Nike

Sometimes in life it is necessary to take some difficult decisions... and deciding what new running shoes to buy is not an easy decision. What do you want? Cushioning, performance or stability? Who does know? I thought I need all three. Nope. you've to pick up one. Now, I've got performance with my really light running shoes I use for the races and some serious training sessions. So I limited the choice to stability or cushioning. Stability is important, but I opted for cushioning, as I'll use the new pair for training and for general usage. So it is expected the new pair is going to be destroyed. After an intense market research I've picked up a pair of white and blue Nike air. I really like the air system, as I find it very comfortable an very "cushioning"..... Trying them, I found there is a huge difference between my old one and the new pair, and I've learned not to wait so much before changing them. The cushioning system goes down after 300/500 miles, and I've run much much more with my old one. That is maybe why in february I started to report minor knee pain, and I thought it was overtraining, but maybe it was just the time to change shoes!

Today I tried them in the gym (10K) and I'm quite happy with the purchase. 

Tomorrow it was scheduled the first open water swim of the season, and I was really excited about it. But I've received an e.mail that the BRAT group is not allowed to swim tomorrow, as the water temperature is 8C, too chilly to swim. The minimum temperature is 11C, and the maximum distance with such a low temperature is something like 500m. But they are organizing a 5k race, instead, and the spicy dinner is still in place! I hope it will be fun! 

I'm also looking forward to the Bank Holiday weekend, in order to train more and to escape mentally and physically from the lab! The plan is another long race on Sunday. I'm also planning to enter two other events: the Birmingham trialthlon (Oly) the 24th of August at the NEC and the informal Birmingham-Oxford by bike, the 6th of July, if I don't have guest that weekend!!!

week ride with Scott

Yesterday week ride with BRAT and Scott. 34K, hilly, but nice. Up and down a circuit outside Barnt Green. Nice, really nice. It is nice to explore the nearby countryside, if the weather is nice... it seems the Spring has finally arrived, so there will be more BRAT training sessions, I hope. Next week the BRATs start to swim in the open water... it is going to be freeezing. The training is going on, slowly. I'm not dedicating the time and effort I wish. And I'm thinking. I'm thinking about the big themes of life. Why are we living, what is the meaning of life. I'm questioning myself, and I'm coming out with my personal answers. I'm coming out with 2 categories that can more or less explain everything we do in life. They are: memory and immediate gratification. We do stuff in life in order to have memories. That's our driving force. Memories. Also experience is gained in order to have memories of what we've done. What does not fell into memory, fells into immediate gratification. We do stuff (secondary stuff) in order to have some immediate gratification. I'm also considering I'm wasting my time living somebody else life, reaching something I'm slowly finding out I don't care so much about, at the end of the day. I'm finding I'm not living the life I like but I'm trying to like the life I'm living. But it is now too late to change direction and to try other routes, and I feel trapped in a prison, prison that, without knowing, I've created myself. And I'm not talking about triathlon, that is my escaping route. I'm talking about everything else. And that's sad. But yesterday ride with Scott was fantastic! I look forward to next ride! 

70K with Scott, weekly laundry and "the place"

Today it was a really long day. Alarm clock at 7.00am, breakfast (pancakes, as usual) and ride till Moseley. Moseley village is the meeting point of BRAT long Sunday run. 3 grups, based on ability, and I've picked up the easy one. I raided with Paul and Emi in the English countryside. The chain went off the on the fist hill, and I fell down. I did not have enough speed to change gear, the hill was already started, and everything went basically wrong. Apart for this small incident (the shop guy said me on Friday, when I collected the pedals, that everybody fells off at least once with the clip pedals, usually at the traffic lamps....) everything went fine. 70K in total (from home and back home), and the view of the English countryside was amazing. Hills, fields, small and narrow roads with no traffic (but wet..), sheep, horses, dogs..... it was just fantastic. I had the chance, while pedaling, to chat a bit with Paul about my training and the races I'm going to do this season, and his tips were quite useful! 

Back at home, I had to clean up Scott (poor guy...) and to do some laundry. I'm learning that heavy training means frequent washes! Here there is a picture of just the T-shirts I've used for just the training over the week. And in the picture are not included the training shorts, and all the other non-training clothes I've used during the week! I felt lucky to have the washing machine and a sort of dryer (which is working really well....)...

