Strong Like Bull

The peleton of the Vuelta a Espana, celebrating its 75th year will be climbing the famed Zafarraya climb tomorrow on Stage 4. This approximate 20km climb goes from sea level near Torre del Mar, a northern suburb of Malaga, all the way up to 1200m. The bulk of the climb is between the 5th and 15th kilometer and features a lunar landscape at the top. There are multiple switchbacks and excellent pavement throughout. This climb is often used by our Strong Like Bull winter training camp as it features a steady gradient with satisfying views of the ocean and greater Malaga valley during the ascent.

Two SLB alumni won the coveted Polka-Dot climber’s jersey at the Killington Stage Race this past weekend. Silke Wunderwald and Dylan McNicholas both won the climber’s jersey in the P1/2 women and men’s fields respectively. SLB would also like to congratulate Samantha Dery and Chuck Litty – also SLB alums who also raced in what is quite possibly the steepest stage race in New England.

Want dots? Want the confidence? Come ride with us!

Congratulations to SLB co-director John Hirsch for taking 1st and Kristoph Kocan taking 3rd at the American Zofinger race last weekend; and Dylan McNicholas for taking a 2nd place at the Weeping Willow Mountain Bike Race this past Sunday!

Hola,

A few days have passed since the end of Strong Like Bull 2010 and we wanted to thank everyone that helped make it the best year yet and share with you some of the memories that were captured. We also wanted to give you all of the information about 2011.

First off here is some great stuff from 2010:

Bobby or www.ironmanbobby.com took over 800 pictures of the second session and put together the top ones here.

He also did a video podcast of one of the days we had here.

Christine Lynch took a ton of photos too and posted them here.

Also John’s blog entries for the camps can be found here: here.

2010 was a really awesome year!!!

2011:

The dates for the camps are:
Camp 1: Wednesday 2/9/2011 – Friday 2/18/2011 (Plan to fly from USA 2/8)
Camp 2: Saturday 2/19/2011 – Monday 2/28/2011 (Plan to fly from USA 2/18

The price is the same and again we are offering incentives for early signing up.
The price is $925 if you sign up by April 1, 2010.
After that it is $1025 until October 1, 2010.
If spots remain the price is $1125 after October 1st.

To sign up please send us an email.

Again we are including 2 free days to anyone tough enough to do both camps!

There will be some change for 2011. After several years with Idle Breaks we will not be back with them in 2011. They requested a price increase that would have required us to raise our rates 40%. We are committed to keeping this camp affordable and feel we can provide equal or higher quality value without Idle Breaks in 2011 and without a price increase.

To that end we have rented a popular facility in Trabuco used by other teams and camps called Cortijo del Nava. Cortijo Del Nava is a fantastic cortijo with central heating, larger rooms, a paved driveway and located only minutes from the center of Trabuco which offers a proper plaza, cafes, shops and allows athletes a chance to unwind in an authentic Spanish town with wonderful people. Cortijo del Nava also has owners on site to look after our needs. To get a tour of Strong Like Bull’s new digs check the slide show here.

We have also hired health counselor and triathlete Christine Lynch of www.liveandeatbetter.com to oversee the cooking and dietary needs of the athletes. She will be providing 3 meals a day to fuel and power you for your training, she is also a certified yoga instructor and will, again, be teaching yoga classes.

We have rented vans and will be able to provide all transportation within Spain including airport pick up and drop off. All rides will also be guilded as well as supported with a sag vehicle. We will also continue use the swim center we have been using and provide transportation to and from there as well for the triathletes.

We can not wait to make 2011 amazing and really hope you are there!!!

Sean and John

Come visit and fan the Strong like Bull Training camp Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Strong-Like-Bull-Training-Camps

Follow us on Twitter: SLBTrainingCamp

Check out this recent interview of Pro and SLB  Co-Director John Hirsch here. The last segment is all about SLB.

Introduction: SIlke Wunderwald is a former ironman and triathlete who became a
Cat 1 cyclist, and now races all over the damn place for the Kenda women’s elite team. In 2008
she traveled to Spain
to Train with Strong Like Bull before returning to win countless races and
qualify for her pro card in cycling.

Hey Silke, thanks for taking some time out of an insane schedule to do an
interview. You and I had a fun and kinda funny habit of calling each other from
airports. It seems like you are always on the go some place. How has that been?

