johnhirsch.org

Chillin’ in the groves.

“Feeling like I just lost my mind. One step ahead, and yet one step behind.” -Dismay

Oh man, last three days were BRUTAL. Pro roadie Dylan McNicolas was so beat at the cafe stop 1 cafe con leche turned into 4. We got so wayward because we had 3 hard days in a row. The first was a run and then a CP 20 all out power test on a 7k climb of switchbacks. That was followed up a hard tempo day of 5 hours on the bike with serious climbing (7000 feet) plus a sick swim with fast intervals, and then came SICK SATURDAY.

A nice 10k run with 5k tempo because I was running with short course stand out Eric. Watch for that kid, some day you will see him in the elite ranks. Then the goal was a long ride of 5 hours with steady climbing. The ride formed a pyramid. 3k in The Quarry, then 5k up El Romel, then 15k up El Torcal and lastly a 17% grade climb called Peurto Del Barco aka Amellia Pukes Hill, because its so steep that one day an SLB athlete puked going up it (and just kept going). Christine Lynch aka the Holistic Guru rocked it and said to me during the ride: “You know whats awesome about Spain, every day you do the longest hardest climb of your life.” She is right.  She has been keeping an AWESOME blog about the camp here www.holisticguru.blogspot.com

For daily coverage of Strong Like Bull go to www.xtri.com

Check back here for weekend BONUS coverage.

Wow it is so freaking awesome to be in Spain again for Strong Like Bull. We got 14 athletes, a record, for the first session and its by far the strongest group we have ever put together in terms of palmares and talent. We have 4 pros, 4 World Champion vets, several strong Ironmen and some serious bike racers.

The first day is mostly travel, jet lag, unpacking, bike building, and a light workout and mostly catching up with old friends who I missed and am excited to see and to train with again. The vibe at each camp is a different as the people who make it. I was expecting this to be a throw down, but interestingly all the people here have enough experience to be patient and their calmness is really helpful to me because I need to train here differently than years past (see previous post).

Nevertheless, there was work to be done. So we did a nice 25 minute run in the am then rode 3 hours, then a second 25 minute run and an hour of yoga and core. Paula Newbie Frasier is quoted as having said “respect the travel” and I agree I could feel it in the legs and REALLY was happy for the yoga which undid much of the travel. When you have 3 weeks to kill yourself no need to do it on day 1. I love training in Spain because an easy day is still 5 hours.

The dinner conversation was the highlight of the day. So much experience and knowledge, you couldn’t help but learn as people covered every topic you could ever want to know about swimming biking and running. For those of you have come here before, Andy, the training center director put in a ton of improvements funded by the fact that the training center has doubled its business in the last year.  Washing and drying machines, serious heat for the hot tub (too HOT), a new hanging out cabin with a flat screen TV and a resident pro who was added to the staff. Ann from the UK is a top Ironman with a 7th place at Ironman Japan last year. So for rides, make that 5 pros.

Me and one of the other pros had a really serious talk today about being pro. I know this sounds sappy, but I train so much solo that having people I can talk to and share the highs and lows of a lifestyle with is really awesome on a whole different level and makes this time here special. But I think that’s true for everyone here. Most people are outsiders if they are triathletes. Most people are freaks to their families, co-workers, and neighbors. But when you put 14 people together that share your passion you realize that any passion for nearly anything, even something as arbitrary as sport, is reason enough to flail yourself against the mountains.

paz y amor!

“She is a dirty girl. Covered in tattoos..its a dirty world.” -Dope

I crushed Texas. Everything was big and I went big with 10 solid days and a 40 hour week. The smart move would have been a recovery week. But I kept pushing thinking I could train till the Spain taper. I was wrong. There is a difference between knowing the path and walking the path and my misstep got me a nasty cold for my trouble. Lucky for me a super healthy diet and some rest has gotten me right as rain for spain as my nose is now drained.

Nevertheless me and my coach Jim Ortel (www.blockislandsport.com) were able to get me understand I am not as fit as I had been this time of year. In years past I had 3 months of training prior to Spain. This year I have 1 because of the long season of 2009. There is no rush however as I am peaking 2 months later then normal. So since my schedule has shifted my thinking must as well. Sadly I am not able to hold back and in Spain when you have every resource (chef, sag wagon, amazing weather, mountains, training partners, massage, bike wrench, yoga instructor, etc) to train, its hard to be restrained. More then one athlete has washed up on the shored of spain only to leave too much of themselves on the mountains and returned wasted. In 2007 that was me. I undid all the hard work I had done by getting bronchitis and missed all of march and april.

When I see on twitter the SLB athletes trash talking I worry they are going to trash themselves. When SLB becomes a compition those who compete normally lose; as its too much too soon and the result is doom. Be patient or you will be a patient.

So I have decided to set objective rules for myself this year.

1) No more the 30-35 hours total per week. (That’s a 12.5-25 percent decrease from the 3 x 40 hours here last year).

2) 1 day off per week.

3) I am skipping most of the camp contests for the 4 ITT’s and will instead use them to encourage others who have more training in them and maybe do a lead out or two.

Don’t get me wrong, there is a time to slay at SLB. And last year was the right mix of fitness and timing to have the best training maybe of my life. But this year if I don’t come humble, I will be humbled and crumbled.

Also this is the first year where I could afford to not push it. Every year prior I was working full time. This was the only time where I could focus and train like a pro. That’s not the case anymore. This isn’t the only camp I have this year. I got texas, slb and several of my own solo ones where I can train big. So I feel some of the pressure is off. To be honest I am hoping with the lack of pressure at SLB this year I can really enjoy it, soak it in, and not feel like I need to be destroying myself every second of everyday.

(Pic: cleaned out some stuff and found my old snowboard and a faultline tee shirt. Ahhhh, my youth. )

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Come run this Saturday Feb 6 at 9 AM to and meet and run with STEVEN RYAN, ELITE RUNNER and member of Team Continuum! We are thrilled to announce Steven Ryan – top 15 American runner for NY, top 25 elite category finisher in NYC Marathon and other major competitive events  and  Olympic hopeful – will be on hand this year to run with and help our team athletes (beginner, intermediate, and elite) along with Coach John Hirsch and phsyical therapist Jason Klein. He is looking forward to meeting you, answering questions, and helping his team in any way he can. Steven will run with Team Continuum in the NYC Half Marathon and represent TC  as an elite runner in the  Boston Marathon and  the Boston to Big Sur Marathon Challenge ( 2 marathons, 5 days, 3,000 miles apart).Team Continuum’s outstanding training staff accommodates athletes at all levels of proficiency and is a membership benefit Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T