Tucson Training Camp MVP Blog

Everyday of camp has its share of great moments when someone really lays it out there, and plenty of “stupid” moments which are excellent material for dinner time harassment. Well, today was my day (I think Hods just wanted his bike cleaned-another of the MVP honors/responsibilities).

The entire group was outstanding and to me felt stronger than any of the previous camps which I’d attended with EH and/or Brian G. So to stand out or do something worthy of note with this group was something I pretty much didn’t plan on. To be honest I’m still not sure I did anything worthy of MVP status, especially being surrounded by so many other amazing athletes.

Pretty much the culmination of the camp is the Mount Lemon climb. I’d made the climb last year, so I had a good idea of the challenge. The idea of camp is to “build into” the week, with the first day or two being not full out or it’ll be a really long week!

The whole group is broken into a couple smaller groups which leave at different times so that we all get to the top at approximately the same time. As more of a distance guy than a speed guy, I see the Mt Lemon climb as a mental exercise more so than physical. It’s more like an Ironman event where you really need to be able to stay “present” and not think about all the climbing left to do. It’s over 26 miles of climbing with an average grade around 4.5%(I think), so you really don’t get any breaks to recover. I know for me there were a couple points where it can feel overwhelming, and the first one came at mile 4. You’re like, “holy ‘sh--’ I’m only at mile 4, my legs are already burning, and I’ve still got 22+ to go!” You’re watching some of the stronger riders start to pull away, so you want to go harder and try to stay with them, but again its like an IM race in that you need to do your own thing and stay within yourself; it’s a long way up. My biggest lesson learned from the 2010 season was that, for several reasons, I let my training and racing reach a point where I wasn’t having “fun”. HUGE mistake and one I swore I wouldn’t let happen again. The Mt Lemon climb was my first chance to test my new resolution, and at mile 4 I reminded myself of this. Yes I was uncomfortable, yes I was working hard, yes I was being dropped by better riders, and yes I was having fun. Reminding myself that this is what I love to do: pushing myself, testing my limits, being outside, absolutely amazing scenery, amazing people, yes I was having fun!

So I don’t think I did anything worthy of MVP at this camp, especially being surrounded by so many athletes of such amazing talent. However, the Mt. Lemon climb was a great day for me in that I was able to test something inside myself and persevere. Although I don’t think Eric or Brian were aware of this little internal challenge, maybe that’s what makes them such great coaches-- they’re just able to see these things, as they’ve probably been there themselves.

I’m totally blessed to have had this opportunity to train with fantastic coaches and such an outstanding group of people. Good luck to all in your upcoming season, and thank you so much to Eric and Brian for an awesome camp. I’m a better person and athlete now.

Brad