Always Running

Xantusia - The Rest of the Weekend

By Saturday morning a lot of  (but not all) of the snow was gone, in fact, I was reminded that the picture of the snow covered bikes was actually from Saturday morning, not Friday.  The sun was out and we knew that no matter what, we would ride Saturday.  I DID NOT pack up my bike and fly across the country with it to ride it ONE TIME. 

Dan offered to have us all over to the fit studio for a fit clinic that morning, after which we decided we would ride.  I had heard about Dan’s Fit Institute Slowtwitch (FIST) clinics from Mac (he attended one last spring), so I was thrilled to have a session with Dan.  What a privilege! 

Michelle recently made the switch from a road bike w/ aerobars to a tri-bike and hasn’t been able to get her road bike set up comfortably as a road bike, so Dan did a fit on her.  It was so fun to watch the process.  He likened it to the eye doctor – a lot of “which is better? 1 or 2?” – and such.  He started with saddle height, then fore/aft position and finally bar set up.  So cool to see.  He also told us that we could use the fit studio later for packing up our bikes (rather than doing it outside in the freezing cold, thank you Dan!).

Some shots from the fit: 

After the session with Dan, we bundled up and headed out for our ride.  We did the same loop as Thursday, but added a extra climb AT THE END.  We had sunshine, clear roads and beautiful views.  What more can you ask for?  Through the entire ride, I just kept thinking how very lucky I am. 

When we finished the ride, Cathy and I took a few pics on the road in front of Xantusia.  My only regret is that I didn’t get one of the two of us together.  We cleaned up, had lunch and settled in for some stretching and old triathlon videos (vintage, perhaps?).  Quickly, the sun was setting and we realized that we should head down to pack up the bikes.  A group of us went down to the fit studio and while Christina and I packed our bikes, Deanna and Liz got their demo bikes from Dan’s stable (literally and figuratively) ready to ride the next day.  I was insanely jealous that they would get in a ride on Sunday while I had to go home. 

Cathy and I: 

We had one more dinner together – Monty worked magic again – salad, lasagna and garlic bread.  YUM.  Oh, and wine.  Then we had a little more tv time and suddenly it was time to get some sleep – Christina and I had to leave somewhat early to head back to Orange County.   Morning came all too fast and after breakfast and a round of goodbyes, we were on our way.  Chicago was expecting horrible storms that night, but thankfully our flights both took off on time and were uneventful.  I even had WiFi on my flight.  Not a bad way to end the weekend. I was happy to get home to Mac and the kids, yet really sad to leave Xantusia.  I’m already looking forward to next year!

Thanks to Cathy and Sally for putting the weekend together, thanks to Monty for taking care of all of us and thanks to all of the wonderful women who made the weekend so much fun! 

 

Xantusia - Part 1

I sit here typing this from John Wayne Airport in Orange County.  I got to spend a long weekend doing something really amazing.  While I’m excited to get home to my family, I am sad to leave behind the great group of women I got to train with. 

A group of us from Slowtwitch.com (the “Womens”, if you will) got together for the annual training weekend at Xantusia – the compound owned by Mark Montgomery (Monty) and Dan Empfield.  The Womens have been doing this training weekend since (I think) at least 2007 or 2008.  I have never made it out for camp.  I came close one year, and then something came up.  Truth is, I was always a little scared and intimidated…will I be “good enough” or “fast enough” to hang with the others?  What if I’m not? What if they don’t like me?

I got to meet one of the Womens, Cathy, in person last year in Kona and we had such a great time on the island – it made me feel so much more comfortable about camp having met Cathy.  Then, this year, with IMTX looming, Mac told me it was now or never – I had to get out of my comfort zone and go.  He was SO right.

A few weeks ago, my friend Christina texted me asking about a 5k at home this weekend – I told her I couldn’t do it, I was going to a girl’s training weekend.  Her interest was piqued and ultimately, she ended up coming this weekend too!  So in the end, not only did I get to see Cathy again and get to meet lot of wonderful new friends, I had one of my closest friends with me too!

