Girona Trip Report Part I

I am heading home on a flight from Barcelona, Spain after spending the past week living in the Old Town of Girona and cycling and running in some of the most ideal conditions and landscape I have had the pleasure to train in. This was a trip I had planned since last fall. It was designed as a 40th birthday present/trip for George, but being the location and the extent of the travel, I obviously could not keep it a secret. It has been something that I have been looking forward to do for years. Ever since I met George and he had the desire to go to Girona, the second home of so many pro cyclists like Lance Armstrong, Floyd Landis, Tyler Hamilton, Michael and Dede Barry and Christian Vande Velde to name a few. George had an “in” in Girona as he became friendly with Christian’s wife, Leah Vande Velde in Boulder a few years back, so he contacted her and told her we would be visiting in April. Talk about an ideal trip! I had an apartment right in the Old Town, on the river and we had connections so that we could easily find rides and meet up with people that have lived there for years. Of course, nothing in life goes exactly as planned, so it ended up that the week we planned was also the Tour of Georgia, so while Leah was in Girona, many of the cyclists were in America racing. Oh well…no worries…would have been cool to see some of the best cyclists in the world training in Girona, but we still had Leah to meet up with and get info from and we still had each other, and we travel really well together. Oh, and one more thing…George was leading the Spring Series Cycling Event in New York, and he wasn’t just leading his classification, but he was leading THE ENTIRE series…Pro 1, 2, 3 division as well. So, we stayed in New York the weekend we were supposed to leave, George raced and won (again) and we headed out to Spain. No worries…except that we found out that racing at the last race of the series (at the end of our trip) could clinch the series win and he could celebrate with the team and receive the accolades of an awesome accomplishment. Like I said, nothing goes exactly as planned. Can’t complain, I guess…we were in Girona, which is unbelievable as I’ll describe, BUT I felt really bad about George missing that last weekend of the spring series. It’s a big accomplishment and I would have liked to be there the last day as well. Did I say that nothing in life goes exactly as planned?
So we packed our bags and headed to Spain. Left Sunday at 5PM arrived in Barcelona Monday at 7:30AM. Wow…I hadn’t been to a foreign country in a while. Getting off the plane, getting the bike boxes, trying to find the shuttle to the rental car, trying to find our way out, trying to get to Girona (neither of us speak the language) it’s not exactly easy. When we arrived in Girona and FINALLY found our apartment (Girona‘s Old Town is lined with cobble streets and cars are restricted from coming in. It is literally an ancient city that can sometimes seem like a maze!) Once we found it, we realized that we couldn’t get in to our apartment, SO we headed to a pay phone and call David Lloret, the owner of the apartment (Riverside Apartments). After David gave us the instructions, we found a parking spot outside the cobbled city and dragged our luggage to our apartment and up the 3 flights of stairs in a stairway a little wider than George’s shoulders! After that, we went back to the car and got the bike boxes, making and absolute racket dragging them over cobblestones and to the apartment. One by one we got them upstairs…they just fit up the stairway! By the time we walked to the market and bought some groceries, then ate dinner (people start sitting down for dinner at 8:30 PM) we went to bed and crashed for the night. No riding that day.
