suddenly its here...race week. the first real race of the season. am i ready to take it to frankfurt? well, i 'll be honest - i dont feel so. but i'm becoming aware that i NEVER feel ready, never seem feel good running up to a race. nerves, stress, fear, doubt - whatever. someday i hope to crack it and be entering the final few days, those days when little can be done to improve my chances of a a good performance except relax, rest, focus and mentally prepare for the race, full of confidence, strength, energy and enthusiasm. but who knows - that' could be when i fall flat on my face come race day - tripping up on complacency.
so, the reality for ironman germany? well, it's likely that i am still a little fatigued from the big training block 2 weeks ago. i certainly have not managed to catch up on my sleep since then, as intended. there are aspects of my winter training that i might have done better - but i wont dwell on those - there always will be!
i've made few changes to my training this year, increasing the volume across all 3 disciplines, by reducing my working hours to a 4 day week. gradually migrating further from the prescribed schedules that my coach provided each month, and supplimenting it with a lot of additional running. the indicators have been good along the way - pleasing results from my running events ( a few wins and the sub-3 marathon in april), the ultra tri and riding strong in the lake district in may, and being able to take it on at epic.
so reason to be positive about germany.
and at the end of the day - there's not much at stake. i'm not racing for a slot, don't need to win my age group....a good race will be great for my confidence for the rest of the season, bt a bad race will be something that i can learn from, use to reveiw the training year so far, and make adjustments. which,now that i'm self-coached, is quite exciting in itself!
c'mon frankfurt - lets have some fun! ;o)
Monday, 30 June 2008
Monday, 23 June 2008
Return
a week after the epic adventures and I'm finaly feeling back to normal. well almost. feeling like a well conditioned able -bodied person in their early 30s, as opposed to the 75 year old, 40-a-day cripple that got off the flight from verona last week monday...
i was pretty shocked at how deeply fatigued that week of overlaoad had left me. not only that but the withdrawal and blues that go along with it. motivation = low. desire for beer and cake =high. desire for a life without the 9-5 and a generous helping of mountain scenery = ultra high. had to admit by wednesady i was questioning the wisdom of pushing myself that hard. thrusday i tried a run - after 30 min, i guess i did not feel all that bad. afetr 45 min i was so tired i had to stop and walk. shit- i've a huge race in 2 weeks!
friday morning swim session - splashed about a bit.
saturday a planned easy ride 40 miles to dad's summer party. 2hours in and i felt like death. really in a bad way - only turning the pedals because there was no choice. luckliy there was the prospect of food and good times to motivate me, so i made it.
its just once a year but those two really do host a superb summer party: marques, bbq, massive salad buffet, kegs of beer and barrels of wine, loads space for the kids and dogs to play in. not seen the old man since new year, so it was nice to catch up breifly. everyone comented how fit and lean i looked, whilst i stufed myself with chicken, lentils, salads, fruit and cream! the feast that they'd put on must have been the most nutritious feed i've had in a long time, since i felt toatlly restored, and rather that catching a train home form a nearby station as planned i felt well enough to ride by, and enjoy the return journey.
sunday - swim in londons finest open water 50m pool, london fields lido. not a patch on those italin examples, but pretty decent - and equally cold. wore the blue seventy fast swimming suit in teh hope that i'd be a bit warmer. not only did it fail to do this, but the fats swimming function seems to be non operational. cut the session short due to shivers. an hour run in nteh afternoon and i realised i felt normla and was running about my normal speed for a long run. resisted running long though as recovery is still top priority. ease back gently.
today - i feel fit again. full of motivation for early swim - 4.6km worked the water hard, trying to impliment tips recieved from gordo during epic. then staright out on the time trial bike for a ride - 4.5 hour with 2.45 @ IM pace. a hard session but the suffering was not more than usual ;o) completed the day with a 20 min jog off the bike.
tommorow will be a very easy day - no need to push it now keep eating well, sleeping enough and just 'ticking over' for ironman germany
i was pretty shocked at how deeply fatigued that week of overlaoad had left me. not only that but the withdrawal and blues that go along with it. motivation = low. desire for beer and cake =high. desire for a life without the 9-5 and a generous helping of mountain scenery = ultra high. had to admit by wednesady i was questioning the wisdom of pushing myself that hard. thrusday i tried a run - after 30 min, i guess i did not feel all that bad. afetr 45 min i was so tired i had to stop and walk. shit- i've a huge race in 2 weeks!
friday morning swim session - splashed about a bit.
saturday a planned easy ride 40 miles to dad's summer party. 2hours in and i felt like death. really in a bad way - only turning the pedals because there was no choice. luckliy there was the prospect of food and good times to motivate me, so i made it.
its just once a year but those two really do host a superb summer party: marques, bbq, massive salad buffet, kegs of beer and barrels of wine, loads space for the kids and dogs to play in. not seen the old man since new year, so it was nice to catch up breifly. everyone comented how fit and lean i looked, whilst i stufed myself with chicken, lentils, salads, fruit and cream! the feast that they'd put on must have been the most nutritious feed i've had in a long time, since i felt toatlly restored, and rather that catching a train home form a nearby station as planned i felt well enough to ride by, and enjoy the return journey.
sunday - swim in londons finest open water 50m pool, london fields lido. not a patch on those italin examples, but pretty decent - and equally cold. wore the blue seventy fast swimming suit in teh hope that i'd be a bit warmer. not only did it fail to do this, but the fats swimming function seems to be non operational. cut the session short due to shivers. an hour run in nteh afternoon and i realised i felt normla and was running about my normal speed for a long run. resisted running long though as recovery is still top priority. ease back gently.
today - i feel fit again. full of motivation for early swim - 4.6km worked the water hard, trying to impliment tips recieved from gordo during epic. then staright out on the time trial bike for a ride - 4.5 hour with 2.45 @ IM pace. a hard session but the suffering was not more than usual ;o) completed the day with a 20 min jog off the bike.
tommorow will be a very easy day - no need to push it now keep eating well, sleeping enough and just 'ticking over' for ironman germany
Friday, 20 June 2008
Verona....Finale
Sunday 15 June 2008.
Epic Camp, day 8
We’re already on the last day. Some of us may also be on our last legs, too, but I certainly don’t want it to end. I’m still leading Scott in the points competition (which I would never have believed a remote possibility at the start of the camp!) so wrench myself out of bed for an extra-point 50 min run. I bumped into Mike who was up doing the same thing. We both understood that this was a run to be done in private though – I reckon I covered about 4.5miles in the 50min!
