Camp summation

IM LP Camp 2007 is over! What a great 3 days we had. The weather called for rain each day, but it never really materialized. Our camping spot proved perfect for what we wanted. My body held up well and we put down some serious chow!
In all we had 2 open water swim sessions, 2 bikes, one a hard 3 hours, one steady 6, and 2 runs, one being a hard brick after the hard ride, and one being a 2 hour steady session. I was happy to nail my sessions in terms of watts and pace. Being at 1200 ft. rather than 6000 ft. makes a huge difference. At the end of my long run I was able to hold just under 6:30/mile and keep my HR in zone 2. That's the result of years of base training, not any one particular hard session. Consistency is the key and I feel like it's starting to pay off for me.
The long ride on Saturday was fantastic. The only bummer was that Matt and I got separated after about an hour and a half. I was up front a bit and missed a turn. From there we were on our own. Matt headed North towards Canada, while I stuck around the town and did a few loops. There were a lot of other triathletes out on the course getting ready for race day. My ride was 108 miles and about 4000 ft of climbing, which is flat for around here. My watts were steady and I was even able to put in 2 20 minute surges in the last hour. The best part was my stop at a gas stationg in Lake Placid. I was wandering around the store looking for that one perfect item. I was 4 hours into the ride and wanted a little pick me up. The doughnuts looked tempting, but then I saw it, 2 pieces of cinnamon raisin bread wrapped in plastic wrap for 75 cents. The beauty was next to the bread was an amazing spread of peanut butter, jelly and ice cream toppings like like chocolate sauce, carmel, sprinkles and even marshmellow fluff. So I tore open the wrapper and spread one piece with peanut butter and carmel, the other had strawberry jelly and pineapple topping. It was absolutely glorious. It gave me the strength to pedal out those last 2 hours when all you want to do is cruise back home. After the ride Matt and I took the 2 minute drive to the stream to soak the legs in some icy cold water. It wasn't as cold as I thought it would be, but it did the trick!
Sunday's run was solid as well. We started a bit out of town on the run course, down the big hill, took the left that's pretty flat with gorgeous views, turned around, back to the car to refuel, then a loop through the town. 2 hours in total averaging 6:50/mile pace. A great sign for me was that I had less than 2 minutes in zone 3 HR, the rest was all zone 1 and 2. Efficiency and endurance, that's the key. On the run I must have seen 20 people out doing the course as well. The majority were part of the Multisports.com camp. I can't escape these guys! When I did a 3 day camp in Tempe, guess who was there leading a camp for IM AZ? Oh yeah, Multisports.com. They had sag vehicles and water stops, it looked really plush to me. But I wasn't there to chat or make new friends, I was there to train.
So that was the camp. I am now back at Matt's in Harriburg, Pa. I will be resting up for a few days, and then we head out in THE ELEPHANT again for Cambridge, Md. and the EagleMan 70.3 race. After the past few days I am looking forward to a good result.

All the Best,
AJ