Friday 30 December 2011

New toys... Garmin Edge 800 and Suunto Memory belt






My old Garmin 705 gave up last week. I managed to fix it partly but the mapping system still doesn't wanna work. I can upload any pre-made route plan, 705 put my 190k Oxford loop on the screen all the time. I was a bit afraid to get bored easily with this lap, I decided to make some update on my training partner. 705 worked 4 years for me, he did the job! RIP!

Thursday 29 December 2011

Rapha 500... only once! - Part 1

Oh well, big plan, good start and early finish! That is how I can describe my Rapha 500 twice plan. My coach was a bit sceptic from the beginning, because I had lots of training during the last 3 weeks and he was planning to have a rest week for me. Everything went well at the beginning, but around Xmas and Boxing day my sleep and rest were not right and my form started to go a bit pear shape. Nothing serious, but my coach pulled the brake and told me to STOP. I can't take any risk, because my first training camp is coming up in 10 days time. No point to go away with some cold or over training and can't enjoy my "holiday"! But no real reason for moaning, I had enough fun and some great ride in this 5 days.


Monday 19 December 2011

New sponsorships and long rides

Last two weeks.... Well, they were not quite. For starter, two weekends ago I moved house. It was a bit draft idea to ride nearly 5 hours and finish off my training 1,5 hours before the moving started. Anyway, I am over on it now, I live the doorstep of Richmond park and 5 minutes from work and my cat is overly happy with the bigger space. It was a bit hard to concentrate to recovery and packing out in the same time...

Tuesday 6 December 2011

KASK

Well, you know already, KASK helmets are going to protect my head in the future. I received sponsorship from KASK's UK distributor, Velo Brands. This guys have other great brands on board as well, like RH+ , Chapeau, Juicy Lube and Cyfac. Take a look on Velo Brands's website! The sponsorship includes 2 KASK Vertigo top of the range helmets. 


New sponsorships on board!

I have some very exciting news! I got two new sponsorships during last week!


The first one is KASK by Velo Brands. I received two top of the range KASK Vertigo helmets in Lime/White colour and a tub of Chapeau chamois cream for try. I started to use one of the helmet immediately and I am going to share my thought about it soon.




The other sponsor is GOOD Hemp Nutrition, who is going to supply me with vegan protein during the next season. I am just waiting my delivery at the moment from this guys.








I finished of November's last weekend with a 140k Sunday ride. I rode out to Box hill on a longer way then my usual and I came back via Virginia Water and Windsor. It was a great ride and stunning weather!

Last week I had an easy rest week, with very little ride and lots of sleep, but since this morning I am back on the hard training. I am still off from running, left glut area is still sore.

Keep moving! I am going to come back with more information about my sponsors ASAP!


Friday 25 November 2011

Busy days..


 Wohooo, I am here again!

I had 9 busy days since my last post.

Training is going well as usual. I had a good and productive last week and I have a bit easier plan for this week. Only one small annoying thing... I have to take a break from running for couple of weeks. My left ITB/TFL combo started to play up a bit and  I try to prevent any damage. Mr SuppleWorX  works hard on the problem and thanks for Martin's magic hand and RockTape UK, my left butt section is better day to day. Poor Martin couldn't fold and massage me enough in the last couple of sessions...my muscles have a grumpy days.. may be I should stretch a bit more?!

Wednesday 16 November 2011

After a while...


Hey ho!

I know, I know... I've been a bad boy.....
I haven't done anything with this blog in the last 3 months. Well... I wasn't really in the blogging mood and I had better things to do then writing about nonsense. But, now it HAS to change and I am going to update it at least on weakly basis.

Let see what happened in the last 3 months....

- my english definitely didn't get better (in case you were annoyed already with my poor english, STOP reading now and change page!!!)
- I had a very good rest month in September and I started to train properly again from beginning of October! Hurra! It means I am back in the saddle again!
- I made my first entry for a next season 24 hour solo race! 
- I continuously fiddled around with my diet... nearly perfect... nearly!
- I've been in Hungary to visit family and friends and I had a good time and lots of fun
- I got sponsorships! Yes, sponsorships!!! More... couple... couple of very good and useful one.
  The actual list here, but I am going explain everything in my next post!


