Training Update

Training is going well. Last week was a 17 hour week despite one day skiing and another one in Santa Rosa for the Tour of California. This week should be a 19 hour one. My running is improving and I had a great session on tuesday with 5 x 8 minutes in z4 (sub 6.30 pace). This morning though is was tough getting into z4 on the trainer, low watts for high pain...

Ang again new pics of the Tour of California, taken from the Credit Agricole car by my client.

Long ride

Great 5 hour ride this morning and my first 100 miler (160km). The last two hours we had a strong headwind, I was happy to feel pretty strong at the end. Brian and I followed by a 30 minute run at 7'15 pace for the first 21 minutes (cool down after that).

Below are two pictures from the Tour of California.

Jens Voigt's Cervelo

Whose bike is this?

Tour of California - Stage 2

I spent the day with the Credit Agricole team on Tuesday for Stage 2 of the Tour of California. I just have pictures of the start as my camera’s batteries died after that! As always the scene is a bike fan paradise, beautiful bikes everywhere and some “celebrities”.

Cipo is back and LOVES the attention

Cancellara getting ready

It was cold and rainy and not a very good day at the office for the riders who had a tough time leaving the warm buses to head to the start line. It was funny to hear them hesitating about equipment choices: jacket or vest, knee warmers of not, hat under the helmet or not… Each rider ended up with a different choice.

Here is Patrice Halgan ready to go on his Look.

Training Update

Last week was a pretty good week despite a two day trip to NY: 18 hours in total, with 60km of running, 265km of cycling but only 11km in the water. I clearly lost some fitness after my 10 day “virus break” but everything is back to normal except for my speed in the water (I lost few seconds per 100m, I was slow, I am slower). On Saturday Brian and I did a 4h30 ride with some serious climbing followed by a 30 minutes run that felt pretty good. On Sunday I woke up early (5am) to do a two hour trainer session before waking up the family to go to ski at Big Bear where the kids had a blast.

This week started pretty well with some great workouts. A 1h15 run on Tuesday with 5x6 minutes in Z4, I felt great and my HR was above 170. The day after, my legs were sore for the 1h30 Z2 run! This morning, on the trainer at 5.30am for a 90 minute session with 6x6min in Z4. I stayed above 285 watts all the time with the first three intervals at 290/295 watts. I was very happy with that.

Tour of California

Not a lot of time to give news but here is a picture of the Second Stage of the Tour of California in Santa Rosa taken yesterday. It was a rainy and cold morning. On the photo Thomas Vokler (Bouygues Telecom) is having is front wheel checked by his mechanic, he was a little worried by the lateral play of his light Campagnolo wheel. I'll post more pics later.

How not to finish a marathon.

The video below is painful to watch, it shows the last minutes of the first marathon ran by a Japanese runner, Kayoko Fukushi, in January 2008. Fukushi is Japan's national record holder for the half-marathon. She ran the first half in 1:10.32 (!!), and then covered the second half in 1:30.32 (very slow for her)! While I would not like to finish a race in this state I would be very happy with a 2:40 marathon!

I am riding again

It took me 10 days but I finally got rid of this virus. On Saturday I went for a 2 hour easy ride, just to test myself. It was nice to be outside, even if my legs felt weak. The warm weather was nice though, almost 80 degrees.

Today I rode 4 hours for 130 km. I felt great for the first 3 hours and pushed too hard for a while. I exploded and the last hour was tough. On top of that I had not taken enough food with me and I bonked big time. But again it is so nice to exercice again and to have some energy in my body!

A good friend of mine of the Westchester Triathlon club, Rich Izzo, had a pretty "good" ride on the East Coast. When he says rather warm conditions it is more like 35 degrees... His report: "Left westchester at 3:30am saturday in rather warm conditions. Had no rain just a bad crosswind from the south the whole way. The ride became tiring at the end, no Monty to suck wheel off of this time. Rolled into Sag (Sag Harbor on Long Island) after riding for 9hrs (with one long break- breakfast with the folks at the 3hr mark). Today's ride began at 6:45am in order to beat the snow, and wind. Well, I beat the snow but I only have one thing to say about the rain and wind I got for 15m before the ferry in Port Jeff- tough. However the ride from Bridgport home can only be described as the hardest ride since IMCDA. There was a headwind the whole way which made the day before feel like a tailwind and the wind gusts were off the charts. There were downhills that I was doing 6mph. It was laughable.If IMH's wind is like what I experienced today, I would rather have bamboo shoots put up my fingers than to do that bike course on a bad day.All in all another sag trip done- 241m. Next month I expect company".

For us, with a 75 degrees day here on the Left Coast, we went for a hike in the Santa Monica mountains this afternoon. Because of the rain we had in the last weeks there is water in all the small creeks and the boys had alot of fun.

Couch potato

After a weekend living the life of a perfect couch potato thanks to this virus that has decided to call my body home, I know for sure that this kind of lifestyle is not for me… It is really depressing to spend a weekend reading and watching TV (a lot of TV) without getting out (except to bring my kids to their soccer games)…

I feel better this morning though. There is light at the end of the tunnel and I might try to exercise again tomorrow. Let’s wait for Paulo instructions.

I must admit that I am in panic mode right now. My fitness will be gone. I am late on my program. Half Ironman California is less than 2 months away. I have busy weeks coming and won’t be able to train optimally:

- Week of February 11th: trip to the East Coast for business. It is going to be very difficult to train whatsoever during this trip, add the fatigue of the trip and the hotel food and you have the perfect week…
- Weekend at Mammoth: I will land from the East Coast on Friday and will jump in the car for a 5 hour trip to Mammoth Mountain for a three day ski weekend. It will be fun and great for the boys but not so for my triathlon career…
- Tour of California: back home on Monday night (18th), early flight on Tuesday to San Francisco to accompany a client of mine to the Tour of California and spend the day with the Credit Agricole team. Again while fun the timing is not great.
- After that I’ll have three weeks to get ready for the HTFU Training Camp in Las Cruces, New Mexico. I’ll stay there five days only but this should be a lot of fun to train with the group of athletes coached by Paulo, including Jonnyo.
- Half Ironman Race in Oceanside California on March 29th.

Virus

I still feel pretty bad. I had more Advil in the last few days than in the previous 10 years! But as the doctor said "it is a nasty virus and there is nothing to do except letting it go its course". Followed by "It will be 100$". So I don't know when its course will be over but it is getting very annoying.

I asked Paulo if 4 or 5 days of sickness would involve an important loss of fitness his answer: "yes" (not what I hoped for). "But the rebound will be very quick" (that's better).

The only sport for me this weekend will be te Superbowl I guess...