Tucson Pre-Camp, Camp, and Easter

Well I guess this is what I get when i dont update very often. Lots to say:)

After the winter we have had and actually had after I returned home...( ahem snow) I was so ready for some hot hot temps. Which I got! I will never ever get sick of this view:

View from my Mother in Law's condo in Green Valley

Obviously Stacey and I had a blast with Rosemary despite Stacey's bike shop trying to sabotage our Madera climb. ( PEOPLE ITS not MADEIRA, no "I") my first ride i ever did with Rich was up Madera and i will do it as long as I can. Serious HTFU those last 1.5 miles.

My love of free range Grass Fed beef is shown above. We had a nice time down there with her, too short but then we headed back up to Tucson to claim our beds and meet up with Caroline. Who I started calling CLINE, and confused the heck out of Stacey and others wondering who this new camper was going to be.

We got in some solid rides and runs before camp even started and come the last day of camp i was sorta wondering what i had done. Turns out I got in a SOLID 6 days of running and biking, no regrets at all!

 Day One: Swim in the AM, it was cloudy really? With my cute lanemates. We did a solid 4k i think and i waved at Cline in the next lane who was getting her thrashing but keeping up in the REAL SWIMMER lane:) Here is my favorite quote of the day from JH " The difference btwn your lane
( pointing to us) and THAT lane ( pointing to the Stacey, Melissa, Caroline swimmer lane) is that you guys are too pretty you are too nice underwater, especially you Julia." She may have mentioned me lacking power ( um, hello bird arms) but i just decided to " keep on swimming keep on swimming...."

 After the swim we had a quick change to get ready for "Gates Pass->McCain Loops x 3 and Julia's bonus round". Sorry. I made a wrong turn and took a few gals on a tour of Tucson. My Garmin stopped but Christie got 82 miles and i rode an extra loop so i am rounding to 90:) Yay us. Sorry gals. But heck it was 95 deg in there and i loved it. Pippi got hot and tired and i felt bad for that, but we all made it home safely.

Day Two: LEMMON!

This is my best pic of Lemmon. My homemade gloves. Should taken a pic of the garbage bags and newspaper and duct tape:) It was super windy as we went up and it just got chilly. It wasnt THAT COLD but i had no clothing and after being sweaty on the way up I got really chilled dipping down at 21 and climbing back up to the cabin. Cline shared her cocoa with me and i didnt even want a cookie.
The ride itself? Awesome. I had some juice to go when i wanted to go and was able to chill out when i wanted to just chill out.  Using my IM fuel plan has taken discipline but i really think its working. We can talk more about that later, but I am buying into the "do the same fuel no matter if its an hour or a 5 hour day. "
T run was glorious as it was hot and i clocked in a rolling 4 miles and then hit Le Buzz for my first iced decaf espresso of the year. That caffeine thing, so easy to avoid when its warm, so hard to avoid when i got home and it was cold, snowing and 30 deg.  PROOF BELOW

This night was on our own:

I cant remember what we did but i know i did some of this ^^^^
My BF is a serious popcorn lover, i couldnt not have it when i was there. Salty goodness. Cute that they had a heart bowl so i could pretend i was eating it with him.

Day Three: Run and Lemmon Repeats.
In some serious need of me time i decided to run solo. I ran from the house with Cline and then ran around Sabino avoiding the lateral lower leg trauma ( peroneals anyone?) I get every year descending Phoneline trail. I missed the view but i was rewarded with some great trails, some solo time where i was the only one talking at myself, and a solid 11.5 miles in my longest run of the year. I love trails but i am used to trails that arent rocky and twisty to descend.

Onto Lemmon we go!
For what I dread but also love. TIME TRIAL EFFORTS! I hit these hard, thinking i would hold back and do the 2nd faster i went out and let it rip. I started 4th and gradually made a few passes and watched as Cline cheered for me up ahead. ( LOL) she was likely fried but I had to giggle at her. Thanks girl:) The 2nd one hurt like a Beast. But i was only 25 sec slower which with wind and effort and what we did in the AM I was totally fine with. I told Jen that i thought this was a BIT AGGRESSIVE, but i loved it. ( ok that is an inside joke)

Then onto Yoga at LULU to earn our dinner at Blanco. Yoga was fun. And Funny. And after 3000 downward dogs my calves did feel looser, i will leave it at that.

Day Four: the final day!
JH had us do a challenging Hill run, and HILLY it was. THIS WAS SURELY aggressive. But i am glad i did it. I had said i may not run bc it was my 6th day running and at the geriatric age of nearly 48 I was a bit shy. But i felt ok. My glutes were sore from riding so taking a ride seemed less than appealling. So off i went keeping Cline and Jerome and Dan in my sights and clocked it in and was glad i had done it. I would love to do that run with fresh legs. As Caroline noted JH Does this as a TT for her time when she comes down. What a great run!

Then a bit of time to get ready for the last swim. We had done a 1650 TT the first swim and i was dreading that more bc my brain was dead. I also had a bit of  a tummy upset from the mexican and wasnt sure how i would feel in the pool. Truth be told i felt pretty nauseated mid swim, and when we had to do 25 sprints from a tread i was not sure i was going to make it. I Did of course but i think i was just tired. That entire day i felt a bit off. WE went for Fro Yo and ended up with Gelato that just didnt sound good. Too rich. I was happy to get a bit of appetite back for dinner out. Below are some of my favorite camp photos:

This camp would not be camp without Jerome. Who says very little, says very little negative and always has a grin and a helpful tip for you. Even if its " yes I will drink that for you Jenny."

What a great photo, this laugh says it all. 

Roomates unite! She didnt snore and shared her hairbrush with me. What a gal. 

Yes Jenny i will take that for you...

And the final night crew, those that stayed on one night to laugh our brains off and drink some margaritas

So now that i am home what is new? This is new: Easter ride on Penelope, the new bike. She did great, and while i love it, its going to take some getting used to.

Easter was fun, spent the weekend with the BF's family and we had some good times at the MOA ( shopping anyone?) and eating out and just hanging out. Then sunday i was with my family and the weather could not have been nicer. I wish it would hold but it wont, cooler temps and rain ahead. But 70 degrees on EASTER? We were due. 

This coming weekend i am going to madison to run in a race with the BF and to meet his parents. Should be a good time and also will likely be one of the last free weekends before the IM Training starts in earnest! Thanks for reading and hope you had a great Easter!