Home and plans

Ok so I'm back to my real and normal World. The Training Center is quite empty with most of the guys training at their homes. Still, there are a few of us here so training will roll in as normal.

So after coming from Altitude we - I and Sergio - had a meeting at a Portuguese Cup Sprint Triathlon in Penacova. Really tough course and I couldn't exactly put an effort that equals all the training I've done as the hills were SO steep that it was more a matter of getting over them, not that fitness envolved. Just a 25/27 on the back and weight on the pedals. Yet I had a great effortless swim and am very pleased with that and my club goals were accomplished. Results are HERE.

There are two more weeks to go before heading to Praha. It will be taper time now and hopefully I will keep the swimming fitness up so I can be near the front and then go from there. Anxious for it.

After Praha, I will head again to Font Romeu and join the National Team competing in Gold Coast. With Ibiza's Home de Ferro being canceled I'm now in route for the double only in Spain (Guadalajara + Sanabria, both double-olympic). After that I will still have to decide either I finish of my season and start to think of next year's or I go for a more agressive goal.. a long one, that is.

Better get to training now. Bike awaits.

Stats.. everyone loves them!

So AFTER.. 23 days, 81 Km / 26h25 (swim), 1522 Km / 52h02 (bike), 253 km / 19h59 (run), 3h00 (gym), aprox. 34L (Coca-Cola), aprox. 8L (Fanta), 24 Isostar Bars, 1Kg of Isostar Powder, 8 Mule Bars, 1 kg of Pain d'Épices, aprox. 3 kg of Pain d'Noix and too much caffeine in general I'm DONE with Font Romeu.

Tomorow I'm heading home. I will however come back in mid-August not because it's lovely or warm (cause it's not) but because there's no place to train so hard as Font Romeu. Gotta love this.

OUR stage for the day

Total: 180,2 km

Time: 6h01

Ascent: 2489 mts

CNEA - Llivia - La Seul D'Urgell - Andorra La Velha - Port d'Envalira (2408m) - Pas de La Casa - Col de Puymorens (1920m) - Bourg-Madamme - Ur - Font Romeu - CNEA.

This was the nicest ride of the training camp. Mainly because the ride in Andorra is really scenic and we had a clear blue sky all day. Sergio made sure we wouldn't take forever to do the course and I did my part slowing him down and making sure it last for AT LEAST 6h00 or so. :-)

It's a tough ride but it's one I most definitely recomend. The view from the top of the World is wonderful.

Afterwards we went straight to get some lunch. Fruit & bread. Back to the center, we got to meet olympian Dirk Bockel - which will also be racing in Prague - while watching the Tour. Contador is the man.

That's my current ride. In the green with 65 seated places.

Well in route to the top of my game

Training has been fun. I knew I would came to Font Romeu and get back to the good old days when just the simple fact of putting on killer workouts would feel great. Hurts and as Sergio says, that's when it really feels good.

Looking back to last week we went over 100 km's on the run and 520 km on the bike. Swimming was just over 25km. It had been a while since I logged so many kilometers since I spent most of the time competing over the last few months than training. Long rides have been tough with Sergio always going hard on the hills but I can't remember the last time I did 120, 140, 160 km rides before coming here and I had forgotten how to be on top of my nutrition. In Font Romeu all rides end up with a big climb of 20-25km to the training center and it's so important to get to the last hour NOT in deficit. I have my new aero position on the hello kitty's bike "logged" to my body and the back pain has been minor.

After today's 160 km ride, we are putting a 180km on the upcoming weekend where we will try to do the Altriman's bike course. Altriman is a Ironman race held in Les Angles (10km from Font Romeu) and has a demolishing bike course with 188km total and over 5000 meters of ascent. Its completely insane and must be the hardest Ironman in the world. It's happening, has over 100 crazy dudes on the startlist and we will TRY to do the bike course. I can't even imagine how it would feel if I had to do a full marathon afterwards. I guess most of the guys aren't really here to compete.. they just want to finish it. But hey.. it's triathlon. It IS for crazy people.

Today's stage

Total: 145,1 km

Time: 5h36

Ascent: 2789 m

Route: CNEA -> Mont-Louis -> head to Perpignan -> Prades -> left to Catllar thru D14 -> Catllar -> Campôme -> Mosset thru D17 -> Sainte-Colombe-sur-Guette -> Gesse thru D118 -> Campagna-de-Sault -> Puyvalador -> Formigueres -> Matemale -> Mont-Louis -> CNEA.

Although it "looks" much easier, you will get to the first 90km still kinda fresh but then there's 60 km of climbing to face and it will take an eternity to get thru it. As always, save your energy. Don't be stupid enough to try and follow the rodies on the first climb! :-)

And.. the graph from July 9th stage:

12 days in. 12 days to go.

Here ya go..

Total: 139,8 km

Time: 5h37

Ascent: 3120 mts

Wet and 11ºC

Route: CNEA -> Font Romeu -> Egat -> Ur (1180m) -> head right to Ax les Thermes -> Latour de Carol -> Carol -> Porté-Puymorens -> Col de Puymorens (1920m) - > Hospitalet prés-L'Andorre -> Ax les Thermes (746m) -> Col de Pailhéres (2001m) -> Formigueres -> Mont Louis -> Col Calvaire (1835m) -> CNEA.

Miss lunch's cut-off and eat just bread instead. Sleep. More to come in the afternoon.

Killing me softly

Sunday: brick 150 km + 30' - ouch! It had been a while since I rode for so long..

Monday: 4km water, 85km wheels, 55' feet

Tuesday: 4km water, NO wheels, 1'30 farlek run

Wednesday: 5km water, 110 km wheels with race pace, 1h20 climbing to 2100 meters

Tomorow there's a 150 km ride in perspective (you never know for how long will you last with all this climbing..) with some aquatics in the afternoon. I need someone less fit to ride with me. Sergio is tough and I need someone to just drop back! At this point I'm the one more likely to drop back. I need to get back to Font Romeu with some chicks. Other than super-star triathletes of course.

Well.. I'm loving it but already miss some people back at home. This place is lonely and it's crowded with Russians, Polacs and Kazaks. Creepy. The fellas from Hungary are the few who are really friendly.

Almost there. 8 days in, 16 to go.

First report from France

After the 13h drive (of which, 7h sleep) marathon to get from Lisbon to the Pyrenees, Sergio and I have been enjoying a fairly easy week of acclimatization. Everything looks the same so the training routine has been easy to adapt to. Not many triathletes around, a few from Hungary I believe but that's it. July is a racing month and the European Championship (ITU short course) is happening tomorow so nothing to be surprised with. In fact, most of the POR National Team is racing there as well.

And that's it. You actually do nothing here other than train, eat and sleep. I came prepared with season 4 and 5 of Six Feet Under and a few from Dexter's (all legal stuff, of course) but what I'm really looking forward is to be SO tired that I can't even see them without falling asleep in the middle. That state of tireness/soreness will be engaged tomorow after the first big day with a 5hr ride to La Seul d'Urgell and back up high to 1850 mts powering thru 5x6 min at race effort and off to a transition run.