Blogger all!

Done blogger all this week, except a Boxing Day and a Mince Pie run. Been very lazy. Too many mince pies. Too lazy to write my blog. Not enough training.

Will be back next week with a vengeance - blog and training.

C

Fail to plan, plan to fail

I've been harping on recently about the importance of organisation and never so more important is that concept than at Christmas time, what with being Santa's Head Buyer and also the usual juggling act of visiting family and friends.

Amongst all that is having to find time for work and training. Having already alluded to the work issue is previous blogs, things are really hotting up now. My recently-created business blog makes comment about the taxman's incompetence, and the knock on effect of this causes me great distress and additional work.

Doesn't leave much time for training, or rather it wouldn't if I didn't plan my time as well as I try to do. This week - Christmas week - I have planned a couple of runs and rides, and a swim here and there, although nothing too serious (in particular a 'mince-pie' run with the tri club).

The concept of 'fail to plan, plan to fail' is even more evident at this festive time of the year now that I have had to plan next year's races so that, come January, I am ready for the off. So, the following very carefully selected races form my schedule for 2009. I have highlighted the Worlds Qualifiers (my A races) in bold. I have deliberately left out the Worlds (my AA race) because I don't want to tempt fate.

Bedford Sprint - 3 May 2009

Grendon Sprint - 10 May 2009

Eton Super Sprint - 17 May 2009

Milton Keynes Sprint - 24 May 2009

Milton Keynes Sprint - 7 June 2009

Northampton Sprint - 28 June 2009

Bournemouth Sprint - 5 July 2009

Dorney midweek Sprint - 15 July 2009

Blithfield Sprint - 26 July 2009

Other non-triathlons will be the Milton Keynes Winter Duathlons, 10 mile time-trials (bike), 5 km run races (Bushey Park time-trials) - all 'as and when'. I also plan to cycle and run the courses at Grendon, Milton Keynes and Blithfield so, come the day, I will know the routes like the back of my hand.

The week just gone saw me spend plenty of time in the saddle, a run and no swimming whatsoever. Two mountain bike rides (one with Jev, the other a very early morning ride with Chris (aka Duff) from the tri club), and another my weekly tea-shop road bike with Jev. All very quaint stopping at the tea-shop in Stewkley for a coffee and soup (and the odd puncture repair thrown in for good measure).

Assuming Father Christmas is agreeable, this week I plan more of the same. Failing that, you'll probably find me in a pub somewhere resting my tired feet and nursing my tired wallet!

Compliments of the Season to all.

C

Blink and you'll miss it

This week I treated myself to a little pre-Christmas pressie.

My TV is about a hundred years old. It's not quite black and white, but it's not colour either - over time apparently the tube (whatever that is) has died and now the screen pushes out a picture which is a shade of green. Not good for the eyes. The mono sound system is not good for the ears either. I think the old 8-track which I had in my first car was of higher quality.

So, I have bought myself an all-singing, all-dancing, bells and whistles, lots-of-inches flat screen TV, together with surround sound home cinema system and hard disk recorder. Just in time for the usual Christmas repeats, although I suspect it will be dominated by the kids' Wii and XBox.

Over the weekend I tested it all out with the final of the X Factor. My daughter Emily and I sat down and treated ourselves to some Saturday night visual and audio entertainment from the eventual winner, Alexandra. Her opposition, Eoghan and JLS, were Ok but were simply no competition for Alex. Her rendition of If I Were A Boy, a duet with Beyonce, was absolutely outstanding and from then on it was a one-woman show (but enough of the crying, already). I know the X Factor has its critics, but I think it is great family entertainment for a Saturday evening. Beats Strictly Come Dancing anyday.

But the highlight of the weekend's viewing was the BBC's Sports Personality of the Year. Favourites Rebecca Adlington, Lewis Hamilton and Chris Hoy came in 3rd, 2nd and 1st respectively, but I think I must have blinked because apparently there were split second moments of glory for Chrissie Wellington winning Hawaii and even Alistair Brownleee who was part of the audience.

Now, I know that triathlon is, and will most probably always be, a minority sport, but surely the world Ironman champion deserves more than a two second slot in what is a celebration of British sport. And, yes, I know that 2008 was a fantastic year for British sport (especially the Olympics), but if they keep on harping on about triathlon being 'the fastest growing sport in the UK' then why does is continually get overlooked?

But, then again, I think that is one of the reasons why I love the sport so much. It isn't the sport of the masses, and I like the lack of the football-hooligan mentality at races. It is a sport where you can participate with the best, and how many other sports can you say that for? So I suppose I shouldn't complain when it doesn't get much coverage, but it would be nice to give Queen Chrissie more than two seconds in front of the Great British audience at sports' equivalent of the Bafta's.

As the writers of BBC SPOTY suffered from a bit of triathlon laziness, so did my training suffer from my own lethargy. I did a couple of runs and a road bike ride with Jev (stopping half way for a soup and coffee, so it was hardly a hard ride). I have decided not to follow a strict plan yet until the New Year, so for the next couple of weeks I am not going to beat myself up if I take it easy. My ever increasing work schedule is also making it more difficult to fit in lots of training. So, it's 'do whatever I can' time again.

That said, I shall be starting a more structured running plan which I have found on the tri247 website (in conjunction with my plan from Mark K). I shall hopefully be getting out with Alex and Jev at some point this week too.

In the meantime, here's our greatest sportsman of 2008. Officially. Well deserved too, and very gracious in his acceptance. Like Chrissie, a true inspiration to us all.

Cheers.

C

Like Clockwork

Things seem to happen this time of the year, every year, like clockwork.

I am always skint over Christmas.

My training takes a back-seat whilst I get on with some work.

I get fed up with the constant darkness outside.

And, frustratingly, I always, ALWAYS catch the flu or some other similar incapacitating illness early December. That's what happened this week. I could feel it coming - an all-over aching body, general lethargy, etc., etc. after swimming Monday evening and then for the rest of the week I couldn't do any training. None at all. Which is a bit of a pain in the backside because this was the week of my FULL return. I had a run planned with Alex later in the week which I had to cancel. And of course a mountain bike session which had to go too. All very frustrating.

But none of that put me off the tri club's Christmas dinner at Wendover on Saturday night (pictures below). And a highly enjoyable evening it was too, although I have got to say that the members of the club are not big drinkers and so I had to ease off the drinking a bit in order not to appear like an out-and-out p&$shead. There were, however, a couple who did give me a good run for my money.

There was Anna (aka Mitten) who had run (or rather 'scrambled through' ) the Grim earlier that day and was downing her gin and tonics pretty damn quickly. Mitten also apparently reads this blog too, so "hi, Mitts".

