Hey Everyone!
Hope you are all great! Just a quick update to say hello as I know a blog is long overdue! I also know I still owe an update from Melbourne, but as I get that in order, I thought I’d tempt you with this!
I just got back to LA last Tuesday from a week-long training camp in San Francisco and Stinson Beach. The time flew by, and although I lived in SF for 3 years after college, it was my first trip to Stinson. SB is about one hour north of SF and is part of the Red Triangle, which is considered to be one of the deadliest, most shark invested areas of the world. So, when I say I was practically pooing myself in the days and weeks leading up to my trip there, I am only moderately exaggerating! As the worst swimmer in the group I was very stressed out about getting dropped and being the lone swimmer as sharks swarmed around me. I even woke James up several times in the nights before I left having nightmares of getting attacked by sharks! haha. No good! Luckily though, as it turned out, we swam in this amazing protected lagoon with nothing but a few jellyfish to taunt us. It was an absolutely perfect setting for swimming open water and all fears were quickly put to bed. And… the bonus was that the water was a balmy 60+ degrees:)
Honestly though, I was blown away by Stinson, Point Reyes and Mt Tam – It was simply stunning and so vastly different from LA – it was a wonderful setting for a training camp. The cycling was challenging, which I LOVED – with tons of climbing. One of the days we only rode 45 miles, but we still managed to tack on over 6,000 feet of climbing. It was solid. And the views were amazing!!! I felt so lucky to be there. It almost reminded of my home in Maine and our family’s cabin. Everything there is simple – life is simple, and it allowed us to put aide all outside distractions and just focus on the work we needed to get done. Stinson’s population is only 480 people. The town has a bar, a bakery and an inn and that is IT! And all of the surrounding towns were like that too. Everything is green, lush, and smells like a mix of salty air and farmland. I love love loved it!
Anyway – I am home now – getting caught up on life and doing my final prep before heading to Utah next week to race St. George 70.3. Then the season is full on! I’m headed to Florida a few weeks later, Maryland a few weeks after that, another camp in SF and then off to Austria and Italy for 2.5 weeks of racing and vaca! The summer is going to fly by! It is always hard to believe once May hits that the race season is here – it is definitely GO TIME!
As a side note – this time of year is often mixed for me a bit – while I love racing (of course!!), the lack of rhythm and routine that comes with it has been stressful for me in the past. But…Matt said something to us while we were at camp that resonated very strongly with me and I thought I would share; he said simply that we have to embrace the lack of routine, to understand what we CAN keep constant and strive to maintain balance in those areas, and then simply to make every day and every workout as productive as you can. If you let the lack of routine and rhythm overwhelm you and become a negative, it creates far more stress than is necessary. Something clicked for me and the anxiety I have felt about not having the consistency day in and day out that I so love has me actually excited. My view is to take every day as a new day and make it as productive and as good as I can – both from a training, a recovery, a nutritional and a personal standpoint. Sometimes it is about shifting your lens…
A big thanks to Matt Dixon and Paul Buick and the rest of the PPF crew for their time and incredible effort they put in to making our pro camp possible. We have something very special with our group – everyone is so positive, works incredibly hard, and supports each other in a way I have not seen before. So THANK YOU M&P for everything!
Also a big thanks to Verdict Digital for their time at Stinson. These guys put out ridiculous stuff and we are always so lucky to have them there filming us and taking pics!
Off to pack for Utah!
Until next time…Don’t Dream It. Be It!
Xxx
S-
