Oh boy, it's been a while (again) since I updated this blog. Things were super busy at the end of the semester then we left for Ireland and I went to Charleston, SC. May was a busy travel month for me (but it's a good busy). Because I was gone/out of town so much in May, it was hard to keep up with the training (although I was pretty active during the trips).
Every year, the Cleveland Tri Club (CTC) hosts a tri camp in early summer but they had to cancel the in-person tri camp during COVID years and only had the at-home tri camp where participants attended the virtual sessions and sometimes got together in a small group to do a workout. This year was the first year of the in-person. The club changed the venue from Mohican State Park to Salt Fork State Park this year (I guess it's because Mohican 100 was on the same weekend).
It's the first year that I participated in the tri camp. Everything leading up to the camp was super clear and organized. Before the camp, the club sent out the schedule. Because I was afraid that I would have no one to share the room with, I reached out to E. in December and asked if I could share the room with her. She also said that another friend, L., would be joining us, which I was totally cool with.
I got to Salt Fork on Thursday evening (the camp officially started on Friday) and chatted with E. & L. They are very nice. Although we have been FB friends, I am glad I got to know them better at this camp.
On Friday, the schedule said there would be a 60-mile ride in the morning and a 30-mile ride in the afternoon. For some reason, I thought that everyone was required to do the 60-mile ride. Salt Fork is very very hilly. The 60-mile ride had about 4800 ft of elevation gain, which was considered suicidal for an under-trained slow person like me.
I showed up in the morning and there were only A riders there. I thought to myself that I knew I made the wrong decision to do the 60-mile ride LOL I had not been on my bike since early May because I was constantly traveling. It was hot and hilly on that day. After 50 miles, I decided to stop because I did not take in enough calories during the ride. The group called E. to pick me up and I was grateful that they did. Everyone was worried about me because I was not trained enough to do this hilly ride. I got back to the hotel and had some drinks and food, and beer. Finally, I felt better.
The tri camp check-in was on Friday evening. We checked in and had dinner. Everyone introduced themselves and I got to meet more people from the club (yay!). After dinner, we had a campfire and s'mores (my favorite). Then, everyone called it a night because we had a full day on Saturday morning.
Saturday morning we started with an open water swim in the lake followed by a 30-mile bike ride in the park. We chose to stay within the park area because the road surface was smoother (fewer potholes). Today I made sure that I ate and drank enough during the ride. The hill climbs were not as scary as yesterday's ride but they were still steep. We came back to the lodge for lunch and had some rest before a spring tri team event in the afternoon.
This year was the first year that the club organized a sprint tri team event. The rule was that everyone in the team had to do everything together and no one got left behind (I like this idea a lot). I was in the same team with A. and J. (whom I really knew) and got to know D. more from being in the same team. Our team did well. We managed to stay together the whole time and helped each other along the way. The highlight of the event was that I face-planted at the finish line in front of everyone LOL
E. and L. already left on Saturday afternoon because they had other commitments that weekend. At dinner, they invited a tri coach to give a talk about "balance" - life, triathlon training, work, etc. After the talk, they had another campfire but I was too tired to join so I chose to go back to my room to relax.
On Sunday morning, I skipped the ows workshop because I did not want to risk infection with the lake water. They had a run clinic after the open water swim clinic on Sunday. Many people had left the camp already. I joined the rest of them for the run clinic and we learned how to properly warm-up and cool down before and after the run. We also did some work out together (intervals) but it was short.
After the run, I came back to the room to check out. I left Salt Fork around 11-ish and got home around 2pm. Overall, it was a great training weekend. This really helped me to get back to tri training again. I also was glad to get to meet more people from the club. They are all nice and friendly and I learned more about Ironman races and tips from them.
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