February 23rd, 2010
Last week the athletes and staff of the 2010 TIMEX Multisports team had a very unique opportunity to train at the TIMEX Performance Center in New Jersey. This facility is the home of the NY Football Giants organization and is the most state of the art facility in all of the NFL. Needless to say, I was like a kid in a candy store.
I flew in from San Diego on Thursday evening and Tom Shuler was there waiting to pick many of us up from the airport. We have quite the team this season . . . Forty-seven athletes in all, with nearly a third of the team comprised of international athletes. It was nearly a miracle that everyone arrived on time, but in happened. A great start to team camp!
After a quick check-in at the hotel, we headed over to the TIMEX Performance Center (TPC) to meet up with all the other team members that had flown in on earlier flights. It was a massive reunion for most of the team and I could immediately tell this was the exact atmosphere I was looking for when I applied for the team. After a great dinner covering about every food you could think of, we headed to the auditorium for a presentation by Keith Meyer and Tristan Brown. The team was introduced to members of the NY Giants medical staff (Ronnie Barnes – legend in his field), the President of Timex Business Group, Adam Gurian, and many other professionals that work very hard to keep the TIMEX Multisport team a very well oiled machine. Right before the meetings ended we were even given the new TIMEX Global Trainer that had been rush delivered to members of the team specifically for the camp (these will not be available to the public until late May at REI). All I can say is the watch system is amazing and will definitely be on my wrist for training and racing this season.
Friday morning came very early (still on West Coast time), but I was eager to see what the first day of camp was going to bring. The team headed over to the TPC for breakfast to fuel up for a long day of clinics and seminars. We were given an assignment to create short videos with FLips to embody the collaborative efforts of TIMEX and the NY Football Giants. We shot footage most of the morning before we headed in to some “round robin” clinics in the afternoon. After learning about the awesome TIMEX products, we were given the opportunity to play some football on the indoor turf field. It is amazing the quality of the field and overall facilities the Giants players utilize on a daily basis. Our team ended up with a sub par record (probably due to my multiple interceptions), but fun was had by the entire Multisports team and TIMEX staff. However, the biggest surprise was yet to come.
For those who have never been to Medieval Times . . . wow. This is where we went Friday night for dinner and it was quite the show. The entire team walked down the road to the restaurant where we were given cardboard head crowns to wear for our dining festivities. We were to cheer for the RED Knight, who fought a gallant battle, but ended up losing to the black/white knight in the finale. It is amazing how the spectators get so in to it, me included. I thought for sure our knight would have won on sheer enthusiasm alone. The entire TIMEX team was doing the wave and making sure EVERYONE in that place knew who we were. Oh well, can’t win them all.
Saturday was the dawn of a new day and a day in which our videos would be finalized. The NY Giants editing staff did an amazing job of putting our videos together and they all turned out very well. The legendary Giant Carl Banks was our guest judge and I really forget which team won the competition (I know, but I am not giving them an opportunity to rub it in even more). In addition to the FLip competition, we had various other clinics focusing on functional movement and a presentation of MELT, a series of myofascial release exercises in the arms and feet to loosen the muscle of the entire body. Cool stuff I will be using down the road to help with injury prevention. After a long, but great day at the TPC, we all went our own ways for dinner. I ended up visiting two of my childhood friends in the East Village that I rarely see anymore. It was great catching up with them both and we are really coming up with some great fundraising ideas for the DA Taylor Foundation. I am really hoping to meet my monetary goal for Kona with the help of the Janus Charity Foundation.
The last day of camp was very sad, but we did get to take some team pics and play the championship football game. The red team won in penalty kicks (that’s what you get when triathletes play football). After packing up the massive amounts of TIMEX product we were given to test, I headed to the airport to begin my long journey back to San Diego.
Last weekend made me realize how lucky I am to be chosen for this team. Every member of the team truly cares about the success and happiness of others. Results will surely come when you are surrounded by fellow competitors out there cheering and supporting you on the course. I am already looking forward to team camp next year!
Many thanks to the TIMEX corporation and the NY Football Giants organization.
Pics of weekend below:
Giants welcoming the team!
Giants have won three Superbowls!
Amazing weight room
Global Trainer - thing is dope
V02 Max testing
Starting RB Brandon Jacobs
Underwater treadmill to take the load off the lower extremeties
Bruce doing functional movement analysis
Final day of camp, it had to be done Keith! Sorry
I have also attached a short video clip below (Click link and 2/22 - Timex greets Giants)
http://www.giants.com/multimedia/
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