report from a week later

Well, it's been and gone...there is only one more race, the aquathlon national champs in a week's time, and the season will be officially done for me.
At the moment my life is divided into three workstreams, the work-workstream, the uni-workstream and the training workstream. Each of them has their own timing and each of them require a fair amount of my awake time (40-20-20 hours). The magic is to somehow coordinate them to sync their disctintive ups and down in a manner that minimizes stress. When that doesn't happen I'm in a kind of limbo. The next three weeks are one clear example. Although I could start my off season next sunday, I will continue to train at the same levels until mid april.
The uni-workstream dictated that decision, as I have a break that I will use to travel to Argentina without suffering in the academic front. I have no races targeted in Argentina (yet), so it will be a proper break since the week after worlds. The motivation between now and then is to keep fit and lean, and continue to strengthen my core and legs, not a great motivation, but better than nothing.

On the training front it was a flexible week, with a couple of decent workouts, the first one was a 5k'er on the pool and the other one a good 90k ride with hills, the rest was at a turtle's pace and with lots of thinking in the middle. The thoughts were probably influenced by the Abu Dabi race and were about extraordinary things and lifting the middle ground. I'm still working the wording out in my mind and will have really exciting and breaktrhough teori for you all,

On the racing front, my mates Oli, Ro (4 races in 8 days), Josh, Marie, Nick and Gordo were out at the races, I made my trip to cheer for some but not for the ones racing on Sunday.

Have an awesome weekend,

too many eggs in one basket

OK,
the week that was was all about making up with uni (and to some extent work) which I had neglected over the last weeks. I had a test to do on the Wed. and an essay due today, and work on another one for next weekend. It was also good to put some order in the house and I even managed to so some training.
To cut it short, I haven't had much of a rest, but I've diverted some attention to the rest of my life.

I am not going to go on about how hard it is, because it is hard enough for everyone out there, and in the end we all find the time to do the things we want.

And in the meantime I managed to swim another 2.28 200m (just by chance) the other day and do some cycling and running.

Tomorrow I officially start the comeback, and in 3 week's time the season opens with a swim/run event. This blog is going to carry on, with some modifications, a bit more of photos and probably another name. I'm still bummed, but there's plenty of chance to redeem myself, and that's a fair enough driver for my future training. The plan was to come back from Europe, rest and recover and start prepping for an Iron-distance event in Wanaka, in the summer. But I've changed the whole thing.

I thought this year can be used to get more race experience, so I'm gonna leave the Iron-distance for another time and will be doing 2 sets of racing during the season. I've divided it into two blocks, the first of them is from here to the Xmas holiday and it's about racing for racing and training. There will be no tappering for the races and they are. 2xswim/run events 2xhalf ironman 2xOlys.  Then there's the Xmas break and the more serious part of the season: 1xbig swim event (10km) 1xSprint tri (nationals) and 1xOly (nationals), there's the chance of putting 2 aquathlon events in the mix but that's still to be confirmed. The big races are both national events, and it is a good thing that they are well into the season. I expect to be in awesome shape by then. If I place in any of them I can afford the luxury of another half ironman at the end of the season... we'll see how it goes.

I am going to be a busy man!,  I haven't still discussed it with coach, but hopefully we'll accomodate all in a 3 stages plan and not burn out. Work will be overly busy between november and Xmas, but sweet afterwards, so it should not pose much danger. Uni break till mid Feb is also in line with the plan. The blog will show how it all pans out.

I've been following all the cool blogs and I am looking forward to the final race reports.

Be safe out there, and train hard

checking in

WOW... It was busy allright.

Due to the trip to Europe I had to bring forward a couple of deadlines at uni and it all coincided with a hard week of training and here I am. Three days where there was little time to do anything, even logging my progress on the road to Budapest.

I hadn't planned it to be like this, but life changes.. and there's little help in feeling bad about things.

So Wednesday was a double dip, thursday there was cycling and Friday another double dip. Today we topped it up with a moderate/hard brick and I just got up from a 90min nap.

I feel good.

Physically tired, but mentally all there in the day of the race. 

