A little update on how the Bromptons survived their first air travel adventure.
The Red one came through without a scratch, the bag and packing system survived unscathed. The quick visual and examination showed nothing amiss.
The Green bikes luggage had a couple of nicks resulting in small rips in the fabric. The bike felt and looked fine at the time.
Once we arrived at our holiday apartment and the bags were fully unpacked the Red bike was as we surmised unscathed but the Green?
The Green we think had a fall landing on the corner of the luggage the metal underneath causing a cutting from the inside out causing the rips. The bike itself had further damage to the rear mud guard - it was damaged anyway and on returning home a new guard will be bought and fitted. The other damage in the fall was that the front brake calliper had been pushed into the wheel resulting in a rubbing of the brake block on that wheel rim. Squeak, squeak, squeak. That will also get fixed once we get back home.
So the bags were not quite as robust as we had hoped, perhaps a bit more padding would have helped but who knows. As first time Brompton tourists perhaps it was just unfortunate. The Red bike came though unscathed. The "fragile" air industry standard tag seemed to do it's job.
The Green still functions and took me along the coast yesterday, so it is still ridable and it is getting me around, more tomorrow.
Friday, 10 May 2013
Fitness as easy as A....B....C
Take one green Brompton bike
Throw in a red one
These bags are of the type you can pick up anywhere - here we have a running event sack from last years Frankfurt marathon, a professional conference delegate bag, a bag from the Great Swim series and a bag who's origin I haven't a clue. It seems we have moved from a pile of plastic bags to a pile of reusable ones.
Fill bags with your clothes in a cheap compartment, snuff sack sort of way. Before filling those gaps.
Then you stand back cross. your fingers worry you've missed something and head to the airport. To start that adventure it is as easy as
Adventure
Brompton
Catalunya
Thursday, 9 May 2013
Barcelona, Cursa de Bomber, 10km - the movies!
A few weeks on and later than hoped, the films were reluctant to load to "you tube" so I tried Vimeo and it worked.
The first film is before the event starts with thousands waiting in their orange and blue official and personally numbered shirts. What struck me was the babble of conversation and the excitement coursing through the runners. See for yourself.
Cursa de Bombers 10k, Barcelona, 2013 from Fegrig on Vimeo.
The second film is me just a few seconds after crossing the finish.
Running tourism is a great experience, where next?
Finished ! from Fegrig on Vimeo.
Wednesday, 8 May 2013
Cursa de Bombers
So it's done, the Cursa de Bombers has been tackled!
The race had approx 24,000 runners who were not hanging around it was a fast race with half finishing under 52:40!
The race in English - the Fireman's Race is an IAAF bronze label race is well run, well supported on and off the road as it winds around the streets and boulevards of Barcelona. It was a bit tight at times and I had to keep my wits about me for most of the run in order that I did not trip over another heels.
My Anglo Saxon running brain is used to the marshalls organising crossing points for people to cross over, not here, it was like a game of chicken but instead of dodging cars to get to the other side of the road it was a case of avoiding the multi pedal blue and orange machine, it was close!
Along the way I passed fire personnel in full gear, moving as fast as the weight would allow them, they got great support as they moved along kilometre by kilometre. The original race was started in support of the local fire service who were seeking improved conditions from their employer. I'm not sure how they got on but the race has tripled in size in the 14 year history of the event.
Some pics for you. This is me and the junior hairy one at the start of the race. In the background you can see the blue official shirt for the men and the orange for women.
The official shirted runners before the "gun".
10 km later, having just crossed the line, with positive splits - happy with that.
So the time 59:20. Very happy with that, especially on so little running, the knees held up too.
Junior did remarkably well, although he's hobbling now but he came in 3:20 later than me, so definitely room for growth.
So that's the adventure and if I can I will be back and try and bring that time down
: )
The race had approx 24,000 runners who were not hanging around it was a fast race with half finishing under 52:40!
The race in English - the Fireman's Race is an IAAF bronze label race is well run, well supported on and off the road as it winds around the streets and boulevards of Barcelona. It was a bit tight at times and I had to keep my wits about me for most of the run in order that I did not trip over another heels.
My Anglo Saxon running brain is used to the marshalls organising crossing points for people to cross over, not here, it was like a game of chicken but instead of dodging cars to get to the other side of the road it was a case of avoiding the multi pedal blue and orange machine, it was close!
Along the way I passed fire personnel in full gear, moving as fast as the weight would allow them, they got great support as they moved along kilometre by kilometre. The original race was started in support of the local fire service who were seeking improved conditions from their employer. I'm not sure how they got on but the race has tripled in size in the 14 year history of the event.
