LONG Pre Epic Camp Prologue (by Tara "poor soul" - because she is the only woman camper this year :))

I finally arrived in New Zealand after some very long travels! I left Toronto Monday morning at 7am (4:30am from my house) and arrived in Christchurch two days later, with the time change. I flew from Toronto to San Francisco and had a nine hour layover before my first of two flights to New Zealand. I didn’t realize that I had such a long layover until I was checking in for my flight in Toronto, so I decided to take advantage of the time and take the train into the city.

I love San Francisco (I visited it once before a number of years ago) and I walked all around the city. I walked from the Bart Powell Station up and down Lombard Street (the twisty-est street with 8 switchbacks due to its steepness) and all around Fisherman’s Warf. Clam chowder was a must and was very welcome and yummy after getting soaking wet on my walking tour. It was quite fitting to be wet in San Francisco and I just enjoyed myself. My calves were feeling all the hills but I figured with would be good pre-Epic Camp prep, especially for that uphill triathlon race run on the last day! I stopped for a tea and checked my email at Melt! Café and back to the airport I went.

My next flight was over 13.5 hours. I was so tired after my late night packing for Epic and Geelong 70.3 race the night before, and add in all the walking in San Fran, that I ended up sleeping for seven hours! This is completely unheard of for me as I rarely sleep on planes but it was perfect because everything didn’t feel so long. Air New Zealand is great and I even ate the food! One last flight from Auckland to Christchurch and amazingly my bike and luggage arrived with me across the world.

Scott picked me up at the airport. I have been working with Scott for over two years but had only met him once in person in Kona. Scott has been the most amazing coach for me and so I was excited to be able to spend some pre Epic Camp training time with him. He is so knowledgeable and also very funny. I learn so much from him and love that he makes me laugh in the process. There were 4 pre Epic Camp training days to be had, and this is how they went:
I immediately assembled my bike and off we went on a 2 hr ride in the hills. We did the Short Bays ride with an ad-on to the top of Worsley Spur. This country, and more specifically Christchurch, is amazing for training. I absolutely love the climbing on the bike and the views are spectacular – especially coming from cold Toronto! It has been a little cooler temperature than what I expected, but really perfect for training. And certainly not COLD! After our ride, we went to the pool and gym where Scott went over some weight exercises with me and jumped in the pool for a quick 40min swim with lots of IM…Guess Scott is getting me ready for that 400IM race on Day 2 of Epic!? But the day wouldn’t be complete without a run so we ran 40mins on the trails. The mountain bike and running trails are incredible here, although you wouldn’t catch me riding them as I would be sure to kill myself! By the end of my first day here, I was pooped but felt great and Scott’s plan to exhaust me so I would sleep the whole night worked: I went to bed after a wee dinner with Scott and Erin and slept right through the night, for well over 10 hours. Right on track for the new time change!

I stayed across the street from Scott and Erin, with Mary Baker, who is very sweet and it was really fun getting to know her. Once again, I feel so lucky to meet so many amazing people all over the world.

Day two I ran the trails again and up Summit Road for 65mins. It was fun running on the dirt trails and I definitely got in some good hill climbing – it was 5mins faster on the way back down. Scott, Albert (another Epic Camper Veteran) and I did another awesome hilly ride (the Summit Road loop) that lasted just over an hour and a half. Again, I was happy doing my kind of climbing and checking out the views including some hardcore rock climbers. After a lovely dinner with Mary, I went to the pool and swam another 2800m before falling into bed.

Day three started out with a swim with the swim “squad” here in Christchurch. The swimming facility is incredible and the group workout by ‘Rolly’ was perfect – basically 6km on a 1:30/100m pace time, although most of the group were holding 1:20’s! They are fast. Albert and I then rode together for just over 2 hours on the flat – North up Highway 1 through Marshland to Kaipoi. It’s a good thing I was just following Albert as I had no idea where we were going! Scott did give us a couple maps in case we got lost, but Albert pulled through! Later in the day, Scott and I ran about 40mins and did some speed pick ups on a grassy field near by. Scott told me some legend stories of some amazing athletes who used to train on that same field and of other amazing New Zealand-living ultra athletes. Needless to say, I was feeling inspired! One more dinner with Scott and family in his amazing backyard patio/BBQ set-up before I set off for my last sleep pre Epic.

Day four started with a bike ride over Evans Pass to Lyttelton and on to Corsair Bay with Scott, Gordo, Albert, BDC, and Hillary Biscay (who is here after racing in New Zealand a couple weeks ago). We did a great open water swim (aside from the chaffing I got: I must remember to take off my necklace BEFORE that first wetsuit swim of the season!) and an easy 30min run before heading back over Evans Pass back to Sumner.

It’s now time to pack up my stuff to head to the first Epic lodging and get a pre-camp massage with John Ellis as I know my body needs all the help it can get to withstand the abuse it will take over the next 8 days!

So I have trained a total of 13.5 hours nice an easy in prep for Epic Camp which starts tomorrow. I am sure that these past four days will seem like a breeze as no doubt, we will be almost doing that amount of training in one day!

Hey, I feel great and I am excited. I am ready to test my limits with some amazing athletes along side of me…Bring it on!!