T4 Days 2 & 3

T4 (Tami's Tucson Training Trip) days 2 and 3 were full of great riding and wore me out. Day 2 I swam at the Pima YMCA. It was an outdoor pool with an awesome view. I have a few photos but they are on my other camera, so I'll upload when I get home. It's no surprise, but I kind-of forgot how easily it is to get some color while swimming. When I got home I was pleasantly surprised by my swim suit tan lines! After swimming I ate lunch and drove south a ways, parked, and rode toward Madera Canyon.

Once you get through the town at the bottom, its all climbing. On day 3 I rode all the way to the top of the canyon (ok 0.6 tenths from the end of the road-I didn't know the end was so close and it was getting steep!). It was a beautiful ride, especially once I got into the park.

Climb climb climb!

Long slow climbing

After riding we hiked around at the top just a bit. One can hike ~5.5 more miles with another 5,000 feet of climbing, but we didn't go near that far. It would have been fun, but would have taken a long time and I prefer running over walking. If it were socially acceptable I may even run from my car into the grocery store and down the Target isles. Get-r-done, right? 

Classy

I rode from down there somewhere all the way up here!

Snow on the top of those mountains!

Pretty steep at the top

Awesome riding, who's coming with me next year??? Maybe I'll hold an official triathlon camp. Could be a nice career change...

Tami's Tucson Training Trip (T4) Day #1

For my first full day in Tucson I rode Gates Pass. Besides the temps (highs in the 70s) and the cacti doting the scenery, the big climbs reminded me that I am not in Iowa. Coming from Iowa, even the littlest ant hills seem like big hills to be. And they are tough! But I love every second of climbing and descending them. In my future I see more training trips and more driving from my home before starting long rides so I can ride more varied terrain.

But I digress, back to Tucson. It is AMAZING! Bikes lanes everywhere in town. Share the road sides everywhere outside of town. Bikers everywhere. Central campus of the university even has 'bike valet' (and it was a giant area to park bikes, I mean giant) I have not seen a single driver get upset about a biker, graze too closely, yell at, honk at, or anything else negative at a biker. Drivers here are so respectful of bikers and pedestrians. They wait for you to go by or cross rather than try to rush in front of you or get stopped in your way. It is wonderful to feel like the roads and paths really can be shared by all. Those doing good for themselves and the environment (by walking or biking) are respected by motorists, so far I feel quite safe biking here.

Later in the day I went for a run with no route in mind, just enjoy the city of Tucson. I ran through some of the University of Arizona campus. It reminded me of Iowa State University in April. People were outside everywhere you looked. Walking, running, biking, throwing a football, and it's February! The campus was very pretty and I would have liked to explore home but Mom said to be home before dark so I headed back toward home. Until I wasn't quite sure which way home really was. I only had to ask for directions once and did make it home safely before dark, per mom's instructions.

Down one side of Gates Pass

The road meandering thru the desert

Up Gates Pass

Climbing

View from the top of Gates Pass

View down the other side of Gates Pass, Tucson way down there

Next up will be an outdoor swim and maybe a long ride!

Winter Training

Winter training is in full force! After 3 big weeks, this past week was a recovery week. I would like to say that means I got a lot of other stuff done, but laundry and soup making is about it! We did finally get some snow here, forcing my run test to the treadmill. However, I was able to get outside and play around with my new camera. It was cloudy and gray out, but still fun trek around in the snow and realize how much I have to learn about using the camera! 

The next 3 weeks of training will be big weeks again. The 3rd week will be in Tucson! I'm so excited I feel like a little kid!