Hello from the Sierra Nevada,

I am David de la Cruz, riding my first season for Team NetApp-Endura and this is my first blog for you. Currently I am doing a high altitude training camp in Car, which is in the Sierra Nevada, Granada. Here is a fantastic high performance center, built 2.350 meters above sea level.

I arrived July 5^th and will stay here till the end of this month. Besides the awesome view there is not much spectacular going on and a daily routine rules my day. Wake up 7:30am, gymnastics, breakfast and start training. After some hours of high altitude training it’s back to the hotel, shower, eat and of course watch the Tour de France desperately waiting for dinner. Life in training camps is not that much of fun, but it’s ok and thanks to internet everywhere, I can kill the boring moments.

After a week now, I can move on to a more intense training level. You got to be careful in the first days being in high altitude. First you need to adapt to 2.300 meters, going easy, control your heart rate and gradually increase the intensity of the training.  Actually I have a quite interesting training mix. I took both my bikes the road and TT bike. So I can train long climbs, power series or do endurance sessions with the road bike and sometime I take the TT bike to train my correct position. I am good in time trials and also on climbs which I want to improve so I focus on those disciplines.

But it is not all about training. In this altitude it is very important to maintain a good diet und to get enough sleep. So I drink lots of water, eat lots of fruits, vegetables, etc. to keep the body well hydrated and add some proteins and carbohydrates.

Now there are still two more weeks to go to prepare the best possible way for the biggest goal of the year – La Vuelta a Espana! It’s only my fourth year as a pro and I am excited and proud that my team is selected for my home grand tour.

See you at the Vuelta!

David