The Guest blogging page will hopefully bring to the fore a week in the life of various individuals within the squad. It offers up the opportunity for some literary acclaim and bringing to life some of the names in the news.
There will be minimum editing or blogs (some help with spelling if required) and no responsibility by the management for what may appear on the page.
Can’t believe we’ve been here for 4 months. Life seems really quite ordinary, with school runs and swim-taxi duty. Got stopped again by the police the other week about the number plate. Told to go and get another made as I was driving illegally…am now the proud owner of a French looking number plate with its very own European ‘F’. The difference that little ‘F’ makes is unimaginable – no more gesticulating and not so much tail-gating.
L made the Provence press this week. His piccy is there with 9 other swimmers who have made the regional qualification times – I’m not sure when these regionals are but sweet to see him up there. The squad that he normally trains with have just come back from a week’s training camp in Switzerland. We thought about letting L and H go but decided against it. One of the mum’s who also swims was asking about an France-Anglo exchange – not a bad idea!! What say you GC, Sarah, Stu? Not sure how much beaurocracy would be involved on the French side –probably about 50 sheets of paper to fill in…
Managed a few days on the snow – nursery slopes only for the boys. Came back safe and sound. Little H didn’t last long mind you and good job daddy was on hand to pull the sled (a few dozen times – she eventually fell asleep on it and did a very cold face plant).
Managed to find a little swim class for little H twice a week – she’s lovin it. Still adding the odd French word to her collection and said a phrase today.
I’ve been out running a bit in the forest – too much bread and cheese – drastic measures required. Si and the boys have been in the forest with the mountain bikes. The turbo is still sitting in the living room like an exhibit – I keep meaning to get on it but..
H was invited home to girls house – he’s been a bit miffed by this as he doesn’t normally play with any of the girls and didn’t even know her name when I told him who it was. Still lovin school and I continue to be amazed by how both big and little H continue to thrive in the all French environment. L doing well at school and beginning to have the odd conversation with the French swimmers.
We’re all looking forward to the counties – see you next week.
Ese=
Blogg 3 Jan 2010 From the Staceys in Provence
H & H have spent their first full week in French School. Seamless transition. Big H doesn’t seem to complain about the fact that he doesn’t understand much. He’s still the novelty figure mind you but so far so good. Little H even better – all those French DVDs must have paid off cos she hasn’t batted an eyelid. On day 2 when I asked her for a kiss in French she turned around and offered her cheek. PEE PEE has the same meaning wherever you are – so we’re alright there. The poor French teachers haven’t got a clue what they’ve let themselves in for. Day 2 I was told, ‘ Elle est une charactére’. I just don’t have good enough French to warn them to be firm but kind. I got the impression the chopping action I was doing (meaning be firm) was sending the wrong signals so just left it at that. Not sure how, but her English speech has improved in the week that she’s been there – must be some neuropsychological explanation for it. She said ‘too much talking mummy’ to me today when I was giving Big H his customary lecture (aka telling off) on something or other.
L has been bumped up to intermediate level French at his posh school – at my insistence – pushy parent. Doing ok though.
Swimming continues. Boys had a comp mid Dec. Very interesting set up. In teams – a 25 m relay followed by ‘swim as many lengths as you can’ in 15 min followed by another 25 m relay. L was in ‘equipe 1’ and ‘didn’t turn up’ for the 25 m relay then swam 1000 m and then did a 25 m time faster than before the 1000m. How does that work GC? H bless acquitted himself admirably and swam 850m. Another comp for H this weekend and for L the following week. Haven’t heard back from Birmingham (aka CN Marseille) – not that sad about it really – their loss, don’t know a good thing when they see it….I’m NOT bitter. Tri training continues – mainly fartleks. Si managed a cycle ride on Christmas day – glorious sunshine – really not trying to rub it in. It has rained a bit and we had snow for 2 days. Si’s flight from Blighty was cancelled and he had to do the tunnel- TGV thing. Arrived here frozen 10 hours later. But at least he didn’t get stuck in the tunnel as some did.
He and L have been to the next village and back on the bikes. I can’t get over how many old guys (and I mean over 65) I see on posh bikes and shiny shiny suits. I heard one guy the other Sunday telling his mate that his suit material was too thin and cold – long johns might have been better but got to keep up the image!! I haven’t been out on the bike yet. They shipped the turbo over for me too…
My French is slow – very slow. It’s not helped by the fact that they don’t speak proper French down here – that’s my excuse and I’m sticking to it. The guy in the bakery doesn’t understand me when I speak proper French. I don’t know whether it’s because of the proximity to Spain or whether there have been Spanish invaders (my French history extends to Les Mis) but I’ve just realized that they sound like their speaking Spanish. I jest not. The further you get to Marseille (Birmingham beach) the worse it gets. If you say ‘well’ (bien) in French here, the usual way is to say it is ‘beea’ with the ‘n’ not pronounced, but here if you say that instead of beeane – no-one other than posh Parisians who’ve moved down to the sun, understand you. They also pronounce consonants at the end of the words – now that is not French. For example ‘roux’ should be pronounced ‘roo’ but no it’s ‘roox’ down here. I don’t stand a chance and my kids are gonna come home speaking Birmingham beach (aka Spanish-French).
