No Word of a Lie........

So, although I live in a slightly hotter climate to here in the UK (how cold is it??) I have been told of another way to acclimatize to the hot temperatures of the desert....

Apparently if I sit in a steam room for 1 hour a day - every day for the 4 weeks leading up to the MdS I will raise my core temperature by 0,5 of a degree and this is a good start to feeling OK when we hit the hot 30 degrees of heat we will experience in the desert....

So, being as I wanted to get some practice in at this whole sauna thing I thought I would skip today’s run and have a steam / stretch instead... Marvellous idea I hear you say.... Unfortunately these 2 chicks were not in the steam room with me but it did make you more interested in reading this paragraph didn't it??...

Happy Training
Charlie

Cycle Heaven - Weekend 15 & 16 NOVEMBER

Both bikes hit the tarmac this weekend... I kicked the weekend off with the racer as I had been doing quitea lot of running in recent weeks... I was meant to be heading to the mountains with John but he decided to have a big night Friday so wasn't up for it... So, I set off on the racer - covered the ciclo vede 65km plus around 15 km of the ciclo colmenar (a route that heads North to the montains). I averaged a speed of 24km/h for the full 80km taking 3hrs 20mins for the full loop.. Legs were burning when I got back back thats th BEAUTY OF IT!!!

And then on the Sunday we (John) took the train to El Escorial with the mountain bikes for a 7 hour cycle... It was truly breathtaking, so much natural beauty...

We cycled from the old El Escorial Monestry which is in itself is fantastic down to the lakes... After nearly 5 hours of circumnavigating this lake - nearly fainting of lack of food we headed to a nearby restaurant for some food and on anothr 45 mins to the nearest train station before dark fell.... It was an amazing day but one that saw me get a 24hr flu that put me in bed for 24hrs - Nice...

Stay Healthy and safe,
Charlie

Hot Hot Hot - Loving Spain!!!

Hi, I am really sorry but the last 3 or 4 entries are in no order... I thought you could write in the Blog and then change the order the order they appear but you can't...
BARCELONA - This was only a small 1hr 15min run but it was on the sandy beaches of Barceona which was amazing!!!!!! I went to see Eva for the weekend and was able to enjoy a run in just my shorts in 22º degof PURE SUNSHINE on the 6th of December... How cool is that?!!?!?

So, soft sand running for 75 mins, sunbathers, bikinis, people swimming ON THE 6th of DECEMBER!!!! HA HA HA, LOVE SPAIN!!! I am not totally sure as I was more having fun in this run than anything else but reckon I covered in the region of 8-10km... Damn good fun though....

Happy Training!!

Charlie

Northern 30km Loop - Ciclo Verde

December 1 - December 23 - 2008

Its been a big month with some big runs and lots of days off..... My week days usually involve a small run - 20 - 30 minutes with something else thrown in as well... Hardly a structured training plan you might say but I have to support all that I am working towards with Fitness Fist. In the New Year this will have to change with more of my efforts going into the running and long distance training but its been 1 - 2 hours of good exercise a day and I feel fantastic for it!!!!!

Unfortunatly, as ever, work is really busy and I am finding it very difficult to find the time for my long runs... This is obviously a problem when you need to find 3 hours or so... I have for the last 2 weeks completed the Northern Loop of the Ciclo Verde Cycle route however which is FANTASTIC!!!!



The route as I have mentioned before is a 65km Cycle Route / Path that circles Madrid but the best part is, it is ONLY for runners and cyclists (oh, and of course walkers). I moved house last month into a place that is right next to the course so training although a little monotonous is fantastic... The views from the route are also fantastic getting some great shots of Madrid from all angles..... Here are my stats of the x 2 runs....

Map My Run Statistics
14/12/2008
28.57km = 02:42 = 05:40 mins/km = 10.58km/h (plus a water stop and WC stop).
21/12/2008
28.57km = 02:26 = 05:07 mins/km = 11.74km/h

Question of the day:

Who has decided to include 30 minutes of regular exercise per day as a New Years Resolution???

Happy training,
Charlie

Cold Cold Cold - 30km in the COLD!!!!

December 27th 2008
Completed a 30km loop of Buckinghamshire yesterday before going to Twickenham to watch Harlequins v Leicester Tigers... You could say I was cold for the entirety of the day... Feeeezing in fact!!!! I wore my Nike 2nd skins, wooly hat, gloves and neck warmer but none the less - FROZE!!!

Black park however was fairly beautiful but the pace was decidedly slow....



Happy Training!!!!
Charlie

HAPPY CHRISTMAS AND A HEALTHY NEW YEAR!!!

Hi Everyone,

Well, today (Christmas Day) I completed 30km in 2 days which is more than I have done in a long time.....

I have not been on the Blog mainly because work is crazy and I stiiiill do not have internet at my new house in Madrid.... Pero bueno, I am very well training hard and working even harder so being back in Denham is amzing as I have done nothing and plan on doing nothing, ha ha ha...

Training has been going well and now that I am in Denham with lots of time on my hands I will bring the last 2 months up to date and add some pics of the events I been involved in..... Have entered into some cool wee events in the New Year so looking forward to all of that before the 26th March 2009 when we fly out to Morocco - 91 DAYS TO GO!!!!!!!!

So, HAPPY CHRISTMAS TO EVERYONE AND I WISH YOU ALL THE VERY BEST IN 2009. THANK YOU FOR ALL YOUR SUPPORT AND KIND MESSAGES THAT I HAVE BEEN RECEIVING AND I LOOK FORWARD TO BEING IN TOUCH IN THE NEW YEAR..

STAY HEALTHY AND SAFE this Christmas and in 2009,









All the best,
Charlie