After a long day of airports, buses and explaining whats in a "bike bag"(!), we finally arrived at our apartment base in Lanzarote. With the time already after 9pm, we quickly got changed and went out for a 5mile easy run to loosen the legs and get our bearings. The next morning we did a 4km sea swim before breakfast, therefore seeing in a good start to what has been a great week. At mid-day that day was our first ride, 4hrs, mostly into the wind, with the only reward being the last 10miles at 35mph+!! That evening we did a steady 9mile run down through the town and back along the coastal path.
That has pretty much been the format for the last 4days:
Wake / coffee / swim / breakfast / ride / lunch / run / dinner / sleep. . . . . . . REPEAT!
The volcanic island of Lanzarote makes a great winter training base, due to its consistent warm weather (ave 21'C this week), super strong winds, smooth quiet roads and mountainous terrain. I've only ever been out here once before, when I was competing in the Iron-man event in 2002.
Wednesday we rode a lap of the Iron-man bike course, "180km", and the memories of how tough it was all came back..... At least this time I didn't have to worry about running a marathon once I'd finished, instead I just enjoyed a protein shake and a sit in the sun....
By the time we head home on Monday our total training for the week will be: 20km swimming / 500miles cycling /50miles running. All in just under 40hrs, now that's a tough weeks work . . . . . . .