Then there was Chris (aka Duff) who decided to order a round of drinks after most had gone and the restaurent was locking its doors. Now THAT'S the attitude, Duff - proud of ya, mate!

But the most memorable of all was Rob (aka Bananaman) who got the giggles after just a couple of pints (I get the impression he doesn't usually drink much). Rob organised the evening brilliantly so a big pat on the back for the mighty Bananaorganiserman.







Something else which seems to work like clockwork is the Great British Weather. Or should I say the 'Cr$p British Weather'? It did its usual trick of putting paid to some weekend plans. My football team's game was cancelled because of the icy pitch (just as well, really, as we were down to 8 players - a combination of Scout trips and illness), and also the Luton Marathon (of which I wasn't participating anyway) fell victim, indirectly, of the cold snap - a car had span on the ice and blocked part of the course and so the race had to be cancelled at the 11th hour. Very frustrating for the competitors (of which Musty and Russell (club colleagues) and Jev were a few), but I suspect also a big fat pain in the ar$e for the organisers too.

So there you have it. A rather uneventful week and, thus, a rather uneventful blog. I am feeling 100% better now though and so I will be back with a vengeance in the morning. Or maybe not - it's very cold and icy out there you know!

Cheers.

C

If at first you don't succeed...

My mate Jev hosts the occasional film night on his home cinema system. Not any ordinary home cinema system, oh no. Jev doesn’t do things by half. This is a fully-fledged, self-contained, velvet curtains, 1000 inch, 1,000,000-watt sound system home cinema.

The Old Thatch Cinema society (that’s what we’re called) meets up every so often Chez O’Neill and the first film we watched was American Gangster, a film by Ridley Scott starring Denzel Washington. A highly entertaining film which scored highly amongst us in the post-film vote.

Last Friday we were treated to Withnail & I, a 1987 film by Bruce Robinson starring Richard E Grant and Paul McGann. Jev introduced the film as one which you either love or hate, but to be honest I was neither. It was entertaining, but I think as a non-film buff I missed some of the subtleties of the film. It was good, but I won’t be rushing out to see it again (sorry Jev).

We watched City of God a couple of months ago. This film, by Fernando Meirelles (the same guy responsilble for the recent movie ‘Blindness’) is at Number 18 in IMDB’s list of greatest films of all time, and is about two boys growing up in a violent neighbourhood of Rio de Janeiro who take different paths: one becomes a photographer, the other a drug dealer. I think I must have had too many pre-film beers that night because, again, I didn’t rate it that highly. It is a fast moving, subtitled film which you need to work hard at keeping track with and, frankly, I just think I wasn’t up to it the night we watched it.

However, I acquired the DVD of the film last Friday from one of the other guys, Dave Jones, and treated myself to a second viewing over the weekend. At well over 2 hours long, I had to watch it in 2 halves but, boy oh boy, what a masterpiece! I was completely ‘up for it’ and so was able to keep with the story and I am so glad I did. This is an absolutely incredible film and I can’t believe that I will ever see anything better. Prior to this, my current favourite was ‘Babel’ – a film by Alejandro González Iñárritu and in similar gritty style – but City of God has surpassed that. If you haven't seen it, I highly recommend that you do so. But don’t go expecting any religious hymns or prayers, because you’ll be disappointed.

It just goes to show, in the film world at least, if at first you don’t succeed, try again.

I need to try again at my training schedule at the moment because I still can’t seem to get back into things as much as I should have. I have skipped swimming and cycling for a couple of weeks and done just a few runs. I am happy with how my running is coming along, but I need to HTFU and get out on my bike in the wind and rain.

There is a phrase which Jev uses – ‘ironmen are born in winter’ – and I think I need to adapt this a little to ‘world-sprint wannabees don’t wimp out of training just because it’s a bit wet and cold’. I do have an excuse though and that’s that work has been very busy this week, so I am not going to beat myself up about it too much.

This week we have my tri club’s Monday night social night (meets every first Monday of the month after swim training), and on the agenda for discussion is the new kit design (see previous blog). I think the ‘get rid of sharky’ brigade will have a difficult job of succeeding, and so it looks like a new design is on the horizon. Let's hope less 'Shark's Tale' and more 'Jaws' please guys, the latter surely being worthy of The Old Thatch Cinema Society. More news about this next week, no doubt.

Cheers

C

He did it. He only went and did it.

Isn't it funny how a person's state of mind can affect his whole sense of well-being? A positive experience can have profound effects on subsequent events in his life. It could be a compliment, a word of encouragement, or even something as little as someone remembering his name. Whatever it is, it propels one into a positive state of well-being and everything in life thereafter seems less onerous and more manageable. Less stress, more success. That's how it works with me, anyway.

The same with training. After a great training session I want more. Yet, if I miss a couple of days I feel lethargic and more inclined to go to the pub and sit at the bar all evening. In simple terms, no training = can't be bothered to train. Lots of training = want to train more.

I had some very positive experiences this week and it has made me a very happy man. A very happy man indeed. More specifically, a very happy dad. A very proud dad.

Adam got his 11+ results this week, and I am so proud to tell you that he did it. He only went and passed. From that, he has instantly springboarded into a more confident boy (not that he was ever lacking of it!). He has proof now how clever he is. It's written on paper and nobody can take that away from him. He and I have both been floating on air ever since. Now we have the problem of having to choose his preferred school - Aylesbury Grammar School for Boys, or the Henry Floyd Grammar School. Both are highly commended schools, so it's not a bad problem to have.



This positivety positively (how did I manage that?) overflowed into my training. I did lots and lots of it, and consequently I wanted to do more, so I did. Specifically, lots of runs, and a thoroughly enjoyable MTB ride to boot. No swimming, but there's plenty of time to catch up on that. I have caught up with my running plan from Mark K at last, and am ready to attack next week's sessions with renewed vigour.

But the highlight of the week's training was my MTB session at Brickhill Woods with Alex, particularly our 'friendly' race around the perimiter of the southern part of the woods. MTB'ing takes on a completely new meaning when you're racing and I am at last at a sufficient speed and confidence to put the pedal down and get upto some speed. And, wow wee, it was fun. Tearing along single tracks, branches either side, with the only sounds being the thundering of your beating heart and the rustle of leaves under tyre, it was fun, fun, fun all the way. And of course made all the sweeter by getting to the finish line ahead of my nemesis!

Here's what I did the entire week:

Monday – run - tempo run
Tuesday – run - at 180 strides per minute
Wednesday – rest
Thursday – run - hard interval session
Friday - rest
Saturday – bike - MTB ride at Brickhill Woods with Alex
Sunday – rest

Next week I shall be concentrating once again on my running. I have also set up the turbo trainer, and shall be off down to the gym for some spin sessions. Hopefully a swim here and there. And maybe another MTB with Alex and others. Race conditions of course!

