EverydayTraining

This morning we swam our new “point to point’’ route from Playa Chica around the small headland to the main beach and the Ironman start. It makes a nice change to do this, and some of us decided to swim a little longer and do the out and back swim twice.

The main feature of the day’s ride is the first of our handicapped races, three of which in total (a swim, a bike and a run) contribute points towards the overall camp prize, and the famed Tabeyasco hill climb. At just under 10km and 500m ascent, the ascent up this valley is relatively sheltered until the final 3 km of switchbacks to Mirador del Haria, and times range from just under 30 to 45 or 50 minutes. Despite slightly windy conditions today, we had a feeling that Steven’s previous camp record might be broken today – Matt has demonstrated that he can ride a bike fast enough around a “sporting’ time trial course, and with the small frame of a climber, mountain stages almost certain to be his real strength! We started in reverse order of the El Golfo TT, with gaps of either 30 seconds, 1 or 2 minutes (according to approximate handicap) the idea being for a pretty compressed finish if not a true “race to the line”. With Sarah out in the van and once again on hand to help with timing, this was the first time both Emma and I were able to do our TT’s within the race – we first met racing each other up hills during a very wet race at Wensleydale triathlon and have been doing so ever since. I know I’m in very good form if I can keep up with her, so the agreed order was me first to act as bait for her to chase…and really I felt it would be a case of just holding her off for as long as possible, and then trying not to loose too much time. Half of the group had already started by the time we set off, so there were other targets for me to pick off – as well as the knowledge of  the faster riders chasing from behind, but not being beaten too badly by Emma was my prime motivation. There were WonderWoman pants at stake! The slight head-wind played in my favour today, and by riding most of the ascent low down on my aerobars, I found that not only had I held her off all the way to the halfway mark, but seemed to have actually increased the gap a little.

I got a little surprise from Linda as I passed her and she put up a bit of a fight by over taking me again a few hundred meters later. Linda is a remarkably stronger athlete since we first met her on camp last year, and in particular on the bike. I’m sure that she’ll go well at Los Cabos in a few weeks time with a really smart recovery period after this camp. I certainly hope that this camp week has given her some confidence in her ability and her form – her  Tabeyasco climb was a huge 7 minutes faster than last year, and in tougher conditions.

Matt was good for the expectations on him, posting a new Camp record of 28:57 that will be tough to beat, with Steven second fastest and a little of his own previous best from last year. The battle between Greg and Frank continues on the bike, and I am pleased to say that I got to keep my pants, and can wear them with pride :o)

Having cheered everyone in over the top, we all did a quick change into run gear for a “special feature” run – an optional loop around the observatory at the top of Mirador de Haria. Not an easy brick run, but well worth it for the amazing views down the valley to the plains and coast below, not to mention a unique sort of a training session! Recovery was sought in the form of coffee, cake, ice cream, more cake and more coffee and another ice cream…before group photos and easy riding on the way home.

The actual winner on handicap was Ellen, who rode proportionally faster up the climb than her El Golfo TT and held all attackers off!  This is what we love about  the handicapped race format; it can be won by anyone – outright speed is less important than consistency and bettering your own performances. Due to the difference in distance and ascent of our courses,  handicap times are calculated off the averages from the two bike events and are as shown below.

Camp staff are not eligible for camp prizes and camp completion to date is also a requirement or competition winners. Therefor, Matt, being second best on handicap take the prize of a Freespeed bike fitting from Ellen – who happens to be his partner, so at least it “stays in the family”

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The third day of camp starts with what has come to be known as The Swimmer’s Aquathlon – so called because the swim portion is disproportionately long compared to the run. This year the bias was even more pronounced due to a particularly high tide, and so we estimate the swim to be ~1500m, with a 4.2km run. Transition times include the run up the beach, which of course was a little shorter this year.   We use this swim/run race as a means of figuring out handicaps for our camp points competitions later in the week and it’s always one of the highlights of the camp for us. We are very lucky this year to have Sarah Bowen back as a representative of The Tri Touch  massage -and generally lending a hand with camp logistics. that she was willing to assist Steven with time keeping meant that I was able to race; something that I had mixed feeling about when the early morning start came around! I’ve been struggling to shake a nasty cough/flu since Epic Camp last week ,which feels worst in the mornings – however I’m finding that a good blast of cool sea water and some high intensity breathing does it the world of good, and is tremendous fun! No excuses required for me today, I felt that i had a respectable swim and almost in a straight line thanks to sticking close by Frank the whole time  (you can depend on the German for accuracy, or so I thought!) and then ran as hard as possible in order to drop him and make some gains on Mel, who I knew would have beaten me by several minutes out of the water. What I had not expected to see was so many others ahead of me, and that it would be so hard to close them down on the run. I finished around middle of the pack myself – however the consultation is that I was beaten by three of the athletes I that I coach, despite the fact that one of them, Brian, is 57 years old!! He’d had the smarts to find the feet of Matthew – who he described as a “Big Unit” and good for a draft – in the swim, and does not lack some run pace. Mel’s tenacity enabled her to hold on for third place, despite the fact that a persistent hamstring niggle has almost entirely prevented her form running for the last 2 months. That Matthew and Matt both outran me was no surprise, and I rather enjoyed the motivation of being chased down by Matt ,wondering how far through the field he’d run. Greg, however had done enough on the swim, which he backed up with a 17:05 run split to hold Matthew off  -just! With 5 seconds in it, Matthew’s claims that the “inaccurately measured” course cost him the win are quite justified – however, we make no promises of accuracy, and depend entirely on the tidal patterns for consistency. What we do know is that although this certainly was a slow year (with swim splits on 2-3 minutes slower this year) – the run distance is exactly the same as it always has been.