And some other ones on my plate, we just have to finalise details!

Well, that's all at the moment! So far so good everything. Training is going very well, my FTP improved 10% in 3 weeks and I am going to be freacking strong in next season! 

I am off now to see Smashing Pumpkins! Keep looking, more is coming soon!


Thursday 25 August 2011

Passed exam and other bits...


Hello everyone!

I haven't posted anything nearly 3 weeks ago. I had couple of hard days, a gym instructor exam and lots of fun over the last 20 days. Let see it in nutshell!

Saturday 6 August 2011

London in the summer time...

The name of the post is a phrase from Red Hot's Emit Remmus song! It is a wicked song and I am going to listen Red Hot in LIVE! :) Oh yeh, big Red Hot has a concert in London 3 months time and I have ticket! :)

But this phrase is actual now!
We have some summer feeling here...

Tuesday 2 August 2011

Vibram Five Fingers- first ride


I surprised myself with a pair of Vibram Five Fingers Bikila couple of weeks ago. I didn't buy them just for running, I bought them for all rounder every day usage as well.

Friday 29 July 2011

Mavic Ksyrium SR, the perfect all rounder

I think it is time to say something about my "new" Mavic wheels.

Monday 25 July 2011

Reloaded


The plastic surgery was successful and my new lover is lighter, faster and prettier then ever!

Monday 18 July 2011

School and exams week

Ok, the beginning of the job is done. I am over 4 exams, 3 super intensive school days and a hefty stock check. It means I didn't have an off day since last Monday and I am going to work true this week. 12 days in the row!
I have to take a bit easy my training for a couple of days, I slightly over pushed myself in the last couple of weeks. I had a lots of study and not enough sleep, but I still did my 9-12 hours weeks. Last week was the hardest, I managed to do around 8,5 hours in 5 days. It doesn't sound to much, but if you pair this amount of training ( over 70k run, 100k cycling and couple of heavy gym sessions) with daily average 4 hours sleep, stress and exams, you can have some idea about the impact. Yesterday I felt my hips wanna fell off. I skipped my planed afternoon run and gym session, and I had some "feet up" time instead. I have to learn, when should I draw the line. I made this mistake enough time during the last two seasons, and now time to learn and understand!
Sunday morning 5:15, Richmond park

W. Cromwell road...


Chill out Sunday afternoon, swordfish steak with corn and Belgian beers..


I have couple of exciting news ( one is very exciting, but I can't really speak about it at the moment...) , I passed all my 4 exams during the weekend. I spent 3 days on the Gym Instructor course in Chiswick. My final level 2 exam is in 4 weeks time. Wowww.. time to pull up the socks again! Bring it on, personal trainer life is waiting for me! :)

My next season plan is started to be round and I have more and more information, sponsorship, help... but the time isn't here yet to talk about it!

Ok, I am off to a run now, here is couple of photos from the last few days!


Monday 11 July 2011

Last two weeks in review



Last two weeks were incredible busy, I didn't have time for everything... I didn't touch my blog as well. I am deeply in my PT study, school days and exams are coming up on this Friday. But I still had some fun during this two weeks. Because I still haven't got too much time, let see the last 14 days in pictures!



I made my first sushi




And I ate all...


I ran to work on last Saturday morning... easy 20k start for a day!



I received my new CompresSport gears! Thanks for CompresSport UK!


I cathed the moment with Hipstamatic


Bought a new PowerTap.... It means , I am back on the track soon!



Got one of the greatest present! Pink cable ends! :) (cheers Martin!)



I enjoyed some very nice coffee from Ecuador



I got my new Ipad 2! New toy... and it made study much easier!



I had an awesome Nicosian salad with real tuna steak from my lunch box



I been in Italy with Willier for 3 days. I rode lots of nice bike, like this Cento Uno XC.



I bought my first Vibram Five Fingers...




I built a DREAM bike! Vanilla Speedvagen





I lost a bit in the City of London... sometime good to feel how cool London is!


I had some watermelon during the 2 day long British summer...



And I rode more in Italy



On this brand new Willier 0.7



And touched Pantani's bike


And rode my new lover... Miss CAAD5 6.9(kg)

Picked up my 2012 racing rig! Oh yeh! (big thanks for Mr. Jago!)


