It's been several months since my last post, but as for most of us, life gets in the way of updating my blog and I find myself postponing it week after week! I am, however, out on business and have found a few hours (late at night) to jot down some words in order to summarize all that's been happening.
Personal
The family is loving Cape Town, and I do not think we could have made a better decision or picked a better place to live. The people are very friendly and welcoming, and now that we have been here for just over a year we almost feel like locals already. The expat community is quite large and there are people from all over the world. Cape Town has just been named the top spot to visit in 2014, so that ratifies our decision to move here. My children are quite active with sports and dancing activities, and my wife has started competing in half marathons last year. They are loving life in Cape Town.
Professional
I try not to mention much about my work on this blog as I want it to be purely athletic focused, but I must say that my move here has also benefited my company tremendously and that has taken some pressure off my shoulders, and diminished my need to constantly travel as on previous year while I was in London.
Athletic
Things could not be going better. I can honestly say that, at age 37, I feel I am in the best shape of my life. Taking into account the fact that I had to completely stop exercising for three months last year after IMSA due to my ankle sprain, things completely changed when I joined MyTrainingDay. Kent Horner, SA professional Triathlete, has been the key component to me being in the shape I am. Some of the key factors which have helped me stick to the plan and, therefore, have improved my fitness level are as follow:
-Team bike sessions: Every Tuesday and Thursday we ride from 4:45am to about 7am. These session make me get my ass out of bed and actually go out there and train. Mostly intervals and hill repeats in different variations and intensity.
-Team track/speed sessions: one of my favorite sessions since I am really a fast twitch athlete.
-Long rides with the team: I have been riding on my own since I started with triathlon, and I can definitely feel the difference when riding with this squad. We are fortunate to have people of all levels so there really is no pressure to stay up at the top with the pro triathletes, but over the past few weeks I have been strong enough to hang with them at 29Km/h over 120Km ride, with 1300m total ascent!
-Strava: Now, this really doesn't have much to do with me joining the team, but I am pretty sure we all agree we love to get new segment records, KOM, and PR showing up on the screen when we log our workouts. You can click on the link above to find me and follow my training sessions! :)
-2014 Goals: Last but not least, I have set some tough goals for this season and I know that, unless I put in the hours, I will not be able to achieve them. My goals for 2014 are:
The family is loving Cape Town, and I do not think we could have made a better decision or picked a better place to live. The people are very friendly and welcoming, and now that we have been here for just over a year we almost feel like locals already. The expat community is quite large and there are people from all over the world. Cape Town has just been named the top spot to visit in 2014, so that ratifies our decision to move here. My children are quite active with sports and dancing activities, and my wife has started competing in half marathons last year. They are loving life in Cape Town.
I try not to mention much about my work on this blog as I want it to be purely athletic focused, but I must say that my move here has also benefited my company tremendously and that has taken some pressure off my shoulders, and diminished my need to constantly travel as on previous year while I was in London.
Athletic
Things could not be going better. I can honestly say that, at age 37, I feel I am in the best shape of my life. Taking into account the fact that I had to completely stop exercising for three months last year after IMSA due to my ankle sprain, things completely changed when I joined MyTrainingDay. Kent Horner, SA professional Triathlete, has been the key component to me being in the shape I am. Some of the key factors which have helped me stick to the plan and, therefore, have improved my fitness level are as follow:
-Team track/speed sessions: one of my favorite sessions since I am really a fast twitch athlete.
-Long rides with the team: I have been riding on my own since I started with triathlon, and I can definitely feel the difference when riding with this squad. We are fortunate to have people of all levels so there really is no pressure to stay up at the top with the pro triathletes, but over the past few weeks I have been strong enough to hang with them at 29Km/h over 120Km ride, with 1300m total ascent!
-Strava: Now, this really doesn't have much to do with me joining the team, but I am pretty sure we all agree we love to get new segment records, KOM, and PR showing up on the screen when we log our workouts. You can click on the link above to find me and follow my training sessions! :)
-2014 Goals: Last but not least, I have set some tough goals for this season and I know that, unless I put in the hours, I will not be able to achieve them. My goals for 2014 are:
- To finish IMSA 70.3 in the top 20 of my AG, and hopefully qualify for the World Championship in Mont Tremblanc. I am aiming at anything between 5h-5h:15m.
- To finish IM South Africa under 11 hours.
- To finish IM Frankfurt under 10 hours.
I have done three races this season but have not been able to do a race report for either of them. The first one was 11 Global, then Slanghoek and Jailbreak. They were all good Olympic distance warm up races, but where I felt best was at the last race where I ran the 11Km at a 4m:20s average, setting a strava segment run record. Oh, and did I mention my new acquisition? Here she is, my 2014 Argon 18, E118:
Upcoming Races
I am writing this post from Mozambique and I am back in Cape Town tomorrow at lunch time. When I get home I will leave with the family to the Western Province Championships which will take place on Sunday. This should be a good gauge of my fitness level as I head out to East London the following week for IM 70.3.
Thanks for stopping by, but before you leave please share some of your motivating factors with me and the blog readers.
- What makes you get up in the morning and get those training sessions done?
- Do you train alone or with a triathlon club?
- What are your goals for this season?
- What is your A race for 2014?
Hey Miguel
ReplyDeleteLove the site. Here are my answers to your questions:
1 - I am not a morning person at all! Your 4:45am starts on the bike would kill me. However, I do manage to drag myself out of bed due to fear of failure. I like to set a goal and make it public, this drives me to suceed.
2 - Swim - as a group coached session, Bike - a bit of both, Run - on my own with my earphones blasting!
3 - Sub-5:30 HIM early June, sub 13 hour IM end of July.
4 - IMUK 2014; this is my third IM and I am aiming to knock at least an hour off my PB and raise as much awareness and money as possible for my chosen charity, Scope, here in the UK.
Good luck with your season. I will keep checking back for progress.
Thanks
Andrew