Check out Larry Rosa’s gallery from the camp.

As my alarm went off a couple minutes before 4 a.m. this past Thursday, I had already been up for 15 minutes. I had set my “internal” alarm that many triathletes can tap in to the morning of race day. This was not a race morning, but the first day of Timex Team Camp in New Jersey at the Timex Performance Center (home of the current Super Bowl Champion NY Giants). This is always one of my favorite weekends of the year.

The Timex Triathlon team is comprised of 48 athletes, both amateur and professional. 2012 will mark the 11th season of the team’s existence, the longest running multisport team in triathlon. A statistic that all the athletes, Timex Corporation and NY Giants staff take a great deal of pride in. This will be my third year on the team and every season has gotten better and better.

When I arrived Thursday evening, I was picked up and taken directly to the Timex Performance Center. Walking in the door to the Center is amazing. To the left you have three Lombardi trophies (given annually to the SuperBowl Champions).

I yearn for the day when my hometown San Diego Chargers can win one of these.

After drooling over the trophies, I was lead in to the dining hall for a quick dinner before heading in to the team presentation in the Giants auditorium given by Keith Meyer and Tristan Brown.

The 2012 team was introduced to members of the NY Giants staff, the VP of Timex Marketings Group, Herbie Calves, and many other professionals that work very hard to keep the TIMEX Multisport team successful for over a decade. Right after the lectures ended we were given a ton of Timex schwag.

Friday, after a 5 a.m. wake up call, we headed over to a local high school for a team swim session. I made it though the workout, but was definitely feeling the lack of sleep (it was 3 a.m. PST). We then headed over to the TPC for breakfast to fuel up for a long day of clinics and seminars. First on tap was Shimano where we learned about new wheels and some exciting new products coming this summer. We also were fortunate enough to be joined once again by many students from the Korey Stringer Institute from the University of Connecticut. KSI has been one of the top Exercise Physiology post-graduate institutions for over a decade and this was the 2nd year they had been partnered with the Timex team. At camp we were focusing on figuring out our sweat rates.  The KSI converted the Giants training facility in to a heat sauna by shutting the doors and using portable heaters to get the room temperature up to 85 degrees. We were then asked to run or ride a stationary bike for an unknown amount of time while they recorded perceived effort and internal body temperature. What I failed to mention is the night before we were given orange jugs to urinate in all night and all morning. We were also given internal heat thermometers in a tablet form we had to take right before our swim earlier in the day.

All this was well worth it once I got the results back. I learned a lot about my body in humid conditions and am eager to apply it when I race in St. Croix and Hawaii this summer.

After a long, but great day at the TPC, we all were treated to a catered Mexican dinner at the Meadowlands Stadium (where the Giants play their games). It was a great evening with a ton of amazing speakers, namely Karen Smyers and Steve Weatherford, the starting kicker for the Giants. After the speeches, awards were given out by Keith Meyer to outstanding athletes on the team. Chris Thomas and Jackie Arendt were named athletes of the year and were well deserving. More importantly, they are both just as great of people off the race course. Keith Meyer also gave a very emotional speech about Erin Kummer who was elected to the Timex Hall of Fame. She’s battled a ton of injuries and has persevered through them all with an amazing attitude. The awards ceremony came to an end and we all headed back to the hotel where some nighttime festivities lasted into the wee hours of the morning. It’s pretty hard to sleep when there are just too many great people to catch up with on the team!

Saturday morning came early once again. I opted out of the swim for a bit more sleep, but definitely got ribbed for it! After another huge gourmet breakfast and some shots snapped by Larry Rosa, we were presented an amazing Q and A with Quintana Roo. Mac McEneaney and Brad DeVaney are the forces behind this company and I am really excited to be working with them this year. The CD 01 is the bike of choice for Timex this season and I can’t wait to get aboard one.

After the QR clinic I headed back to the hotel and got in a quick jog before I headed downtown with a bunch of teammates. NYC was amazing and I’ll just say we did not make it home on the last bus.

The last day of camp was very sad, but we did get to take some team pictures and say our final goodbyes. 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 a part of 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.

Check out Larry Rosa’s gallery from the camp.

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Mac Brown is a Team Timex athlete who lives and trains in Cardiff-by-the-Sea, Calif. Follow his adventures at MacBrownRacing.com, and chase him down on Twitter at @MacBrown1.