Some pics for you. This is me and the junior hairy one at the start of the race. In the background you can see the blue official shirt for the men and the orange for women.
The official shirted runners before the "gun".
10 km later, having just crossed the line, with positive splits - happy with that.
So the time 59:20. Very happy with that, especially on so little running, the knees held up too.
Junior did remarkably well, although he's hobbling now but he came in 3:20 later than me, so definitely room for growth.
So that's the adventure and if I can I will be back and try and bring that time down
: )
Saturday, 20 April 2013
The Barcelona Cursa Bombers 10km
Well here we are in sunny Barcelona, Spain once again this time not for a recharge and refresh break but as a running tourist, if that is indeed the proper term?
We are here to participate in the Barcelona Cursa Bombers 10km, the plan being junior and me would have put the Km's in the folder marked done. however alas and woe is me he's picked up a knee injury and I've been struggling to get the running legs going due to that necessary evil called work.
So today we are here and tomorrow (Sunday) we shall see what we can do alongside 26998 Spaniards.
First of all though we had to collect our numbers, well actually running or indeed event shirts. Your number is printed onto your running top which must be worn - great idea. Tomorrow a sea of blue (boys) and orange (girls) shirted runners will snake their way through the streets and boulevards of Barcelona.
You can see junior proudly displaying his natty 10km apparel.
The other pic here is taken of the entered runners name board, metre upon metre stretching over the 27,000 names. After some searching wading through a lot of Fernandez we couldn't find our names. We checked
"all runners on the wall?"
"si"
was the reply. It dawned on us that perhaps they had used our first name as the family name and indeed they had - twice?
Finally a picture of the route and the finish area. So off to sleep now to charge the batteries - walking or running type we shall see tomorrow.
We are here to participate in the Barcelona Cursa Bombers 10km, the plan being junior and me would have put the Km's in the folder marked done. however alas and woe is me he's picked up a knee injury and I've been struggling to get the running legs going due to that necessary evil called work.
So today we are here and tomorrow (Sunday) we shall see what we can do alongside 26998 Spaniards.
First of all though we had to collect our numbers, well actually running or indeed event shirts. Your number is printed onto your running top which must be worn - great idea. Tomorrow a sea of blue (boys) and orange (girls) shirted runners will snake their way through the streets and boulevards of Barcelona.
You can see junior proudly displaying his natty 10km apparel.
The other pic here is taken of the entered runners name board, metre upon metre stretching over the 27,000 names. After some searching wading through a lot of Fernandez we couldn't find our names. We checked
"all runners on the wall?"
"si"
was the reply. It dawned on us that perhaps they had used our first name as the family name and indeed they had - twice?
Finally a picture of the route and the finish area. So off to sleep now to charge the batteries - walking or running type we shall see tomorrow.
Friday, 5 April 2013
This Evenings Exercise
Walking is a greatly dismissed activity when it comes to exercise. If it's not clad in Lycra, the colour beetroot, syncing to 120 beats per minute, ducking and diving with a chunk of metal then it can't be exercise some say.
To those people I say pffffft!
Tonight was an excellent example of why it's great exercise, the daylight saving has brought lighter evenings back again, providing many more walking hours.
Although I think someone forgot to send winter it's seasonal redundancy notice as it still clings with its icicle nails at your exposed flesh, reluctant to let go. This though has the benefit of keeping those less willing to be chilled indoors. So it was just me and the dogs as we started our evening exercise.
First we passed the long deserted farm house, it's only visible inhabitant the Bush family.
Down the lane we strolled, the dogs sniffing the verges and grasses as if they were a couple of connoisseurs of some newly opened bottle of the finest malt.
The power lines provided a reminder that the need for power is never far away, but perhaps this is hydro electric power?
To those people I say pffffft!
Tonight was an excellent example of why it's great exercise, the daylight saving has brought lighter evenings back again, providing many more walking hours.
Although I think someone forgot to send winter it's seasonal redundancy notice as it still clings with its icicle nails at your exposed flesh, reluctant to let go. This though has the benefit of keeping those less willing to be chilled indoors. So it was just me and the dogs as we started our evening exercise.
First we passed the long deserted farm house, it's only visible inhabitant the Bush family.
The still visible impressions in the thawing earth of the long gone tractor that helped sow the newly sprouted seeds.
Down the lane we strolled, the dogs sniffing the verges and grasses as if they were a couple of connoisseurs of some newly opened bottle of the finest malt.
