“I got a mouth for a war.” – Pentera (a Texas band)
First off: some amazing other sites connected to the Zen Tri Base and Nutrition Camp.
Endurance freak Rich Roll who used the camp to start his training for Epic 5, which is five ironmans in 5 days.check him out at www.richroll.com he also has a nice camp review.
The second site that has TONS of Zen Tri Camp stuff including videos, and what not is www.zentriathlon.com the host.
Lastly, Christine is dropping knowledge and funny stuff at www.liveandeatbetter.com
Ok, now onto the days events…..
Day 6 of the Texas trip came and it was the first that was all my own. I love camps but they make me yearn for solo training. I don’t know why exactly. Maybe its that I like going exactly my pace and too slow or too fast puts me in a funk. But I think its mostly that I love the time to myself. To let my thoughts wonder and to just enjoy they place. Humans tend to focus on humans and can be a bit distracting when you love the idea of focusing on cotton fields and flood gauge signs.
I started my morning off with a 10k run. Brett’s place has a great 5k trail so I do it as an out and back. No cars, no people, trees, lake, and a griffin. Yes, griffin, yes a mystical bird.
Then I did the 70 mile loop. This time it was 70s and serious wind. At one point I was pushing over 200 watts downhill and going 10 mph. I tried to recall Brett’s zen training “I see you wind” but then I realized YOU CANT SEE WIND. Crap. All that zen training for nothing. I was really trapped inside my own head because I couldn’t play music because the wind was so loud I couldn’t hear it. This is one of the times when I loved training with power because I knew I was working so instead of getting frustrated I just saw it as bonus training.
Of course wind is unidirectional and at a turn I picked up a tail wind. This is when I dislike a power meter. At 22mph it was telling me to work harder. Which I did. After 5 hours of that I was back and rewarded with some recoverite and some Mexican food. Yummy. One note about base training. 6 hours of training burning 500 calories per hour + 2000 calories for daily living means you can eat 4000 calories and still run a 1000 cal debt which equals 2lbs of weight lose per week. That’s math I can get down with.
(Foto: me in cotton fields with my sleeves rolled up to get a more even tan. )
A griffin? I suppose anything goes in the Realm of Windsor.
Very jealous that u got to do the ride of truth again while I’m sitting stuck in my office back in NYC. Next run u need to be rockin Pantera’s “Cowboys From Hell” followed by “Cemetary Gates” on ur ipod.
Guaranteed to make u run faster…
Glad it’s good for you in Texas. Tonight’s icy trail run is by headlamp. (Nighttime has a SPF of 500. No sunburn). Spikes mandatory.
So wait, let me get this right, you went to a training camp with other people to ride by youself? Awesome!
Seriously though, I was happy to hear someone else say that. I suck at training with other people. Training, for me, is a way to deal with my head by either thinking too hard about it because if I don’t, I’m thinking too hard about how much pain I’m in or it’s a way to avoid mental anguish by inflicting physical pain on myself. Other people in the picture mess that all up. Especially fast people. And slow people. Or just generally people not going the same speed I want to go. And people who talk – don’t like that either.
Good god, it’s probably a good thing I can’t go to Spain this year, eh?
Sounds like a great camp though. I’m not jealous. Nort jealous at all.
Ray:
I did more then my fair share of ice runs, hahaha. Plane tickets are cheap man, and well worth the joy.
PJ:
I love training with folks. But sometimes I enjoy training alone when I haven’t gotten too in a bit.
One thing I have learned is that training partners can be really good when they are interesting people. I have logged countless hours with close friends without even noticing that the miles have gone by.
I think its not that you are anti-social I think its that you are OCD about your training numbers!
No, I’m anti social and OCD. It’s a bad combo. Sometimes.
Or maybe I just have crappy friends?
Ive never really trained with other people. Have gone for the occasional run with people, but generally speaking, for me, training is a lone/ solitary thing.