Day 3 of the 100km Tour of Cyprus..... and still no weather?

OK its day 3 and after 2 hilly, windy days i decided to go flat today and out through Limassol to Zygi, on the way to Larnaca. riding through town was great, some 'urban riding' avoiding the locals on a public holiday and the tourists. along the sea front there were plenty of people just sitting around the beach cafes and bars just chillin and a few in the sea!! the tourists were all in summer kit, shorts, t-shirts and stuff and the locals dressed up a little more. 25km on the flat through the tourist part of town and out on the quieter roads past Governors Beach on a rolling 25km up to the little unspoilt fishing village of Zygi, a quick pit stop at the local fruit market and woolf down 3 bananas and a bottle of water (on top of the 750ml of gatorade already gone) turn at Zygi was the 50km mark and a thrash back through town dodging the traffic lights that always seemed to be on red... ish!
25km splits were:
25km - 00.54.30
25km - 01.01.01
missed the 75km split?
25km - 01.43.20
total time -03.38.52
An easy day today with HR Av at 68% as the next 2 days are going to be tough and 'uber hilly'
Have fun, train safe!

No Weather Today

OK no weather comments today. 100km ride out to Lofou via Kouris Dam, one of my fave rides out here. the 1st 25km was flattish, the next mostly up-hill and then return. Again it was 2 x 750ml Gatorade, a Vanilla Powerbar and a taster pack of 3 Powerbar Shots.
25km splits were:
25km - 00.58.44
25km - 01.33.53
25km - 00.44.55
25km -00.56.12
100km total 4.13.02 Av HR 67%
so a nice steady ride with HR around where it needs to be this time of year managed to keep it at 70-80% for the up-hill but obviously the long 7km down-hill from Lofou to Kouris it was difficult to get the HR up, spinning out on the 53/11.
so a nice ride with no weather here today. more tomorrow, ATB

5 x 100kms

So my 1st little challenge of the New Year is going to be 5 x 100km bike rides this week! i have an extra week off work to do some base training so plan to ride 5 different 100km rides Mon-Fri! a sort of mini Tour of Cyprus? Todays was 50km out past Aphrodite's Rock to the edge of Paphos into a bloody strong headwind all the way and then a much better 50km back home. 1 x powerbar and 2 x 750ml of Gatorade and finishing with an Av HR of 70% so spot on day 1, a nice easy pace though i did make it more difficult for myself by trying to drink my own (considerable) body weight i Keo beer yesterday watching the Mighty LUFC win 1- 0at the Theatre of Nightmares, Happy Dayzzzz. the celebrations did go on a little after the final whistleand i did feel a little ruff this morning so the ride blew away a few cobwebs. Now Daz has posted a comment that my blog reminds him of his happy days in Cyprus and i am sure there are a few others who have been here and look back fondly so i have attached a few pics for you and after seeing your weather on Sky News i have attached a picture of the sun to remind you what it looks like???
But let me tell you, life in Cyprus is not all good weather and plain sailing, that wind today was a bit nippy and i had to put arm warmers on AND a gillet (just for the wind chill on the down hill bits) Have fun on the turbo fellas....

2010 Bring it On !!!

Ok here we are! 2010, how was it for you? New Years eve started well for me in that the weather was great; sunny warm and a light breeze, so it was a hard 2hrs on the bike with the infamous 1hr out and 1hr back ride! out through Happy Valley and on towards Bloodhound Camp it was a tough 60 mins and on the turn round i had gone much further in the hour than i have been over the recent rides, so was pleased, all i had to do was get back in the hour, it was tough with the hils but i managed it, just! then it was an easy 15mins run with Izzy, nice and steady just to make sure everything is working and doesnt break? New Years Eve night was a house party followed on to the Rugby Club which was 'mad' a fantastic night, saw in the New Year and home for 0130-ish? yesterday was a rest day, i havnt had one for a while so fully deserved it, and not too much of a hangover either! today was an 80min gym, stretch, weights and core followed by an easy bike to the k1 club fora run session, 1km easy with drills to warm up followed by 500m @ 75%, 500m easy 500m @ 80% 500m easy 500m @ 85% and 1km warm down with some drills and strides, then a cycle home. job done! Tomorrow is a HUGE day, i will train in the morning and then in the afternoon its the Mighty LUFC in the FA Cup at Old Trafford, come on you Leeds!!!!!

