Epic camp epilogue

Sooooo, have had a few days tho gather my thoughts and reflect on Epic camp - now that the brain fog has cleared and we are settled back in our chalet in Morzine for a full week with a little more time....( after an Epic camp style shopping expedition in Milan for the weekend with Di and Z! A fine antidote to wearing lycra for 12 hrs a day!!)

Have just listed my thoughts in bullet points, in no particular order of importance :-

-You can do far more than you think you can when all you have to do is train and the schedule is set.

- Say thank you and please to the support crew, they are working as hard as us and no amount of fatigue excuses bad manners.

- Humility is a wonderful attribute to have as an athlete.

-As I have heard previous campers say, its the mental gains from pushing through that you get mostly from Epic camp.I'll never forget how climbing the Col d'Iseran felt after what we had previously done that day, let alone the previous days. Or riding Mont Ventoux while sick.Or trying to exert myself in a triathlon on day 11 ;-)

-Low carb goes out the window by ~ day3-4. Not just due to the mouth-watering pastries on offer at breakfast time but you need calories- LOTS of them.

-Limit the sports nutrition to the "races" when required, feels a lot better eating real food day to day. Nuts, Snickers bars, salt tabs, peanut butter, crepe with nutella (only2!!), occasional peanut butter + jam sandwich on fresh crusty French bread, water +/- electrolyte tabs, Yum. Coffee.

- Legal PEDs of choice on camp:- 2 large espressos in the morn, occasional espresso and or coke zero mid ride, glass or 2 of the local vin rouge in the evening, extreme endurance, magnesium tabs and paracetamol during the longest rides to ease the undercarriage discomfort and back spasms on the long climbs. Took the odd ibuprofen where required but prefer to avoid NSAIDs unless absolutely necessary :-)

-Tea tree oil on the undercarriage area every night helped prevent and limit any sores, nappy rash cream also works great. I avoided any chamois cream.

-Epic campers are an awesome bunch of people, have made some great new acquaintances and special mention to the other 4 chicks on camp ( Shannon, Jen, Zarnia and Di). We met acclaimed coach Darren Smith at the pool here in Morzine the other day as we had been pointed out by Amelia as Epic campers - he coaches a squad of Olympian/ITU athletes ( all female) - he said to me that although we were the slowest athletes he bet we were the toughest. Ha ha. Everyone on Epic, regardless of sex, is tough but I think females pace a bit better especially early on in endurance events which is key to survival :-)


Finally, before this turns into an over extended ramble Id like to say a personal thanks and a big UPS to the following :-

- Coach John for organising, letting us come and also being my coach for the last few years and ensuring I was in any kind of shape to make it through an Epic camp.

-Oli,Tim, Ian and Julie ( plug for Pyrenees Multipart here too!) for their amazing support and help though the camp; always with a smile.

- Piet and his wife from Chalet 4 in Le Grand Bornand. Highly recommend this place - amazing FOOD and location

-Amelia and Joe from Tri4theAlps in Morzine. Again amazing food, accomm and they have extended their hospitality and help to us during our stay in Morzine.


And thats it. I must try blog more often as its amazing how much you forget. Currently enjoying some fine French saucisson, ham, cheese and veggies while watching the Tour stage up Mont Ventoux- since its Bastille Day here.
Salut.