Personal Best - 14.4Km at 5:00/Km in Luanda, Angola

I took my energy drink 30 minutes before going out and actually felt pretty good after the initial stretches and first 1Km.  As you can see from the incline map above, there was a slight uphill incline at first but from Km 2 to 3 it was all downhill, which was appreciated. From Km 3 to 8 it was pitch black, and I could only see when the odd car would drive by.  I must admit I was a but scared here, hence the fast running pace :)  I was jogging against traffic and a couple of massive 4x4s almost took me with them so good thing I still have my quick reflexes.

At Km 8 I rejoined traffic and the roads where lit, but the mad traffic was still quite scary, specially since I was going against it. The photo on the left was taken at Km 9 to show the heat at 7pm here in Angola. I will not complain as barely have that heat in London during the day... in the middle of the Summer, let alone winter!
I really picked it up from 10 onwards since I was chasing various groups of slow joggers and, as you know, its always great to have targets to go for on a jog or bike ride.

 At Km 12 a young chap caught up to me and I was pretty pissed about it so I changed gear to stay with him and let him pull me.  We went at it for about 1Km and then I had him bite my dust... as you do! :) At this time it was just a matter of getting home with no injuries, and I was pretty amazed I did not stumble upon anything with all the darkness of this jog.  I was trully lucky.

All in all, it was a great jog.  Taking into account I must have stopped for about 40 second to take several photos with my iphone on the temperature sign, and I then had to put my iphone on the jogging strap again, the 1h:12m is actually not accurate because I did not take this time into account so it whould have actually been a bit better, but hey...I'll take a 5:00/Km pace any day of the week.

9Km in Luanda - Angola

After a very long 13 hour day I had very little energy left in me but made the effort to get out of the house and get some sweat out of the system.  To be honest, I did not want to do anything other than shower and hit the bed sheets, but I got home and saw my sister training to her Insanity Workouts DVD and that pumped me up to get out of my suit, put my shorts and sneakers on and hit the road.

I was a bit worried about running with my iPhone strapped to my arm but I figured people would be more curious as to why I was running that late at night than figuring out a way to rob me.   I forgot my Garmin Forerunner 310XT at home in the UK so I had to figure a way of counting my Kms and, most importantly, my time.  Time would not be an issue as the wonderful designers at Apple in California found a way of putting in multiple timers on the phone.  I used the stopwatch to count my time as even if I wanted to use any of the multiple running and GPS tracking aps available for the iPhone, unfortunately,  my mobile carrier (3 UK) does not have roaming here in Angola so they would not work anyway.

I get out of the house and hit the road, and immediately I start feeling pain all over... it was my left hip, right shin, and left knee! I was not going to last long if this pain were to last for long! Fortunately t didn't and I managed to actually go the longest I've ever gone in Angola.  Went down to the bay then to the island where I was able to, for the first time, jog on the "Calçadão" made specially for leisure in the Island of Luanda.  It was nice to see the young and the"not so young" jogging, running or walking on the beach on what was a very pleasant  evening.  I even saw a couple of newly weds taking photos by the beach with their families, which is not uncommon here in Luanda.  All in all it was not a bad jog taking into account my long ass day before that.  According to www.Dailymile.com I ran 9.24Kms, and according to my iPhone's stopwatch I did it in 52m:33s, giving me a pace of 5:34/Km which is pretty crap for a normal day, but considering my 13h day I'll keep my mouth shut and won't complain too much.

Today was the first day of our event in Luanda and, again, it has been a long day. I'll see how I feel when I get home and hope to do about the same distance tonight....if my body allows me to.

15Km of Running

It had been some time since I went for a 15Km run but it still felt pretty good. Thats twice in a row that I have been able to shave time off this particular distance and it feels great to see my times improving.  I am still looking for a flat 15km course as this one is quite hilly as you can see from the detailed Garmin feed (cick View Details).  Hopefully, if I am able to find one nearby, I can beat th 5min/Km pace which seems quite hard on this course if you look at the elevation gain below:

Elevation Gain:	521 m
Elevation Loss:	521 m
Min Elevation:	-298 m
Max Elevation:	106 m

I am currently in Luanda, Angola, and doubt it very much I will be able to fit in anything other than the odd 5Km.  If I do, it will be interesting to see how I survive under this heat and humidity.