Went for a walk in the woods this pm – bright and sunny – and discovered some good tracks for bikes and runs. Boys might try this tomorrow, whilst little H and I do a spot of shopping. The ‘soldes’ are on in Aix and although most of the time we can only just about afford the bread, the sales are reasonable value, so you never know, a new pair of shoes for the girls….
L competes in the 50 fs and 100 fly on Sunday. It’ll be interesting to see how he’s doing. Almost 9 mths since the tonsils came out and I get the feeling he’s only just beginning to emerge from the fog. He managed a 13 something for 25m yesterday which is the first time in a v.long time so perhaps bodes well.
We had some trophy hunters nick our back number plate a few weeks back and Si, ever resourceful, stuck a cardboard replacement on in its place. I’ve been waiting to stopped by the police and it finally happened the other day – outside school. Only caught a little bit of his Birmingham but enough to understand that he was asking me if I knew who owned the abandoned car in the next village with British number plates. I tried not to look too perplexed and asked politely what make of car it was? A Rover something was the reply – I thought for a moment and then replied in the negative – as if – but at least he wasn’t interested in the number plate!
Was out getting the bread this morning and was accosted - kind of. Before I could have a chance to say ‘Bonjour’ the guy jumped in and said good morning in English… We’re being watched! How on earth he knows me beats me but the other strange thing that happened was that I dropped my gloves outside the car some days ago – the car proudly displaying the GB sticker (it’s becoming a liability). I had this ring at the gate a few hours later only to be met by the bin men brandishing the gloves. How do they know where we live? We don’t park outside the house. Anyway the man who said hello this morning proceeded to tell me about all of my neighbours. Felix next door is a set designer for theatres in Paris and the people next to him are English and he calls them Prince Phillip and Elizabeth because they have the surname ‘King’ – I may have scrambled this in translation. Anyway it’s good to know neighbourhood watch is alive and kicking in Provence.
The Staceys Blog 1st-8th November
The long awaited adventure of the Staceys is underway. Below is an ealy update on the initial week in France.
Thurs 5th
A week ago today we were back home in Seaford. Well a lot has happened in that time. If the smooth ferry crossing and an effortless 9 hour jaunt through the centre of France is anything to go by, we're in for a good stay. I love the pretty house - apparently these french town houses with the big garage doors at the bottom and the dens at the top of the house used to house sheep at the bottom and hay at the top - the atrium down the centre of the house could then be used to throw hay from the top down to the sheep at the bottom - now I've got you all interested in coming to see what it's like flights are to Marseille airport but 21 to 31st of Dec is booked. We're is across the road from a tennis club - so guess where I went to first. Not bad to be able to amble across and hit a few baskets and then back for the bread and wine. Speaking of bread, there are no less than 4 patisseries in our tiny little village (about the size of Alfriston). We're working our way through all of them. Harry's job in the morning is to ask for deux pain croustillante (crusty). However we have since discovered that 2 aint enough so working our way up to more. Si and the boys went to sign on at the swim club and returned bedgraggled 5 hours later (no GC starts here). First worrisome encounter was with the water-polo coach who asked why we hadn't gone to CN Marseille where all the pros train. Anyway they had an hours swim in the 50 m pool, which seemed to go down well and then told to basically fall in line with the rest of the swim sessions (about 4-5 per week). Last night was my turn to take them to another venue - still have to be reminded to drive on the right and keep getting jesticulated at by french drivers (70 mph on 40 mph roads - help!). Splash time doesn't quite do it justice - but if looks could kill (from LS) I'd be in the grave. About 20 kids sharing a lane and doing not very much is a fair description and even I could have done more swimming in that time. An attempt at pacification afterwards with words like - 'I'd be happy if you went back home speaking French and being reasonably fit - what do you think?' was met by a stony 'I think we should go Marseille'. Ummm!! Out of every mistake is an opporturnity and whilst trying to give my head a rest from the french I was accosted by a french dad who insisted on speaking to me to catch up on his English and this encounter was a good one - careful!! - his son and a couple of the others do triathlon and the club is one of the best in the region - Yippee!! He's given me the details so off we go tomorrow to be gesticulated at on the way to the office.
Friday 6th
Triathl'Aix swim session at the big pool except they're swimming across the width (20m) and not the length. Splash time again and graveyard looks. One more try at tomorrows swim session billed for 2 hours at big pool.
Saturday 7th
I wasn't holding my breath but a bit more of a session today but boys were under instructions not to do the parler-parler bit after every 100m. Drills et plus drills for an hour and 30 minutes (started 10 min late and finished 20 min early) - Told L to tell ask coach if he could finish with some 50s. Coach let him do 1 - not bad for L 31.30. Went for a drive to Marseille afterwards!!! Impressive looking surrounds with life-size pictures of the squad and a pool completely owned by the club. 6.30 am swims (just like home). Downside is that it would take 50 minutes minimum for us to get there and then difficult to make it to school on time afterwards. Not really an option unless we live closer to Marseille and join another school (may be next year!!)
Sunday 8th
A bit of tennis today (le Mistral and sunshine and interesting mix) and off to find an English speaking church - not up for the french speaking challenge just yet.
School starts tomorrow and another chance to swim in la grande piscine....
A plus tard
Ese..