FM10 & Motivational Weather

What do you think of the new blog layout? thanks Turbo for the 'constructive' criticism! yesterday was a rubbish day weather wise, it was showers and windy so i kept putting off going out and in the end had a mammoth 7hrs on Football Manager 10.... oops! you will be pleased to knw as manager of LUFC i have already got them back to the premiership and finished our 1st season safely; yesterday was spent in pre-season, wheeling and dealing, buying and selling players ready for the new season. anyway i did finally peel my self away from the laptop and got to the gym for an hour of stretch, weights, core followed by a short 10 min easy run to test the r calf. its ok! today was up and out early b4 i got involved with the latop (must promise myself no FM10 until i have trained each day) the sky news was showing how wintery the UK weather was and that was enough to motivate me to get out and enjoy not being in UK and make the most of having decent cyprus weather. the sun was just breaking through the murky morning and it was warming up nicely, so shorts, short sleeves and arm warmers was enoughfor a planned 3hr ride, i kept to the coast line so i could enjoy the sea and sun and rode to Pissouri, up the big hill to Pissouri Heights (forgot how steep that was?) and came flying down the back side of the hill to Pissouri Bay (hit 75kph) and then back through Hapy Valley with a tail wind to Sunny Aki. a nice 3hrs 10min and 80kms in the warm sunshine... have i milked the good weather enough yet???
tomorow i will test the leg out on a slightly longer run, a short bike and another gym session; all ready b4 the New Year celebs begin! have a Great New Year.... ATB

More Bike & Blog Time

A steady 2.40 out on the bike today, it was a bit overcast but still warm so a nice solo ride out around Kouris Dam and back. a while ago i picked up a handful of powerbar gizzits at a foody expo from the powerbar rep who was also a triathlete, just back from the worlds. today i had a mixed berry flavoured Powerbar on the ride, and although not normally a big Powerbar fan this was quite more-ish so well done to Powerbar on your new range.

last night i got a bit bored with the layout of my blog so started playing around with it looking for something different ready for 2010.
happy blogging

Xmas Update and Trion:Z Bracelets

OK yesterday was Boxing Day, started with a 2hr bike ride with Big Dunc the Pirate b4 he flies to Scotland for New Year, out to Kouris Dam, i havnt been there for a while and its nice to see it filling up with water. It was a little nippy at 0900 so i needed to wear my long sleeved bike top but by the time we finished the sun had kicked in and it was toasty. after a nice bath on return and a good feed it was off to the rugby club for an 8 a side cricket tournament for the lads and a rounders game for the girls. the team i was in just lost the 1st game but won the 2nd so we finished 3rd??? i got lucky and took 2 wickets in my 1 over and scored the winning runs hitting a 4... not bad for swim, bike, runner! then it was a few beers in the club watching the sport on TV.

today was a long gym session stretch, weights and core, i need to get my right calf and knee mended 1st and then can get on with the full conditioning piece, but i am planning 3 of these sessions a week over the winter to get the strength to carry out the training i want to do. i think that could be part of the reason why i have been so injury prone these last 2 years. because the weather is ok over winter i have not ben confined to indoors and so have not done the winter core conditioning that i was doing b4 coming to Cyprus. so thats me for the last 2 days.

Sags has been suffering on and off with injuries similar to myself so i suggested he try a Trion:z bracelet! a what he said, so here is a short testemonial (nothing to do with TriUK) for the Team at Trion:z -

are magnetic bracelets that a number of sportsmen are using to help with the aches and pains of training and competing. there is a scientific bit about magnets and minus ions but if you want to read that check out their website. anyway i chose to try it when the physios etc.. were struggling to properly diagnose my injury and all of the stretching and physio i was getting appeared to be doing no good, i was happy to try anything if i thought it would help. so after reading about these i googled away and ordered one. so does it work? as i wore my new bling and trained through the injury the aches and pains became less however was it the bracelet or not?? i was still a little sceptical till i was on a course and took the trionz off as it didnt look good with uniform, after a couple of days the sciatic pain was back and soon unbearable. at this point i could not work out why.. until i remembered i had taken the trionz off! after putting it back on the pain sunsided over 2-3 days and i was back to my usual. so does it work, well i certainly get a benefit from it and have now invested in another so have a dual loop and a waterproof one for training. so if you are struggling with a few niggles and general aches and pains (or just getting old!) try one out? it cant do any harm and it might just work?

