One Year Ago Today

Hard to believe it's already been a year, but last year at this time I was in Guam for a long weekend Training Camp with my good friend and training partner Chris.

Chris was absolutely crushing, as he was two months out from his goal Ironman for the year. I was one month in to my "assault" on a sub 10 hour Ironman and qualifying for Kona... the Hawaii Ironman World Championships in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii in October. Well, here we are a year later and Chris is in his final death throes for Ironman New Zealand next month, and I'm just starting my 2009 quest for the Perfect Day. We were lucky enough to link up with the local Guam cycling and triathlon club, and they showed us a great 5.5 hour ride around the island. It's time for me to start thinking about cool places to go for a Training Camp.

Training Camps are something the highly motivated triathlete does routinely. Several times throughout the season we'll head to somewhere warm, somewhere w/ challenging terrain to ride and good open water to swim. It's like a migration really... we don't know why we do it, we just do. Of course, when presented to the girlfriend/wife/spouse/significant other it's really a "family vacation", but I just might bring the bike.

For me, I hope to hit the island of Jeju in South Korea two or three times for my build up to Ironman Japan. Our local training hot spot was crowded last year, as many world class athletes camped out for months in the build up to the Olympic Games in Beijing or the Ironman World Championships in October.

"Baby, want to go on vacation? It will be great! Warm sun, nice beaches, and oh by the way, it's a HUGE coincidence, but the terrain in Jeju is almost an exact replica of the terrain, weather, and humidity of the Ironman Hawaii bike course. Just a coincidence."

I'm wearing my bike box out!