Today's brick was a bit of an experiment in the nutrition front. To get my body used to it, I'm woke up a couple of hours before the workout, downed two gels before my cuppa and two pieces of toasts with almond butter and honey and sliced ALL GOOD banana.  That's the champion's brekkie I'll have on race day and the same I had in the last 4 races. It takes a bit getting use to, but I haven't had an upset stomach in any of those races, so I trust It'll work. But as I said, we went "experimental" coach brought us some red bulls shots to try and drink on the bike. I drank the shot 5min into the 35min bike session and I felt a bit of a kick at the business end of the bike and certainly a bit of a burp at for half the run. All in all it seems OK but I still doubt the energy drinks. 

I've been trying to write down some thoughts about negative splits but I'll probably leave for next post.

18 Aug - Swim/Run - 60min/60min - 3.3km/16km - two swim 1kmTT (1min rest) 14.36/15.15

19 Aug - cycing/running - 75min/15min - n/a/3km - indoor hard set and T run

20 Aug - swimming/running - 60min/60min - 3km/n/a - SUPERSET (3'25'' kms)

21 Aug - Swim/Bike/Run - 25min/35min/18min / 1.5km/n/a/5km - I hate blisters!

Banana deal

As I said on my previous post. I’m eating ALL GOOD BANANAS at all times now, I’ve forgotten about the rest and managed to get my local supermarket to bring them in.

There are many benefits from eating bananas, but the most important one is that the ALL GOOD BANANAS are great tasting, environmentally responsible and socially just, giving back a lot more than your ordinary banana.

So, as they are such a good bunch, I decided they would surely want to make a deal with me and we got to the following:

ALL GOOD BANANAS is making a donation to the Kids Can (stand tall) foundation. In exchange I’ll make sure they are in my photo finish in Budapest, and I’ll spread the message.

I’m name printing my uniform in the next week and I believe they are sooooo nice that they will be displayed prominently in my uniform and other gear.

So, help me, help others and be good by giving them a try. And let me know how you go!,



They’re really good

There are days and days

The last three weeks I've been at 90% of my game, which would do OK for another race, but not for worlds, not this year. And in the last day or two, I don't know how or why I feel the extra 10% is coming back.

I felt in perfect sync with the world today. Last night was a bit hectic but I made it to bed in a reasonable time. I woke up OK and drove us to the pool as usual.
In connection with the last post we had a good strong set of the kind I think will set me to go really well in the swim leg:
50/150/50
75/150/75
100/50/100
100/100/100
150/150/150
200/200/200
each of the series is a continuum of level3 level2 level3 with a rest interval that gets bigger and bigger but doesn't get over a minute.

It's been a while since I felt OK to lead the lane for the full set, but today I felt better and better as it went.
Then off to coffee and work and everything ticked away really nicely. Aquajog in afternoon worked OK and the quad tenderness is getting better.

It is not that there are days that I'm good or days that I am not so good. For me they come in weeks or months. I take this kind of things as they come. It's only natural that I'm not gonna be at a 100% at all times. Over the last year I've started to identify the periods. The mission for the future is start to marshall them to match training and racing schedules. Or be able to take the most advantage of that full synch period to make my fitness gains.

On another note, the first week of Training+Uni+work is over and I ticked all the boxes on the schedule. Looking forward for a bit of free time on the weekend and a catchup with TdF viewing.

And finally, if I was in North America I'd be excited about a new brand of clothing for endurance athletes. It's called endurance athlete project and it looks promising.

I'm looking forward to the free shipping deals whenever they start retailing

it was only a fright!

The legs are OK, I made to the gym and spin class later and there were no issues. I even run off the bike and it was fine. I'd like to think is over.

Besides, I am looking forward to have a long chat with coach and start fine tuning more details for the following two months.
It is funny how the off season-in season mixture that the september race brings is long enough that I need a bit of re thinking half way through and at the same time, it is short enough that I am almost half way there!!

There has been some development in the details of the race, someone really nice has managed to get us a very cheap place for the week of the race. And there will be some more fundraising coming on soon, so stay tuned.