This was immediately followed by our last points challenge – a 5km uphill race. I felt pretty confident about this, due to my size and prior hill running events that I have done, plus my long warm up. Unfortunately, after a characteristically fast start, I realized that 5km uphill would take a long time and would be hard work. Especially on the swollen knee that I’d been carrying around with me, and started to fell really quiet uncomfortable. This might have had something to do with the generous quantity of wheat-beer that I drank the previous night! I slowed the pace, and was gutted that practically all of the guys just cruised on up past me. Including Russell who’d decided that an in-bed warm up was the secret to success, literally just clearing the duvet as starters’ orders were given! It was pretty miserable, and I was thankful that it was short and over soon. I sulked a bit in the car back down to breakfast – especially as there was talk that the committee were not going to credit my 50min run as a separate point.
I was determined to try ad do one of the points swim sets that I really liked the sound of: 3km swim as 12 x 100IM/150free. Funny swim strokes are certainly not my forte, but there were not set times and having completed the 40IM the other day, I knew tat I could do all of the strokes for more than 25m. The issue would be the cold water – most of us were wearing wetties for the outdoor pool sessions, even so I was always coming out of the pool cold after an hour. The ‘Epic Committee’ let me know that they would not allow this set in a wetsuit (a massive U turn, as I’m sure that’d It’d been ok’d previously!), so I was going to do it just for fun. I soon realized that the decision not to credit the session in a wet suit was ludicrous as it was virtually impossible to swim butterfly with your shoulders trussed up in neoprene!! I called it a day for fear of drowning, and finished my 3k swim with a set of 400s on 7min (it was supposed to be 6:45 but that didn’t last long- again, I blame the beer!)
There’d been ma lot of banter about the flat 100 –ish mile rides back from Bolzano to Verona being a fast paced chain to pull us all home in 4 hours or so, and as we set of on the cycle path, which apparently covered the entire route, the pace certainly wasn’t shy. Again, for me it was a question of finding a good position in the line where the concertina effect of the slowing and starting again were minimized , and hanging on in as close to the wheel of the biggest guy I could fins. I generally chose Randy for this, a broad build and an experienced cyclist too, so he tended to ride nice and consistently. Being on a cycle path, however, there was a fair amount of slowing and stopping as we negotiated turns and other cyclists. After 90 min or so we stopped for a pee break, Steven had been pulling the front along at 24 mph, and I when I asked if we could perhaps slow the pace just a little, to enable me to breathe occasionally, there was a general murmur of ‘that would be nice’….but the result was an increase in speed the next time that the group had to slow, an attempt to shake some of the slower riders. Most of them hung on, and by tales told that evening received a really good work out clinging onto the back of the StevenGordo train – which they were buzzing about. For me – maintaining that effort was just a bit more than I could cope with (90min at HR over 150 already) so I dropped off the back and decided to enjoy the final day, riding a solid but more sensible pace. There was headwind, which made things a little harder on my own, but the route was all down hill and mostly on a well- marked cycle path, so I kept my head down and my efforts up and enjoyed my own reflections on the week that had passed. It took me 6 hours to arrive at our hotel in Verona, the last few miles a bit hectic as I was unsure of my route and anxious about not having much time to pack my bike up before enjoying the evening. It was rather rushed, and result in Steven and I being rather late for supper -but wee didn’t miss much h- that hotel’s restaurant was so piss –poor that a group of us headed into town to celebrate surviving the camp with pizza and beer in the old town square.
Training stats at the end of the 8 day camp:
Swim: 26km
Bike: 670 miles over 8or 9 major passes
Run: 87 miles
Total: 65 hours
Phew. I’m beat - this blogging thing really takes it out of ya…
Epic Camp, day 8
We’re already on the last day. Some of us may also be on our last legs, too, but I certainly don’t want it to end. I’m still leading Scott in the points competition (which I would never have believed a remote possibility at the start of the camp!) so wrench myself out of bed for an extra-point 50 min run. I bumped into Mike who was up doing the same thing. We both understood that this was a run to be done in private though – I reckon I covered about 4.5miles in the 50min!
This was immediately followed by our last points challenge – a 5km uphill race. I felt pretty confident about this, due to my size and prior hill running events that I have done, plus my long warm up. Unfortunately, after a characteristically fast start, I realized that 5km uphill would take a long time and would be hard work. Especially on the swollen knee that I’d been carrying around with me, and started to fell really quiet uncomfortable. This might have had something to do with the generous quantity of wheat-beer that I drank the previous night! I slowed the pace, and was gutted that practically all of the guys just cruised on up past me. Including Russell who’d decided that an in-bed warm up was the secret to success, literally just clearing the duvet as starters’ orders were given! It was pretty miserable, and I was thankful that it was short and over soon. I sulked a bit in the car back down to breakfast – especially as there was talk that the committee were not going to credit my 50min run as a separate point.
I was determined to try ad do one of the points swim sets that I really liked the sound of: 3km swim as 12 x 100IM/150free. Funny swim strokes are certainly not my forte, but there were not set times and having completed the 40IM the other day, I knew tat I could do all of the strokes for more than 25m. The issue would be the cold water – most of us were wearing wetties for the outdoor pool sessions, even so I was always coming out of the pool cold after an hour. The ‘Epic Committee’ let me know that they would not allow this set in a wetsuit (a massive U turn, as I’m sure that’d It’d been ok’d previously!), so I was going to do it just for fun. I soon realized that the decision not to credit the session in a wet suit was ludicrous as it was virtually impossible to swim butterfly with your shoulders trussed up in neoprene!! I called it a day for fear of drowning, and finished my 3k swim with a set of 400s on 7min (it was supposed to be 6:45 but that didn’t last long- again, I blame the beer!)
There’d been ma lot of banter about the flat 100 –ish mile rides back from Bolzano to Verona being a fast paced chain to pull us all home in 4 hours or so, and as we set of on the cycle path, which apparently covered the entire route, the pace certainly wasn’t shy. Again, for me it was a question of finding a good position in the line where the concertina effect of the slowing and starting again were minimized , and hanging on in as close to the wheel of the biggest guy I could fins. I generally chose Randy for this, a broad build and an experienced cyclist too, so he tended to ride nice and consistently. Being on a cycle path, however, there was a fair amount of slowing and stopping as we negotiated turns and other cyclists. After 90 min or so we stopped for a pee break, Steven had been pulling the front along at 24 mph, and I when I asked if we could perhaps slow the pace just a little, to enable me to breathe occasionally, there was a general murmur of ‘that would be nice’….but the result was an increase in speed the next time that the group had to slow, an attempt to shake some of the slower riders. Most of them hung on, and by tales told that evening received a really good work out clinging onto the back of the StevenGordo train – which they were buzzing about. For me – maintaining that effort was just a bit more than I could cope with (90min at HR over 150 already) so I dropped off the back and decided to enjoy the final day, riding a solid but more sensible pace. There was headwind, which made things a little harder on my own, but the route was all down hill and mostly on a well- marked cycle path, so I kept my head down and my efforts up and enjoyed my own reflections on the week that had passed. It took me 6 hours to arrive at our hotel in Verona, the last few miles a bit hectic as I was unsure of my route and anxious about not having much time to pack my bike up before enjoying the evening. It was rather rushed, and result in Steven and I being rather late for supper -but wee didn’t miss much h- that hotel’s restaurant was so piss –poor that a group of us headed into town to celebrate surviving the camp with pizza and beer in the old town square.