So I’ll break up this trip report as it may become too lengthy to take. This is entitled Part one and I’ll cover the first two riding days after our travel day. Day One of training: We meet up with Leah Vande Velde. OK, we were supposed to meet Leah at 10 AM at the Cathedral (right near our apartments). After running up and down several ancient flights of stairs, going back to the apartment (up 3 flights) and e-mailing her to find out we were in the wrong spot (we had no phone, but she had a Blackberry) and going back out and all around the Cathedral we FINALLY found her an hour late as she waited with Uma, her new baby…nice job, eh? Leah was so patient and so great to us. We met up for some café con Leche and went over some cycling maps with routes from her trek Travel days (she was a guide). I was psyched. We had the whole trip planned as far as which routes we would do. This day was a loop out of Girona towards Ells Angels, a church nearby. This was a perfect first day. One gentle 12K climb right out of town and rollers through the countryside where cars are rarely, if ever seen, and little ancient towns that pop up every 10-15K. Wild flowers were out and the landscape was green with perfect blue skies. We rode 3 hours 15 min this day pretty easily (perfect for jet lag) and I ran 7 miles off the bike on the bike path in Girona leading Northwest through town as George took a nap. Once I returned, I had lunch waiting (thanks to George) we chilled a bit and went out to dinner. This night we went to Boira, recommended by Leah and by Michael Barry’s Blog page (our bible on the trip). We had Tapas, which is basically appetizers. We ordered many plates, not realizing that dinner was served upstairs starting at 8:30 PM. We were in bed and asleep by midnight ready for the next day of riding. A loop that including a long climb to the town of St. Hillary and down from there to some other towns before heading back to Girona.
Wednesday wake up at 8:00 AM and our soon to be typical morning of Omelets, toast, “jambon curado” and queso with café con Leche, of course (made by George). As I mentioned earlier, the apartment was located on the river that runs through town. It is as European as I can imagine. It was very simply decorated with a little kitchen that overlooked the river. We realized how “gluttonous” as we called it, Americans really are. Not that I can exclude myself from this description, because I am American and am gluttonous as well. We (Americans in general) do live “over-the-top” compared to the people living in Spain and in much of Europe, for that matter. Living in this little town really brought this to light. After breakfast we took our “civilized departure” of around 10:30 AM. The ride would end up being 4 hours long. We ended up having a hard time exiting the city (FINALLY got the hang of it on Thursday when Leah took us out). We got a bit lost and met up with two men that were on a ride. One was a cyclist that lived in Girona and one was a Turkish man that was a former pro triathlete. They took us through the country and got us to the road we needed to be on. Once we got on that road, our friends pulled off and George and I started our climb to St. Hillary. The climb was about 18-20K long which ended up being steady/hard climb, but nothing too terrible. We climbed it side-by-side. After about an hour and a half, we finished the climb and got some Cokes and took a break in the town of St. Hillary before descending down a windy and rolling descent another 24K past St. Hillary. Again, this ride was recommended on Michael Barry’s sight as well as by Leah. It was beautiful. The roads were empty and the scenery was green with wildflowers in the foothills and wooded as we climbed up the mountain. In the distance were the snow-capped Pyrenees Mtns. The ride was a perfect mix of rollers, a long climb, a descent followed by more rollers. I was hurting a bit on the rollers into town as George got a “second wind” and declared that he felt so good on the rollers that he could just hammer through them… ”GREAT”, I thought! Just what I want to do right now! I hung on and he seemed to ease up a bit knowing that many days were ahead. Once back at the apartment, I ran 5 miles off the bike with the last half hard/tempo, and again lunch was made at the apartment by George before he headed for a nap. What a day! We wandered around town that night and finally sat down for dinner at about 9-9:30 PM, then headed out to a café for some café con leche and gelato before heading to bed around midnight again. Living the “Euro pro life” is pretty sweet!
Pictures:
Top: Girona, where our apartment was;
Next in order: Countryside outside town, George climbing St. Hillary, me riding near Ells Angels