And the numbers:

I attempted 50 anatomy online lessons

I studied around 30 hours

I did a lots of work....

Next all of this, I managed more then 18 hours training....

And I slept 5-6 hours every day (not a lot..)

And I had lots of fun!

Now, I am off to study a bit more... I will be back with more stuff beginning of next week!


Wednesday 29 June 2011

Food food food... and some pink

Since I finished my fruitarian diet, I try to get back normal. After my last Thursday jump out I started my new culinary journey. I try to put back some cooked food and meat just gradually in my diet, I have to get used to it. I had some minor digestion problem in the first few days, but now everything looks ok!

I was eating fruit and veg all day long on Friday, but I had some additional Honey Stinger protein bars. My body was craving so badly after protein, and it is still.... Adel and me decided to go out for a dinner Friday night. I found a very good looking little restaurant in Westfield. The place called Pho. It is an authentic Vietnamese restaurant and it sells freshly made noodle dishes. I had a massive bowl of wok fried rice noodle with chicken, prawn , lemongrass and peanut sauce (usually I don't eat peanut, but sometimes you need it...). Adel had some beef steak and meatball soup with a massive amount of rice pasta. And we shared couple of summer roll with peanut sauce. The meal was delicious and my body just sucked everything in. After a little chat we made our way to home, but on the way out I seen a Pret a Manger. I was craving after one particular Pret sandwich in a last few days. I walked in, when I just got told , tills are closed, sorry. I got a panic attack! :) I tried to buy a sandwich.... The manager was a nice guy and he just gave me the sandwich free! Wow! BTW, Pret has a freshness promise, the stuff what left over are going in the bin end of the day.

Light menu..
Bowl of love!
Pret rocks! OOOOOHHHHH YEEEEEE!





Saturday morning I headed out for a short run after 4 days full off from training. Legs were a bit stiff in the first couple of k, but end of the day I felt great! After work on the way home I popped in to see Martin and we finished of his new toy. He bought an old (okok not too old) Sigma carbon TT frame on Sigma's sale and we turned it for a single speed commuter monster. He did a rest of the job, I just had to swap over the crank from his other bike. It wasn't an easy process, removing alloy cup BB from a steal frame...thread is soaked in lock tight, but with some McGiver tricks we solved the problem. On the evening I dig myself in the kitchen and made some avocado stuffed sweet potato and turkey fajita. It was so good, but the too much
bell pepper blow up me like a air balloon.
Martin mobile

Avocado stuffed sweet potato with turkey fajita



But not just Martin has a new toy! I rebuilt my CAAD5 on last Thursday night. The bike got nearly everything new, just a frame, wheels and saddle stayed the same! Here is a photo and more details are coming soon.
My love...



One day later my new shoes turned up! Limited edition Rapha Condor Giro. Only made 600, mine one is a 471. I ordered it nearly 5 months ago... but worst the wait, it perfectly match my bikes colour!
Pimp high...

Sunday morning I taken out CAAD for a short ride. I just did easy 65k but I was very impressed with a bike. I changed couple of set ups and now it feels far better then before. I spent a rest of the Sunday with study, but I still had time for a little Whole Foods trip, meet with friends and a quick gym workout.




After the last month muscle mass loose, I decided to bulk back a little bit quickly. I pushed up my protein intake and I am going to do drop sessions in the next 4 weeks. I hope I can get back around 64,5-65kg quickly with a less as possible fat gain. From Monday my diet is still strictly clean again and I try to eat much raw as possible.




Monday was a madhouse, but a very very good day! I started a day with a little bike build for my friend. After I went to see MArtin , who played with my legs 2 hours and made my mood better. We had a good chat with him and his girlfriend Sue and I changed my world view! :) Cheers guys!


After the treatment we headed out to Look Mum No Hand for a lunch. We rode across the whole city, flow in the traffic! It was a great ride and I realized again, how cool is London, when you are see the things from the right angle... but, I have to buy a single speed ASAP! Because this trip also remembered me, why I hate to ride single speed riders, when I am on geared bike! Ehhh, it is suck!


Journey wasn't too long, but Martin managed to get a puncture with his super light (condom?!) inner tubes. No panic, mechanic on the board, we solved it in 5 minutes.