They said it would never be done but "Never say Never" as our resident Ironwoman puts into words the week that was..... (warts and all)
Yvette’s blog (Granny Grice) 16th March – 22nd March
Monday 16th March
Bit of a lie in this morning and not up until 7am (thought of everyone back home well into the swim session). Had some breakfast and then out for a 3.5 hr cycle in the sunshine. It’s amazing how much easier it is to get out training when you can feel the sun on your back! I managed to find a flattish piece of road away from most of the Portuguese nutter drivers to do my 4x20 min reps. The legs were a little tired, they had felt fine yesterday but that was an easy cycle! Anyway I managed to get the reps done safe in the knowledge it would be steadier riding for the last two days. Back to the villa for a bit of stretching in the sun – maybe stretching isn’t so bad after all!
Off to the pool in the afternoon for an easy 3k swim. The pool was a brand new 50m one and it was lovely to swim in a quiet 50m pool without all those turns, the college and uni pools will feel small on my return.
Back home to see the sunset over the beach and for a quick walk on the sand rather than the pebbles in Eastbourne. Got an early night after reading my 220 triathlon magazine, and although there were none of my teammates posing for pictures this week there was an interesting article about a guy who competes in Deca Iron events (24 mile swim, 1120 mile cycle, 262 mile run) and also happens to be 70 years old! Now that really is insane and there’s no way Glenn is gonna get me to do that!
Tuesday 17th March
Awoke to windy conditions and feared it wouldn’t be such a lovely ride after all today. 6 hours to be done today and although I told myself this should feel like a breeze after the 7 hour ride the other day, the legs were not quite as fresh! Changed my planned route as a bit blustery and I decided to not climb as high as I had done last week. Got the ride done after a few map stops, although it seemed a lot less fun fighting with a headwind for the last hour. I kept reminding myself I should be grateful for the sunshine still. Back and onto a 35min run which felt a lot better it has to be said and got the usual wolf whistles from the workmen.
Gave the bike a bit of a clean and stretched. Done for the day safe in the knowledge there’s only one day of the camp left.
Wednesday 18th March
Last day then and up for an easy 45 min run in the sunshine – how I will miss this in England! Bit of breakfast and then out for a recovery ride, not quite as relaxing as I’d hope as the wind was still up a bit. Managed to avoid the Portuguese drivers and the crosswinds and made it back, glad to have got through the 28.5 hours of cycling and a little pleased with myself for doing so!
Packed the bike away and hoped it would make it back in one piece. A last sit in the sunshine and then off to the airport for a 7.30pm flight – how I hoped the wind would drop as I don’t enjoy flying at the best of times!
Arrived back at Gatwick, albeit the wrong terminal as they dropped us off the plane at the wrong one. Lovely bus journey to the correct terminal and then Steve picked me up. Back home a little tired around midnight.
Thursday 19th March
I was hoping for a good lie in as Steve also had the day off work but was awoken by the phone around 7.30. Not great news unfortunately as it was mum telling me my grandad had passed away. He had been very ill though and I was expecting it but all the same it was very sad. Rest day today so into work and then later in the afternoon a lovely dentist appointment. Finished off the day with unpacking and a massage. Unfortunately I have been having a bit of a tight hip so it was a little painful but I was hoping this would sort it out.
Friday 20th March
Easy 35 min run today and that’s all – Glenn has given me a few days recovery into the last phase of training before China. Hip a little sore but guess that’s to be expected after the massage. Into work and then left early afternoon to drive back to my grans house in Bedford. Bit of a journey what with the usual M25 traffic but wanted to see the family after the bad news while I had the chance.
Saturday 21st March
2 hour bike today and a 35 min run but all easy still ahead of the return to reality tomorrow. I was riding around back near my parents house so through lots of lovely Northamptonshire villages and a few cosy looking pubs in the sunshine (I didn’t actually go any though I hasten to add). Travelled back to Eastbourne via the supermarket to stock up on the weekly food. Made it back just in time to see the last half of the England rugby game and the Wales v Ireland match which got a bit tense at the end. My dad is partly Welsh so it causes me great amusement when they lose and I wound him up good and proper when England finished above Wales in the table. Had another stretch before bed.
Sunday 22nd March
Up and off to Friston Forest for the Sunday run. It was a lovely day and I was hoping for an enjoyable tempo run but unfortunately this came to an early finish when my hip flexor got tight again. I decided to ease down and cut the session short to avoid further problems. I hoped swimming would ease it off but unfortunately I only made it through the warm-up as it was pretty sore on the turns and I tried to be sensible and give it a rest.
Went back home, mightily peeved off and had a stretch and applied heat to the hip area. It’s times like this when it is very important to have someone around you to moan at – and Steve puts up with a lot of my moans, what with the various injuries I have had! I was obviously really annoyed to be missing training as well as my turbo session which was planned in the afternoon and stressing somewhat with only a month until China Ironman! Steve knows what I’m like though and always has a calming influence on me when I’m being negative. It’s immensely important to have someone who talk’s sense and I couldn’t do without him. I pulled myself together and tried to stay positive, I was lucky to have managed to secure a massage for the next day so all I could do was rest it from training for the rest of the day.
