Escape from Alcatraz 2010 ... -1.5 days

This 10 days in Toronto made me fat but fearless... now it is all a matter of organizing myself, put everything together and look forward to hug people at the end.

Here we come... Escape from Alcatraz... there is no more training to do... the last month was troubled enough, a lot of traveling, food and poor quality sleep.

But end of the day no excuses. I will race and I will see what is my actual shape. It will be a great test and hopefully a jump start for the Half Ironman next month in Venezuela.

Tonight I will land in SF very late in the evening. As soon as I hit my room I will do a quick check list.

Running equipment, Biking and Swimming.

Need to remember to fix the bike gears, put the tri-laces for the running shoes... etc.

On Saturday will have to buy the remaining stuff, get the number, go to the pre-race conference, study all the details... and try the bay water :-)... little detail!

Really hope Dario and Diego.. the veterans will help me tomorrow... dont even know how to properly fit the wetsuit.. and that bloody zip...

I will catch up the flight at 7.50pm Eastern time and finally start reading the Taiwanese book I have been carrying with me for so long.

Need to keep my mind distracted!

Escape from Alcatraz 2010 ... -3 days

How many differences u see in these 2 pics?

??

The horse is eating, is training and is sleeping like it should.

Probably too much food ( got over 81Kg ), probably not enough training... definetely enough sleeping :-).

Other 2 days here in Toronto to complete work and finally ready to the hot week end in SF.

Just forgot to mention that during that week end I will have my Logi friend Mathieu coming from Switzerland ( we will work together for the next 2 weeks ) and Daniele coming from Italy to stay in SF for 3 months :-).

There will be so much to look forward at the end of the race... I am thrilled.

This morning I hit the pool for the last time before the race. 100laps with the Sea lyon wetsuit....64laps speed training without.

Tonight I will give a test to my "biking legs"... before hitting the Sauna... and sleep at least 10hrs.

The book I am reading is awesome "Born to run".... and the Blog I am reading... is probably the best blog I have ever read in my life!

Escape from Alcatraz 2010 ... -5 days

Good news, I managed to try the wetsuit in the YMCA pool. ( Too hot to swim more than 20 laps... )

The Orca Alpha is great but I feel like a sea lyon, the water comes from everywhere and my legs feel just so high!

People of course looked at me very funny and one guy tried to approach me saying... " are u training for scooba diving? " LOL.

This should tell a lot about my rough style.

Anyway, great intervals in the morning, work was hard and took me the whole day till 9pm, but the final swim in the evening gave me a little hope regarding the race.

The real test will be the day before when I will try to get in the bay water.... It will be too late I know... but this is what I got..... butterflies and hope.

Anyway... last day with the beard... I am sick of it! Tonight I will shave and swim without... let see if I will get any benefit :-P out of it.

The race is coming up, sleeping is going well. Training HORSE mode is going ok now. I saw my blood tests and it seems like everything is in the right place.

One more big hug to this huge world.... where distances matter ... but not always.

V.

Escape from Alcatraz 2010 ... -6 days

Let's see if tonight the "gentle" couple will let me fall asleep or I will have to participate again to the Olympics of Sex.

For now I prefer doing my blogging from the couches in the lobby :-).

I am in HORSE mode, I am not complaining anymore about my day. Just do it ... like a notorious brand would say.

Big breakfast, gym in the morning, slept 3 hrs in the afternoon, chocolate and cookie break at Starbucks to finish with a gentle 2K swim in the smallest pool i have ever swam into. ( YMCA here is very popular for Basketball.. but there are no swimmers what so ever... ).

Socially wise I had the possibility to speak with my family over Skype and some other key persons. The HORSE appreciate.

Considering I got some weight, I am in a cold country and I am as hairy as a human being could be.... here it comes my real self:

... butterflies

Escape from Alcatraz 2010 ... -7 days

I am blogging while a young couple in the adjacent room is having CRAZY sex.

Nice... let me put some music on and try to distract ( every time that seems over.. they start again and he is so much louder ).

Ok 7 days.

Rented a Giant road bike for 30$ and took off for 2.30h. It was very windy and I felt tired. Left the bike to the shop and ran back to the hotel.
My mind tells me I can push, my legs are telling me... please gimme a break.

Tomorrow I will swim, promised. I will see how YMCA treats its guest in Canada.

The wetsuit fits me ok. Tomorrow, I will enter the lane with it, hope people won't complain.

The moral is down. Spent almost 48hrs without speaking ( if not to get by to ask for some information around ). I hope tomorrow will be a better day.

Time to be the HORSE for the next 4 days... then BUMBLEBEE all the way to race start... then.. HORSE again.

