Timex Clinic - SA Elite Boulder

Tuesday morning I met up with Timex teammate, Tim Hola, to do a presentation to the shop employees at the new Sports Authority Elite in Boulder on the various Timex products that are sold in their store.

We talked mostly about the Global Trainer and the Run Trainer but touched on a lot of the other HR products including the new Cycle Trainer. We had a lot of great questions and were told that the info given was very valuable. We hope to get a run and ride from the store scheduled soon so we can have customers and store employees demo the many Timex products available to purchase at the store!

The First Van Roadtrip!

Although we're missing the most important piece of the van build out (the killer stereo), we ventured down to Pueblo for it's first roadtrip this weekend. It was only 2.5hrs each way, but it was just enough time to appreciate all the bells and whistles we splurged on (power seat, cruise control, keyless entry, etc). We were surprised and beyond excited about how well it drove and the gas mileage we were getting. It was also nice to see how quiet the driving space was compared to our other van. The toy area was just perfect in size for the dirt bikes which was also a big relief :)

Superstar enduro racer and good friend, Ron Schmezle, has been starting to teach riding lessons over the past couple weeks so I did an impromptu class with him and another guy out at PMI on Saturday. We worked on a lot of the basics as well as some of the more technical aspects of riding like corning and riding long ruts. I learned a lot and had a total blast. The races in AZ were my first time trying out my new Troy Lee Designs gear and protective equipment but I don't think I mentioned how much I loved it. The under the jersey chest protector and my arm sleeve elbow/forearm guards are honestly the most comfortable pieces of protective gear I have ever worn. I didn't feel restricted whatsoever and my neck brace stayed right in place! Super excited to head down to TX in a few weeks for races #3 and #4 of the year :)

Progress on the van!!!

While I was at camp in NJ, Bryce went to town on the new van build out! After installing the dividing wall, he made a cutout for a window and holes/boxes for the 6x9 speakers.

After finalizing the far wall, he insulated and paneled the side wall and ceiling.

 

It's going to be so nice and warm when we sleep in there :)

Finally, he carpeted the entire living area! You would have never guessed that this space was bare sheet metal just a few days ago.

Next it was time to put the bench sleeper in. Unfortunately the legs of the bench were too wide for the floor of the van...so we cut them off!

To make it fit, Bryce did a little customization and made his own base for the bench. I have to admit, I'm really glad I wasn't there for him cutting a very expensive piece of furniture apart :)

To wrap up the project, the futon was installed and secured to the floor and wall. We now have an unbelievable living/sleeping area in the new rig. The final step will be to get all the stereo equipment hooked up but for the most part, the tough stuff is done! I'll have to report on how the first trip goes...stay tuned.

Work on the East Coast

After an amazing time at team camp, I joined some of the Madd Gear crew on the east coast for a superb homemade dinner and a little business. I had to post this picture above because Brian's dog is the coolest thing I've ever seen. It was great to catch up and see his 3 daughters and wonderful wife.

I spent Monday and Tuesday at our NJ warehouse getting our new customer service specialist up to speed so she can start taking on orders. The group of people that work in that warehouse are so kind and it was great to get a lot of stuff accomplished. One of the other brands that is primarily distributed out of that building is the Bloog. It is an electronic cigarette that is seriously going to to be the future of smoking. Check out their site here for more info. I've heard so many success stories from those who have quit smoking using this product so please pass it along to anyone you think could benefit :)

After a late night of travel, I finally arrived home and found a massive goodie box from the dealership in which we bought our van. I am in serious need of cutting junk out of my diet so I sent the entire thing to work with Bryce :)

I know I didn't put up too many photos from camp so if you're interested in seeing more, click here for Larry Rosa's awesome shots and click here for my Picasa album!

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!

2012 Team Camp has officially begun!

There’s no better feeling in the world than traveling several hundred miles to meet up with dozens of long time teammates in one of the country’s most exquisite training facilities! After an easy flight from Denver to Newark, we were all welcomed with an amazing dinner at the Giant’s Timex Performance Center and another fantastic opening evening of activities. Keith did a great introduction and played a fun video of the 2011 team highlights then Jerry Reese, SVP and General Manager of the New York Giants took the stage. It’s so fun to hear the differences and similarities of athletes and how teams are structured and Jerry did a great job keeping us entertained :) After a few more presentations, it was time for more good laughs and a few product distributions!

Keith hosted a series of games with the athletes then proceeded to hand out goodies from some of the sponsors after each good laugh.

Timex team camp is like Christmas in respect to getting swag, product, etc! However, there is nothing more exciting than being part of a amazing team that is so supportive and fun!

The one item that I am beyond ecstatic about is the new Timex Cycle Trainer! The introduction of the Global Trainer GPS watch brought lots of excitement to the triathlon and running community so I can’t imagine the GPS cycling computer will be any different!

The evening wrapped up with instructions on the sweat test that each of the athletes will be doing with the Korey Stringer Institute staff. Part of the project includes collecting 24hrs worth of urine so everyone was sent back to the hotel with orange pee containers :) You’ll get a lot more information about this later but it’s been the talk of the night!

Getting Stuff Done!!!!

