17.4.2009

ENGLISH:

• myself: slow progress on the tendons. Biking daily. Today I went for a Time Trial to use as yardstick (well, obviously on the bike...). 15km at "medium effort" (I would say like marathon effort) in 25' (it is around 35kmh). Let's see how I will develop from here.
  

• running world: next sunday is very juicy... several friends and several "blogger runners" of my interest will run in a bunch of marathons around the world... my best wishes to all of them !! (list is below)
  

ITALIANO

• io: progresso lento. Bicicletta tutti i giorni. Oggi ho fatto un test a sforzo medio sui 15km, in 25' (sopra i 35kmh). Vediamo cosa riusciro' a fare in futuro (una ventina di anni fa potevo tenere forse attorno ai 42kmh...)
• altri corridori: domenica e' veramente affollata di corse attorno al mondo e dovro' seguire (spiritualmente) tutti i miei amici e corridori bloggers impegnati in maratona attorno al mondo. Ecco la lista

- Boston: my protege' Suet-fei (she goes for a big PB...) , Pauline + others from HK, Thomas (I hope a sub-3 for him), Michael (from Canada), Ryan (a very fast guy)

- Vienna: the fastest sumo-runner in the world, Simone

- Nagano:  fellow HK runner KaHo and HoKi...

hope I did not forgot anyone. In bocca al lupo... good luck...

Update / aggiornamento

ENGLISH:
From now on, I will try to add also a Italian version of the posts because more and more running friends from Italy are keen to read this blog in native language.
Then in short:
- tendons: not any remarkable improvement. Out of bed, I walk crippled around like a old grandpa. Also a small walk lets me painful. I do make eccentric stretching daily.
- biking: 6 times/week... Around 30km each time. Shall I think about racing again ?....
- morale: stationary and resigned to the fate....
- weight: slight increase. The trip to Italy did not help... But I have some great restaurant to recommend around Treviso.
I also come home with 30lbs of italian delicacies stored in the suitcase (Parma Ham, Parmesan, etc), so now I must eat..

ITALIANO
Per accontentare I lettori italiani che mi hanno chiesto di bloggare in Italiano, d'ora in poi cerchero' anche di "postare" in Italiano (Oddio, dopo 10 anni all'estero Il mio lessico sta precipitando..)
- tendini: nessun miglioramento significativo. La mattina appena alzato sembro un nonnetto zoppicante. Anche dopo una camminata, I'll dolore si fa persistente. Faccio esercizi di streching eccentrico.
- bici: 6 volte alla settimana, 30km alla volta.
- morale: cosa posso dire... Ormai I'll termine piu' adatto e' rassegnato..

Polar oriented training log

I copy/paste a message from a reader. Message which may be useful for other runner who use Polar HRM.
The web-based training log looks interesting.

..........................................
You may be interested to test training calendar I've developed for Polar HRM :
http://polartrainer.free.fr
(my own training: jp75018).
You can create your account or download (open source) from
http://www.php-endurance.org
Note: works only in Metric Units
.........................................

News?

Well, not much. Same routine cycling, stretching, treatment and no running.
Maybe is going better, but was enough to go for a walk with my daughter to have more pain for few days later...
I am now boarding the plane HK-Helsinki-Milan for a business trip and I am somehow emotional to land in Italy after more than a year.
(The drawback is a week with no cycling and no treatment, but it should not make huge difference at this poiny)

Travel tips: if you need spare parts/accessories for your Suunto o Polar, the duty-free of Helsinki's airport carries a huge selection... Probably the most well supplied shop of Polar stuff I have ever seen (I guess that downtown Helsinki might offer maybe even more..)

always on wheels

a short update...

the tendons are recovering slowly, but in the right direction. I found a very good physioterapist and maybe once it is all over I would make a more detailed report on the therapies that I am following.

I now cycle almost every day, around 25/30k. For a former full time cyclist is a bit "painful" to feel the pedals so "heavy" but I enjoy my rides (both in Dongguan and Hong Kong).

Unfortunately I am stuck to the usual short loops, but the area does not offer better.

Sunday I found myself in the new role as "ice breaker",  escorting by bike the leaders at the local Shatin 10K race. More than 1500 runners lined up for this classic race which usually mark the last chance for a fast time... the incoming spring will put everybody in slow gear.

In 2008 I end up in 2nd place, but I must honestly say that this year level was amazingly higher: at the start the usual Kenyan T.K. + a fast Ethiopian (no idea on who he is, but reported as 28' 10k runner !!) + all the fastest local runners...

Since the race is hold in a cycle path open to the public, my role was basically to open the way for the runners, shouting to all walkers, dog strollers, cyclist to get out of the way.

Police in HK does not care a shit about sport events, so the organizer is on his own to ensure the safety of the partecipants...

We (me and the top runners) risked several collisions and the most scaring part was when (in the out-and-back course) we begun to share the narrow path with the stream of runners still going in the other direction... I was barely able to open the way, shouting in multi-language to get out of the way and keep the left side... 

All said, it was pretty exciting to see from that close T. the Kenyan and Stefano battle all the way to the 7k mark, where T. pulled away to close with a 20" lead. Big applause to Stefano, for crushing his PB by 20"/25" !! His level now (31'20" on a slow course) is amazing for an amateur runner !!.

The Ethiopian DNF for some injury and many other friends scored impressive times.

Here below a pic of the start. Please note the trees and pillars right in the middle of the path... that's a HK style fast course...

New Race... old winner...

Zhuhai (a coastal city in Guangdong, nearby Macao) launched a new Half Marathon.

When I heard about the new race, I was a bit wary, because organization of events in China can be either perfect with a huge deployment of resources or a total disaster, without too much of a middle way.

It turned out that, because of the support of the local government and the savy involvement of an experienced race organizer, it was a huge success.

Even more pleasant was that my fellow Stefano did win the race, in a relaxed (for him) 1h11' (it was only 2 weeks after the marathon, I recommended him to take it easy).

2nd place for an Australian, just moved in the area and then a score of runners from HK.

Some good pictures of the event, so you may have an half idea to come for a race to China...

(fast and flat course, running along the sea promenade of Zhuhai, it was a misty day)

(some familiar faces in the lead group... hope we could train again together, guys...)

(it is not the usual post race entertainment....)

(the setting for the finish lines looks really world class !!)

(race announcer, chinese way...)

(start)

(the winner mobbed by local press... funny to have 5 policemen and 5 security guards on the background, but is China..)

HK rank

the local HK Ahtletics published the 2008 athletes ranking.

MAN

WOMAN

unfortunately it is full of mistakes (for road races..) and some mis-spelling of the name of the athletes are "tragic"...

they (the HKA) attracts a huge dose of criticism for their management of the sport, so also this rank is in line with usual quality of their operations...

Personally I am glad to see that I am ranked (under 2 different spellings, sic):

5000m track: never run in 2008... not ranked

10000m track: 3rd (accurate)

10k road: 8th (maybe accurate)

15k road: not run any

Half Marathon: 10th (using a wrong timing, I should be 8th...)

Marathon: did I run any marathon in 2008?...(I want to forget)

Good to see that I can make the Top10 even in a season that was quite unfortunate...