The start of camp –

 Christina and I flew into OC late Wednesday night.  We were on different flights and joked that we had to fly to CA to see each other.  Our bikes and other checked bags arrived (thankfully), we got our rental car and were soon on our way to the high desert.  First, though, we had to stop at In-N-Out.  You can’t be in CA without eating In-N-Out at least once (duh).  We made it to Monty’s with only one error – we missed the turnoff into the driveway.  It is PITCH dark in the desert at night and we completely missed the cute little lizard sign.  We realized our mistake when we started descending the mountain (did I mention that we were staying a the top of a brutal climb?).  Soon we were dragging our bags into our room and trying to get some sleep. 

Thursday morning – we woke up bright and early to the smell of coffee and breakfast.  Cathy, Andy and Suzanne had arrived earlier on Wednesday, so there were currently 5 of us there and Gail arrived from “over the mountain” during breakfast.  Then it was time to put the bikes together.  I had traveled with a bike one other time – to Kona – and I had Mac and Brad to put my bike together for me.  This time, I was on my own.  I’m happy (and proud) to say that Christina and I had our bikes back together in under 20 minutes.  With a minimal amount of cursing.  Yay us. 

We decided to head out as soon as we had the bikes together with the hope of beating some of the wind (yeah, that didn’t really work).  Off we went and while the descent from Xantusia to start the ride was fun, there was also the thought in the back of my mind that, um, we had to climb that at the end of the ride.  Awesome. 

A few pics from the ride: 

Now, I’m from Chicago.  Illinois.  Where it is FLAT.  Hello mountains.  There were no flat sections of this ride.  We were either going up or down at all times.  And let me tell you – I don’t know which was harder – the climbs or the descents.  I just kept repeating that it was making me stronger.  Making me stronger…

Before I knew it, almost 2 hours had passed and we were heading back up toward the compound.  I don’t have the official record, but Cathy’s Garmin told us that the first part of the climb home was between 8-10% and the rest around 6-7%.  Doesn’t sound too bad, right?  Well, for this Midwestern girl, it was hard!

We had a quick, light lunch and then some down time before going out on a run.  We wanted to beat sundown (and get back fast for the margaritas), so we headed out for a quick run up Panorama Road with Emmy and Michelle, who had arrived while we were out on the bikes.  There were 12 Womens coming to camp and now 8 of us were there! 

Coming in from running (I'm in the middle - I really need to learn how to run):

About this time, Monty’s beautiful wife Ashley and gorgeous little guy Wyatt arrived. Wyatt became the camp mascot and Ashley jumped right into the fun.  What a great group already.  Dinner Thursday was the most amazing chicken I have ever had in my life.  Along with all kinds of sides – rice, veggies, potatoes followed by a big chocolate cake for dessert.  And of course we had Monty’s famous margaritas.  We still had a few Womens arriving later Thursday night and the rest of us were tired, so it was a pretty tame evening. 

Friday morning we woke up to snow.  Lots of it.  And freezing cold temps.  And 50mph winds.  Great.  There would be no riding anytime soon.  We had a light breakfast and then took advantage of what appeared to be a short break in the weather and headed out for a run along Panorama Road.  This is a packed dirt/sand road that is mostly uphill on the way out and (thankfully) downhill on the way back.  We did the 7 mile round trip “to the big road and back” and we were so grateful we were headed downhill on the way back when the sleet/hail/wind picked up. 

What we woke up to: 

When we got back, we hoped to head into town to swim with Monty, but due to the weather, the pool never did open that day.  Instead, we showered, got comfortable and spent the afternoon sharing stories, getting to know each other and having a gift exchange with gifts we all brought from our respective areas – there were lots of great race shirts, bike jerseys, bottles of wine – so many fun things.  I ended up with a fabulous jacket, a fun new perfume and a water bottle (thank you Sally, Michelle and Gail!). 

The Gift Exchange:

After the gift exchange, Monty got out the margaritas.  Somehow, we all decided that we should finish our margaritas then go run a race to the end of the driveway and back (just under a mile) and then have another margarita.  Thus the "First Annual Margarita Mile" was born.  I initially wanted to opt out - saying I had showered already.  That didn't get me too far and before I knew it we were taking advantage of a break in the weather to run in the mud to the main road and back.  

Here we are after the "race":

Monty made another great dinner – this time tri tip steak in a teriyaki marinade.  It was simply to die for.  That night we shared some margaritas, wine, stories and watched the Help.  We couldn’t have asked for a more perfect evening.

That’s all for now…Part 2 soon.