Great salad lunch in LMNH, and ride home. I had an other meeting in Barnes later on the day.
Look mum salad....

I went to see a new friend. We don't know each other long time ago, but hopefully it is beginning of the beautiful friendship...


Cut the long story short, a beer later I had a very very good sponsorship deal in my pocket for next season! I am neraly covered! I don't really want to share more details at the moment, but it looks a bloody fXXking big help! We finished the meeting with a nice dinner in Red Lion pub in Barnes. Hmm... I had some awesome lamb steak with salad!
Wollie Bollie bahhhh bahhhhh






Tuesday morning was a bit adventure. I went for an early run, I planed to run 13-14k, but I finished with nearly 19... I did a wrong turn on one place! :) The humidity and temperature were killer.

The last two days went quick and I am just finished with the pack in! I am off to Italy tomorrow morning for 3 days. I am going to see Willier's 2012 products launch! Stay tuned, keep looking, lots of interesting stuff is coming up!

Sunday 26 June 2011

30 days - end of my journey

Well, I am done with my fruitarian journey. I was planing couple of more weeks end of last week, but I decided to pull out and switch back to normal diet. I finished off my 30th day on Thursday and I had normal cooked food and meet again on Friday night.
Why did I make this decision?

Lets see! First of all my body weight drastically dropped in this 30 days period. I didn't loose only body fat, I lost a fair bit of muscle mass as well. My weight went down from 63kg to 60,5 (that was the lowest one in the 30 days) and my body fat was 4.8% on last Monday! I consumed mad amount of calories every day (over 4000 kcal) and a ton of greens, but my body weight didn't settle. The first two week's energy rush and good mood started to change tiredness and lack of energy. After the 20th day I had to start use my alarm clock again, I wasn't able to wake up automatically anymore. I woken up 1 hour later every morning then my usual time and I still was tired and I didn't have a mood to do any exercise. My recovery was far slow, I had muscle soreness from any small amount of training. I cut my finger and it still didn't heal after 1,5 weeks! (usually it takes me 2-3 days). After the 25th day I was ready to jump out in any critical moment. I totally stopped training on the last 5 days, eat a mad amount of calories and try to keep up until the 30th day!

In the same time a tried to find the answer for my questions! I read every related topic on 30bananas a day forum and I explained my problems as well. I had lots of very very "clever" and interesting answer. Basically the weight I lost, it isn't muscle , it was just crap and excess water! Wowww.... I wasn't a particular muscular build in the lest 2 years but now I look like a 13 year old teenager boy... Oh, well, I see, my muscles were full with crap! OK!
I had a sport related question as well, about "How can you run any endurance event on LFHR diet and how many top athlete follow this diet?". Well... I got a good explanation from team (and religion) leader Durianrider, basically no really LFHR top athlete (except Mike Arnstein) because everybody is a drug addict and dooper and nobody bother to change his current diet. And the same time Durian started to polish himself and his "sport carrier". Well! How many race have you finished on the podium , mate? NONE!
I started to have a feeling , that something is a bit not right with this bunch of guys on the forum. Durian is well know about attacking other diet gurus publicly.... like Mark Sisson, who is one of the leader paleo/primal diet guru. I am follower of Mark's blog and I never ever seen any slag off and judging about other diets. Everybody has opinion and most of people can share it in diplomatic form.
Durian blame all diet gurus are ripping off the public and try to sell his own products the public and tell for people , what people wanna hear...
Well, dear Durian, how much is your monthly fee of your " lifestyle advice"???? $2000/month? About what? Telling people, eat bananas and drink water? Well.... I think this is a rip off!
Anyway, I don't give a flying shit for this guy and his plastic tits girlfriend (who talks about natural lifestyle...). I hope you will be responsible for somebodies death one day! Your attitude is CRAP! (please note, this is not related with 80/10/10 diet, it is all about Durian)

Ok, move on! I started to do deep research on fruitarian diet failures and I found lots of interesting info again! Most of the fruitarian , who stopped this diet after 3-5 years, when started to have deficit on certain nutrition, talk about cheating during the diet. That is explain how people can survive on this diet that long!
Usually tooth failures is very common problem and this people blame cooked food and diets before. I found some extreme case, when people lost teeth and thought it is all ok, because the body just detox out the bed teeth...
The B12 and D vitamin deficit are just coming out years later.

