I am lucky enough to spend quite a bit of time in Girona as somewhere that I can train but also enjoy holidays with my family. This February Half term we traveled out to Girona the day after Perfs and it felt like returning home.
I had a lot on the training schedule that week however needed to recover from my cold before I did anything. I rested Monday (the day we traveled out) and took Tuesday morning easy before heading out on a 3 hour ride with light efforts. I felt a lot better by then, I don't know if it was to do with the warmer weather or just being relaxed but my tight chest went away pretty quickly.
Wednesday was when the real training started. Heading out by myself on a 4 hour ride with some 1min efforts and 20min efforts to finish off. A standard 4 hour ride is something that I have gotten really used to as I have built up endurance but I am yet to get used to the pain that comes with efforts added to that endurance period, it hurt a lot.
Thursday brung a endurance ride, pushing towards 5 hours was the plan. I started the ride with the Bike Breaks (a local bike hire shop in the old town) shop ride however pushed on after half an hour and did one 2.5 hour loop west of Girona and 2.5 hour loop east with a cafe stop in the middle. This was the nicest day of the week forcing me to fill my pockets with leg warmers and arm warmers as I started to over heat. By the time I got home I had done 5:01:00h and 150km which I believe is my longest ride to date but it didn't feel longer than 3 hours. I have gotten used to riding my myself and I really quite like it. Time flies as you slightly zone out and just keep tapping on the pedals, it is so much easier in warm weather and the no traffic environment that Girona provides which is something I could get used to.
I was pretty tiered by Friday and a recovery ride was needed! I sat on with a big group that had come out from the UK to train and stayed with them for an hour before turning round and hitching a ride behind two EF education riders back into town.
The weekend involved some VO2 max efforts and a group ride on Sunday with some of the Local riders that are training in Girona in the winter. The group was made up of UK based pros from Wiggins, One Pro and some others and it was a great opportunity to ask questions about my junior years ahead and even what is possible after that. We ended up doing 140km down to the coast and back. This was the best ride of the week, having the ability to ride with riders that you look up to and are a few steps ahead of you and being able to learn from them is what makes cycling special.
I ended the week with a 2 hour ride before our flight and left to head back to London where it was 15 degrees colder and raining but it won't be long until I'm back!
Finley