A little shy of 3 months ago, I signed up for my first triathlon.  I can’t believe how quickly time flies.  The triathlon is in ONE week!

For the past 6 years, ACTIVEx has put on a triathlon camp aka CAxMP which typically occurs a weekend or two before the actual triathlon.  CAxMP has been at Warner Springs for a few years and at Highland Springs Resort for a few including this year.  We basically spend the weekend participating in several training sessions and just hanging out with ACTIVEx people, family, and friends.

I wasn’t really sure what to expect from CAxMP since it was my first year going.  From pictures I’ve seen and from hearing people talk about it, it always looked and sounded so fun.  So I just signed up.  It’s all apart of this experience, so why not?  I didn’t really know many people going into CAxMP and didn’t even have a roommate.  I had asked an xACTIVE friend to see if she wanted to join but she was going on vacation so she couldn’t.  I ended up getting paired up with someone randomly!

CAxMP Goodie Bag

Personalized Note from Arch

I was gone on a road trip for about 5 days prior to CAxMP and didn’t get any training in so I was a bit intimidated when I saw the CAxMP agenda but I figured if I could survive CAxMP training, I would be set for Solana Beach next weekend.  I arrived on Friday evening and picked up a sweet goodie bag they put together for us!  It had a bunch of ACTIVEx swag which was sweet!  We got a tri top, towel, hat, t-shirt, swim cap, race belt, sticker, a bunch of powerade goodies, and a personalized handwritten note from our fearless leader, Arch.  I love ACTIVEx swag.  I don’t know why, I think all the stuff is just so cool!  It looks cool and it’s cool to be a part of something.  I settled in my room and tried to get acquainted.  My roommate wasn’t going to arrive until tomorrow since she just signed up for the 5K race.  Everyone’s room was right next to each other in a bunch of little cabin-like areas.  People were getting their party on already.  Felt like college.  I went to bed pretty early since we had an early morning.  The bed was way too soft and the headboards were loose so anytime you moved, it would bump the wall and be really noisy.

Bike Route. “If you find yourself in tears, wanting a cab, take 3 deep breaths, get back on and finish your ride. (You’ll be glad you did.)

I didn’t sleep very well but I figured after Saturday’s workout, I would probably crash hard the next night.  Woke up nice and early to get ready for our first workout – a bike ride.  There were two options, a “friendly” 17-mile ride or a 36-mile hilly “peppie” ride.  I opted for the ‘friendly” ride.  As we started off, I really wanted to make sure to stay with a group of riders so I wouldn’t be myself.  I never bike out on the open road either, so I didn’t want to get lost or stranded.  I also wanted to track the ride on my GPS so I would know how many miles in we were.  However, we started off too quickly and I didn’t have time to press START since I needed to stay with the group.  Off we went.  It was going pretty well.  Flat.  I was 2nd to last in a group with 4 people in front of me.  They were going a good pace so I was staying close behind.  Since it was flat, I was also able to practice grabbing my water bottle haha.  Oh, I forgot to mention that it’s a lot easier to put my foot into the toe cage now that I’ve had some practice!  Stop signs are annoying.  We made the turn that was right before our first climb and as I turned, I started swerving several times.  It felt so weird.  I thought maybe I took the turn too fast or something but then Tommy who was riding behind me said that it looked like my front tire looked a little flat so we pulled over.  Indeed, it was flat!  BOO.  I must have JUST ran over something before the turn.  There were several areas with glass on the road.  I told Tommy to go on since I didn’t want to hold him back.  I took on the wheel and started trying to pop the tire off.  Another guy came by and helped me pop the tire off.  Then our support crew happened to come by in their SUV and helped me completely change the tire and pump it back up (since they had a real pump in the car).  We must have been around mile 9 or 10 (right before our aid station).  I also noticed that Juliana was in the car so I was wondering what happened to her.  Apparently she was riding with Ally and Ally’s chain got stuck and came off and she ate it pretty bad with some road rash.  OUCH.  =\  Juliana didn’t want to ride by herself since it was also her first time riding out on the road so they were going to drive her up to the pack an drop her off.  Instead, she hopped out to continue the ride with me.  And up the first hill we went, it was hard.  Then a short flat break and up another hill (longer but less steep).  It was great to have two support cars driving back and forth to check on us and encourage us.  It really helped to not feel like we were just biking by ourselves.  Haha.  It felt like forever to get back to Highland Springs Resort (HSR) but we made it!  Not sure why but this ride felt better than the ride during the mock tri at Coronado.  Maybe it was because at Coronado, I had no idea how far we were going and I was riding by myself most of the time.  Even though this one was longer and harder, it felt a little better.  Strange. Oh yeah, my legs felt like JELLO.

Got back to HSR and stuffed our faces with eggs, potatoes, bacon, pancakes and LAVENDER syrup!  Apparently, HSR is known for lavender as it is surrounded by lavender plants and their gift shop is all lavender soaps and sprays.  The syrup was good!  I went back to my room to just rest my legs since I knew we were going to have a hard workout with the step down brick!  I really wanted to nap but I also didn’t want to oversleep or get all groggy so I just laid in bed and did nothing lol.  Finally the time came and I packed my stuff and headed over to Beaumont High School for our step down brick workout.

Step Down Brick Workout

300m Swim | 6 Mile Bike | 1.5 Mile Run
300m Swim | 4 Mile Bike | 1 Mile Run
300m Swim | 2 Mile Bike | 0.5 Mile Run

My transition area

Transition

Where we swam – really nice pool!

