Epic Day 5 - Training with the Terminator

Yesterday was billed as our easy/recovery day not unlike an off day in the Giro or Tour de France where the riders will get in several hours of riding but aren't racing. Most of the campers opted to get in the minimum volume required to stay in the running for a major 20 point bonus that comes with doing the minimum distance every day (3 km swim, 60 km bike, 10 km run).

I awoke early and decided to get my run in. I set off down the path behind our hotel and descended into the village center. It was quiet and peaceful. The sky was clear and the sound of the river seemed in sync with my cadence. The legs were a bit stiff and grumpy at first but loosened up quickly. After crossing through town I headed up a steep climb (10% or so) and just kept going until I hit 30 minutes then turned around and retraced my route for around 7 miles in just under an hour.

Next was a quick breakfast. I had intended to ride my bike to the pool with Steven immediately after breakfast (everyone else was going to ride in the van). Unfortunately when I got to my bike I realized I had another flat and took that as a sign I should skip the additional riding and took the time to change the tube and install a new tire.

We were in the "aluminum" pool today. There were a few more locals. I think just about everyone did the standard 3km except Jo who knocked out 6km after she and Steven had already run 2 hours in the am. It will be really interesting to see what here total run volume is for the camp-probably more than I run in a good month. I basically just ground out the 3km. After that I grabbed a quick bite to eat then Molina and I took off on our bikes. Ian had put them on top of his van and driven them down to the pool.

On our ride to the pool Wednesday I had noticed a sign that pointed to Austria and was only 15 km or so away. At Epic France we had a chance to ride from France to Spain and Andorra in one day which I thought was pretty cool so I suggested to Scott that we trek over to Austria. Riding yesterday I thought it amusing that I was riding into the home of the original Terminator (Arnold S) with the triathlon Terminator. It was around 50 km into a decent breeze to get across the border.On the way a motorist came up beside us and starting yelling in German. We had no idea what she was saying but could only assume it was something like "get the hell of the road" as is all to common in the states. As it turns out a glove had fallen out of my cycling jersey and she was just trying to let me know. After crossing the border we cruised a few more km into town where Molina sniffed out a cafe. If it had been left to me we probably would have ended up in a petrol station. We each had a cappacino, ice cream and a beer. It was cool but sunny out. Then it was back onto the bikes for the trek up to Cortina we road a great tailwind under sunny skies for 15 km or so then turned to climb back up to 1500 meters before the descending back to Cortina. We could see rain clouds ahead as we ascended and sure enough it broke loose. We were completely drenched and cold by the time we rolled in but had another great day.

I showered and was going to head into town to check out a bike shop but was informed they weren't friendly and didn't have much in stock anyway. My legs were feeling good so I decided to try another run to make up for one of the two I had missed earlier in the week. I also wanted to burn a few kcal in anticipation of heading into town for beers tonight. The run was great and I ended up going about 9 miles well under 8 minute mile pace. That pretty good for a 3:30 ironman runner at altitude after all the training we've been doing. Next was a quick shower and off to dinner for salad, pasta with mushrooms, wienerschnitzel (spelling) and some awesome spinach and onions. As it turned out I was the only one interested in hitting the town. Molina probably could have been convinced but this was Erin's (his wife) last day with us so I didn't push. Instead I had the panacotta and another beer and went upstairs to organize my gear as we moving to Bolzano on Friday.

Off to breakfast now as we have to on our bikes at 7:45 for a ride down to the pool (in the rain of course) where we'll have the aquathon. Should be interesting to see how hard we all can go.