The program never recognizes the key dates in a person's life and so it was no surprise to me that I had a 32km run to do today - my birthday.
With the 11km loop mapped out, I was looking at three laps. The program called for 16k in the morning and then 16km in the afternoon. That wasn't really feasible, so I opted for two laps in the morning, and then a break and some real food before completing the session.
After all .. we had some celebrating to do in the evening .. in particular dinner on the Bosphorus, which is the body of water that divides Istanbul in half from Europe to Asia.
I ran the first lap with Margreet and it took us 1:15. That sounds slow for 11km though it reflects the terrain - mostly uphill. And the heat. It was hot enough for the first lap. After a refill, I headed out for a faster second lap - in theory a time trial effort.
I ran the second lap in 1:02 and was pretty happy with my effort. I ws a bit shy of water half way through the second lap and struggled a bit because of it. But I got through it.
After some breakfast and a break, I headed out for round three. It actually went fairly smooth and I cruised home in 1:14. All in all, a very solid session.
And so I had no trouble having a second piece of chocolate cake for dessert!!
Wednesday, August 22, 2007
Sunday, August 19, 2007
Wild dogs and cows
Marcel took us on a driving tour of a potential 11km running loop when we arrived here in Istanbul on Friday morning. We later did a short run in the midday heat and while the roads aren't designed with athletes in mind - are any anywhere? - I was encouraged by them nonetheless.
After spending much of Saturday touring the city centre, mostly inside The Pillows Store, I opted for a bike ride this morning. And it was a good decision.
As Marcel noted, traffic was likely to increase in volume after 8am and so as in Sydney, the key was to get on the road early.
My alarm rang out at 5:45 but it still looked a bit dark outside and so I opted to sleep in just a bit longer. I was up and out the door at 6:30am and managed to ride for almost two hours.
The 11k loop was: about 3k flat to start, then about 5km up to the top of a ridge and then 2-3km down. Perfect.
Traffic wasn't an issue. However, there are a lot of wild - stray - dogs wandering around and it would appear that they like to sleep near the road even on the quieter roads. For the most part, the dogs ignored me. And that was good as some of them were big and looked like they could munch a carbon rim in one go.
I had a close encounter with two dogs on the first lap, which I extended with an additional 1.5km climb. Going up was fine. It was when I was coasting back to the loop that the dogs weren't quite as friendly.
I suspect it was the noise that my back wheel makes when it spins freely that attracted and annoyed, and perhaps scared, the dogs. They were looking a tad hungry and so I took as wide a berth around them as I could. One sort of indicated he might chase me but gave up fairly soon.
On the second, third and fourth laps I opted to skip the extra climb!
On my fourth lap, however, I did have my ride slowed by the sudden appearance of six cattle being herded onto the street by a rather severe looking woman with a piece of wood in her hand. She scowled at me as I rode by and I couldn't help but laugh - once safely out of reach!!
After spending much of Saturday touring the city centre, mostly inside The Pillows Store, I opted for a bike ride this morning. And it was a good decision.
As Marcel noted, traffic was likely to increase in volume after 8am and so as in Sydney, the key was to get on the road early.
My alarm rang out at 5:45 but it still looked a bit dark outside and so I opted to sleep in just a bit longer. I was up and out the door at 6:30am and managed to ride for almost two hours.
The 11k loop was: about 3k flat to start, then about 5km up to the top of a ridge and then 2-3km down. Perfect.
Traffic wasn't an issue. However, there are a lot of wild - stray - dogs wandering around and it would appear that they like to sleep near the road even on the quieter roads. For the most part, the dogs ignored me. And that was good as some of them were big and looked like they could munch a carbon rim in one go.
I had a close encounter with two dogs on the first lap, which I extended with an additional 1.5km climb. Going up was fine. It was when I was coasting back to the loop that the dogs weren't quite as friendly.
I suspect it was the noise that my back wheel makes when it spins freely that attracted and annoyed, and perhaps scared, the dogs. They were looking a tad hungry and so I took as wide a berth around them as I could. One sort of indicated he might chase me but gave up fairly soon.
On the second, third and fourth laps I opted to skip the extra climb!
On my fourth lap, however, I did have my ride slowed by the sudden appearance of six cattle being herded onto the street by a rather severe looking woman with a piece of wood in her hand. She scowled at me as I rode by and I couldn't help but laugh - once safely out of reach!!
Sunday, August 12, 2007
Heat acclimatization - part one
If it's good enough for Faris ..
So here I am in the UAE, actually the emirate of Dubai. And it's hot. The average daily temperature at this time of year is 40 degrees celcius, and it feels like it to.
Unfortunately as there is so much construction activity here, it's not really ideal for running or cycling outside. Unless of course you have a car to get a little bit out of the way. [Note: Bring an international driving license when travelling to Dubai! It's a rental car necessity.]
There is a cycling group here, run by Wolfi's bike shop. We have been told there is a group of 100 or so cyclists, and apparently Scott is the bike of choice. There is a Friday morning ride, and two shorter rides on Sunday night and Tuesday night. [Wolfi is a Scott dealer. As well as Storck. Beautiful bikes, fully priced.]
For my part, I've been cycling on a wind trainer on the 30th floor balcony of an apartment occupied by two very good friends. The view is of the Dubai Marina and it's spectacular. I sat outside yesterday evening for about an hour as the sunset. It was hot.
There is a 25-metre pool at this building too. However the 10-day annual maintenance of it began yesterday and so I was relegated to the lounge pool where I swam about 20 minutes this morning before dragging myself out of the 30-35 degree temperature water. In some ways, it's great training. At the same time, it's hard to swim with any effort.
So here I am in the UAE, actually the emirate of Dubai. And it's hot. The average daily temperature at this time of year is 40 degrees celcius, and it feels like it to.
Unfortunately as there is so much construction activity here, it's not really ideal for running or cycling outside. Unless of course you have a car to get a little bit out of the way. [Note: Bring an international driving license when travelling to Dubai! It's a rental car necessity.]
There is a cycling group here, run by Wolfi's bike shop. We have been told there is a group of 100 or so cyclists, and apparently Scott is the bike of choice. There is a Friday morning ride, and two shorter rides on Sunday night and Tuesday night. [Wolfi is a Scott dealer. As well as Storck. Beautiful bikes, fully priced.]
For my part, I've been cycling on a wind trainer on the 30th floor balcony of an apartment occupied by two very good friends. The view is of the Dubai Marina and it's spectacular. I sat outside yesterday evening for about an hour as the sunset. It was hot.
There is a 25-metre pool at this building too. However the 10-day annual maintenance of it began yesterday and so I was relegated to the lounge pool where I swam about 20 minutes this morning before dragging myself out of the 30-35 degree temperature water. In some ways, it's great training. At the same time, it's hard to swim with any effort.
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