Exhausted!

We had our camping training weekend this weekend. The three teams of LA (South Bay, Westside, and Eastside) gathered up by Lake Piru bright and early on Saturday to start our training. After setting up camp, we headed off for training at 10am.

First we went swimming in the Lake. I had a hard time of it for a few minutes. The water was so cold I couldn't get my breathing right which made my technique go out the window at first. Plus it was VERY different having a ton of people around you. It was a little nerve-wracking at first, and that wasn't even close to the number of people that are going to be at the actual triathlon. Eventually, my breathing calmed down, and I started to get into my rhythm. Unfortunately, that rhythm was constantly interrupted by the fact that there were feet in my face, a body brushing up against me, or the simple fact that I kept getting off course. I need to work on my sighting. Despite all of the new challenges that the open water added, I did very well. I swam four laps of our course, and I could have kept going, but they made us move on. I am feeling very confident with the swimming.

Next was biking and running. We were alternating loops with these. I ran one loop, then biked a loop, then ran a loop, then biked a loop. It was extraordinarily hot during this. One girl's bike thermometer said that the road temperature was 114. Now the air temp wasn't as hot, but that 114 was bouncing off the road onto us as we were riding/running. As I prepared to head off for my third loop of running, Jessica (our campaign manager) stopped me saying they were cutting people off. It was too hot to train. So I ran back to the water and swam a bit more.

After training, we went back to camp and hung out, eating lunch. The coaches and mentors made us dinner that evening. A small group of us walked down to the lake again and jumped in (in our clothes -- haha).

We went to sleep around 12am on the hard, cool ground. I woke up at about 5:30am to a VERY loud bird call. I dragged myself out of "bed" and started taking apart my camp. I figured I wouldn't want to do it after we got back from our morning run. I got everything packed up just in time for us to head out. It was 8am and already hot. I ran 3 miles and walked one. 4 miles by 8:45 am -- nice way to start the day. I drove away sweaty and exhausted.

Today is my day off (whew!). I have a bunch of stuff to do. I desperately need new running shoes. I've had a blister the size of a quarter on my big toe since I started training. It's causing problems with my ankle from over-compensation. I also need to get my sister's bike fixed. Plus I have a lot of fundraising things to do today. No time for exhaustion!