It's been a great week, and long may this feeling of positivety last throughout the winter.

Bye for now

C

The Winds of Change

There has been a debate raging within my tri club about changing, or not, the club kit and design. This was fuelled by an after-swim-in-the-pub-conversation between members started by Anne-Marie a few weeks ago.

There are some who are against changing and some who are for - I stated my case early to say that I am in the latter school of thought. I think the current design is too cartoony (see picture of me stripping off at 2008's Vitruvian aside) and doesn't portray the club as a serious club. Some members, regretably, just don't like change, which is a shame because surely that's what makes our society so rich and diverse. But, then again, I suppose we do live in a democracy so everyone is entitled to express their own point of view.

This Sunday, on a windy football pitch in Edlesborough, my (and Adam's) team (EB Lions Under 11's) managed their first point of the season in what was a thrilling bottom-of-the-table clash against Dunstable Colts. 1 - 0 up at half time, we found ourselves 2 - 1 down until the dying seconds when we equalised.

The look of joy on my players' (and their parents') faces when the ball went flying in was priceless - it was their FA Cup Final and testament to their tremendous hard work at training in recent weeks. Now we've got our first point under our belt things are gonna change - I can feel it in my water - and the boys' new found confidence is going to take them flying high for the rest of the season. Things have changed for them, and most certainly for the better.



I haven't really put my heart and soul into training for the last couple of weeks. I had told myself that I would ease back into things gently, but all this half-heartedness isn't really doing me any good. OK, I am enjoying the mountain biking immensely, but I think this is simply a tactic to delay getting back into serious training.

I need to get back onto the open roads, onto the turbo trainer, into spin classes, if I am going to make head-roads (no pun intended!) into my bike times next year. And I need to do it quick because December and January are notoriously very, very busy months work-wise and training usually gets put back on the back-burner. Running too - I have a great plan set out for me by Mark K, but last week I did only one of the 5 planned sessions. It's simply not good enough, and things HAVE TO change. Things WILL change.

Here's what I did this last week:

Monday – swim - club swim - intervals and pyramids and run - interval pace run
Tuesday – rest
Wednesday – bike – night-time MTB ride at Ashridge with members of my tri club
Thursday – rest
Friday - rest
Saturday – run – easy, slow run at 9:20 m/mile
Sunday – bike - another thoroughly enjoyable MTB ride at Ashridge with A-M - it got dark quite quickly and our bike lights were totally inadequate so we retired to the pub after a couple of hours

I've done a quick mind-map of what I plan to do following my new-found vigour, but am having trouble uploading it - hopefully I will find a way of doing it during the week.

EDIT: Here it is:-



Bit of a mess, isn't it? It's at its initial stages at the moment so I will be expanding it over the coming week or two with a view to mapping out my entire season. With a little bit of flexibility mixed in there too, of course - the odd mountain bike here and there won't do any harm, I'm sure.

And those pesky kids get me on the runaround each week at training - that's enough exercise for one day, that's for sure!

I Have A Dream

30 years ago my brother, Graeme, and I sat down with our parents and watched ‘Roots’ – an American TV miniseries about slavery in 18th century America based on Alex Haley's work 'Roots: The Saga of an American Family'.

'Roots' was a ground-breaking event in American TV history, receiving 37 Emmy Award-nominations. It went on to win 9 Emmys, a Golden Globe, and a Peabody Award. It still stands as the 3rd highest rated US programme ever. The series had a profound effect on me and shaped my attitude towards black culture forever.

I have been treating my own children to the same series recently, and we have been avidly following the exploits of Kunta Kinte, Chicken George and others. Ironically, my daughter, Emily, has been studying American slavery in history lessons recently and so she has been particularly captivated with what we have been watching.

45 years ago, Martin Luther King delivered his ‘I Have A Dream’ speech.

‘I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal."

I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.

I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.

I have a dream today.

I have a dream that one day down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of interposition and nullification - one day right there in Alabama little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.

I have a dream today.

I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, and every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together.’

How poignant that Barack Obama was elected president of the USA this week. No doubt this will see the start of the dream fulfilled and is quite rightly a monumental event in American, if not World, history.

This week, Lewis Hamilton - a Brit of mixed race – became the youngest ever Formula One World Champion. Like Obama, Hamilton has overcome racial difficulties to be the best in the world at what he does. No doubt he will win BBC Sports Personality of the Year, and quite rightly so (notwithstanding Queen Chrissie's fantastic achievements this year).

As far as training is concerned, I have been getting back into things this week. This is what I did:

Monday – swim - club swim - intervals
Tuesday – rest
Wednesday – run – economy run – slower than 10k pace
Thursday – bike – easy-ish 22 miles with Jev – single gear
Friday – run – tempo run at 10K pace
Saturday – bike – thoroughly enjoyable MTB ride at Ashridge going at over 1000 revs p/m, followed by run – stride rate run at 180 strides p/m
Sunday – rest

Next week I shall be mind-mapping my training and racing plans for 2009. I have a dream for the forthcoming season and, with some planning and hard work, I am hoping it too will be fulfilled.

Until next week, have a good one.

C

Back to the future

Question: What do I share with David Schwimmer (‘Friends’ actor), Nelly (American rap artist - aside) and Danny Cipriani (English international rugby player)? No, I didn’t go to acting school to learn offensive rap songs and play the odd game of rugby at lunchtimes. What we all share is our birthday this week on 2nd November.

Yes, on this day 41 years ago I popped into the world. 41 years! That’s a long, long time - a time even before Bill Gates took over the world. I certainly don’t feel 41, although what I’m meant to feel like at that age heaven knows. You’re as old as you feel, as the saying goes, and I don’t feel at all bad really.

What are 40-somethings meant to do with their spare time? I suppose many seek the comfort of their living room, a TV and a 4-pack of beers each evening, but I, thankfully, am not from that school of thought. This year I took up a few new interests which I suppose should be the reserve of the much younger 20-something oiks. There’s skiing. Then there’s mountain biking. And of course I have continued my love of and participation in triathlon.

Supposedly the chosen sport for the young and uber-fit, triathlon isn’t necessarily a sport just for kids. I heard recently that a person reaches his highest aerobic fitness levels in his 30’s and 40’s (not too sure about the aforementioned couch-potatoes of course), although whether or not this statement is true, I don’t know.