Training stats at the end of the 8 day camp:
Swim: 26km
Bike: 670 miles over 8or 9 major passes
Run: 87 miles
Total: 65 hours
Phew. I’m beat - this blogging thing really takes it out of ya…
Stelvio Pass
Saturday 14 June 2008.
Epic Camp, day 7
Big day today as we ride over the Stevlio Pass – at 2800m, it’s pimped as the most brutal climb in the Dolomites. The group headed out for a pre breakfast run together around the town, I was deliberately taking it easy in order to preserve what I had left in me for the big climb – not keen for another day like yesterday – so when the pace increased I fell back and continued at my own pace for the 50 min. Steven, Gordo and Mike had elected to do the same, I noticed. A good breakfast, and in the pool a similarly non stressful set of 9x300’s on 5:15.
Out on the bike, we had approximately 60 mi approach, which was predominantly flat. My concern was getting dropped by the group prior to the start of the KOM assault on Stelivio, and over extending myself in a battle to stay connected. Fortunately for me, the guys were all taking it relatively steady, including Steven who was working for me today! Riding behind me, he ensured that I remained close on 3rd wheel, quickly coming through to fill any sizeable gap that formed between me and the wheel in front saving me from those draining surges. We reached the aid wagon after 3 hours, in good shape and all keen to get started on the climb, which would occupy the following 2 hours and 25km of our lives.
There is a long and fairly steep approach to the climb, taking us through a couple of towns on the way. I found my position on the front of the group and using the 150 BPM principle managed to stay there, but could see that Douglas was not far behind and towing a couple of the others. Mike P, who has revealed himself to be a very strong climber was just ahead, and seemed to be riding along side Scott, with Gordo John and Steven up front. I really wanted to push on and catch them, so at each turn in the road I gave a little push more for a few seconds. By this method I soon opening up the gap on those behind me, but had made no apparent progress to those ahead, so it was quite relieved that, by the time we reached the bottom of the really steep bit – the 48th switchback – they were out of sight. Time now to get into my own rhythm – keep working steadily, putting in that little extra effort on each switchback, enjoying the sensation of flattening off out of the bend to spin the legs. Recover, push, recover, push and maintain HR of around 153. Play games with the numbers on the switchbacks, the elevation on the garmin and kilometres covered. Halfway, 2/3rds, 3/4s … Look down the road behind for the tiny figures of the other riders in our group, squeezing frozen fingers into my handle bars as the temperature drops when I clear the tree line.
With around 10 turns and 800m to go the road takes a general swing through 90degrees such that the last remaining portion of road is presented in all of its zigzagging glory ahead, with the buildings of the summit resort atop. So near yet really, so far. Be patient and continue….as the figure of Douglas comes into view behind. That provides a little additional adrenaline, , and despite the slightly nauseous feeling due to altitude, and the increasing fatigue in my quads, I push on – with a little music now to help me along.
Finally over the top – the pleasure of those last few turns is hard to describe – and the sensation of standing it at the summit looking right down over the other side of the mountain in a light flurry of snow, so worth the effort. Not to mention the view back on the road below. It was damn cold and everyone was well wrapped up. I had a small cough, which seemed to expel more oxygen from my lungs than was available in the thin air, triggering a mini fit of hyperventilation, fortunately I was well taken care of and someone knew just what to do with a plastic bag in this situation.
Steven and I were the only people who took the opportunity to ride back down the pass – and in doing so, it really hit home just how damn long a climb it had been! It was good to get a car ride back to the hotel afterwards, and I appreciated another chance to seek out some training advice from Gordo.
Epic Camp, day 7
Big day today as we ride over the Stevlio Pass – at 2800m, it’s pimped as the most brutal climb in the Dolomites. The group headed out for a pre breakfast run together around the town, I was deliberately taking it easy in order to preserve what I had left in me for the big climb – not keen for another day like yesterday – so when the pace increased I fell back and continued at my own pace for the 50 min. Steven, Gordo and Mike had elected to do the same, I noticed. A good breakfast, and in the pool a similarly non stressful set of 9x300’s on 5:15.
Out on the bike, we had approximately 60 mi approach, which was predominantly flat. My concern was getting dropped by the group prior to the start of the KOM assault on Stelivio, and over extending myself in a battle to stay connected. Fortunately for me, the guys were all taking it relatively steady, including Steven who was working for me today! Riding behind me, he ensured that I remained close on 3rd wheel, quickly coming through to fill any sizeable gap that formed between me and the wheel in front saving me from those draining surges. We reached the aid wagon after 3 hours, in good shape and all keen to get started on the climb, which would occupy the following 2 hours and 25km of our lives.
There is a long and fairly steep approach to the climb, taking us through a couple of towns on the way. I found my position on the front of the group and using the 150 BPM principle managed to stay there, but could see that Douglas was not far behind and towing a couple of the others. Mike P, who has revealed himself to be a very strong climber was just ahead, and seemed to be riding along side Scott, with Gordo John and Steven up front. I really wanted to push on and catch them, so at each turn in the road I gave a little push more for a few seconds. By this method I soon opening up the gap on those behind me, but had made no apparent progress to those ahead, so it was quite relieved that, by the time we reached the bottom of the really steep bit – the 48th switchback – they were out of sight. Time now to get into my own rhythm – keep working steadily, putting in that little extra effort on each switchback, enjoying the sensation of flattening off out of the bend to spin the legs. Recover, push, recover, push and maintain HR of around 153. Play games with the numbers on the switchbacks, the elevation on the garmin and kilometres covered. Halfway, 2/3rds, 3/4s … Look down the road behind for the tiny figures of the other riders in our group, squeezing frozen fingers into my handle bars as the temperature drops when I clear the tree line.
With around 10 turns and 800m to go the road takes a general swing through 90degrees such that the last remaining portion of road is presented in all of its zigzagging glory ahead, with the buildings of the summit resort atop. So near yet really, so far. Be patient and continue….as the figure of Douglas comes into view behind. That provides a little additional adrenaline, , and despite the slightly nauseous feeling due to altitude, and the increasing fatigue in my quads, I push on – with a little music now to help me along.
