Sierra Nevada Part 2

We're nearly at the end of our altitude training camp in Sierra Nevada. Am going to miss it when we leave, it has been amazing to train and live with everyone and have fun instead of just Tuesday and Thursday nights for a few hours every week. Not to mention the amazing scenery and the chilled out days which definitely makes training more enjoyable. The trails around here are awesome and my favourite is the one that became a regular on our mid length runs. It reminds me of my runs up the bourne woods back home which is my favourite place to run so it was a good find. Naturally most of the runs up here are hilly but looking on the positive side we can't complain of weak legs when we return :D

As well as a lot of training we've also had a lot of fun especially when us girls explored the toboggan ride down the mountain.  We were embarrassed when the guy on the ticket office recognised us as "the girls who were running up the side of mountain this morning" . I think we've got a bit of a reputation in town as crazy people as when we told a guy doing a tourist survey that we were here running he replied "is that normal?" ...thanks!

At the top of the toboggan ride we didn't realise/forgot that we were in control of the speed and we very quickly came to an abrupt halt until we figured out what happened...very scary! Not as scary as the moment we then realised than pushing the accelerator stick all the way down meant we then went down the mountain at break neck speeds almost flying off at the corners. Cue lots of girlie screaming! And funny photos...

We've tried not to make too many trips down to Granada because there's "too much oxygen" down there but a few guys went down in the second week to visit the Alahambra Palace which is absolutely beautiful and very popular -fully booked until June- so they walked around the free parts of it but it made for a very good day trip.

As a bit of a treat last Friday we decided to have steak night and all bought steak in town. However when we came to cook and eat it, it just wasn't the same which was disappointing but we've made up for it with evenings out at various restaurants, our favourite being Tito Luigis where we can order lots of 'Brit-Friendly' food such as Pizza, Pasta, Calzone, Salad and a strange pudding that consisted of custard with a soggy digestive biscuit on top. Mmmm yum!

This last week the weathers been hit and miss and we had 24 hours of being stuck inside a cloud; it snowed, rained and was really windy but then it would clear up and we would be outside in shorts and T-shirts applying (in some cases not) sun cream. So when the weather cleared we decided to walk to the summit as a bit of a trip to take photos of the amazing few where you could see for miles! At
2750m some people decided they had had enough and went back down but a small group of us decided to keep going and try and get to the summit. 90minutes of walking later and we were stood in the middle of nowhere, the road having finished a long time before. Most normal people would think 'this is dangerous lets go back'...clearly not a bunch of athletes. Danny & Rich decided they were going to continue climbing beyond 3000m the other four of us decided to slide on our bums in shorts and T-shirts over 300m down the ski slopes to the 'nearby' ski lifts only to be told that we would have to pay €20 each for a day pass for the 10 minute ride back into town. (Oops! The ski operators weren't impressed!) The other two got told off at the top (your not allowed up there without skis) and then had to walk/slide in similar fashion to the ski station and then proceeded to sneak onto the ski lift that the rest of us had given our arms and legs to get on. It was an awesome adventure and gave us some more great memories for the trip even if all of us did badly burn our faces (I understand the need for ski masks now)!!!

We all have some races planned on return so hopefully after all our hard work we will get some rewards and am looking forward to starting my new job next week so lots to look forward to and am excited for the rest of the summer :D

I hope you enjoy the photos on here, There are ALOT more on Facebook, Twitter & Instagram!

Gracias y Adios xx

Trofeo Iberico & Sierra Nevada

Trofeo Iberico, Portugal

Everyone told me how hard 10,000m track races were, how much it is about keeping concentration and how hard it is when you see the laps ticking by but I wasn’t sure whether to believe them and wanted to go in to the race completely open minded as I knew I was in good shape from the winter. Speaking to Mick in the lead up to the race we had no idea what I could run for 10,000m but we thought it may be possible to run under 33minutes so we set a very casual pace target that ranged from 32.50-33.20 so that I would stay relaxed and not start too hard. Portugal was PERFECT! Not too hot, not too cold and the races were set up really well with over 60 entries in each the men’s and women’s races. As with most distance races the first lap and km were a little speedy but then it settled down to a more consistent pace. Although my second and third km’s were a bit too relaxed and I feel I may have lost time there, it's all lessons learnt and experience gained. It was one of my biggest fears about the 10,000m but I didn’t see any of the lap counters until 10 laps to go and then I was feeling really strong so I started to try and increase the pace to pull back some girls who had gone earlier on. I felt really strong the whole time so I am hoping that with a new mix of experience, confidence and specific training I can run faster next time.

This is the view from our apartment

 End of first week in Sierra Nevada

We're just coming to the end of our first week of altitude training in Sierra Nevada. It is absolutely amazing here; I’ve never seen scenery like it. We took it easy for the first few days but we all seem to be adapting fairly well so hopefully the next two weeks are the same and we can start increasing the intensity. The weather is really good and the snow on the mountains is slowly disappearing although our running routes have been clear the whole time which were all pleased about. We completed our first session on Thursday morning on the trails that run through the mountains. Everyone came through it well so that was really good and were all looking forward to getting on the track next week. Trying not to murder queues of caterpillars crossing the path always makes a session more interesting. Later on today we have more people joining us including Mick so we've explored the town trying to find the best places to eat but we've had to endure some funny looks whilst wandering  around in shorts and crop tops as everyone else is wearing ski clothes. The weathers been amazing we've only had one dodgy day when it rained although it took the humidity out of the air so no one complained too much.

Finishing a run on the track. Surreal experience running around tons of snow in crop tops 

We made some new training partners/friends in the shape of two pro cyclists from Team Garmin Sharp. Anyone who knows me knows that my whole family and I are HUGE cycling fans so this is a huge privilege to learn from such experienced and successful athletes. We’re hoping to go and watch the Tour de France start in the UK this summer which is going to be an awesome experience. I’ve been to watch the final stage of the tour in Versailles and Paris before and it was one of the best atmospheres EVER!!!

Next week those of us who have been out here a week will start doing some more sessions and quicker runs but were also potentially scheduling in some fun days as they have a toboggan run which looks fun. Jess and I are going to try and overcome our fear of the ski lifts that we screamed our way through the other day much to the skiers amusement as they casually made their way up the mountain minus the screams. 

This photo of the ski lifts doesn't do our fear justice I promise

I will try and upload more photos later. Wifi permitting. 

Hasta la vista xx