On The Pegs February 2018 - Volume 3 - Issue 2 | Page 129

On The Pegs
Vol. 3 Issue 1 - January 2018
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P 129
tarting January 6, Sanz will
be facing hundreds of com-
petitors in Peru, Bolivia and
Argentina. The Spaniard is gearing
up for her eighth Dakar, her best
two-wheeled finish dating back to
2015 when she was ninth overall.
But exactly how do you train for
this two-week competition? How
do you prepare to race in 50° heat,
to sleep in the freezing cold, to
endure altitude variations?
Coming from Barcelona, Sanz has
chosen the Pyrenees as a training
playground. This winter, mountain-
eering ski has helped her recreate
two key factors for the Dakar: navi-
gation and solitude.
“It helps me focus,” she says.
“Training high up is very useful in
the current Dakar. Skimo helps me
work all four limbs and it’s a great
complement to my usual training
regime. The better I feel about
my fitness, the better my frame of
mind is for the event.”
She’s also spent a lot of time at
her hometown gym. “I want to
do quality sessions, meaning they
don’t have to be very long. I do
high-intensity series of 60-70 min-
utes, with very short stops in be-
tween exercises so I keep a pretty
high heart rate.
“A Dakar bike is very demanding,
so I have to focus on all areas: the
legs – as you get up and down a
lot – but also the arms and back,
core strength… All body parts are
very important.”
One specific exercise stands out.