Added learnings in Clermont….

1) With no internet where we’re staying, and no TV, I am amazed at how out of touch with the world people can feel. None of us are copious TV watchers (I watch more than any of them, and even that is limited) and we all feel lost. Apparently there was a plane crash (somewhere?), a woman’s face and hands were ripped off in CT by a pet chimp named Travis, Obama is kicking more butt and taking names, and there was some ice storm with power outages somewhere in the Midwest.

2) I am awe struck (and had forgotten) how much male athletes consume in calories when training. It’s not like we have been doing massive 6-8 hour days. We’re talking 3-4, on average.
I have a gazillion examples, but I’ll throw out one:
3 days ago it was about 4pm or so. Brandon was laying the hurt on a jumbo bag of potato chips. About 90 min later we all gathered for family dinner — lots of...

I’ve been in FL doing some training with my group: Billy, JZ and Brandon.
In the last week living in close quarters with my beloved friends I have (re)learned the following things:

1. I really dislike swimming.

2. If you’re dehydrated, chronically, you’ll get bad headaches.

3. East coast humidity makes you really sweaty wet.

4. Swimming outdoors in a great pool makes swimming so much better.

5. I know more about my teammates bodily functions than I should know.

6. We always wait for Billy.

7. If you don’t eat enough day after day when training you will eventually bonk. And when you bonk, you’ll bonk HARD.

8. Staying in a place with fleas becomes problematic.

9. JZ and Brandon cook the best meals. Ever.

10. Brandon needs less than 5 minutes to be out the door from wake-up. He prefers not to be woken before this send off.

11. Billy’s...

Good days and bad

We’ve gotta’ take the good days with the bad days when training …. or when trying to train and get back in shape.

This weekend was one of those weekends where everything hurts, you’re tired, and you question what the hell you’re doing or WHY you’re doing it. We all have those so this is universal. Everyone can relate.

Saturday morning began with the usual swim with the group (minus Brando who is in Palm Springs). Joanna gave us a pretty hard set (again) and I often wasn’t making the requested interval. This made me angry. At this point I should be hitting 1:25 for 50m pace.

Our 4k swim went by really quickly though. I was finishing up my cooldown while JZ was talking at the wall with the guy in the next lane who was wearing a wetsuit. The water temp was fine, so that was funny to me. I finished my cooldown and stopped at the wall to join a chatty JZ. I laughed when I realized...

Happy bike riding in Boulder!

Another funny pic…
What do we call this one? Sore loser?

So on Saturday my stupid bike shoes were still in my bike box (being shipped from AZ). I wasn’t thinking when packing my bike up and just threw the shoes in there, too, not thinking I would need them when I got back to Boulder. I’d done a few indoors rides at FAC with my tennis shoes, no big deal, but Saturday had a 2.5 hour ride on the plan. I called Joanna to ask what she suggested without my bike shoes.

“Dude, I’m riding 2.5 hours, what should I do?” I asked.

“What do you mean?”

“My...