Finally over the top – the pleasure of those last few turns is hard to describe – and the sensation of standing it at the summit looking right down over the other side of the mountain in a light flurry of snow, so worth the effort. Not to mention the view back on the road below. It was damn cold and everyone was well wrapped up. I had a small cough, which seemed to expel more oxygen from my lungs than was available in the thin air, triggering a mini fit of hyperventilation, fortunately I was well taken care of and someone knew just what to do with a plastic bag in this situation.
Steven and I were the only people who took the opportunity to ride back down the pass – and in doing so, it really hit home just how damn long a climb it had been! It was good to get a car ride back to the hotel afterwards, and I appreciated another chance to seek out some training advice from Gordo.
Bolzano, Epic day 6..meltdown on a mountain
Friday 13th June 2008.Epic Camp, day 6
Still feeling pretty moody I headed out for 1h40 run on the track in the rain. It always sounds worse than it really is as you lie in bed listening to the weather falling, and this proved to be the case as, for the first half of the run it was just a bit drizzley. I hardly noticed as it got progressively heavier. Coming through one of the tunnels on my return, I tripped and fell on a rock that I’d not noticed in the dark. Went flying, landing on my shoulder elbow and left knee, which would be pretty painful for a good few days. I limped for a bit and realized that I was soaked and had better get back as fast as possible or I’d be really cold. Truth is that I’d only really done this run a s means to making up the points that I was sure to loose to Scott and John in the aquathon which was scheduled later in the morning – behaviour that I’d originally set out to avoid. There was certainly no training benefit and now I’d suffer with my knee for the rest of the camp, but I guess I cannot suppress my competitive instincts.
The rain put pay to the planed aquathon, since the outdoor pool did not open and we relocated to another, indoor 25m pool in town. The mood amongst the Epic Campers was generally grey and lethargic, though we were at least glad to be given a ride to the pool rather than having to ride there in the continuing downpour! In the pool I was able to crack the 20 x100 on 1.40 set.
A quick change into ‘race kit‘ for, as an alternative to the aquathon, the team had organized 10km race – with additional points being awarded to the closest guess to their actual time. My guess was 42.5min. I setoff fast, cross country style- partly out of habit, partly for the temporary amusement of Scot and Steven , who I stuck with fro about 1km. After about 2km I started sliding back through the field and finished up behind Gordo, John , Scott, Steven, Russell and Anthony. Not exactly sure of my time – but it was in the region of 35 min! I’d felt good running and was fairly certain that I’d run better than 42.5min pace, but not that much better! Reckon it was about 8.5km at most.
As we were having our usual picnic treats fro lunch the sun came out, and it was nice to get on the bikes and en route to our next hotel destination, Bolzano. Just one climb today – the Passo de Erbe at 2000m. The fatigue in my legs really made itself known in a big way as soon as we hit the foot of this relatively minor pass, and I could only watch and whimper as one by one the guys pedalled past me. Only Russell, suffering with a horrdio cough all week, and being sensibly restrained remains just in sight behind, and provided just sufficient motivation to keep pedalling to stay ahead. It was a suffer fest. But worth it for 55km of descent into Bolzano! And a pretty luxurious hotel - our room had a bath and I could give my poor legs a cold water treat before heading out to the poolside to relax and admire the view of the mountain we’d ridden over.
Scott's Surprise.
Wednesday 11th June 2008.
Epic Camp, day 4
Morning run with Steven was an opportunity to check out the ski resort town of Cortina, with its steeply pitched timber construction, expensive shops and slightly eerie dormant ski facilities. A light rain was falling, which was to be a feature of our 3 day stay in this location. The views cross the valley were stunning.
We were using a pool in the nearby town of Brunico, a 30 mile downhill ride along the main road. Immediately after breakfast wee set off on our bikes, John N anxious to make it for our 9am booking lead a cracking pace-line, the tempo causing me to vomit the additional; helping of breakfast that I’d been unable to resist. A move certain to ensure a place right on the back of the pace-line! My average speed for that 30 mile ride was 21mph. I’ve achieved that once before – at Ironman Switzerland!
The pool complex was awesome, a stainless steel lined 8 lane 50m job, surrounded by sun terraces and lawns with smaller pools for kids. These Italians have got it sorted – they just need a degree or 2 extra in the water and it’d be perfect. As it was, I felt too cold to swim an hour without wetsuit and after a couple of lengths jumped out to wrench it on over wet limbs. Anthony was the only other guy to do so today – we’d have to remove them for the IM challenge though! I swam a set of 20 x 100s /1.45 (not a point scorer, but swimming off my usual training times as set by our swim coach back home, reckoning that the disadvantage of swimming long course is offset by the buoyancy of the wetsuit). The main feature of this swim though was the traditional 4x100IM race. I think that we all knew to expect this from having followed previous camps so had at least practiced a bit of other stroke swimming. For myself I knew that butterfly was just a question of keeping the arms high keeping moving, my breaststroke had been approved as ‘not bad’ though my backstroke had caused a lot of amusement. I was not in this one for any prizes! Heat 1 contained Gordo, Scott, Steven, John N and, the admirably ‘up for it’ Mike P, a donkey amongst these thoroughbreds in centre lane. It was an exciting race, with Steven holding the ‘pros’ throughout – the 4 of them finishing within 5 seconds. I think he finished 3rd and bumped to 2nd since G was wearing his skin suit. Mike battled on with his weaker strokes, whilst the rest of us knew that we’d soon be providing similar entertainment! I swam in heat 2, and was fortunate in that I was swimming with similarly stroke challenged campers and managed to make enough gains sin the first 300 ( I have no idea how) that a very hard 100 free ensured I wasn’t last to the line. I was glad that was over!
The ride back was ‘camper’s choice’ – this being set as an easy day. One of the choices on offer was Scott’s’ surprise – an additional climb up Tre Cime di Lavarredo. This is one o the steepest ascents and was conveniently accesses via just 1 or 2 ‘smaller’ passes off the route back from Brunico to Cortina. Gordo lead Scott, John, Steven, Mike, Russell, Randy and I back along a scenic cycle route, a little off-road and certainly made me thankful that I had put the ‘Armadillo’ tyres on. A fun ride and great alternative to that main road. We met John Ellis and Douglas at the junction, had some food ( which I was really badly in need of at this point) The weather had turned a lot for the worse, Gordo advised against riding up a mountain into lightening and I think anyone would have been relieved to concede had it been clear that nobody wanted to go. As it was, despite feeling totally bombed, 4 of us could not resist the opportunity, and picked up waterproofs for our unsupported adventure into the mountains. I am so glad that I did so. As Scott and Mike rode on, Steven and I hung back for a more lousily approach, splitting as the incline kicked in, and each working at their own moderate pace. As lightening was immediately followed by thunder, cracking between the stark craggy mountain tops the storm was immediately over head. The road was deserted and running rain water like a river over the painted letters from past Giros, as we worked against the increasing gradient, clearing the tree line and exposing the most spectacular skyline. The notion that my tyres would insulate me in the case of a lightening strike kept me on the bike, and finally we reached a restaurant at the top of the pass. Well, it was almost the top – a further 100m of ascent took us to the car park – my ‘woop –woop’ rang out reverberating off the surrounding rock faces in a hugely satisfying echo. We were absolutely drenched and frozen and would have been n some serious trouble had it not been for the rest house at the top, which had a wood burner soup and coffee to warm us a little for the descent. We shoved a few newspapers down our jerseys to be a bit more pro cyclist, too.
