I really wish I could go to triathlon training camp

I really wish I could go to triathlon training camp.  I keep reading all these tweets and facebook posts about pro tri teams starting team training in all these warm, exotic locations.  Even most of the guys and gals I’ll be riding with this summer will be heading off to Nevada for tri camp at the end of next month.  I, on the other hand, am broke and can not travel anywhere to train this spring.  So I will make lemonade from my frosty lemons and I’m changing up my routes and routines around WNY this spring.
I started today.  I am a creature of habit, as you may well know, so I tried breaking out of that today.  I like to run many of the same routes around my neighborhood and particularly use a street just next to my house for my stride workouts.  I decided to venture out today and run strides on someone else’s street.  I need to find a street with a slight uphill, as that’s what the training called for today.  There aren’t so many streets with any uphill in my neighborhood so I was a bit limited in my selection unless I wanted to drive somewhere but driving to run always seems so counter productive to me unless it’s with a group or for a long workout somewhere.  So I found a street about a mile away from my house and headed out.
I took a route to get there I have never run before.  Then I proceeded to run strides in front of these people’s houses that were probably a bit perplexed and possibly a little unnerved that someone was essentially pacing back and forth in front of their home.  The folks in my neighborhood are used to me always running by when I have a stride workout… yeah not the folks in this new neighborhood, some seemed a little creeped out!  Oh well, I got my workout in so I could care less.
When I finished my strides I started my cool down heading back home by choosing streets at random to turn down.  I’m not super comfortable not knowing where I’m going but because I know the area around my house pretty well it makes it a ton easier to get home by choosing streets at random.  I wouldn’t be doing this somewhere away from my local area.
It was nice to see different houses and run a different route.  I want to keep doing this through the spring so I can have my own version of spring training in a new location.  I may not get the warm temps or super sunny days but the change of scenery will do me good and I can live with that.  I can’t do much about my swim surroundings unless I put a blow up palm tree on deck but I’m not sure my gym would appreciate that.  As for the bike… I’m going to start putting up some visual imagery around me.  I have some things up now like numbers and all my power zone and HR info but I’m thinking some shots from Placid and Kona.
These changes will be my own spring training camp. I don’t need a trip to Hawaii to get my body primed and my competitive juices flowing.  I just need to re-explore my own terrain and utilize it in a whole new way… and stay positive!
Today i a good day.