Day 3

I'm in the same place a last night....it's late and I'm in bed...wheels turning.

I will work my way backwards today. A huge group of us.....campers and coaches.....went to a
TGI Fridays for drinks after our "debriefing" of the days activities. I think they all sensed that we needed a little down time. It was great to spend time with everyone. All super great people with amazing stories. We all know our exact dates of diagnosis(2nd week Sept. 1999...thank you!) and wear it like a medal....kinda like how Lance has his 10/2...why can't we celebrate ours??!! (thank you Mari!) A bunch of us are wondering what is going to happen when we leave our bubble. Will we be the same people we were when we arrived? I bet not!! The training has been more then I could have imagined, but I didn't expect all the emotions. Nancy gets emotional?? Who knew!

Ok, enough gushy...
Swimming today was more of the same. Linking all the drills that have been drilled into us into an actual stroke. More underwater video which we will analyze tomorrow. I have a love hate relationship with this camera. It does do the trick though! Love Celeste the swim coach....she joined us on our run yesterday and the cycling today. Very well rounded athlete. VERY patient. Good to have in a coach for sure!

Now pay attention cycling friends!
Do you think you are a good bike handler...not rider, but handler? I was humbled today! I have learned I am SO not a bike handler. Give me a bike and I can ride, but tell me to do some of these drills and geeezzzz....kind of depressing. I tried not to get down on myself too much as I haven't had any formal cycling training. Nicole the coach, has a wit and an incredible knowlege of cycling. (2oo2 Olympian,to mention one thing on here resume) Broke everything down into pieces and rode us hard. The hardest I've had since I've been here. Loved it!! I can now say I can corner like there's no tomorrow! (compared to how I came in) The rest I'll have to practice in an empty parking lot....good place for drill work.
We were near the coolest velodrome...apparently one of the best nationally. Unfortunatly we did not get time on that. But what we were on was a paved path in a park across the street. It looked like it was bike/rollerblade specific. (For my people back in Michigan...think Indian Springs Metro park, but WAY wider, bigger, and better)
Pacelining! Work a paceline...a triathlete? This was the most awesome experience! After a few laps in a large group, she broke us into 2 groups and now it was a team time trial! (now I can be in the tour for sure...right) In my regular group rides we always take turns in the front and kind of stagger and chat along the way. This is NOT what we did. This was real time trialing. I think every thought and emotion went through my mind. So much concentration is needed. So great! I only got dropped a few times by the big boys in my group...even held on until the last lap. I pushed way hard to keep up, but had lots of encouagment from our undesignated leader Andy...wicked cyclist. Even tonight he was still encouraging me.....probably because I kept apologizing for not being there. Does it remind ya'll of any story at the Tour a few years back?

Anyway...tired again...wheels still turning, but keeping this blog gets it out of my head.
Talk to you tomorrow!