Epic Camp, day 4
Morning run with Steven was an opportunity to check out the ski resort town of Cortina, with its steeply pitched timber construction, expensive shops and slightly eerie dormant ski facilities. A light rain was falling, which was to be a feature of our 3 day stay in this location. The views cross the valley were stunning.
We were using a pool in the nearby town of Brunico, a 30 mile downhill ride along the main road. Immediately after breakfast wee set off on our bikes, John N anxious to make it for our 9am booking lead a cracking pace-line, the tempo causing me to vomit the additional; helping of breakfast that I’d been unable to resist. A move certain to ensure a place right on the back of the pace-line! My average speed for that 30 mile ride was 21mph. I’ve achieved that once before – at Ironman Switzerland!
The pool complex was awesome, a stainless steel lined 8 lane 50m job, surrounded by sun terraces and lawns with smaller pools for kids. These Italians have got it sorted – they just need a degree or 2 extra in the water and it’d be perfect. As it was, I felt too cold to swim an hour without wetsuit and after a couple of lengths jumped out to wrench it on over wet limbs. Anthony was the only other guy to do so today – we’d have to remove them for the IM challenge though! I swam a set of 20 x 100s /1.45 (not a point scorer, but swimming off my usual training times as set by our swim coach back home, reckoning that the disadvantage of swimming long course is offset by the buoyancy of the wetsuit). The main feature of this swim though was the traditional 4x100IM race. I think that we all knew to expect this from having followed previous camps so had at least practiced a bit of other stroke swimming. For myself I knew that butterfly was just a question of keeping the arms high keeping moving, my breaststroke had been approved as ‘not bad’ though my backstroke had caused a lot of amusement. I was not in this one for any prizes! Heat 1 contained Gordo, Scott, Steven, John N and, the admirably ‘up for it’ Mike P, a donkey amongst these thoroughbreds in centre lane. It was an exciting race, with Steven holding the ‘pros’ throughout – the 4 of them finishing within 5 seconds. I think he finished 3rd and bumped to 2nd since G was wearing his skin suit. Mike battled on with his weaker strokes, whilst the rest of us knew that we’d soon be providing similar entertainment! I swam in heat 2, and was fortunate in that I was swimming with similarly stroke challenged campers and managed to make enough gains sin the first 300 ( I have no idea how) that a very hard 100 free ensured I wasn’t last to the line. I was glad that was over!
The ride back was ‘camper’s choice’ – this being set as an easy day. One of the choices on offer was Scott’s’ surprise – an additional climb up Tre Cime di Lavarredo. This is one o the steepest ascents and was conveniently accesses via just 1 or 2 ‘smaller’ passes off the route back from Brunico to Cortina. Gordo lead Scott, John, Steven, Mike, Russell, Randy and I back along a scenic cycle route, a little off-road and certainly made me thankful that I had put the ‘Armadillo’ tyres on. A fun ride and great alternative to that main road. We met John Ellis and Douglas at the junction, had some food ( which I was really badly in need of at this point) The weather had turned a lot for the worse, Gordo advised against riding up a mountain into lightening and I think anyone would have been relieved to concede had it been clear that nobody wanted to go. As it was, despite feeling totally bombed, 4 of us could not resist the opportunity, and picked up waterproofs for our unsupported adventure into the mountains. I am so glad that I did so. As Scott and Mike rode on, Steven and I hung back for a more lousily approach, splitting as the incline kicked in, and each working at their own moderate pace. As lightening was immediately followed by thunder, cracking between the stark craggy mountain tops the storm was immediately over head. The road was deserted and running rain water like a river over the painted letters from past Giros, as we worked against the increasing gradient, clearing the tree line and exposing the most spectacular skyline. The notion that my tyres would insulate me in the case of a lightening strike kept me on the bike, and finally we reached a restaurant at the top of the pass. Well, it was almost the top – a further 100m of ascent took us to the car park – my ‘woop –woop’ rang out reverberating off the surrounding rock faces in a hugely satisfying echo. We were absolutely drenched and frozen and would have been n some serious trouble had it not been for the rest house at the top, which had a wood burner soup and coffee to warm us a little for the descent. We shoved a few newspapers down our jerseys to be a bit more pro cyclist, too.
Cortina, Epic day of Rest
Thursday 12 June 2008.
Epic Camp, day 5
2hr run with Steven on the bike track which runs behind the hotel before breakfast The track is predominantly uphill on the way out, and suspect that it would eventually intersect with the bike path that we’d used the previous day to get from Brunico and extends on as far as Verona. Out at 5am, we saw a mountain moose-type thing and several other smaller mountain creatures out doing their thing. Very peaceful. We were both pretty tired – our average run speed only just over 9 ½ min miles.
Today was a ‘free choice’ day -a chance to take it easy with only the minimum 3kswim, 60k bike and 50min run to complete. I shoved my bike in the van and took a lift to the pool, where I’d go for a bonus 6km swim including the 10x 200/3.25(wetsuit) set, followed by a pyramid set of my own. I occurred to me after about 4.5km that this was possibly the longest swim I’ve ever done. Steven and John N were waiting with my bike when I finally emerged from the pool, Steven and I enjoyed the leisurely cruise as far as the first town of reasonable size to drink a coffee before going our separate ways – me home, him for an unexpectedly brutal ‘scenic loop’ which took him a further 4 hours and over 2 significant mountains! It started raining heavily not long after we said goodbye, ironically noting how under dressed we were, and that short ride back felt very hard on my fatigued and chilled frame.
Stats to end of day 5:
Swim 15km
Bike 420mi
Run 60mi
Total 42 hours.
I really was not in good spirits at the end of this day. Not having slept well at all since the start of the camp, fatigue was beginning to get to my nerves and I worried that perhaps I’d overcooked it. However, at this point I’m holding 2nd place to Steven in the points comp, just a head of Scott and John N, which is providing plenty of motivation to keep on it.
