Sunshine seems a distant memory in Stirling just now

I did however have a wry smile on reading Gav’s superb I love Aguilas blog post which reminded me that we had a sunny week down in Spain only last month. And in any case I will see the sun next week anyways.

Meanwhile, the week so far has been something along the lines of:

Monday – swim 4.5k aerobic, bike 2hrs with 30sec surges, 1 hour steady footing

Tuesday – swim 4k solid, bikr 3hrs with TT efforts, run grass intervals + the Stirling Tri evening swim

Wednesday – swim 5k long reps, ride 2hrs steady, run 2hrs

today – swim 4k solid (again!), run 1.5hrs and hitting the Falkirk APR this evening. It’s always a warm welcome from the cyclists. Yeah…

Tomorrow – more of the same groundhog training, which is going just like i would hope – I’m tired, but it is a ‘good’ tired.  A bit more sunshine wouldn’t go amiss – did I allude to that sentiment already perhaps??

The plan is to conitune pushing on for another week and then I am having a little break from the Shire in order to fly out to Los Angeles with Trek/K-Swiss to see the final 2 stages of the Tour of California. – More on that exiting wee development later next week!

Toby and I are usually hanging out in St Pete this time of year....

So I didn’t get to fly to Florida earlier this week after all. The Icelandic volcanic erruptions ensured of that … I am able to fly (I hope) on Monday, which means that I miss racing in St Anthony’s  this w/e. I am dissapointed of course, but it is out of my control, and I am glad at least I can make it over in time to race St Croix the w/e afterwards. Control the controllables I say.

Training is going well, I’m happy with that, and I have another few days here to round it all off. Hopefully avoid snow during those days ….

A run with the boys – Tim, myself, Gavin and Toby – on Sunday morning

I am down to the last 2 sleeps in Stellenbosch before flying home, which makes for mixed feelings – obviously I am really looking forward to getting home and seeing everyone, I can’t wait, BUT watching the tv describe the cold weather that is returning to Scotland doesn’t excite me!

To counter the cold weather I have been focussing on my bike riding, since I doubt I will be riding the bike outside when I am home next week. So last week I basically rode everyday other than Sunday, where I ran longer with the boys (see above pic)

Monday – 100ks, Tuesday – 135ks, Wednesday – 150ks, Thursday – 45ks easy, Friday – 100ks, Saturday – 135ks

This week has been the same format – 100ks and 135ks already, but today might only be 100 (slacking!). On Monday we had a ‘team’ dinner – myself, Gavin, Dan, Conrad and Nikola, who builds and maintains our sites. Thankyou! Toby also came along too – he has been my superb training buddy these past few weeks out here, which has really helped the training along.

I like this photo – we had a nice night.

I decided to be good to myself – mojito AND marshmallows (there was even a fire to melt them on!) A strange mix, but one I enjoyed

See you all soon, Frase

Gav and I took Cat out on her final pre-Kona ride

So with the final autumn training miles tucked away, I am away off to Aguilas, on the southern Costa Calida coast of Spain, tomorrow afternoon to start a new block of training. Add a few more bricks to the wall as they say…..

The race was a fantastic success, given it was a brand new race with a first time crew in control behind the scenes. Phil has been a fantastic support to me through the T.R.I team concept over the past couple of seasons, and so I am delighted to see his belief that a brand new, yet iconic race could happen, and happen successfully!

The weather held for most of the day, which given the unpredictable nature of this British Summer, was fortunate. – I say that with only the slightest hint of sarcasm, since my Gore-Tex was on for the long haul and a pair of gloves would have been a sensible addition to my attire whilst watching the swim from the beach. - A swim that took Blair a whole 30 minutes to lead out …. a slight miscalculation on the bouy positioning, but it was a first time event lets remember!

Ensuring that the race was as interesting as possible, there was a split transition, with competitors riding point to point, ending up at a second Castle; Alnwick. Hence the plural aspect to the race name. This was a superb venue for the run – and by using a 2k loop around the grassy trails below the castle walls, there was plenty oppertunity to spectate. I managed to snap a little beauty of Blair scaling ‘The Hill’ on his 4th loop. The hands on the knees say it all I do believe.

In other news, team-blogger and fellow Shire inhabitant Gavin Noble  raced himself into 11th place  at the 7th round of the ITU WCS in Yokohama, Japan. He now climbs to 35th in the rankings, and has another decent brick on the wall!

looking for decent scenery still.....