So the end of another week and another lesson taught. It hasn’t been a usual type week for me and I’ve kind of missed training with the bodyworks clan. There has been ups and downs as is often the way when you can be training well and on a high and the next minute be feeling somewhat low when training isn’t going well but it’s just part and parcel of being a triathlete I guess.
That’s it for now; Granny Grice is all blogged out!
Week commencing 09.02.09 Sophie "better late than never" Coleman. We have waited along time for this contribution from this very busy style and literary icon. She has put down the brushes (not from her nude painting sessions but from her make up bag) and put pen to paper for this literay insight to the week in the life of.
Monday
The week is kicked off with the usual 6am swim down at the college. In my world there is no such thing as an easy swim and today was no exception! After a hard set the session was rounded off with some sprints...with a sub-16 in the bag I was proud to receive Duckling Award 1 status. After all the ups and downs blood sweat and tears it was an emotional moment. Another 18years and maybe I’ll get to Duckling Award 2 or even reach Platypus status..impossible is nothing!
After the swim its back for eggs on toast and to work on my top-secret project a.k.a sophie-coleman.com. Later its a turbo followed by strength and conditioning.
Tuesday
Despite the alarm going off at 5.20 I don’t think i woke up until we were half way through the swim. After another hard 2hr session and an extra large coffee later I headed off to college. I’m currently on a part-time art foundation course which means I’m usually in college until 4pm Monday and Tuesday and for half a day on Thursdays. This makes getting in my long run on a Tuesday difficult in the winter as it gets dark so early, however I manage to rush home in time to catch the last hour of light. I ran for an hour and felt really good but was absolutely shattered afterwards. Bed looked much more inviting than the prospect of a turbo session but 7pm I was out the door with my bike and off to the uni. Once we were all set up in the gym in cosy pod formation it was heads down (or for 70.3 athletes it was down on the tri-bars!) to churn out the watts (Malcolm trying to match Yvettes 500) for an hour.
Don’t jump off the bike until 8.30pm so end up getting to bed quite late (way past Tin Tins bedtime so I’ll keep my distance in the morning...better to be safe than sorry!) Feeling a bit apprehensive about swimming in the morning as Wednesday is always a long session that usually includes all my favourite toys...the band and kick board. But I’ve got all the motivation I need with Duckling Award 2 up for grabs. With a result like that posted on sophie-coleman.com it’s sure to attract some sponsorship..maybe even armbandsdirect.com.
Wednesday
So up again in the morning for the 3rd swim of the week. Swam OK but no award (two in one week is probably quite unrealistic). No sign of the 70.3 athlete...must have been from riding on the tri-bars last night.
I was all ready to go do the usual easy run and stretching when Glenn springs a new Wednesday ride into the schedule. After running I found myself curled up in bed and wasn't’t feeling much motivation to leave the warmth to sit in the saddle for a couple of hours. However the sun was out and it wasn't’t TOO cold and once I got going I remembered that I do actually love this cycling triathlon malarkey. As I was only spinning easy I made the mistake of not bothering to take anything in my back pocket to eat on the ride thinking I wouldn't’t need it...school-boy error! An hour fifteen into the ride and I was regretting that decision but got home with the thought of lunch! That was training done for the day with just some stretching to do in the evening.
Thursday
Last hard swim until Sunday and I have a feeling it could be an epic! Turns out I was right with a lovely 4k set of 300 and 100m reps. Swam surprising well as usually by Thursday I’m struggling to just get through the session.
I couldn't help but notice that as the set went on the number of athletes in the pool seemed to drop... and still no sign of the 70.3 athlete...
Training session number 1 of the day done and It’s off to college again..no painting by numbers this morning as it’s life-class. That's drawing the nude as opposed to being taught how to cope with living and sharing a house with Shunt and Malc! Then I've got the afternoon to waste before heading to the gym. I hit the shops whilst my housemate headed off for his appointment at Tony and Guy. On the way there I think he must have passed the Butchers and after noticing they offered a much cheaper cut i think he decided to go there instead.
4.30pm and I arrive at the gym for strength and conditioning followed by an intervals run session. As we head out of the uni it starts to snow/rain..typical! Yvette was happy though as it meant she didn't need her water bottle. I'd felt good in the gym but by the time i came to run I was feeling quite drained. Once I got going I was OK and an hour and several uphill bounds later I was all done.
Friday
Rest day! Usually this is my chance to get some college work and painting done but today I had to have meetings with some people from British Triathlon.
Saturday
I woke up ready to head out for the usual long ride but my hip was sore. I decided to swim instead of doing anything weight bearing with the hope I'd be OK to run in the forest in the morning so hit the pool with Sambo. Others meanwhile celebrated Valentines day on a date with their bike saddle, taking it on a 5hour tour of South East England. Must be love.
Sunday
Woke up in the morning and my hip felt OK so it was off to the forest for 8.30am. This is usually one of my favourite sessions of the week. Today was a 40min tempo run, however, some people must have miss-heard Glenn when he said tempo and mistaken it for race effort. By the end of the run I wasn't very happy as my hip had started to feel sore again.