Ironman Arizona 2008

Two weekends ago I had the opportunity to watch Ironman Arizona. It had been many years since I have been able to watch, and not compete in, an Ironman and I was psyched! I could do my run in the morning and watch my friends compete without any pressure…how fun is that? I’ll have plenty of opportunity to race in the near future, so I figured I would enjoy this as much as possible! After two weeks of intense training in Tucson and then Tempe Arizona, I was looking forward to this day

All I had was an hour and a half run to do and then I had all day to cheer everyone on. Watching my friends get ready for the race did not (surprisingly) make me wish that I was competing. Instead, I tried to enjoy it with the thought that my day will soon come! Also, I was focused on the fact that the next day I was flying home and I was looking forward to it after being away for a while.
I watched the swim start and actually got a little chocked up! You would think that this would not happen, since it is an event that I compete in, but I was very moved at the start of the age-group race. The amount of participants is unreal and to see a mass start like that is unbelievable. After watching my friends exit the water, I met up with Megumi (a fellow Zoot team member) and ran on the IM course. WOW! It was WINDY!! I couldn’t imagine what it must have been like out on the bike course! From the reports it sounded brutal out there. Not only was it windy, but it was hot already! It was turning out to be a tough day. The bike went by (I got a nice lunch after my run…still enjoying my day) and I got word that Tara Norton moved into third place behind Michelle Jones and Erica Cosomor (the eventual winner). I met up with my friend Matt Long at a great spot on the run course to cheer Tara on. The course is EXCELLENT for spectating. The athletes do three loops of the run, and where we stood you could see them going out and back. This means we could see everyone six times!
My first friend to come by was Wolfgang Guembel. He looked good on the run. Next was Tara. She looked strong and focused. We stood at our spot and waited for everyone we knew to go out and come back on the run. The heat was INTENSE (well into the 90’s…I felt like I was baking in the sun and the athletes looked like they were hurting as the day went by). Other friends in the race were Michelle Konnath, Nicole Guembel, Anthony Carillo, Travis Dray and Chris Gebhart. There were other athletes that I knew/recognized as well, so it ended up being a busy day! What I realized: watching Ironman is TOUGH! I keep saying that I’d like George to watch me race one day (and I would), but I realized that it better be on a FAST day, because it can be LONG for spectators! Another realization: Ironman is absolutely nutty! I was overwhelmed by how long the race is. When I race, I am so focused on what I’m doing “at that moment” that I don’t really think about the big picture. Watching the race made me realize just how brutal this event is. One more thing: Anything can happen. It’s a LONG day. Sometimes you have a great day, sometimes you don’t. Sometimes you are rocking and unbeatable, and then sometimes you can get passed by someone who is stronger or is just having a better day. You can be prepared physically and not deal with what the day gives you, or you can have a “day of grace” where no obstacle is too big to overcome. It seems that you have to roll with whatever day you get and do the best you can. On one of the most brutal days I can imagine, everyone of my friends “gutted it out” and finished strong. Tara finished 6th overall woman and got a slot to Kona. Next up for Tara: Ironman Lanzorote…is a win in her future? I think so. Nic and Wolf are gearing up for a great season that includes Ironman Canada. After a winter that was “tough on their training” I expect them to absolutely rock in Canada. This race should be a mental confidence boost for both of them as they felt that they “crammed” their training in to get fit for the race. Imagine when they are fully prepared! As for the others, I say congrats on toughing it out on a HOT and WINDY day. As for myself, I am in Girona, Spain right now as I write this. I am here with George training in some of the most beautiful country I have been in and living the “Euro Pro life”, but more on that later. As for the upcoming season, I am PUMPED. Watching Ironman got me even more pumped. If you get a chance to watch one, I highly recommend it!

Michelle Konnath above,

Wolfgang Guembel and Nicole Guembel below, and Tara Norton at top of page.

Tucson Training Camp 2008

After the Zoot Camp ended, I hopped on a plane to Tucson Arizona. A good friend of mine, Pro Triathlete Tara Norton, had invited me to join her in Tucson at a training camp that her friend Richard Pady organizes yearly. Rich is the head coach and owner of Canadian based company “Healthy Results”. Some of the athletes he coaches, as well as some that Tara coaches attended the camp. Most were from Canada with the exception of a few who were from the US. We shared a house in an area just outside Tucson called Oro Valley. This was one of the most ideal places I have been to train. The community was bicycle friendly, the roads were great and the climbs were sweet! The group was mainly age-group athletes with full-time jobs and families back home, so this week was a HUGE amount of volume for them. I was totally impressed with how they all handled the training and the volume that the week encompassed.
Throughout the week, we swam daily (with the exception of one day), biked daily and ran daily. Being that I came in on Monday, I missed the epic climb up Mt. Lemmon, so I decided to do it on Friday. You cannot be in Tucson and not climb Mt. Lemmon! It’s a 25 mile climb up to 9000 ft. and it is awesome. The road is steady, but not so steep that you have to “grind” your way up. I’ll describe my climb in a bit, but for now back to the week. I highly recommend setting up a week, or several days with a group to train. The atmosphere is unique in that everyone is on the “same page”. Basically we sleep, eat and train. Of course, this is what my days have revolved around for the past few months anyway, but to be surrounded by others doing the same thing was a great break! We cooked dinner together, trained together (I tried to coordinate as much as possible with the group) and got to know one another as many of us knew no one before arriving. It was so great to be in the company of a great athlete like Tara. Tara had an outstanding year last year topped off by finishing just outside of the top ten women in Kona last year. It was a treat to train with her! The two of us agreed that is was special to be able to do this, as we rarely get to train with other pro women. Tara will be competing in Ironman Arizona this weekend, and after training with her I expect great things. She is STRONG! As far as the others, I look forward to running into some of the athletes at races in the future, and I hope to return to Rich’s camp again in 2009, wherever it may be!

