FL Trip
I left sunny San Diego a couple of weeks ago for a short trip to Florida (which also happened to be warm and sunny – I know, my winter training this year has been tough). Anyways, I helped out at Sara McLarty’s “Train with the Pros” camp in Clermont, FL (along with Jarrod Shoemaker and Joanna Zeiger), raced in the Florida’s Great Escape sprint triathlon, visited my parents, picked up a bunch of new gear for the 2009 season (more on that later), and generally took care of business! Here are a few pics:
In the pool at the Train with the Pros Camp.
Sara doing some underwater swim analysis.
The whole TWTP camp raced in Florida’s Great Escape sprint triathlon. This is the elite swim start.
I got a bit of a gap on Jarrod on the bike – 93 seconds.
I held off Jarrod for the win…but barely. 14 seconds!
I gave a winner’s speech. I was not expecting this. I apologize retroactively for my poor oratory skills.
My Mom even came out to watch me race!
New for ’09
Oh hi. It’s been awhile but I’m back to blogging for 2009. Thanks for reading! So what’s new in the world of Kevin Collington? I know everyone is just dying to know.
First off, I moved! I managed to acquire full-time Olympic Training Center ‘resident’ status for 2009 so I packed up and left Florida on December 27th and took a sweet road trip across the country and moved into Olympic Training Center in Chula Vista, California. This will not be permanent as I will be living at the OTC in Colorado Springs, Colorado for the majority of the year, but for now the perennial summer of Chula beats the Colorado Springs winter any day. Thanks to Andrew, Barrett, and Paulo for letting me stay at your places as I bummed it across the country.
Chula Vista is great. Right now the weather averages a dry 50 degree low and 80 degree high. The winter is considered the ‘rainy season,’ meaning it rains about once or twice a month. A suburb of San Diego, Chula is best known for making the news in border patrol related stories. Also, as Mr. Sexton recently reported, Chula was chosen by Forbes.com as one of America’s “most boring cities.” So that’s where I live!
Chula Vista…endless suburbia and shopping centers.
The Otay Reservoir in Chula (this is right outside the training center).
In other news I am now in the United States Anti-Doping Agency’s (USADA) registered testing pool. This means that I have to tell USADA where I am at all times and also set aside one hour of my day between 6 AM and 11 PM to be in a very specific location of my choosing for that entire hour so they can come and test me. I know it sounds like a bit of a pain in the ass…it is. But what USADA does is very much worthwhile and I’m happy to be a part of it.
I’m also excited to report that I’m working with a few new companies this year, namely Shimano, Kiwami, and Rudy Project.
Oh and lastly, since I receive requests on almost a daily basis of, “Kevin, we want to know what you’re doing RIGHT NOW and AT ALL TIMES!” I got a twitter account and put it over in the right sidebar. Barrett has one, too. We’re so trendy. Too much Kevin Collington? Not possible.
