Updates, TdF and the Ironbunch

The two weeks of stress are finished. I was getting ready for my final exams and I had a “moderate” week in the middle. And plenty at work. The results? I think I ticked all the boxes in rather good shape. The exams will be on an 80 to 90 % (I think); the work stuff is back to semi-normality and training I missed only one session.

The ironbunch is the group of my training buddies who are doing IM next march, they run a group ride at the civilized hour of 8am on the Sundays. And I join them every now and then. The last time was Sunday a week ago, in a horribly wet Auckland winter day. I started my thing after 6am and was at their meeting place by 8.15. It followed with a flat 15km into their ride (by now I was over 3 hours). I decided to peel off at one intersection, and head back to the city. The rest of their circuit was great training, but I had no more spare tubes and no much food.

10 minutes before the city I got another flat. Although I didn’t panic, I was quite unhappy about the prospect of calling Nat to pick me up. I decided to inflate and ride, and then inflate and ride and then inflate and ride until I got to a bike shop 5km up the road. The strategy worked quite well, the only problem was that the shop was closed. Lucky for me, another training mate was just stopped at the lights, and I got a free tube to keep going. When I finished it was 6.15 hours and 5.40 of riding.

I’ve also finished the first block of base prep. for IM, a total of 36 hours of cycling (‘bout 900km) 13 hours of running (close to 150km) and 11 hours (28km) of swimming spread in 3 weeks. The body is OK but I am in serious need of stretching and core stuff… next big thing is to get a membership for a gym running back.

And the TdF is finally here!, only a week to go and a month of joy… pity I don’t have satellite TV to see the full stages.

Ciao!

nice surprise

Dear Secret Friend

Thank you very very much for the cool book about Le Tour you left on my letterbox yesterday. It certainly made an impression and I am very humbled by your words. I did not know that I was an inspiration for anyone, let alone that I deserved to be recognized with such a cool present.

it's the shape of a bike wheel!

I must add that my wife is not very impressed and I had to face an inquest about who was the “lady friend who left you a book on the letterbox”. It was all clarified when we did a thorough examination of your handwriting and concluded that it is a male. (that seemed to give her some peace). It is now a matter to narrow down the list of people who knows where I live and we’ll get there (remember I work as an investigator and I never miss). Once I find you, I shall invite you with a good ol’ flat white and a muffin at some fancy place. Alternatively, send me and email. I am very thankful, though.

As I was saying, the book is really cool and it’s sitting on my bedside table already. My training programme demanded a 1hour55min run yesterday, and I was coming home thinking to shorten it to 1.30 and be happy. Then the discovery of a present put a bit of a cheer on me and it helped me finish what was on the programme. This time around it was a case of mind over body. We had a hard VO2 set on Monday, and my calves, and hammies were quite sore. I thoughed it and went for the 115min run with a big smile on my face.

I was tired, but the rainbow made it good

Thanks!

Pure Blonde Series, Race 4 Report

Tropical storm Zelia is forecast to strike New Zealand as a tropical cyclone at about 09:00 GMT on 18 January.


Tropical storm Zelia is forecast to strike New Zealand as a tropical cyclone at about 09:00 GMT on 18 January.
Data supplied by theUS Navy and Air Force Joint Typhoon Warning Centersuggest that the point of landfallwill benear34.6 S,172.0 E.Zelia is expected to bring 1-minute maximum sustained winds to the region of around138 km/h (86 mph).Wind gusts in the area maybeconsiderably higher

Despite forecast like the one above, the PURE BLONDE series went ahead yesterday evening at Point Chevalier beach. There wasn’t many of us, but the spirit of adventure and good vibes by everyone in there were enough to get things going.

Organizers had to change the registration, transition and finishing area, moving them to a more covered space. The change was minor but meant a steeper last 10m of the run to transition. The water was warm and one could have swam without a wetsuit. There was a little chop coming from the north east, but nothing too bad that a stronger kick would not offset.



The swim was the usual two lapper, the buoy appeared to be no as far as previously, but it drifted for some time to accommodate itself in the right spot. We started the swim ready for a fight with the current, and I got first to the first buoy 30m off the start. Then it was just a matter of swimming strong and making sure there was no one passing me. My mate Nick was out there, stuck to my feet, that kept me honest for the first lap. The second lap was a more relaxed business, as I knew I had a few seconds to spare and we would all be more tired. I made sure the gap didn’t shrink and got out of the water with a half a minute advantage.

contrary to some rumours, I didn't run on the beach and turned around at the right points. LOL

Such a lead should be more than enough to win the race, but you never know until you know. So, for good measure I put the hammer down on the first km of the run (silly mistake, the first 1km is a slight uphill) and then settled into a pace. At the turnaround I could see that Martin was coming second and looking pretty good. Again, I ensured I kept running tall and fast over the next lap. On the last 500m I knew I had it so I relaxed a bit.



 I crossed the line almost together with Ro, who was using the race as a practice for his stroke and stride race this evening. I was the first one of the people racing long course. The whole race was a bit harder than I originally thought due to the wind, but it was good fun.

The only bummer is that I may have a little strain in my shoulder or neck muscles and I had to pass on this morning’s swim because I was sore.