So, my climb up Mt. Lemmon... This was the pinnacle of the trip for me! One of my house-mates, Rob from Toronto, decided to join me up Mt. Lemmon. Rob is a Doctor back home in Toronto and he has a wife and two kids. He has been doing Ironman since the early nineties (maybe even eighties?). He and his family will be in Florida to race the IM Florida 70.3, so I hope to run into them there. I was grateful to have the company for the climb (this was Rob’s THIRD time up the climb during the week)! We drove to the base of the climb and Rob started climbing right away. I decided to do a 25+ min warm-up as my goal was to push the whole climb and I wanted to be warmed up properly. Being that this was Rob’s third time up, he took a more “leisurely approach” without a warm-up. Once I was done with the warm-up I started the climb. I hit my interval button on my power tap at the “zero mile mark”, and decided to hit an interval every time I reached another thousand feet. I did this because I wanted to see the change in watts. As Mike had explained to me, watts become harder to push as altitude goes up, so for example, at 9,000 ft. 150 watts feels like what 190+ watts would feel like at sea level! It was interesting to see for myself, because the speed stayed constant as I climbed, but the watts went down as I approached 9,000 ft.
Mt. Lemmon was AWESOME!! Not only was it one of the best efforts I have done to date, but it was BEAUTIFUL! The temperature was perfect, the sky was blue and the winds were light. It took me 2 hrs and 8 minutes to climb, and once I reached the top I refueled and waited to regroup with Rob. Once we ate (Rob got some yummy home-made fudge) and took some photos, we headed down the mountain. On the way down we stopped a few times to enjoy the view and take some pictures. The descent was gradual enough that I was able to really enjoy it. The weather was beautiful as well, so although I put gloves and a vest on, it wasn’t too cold at all. As you head down from 9,000 to 2,500 ft. you can feel the warmer air. It was HOT at the bottom, especially during the run. I ran 3 miles at “tempo” off the bike to see how the legs felt, and surprisingly, they felt great! In all it was a great day. I can’t wait to come back, hopefully with George next year…I am determined to get back to Tucson and I would love to have George and some friends from home with me next time!

Views from Mt. Lemmon...

Zoot Ultra Team Camp 2008

This past weekend I had the opportunity to travel to Carlsbad, California to attend the Zoot Elite Team Camp (Ultra Team). The camp revolved around the Oceanside 70.3 race and of the 23 team members that showed up (out of 33, I believe) 9 raced Oceanside. The top finishers were Amy Marsh who placed 8th overall and her husband Brandon Marsh who took 10th for the men. This race is "oddly stacked" with some of the very best triathletes in the world, so these finishes were fantastic. It was great to be in California and finally meet the folks at Zoot as well as my fellow team members (some age groupers, some pro). Ben Harper of Team Sports and now Zoot Sports organized the weekend and does much of the organization for the team. Ben is a former pro cyclist himself and he was a lot of fun to meet. He does a fantastic job organizing everything from the camp to uniforms to equipment orders. Eli Carlson was also showed up at the camp. She is an asset to Zoot as far as marketing is concerned. Tom Schueler of Team Sports was there as well. Tom is a former professional cyclist and through his company, manages many teams cycling and triathlon (including the Zoot Ultra Team). We also had the opportunity to meet the CEO of Zoot Sports, Brian Enge, who is a very "down-to-earth" guy. I learned some interesting history of the company such as: the first "triathlon specific" suit was made in Kona, Hawaii by Crystal Nyland the founder of Zoot in 1983; Zoot is the only company that can outfit a triathlete from head to toe and from training to race day and beyond; the company today has only 25 employees and is the number one multisport brand on the market; Zoot was also the number one brand in Kona and Clearwater last year. So, you can see why it is so exciting to be a part of this company! In addition to Zoot, we had employees from our other sponsors which included Gu, Fuel Belt, Scott Bicycles, and Sunnto Watches. Triathlon legend Bob Babbit (competed in one of the very first Ironman Triathlon competitions) also spoke to us about the media side of triathlon and being a pro in the sport and trying to get more people involved in the sport that we love so much and are so passionate about.

The weekend began with a celebration party (after Oceanside 70.3) sponsored by Triathelete Magazine and Zoot, and ended with a huge dinner with the Zoot employees, CEO, as well as World Champions Sam McGlone and Mirinda Carfae (Zoot sponsored athletes). I left feeling even more excited to be a part of the Zoot Elite Team as Zoot has a way of making you feel like you are part of something very special. They are like one big family out there in California. As for my fellow teammates, it was great to meet everyone and I look forward to running into everyone at the races!