by Nick Mathers

In March I drove from my home in San Angelo, Texas, to Jackson, Miss., for a two and a half day triathlon camp and clinic. That was 700 miles and about 11 hours drive time one way. Why would I spend 22 hours in the car for what amounted to roughly 24 hours of “tri time” over a three day weekend?

Short answer: Because I wanted to.

Slightly longer answer: Because the people I wanted to learn from were going to be there.

Like many folks, I live in something of a triathlon void, where I’m one of only a handful of multisport athletes in the extended community. For most races I need to be prepared to travel at least 200 miles. Sometimes it gets hard to stay motivated when the cat is the only one around to listen to me babble about training and race execution (unlike my wife, the cat can’t ask me to change the subject -- unfortunately, he also offers terrible race strategy recommendations).

Gordo has mentioned (at least once) that a key to success is being willing to travel to visit your mentors. The easiest way for me to do that would be to attend one of Endurance Corner’s camps. For various reasons, I’m not able to attend an EC camp this year, so the fact that two EC coaches -- Gordo and Justin -- plus one of EC’s esteemed medical columnists -- Larry Creswell. M.D., were going to be in attendance in Mississippi made the decision easy.

I consider all three of these guys to be experts in working towards excellence. I hoped that a couple days in their company would provide a spark that I needed.

What happened?

I learned a ton in a very short period of time. Technology is great for helping people stay connected, but for information to really soak in quickly, I believe it needs to be exchanged in person. Getting face-to-face time with some of the people I consider my mentors, even for only a few days, is unparalleled.

I met some awesome people. Like EC columnist Vince Matteo wrote in a recent column, connecting with people just like me was probably worth the trip alone. Interestingly, most of the conversations I had with people weren’t about the minutiae of triathlon (gear, races, training hours), but were about how we all incorporate the sport into the rest of our lives. There were lots of smart folks at the camp sharing lots of useful nuggets of information, many of whom weren’t necessarily the fastest athletes either.

That camp was almost two months ago but I continue to draw from the energy and knowledge I acquired. Putting myself in a position to learn from some of the best teachers in the sport, in the company of others eager to learn and share their own knowledge, was worth more than every minute of travel time.

Nick may not be able to attend one of Endurance Corner’s camps this year, but that doesn’t mean you can’t. There are still slots available for EC’s summer Boulder, Women’s and Climbing camps.