Epic Camp, day 5
2hr run with Steven on the bike track which runs behind the hotel before breakfast The track is predominantly uphill on the way out, and suspect that it would eventually intersect with the bike path that we’d used the previous day to get from Brunico and extends on as far as Verona. Out at 5am, we saw a mountain moose-type thing and several other smaller mountain creatures out doing their thing. Very peaceful. We were both pretty tired – our average run speed only just over 9 ½ min miles.
Today was a ‘free choice’ day -a chance to take it easy with only the minimum 3kswim, 60k bike and 50min run to complete. I shoved my bike in the van and took a lift to the pool, where I’d go for a bonus 6km swim including the 10x 200/3.25(wetsuit) set, followed by a pyramid set of my own. I occurred to me after about 4.5km that this was possibly the longest swim I’ve ever done. Steven and John N were waiting with my bike when I finally emerged from the pool, Steven and I enjoyed the leisurely cruise as far as the first town of reasonable size to drink a coffee before going our separate ways – me home, him for an unexpectedly brutal ‘scenic loop’ which took him a further 4 hours and over 2 significant mountains! It started raining heavily not long after we said goodbye, ironically noting how under dressed we were, and that short ride back felt very hard on my fatigued and chilled frame.
Stats to end of day 5:
Swim 15km
Bike 420mi
Run 60mi
Total 42 hours.
I really was not in good spirits at the end of this day. Not having slept well at all since the start of the camp, fatigue was beginning to get to my nerves and I worried that perhaps I’d overcooked it. However, at this point I’m holding 2nd place to Steven in the points comp, just a head of Scott and John N, which is providing plenty of motivation to keep on it.
Cortina, Epic Tales - day 3
Tuesday 10th June 2008.
Epic Camp, day 3
Woke with stiff legs, having run 42miles since the start of the cap, and the hard ride yesterday, but the 50 min run before breakfast loosened them off.
In the pool I decided to have a go at swimming 1km ‘band only’ – worth a bonus point and not something I’ve tried before, but I reckoned it was just something to ‘get through ‘ rather than requiring any swimming skill, speed or finesse -which suits me! The first couple of hundred seemed pretty hopeless, but I did find that I got into a rhythm and was really quite enjoying it by the end of the set.
On the bike, I was going to make sure that I had an easy day to recover from the stupidity of day 2, despite the fact that there would be 2 KOM worthy climbs on our route to Cortina. I spent the first 3 hours of the ride absolutely glued to John Newsom’s wheel (fair game after yesterday, I thought!) not raising my Hr above 140. To be honest I have never really paid much attention to HR zones, preferring to train on ‘feel’ but since I had the Garmin I was taking note. When we reached the first climb, a pass over the Marmoloda, I felt fresh and again the group split as each climbed as his own pace. I let the HR up to 150, but not over. Steven and Gordo were away ahead, John had hung back at the bottom where there was a feed stop and I’d managed to get a jump on the rest of the guys, so I was climbing alone through this beautiful, silent and cold landscape. Feeling confident and comfortable I saw a rider ahead and recognizing that it was neither Steven nor Gordo dismissed him as a target and continued my leisurely ascent. The top came far sooner than I’d expected and I was surprised to realized that the rider who’ been just one switchback ahead was in fact Mike. Although he’s a strong rider, clearly, it’d not occurred that it could be him since the previous day the guy had literally been unable to walk with such severe muscle cramps and had not been able to train at all.
The second climb of the day, Passo de Gaiu, was somewhat of a greater challenge. A longer and higher climb, but with a bit more exposure to the warmth of the sunshine that had come out to light up the scenery for us. I worked this one a little harder, though by this point in the ride over reaching on heart- rate was not an option, digging deep was certainly the order of the moment. Checking the elevation on the GPS, I promised myself that after half way, and then after ¾ I’d get the tunes on to assist me up the final stretch. Boy was it worth it with the steepest sections at the top of the pass, Miss Kitten, Peaches and a bit of Basement Jaxx really did the trick as I reached the top in 4th position, very close behind Steven.
The hotel in Cortina is really good, we have a beautiful room and there are great facilities for working on bikes and carrying out maintenance. After 7 hours of riding I was glad to have got my run out of the way early in the day and have a much needed snooze before supper.
Epic Camp, day 3
Woke with stiff legs, having run 42miles since the start of the cap, and the hard ride yesterday, but the 50 min run before breakfast loosened them off.
In the pool I decided to have a go at swimming 1km ‘band only’ – worth a bonus point and not something I’ve tried before, but I reckoned it was just something to ‘get through ‘ rather than requiring any swimming skill, speed or finesse -which suits me! The first couple of hundred seemed pretty hopeless, but I did find that I got into a rhythm and was really quite enjoying it by the end of the set.
On the bike, I was going to make sure that I had an easy day to recover from the stupidity of day 2, despite the fact that there would be 2 KOM worthy climbs on our route to Cortina. I spent the first 3 hours of the ride absolutely glued to John Newsom’s wheel (fair game after yesterday, I thought!) not raising my Hr above 140. To be honest I have never really paid much attention to HR zones, preferring to train on ‘feel’ but since I had the Garmin I was taking note. When we reached the first climb, a pass over the Marmoloda, I felt fresh and again the group split as each climbed as his own pace. I let the HR up to 150, but not over. Steven and Gordo were away ahead, John had hung back at the bottom where there was a feed stop and I’d managed to get a jump on the rest of the guys, so I was climbing alone through this beautiful, silent and cold landscape. Feeling confident and comfortable I saw a rider ahead and recognizing that it was neither Steven nor Gordo dismissed him as a target and continued my leisurely ascent. The top came far sooner than I’d expected and I was surprised to realized that the rider who’ been just one switchback ahead was in fact Mike. Although he’s a strong rider, clearly, it’d not occurred that it could be him since the previous day the guy had literally been unable to walk with such severe muscle cramps and had not been able to train at all.
The second climb of the day, Passo de Gaiu, was somewhat of a greater challenge. A longer and higher climb, but with a bit more exposure to the warmth of the sunshine that had come out to light up the scenery for us. I worked this one a little harder, though by this point in the ride over reaching on heart- rate was not an option, digging deep was certainly the order of the moment. Checking the elevation on the GPS, I promised myself that after half way, and then after ¾ I’d get the tunes on to assist me up the final stretch. Boy was it worth it with the steepest sections at the top of the pass, Miss Kitten, Peaches and a bit of Basement Jaxx really did the trick as I reached the top in 4th position, very close behind Steven.
The hotel in Cortina is really good, we have a beautiful room and there are great facilities for working on bikes and carrying out maintenance. After 7 hours of riding I was glad to have got my run out of the way early in the day and have a much needed snooze before supper.
To Trento, 2nd Epic day
Monday 9th June 2008.
