Training Camp May 26, 2007 - Nice Meeting Everyone!!

This past Saturday Jose had his Training Camp with Trifecta Racing. I had the opportunity of meeting some of the members of the group, which was very nice. Now I know who is who. Not everyone was able to attend unfortunately. The people in attendance were: Danny (President & 7 x Ironman finisher), Gilberto (2 x Ironman finisher), Joe (3x Ironman finisher), Paola, Cesar, Jimmy & Jose. When I arrived, the ladies of the house (Diana, Maria and Mom Padilla) were cooking up a storm. The food was amazing and they put so much work into it. Thank you so much for your warm hospitality and the the great food!! It was amazing and very much appreciated! I know that is a LOT of work. I call this all of the "behind the scenes" efforts behind these Ironman events. :0) They are just as important, but not mentioned often enough :0)
Cesar Padilla, Jose's long-time friend (since Elementary School) had ridden his bike all the way from Chula Vista to our house in Escondido on Friday, which I believe it about 60+ miles. Wow, how do you get here on a bike anyway? I didn't even know that was possible. I'm from a country where biking is really one of your main forms of transportation and we have excellent bike paths to accommodate that, but I never knew you had there here. I remember riding my mountain bike from Mission Valley to the beach one time and felt like it was suicide because of tall the traffic. Scary. But I am learning there are ways to get where you want to go on bike. I am curious about this route Cesar took. Not that I will be trying it anytime soon :0) Anyway, Cesar and Jose went to grab a bit together and I am sure they talked "Tri-talk" all evening. The next morning they decided to ride to Temecula together and that would be another 34.5 miles. All of this before they had to 50 miles on the bike with the group later on. I was tired just thinking about it. It went well and they got there safe, which I am always happy about. During the bike portion of training, Jose's chain came off and at about 30 miles he had another flat tire. He couldn't fix the flat because the outer tire was damaged and so he had to walk 2 miles back to the house. Bummer. He walked on his socks because those bike shoes are not "made for walking" and during this walk he got blisters on his feet. About 6 of those suckers. So running was not very succesful either. Boo Hoo. He was disappointed, but what are you going to do? We are learning new things as we go, which is good. Jose now knows that he needs to work on his bike maintenance and that will be a priority this upcoming week. Preparation is key with anything and therefore we will focus on that. Perhaps Jose can get together with Jimmy & Cesar some day to do just that. Bike Maintenance. I am sure he would learn a lot. Jose will be running the Rock and Roll Marathon upcoming Sunday and so he is preparing for that. And I need to make a plan to get there at a time where I will not be fighting traffic etc. Happy and Safe Training to everyone and make sure to check back again for some more "stories".