Ironheads training camp with Counterpart Coaching

Limited internet access here in Yucca Valley but it seems to be restored here at our hotel.

9 of us are down here at the Mitch Gold Counterpart Coaching training camp in Yucca Valley, CA about 30 minutes into the mountains from Palm Springs.

A few observations on the camp.
The food is spectacular and Mitch's crew cooks all food and meals are hot and waiting after long days of working out.
The views and terrain are great. Our long run in Joshua Tree Nat. Park on Sunday was Epic and the views were breathtaking and nearly brought tears to the eyes. Difficult to understand unless you've seen the views we experienced.

As usual, our group spends good quality time gaining fitness, balanced with a bit of drinking in the evenings and growing a closer as a group.

Scott Jones, Teresa Rider, and Linnea Alvord are the assistant coaches at the camp and have been invaluable as well as Mitch's wife Michelle. They load and off load the bikes every day, help with getting meals to us in a timely manner, and offer great advice in general on all topics.

Scott in particular, a lifelong compeititve swimmer, has kept his eye on us in the pool, offering support and technique tips during the workouts.

The camp is not about mega miles and base building. We are all IM race-ready and are here to gain pre-race fitness strength before the race. We are a month out from our IM race and we have the base and we are all in pretty good fitness. In fact, I realized today that our camp has 6 girls that are sub 3:20 open marathon type fitness and 2 have run around 3:06. In addition, we have the national age group champions in the half IM as well as Xterra, and myself one of the top IM masters in the country, Mitch, Scott and Teresa (AG winner Kona) resulting in solid quality for the week.

First few days:
Friday: Arrival day
Swim 3400 yds, Run 5 miles

Sat: Bike 67 in Palm Springs in a good Z2 watt ride, finishing with a 30 minute sustained Z4 climb. I had a good 345 watt 30 min climb in HR zone 4 out of my saddle the entire way.
Before dinner, 5 mile run, easy.

Sun: 2:20 run about 17-18 miles in Joshua Tree Nat. Park. Epic.
Before dinner, 2 hour easy ride in the desert hills above Yucca Valley.

Mon: Early morning Swim 3700 yd. Mixed sets, 200's, 100's and 50's.
Breakfast, then ride 82 miles in about 4:15, Predominately flat with false flats I think very similar to IMAZ course. Nice strong pace throughout.

Plan for tues is a day off the bikes, Swim 4000 and Run 60 minutes in Z2 pace.