Also, grumpy old men of my age do tend to be more financially stable than those younger whipper-snappers and what better stuff to spend all that disposable income on than the go-faster stripes and carbon kit which gives one a few seconds head-start on a triathlon race track, and this is what I did last year with the purchase of a completely new tri-specific wardrobe. But of course that’s the same for many of my counterparts and this does mean, therefore, that my age group is a very tough one. Take a walk around a transition area for the 40-45 age group and you will see some spectacular bling on display. Cervellos abound, you just take a gulp and hope that they puncture or something. But it does make you push yourself to your limits week after week after week. No time to sit on your laurels. This makes the whole thing all very exciting.

This week I did another mountain bike session, this time with Alex around Brickhill Woods, and had a thoroughly enjoyable time. I did a swim too, but again very little else. That’s all about to change now that I am at the end of my post-season recovery month and am busy writing my training plan for next season. No more swiping the snooze button and rolling over for an extra few minutes sleep.



Stay with me for the next few months and see how I get on. If you see me slacking, please PLEASE give me a kick up my 41 year old backside and a ‘rap’ around the knuckles – Nelly-stylie!!

That was the year that was...

The end of the season and here is Bradley's End of Year Report.

Swim

2008 review:

Colin started the year with great promise with regular improvements at 400 metres. Times down to a steady 6:40. After joining Shires Triers triathlon club in the Spring Colin began structured swim training sessions although this was at the expense of his usual swimming sessions. Nevertheless, times continued to improve, culminating in a 400m PB at the Concorde Sprint Triathlon of 6:29 (first ever sub-6:30 in a race). 1500 metre times did not improve, despite the purchase of the all-singing-all-dancing Blue70 Helix wetsuit.

Aims for next year:

Sub 6:20 400 metre time. Sub 12 minutes 750 metre time (open water). Sub 25 minutes 1500 metre time (open water).

Effort: B
Achievement: B+

Bike

2008 review:

Colin improved enormously this year on the bike and this is down to his hard efforts on his shiny new carbon steed - the Planet X Stealth. Colin's 10 mile time-trial times improved consistently throughout the Summer season, culminating in a PB of 25:09.

Aims for next year:

Sub 25 minute 10 mile time trial. Sub 35 minute 20K. Sub 1:10 40K.

Effort: A
Achievement: A

Run

2008 review:

Colin worked very hard on his running this year, however his run times have not particularly improved, although he did achieve a 5K time trial PB of 21:25, so all credit to him for putting in a lot of hard work. A running plan from tri247 in the Winter of 2007 put Colin in good stead for the Spring of 2008, and he continued this through the rest of the season. Colin would do far better if he was to curb his eating and drinking habits and lost some excess weight.

Aims for next year:

Sub 20 minute 5K time trial. To continue his training plan from Coach Mark K. Colin must appreciate the need for perseverance and keep to the plan religiously. Patience is the key.

Effort: B+
Achievement: C

Core Strength

2008 review:

Despite starting the year with a core strength training plan, Colin managed none whatsoever except for a few 15 minute sessions at the gym after spinning classes. No further comment.

Aims for next year:

To improve core strength by devoting a minimum of 2 gym sessions per week at 30 minutes per session.

Effort: U (Ungraded)
Achievement: U

Races

2008 review:

A very busy and highly enjoyable season, although Colin did suffer from burnout by the end of the year. Transition times particularly pleasing, this as a result of regular transition practice sessions.

Highlights of the season were a PB and a first-ever sub 2:30 at Milton Keynes Olympic, completing the Thames Turbo series, a 4th place at the Bedford Mini and a 25:09 PB 10 mile time trial on the bike. Lowlight most definitely the Vitruvian, but also being (unfairly) DQ'd from the final Thames Turbo Sprint.

Aims for next year:

To build upon this year's very pleasing results by improving at each discipline, to include transitions. Colin must not be too keen to enter so many races, otherwise he might suffer from burnout again at the time of the season when he needs to be at his peak fitness.

Overall comments

Colin has recognised his weaknesses in running and concentrated heavily on this discipline during the year, although this has been at the slight detriment of his swim training. Colin's improved bike times are testament to his hard work out on the road, on the turbo trainer and in the gym at spin sessions. Colin needs to build on his successes of the season and carry this through the Autumn and Winter months ready for his very important World Qualifying Races in 2009.

Overall, a good year. Well done Colin!

*****

The Stealth and Helix are both away for the Winter and only one more week of easy stuff before I am back to it. A mountain bike session last week, and probably another one this week and maybe a swim and run session.

Finally, very remiss of me not mentioning Queen Chrissie's amazing successful defence of her Hawaii Ironman title last Sunday week. With a number of high profile wins under her belt during 2008, doubtless her End of Year Report will make for some compulsive reading. A+'s across the board, no doubt. Swot!



Cheers.

C

AfaffandAfan

I know, I know, a curious title to this week’s blog.

A faff, because I have been faffing around trying to decide what to write about. I had promised myself a review of the 2008 triathlon season, but that went immediately by the wayside after this week’s hugely enjoyable mountain biking, firstly midweek with my mates - Alex, Jev and Jo - over Whipsnade and surrounding trails, then at the weekend at the MTB mecca at Afan.

At the first of these - Whipsnade - Jev, Jo and I turned up a little early and had to wait around for Alex for a few minutes getting cold. All this 'coldness' soon dispersed after Alex turned up and we set off at a swift pace through the trails of Whipsnade. Jo was clearly the strongest and most experienced of us all, whizzing through the trees and dirt tracks, whilst the rest of us tried desperately to keep up. This we did flying through the streets of Dumpstable, reminiscent of the kids flying around on their BMX bikes in the film ET, jumping down concrete steps, through streets and past bemused children on their way to school. A couple of hours later and we were back in Jev's back yard munching on peanut butter on toast and talking of 'men' things (don't ask).

Here we are post-ride....



All this, however, was simply pre-amble to what was to come later in the week at Afan. Joining up with other members from the tri club for their annual pilgrimage to South Wales, we treated ourselves to two hard days of MTB'ing around some very difficult and technical tracks (difficult for me, anyway!), with a very enjoyable Curry night spliced (or should I say 'spiced') in between both days. Here are links to our first day's cycling on Penhydd (with A-M) and The Wall.

My highlight of the weekend was a fabulous run down 'Energy' on White's Level, the type of route that gets serious MTB'ers frothing at the mouth and, also, in a moment of extreme foolishness, a black run - thanks to Jo who assured me that I ‘would be alright, except for the very steep bit at the bottom which you can get off and walk down’. ‘Slide’ down might have been a more appropriate thing to say, because it was a wee bit on the, er, vertical side. Huge fun though and I can see why people love the sport.

Big up to Tony and Paul for enduring, and surviving, pretty bad falls – the former ending up with a hole in his shin, the latter ending up over his handle-bars. If that was me I would have cried and called for my mummy, that’s for sure. Also, congratulations to Anna (aka Mitten) for enduring a tough time on the settee all weekend, sipping (or should I say slurping?) on a glass of red wine for the most part.

