Festive season with lots of training...

Xmas is couple of days ago. We are in the middle of the festive season now. Lots of Xmas shopping, nice festivefoods and couple of drinks. But don't forget about training! First the hard work, after the temptation!

I just received my last week training plan and it looks quite hard, but I have to do it more difficult. Francis just sent me a link about Rapha Festive 500 challenge. It is all about Xmas holiday rides. The point of this, you have to ride at least 500km between 23. and 30. December. I wanna do it so badly! :) And I know , I don't need 7 days for put 500km in my legs. I think I will have active 24.-25. and 26.! Basically it is my last proper training week before I am going away to Fuerteventura. I have a flight 1. of January and I am spending 12 days on the island. Oh yes, first training camp is coming up!

Back to the last couple of weeks.

I have rest week now. I did 3 weeks quite hard block and my coach reckons I am stronger already now then I was in the same time at last year. Hm, that sounds good.

I do cycling 3 times and running at least 2 times a week. Gym comes additional 3-4 times / week. Lots of work, it means, I have to eat a lots! Never better time! :)

Last couple of weeks were really gastronomic. All started with Thanks Giving foods. I ate around this daysin Whole Foods market. It is American company, it means, should has a Thanks Giving foods! I had a lots of turkey and cranberry sandwiches and couple of slices pumpkin pies. Pumpkin pie was a heaven! I tried to do for myself couple of months ago, but I overdosed the stelvia little bit and it wasn't the perfection... This time I chose the less healthy but definitely quality option! Sugary (cane) pumpkin pie with nice pastry...

Thanks giving bundle

On normal weekdays I follow the paleo diet in 95% and try to eat as much raw as possible, but when weekend comes up, I have to cheat! And the best parts is coming now! I found something extraordinary in middle of London! Little bit more then two weeks ago I decided that I wanna eat steak. We cought Piccadilly line and headed to Covent Gardens direction, after Knighsbridge some signal failure taken place (usual bullshit on LOndon tube..) and we decided to get off from the tube at Hyde park corner and go in Winter Wonderland. First we visited the well known Belgian waffle company's stand. Belgaufra makes a best waffle on planet earth. After the sweet treat we craved some less sugary food. And after 3 minutes walk we found a Hungarian food stand with authentic Hungarian foods and authentic Hungarian crew! Oh my God! I wanted to taste everything.... We had 4 different courses for share. During the culinary tour we had a conversation with the owner. Papas and his team came straight from Budapest. He runs couple of Spanish delicatessens and several pubs over there. He is a real gourmet! He knows everything about food, jazz and wines!

Now we frequently visiting Winter Wonderland in our free time! :) I just received the weekend menu andI have to say we will go Saturday and Sunday as well.

Hungarian heaven...

We had snow today in London. Not too much, but I think it is enough for a wicked off road run tomorrow morning,. I am heading out early, drop my stuff in work and after run in Richmond park an easy hour. Hopefully it is time to try out my new off road shoes now...

I am off to the bed now! Have a great night everybody!

140 days ago...

Well, I haven't done anything here exactly 140 days ago! It is a little bit shame, but I wasn't really in the blogging mood! Other side... nobody really shouted me " Szabi... why don't you do your blog????"

Anybody interested????

Okay, I don't give a flying shit! :)

I do again , because I enjoy it again! I will carry on blogging about my everyday life, my mad cycling habit, my food addiction and one of my new obsession , running! So ladies and gentlemen, tick your follow button and keep ready your "like" sign please!

Last 140 days in nutcase:

- 24 hours world championship- nearly second, but I finished 4th. Not bad, but I still have a little nail in my proudness...

- New sponsor- CompresSport! Really big thanks for Tim Williams, who give me a chance and his support!

- London Duathlon- Ultra distance: My first duathlon race in my life, finished 2nd in age group and 17th overall! Well happy! I never did 20 km run for one go in my life..

- Huge building work and changes at work! Check out our new web page! http://bicyclerichmond.co.uk/

- Started winter training 7 weeks ago....

