Diabetes Training Camp

This last week of the March 16th through March 22 was the Diabetes Training Camp produced by Dr. Matt Corcoran, held on the beautiful campus of UC Santa Barbara. This camp of world class coaches, cutting edge diabetes information, athletic performance evalutions, and terrific food could only be summed up as a big WOW!!

The planning of all the events was superb and timely. Swim workouts utilizing technique coaching by Josh Gold and Celeste (?). I will swim better once new techniques are grooved into place. The advise I received from Rick Crawford, cycling coach and x-professional triathlete, was a bulls eye for me to hear at this early point of my racing season.

I did perform in the exercise physiology laboratory testing out with a 71 ml O2/Kg/min and I was 5 pounds heavier than I was back in 1988 when I tested last. Then I tested out with a 72 ml/Kg/min. If I had been 5 pounds lighter I would have hit the same level of fitness and that is uncanny. Folks usually lose 3ml per decade after the ripe age of 3o years old so I should have tested out at 66 ml. My ECG during the test did not indicate any PVC's or abnormal heart measures so the heart and lung function is A-okay. All that training over the years has kept my physiology intact. Yahoo!

During the camp we had some training days together with the other members of Team Triabetes. While climbing the Old San Marcos Pass Road, a steep up for about 4 miles, I had a chance to let out a little pace infront of our Triabetes production team Andiamo Productions. The hill was long and a good way to measure fitness. My legs did load up a little. I should have had a 25 or 27 cog to spin the hill but the 23 did fine once I got into the groove.

Ray and Nella and their daughter Elisa from Andiamo were fantastic. Glad that Nella's back is better after I had given her a little advise (hard not to be a PT when I am a PT). Happy Birthday to Ray on Saturday, March 22.

My week at training camp was a little tough due to a bad rib bruise/fracture suffered during a fundraising event for the City of Hope just a week earlier. I have been taping, taking ibuprofen, and keeping the heavy breathing down; no hard workouts. This is probably a blessing for me not to purge off too much energy for this next weekend's race in Oceanside; 70.3 Ironman and a qualifier for Hawaii. Hopefully the rib will heal up soon enough so that my race won't be an embarassment. But hey, that's the way it goes in the life of living on the edge.

Cannondale offered a pro deal on two bikes a few weeks ago so the bike issue is now solved. The System Six road racer is a fast sprinter, light, and with the Fullcrum wheels this bike jams. I needed a taller steering tube so another fork needed to be ordered. The Slice Time Trial road bike needing fitting, taller front end to save my back, and the wheels; ZIPP 404's are fabulous. The new aerodynamic bikes are awesome to ride. I can really feel the difference between the raod bike I usually ride and the time trial bike from Cannondale. Can't wait until Truth Day, rib injury allowing.

Diabetes is going well using some of the advise received from Dr. Corcoran. The HbA1C should look pretty good on the next test which I will take in 6 weeks.

Here are the big events for 2008 as they stand right now.
1. Attempt to qualify for Ironman Hawaii, 2008
2. Race Ironman Wisconsin, 2008
3. Produce documentary with Triabetes
4. Possible opportunity with Team Type 1 for RAAM, 2008 on the farm team?
5. Lottery for Ironman April 16, results on IronmanLive.com

Looking forward to Polar Heart Rate Monitor sponsored training tools, Specialized accessories for the bike, racing the Cannondale Bikes until the road starts to melt off my back wheel, PureFit Energy Bars, SPIBelt to carry my stuff, and all the help received from Incycle San Dimas-Mark you are awesome. Thanks a ton guys and I'll do well as a result of your assist.

Time to snooze and get fit. Cheers, BC