Club la Santa Nov 2012

I’m just back from a week at Club la Santa in Lanzarote. This is my 6th or 7th stay here, and it’s one of my favourite places to train on this planet. The plan was for some end-of-session warm-weather training and to spectate at the Ironman 70.3 event.

Over the time of our stay, I managed 5 bike rides and 4 runs for a total of about 15 hours training. I’ve been taking the running easy this year to try to prevent the re-occurrence of an Achilles problem that I’ve suffered in the past. The week in Lanzarote was the first time for a long while where I’d ran on consecutive days, all-be-it only for 30 minutes each time.

On the first day (Friday), I rode the Ironman 70.3 bike course, which was held on the second day of our stay. The course includes the 10 km climb of Tabeysco – I’ve ridden this climb 4 or 5 times in the past, but I’ve only climbed it comfortably once. Ride to base of climb is fine, but I always suffer on actual climb. The climb isn’t particularly steep, but it is long – at 10 km and 600-odd metres of climb, it’s longer than just about any climb in the UK – the only thing close is Bealach na Bà near Applecross in the highlands of Scotland.  From the top of the climb, it’s virtually downhill all the way back to la Santa, with only a short climb into Tenguise and the gentle 5 km climb from Famara to contend with.

The rest of the cycling went pretty well, including a superb ride on the last day  through Soo, Mancha Blanca, over to Uga and back over Fire Mountain to Tinajo & la Santa. This ride was one of the once-or-twice per year rides where everything just clicks and feels great. The scenery was amazing and the climb up Fire Mountain was a challenge but comfortably accomplished – another demon put to rest.

As well as the training, there was plenty of time for visiting some of the sights on the island, including a tour and wine tasting at the El Grifo winery.