Endurance Corner Swim Camp

It's been 4 weeks now since Ironman Florida and it already feels like a lifetime ago. I've certainly had a chance to rest up a bit and get re-connected with some people and things that were back-burnered during the lead-up to the race.

I had a great time last week, spending the Thanksgiving weekend with the family at Disney World.

I thought I'd write today about the Endurance Corner Swim Camp that finished up today. Well, for me it finished up on Thanksgiving because I got an early start. I'm not sure where the idea came from, but Gordo, Jan, and Scott seem to have been the organizers for the 2-week virtual camp.

About 35 triathletes located all over the U.S., and the globe, for that matter, participated. There was an Internet-based tally sheet for the athletes to report their daily swim yardage, so that all the participants could see how the others were doing. Score was kept as follows:

For each day's swim: 1 point if >=2000 meters or 2 points if >=4000 meters.

1 bonus point each week if >= 5 swims that week.

1 bonus point if >=10 swims over the 2-week camp.

1 bonus point for each of 10 "bonus sets" that could be included anywhere along the way:
1. 5 x 400m on 20 sec rest, descending
2. 2 x 100m, descending, choice of rest
3. 4000m, without stopping, breathing every 3rd stroke
4. 10 x 200m, grouped 4/3/2/1, each group faster, on 15 sec rest
5. 8 x 250, first 25 fly, last 225 choice, choice of rest
6. 2000m, without stopping, with pull buoy and band
7. 2000m time trial
8. 20 x 100m on avg 100m pace from 2000m TT plus 0:10.

I managed to get all 41 points and logged ~69,000 yards at the pool. For me, that was the most ever for a 2-week period, by far. There are still a few hours left today and it looks like ~9-10 people will finish with 50,000+meters. Wow. Gordo promised new EC swim caps to everybody who reached 50,000 meters, so there was some incentive! I'll bet that most folks did 2x to 4x their usual swimming volume during the camp.

Gordo and JD posted the details of their daily workouts at the EC Forum and it was interesting to see how the elites go about swim training. It's sometimes easy to gloss over the various #'s, split times, etc., but they swim FAST and LONG, day after day. Again, wow.

For me, it was back to training this week. It's amazing how de-tuned things become with a 3-week break. My quads have been burning all week from Monday evening's trip to the gym. And the 2:15 ride yesterday seemed like it would never end. Today was an appreciated rest day....and back at it tomorrow.

Thinking about the 2010 season....
February...............Hilton Head Island Half Marathon
...................Natchez bike weekend
March....................Endurance Corner Tucson training camp
April.......................N. Orleans 70.3
May........................Memphis in May
June.......................Heatwave Classic