Snow shoe race… really? A quick perusal of the blog shows a few random posts and then… a snow shoe race. So how about a post about triathlon, eh? Well, it is the off-season, so we’ll have to settle for training. But actual triathlon training, the swimming-biking-running variety, rather than snow shoe running, cross country skiing, or indoor workout madness.

Admittedly, the weather near me has been pretty awful for this sort of thing but that’s why I jumped at the opportunity to get out of town. Not only out of town but off the continent! Last Sunday I boarded a plane to Atlanta where I then caught a flight to Honolulu before my third jump to Kahului on the island of Maui. The final destination was a condo near the historic town of Paia where the temperature during the day has hovered somewhere around 80F and clouds are a rarity. Not only is the weather here optimized for training but so is the company which includes the likes of Simon Whitfield, Sam McGlone, and other members of the Canadian National Team.

The first couple of days weren’t too bad… plenty of workouts but nothing too out of control.  On Wednesday however, we did our first hard ride of the camp… 2.5h with about 1h10min total of Zn3/Zn4/Zn5 climbing. We started at sea level and ended up somewhere around 3500ft although we still didn’t quite make it to the top. The descent was tons of fun… lots of exciting turns and breathtaking views.

Yesterday (Thursday) morning we headed over to the north sore for a little open water swim workout. Unfortunately we picked the windiest day since I’ve been here so we got beat up quite a bit in the choppy surf. Although the workout was a bit rough, the water was amazing as it was the perfect temperature and crystal clear. The highlight though was the body surfing after the workout!

I’m too tired to post about the adventures today but we still have a couple of hard rides and runs on tap (and of course every pool session is fast with the ITU crew) so I’m just hoping I can it through to next Monday. While this camp is certainly giving my fitness a great kick start to my year, the best part about it is just the opportunity to train with so many elite athletes and understand what it takes. Additionally, I’ll probably remember the easy runs over the dirt roads in the cane fields with Simon and Kyle as much as the super hard, heart attack inducing mountain climbs and all-out 100s in the pool.

Until next time, stay warm!