Pain in Spain

Well...what can I say about the altitude training camp in Spain?! Three weeks on top of a mountain, where we eat, sleep and train in the same building is pretty tough going, but I know it will be worth it in the long run. I much prefer warm weather camps where I can swim outside! What it has been though, is an experience I have never had before in swimming.

We spent the first two and a half days indoors because we were tired from travelling and just being at altitude has an effect on your body, the snow and fog outside didn't help either! On the third day, we decided it was time to get out of the building and walk down to the local town, Pradollamo. Our coach had walked it the day before and told us it was about 20 minutes and down a few steps...little did we know it was 20 minutes of walking down 407 steps!! Needless to say we were all a bit shakey walking down but we were in high spirits and throwing snow balls at each other the whole way down.

Pradollamo is a little ski town in the Sierra Nevada mountain range in Spain. We are staying a little higher up the mountain, at the "Centro Alto Rendimiento", which is the Altitude Centre. The reason why training at altitude is beneficial is because there is lower air pressure up here, therefore less oxygen, this stimulates the body to get better at absorbing and transporting oxygen by increasing the number of red blood cells. When we get home on Thursday I'm off to the English Institute of Sport to measure the change in haemoglobin mass (red blood cells) to see if we have achieved what we came out to do.

As well as our time spent training, which is roughly 77.5 hours of swimming in 3 weeks - with an average of 70,000m per week - we went sledging which was so much fun! Watching Michael Rock do a face plant in the snow was the highlight and I have it on camera! We also went into Granada for the day and saw the Alhambra Castle and had a very nice lunch.

With only two days to go until we go home I will enjoy looking at the breath-taking scenery and watching the skiers on the ski runs looking like ants in the distance. What I am most looking forward to is getting home for Christmas and spending time with my family and my fiancé David Carry.

Wishing you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!