Relaxed 5Km

This morning was my first jog since last week's triathlon and the legs felt it a bit.  It was an easy 5Km to get the legs back into action before, hopefully, running 15Km tomorrow before I jet off to Angola.

As I push myself to get in shape for the London triathlon I come to the realisation there is no way I will have enough time to fit in as many sessions as I should.  Even with my 5am wake up calls, there is only so much one can take before hitting that snooze button over and over again.  The Steelman Triathlon is around the corner, less than two weeks after I return from my trip to Angola, and I will only be able to jog while out there.  How often? Well, we are still to find out.  One thing is for sure, I will not be able to practice my weakest link, which is the swim.

I have decided to take on the Triathlon Europe 70.3  Training Plan for time restricted triathletes and hope to soon be able to see some positive results, specially on my swim times.  I will soon post it up on the training tab.

Hever Castle Triathlon - Race Report

Anyone who has ever raced the Hever Triathlon will agree with me that it is an unbelievable venue with great organisation and great atmosphere.
This was the midweek sprint series which is much smaller in size than the original event usually held in September, for which I am registered to compete in the Olympic distance.

Registration done.  Ready to set my transition zone

My wave was the 6:45pm start and I was actually quite surprised at the low number of athletes in transition zone.  I suppose I was expecting the same or similar numbers as the September race but that was an unfair expectation since the September race has 2500 people over the two days of racing, and this is a midweek series with no more than 30 people per wave, and it had about 8 waves today.

While setting up transition it started raining and all the guys around me looked at each other and we all knew what each was thinking...(oh crap... the bike leg!!!!).  Anyway, it was just a bit of a scare as it actually cleared up pretty quickly and soon enough the sun was out again.  Since transition was quite empty I was able to spread out my stuff comfortably in order to easily find my gear on the way out of the water (it didn't happen that easily...keep reading).

One of the guys next to me started chatting and we went to the start up together in order to relax a bit.  As we get down to the bottom of the hill I finish putting my wetsuit on, with Sonia's help, and play around with Sofia and Alexia before the briefing started.  Soon enough we were in the ice cold water swimming to the start line.  As I have mentioned before, the swim is my weakest discipline but from having looked at the previous results I was solely aiming at finishing the 750m in less than 25 mins.  The first 200m were actually fine as I was soon going by the third buoy and aiming for the last one in order to turn around.

Very Slippery exit from swim

It was when I got close  to the last buoy that I started to feel the pain.  Up to that pint I was swimming freestyle and then taking a quick rest, but I decided to change my strategy on the way back so I could keep the rhythm.  I decided to swim for 20 40 strokes and count 15 second of rest.  Luckily enough the lake was neck deep so anyone over 170cm could stand in it, and, needless to say, I took advantage of this at times.  I made it out of the water in 21m:14s, which was under my planed time of 25 minutes.  On my way up to T1 I caught up with one of the guys I was pacing myself with on the swim and that was a bit of a boost.

On T1 I took my gel, drank a bit to keep hydrated, and hit the road.  I must say that I have a thing for not checking out the tracks and expect them to be flat as a pancake! I was also wrong this time, just like on my last triathlon in Tonbridge.  As soon as we exited the castle grounds we started hitting the hills.  It was not as hilly as Tonbridge or as the last long ride I had gone on, but it was still pretty steep, specially for someone who had just swimmed 750m with no previous hardcore swimming training. I got passed by one of the guys before we got to the top of the first hill, and later on by someone else.  I did, however, manage to pass two people, one of which passed me again after I missed one of the marshals and wasted about 20 seconds getting back on track.

T2 was soon here and I finished the hilly courese in 50m:10s, which was more than what I had anticipated at 45mins.  On T2 i run my ritual of gel, drink, cycling shoes off,  running shoes on, race number on, hat on, shades on, and off to the road.  As always, the first 1Km I had jelly legs and was a bit wobbly to tell the truth.  However, as always, I used the people in front of me as targets to push harder and keep going.  I was not passed once on the 5Km run and I must have passed about 5 people. which was good to keep my motivation high.  The running course can be tricky specially if one is not used to running on uneven surfaces as it is a course that runs through the castle grounds and surrounding areas.  It is a lovely scenery as you see the castle twice on your way around (or maybe that was me imagining things), and you run through other lakes in the grounds as well.  I was soon over the 4km mark and the last push needed another motivation.  I was able to catch up to two guys who I had in sight for some time and I passed them both with about 1km to spate.  At this point I just wanted to finish and I put the cruise control on in order for the to just get home safe.

