For those back in Alberta, you'll be happy to know that it's not always paradise here. We did have to ride through some rain and cooler temps today. We were quickly warmed up though with the fantastic scenery and tough climbs. Our guide today must have caught some of the Paris Roubaix on the weekend, as we were unknowingly lead onto a very rough stretch of cobble stone. Sarah and company would be happpy to know that other ride leaders pulled this on me possibly as pay back for the interesting rides i tend to find for our riders sometimes? The group is fantastic, keen to try everything even by the 3 rd workout of the day and then still take in the 8 pm lecture, most staying awake. Wednesday will be our first longer sustained climb of ~ 6km, so everyone is excited to what Spain riding is really all about.

Well after a little bit of a Trains, Plans and Automobiles experience we made it to Spain. The main voyage was actually pretty darn good, it was getting back form Calgary, or not getting back, with closed Hwys Thursday night after dropping the boys off.

It seems greener here this year, and it s a beautiful ~ 20 degree day. You spend the first 1/2 day in Spain kind of dazed after being uo for 24 hours, the biggest goal today is always just to get unpacked, pick up your bike rental and get groceries. Dinners fun as it a great opprotunity to get caught up with all yuor old "new" friends from years past. We have the same great guides as last year and they are excited to work with our group again. It's shaping up to be a fabulous camp.

With our Annual Indoor Aerobic Power 3km coming up this week, the talk between athletes and coaches and athletes themselves is," so what are you shooting for?" Safe to say those that say, "I don't know... see how it goes", will not hit or miss their target, and for some that's a safe way out.

Read more: Can't Catch What You Don't See

My running has had a tough go this winter. December I was not interested enough to brave the frigid temperatures. January I started to play a little hockey again in preperation for my Moose Jaw Warrior Alumni game at the end of January. Unfortunately, in the home stretch I damaged my meniscus which then killed my February running, YIKES!! I am back at it now but needless to say things feel a little rough.

Read more: The Answer is Always"Back to the Basics"

I have always been a student of Jack Daniels and Greg McMillan, two highly respected run coaches. In particular their high emphasis on tempo run training or threshold training, for intervals upwards of 15, maybe 20 minutes long. I loved it, and when looking at a triathletes schedule and limited to possibly 2 to 3 runs a week you got lots of bang for your buck. They were the toughest workouts I could do because of the duration of the interval and the pace, essentially one's 1 hour race pace. But while I was finding it tough to be mentally and physically ready for this level of workout on a regular basis i was also finding that everything i read in terms of training for runners, would always refer to tempo runs up to 60 minutes long. I would stress over this wondering how whimpy I was because  there's no way I could do this 1 hour race pace for an hour on a weekly or bi weekly schedule. The other problem was, what do you do when you have built up to your broken interval hour at tempo pace but race season still wasn't here yet.

Read more: Cool Your Jets