Here's the guys and gals fuelling up....



As far as exercise is concerned, that was it really. I haven’t run for a couple of weeks, and have only swum once. With another couple of weeks of off-season recuperation ahead of me, I am still enjoying taking things easy and am thoroughly enjoying doing things 'for the fun of it’, rather than as part of a hard training schedule.

Next week I promise to review my 2008 season before it’s too late and I forget what I did, although this might be a hard promise to keep given that I have another couple of MTB rides booked into the diary. All this blogging – such a faff!

Until next week.....C

Out with the old, in with the...er...old

No, not another blog about mountain biking or such like.

I have a client who was a very successful A & R executive, discovering the likes of The Boomtown Rats, Sinead O’Connor and Kool and the Gang (get down on it!). He is now no longer in ‘the business they call show’ and is enjoying his well-earned retirement. Out with the old, so to speak.

I recall very amusing stories over the years involving some famous singers, bands, musicians and the like. One involved a very young, and foul-mouthed, Bob Geldof calling around record companies to get a record deal. Apparently, Sir Geldof eventually did quite well for himself, and also for the world in general.

Another story involved one of my client’s young ‘runners’ (an errand boy) whilst he was at EMI who was very keen to get involved in the music industry. This young lad had absolute no musical ‘ear’, apparently, but had a big mouth and was very canny. His name? Simon Cowell. Mr Cowell is currently doing quite well for himself, but not, as many would argue, for the music world in general. He has been around for a while now so he’s not exactly new to us, and is currently very prominent on our TV screens with the new series of The X Factor. In with the old, you could say.

Recently in the worlds of triathlon and cycling there has been a similar scenario.

Simon Lessing won the South African National Championship in 1988 at age 18, the International Triathlon Union Olympic distance world championships in 1992, 1995, 1996 and 1998, the ITU long course world championship in 1996. He had wins at big non drafting classics at Chicago and Alcatraz, dominated the French Iron Tour, was victorious at the 1994 and 1996 Goodwill Games, and triumphed at an indoor race in Bourdeaux and a super sprint in Koblenz. Add to this a still-standing course record Ironman debut at Lake Placid, up to a flash of greatness in July 2008 in which he broke his own course record at Boulder Peak – Simon Lessing was the perfect illustration for an encyclopedia entry on excellence, triathlon version.

Lessing was the best in the world just as I was getting into triathlon and so was a great inspiration to me. Regretably, but I suppose inevitably, he announced his retirement from competitive racing this week at the age of 37.

I never raced against Simon, but a friend of mine, Simon Lamport, did and I remember an amusing story he told me of running down the home straight at the Windsor triathlon (on his first lap of 2), when the crowd lining the edge were shouting and screaming his name. “Simon, go Simon. Yeah, go, go, go. Simon, Simon, Simon”. Just as he flung up his arms, taking in the applause, Simon Lessing then sprinted past him towards the finish line (lap 2 of 2) whilst Simon Lamport turned the corner to continue his race.

Simon Lessing - very regrettably, out with the old.



Lance Armstrong won the Tour de France a record-breaking seven consecutive years, from 1999 to 2005. He is the only individual to win seven times, having broken the previous record of five wins, shared by Miguel Indurain (consecutive) and Bernard Hinault, Eddy Merckx and Jacques Anquetil.

Armstrong survived testicular cancer in 1996. His cancer treatments included brain and testicular surgery and extensive chemotherapy, and his prognosis was originally poor. He retired from racing on 24 July 2005, at the end of the 2005 Tour de France, but, very recently, confirmed that he will return to competitive cycling for the 2009 season. I am not sure I am happy with this. He went out at the very top of his sport and I fear that his comeback will not be the spectaculor all-conquering return that everyone is hoping for.

Lance Armstrong - a rather sceptical in with the old.



The first of four weeks of completely unstructured exercise and training this week. A club swim (quite hard actually), a couple of hard’ish MTB sessions (one with Jev, the other a wonderful pub-crawl with Anne-Marie) and a couple of football training sessions. I am not making a log of my sessions, which is part of the off-season recuperation, and am thoroughly enjoying the lack of pressure, both self imposed and from my running coach Mark K.

No triathlon races to report this week, but a 'big up' to my mate Alex (far left below) who posted a PB at the Ridgeway Run organised by my running club, Tring RC. After loads and loads of long, hilly runs over Ashridge during the Summer, Alex's training has obviously paid off at this week's race.



That is not to say that there is nothing going on in the world of triathlon. The biggest Ironman race of the calender, Hawaii Ironman, is taking place as I type this blog and doubtless I shall comment upon it next week.

For the moment, however, all us Brits are routing for Chrissie Wellington (amongst others). Last year, Chrissie took the Ironman world by storm by winning Ironman Hawaii at her first attempt. Then it was most definitely ‘in with the new’ and I suppose you could say this year, still as a relatively newcomer, it is ‘in with the newish’. Good luck Chrissie.

Cheers.

C

Out with the old, in with the new

Season 2008 ended with a no-show - rather like it started.

I was entered with my mate Jev into the final Bedford Sprint of the series. Waking at 5am to heavy wind and rain, a couple of texts later between myself and Jev, and that was it – ZZzzzzzzz – back to the warmth and comfort of my bed.

Reminiscent to what happened at my first race of the season – the Thames Turbo sprint in April. The circumstances were similar – a quick peek outside the previous night to see heavy snow and that was it – no way, and a no-show.

Now that the season has ended and that aspect of my life has (temporarily) closed I am moving into another phase. Enter my new coaching companion for the next few months – Scotty.

Scotty is my new (and first) Mountain Bike, and she and I have already forged a strong bond between us with a slow romantic jaunt in the woods on Saturday (see pictures up top from the top of Pitstone Hill over-looking a long-time local open water swimming venue). When I say slow, I mean REALLY slow - I have run the same course quicker. Here’s my online training log to prove how slow I went.

Many of my friends – Alex, Simon, Paul, Jev - have recently been extolling the virtues of MTB'ing, especially for some off-season interval-type training, and I am positively salivating at the thought of getting down and dirty with Scotty over the coming months. This starts with a much-anticipated forthcoming trip to the Afan Valley in Wales with my tri club on 17th and 18th October. I have to admit that the cycling is really going to be secondary that weekend (no doubt to the scorn of the serious MTB’ers). Food, beer and great company are higher on the agenda for me.

Another person who has finished one phase of his life is my youngest son, Adam, who has just taken his 11+ exam this week after many months of concentrated coaching and practice. Adam's results come through in November so, fingers firmly crossed, here’s hoping for his success. Whatever the results, he has put in 150% effort and I am very, very proud of him. Well done, Adam.

