Carol looked around the table. Tired athletes laughing, after a long pause brought about by the effects of a day of training, a very hearty meal, and a number of North Carolina micro brews.
Day one isn’t the most intense training day of triathlon camp. But it’s a good start. To start the morning, there was optional running on the trails of the Bent Creek Research and Demonstration Forest. Maddy’s Loop heads out from Trail’s End, climbs for about two kilometers of rough trail, and then descends along a Forest Service fire road back to the house. Geri’s and Maddy’s favourite moments of the day were flying down that fast descent.
The Arboretum Ride is a bicycle check and cycling skills ride designed to check both rider and bicycle, polish any rusty skills, and provide the opportunity to practice tight turns and fast cornering before hitting the Blue Ridge Parkway. It’s good practice, as there is a good tight turn on a hilly loop, providing the opportunity for athletes to build speed before taking the turn. This was Carol’s favourite moment of the day.
My favourite moment of the day was blowing the yellow on the skills ride. It’s a sneaky one, with a slightly sharper jog near the end, and after a long winter on the trainer, I clipped the apex at max speed but just edged an inch over the centre line on the exit. That’s why we do skills rides.
On the way back to Trail’s End, Coach Mike called for the athletes to open it up and spread out as desired, then take a few timed repeats of Arboretum Hill on the way. My max speed in kilometers on the way back? 70.3 baby!
At a self-catering camp, dinner is half the fun. After a grocery shopping trip, dinner was Coach Coughlin’s chicken stir fry with pasta, tomato sauce, salad, and baguette, accompanied by discussion of tomorrow’s training, doping in cycling, the possibility of a sub-two marathon, and everyone’s favourite moment of the day. And one request to save Garmin data in case of death, of course.
Mike
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The post DZ Destination Camp Reports: Day 1 appeared first on Discomfort Zone Triathlon Coaching.
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