Epilogue

All good things take time...

Its now 5 days since epic camp finished and I am finally writing my epilogue. Not to be confused as slack, just that real life has hit me with a bang since getting home. New jobs for me and Ingrid, starting Zac in daycare - and picking him up mid morning when he has lost the plot, filling out oodles of paperwork, setting up home office, r-discovering the 24hr/day joys of being a Dad - oh and bugger all training.

For the 15 days I was on Epic Camp, I truly thought about very little else. Sure I missed my family, but other things like work, bills, household chores and the other million and one things that occupy your mind on a daily basis just fade away. That is definitely the beauty of it. Writing today, I realise now, will be a very different view from what i might have said on the flight home. Being able to focus solely on training was a privilege and an insight into the lives of a very select few. Whereas the full timers and pros on the camp no doubt went back to a recovery week, followed by more of the same, I returned to my life. Do I wish it were different. Interestingly, no. I love training. I love the way it makes me feel, I love the way it makes me look and I love being outside. But I also love my job, my family and my life. One of the things I thought about a bit as people would argue the finer points of a KOM or aquathon challenge was that it is a very selfish way of life. Not that I am a socialist - in fact far from it, but every now and then I get the chance to make a difference in someones life - even saving a few in the process. I think I would miss that as a fulltime athlete.

Epic camp certainly challenged me as an athlete. It was no secret I was fairly conservative over the two weeks. Could I have pushed the limits a bit more. Absolutely, but the risk was always fear of not completing! Would I do it differently next time. Yes. Now I know I can complete it, I would like to challenge myself. I am never going to compete for the yellow jersey, or even the red one, but I could lay it on the line a few more times. One thing I would change if I did it again was my prep. having done an IM in the First week of December, I had two weeks of taper into that, followed by 4 weeks after a disappointing race with very little structured training in it. A small part of that was the depressed mindset I developed after Busso but largely it was due to us moving when we got back and the resulting commuting I needed to do - with little opportunity to train. That saw me arrive at Epic camp with 6 weeks of no real training or long rides behind me - not a good thing. Ideally Epic camp IMHO would be preceeded by a decent base period with a good 6 weeks of long riding and running with maybe a rest week before camp. I think that would see me firing from the start a lot better.

What have I gained from Epic camp;

1) 2.5KG - I had hoped to lose weight, instead I am pushing 80kg for the first time in nearly a year

2) Some new mates and hopefully a contact or two overseas. It would be great to be at an international race in a couple of years time and see someone I know.

3) Provisional membership of Coyote Racing - pending manning up and doing some real cycle racing.

4) An appreciation of what it means to truly be an elite athlete. As good as Lordy and Petro were, when it came to the crunch - Clas is a world apart!

5) The knowledge that I can train at a higher intensity than I do now. Over the next few years I will be severely time limited - intensity will become my friend (and enemy)

The big question - will I do it again.

The answer is YES. I don't think I would sign up for another NZ camp - esp one of the 8-10 day camps in NZ, whilst a great way to gain fitness, I would constantly compare it to EC10. However John tells me that next year should see a return to France in June/July. I have already discussed it with Ingrid and its provisionally approved. I would like to have a go at Roth next winter and this could be the way to get myself up for it.

If anyone wants to ask me q's about Epic Camp - or what it was like to be a MOP athlete at a high end training camp feel free to contact me - legendontour@gmail.com