The week gone was as this:

Monday – swim 5k aerobic, bike 95k with TT efforts, run 10k steady

Tuesday – run 10k easy, bike 30k easy, swim 3k easy, run 5k easy

Wednesday – swim 5k solid threshold, bike 85k HILLY(i struggle on the climbs!), run 10k off the bike tempo

Thursday – bike 95k with 2*20min TT efforts (disc and all) – 51kph av on both occasions to give sub 19mins 10mile reps (I reckon that might get me on the all time Scottish list!!), run 10k tempo

Friday – hard 5k swim and a steady 70k hilly ride

Saturday – fast 3k swim, threshold bike and a run off

Sunday – long morning run, meeting up with Gav and Keano from the Irish camp who are pitched up down the valley in Pontresina.

However, there has also been some time to learn about ‘the Bob’ here in St Moritz – Blair and I have sampled them before in La Plagne for real …. bu that is another story for another day.

We really must got somewhere with decent views to train....

The week has flown by – more than 2 weeks up, less than 2 weeks to go. Training is ticking along.  However the mountains are a bizarre place to be – it snowed all morning yesterday (hence the beautiful backdrop) and yet today it was shorts and t shirt weather?!

Without question St Moritz is the best place i have ever been for running. The trails and paths are endless. The views are stunning, and if you were in any doubt about whether or not it was worth coming here to run – wander down to the track mid morning with some pop corn (or any savoury snack of you preference) and ‘olympic medal spot’. I have been, and let me tell you – the breathing rates are impressive! This morning Tim and I had a stunning run through the woods, hills and trails. I managed nearly 20ks, which given the problems I have been having with my foot since I arrived is a step in the forwards direction.

My swimming however is continuing to surprise me – every session seems to be getting better. The biking too is feeling strong, although when the gradient goes up my place in ‘the peleton’ is limited to less than 20 minutes. Thats ok though, Clearwater is flat!

In other news Gavin took home 5th place result in the Athlone ETU Cup event in his native Ireland. It was a close run thing and his chase for 2nd place involved some sneaky Spaniards … 3 of them seemed to get in his way. He’ll tell me about his 5th place when he arrives up here in the thin air Monday. – Looking forward to that.

Another very good friend of mine had a fantastic race this w/e. – Joe Gambles just won the Vineman 70.3 in Northern California in sublime style – off the front and alone into T2. I’m delighted to read he has pulled off his first 70.3 win in such superb fashion; he;s been having a helluva year since we trained together in April and deserves his spoils. I’m looking forward to racing him again later in the year!!

Finally, brother-Blair will be arriving in St. Mortiz this Thursday coming for the last week or the camp. I’m looking forward to showing him around – he’ll love it, if only becasue of the exotic cars that are everywhere!!

Edinburgh Castle - an imposing obstacle back in the day!

There was even time for some ice cream at the gates of the castle amid the seating recently built for an Oasis concert. It tasted good!

Tomorrow I will be back in Edinburgh, but only to get the plane to Zurich via Heathrow. I am off to St Moritz for train for a month or so. I have been before, but only for the afternoon and a wander about. It was misty and rainy that day, so we could only walk about the town trying to escape the wetness. – I don’t remember too much other than there being a load of designer shops and menus in Russian!!

Fingers crossed there won’t be similar weather this time around – I have visions of clear blue skies and snow capped moutains. Only time will tell, but I will keep the site updated as best I can with some training snippets.

Blair is back up North (and on the longest w/e in Scotland that means very little darkness which is really cool) in Inverness ready to hit the Highland Cross tomorrow morning. He’s been training regular enough and is really looking forward to attempting to break the 4hr mark. Stirling Tri Club have the team title to defend too

I am in Holland.

Well, I couldn't find a picture of us all ....

Firstly I must comment on The Caveman, Conrad, who recently elevated himself to hero status here in 8D Alloa Rd, through his blood -and -gore antics last w/e racing in Richmond. The good luck streak appears to have hit a stumbling block this week though, as his latest post highlights. – Surgery for the big man means the other guys can actually have a shot at winning in the seemingly-never-ending-race-series that is Xterra. -  Dan can potentially notch up his 2nd win in Xterra Little Rock this Sunday.

Over in Capitol City/Washington D.C, Mr Pink is hitting the pontoon in his first ITU Super World Cup Series event alongside 50-odd other hardened speedsters – one of them being our very own Mr Clarke.

Good luck boys.

I too am hitting the races. Perhaps i’m a gluten for punishment, but I reckon the legs have pulled up ok at last (i’ve basically done nothing all week since the UK 70.3) and so tomorrow I am heading to Amsterdam airport and beyond, for the Dutch Long Distance Champs. 

We’ll see how it goes since it will be my first attempt at ‘backing up’ long course w/e’s. Might have to suck it up, but eiher way it will be a new experience and I am looking forward to going and trying something different.

I’ll be back Monday with some news.