Leaving a meaningful video:

Escape from Alcatraz 2010 ... -8 days

Next week at this time I will be back in SF, preparing everything for the race and making sure I do have all the gears set.

I still have a small list of todos when I am back

- Check the bike ( derailler must be fixed )

- Get the running shoes ready with special laces

- Decide the nutrition plan for race day.

Most likely I won't need much help and in case, Dario and Diego might help me realize If I forgot something.

Today was another of those days that you don't feel like training... but the 'horse' in you simply looks down and gets out in the wild to run.

Morning was just gym and 10mins biking to get the toxins off from yesterday.

Afternoon got a great intervals training 12x1000 ( 1h25m including WU and CD ).

Little sauna, stretching and an amazing Sashimi dinner ( as usual ate too much... :-0).

Before going to sleep, I decided to buy breakfast at a 24h grocery shop... I will make my own granola "Boulange" style, I hate the restaurant here....( they charge you a lot for a bad service and a poor breakfast ).

Friday night will end in bed at 12.15am.. I say fair enough.... fun and social life can wait another 8 days :-)

One big decision I made is to not rest before the race. The half ironman in Venezuela will be super hard and I cant waste a week of tapering for a race i won't do well. I will probably just take Friday and Saturday off... ( next ones ).

Big hug to the world again and a kiss from Toronto. Tomorrow I will post a pic of my huge beard...

试着得到一些睡

Escape from Alcatraz 2010 ... -9 days

Last 9 days... I will blog every day.

As I said this is a crucial moment.

Today training was great... 1h10 minutes in the morning along the Ontario lake, then biked strong for an hour on the spinning bike plus a 10 mins run right after... for the feeling.

I had to spend 5 minutes to clean the massive amount of sweat I left on the bike.... I guess the people at this hotel will hate me.

My mom sent me a long email, she is worried about the swim portion. I will try to Skype with her over the week end and make sure she understands that there are old people doing this... and that me complaining about my shape means only I want be able to be competitive... MOM I WILL SURVIVE NO PROBLEM!!

Tomorrow I will find a swimming pool and go there with the wetsuit... do not care what people will think but I read that I need at least 3-4 swims with it before it gets easy on your body.

Ontario lake will see me at least once... and on May 1st I will have time for a last test.

I feel this time in Toronto will be the perfect protected pre-race time that every athlete should have.

Alcatraz.... Can't take my eyes off you



p.s. Thx double R... u make me go stronger every day!

Escape from Alcatraz 2010 ... -10 days

Not enough time to blog, not enough time to do any training.

I am in Toronto right now. I will be there working hard on my engineering projects till the day before the race. I can't believe this past month everything that was planned got screwed...

One good thing is that plans have gone bad for greater changes .... emotionally and work wise.

The worst news is that I havent had any chance to try the wetsuit on... neither swimming in bay... I brought it here in Canada... and I will use this last 10 days to condition myself ..somehow.. the hotel is by the lake and running will not be a problem.

Tomorrow I will ask my coworker.. I need a pool and a bike rental place...

One big hug to the world...

This last 10 days are crucial... but I believe in miracles!

Most importantly I believe everything is possible

Escape from Alcatraz 2010 ... -14 days

2 weeks sharp... and I will be packing my bag with all the race stuff, I can already feel the adrenaline.

My plan to lose 10pounds is working... I am at 172... and going down! Should be able to make it.... if I keep eating candies :-) LOL

Today I could not try the water yet. Tomorrow or nothing! This trip to Toronto will take away the last most important 2 weeks of my preparation... I do not care what will be the outcome for Escape... for sure survive is the most important goal... then beating as many fellas as possible... the second one :-).

Motivation wise, I am doing great... there is something so special that is pushing me... if I only could figure out what it is... I would use it for the rest of my life! Let's hope it stays this way.... the longer the better.

Training is going great, stairs, swimming 4K easy, spinning, running... everything is going by the plan. I just hope the last 2 weeks... wont see my shape go down too much.

Escape from Alcatraz 2010 ... -18 days

Pic of the day is the book that started up the last bright Taiwanese week:

Back to SF, back to business, back to training. I can't believe how much this trip to Taiwan gave me. Feel motivated again and full of energy ( even if I slept 10hrs in the past 60 ).

Emotionally quite unstable, but this needs to change... don't like instability especially with so much going on. Work wise things are going wild ( flying to Toronto next week till the end of the month ).

Today after 3 days of nothing I was back into running. A good 11 miles run with intervals. I set the target of losing 10 pounds before the race considering 7 were gained over the past 2 weeks... it should be doable. 10 pounds less means 5% better for each tri-leg I will face on May 2nd... nice.

Today I am 174.

Need to face the truth under several fronts.... not only training wise.

