It was the greatest week of training I've had, not only physically challenging but a blast to be around such an awesome group of people. Most of us are Ahmed's clients, although there were about a handful of others.
Posting daily would have been great as there were continuous random hilarious stories to tell but there was no time.
Three of the coolest things were:
1) the climb up Kaloko Rd....a 6.2 mile climb that took me and the other 4 guys that were leading just over an hour (except for Aaron who killed it in 58min)- continuous pain that turned the thought of Ironman into a cakewalk.
top of kaloko
2) the always epic ride out to Hawi and back...I ended up doing a bit less than the 100 or so miles since when we got Hawi it was pouring and I quickly told Bob (our sag guy) to sag me about 8 miles out of Hawi on the way back to clear the rain. It was great on the way back...the tailwind had me coasting at like 35-40mph :)
3) the run in the "pit". yesterday, we did our 2 hr run- i was to break it up as 28min run w/ 2 min walk X3 + 20min run w/ 10min walk cool down. I ran the first hour and a half with Roberto and Wayne (the guy I met on the bike last week that's deaf and is training for the next Olympics 2012) it was awesome- about 85F and no clouds, we were keeping in trianing pace which yielded around 730-745 pace. The pit used to be part of the Ironman Hawaii race course a few years ago and I'm really sad they took it off as getting there from Alii Drive means quite a few good rollers.
Right now I'm sitting at Lava Java as usual and will hang out with my two roomates for the week- Aaron and Jessica- that leave on the same 10pm flight as me back to Dallas. I learned soooo much that there's no way to put it in writing. I can't wait until the season begins and I jump into the water for the swim start. Ahmed's killer swims have me feeling full of confidence. I spent the whole week "sucking it up" (as Ahmed yells) and drafting behind people that I never thought I'd be capable of even having near my sight. I may never swim a sub-20min 1500m by myself, let alone in a pool, but with the right focus and pain tolerance I know it's definitely possible to sprint the first few hundred meters and stay with the lead pack for the rest of the swim by wonderfully drafting ;)Legal drafting practice on the bike was also a blast. On the climb to Hawi we did a series of "attack" drills that really made me push myself.
Anyway, I'm looking forward to coming back next January- this time though I'll be done with college and can spend the whole month here. I'll be doing the smaller group camp one week and helping out in the second camp week. As for now....dreading the return to cold weather and homework.
I brought my camera but as always, relied on the photography skills of other to take pics and will post them when I get their emails hehe