The power lines provided a reminder that the need for power is never far away, but perhaps this is hydro electric power?
As we retraced our steps on the return journey home the cool sun said goodbye as it started it's own travels to another place.
We returned under the span of the old railway bridge just at the same time as a train trundled overhead. The rational part of me unperturbed, the primal side creeping in a thought that said "what if the train falls on my head?"
The supporting stone now a mosaic of rust, lichen and whatever colour combinations Mother Nature has in her modernist period.
At home, boots off, cup of tea in hand, physiological and psychological exercise complete I sat outside on one of the garden chairs and watched the sun disappear over the western horizon.
It turned into something of a spectator event.
Sunday, 17 March 2013
Sex, gym and rock n' roll!
My job involves a fair amount of travelling, this as many who are in a similar boat know can scupper the best laid plans to exercise, eat well and continue with that developed training plan.
In my running at no cost (to my knees) days that was easy, you packed the running shoes and whatever lycra item from the wardrobe the weather dictated. You finished work for the day got back to the hotel, changed and off you went out of the hotel door for the desired length of time. No problems with that approach as long as a sense of direction was employed along with a modicum of common sense.
It amazes me that people who have the geographical nous of a sheep and the street sense of a child will happily run here, there and any (undesirable) where. All with a set of ear buds in. Perhaps they think their athletic stance and speed render them impervious to all and sundry.
Those days have gone for me or at least on an every-evening basis unless I want to occupy one of those small buggies that inhabit the airport to take the infirm from one airport gate to the next as part of my journey home.
So for me it's trying to book into a hotel with some sort of fitness facility with reasonable cardio-vascular machinery. This can be a touch misleading though as I do wonder how some of this equipment is calibrated. 20 minutes on one gym bike in hotel 1 gives you X km and the next night in hotel 2 another bike, same time, same perceived effort and you get X + Y km. Good for the weekly total, but perhaps in the big scheme of gym CV equipment some will under-estimate and these are balanced out by the over-estimations?
You might find a variety of machinery lurking in an hotel gym and hopefully (and mostly) it is clean, well lit and safe. Usually there are mats, either free or stacked weights equipment for the resistance work. Assuming you know what you are doing.
I'm sure we've all seen the warrior, blackberry on the treadmill shelf, new trainers on, office paisley socks, shorts that last saw the light of day when waist bands were less of an issue. They get on, tinker with some buttons, speed off and then get off the machine just as fast before chucking the metal around. Tomorrow they will wake up think this exercise malarkey is just too sore and why bother until the next Christmas gift of a pair of sports socks prompts them into action.
I have no problem with that but there are numerous information and guidance points online to ensure that this office warrior takes it slowly, looks after themselves and comes back the next time before asking not for sports socks for his birthday but a nifty pair of go faster shoes with integral GPS monitoring technology.
Should I say something? I'm British - we're reserved!
Once done with the "fitness room" some establishments may even have a swimming pool but this is rare on my expenses and mostly for me swimming is an activity to be done from home in the local pool. Although on occasions in the summer I have been able to use the long days and evening light when in London to swim in one of the London public lido's.
If all else fails there is always walking and I have enough sense of direction and safety to travel in the cities in which I visit if need be all in order to get in my 5km - a - day.
Ok, so no gym, pool, weights or other obvious gym bunny type escape to exercise. what to do then? Use what you were born with!
I am a big believer in body weight resistance work. Weights may have there place but I have witnessed some who perform exercises with bits of metal either tied by cable or are free weights and they struggle to maintain form, putting themselves at risk from injury. They don't work the bits they are meant to due to bad form and of they can't do any of it if there is no equipment. Finally having thrown weights around without thought they can't actually do anything to any degree with their own body - pull up anyone?
Now the bad form thing can apply to body weight exercises too but it's less of a problem and more easily correctable before any real damage is done.
So bodyweight exercises it is then. What to do as there are hundreds of them, they make you work just as hard as any other form of exercise, sweaty - yes that box is ticked as well, lungs puffing - check, the feeling of having worked hard - potentially (but that's up to you and your application).
You can vary the resistance required depending on where you are in your capability by altering the basic exercise, adding in more instability or resistance as you improve and less so if you are just starting out. For instance press ups (push ups) less capable - knees used as the lower end point of contact with the ground, more advanced - raised feet as the lower end point of contact. Add in a bosu or swiss ball for your hands, feet or both and you are an accomplished performer. I know that's equipment but feet on the bed or hands on a towel or extra pillow has a similar effect.
