
I am currently out in St Moritz with the Trisutto squad for a short training camp. In this blog I will talk about my incredible experience of pro life, on my first day in this beautiful place. But first, a quick update on a somewhat quiet July.
UPDATE
July was relatively uneventful, however I have had a couple of tough weeks attempting to restart full training from an easier rest period. More mentally taxing than physically, which I find the most difficult to overcome as unlike physical fatigue, you can't simply rest and be prepared to smash training again a day later. The difficulty is the unknown, the unpredictability, the uncertainty. Fortunately, I have broken through this spell and I'm now firing on all cylinders....well, almost; My left knee has recently been causing some issues when running and cycling, significantly impacting on my training but thankfully, dare I speak too soon, it seems to be improving.
A DAY AT TRISUTTO CAMP
I am in the scenic, alpine, relaxing, holiday resort that is St Moritz but relaxing I am not. Instead, I am gasping for breath at 1850m whilst tearing every muscle fiber in my body, from an athlete's perspective that beats relaxing any day of the week (apart from friday....that's rest day) When we arrived my Coach, Perry Agass, and I went to St Moritz's home Triathlon. It was here we witnessed the Olympic champion, Nicola Spirig, compete in a Duathlon and win, then upon finishing put her wetsuit on and 4 minutes later compete in the Triathlon....... and win. She will be racing Rio in 11 days, Crazy stuff.
Anyway, I will run you through my Monday which was a solid day of roughly 4 hours training.
Sunday night I had everything ready for morning training, It saves getting up earlier and I'm not much of a morning person...
5:55AM- Alarm goes off, I wake up and have a small breakfast: granola, yogurt, fruit e.t.c and of course washed down by a coffee. Swim training is at 7 every morning and the pool is a 5 minute walk so we left the apartment at 6:35 as you do not want to be late for a session with Brett Sutton.
The main swim itself was a 100m session of various intensities and it was during this where I earned my TriSutto nickname 'Harry' This name stemmed from Harry Wiltshire, a triathlete with an iconic swim stroke which I am now attempting to emulate. The following exchange ensued:
UPDATE
July was relatively uneventful, however I have had a couple of tough weeks attempting to restart full training from an easier rest period. More mentally taxing than physically, which I find the most difficult to overcome as unlike physical fatigue, you can't simply rest and be prepared to smash training again a day later. The difficulty is the unknown, the unpredictability, the uncertainty. Fortunately, I have broken through this spell and I'm now firing on all cylinders....well, almost; My left knee has recently been causing some issues when running and cycling, significantly impacting on my training but thankfully, dare I speak too soon, it seems to be improving.
A DAY AT TRISUTTO CAMP
I am in the scenic, alpine, relaxing, holiday resort that is St Moritz but relaxing I am not. Instead, I am gasping for breath at 1850m whilst tearing every muscle fiber in my body, from an athlete's perspective that beats relaxing any day of the week (apart from friday....that's rest day) When we arrived my Coach, Perry Agass, and I went to St Moritz's home Triathlon. It was here we witnessed the Olympic champion, Nicola Spirig, compete in a Duathlon and win, then upon finishing put her wetsuit on and 4 minutes later compete in the Triathlon....... and win. She will be racing Rio in 11 days, Crazy stuff.
Anyway, I will run you through my Monday which was a solid day of roughly 4 hours training.
Sunday night I had everything ready for morning training, It saves getting up earlier and I'm not much of a morning person...
5:55AM- Alarm goes off, I wake up and have a small breakfast: granola, yogurt, fruit e.t.c and of course washed down by a coffee. Swim training is at 7 every morning and the pool is a 5 minute walk so we left the apartment at 6:35 as you do not want to be late for a session with Brett Sutton.
The main swim itself was a 100m session of various intensities and it was during this where I earned my TriSutto nickname 'Harry' This name stemmed from Harry Wiltshire, a triathlete with an iconic swim stroke which I am now attempting to emulate. The following exchange ensued:
After completing the main set I was then given another 40x50m to do, which I was still chugging away at whilst all the other pros got out the pool. It was then when Coach Sutton announced 'If you want to go to the Olympics you're swimming like shit!' I couldn't help but smile. Once I was finished I had been swimming for towards 2 hours and my arms were pretty dead. It was then back to the apartment for some more Breakfast and an Olympic catch up.
After a few hours I headed out for a 2 hour ride where the beauty of the Alps really showed itself. I couldn't help but stop for a minute on a descent to take some pictures.
After a few hours I headed out for a 2 hour ride where the beauty of the Alps really showed itself. I couldn't help but stop for a minute on a descent to take some pictures.
Although I have been on numerous training camps, St Moritz is by far the most stunning. Having said that it is also one of the toughest as recovering is not easy at altitude!
My ride's aim was primarily to test my dodgy knee so I took it easy to begin with, however, I didn't anticipate the steepness of the climb I descended and there is only one way back home. Up. Although I was in my lowest gear it still wasn't 'easy'. Lesson learnt the hard way: respect the Alps and make easy rides flat.... or get a granny gear.
Fortunately throughout the ride my knee was fine so it is looking promising on the injury front. Only thing left now is to test the running which I will be doing today (I am writing this on Tuesday) fingers crossed.
Training was finished by the afternoon so we had some lunch and went shopping to fill up the fridge. Upon returning I crashed out in front of the TV (Olympics) and called the family. Before I knew it the evening was here and we started cooking our athlete master chef dinner, a stir-fry. It was a pretty good one if I say so myself, eaten out of a large Tupperware box and a salad serving bowl gives an idea of scale.
The day was over. I have already learnt so much in just 48 hours so I can already tell this week is going to be incredibly useful and a great experience. A full week summary will follow. Watch this space!
My ride's aim was primarily to test my dodgy knee so I took it easy to begin with, however, I didn't anticipate the steepness of the climb I descended and there is only one way back home. Up. Although I was in my lowest gear it still wasn't 'easy'. Lesson learnt the hard way: respect the Alps and make easy rides flat.... or get a granny gear.
Fortunately throughout the ride my knee was fine so it is looking promising on the injury front. Only thing left now is to test the running which I will be doing today (I am writing this on Tuesday) fingers crossed.
Training was finished by the afternoon so we had some lunch and went shopping to fill up the fridge. Upon returning I crashed out in front of the TV (Olympics) and called the family. Before I knew it the evening was here and we started cooking our athlete master chef dinner, a stir-fry. It was a pretty good one if I say so myself, eaten out of a large Tupperware box and a salad serving bowl gives an idea of scale.
The day was over. I have already learnt so much in just 48 hours so I can already tell this week is going to be incredibly useful and a great experience. A full week summary will follow. Watch this space!