On the bike front, I'm still chasing a good TT bike so I'll see what comes my way, but I'm sure I will get one before August,

that's all that's to report for today,

Date: 15 June
Sport: Cycle /// Run
Time: 1.10hr /// 14 min
Dist: n/a /// 3km
Comment: indoor trainer and transition run, all looking good!

what I want to be

At 5 I remember wanting to be a pilot when I was older
At 10 it had changed to something like an engineer or architect
at 15 I was pretty sure biochemistry was the place to be, and basketball player
at 17 it was literature and travel writing
at 19 linguistics and mountaneering
at 22 it remained
at 25 I was lost
at 30 I want to be an world champion triathlete (among other things)

life changes.
It never crossed my mind that three sports stitched one after the other would be one way of achieving one's potential. It never crossed my mind that it would provide a framework to align other parts of my life. And here I am, writing a log of my 5 months trip to a world championships race.
I am realistic, to be a world champion I have to up two of my disciplines to a standard that can only be done in 2 to 3 years of training. The funny thing is that I am ready to commit those years.
But the secret, I think, is to have some balance... and to know when to take a rest.
I'm off for three days and most likely wont be updating this log until monday.

Date: 9 June
Sport: Swimming
Time: 50min
Dist: 2.8km
Comment: it's been a week of reflection, It's good to look inside every now and then

Quick long awaited update

It has been a hectic week. When I started this log I was aiming to get a daily update, but, as always, things got in the way.


The good thing is that training has been great and I am now in R&R mode from my two stages of the tour of Taranaki.

Wednesday was all about getting the swim and the run out of the way the sooner the better.

Thursday was family day, as Nat is away on a tramping trip.

Date: 2 June
Sport: Swim /// Run
Time: 60min /// 100min
Dist: 3.2km /// 18km
Comment: last serious training. I’m on racing mode from now on.

Going the long distance

Ironman New Zealand sold out. It looks like it is the first time it sells so fast, only a couple of months after it went public. That kind of takes one big one off my bucket list for the short to medium term, which is good and bad. It is good because I don't have the presure to commit and do it and can focus on the world champs in september without worrying on building a huge mileage on the bike and run (specially on the run). It is bad because I'd love to give it a try to the big boy some time soon.
But I still haven't planned my next season, that is a must do for the next month, and I'll make sure I sit down with the boss (aka Nat) and we go through it.

Other than IMNZ, i'd love to race IM Brasil, close to home and with plenty of friend and family on the course or on the sides. It's a real shame that Argentina doesn't have a IM sanctioned event, it would be so cool. IM Brasil was last weekend and an Aussie bet the three best long distance athletes of south america. I reckon it is good to be kicked in the butt every now and then to fire a bit of anger in you, and make you work harder and harder so it doesn't happen again.

Last year I did a sprint race, and half way through the bike, coach went past me and gave me a telling off. I still remember how annoyed I was and how I made sure I kept him on sight to pass him as soon as I could.

On other occasion I was too sure I was going to kick ass in a shorter sort of swim run race and, again, I was passed by people that I did not know but was sure was not suppossed to pass me.

That anger can be a positive thing, if you know how to channel it.

I am a bit cautious that everything is ticking pretty well and something of the like may happen soon...

we'll see
It's a softer kind of week, my mate Gordo and I are doing this stage bike race and want to make sure I am fresh for it.

Date: 1 June
Stretch and core strength.

200 years

Today it was my country's aniversary and I wished I was there for the celebrations. It's a strange tie, the one that still makes me be with one foot in one island and the other in the pampas. Over the years it has been a constant to read the news from both places, follow the fubol league and triathlon races when I'm here. And to check the rugby, the tri races coverage when I am there. I'm not sure I would have got into triathlon if I stayed there, so I'm happy I ended up in NZ, but always mindful of setting a "kiwi tri squad" once I am back home for good.
I did one race close to my home town in 2008, my third triathlon. It was a local race and the best of the region were suppossed to be there. The main aim to do the race was to show mum and dad what it is that got me hooked while in NZ and get them to experience one race first hand. I'm from a lil' farming town where the only elevation is the cow pies. And we don't do a lot of road riding, so it was me on a borrowed MTB doing a "rural triathlon"   (that's how we call them).
The swim was five laps of 100m on a 50m pool, then 20km on the flat dirt roads and a 5k bolt. My parents were quite happy to see me among the top 5 out of the water, and a bit worried that I didn't come as fast on the bike, but happy to see me finish top 10 overall.