Aside from one minor delay due to weather
it was smooth sailing (or rather flying) throughout the season: Flights were on
time, luggage arrived unharmed, customs let me keep my toothpaste and I
successfully dodged all germs and viruses! Of course now I probably just
totally jinxed myself for next year’s travel season! Waiting around
terminals was always a great opportunity to catch up with everyone or read a
few chapters in an actual book. Aside from that, I really needed to learn to be
organized to the nth degree and think ahead of all the things that I needed to
get done. It was a painful process. Ordinarily I like to procrastinate and work
much better under pressure, but I had to modify my habits in order to make it
through the season without going totally insane. Having to be back at your job
at seven o’clock on Monday morning after spending a weekend racing
someplace far enough away that you have to fly there requires a fair amount of
discipline.

One of the things we
joked about its that triathlons are always in great places, vacation spots, and
it seems like road cycling is always in bombed out old industrial towns. Come
on, don’t you miss St. Croix? Wouldn’t you
take Austin over Fitchburg?

Sure, but I can drive to Fitchburg and don’t have to wrestle my
bike box in order to get to the race. So in spite of less scenic locations I
did learn to appreciate the times when I didn’t have to get to an airport
first. On the other hand, I do wish we had done some of the races on the west
coast just to even out the score a little.

All kidding aside what have been some of your favorite places to visit and race
this year?

For urban races, nothing ever beats racing
in NYC! It is just the coolest feeling to be racing around Central
Park at six o’clock in the morning all covered in horse shit
and who knows what. I love the attitudes and the diversity, and I’ve met
some really cool people there. I met some pretty big a**holes there too, but
since I can pack up the car and leave at the end of the day I tend to be amused
rather than annoyed. Otherwise, there are some great races right here in New England that I look forward to every year: the Tour
of the Battenkill in April is my all time favorite. And I just came back from
the Tour of the Catskills and it features some of the most scenic and most
challenging courses in the area. This year the prologue took place in the
quirky town of Tannersville
which also happens to have a bistro with the most extensive beer list ever.
Best of all, it doubles as a packie and I stocked up on some Erdinger Dunkel as
it is known here. For crowd support, the Athens Twilight crit in Georgia earlier
this year was simply amazing. The rectangular race course appeared to be at the
center of a huge block party and it was weird in that the racers seemed to be
the only sober participants in what felt like a giant outdoor frat party
(including some misdirected sprays of beer and biting bbq smoke in my eyes and
lung)!

You turned pro or as they call it in cycling Cat. 1. What has been some of the
biggest changes for you this year?

I think the definition of
‘pro’ is a bit fuzzy especially in women’s cycling where very
few can actually earn a living racing their bikes. I like Kerry Litka’s
expression of ‘fake pro.’ I think that is much more applicable in
my case. The fields at the NRC level are much bigger and much more animated,
aggressive and competitive compared to the local races. This was the challenge
that I was looking for this year. I wanted to race at my limit and see what it
would be like and I think I got what I asked for.

What do you miss about triathlon?

I miss getting hugs and kisses before and
after the races! Bike racing can be a bit of an intimidating and harsh
environment and spectators clear out quickly after the first three finishers
cross the line. People tend to not stick around to cheer for the lantern rouge!

What have you come to love most about bike racing?

Unlike triathlons you can race multiple
times almost every weekend, so if you screw up you can have another go at it
within a day or a week, or maybe even within just a few hours. So I can get my
endorphine fix that much more often! Triathlons tend to require much more
recovery time so you have to bet all your fitness dollars on just a few races.
I also really like the tactical aspect of bike racing although it can also be
very frustrating. Much is determined by how well you play the game and oftentimes
someone will win who isn’t necessarily the strongest rider in the pack. I
tend to be too impatient and lost races because I got too antsy, but I am working
on it.

You have won some big races, and done well in even bigger races. What are some
of your favorite moments?

My favorite moments are those where I can
apply both my body and mind to ride a successful race. The kind of races where
good legs alone won’t get you to the line first, but where you have to
use your head as well to come out on top. In bike racing you usually only get a
split second to make a decision. As they say, if you snooze you loose and that
wheel that you needed to jump on is long gone if you hesitate!

You have also gotten
your ass kicked a few times this year. I was watching on of your race on Versus
and Kristen Armstrong just destroyed everyone. Do you find it cool to race against
the best in the world even if you just suffer and suffer?

