TRAINING CAMP CLEREMONT SPRING 2007:

So in the early part of winter, I'd set my early season race schedule to include both the California ½ and IM-Brazil. Pretty aggressive if you live in Boston and don't see much "outdoor" time before March, if then! As such, I hit the panic
button hard and decided to skip town for a bit to head to warmer climates to do some good, quality bike intensive training. I buddied up with fellow pro and part-time East coaster, Katja Schumacher and we headed to Clermont for a 2 week training camp.

We arrived in Orlando about the same time, and it seemed the hardest part of our training trip was figuring out how to fit 2 bike boxes, 3 duffle bags and ourselves into a mid-size SUV. While I was ready to head back to the rental car
counter to rent another car, Katja's German determination took over and in no time, we had it all in. Of course, I'd count that car packing session as a workout for the day because IT WAS!

We checked into our hotel and thus started our training camp! Training was great; great in the kind of way that a root-canal is great. Sure, the long term effect might be beneficial, but the process is....shall we say, challenging.
Kimberly Grogan from Gear for MultiSport and Team Timex lives in Clermont with her husband Kevin. They were great. Kimberly was our tour guide and showed us the roads so we didn't end up riding the same out and back stretch for 2 weeks
straight. Kimberly told us where to ride, where to run, where to eat....she was chalk full of good juicy tidbits of information to help us get settled in Clermont quickly. Thanks, Kimberly!

Some things I learned on my training trip?

* A tail wind is, in general, preferable to a head wind.
* When your legs hurt so much you wonder if they might, in fact, be broken, it's a good time to call it a day.
* Chub-rub and sun burn are equally irritating skin maladies, but when it comes to unsightliness, chub-rub kicks sun burn's butt!
* Armed only with my Fuel Belt, I could run all day on those clay trails through
the citrus groves. They smell SO good (the citrus trees....not the Fuel Belts,
though I suppose they smell fine too!)
* Getting a flat tire 3:50 into a 4:00 ride stinks. Bad.
* Getting a flat tire 3:50 into a 4:00 ride with low blood sugar is enough to make one cry.
* In situations of extreme physical exhaustion, it is important to maintain a sense of humor about the all-together pathetic state of one's life and as such have made note to self of the importance of laughing while crying over fixing flat tire 3:50 into 4:00 ride.
* A chocolate chip cookie that is larger than one's head really hits the spot and is almost enough to make one forget about crying over a flat tire. (almost enough anyway)
* An early season 4 hour ride leaves me feeling as strong as the 90 year old folks I shared dinner with at the early bird special. Why did I dine at the early bird special? Because it was a harsh reality that after my training days I'd be in bed by 6:30 PM. As such, might as well save a few bucks on dinner.
* Sitting at the early bird special feeling like I am 90 with broken legs, chub-rub and a sun-burn having cried over a flat tire and eating a chocolate chip cookie bigger than my head at the early bird special, still beats the pants off sitting at a desk all day! I am thrilled and lucky to be doing this!

Thanks, Katja for a great training trip

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