Epic Italy day 4

Day 4 – Cortina D’ampezzo

Bike 110km

Swim 3km

Run 50mins

After yesterdays brutal ride we didn’t include any major passes today. We biked from Cortina to Brunico (55km) as the pool in Cortina is shut for renovations. I was a little agitated this morning for a few reasons so after setting an easy pace up the climb out of town I settled into a good steady rhythm and pulled the group the entire way to the pool. I think some of the guys appreciated the pull, others were expecting a cruise, either way we got to the pool on time.

For the swim I just did 10x200 on 3:05 with Gordo and Scott. We finished the swim with the traditional 400IM which everyone completed. I put in a poor effort and only managed 4^th. Again we were in a fantastic 50m outdoor pool, they really do have some great pools over here.

I ended up going solo for the bike home as I dropped my glasses and fell behind, then took a different route. Scott, Mike P, Jo and Steven tacked on an incredibly tough climb just at the thunder clouds rolled in. The Tre Cime has pitches of up to 20% and is often used in the Giro http://cyclingnews.com/road/2007/giro07/?id=stages/giro0715 . They all looked shelled when they rolled into the hotel drenched, cold but satisfied with a big day. The hotel we’re at in Cortina has been by far the best so far (Hotel Des Alpes http://www.desalpescortina.it/ ). It’s a bike friendly place and the manager is very helpful.

Running at altitude is not agreeing with me. Cortina is at about 1300m (which isn’t super high) but I really really suffer, so much so that I often have to stop for a quick walk and my running is not much faster than power walking. It seems I’m not the only one suffering so it might be a combination of the excessive biking were doing, accumulated fatigue and the altitude.