I chatted with a few guys and I got a bit of a tease for being an international athlete (ha ha ha), it was good fun. I'm looking forward to race there again, and hopefully do better.

the weather bomb is here, so training is being confined to interior spaces,
Date: 25 May
Sport: cycle /// gym
Time: 45min /// 45min
Dist: n/a /// n/a
Comment: viva la revolucion!

sore downunder

This is the topic I did not wanted to raise. The unspoken subject.
It's been a week now and I'm still sore "down there" from my last long ride. It's been a problem since the start of the season and it's come and gone on a steady weekly pattern, but I am now at a stage that don't want to take it any more.
During my first seasons I used nothing, and until my first half ironman race I never had any issues. But after that I've always had problems coming at intervals. The thing is that I don't think I need to take it any more. So I'm going to start exploring whatever options are available to prevent saddle sores in the future.

So far I've been using vaseline, but it appears that it hasn't done any good. So the next step is to go for chamois cream. I'm going to the bike shop tomorrow morning to get whatever is available and start the testing process.

Monday is going to be the new easy day at the pool due to longer more epic weekends coming soon, so today we started with a fun dips session. I though it was going to be "bread and dips" but it was just the good old dips that make your shoulder muscles ache, 10 sessions of 10 reps after each of the 10 100m that the warm up took.

The evening was rainy, so another easy session at run.

All in all, an easy day.

I like base training, it's always time for nice surprises like today's.

Date: 24 May

Sport: Swim /// Run

Time: 50min /// 50min
Dist: 2.2km /// 9km
Comment: It feels like tapper week, but it's not.

Hill Reps

It’s been a long long day, so long it started yesterday and just now is my opportunity to sit down and reflect a bit on what’s happened.

And a lot has happened. I went to this resilience workshop. I’ve never heard of them before, but I’m not the kind of guy that searches over and over for the info. Anyway, off I went for most of my day thinking “yet another training course” and I left quite proud of myself after discovering that much of what I do and being doing over the last years is taking me to where I want to go in life.

 

Unfortunately, though, the timing took me off my scheduled spin training and I improvised a hills repeats session.
Hill repeats are one cheap way to strengthen your legs on the bike. I’ve been pretty agnostic before, but over the last training blitz I did a weekly session over 6 to 8 weeks, and I can tell the benefits are still here right now. Besides, it’s a great way to practice descending and cornering on a relatively safe environment.

 

There are many recipes, but the basic one goes like this:

• Hills: 1, moderately steep (4 to 10% gradient?) and of a duration no shorter than 90 seconds and no longer than 600 seconds.
• Athletes: 1
• Bikes: 1.

- Seat the athlete seated on the bike for most of the duration of the ascent keeping a good, proud form (high head, straight back, slightly bent arms) with a cadence of 60 to 75 rpm

 

 - Keep the athlete seated on the bike for the descent part back to the start line, spin the pedals on a high cadence (95 to 110)

 

 - Repeat the above procedure for 3 to 10 times.

 

It will warm you up on the winter days, and it’ll make your knees feel funny at times (pay attention to it, you don't wanna get injured), but there is no gym that will give you what a good hill repeats sessions can achieve.

  

The secret is to find a nice little hill near home where there’s little traffic. The rest is just going out and doing it.

Date: 18 May
Sport: Cycling
Time: 75 min
Dist: 30km
Comment: cold... then hot

Date: 19 May
Sport: Swim /// Run
Time: 60min /// 92min
Dist: 3.2km /// 18km
Comment: back yard half again

The lone triathlete

Chatting with  a mate the other day I went about the lone triathlete theory. I told them to joint our group for a try and see if they felt it would be OK for them as they were getting into triathlons. She was OK to join but he wasn't, and that's such a common thing. Us guys (at least here in NZ) are a bit more reluctant to get into a beginners group that girls are, and over time we will manage to come up to a reasonable fitness level in most disciplines without any help other than our watch and bits and pieces taken from here and there on the web, bike shop, races and so on.

