So after I vowed that last year was my last Epic camp, I managed to let myself get talked into one more round–Tara pointed out that she and I would be the only ones who have an epicWoman streak going. (Yes, I’m a sucker for streaks!). So despite my better judgement (what little I have), plus the fact that I finished an ironman less than two weeks ago, I arrived in Kona Thursday evening with my bike and favorite training togs in tow. My poor bike actually never made it out of the travel case after the IM–no need since I was barely home a week between trips! (Very appreciative of my patient and long-suffering husband for tolerating my crazy hobby! 
). Kona is such a magical place to train, and thanks to EpicWoman Camp ’11 and ’12, and the Legacy Lottery program, I have so many amazing memories of this island. So despite knowing what challenges we were going to face over the next 8 days, it was wonderful to be back (yes, T, you were right to twist my arm)! There are four of us recidivists here this year along with four intrepid EpicWoman virgins; it’s a great blend of ages, experience and personalities… each amazing and brave and strong–it’s going to be another memorable week, fueled by Coffees of Hawaii and GU brew chomps and gels, outfitted in spiffy Zoot gear!
The camp actually started yesterday, on Day Zero, with a presentation on swim technique by Karlyn Pipes-Neilson, followed by an optional hour of one-on-one instruction in her Endless Pool. I’d not done the pool component the last time she was at the camp because I was a month out from IM Lanzarote and didn’t feel comfortable overhauling my stroke right before a race. This year however, was perfect timing, as I’d actually been attempting to rebuild my stroke the past year using the guidelines she’d outlined back in 2010 (as best as I could recall!) to accommodate my gimpy left shoulder and bicep. It was remarkably exhausting to do an hour-long swim lesson in the current of the Endless Pool, but extremely helpful and well worth it.
So today–Day1–began with a 2.5k ocean swim from the pier. We thought the course T mapped out was 3k but realized that it was short, given our speedy times (darn! And here I was all set to credit my swim lesson with Karlyn ). In addition to the variety of brightly colored fish, we spotted a huge manta ray cruising along below us–totally cool! (Thanks, CoachDavid, for pointing it out!) After a hearty post-swim breakfast, we geared up for the day’s ride up to Waimea. It was a blast to be hammering out on the QueenK highway again and it seemed like we got to the turnoff to Waimea in no time at all. From there, we rode up Kawaihae road TT style starting off at one minute intervals for KOM points. The timed section turned out to be about 9k, on a gradient of 4-6%. The lunch rest stop 10 miles further up the road in the parking lot of one of the two gas stations in the town could not come soon enough! It’s always a bit tough to get cranking again after lunch, and today turned out to be no exception. But fresh new tarmac made the miles pass less painfully than I remembered from previous years. It also helped that it didn’t rain on us as in past camps, despite thick cloud cover for the majority of the day. Unfortunately there were plenty of cars out enjoying the new tarmac as well, and several of us had a few heart-stopping moments being buzzed by cars. The final ten miles of descents were hard-earned, and very much appreciated! I took a detour by BikeWorks to have my shifting looked at and my creaky seat tightened, managing to accrue bonus mileage which translates into an extra camp point for the day’s ride. (Don’t know whether I’ll be able to keep playing the points game this camp, but I’ll stay in the game as long as my body holds up. I decided today that I’d like to get through at least one EpicWoman camp without damaging my body and/or bike…although from past experience, that may be more difficult than it sounds!).
The time spent at the bike shop made it a bit of a scramble to get in my requisite 10k run before sunset, but I managed to slog thru it with minutes to spare.
We enjoyed a delectable dinner courtesy of Sarah, our chef extraordinaire this week, who also happens to be able to cycle like she stole it!
Etienne, is here again to provide us with SAG support throughout the day as well as something new to EpicWoman camp: a daily point of focus to think about as we face the stresses of this week. Today’s mental challenge was to try to appreciate every negative issue as a potentially positive thing (thank you hills and wind, for giving me the opportunity to get stronger! ). And also returning to camp as SAG support is Bruce, Tara’s remarkable ‘better half’ (!!) with baby Maya–13 months old this camp–along for the ride. She’s the most placid and patient baby I think I’ve ever met!
So one day down…only seven to go!