Straight after the run it was into the pool for an hour and half. After a few lengths with the paddles and band the session finished with a drag shorts strip tease and some sprinting. Come midday training for the week was finished, and after lunch with the parents it's time to crash on the sofa for the evening before it all starts again in the morning,
Week commencing 07.12.08 Jonathon "Malcolm" Malka aka Ruud Van Nistelroy (the shortened version)
Editorial rites have left this blog in its full unedited version. Please forward any complaints to Jonathon Malka, The Synagogue, Eastbourne , East Sussex
Usually I don't like leaving my own country, and I especially don't like leaving it for anything less than warm sandy beaches, and cocktails with little straw hats. But here I am, in England, yeah England, You know: fish, chips, cup 'o tea, bad food, worse weather, Mary flipping Poppins... I'm living the dream (or in a movie?!)! Only 14 weeks here and I already feel like I've been here for ages. Here are some of the experiences of an Israeli in his journey over Europe.
Oh and please don’t take me seriously!
Week 13-14 – 08/12-18/12
"The final countdown – Lanzerote"
Yeah, I know it sounds as a name of a very old song which can be found on one of us ipod's (or record player) but this time I mean to the countdown for the big trip. At the last few days I was counting the days to the trip. After three month of training in the English weather I feel as I need to change the scene, enjoying some sun and getting my Israeli color back. the Trainings were quit chilled and relaxed leading to the trip but still I could see our coach receiving the same old text on his mobile: HI Glenn, it's ______ , I won't be able to train today as I _______( ill / injured / tired / slept through my alarm ), laters ! Oh, It seems like the big typer has already started.
Early on Thursday I've been picked up by my getaway driver Olly "A1=race pace". We had A short trip to the airport (on A1 pace) and then we found out our flight was delayed. Waiting to my flight I met a new guy from the club. He was saying he's part of our club but I can swear I never saw him on the club sessions. However you may know him as Dr (or Dr.ego). We went to get a lunch together and I was impressed by the way he tricked these 17 y/o cashiers. Interesting men
Day one on the camp was quite chilled out; 50mins easy jog with Olly and Dr as an opening, on the run we were lucky enough to see one of the 17 girls who raced last world's duathlon (There are only 17 of this kind in the whole world!!!) on her daily session. She introduced us with her revolutionary training system which is very simple- 3 X (WHAT YOU TOLD TO DO + 50%). Interesting. Later on we went on 2.5hrs ride. I still felt a bit tired/dizzy from the long travel day so I was mostly on the tail. Then swimming at 3, finally I had a chance to swim with the famous J.Lord who I haven’t seen swimming since my first week here.
Day two has started with a cold aqua jog for me as I had annoying pain on my foot while running out side. Big breakfast and then 3.5hrs ride, this time only the guy's as miss "working on my strongest the weakness can wait" decide to miss the session and to take a tour on the island by herself (with some extra mileage in of course). It was windy as usual but we manage to keep it going on a decent pace with the Dr and Shanty on the front. Later on, after another big dinner with a funny task afterwards where I had a chance to learn the English anthem, then I realized, they try to convert me! My team had some for the greatest minds in the club but we managed to grab only the 2nd place, but as we say in Israel, we may lose a small battle, but we'll win the war!
Day three, the first big ride 4.5hrs, on the first couple of hours it's seems as everyone are trying to be careful, not to do any mistakes as we all know how bad could it be to blow on a long ride (ask James).After taking some picture of our self's on the bottom we ready to face the famous Tabiyesco climb. We climbed it on a steady pace and been irritated by Dr."i'll show you how strong I am although I'm gonna die" who've been riding in the middle of the road on his way to take the climb points. It was a good ride after all and everyone were happy. On my room, later, I had a nice chat, on a bowl of "crunchy nuts", with my roommate (and business adviser) Schindler Wilkinson. We've been speaking about my eating habits. What he was basically saying is that I'm too lean and need to increase my donut intake by 25% (about 3 more a week!), I think I need to speak with him more. Does anyone know where is he usually can be found?!?!
Half way on the camp and it's time for an easy day. Starting with my morning aqua jog, the daily big breakfast and 2hr easy spin. On dinner we had Doc try to impress Danish girls with his medicine studies book, unfortunately it wasn't working, the Danish chicks wasn’t impressed, mate, try in the Jewish community, It well known that every Jewish mother dream on Dr as a bridegroom for her daughter. This eve task was a laughing (or not laughing) competition. My team leader "frozen look" Emilee lead us to an easy win with nine people who didn’t make her even smile! (inc little Bethany). Good job!