At 5.30pm I went to Sally Oak. Every group has its own "place".... BRAT Sunday "place" is "Sally Sausages", in Sally Oak. They go there every Sunday, after the afternoon training session. It was nice, and it is strange to see BRAT people in normal clothing!! they are reeealy easygoing, and reeealy into triathlon. The conversation is all about races, times, equipment, trials, people in training, training sessions, food and diet..... ecc ecc.... They are really into it, and I feel I finally found my world... Staying with them it is really nice, because I don't feel strange, I don't feel I'm doing something wrong or wired, I don't feel I'm acting with a not normal behavior, because they do the same, and they go even far behind the point I'm now... and they don't ask the usual stupid question: why do you do it. 

I hate Bham

I hate Bham. I've always thought that the city was ok. But let's face the truth. The city is not nice, the proper city centre is really small, people are not nice and generally rude. I hate this city. I want move to a nicer and safer city. I want to move away from this crapy place. I want to move to a city where is possible to jog around safely. 

Keo Classic Look

Finally today I received the shoes and the pedals! after one month finally they were delivered to the tr-1st shop and I went down to collect them. I had the choice between Shimano and Look pedals, and I went for look. Now I have to practice to insert the shoe and to take it off. I'm really excited! I'm finally getting ready! Paul (the store manager, one of the founders of BRAT) asked me to join the cycling group on Sunday, if the weather is going to be nice. Tomorrow I'm going to try the bike and the shoes.... I've also fine-tuned the gear, so now it should be better. I'm guessing if the pedals and shoes will give me the theoretical 5% of advantage over the normal shoes....

10K with Scott

Today it was a sunny day.... I finished early in the lab, and I decided to take Scott for a ride in Bham city centre... 10K in 31 minutes, but it was not a proper ride. It was more a tour of the city... a lot of stops, cars, traffic, roundabouts, traffic lamps.... Bham city centre is not ok for Scott. He cannot reach his potential, as on the A51 from Lichfield till Rugeley. Scott is designed for the speed of the countryside, while Fausto (my city bike) is more designed for city tours. Next time I'll ride Fausto. I know, I'm a crazy guy, and everything has names... Hassy is my 30 years old camera, recently upgraded to digital, Gaia is my Nikon D50, Prolinca is my studio flash.... than I've got Scott and Fausto, my road and my city bikes. 

I have to think what to do during the weekend, as a long ride. If the weather is nice, I have two choices: or going to Lichfield for a long A51 ride, or to join the BRAT club for a early Sunday ride... I guess the ride with the BRAT club will push me a little bit... 

13 mile run during the week

13 miles run. in the middle of the week. in the gym, on the treadmill, watching "Crimes and misdemeanors" of Woody Allen. I love Woody Allen's films! they always present you a deep insight of the human nature. All his characters have issues with themselves, with the family, with love, with sex... are emotionally unstable. I'm quite determined to see them all! The Iphone connected to the treadmill or the bike is a great way of training and make my training less boring. I'm also determined to arrive at 10h of training this week. I still can not figure out how people can train for the IM... anyway, today 13 miles, 1h 59min 34sec and I was pleased with it. I know, it was not fast, but I've taken some small pauses, and I'm going for endurance, not speed! And it is middle of the week, after a full working day....tonight chicken, as usual. I'm quite happy with my 150-200g of daily protein... I think I have to reduce my carb intake.... 

Do you lick the lid of life?

69 days to go. this training week is not proceeding very well. I'm busy in the lab, concentrated on monday presentations. This take time, and not much time is left for the training. I had planned some long sessions during the weekend, but again, I'll have to convert them in sessions of medium length. Why? Why I have often to compromise the training? Why I have sometime to compromise the diet? It should not be like that. Everything should ideally fit around the training and the diet, not the viceversa. I tend to justify myself saying: if I wish to finish in time the PhD.... dam. Once you lick the lollipop of mediocrity, you'll suck forever. That's is what is keeping me motivated. Yesterday short run with BRAT, today forced rest (pain....), tomorrow long evening session in the gym, saturday medium session, sunday medium session and spinning class. I hope with Monday everything will be fine again. The mind is sooo powerful over the body, both in positive than in negative.....

Scott in a Subway in Lichfield

Sunday 30 March 2008.... A really lovely day, sunny, warm but not too hot... I've taken Scott and I went to Four Oaks with the train... that I've pedalled till Lichfield. Subway and I carried on the A51 till Rugeley, till it's power station... and return. 30 Miles in total, and I've really enjoyed it. I've enjoyed the bike, the feeling of freedom, the great work out, the weather... It was really nice. And to end well the week, one hour of spinning class!!!  This weekend I have to work, and I won't be able to enjoy such a long ride again. But I will do it again as soon as I can, and maybe I'll post some pictures of the power station. It's chimneys are massive! I guess I'll improve my times as well as soon as I'll receive the cycling shoes/pedals!