It’s very gratifying to see Greg wearing the Vibram 5-finger footwear for this win, and all of his running on camp last year – he was introduced to the Five-Fingers, provided by Primal Lifestyle as the winner of our handicapped run competition on last year’s camp,. Initially very sceptical of the unusual looking shoes (it’s quite possible he’d never come across previously, in Poland), fortunately he claimed his prize,  tried the shoes out and loved them. He’s now a true convert and owner of 6 different models. Greg will win a set of Firefly Recovery devices for today’s aquathlon win; an ideal prize to pick up mid-way through a camp like this, when recovery starts to become more and more important!

With the day’s “minimum” swim and run requirements out of the way, rides were quite relaxed – a new route of Steven’s devising which followed Ironman route from PdC to where the Race course joins El Golfo, but rather than following onto the loop as in the race, we hung a left and climbed up through Las Brenas to the base of the Steep Bit of Femes – but avoided that today – and then rode the lovely descent to Playa Blanca. Two of the ride groups converged on the Las Brenas climb ,it’s nice to see everyone else out on the road…we let Emma’s faster paced group go ahead to Yaiza, whilst I had my bunch working together up the dreadful old road between PB and Yaiza into a head wind. There were a few comments that it was a bit like a “time trial” … which I suppose it was – a team time trial – which in my opinion is a good thing for keeping a group together on that dreadful bit of road to get it over with quicker. We had a leisurely coffee stop, with all groups plus Sarah and Ellen who’d both done shorter rides to get there and meet us. With such a large (and good-looking) group, all buying coffees and ice-cream, the proprietor was sufficiently pleased with our regular repeat custom that she came and handed around pieces of cake on the house. How better to put a smile on a cyclists face? The highlight of Steven’s day came later, however when, on their longer ride route they made a second cafe stop and were given the same treatment. This was after Mel had already elected it to be a “two coffees, two cakes” stop…..which is good news for the rest of us with tomorrow’s Tabeyasco hill climb competition! hehehehe

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Our second swim training of the camp was focused around “starts and turns” – practice of race skills required for open water racing; beach entry, exit, mass starts and turning round a buoy in a group. We positioned our turn buoy ( the trusty ”orange donut”, now 4 years old!) just 25m or so from the shore, and we soon discovered that just about everyone in the group is capable of sprinting that distance at about the same speed! The effect was some very realistic race situation “argy bargy” and, Steven says one of the roughest mass starts he’s ever experienced through his racing career! Great fun and also great opportunity for those less confident with this aspect of racing to practice in a safe and friendly environment. After a short individual out and back race, we paired up for a 3-lap relay. High intensity stuff! Franks and Steven proved to be the winning pairing on the day by a narrow margin thanks to a a bit of leg pulling and ducking along the way. As the stand out fastest swimmer in the group, Steven does tend to attract that!

Watch it here

This fun and games was followed by a longish ride, and one of our favourite routes travelling all teh way to the northern most tip of the island by way of the long drag, typically into a headwind, up the LZ1 before picking up the scenic coastal road to Orzola,  tackling the long steady climb to Mirador del Rio and enjoying the stunning scenery on the descent from that hill top which people rarely ride since it’s the reverse of the Ironman route. It was a bit of a shame that I did not realise that Heather had punctured and as a result was dropped from the back of our group prior to hitting the LZ1  – riding with Emma the two of them together had little chance of catching our larger group as we worked together doing short turns all the way to Orzola. Perhaps in future we might invest in walkie -talkies between the ride leaders!

However, with the exception of these two and Ellen who was doing her own shorter ride today, the other groups both converged on the switchbacks to Mirador del Haria for coffee before making decisions as to whether they preferred to ride the day’s “standard” 70mile route or a longer option to take them via Pro Bike for various mechanical repairs.

We did our own choice of running after the various groups returned..some played their “wild cards”, some went out straight off the bike and a few, including myself, decided to have a little break and run later in the afternoon. Special note was made of Stephen who is really getting into the spirit of the camp and the Wild Cards system in particular – he was enjoying a cold pint of the amber recovery in the bar having earned himself a day off with yesterday’s hour-long run, when it was brought to his attention that a certain camper was feeling a wee bit jaded and could really use his wildcard. Without hesitation, this true gentleman handed over his WildCard, finished his pint and set out for a 30 minutes run. :o)

The day wrapped up with a nice gentle stretching session lead by Ali ( Mils physio)  – though you might have thought we were being subjected some form of contortion-based torture if you’ve heard some of the groans and moans coming from these tough guys!

