabbed all the leftovers from the fridge and brought them to her place.  The last supper was a mish mash of everyone's left overs.  It was pretty darn delicious.

Sunday was our day to explore so we slept in (finally!) then packed up the truck and hit the road.  We drove around the area, checking out small towns, we went to Daytona Beach and then by Cape Canaveral before heading to the airport.  It was a lovely way to end our "holiday".

I am amazed that my body withstood the volume that it did.  I felt better as the days went on.  This trip was exactly what I needed, mentally & physically.    I logged almost 20 hours of training.  This is how it broke out:

Swim:  5800m
Bike:  342km
Run:  41.6km

Lots of benchmarks for me in terms of mileage.  Longest run this year as well as longest ride (so far) this year.  I was on the fence about racing the Around the Bay Relay I had signed up for but now, I'm 100% in.  Bring it on.

I hope everyone had a lovely Easter!