Thanks Mr Obree.

Hi ya,

I would like to take a moment to thank Mr Greame Obree the world famous cyclist for helping me become the person I am today. Not entirely cycling related, although I do intend to adopt his philosophies when I resume training.

So what was it that inspired me to thank My Obree? Possibly an off the cuff/ throw away remark he made during an interview on a podcast from Velo Don Logan.  The comment went along the lines of "Practicing/training until it becomes second nature" "until it becomes as simple as picking up or reaching for a coffee cup" 

Over the last 12 months I have changed from being a chef. To now teaching cookery at the local college. The learning curve for the job has been massive. I am by no means an academic, but with every challenge thrown my way I set myself a task of repetition and focus. Training my mind until the task at hand became second nature. I recently passed a very important “Management Observation” where I found the Obree “Coffee cup mantra” looping through my head. I know this does not work for everyone, but it did for me.

So for that little nugget of wisdom, I thank you Mr Obree.

:-)

Soon as I get my Kindle Account working again I will be downloading the book. But for anyone else interested follow this link. http://www.obree.com/store.php 




PS Good luck with your next challenge.

Brix.

Still alive but...

It's been 4 weeks since I was knocked off my bicycle during a training ride. The wounds have all healed, but the scars remain. Still no bike, no running or any swimming. The knees have been pretty messed up since the wreck. Getting very sore after an hour on my feet. The weight is going up, morale is going down.
I have had to pull out of the rest of this season's races too. So no vitruvian triathlon for me now.
I was thinking about heading out for a gentle run-walk today. Will have to see how that works out and if the knees can take it.
Be safe out there. Wear a helmet when cycling. And drivers... Don't take chances with cyclists, I'm sure you can wait that extra 5 seconds to pass, overtake or turn across.

Cley Windmill

Just had a fantastic evening at Cley Windmill in North Norfolk. I cannot recommend this highly enough. This was probably the most perfect weekend of my life! Here are just a few photos from this weekend! 

http://s1192.photobucket.com/albums/aa326/Brix2tri/Cley%20Windmill/

Veggie or not veggie?...

.....that is the question.

I am seriously considering giving up meat. After a heavy weekend of burgers, fry-ups and all round badness on a dietary front. I feel that I could comfortably cut out meat from my diet. I have put on 9lb (Now 13st 8lb) in 4 to 5 weeks due to poor diet and lack of running, cycling and swimming.

The plan, at the moment, is to go meat free Monday to Saturday. Then allow meat on a Sunday if fancied until the end of the year. Then a reassessment.

 I have no issue with animal welfare really. I love bacon. But sometimes, you have to set the ones you love, free:-)

I feel my biggest problems will come from the fact that I am a chef. Working in an environment where I can be surrounded with little snacky bits of cooked meat. Chicken breast here, bacon rasher there! Also, I have the will power of a... I don't know what, something with little will power anyway!...that's me! It will be hard, but that's life. I'll just give it a go.

At the start of the year I cut caffeine out of my diet too. After the initial head-aches, I found this quite easy to deal with. Although, I did find it affected my training mojo. I have, more recently, slipped back into coffee world. I would like to start reducing my caffeine now again too.

Hope this all leads up to starting 2012 lighter, fitter and mentally stronger. All ready and set for a season of sweet runs and sweeter triathlons.



So start the countdown 10, 9, 8,7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1..... I am now a part-time vegetarian*

Links  --- Vegetarian Society


*Not sure if i will be including fish!

Weekend break in Hopton

I have just got back from a weekend away with the family. We spent Friday, Saturday and Sunday at Haven holiday village in Hopton. The resort itself was really nice. Quite literally, on the beach. We are already planning a mini Triathlon camp there for next year :-) 

The food at Haven was what I expected! Traditional menu of bought-in classics in the restaurant. Pizza (Papa Johns) everywhere. Burger bars, candy floss, all the normal unhealthy resort stuff. We only ate in the restaurant once. This was to celebrate Abby (my wife's) bingo win. £361....Ker-Ching!!! 

For a starter, I went for the whole baked Camembert. Followed by a Gourmet burger thing. Both pretty darned tasty.

The puddings were a bit of a disaster, but I won't go in to that too much. The kitchen had run out of Whipping cream, chocolate and vanilla ice cream. This meant the sundae's that the kids had ordered were made with clotted cream. Not nice. Also the fruit salad which my daughter was served was barely worthy of being called a fruit salad. Lemon tart was nice. 

Now, I seem to have gained a few pounds over the last few weeks (now 13st 8lb usually 12st11) I'm still recovering from my hernia op. Will start back with a diet of some sort soon.....Maybe!

That is all! :-)

Just a few videos (Velo)

My wife has instructed me to stay in bed today. I had an para-umbilical hernia operation on Saturday. So i've just been chilling watching random cycling stuff from the web! here are a few gems which made me smile! 

Lois Malle Film "Vive le Tour" 1960's

 Le Velo, back then!

Le velo Now!

My boy Gregory drifting on a Fixie, love it!

Not a natural winner??? (blog post)

This year I have won a Zipvit Tri suit, a £50 wiggle voucher and some Haribo goodies I even managed a first place in a marathon team relay at a recent event.

What is going on???

 On a personal level, it’s not winning but almost. I recently applied for a college course. As part of the application process I was asked to sit an online literacy and numeracy test. Anyone who reads this, or previous posts will know that my literacy skills are not the best. I mean, you should see how many red squiggles are on this page now, before I hit the spell-check button! Anyway, I spent two to three days studying/refreshing my math and English skills, and after a stressful few hours I passed the tests with higher scores than I expected. That feeling of accomplishment is awesome.

 I know life balances out. This is one of my firm beliefs. You just have to view it with perspective. To say “you win some, you lose some” may feel like a cop out, but really, that is it!

I used to wonder why I never won anything, though the reality is that I have been a winner all my life. I don’t mean for that to sound as wanky as it does. What I mean is, I have a good life, my wife is my best friend, my kids stress me out sometimes, but they are great kids. I have had employment all of my working life, my parents are enjoying their retirements. I have a roof over my head (admittedly, a massive never-ending mortgage). All these things and more add up to, in my mind, a win.

 I may bitch on Twitter and Facebook about my running/cycling/triathlon training. I’ll complain about not racing due to this hernia thing. But that is not ALL my life. I have perspective.

 I have said before, I am looking forward to 2012. I can’t wait to see what it brings personally, academically and *sportingly. 

 

....touch wood! :-)

 

*is that a word?