So for me its press ups, an abdominal exercises of choice and basic leg squats. This is a real bread and butter session ticks all the main muscle groups, a compound combination. Pick your reps per exercise and your duration and off you go maintaining the form in a safe and controlled manner, quality of the exercise before quantity. The latter will come as you become more proficient.
Keep a record of this and see how you compare the next time. This type of session is so diverse and variable and can certainly build up the appetite for dinner.
So it can be more or less difficult to maintain your exercise streak when travelling as a result of work. Really easy just to say "tomorrow" because your brain is frazzled from that days round of meetings - but lift yourself up, get on the exercise clothes. Put the tv onto a music channel for the high tempo beats per minute factor.
If you're in your room you don't even need to change just take off the suit and you have your very own pre war gym kit of underpants and singlet. Those in the room below will just think it's frantic sex!
All together now 1 and 2 and 3 .........
In my running at no cost (to my knees) days that was easy, you packed the running shoes and whatever lycra item from the wardrobe the weather dictated. You finished work for the day got back to the hotel, changed and off you went out of the hotel door for the desired length of time. No problems with that approach as long as a sense of direction was employed along with a modicum of common sense.
It amazes me that people who have the geographical nous of a sheep and the street sense of a child will happily run here, there and any (undesirable) where. All with a set of ear buds in. Perhaps they think their athletic stance and speed render them impervious to all and sundry.
Those days have gone for me or at least on an every-evening basis unless I want to occupy one of those small buggies that inhabit the airport to take the infirm from one airport gate to the next as part of my journey home.
So for me it's trying to book into a hotel with some sort of fitness facility with reasonable cardio-vascular machinery. This can be a touch misleading though as I do wonder how some of this equipment is calibrated. 20 minutes on one gym bike in hotel 1 gives you X km and the next night in hotel 2 another bike, same time, same perceived effort and you get X + Y km. Good for the weekly total, but perhaps in the big scheme of gym CV equipment some will under-estimate and these are balanced out by the over-estimations?
You might find a variety of machinery lurking in an hotel gym and hopefully (and mostly) it is clean, well lit and safe. Usually there are mats, either free or stacked weights equipment for the resistance work. Assuming you know what you are doing.
I'm sure we've all seen the warrior, blackberry on the treadmill shelf, new trainers on, office paisley socks, shorts that last saw the light of day when waist bands were less of an issue. They get on, tinker with some buttons, speed off and then get off the machine just as fast before chucking the metal around. Tomorrow they will wake up think this exercise malarkey is just too sore and why bother until the next Christmas gift of a pair of sports socks prompts them into action.
I have no problem with that but there are numerous information and guidance points online to ensure that this office warrior takes it slowly, looks after themselves and comes back the next time before asking not for sports socks for his birthday but a nifty pair of go faster shoes with integral GPS monitoring technology.
Should I say something? I'm British - we're reserved!
Once done with the "fitness room" some establishments may even have a swimming pool but this is rare on my expenses and mostly for me swimming is an activity to be done from home in the local pool. Although on occasions in the summer I have been able to use the long days and evening light when in London to swim in one of the London public lido's.
If all else fails there is always walking and I have enough sense of direction and safety to travel in the cities in which I visit if need be all in order to get in my 5km - a - day.
Ok, so no gym, pool, weights or other obvious gym bunny type escape to exercise. what to do then? Use what you were born with!
I am a big believer in body weight resistance work. Weights may have there place but I have witnessed some who perform exercises with bits of metal either tied by cable or are free weights and they struggle to maintain form, putting themselves at risk from injury. They don't work the bits they are meant to due to bad form and of they can't do any of it if there is no equipment. Finally having thrown weights around without thought they can't actually do anything to any degree with their own body - pull up anyone?
Now the bad form thing can apply to body weight exercises too but it's less of a problem and more easily correctable before any real damage is done.
So bodyweight exercises it is then. What to do as there are hundreds of them, they make you work just as hard as any other form of exercise, sweaty - yes that box is ticked as well, lungs puffing - check, the feeling of having worked hard - potentially (but that's up to you and your application).
You can vary the resistance required depending on where you are in your capability by altering the basic exercise, adding in more instability or resistance as you improve and less so if you are just starting out. For instance press ups (push ups) less capable - knees used as the lower end point of contact with the ground, more advanced - raised feet as the lower end point of contact. Add in a bosu or swiss ball for your hands, feet or both and you are an accomplished performer. I know that's equipment but feet on the bed or hands on a towel or extra pillow has a similar effect.