Soon enough I could  see Sonia's red jacket and Alexia's bright pink jacket in the distance and that was the final motivation I needed.  As I passed them I sprinted to the end and crossed the line of my first "complete" Hever Castle Triathlon.

Although it was a slower time than any of my previous efforts, this was a different sprint as the swim was longer than any of my other triathlons, it was open water and not pool, and the bike and run were hilly and uneven respectively.  It was, however, a good experience ahead of my next 750m swim triathlon in Barcelona in 6 weeks time.  This was another eye opener for both my swim and bike legs, which are the ones I need to work on in order to start getting some decent times in.

I reckon over the summer I will be able to step up my training since I will be by myself most of the time.  This way I will not think about the fact that the girls are away from me so often... or at least I'll be busy even I do think about it that often, which I can anticipate will happen.

Total Time: 1h:42m:44s

Day before Hever Castle Triathlon

Today is tuesday and yesterday was my last training session in the pool and I easily got distracted.  I did about 40 minutes but I lost count of the distance as I was lucky enough to have three lovely girls cheering me on at the pool!....Sonia, Sofia and Alexia were up on the stairs cheering me on and constantly asking "how much longer, how much longer?" I figured I needed to fit in a good swim session before tomorrow night's Hever Castle Night Triathlon.   The wetsuit had been in storage since..well... since the last Hever Castle Triathlon in September and I quickly tried it on again over the weekend to make sure all was well and ready for the race.

Today I decided to not do anything as  I am really feeling like crap from this sore throat I have been dragging.  I was in pain the whole day at work and could not wait for Sonia's soup at dinner time.  For tomorrow's race I am just hoping to be able to come out on the top 50% of my age grou as these fight racers are usually pretty hard core and ft individuals. I will report tomorrow after the race and hopefully it will not be a bad one.

Links and Resources

Over the last couple of months I have gathered a group of links I constantly refer to in order to swim, bike, run better and faster, and have decided to post a page sharing some of them.  Here they are:

• Beginner Triathlete-Great website full of resources for the seasoned or beginner triathlete.

• Wiggle - UKs #1 online bike shop you can buy a wide range of bikes, mountain bikes, road bikes,cycling apparel.

• Dailymile - It's the facebook of athletes of all kinds.  Very US based but I am still able to find some good UK and Europe based athletes to share workouts with.

• Tri247 - Great site for Triathlon news in the UK and internationally. Great site for UK tri schedules and results.

• F3 Events - Lots of information on everything tri un the UK.  One of my usual stops

• 220 Triathlon - Top uk and International Magazine. One of my favourites.

• Human Race Events - Human Race aims to provide a balanced programme of events catering for varying groups of multisport enthusiasts. As well as catering for the domestic athlete at all levels of ability, Human Race also aims to provide high profile events in the UK which will elevate the profile of triathlon at an international level. Human Race crew members are regular volunteers at ITU World Cup events, both in Europe and further afield.

• Sprint Triathlon Training - Great source of FREE information and training guides for first timers in the sport.  Coach Suzanne will answer your questions and help you conquering your fears.  Give it a go and you will not regret it.

• Castle Triathlon Series - Great triathlon series with unbelievable venues in the UK and France.  All races are in castles and amazing grounds perfect for a race and family day out.  Olympic and Sprint distances available.

• Polar Triathlon Series -  Triathlon series throughout Spain in places like Madrid and Barcelona.  I'm racing Barcelona in July 2011 as an excuse to travel to Spain :)

• BritishTriathlon - UK Tri Federation, self explanatory.

• Planet X Bikes - UK based TT, road and mountain bike company.  

• Triathlon Zone Store - St. Albans based triathlon store is one of the few in the country which sells Planet X bikes.  

I am sure there are other pages I haven't mentioned here, but I will try to keep this tab updated with interesting resources we can all use.

