Every Day Training Camp - Day 6 - Windy, uphill, or both?
Last day on EDT Camp. A bit sad as this has been a fantastic week but today was a big day on another level: riding the full ironman course in conditions that weren’t the best!
Three groups were formed, one of them going for an extended loop through Femès and Playa Blanca, while the two others would stick to the ironman route all the way around. By 9am when we had all set-off, the wind had already picked up, and we knew it wasn’t going to be an easy day. Add to this the general fatigue from the 5 previous days of early rising, hard racing and pushing our boundaries, and you get a great cocktail of “I may not be able to do this”! But that’s the spirit of the camp: you will still find more in yourself and with the help of others, you’ll get through the last event.
The day’s ride could have ended prematurely for some, as 10Km in the ride for the fast group, Matthew unfortunately rode over a glass bottle on the side of the road, which exploded and completely shredded his tire. That group had to go back to the hotel for a pit-stop, and resume their ride a little later. They still did their planned long route though, but had to drop the hammer from Orzola, since they passed there only after 5pm! They must have been absolutely flying on the way back to get back on time to get ready for dinner!
I was in the “medium” group and we worked pretty well together all the way around, only splitting for the fast descents to be a bit safer, and for some of the ascents to ride at our own rhythm, before regrouping at the top.
But today was honestly a long struggle. The wind was quite strong, making the ascents north-eastwards harder, and any descent very twitchy and dangerous. I certainly had a few moments on my deep rims which I’m happy I handled well, but which were definitely borderline.
The initial idea was to get around the course in about 6h30, but it took us 7h15. Still, we were pretty pleased with that given the conditions!!
In 2 months time, I hope to get around in 5h30 max if I want to get close to the 10h mark overall… This little reminder will always be on my mind:
Everyone from all groups made it through the course, and it’s a pleasure to see that although it’s been a long, hard ride at the end of a very busy training week, it’s been enjoyable.
With each one of us having done more than 30 hours of training this week, EDT Camp has now been completed! We were all very much looking forward to a nice meal out altogether, and proper grilled meat was on most plates tonight!
After the performances of the week, and finishing the ride today, it meant that on points I did win the camp. And Jo presented me with my very own winner tee-shirt. A unique one! Fantastic memory for a massive week of training.
Tired? Yes! Happy? Ecstatic! That was a fantastic week and I’m sure I’ll be back for more.
Do you want to do a week of great training with like-minded crazy athletes? Contact Steven and Jo to get the low down on the camps and register your interest for next year’s edition! Entries may not be open yet, but enquire before and secure a place when they do. You won’t regret it!
Thanks a lot to Steven, Jo, Emma, Sarah, Ali and to all the campers for making this week an amazing one. It’s not been easy sailing for any of us, but the atmosphere and support has carried us all around the activities, races and ice-cream contests.
See you next year, I’m off for a rest now!
Today's stats for me
My camp stats
- Swim: 6.8Km
- Bike: 711Km with about 10.000m ascent
- Run: 51.2Km
- Total hours: 34.8h
