Today's Training

Nice and early turbo session at home:

Distance: 30Km
Time: 47 Mins
Avg Speed: 38 Km/h

Max Speed: 56 Km/h

Avg Watt: 206 W

Max Watt: 312 W

Avg Cadence: 94 rpm

Max Cadence: 199 rpm

23Km TT run session

Brik Sunday

Today was a good day. I woke up at  6:30 and at 7:30 I was out of the door. The plan was to go to Box Hill and do a few rounds of it to strengthen the legs and get them used to hard climbs.  There was no traffic and it was a beautiful morning, very sunny and un British I must say, specially given the last few weeks of rain we have had.

At 8:00 I was at the top of the B2032 completely out of breath! That hill is a KILLER with over 120m incline in less than 2Km.  Here is the GArmin feed. Click the image for full details.

Here is the detail of the climbs:

When I got home I got the best welcoming anyone can get: 

As I got home my wife and girls were off to the park and I made a deal with my wife that they would go ahead of me and I would run to the park to meet them so I could get my brik workout done.   

I have a stiff neck and shoulders from being on the aero position on two continuous long rides so I need to a) stretch my neck much more and b) strengthen my shoulder muscles at the gym with some core exercises (plank).  This week I'll stretch much more and, hopefully, in the future the neck will feel better.

23Km @ 5:00/Km - Shin Splints

Today I should have ran at 5am but it was pouring at that time. Needless to say, I got back in bed! Since I worked from home today I was locked in my office fighting off my daughters as they kept coming in the office wanting to play with me. I feel bad pushing them away, but they assume since I am home I do not have to work...doesn't quite work like that.

I had a heavy (but lovely) Spanish lunch my beautiful wife cooked up, and afterwards I dedicated 10 minutes to my daughters and allowed them to practice their face painting skills on me.  No photos of this, but let's just say that Dennis Rodman looked like a model next to me with my painting. 

By 6pm no clients were answering the phone so I decided to go for a run since it had stopped raining. Below is the 23Km route I usually do:

I had a bit of pain on my left shin and it slowed me down a bit on the second half of the run. I will be off my legs for a few days...but I gotta keep it up. Calella is less than two months away.

Open Water Swimming at Heron Lake

Living in London we don't have the privilege of going down to the beach and swim along the shore like my mates in Barcelona, who have been bragging about the lovely weather they have been geting lately. Nor do we have safe canals to swim in like some clubs do in Cape Town, where I'm moving to in September.

We do, however, have great lakes to swim in, and I can't wait for Heron Lake to open.  It is a mere 20 minutes away from my house and last time I went it WAS PACKED with triathletes in training. The lake opens to the public on Sunday April 28th at 6am, and I plan to be there on time.

23Km @5:06min/Km

Nice and early morning run. Happy Easter everyone!!

Drop in fitness

All these sick days have taken a toll on my fitness lately. With my half quickly approaching and two weeks away in Africa in the end of April, I really do not feel as I am fully prepared to face this race.  Nevertheless, the cards are drawn and I have to try and make it to Calella in the best shape possible. Fingers crossed for me stay injury free and healthy for the remaining few months. 

TrainingPeaks:http://tpks.ws/7YRT

Birthday Run

Happy birthday to me!Nice run to start my 35th birthday with.  I went out with my Zoot Ultra Tempo 4.0 today and I wore the Ironman soles my daughters gave me (review soon) and they felt great. No blisters after 16Km at HRZ 3-4 and I could feel the gel in them really work.  Well worth the €10.

Training Peaks Link: http://tpks.ws/M4bQ 

Argon 18 Mafia Spain - Training day in Barcelona

Awesome video of Argon 18 riders in barcelona.

4 Days in Maputo

This week has gone by so quickly I barely had time train, let alone blog about the (lack of) training! It was supposed to be a business prospecting trip to Maputo, the capital of Mozambique, and I must say I learned a lot about business here.

The city reminds of Luanda, capital of Angola, as it was back in the 90's, when I used to live there.  Very little traffic and an easy going environment.  Not like the hectic rhythm of Luanda nowadays. I got on the plane on Monday afternoon and it was pretty empty so I was able to sleep since there was nobody by my side on the little Embraer plane.  

