As expected, the 2012 Team Camp was once again, out of this world! Friday’s Shimano presensation was very informative and the GPS and Product Development sessions couldn’t have spawned better discussion.

Over the past couple years, we have had the opportunity to receive some of our goodies in the NY Giants’ locker room. Although it wasn’t the first time most of us had been in there, for some reason, this year seemed more surreal. Maybe it was the fact that the Giants were world champions! Either way, it’s one of those indescribable feelings that just makes you feel so warm and fuzzy inside! Inside our new Thule backpacks, we found lots of new Champion systems apparel, TriSwim product and much more. It’s seriously like Christmas :)

After another delicious lunch, we split back into groups for a couple more fun and exciting sessions. We also received a few more goodies from various other sponsors and learned a lot about how we can be the best social media marketers out there :)

Right after our long day of sessions, we headed to the Metlife Stadium for an unbelievable cocktail dinner and awards ceremony. I have never in my life had some of the opportunities like I’ve had on Team Timex and I couldn’t be more thankful. Stepping foot on the home turf of the Superbowl Champions then looking up at the jumbo screen seeing your team and your personal name being welcomed is like a dream. The fact that we were having our awards in the same room that the players, coaches, and staff use for special occasions is simply amazing.

Dinner was out of this world delicious and the awards were so well put together. Hearing inspirational speakers like Karen Smyers and Steve Weatherford and Jeff Feagles from the NY Giants left a huge impression and couldn’t have been more appropriate. At the end of the night, they presented the awards. Susanne and Kelly were awarded the Rookie of the year award, Chris Thomas received the male athlete of year, Jackie was honored as the female athlete of the year and totally unexpectedly, I was inducted into the Timex Multisport Hall of Fame. I can’t even express how emotional that was and how thankful I am for everything this team does for me. I honestly don’t think I’ve ever been so surprised in my life to receive an award and still have chills when I think of that moment when Keith announced my name :)

Throughout the day on Friday and Saturday, all athletes were welcomed to participate in the KSI Sweat Loss Study. This included keeping a 24hr food diary, storing 24hrs worth of urine in a lovely orange jug, recording some body information, working out in a 95 degree room for 45min then getting rinsed off in a big tub afterward. Obviously it was much more detailed than that, but I’d have to start writing a book if you wanted to get into the nitty gritty :)

I honestly think that this test was by far one of the coolest things we’ve done at camp in the 6 years I’ve been on the team. Not only was it fun to participate in, the information that we were able to receive regarding our fluid loss and sodium concentrate is something that will aid each of us in our training and racing in the future. Huge thanks to everyone from the Korey Stringer Institute who came to help out with this testing. We all appreciate your hard work and apologize for having to deal with a bunch crazed type A athletes :)

After a fun night on the town, we all met up on Sunday for the big camp finale. We had our last fresh breakfast in the performance center then grouped together for our 2012 team photo. We also had the opportunity to meet the wonderful people from Nathan (our hydration sponsor) and Native (our sunglass sponsor). After some great team bonding and individual mingling, we were back at the hotel and being shuttled to the airport. What another amazing experience. On behalf of everyone on team, thank you, thank you, thank you to everyone who worked so hard to put this on. We couldn’t be more grateful to be part of the most prestigious team in the sport!

There’s no better feeling in the world than traveling several hundred miles to meet up with dozens of long time teammates in one of the country’s most exquisite training facilities! After an easy flight from Denver to Newark, we were all welcomed with an amazing dinner at the Giant’s Timex Performance Center and another fantastic opening evening of activities. Keith did a great introduction and played a fun video of the 2011 team highlights then Jerry Reese, SVP and General Manager of the New York Giants took the stage. It’s so fun to hear the differences and similarities of athletes and how teams are structured and Jerry did a great job keeping us entertained :) After a few more presentations, it was time for more good laughs and a few product distributions!

Keith hosted a series of games with the athletes then proceeded to hand out goodies from some of the sponsors after each good laugh.





Timex team camp is like Christmas in respect to getting swag, product, etc! However, there is nothing more exciting than being part of a amazing team that is so supportive and fun!



The one item that I am beyond ecstatic about is the new Timex Cycle Trainer! The introduction of the Global Trainer GPS watch brought lots of excitement to the triathlon and running community so I can’t imagine the GPS cycling computer will be any different!



The evening wrapped up with instructions on the sweat test that each of the athletes will be doing with the Korey Stringer Institute staff. Part of the project includes collecting 24hrs worth of urine so everyone was sent back to the hotel with orange pee containers :) You’ll get a lot more information about this later but it’s been the talk of the night!

