A few photos from my disposable camera

On the bike path from pool in Dobbiaco up to Cortina

In the restaurant a couple hours later at the top of the nasty Tre Cime Lavaredo - wet and cold but happy to have survived cold rain and lightning.

Beer, ice cream and cappucino in Austria - mmm :)


With Randy and Douglas atop the Stelvio - look for these guys at Lake Placid and Kona



Another photo atop the Stelvio with Gordo (nice hat) and Johnny Newsome who made sure things ran smootly while also training big

Riding the G-train from Bolzano to Trento with Anthony sitting second wheel.

Steven crusing easy on the way out of Bolzano before cranking up the Lordy Lordy please slow down machine on the homestretch into Verona

A sign on the way to Verona. The bartender at the top of the Stelvio was convinced that Molina was of Italian descent even if he does claim Mexican heritage.

Back home with my three favorite people (Lauren turning six on June 23rd, my uncommonly supportive and understand wife Karen, and Lindsay 7).

Another family photo

Pretty In Pink - Part 2

Written up the second part of the camp on my Blog here

Epic Italy - Day 8 Part 2

Before I had to board the plane I believe we were at the point where we had stopped to refuel from the van just south of Trento. As I noted Molina and Randy caught up to us at this point and we (Gordo, Steven, Anthony, Douglass and I) waited for Scott to get a spare front wheel from Ian as Scott had broken a spoke. Earlier in the week his hub required some maintenance and I had a pedal go bad. With all the rain and kilometers the bikes are taking some abuse. To be honest, Scott’s bike is in need of some TLC and I think he’s going to have it rebuilt when he returns from this trip. Gordo is encouraging him to do so as Gordo has recruited Scott to join him for an altitude camp touring around Colorado for a week or so. Scott can push Gordo in the pool and also provides great company. Somehow, Gordo managed to pull Erin (Scott’s wife aside) during the trip to get her support. Not sure whether Scott is thrilled or not by the prospect of chasing the G-man around the Rockies at the moment given our fatigue but I suspect he’ll be fired up to go in a day a too. The prospect of riding around his old stomping grounds from when he was based out of Boulder has to be appealing and the altitude training can't hurt as he tries to ramp up for Kona. Despite the comment on Scott's blog about being less than pleased with his swimming and cycling, I have a hunch he's going to be ready to go in October. He's not where he wants to be but he's come a long way since knee surgery last year. Both Scott and Gordo seem to be on track coming into to fine form for their upcoming races.

Back to Friday’s ride. As I noted, we had been on the bike path for over 100 km at this point. The bike path network in Italy is astounding in both its scale, quality of road service and beauty. On this Sunday I think I saw more bikes in a single day than I ever have before. I saw mountain bikes, new carbon road bikes, touring bikes, handcycles, 2 year olds on bikes, classic Italian racing bikes that had clearly been maintained with loving care for decades. Not a lot of helmets on those older guys but I guess they figure they've lasted 70 years without one so no need to change. There were quite a few "aid stations" along the path where you could by fresh fruit, coffee, beer, wine, etc. It's becoming more and more clear to me why I have seen considerably less overweight individual here than in most areas.

Once back on the road we had a bit of an incident. The bike paths are great but there are several areas where you have to make pretty quick turns to stay on course. That's not a big deal if you've been riding them your whole life but if you are crusing along at 40kph, are not familiar with the path and have been training for 8 straight days it can be a little challenging. We missed one and slowed quickly and Scott ended up running into the back of Anthony. Steven also ended up on the tarmac but was apparently uninjured. Scott had some nasty road rash and announced at that point that he was done with the path and was getting on the road. Seemed sensible to the rest of us and we rejoined the two lane road headed for Verona. There was a bit of traffic including quite a few Ducatti's for whom it was apparent the speed limit was irrelevant. It certainly get your attention when 7 or 8 of those Italian Stallions come up behind you through a turn at what seemed to be 100+ mph and have there bikes laying over to the point where their knees or nearly touching. Actually the wake up call was needed as about 40 km from Verona Steven moved to the front and put down the hammer. To my untrained ear, Steven's accent sounds a bit Scottish and I have visions of Graham Obree or David Millar on the front. I don't know how fast we were going but it was plenty fast for me. Afterwards Steven said that he felt the it was the Pink Jersey's obligation to do it's share of the work and when he saw the 40km sign he just told himself that it was a 40 km time trial. I was really impressed with the effort given all the work he's done this week. About 15km or so from Verona I began to suffer on a few slight inclines and pulled out of the paceline. I managed to chase back on but then fell back on the next climb and was nabbed by a traffic light so had no chance to catch back on. It was then that I realized I had a puncture on my rear tire. To be honest it was a bit of a relief as I didn't feel obligated to chase back on although I was a bit disappointed that I wouldn't be able to ride into town with the "peloton". As luck would have it John Ellis pulled up in the car at this point and thankfully changed my tire. I remounted and cruised the last 10km back into Verona reflecting back on the week past which including the lowest of lows (unable to walk and riding the van on day two) and the highest of highs in our successful assault of the Stelvio. While I hadn't met my pre-camp goal of completing the minimum swim bike run sessions every day, I had come through much better than at Epic France and was confident that with some rest this training camp would be taking my fitness to a higher level. In addition with my two hour run that morning I had managed to more than make up for the missed sessions so my total volume was above my pre-camp goal and I had maintained reasonable intensity as well.

Steven and I had considered going for 200 km as neither of us had done a 200 km ride but after the flat I thought better of it realizing that I would barely have time to pack my bike before dinner. That combined with the prospect of living the hotel at 5 am for a ride to the airport caused me to sensibly accept the 170 km we had ridden. I actually considered going for another run to try to get 3/4s of an ironman of training in as I had swam 3km, run 14 miles and riden 106 miles or so already but fortunately recognized that such a run would likely do little good and had the potential for a lot of harm. Somehow I managed to find the hotel without making a wrong turn. I've come to really enjoy navigating around Europe and there's a certain sense of accomplishment in finding one way. Upon arriving at the hotel I immediately packed my bike to get that out of the way before I had my shower and began imbiding as I had a feeling my tolerance would be minimal.

We were all ready to eat at dinner and had a good time reviewing the many photos John Ellis and Julie had taken. The wine was flowing and the Grappa although I have to say one sip was all I could bear of that infernal concoction that Molina has such a taste for. After the meal Julie brought and very large wheel of extremely smelly but quite tasty cheese that I believe Erin or Scott had brought up from their time in Tuscany.

Later we headed into the center of Verona for beer and pizza at an outdoor cafe across from the ancient stadium. A few of us stopped for gelato on the way. I had heard that Jo had asked Gordo and John Newsome about their view on her racing an olympic distance race the following weekend (just for training of course). They both quite sensibly advised against it. I couldn't resist asking Molina for his thoughts in front of Jo. Having been coached by him for a few years and knowing how often he raced in his prime I had a suspicion he might say something to the effect of "go for it" which of course he did. I found it quite amusing especially as his head slumped over and he fell asleep at the table no less than 5 minutes later. For some reason at this point I thought it was a good idea to grab a handful of the dried peppers on the table and started munching away. Pretty soon my mouth was on fire and I was draining a beer which didn't do much good. We all agreed it was time to leave. I held back a bit to order two more gelatos (mint and cafe) which seemed to take the sting off the peppers. I wasn't quite certain of the route back to the hotel but managed to find my way as did Scott who had been unsuccessful in finding a cab.

Off to bed for four hours of much needed sleep before heading to the airport for the journey home.

Jo: day 8

Sunday 15 June 2008.
Epic Camp, day 8

We’re already on the last day. Some of us may also be on our last legs, too, but I certainly don’t want it to end. I’m still leading Scott in the points competition (which I would never have believed a remote possibility at the start of the camp!) so wrench myself out of bed for an extra-point 50 min run. I bumped into Mike who was up doing the same thing. We both understood that this was a run to be done in private though – I reckon I covered about 4.5miles in the 50min!
This was immediately followed by our last points challenge – a 5km uphill race. I felt pretty confident about this, due to my size and prior hill running events that I have done, plus my long warm up. Unfortunately, after a characteristically fast start, I realized that 5km uphill would take a long time and would be hard work. Especially on the swollen knee that I’d been carrying around with me, and started to fell really quiet uncomfortable. This might have had something to do with the generous quantity of wheat-beer that I drank the previous night! I slowed the pace, and was gutted that practically all of the guys just cruised on up past me. Including Russell who’d decided that an in-bed warm up was the secret to success, literally just clearing the duvet as starters’ orders were given! It was pretty miserable, and I was thankful that it was short and over soon. I sulked a bit in the car back down to breakfast – especially as there was talk that the committee were not going to credit my 50min run as a separate point.

I was determined to try ad do one of the points swim sets that I really liked the sound of: 3km swim as 12 x 100IM/150free. Funny swim strokes are certainly not my forte, but there were not set times and having completed the 40IM the other day, I knew tat I could do all of the strokes for more than 25m. The issue would be the cold water – most of us were wearing wetties for the outdoor pool sessions, even so I was always coming out of the pool cold after an hour. The ‘Epic Committee’ let me know that they would not allow this set in a wetsuit (a massive U turn, as I’m sure that’d It’d been ok’d previously!), so I was going to do it just for fun. I soon realized that the decision not to credit the session in a wet suit was ludicrous as it was virtually impossible to swim butterfly with your shoulders trussed up in neoprene!! I called it a day for fear of drowning, and finished my 3k swim with a set of 400s on 7min (it was supposed to be 6:45 but that didn’t last long- again, I blame the beer!)

There’d been ma lot of banter about the flat 100 –ish mile rides back from Bolzano to Verona being a fast paced chain to pull us all home in 4 hours or so, and as we set of on the cycle path, which apparently covered the entire route, the pace certainly wasn’t shy. Again, for me it was a question of finding a good position in the line where the concertina effect of the slowing and starting again were minimized , and hanging on in as close to the wheel of the biggest guy I could fins. I generally chose Randy for this, a broad build and an experienced cyclist too, so he tended to ride nice and consistently. Being on a cycle path, however, there was a fair amount of slowing and stopping as we negotiated turns and other cyclists. After 90 min or so we stopped for a pee break, Steven had been pulling the front along at 24 mph, and I when I asked if we could perhaps slow the pace just a little, to enable me to breathe occasionally, there was a general murmur of ‘that would be nice’….but the result was an increase in speed the next time that the group had to slow, an attempt to shake some of the slower riders. Most of them hung on, and by tales told that evening received a really good work out clinging onto the back of the StevenGordo train – which they were buzzing about. For me – maintaining that effort was just a bit more than I could cope with (90min at HR over 150 already) so I dropped off the back and decided to enjoy the final day, riding a solid but more sensible pace. There was headwind, which made things a little harder on my own, but the route was all down hill and mostly on a well- marked cycle path, so I kept my head down and my efforts up and enjoyed my own reflections on the week that had passed. It took me 6 hours to arrive at our hotel in Verona, the last few miles a bit hectic as I was unsure of my route and anxious about not having much time to pack my bike up before enjoying the evening. It was rather rushed, and result in Steven and I being rather late for supper -but wee didn’t miss much h- that hotel’s restaurant was so piss –poor that a group of us headed into town to celebrate surviving the camp with pizza and beer in the old town square.

Training stats at the end of the 8 day camp:
Swim: 26km
Bike: 670 miles over 8or 9 major passes
Run: 87 miles
Total: 65 hours

Phew. I’m beat - this blogging thing really takes it out of ya…

Jo: day 7

Saturday 14 June 2008.
Epic Camp, day 7

Big day today as we ride over the Stevlio Pass – at 2800m, it’s pimped as the most brutal climb in the Dolomites. The group headed out for a pre breakfast run together around the town, I was deliberately taking it easy in order to preserve what I had left in me for the big climb – not keen for another day like yesterday – so when the pace increased I fell back and continued at my own pace for the 50 min. Steven, Gordo and Mike had elected to do the same, I noticed. A good breakfast, and in the pool a similarly non stressful set of 9x300’s on 5:15.

Out on the bike, we had approximately 60 mile approach ride, which was predominantly flat. My concern was getting dropped by the group prior to the start of the KOM assault on Stelivio, and over extending myself in a battle to stay connected. Fortunately for me, the guys were all taking it relatively steady, including Steven who was working for me today! Riding behind me, he ensured that I remained close on 3rd wheel, quickly coming through to fill any sizeable gap that formed between me and the wheel in front saving me from those draining surges. We reached the aid wagon after 3 hours, in good shape and all keen to get started on the climb, which would occupy the following 2 hours and 25km of our lives.

There is a long and fairly steep approach to the climb, taking us through a couple of towns on the way. I found my position on the front of the group and using the 150 BPM principle managed to stay there, but could see that Douglas was not far behind and towing a couple of the others. Mike P, who has revealed himself to be a very strong climber was just ahead, and seemed to be riding along side Scott, with Gordo John and Steven up front. I really wanted to push on and catch them, so at each turn in the road I gave a little push more for a few seconds. By this method I soon opening up the gap on those behind me, but had made no apparent progress to those ahead, so it was quite relieved that, by the time we reached the bottom of the really steep bit – the 48th switchback – they were out of sight. Time now to get into my own rhythm – keep working steadily, putting in that little extra effort on each switchback, enjoying the sensation of flattening off out of the bend to spin the legs. Recover, push, recover, push and maintain HR of around 153. Play games with the numbers on the switchbacks, the elevation on the garmin and kilometres covered. Halfway, 2/3rds, 3/4s … Look down the road behind for the tiny figures of the other riders in our group, squeezing frozen fingers into my handle bars as the temperature drops when I clear the tree line.

With around 10 turns and 800m to go the road takes a general swing through 90degrees such that the last remaining portion of road is presented in all of its zigzagging glory ahead, with the buildings of the summit resort atop. So near yet really, so far. Be patient and continue….as the figure of Douglas comes into view behind. That provides a little additional adrenaline, , and despite the slightly nauseous feeling due to altitude, and the increasing fatigue in my quads, I push on – with a little music now to help me along.

Finally over the top – the pleasure of those last few turns is hard to describe – and the sensation of standing it at the summit looking right down over the other side of the mountain in a light flurry of snow, so worth the effort. Not to mention the view back on the road below. It was damn cold and everyone was well wrapped up. I had a small cough, which seemed to expel more oxygen from my lungs than was available in the thin air, triggering a mini fit of hyperventilation, fortunately I was well taken care of and someone knew just what to do with a plastic bag in this situation.

Steven and I were the only people who took the opportunity to ride back down the pass – and in doing so, it really hit home just how damn long a climb it had been! It was good to get a car ride back to the hotel afterwards, and I appreciated another chance to seek out some training advice from Gordo.

Jo: day 6

Friday 13th June 2008.
Epic Camp, day 6

Still feeling pretty moody I headed out for 1h40 run on the track in the rain. It always sounds worse than it really is as you lie in bed listening to the weather falling, and this proved to be the case as, for the first half of the run it was just a bit drizzley. I hardly noticed as it got progressively heavier. Coming through one of the tunnels on my return, I tripped and fell on a rock that I’d not noticed in the dark. Went flying, landing on my shoulder elbow and left knee, which would be pretty painful for a good few days. I limped for a bit and realized that I was soaked and had better get back as fast as possible or I’d be really cold. Truth is that I’d only really done this run a s means to making up the points that I was sure to loose to Scott and John in the aquathon which was scheduled later in the morning – behaviour that I’d originally set out to avoid. There was certainly no training benefit and now I’d suffer with my knee for the rest of the camp, but I guess I cannot suppress my competitive instincts.

The rain put pay to the planed aquathon, since the outdoor pool did not open and we relocated to another, indoor 25m pool in town. The mood amongst the Epic Campers was generally grey and lethargic, though we were at least glad to be given a ride to the pool rather than having to ride there in the continuing downpour! In the pool I was able to crack the 20 x100 on 1.40 set.

A quick change into ‘race kit‘ for, as an alternative to the aquathon, the team had organized 10km race – with additional points being awarded to the closest guess to their actual time. My guess was 42.5min. I setoff fast, cross country style- partly out of habit, partly for the temporary amusement of Scot and Steven , who I stuck with fro about 1km. After about 2km I started sliding back through the field and finished up behind Gordo, John , Scott, Steven, Russell and Anthony. Not exactly sure of my time – but it was in the region of 35 min! I’d felt good running and was fairly certain that I’d run better than 42.5min pace, but not that much better! Reckon it was about 8.5km at most.

As we were having our usual picnic treats fro lunch the sun came out, and it was nice to get on the bikes and en route to our next hotel destination, Bolzano. Just one climb today – the Passo de Erbe at 2000m. The fatigue in my legs really made itself known in a big way as soon as we hit the foot of this relatively minor pass, and I could only watch and whimper as one by one the guys pedalled past me. Only Russell, suffering with a horrdio cough all eek, and being sensibly restrained remains just in sight behind, and provided just sufficient motivation to keep pedalling to stay ahead. It was a suffer fest. But worth it for 55km of descent into Bolzano! And a pretty luxurious hotel - our room had a bath and I could give my poor legs a cold water treat before heading out to the poolside to relax and admire the view of the mountain we’d ridden over.

Jo: day 5

Thursday 12 June 2008.
Epic Camp, day 5

2hr run with Steven on the bike track which runs behind the hotel before breakfast The track is predominantly uphill on the way out, and suspect that it would eventually intersect with the bike path that we’d used the previous day to get from Brunico and extends on as far as Verona. Out at 5am, we saw a mountain moose-type thing and several other smaller mountain creatures out doing their thing. Very peaceful. We were both pretty tired – our average run speed only just over 9 ½ min mile.

Today was a ‘free choice’ day -a chance to take it easy with only the minimum 3kswim, 60k bike and 50min run to complete. I shoved my bike in the van and took a lift to the pool, where I’d go for a bonus 6km swim including the 10x 200/3.25(wetsuit) set, followed by a pyramid set of my own. I occurred to me after about 4.5km that this was possibly the longest swim I’ve ever done. Steven and John N were waiting with my bike when I finally emerged from the pool, Steven and I enjoyed the leisurely cruise as far as the first town of reasonable size to drink a coffee before going our separate ways – me home, him for an unexpectedly brutal ‘scenic loop’ which took him a further 4 hours and over 2 significant mountains! It started raining heavily not long after we said goodbye, ironically noting how under dressed we were, and that short ride back felt very hard on my fatigued and chilled frame.

Stats to end of day 5:
Swim 15km
Bike 420mi
Run 60mi
Total 42 hours.

I really was not in good spirits at the end of this day. Not having slept well at all since the start of the camp, fatigue was beginning to get to my nerves and I worried that perhaps I’d overcooked it. However, at this point I’m holding 2nd place to Steven in the points comp, just a head of Scott and John N, which is providing plenty of motivation to keep on it.

Jo: day 4

Wednesday 11th June 2008.
Epic Camp, day 4

Morning run with Steven was an opportunity to check out the ski resort town of Cortina, with its steeply pitched timber construction, expensive shops and slightly eerie dormant ski facilities. A light rain was falling, which was to be a feature of our 3 day stay in this location. The views cross the valley were stunning.

We were using a pool in the nearby town of Brunico, a 30 mile downhill ride along the main road. Immediately after breakfast wee set off on our bikes, John N anxious to make it for our 9am booking lead a cracking pace-line, the tempo causing me to vomit the additional; helping of breakfast that I’d been unable to resist. A move certain to ensure a place right on the back of the pace-line! My average speed for that 30 mile ride was 21mph. I’ve achieved that once before – at Ironman Switzerland!

The pool complex was awesome, a stainless steel lined 8 lane 50m job, surrounded by sun terraces and lawns with smaller pools for kids. These Italians have got it sorted – they just need a degree or 2 extra in the water and it’d be perfect. As it was, I felt too cold to swim an hour without wetsuit and after a couple of lengths jumped out to wrench it on over wet limbs. Anthony was the only other guy to do so today – we’d have to remove them for the IM challenge though! I swam a set of 20 x 100s /1.45 (not a point scorer, but swimming off my usual training times as set by our swim coach back home, reckoning that the disadvantage of swimming long course is offset by the buoyancy of the wetsuit). The main feature of this swim though was the traditional 4x100IM race. I think that we all knew to expect this from having followed previous camps so had at least practiced a bit of other stroke swimming. For myself I knew that butterfly was just a question of keeping the arms high keeping moving, my breaststroke had been approved as ‘not bad’ though my backstroke had caused a lot of amusement. I was not in this one for any prizes! Heat 1 contained Gordo, Scott, Steven, John N and, the admirably ‘up for it’ Mike P, a donkey amongst these thoroughbreds in centre lane. It was an exciting race, with Steven holding the ‘pros’ throughout – the 4 of them finishing within 5 seconds. I think he finished 3rd and bumped to 2nd since G was wearing his skin suit. Mike battled on with his weaker strokes, whilst the rest of us knew that we’d soon be providing similar entertainment! I swam in heat 2, and was fortunate in that I was swimming with similarly stroke challenged campers and managed to make enough gains sin the first 300 ( I have no idea how) that a very hard 100 free ensured I wasn’t last to the line. I was glad that was over!

The ride back was ‘camper’s choice’ – this being set as an easy day. One of the choices on offer was Scott’s’ surprise – an additional climb up Tre Cime di Lavarredo. This is one o the steepest ascents and was conveniently accesses via just 1 or 2 ‘smaller’ passes off the route back from Brunico to Cortina. Gordo lead Scott, John, Steven, Mike, Russell, Randy and I back along a scenic cycle route, a little off-road and certainly made me thankful that I had put the ‘Armadillo’ tyres on. A fun ride and great alternative to that main road. We met John Ellis and Douglas at the junction, had some food ( which I was really badly in need of at this point) The weather had turned a lot for the worse, Gordo advised against riding up a mountain into lightening and I think anyone would have been relieved to concede had it been clear that nobody wanted to go. As it was, despite feeling totally bombed, 4 of us could not resist the opportunity, and picked up waterproofs for our unsupported adventure into the mountains. I am so glad that I did so. As Scott and Mike rode on, Steven and I hung back for a more lousily approach, splitting as the incline kicked in, and each working at their own moderate pace. As lightening was immediately followed by thunder, cracking between the stark craggy mountain tops the storm was immediately over head. The road was deserted and running rain water like a river over the painted letters from past Giros, as we worked against the increasing gradient, clearing the tree line and exposing the most spectacular skyline. The notion that my tyres would insulate me in the case of a lightening strike kept me on the bike, and finally we reached a restaurant at the top of the pass. Well, it was almost the top – a further 100m of ascent took us to the car park – my ‘woop –woop’ rang out reverberating off the surrounding rock faces in a hugely satisfying echo. We were absolutely drenched and frozen and would have been n some serious trouble had it not been for the rest house at the top, which had a wood burner soup and coffee to warm us a little for the descent. We shoved a few newspapers down our jerseys to be a bit more pro cyclist, too.

Jo: day 3

Tuesday 10th June 2008.
Epic Camp, day 3

Woke with stiff legs, having run 42miles since the start of the cap, and the hard ride yesterday, but the 50 min run before breakfast loosened them off.

In the pool I decided to have a go at swimming 1km ‘band only’ – worth a bonus point and not something I’ve tried before, but I reckoned it was just something to ‘get through ‘ rather than requiring any swimming skill, speed or finesse -which suits me! The first couple of hundred seemed pretty hopeless, but I did find that I got into a rhythm and was really quite enjoying it by the end of the set.

On the bike, I was going to make sure that I had an easy day to recover from the stupidity of day 2, despite the fact that there would be 2 KOM worthy climbs on our route to Cortina. I spent the first 3 hours of the ride absolutely glued to John Newsom’s wheel (fair game after yesterday, I thought!) not raising my Hr above 140. To be honest I have never really paid much attention to HR zones, preferring to train on ‘feel’ but since I had the Garmin I was taking note. When we reached the first climb, a pass over the Marmoloda, I felt fresh and again the group split as each climbed as his own pace. I let the HR up to 150, but not over. Steven and Gordo were away ahead, John had hung back at the bottom where there was a feed stop and I’d managed to get a jump on the rest of the guys, so I was climbing alone through this beautiful, silent and cold landscape. Feeling confident and comfortable I saw a rider ahead and recognizing that it was neither Steven nor Gordo dismissed him as a target and continued my leisurely ascent. The top came far sooner than I’d expected and I was surprised to realized that the rider who’ been just one switchback ahead was in fact Mike. Although he’s a strong rider, clearly, it’d not occurred that it could be him since the previous day the guy had literally been unable to walk with such severe muscle cramps and had not been able to train at all.

The second climb of the day, Passo de Gaiu, was somewhat of a greater challenge. A longer and higher climb, but with a bit more exposure to the warmth of the sunshine that had come out to light up the scenery for us. I worked this one a little harder, though by this point in the ride over reaching on heart- rate was not an option, digging deep was certainly the order of the moment. Checking the elevation on the GPS, I promised myself that after half way, and then after ¾ I’d get the tunes on to assist me up the final stretch. Boy was it worth it with the steepest sections at the top of the pass, Miss Kitten, Peaches and a bit of Basement Jaxx really did the trick as I reached the top in 4th position, very close behind Steven.

The hotel in Cortina is really good, we have a beautiful room and there are great facilities for working on bikes and carrying out maintenance. After 7 hours of riding I was glad to have got my run out of the way early in the day and have a much needed snooze before supper.

Jo: day 2

BLOG 3 - Monday 9th June 2008.
Epic Camp, day 2

The day started with a 50 min run to the pool, and an easy, early morning sort of a pace. We met the others there with our kit and were lead through to another enormous and beautiful out door 50m pool. Not as cold as the previous, so no wetsuit this time. I attempted to do one of the point scoring swim sets 10x200 on3.35, which I usually quite easy for me short course, but just wasn’t working out for me on this occasion. I adjusted the times to 3.45 and completed the minimum swim requirement for the day that way.

Gordo set a much faster paced run back from the pool, requiring a bit of a loop to make the 50 min and then breakfast in the hotel before our ride, which would see the start of the KOM competition.

Feeling good after a short spin out of town, when the road starting pointing upwards and some of the riders dropped back a bit, I decided to stick with the group of guys at the front and hold their pace. Gordo made a surge off the front, which no one followed so I sat with John, Steven and Scot behind me, enjoying the work up the incline. Before long it became apparent that no one was especially keen to share the work load and a few cracks were made about ‘protecting the pink’ me being Steven’s domestic as I towed toward the ‘real’ hill where KOM would be scored. I’d been sitting on a heart rate of about 170 bpm for about an hour when we reached the start of the climb over Passo Vezzena (a mere 1400m) so when Scott cheekily waved at the ‘14km ‘ sign and upped the tempo, I wasn’t about to respond. Instead I felt stuck on a HR in the 150s and watched the wiser riders pull away into the distance ahead, frustrated at having made such a pretty novice error. Still, the rest of the campers were no where in sight, and I was satisfied with 5th position and after just a couple more hours slogging through rain, our exertions were finally rewarded when the sun came out and shone on a glorious descent back into town at the end of the ride.

Jo: Day 1

Sunday 8th June 2008.
Epic Camp, day 1

Starts with a short run around the city. Steven and I had been out for a jog the previous evening and were able to show the group a nice route along the river and through the old town. The pace was very easy and there was a bit of a chance to chat with the other guys on the camp. Next, a swim time trial – in a fantastic 8 lane, 50m outdoor pool, directly across the street from our hotel. The water was cold enough that the use of wetsuits was allowed, though those choosing this soft option would be heavily penalised - 6 seconds per 100m!! If only the benefit were that great. I didn’t expect perform exceptionally and win any competition points anyway, so I took the opportunity of a bit of practice at swimming hard in neoprene. My TT time was 32:20 (1:40/100m) – so I can’t figure where those 6 min went!! I was glad that I’d not been the slowest swimmer though.

We set off on bikes (mine complete with newly purchased Fulcrum rear wheel - we finally found an excellent, knowledgable and well stocked bike shop – if only that had been the first recommendation that we’d had!) for a ride up the east side of lake Garda to Trento where we’d be staying for 2 nights. Trento is a medium sized town in the foothills of the Dolomites, and today’s journey would be the last bit of flat riding we’d be doing for a while! After a ‘neutralized’ride out of town ( and puncture, withing 200m of departure! ) the pace set off pretty fast. To be expected as everyone is trying to impress and vying for their position in the group. A bit quicker than I was comfortable riding but by ensuring that I rode in a sensible position in the bunch which did not subject me to too many surges, my fresh legs were able to handle it. Unfortuntaly, as is typical riding through traffic and towns, these surges are inevitable and will take their toll on the weaker riders, and so I found myself migrating toward the back of the bunch. I find this an exteremly tough place to ride as the change in pace is magnified, calling for constant breaking and accelerating which would take it out of my legs, for sure. We’d been issued maps and I decided to let the bunch go and ride alone at a steadier pace, anticipating that this would be a theme for the coming 8 days!

A short while later I come across one of the guys, Jonathan, who has hung back for me. A very kind gesture and it gave a chance to get to know him a little. I do suspect that perhaps he was feeling the pace a little himself and glad of a face saving excuse to drop back! We rode on together, shareing the work until meeting the rest of the group at a feed stop 11km out of Trento. We’d be riding this last stretch of road as a time trial, for competition points. I didn’t take note of my time, or placing in this ‘event’, but worked solidly, quickly caught my ’30 second man’ and gather it was a suitably impressive performance going by complimentry remarks made afterwards.

We had a bit more food on arrival I Trento, and since it was still early in the afternoon, Steven and I took the opportunity to get a long run done, whilst our legs were fresh enough to enjoy it! I was running really well, so well infact that Steven told me to just run on ahead, as he’d hoped to run for 2.5 hours and wouldn’t get through it ‘at that pace’. 19 miles later, on our return eyebrows were raised at our ‘bold move’…but it paid off – and Steven was so chuffed to be awarded the Pink Jersey after day 1.

Jo: Verona

Saturday 7th June 2008.
Prologue

It’s warm but wet in Verona, Steven and I have been walking its charmingly ancient streets carrying my Campagnolo 10 speed, Eastern wheel with broken Velomax hub. We’ve visited a number of small bike stores and an even greater non- bike stores (a result of either our lack of Italian or lack of local knowledge amongst the locals) all of which were stocked to the eyes with Shimano gear…but no Campy stuff. This is Italy, forchrissake!

Of course that is not the reason for our visit to Italy. We are here to attend one of long distance triathlon’s most infamous training camps – Epic Camp. An 8 day swim-bike-run as-much-as-humanly-possible fest organised by John Newsom, Scott Molina and Gordo Bryn -3 training and racing gurus, whos websites and forums I have regarded as invaluable sources of expertise and inspiration since becoming ‘a bit more serious’ about my sport of long distance triathlon racing. The week is intended as my last breakthrough week prior to Ironman Germany (6th July) and it will certainly be just that. I’ll be the only female on the camp and though they have had other women attend in the past, these have as far as I know, all been professional triathlete. I am apprehensive – there were strict criteria for places on the camp, and although I satisfy these, the points based competitive set up encourages highly testosterone-charged environment where the weak are likely to fall by the wayside. My goal is to enjoy the camp, get the most the fantastic riding in the Dolomites and resources of expertise available, having completed all the set workouts ( 3k swim, 60km bike and 50 min run) each day.

At present though things are looking a bit bleak.. After 2 days of persistent positive thinking and wheel-carrying through Verona after the hub fell apart on our ‘shake-down’ ride yesterday (yes, I shook it down proper!) we’ve been up as many metaphorical dead ends as we have literal in this city. We’ve had some nice coffee along the way, though. The Epic camp support crew, who also arrived early for the camp, have been very helpful and positive with possible solutions – the most likely now seems to be borrowing John Newsoms’ bike whilst he rides one of the spares. That’d be quite sweet, wouldn’t it!

Pretty In Pink

I kept some notes during the camp so I could give a detailed blog on Epic camp. The first installment (the rest will be in the next post) can be found on my BLOG

Epic Italy - overall camp report

Before camp I signed up to blog, somehow during the week there never seemed the time. Perhaps if there were points for blogging, more would be done. Now I'm back home, the training is done and it's all about recovery so I'll try and sum up my past week. Bear with me as this is quite long.

Day 1 was all about hanging onto the group as they pushed up the side of lake Gardia. The camp opened with a hard pace, something of a tradition I'm told. I managed to hold on in there, wondering how the rest of the week was going to go if this was what I had to expect. The ride finished with an uphill time trial, not my greatest effort, I'd been working hard just to get to the bottom of the hill and there wasn't too much left. Rolling into the Trento hotel there were still plenty of training hours to go in the day, but I stuck to my plan of completing the camp minimum (to get the bonus 20 points at the end of the week) and was too nervous about expending energy this early by tacking on.

Day 2 involved a long climb out from Trento, about 40k to the summit from the base of the climb. I pushed quite hard early on, but out on my own the mind wandered and the pace eased. Randy caught up with me probably about 10k from the top and we helped push each other along. By the time we hit the top things had turned a bit wet (a feature of my training trips this year) and a change of kit was needed. The descent to lunch was fantastic with some stunning views over a valley. After lunch the groupetto got through a long drag to the base of the final climb by forming a paceline. That final climb was a bit of a sting in the tail to the route, we slogged up it, helped by John Ellis providing coke near the top.

Day 3 transferred us over to Cortina with a couple of big climbs on route. Whilst the likes of Gordo and Steven had already shot off from the main group, I was feeling good and started to push on ahead. Lesson learnt when I got lost though and the bunch caught me back up - there's no points for heading off that early if you can't get up the mountains ahead of everyone! The bunch split shortly after a drinks stop and whilst I worked to keep up with the front of it, it didn't last. Definitely would have been smarter to have stuck in the group earlier. The first climb, the Passa de Fedaia was hard work, but it was the second climb up the Passa di Giau that was the real highlight. At least I can say that in retrospect, at the time it was a unrelenting and brutal slog up a steep mountain. Once done it was pretty much all down hill to the next hotel.

Day 4 was comparatively easy to the previous day a ride to the pool and a more enjoyable ride back home taking in the full range of road surfaces on the bike path. It provided a bit more of a test of my bike handling skills than the road, but it was a fun change. I opted not to climb Scott's surprise once again wanting to save energy for completing the week. That and the weather wasn't looking good so it was definitely time to push home. Generally the runs weren't the highlight of my day, but the bike trail behind the hotel gave some fantastic views over the mountains. Starting out on the uphill run with tired legs was a struggle, but I kept the fact it was all downhill from the halfway point in mind.

Day 5 was the recovery day which means still doing quite a bit of training, getting that 50 minute run in, that 3k swim and 60k of biking. I decided to go with John on his 45k loop for my ride. When I heard 45k loop I imagined a scenic cruise round smooth roads taking in mountain views. I hadn't imagined a 10k climb up a pass with signs indicating the road was at 12%. Nor did I imagine following that with a descent in torrential rain that would leave me freezing cold. I may not have been going for points by tacking on, but to get the minimum I still needed 15k on the bike. Cue running back into the hotel, changing into full winter kit and rushing back out into the rain to ride up and down the flattest section of road I could to meet 15k! That was definitely an exclusive Epic Camp moment, no chance I'd have done that back home.

Day 6 opened with rain, I'm sick of rain and was relieved when the original opening ride to the pool was dropped for a trip in the van. Admittedly in the spirit of Epic Camp when Jonathan jokingly told me there was double points for those who rode to the pool I did a mental calculation of my ability to tolerate the rain for some extra points. The original plan involved an Aquathon, but weather stopped play and after a standard 3k swim we had a short (thank you Ian) 10k race. I was surprised at the pace I managed after all the training so far. That said my attempt to chase down Steven in the last couple of kilometres didn't leave much in my legs for the climb of the day.

We'd been warned that the Passo Delle Erbe was the toughest climb of the week. My tired legs helped it meet that reputation. I spent most of the climb riding about 20m behind Jo. Clearly not having the best of days on the bike either we both helped each other over the pass. Me trying to chase Jo down and her trying to drop me. The reward for this climb was an amazing long descent from just short of 2000m to around 200m.

Day 7 and by now it's about survival, fatigue is setting in, but I'm determined to complete the camp. After doing a run tour of the city of Bolzano and a trip to the pool it was a long ride to the base of the Stelvio. I was not in the best of ways on the bike and spent a lot of time hanging on to the back of the group. I reached the bottom of the Stelvio just wanting the ride to be over and whilst the climb was stunning, my mood didn't do it justice. Still I got through it and enjoyed a hot dog at the top. It was too late for us to attempt the Gavia as well, I have to admit at the time I wasn't disappointed.

At this point it looked like the camp completion was in the bag. Just day 8 to complete and that was a hill run race, a final swim and a cruise home. Things very nearly went wrong as it turned out my watch had switched back to the UK time zone. I happened to look out the window and see everyone ready to run, then when I realised they were heading out for the race it was a mad dash to catch them back up and get the race in. Adrenaline helped me work my way past a few of the guys and I was relieved to have just made the final run.

The ride home was less of a cruise than I'd been hoping, the pace was high and you needed to keep yourself in the line. When things did break up I was grateful that John was there to pull Randy and I along. After the first drinks station things broke up and as on several days this week Randy and I found ourselves riding together. We tried to catch the main group, but couldn't quite bridge to them. Scott was glad we hadn't after he injured himself in a crash with the bunch. When the bike path seemed to run out and we were back on the road I just wanted to get home. So it was time to push hard and just get the job done, I kept the pace up as hard as I could afraid to take it easy in case I couldn't get my rhythm back. On the outskirts of Verona as we debated the route home, John came flying past and we rode the last few kilometres on his wheel. Back to the hotel and job done!

Overall it was an amazing week. I trained at a volume and level I hadn't tried before. The support throughout was excellent and it was great to not have to worry about anything but getting through the sessions. The Dolomites were a fantastic region to ride in with some of the best climbs I've ever done. The company was great too, even if nobody wanted to share a room with me because of my cough! Being surrounded by such a strong group of athletes only helped get a little bit more out of me.

I'm planning to come to Epic New Zealand next year, healthy next time and fitter. I've completed all the workouts in a camp, so next time I'll have to see how much more I can do.

Day 7 - The Stelvio

I pretty much covered the cycling to the Stelvio in my quick update a couple days ago. There will be some great picture up on the sight shortly if they are not there already. I'll try to add some here as well. Prior to hitting the Stelvio we had a quick 50 minute run through town. I ran with Steven and Gordo and what must have been a painfully slow pace for them but enjoyed being able to converse easily due to the leisurely pace. After the run we grabbed breakfast then took a quick 8 minute spin on the bikes down to the pool which was of course a 50 meter outdoor pool. Actually the facility had two 50 meter outdoor pools and diving platforms and waterslides and what seemed like 3000 lockers. The 11 of us had our on 50 meter pool which sure was nice. I decided to take advantage of the cold temps to swim in my wetsuit. Many of the campers have been using wetsuits as most of the pools up here in the mountains have a water temp in the 70s. I tried a couple swim tips Molina and Gordo had been throwing around the prior day and they really seemed to help as I swam my fastest 3 km ever. After the swim we had feed from the back of the van in the parking lot and then it was off to the Stelvio as reported previously. One thing I didn't mention was that we had a van ride back to Bolzen after climbing the Stelvio. Jo and Steven actually decided to descend back the way we came up to get a few more points for more cycling miles and I can't blame. We all certainly earned the downhill distance on the climb up but the rest of us were too cold/shelled to join them. Molina was asleep before we hit the first switchback in the car and the rest of us were pretty quiet as well. We picked up Jo and Steven at the base and motored back to Bolzen. Dinner was awfully satisfying.

Epic Italy - Day 6 Cortina - Bolzen

I'm sitting here in the Munich airport quite bleary eyed and trying to recollect what's taken place over the past few days. 54+ hours of training over eight days including 24km of swimming, 620 miles of cycling more uphill than downhill and 54 miles of hilly runny have left this Epic camper a we bit fatigued, not to mention our assault, albeit a weak one, on the downtown Verona nightlife yesterday evening. I think I got to bed around midnight but Gordo and I had to leave the hotel at 5 am to go to the airport for the flight from Verona to Munich. By now he's probably over the Atlantic enroute to Denver then Boulder. I've got another hour before my flight departs for Charlotte. Some of what I write below may be a bit chronologically challenged but it's how I remember it at the moment.

On another note, I appologize for the typographical errors throughout this entire blog. Just haven't had the time, energy or mental faculty to keep it nice and tidy. I thought about cleaning it up but decided not to as it illustrative of the kind of condition we're all in.

Day 6 - Cortina to Bolzano/Bolzen via Paso d'Erbe
The plan for this day was to bike 55km downhill to the pool then hold an aquathon followed by a challenging ride over the Paso d'Erbe to Bolzano. We awoke to heavy cold rain and no one objected when Molina sensibly said we ought to just drive down to the pool otherwise we were all going to be hypothermic by 9 am and out of one change of clothes. Hard to remember now but I'm pretty sure Jo was out running for an hour plus that morning. Actually I think she stumbled in a fairly dark tunnel on a rock and banged her knee up pretty badly. Hard core running at 6 am through dark tunnels in the rain.

So we had some breakfast, loaded the bikes in one of the vans and motored down to the pool. Turns out they don't take the cover off the 50 meter pool when it raining so we then treked over to an indoor 25 meter pool. Like all the aquatic facilities we've utilized it was first rate. Logistically it wasn't feasible to have us running in and out of this "club" for an aquathon so the plan was changed to a regular swim session followed by a 10km run. I swam in a lane with Anthony and Randy from New York and Douglass. We were the grupetto of the pool for the last few days of camp but got in our 3km.

The 10km run would award points for placing as well as for estimating your finishing time (we weren't allowed to wear a watch). I conservatively estimated 42 minutes given the training we've been doing plus not wanting to risk overstressing my tender adductors/hamstrings. Very quickly after the start things assumed there natural order with Gordo in the lead followed by Newsome, Molina and Stephen. Not sure who was where after that but I know Randy, Douglass and I were in the final three spots and we completed the first of two laps. As Gordo passed by I could hear him breathing heavily and saw a determined look on his face. He's living up to his goal of shooting for the fastest average speed at this camp as opposed to just accumulating volume. Molina also looked great. It's nice to see him running well after knee surgery last year. I managed to get by Douglass on the last lap, more due to his indifference than any speed on my part, but it was nice to not finish last in a running event. To say I'm not known for my short course speed would be an understatement. Fortunately I don't slow down much over the longer distances so I'm not half bad at the ironman distance. As I pushed to the finish I had a feeling that I was going a good bit quicker than my estimate and I suppose I should have backed off from a points perspective but my leg had really loosened up after the first 5km and it felt so good to just be running free that I drove it home. Turns out the course was short. I think my time was around 37 minutes which I was very happy with.

After the run we had a quick feed then were onto the bikes to hit the paso d'Erbe. I don't have the stats on the climb, all I can say is it took about and hour and was very challenging. Gordo, Steven and John Newsome led the charge. The rest of us were together at the base. Molina and I separated and when he stopped to take off some clothing I managed to get a gap. I was pushing pretty hard as I could and holding my heart rate up around 150. The climb goes up for something like 7 km, then descends for a bit before heading upward for several more km. Julie came by in the van just as I was hitting the second ascent and took my spare clothing off which lightened the load considerably. I pressed on with no one else in sight ahead or behind, but of course the Terminator will be back. Somewhere in the last 2km I looked back and saw Molina a few hundred meters back and coming fast. I called down to the engine room, gave it all I had and managed to hold him off. If the climb had been another 500 meters the placing would have changed. Hammering at almost 7,000 feet is pretty aerobically challenging and I saw my highest heart rate of the camp at over 160. It was pretty satisfying to hold him off even if my original gap was to him taking a leisurely break to remove his jacket. One the great things about these camps is having all these little races during the day that give you a chance to push yourself and have fun. I'm neither 10% the athlete nor 10% as tough as the Terminator and I'm pretty sure he could have hauled me in well before if he had chosen to do so. Instead, he gave me then chance to really push myself by waiting until the last minute to come at me.

If your interested in the profiles of any of these climbs there a website www.climbbybike.com that has profiles of many of them.

From the top of the Erbe we had an awesome descent toward Brixen before turning south to Bolzen. The road was barely wide enough for one car and the surface was excellent. I was by myself and just really enjoyed getting into the rythm of descending. For the most part the only other traffic was a few cyclists and motorcycles.

I got turned around a bit at the bottom and ended up riding a bit further but fortunately the last stretch was downwind so I rather enjoyed cruising along. I think the ride was around 110 km but don't honestly remember.

Bolzen is very German and the staff at our hotel spoke German. The sun was out when I arrived and they had a great little pool behind the hotel adjacent to vineyards of which the hills seem to be covered with in this area. I took advantage of the sun for a little tanning. Johnathan and Anthony were also working or restoring their Vitamin D levels and Johnathan also had a nice glass of beer. At some point the discussion turned to pushups so I decided to see if I could knock out a few in my fatigued state. I got to 30 and that seemed adequate.

We had dinner at the hotel that evening which I recall as being very satisfying but don't remember exactly what it was. After a few of us grabbed a drink at the bar then it was off to bed with dreams of the Stelvio dancing in our heads.

I think I covered the Stelvio in my last update and I'm sure Scott will have a good report. Pictures should be up shortly.

The day before we hit the Stelvio the plan

Quick Update

I will have a more detailed post later on days 6 and 7, probably on Tuesday after I'm back home in North Carolina. Suffice it to say the Stelvio was a good as advertised today. About a 90 km role to the start into the wind gaining over 2000 feet. Then 25 km to the top of the Stelvio climbing about 900 meters elevation to over 2700 meters (9000 feet). Temp was 2 centigrade with flurries in the air. Didn't get cold except for my hands which were numb and prevented me from zipping up my jersey for a proper photo as I reached the top of the climb. Had a machiato in the bar and warmed up. Then we all feasted on warm saugsage with sauerkraut and mustard from a roadside vendor and the top complemented by a nice wheat beer out of Munich. The view from up there was incredible. Still lots of snow and a few folks were skiing. The picture on the Epic site doesn't do it full justice. That's just the last portion of the 48 switchbacks it takes you to get to the top. When you're at the bottom of that section it looks like a vertical wall and you really can't imagine how you're going to ride up it. By the time we all got up there it was after 5 pm and it wasn't sensible (even by Epic standards) to take on the Gavia. That will give me a reason to come back. Gordo off course led the charge, with Steven Lorde next then Newsome, Molina and then me a few minutes back. I kept expecting Jo to pop up on my wheel over the last 10 km and was looking down the mountain at every switchback to see if she was coming up. She wasn't far behind and if she hadn't run probably 3-4x as many miles as I have this camp I'm sure she would have handed it to me. She was 5th in her age group in Kona last year and I wouldn't want to have here in my age group at IM Wisconsin in September where she, Steven and possibly I will be representing Epic Camp. I've pretty good legs the past couple of days. I managed to hold Molina off over the Passo Erbe yesterday. He popped into view a couple km from the top and forced me to hit my highest heart rate ever in an Epic Camp to stay ahead of him. At dinner last night Gordo had promised a special prize to the first "normal" camper to make it to the top of the Stelvio. Normal being defined as anyone except (Gordo, Newsome, Molina or Steven who has wrapped up the Pink jersey as points leader). I gave it all I had and was surprised that I was able to keep my heart rate about 5 bpm over my normal ironman bike average for the whole climb. The prize ended up being the polka dot jersey Gordo has wrapped up by being first over every KOM this camp. I feel a bit bad accepting it but he says he already has another. To be honest, it means a lot more to me than another ironman finishers medal ever would. Off too bed now. 5 km uphill running race tomorrow am (that might be more like a hike for me :), breakfast, bike to the pool for 3km swim (beautiful cold pool so I'll use the wetsuit) then hopping on the Gman freight train for a fast 150km down to Verona, pack the bags for my 6:30 am flight and hit the town with boys and girls to celebrate.

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.

Epic Italy Day 4 - Up and Running Again

I’m sitting in the lobby of our hotel in Cortina in at 5 am on Thursday (I think it’s Thursday I’m sure it’s day 5 of Epic Camp). Before I get into my report on yesterday I have to share something amusing that just happened uber climber Jo just came down to put here Garmin GPS outside to let it locate a signal before she and Steven took of for a run and she walked smack into a glass door on the way out. Given her petite figure it reminded me of a small bird just plowing into a window. I wouldn’t say it if I hadn’t done the same thing more times than I care to remember. It probably had more to do with it being 5 am than anything else but I suspect there’s a little fatigue involved as well as the little lady has been racking up some most impressive running and cycling mileage. Her volume on those two is higher than anyone else on the camp except perhaps Steven. Fatigue does set in as these camps progress and leads to some amusing behavior: (i) complete abandonment of strict nutritional regimens in favor of nutella, candy and chips: (ii) reduced fine motor skills such as an inability to get your helmet put on and (iii) poor judgment which probably had a lot to do with my two crashes at Epic France. When you are fatigued and your mental and physical skills are further off their peak than you realize, you can get yourself into to some real trouble coming off the top of these mountains on your bike.

Day 4 was another great day. I awoke early and my legs felt recovered enough to go for 10km at 6 am after taking the past two days off to leg with leg condition improve. They are still sore and a bit tight and I took it easy wanting to avoid a relapse. I ran on a path that was partially paved and partially crushed rock that runs behind our hotel and up the valley through some woods. It was really pleasant out and right at the 5 km mark I came to a tunnel going into the mountain. It looked a bit sketchy for my tastes (perhaps fatigue had my mind conjuring up images of ogres from the Lord of the Rings) so I decided to head back into town. It was gently uphill on the way out and downhill on the way back. I kept my heart rate in the 120-130 range and plodded along at 8:30 miles or so.

After the run we had breakfast at 7:30 and then all mounted our bikes for a 55 km ride down to Brunico to swim. The ride took us up a climb from 1200 meters elevation here in Cortina to 1500 meters then we descended into Brunico which I think is around 800 meters elevation. Today’s pool swim finished with the 4 x 100 IM competition for points. Someone else will have to tell you who the top finishers were. I’m not positive but am quite confident that my record of finishing last in each of the 4 x 100 IM’s I’ve at Epic Camps remains intact. Usually I am slow but can get through the butterfly ok. That was not the case today and while I didn’t stop and hang on the lane line my recovery was barely above water after 25 meters. It’s a pretty comical sight and I have happy to provide some entertainment. Douglass our speedy cardiologist from Auckland who turned (49?) earlier in the camp and will be heading to Kona in October dryly stated that he now knew what a drowning man looked like. Another camper said the lifeguard had gotten out of his chair and was looking concerned. I hope so-I was struggling. I think everyone did 3 km except Steven who continues to bring it with 6 km for a 3 point swim. Needless to say we were in another immaculate 50 meter outdoor pool in the mountains. This one had an aluminum bottom and looked like they most drain and polish it every night. A few of the lads were a bit taken by the attendant a petite woman in a leather jacket and a cap.

After the swim we had breakfast in the parking lot outside the pool. As usually Julie Wright had hooked us up with a bountiful selection of options. I went with turkey and avocado on pita along with a couple tins of rice pudding and some salmon. Several of the campers took off quickly on the 55km ride to get back to Cortina for some rest. Another group of us Gordo, Molina, Steven, Jo, Russell from the UK and Randy from NY took the scenic route. It turned out to be unbelievable. We were on a bike path riding through a fairy tale countryside. The path was paved at some points, packed dirt at others and also had crushed stone sections and clearly had been well maintained although I could have used a mountain bike given the surface. The path was mostly in wooded areas paralleling streams, lakes and little waterfalls taking us through tunnels and quaint Bavarian villages that look like the Bavarian village you would see at a theme park except these were real. This area may be part of Italy but it is German for all intents and purposes in language, architecture and dress. We saw a number of touring cyclists on the path and well as couples out just cruising. Apparently it runs all the way from Venice or Verona and into Austria. In one town the seemingly kids on their bikes everywhere. Molina ascertained that they were heading home from school for lunch. One of the youngsters was feeling pretty frisky and I think he was racing Gordo up a hill on his mountain bike. I couldn’t help but think of my wife Karen and our daughters Lindsay and Lauren and how much fun it would be to spend a holiday riding that path. It was sunny for this part of the ride and a really enjoyable relaxed pace was maintained.

After about 30 km the path rejoined the road and after another 5 km a decision had to be made. Molina had identified a nasty climb (the Auronzo) and originally the whole camp was going to do it but Newsome/Gordo wisely convinced him to make it optional. The climb main part of the climb is 6 or 7 km mostly at 14% or so with some portions kicking up closer to 20% as it takes you up over 7000 feet elevation. There was also a substantial lead that gains 1500 feet or so. The weather was not looking good with dark clouds all around but Scott, Steven, Jo and I decided you only live once and it was unlikely we’d ever get another shot so we packed as much clothing as we could carry went for it. It was a true Epic adventure as the rain came and came big. We slogged our way up the final portion into a driving rain averaging 6 to 8 mph with Scott in the front, Steven a bit back and Jo and I bringing up the rear. Seeing the names painted on the road from prior Giro d’Italias for the local heroes was motivating and honestly I didn’t want to be anywhere else. Climbs like that in tough conditions are what Epic camp is about for me. Having spent a half day riding around in the van while the other lads were training I was more than happy to be out riding in a driving cold rain. By the time I got to the top my hands were completely numb and I was soaked to the bone. Jo made the top just right behind me and let out a well deserved yell. Thankfully there was a restaurant at the top or your truly may ended up really hypothermic if we had descended immediately. I had to have Steven unbuckle my helmet as my hands were completely numb. I had a couple bowls of the best warm soup I can remember along with a cappuccino. Molina of course had a beer. The local beer here is called Horst and there is picture of the mountain we ascended on the label. Jo, Steven and I each had a bottle of that fine brew at dinner last night to celebrate. The restaurant had a wood burning stove and we sat next to it and laid on wet clothes on it to warm them up and dry them a bit. Fortunately the staff seemed happy to have us there and didn’t seem to mind that we were dripping water everywhere. We met a California native who had come to Italy to race bikes and liked it so much he bought a house and stayed. He said he had ridden the same climb a couple weeks ago and it was snowing. So we then descended off the pass (fortunately the rain had let up a bit but my teeth were still chattering) and turned left at the bottom to tackle the paso Tre Croci a pretty solid little climb after all the work we had done earlier in the day. From there it would be a short descent into Cortina for hot shower and good meal. I was having a hard time keeping up despite my legs feeling good at this point. Eventually I realized I had a puncture on my rear tire (that bike path was wonderful but not friendly for lightweight tires). Thankfully the rain had stopped and it had warmed up so I had a nice time changing the flat. Unfortunately my super lightweight carbon pump only seems to be able to get about 70 psi into my tires instead of my preferred 120.

So I was back onto the bike with about 10 km back to Cortina. About 3 km out I heard a big pop and my front tire went flat. As the Aussies say, no worries mate, I had another spare and changed it out and rolled back into Cortina. At that point I was feeling fresh so I decided to ride a bit more as I had “only” done 135 km and wanted to get in few more miles having had to cut Monday short due to my leg issues. I road about 13 km back up to 1500 meters elevation (this pass has a name but I can’t remember what it is) and turned around to give myself time to shower before dinner. After about 3-4 km my rear went flat again (I think it was a pinch flat due to the low pressure). Fortunately my mobile was working and I was able to reach Ian who brought the van and picked me up. It was a solid day after 8+ hours of training on Tuesday, today I had a 10km run, a 3 km swim and a 156 km ride that took about 6.5 hours. I know that sounds awfully slow but it was very steady. In these mountains you just can go uphill very fast and I’m taking it cautiously on the descents as I promised Karen I would.

Dinner was awesome as usual and the aforementioned beer sure was tasty.

Epic Italy Day 3-Back in the Saddle

Just a quick note here as I didn't sleep much at all last night, had a big day today and it's 9 pm. This thing with my leg that keeps recurring is really bizzare in that it seems to get very bad and then much better very quickly. I was able to walk somewhat normally this morning and even tried to run but thought better of that after a few steps as it was still pretty tight and sore. I was able to swim my 3 km at the same pool as yesterday.

Given that my leg was feeling better than yesterday morning I figured I'd give riding a try and ended up having an awesome day on the bike. We did a little over a hundred miles with around 13,000 feet of climbing including a couple significant climbs up to the Passa di Fedaia and the Passa di Giau. The di Giau is often on the route in the Giro d'Italia and there were a lot of messages painted on the road for the cyclists. I was strong enough to grab third place over the first pass for a few king of the mountain points and also nabbed a few more with a fifth over the second. Of course I had the advantage of having only ridden 49 km yesterday while others had done over 150km and I haven't been running which makes a big difference. Gordo led the way on both with Steven Lord in 2nd. On the first I was third and Jo Carritt was 4th. On the second one Jo and Molina took 3rd and 4th (not sure which order) with me in 5th and John Newsome in 6th. We got some great photo at the top of the passes. They should be up on the web in the next few days.

It was pretty amazing riding today as there was still a lot of snow around up at 6 - 7,000 feet. We're staying in an awesome hotel in Cortina d'Ampezzo which is one of the most beautiful places I have ever been. Our hotel is very comfortable and clearly caters to skiers in the winter and cyclists in the summer. Big room with a balcony and view overlooking a rapidly flowing mountain stream and monstrous mountains in the background. Dinner was as good as last night. Portions were still hearty but much more reasonable. Fresh salad, more gnocchi with spinach, and steak and some apple struddle complemented by a nice beer and a glass of wine.

Hopefully I'll have more time to write tomorrow.

