My current home base is a small village called Durbach, located in the black forest region of south east Germany near Offenburg – the site of the 2nd Mountain Bike World Cup.  Now I don’t want to clog the blog with tales of non-skiing adventures, so I will bore you with the details of my training venue first…

Our apartment is on the outskirts of town with views of rolling hills covered with vineyards and orchards.  Spring is in the air, with colorful blossoms, warm sunshine and green forests – it is really beautiful and refreshing.  The nature of the rolling hills means that there is some fun and challenging running terrain – great for natural intervals!  

As an environmentally friendly act (the real reason being my own selfish desire to train), I have been commuting home from the world cup race venue by foot. The venue is not far away – about a 30 minute jog on the most direct flat route. However, running the same route everyday in such a beautiful place would be a crime, so I have taken it upon myself to explore the network of mountain bike and deer hunting trails which weave through the forest, up and down hills and across ridges.  It isn’t hard to stretch the journey home to well over an hour – as long as I am home in time to massage the athletes of course!  On Friday I followed a dirt road up a long gradual climb right out of the valley – the last section of the climb was a perfect 20 minute effort to the top of the ridge, where I found myself experiencing a spectacular view over the German countryside which was well worth the effort!  Today is the day after the MTB race, and also a rest day for me… we all know that coach JD doesn’t want anyone launching into to much running too soon… no one wants an overuse injury before the next training year has even started!

One of the simple pleasures of life in Europe is going grocery shopping!  Part of my job involves making sure the cupboards are stocked to feed the hungry racers.  There is a fine selection of fresh and local produce, and even if I have a little difficulty with the label, chances are pretty good that it is going to taste great! So the favorites list this week consists of my top 5 foods from the store:

1. Cheese – With my limited German language skills I can manage to ask for any Käse recommendations… a quick taste test just in case, and then you can request as much of the huge block as you want!

2. Muesli – America really needs to do something about the quality muesli situation.  Best when combined with himberre joghurt (which is worthy of its own mention), and can be eaten for breakfast, lunch, post-training snack, or sometimes dessert in this household!

3. Pizza – I know it isn’t from the store, but I have a theory that the closer you get to Italy the better it gets.  Remember that I started in Australia, which is a long way away – and I thought pizza was pretty great there! Bellisimo!

4. Bread – European fresh baked brot everyday for these racers!

5. Chocolate – No explanation required!  Actually, this should definitely be number 1.

I guess I should mention that the world cup was yesterday which is, after all, the reason why I am here!  The boys put in inspirational efforts, particularly Adam, who finished 14th after riding an aggressive first lap from starting in 49th position and continued to ride within the top 15.  There was pumping music at the feed zone and some technical terrain for viewing the action… it was great fun!  Next stop will be in the hills and mud of Belgium. Tchüss!  

Felice