Day four and we back on business, I tried to run on the morning, unsuccessfully yet. The foot is still not 100% so I better stick to the ride at the moment. We rode 3.5hrs with a decent wind. Soph tried to teach us a lesson on bike mechanic and how can you fit a 650cm inner tube into 700cm wheel. Later on she was insisted to spend some time on the front and to show us again how you can recover yourself on AT pace. It was Interesting to see how her theory working so well at dinner where her head was thrown on her plate…
Its day five and it's the big 5hrs ride. Quote of the day was definitely: "fu*#ing marvelous, now let's go" 3hrs in our ride and Bitty decided he had enough of us. On the top of Mirador while we were enjoying the view he turned back to finish his 4:50mins ride. After we lost our mascot we headed to Tabyesco, starting to climb and being lead by Sam "I miss you Henry" Hunt. Half way to the top we noticed a big orange stain on the road behind us. This stain got closer and closer and then we realized its team Rabobank. The Dr was the first to respond and chase their team leader as he passed us and we all followed him on the last 1/2 km. A good pit stop on the top and after filling my bottle with some coke we rode back tired but happy as an Israeli after a day in Gaza Strip. Soon as we got back we all set on a big Green Team sandwich to refuel our self and then we went to the pool to swim an easy 2k with wetsuits. Unfortunately it wasn’t so crowded in the water. Some of the younger girls caught a cold, but don’t worry, they found a really good way to heal. It's a very simple way. You just need a sun,wind, bikini and a very big Sunny's who cover at list half of your face (you can get them on Eastbourne College school shop). Just lie on the sun and let the wind chill your body for 15-25mins. It's proven! After dinner I took part on a dancing competition representing my country (finally on a world class even), my partner was a Danish lady who lifted me now and then and make me look so light as I never eat a donut in my life. We won the competition but it was all thanks to an amazing team support. I have to say that such a noise I didn’t hear since my last visit to Old Trafford. Good times !
Last night I slept quit badly. I was sleeping in the same room as Ricky "today I have an injury in my (calf/ knee/ shoulder/ back/ chest)" Garcia. A bit snoring from my roommate engaged with heavy tiredness from the long day and a big dancing on the night before made it impossible to get a consistent sleep. On the morning however, I woke up, looked at my phone and saw a very strange text sent by Sophie last night (apparently I wasn’t the only one to get it). Oh someone was up late… naughty… When I arrived to the pool I was wondering what was doing last night and why he is too tired to train this morning… The swim was quit decent and I was happy to finish it and get ready for the long journey back home. On the flight back while some of us made a good friendship with the person who set next to them (as Chloe and Becca)I had a time to think about all training have been done so far, how and what should I do better for the next and what can be improved. It was the best trip in my life. I enjoyed every moment with every one of you.
A big thank to all of you. Keep suffering me and my strange customs, being patient to my straggling English, helping so much and mostly making me feel like home away from home. Even if I'm grumpy or moody sometime (Yeh I know, more than just sometimes) don’t forget I love you all a lot !!! xxx
And to finish, an old Jewish quote: "He who prepares on Friday will eat on the Sabbath"
Merry Christmas and Happy Hanukkah !
Week commencing 24.11.08
Stuart "Costa" Wilkinson
Diary of a Bodyworks XTC Director, coach and administrator – aged 45¾
Herein may lay the answer to a question that I’m regularly asked but for which I never seem to have a satisfactory response …’what exactly do you do for a living?!!’
Mon 24/11
Alarm kicks in at 5.50am and I consol myself with the fact that the squad would kill for a lie in like that!
It’s off to Banbury and after 3 hours on the road I hit Café Nero for a business coaching meeting. My new company ‘Fit For Business (UK) Ltd’ provides consultancy services to my former employer, Bibby Financial Services Ltd.
Meeting goes well – save for the tag on my green tea bag getting caught under my cup catapulting the soggy bag towards my suit trousers. Thankfully my nifty footwork (no doubt aided by 15 years of fast feet drills) saves the day.
Its lunch with the Global CEO at Pizza Express (the effects of the credit crunch haven’t hit Banbury yet!) and with one eye on Lanzarote I choose a nicoise salad washed down with sparkling water.
Finally get home at 7pm. Ponder a turbo but settle for a few core exercises and ‘I’m a Celebrity’. No need to panic yet – there’s still 17 days before La Santa!
Tues 25/11
I rip into a day of business and Club admin and feel incredibly chipper as a result. Why do I need the spectre of time away to propel me into shifting paperwork? Feel fully vindicated in spending an hour or so at the altar of the bean (aka Costa) then home to snatch 30 mins on the turbo.
Club training goes well although turbo starts badly when Glenn races to remove a cd which I mistakenly think is an inspirational mix of ‘young people’s music’. ‘Top Gear’s Greatest Anthems’ proves a much safer bet.
An ugly battle involving
Relief as I find the coke machine in full working order and satisfaction as I note that 40 athletes have trained with us during the evening.
I bid Glenn farewell at 8.45pm and drive home wondering if I should be worried about our senior athletes? It may seem trivial to an innocent onlooker but it makes me wonder how much impact our high performance environment is having on the guys when I hear Olly declare that he thinks ‘Kung Fu Panda is a better film than Madagascar’!!
Wed 26/11
Alarm fires at 3.45am. While I wait for my pulse rate to normalise I wish that I was lucky enough to have a lie in until 5am like the squad!
I’m off to
I arrive at Gatwick and feel rather smug as I stride casually towards Speedy Boarding. My expression turns to a scowl as I realise there’s no queue at the normal check-in and abject disgust when I try to play it cool at the boarding gate only to find myself at the back of 30 other people with Speedy Boarding tickets.
I fail to get a seat with extra leg room and skulk off to the back of the aircraft refusing to make eye contact with any other delegates for fear of being invited to spend 2 hours talking about corporate finance, world markets and how much everyone is going to drink. I wonder where they sit in the Kung Fu Panda debate?
Arrive in
.
Try to check-in but get refused because I don’t have a credit card or 800 Euros in cash!
I wonder whether I should have worn a suit and tie like everyone else rather than hiking trousers, a 2008 Nike Tour de France t-shirt and a surfing necklace?
