In the clouds

This morning I woke up feeling like I'd just done 10 rounds with Mike Tyson in the ring. Yesterday I arrived home from Southern Spain after 2 weeks of hiding in the mountains training.

The trip was a good one. The first weekend I was due to race in a Spanish Cup marathon but for various reasons (mainly Spanish federation redtape!) I wasnt allowed to start. In hindsight this was probably a good thing as the temperature was 30 degrees and racing would probably have wiped me out for a week. So instead I took a rest day and did the traditional British thing... get sunburned on the beach!



Once I arrived in Lanjaron the real training began. The first week was super hot, 26-30 degrees most days which made the 6hour rides i was doing quite grueling. Add to this the 3000-4000m of climbing per ride and it didn't take long for my legs to be dead!

The middle weekend of the trip was my 23rd birthday so i celebrated by getting totally smashed.... by riding up the highest mountain i could find!! It was pretty cool eating lunch in the clouds.



I managed 31hours in the first week but by the weekend i could hardly turn the pedals so needed a rest day and lot of food.

For the second week i would be guiding for Freeride Spain so fitted in rides before and after work to make up the hours. Unfortunately i had felt slightly sick during the first week but i just put it down to the heat. When it cooled down and started raining i still felt sick though, so it turned out i had a slight stomach bug. So slightly less long rides in the second week but plenty of uplift to guide the down
hillers!




I still fitted in 23hours but feel a little disappointed... I had hoped for another 30h week, i guess my perception of a big training week has changed a bit now!

Now all i can do is rest and pray to the recovery gods that my body will recover in time for the national 24. I'm sure i will be fine but at this very moment i feel as though i finished a 24hour race yesterday!