English
I’m sitting typing this in a cafe in Palma airport in Majorca at the end of a really great week’s training. My coach Steve Lumley has been running a two-week camp out here and I joined him and about a dozen other athletes for the final week of swimming, biking and running in the sun. Yes, I know it’s hardly been five minutes since landing back in Blighty from Oz but I was keen to keep up the momentum with another solid training week and get to know Steve better as I’ve only been working with him since the end of last year.
The riding here was fantastic with stunning scenery, great hills and very cyclist-friendly motorists (not something you find in Oz). I think my favourite ride was Sa Calobra on Thursday which I’d say probably qualifies as the toughest climb I’ve done yet. With 10k’s of steep switchbacks at gradients I’d dread to calculate, it definitely kicks the butt off Obi Obi (a tough one near Noosa) and was more challenging than the climbs in Lanzarote. This was a great baptism of fire for my new Focus Cayo Lightweight, which I’d only picked up from Wiggle HQ the week before, and the two of us are bonding very nicely.
I think there’s something about tackling a mammoth climb which leads to great bonding moments between rider and bike, especially if (a) the climb has been hyped up by those around you as an unconquerable beast so trepidation levels are high and (b) the scenery around you is so beautiful.
Majorca wasn’t all about the bike, though. I was dead chuffed to also get some good running in. For the first time in what seems like a long time I was able to run off the bike pain-free. Well, there was plenty of pain but just not pain in any of my injury sites – yippee! ;-)
Happy training
EK