So for me its press ups, an abdominal exercises of choice and basic leg squats. This is a real bread and butter session ticks all the main muscle groups, a compound combination. Pick your reps per exercise and your duration and off you go maintaining the form in a safe and controlled manner, quality of the exercise before quantity. The latter will come as you become more proficient.
Keep a record of this and see how you compare the next time. This type of session is so diverse and variable and can certainly build up the appetite for dinner.
So it can be more or less difficult to maintain your exercise streak when travelling as a result of work. Really easy just to say "tomorrow" because your brain is frazzled from that days round of meetings - but lift yourself up, get on the exercise clothes. Put the tv onto a music channel for the high tempo beats per minute factor.
If you're in your room you don't even need to change just take off the suit and you have your very own pre war gym kit of underpants and singlet. Those in the room below will just think it's frantic sex!
All together now 1 and 2 and 3 .........
Saturday, 9 March 2013
2013 Challenges
I'm not usually one for New Year resolutions they always seem a bit...... well just not me. However this past few weeks I've made some decisions and spent some cash on entry fees, so perhaps a few New Year resolutions of a Chinese variety?
I've been thinking about my event plans for 2013 and have made some decisions of how to challenge myself or in other words what punishment to put my aged body through to get to the start line.
So what have we got on the "Fit with Fegrig" 2013 event calendar?
Parkrun and their weekly 5 km, will be a standard throughout the year. My local event is the Edinburgh event but I'm keen to try a few other varieties in other locations throughout Scotland. If you are intending on having a "go" let me know and I will say hello.
The younger, hairy, junior of the 2 off spring has been attacking his 5 km personal best for a few weeks now, although he is carrying a knee niggle - technical orthopaedic term - at the moment.
As a target we have spent some family frequent traveller miles and intend to enter the Barcelona Cursa Bombers 10 km on the 21st April, (assuming we can get a place when the entry opens). When I was there on holiday last year I saw many 2012 t-shirted runners zooming or trundling along the seafront, looked into it and it appears to be a good event to try and enter, fingers crossed.
Moving on the challenges of the open water still have a sense of "could do better" for me. So the Great Scottish Swim and it's London brother the Great London Swim hold attractions on the 24th and 31st July respectively. However I have to learn how to freestyle in a much better way than I do now, at least I could breast stroke the miles if I need to.
With all this swimming in recent years, decades of running and the use of the indoor bike trainer the obvious conclusion is the triathlon. So I've taken the plunge into this the Virgin London Triathlon of the sprint variety. I need to buy some kit, a road bike needs to be arranged, although I have considered using my Brompton, why not? I don't want to buy a road bike at the moment, it's too far to transport my present hybrid. So it's either the Brompton or a local hire. We shall see.
So that's it, there will be other I dare say. A few local novice sprint triathlons look interesting and there will probably be the odd 5 & 10 km event through the year.
So that's me, what about you?
Let the training begin!
I've been thinking about my event plans for 2013 and have made some decisions of how to challenge myself or in other words what punishment to put my aged body through to get to the start line.
So what have we got on the "Fit with Fegrig" 2013 event calendar?
Parkrun and their weekly 5 km, will be a standard throughout the year. My local event is the Edinburgh event but I'm keen to try a few other varieties in other locations throughout Scotland. If you are intending on having a "go" let me know and I will say hello.
The younger, hairy, junior of the 2 off spring has been attacking his 5 km personal best for a few weeks now, although he is carrying a knee niggle - technical orthopaedic term - at the moment.
As a target we have spent some family frequent traveller miles and intend to enter the Barcelona Cursa Bombers 10 km on the 21st April, (assuming we can get a place when the entry opens). When I was there on holiday last year I saw many 2012 t-shirted runners zooming or trundling along the seafront, looked into it and it appears to be a good event to try and enter, fingers crossed.
Moving on the challenges of the open water still have a sense of "could do better" for me. So the Great Scottish Swim and it's London brother the Great London Swim hold attractions on the 24th and 31st July respectively. However I have to learn how to freestyle in a much better way than I do now, at least I could breast stroke the miles if I need to.
With all this swimming in recent years, decades of running and the use of the indoor bike trainer the obvious conclusion is the triathlon. So I've taken the plunge into this the Virgin London Triathlon of the sprint variety. I need to buy some kit, a road bike needs to be arranged, although I have considered using my Brompton, why not? I don't want to buy a road bike at the moment, it's too far to transport my present hybrid. So it's either the Brompton or a local hire. We shall see.
So that's it, there will be other I dare say. A few local novice sprint triathlons look interesting and there will probably be the odd 5 & 10 km event through the year.
So that's me, what about you?
Let the training begin!
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