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As  it will be for the next 6 days, the first order of the day on camp is a seas swim. Having been drilled on the importance of punctuality throughout this busy week during last night’s camp intro  and  welcome briefing, the group was indeed assembled and ready for the short drive to the beach at 6:40am, very soon after the break of dawn! Most of the group opted to jog or walk, down in wetsuits – which usually would might attract a little curios attention, if it were not for the fact that this has been carnival weekend in Puerto de Carmen …and ours were the least of the outrageous outfits that we saw still out and about at that time of the night/morning!

With lovely calm waters we swam a lap of the Ironman course, about 30 minutes swimming plus a few opportunities to chat and take in the beautiful morning scenery as we regrouped. Back in the van, or another short jog for the enthusiastic majority (the van, I suspect will be in greater demand as the week goes on!) to a big breakfast ahead of the “main feature’ of the day….

…It’s now a camp tradition to begin with the El Golfo Time Trial. This undulating 10 mile loop forms part of the Ironman course route and, adjoining the national volcanic park, has some of the nicest scenery on the island. It’s also had a road resurface in the past and being a closed loop, has little traffic and very distinct start and finish points with almost no scope for a wrong turn on the way.Ideal for racing around at 30 second intervals!  For those who have attended camps before we have PB times to use as a basis for a starting order – the new campers we slotted into the sequence according to our own judgements. As usual Jo went ahead of the race in order to time keep…and despite putting in an honest effort, had barely enough time to dismount at the end before David, the first rider home, finished. With very good conditions this year (light -moderate winds on our backs for the final and hilliest section of the course) we saw on average 1-2 minutes faster times across the camp – with Brett’s long standing course record of 25:22, broken by 3 people and PBs from all previous campers.

Matt’s fastest time of the day won him a set of Firefly Recovery straps – all the better for his recovery through the camp!

As well as providing a bit of a focus for our first  ride, these times will serve as handicappers for our point-scoring bike race up Tabayesco later in the week.

After a coffee in Yaiza, we rode a short loop over Fire Mountain and home through the vineyards…about 90k in total. It was nice to be back at the hotel with an hour to spare before heading out on group runs along the trails close to the hotel. By running out-and-back we were able to keep to just half an hour for those of us keen to get back for massage – whilst allowing others to take the opportunity of a relatively light day to extend their run for an hour, or more, thus earning wild-cards. Notably Matthew logged a 25km run up a mountain, having set out without water   his refreshment was provided by local flora in the form of cactus…and spent the evening picking spines out of his tongue!!

We were very sorry to have to say goodbye to Keavy, who had to make an urgent return to her home in the states. We’ll miss her for the rest of the camp.

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We had a lovely start to the day, greeted by relatively still air and calm sea, Steven and I wanted to recce a new swim route option – from the diving beach and around the headland to the large beach where we usually swim the Ironman loop. It’s something that has not been practical from our usual sea-front hotel location, but a change of venue this year opens up new possibilities, and we both agreed that this short addition will make for a pleasant change.  In the fourth running of this endurance focused camp we will follow the tried and tested successful basic formula, but it’s fun to add in something different too. We have several returning campers (Mel is back for her fourth consecutive year!) so we like to give them some variety. Yesterday I carried my shoes up to Mirador de Haria and investigated the most wonderful run route. In all my many months now spent on the island I have never seen this stunning route on the island’s high point and look forward to introducing that as a bonus challenge later in the week. 

Campers ca expect the same intensive daily schedule, with “camp completion” is dependant on achieving daily minimums of 30 minute swim, the day’s set bike route (typically around 4hours), and a 30 minute run. There will be plenty of opportunity to add more onto this; as well as competitions through the camp – for which we are able to award some fantastic prizes.  Huge thanks for this go to: Freespeed, Ten-Point Tri, Primal Lifestyle, Firefly, BlueSeventy and Nuun.

Whilst our excellent support crew – including Emma Osenson fearless ride leader and Strava warrior, and Sarah Bowen once again representing The Tri Touch  – and early camp arrivals are out riding their bikes, I’ve spent a nice restful morning in the hope of shaking this pesky cough cold and sorting out the Swag Bags which include goodies and gifts from sponsors and a truck-load of Powerbar sports nutrition for each athlete to keep us going for the next 6 days!

Powerbar  The Tri Touch  Blueseventy  TenPoint Triathlon  Freespeed  Primal Lifestyle  Firefly Recovery  Nuun

It’s all go from tomorrow with arrivals, bike building, test rides and camp introductions – I cant wait to greet the 18 athletes and get this camp started !!

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