Race Reports

After swimming, riding and running come the hugs

Tonbridge Triathlon - April 2011 Once again this had been a 5am wake up call and the girls were half asleep when we got to Tonbridge school.  Sonia and the girls usually stay in the car sleeping or watching a movie while I check-in so this was not different from any other race.  I get the bike and gear out of the GL head out to the check in area.  As I approach the school, I was really impressed by the facilities. OMG, these guys had a tarmac track and an amazing indoor swimming pool with incredible facilities. Great facilities which reminded me of my high school years in the USA. After check-in I head out to the transition zone and we were already seeing some of the earlier start guys heading out of T1 with the bikes.  Loads of Tri club jerseys mean there were supposed to be some fast people around.  Oh well... I was there to have fun.  I hit the water and did my lengths in 10 minutes, which was my best time at 10m:34s. Out of the pool, T1, gel down and up on the bike... I was in for a big surprise on the course.  As soon as I get out on the road and follow the signs I notice the incline ahead of me.  These were probably the hardest 25kms I ever did on a bike.  We had 34mph side winds and crazy inclines on the course.  It was a mean course which felt long as hell due to the low number of participants, compared to thames turbo or Hever castle which have about 3 times as more participants.

I finally get back to T2 and I quickly (yeah right....2m:09s) get my running shoes on and sprint out to the course.  It was a great course which was very easy on the knees due to the grass field.  I chased about 4 people and got passed by two on the run, and as I entered the track course for the final two laps I could see my angels waving and waiting for me.  "Go daddy, go daddy" was all I coud hear when I went by them and on the final sprint I had Sofia trying to chase me down the track. Both my angels gave me the biggest hug a daddy could wish for as I asked "who won the race? Who won it?", and they obviously said "You did daddy!" :)

400m Swim:  10m:34s           T1: 2m:45s
20Km Bike:    1h:03m:55s    T2: 2m:08s
5Km   Run:     22m:22s        
Overal Ranking:191
Category Position: 74 
http://www.tonbridgelions.co.uk/2011-traithlon-results.html

Thames Turbo Race 1 - April 2011

I was barely able to get any sleep as this was my first triathlon of the year.  I was up and out of the bed at 4:30 and I was hoping we could get out of the house by 5am.  I had already placed all my gear in the car the night before so it was a matter of getting the girls out of bed and basically put them in the car as they were, pyjamas on and everything.  We got out of the house at roughly 5:10am and go to the venue with about 10 minutes to spare before check-in closed at 6am.This was my second Thames Turbo so I was a bit more confident than last year and I was hoping for a faster time as well.  I checked in fine and after the briefing I proceeded to rack my bike and get my transition zone ready.  These triathlons are very well organised and this time around they even had port-a-loos outside the main entrance to avoid the huge lines we had last year. If you were there you must have seen the huuggggeee lines! I hit the water hard and for the first 5 lenghts I did not stop, although I felt my lack of swimming shape from then onwards.  I must have passed about 5 people and there were two guys who passed me before I finished.  It was when I was going for my last couple of lanes that I heard Sonia and the girls shouting "go daddy, go daddy" which obviously gave me an additional boost for that final swim sprint.


I got out of the water and into T1 quite pumped and after I sucked my energy gel down I hit the bike course.  I gave it my all and I was very pleased to see that within the first 5km I must have passed about 10 people who I had seen start before me on the swimming pool.  I was very confident about my bike leg and gave it 150% all the way.  So much so that only one of the pro guys passed me, unlike my first Thames Turbo race. T2 was soon around the corner and on these races you have a 7 minute no racing time between a timer and bike dismount.  During these 7 minutes we usually take a bit of a break but I was cramping so much that I was just trying to stand on my cramping leg to make it go away.  I was in serious pain and did now know if I was going to me able to do the run. After passing the bike dismount zone, I started feeling a bit better and on exiting T2 I decided to just push it for the final 5km.  I took my gel and after a short spring out of T2 I get on the course trying to chase a couple of apparently slower runners ahead of me.  I used them as a "target" and it helped me step up my pace, which I had set up on my 310XT as 4m:35s/Km.