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Where to start? Well after picking up the new van on Thursday night, we headed to Winter Park for a little Erin and Bryce getaway :) We worked from the condo during the day with a nice skate ski session during lunch. Bryce just picked up the final components for his nordic setup so he was excited to try it out. For not having skate skied much in his life, he’s such a natural.

Since I’m such a numbers person, and well, a Timex gal too, I brought along my GPS watch to track our workout. It’s amazing how hard nordic skiing really is. Not to mention that trying to breathe hard at 9000ft doesn’t make it any easier either.

After working the rest of the evening, we had our typical pizza dinner then made some hot cocoa and relaxed by the fire. Dunking classic cookies into warm hot chocolate might be my new favorite dessert :) We definitely slept well that night! We were excited to get back to Boulder on Saturday to begin working on the van but we wanted to get in one last skate ski before we took off. It was absolutely gorgeous Saturday morning so we headed back to Snow Mountain Ranch to beat ourselves up one last time. Because there was a race going on, we were forced to ski some of the more advanced and hilly trails. HOLY CRAP does that make a difference. I swear I almost killed Bryce!!! At any rate, we lasted a whopping 45min then drove back to the bubble.

When we got home, I found a large box by the front door that contained the items above. For an avid mountain biker, this is like Christmas x10. I am soooooo excited to try out the new Litespeed Cohutta 29er and cannot wait to deck it out with some blingy Shimano XTR components.

After running around town looking for the perfect headset,we finally found one and the boys began building her up. Normally, I am 100% against bicycles in the house, but it was absolutely freezing outside so I let it slide this time :)

Although I’m still waiting for my crank and front derailleur to come in, I simply cannot tell you how beautiful this bike it. I have never ridden a titanium bike but I’ve been told that once you convert, you will never go back to carbon! I’m sure you’ll see and hear much more about this sexy lady in the near future as I get her all ready to rock and roll for the year.

The final excitement of the weekend was getting a jump start on the van build out! After a lengthy trip to home depot, we got everything we needed to put up the dividing wall. Bryce and our friend Jeremy worked like champs in the freezing cold and banged out the first stages. It’s definitely a huge project but the rewards of having this recreational vehicle set up EXACTLY how we want it will far outweigh the effort to get it together.

…I was welcomed onto the most prestigious team in the world of triathlon. Today, I am still honored to be a part of this incredible family and cannot imagine my world without the Timex Multisport Team.

Throughout the years, we have had many different sponsors and supporters. Each of them has brought something different to the table and has allowed all of us to try something new and excited from year to year. We normally run our major sponsors for 2 concurrent years and 2012 was a year to re-sign or find something else. After lots of great chats, our team manager did what was best for the overall group and brought on some new and exciting brands!

The first major change was our bike sponsor! Partnering with American Bicycle Group would mean that the triathletes would the flying on the new and improved Quintana Roos and the roadie’s and off-roadie’s would be smashing it on Litespeeds. I’m very excited about this as I’ve never ridden a Litespeed and our contacts at ABG are extremely eager to work directly with the athletes. From mountain bikes to road bikes to cyclocross bikes, look for some great product review posts throughout the season on my new hardware :)

The second major sponsor change for 2012 was our clothing provider. Champion System offers a variety of custom clothing for all types of athletes. With a strong cycling and triathlon background, it was a no brainer that CS would be a great fit for the team. If you haven’t jumped on Facebook and seen the sneak peek pics of our new kits, I’d highly suggest it…we’re gonna be one sharp looking team this season!

New all around for the Timex Multisport Team in 2012 is a bicycle tire sponsor. Challenge is an extremely well known brand in the cycling world and has a reputation for having some of the best tubulars (sewups) on the market. Not only do they have a sweet selection of cyclocross tires, they are also one of the only company’s to produce a tubular mountain bike tire. This will definitely be a first for me but I’m really excited to give it a go!

After an extremely rough couple of years, I have a lot of really exciting things to look forward to in 2012! My number one goal for the entire season is the stay healthy and major injury free for 12 consecutive months. Although that might seem easy on paper, I haven’t even come close since December 2008.

I’ll spare you the details, but I had a phenomenal chat with coach Neal Henderson yesterday and we have a concrete plan that should have me rockin’ and rollin’ for cyclocross season this upcoming fall. For the first quarter, I’ll just build back into shape on my own doing minimal exercise and strength training – it will be treated like any normal off season. In the second quarter I will buckle down and become more structured with specific power work and higher intensity training. By the third quarter, I will be racing the Winter Park MTB series that will help build my base and lung capacity. And fourth quarter will be my peaking season to kick ass and take names in Cyclocross. As always, I will be racing the entire RMEC off-road moto series and misc road and MTB races in Colorado, but those will all be for fun and practice as CX is the number one focus this year.

Here’s to an awesome 2012 Timex, I cannot wait!