{"id":80511,"date":"2025-08-19T06:18:08","date_gmt":"2025-08-19T06:18:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/80511\/"},"modified":"2025-08-19T06:18:08","modified_gmt":"2025-08-19T06:18:08","slug":"from-culture-shock-to-living-la-dolce-vita-sam-longs-incredible-italian-journey-elite-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/80511\/","title":{"rendered":"From culture shock to living ‘La Dolce Vita’ – Sam Long’s incredible Italian journey – Elite News"},"content":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s fair to say that American star Sam Long<\/a>\u2018s training camp in Italy ahead of the IRONMAN World Championship in Nice didn\u2019t get off to the best start.<\/p>\n

Long moved out to the Julian Alps, on the Slovenian border, with pregnant wife Lara and their two-year-old son Leo in July, with the plan to escape the scorching Arizona heat so that he could steadily acclimatise and prepare for September\u2019s showdown in France.<\/p>\n

However early on he openly spoke of the culture shock<\/a> and also revealed that he was without a bike after it got delayed in transit \u2013 and then when it did turn up, needed some work on it. Looking back now he says that actually proved a blessing and gave him a different perspective.<\/p>\n

Indeed the transformation since then has been astonishing and it\u2019s lovely to see the complete change of mindset from Long in his latest YouTube video, which is embedded below.<\/p>\n

He\u2019d said at the start of the trip that it was all about learning to be adaptable<\/a> \u2013 and has been good to his word.<\/p>\n

\u2018I am in love with this area\u2019<\/p>\n

Of course it\u2019s all about prepping as best he can for that IMWC in just under four weeks \u2013 and he\u2019s been working on that meticulously, right down to finishing some of his longer rides with a big descent to replicate what awaits on the Cote d\u2019Azur.<\/p>\n

But it\u2019s the bigger picture which really shines through as he says: \u201cI was kind of bored of riding my bike back home as so many of the rides were the same.<\/p>\n

\u201cHere it feels like I\u2019m playing a video game, I\u2019m enjoying riding my bike again. I am in love with this area. I feel the happiest I have felt in training for a long, long while.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s training but there\u2019s also connected to nature and here I feel very connected to the elements.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m out there in the pouring rain or I\u2019m on top of a beautiful mountain or in the sea. Or going through beautiful vineyards \u2013 there\u2019s just so much nature that I get to be a part of and that gives me energy.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018I\u2019m eating all the good stuff\u2019<\/p>\n

And it\u2019s not just about the training but the recovery afterwards.<\/p>\n

He explained: \u201cMy recovery is so much better here. Why? I think it starts with the food \u2013 there\u2019s maybe just so many less preservatives or it\u2019s more fresh.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m eating lots of carbs, lots of pastries. I\u2019m eating all the good stuff \u2013 La Dolce Vita \u2013 and yet my recovery is great and I\u2019m not putting on any weight.<\/p>\n

\u201cI also get to spend more time with my family and it feels so good to do this. Honestly I feel the happiest I\u2019ve felt in a long time.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"SamSam Long<\/a> is all smiles in Italy right now [Photo credit: Getty Images for IRONMAN]<\/p>\n

\u2018So happy to commit to the pursuit\u2019<\/p>\n

And looking ahead to Nice, Long added: \u201cI\u2019ve got the dream of winning the IRONMAN World Champs. And of course if it were to happen it would change some things in my life. It may change financial aspects or the so-called legacy.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut my day-to-day life, the purpose of that is the pursuit of it, trying to get as fast as I can. Loving the grind of being out there and seeing how far I can push myself as a triathlete.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere really is no failure because I\u2019m so happy to commit myself to being the best I can \u2013 that is why I do it.\u201d<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It\u2019s fair to say that American star Sam Long\u2018s training camp in Italy ahead of the IRONMAN World…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":80512,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[445],"tags":[49,48,635,12010,12011,12012,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-80511","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cycling","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-cycling","11":"tag-ironman","12":"tag-ironman-world-championship","13":"tag-sam-long","14":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80511","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=80511"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80511\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/80512"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=80511"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=80511"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=80511"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}