Epic Camp, day 2
The day started with a 50 min run to the pool, and an easy, early morning sort of a pace. We met the others there with our kit and were lead through to another enormous and beautiful out door 50m pool. Not as cold as the previous, so no wetsuit this time. I attempted to do one of the point scoring swim sets 10x200 on3.35, which I usually quite easy for me short course, but just wasn’t working out for me on this occasion. I adjusted the times to 3.45 and completed the minimum swim requirement for the day that way.
Gordo set a much faster paced run back from the pool, requiring a bit of a loop to make the 50 min and then breakfast in the hotel before our ride, which would see the start of the KOM competition.
Feeling good after a short spin out of town, when the road starting pointing upwards and some of the riders dropped back a bit, I decided to stick with the group of guys at the front and hold their pace. Gordo made a surge off the front, which no one followed so I sat with John, Steven and Scot behind me, enjoying the work up the incline. Before long it became apparent that no one was especially keen to share the work load and a few cracks were made about ‘protecting the pink’ me being Steven’s domestic as I towed toward the ‘real’ hill where KOM would be scored. I’d been sitting on a heart rate of about 170 bpm for about an hour when we reached the start of the climb over Passo Vezzena (a mere 1400m) so when Scott cheekily waved at the ‘14km ‘ sign and upped the tempo, I wasn’t about to respond. Instead I felt stuck on a HR in the 150s and watched the wiser riders pull away into the distance ahead, frustrated at having made such a pretty novice error. Still, the rest of the campers were no where in sight, and I was satisfied with 5th position and after just a couple more hours slogging through rain, our exertions were finally rewarded when the sun came out and shone on a glorious descent back into town at the end of the ride.
Epic Camp, day 2
The day started with a 50 min run to the pool, and an easy, early morning sort of a pace. We met the others there with our kit and were lead through to another enormous and beautiful out door 50m pool. Not as cold as the previous, so no wetsuit this time. I attempted to do one of the point scoring swim sets 10x200 on3.35, which I usually quite easy for me short course, but just wasn’t working out for me on this occasion. I adjusted the times to 3.45 and completed the minimum swim requirement for the day that way.
Gordo set a much faster paced run back from the pool, requiring a bit of a loop to make the 50 min and then breakfast in the hotel before our ride, which would see the start of the KOM competition.
Feeling good after a short spin out of town, when the road starting pointing upwards and some of the riders dropped back a bit, I decided to stick with the group of guys at the front and hold their pace. Gordo made a surge off the front, which no one followed so I sat with John, Steven and Scot behind me, enjoying the work up the incline. Before long it became apparent that no one was especially keen to share the work load and a few cracks were made about ‘protecting the pink’ me being Steven’s domestic as I towed toward the ‘real’ hill where KOM would be scored. I’d been sitting on a heart rate of about 170 bpm for about an hour when we reached the start of the climb over Passo Vezzena (a mere 1400m) so when Scott cheekily waved at the ‘14km ‘ sign and upped the tempo, I wasn’t about to respond. Instead I felt stuck on a HR in the 150s and watched the wiser riders pull away into the distance ahead, frustrated at having made such a pretty novice error. Still, the rest of the campers were no where in sight, and I was satisfied with 5th position and after just a couple more hours slogging through rain, our exertions were finally rewarded when the sun came out and shone on a glorious descent back into town at the end of the ride.
Verona, and Epic Camp commences
Sunday 8th June 2008.
Epic Camp, day 1
Starts with a short run around the city. Steven and I had been out for a jog the previous evening and were able to show the group a nice route along the river and through the old town. The pace was very easy and there was a bit of a chance to chat with the other guys on the camp. Next, a swim time trial – in a fantastic 8 lane, 50m outdoor pool, directly across the street from our hotel. The water was cold enough that the use of wetsuits was allowed, though those choosing this soft option would be heavily penalised - 6 seconds per 100m!! If only the benefit were that great. I didn’t expect perform exceptionally and win any competition points anyway, so I took the opportunity of a bit of practice at swimming hard in neoprene. My TT time was 32:20 (1:40/100m) – so I can’t figure where those 6 min went!! I was glad that I’d not been the slowest swimmer though.
We set off on bikes (mine complete with newly purchased Fulcrum rear wheel - we finally found an excellent, knowledgeable and well stocked bike shop – if only that had been the first recommendation that we’d had!) for a ride up the east side of lake Garda to Trento where we’d be staying for 2 nights. Trento is a medium sized town in the foothills of the Dolomites, and today’s journey would be the last bit of flat riding we’d be doing for a while! After a ‘neutralized’ ride out of town (and puncture, within 200m of departure!) the pace set off pretty fast. To be expected as everyone is trying to impress and vying for their position in the group. A bit quicker than I was comfortable riding but by ensuring that I rode in a sensible position in the bunch which did not subject me to too many surges, my fresh legs were able to handle it. Unfortunately, as is typical riding through traffic and towns, these surges are inevitable and will take their toll on the weaker riders, and so I found myself migrating toward the back of the bunch. I find this an extremely tough place to ride as the change in pace is magnified, calling for constant breaking and accelerating which would take it out of my legs, for sure. We’d been issued maps and I decided to let the bunch go and ride alone at a steadier pace, anticipating that this would be a theme for the coming 8 days!
A short while later I come across one of the guys, Jonathan, who has hung back for me. A very kind gesture and it gave a chance to get to know him a little. I do suspect that perhaps he was feeling the pace a little himself and glad of a face saving excuse to drop back! We rode on together, sharing the work until meeting the rest of the group at a feed stop 11km out of Trento. We’d be riding this last stretch of road as a time trial, for competition points. I didn’t take note of my time, or placing in this ‘event’, but worked solidly, quickly caught my ’30 second man’ and gather it was a suitably impressive performance going by complimentary remarks made afterwards.
We had a bit more food on arrival I Trento, and since it was still early in the afternoon, Steven and I took the opportunity to get a long run done, whilst our legs were fresh enough to enjoy it! I was running really well, so well infact that Steven told me to just run on ahead, as he’d hoped to run for 2.5 hours and wouldn’t get through it ‘at that pace’. 19 miles later, on our return eyebrows were raised at our ‘bold move’…but it paid off – and Steven was so chuffed to be awarded the Pink Jersey after day 1.
The talk at dinner this evening was friendly but unsettled and frequently returned to the subject of previous shared experiences and common friends of those already well aquatinted through previous camps. To be expected I suppose but a little isolating for those outside this group….though it’s clear that certain characters are being more reserved than usual until the ‘pecking order’ is better established between the pack.