As I arrived I had a driver waiting for me to take me to my guesthouse.  As I arrive to the guesthouse the guy at reception checks me in at takes me to chose from two available rooms they had ready for me. He opens the first room and the AC was on, nice and humble room.  The second was opposite the hallway and as he opens the door I see two huge cockroaches running from the door and hiding under the bed!!! ....WTF!?!?..."I'll go with the first room please!" I quickly settled in and tried to forget about that incident!

The following morning I woke up at 5 am as I wanted to go for a jog to see the Indic Ocean sunrise.  It was lovely to see the sun rise off the Maputo marginal (bay).  I think it was the first day back to school and I was surprised to see so many kids up at 5:45 and 6am walking to school! Everyone with their little uniforms walking together and you definitely see the excitement in the children's faces.  I suppose the first day of school is always exciting regardless of whether it' in the UK, Spain, Portugal or Mozambique!

That day I had quite a few meetings scheduled so I proceeded to fulfil my professional obligations but in the evening I met up with some friends who just so happened to also be in Maputo on business as well and we went out for a nice meal! I must recommend MarnaBrasa if you ever go to Maputo. It is a lovely family owned seafood restaurant and the the food is great! You will absolutely love it, but do expect to pay quite a bit for the food and service! It is, however, worth it.

MAPUTO TRAINING

I actually did this course twice, Tuesday and Thursday. Tuesday I did 13Km and took it a bit slower, but Thursday I stepped it up a bit and went 1 Km shorter.  The good news is that in one of my meetings here I was I met a lawyer who is helping us on the ground, and in the middle of the conversation I found out he is a triathlete as well, and he had just returned from competing in South Africa's 70.3 Ironman! He happens to be the national coach of the Mozambican team, and he is in charge of creating and developing the triathlon federation in Angola as well! Unbelievable coincidence, and I am really excited about the possibility of competing with the Angolan flag (if I ever make the team, of course).

I was supposed to have travelled today to Angola  today but I had a very important meeting confirmed as I was about to cross immigration at the airport so I decided to go back to check in, get my luggage back, and head to town to book a hotel room and attend the meeting.  This time I went t a different hotel... so no cockroaches!

All in all it was a great week.  Maputo is an easy going place and Mozambicans are very, very pleasant and lovely people in general.  Business-wise it was a very positive trip and will soon have to be back here, but for now, its back to the UK for 10 days before I travel again! In the meanwhile, here are some more photos of Maputo:

Hotel Avenida's Pool

Hotel Avenida's Gym 

View from Hotel

View from Hotel

View from Hotel

View from Hotel

Large Avenue in Maputo

Found a Gym in Luanda

Today I decided to find a place to cycle a bit and I went Gym shopping.  First stop was Hotel Tropico's gym, which apparently is the best in town, but as such, they were taking the piss with the price, charging $50USD per session!  They are out of their mind!

I got back in my car and I headed to Fitness Luanda, which I had attended about 7 years go! They had nice facilities and were affordable ad $15 per session, but most importantly, they had 2 spinning bikes in the gym area for clients to use! GREAT!  They also have 3 spinning classes every day so my lack of cycling here in Luanda has now been resolved! All I need now is to find a pool! 

Luanda 15Km run

Today I went a bit longer. Trainingpeaks.com says i should have swum for 1 hour and run for 1h:15m but, as i mentioned yesterday, I aint got no pool to swim on here in Luanda! Went out for a longer run and actually felt pretty good.

No bike, no pool...

...so I just run here in Luanda! 10Km yesterday and 10Km today, and I keep feeling better.  I need to try and pace myself a bit slower in order to keep the HR at or below 3.5/4 as that is what my plan says.  Im off to Maputo next week for a week and I will try to keep the 10Km a day for the remainder of my stay in Africa.  hopefully when the Duathlon gets here I won't feel so bad, at least not in the run, but I gotta make sure I hit the turbo trainer back in the UK

Here are the details for today's and yesterday's runs. Click on each for more details.

TODAY

YESTERDAY

Training in Luanda - Flu Hangoverrrrr......

Oh, the feeling of not being able to lift your legs or carry your body through the next few steps! Crap...that's what I was feeling tonight as I dragged myself out of my sister's apartment to go and do 10Km.

