Epic Camp France: Day 6

I lost yellow today.  I lost it because I couldn’t swim a 200m butterfly, but I’ll get it back.  This was just a minor setback.

Today started out really nicely though.  We met at 6:30am for an easy trail run.  Well, it was more of a trail walk since it was so damn steep, but at least I ran the way back.  I went past our turnaround point in Le Monal and headed towards the top of the mountain.  I followed the trails to Col Du Rocher Blanc.  I almost made it to the top, but I got to a trail intersection that said Rocher Blanc was two hours ahead, so I felt like that was a good point to turn around.  When I got back to the chalet, I was just short of 20k, so I did a little extra to get that point.

Breakfast today was amazing.  Since we’re all staying in the same place, the support crew was able to make a ton of great food.  We had oatmeal, scrambled eggs, cereal, yogurt, a nutella and jelly sandwich, and delicious coffee.  I obviously indulged in everything and ate as much food as I could fit in my belly.

The main workout today was a pool swim, and in order to get there, we biked 20km down the hill to get there.  It was just an easy downhill stroll, but we did get rained on again.

The pool swim today was pretty intense.  We had an hour, so the plan was to grab as many points as I could.  I decided to go with 10x200m@3:20/100m, 1km bands-only, and 200m butterfly.  I didn’t get the 200m butterfly.  My arms just didn’t want to work.  Newsom ended up doing 10x200m at 3min and did the 200 fly, so he got two points that I didn’t get.

Afterward, everyone was on their own to spin back up the mountain.  Lunch was at the top, so I went pretty quickly.  My stomach was screaming at me after that swim, so I was motivated.

This afternoon is open.  Some people are riding up the Col Du Sainte Bernard which takes you into Italy.  If I had my bike, I totall would have joined.  I feel bad because I would have loved to bike to Italy.  Oh well, instead I’ll rest up, get a massage, and relax in the hot tub in preparation for the KOM’s tomorrow (there are two.)