So I told her: He's a lone triathlete, let him be.. and wait for the moment when he tells you "i'm gonna do an ironman", because the lone triathlete is oh-so-tough that it comes natural for them to go the long hours just running, or riding and the good thing is, that they won't be so much of a drag on the account of their epic outings.

I'm not lone athlete, neither ironman (by the way, I've got to make a decision about that race soon as entries will sell out for IMNZ, I hope my sponsor can fund me) I just feel more comfortable going out with a group that can challenge me, or pace me or lend me a spare CO2 and some times (I am being honest here) boring when going about what I've done for the day. I make a concious effort not to, but sometimes it just happens (i.e. this blog).

Anyway, today was a day off and sooo good to sleep in, catch up with some old friends and carry on with my book. All positive now, and enjoying the last couple of weeks of base training.

Have a great weekend out there, and stay safe.

Four seasons swimmers

Even though is not my strongest at the moment, the swim is the part of the triathlon that I like the most, I only remember one time that I panicked or had a bad day on the swim, even with cramps the floating part has no comparison with the others.

During the winter of 2007 a group of nice people and very handy swimmers joined every Saturday morning for a dip, usually not more than a two or three km of swimming, then muffins and coffee and longer swims as the weather got more gentle (the following summer we did as long as 11km), they were getting ready for a 9km swim. I joined them because I loved the sea swim.

It helped me lots, and I've sorted my unique open water swim cycle (three strokes-right hand side breath-three strokes- left hand side breath-two strokes - left hand side breath-two strokes-left hand side breath head up-and start again) during that winter and also tought me a lot how to navigate in any conditions.

I am not fan of cold water, and some days we had as low as 11.3 C (52F) but the idea was to stick to it and be able to say "I've done back to back seasons" and it was an experience I would happily repeat if it wasn't for this triathlon thing.  Nat joined us every now and then and the photos are hers.

I heard somewhere that they're doing midday swims most days of the week and the constitutional dip on Saturdays, the group is bigger over summer but the core guys (Vic, Jim, Geoff and Hamish) are always there, one of them is getting ready to swim the straight that separates the two islands of New Zealand wich is an epic swim to do. Today I took my lunch hour to meet and swim with this guys after a long long time, and it was just as nice.

Date: 6 May

Sport: Swim /// Swim
Time: 60min /// 45min
Dist: 2.5km /// 2.2 km
Comment: lots of drills /// sneaky lunch swim

A cuppa

I was reading an article about the good and not so good of coffee drinking. Pretty interesting indeed, if you have time go and have a look.

I came through it as part of research I was doing on the effects of drinking coffee at night. According to Nat, it was not very good because it doesn’t allow the body to go into the deep sleep cycles where the good muscle repairing and other performance enhancing tricks happen that allow the body to keep performing. According to me, I go bed and sleep no matter what I ate or drunk before.
But I thought I’d dig deeper to find more solid answers.

Unfortunately, I found none, so I am happy with the findings from the runner’s world article. It suits my argument and that’s that.

But we’ve already introduced coffee replacement drink for the night coffee, it’s the good ole’ malt. I haven’t drunk that beverage for about 18 years. Since I left primary school. Therefore, the aroma of it brought me back to my young days and a story that I thought it’s worth sharing:

My mom is not a morning person, she never was and we don’t like her when she’s been taken off the bed earlier than 9am, ha ha ha (she’ll be translating this and giving me a hard time tomorrow). Anyway, when I was 9 years old I started to go to school in the mornings (8 to 12) and that would last for the next 8 years. So my mum woke up for the first couple of days and taught me how to prepare my breakfast (malt prepared with hot milk, toasts and preserves). From day 3 onwards it was me on my own waking up at 7.20, getting breakfast and on my bike to school.