That was at Nature Valley.
It took everything I had to stay somewhere in the middle of the pack with the
occasional slip to the rear, but every time I looked up I saw the yellow jersey
of Kristin Armstrong at the front pulling everyone around the course. It was
maddening and absolutely amazing at the same time. Then I almost took out
Jeannie Longo at Fitchburg
and I was absolutely horrified! I could already see the headlines in my
mind….”Newly crowned French time trial champion Jeannie Longo
breaks hip at Fitchburg due to rookie bonehead move…!” So aside
from the fear of doing something really stupid it was very cool to at least
start (and sometimes finish) the race alongside these incredibly talented
riders. (Hot of the press: Kristen Armstrong just won the TT World Championship
in Switzerland
today!)

One thing I think is interesting is that you race all kinds of races. Stage
races, crits, long one days events. Flat races, mountain top races, whatever.
Do you find that frustrating? Or does sometimes racing something that is not
your normal thing take some of the pressure off? Also have you found you had
new talents in events you didn’t know you could do well in?

I see myself as an all-rounder, but I tend
to do better in hilly road races. It seems like a contradiction, but somehow I
am able to get my fat @ss up and over the hills reasonably well at least on a regional
level. On a national level I just try to hang on no matter what and even
courses that would ordinarily suit me can become a bit of a challenge. When you
watch the TdF you will hear Sherwin et al talk about the specialists:
sprinters, climbers, time trialists etc. But then even those specialists have
specialties and then you get time trialists that will do well on either hilly,
technical or flat courses. I like to challenge myself and racing on courses
that do not play into my strengths keeps it interesting and fun, but doesn’t
necessarily lessen the expectations I have for myself.

You are THE toughest person I have ever trained with. That said even you broke
into that Church in Connecticut
with me during that insane thunder and lighting storm last year. What did you
do to make God so angry? Seriously, that was THE scariest ride ever. Trees
falling, power-lines coming down and almost killing us, flooding…You should
kinda be dead, no?

That was the absolute scariest ride ever! I
seriously thought that the only way we were going to survive that storm was to
pledge to enter a monastery. Are there co-ed monasteries? I think that is the
closest I’ve ever come to selling my soul!

Did you see that the Tour Of Spain went up the Pico [a 6000 foot, 32k climb in Spain that SLB
does yearly]. Did you know you still have the camp record? I think you went
around 2 hours. Wanna guess what the pros did it in? What do you think of that
climb?

I didn’t see the stage, but I am
guessing 1 hour flat or maybe just over to allow a minute for a pee break. The
climb is absolutely epic. Someone said that the word ‘epic’ is
highly overused (as is the word ‘hero’ IMHO), but this is one of
those cases where no other word will do it justice. The scenery is stunning and
it is just the coolest ride ever. The fact that Andy was waiting at the top
with food and warm clothes made the whole experience even more enjoyable.

Speaking of Spain
you also hold the record for most bake shops visited. I am pretty sure you
cased out one bake shop through the window of a baked shop we were in! Why are
the pastries of Europe so amazingly good?

I’m not sure, but evidently some
famous German cyclist used to follow the same off-season diet. Maybe it is
something in my genes, but bakeries exert some sort of gravitational pull that
I just can’t resist. But it could also be the same reason why even espresso
from some random gas station in the middle of nowhere tastes absolutely amazing.
Or why simple questions continue to provoke giggles for days on end… did
we ever figure out what kind of quarry that was?

What Climb did you like best in Spain
that we did? Personally I like the Puerta Del Sol but I have a thing for goats.

I still remember the goat shit sticking to
my bike! Nice and slippery from all the rain that stuff stuck to everything
like glue and was equally hard to get off! I love switchbacks so I’d have
to pick the Puerta as well, but, honestly, all the climbs were epic (again) and
the vistas were just breathtaking! Actually it isn’t just the climbing that
was a lot of fun, but some of the descents were just as thrilling. I remember racing
Johnny English down some twisted mountain road with lots of switchbacks and
that was the most fun I have ever had on a bike. I think at the bottom we had
gained some 10 minutes or more on everyone else. We also picked some rolling
routes through quiet olive groves that were really nice and a little bit easier
on the legs.

Anything else you wanna say?

Fiesta, siesta…. and a bit of
cyclocross that’s what I am going to do while you train for the 70.3
championship…. SUCKER!

