Training Log Archive: Charlie

Long travel day, leaving at 7:30 for Pompeii and arriving at 9, then leaving there at 1245 for the 2 hour trip to the race, running the race and then back on the bus at 545 to go back to the hotel.

Pompeii is awesome. We had a guide who was very knowledgeable, but moved way too slowly and provided too much detail for his audience. A quick and delicious pizza before hopping on the bus. Neapolitan pizza is fabulous. This one was tomato, oregano and garlic. Also quite a fine salad to share with some friends.

Urban sprint in Marina di Ascea, beach town south of Agropoli and almost dead flat, so no stairs, and generally a less complicated layout. 2nd today out of 13, but well behind Ilmars Limbens of Latvia, quite a strong fellow. No navigational problems, except heading to the last control I couldn’t remember if I had punched the one before, so put on the brakes to check the map, costing about 10 seconds. Otherwise going as fast as I can and not really a false step. Some training might help.

Marina Ascea

I contemplated swimming from the nice sandy beach, got in up to my knees, but it was cold and late and it didn’t seem worth it to get wet clothes.

C • Swimming 2

Another excellent meal. Best was the risotto with mushrooms, walnuts and burrata. Then for a second there was a thick slice of veal ribeye and a small cake of vegetables with a bit of caciocavallo cheese on it. Sliced fruit with raspberry purée for dessert. They come around and offer seconds on everything. Couldn’t resist more risotto.

Bus ride along the coast of Calabria, Basilicata and Campania. Stunning terrain, a beautiful day. Beaches, mountains, old towns. Left the hotel in Rende at 8, brief stops in Diamante and Scalea, headed for Paestum.

Turned out to be just a travel day. We stopped and watched the elite sprint camp participants race in Castellabate, tiny town with lots of twisty streets and stairs. They had two loops on a small map, went off in flights of 7 as a mass start. Highlight was Daniel Hubmann holding off Ricardo Scalet by about 20 meters with the others well back, at least a minute.

The plan was for us to get maps and at least to walk around after the races, but they still had heats going off at 5:15, it was getting colder, and people were tired, so off to the hotel, arriving at 6.

This is a much nicer hotel, and much better food than the other places we have been staying. Dinner was a first course of paccheri (large pasta tubes) with cubes of swordfish and an eggplant sauce. They were obliging enough to come around offering seconds. Second course was amberjack breaded and baked, with a zucchini purée and julienned carrots and zucchini. Then a dessert of several little kinds of mousse, including a chocolate one and a limoncello one, very elegantly presented. Quite fine.

Fairly early start, pulled out of the hotel around 7 or so, bus ride to Messina, then took the ferry across to Calabria. Very workmanlike ferry, unlike the luxurious (and expensive) one from Malta to Sicily (and a much shorter ride). This one had passenger tickets at 2.50€, while the tickets on the John Paul II from Malta were 62€. And then some bus riding until arriving at the hotel in Rende, where a not very pleasing lunch was waiting for us. Casereccia pasta with an undistinguished tomato sauce and cold cooked spinach. A walk around town, not all that interesting, and eventually a bus ride up to the old part of Rende, very picturesque, on top of a mountain, views of the sea 20 minutes away, but not looking very lived in.

Very entertaining sprint in the little hill town of Rende in Calabria. Lots of stairs. One small error where I missed a turn and had to go around, but not much loss there. Otherwise fine. Could have shaved a few seconds with better routes, but that always happens. Haven’t seen the results, but first in M70 out of 10, so that was satisfying. Got a bottle of wine.


Rende - Old Town

Middle distance race at Bosco Ragabo on the north-east flank of Etna. I had been here a year and a half ago, but apparently didn’t learn enough from the earlier experience. Three small bobbles and one giant error, perhaps 13 minutes. I hadn’t gone far enough, but got confused by an unmapped track and thought I should already be in the right area, so a lot of thrashing around before finally understanding I had a lot further to go. Otherwise also coming up short a few times and pausing to look around, and one parallel reentrant error that cost maybe 1:30. Quite a nice time, though, and a lovely day. The sky was particularly clear in the morning and Etna was blowing smoke, quite impressive. Still a fair amount of snow up top, but relatively little on our courses a bit further down. Lunch at the Rifugio Bosco Ragabo, where we had been in 2017, then an hour in Acireale before heading back to the hotel. Acireale was more interesting than I had expected. Like a lot of cities here there are many, many churches, quite elaborate and beautiful.

Bosco Ragabo (Etna)

C • Mt Etna Slopes 1

Il Birgu - Città Vittoriosa

C • Day 3 splits 1

City sprint at Cospicua. Good except for confusing the various sets of stairs around 6, 7 and 8. Seems went the long way around a couple of times. 11th today. Took one tumble on a curb right at the start, skinned my knee a bit.


Bormla - Città Cospicua

C • Day 2 splits 1