Spanish training and Hungarian racing
So far on my European adventure, I have been fortunate enough to tick off a few new countries that previously I hadn’t visited before. Since my last blog where I was staying in Banyoles, south of Spain, I have relocated and am now enjoying the Basque area of Spain in Vitoria-Gasteiz which is in the northern part of Spain. As always, the weather hasn’t disappointed and the food has continued to impress my taste buds.
The training back in Banyoles was certainly something special. This area of Spain is renowned for its amazing cycling with many professional cyclists making it their training base. In Banyoles there were plenty of cycle loops that we were able to venture off on as well as the beautiful 6km Banyoles lake loop used for running. Vitoria-Gasteiz, which is where I am currently staying , is just as good for training. There are not many things to criticise about Vitoria, good running, good cycling and good swimming. That is all you can ask for coming from a triathlete. Apart from training though, my favourite adventure would be visiting the local shopping centre and exploring around the Eroski (a supermarket). The Eroski supermarket would be at least 3 times the size of a regular supermarket back at home, and has so many obscure European foods which are always fun to devour into.
After being in Vitoria for about 1 week it was time to prepare for my next European race. Originally I was going to do a race in Istanbul, Turkey. However in the week leading up to the race I had some good news that I got a start in the Tiszaújváros (also known as Tizzy) World Cup in Hungary. So a quick change of flights and I was booked in to race Hungary. The race format of Tizzy was a little different to a normal triathlon race, having semi-finals on one day and finals the following day. In the late afternoon semi-final, I managed to have a good race swimming well, riding well and running well enough to qualify for the final. The final was again a late afternoon 5pm start. Although I didn’t have the best race, I was still reasonably happy to finish up in 26thposition. Tizzy is also very well known for its atmosphere on race day. Not knowing what to really expect, it was pretty amazing to see hundreds of people drive from all around Hungary and gather in the one little town. Tizzy was certainly not any sort of main town, probably the equivalent of a Moe (small town near Melbourne for those who are unaware). The crowd passing through the grandstand was amazing and it is certainly a race which is on the mind for next year.
Not only was the race hard, but the travel the following day also took a lot out of the body. A 4am shuttle to the airport was certainly a shock to the system. The long 13 hours of travel time definitely felt like days, however there was a huge relief to return to the trusty Vitoria. Now being back in Spain I have a couple of weeks before I venture off to my next race in the Czech Republic racing in a European Cup. Here I will be reunited with good pal, the crazy Czech, Jan Rehula.
Exciting times ahead. A couple more pics for those interested below.
Thanks for your reading.
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