The tale is on the family history books and many people jokes my mum has no heart. With time, I realize that she was actually teaching me something that I’ve come to deem as one of my strengths, which is the ability and confidence that I can do most stuff by myself. Probably that’s one of the reasons that I decided to come into an individual sport and not a team one to be competitive, who knows.

And it all started with a cup of malt,

So to catch up this is what Thursday brought to me and later today I’ll get Friday’s one
Date: 29Apr.
Sport: Bike /// Run
Time: 60min /// 60 min
Dist: n/a /// 11.5kn
Comment: last lab set, only one more TT to go! /// backyard 10km

The function report

The day finally arrived and we did our Movie screening last night.
It's been a couple of busy days that saw me off the web. But here's the update.
The idea was to put together something that would help a couple of mates and I raise some dough for the big adventure to worlds and also give something  back to the ones that supported us. The movie night proved to be quite a success and I was stoked to see so much support, it's one of those things that always boost one's morale. And mine today is quite high.
It was a varied audience, with people from all over the place: lots of brits, scots, some french and other europeans, athletes of all kind, friends from work, uni, training and wives and husbands that I hadn't met before. The drinks started rolling and everybody enjoyed themselves while we tried to get as much money off them as we could (some on the spot raffles thanks to generous donations by our coach, Nat and others). After that everyone went to see the movie "the blind side" based on a true story from this american football player.
Today in the morning everybody I met was genuinely happy with the night out, and that is all I needed to hear. Then we did the maths and we got enough to pay our race fees (50 000 HU Florints, which sounds like a lot) and part of the admin fees, so all in all a happy night and a happier morning,

And this was the workout

Date 28 Apr.

Sport: Swim

Time: 60min

Dist: 3.1km 

Are we there yet?

It may be surely not triathlon related, but today I was quite anxious all day, I feel hungry, and nervous like I do some times before big events. Not sure what's the reason as there were no big events coming. But it was a good topic to be raised.

I remeber been very anxious last year for the worlds championship race. The day before was quite a long one and I was quite tired, however I managed to screw up and sleep not more than 6 hours. This year for Nationals I was on my own and slept quite well the nerves probably induced me to over eat a bit, but to my credit I snacked very wisely and healthy.

The pre-race night I remember the most is the one before the Karapiro half. I travelled to lake Karapiro on my own and pitched the tent on the campsite next to the lake. I thought some people from the race would be at the camp, but I was wrong, there was only one other guy and that was that. Overnight I was in bed quite early for my liking (bout 8pm) and after sleeping till some time past 1am I started to hear the possum and other creatures horrible noises!, I almost crapped myself and slept in 10 minutes intervals for the following 4 hours.

The lesson learned: there's always stuff that's gonna put me off focus, I'm on a journey to develop a system to deal with them. Until the perfect pre race night comes, whatch this space, it may be more funny stories!,
After this amazing soup made by my very own hands I think the anxiety is over,
time to check my days' workout:
Date 21 Apr.
Sport: Cycle
Time: 1hr
Dist: n/a
Comment: they raised my wattage on the lab, and the legs responded, I am proud of them!

Triathlon legends #2

We’re back to the indoor pool!, a bit less room, but it’s only 4 minutes drive from home, so I get to sleep more. This week brings: swim/bike/run/gym/road race. Movie tickets are not selling very fast so please please please!!!, give us a hand! : )
This guy came to NZ in a ship, during the era that it was the most common thing to come to NZ in a ship. Aparently he’s also a good footballer among other sporting talents. We met in a tri camp we were doing some two years ago, I was on the way to do my first half and he was on the way back to triathlon, trying to qualify for worlds as a way to celebrate his 60th anniversary. We both achieved our objectives (he did well at worlds and I finished my first half)

He’s also part of the infamous TACT squad and a very handy runner at times. and this is the start of the third season as training pals. Yesterday he accomplished something pretty special, by breaking the 70minutes barrier on a sprint distance tri. It's amazing how at ove sixty years of age he is way lot better than he was back in the early 80's when he did the prehistoric triathlon races.

