Intro
I thought I’d do a little blog during my triathlon camp with local IRONMAN legend Joe Skipper http://joeskipper.co.uk/
This is a 4 day training experience of swimming, cycling & running in beautiful San Remo in Italy 🇮🇹. The camp is run by Atutta https://www.atutta.cc/training-camps
I’m mega excited about the challenge especially cycling up the famous ‘Madone’ climb 🚲 🏔 and improving the technique of my running 🏃🏻♂️ and swimming 🏊♂️
One of our Dynamic Clients, last year’s Lord Mayor of Norwich, called it a ‘Superman holiday’. I quite liked the sound of that.
Stand by for Day 1 ….
Day 1
(Swim 2k - Bike 87k - Run 7k)
Great settle in dinner last night at the hotel - Gnocchi followed by Salmon (Carbs & Protein) and I woke today feeling fresh and ready to pump it 💪🏼
Slight issue with my bike however….
I watched as the airport staff in Nice threw all the bags off the plane, including my bike! This bent the rear mech hanger beyond repair so Tom (our group leader) got me a hire bike - I was pleased it was an Italian Colagno 🇮🇹 👍
Swim
One of the things I wanted to get from the trip was to improve my swim technique
The session was a great way to ease me in to the training - we did a solid warm up of 10 x 100m (with a different set every 100m) then got some video footage done which we’ll look at tonight.
It was the first 2k since my broken collar bone and it felt good! 🦴 💪🏼
Bike
Wow! What a climb 🏔 The Italian Riveria is stunning but being from Norfolk I was not used to these mountains! It was around 1.5hrs of pure climbing but riding next to Joe for parts on the way up was cool - even though my HR was always at least 30bpm higher than his!
We eventually got to a beautiful village called Bajardo the view was incredible
What comes up must come down! And I got ready for the longest decent in my life - even more than the Rocky Mountains in IRONMAN Canada 🇨🇦
We had a ‘little’ incident when Joe spotted a black cat on a bend and came off! Luckily no harm done but a warning shot to us all about keeping it steady. We have now called this famous spot ‘black corner’ 🐈
An amazing ride back with a lovely coffee stop. I was pushing it as hard as ever back past San Remo and it felt good! 🚴
Run
This sounded like a simple session - 30 mins (15 mins out and 15 mins back faster than you run out)
We ran along the coast road and it was stunning ☀️
I set off at close to my 5k pace but this was too fast so I had to ease back a touch so I could finish as strong on the way back!
By this point my legs was burning from the cycling and I gave it everything I could to maintain the exact pace on the way back.
An awesome day of training (probably my hardest EVER) but this place is great. Atutta is awesome and I’m looking forward to the rest of the trip with these super strong lads
Day 2
Swim 2k - Bike 67k - Swim (Tech) - Run 8k
Another fantastic meal last night - this time it was pesto pasta for the carbs (pesto is local to this area of Italy) and Octopus for protein (you may want to look away now 🐙 …. )
Swim
The day started again at the local pool.
Last night we had a 1-2-1 swim analysis from our swim yesterday. Andrea, an ex-Italian swimming champion, took some great footage and identified one main area for me to work on - my reach. “You need to do less breaking when your arms go into the water”. It made sense, so myself and Dan had a great session working to improve this.
Meanwhile, Joe and Mark were pumping it hard in the other lane! 🏊♂️ 💪🏼
Bike
This was spectacular! It was a agreed that we would do a ‘short’ ride to save the legs for the big one tomorrow so we rode through the valley and then a short 6k climb to the most beautiful town called Triora…
The descent back down was mega (for me) - I’ve never been down climbs like this, so fast and long, it was awesome ⛰ 🚴 💨
When we got back into town we had a nice focaccia in the sunshine ☀️ - it was 26 degrees out here today on the 26th October!
Swim (technique)
Next up we got to use the endless pool. I was excited about this as I’m thinking of investing in one back home - it’s amazing for Stroke analysis and they double up as a jacuzzi! 🥂
The feel of the pool is great and you use an app to set the speed. We did 5 mins at 1:50/100m pace and will look at the analysis tomorrow night..