I've been sick since the 1st of February, the day after the Sant Cugat race in Spain, and here I am 15 days later trying to kick this fricking bug off my body with some sweat in this African heat.  Thi sis not the best way to start off the year's training, specially with the duathlon coming up in 2 weeks back in London.  I am SO NOT READY, but I suppose I can always use the Duathlon as a tough practice session.

Im not going to say much  more as Im dead tired and need to rest for tomorrow's meetings, but here is tonight's info, and below last week's info as I also tried to do a set of 10Km, although I felt much better today.

And this is last week's activity:

No, I did not run on the water. They have done some construction on the bay and they have extended the side-walk to where there used to be water, therefore the "optical lilusion". I'll try to get 10Km under my belt again tomorrow.

21 Km Run / 5:06 pace

I know it has been a long time since I last wrote on my blog but it has been very hectic at work and I have just not had the energy to train, let alone to come here and write about my lack of training.  I did 15Km on Monday an that was it this week...nothing more.  This run felt great though. It was a good run at a good pace. Hope to be here more often.

105Kms Ride - Redhill, Sevenoaks, Tonbridge, East Grinstead, Crawley, Redhill

Hell of a ride today.  It really was 105Kms but I stopped my forerunner watch after stopping for some more drinks, but either way, it was my longest ride ever.

I woke up at about 8ish and had a bit of breakfast as I knew it was going to be a loooong ride.  Tights on, helmet on and off went. It was a hilly ride but I already made my mind up on not training on flat courses anymore.  

Not much to say here really other than it was a great ride.  I stopped three times to get more Lucozade.  Getting to Crawley my aerobars came loose as I was holding them and I lost control of the bike so I fell to the grass on my side at about 40Km/h.  Nothing broken and no blood... just a loose aerobar on my hand.

Good thing I had my tool kit under the saddle and I was quickly able to get it on.  I had about 20Kms to go to get home. Last ride before my next race.

I tried a a new  iPhone App for my phone today and I loved it.  Cyclemeter gives you plenty of details about your ride and automatically synchs with various social media accounts.  Not only that, but it talks your friends comments while you are riding. Pretty cool!

Great Sunday Ride - 72Kms

Great ride today. I took the day off yesterday as I was not feeling too well and really just wanted to stay home and do a bit of washing up and cleaning.  Today I had two options, I could do the fartlek run (today's workout) or do the long 2h:45m ride (yesterday's workout).  I decided to do the long ride early, and hopefully I will be able to do the fartlek run later on today.  Now it's time for a nice bowl of pasta for lunch!

London Triathlon Motivation Videos

Browsing my typical triathlon sites and forums I came across these videos which I just had to share! 

Stan stays focused and motivated while on his bike.  Know no limits!

See Stan dive in head first to his swim training from the comfort of his own kitchen.

Stan gets all sugared up and caffeine crazy in the name of research.

lipping out of a wetsuit when you're up against the clock isn't an easy business. So when's best to shed the suit? Stan takes on the challenge to reveal the sporting truth.

I'm not sure I'm quite keen on following his training style but hey...whatever works for you! Good to you all at the London Triathlon or any other races you may be doing soon.

New PB on 10KM

Yesterday was another early morning for me as I needed to stick to the schedule and do some running.  Woke up at 5:30 and by 6:00 I was out the door.  I have this hilly course I do around my area, which is not the best to try and get a PB of 47m:20s, but I seem to have gotten the hang of it and managed to shave some good time form my past efforts.  It felt great, and so did the fact that I'm trimming down on the weight aiming to be under 80Kg by my Barcelona race, on July 17th.

Today I'm supposed to swim but since I am working from home I do not have access to the pool next to my office, and my local pool is closed for refurbishement, so I will go for a short 20K ride this afternoon followed by a 2Km run for a brik.

Tomorrow will be off from training as I have a race on Sunday.  We have agreed to meed some good friends there for the race so it should be fun.

I'll try and put together a race plan later today or tomorrow for the race. My T1 is really slow and T2 could use some improvement as well. Under 1min please....yeah right!

