When life hits hard: from training camp to emergency room

January 10, 2025 – 66 days to Cape Epic

I'm writing this from home in the Netherlands, not from Girona where I should be finishing day 5 of our training camp. Sometimes the universe has different plans for you.....

The Plan vs. Reality

Sunday, January 5th: After a ten-hour drive from Switzerland to Girona, I arrived at 18:30 in Spain. Jeroen and I had mapped out an ambitious five-day camp – to do some proper stage simulations, mimicking Cape Epic conditions. And apart from that, we were looking forward being under the same roof for a full-week to discuss both work and of course Cape Epic.

Monday morning, we rolled out for Day 1. Despite still recovering from another (mild) virus that bothered me a bit in Switzerland, the legs felt surprisingly good. Over 2:53 of riding, we did 223W normalized power. Not spectacular numbers, but solid. I was learning something valuable: you can perform decently even when the recovery metrics look rough. I have also learned that Jeroen is quite a bit stronger than I am, but I was also expecting that. Not that I am ''accepting it'', there's still 8 weeks of hard training left to make up terrain 😄.

Just when we got back, and I was about to walk into the bathroom for a shower, my phone rang. It was my wife. Under her way to the supermarket with our oldest daughter, she had fallen in the street. Curiously, it was our daughter who slipped, and by sheer back luck, her leg got between my wife's just as she put one leg in front of the other, causing her to trip. Unluckily, she fell hard, and long story short, she broke her hip ☹️.

1.433 Kilometers in 18 Hours

My wife was in hospital and once the fracture was confirmed, she was scheduled for surgery for the next day. Obviously, I had to go home.

I left Girona at 5am Tuesday. And Jeroen as well, as severe weather was predicted for the week to come, he also decided to pack his stuff.

Eighteen hours of driving, seven EV charging stops and 1.433 kilometers of French and Belgian highways later, I was home at 23:15 in the evening and my wife already had surgery by that time. Luckily every went well and now we hope for speedy recovery!

What This Means for Cape Epic

This changes things for sure, but it doesn't end them.

We have an au-pair who can assist (a bit more) with household and childcare responsibilities. My wife – bless her – is being incredibly supportive about me continuing with Cape Epic preparation. She understands completely that this goal matters, that abandoning it now would feel like one disappointment piling onto another.

But let's be realistic about the impact:

Lost training: Those three Girona days (Tuesday-Thursday) represented critical multi-day fatigue simulation. You can't replicate that easily.

Mental load: Even with support, there's a baseline ''stress'' level that comes with your partner recovering from surgery. She's somewhat dependent on me (much more than she'd wish ;-)), and I have less flexibility for planning my training.

Modified approach: I'm not going to pretend this doesn't matter. The training plan is affected by it , and I think gradually building it over the remaining nine weeks, targeting 90-95% of my original fitness goals rather than 100%, is now realistic.

Training Resumes Today

I was back on the Kickr today. Not in Girona on the bike, not with Jeroen, but in my own ''indoor'' setup. Sixty-six days until we line up in South Africa.

The target hasn't changed: top 20 Masters category. The path just got quite a bit more complicated.

More to come as we navigate these final nine weeks. The journey just got more interesting and I am curious where we'll end up.

Until then, Keep Chasing!