tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20441759Mon, 16 Jun 2008 12:59:40 +0000http://www.epiccamp.com/blogs/john/noreply@blogger.com (john)Blogger46125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20441759.post-1163327833082486695Mon, 16 Jun 2008 12:58:00 +00002008-06-17T00:59:40.393+12:00Day 8 Run – 4.5km uphill race Swim 3km incl 10x200 on 2:35 (wetsuit/long course) Bike 170km The committee felt we were a little shy on run points this camp so we opened up with an uphill running race. I was feeling pretty good and took a good 2nd to Gordo. It was great to see everyone put in a big push on day 8 with plenty of heaving going on at the finish line. Performance of the day goeshttp://www.epiccamp.com/blogs/john/2008/06/day-8-run-4.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (john)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20441759.post-5681373114314014234Mon, 16 Jun 2008 12:57:00 +00002008-06-17T00:58:04.271+12:00Day 7 Run 50mins Swim 3km Bike 115km incl Stevlio Pass (2772m) The pools over here are just brilliant but getting into them early morning is not possible. So we ran first with a city highlights tour then made our way to the pool. Scott said he did not want to be in the pool longer than 45mins so I said lets go with 30x100 on 1:30. The morning was a little cool and the water wasn’t quite http://www.epiccamp.com/blogs/john/2008/06/epic-italy-day-7.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (john)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20441759.post-7768299098476779369Mon, 16 Jun 2008 12:57:00 +00002008-06-17T00:57:25.125+12:00Day 6 Swim 3km Run 10km race + guess your time Bike 100km incl Passo di Erbe (2004m) In an Epic first (since I’ve been involved) we were forced to pack the bikes into the van this morning and cut the first 55km off the ride. It was just pissing down with rain and with the majority of the trip to the pool downhill we would have been icicles on arrival. We do what some people consider stupidhttp://www.epiccamp.com/blogs/john/2008/06/epic-italy-day-6.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (john)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20441759.post-1256248735832678361Mon, 16 Jun 2008 12:56:00 +00002008-06-17T00:56:46.387+12:00Day 5 Run 50mins Swim 3km Bike 60km (incl Passo Tre Coci 1989m) This morning I had to abort my attempted long run first thing as we’re still at Cortina and I just can’t run up here. I’m getting no training benefit from jogging so called it a day with my running. Today was regroup day so we just had to do the minimums. I went out with Russell and told him we’d just do a 45km loop then tackhttp://www.epiccamp.com/blogs/john/2008/06/epic-italy-day-5.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (john)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20441759.post-7529845399781641440Fri, 13 Jun 2008 04:25:00 +00002008-06-13T16:25:53.102+12:00Day 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 http://www.epiccamp.com/blogs/john/2008/06/epic-italy-day-4.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (john)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20441759.post-4945270358222321867Wed, 11 Jun 2008 15:58:00 +00002008-06-12T03:59:12.786+12:00Day 3 Run 10km Swim 3km (incl continuous IM set 12x100IM/150 free (no rest for 3km) Bike 160-165 (incl Passo di Feddia 2042m and Giau 2233m) If we look at epic camp Italy as a meal, day 1 was the aperitif, day 2 was the prima and day 3 was the secondi (main). We all ran to the pool this morning for our swim and Scott and I did the IM set for a bonus point. We were 50m apart (long course)http://www.epiccamp.com/blogs/john/2008/06/epic-italy-day-3.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (john)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20441759.post-2942502946838092711Wed, 11 Jun 2008 15:43:00 +00002008-06-12T03:43:40.135+12:00Day 2 – Trento Swim 3km Bike 160km (with two passes) Run 50mins After yesterdays gentle introduction to the camp today’s profile on the bike was a little taster of what is to come when we hit the mountains. When I set today’s route I thought it was going to be a reasonable climb early on then some rolling terrain and some flat. I didn’t quite get it right. The thing with Trento is it’s http://www.epiccamp.com/blogs/john/2008/06/epic-italy-day-2_12.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (john)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20441759.post-1243687992002692838Sun, 08 Jun 2008 19:55:00 +00002008-06-09T07:56:41.579+12:00 Day 1 – we’re under way Run 10km easy Swim 2 x 3km #1 incl 2km TT #2 inc 200 Fly + 1000 bands only Bike 150km (incl 30km tack on and 11km uphill TT) By virtue of being the highest placed athlete from the last camp I was wearing the leaders pink jersey today. I didn’t feel I really deserved so thought I better go out and show the jersey some respect. We opened up with the http://www.epiccamp.com/blogs/john/2008/06/day-1-were-under-way.