As always, the final Km was the hardest and I just wanted it all to finish.  I chased and passed about 5 people and got passed by 2 pros.  As I reached the finish line I could see the crowd and I was obviously looking for my daughters and wife amongst the people.  I saw my little angels once again cheering me on as I yelled my number for the final time station at the line.  It had a been a great race and I was adamant I had shaved at least 10 minutes from last year's time. Later that afternoon, after a lovely lunch and day out with Nick, Manjula, Gillian, Garreth and all the kids, I checked the website and to my disappointment I had only shaved 3 minutes...3 minutes from my previous participation.  Not a good result, really as I was counting on close to 1:10 or 1:15.  Oh well, I will have to come back and try to get under 1:15 next time. Let's wait and see when I can do that.


426m Swim:  13:03   Overall Rank: 363   Category Rank: 116    
20Km Bike:    44:00  Overall Rank: 291    Category Rank: 101 
5Km Run:      24:47  Overall Rank: 232    Category Rank: 89 
Overall: 1h:21m:54s  http://www.thamesturbo.com/ 

My next bike - Planet X Exocet

UPDATE: I ended up not getting this bike! I got this one instead.

Now that I have my dates set for my first half and full ironman next year, I think its time I consider spending some cash on a proper TT/Tri bike for the second half of this season.  Since I currently ride a Trek I have obviously  been looking at Trek TT bikes but, as I am sure you are all aware, they are quite prohibitive in price, and this has led me to look elsewhere for options.

On a recent trip I did to Lisbon I entered a Specialized Concept Store at a mall and I saw the Transition Tri bike which is a beauty to look at, and Im sure feels even better when you ride it, but again, prohibitive in price for someone of my level who, to be honest, just started with Tri a little more than a year ago.

On this months edition of the 220Triathlon magazine there was a very detailed review of the Exocet compared agains the Quintana Roo CD01 Ultegra and guess who came out on top? Thats right, the Exocet did.

After very in depth research I have made my decision on a very important point most triathletes base their decision on: IT LOOKS GOOD!...ok, and its the best £2,000 bike out there on the market according to 220Triathlon.  In my case, If I spend anything more than £2,000 will result in a divorce from my wife and I am not keen on that since I love her very much! :)

Now, looking at my schedule I am thinking I could potentially hold on buying this until after summer but the question is... will I be able to hold on the temptation?  Apparently you can only buy Planet X Bikes directly from the manufacturer on from a handful of direct distributors and I found a store in St. Albans who can properly fit me for the bike at the same time.  I am guessing what I will end up doing is I will probably go up there in the summer time and speak to them about the bike in order to get some more details before I buy it. 

I have chosen my first half distance race

It has literally been a year since I entered the triathlon world, and as I look back on those days I am more and more thankful to the decision I made last year in April.  I have taken on different challenges, I have improved my health, and I feel like I am showing my daughters how to have fun in a competitive, fun and healthy way.

I started, as you do, with sprint triathlons and this year I am moving to Olympic distance races.  I do, however, feel I need to take on a new distance and the 70.3 is the usual move.  On my search for the perfect race I looked at one which would tick most of the boxes..not necessary all of the boxes: ease of access, family fun, flat course, great environment, and access to friends and family to see me race. Did I say most of the boxes? Well, Challenge Barelona ticks all of the boxes!

This race wil be in it's 4th year in 2012 and the organisation seems to be flawless from the research I've done.  SOnia and the girls will enjoy it as it will be in Barcelona, home for Sonia.  I will be able (hopefully) to survive the course as it is quite flat compared to others, and I can recruit some local friends and family members to cheer me on as I swim, bike, run and hug my daughters on the finish line.

I suppose the challenge will be to get the necessary training to do a 70.3 but I suppose with more than a year to prepare I should have no excuses by May 2012. One of my main goals will be to improve my times on the Thames Turbo sprints in order to get in shape for the Challenge, and I will also register for the London Marathon in order to prepare for the long run. Im sure 2012 will be a challenging year as I plan to not only do my first 70.3 but also my first Ironman as the half is in may and the the Ironman is in October.  

I need to find time to swim, bike and run more often otherwise there will be no hugs from my daughters if I don't cross the finish line! Well, Im sure they will still be there but it will be harder for me to convince them daddy won the race, as I do with every race.

Oh well, I thought I'd share this on the blog and hope to post my training and 2011 results leading up to my 70.3 debut next year.