This road leads to Kona

Last week wasn'tquite productive,buttoday I'm feelling great, sometimes a few days off can be a good thing... but sometimes it's just lazyness... well, I won't argue with myself again. Yesterday I dealt with the "running out time" sindrome I've experienced whe I read Jim's Cameron article on Wired.... all those books I haven't read, the people I've never met, the places I've never seen... gosh...it keeps coming all over again! That meant that I've spent the night totally awake, trying to shorten my back log - at least my reading back log. And guess what: I had a good time! Found an interesting article about happines on february's issue of Psychology Today - http://cms.psychologytoday.com/articles/pto-20050119-000002.html, another one on Strategy-Business.com (The rise and fall of the CMO) and made some advance on Akio's Morita "Made in Japan".. I did not train as much as I should, but today is another day and despite tonight's appointments I'm planning to go to the gin to a 5km recovery (recovering from what????) run. My next race will be on march,06 so I still have time, but I'm failling with the marathon schedule - what made me wander if I really want to do it!
Let's see...

and that it was...
tuesday I raced 10k, 52 min... a bit more than I expected... gotta work harder and moreoften (the average 2 runnings per week aren´t enough!!)!
(this reminds me the importance of spedd play workouts)


worth reading: wired magazine feb/2005 - take a notice on firefox... business week and the linux inc and an old book: Made in jpan (bought on a flee market!)

The weekend was quite productive. On Friday I took the day off and I guess it was as wise decision - I had a nice night, "oof-thinking" about trainning, sports, whatsoever.
On Saturday I skiped my running plan I just swan and ride, the rest of the day I dedicated to personnal affairs. Kept on reading "Made in Japan" by Akio Morita and enjoying. On Sunday another ride, a bit longer, but not as long as I would like, followed by a weight lift (only upper body). Today I'm really feelling my arms, but it worths the price. My only one concern is about my weight: lost 2kg in a week even eating a lot.... NOw I gotta dedicate more time on studying, you know, in order to suceed y0u must outperform, you must, sometimes, outplay the others, and that is my goal for 2005.

Spent the all night rolling in the bed witout slepping - which means I will probably suffer on my trainning today (actually I'm considering skipping the plan, call the day off just add a workout on sunday - supposed to be off.
Yesterday I swan 2400m and had a bike class... once again I suffered.. I could't find myself on the bike, had a poor spin and ended the workout with sore legs. At bed the pain was overkiling and led me to try some "aromatherapy" - I took a pillow full of herbs and heated it in the microwave... very nice... i'm not sure what worked: the pillow or the heat.. but even if only the heat would be enough, the heeerbs had a good smell...

Third day of trainning. Due to professional commitments I only could start running late and the option left was the treadmill - not the best one for me. Althought I was scheduled to run 13km, I couldn´t stand the boredom for more than 1 hour, so after barely run 10k I was done and found out that I'm loosing speed. Now I gotta reasses my trainning regim and find out why I'm decreasing speed, and how to avoid it. I'll take this and next week's to foollow very closely how I'm developing and set goals after this period - it will require some patience, but... well... this roads leads to kona, and it's quite a long road, doesnt????


PS. read the wired magazine almost cover to cover... waiting for next issue.

As planned, yesterday I swan 2.600m plus 45min bike class. Good workout, but I suffered a bit in the bike - which is quite unusual for me - I just couldn´t develop a good spin and felt some sort of "lack of power"... Maybe this is due to my lack of bike trainning, but despite of this, it was surely a matter of lack of stretching. Do you remember all those times your coach asked yourself to stretch? Those times he almost yelled on you that you chould take your time and stretch? Well, he was right... I used to pay attention to details and stretching was an important part of my trainning regime, but suddenly I just lost sight of it and now I'm feelling the consequences: tight muscles that lead to poor movement, that lead to lack of power, that lead to spreed decrease.... Lesson learned: those 15 minutes before and after a workout are not wasting time, actually you'll probably gain time due to an increased efficiency during the training.

Turning the subject: if you liked the tipping point, just take a look at Malcom Galdwel´'s new book - Blink. read more on this month issue from Fast Company or just follow the link:
http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/90/gladwell.html


well, my way to kona isn't just a matter o train hard, yeah?

Well... 5k, ez, 29 min on the treadmill.... quite slow, but nice.. and exactly what I was supposed to - actually I started very slow (8km/h) and finished 12km/h - as a recovery run. I tried to monitor my heart rate, and found that I ranged from 96 to 170 (in the last minute). But it stuck on 150 the most of the time. Today I'm supposed to take a day off, but once I just don't wanna loose sight from the IM, I planned a swim and a bike class at the evenning.
And changing subject, a nice artcile to read on fortune - 10 Techs trends to watch on 2005 - which you can find at
http://www.fortune.com/fortune/technology/articles/0,15114,1011757,00.html
and the continued part - Why There's no Escaping the Blog
http://www.fortune.com/fortune/technology/articles/0,15114,1011763,00.html

worths the time.