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (john)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20441759.post-172653558509859872Sat, 07 Jun 2008 10:59:00 +00002008-06-07T23:00:09.928+12:00Back in 2006 we had Epic France where I was largely acting in a support role, since then I’ve been looking forward to Epic Italy. We were supposed to come last year but my wife and I were expecting our first baby so that got canned. Scott and I have been devising the plan since and in a few days we are underway. The more I’ve researched the route we are taking the harder it looks. Last week I http://www.epiccamp.com/blogs/john/2008/06/epic-italy-prologue.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (john)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20441759.post-6292444815894975103Mon, 31 Mar 2008 03:59:00 +00002008-03-31T17:00:58.353+13:00Who will take this jersey home in June? http://www.epiccamp.com/blogs/john/2008/03/prize-for-italian-domination.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (john)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20441759.post-1931169115055114880Wed, 27 Feb 2008 05:02:00 +00002008-02-27T18:04:31.828+13:00A beer with Mark P and Scotthttp://www.epiccamp.com/blogs/john/2008/02/one-final-pic-from-epic.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (john)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20441759.post-3225682604540420429Tue, 05 Feb 2008 07:34:00 +00002008-02-05T20:35:43.065+13:00A couple of days ago someone on the camp said there’s no way they thought they could go hard because they were so tired. I jokingly said tiredness is just a figment of your imagination. Whilst I did say this in jest it’s amazing how athletes can find that little bit extra on epic camp to keep pushing hard all the way to the end of the camp. When we rolled out to Lake Hayes for the Coronet Peak http://www.epiccamp.com/blogs/john/2008/02/day-8-close-but-no-cigar-two-days-late.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (john)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20441759.post-6754597870604899108Sat, 02 Feb 2008 08:14:00 +00002008-02-02T21:14:31.066+13:00So today’s plan was a mountain run over the Ben Lomond saddle and back to Queenstown. We expected this to take 2.5-3hrs however it turned into an epic adventure. The climb up and over the saddle was incredibly steep and long but the views were spectacular. I think it took around 1hr20 to get to the top - that was a mix of running and hiking. By the time we reached the top I had a splitting http://www.epiccamp.com/blogs/john/2008/02/day-7-another-epic-adventure.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (john)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20441759.post-4162239958611308789Fri, 01 Feb 2008 08:57:00 +00002008-02-01T21:57:35.221+13:00Run 50mins x 2 Swim 6km Bike approx 80km I got up this morning at 5:25am and headed out for a run shortly after . When I was zombie plodding along I realised I’d moved from getting significant training benefit to really benefiting my mental application. On epic you just have to get on with the job each day, the environment of the camp makes this possible. Where I think this really benefits http://www.epiccamp.com/blogs/john/2008/02/day-6-wanaka-to-queenstown.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (john)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20441759.post-1057297047126615774Thu, 31 Jan 2008 08:19:00 +00002008-01-31T21:20:52.634+13:00Swim 3km Bike 180km (incl 12km uphill TT) Run 50mins This morning on the way to the pool there was a bit of sleeping in the van, then some more sleeping on poolside and then more sleeping on the van trip home. The epic fatigue is well and truly setting in. My body seems to be holding up well but I am getting pretty sleepy. I haven’t been sleeping too well but yesterday I cut the caffeinated http://www.epiccamp.com/blogs/john/2008/01/day-5-in-wanaka.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (john)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20441759.post-4010604320877161136Wed, 30 Jan 2008 20:35:00 +00002008-01-31T09:35:25.701+13:00http://epiccamp.com/newzealand08/points.htmhttp://www.epiccamp.com/blogs/john/2008/01/points-as-of-day-4.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (john)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20441759.post-8495257163288743492Wed, 30 Jan 2008 06:57:00 +00002008-01-30T19:58:08.434+13:00Swim 4.5km race Run 10km race + guess your time (no watches) Bike 60km Tack on swim 3km The swim was more or less as expected although the Albernator surprisingly took down Molina. He dragged us around so it was fair enough. We backed up the swim with a flat 10km race where you had to guess your time. Given the state of my legs (ie bloody sore, especially quads) I put down 37:24. The http://www.epiccamp.com/blogs/john/2008/01/day-4-mini-recovery-day.