Hardly seems worth putting it up, but here's what I did last week:-

Monday – no training

Tuesday – no training

Wednesday – run – easy at 180 strides per minute, 60 minutes

Thursday – no training

Friday – no training

Saturday – bike - great, fun Mountain Bike over Wacky Racers course

Sunday – no race or training (Bedford no-show)

Over the next few days I shall be evaluating my season and sit down and make plans for 2009. But until then I have hung up my wetsuit and am taking 4 weeks out to recuperate and recover from some hard training and a hard season's racing. Combined with some lurv with Scotty I am sure to be rejuvenated in time for the start of next season’s base training come mid-November.

Until next week, C.

A Tangled Web....

A friend of mine emailed the following story to me this week (stay with it - it's pretty good):

A professor stood before his philosophy class and had some items in front of him. When the class began, wordlessly, he picked up a very large and empty mayonnaise jar and proceeded to fill it with golf balls. He then asked the students if the jar was full. They agreed that it was.

The professor then picked up a box of pebbles and poured them into the jar. He shook the jar lightly. The pebbles rolled into the open areas between the golf balls. He then asked the students again if the jar was full. They agreed it was.

The professor next picked up a box of sand and poured it into the jar. Of course, the sand filled up everything else. He asked once more if the jar was full. The students responded with a unanimous 'yes'.

The professor then produced two glasses of wine from under the table and poured the entire contents into the jar, effectively filling the empty space between the sand. The students laughed.

'Now,' said the professor, as the laughter subsided, ‘I want you to recognize that this jar represents your life. The golf balls are the important things; your family, your children, your health, your friends and your favourite passions; things that if everything else was lost and only they remained, your life would still be full. The pebbles are the other things that matter like your job, your house, and your car. The sand is everything else; the small stuff. If you put the sand into the jar first,' he continued, 'there is no room for the pebbles or the golf balls. The same goes for life. If you spend all your time and energy on the small stuff, you will never have room for the things that are important to you.

'Pay attention to the things that are critical to your happiness. Play with your children. Take time to get medical checkups. Take your partner out to dinner. Play another 18. Do one more run down the ski slope. There will always be time to clean the house and fix the disposal. Take care of the golf balls first; the things that really matter. Set your priorities. The rest is just sand.'

One of the students raised her hand and inquired what the wine represented. The professor smiled. 'I'm glad you asked. It just goes to show you that no matter how full your life may seem, there's always room for a couple of glasses of wine with a friend.'

A rather curious start to this week’s blog, I admit, but, as I enter a very busy period in my professional working calendar, I am trying to make sure that I don’t lose sight of those things which are important to me - the golf balls - and I find that the only way to do so is by organising my time efficiently. Enter ‘mind-mapping’….

Mind-mapping is a fantastic new find for me. It helps me organise my days so well such that I manage, just, to keep my head above water. Curiously, mind-mapping works not be remembering things (as the title would suggest) but by plotting things down on paper in a spider-web type format (see the image up top). I start the day by writing my mind map, which is made up of all the jobs I need to do that day, and ticking each one off as they are done. Some jobs lead to others which is where the map can look a little messy, but it’s not half as messy as if it was all in my head.

Recently, my training has benefited from a bit of mind-mapping. At the beginning of the week I sit down and plan what I am going to do that week and, often, this leads to other sessions. For instance, this coming week I intend doing a brick session (hard bike, followed by hard run), and so the map will show a ‘run’ and ‘bike’ sprouting off from the ‘brick’ bubble, then specific instructions sprouting off from each of those. Confused?

I have found that this type of organisation has revolutionarised both my professional life and personal life. Similar to the internet and email, I don’t know how I ever coped without it.

Having found some 'mojo' this week, I was able to put in a little more training than usual, but as it is nearing the end of the season, I have not been at full-steam. This week’s training looked like this:-

Monday – swim - club swim - intervals

Tuesday – no training
Wednesday – no training
Thursday – run - 45 minute tempo run

Friday – run with my mate Alex - long(ish), hilly Ashridge run, 63 minutes - 3rd fastest ever time

Saturday – no training

Sunday – bike - 10 mile time-trial, time 25:23 - 2nd fastest ever time - very pleasing final TT of the year

Next week’s exercise mind-map simply looks like this:-

You might notice that the only entry is my final race of the season on Sunday - the Bedford Autumn Sprint. I have competed in this race for a few years now and Sunday's race will be a true test of how my training has progressed throughout this season. Last year I came 49th out of 260 with a time of 1:15:47. I already have it mapped out in my mind how I am going to approach this race - something which, for once, I don't need a spider's web to help me with.

Cheers.

C

Desperately Seeking Mojo, Baby!

One of my pet hates (and I know this is going to sound ridiculous) is when people end their sentences at a higher pitch. You know what I mean – making a statement but making it sound like a question. Read this sentence out loud:

“I’m going to the shops?”

Or, how about:

“I’m feeling very happy today?”

Annoying, isn’t it? No? Well I think it is.

I have heard that we have our Australian cousins, in particular their daily soaps (Neighbours, Home and Away, etc.) to thank for this particular type of talking. It is predominantly spoken by teenagers and 20-somethings, but more recently I have even heard it spoken by people in their 30's and 40's. Arghhh! They should be bound and gagged, simple as.

There has been a definite proliferation of peculiarities like this filtering into society over recent years. Another is ‘text language’. Now, I think texting is a great way of communicating if you have something you need to say quickly and be done with it – something like ‘on my way home, put the kettle on’ or ‘go upstairs and wait for me there’ :-). What annoys the hell out of me, though, is the terrible abbreviations in 'text speak’ which make the whole thing incomprehensible, i.e. "gtg, spk l8r", translated as “got to go, speak later”. Texts are great, but, please, please don’t let the grammar and spelling slip. There’s no need for that.

A particular word which has sneaked into the English language recently, and one which I am hearing on a daily basis, is ‘mojo’. This is a definition of the term ‘mojo’ from Wikipedia:-

'Mojo (pronounced /ˈmoʊdʒoʊ/) is a term commonly encountered in the African-American folk belief called hoodoo. A mojo is a type of magic charm, often of red flannel cloth and tied with a drawstring, containing botanical, zoological, and/or mineral curios, petition papers, and the like. It is typically worn under clothing.'

In popular British culture, the term 'mojo' is used to express one’s level of happiness, and I think it has become popular since being used by Austin Powers. How it has gone from being a magic charm to an indicator of happiness I’ll never know, but that’s not important in the context of this week's blog.

