Monday, February 20, 2012

Team Camp, Continued…

 

As expected, the 2012 Team Camp was once again, out of this world! Friday’s Shimano presensation was very informative and the GPS and Product Development sessions couldn’t have spawned better discussion.

Over the past couple years, we have had the opportunity to receive some of our goodies in the NY Giants’ locker room. Although it wasn’t the first time most of us had been in there, for some reason, this year seemed more surreal. Maybe it was the fact that the Giants were world champions! Either way, it’s one of those indescribable feelings that just makes you feel so warm and fuzzy inside! Inside our new Thule backpacks, we found lots of new Champion systems apparel, TriSwim product and much more. It’s seriously like Christmas :)


After another delicious lunch, we split back into groups for a couple more fun and exciting sessions. We also received a few more goodies from various other sponsors and learned a lot about how we can be the best social media marketers out there :)


Right after our long day of sessions, we headed to the Metlife Stadium for an unbelievable cocktail dinner and awards ceremony. I have never in my life had some of the opportunities like I’ve had on Team Timex and I couldn’t be more thankful. Stepping foot on the home turf of the Superbowl Champions then looking up at the jumbo screen seeing your team and your personal name being welcomed is like a dream. The fact that we were having our awards in the same room that the players, coaches, and staff use for special occasions is simply amazing.


Dinner was out of this world delicious and the awards were so well put together. Hearing inspirational speakers like Karen Smyers and Steve Weatherford and Jeff Feagles from the NY Giants left a huge impression and couldn’t be more appropriate. At the end of the night, they presented the awards. Susanne and Kelly were awarded the Rookie of the year award, Chris Thomas received the male athlete of year, Jackie was honored as the female athlete of the year and totally unexpectedly, I was inducted into the Timex Multisport Hall of Fame. I can’t even express how emotional that was and how thankful I am for everything this team does for me. I honestly don’t think I’ve ever been so surprised in my life to receive an award and still have chills when I think of that moment when Keith announced my name :)


Throughout the day on Friday and Saturday, all athletes were welcomed to participate in the KSI Sweat Loss Study. This included keeping a 24hr food diary, storing 24hrs worth of urine in a lovely orange jug, recording some body metric information, working out in a 95 degree room for 45min then getting rinsed off in a big tub afterward. Obviously it was much more detailed than that, but I’d have to start writing a book if you wanted to get into the nitty gritty :)


I honestly think that this test was by far one of the coolest things we’ve done at camp in the 6 years I’ve been on the team. Not only was it fun to participate in, the information that we were able to receive regarding our fluid loss and sodium concentrate is something that will aid each of us in our training and racing in the future. Huge thanks to everyone from the Korey Stringer Institute who came to help out with this testing. We all appreciate your hard work and apologize for having to deal with a bunch crazed type A athletes :)


After a fun night on the town, we all met up on Sunday for the big camp finale. We had our last fresh breakfast in the performance center then grouped together for our 2012 team photo. We also had the opportunity to meet the wonderful people from Nathan (our hydration sponsor) and Native (our sunglass sponsor). After some great team bonding and individual mingling, we were back at the hotel and being shuttled to the airport. What another amazing experience. On behalf of everyone on team, thank you, thank you, thank you to everyone who worked so hard to put this on. We couldn’t be more grateful to be part of the most prestigious team in the sport!

No comments: