Italian training

Managed to slip out of the country last week for a cheeky high vol week in Italy on a Steve Trew camp. Great group of people as usual. My lats are still recovering from a little more swim volume than normal, thanks to Dan from Swim4tri who was also out there coaching at the camp. Pleased to be able to hit a solid week of training with fairly minimal recovery from IMUK.

Nice to be back in the UK again though, and its made me realise how close the next race is... Kona is two weeks tomorrow!

Cesenatico 2008

I'm finally feeling better. Until last week wednesday I was still pretty much off training, but now that period seems a world away. I've just got off the phone from one of the specialist sports docs from Pure Sports Medicine (amazing integrated sports medicine outfit in London - www.puresportsmed.com) who confirmed that I've probably been suffering from post-viral fatigue, following my miserable January virus which knocked me out for 2 weeks. Epic camp off the back of 6 days recovery after that probably wasn't the best way to recovery, and hence I found Feb and March hard going, and April a complete write-off training (and racing-wise). The shins are doing ok ... the rest helped that too - and the fatigue was probably the main reason that they kicked off in the first place.

But now that's all in the past, and I've just finished a week's solid 'test' training here in Italy to make sure I am back on form. Only my run feels a bit sluggish, unsurprising given 6 weeks of little or no running, but my cycling and swimming are feeling good. With another 6 days in Italy (and GLORIOUS sunshine so far) I'll see how I cope with some longer sessions :) I love this stuff! Its also with a great group of people (and some incredible athletes), and all very relaxed. Just finished my rest day (total 6kmin the pool and that was it!), now we're headed down the beach to a local pizzeria for dinner. Ciao!

Italian hills

Italy was awesome. Got some really solid training in, met some great folks and got a great tan :) The Nove Colli at the weekend was fun. I was trying to be disciplined by doing my long ride and long run mid-week so that I could just do the 140km ride as my hill ride... the aim was to be too tired to carry on to the 200km ride (9 hills instead of just 4), to keep my training more specific. Took the first few hours easy, letting the crowds of cyclists (11000 took part) dictate the pace so by the time i got to the turn off in a leisurely 4 hours, it was clear that I was going to carry on. The crowds cleared a bit so the pace could pick up a bit, but my slow descending (much improved on last year, but still not so hot) and a TT bike made the downhills long! Finished off the day in about 7:45 which was a nice solid training day, and importantly not feeling too wasted!!! The day after was a bit different... casual ride to a wine cellar for a long lunch. Somehow we covered 75kms (including another stop for ice cream!) ... the wine certainly helps!

Managed to get back to the UK thanks to some nifty flight rescheduling by Mr Trew to avoid the Italian air traffic controllers strikes!! Overall very good camp, got my motivation back post return to UK. Lots of great ideas for training and thinking it may be time to upgrade the bike....

End of week 1

A week gone already... unbelievably quick. Weather's been beautiful hitting mid 30's every day so far. Camp is great fun, with emphasis on fun... this is not Epic!!! But that's exactly why I'm here... for a bit of consistency and moderate volume with nice weather to break the return to the UK. Motivation has definitely returned following the week of jet lag and feeling off the first week back to the UK. Good quality sessions being done, kept most of my key sessions in last week as well as trying out some of the speedwork and more interesting run workouts - I am hoping to pick up some session tips to drag back some top end on the run. Complete mix of abilities on the camp which makes it really nice and relaxed. Restday today acieved with great success by the pool :)

Cesentico

Day one in Italy... man, its beautiful here. Got in late yesterday to some great food ... a very good sign. Early morning speedwork, followed by a gentle few km's (9km) to warm down preceded breakfast, then a technique swim (2.5km), lunch, short but well paced ride with a couple of decent climbs to ease us in (62km), topped off with a cool down technique swim (2.5km) and now off to dinner. Quite leisurely - and well appreciated. I'm feeling loads better than last week now... amazing what some sunshine (hit 32 degrees today) and some beautiful scenery can do for you. Will try to get some photos up soon. Ciao.