Run
Today’s run was all about looking at technique. We did a 20 min warm up and Dan added in some great drills to get the heart rate up ❤️
Then Tom set up some filming alongside the marina next to some palm trees 🌴 This is a ‘nee bad’ place to train!
I did 3 laps - 10k pace, then a bit faster, then my 5k PB pace. I’m looking forward to seeing the footage and getting some tips for my clients and the Redwell Run Club when I get back 🏃🏻♂️
We finished with running home with the sun setting over the water 🌅
Day 3
Cycle 120k - Open water Swim 1k - Run 2k
Last night’s dinner pic was ‘Joe’s salad’ - he added some super ripe figs and lush green avocado 🥑 to a Chicken Caesar. I feel his cookbook coming soon - with the best raw food cakes and finest coffee ☕️ 😃
Bike
This was the part I was a bit worried about. I haven’t cycled 75 miles in a very long time and this ride included the famous ‘Col de Madone’ climb 🏔
We rode into France 🇫🇷 and reached the foot of the climb after 40k. Then out came the tunes to attack this beast of a mountain. I can honestly say I haven’t experienced hills like these but with this group of athletes anything was possible and I wasn’t going to stop pumping it 💪🏼
The climb was awesome and contributed to a total of 1500m of vertical climbing during the ride. On the way home we casually cruised past Monaco 🇲🇨 (next time when I’m not wearing Lycra I’ll pop into the casino and win a million 💵 )
Swim
It’s hard for me to be this close to the sea and not go in! So, I decided to don the wetsuit and do a little swim to help plan a place to do our bigger open water swim in the morning. The bay is beautiful here and the water is super calm. The locals probably thought I was crazy 😜
Run
This was really just a nice recovery jog and an excuse to run around this beautiful town on Santo Stefano and take in the sunset. It’s stunning out here 🇮🇹 ☀️
Day 4
Open water Swim 2k - Bike 41k - Run 8k
Last night was swordfish (protein) and pizza (carbs). The Italians definitely live up to their reputation of incredible pizza - it was amazing! 🍕
Swim
This spot in the Ligurian sea is perfect for Open water swimming - the sea defences make the water shallow and calm, and there are plenty of nice fish to look at too 🐠
Joe made up a great set including some fast 50m efforts and a flat out 100m to finish - me and Dan did it in 1:33, which I’m happy with.
I did drop my phone in the sea, but it lodged in between a rock and luckily I found it! 🍀 So the blog continues 😃…
Bike
After I thought all the cycling was done Tom decided it would be good to do a short ride including some of the famous climbs of the Milan to San Remo race - the Cipressa & the Poggio! 🏔 🏔
He was right, they are awesome short climbs and I still had enough in the legs to give them a final blast! 🚴
Run
What I thought was going to be a gentle jog to finish turned into a 7.3k hard run!
I was able to keep the pace up to 5k (which is what I’m used too) then I had to ease it back a bit to hold on and finish the final challenge of the trip!
I then finished with a cool down jog around beautiful Santo Stefano to recover.
Summary
The last thing we did was sit down with Joe & Tom over lunch and look at our Running Technique. We also sampled some of the new menu - the new octopus and cod bagels were super tasty!
For my running it looks like I can do a bit to improve my foot position on landing, and also re-structure my run sessions a bit to get faster.
I’ll be looking forward to sharing all the knowledge I’ve learned with my clients and hitting my new Parkrun PB!
I am also hoping to offer a Dynamic Fitness trip for clients looking to improve their swim, cycling and running. It really is a beautiful part of Italy 🇮🇹 and a fantastic set up for people of all levels - stand by for more details…
Now it’s time for one a well-earned beer before heading home. It’s been an incredible trip - thanks to Joe, Mark, Dan, Tom, Andrea and all the amazing staff at Atutta! 🏊♂️ 🚴 🏃🏻♂️