I am back...hopefully

Ok, I know! I didn't write here anything ages... nearly 5 months ago. I wasn't really in blogging mood in the last couple of months... to much was on my plate. Moving, racing, training... Busy busy life, but I will try to find some time for managing this blog as well... I hope that I can share some interesting things from my life and you are out there still will follow me!

Salzkammergut trophy

Hmm.. I wasn't really in a blogging mood over the last couple of days. Unfortunately I didn't do to well in Austria a week ago. I went away with big plans and I came back with bitter taste...

My thoughts on the way back on the airplane:

"I didn't really write to much here in the last couple of days. I was too busy organising my Austrian trip.

I raced in heart of the Austrian alps two days ago. The experience is still fresh and the feeling is really mixed my inside. I am sad and happy in the same time. This race was really hard, really hard and not just a physical side, it was really hard mentally.

I am sad because I didn't do too well, I wanted to ride at least 1,5 hours better time, but this sadness is my fault. I put the requirement too high. I had to realize that this type of race isn't my profile. I don't really train for this and I can't really train for this type of the course. Unfortunately we haven't any similar high hill around London. In the same time I wasn't in my best shape, I am over 3 quite tough races and I finished on the podium every time. We try to shape up me for the 24 hours World Championship. The biggest problem, I lied myself and I thought that I do really well....it was a mistake! I have to learn and I have to accept, that I can't be in the top form all the time.

Other side I am happy! I am happy, because all of the bad things I didn't give up the race, I finished. I had a heroic fight my inside over 13 hours. I had to fight with my weakness, but I won! I killed the bad voice and I rode up on all the climbs and I finished the race properly. I did my best, that's it!

But what did happen?

I flow back to Hungary last Thursday afternoon. My really good friend, Zsabi came and picked up me on the airport and I stayed on her place over the night. The Tatra street base! :) We had dinner and we went in the bad really early. We drove to Bad Goisern on Friday morning with VasP, Hedi and Miss Fishtax. The trip was good fun, we had a lots of laugh in the car. We arrived to Bad Goisern late afternoon. We picked up our start number in 5 minutes and we had a quick shopping. Everybody prepared everything for a next morning early start. We been in the bed around 9 o'clock.

The alarm went on 3:50. Everybody jumped out from the bed and started to be done quickly. The start was 5 o'clock. We started the first climb in nearly dark. I was quite hopeful in the first 10 minutes, I felt okay and I didn't have any crump...hurra! But I had to realize my heart rate wasn't right. It was too low and I was slow... The weather was really humid and hot already. After 20 minutes I swatted really hard and I didn't feel any strength in my legs. And a mission started. I knew, that I couldn't ride good time, I was dead. I tried to eat a bit more, I thought may help, but it didn't work. My stomach started to be full and my energy level just went lower and lower. I wasn't well, I couldn't push hard uphill and I didn't feel myself confident on the downhills. I fallen off around 40km and I hit my left knee. Nothing major just some nasty bruise. I moved slowly and I didn't really stop until 150km. Around the Hallstadt lake, middle of the forest I hit the wall. I had to stop and sat down. I wanted to drink coke and eat flat bread, but I hadn't any with me. I was alone and I had to realize in this moment, how hard is this race. It more harder the any 12 or 24 hours race, where you know the course and you had a complete support team, who helps for you. After 10 minutes brake, I felt a bit better and I carried on riding. I rode up until the salt mine, but after I had to push the bike, I couldn't ride. Anyway, I finished a race on the 21. place in my age group with 13 hours and 40 minutes. "

And my thoughts now:

- it was a good lesson, I learned a lots!

- I will prepare myself properly next year and I will do at least 2 hours better time!

- I have to accept failure and I have to grow up!

- what dosen't kill you, makes you stronger!

Pictures

Fowlmead Enduro 6

Finally I have 5 minutes to do post about last weekend.

I had a 6 hours enduro race down in Kent last weekend. I found this event in British Cycling's calender 6 weeks ago. I decided to do it for training reason.

