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Smartasscamp, Day 1

I’m here in Las Cruces courtesy of an eight hour, six hundred mile drive that took me, among other places, the entire north-south span of New Mexico.  I was really impressed with myself for driving so far in one go until I met Grant, who also drove all the way here.  From Des Moines.  Holy crap.  Whenever I think I am tough I just hang out with some triathletes for a while and that puts me in my place.  Wouldn’t want me getting too uppity.Even though my trip pales in comparison, it was still a pretty neat road trip and I got to see a lot of the country that I hadn’t seen before.  I crossed the continental divide at Raton Pass – a beautiful area – and came down into northern New Mexico, an area that makes western Kansas seem crowded.  I came through Albuquerque and Truth or Consequences (this is a real town.  I had to stop to be sure) and eventually arrived last night around 10:30 pm.  Not bad for an afternoon’s travel.

Day 1 of camp was challenging as expected.  We had a “meat and potatoes” swim workout of 4500 meters first thing this morning – “meat and potatoes” means “a bit dull”, which I suppose might be the most specific type of training one could possibly hope for in preparation for a long distance triathlon.  Right after swimming we went out for a 2 hour-ish ride with zone 3.  I had 2 hours 20 minutes, with most of my zone 3 done with jonnyo of slowtwitch fame.  It became a bit spirited when we overtook an overweight older man wearing an iPod, but for the most part it was just good clean riding in the sun.  I even borrowed sunscreen.

We grocery shopped in the afternoon before a “bread and butter” run workout – do you sense a nascent theme in these workouts? – and got together in the evening for an introduction dinner.  Dinner was excellent, but there was a sense of impending doom over tomorrow’s workout(s).  I’ll let you know how they go.