Weekly Trianing Report June 27th 2011

Last week while in Angola I upgraded my www.dailymile.com account to PRO, and I now have the added benefit of getting my weekly training reports sent to me with these details stats on distances, times, calories burnt, and next to the green triangle you can see the difference between this week's workouts and last weeks results.  I improved on all but that's because the previous week I barely did anything due to my travelling and lack of time, but, as I said on my last post, I am hoping to soon get int to the 5+ hours/week of training, but this weeks was obviously not the first one. Maybe next week.

This weekend was a great weekend and actually quite busy as well.  Saturday AM  I went for an early swim at the local gym and then I joined with a platinum (or whatever they call it) membership. More on this later!  I then took the girls to their tennis lessons and afterwards we went home for the girls to change to go to Drama lessons.  While Sofia was at Drama we went over to the open day event at their school where we could see all their work and paintings throughout the year.  Time passes by so quickly...
After we picked Sofia up from drama we had a quick lunch at McDs and then we were off to the Circus.  It was great fun as it was the first time our girls had been to a Circus.  Afterwards we met up with some good Spanish friends for a late snack at a great pub where the girls had lots of place to run with the other kids.

As I mentioned earlier, this past friday I decided to join the local gym only to be told the pool was going to be closed until September for refurbishment! I was not impressed but the young girls at reception immediately gave me swimming options for me to go for free while my local pool was Kaputz! This would have been a great solution had it not been for me finding out about a swimming center next to my office in Covent Garden, London.  I went to Oasis this morning and enquired about swimming there on a daily and weekly basis and it actually works our cheaper if I swim there than at the one closer to home.  Personally, I would rather get out of the house as early as possible so I can get all my workouts done early and then at night when I get back home it is to spend all my time with my three ladies.

Today was a great example: Out of the house at 6am, in the pool at 7am and in the office at 8am. By the time the rest of my team got there I was already done with my daily exercise and when I got home I was able to dedicate some time to my daughters and beautiful and lovely wife.  Tomorrow I will aim at getting up early to go for a 10Km run so that I can get on the 6:30 bus to the station... so that means I better get a quick running time otherwise I will be left behind.

Im getting busy with the 70.3 training plan so let's see how I adapt and react to it.  This Sunday STEELMAN triathlon. This is my first move up the distance ladder and it feels quite good to be honest.  A fe more days of training and Sunday I should be ready.

2XU Compression Calf Guards Review - Father's Day Gift

It feels great to be back in London next to my wife and daughters.  These trips, although necessary, can be a real pain, but I must admit the best thing about them are the hugs I get from my daughters when they see me upon my return, and this time they came with a nice father's day present. 

As we get back from picking up the girls from school I see Sonia handing them something in a box with WIGGLE on it! Hmm... it was either something for Sonia or for me, I thought. Anyway, WE get in the house and the girls hand me this box and they both start shouting HAPPY FATHER'S DAY.

I opened the box and it was a set of the 2XU Compression Calf Guard w/ Stirrup.  I was really surprised as I was not expecting anything really.  I tried them on right away (the wrong way) and they felt great. After I looked at the box I realised I had them on the wrong way and immediately changed them.  I was eager to go out and try them on so this morning after we dropped the girls off at school I went for a quick 30 minute swim and then took Sonia for a 10Km run to help her get a quicker pace than her usual 5:37min/Km.  On trying them on this is my overview:

- Fit: They fit great around my calve.  The pressure is on the back of the leg and it really keeps the muscle from wobbling while one is running.

- Comfort: great comfort and not too tight either, just right.

- Stirrup feels a bit like it is going to slip from under your foot, but once you put your sock  and/or shoe on it actually holds on quite well.

- Snags: If any, I would say the angle of the bottom strap which holds on to the bottom of your foot is a bit too small.  I thin it actually holds on tighter to the foot if it is worn with the large X facing the front, but thats just me.
- Price: Varies from £25 to £31 depending on where you look. My wife bought mine with our www.wiggle.co.uk account since we always get a minimum discount for being return costumers.  Other retailers are the usual suspects like Amazon and Chain Reaction Cycles. I suggest creating an account on Wiggle if, like me, are an addict to gadgets and Tri gear.

They come in three colours but I actually like the black one better than the white or tan one.  I am looking at buying the new Fusion triathlon suite in white and I think it would go well with this.