Train in Spain - Another great year with the Canadians in Mallorca
For the fourth time Kevin, Kate and myself made our way to Spain to hold our 4th Annual Train in Spain Camp in Mallorca. As a well-known cycling Mecca in Europe the island offers all a cyclist wants – most of all great switchbacks to ride up. REAL switchbacks, not like back home in Canada, where there might be a corner every half-kilometer if you’re lucky...Just take a look at an 11km climb (Sa Calobra) that’s nicknamed “The Snake”…and you see what I mean. No wonder, I keep mentioning that I miss corners when riding back home in huge rectangular laps for hours and hours.
The group was as big as never before, and lots of fun. Everything worked out great in terms of cycling groups. With Dieter, Oli, Emanuel, Marcel and Gottfried we had 5 strong and reliable Germans to lead our way on the nicest routes available, ensuring that nobody gets left behind. Depending on the group, most rides included a coffee-stop of some sort (sometimes cake ;-)!) to refuel for the rest of the ride. The highlight for many was the 140km ride along the coast (the “Coast Classic”), where we get shuttled to the south of the island and then make our way back (UP) to the north…climbing more than 3,000m along the way. For many the 14km climb up Puig the Major was an exciting challenge that needed to be celebrated. With 3 birthdays as well we found many reasons to celebrate, and sit together with a good glass of wine, or beer, or Sangria.
…at least on the bike. After completing my first week of outdoor riding in 2010 during the ABA Camp in Penticton, I am now on a plane to Spain. Mallorca is calling….can’t wait to revisit “THE SNAKE”, conquer the “Puig de Mayor” and try to convince people to go for hill repeats (always do that, but without success it seems)…
Anyway, Penticton was so much fun, not only because of the great cycling possibilities out there, and the opportunity to focus on training without juggling it with work and everything else in life, but also because of the great bunch of people on this trip. There was lots of laughter, some ice cream treats, three wine-tastings (makes for a smiley run right after ;-)), a 10min. ice-bath in the biggest tub out there (see picture – that was 5degree “warm” lake Okanagan), a windy track running session, that felt like pushing a car on one side of the track and being pushed by one on the other side, some partner-yoga ;-), special movie nights for cycling enthusiasts (e.g. the movie “Overcome” about team CSC)…and some cold, snowy challenging moments on the bike, which are good to have sometimes to toughen you up…The only disappointment was that we didn’t finish our Ironman Loop on the last day…we came 100km short, and had to turn around ¾ up Richter’s pass due to rain that turned into snow that turned into hail, that made even the cars stop. BUT, Chantell, Greg, Masa, Cam and I made up for it on the dance floor. Dancing for 100km can be quite a workout and mentally challenging as well. We had to overcome fatigue, ensure proper hydration and just stay focussed on the goal….we did! For sure I have the ABA Camp 2011 on my things to do next year!
After a couple easy days (at least cycling-wise), Spain will be another great time to make sure I am getting in shape for my races this year. As always I am excited about another training camp!
First Ironman Race in Mexico, ever. And a good one in many ways: location, organization, spectators and my own personal race.There were definitely a couple funny things in Mexico – e.g. speed bumps on the road were smoothened out by putting more concrete down the day prior to the race; people got timeslots for the transition setup, which nobody really seemed to care about; the swim course got changed in our favor, so we had to swim less against, and more with the current. But now to my race...When we arrived at the transition area on race morning it was pitch black. The couple floodlights they had were in the pro-area (lucky me ;-)!), but for Jason and Nathalie it was hard to know for sure if they taped the gel onto their own bike or onto the neighbor’s J! But, it got light, and it was a beautiful calm morning. The Ocean was basically flat, not the kind of whirlpool we experienced during our practice swim two days prior. (The official practice swim was actually cancelled, but as late risers we missed that announcement and thought we better try this out, so we are prepared in case race day is gonna turn out that rough).
There were about 50 pros on the start, and I had three goals for the swim:
1] Get some feet (who wants to swim on your own for an hour in the big blue)
2] Don’t get the feet of #49, haha…
3] Swim “pretty”…as apparently I am actually swimming faster, when I am trying to look like a swimmer and not like I am wrestling with the water.
Yesterday I raced the Longhorn 70.3 Austin, TX. A weather-wise perfect day (not very hot or humid, a bit of wind) turned out to be great overall. After coming out of the water in 15th spot I managed to bike and run up to 8th place, and with that fulfilled my goal of placing top 10. It was a great experience, still looking at and learning from the big names, and just really enjoying to race with / against them. A more detailed description of the race in my report.
Thanks to Tom Keogh, Sheila Findley, Noni Herchen, Andy Trevoy, Dwayne Gibbs, Mia Clarke, Jim Greenough, and all my other friends and family for supporting me in my quest to become a better triathlete! Thanks for believing in me, too!
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