I wasn't really human beginning of last week, but thanks for my coach and the 3 times 10 hours sleep I felt myself really good on Sunday morning. Tibi and Evi came and picked up me around 7 o'clock. We met with Adel 20 minutes later and we headed out straight to Deal's direction. Deal is a little town down in Kent. The race was hold in Fowlmead country park. We were a bit late and I have to say the true, I wasn't sure that we can catch the start in time, but Tibi drove really fast and we arrived 30 minutes before 10. Quick pack out and I had a little warm up before the start. The race was quite local and a field wasn't to big. The start was 10 o'clock and the ride was 6 hours long. The course was nearly flat but wind and sunshine were incredible strong. One lap was around 19 minutes average for me. I had lots of trouble with the long wheelbase fullsuser and the bad tyre choice. The course had a lots of dusty sharp corner. The weather was incredible hot and I got really bad sunburn. Thanks for my crew I got enough liquid and I didn't have any problem with hydration and food. After 4 hours Adel passed me the info: I was on the first place! I couldn't believe it! :)

I finished the race with one lap before the second one. I was in a really good shape, but I have to say, it wasn't any big name in the field...

I was really happy with the result. I had a quick shower and I picked up my free BBQ after the finish. The price giving ceremony was a usual British style... madness, no podium, no medal..... but I am not surprised! :)

On the way back we stacked nearly 3 hours in the traffic jam on the motor way... sucks!

Overall, it was a great day, good organising (except the prize giving), nice weather , my first win in the UK and all of this on Adel's birthday! :)

I prepare my mind for Salzkammergut now.....

Rest day and fixing broken bikes....

After the hard Tuesday-Wednesday-Thursday combo, I had a rest day today. I did a sleeping marathon last night, I spent nearly 10 hours in the bed. I was fresh and relaxed this morning.

I tried to prepare everything for a weekend race during the day and I nearly got sorted everything. Couple small issues left, but I will sort out those tomorrow morning and evening. I have a early bed attack again, you know, train hard, rest harder.

I just cooked my ultimate super healthy carbo load lunch for tomorrow. Brown rice, soy milk, grounded cardamon and cinnamon, raisins and stevia. It looks and smells really good... yummi.

I had one hour recovery ride tomorrow morning before work and I will try to spend my whole day in the biggest rest and piece what is possible in work. The race on Sunday and it is just 6 hours, what is not too long... basically it will be just warm up.. :)

We are driving down Sunday morning, thank for my great driver Tibi and for my super support team!

Back to last Sunday, I had some problem with my Super 6 bottom bracket. I told , that it started to do some very weird noise. I opened up it on Tuesday morning...and woooowwww.... Basically I found the left hand side bearing in pieces. Hmm... I reckon it wasn't the bestJapanese quality bearing. I sorted the problem quickly, old bearing out, new one in, job done. I headed to Hillingdon after 6 o'clock and I returned back on the crit race course. We had a really good race and I rode a lots on the front. I didn't feel myself too strong, but my coach was happy with the work.

It looks a bit tired....

I started to feel the pressure in my head to fix my Scalpel after 3 weeks on Wednesday. It still had a broken bits of the seat post in the frame. Thanks Dave mega clever bold head, he got out the broken piece from the frame in 5 minutes. He had a brilliant idea, the bold head started to sparkle. He super glued one freewheel remover tool in the broken piece and after just wrenched out with a spanner... Genius! And it wasn't enough, after he landed me his old (new?!, anything what Dave owns more then two hours , it is turning to be old...) Thompson seat post! Cheers mate!

Wrench baby, wrench! :)

Happy Dave...

Training wise I had a hectic week, but no pain no gain! Basically I just rode, slept and worked in the last couple of days. No socialisation, no web, no books, no fun... actually it isn't true, because that all were fun! I really like to dance on the limit. It is a great feel, when you get home after 3 hours ride (includes a super intensive crit race) on the evening, you have some meal, shower and go straight in the bed and 7 hours later you are on the bike again and do some mad hill reps 6:30 in the morning....

Ok, it is bed time now! I am back after Sunday race! Have a good weekend!

No break...

What did happen between Tuesday morning and Thursday morning (50 hours)?

-18 hours work

- 15,5 hours sleep (not too much...)

-10,5 hours cycling (includes 1 hour crit race)

-3 hours gym

-1 hour run

And I finished the day now with this:

(Heather's protein microwave cookie and dark chocolate dreams by PB & Co)

I am dead... and off to the bed now!