Epic Camp, day 1
Starts with a short run around the city. Steven and I had been out for a jog the previous evening and were able to show the group a nice route along the river and through the old town. The pace was very easy and there was a bit of a chance to chat with the other guys on the camp. Next, a swim time trial – in a fantastic 8 lane, 50m outdoor pool, directly across the street from our hotel. The water was cold enough that the use of wetsuits was allowed, though those choosing this soft option would be heavily penalised - 6 seconds per 100m!! If only the benefit were that great. I didn’t expect perform exceptionally and win any competition points anyway, so I took the opportunity of a bit of practice at swimming hard in neoprene. My TT time was 32:20 (1:40/100m) – so I can’t figure where those 6 min went!! I was glad that I’d not been the slowest swimmer though.
We set off on bikes (mine complete with newly purchased Fulcrum rear wheel - we finally found an excellent, knowledgeable and well stocked bike shop – if only that had been the first recommendation that we’d had!) for a ride up the east side of lake Garda to Trento where we’d be staying for 2 nights. Trento is a medium sized town in the foothills of the Dolomites, and today’s journey would be the last bit of flat riding we’d be doing for a while! After a ‘neutralized’ ride out of town (and puncture, within 200m of departure!) the pace set off pretty fast. To be expected as everyone is trying to impress and vying for their position in the group. A bit quicker than I was comfortable riding but by ensuring that I rode in a sensible position in the bunch which did not subject me to too many surges, my fresh legs were able to handle it. Unfortunately, as is typical riding through traffic and towns, these surges are inevitable and will take their toll on the weaker riders, and so I found myself migrating toward the back of the bunch. I find this an extremely tough place to ride as the change in pace is magnified, calling for constant breaking and accelerating which would take it out of my legs, for sure. We’d been issued maps and I decided to let the bunch go and ride alone at a steadier pace, anticipating that this would be a theme for the coming 8 days!
A short while later I come across one of the guys, Jonathan, who has hung back for me. A very kind gesture and it gave a chance to get to know him a little. I do suspect that perhaps he was feeling the pace a little himself and glad of a face saving excuse to drop back! We rode on together, sharing the work until meeting the rest of the group at a feed stop 11km out of Trento. We’d be riding this last stretch of road as a time trial, for competition points. I didn’t take note of my time, or placing in this ‘event’, but worked solidly, quickly caught my ’30 second man’ and gather it was a suitably impressive performance going by complimentary remarks made afterwards.
We had a bit more food on arrival I Trento, and since it was still early in the afternoon, Steven and I took the opportunity to get a long run done, whilst our legs were fresh enough to enjoy it! I was running really well, so well infact that Steven told me to just run on ahead, as he’d hoped to run for 2.5 hours and wouldn’t get through it ‘at that pace’. 19 miles later, on our return eyebrows were raised at our ‘bold move’…but it paid off – and Steven was so chuffed to be awarded the Pink Jersey after day 1.
The talk at dinner this evening was friendly but unsettled and frequently returned to the subject of previous shared experiences and common friends of those already well aquatinted through previous camps. To be expected I suppose but a little isolating for those outside this group….though it’s clear that certain characters are being more reserved than usual until the ‘pecking order’ is better established between the pack.
Epic Italian training week
Saturday 7th June 2008.
It’s warm but wet in Verona, Steven and I have been walking its charmingly ancient streets carrying my Campagnolo 10 speed, Eastern wheel with broken Velomax hub. We’ve visited a number of small bike stores and an even greater non- bike stores (a result of either our lack of Italian or lack of local knowledge amongst the locals) all of which were stocked to the eyes with Shimano gear…but no Campy stuff. This is Italy, forchrissake!
Of course that is not the reason for our visit to Italy. We are here to attend one of long distance triathlon’s most infamous training camps – Epic Camp. An 8 day swim-bike-run as-much-as-humanly-possible fest organised by John Newsom, Scott Molina and Gordo Bryn -3 training and racing gurus, whos websites and forums I have regarded as invaluable sources of expertise and inspiration since becoming ‘a bit more serious’ about my sport of long distance triathlon racing. The week is intended as my last breakthrough week prior to Ironman Germany (6th July) and it will certainly be just that. I’ll be the only female on the camp and though they have had other women attend in the past, these have as far as I know, all been professional triathlete. I am apprehensive – there were strict criteria for places on the camp, and although I satisfy these, the points based competitive set up encourages highly testosterone-charged environment where the weak are likely to fall by the wayside. My goal is to enjoy the camp, get the most the fantastic riding in the Dolomites and resources of expertise available, having completed all the set workouts ( 3k swim, 60km bike and 50 min run) each day.
At present though things are looking a bit bleak.. After 2 days of persistent positive thinking and wheel carrying through Verona after the hub fell apart on our ‘shake-down’ ride yesterday (yes, I shook it down proper!) we’ve been up as many metaphorical dead ends as we have literal in this city. We’ve had some nice coffee along the way, though. The Epic camp support crew, who also arrived early for the camp, have been very helpful and positive with possible solutions – the most likely now seems to be borrowing John Newsoms’ bike whilst he rides one of the spares. That’d be quite sweet, wouldn’t it!
It’s warm but wet in Verona, Steven and I have been walking its charmingly ancient streets carrying my Campagnolo 10 speed, Eastern wheel with broken Velomax hub. We’ve visited a number of small bike stores and an even greater non- bike stores (a result of either our lack of Italian or lack of local knowledge amongst the locals) all of which were stocked to the eyes with Shimano gear…but no Campy stuff. This is Italy, forchrissake!
Of course that is not the reason for our visit to Italy. We are here to attend one of long distance triathlon’s most infamous training camps – Epic Camp. An 8 day swim-bike-run as-much-as-humanly-possible fest organised by John Newsom, Scott Molina and Gordo Bryn -3 training and racing gurus, whos websites and forums I have regarded as invaluable sources of expertise and inspiration since becoming ‘a bit more serious’ about my sport of long distance triathlon racing. The week is intended as my last breakthrough week prior to Ironman Germany (6th July) and it will certainly be just that. I’ll be the only female on the camp and though they have had other women attend in the past, these have as far as I know, all been professional triathlete. I am apprehensive – there were strict criteria for places on the camp, and although I satisfy these, the points based competitive set up encourages highly testosterone-charged environment where the weak are likely to fall by the wayside. My goal is to enjoy the camp, get the most the fantastic riding in the Dolomites and resources of expertise available, having completed all the set workouts ( 3k swim, 60km bike and 50 min run) each day.
At present though things are looking a bit bleak.. After 2 days of persistent positive thinking and wheel carrying through Verona after the hub fell apart on our ‘shake-down’ ride yesterday (yes, I shook it down proper!) we’ve been up as many metaphorical dead ends as we have literal in this city. We’ve had some nice coffee along the way, though. The Epic camp support crew, who also arrived early for the camp, have been very helpful and positive with possible solutions – the most likely now seems to be borrowing John Newsoms’ bike whilst he rides one of the spares. That’d be quite sweet, wouldn’t it!
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