(Silke on the famed Pico training in Spain before she went on to earn her pro card).

With Spain 2010 coming up on us, we thought it might be fun to interview past athletes that have come to Strong Like Bull in the past or athletes who are coming to Strong Like Bull this year. To  get the ball rolling here is an interview of Anna Fyodorova that I did a lil’ while back….

Anna Fyodorova is the USA Track and Field 50k champ. She is also the US Ultra Grand Prix Series leader and the NY Road Runner Ultra Marathoner of the year. Beyond that she can play a pretty good game of bocci, and lift more than her fair shair of a sofa. She is funny, dark and fast; and pretty much a one of the people I feel I resemble the most when I train and race. I “get” Anna and I hope after this interview you do too.

Anna, you are a total bad ass. um, I guess that’s not a question is it?

no its not, jackass.

one of the reasons you are such a total bad ass is that you won the 50k US Track And Field National Championships. How did that race go down and what winning that was like?

The 50K nationals was a great race, it was cold, windy, long, miserable but as always with things of this nature, AWESOME.  It took place on LI and the course was just over 2.5M so we had to loop it quite a few times.  I remember standing at the start before the race, checking out the competition, as we always do, and several guys came up to me and began telling me who to watch out for, who to stay with, and I’m thinking, ok, I’m just going to run this thing and see what happens, having said that, of course, lining up at the start behind/next to the girls who looked like they’ve done this before and can run.  With each loop I was able to see how far behind me the competitions was when coming out of small lolli pop loop, with each lap the girl behind me was further back, and after about 4 loops I could no longer see her, but I think that made me go even faster, fearing an attack from behind, who knows when people ‘turn it on’ for a 50K?!?

You also won the NY Road Runners Ultra Marathoner of the year this year. Was that easier or harder than winning the usatf 50k, I mean you had to dress up and stay up late?
The NYRR Ultra Runner of the Year was a hard title to deal with!  Not only was there a 60K involved, I had to get my hair & nails done, buy an extremely expensive dress, wear heels, which are never comfortable, I don’t care what anybody says, and stay up way past my 8pm curfew, you know that is, it was hard stuff.  So now I’m in training to try to claim that title again, but it should be easier this time around cause I know where to get a good dress now and I know what hair do not to get.

I though of myself as a high volume person until I meet you. How many ironmans, marathons and ultra do you do a year?

Yes John, compared to me you’re a slacker J Lets see, this year it was 2 Ironman races, should have been three but the kidney stones came, 2 marathons, 2 50Ks, a 60K, 2 70.3s.

you share a common trait in all the ultra runners. You don’t like to sleep. You never want to sleep. What’s up with that?
Sleep is good but having an actual job, running 80M weeks, coaching, and oh yeah, swimming and cycling for way too many miles during the season, there’s not much time for shut eye, I too come to a point of crashing every so often, then you recharge and trot on.

I have said for years that metal makes humans run faster. When I got in your car you had on the cd changer Manison, Rise Against and Ramstien. Metal makes you faster right?

Oh Man!  Metal makes the world go faster!!!  Metal gets you energized, angry, pumped up, it’s the perfect recipe for racing, training and anything that requires you to go FAST!  Manson, NIN, Rise Against, Metallica are def. some pre-race favorites.

We have raced a few times together and I was shocked when I saw you on the course. Outside racing you are a funny, nice, easy going person. But you race completely anrgy. I ran faster thinking if you caught me you might also serve up a beat down on my ass. I hang out with killers at work. You got that “if I catch you, I am gonna stabe you” look. Where does all that darkness come from?
How do you tap into it and use it on race day?

LOL, its funny you pose that question.  I was just explaining that to someone the other day, like you see people angry after a race, how?, I don’t know because like you said, I’m so intense, focused and angry, I guess, during the race that once its over, that has to go away and I smile again other wise it may just kill me.  I guess it’s the inner racer in all of us, some feed on smiles, some feed on being pumped up, some have this ‘I want to kick ass’ anger inside them.  One thing I can tell you for sure, I don’t practice it or work on it, or even so much as think about it, it is what it is when the gun goes off at the start.  But I really am happy people, just don’t try to beat me in a race J

Do you train to metal, and train all rage-full?

