Profile Design T1+ aerobar installed on road bike

2nd place 2011 Greek Indoor Rowing Championship (www.aasport.gr) - The 30 hours drama: from dropping out to silver medal and a new PB

The 2011 race season is over, both for triathlon and indoor rowing. Time for a good long rest and time for collecting the pros and reassessing the cons, from this year's races and optimising training performance for 2012. At last, another medal came into my belt this year with a 2nd place in the Greek IRC! What a reward, considering the pre-race drama I faced about a day before the event. I will explain this briefly below...

For any sport's event you normally train and prepare according to a plan, which includes various stages depending on your available time and your race priorities. This plan is concluded with the building - the competition and the peaking phase. You then cross your fingers that the plan will go fine, stay injury free and ...ill free.

Yep, you guessed it right,

2011 Athens Classic Marathon Photos & Video (Registration and Race Day)

New PB at the 10km of the 2011 Athens Classic Marathon

Another amazing race at this year's Athens Classic Marathon took place on the 13th Nov 2011 . Despite the cold, wind and rainy conditions, I was able to set up a new PB for the 10km race!

Time: 51:27 (5 km split time 26:49)
Rank: 705 (out of 3758)
(Last year's 10 km finish time: 53:58, Time improvement: 2:31)

(You can check more 2011 Athens Classic Marathon results)

My current body weight: 99.5 kg (height: 1.93 m)
Current body fat %: 20.5 %
Calories burned: 899 kcal
Max. HR:182
Avg. HR:170
HR Zones worked: About 98% at zone 5 based on Karnoven Method


I hadn't really prepared for this race at all! My training sessions are mainly based on indoor rowing and cycling. Swimming and running is included, but there is less of attention. Of course, well trained runners may find my time slow (I agree), but considering my body shape I am not build for running.

THE END: Schiniathlon Triathlon Organisation has now ended (for ever...) :(

We are all shocked with Schiniathlon Team's decision to terminate the continuation of the triathlon races, however we all understand the driving force behind this (read article at the end of this post).

Schiniathlon has been the only organisation in Greece to provide events for the rapidly growing number of amateur triathletes.

The next and only available option for an athlete to participate in an triathlon event in Greece is through the Hellenic Triathlon Federation - which, unfortunately, it is not amateur oriented, hence leaving outside several hundred of part-time competitors and at the same, indirectly damaging Schiniathlon's races as justified by Schiniathlon's closing letter at the end of this post. This letter confirms the valueless presence of the public sector in Greece (i.e. Ministry of Sport's, etc.) and who, once again, managed to eliminate this great sport from the amateur groups with their endless bureaucratic obstacles.

On my personal side, Schiniathlon had positively shaped my lifestyle and it was the meaning for me training hard and always looking for the next event's challenge.

We will all miss Schiniathlon and we will always remember how well it took care of us with its exceptionally well organised and gracious races.

Read here the full closing letter of Schiniathlon Team from the Schiniathlon Official Website or read it below:

STOLEN: My bike is gone!!! 150 euro reward is given

Well, there are no words to describe the mess this has done to me. My first ever race bike is now STOLEN. The theft took place on the night of 1st Oct. 2011. The bike was locked in my fenced yard (stupid, it should have been IN the house).

I thought it might help to post the incident on my blog, too. What's worse is that, I missed the final and most important to me Tri Race of the year, which I was preparing for more than 4 months now.

Please, if you can help me recover it - I GIVE 150 EURO REWARD. No questions asked.

Manufacturer: SCOTT
Model: Speedster S 50 (Flatbar)
Size: 58 cm (XL)
Colour: White
Place stolen: Halandri (in Athens), see google map at end of this post.

Characteristic: (i) Perhaps, the only bike in Greece with installed aerobar
on flat-bar handlebar (ii) Bright, white colour appearance (too white not
to spot it).

Contact me at:  e-mail: cplia AT hotmail DOT com .

Below: Photo of the stolen bike.






















Below: Area the bike was stolen from.

View Larger Map

Revisited: Post race photo coverage - 10km 2010 Athens Classic Marathon Day

Click on any image below to view a full-size high resolution photo. I offer these photos for free to use as a thank for my visitors to this blog. I captured them from my Nokia X2 mobile phone.

Due to heavy demand and increased interest, additional photos have been added to guide people through the 2010 Athens Classic Marathon event and get a better idea of the atmosphere during that day. For this reason, I am also planning to create a photoalbum (hm...maybe ready until mid of June?), which when ready, I will uploaded it on this blog for the athletes to look through. Hope you enjoy the Marathon spirit and hope to see you in the coming 2011 Athens Classic Marathon Event too!

Hand held fat measuring device - a quick and accurate way to assess your body composition

Model: BF306
Manufacturer: Omron

Measurement parameters:

• Percentage (%) body fat composition
• BMI value
• body weight classification (e.g. normal, overweight, etc).

Measurement time: 10-12 seconds

Accuracy: 5 %. The accuracy is pretty good and it compares well to professional health care institute equipment results. A friend of mine measured her body fat content in clinics using a high class equipment, her body fat was 40.3 %. This hand held measuring device indicated 41%, which compared very well with the clinics value. So, I would say that its body fat content value can be relied upon with confidence.

Approximate cost (Amazon price, May 2011): 28.1 pounds (inc. VAT)

2010 Ford Ironman World Championship: The thrilling video

Click on any image below to watch the video!

Top 10 - Final Results 2010 Ford IM World Championship

1     08:10:37 McCormack, Chris
2     08:12:17 Raelert, Andreas
3     08:13:14 Vanhoenacker, Marino
4     08:16:53 Alexander, Craig
5     08:20:11 Tissink, Raynard
6     08:21:00 Bracht, Timo
7     08:22:02 Llanos, Eneko
8     08:22:59 Bockel, Dirk
9     08:23:26 Jacobs, Pete
10    08:24:04 Al-Sultan, Faris

2011 Triathlon Calendar in Greece: 'Schiniathlon' Series 2011 - www.schiniathlon.gr

For detailed info: www.schiniathlon.gr