The point of all this is to say that I have lost my mojo (which I think you could have guessed by the 'angry' tone of the opening paragraphs!). Well and truly. It does happen occasionally, usually when I am overworked, under-exercised, under-fed and under-slept, but strangely I think that it is now because I am actually over-raced and feeling a little burnt out from the constant weekly racing. You see, weekends, in the context of triathlon, should be spent training, with the odd race interspersed here and there, but instead I am racing every weekend and hardly training at all. My sleep is being affected, as is my nutrition strategy. My work is very busy at the moment too which I think is also contributing to my current loss of mojo.

So, here I am, not training and with little enthusiasm, frankly, to do anything. Look at this paltry display of training over the past week:-

Monday – no training

Tuesday – no training

Wednesday – no training

Thursday – bike - 10 mile time-trial, time 25:59 - three seconds quicker than last time (four weeks ago)

Friday – no training

Saturday – monster brick session - bike - hard interval session, 1 hour 40 minutes - run – easy at 177 strides per minute, incorporating hops, strides and sprints, 45 minutes

Sunday – no training

I think I just need to give myself a good kick up the backside and get back to work, both socially and professionally. I plan to take the brakes off after the Bedford Sprint on 5th October for a month in order to recuperate, but until then I need to find my mojo again. I know it's there, ready and waiting - its just finding it which is the issue.

Big-up this week to Jim from the tri club for a fantastic performance at the challenging New Forest Middle Distance, placing 27th out of 326 finishers!

Cheers and next week I will be more cheerful. That's a promise, Baby!

Colin

Inspirations and Innervisions

Highlight of the week is without doubt last Monday’s Stevie Wonder concert – his first UK live appearance in over 10 years and I woz there!

From the opening number – 'All Blues' (a Miles Davis cover) – to the close with the fabulous 'Superstition', we were mesmerized by the man’s talent and showmanship. It was easy to forget that he is blind, such are the wonder (no pun intended) of his songs and musicianship.

Stevie Wonder was blinded from complications at birth and so has no concept of what the world looks like, other, I suppose, than what he can make of it from his other senses and in his imagination. Despite this, or maybe because of this, he developed an amazing talent for song-writing and performing at a very early age. His breakthrough came at the age of 12 when he had a major hit with ‘Fingertips’ (with a young Marvin Gaye on drums). Such an inspiration to us all.

How can one not also be inspired by our fantastic paralympians? We thought that our able-bodied team did well (and they did), but what about their less-abled counterparts? The medal board currently shows that we are in second place – behind China but, more significantly, ahead of the Yanks, with 40 golds, 22 silvers and 25 bronzes. Wow!

There has been a noticeable increase in disabled triathletes at races at which I have participated recently. At last week’s miserable Vitruvian (see previous blog post) there were athletes who were cycling on their specially adapted wheelchairs (blinged up with Zipps!). A couple of weeks prior to this at the Bedford Olympic they were there too. And the same goes for this week’s race – the Dorney Orca Olympic distance at Dorney Lake, the same venue as the very popular Eton Super-Sprints.

All this has been very humbling. I am honoured and priviledged to be racing with these phenominally gifted and determined athletes and to line up with them on the start line provides fantastic inspiration as the season nears its end.

So, to this week’s training and racing – training was put to the back burner in order to recover from the Vit and also to taper for the Orca Olympic, but here is what I did (don’t laugh!):-

Monday – recovery day
Tuesday – recovery day
Wednesday – recovery day/tapering
Thursday – run – Ashridge XC with Alex – 5’ish miles – as fast as possible at 177 strides per minute
Friday – tapering
Saturday – tapering
Sunday – race – a very enjoyable Dorney Orca Olympic (1500m open water swim, 40km bike, 10km run) – 2:31:04 (just missing out on my second sub-2:30 of the year!) - see photos below (copyright the lovely Anne-Marie – thanks A-M, the best supporter
in the world!)





A big well done to Jev who, returning from a post Ironman Austria period of easy training and racing, posted a fantastic 1:10 in the Dorney Orca Sprint distance. Results not up yet so don't know his placing, but you can bet it'll be up there with the big boys.

This coming week I need to get back into the swing of things. The last two weeks have been a bit of a washout because of the Vit – the first week tapering, the second recovering – and so I will be increasing the intensity for my next (and final) race of the season – the Bedford Autumn Sprint on 5 October.

Another inspirational song by Mr Wonder last Monday was ‘Visions’ from the 1973 Grammy award winning album ‘Innervisions’ (a must-have for any self-respecting music fan). A beautiful song which brought the house down - all about the hope that a world of peace might one day exist. For me, my current vision is less dramatic (and a lot more selfish), and is my hope that I can emulate those fantastic less-abled athletes with a similar display of determination when I compete in those much-anticipated World Championship qualifying races next year.

Cheers, and bye for now.

C

Right then, children, what have we learnt today?

Adam, my youngest son, will be taking his 11+ exam in a few weeks time. If he passes he will be eligible for acceptance into one of the highly commended Grammar schools in Aylesbury, so it is quite important, although some might question whether or not so much pressure is good for the kids at such an early age.

For the uninitiated, 11+ questions are sorted into specific groups. They do not test general knowledge but instead they test an individual’s aptitude and ability to solve problems. Over the past few months I have been coaching Adam, in addition to his private tuition and school lessons, for the exam which he is taking early October. More recently this has concentrated on those particular types of questions with which he has been having particular difficulty.

This week’s question-type which Adam has learnt is type “C”. Here’s an example:-

If the code for TRAP is USBQ, what does DPME mean? The answer is COLD (I’ll leave you to figure out why).

It's all about learning the ‘method’. If you can do this then you will get all the questions correct; if not and they’ll all be wrong. Adam has learnt the method this week and, consequently, has got all the type C questions correct. The look on his face when the penny dropped was priceless.

I too learnt something very important this week and that is that I must not enter races unprepared. Take Saturday’s Vitruvian, for example. Whilst I am generally fit and ready for Sprint and Olympic distances, my fitness is nowhere near what it should be to take on anything longer.

From the moment I got out of the swim the race was sheer hell. My legs were shot to pieces and I had incredible lower back pains after 30 miles of the 50 mile bike. Getting off the bike, I could not feel my legs, and things just went downhill from there. For some reason, as I crossed the finish line I actually broke down in tears. I’m not sure why, but I think it was out of relief that I had finished and also anger at myself for having put myself through it all.



Truth be told, I only entered the race to join in with the other members of the club, but what has it done for me? I have raced over much harder courses, but I cannot recall any other race where I have struggled more to get past the finish line. I didn’t enjoy it and I am now a totally spent force for the coming week’s training. It wasn’t part of my season-plans at the beginning of the year, and it has cost me a small fortune.