When it comes to training, its def. metal ALL the WAY!  As to the anger issue, it depends on the day, if it’s a long, hard day out there, or if I’m going long and fast and am super focused, I’m def. angrier, other days I’ll actually smile at the people around.  You know, these questions are making me seem like a psycho, serial killer wearing Nikes!

Hey, thanks for helping me move. Ya know NYC has a pretty good subway system. Wanna tell that story?

You guys rock and thanx so much for the subway advise!  LOL.  Ok, so John was moving and so I totally offered to help!  I was in the middle of a 90M running week and so I needed to get mileage in that day, so, I mixed business with pleasure, so to speak, I decided to run from Bay Ridge, Brooklyn to the UWS, 125^th street in Manhattan and then help my crazy triathlete friends carry furniture and other junk into their new apartment, good times, good times!  I will always thank you for feeding me granola bars so I didn’t pass out, it was a 20M run J

Let’s talk training. You run 90+ mile weeks. That’s sick. Explain your training philosophy and practice a bit. Rumor is you aren’t keen on recovery weeks, tapering or days off.

Yes, I do like my mileage nice and high!!!  I  guess it’s the Anna Theory that the more miles you put it in, the more your legs will be used to the pain and so when you race, you can go faster and it will seem short, no matter how long it is.  When it comes to endurance sports, it’s a suffer fest and its just a matter of suffering out the competition, I think this may be a quote from a book, I love it!  The recovery thing, ummm, not a huge fan, as long as I can walk pain free, I’m good to go and tapering, you don’t really ever need more than a week J I know you pose these questions so people think that I’m completely NUTS, lol.

Please rank the following: skulls, flames,black nail polish. And explain why.

Black nail polish is my trade mark, I guess its one of those things that makes me bad ass.  Skulls are beautiful, you guys have to check out a new wallet I got  the other day, all skulls, its awesome!  Flames are ok, but not as great as black nail polish and skulls.

Who would you rather date, Trent Reznor or Macca? Btw do you mind if I tell everyone that you have a huge crush on Macca. You were sending out texts when he won. Are you gonna go crazy stalker type?

OMG!  I love Macca!!!  Thanks Ken Shultz for giving out texting info!  So yeah, Macca is primarily way hot cause he’s wicked fast, a bad ass and has an awesome Aussie accent, I think I’d totally date Macca but back I still think Trent is god when it comes to musicJ

He is pretty small I bet you could kidnap him. Maybe keep him in your basement? I could help, I owe you for helping me move.

All stalked jokes aside, he’s going to be in NYC next week, he’s staying at the Essex house, likes Starbucks and will be at SBR on Wed. around 5, are you thinking what I’m thinking!!!  We can lock him up in my new apartment and only let him out for training rides and runs, accompanied, of course.

You train and race out of Brooklyn, yo. That’s bad ass. You think its part of why you are so tough?
Yeah, us Brooklyn girls have to be hard core, only the tough survive!

Hola Athletes!

Its been a sick season for so many of the Strong Like Bull athletes, with PRs, Ironman finishes and trips to national and World Championships! We hope this email find you tired for a great year of training and racing.

We have some really awesome news: Stage 13 of the Tour of Spain is “the queen stage” of this years Tour of Spain with the final climb being up the famed Pico. Some of the best cyclist in the world will decide one of the 3 grand tours on our training grounds!

This is the same climb that Strong Like Bull training camp does. Its the longest climb in Southern Europe and is over 32k climb long with about 6000 feet of vertical gain.

For those of you who have done it with us in the past we wanted to let you know that it will be on TV on Universal Sports Saturday. I hope we spot Idle Breaks director and Ironman Andy slop side cheering on the craziness! you won’t be able to miss that mustache

We at Strong Like Bull are deep into planning for what will be a great 2010 camp. This year we have several pros coming to help provide a fun and exciting training environment. We also will be back at Idle Breaks, which has made some meaningful upgrades to the training center.

We have launched this website to help keep you updated with all the info you might need. Also we have a few promo videos we shot in 2009 up on the site as well as well as info and discounts from the camps sponsors who have promised another year of swag for all those who are coming.

In March we launched early registration and currently have deposits for over half of the spots. if you have not yet given us a deposit and wish to come please don’t delay, as we plan on doing a great deal of outreach in the very near future and wouldn’t want any of our close friends, teammates and training partners to be shut out as this camp seems on pace to sell out. For more details, contact me.