Now it is official: my trainning started.Actually, will start tonight. Last week I ran only 2 times and swam the same amount. For this week, my schedule counts on 5 running trainnings (the focus is the marathon) and I´m planning 2 bike rides and 3 swimmings. Guess the first wweek will be perfect to find the balance between my marathon trainning and the others disciplines. I'm very excited.
My only constraint is finding the perfect balance between my friends and my trainning, due to the huge difference between my running mates and myself. Saturday I ran with a friend (I did the same last week) and just had to slowwdown so much that it seems to me that I was walking. That doens't mean that I'm a fast runner, actually I'm just in the middle between fast and slow, so I haven't many options - the good ones would kill me (if the allow me to train together) and the slow ones are killing my running. Gosh! These week I'll try a new formula: run with friends only on saturday (and even so, due to the hloidays coming, maybe I won't have company for this saturday, so it can be a good thing).
Let's see how my plan will develop.

Swan on wednesday and followed it with a bike class. Yesterday I wasn´t feelling "well", headaches, worryness, tireness - maybe I've got a flue, don´t know... - and decided to play it safe: another bike class. Actually I was planning to take 2, but I was waiting for a call (which, obsviously, didn´t come) and decided to go home - don´t like to stay inside the gin will the cell. But anxiety wasn´t exactly my problem: I just couldn't find myself on the bike, the spin was hard, the position unconfortable, everything seemed out of "the place"... Guess I'm "unfited"... that made me wonder.. I use to say that we should periodically reassess our bike fit and make adjustments, but never really thought about the "correct bike position" - just asked someone to make the adjustments and moved forward. After some research I found an interesting article with some good tips plus some "physics"...http://www.tri-ecoach.com/art11.htm
the site also has many other interesting articles, but I just hadn´t time (yet) to read them all).


note: talking about phisics, this yr is being called the yr of the physics (of course by the professionals from the area) due to the anniversary of two most famous articles by Albert Einstein... They are very interesting.. for those days off!
Hint: if you hadn´t just take a time and get Stephen´'s Hawkings "Universe in a Nutshell".. sometime s a bit hard but good! (and You'll find out that triathlon has much ado with phisics!!!).

When you start thinking about trainning the first advice that u get is: hire a coach. I have been trainning for a while.. first with a trainning coach, the without, then with, then without and so on. Now I´m all by myself again and happy. But, a friend of mine started in a "coached club" and is trying to convince me. That made me wonder.. I tried to figure out the best option - with or without and haven´t reached a veredict... That is my Pro/con´s list:

PRO's
- a "scietific based" schedule
- sound advice
- support
- structure
- event calendar considered
- networking/ new friends

and on...

CON's

- expensive
- what to do when you weekly schedule just doesn't come
- "train in a nutshell"
- limited trainning locations

and on...

But these are irrelevant "motives" in my opinion, actually the 1 billion dolar question is: will I improve? Really.. will I train more consistently, make better friends, get faster, stronger, motivated???????

I´m not sure, so I´m planning to take a shot and see how it works... I won´t be easy to pay for it, so I believe I'll give the right value (I'll need to dramatically chenge my schedule in order to take my son to school and park my car outside at the street in order to save money... of course, I'm planning a promotion too, so it won't be always about saving money but also about earning a bigger amount of cash in the end of the month)...
More on the months "per" come...
Meanwhile, I ran 10k with a friend and found out the "power of stretching"... did´'t swim (gotta take it more seriously) and slept around midnight.. woke up at 6am, really wanting to stay in bed - more due to the weather than to the "tireness"... but wasn´t beat by lazyness (DAH!)

EIIIII... Yesterday I was taking a look at the presenting videos and website of Lance´s Armstrong new cycling team Discovery... hpe now we'll have plenty of coverage on the sport which is my true love... more, on the following link:
http://teamdiscovery.com/cycling.html

enjoy it!

just reach this...
http://www.cesweb.org/attendees/conferences/keynotes.asp

spet the all last week far away from the web - that means away from blogging too. I started at my new job and as I expected I ain´t got a computer still, a phon or even a desk. Althought it is quite frustrating not to have tons of work, e-mails and phone calls waiting for me, Im aware that it will happen soon, so I taking my time. Despite my absence on blogging, i had a good start back on trainning (note: good doens´t mean excelent). Went running on tuesday, and followed the 10k and a bit with a bike class. Wednesday and Thrday were days "off" - only weight lifting and stretching. On Friday a short treadmill workout folled agai by a bike class. On Saturday the day was incredible, the sun was shinning, the skies all blue.. I went to a park with a friend and ran 8,4 km... And that day I could perceive how easily people tend to give up. After a runnning test of 2,4, me and my friend decided to run 6km and go home... we went easy but even so, after a mile long he decided to call the day. I insisted and after walking for about 10 minutes, we started running again.. and finished the workout feelling quite well: lesson learned: slow down, get still but don´t give up! Later on this same day, I went visiting a friend of mine (the one her mother is facing cancer) and could see the results of a "life" giving up.. she was a pretty girl, with an amazing body.. now she is fat, stays at home all day long watching tv and ain´t got much a life. On Sunday I was done... I just couldn´t stand staying home on a sunny day watching life goes on.. on tv! Decided to go back home( Iwas slepping at her home) and something happened: she asked me if I would go with her for a short run... we went for a walk/ run workout half hour long folllowed by a walk 1 hr and a half long.. it was nice and she decided to get back on trainning.. hope she will follow the plan (hope that I can help her too). Lesson learned: we must watch ourselves, it is very easy to become a couch potato and not that easy to get back on a trainning regimem.