Anyway! I did my little proof and I learned a lots of new things, but I had to realised this diet can't work on long term. (definitely not for me!). My goal wasn't to switch 80/10/10 diet fully and live on forever, I just wanted to try out!
Very good feeling to be lean, but what does it worth, if you haven't got strength in the same time?!
You feel yourself incredible light and fast...but this feel is just temporally and will switch to tiredness and slow motion.
I think this diet is great for end of season detox, carry on it for couple of weeks with zero or very small amount of training. Eating lots of fruit can be very beneficial for your performance, but you have to find the right balance. Raw food is one of the best for you without any shadow, but you also need some cook food as well! I started to eat cooked food, meat and other whole foods again and my cut finger hailed in two days.......
I am eating everything what my body craves in the last 3 days. I had some "bad" stuff as well, but I am full back to my healthy diet in couple of days time. I try to get back most of my muscle mass and strength as soon as possible. And I am going to keep one full fruit day every week!

The banana with you! And bear in mind eat some nice tasty but less healthy stuff sometime, because sometime you have to enjoy life.....

Monday 20 June 2011

Hurry up...

My last week started very slowly but it turned to be fast lane after couple of days. First of all the weather was CRAP, thanks for Dave.... I was moaning about low temperatures on Wednesday afternoon, when Dave had a big speech about how lucky we are with dry weather and we shouldn't give a flying fXXk for low temp! Since this big clever talk I managed to get fully soaked at least once each day, basically it rains now EVERY day! Cheers mate! :)

Beginning of the week my black Sram Red rear mech's due date has changed again and went forward 5 more weeks. I had enough, I canceled the back order and I ordered the normal silver version, which turned up next day. I have everything on site now, I just have to manage find some time slot for my CAAD5's plastic surgery. I hope I can do it before weekend and I can test the new baby during the weekend.

I decided to speed up a bit my PT study and I started to make major effort on studying. Thanks for couple of really good friends I fly forward and get the necessary knowledge with incredible speed. I try to hurry up to finish of the school ASAP and my Gym Instructor exam is on middle of August! Hurra!

Mainly I ran last week and I just went out two times for a ride. I wasn't really in the riding mood during this "lovely" English summer rain period....



I did some speed workout during the week and I planed to run a race today but thanks for my weekend private gym course, the couple of shower I decided to don't do it. It is a trail race and I am not really in the mud swim mood..sorry.

I headed out for a 60+k ride Wednesday morning and it was pretty good! Weather was a bit windy, but the banana engine worked well and I turned up to work with a big smile on my face. My Sunday ride was a bit less fun at the beginning. I planed to do my usual Croydon- Epson- Richmond lap, but I got a puncture in Croydon. I quickly managed to change the tube, but my only one CO2 cartridge taken the Micky out of me and unscrewed my valve core. I stand with flat tyre and no pumping device with me 7 o'clock middle of Croydon. Thanks God, some other rider came past me and stopped to help. He had a such a crap pump, but I managed to put around 50 PSI in my rear tyre with 180 pumping movements. It was enough pressure to ride home and top up the tyre. I decided to carry on the ride but I changed plan. I went out to ride a lap in Richmond park and I headed to the city directions. I invited myself for a coffee... Where? Look mum no hands! Oh yeh! This is one of the coolest bike related cafeteria in London. I never been here before, time was here! This place is amazing! Check it out!

After a quick coffee and my necessary purchase I headed home and eat 15 bananas quickly.

I spent most of the afternoon in Barnes with one of my friend. She is a PT and she try to help my preparation to the course. I learned lots of new things.... and I have a quite intensive muscle soreness today. Lol!

Monday was a day of the rest and calm....or not?! I headed out for a short recovery run first thing and after all I picked up the "bargain of the Monday" on the market! I bought 39! huge size Valencian oranges for £8. I already managed to eat 22 end of the day....