Track

This was the most daunting workout.  I just kept telling myself that if I could do this, next week shouldn’t be a problem!  We set up our transition areas and they explained how to proceed.  The swim would be in the pool with no lanes.  What we would do is start from one end of the pool and swim from the corner of the black lane line on the floor across to the next corner and zig zag through the whole pool.  This way we could keep moving without bumping into people.  12 lengths.  They started off one by one with about half a pool length before the next person started.  Man, it was hard!  People kept passing me too.  I just tried to focus and finish the swim.  Juliana started a bit in front of me but I caught up in transition as she had to put on her bike shoes.  We took off on the bike together – out the high school and around the 1st lap marker for 6 miles.  Once we made the turn, an uphill!  Back to the high school.  And onto the track.  I had an easy transition since all I had to do was rack the bike.  I started the run first but Juliana caught up and was ahead of me by half a lap.  I also kept burping and thinking I was going to throw something up so anytime I had to burp, I had to stop running.  All the while during each leg, I kept thinking how I couldn’t wait to get to the next leg cause I didn’t want to be either swimming, biking, or running anymore!  LOL.  I was NOT looking forward to swimming another 300m – the swim was hard!  It took us a long time to finish that first swim, bike, run set.  The second swim was less crowded so that was nice.  Juliana was 2 lengths ahead of me.  We kept resting at the same wall.  Resting every time.  We kept encouraging each other throughout.  We were dying.  Slowly but surely, we made it.  We already got lapped too while we were doing our first run.  The second bike ride felt a bit easier but we still had that small hill.  It wasn’t even anything but we were tired lol.  I also felt like I was getting so sunburned.  I took off on the run first since I knew Juliana would catch up anyway.  These 4 laps around the track felt long.  LAST LEG.  Juliana and I went for the swim, one after each other.  By now, a lot of people had finished the whole thing already!  They were standing at the side of the pool cheering for us lol.  We were dead last.  The swim was rough.  I can’t imagine swimming half a mile (what everyone else is doing for Espirit de She).  300m was already so difficult!  We struggled through the last swim and off we went on the bike.  Juliana’s back brake started rubbing so we stopped to check it and I fixed it for her.  Thanks Fontaine for teaching me about that!  She’s like, how do you know to do that?  Do you cycle?  I’m like no.  My friend made that same adjustment for me before.  As we arrived for the last 2 laps of the run, a couple of Juliana’s friends ran with us.  We finished!!  We finished LAST but it doesn’t matter because we finished it and we didn’t give up.  I seriously thought I was going to throw up several times.  I really think that if I was by myself, I would have just given up.  Everyone had already started packing their stuff by the time we finished.  I knew I should eat something right after but I didn’t really feel like it.  I popped a few grapes.  Haha.

I got back to HSR and took a shower.  I really wanted to just pass out until dinner time but knew I shouldn’t.  I went walking around and exploring with my roommate who finally arrived.  I found out that she used to go to CBC Main and her parents currently do!  HOW RANDOM.  She goes to the Rock now.  We walked around and saw chickens, pot-bellied pigs, and even a wedding ceremony about to start.

Delicious Jambalaya – Feeds more than 40.

CAxMP Dinner

At dinner, Arch made a ridiculous amount of jambalaya and it was SO GOOD.  They had coleslaw and cornbread that tasted like cake.  For a second, I thought the butter I had put on top was frosting.  But no, the cornbread tasted like cake.  It was SO sweet.  They also had a ton of beer, wine, and some liquor.  Arch gave a short speech and then a bunch of people talked about how ACTIVEx and Arch and Mike changed their lives.  ACTIVEx is a pretty amazing program.  So many people’s lives have been changed by it.  And I think ACTIVEx is going away at the end of the year since the company is moving, thus the speeches.  But it was really touching to hear about the ACTIVEx community and the relationships people built through it.  Reminded me a lot of Team United.  It was pretty interesting to hear that no one has found another company that has a program like this.  A lot of touching speeches and teary-eyed folks.  I kinda wish I joined ACTIVEx sooner.  I’m glad I took the opportunity this time.  Then we made smores around the campfire and I called it a night while everyone else partied on.  I have no idea how they stayed up, I was exhausted.

See how high they ran up

This morning started off with a trail run/hike.  We had the option of taking a 5 mile or 2 mile route.  A bunch of us opted for the 2 mile route and we just hiked it.  We were way too beat.  My knee was also bothering me.  🙁  It was doing so well.  There was a 2nd part of the run/hike but I opted to pass.  It’s not worth messing up my knee more.  I just hung out at the tent with a few others.

After the run/hike, we all gathered on the grass to do some yoga!  It was the first time I did a real yoga session!  It was quite relaxing – though I was one of the few stupid people still wearing the tri top which was squishing my tummy out cause it kept riding up.  Ugh.  I was just following instructions lol.  Anyway, it was nice and relaxing and we did some good stretches and balancing poses.  Then we ate leftover jambalaya and made fruit, yogurt, and granola bowls!  And then CAxMP was over!

Arch! Our fearless leader!

I’m really glad I went to CAxMP.  It was a great experience.  Some of the social aspects were hard just cause I’m not very good at socializing especially when it comes to large groups but I did get to meet some people so that was cool.  I’m super happy that I completed the step down brick workout.  There’s something largely gratifying about completing something challenging that seemed extremely daunting.  I would have never thought I could do something like that.  I never even envisioned myself doing a triathlon.  I’m ONE WEEK away from completing my first triathlon!

Juliana! My tri buddy!

Heather is super encouraging!

See you at the finish!