Epic Day 2

It's a little after 3 am Tuesday morning. I think I said in my prior writeup that yesterdays ride alone made the trip worthwile. It seems that statement may be put to the test. Day 2 did not going so well for me. I woke up with adductors/hamstrings on my left leg very tight/spasming and really could barely walk. This has been a recurring problem for me over the past year. It seems to flare up every month or so at the most inopportune times. It happened the weekend before IM Arizona in April and again in May before a half ironman in Florida. Fortunately it usually frees up after a few days to a week. After this trip I'm going to get some medical advice to try and identify the cause see if I can get a strength/stretching program to address it. Notwithstanding that I could barely walk I did get in a 3 km swim at 6:30. It was a bit tough as I couldn't kick at all but the view from the pool was worth it. It was a clean 50 meter pool surrounded by mountains and the sun was out. After the swim I had some breakfast (italians do coffee/espresso very well) then John Ellis our resident masseuse worked on my leg. That did some good so I decided to try to ride. Getting my leg over the top tube was quite a challenge but I managed and rolled out. I didn't think I was that bad but one of our support crew/resident mother hen told me afterwards that my left leg was kicked way out on the bike and I looked pretty sad. After a quick traverse through Trento it was onto the mountains. In short order I was out the back and my leg was getting worse. I was ready to call it a day after an hour but unfortunately our trail vehicle thought I was with a group up ahead so I pushed. At least the scenery was nice. These mountains have a rugged beauty with lots of exposed rock walls/waterfalls and the area is quite green due to all the recent rain. After an hour and a half it was raining, I was cold and couldn't find any of the towns I was coming through on my route map. The last thing I wanted to do was ride an extra hour in the rain in the wrong direction with a bum leg:) Fortunately I was going the right way. about 2.5 hours into the ride john ellis doubled back to look for me. He found me about 2 km from the top of our first king of the mountains climb. I was more than ready to climb into the car but he said "just a bit farther to the top mate and sped off". I made it to the top the almost fell over when I stopped and tried to put weight on my left leg. The next challenge was get off the bike-the leg wasn't going over the top tube that's for sure. Fortunately my wits were still about me so we took the from wheel off, turned the handlebars sideways, and slid the bike out from under me. So I got into 2.5 hours riding but only 45 km as it was all uphill and I wasn't exactly flying. I think my bike computer said there was 4500 feet or so of climbing to that point.For the rest of the day I was in the car watching the other campers put in a great effort. On the descent off that first climb we had an amazing view of the valley from over a 1000 meters up. John Ellis stopped the car for a photo. Hopefully it will do the scene justice. It was pretty miserable in the rain and a long day as we started riding around 10 am and they were finishing between 5 and 6 pm. An impressive effort by one and all and the boys (and girls) are doing a good job of picking each other up.Gordo is still looking very strong. He was off the front all day and looking very comfortable. I believe John Newsome, Stephen and Molina were next over the first climb. Stephen widened his points lead with a 6 km swim and added on 20km on the bike to get to 180 km/112 miles. I'm pretty sure he would have kept going to 210 for a couple more points but he bumped up against the 12 hour rule we have - you must finish your days training within 12 hours of starting your first session. Our female camper Jo continues to rack up the run miles - after 10 km Sunday morning and another 30 or so in the afternoon she ran to the pool 10km swam and then ran back. Solid.My leg got pretty awful up through dinner last night. Could barely walk. I havn't been able to sleep much but have been stretching massaging and taking magnessium (muscle relaxer) and ibuprofen antiinflamatory and it is really freeing up. I am hopeful that I'll be riding again in a couple days.I'll probably sleep a good bit in the car tomorrow. Our support crew includes Ian and Julie Wright who moved from the UK to start Pyrenees Multisport - kind of a B and B/training facility. Ian was on our support crew in France. Julie reminds one of Mary Poppins with a bubbly attitude and a lovely accent and has taken to calling me "hop along" given my funny current gait. She's also a bit of a mother hen and has been going out of here way to make me comfortable. John Ellis from New Zealand, Ian and Julie really are the best - you could not ask for anything more in a support crew.Our dinners have been in restaurants and the past two nights they have not been lacking in quality or quantity. Last night we started off with a salad then they brought out a rather large plate for each of us with lasagna, fettucine with mushrooms and a wonderful gnocchi mixed with spinach. This was more than a meal in itself and they also brought out 3 more family style plates of the same items. Those weren't even fully eaten and that's saying something with 11 Epic Campers who just had a very big day.As if that was not enough they then brought each of us a medium sized piece of chicken and steak and toped it off with dessert which was I think a tart and a piece of apple struddel for each of us. I also had a shot of lemoncello as Molina was offering and a very good birra. Although we are technically in Italy, the area is very German. For instance the water we had was Kaiser Dolomiti bottled in Italy but with the label in German. A large portion of the Dolomites was actually part of Germany prior to WWI and a majority of the schools teach in German.Well, that's probably enough for now.

Epic Italy Day 1

Day 1 was pretty sweet. We started at 5:30 am with a 6.5 mile run through Verona which is a very beautiful town. For someone from the U.S. it's pretty cool to run through a place where 90% of the architecture was constructed before the Mayflower landed. A lot of the run was along a river that was flowing pretty quickly due to much recent rain.

We then headed to the pool for a 3 km swim with a 2km time trial. I wasn't last in the swim :). That may be a first for me in any swimming event at an Epic Camp. Did my 2km in just over 32 minutes with a wetsuit just cruising. After the swim we had a nice breakfast and headed out on the bike for our ride. It was a bit overcast early on but became sunny and warm. Most of the ride was along the Eastern shore of Lake Garda. The scenery along the lake was incredible-simply gorgeous. There were cliffs on both sides, lots of sailboats and small towns with people enjoying the weather. Molina said it would be a great place to have a triathlon and he's right. We saw lots of Italina vehicles both gasoline powered (Ferraris and Ducattis) and human powered - cyclists of all varieties were out in force and full of good cheer. We didn't see it but apparently there was a Granfondo today with a couple thousand cyclist. I believe a Grandfondo is an organized ride, not technically a race but times are recorded. Gordo said he expected to see Roger Moore pop out along the lake with all the high dollar vehicles, Italian fashion and multimillion Euro residences on dispaly.

After about 60 miles we stopped for a quick snack then did an 11 mile uphill time trial. Gordo pulled 75 percent of the way to that point most of it around 25 mph and we made good time averaging 22 mph into a strong wind including all the time where we slowed to a crawl through the towns. In the time trial I wasn't last but I was alos far from first. Gordo is very fit and focused on bike speed for this camp and took first in the TT. Stephen, a camper from London nabbed second with Molina and John Newsome rounding out the top 4. Molina can still hammer along with several others in our group including our one female camper, Jo. She's from London and while she might be the lightest camper she's not lacking in power. I think she was 5 or 6th in the TT and abused a few male egos including mine. I think I was 8th of 11.

After the TT we had a quick 10km downhill to Trento where we're staying for the next two nights. On that descent we went through a very long tunnel at up to 40 mph. With the low lighting and cars whizzing by it felt like Space Mountain at Disney World. We had lunch in Trento. Pita and canned salmon with mustard and dill for me. Yummy. After that some folks called it a day and a few went to the pool for another swim. John Newsome who will be racing pro at Roth in July decided to go do another 30km to scout out tomorrow's route as he is in charge of logistics in addition to participating in the camp. More importantly he has the pink jersey as points leader and wanted the extra point for going up to 150km/93 miles. Stephen (Steven not sure on the spelling) was off on a 2 hour 40 minute run after running 10km this morning that ultimately put him a half point ahead of John and took the Pink Jersey. I joined John for the additional 30 km as it was only 2:30 pm. That was probably not the best idea as I have been fighting some recurring issues with my left quad/adductors which are ominously tight tonight. We had a little rain which was refreshing. The ride took us through the center of Trento where there were quite a few folkd out for Sunday walks. Cars are very considerate to cyclists over here. They normally give one quick honk to let you they are behind you then pass with plenty of clearance. Many pedestians will cheer for you. After our extra 30km John asked if I wanted to join him for another swim. I passed as I'm trying to avoid getting "point fever". For those of you who don't know, we have a points competition. I won't bore you with the details but basically the farther you go and the better you do in our time trials the more points you get. So day one went pretty well with 3km swim, 93 miles bike and 6.7 mile run. About six hours of training. Only 7 more days to go. I thought the scenery today alone justified the entire trip but according to John who has scouted all the routes it is going to get much better.

Epic Round 3

This is my third Epic Camp but will be my first time blogging. Hopefully some of you will find it to be intersting reading but mostly I want to record my thoughts for my own benefit. I'm presently sitting in the Munich airport awaiting a connection to Verona to kick off Epic Italy.



Here's a brief bit about my background. I started competing in triathlons in 2001 as a way to get into shape. I went quickly from being unable to run 2 miles without walking to completing my first Ironman in 2002. In 2004 I somehow convinced Scott Molina to coach me and with his help was able to realize a dream of qualifying for and competing in the Hawiian Ironman.



My first Epic Camp was Australia in 2005. It was one of the greatest experiences of my life. Meeting all the campers along with training at volumes I never before had imagined were the highlights. The camp really benefited me physiologically and psychologically and I believe had a lot to do with a great race in Kona in October 2005.



My second Epic Camp was in France in 2006. It was an amazing trip with incredible cycling. The first half of the camp went very well for me and I was feeling very strong. Unfortunately a couple of crashes on the bike left me with a lot of road rash and bruised or broken ribs which made it very difficult to sleep. Being unable to sleep my body slowly wore down and I ended up with food poisoning as well. Epic is supposed to be about exploring your limits and I sure found mine. I managed to keep grinding through the next to last day of camp where I did the whole ride by myself as I couldn't keep up with anyone else and couldn't take in any nutrition other than Sprite. I spent the last day on that trip in the van with Johnny as I was totally d0ne. That was the first time I ever got in the "van". I was as shelled as I've ever been after that trip but somehow managed to regroup enough to have a decent race in Kona.



2007 was a year focused on family and work as I took and new job and moved with my family to Charlotte, North Carolina. We're settled in now and I think my body has finally recovered from Epic France (it only took 2 years), so I'm heading back to Europe to redeem myself.



I'm turning 40 this year and this trip is a present from my wife who is back home taking care of our two wonderful daughters while I'm off trying to slay my dragons. If nothing else, the memory of Epic France and the footage of the Giro d'Italia I've been watching have motivated me to get in shape. Epic Camp scares me in a way that ironman doesn't. I can finish and ironman even if I'm 10 kilos over ideal race weight but I don't think I could get through Epic without being at a pretty high level of fitness. I've been very disciplined with my diet (dropped about 20 lbs since January 1) and done some great training over the past couple months to get ready. If I can just keep from laying the bike down on the tarmac, I may just survive :).