could hear the rain from my bed having
left the window open during the night so I went back to sleep waking
up later and taking some breakfast downstairs. I'm not good at
eating when I get up and especially when it's early but my appetite
on a morning seems to be returning as the week goes on. This is
important if I start to do some longer rides. Fuel is important!
The rain went on until gone 1pm so I
spent some time reading and probably more time watching rubbish on
the tv. Eventually I got ready to go out but instead of riding I'd
decided to do a run. I thought about running the first part of
yesterday's ride down the valley but instead decided to see what it
would be like to run up (part of the way) to Bormio 2000. It's 8km
and 6-700m altitude gain to the top but I just thought I'd try 15
mins upwards and see how it went from there. I didn't want to just
head straight on to the hill so I went downstairs to the little gym
and did 20 mins on the spin bike to warm up. I don't usually run
with headphones in but I thought they would be good for the spin so I
used my little iPod Shuffle (thanks Serena) and of course it was
playing an Essential Mix, this time Pete Tong. It's one I've
listened to before but it's never really done it for me. However
once on the road and heading up the hill it was working a treat. I
was in the zone (for enjoyment not speed). After 15 minutes I felt
fine so I decided to try and reach the little village I remember
passing through yesterday. Coincidence occurred that I reached the
centre of the village with 25mins on the clock. I'd pushed very hard
the last 100 or so metres to see what my max heart rate is these days
and I managed to log 179, a couple less than I reached a couple of
years ago. Seems reasonable.
The descent I took fairly easily as I
didn't want to kill my knees on the downhill but a lower heart rate
(130 tops compared to 165+ uphill) and watching the sun burnt the
water off the road producing lots of steam along with the music was
entrancing. So much so that at the bottom of the hill I wanted to
carry on, so I went back in the gym for 20 minutes more on the spin
bike until the music finished.
It's generally acknowledged that
protein is good for recovery, particularly of long distance/duration
exercise but it's also supposedly better digested and absorbed by the
body when it's taken with carbohydrates. So something like Rego
recovery powder is usually that - 1 part protein to 4 parts carbs. I
had lots of protein powder left I wasn't using so I bought some
maltrodextrin and made my own recovery powder, some of which I
brought with me. Thankfully I've not been stopped by any border
patrols and the powder found although I don't think it looks that
suspicious in a tupperware box. Anyway it's run out so I was
wondering how I could get some protein along with the cake/fruit
normally offered for cyclists on an afternoon. Thankfully today they
had cheese and meat selection as well as too different flavour jam
tarts. Excellent snack. No Vuelta to watch on the tv today though
as it's the rest day after yesterday's mental stage.
Dinner wasn't quite up to yesterday's
standard but the veg and pasta soup was good and the veal very nice
too. I skipped the menu desert and went to the buffet bar to be the
first to try the most chocolate looking piece of cake I've seen in a
long time. It was good but I still prefer those jam tart slices.
 |
| Netting off some of the good work I'd done today |
No proper pictures today as the only
time I was out of the hotel was for the run and I didn't take the
camera with me.
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