Endurance Ranch: Week Two

Here is a delayed summary on our second week at the Austin Endurance Ranch.  We are so busy being awesome that it was hard to find time to finish this blog post.  But here goes…

Monday 18 Jan: A few drop-offs at the airport – sad to see the guys go but happy to meet the new folks. AM swim at Stacy Pool including some weight belt work and push-ups! Former pro Rip Esselstyn was at the pool and joined us for the push-up set. Morning ride to S MoPac, including a stop at TacoDeli where they hooked us up with free breakfast tacos!  Evening “fun ride” with a subset of the group on Old San Antonio Rd.  Chris/Nick/John got a bit excitable at times and the pace was quicker than it needed to be!

Tuesday 19 Jan: Longhorn Day. AM swim at Stacy Pool, then French toast and scrambled eggs and bacon at the house. Longhorn 70.3 bike course plus a little out-and-back that took us on a fabulous dirt road.  Ask Kate and Victoria how fabulous the road was!!  Okay, so maybe it was a bit rough, but at least we got to ride with a horse and some goats and a bunch of other animals.  Brick run on the Longhorn run course.

Dinner at the house including pork, rice, kale, salad and cookies.

Wednesday 20 Jan: Long ride to Enchanted Rock State Park.  Almost exactly 100 miles.  One wet creek crossing, a few inches deep.  We were again accompanied by our awesome Endurance Ranch van with its forward-facing speakers.  Sadly this was our last ride with Chris’s van before she started having some issues.  Luckily John’s van was also available and very capable at filling in.

We had dinner at Rudy’s Country Store & BBQ, a no-frills establishment where you order everything by the pound, you might get mocked by the staff, and you can wash your hands in a state-of-the-art sanitizer.

Amy’s Ice Cream for dessert!

Thursday 21 Jan: Omelets for breakfast, then swim-run multi-bricks at Stacy Pool and Stacy Parks. Each camper did swim & run distances that were appropriate for their goals, like (600-yard swim + 1.5-mile run) six times through.  John Kenny was the big winner with 12k of swimming and 12 miles of running.  I did about 8k of swimming and 14 miles of running.  I also got a bit of chafing from running in my speedo.  Somehow I traveled to Texas for three weeks’ worth of tri camps and didn’t bring any tri shorts. Ooops. 

Thursday evening we went to the Alamo Drafthouse and watched the "Old School Quote-Along.” There was a keg in the theater, a chugging contest beforehand, kegstands afterwards and a bit of gunpowder-powered pyrotechnics during the movie. A good time was had by all. The Alamo Action pack guys added subtitles for their favorite lines so that everybody in the theater could quote along.

Friday 22 Jan: Gingerbread pancakes and scrambled eggs and bacon for breakfast. One lap of the Couer d’Alene bike course on the CompuTrainers at Austin Tri-Cyclist, plus a brick run.  Movie night at the house: Superbad.

Saturday 23 Jan: A few of us did the Austin Tri-Cyclist shop ride in the morning. Then we all went for a swim at Stacy Pool and did a very hilly evening ride in northwest Austin.  We climbed up Courtyard, Jester, Adirondack and Mt Bonnell. It was a bit of the cold side, but sunny.  Dinner of ground turkey and greens and rice and all that.

Sunday 24 Jan: Morning long ride around Town Lake. Migas for breakfast. Optional afternoon “chill” ride on Old San Antonio Rd while some folks went souvenir shopping.  Visits to Austin Tri-Cyclist, Mellow Johnny’s and Whole Foods.

Monday 25 Jan: AM swim at Stacy Pool, then breakfast tacos from Torchy’s.  Staff outing to the Alamo Drafthouse for Super Happy Fun Monkey Bash.