Although yesterday was Valentine's Day, Bryce and I are beyond swamped with things to do before I take off for Timex camp and he goes to Florida for a work training, so our night was a little outside the norm. Instead of going out for a fancy/expensive dinner date, we had a friend over to bake homemade pizza and salad. It was a perfect and relaxing dinner and left us plenty of time to get lots of stuff done. I had to post the picture above because it's one of the dozens of homemade cards I get each year from my grandmother. Between her 6 children and NUMEROUS grandchildren, she still finds time to make a homemade greeting card that is hand signed for every family member on every holiday!!! What a rockstar :)

A fun weekend!

 

Where to start? Well after picking up the new van on Thursday night, we headed to Winter Park for a little Erin and Bryce getaway :) We worked from the condo during the day with a nice skate ski session during lunch.

Bryce just picked up the final components for his nordic setup so he was excited to try it out. For not having skate skied much in his life, he's such a natural.

Since I'm such a numbers person, and well, a Timex gal too, I brought along my GPS watch to track our workout. It's amazing how hard nordic skiing really is. Not to mention that trying to breathe hard at 9000ft doesn't make it any easier either.

After working the rest of the evening, we had our typical pizza dinner then made some hot cocoa and relaxed by the fire. Dunking classic cookies into warm hot chocolate might be my new favorite dessert :) We definitely slept well that night! We were excited to get back to Boulder on Saturday to begin working on the van but we wanted to get in one last skate ski before we took off. It was absolutely gorgeous Saturday morning so we headed back to Snow Mountain Ranch to beat ourselves up one last time. Because there was a race going on, we were forced to ski some of the more advanced and hilly trails. HOLY CRAP does that make a difference. I swear I almost killed Bryce!!! At any rate, we lasted a whopping 45min then drove back to the bubble.

When we got home, I found a large box by the front door that contained the items above. For an avid mountain biker, this is like Christmas x10. I am soooooo excited to try out the new Litespeed Cohutta 29er and cannot wait to deck it out with some blingy Shimano XTR components.

After running around town looking for the perfect headset,we finally found one and the boys began building her up. Normally, I am 100% against bicycles in the house, but it was absolutely freezing outside so I let it slide this time :)

Although I'm still waiting for my crank and front derailleur to come in, I simply cannot tell you how beautiful this bike it. I have never ridden a titanium bike but I've been told that once you convert, you will never go back to carbon! I'm sure you'll see and hear much more about this sexy lady in the near future as I get her all ready to rock and roll for the year.

The final excitement of the weekend was getting a jump start on the van build out! After a lengthy trip to home depot, we got everything we needed to put up the dividing wall. Bryce and our friend Jeremy worked like champs in the freezing cold and banged out the first stages. It's definitely a huge project but the rewards of having this recreational vehicle set up EXACTLY how we want it will far outweigh the effort to get it together.

The start of a new traveling era

Yep, it's a lot of van and A LOT of black! Just how we wanted it.

Of course the hub caps need to be powder coated the windows tinted but other than that, it's absolutely perfect. 

We have some great plans for the build out including a killer sound system, a living/sleeping area and a bike area so stay tuned for updates and photos!

It's pretty funny how excited we are about a brand new oversized cargo van :)

A Relaxing Weekend?!?

In all honesty, I can't even tell you how long it's been where Bryce and I have had a 'boring and relaxing' weekend. Although we still managed to get a lot of stuff done, it was all very low key and extremely laid back! Oh yeah, we got A LOT of snow which made being lazy much easier.

One really exciting part of the weekend was selling the moto van. We are expecting our new one this week so getting rid of the old one before even picking up the new one was a huge relief. I'm sure you'll see pictures and build out plans of the new one soon.

Although I normally don't give two craps about football, it was exciting to have the Giants win the Superbowl this year. Team camp is held at the Giant's Timex Performance Center each year so I kind of have a special place in my heart for the team. I've even met some of their key players like Kevin Boothe and can imagine that camp will only be that much more exciting this year!

Hand Update

Well, I wish I had more exciting news, however, the truth of the matter is that I'm still in lots of pain and no concrete conclusions have been made.

After trying every method in the book to get the cactus needles out on Monday and Tuesday, I finally called my dermatologist who was able to see me right away on Wednesday. In honor of Hostess going into bankruptcy and my state of misery, I also decided to purchase a 99 cent pack of donettes! My doc took a giant core out of my palm with the intentions of getting the one needle that was hitting a nerve out but unfortunately the electrocution-like feeling only got worse and more unbearable. We agreed that seeing a hand specialist would be a good idea so Friday morning I drove over an hour out to Denver after getting over a foot of snow the previous night. When I got there, the office was closed due to the storm and I never received a call regarding the appointment cancellation. That office will be getting a mouthful from me next week and I'm rescheduling with another hand specialist in Boulder. Stay tuned for more updates.

Confirmed 2012-2013 Sponsor

I'm happy to announce that I am officially part of the 2012-2013 PowerBar Team Elite squad! The past two years on the team have been a blast and I cannot wait for another round of great times! I couldn't be more thankful for this opportunity as PowerBar, without a doubt, carries a line of product that is superior in it's class and allows me to fueled and recovered in all of my favorite activities. From cycling to hiking to dirt biking, PowerBar's always there to keep me going! Check out their wide selection of high performance products here!