I went to see Martin (Mr Elastic band, Super stretcher, Muscle whisper SuppleWorX man) , who gave some good squeeze for my legs and fixed my right painful elbow. After the 2 hour long human origami we moved in the kitchen with Sue. We cooked some mega healthy lunch and also made some raw dessert. The menu was avocado stuffed sweet potato and paleo chicken fajita. My lunch was 7 more oranges... :) But end of the day I nibbled a little bit from the raw dessert!
Not for me... (at the moment!)
Raw goodness
Sue and my oranges...

Today was a manic day! I woken up so tired. I didn't have enough sleep and I made around 1000kcal deficit in my intake yesterday. I didn't pay enough attention. On 80/10/10 diet if you don't consume enough calories, you are going to be a zombie next day. I got myself "stabilized" at the end of the afternoon, but I decided to come home after work and don't do any exercise at all. No running, no cycling, no racing.... Bad bad Szabi...

BTW, yesterday was the end of my 4th week on low fat high carb raw vegan diet. I decided to carry on this diet couple of week longer. Little progress update is coming tomorrow, now I have to finish of my huge salad and go in the bed ASAP!

Saturday 11 June 2011

21st day!



3 week done already! I ate only fruits and some sort of veg in the last 21 days. I didn't touch any cooked food, animal products or processed food. I am on the Low Fat High Raw Vegan diet and I feel brilliant! No digestion problem, no hunger and no craving after cooked food! (I miss my extra dark chocolate only).

My body fat and body weight dropped drastically in the last 3 weeks. And I lost some muscle mass as well. I try to prevent muscle loosing now and I eat a ton of greens every day, includes 750-1000g of spinach.

Everyone was quite sceptical at the beginning but it turned to curiosity in the last 10 days and I get more and more interesting questions about my diet! One of the common question is: "How long do you wanna do this? " My answer is: " Longest I feel myself great!". If I start to crave after any other type of food, I will have it! Over the 4 weeks period I am not going to ban myself from any food. I am going to eat what my body wants. But, at the moment my body says: "I need more fruits!". I never been this lean and energetic in the same time. I think this is the ideal endurance athlete built!

My last week went very fast.
Couple of new bits turned up for my CAAD5 project in the last few days. I am only waiting for my new rear mech, which one was due yesterday, but date jumped forward couple days again. Hopefully the final missing part are coming Wednesday at the latest. Mike from Jim Walker was very kind and sorted out for me a great price on my new "cock pit". I ordered Thompson X2 stem and a Masterpiece seatpost. (pimping is never ending......) and in the same time I got a bargain on a brand new Easton EC90 SLX3 handlebar. It came from the same place then my Easton fork. I couldn't say NO for a £100 price. And thanks for Dave and his lovely wife Tina I didn't pay a single penny P&P! Tina went and picked up my handlebar from the shop and then Dave transported it for me from the far Harrow... :)


I am in love with Thomson parts. They are not the lightest and most technocrat parts on the market, but this each Thomson bit has a vibe... So industrial and looks very strong!

Since Richmond 10k I haven't done a huge amount of cycling. Somehow I prefer a bit more running at the moment than cycling. I think the reason the time efficiency. Lots of things going on around me and some change is coming up soon. This thing takes a lot out from my free time, but I reckon it worsts the effort! Hopefully 4 more weeks and everything is going to be settled again. I managed to ride only once last week (plus my weekly 100k commuting). I planed to ride a long one on Sunday, but the horrible rain and the 6000 miles/ hour wind kept me inside during the day. I just went down to the gym and ran 8k on treadmill last night.

I started to look a pair of new racing flats. I have 4 pairs of shoes already, but they are not enough. I know...this is bad! But I wanna get something very light and fast for my next 10k. Nike Lunar Racer 2? :) I am also looking the Brooks Green Silence, but I still have a big swoosh on my heart and I can't (and I don't want) give up my Nike freakness.....

Other new arrival of the week was my new water bottle. I ordered a CamelBak Grove bottle which one comes with a built in (and replaceable) water filter. It works on the same way than the Brita system. It has an little active carb filter. You just have to feel up the bottle with normal tap water and you can straight sipping out the fresh filtered water from the bottle. Save you time and money on long term. The filter is good enough for 3 months and the cost comes out cheaper then any mineral water.

Ok, I think now this is enough.... I have to get back to my little project! Carry on watching , if everything is gonna be alright , my new rear mech will turn up and I can make my CAAD5 full plastic surgery! :)