Happy Christmas

A Glass of Port before the dip!

Morning All, i hope Santa has brought you plenty of tri bling, i am just back from a morning swim at the beach, not as warm as i would like but no wetsuit and it was comfortable once in! photos soon, Have a great day TTFN

Coming back in (not sure about that pose? i should have used Blue Steel instead!)

What to do for 2010?

yesterday was an steady 40 min run with my new mate Izzy across the cliff tops, (70%) another luvly day, warm & sunny, r calf still a little iffy so today was an easy 90 min on the bike; stayed on the flat and road a single gear (53/17) trying to keep HR at 70 - 75%.
so what shall i do next year, race wise? i still dont know when i am going back to UK or where i will be moving to, so planning any race programme will be difficult. i have a few ideas for races i would like to do and should hopefully be able to sort something in the new year? that just means i need to make the most of the decent weather here for now and get some good base miles in the bank. TTFN,

welcome back

its welcome back to a few things in this post.
welcome back to me blogging, after a few weeks away in the cold wet miserable UK on a course. access to IT was limited; i had no bike with me so running and swimming only. running was coming along nicely until i made a huge mistake by telling a mate that i was running injury free for the 1st time in ages!!!! you know what happened the next morning, on an easy run, after 15 mins... yes a calf tweak for no aparent reason? that lead to a weeks enforced rest.
welcome back to Cyprus after my 3 weeks away, however i did appear to bring the UK weather with me and last week was bad storms serious rain and gale force winds, that mixed in with 3 weeks catch up at work and a daily xmas party meant training was off the schedule... again.
this week is welcome back to the good weather; yesterday i had a really nice easy run for 30 mins on the cliff tops in the sun and all was ok. we are looking after a mates dog (Izzy) while he is away serving Queen & Country and his missus is back in UK for Xmas so i have a running partner for a week. Today was 21 degrees, sunny, a little breeze and perfect for a 2hr intro to the bike again. cycling passed the orange and grapefruit farms the citrus smell is wonderful this time of year and having seen the UK, europe and the USA weather its definately time to gloat... riding in shorts and short sleeves in December does seem weird but its great!
so welcome back to Cyprus, welcome back to the good weather and welcome back to more regular blogging and training. 3weeks off work now to start the winter base training properly. loads to catch up on but i will stop there b4 this turns into a monster.
train smart,
and if you haven't read it yet, check out the rant on Daz's blog its a christmas cracker...

why do i like Cyprus?

Went for an easy 90 mins on the bike yesterday (45km) as the weather looked ok and not too windy; finished off back home and sunbathing for 30 mins as my warm down with a nice cold homemade 'fruits of the forest' milkshake. Mmmmmmn!
How did you finish your Sunday ride back home this weekend?
i am so not looking forward to posting back to UK next year!
Train Smart

..... Oooh... That was a bit of a gap?

Yes i am still alive, its been a while since i last posted. Not too much to say really, recovered from IM Barca and back to training, a bit ad hoc at the moment? picking up the running and really enjoying being run-fit and getting out in the sun along the cliff tops now its a bit cooler and running when i want to; not when i have to!!!!
The new Football Manager 2010 game is taking care of any spare time in-between everything else, its pretty darn good!!!!! away for a few weeks on a course soon so plenty of running and swimming with no bike? thats about it really i suppose its the run down to the 'C' word..... its too early to mention, its still only November!
ATB

Why?

i went shopping yesterday for some beer as my bro and his mate are coming to stay for a week, the Ermes store had some good BOGOF offers so i loaded my trolley with 4 slabs and then 2 packs of 'sports recovery diet jaffa cakes' i then got stopped by everyman and his dog questioning my nutrition recovery plan for Ironman!!! Why?