Ro is also a funny guy, giving us tips on what not to do when doing triathlons, here, for example, is him not taking a 90degree turn (look at the expectator's faces!), ha ha ha… Thanks Ro!

We're also saying goodbye to the Auckland Domain as a training venue for about 6 months, it's getting pretty dark and there is no lighting in one of the City's premier parks.... Shame on you Auckland City Council! Training wise this is what the day brought:

Date: 19 April

Sport: Swim /// Run
Time: 60min /// 60min
Distance: 3.3km /// 8km?
Comment: with the introduction of ARM paddles (photos soon) /// drills and speed

Things that don't change

The picture is from another good arentinean artist called D. Paz and illustrates perfectly what is the topic I wanted to raise today. No matter how much assistance we receive in terms of gadgets, the gains in performance are most times results of a change in attitude. I'm pretty young to the sport and as I said before I like many things about it, probably one of the things I like more is the fact that your work ethics pay a dividend, something that sometimes doesn't happen in real life ; ). This season was very particular for me for reasons that are outside the triathlon world, and I raced three races in total, one in November, one in Feb and the Nationals in March.

Chatting with the coach after the race in Nov. I said I had taken the swim easy as I didn't want to be too hyped in the early stages of the bike, I then had an OK bike and run steady but not fast (going gastro, another post is needed for that). I was asked why I had taken it easy during a race, what was the reason for that given that after the race I was off for 6 weeks to get married and a holiday.

After the second race in February (I was on the feet of Cam Brown for the first 100m of the swim) I said to my coach it was a "cruizy" race, this time I was told off, this was my last chance before Nationals and I have cruized?.

I'm not a guy to miss a training session and I love racing, but somehow the spice wasn't there. For nationals, the feeling after the race was a bit different, I knew I couldn't have gone any faster, I just messed up transitions... but that's another story.  Reflecting on what changed between then and now I can say that it was what I was thinking at certain points in the race: on the first two ones I was too worried about the future (it's 90k to bike after the swim, I need to eat to have something on the legs for later, it's two laps like this one, save a little for the second, and things like that), on the third race I was cold, it was a typical wellington morning and all I could think was: "bloody hell, this is cold conditions here, keep going". And as I got onto running I couldn't feel my feet, so I just run like there's no tomorrow until they started to ache.

Moral of the story here, I don't know what I'm gonna think next time I'm racing, but for sure I'll know what to do when thoughts about the future come to mind.

Today was a day off, so here's the workout for yesterday

Date: 17 Apr

Sport: Run

Time: 55mins

Distance: 'bout 12km (longer version)

Comment: I felt I could to two laps, pitty it was only 1 hour lunch!

Turning blue

This is a weird week, with Easter Monday and school holidays, the city seems to be running on a different pace. Monday, Wednesday and Fridays are my swim days, and today was the first swim since last Friday. But the pool we use is closed for maintenance for the week so there was the option of training in an outdoor non heated pool (19degrees celcius, I later found that it was not that hot indeed and people had turned blue after 20 minuntes in the pool while the evil coach sat there and gave orders : ) ) or finding an alternative, I decided for the alternative for many reasons, the most important is some sort of emotional attachment I have towards the good ol' teps. So there I was, at 7.15 ready to do my own thing.

In my first year in NZ I mainly worked, read, explored went to the beach and watched TV (they stil screen Friends here, every weekday at 6) as well as socializing with a lot of newfound friends. After getting bored of that routine I decided to go and trake some swim lessons at the tepid baths to polish a bit my strokes, a few weeks later I joined the teps swim squads and got to know some people there that invited me to swim in the sea, and then someone suggested I should try triathlon and here I am, 3 years later getting ready to kick ass in Budapest. Many of the people I know in new zealand I have indeed met in my swim togs in that 100 and something years old building in the posh part of the city known as viaduct harbour.

And here is the workouts for the day:

Date: 7 Apr.
Sport: AM Swimming /// PM Running
Time: 70minutes /// 75minutes
Distance: 3.8km /// 14.5km
Comment: I didnt turn blue! /// training solo for the 2nd time in the day