I finally get it sorted and manage to grab a 30 min run, bike and row in the empty gym.
Out into town for lunch and resist all offers of alcohol.
Evening starts with a couple of looseners at a nearby hotel followed by a champagne reception at 6.30pm. Make the mistake of spending the night with 2 old colleagues who forget about eating and simply drink and smoke their way through our discussion until I finally retire 5 hours later.
I get back to my room just before 1am and desperately order a club sandwich and chips. Man it tastes so good I almost convince myself that 24 Euros is good value!!
My room mate returns and lights out at 2am.
Thurs 27/11
7am alarm call gets ignored as I convince myself a trip to the gym could represent a serious threat to my health given the previous night’s exploits.
Oversleep and get 10 minutes in breakfast before racing to the conference.
Opening address is painful and the proceedings go downhill from there. I work out how much the event is costing me per hour and then wish I hadn’t.
Presentations finish and I race to my room to grab 25 mins in the gym before a conference call with the
Back out for a livener before the Gala Dinner. Sip politely at the wine but start to loose track of how hard I’m sipping while watching 4 young ladies perform classical music similar to ‘La Scala’ from ‘Britain’s Got Talent’.
Eventually retire to the bar for a nightcap but don’t look at my watch again until 2am. Lights out at 3am after farewells and a chat with my room mate who seemed surprised that I’d decided to wake him up.
Wake at 3.45am as
Fri 28/11
Alarm goes at 7.15am and I struggle to remember where I am.
Long shower and down for breakfast at 8am. Don’t feel very hungry and then decidedly worse when our cab takes off for the airport.
Fly back with a mate to
Do my best to stay awake for the rest of the day and look forward to going out in the evening. Luckily the pub is only 150m up the road and I impress myself by only having 2 pints of cider.
Let myself down again by sharing some Bermudan rum when we get home but can’t stop laughing and decide that you only live once.
Go to bed at midnight wondering if I’ll ever see the summit of Tabayesco again!
Sat 29/11
Up at 9am sporting a mouth like Ghandi’s flip flops.
Look wistfully at my training kit but realise that the bacon is already sizzling and convince myself that it would be foolhardy to exercise in sub zero temperatures after so much travelling.
Get home at 6.30pm and then out-voted by Sue into watching ‘X Factor’ and ‘I’m a Celebrity’ before finally settling down to watch
The words ‘rugby isn’t a 60 minute game’ roll around my head …. not a bad analogy for life I ponder.
Sun 30/11
Up at 7am and feeling surprisingly chipper.
Tuck away porridge and set off to training. Very quiet because of the Schools Biathlon but great to see the kids and fantastic to be doing something away from the ugly world of finance with all its pitfalls of drink, over-eating, late nights and lack of exercise.
Get to bed at 10.30pm and contemplate the week ahead. Great Yarmouth tomorrow night followed by a meeting in Ipswich on Tuesday, meetings in Wigan and Bury on Wednesday and a meeting in Bristol on Thursday. By the time I’m back in my own bed again there’ll only be 7 days left to La Santa!
I wonder if ‘Fit For Business’ is a concept I will ever be able to perfect. Maybe when I do, everybody will understand what I do for a living!!
The ward round basically consists of meeting every patient on our ward (normally around 15 patients), assess how they’re progressing and make the appropriate changes to their treatment or social situation to enable them to return home as quickly as possible. I always enjoy the ward rounds as it’s a gr
eat place to learn and also meet the patients, however the highlight of the morning had to be watching an obese patient self-discharge after being told that she needed to lose weight, only to then proceed to struggle to fit through the door on the way out! I certainly enjoyed the irony! After the ward round I headed over to teaching building across the road for an hour lecture on tuberculosis, a disease which is becoming increasingly prevalent and important for me to recognise. A quick lunch is then followed by an afternoon on the Medical and Surgical Assesment Unit (MASU) taking histories and examining patients.I only live a 10 min walk from the hospital so I’m home and on the bike by 5.30 for a 60 min turbo. Luckily it’s not my turn to cook so I spend the rest of the evening relaxing and reading up on some of the various things I saw today. Unfortunately I’ve been carrying a little knee injury since the running race at
By 10 I’m feeling completely smashed so I decide to not wake up early tomorrow morning and instead have a lie. One of the few things I’ve managed to learn is that it’s far better to be undertrained than overtrained, it’s taken me 5 years to learn this and I’ve stepped over the line into the fatigue abyss countless times (and will inevitably do so again) but I personally think it’s been the most important developments I’ve made as an athlete and certainly helped me stay fit (and perhaps more importantly happy) last year.
It takes me 15mins to ride up to the
I’m back on form Wednesday morning so hit the road to
Just about manage to drag myself out of bed at 5 for swim training, last 75 minutes before I have to make my excuses and leave the others to finish off an epic 2 hour swim session…gutted to miss that! The morning is spent in another outpatient clinic, however this time it’s cardiology, all the doctors I’ve met at the hospital are fantastic and really keen to help us learn and today is no exception, I get to listen to several heart murmurs (the heart makes different sounds if it is ‘abnormal’ and skilled cardiologists can generally diagnose conditions simply from the patient’s history and examination) and also listen to histories of various illnesses, which will hopefully enable me to diagnose them in the future. I rush back to hospital for an afternoon teaching session and then spend the evening on ‘take’.