Barca Photos

Awesome.... watching Kona live on-line and its great, looks like a late night! here are some more Barca photos.
pre-race

the K ready to go!

the end!

Challenge Barcelona Race Report

The Race:

The swim start was ok, i waded in with Si Covell in wave 8 of 12 at 0820 and set off on the 1 lap course, sighting was difficult in a big pack and bouoys were a bit sparse on the way out causing some 'snaking' water was warm and a bit bumpy with quite a swell, a better swim on the way back in and out in 1.15 which is my slowest IM swim (yet this season i am swimming faster? 2 mins faster at vitruvian than last year!) ok transition apart from HRM/watch packing up so no times or HR for the entire race from now, so off on the bike. a steady 1st 3kms through town and out onto the main road then 2 x 66km laps and a 42km lap followed by 3km back into T2. lap 1 was far too fast, a rolling bike course that was great to ride, a bit of a breeze and the sun getting hotter by the minute. lap 2 eased back a tadge and still caned the hills in the big ring, lap 3 was hurting so eased back, mainly cos i had to! On lap 1 i saw the Turboman blasting round the course and thought he would have me by lap 2. on lap 2 he was closer but still not thereand definately looked like he would have me on lap 3 but as i dropped onto the 39 to spin up the last hill and then ease back through town i thought i was safe! but as i had taken my feet out of the shoes ready for dismount into T2 i heard a 'gotcha' right on the line as the Turboman flew past into a rather good dismount ( for a roadie!!!) i jogged off to rack bike and headed for the change tent and the run after a 5.41 bike split (only 4 mins slower than my pb at Austria)another steady transition and off for the 4 lap run; after 10km i was in bits and at 15 had to walk through the aid stations to take on food and fluids; at 20km i threw up the gel and banana that had just gone in! from there i knew it really was going to be a long afternoon. still trying to ironman shuffle between aid stations and then stop at the aid station t sip fluids, i was unable to stomach food or gels and could only take the tiniest sips of really diluted gatorade. then as i approached the end of lap 3 i asked Deb to get me some ice cubes from somewhere; these where great and kept me going. a big finish as i found some energy to run into the finish chute in 12.36 (only 6 mins faster than Lanza last year) and a marathon of 5.31... ouch! oh and my race actually finished in the med

tent an hour and 1lt of IV fluid later!

lessons learned:

too much faffing around the expo looking at bike bling prior to the race

must have better pace control on the bike

make sure that HRM is working!

bike shorts over RAF Tri kit is not good for 180kms

aero position on bike still needs some work

nutrition must be improved

an hour of IV really helps recovery

must have more than 4 weeks run training prior to an IM marathon!

the biggest of all is listen to my own advice! i made some schoolboy errors and on advice i have given to plenty of other triathletes?

Overall

despite the painful and slow marathon split there where some positives from the race. i did manage to 'grind it out' and complete the IM despite suffering with pretty bad dehydration and my worst ever season for injuries so i have something to show for the 09 season after all. there where plenty of DNFs on a real tough day for IM on what should be a fast course.

Thank yous

Deb saved the day with the ice cubes and support, Mike the Tinman was a star defying the docs and keping me company in the med tent and sorting out my bike, race bags etc and getting them back to the hotel and for the bike split updates. Turbo, you was a hinderance as i just kept going hard on the bike to try to keep away from you!!! but you are right, it was a fun bike! thanks to all of you for the texts and e-mails of encouragement and support b4 and after the race, they were great.

Next year...... not sure yet as a posting home early summer will scupper most planning until i know where and when so i will try and look for an early or late season race which means LD and not IM (they will all be full) winter planning and end of season review happened on the 2 plane journys home so i am nearly ready with a 16 week base plan which should get me ready for something, somewhere sometime in 2010!

train smart; i will try to!!!

Roy

PS

Lol-well done, your doing brilliantly; Charli, awesome tour can't wait to read and see pics, Debs-amazingly brave, i love you. x