Lots to catch up on! I was out in Tuscany in the Empoli Hills staying in a lovely villa for Anna and Jeremy's wedding. Such a wonderful long weekend! I headed out to Pisa on Thursday with the Irish Massive (Helen, John, Sam, Kirstin, Ruth) and picked up the cars to start a rather long drive to the villa. The driving instructions we were provided with were vague to say the least! The villa was massive with 2 floor and a converted attic space to house the 10 of us staying there. Thursday we headed out to take over the local co-op, shopping for 10 people is an adventure in itself and we were not too popular with the locals after we had forgotten to weight the fresh produce and held up the line whist we tested our knowledge of the Italian names for fruit and veg.
I got up Friday morning and had this fantastic run through the vineyards. I ran around the ridge line of some of the hills and just kept getting higher and higher. The views were just breathtaking so I kept going further up. I was supposed to be doing a structured session but sometimes the training plan has to go out the window! I ended up doing a loop around so I could look back across the hills having reached one of the highest points in the area and could see our villa which was quite distinctive with turrets along the top of it. I came across quite a lot of pheasant and no matter how many times I saw them they still made me jump when they explode out of the bushes. I was crossing through one vineyard where there were 5 old men picking grapes who just stopped working and just stared at me. I'm not sure they see too many runners. I gave them a big wave and a smiley buongiorno and picked up the pace before they could say anything :)
Friday was the wedding in one of the most beautiful settings. Anna and Jeremy got married in an olive grove and then we headed to the pool for prosecco and canapés and lots of pictures. It was a lovely surprise to see Joanne there with her husband Matthew and baby Gabe. I had no idea she was going to be there! Joanne and I used to work together in product management at AOL.
The party was certainly starting to get underway and we were ushered up to an outside terrace where dinner was. I was on a table with Lena, her husband Jasper and another colleague Ingo. The 5 course meal was to die for! Amazing, especially the wild boar ragu. It was very dramatic sitting out there as there was a lightening storm across the valley which made for a fantastic atmosphere. In perfect style the speeches were not too long, just right, food was incredible and the company absolutely charming.
After dinner we were sent back to the pool where the DJ was warming up. John was causing mischief by going around saying to guests that the party starts when the bride hits the water. Enter stunt bride. John had packed his own stunt dress and managed to talk one of the guys to jumping in with him. There was a collective gasp when he jumped in until everyone realised Anna was safe on dry ground :)
Everyone up on the dance floor and of course all the wedding classics were coming out. About 11.30 the heavens opened and it just poured and poured with rain for the night. We were all inside so it wasn't a problem. The problem was waiting for the 1 and only taxi in the area to ferry people around to the various places. It was nice watching the storm and waiting so wasn't bad at all :)
Unfortunately the bad weather settled in, it was humid so the rain was actually welcomed for my run Saturday morning. I think I might have been sweating white wine on my run but did feel good once it was done. Some of the parents of the Irish Massive were also at the wedding so they came over for dinner on Saturday night so we had 16. Huge BBQ and some great salads along with a drop of Tuscan Chianti.
More bad weather Sunday so I did a little run and then focused on some core exercises improvising with rocks for weights. We drove to Sienna for lunch and had a bit of a wander around. I have been there 5 or 6 times and love it so was more than pleased to be back there. John and I were heading back on a 10.30pm flight which was good and bad. Good that we got to spend the entire day and bad that I didn't get home till 2am! kind of ruined Monday's training because I was so tired.
Was back on track with training for the rest of the week and knew I had to keep it up because I was flying to Nice on the Friday with The Flying Dutchman for his birthday! We had a later flight Friday night that removed the airport stress. Friday night was a lovely cold beer on the terrace when we arrived, all in anticipation for his birthday!
Got up Saturday for breakfast on the terrace and put Matilda (my bike) together. I gave TFD his birthday present which was the new ipod video nano. I had loaded it up with some youtube videos, various cycling podcasts and my music collection which he has not stopped poking fun at. I had to point out that there was a time where Aussie Music of the 90's was cool. Somehow he didn't believe me. :) We headed out on our ride on Saturday which was about 3 hours and I still can't quite believe how breathtaking the views are in that part of the world. It is so totally worth climbing these mountains for an hour just to look out across a stunning coast line. When we got back I went out for a 50min run along the promenade towards Monaco where the road goes up..and up..and up. I spotted some cyclists so made them my target to beat them up the hill. Think I may have over done it because I hadn't eaten on the ride and wasn't fuelled up for a 3 hour ride and then a high intensity run. Totally screwed up my nutrition so was feeling pretty sick by the time I made it back to the beach to meet TFD. I skipped my swim which wasn't good but I wasn't feeling so crash hot. A little nap on the beach fixed that :)
Dinner Saturday night was amazing. We ate at La Reserve which is a Michelin starred restaurant in Nice. We got a table on the terrace looking back over Nice, awesome watching the light go down and the lights of Nice come up. The food was incredible, the service perfect and I think I had the best chocolate torte I have ever eaten. Highly recommend it.
Sunday was supposed to be a 6 hour ride but it was raining! No! That isn't supposed to happen in Nice!! We waited and it cleared so we went out for 3 hours up a climb past Elton John's house. It is such a long climb but it is so worth it to come back down it. I hit 82km hr coming back down. YEEE HAAA! It is like flying and is so exhilarating, especially passing cars. That is the fastest I have ever been on Matilda before. Previously I had managed to get to about 72km/hr but always starting thinking about what would happen if I crashed. I don't think about that now, I just concentrate on trying to catch The Flying Dutchman who certainly does fly when on a bike. I call his bike Razor simply because it just cuts through the air fast as you like. That and the seat is like a razor blade :)
It is always such great training being in Nice, I can really feel the improvement in my legs. I am already feeling fitter and stronger than before heading into Ironman Austria in July and I still have a bit over 7 weeks to get ready for Ironman Arizona. Race prep starts here. I have the competitor list and will start researching who will cause me problems in the race, just as I did for IMUK. No more alcohol from now until after the race and I will start getting strict with my diet again. I have done quite a bit of work and research on nutrition planning for racing so will post up some of my top tips. being the absolute geek that I am, I have also created an excel spreadsheet with formulas that when you enter the food you are going to eat it highlights if you are getting enough carbs/calories/protein/caffeine or anything you want to program it for. Screams Tri nerd I know :)
Thats it for now. Next up: Fiona and Andrew's wedding :)
Cxx
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