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (john)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20441759.post-7625989349221026781Wed, 30 Jan 2008 06:55:00 +00002008-01-30T19:56:56.327+13:00So yesterdays bike was pretty solid. We rolled out of Takapo and stayed together for all of about 10mins before some numskull put the pressure on at the front and split things up. Knowing there were no KOM’s coming I decided to sit at the back and keep one of our good dr’s on the camp company when he was struggling. After lunch we had lydis pass. The approach felt like we were on the back of US http://www.epiccamp.com/blogs/john/2008/01/day-3-slightly-more-detail.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (john)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20441759.post-4033415619170453483Tue, 29 Jan 2008 08:57:00 +00002008-01-29T21:57:52.675+13:00Bike 210km Aquathon (1.2km swim/4km run (4km warm down)) Again it’s 9:53pm so it’s bed time. Bike was good but the under carriage is starting to feel the pinch Aquathon – I took it out which I was very happy about. It required a solid effort to get rid of Albert though (1st me, 2nd Albert, 3rd Molina, 4th Gordo) http://www.epiccamp.com/blogs/john/2008/01/day-3-brief.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (john)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20441759.post-8699734542843210269Tue, 29 Jan 2008 08:55:00 +00002008-01-29T21:56:29.716+13:00Swim 3km Bike 240km Run 50mins We opened up today with a swim @ 6am which included a 400IM which always has high entertainment value. Paul Westwood and John Drury were the highlights and keep the crowds sufficiently entertained with their butterfly, thankfully no FINA officials were on had to issue and infringements. That said, I did have to slap a 2sec penalty on Bevan Eyles for blatantly http://www.epiccamp.com/blogs/john/2008/01/day-2.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (john)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20441759.post-7615527739271040734Mon, 28 Jan 2008 17:25:00 +00002008-01-29T06:25:36.320+13:00Day 1 The objective of this camp for me was to pull myself from the depths of unfitness to start my build for Roth in July. However on day one I thought I might be able to sneak into the yellow jersey if things went my way with the 2km swim TT, a sneaky 200 Fly bonus point and then see what happened in the bike TT. I thought I started well. I did my 200 fly with ease then onto the 2km. The planhttp://www.epiccamp.com/blogs/john/2008/01/day-1-proper.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (john)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20441759.post-2623844557001123876Sun, 27 Jan 2008 08:42:00 +00002008-01-27T21:47:04.241+13:00OK so it's 9:45pm and I've been up since 5am so I'm going to bed without doing a blog. BUT i have put some pics on the epic camp site and Bevan has put up a podcast which you can get via ironmantalk on I-Tunes. Quick Summaray Swim 3km incl 2km TT (plus I did a 200 fly) Bike 165 (I tacked on to 180km) incl 2 x 7km KOM and a 40km TT Run 50mins Scott M is in yellow Bevan Eyles in KOM Albert Boyce http://www.epiccamp.com/blogs/john/2008/01/day-1-brief.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (john)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20441759.post-7311796827137554734Sat, 26 Jan 2008 16:19:00 +00002008-01-27T05:21:19.472+13:00We start EC NZ08 in a mater of 2hrs so I thought I better get something down before we get underway. This camp is going to be a bit different for me as I’m getting back on the other side and actually doing the full camp and easing off some of my support duties. It’s not since my first camp in Australia in 2005 that I’ve done a full camp. Why? With a 7 month old baby kicking around the house I’ve http://www.epiccamp.com/blogs/john/2008/01/ecnz-08-prologue.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (john)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20441759.post-116970390368355480Thu, 25 Jan 2007 05:44:00 +00002007-01-25T18:45:03.696+13:00Well it was a woeful effort from me on the blogs for this camp. I’ll do better next time!!! I did keep you guys up to speed with pics and hopefully we’ll have Bevan back next year as the podcasts are so much easier than typing. Go to ironmantalk.com and you’ll get the best insight into the camp It was another great camp, and for me personally I finished it in the best was with a 3rd place http://www.epiccamp.com/blogs/john/2007/01/epic-nz-done-and-dusted.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (john)tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20441759.post-116884749634887514Mon, 15 Jan 2007 07:50:00 +00002007-01-15T20:51:36.360+13:00I’m not stayiong on top of my blog as all well this camp BUT I am uploading the photo’s. Today is Monday and we’ve made it to Wanaka on a spectacular day. We came through Haast Pass on a unbelievable day and the guys were thankful for a brisk tailwind. Mike Montgomery is still in Yellow followed by Brandon. Scott is leading the old blokes (and it 4th Overall) Gordo won the Aquathon today http://www.epiccamp.com/blogs/john/2007/01/ecnz07-getttin-behind.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (john)