First placing of 2011, if it all goes to plan there should be a few more in the bag before the season ends.

A hot weekend

Race day minus 5. Taper weeks is on and the weekend was the last blast before the HIM and the later Xmas break.

I could not avoid the big work Xmas do on the Friday, but I limited myself to a couple of quiet beers. It was a good feed for the solid workouts to come.

Saturday was a hot day out, I biked for 40mins with my mate Gordo, and then we did the usual brick session (40-45min swim, 1hr bike, 25min run), I got home to a great breakfast and a even nicer nap. Such a beautiful day, Saturday. Pity we ended up having to do a little Xmas shopping instead of going to the beach and lie down.

I want a fixie for Xmas

Sunday was a 3 hour ride out to Betthels beach, we didn’t quite make it there, but we were “close enough” to the 3 hours. It was gentleman’s pace, so the legs felt OK for a 20min run off the bike. The rest of the day was out on the beach on the hot Auckland weather. I should have drank more water and I paid it later.

After the night sleep it was the last big swim session, we did about 4km with 400 TT, 200TT and 100m sprints, a real beauty. I have my good sleep assured after the swim only, and the rest of the day will be work and cooper’s test at night. Bring it on!

As I said, I’d pay for my poor hydration on a later stage. Half way through the swim my shoulders locked up, it was sort of a cramp, but a rather painless one. The end result was the same, though, I was unable to swim comfortable. After a few stretches it was all back to semi-normal conditions, but I wonder how much different the last two TT’s would have been.

All in all, a great weekend with solid training, good confidence boosters on the pool and a good outlook for the rest of the week, with the taper programme kicking in after tonight.

This is the last week of what I intended to be a base training period. There is 4 more weeks that will be still mainly aerobic stuff, but with the holiday in the middle, it will be a random pattern. It didn’t turn out as I originally thought in terms of the miles clocked on the bike and run. I should probably use the next 4 weeks to focus on doing some more long slow and hill rep stuff on both disciplines. The swim is OK, and I have to ensure I can keep clocking close to 15km for the week.

Congrats to all the ones sweating it out in the Taupo Half this weekend, great numbers all over the place.

Stay tuned for the RotoVegas race forecast.

Seriously - this is how I started running

Patrick's post posted the question, and when I remember I just have fun about it.
Argentina is a football country, we all play it at school, secondary school, grown ups, and so on. My dad plays week in and week out with his mates, even though he's got a bad back. Even though I was not super talented for the sport, I played for some time with my friends but never seriously. I did play basketball for some time, but I wasn't super talented either. We trained to play basketball and that was the first time many of us were introduced to training schedules, routines and specificity. After moving to the big smoke I left all sports aside and picked up swimming in our last year in Buenos Aires.
Many friends would go out running, but I found it boring as, and never got to run over 3km without questioning what the hell was I doing running.

So, at 25 I had never been "out for a run" outside the basketball training, which was usually around the court. It was the winter of 2006 when I decided to enter the 1/4 marathon in Auckland, which was 3 months away. We've been out for a few runs with my flatmate Julian (out of boredom) and that winter I pinned together a training plan (run 2 or 3 times a week) to make it 10km. I entered the race never ever having run more than 8km and I was still not fully convinced by running as a sport.

The following year I started swiming even more seriously, and entered the half marathon. That winter the runs got longer and longer and I even managed to do a 17km run before the race. That was when I started not taking the Ipod with me and actually run to run and not to listen to music.
I guess I had some talent because I did a sub 50min for my first ever 10km and a 1.45 for my first ever half marathon. Finishing the big run gave me the confidence to give triathlons a go.
Over the past 3/4 years it has grown on me to the point where the mileage has increased ten or twentyfold. And I even got my lovely wife hooked.

Cooper's test is back

With any new campaign it comes the time to set a benchmark. Cooper’s test at the beginning of the season are that, a benchmark to keep us honest during the next four to six months. Yesterday was a nice day to be out on the track. Many mates did not do the test because the past weekend was a long miles day for them . There was the 200km K2 race, that is really similar to having TdF hills day running in your backyard. And there was the Auckland Marathon and half marathon, both of them filled since June.


Over the weekend I felt the lower part of the calf suffering a bit on the run. I was afraid it would repeat for the cooper’s test, but it didn’t and I’m happy about it. Winter test are done in a 600m loop in concrete with 2 big sharp turnarounds. Summer tests are done in a 400m oval loop in the grass. The splits for each of them are different for obvious reason, so it pays to be aware what to expect for each lap.

Unfortunately the track is not in optimal condition as there are a few bumps and the grass is a bit long. We still gathered a good crowd and I suffered from not having a couple of my fast pacers along. I started on 1.17 and finished on 1.19. The rest of the laps were on the 1.20 to 1.25 range and there were 9 of them. 2 very good ones, one excellent and six average laps.

I’m happy as my pb on the track was 50 metres shorter than what I did yesterday, so I’m preparing myself for harder workouts to come, but also nicer numbers on a 10k’er.

That's two training buddies fromt he old guard, Bob and Cyril, both of them do over 3100m on their cooper's test at their 50's.