A big hug to my family spread around the globe ( my dad is in Japan, Saverio is Rome, my mother as well, my brother in San Fran :-) ).

Escape from Alcatraz 2010 ... -21 days

3 weeks to Race..... scary!

Beard is coming alone here in Taipei, I start looking like a bum, but like my mom would say... IT'S OK :-) LOL.

Last 2 days in Taiwan and I moved my a** to Taipei city, the hotel is awesome and the city promises well.

Yesterday training was heavy, intervals in the morning between people doing Kung Fu and 3K swimming in the ev. ( Found a 50mt swimming pool in Hsinchu.. not bad! ).

Today I woke up with appetite and I killed the breakfast, Virgilio style! (this is why I am blogging, the digestion will take a while).

Plan for the day, long run (2hrs or so) then shower, eat, sleep and finally shopping in the center. Tonight will see what the city can offer. It will be a long intense week end, I feel it.

Some photos, starting with an easy menu to read

my room :-P
the big energy party before the long run

and yesterday Japanese night:

Escape from Alcatraz 2010 ... -24 days

Blogging at 7am... it is becoming my routine.... jet-lag POWER!!

Trying to find a little routine here in Taiwan, yesterday was a great day working wise. Got almost everything done and by today I should be over and be able to get a bit more training done in the evening.

I met my old Fremont buddies relocated in Asia.. it is awesome to see how well they are doing!

Sport wise, the pool is a not a training pool :(, I tried to swim for 30 mins but water temperature was way too hot. This morning I will attempt some gym exercise.

In the evening I discovered ( thx Martin ), a cute park ( Jsomething Temple ) with a 1K loop around a small lake.... and yes I DID IT, my first time in ASIA!!! I ran :-P

Just 1hr, but felt way much better after that.

Now time to go thru my second day here. Leaving some JTemple stuff :-P

p.s. 79.... DAMN IT

Escape from Alcatraz 2010 ... -25 days

Blogging from Hsinchu ( TW )...

It is 6.30am, did a quick count..and shut it is -25!

The last 2 days were spent flying over to China, so total rest time and terrible frequent food. I had to see my weight.... 78KG... SHUT.

This pic is the view from my hotel room... nice... king of the castle, king of the castle.

I am going to use this week to work and complete all the business I have here but also to cleanse my body. My goal is to be back at 75, right where I was when my parents arrived in SF :-).

Now I am off to an early morning swim ( hopefully the pool here is big enough ), then shower and then... need to find my way to the office, If I only I had chinese classes at school :-).

Escape from Alcatraz 2010 ... -27 days

Uff, one day of no blogging and I almost felt guilty about it.

This was the last week end with my parents visiting SF and gosh If I feel like time went by too fast in these past 8 days. I am taking them back to the airport in few hours.

-27 days to this race! Saturday morning we visited Alcatraz as "tourists" and I did feel the pressure every time I had a look at the choppy water... my mother is so desperate about it, I told her I will bring a magnet and attach myself to the closest boat... in case :-).

Training wise, could not do much in the last 2 days... Running 7m, Swimming 3K, Running 11m.... but all this was slow and did not feel right... maybe the food load was heavier than expected this past week.

I am getting ready to go to Taiwan (for work) this Monday... hopefully there will be a decent pool to get all the swimming training done.

Leaving another pic I found in Alcatraz... the phrase says it all!

Escape from Alcatraz 2010 ... -29 days

What is the best way to celebrate the -30 days milestone? Well I did everything an athlete should not do. Eat like there is no tomorrow for 24hrs and sleep only 3 hours... This morning I simply feel exhausted, with no power what so ever to get out and run and heavy .... really heavy :-( uff.

Yesterday ev I had a little 8 miles run. Decent pace but still in pain from Tuesdays stairs. Some this morning that is the only pain that does not bother me anymore.

Pic of the day must be GNOCCHI!

Tonight I will try to get a hilly run and a speed session in the swimming pool... but my bed will meet me as soon as 10pm I guess.

Ah one good thing... I am starting playing with cold showers... to get used to the water temperature for the race.... I can stay 30secs under cold shower..... lol... so far from being ready!

Escape from Alcatraz 2010 ... -30 days

One month from now..... I do feel the pressure, god if I do.

This week with my parents and grandma visiting from Italy is working great, the training is slowing down a lot and the amount of quality food just keep increasing day after day. After all this was planned to be a "recovery week" on my plan!

The pic of the day will be how I dressed up for April 1st @ work!

Training wise, yesterday was an progression swim 3K ( 120laps ) 1K slow, 1K strong, 1K race pace. No wonder why I ate everything on the table@ Dario's resto.

Now back to work... with this silly shorth/shirt and tie combo... Today easy 8miles run and yet another family dinner!!!