I know now, more than ever, that I must not veer from my pre-arranged training schedule merely for the sake of vanity. I have been there, seen it, done it, etc. and have nothing to prove to myself at long distance races, so I must stick with what my coach Mark K has told me to do and nothing else. If I don’t then I know it will all end in more tears.

Very little training this week as I was tapering for the Vit, but here’s what I did anyway (in Portugal until Tuesday):-

Monday – run – progressions at 5k pace
Tuesday – run – fast 5k time-trial – 2 minutes faster than over same course last year
Wednesday – rest day (tapering)

Thursday – rest day (tapering)
Friday – rest day (tapering)
Saturday – race – Vitruvian Middle Distance tri (1900m swim, 85k bike, 21k run) – 5:39:52 (see some of the Shires Triers contingent below - from left to right: Jo, Rob (aka Bananaman), Paul's son (not racing!), Paul, Me)
Sunday – recovery day

Big ups to Jo for being the fastest Shire of the day, and to Tracey who completed her season aim and finished her first long distance race, but I think most congratulations should go to Paul Clutten who chopped off a whole 30 minutes from last year’s time at the same race. Goes to show what some hard, specific training can do.

But my biggest congratulations of all over the weekend must go to my good friend Robert Collis who placed first in his age group at the washed-out Northampton Olympic. Bob is a bit of a poser and so couldn’t resist sending me a couple of pics which I shall share with you all below. If you look closely in the second picture you will see a tent, half submerged, in the distance!





EDIT: Another big fat pat on the back to another friend from the tri club, Dan, who I have just found out managed a fantastic top 25% place in his first ever Olympic at the aforementioned Northampton wash-out. Dan hasn't ran 6 miles for over a year and yet still beats my PB! Git! Well done, Dan.

Next week it will be back to run-specific stuff, culminating in the Dorney Lake Orca Olympic distance race, my penultimate race in a very long and enjoyable season. Am looking forward to it very much.

Before then, though, I am off to see Stevie Wonder at Birmingham NIA on Monday in one of his rare UK concerts. As a big life-long fan I couldn’t resist the temptation of tickets as soon as I heard he was coming to the UK. A particular favourite song of mine is "Uptight", which is exactly how I feel right now about how I needlessly, but temporarily, let my training go off course.

Cheers.

C

Mr Blue Sky

Sun is shinin’ in the sky,
There ain’t a cloud in sight,
It’s stopped rainin’,
Everybody’s in a play,
And don’t you know,
It’s a beautiful new day, hey, hey

Hey there Mr Blue,
We’re so pleased to be with you,
Look around, see what you do,
Everybody smiles at you

Lyrics sung by Jeff Lynne of pop band ELO circa 1977 in the Number One song Mr Blue Sky. This past week has been filled with Mr Blue Sky during my annual trip away with the little Colin’s to Portugal’s Algarve where the sun beat down on us everyday with 30+ temperatures.

I was a big fan of ELO in my pre-teenage years, although I was alone with this fascination whilst the rest of my friends were jamming to the Jam and blocking to the Blockheads. Nonetheless, my love of Messrs Lynne, Bevan et. al. always reminds me of my early years.

Another early childhood memory was my frequent visits to the Kingsbury Lido in North London during the Summer months where, together with my brother Graeme, we would visit my grandparents each year. I have since retained a (some might call) nerdy passion for Lido’s (an Italian term, originating from Venice, pronounced ‘Leedo’, not ‘Lydo’), using them for both social and training purposes.

Lido’s are open-air pools, built predominantly in the 1930’s of magnificent architecture and design, but which have since gone into mass decline due to the costs of their upkeep and the low demand in the UK for open-air swimming. The Kingsbury pool has, alas, been one of those casualties, having been demolished and grassed over in 1994.

Over the summer I have been taking the kids to a local lido in Eversholt, the location of a sprint triathlon in which I participated, organised by Big Cow back in 2005, ironically before my most recent interest in all-things-Lido had re-ignited. The lido is a favourite of mine because it is in a beautiful location overlooking the village green. When the kids are mucking around in the water I can chill in the heat (an anomaly in itself) with a beer and picnic on the grass.

I have also been visiting the ponds at Hampstead Heath which, believe it or not, are also considered to be Lidos amongst the Lido fraternity. The Heath is such a wonderfully idyllic place, particularly on the grass by the ‘mixed’ pond, and it is great just to sit there and people-watch.

Very nearby the ponds is the Parliament Hill Lido. This is a 70-or-so metre pool at which I, along with my mates Simon and Alex, undertook a 5 ½ kilometre Swimathon a couple of years ago. The Swimathon was part of our training for the 2006 Ironman Austria. Shortly before this, we had cycled up to Cambridge to the magnificent 100-yard Jesus Green Lido as part of another training session.

And so all this brings me back to the beginning of the week where I raced the fourth and final Thames Turbo sprint triathlon. Location? The Hampton Lido. A lido built in 1922 and heated to a whopping 28 degrees - see picture below. The Thames Turbo sprint series is a 4-race series raced annually over the Summer bank holidays and the final event was the bank holiday Monday just passed. Competing with Dan (a friend from my tri club), we had a tenner stake on who would win out of the two of us. As it happened, I got a DQ (my first ever) – for apparently jumping a red light (don't ask!) – and Dan did a DNF because he was still carrying a cold caught earlier in the week – a fact of which I am grateful because I was odds on for losing my stake money – and so we are arranging a re-match sometime soon. Despite the DQ, a highly recommended series of races, and great for comparing your times over the season and gauging your improvements (or not) in speed over the same course.



My sun-kissed training over the week looked like this (in Portugal from Tuesday):-

Monday – race - Thames Turbo sprint race 4 - 1:10:00 - DQ - position not recorded
Tuesday – rest day
Wednesday – rest day
Thursday – run - 5 mile tempo run
Friday – run - 5 miles hill and sprint repeats
Saturday – rest
Sunday - run - 5 miles fast pace and 5 miles interval

Next week (actually, this week - I am writing this blog on Wednesday evening), I am tapering for the Virtuvian (Middle Distance), so am scaling down my training.

So, having returned to good old Blighty and its wonderful Autumn weather – you know, strong wind, grey skies, cold temperatures – I look up to the sky, wish I was back in the Algarve, and humm the words not from Mr Blue Sky, but from Why Does It Always Rain on Me, by Travis.

Ahh, roll on next Summer, but until then here's a few giant-sized piccies of our Summer holiday to the sunny Algarve.......

First up, the kids enjoying a giant-sized Pepsi - from left to right there's Emily, Joe and Adam....



Next, some waterslide racing - there's Emily splashing home in first place (left), Joe second (middle) and Adam third (right)....



And, finally, Adam (or, rather, the top of his head) doing some star gazing...



Bye for now.

C