Freundliche Grüße aus Innsbruck!
This post has certainly been quite some time in the making and I trust all of you have been on tenterhooks waiting for an update. Or not. So it goes. Therefore, for those of you who may not have met or simply don't remember me, I'm the one simply referred to as : The Kid, D-Mac, or, most commonly, Where the hell is D-Mac?
Things across the pond couldn't be better. We just wrapped up our 'shopping week' this past week. Point of clarification, Universitaet Innsbruck doesn't have a shopping policy, however I proceeded to parade around campus reading the preable to the Constitution, while storming various lecture halls, insisting that I should be allowed to shop as long as the white stripes and the eagle fly. So, classes and german are going wonderfully.
Workouts here have been outrageous. Sadly, rollerskiing on public thoroughfares is strictly prohibited, technically by law, but essentially because roads here are windier than the back route to Anna's house and narrower than Nabel's classic stance. Game over. I've been rollerskiing on the 13 mile bike path around the city, great for OD's and speed-work and thankfully there is a lane for walkers and one for hardcore
shredders ... and bikers.The real asset to the area is the altitude and the pleathora of Alpine terrain and paths to enjoy. I've been doing most of my training in spectacular North Range in town which is covered with hiking trails, switchbacked cat tracks for accessing the tram and lifts, as well as a wide range of goat herd-paths which often lead to feces-laden and incredibly exposed/dangerous rock ledges. Great. Today's workout was one I've been doing for the past 3 weeks, a real staple of my training. Contrary to all popular belief, I do record data on my training and shall follow the present trend of posting cool workout beta. Here it is:
5x5 Classic Bounding Intervals auf den Simonazeitfahrenrennbahn unter die Nordbergen:
-Warmup: 21:45 easy run from International Studentenhaus to Erste Gästehaus.
-Intervals: 5x5, 3m rest.
1: 5:01 Max 189 Avg 178
Rest 1: 2:59 Max 190 Avg 135
2:5:02 Max195 Avg 187
Rest 2: 2:57 Max 196 Avg 138
3: 5:00Max 194 Avg 184
Rest 3: 2:59 Max 194 Avg 136
4: 5:01 Max 196 Avg 183
Rest 4: 2:58 Max 196 Avg 137
5: 5:28 Max 197 Avg 187
Rest 5: dnf
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This was a really fun, really typical intensity workout I've been doing here. I've been doing these bulk vo2 max bounding intervals on a mix of trail and gravel access roads with fantastic footing. The course is wonderful for intervals as it bangs on up to the summit of the lower tram station, net 2100 meters elevation gain... ... I've also been doing a weekend time trial on the course which I've named the Simonzeitfahren. There is a wonderful guesthaus at 1487m up in the peaks which serves authentic Tirolean dishes and delicious Zipfer beer. Anyhow, during a hike, my buddy Mark and I stopped there for a quick brew. Our waitress was named Simona and we ended up chatting for a while after we both noticed we were wearing the same Polar watch. Anyway, my future-bride's name is Simona and I proceeded to dedicate my weekly timetrial after her. If that's not a creepy enough story in cliche Vordenbergish prose, then I give up my nordic writing career right now. The TT is ~40 mins, no poles.
Enough regurgitated training beta. Makes me want to cut myself. Innsbruck is living up to its standards as a world-class 2x Olympic village, offering killer hiking and incredible elevation, much better than my own humble mountain home back in South Park... er Lake Placid. Piss. Butthole. (Haha, just watched my required viewing for this evening, thanks Nabel). What sucks is that Seefeld, Stams and the two main glaciers are 20-40 minutes away on roads that really require a car. The glacier busses aren't going yet, but thankfully I ran into a Norwegian named Solveig last night at the pub while watching the All-Blacks lose to France. (Sidenote, at the end of the game all rugby fans were crying: the Kiwis because they'd just lost a rugby game to the Frogs and the French because they had no notion of how to properly celebrate after winning a sporting event). Anyhow, she has high hopes to make a weekend in Ramsau as well as get on the local glaciers, so I'll be up there soon.
Woods and Pearl made a wonderful guest appearance in Innsbruck this weekend, I took 'em some wonderful hikes, as well as let them tag along on my Tirol-Kultur field trip class to Mayrhofen for the Almabtrieb, where the milk cows are brought down from the high alpine pastures and paraded through town wearing incredibly ornate, incredibly Catholic headdresses. Very cool. Delicious food and drink, great photos, good fun. I packed them off and sent them for a week in Salzburg and then Vienna, then back to Innsbrooklyn for two more days with their loving son. Sadly they won't be able to cheer you guys on going around the Whiteface curve on the home stretch to the castle this weekend, but just make sure to hose Delaney as he'll be on his rocket SkiSketts. Whatever it takes. Two questions. Back to school special, whatever.
Keep these killer blog entries a-'comin, I miss my team. More updates soon to follow, especially after I get out on the white stuff that's up in the peaks. Good luck this weekend, I want scars and stories.Hugs,
Rack'em .... ahhem. Hem.
Euer, Dave
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