When a patient is admitted to hospital they are generally transferred to MASU, in MASU the patient is seen by a junior doctor and clerked (a full medical history and examination) and the appropriate treatment is either continued (if it had been started in A&E/by the G.P.) or commenced. All the patients who have been admitted are then seen by a consultant who reviews their care and will either discharge or admit the patient to a ward on the hospital. I spend this evening on the post take consultant ward round, I always enjoy these ward rounds as the patients could have been admitted for an infinite number of reasons, inevitably this means that I meet a number of dying patients, an experience I don’t think I’m ever going to get used to.
Friday starts at 8.15 in bronchoscopy, this involves putting a fibre optic cable down the patients nose (don’t worry they receive a local anaesthetic and sedation!) to visualise the pharynx, trachea and bronchi, it is a procedure often used to diagnose suspected lung cancer as biopsies can be taken from the lungs and analysed. The consultant doing the ‘scopes’ is incredibly skilled and experienced and each procedure only lasts 10-15 minutes, so I’m finished by 10.30 so I go and find the post take consultant ward round and visit the patients who had been admitted during the night. I’m finished by 1, so make a quick exit and jump on my bike to enjoy a nice spin along the coast to
Tonight is the Sussex Sports Awards, Olly had been nominated as Sussex Sports Personality of the Year so I accompany him as his glamorous date…I’ll be honest it felt a little bit weird but I can’t turn down an opportunity for free food! It’s a great night and really well organised and to top it off Olly wins so I get to bask in his glory for a good 15 minutes before we realise we had better leave as we are riding early doors with the Cookie monster and we need to be on form to avoid having our legs ripped off.
A selection of the dream team (Olly, Malcolm, Shunt, Rickstar, Lil, Stu, Yvette and Cookie) make the ride on Saturday and it is ffffrreeeezzzingg! To make things even better my rear mech cable snaps after an hour so I’m stuck in a ridiculously hard gear and have to grind my way back to the Tri Store Eastbourne where Simon-my night in shining armour-Underwood fixes it and allows me to get home above 60 rpm. I spend the rest of the day lying down trying to read but actually watching a lot of unnecessary junk TV.
Sunday is unbelievably cold, I spend 20 minutes riding in the snow before I lose the use of my fingers and my tears start to freeze so I abort to the turbo, a cheeky 90 min swim wraps up a tough week.
I’ve just read through the above and have realised that I haven’t done justice to either triathlon or medicine…it’s honestly not as boring as this I’m just a very bad writer! There’s a million things I could have written about and I promise (if Glenn lets me back) to go into a bit more detail next time and explain why medicine and triathlon are the 2 best jobs in the world!
Well it’s been just over 6 weeks since I finished my season, and having got back into training a few weeks later, I am now starting to feel vaguely fit again.
Monday was quite a nice day of training. Bitty and I got a bit excited on some of the steadier reps in the swim, and Malcolm and I maybe went a bit too quick on our run, but surely going a bit too hard on steadier session won’t make any difference to how I feel tomorrow…! Having made it through strength and conditioning with Dan, Bitty and I went home to enjoy a mish-mash meal of what was left in the fridge (shopping day is Tuesday!) and duely had our worlds rocked by watching Band of Brothers on BlueRay DVD on my brand-new-unnecessarily-big-high-definition-monster-TV (something I have wanted to waste my hard earned cash on for nigh on 3 years!)
I wouldn’t be surprised if most of the guys thought I woke up on the wrong side of bed on Tuesday (well they would be WRONG, I always get out on the right (not left/wrong) side, duh!), as I felt tired, sore and grumpy before the swim. Hmm, yesterday’s over exertions perchance?! As ever, the Tuesday swim was epic, and having missed a few swims last week with a banged shoulder (that’s what comes of reading a magazine while walking in the rain…don’t laugh, it’s not funny!), it quickly turned into one of those sessions where you’re hanging for dear life on from before half way…but I got through and that’s the main thing.
The rest of Tuesday and Wednesday were pretty standard considering, and apart from another tasty swim on Thursday, the highlight of that day was definitely the evening run. It was the first time I had done the Thursday evening run on the new Moira House loop. I love night running on the road, and with a session where we were mixing up the pace and length of reps, I had awesome time putting the hurt down on the hills with Malcolm!
Friday was my standard day of leisure, where I managed to accomplish scarily little with my life, then Saturday was back to it with a couple of long steady sessions, again mostly with Mr Malke. I felt very privileged to be treated to one of his special recipe recovery smoothies after our run (I would tell you the recipe, but he would go all Israeli army on me, and I think his M16 would probably beat my yellow-belt Judo moves).
I probably did some training on Sunday (emotional tempo run rings a bell) but to be honest it was all about the Mexican meal. Me, Soph, Sammy and Malcolm finished training, went to town, bought half of Sainsbury’s, along with 2 sombreros, 3 fake moustaches, a Mexican DVD and CD, went back to theirs' and then cooked up a right storm and dressed up like idiots (well, idiotic Mexicanas...ok maybe that bit was just me), and had a load of Bodyworks dignitaries around for a bit of a shindig. Classic.
