The day after I arrived, I went on a short 60km ride along part of stage 4 of the Tour De France.  I actually rode from the house, to kilometer 31 in the stage and continued until kilometer 59.  Aside from a few sprayed slogans on the road, there was no way anyone could have known that the tour had gone by only a couple of weeks ago.  Unfortunately , my polars’ battery is dead and I don’t have any documentation of my awesome ride; however, I found my old Garmin 0.1 in my backpack and used it instead.  Remarkably enough, it did the job quite well and I didn’t even get lost.

Garmin 0.1 - yes , a pen and paper

The next day I went on a longer 80km ride that left from Aix en Provence which is about 15 minutes from the house.  The ride was beautiful and the bike lanes were perfect… the drivers were courteous, views were breathtaking and after it rained butterflies* I couldn’t help but thinking ‘Is this real??’.  With all do respect to every other country in the world, France is better! I am so glad that I took my bike with me.  Being in France without a bike is like being in a bathroom without toilette paper – You manage but something is not quite right…

* May have only happened in my mind

Silly bike... Only people can go shopping

Working out while traveling

I’m on week 3 out of 17 in my marathon training plan towards the New York City Marathon. It’s not going to be easy to train once my family arrives but I’m determined to get all of my hill, fartlek and long runs in while I’m here.  The day that I arrived, I ran 45 minutes around the little city of Bouc Bel-Air, where the house is located.  Running whenever you arrive in a new place, even if it’s not for a long time, is a great way to figure out where you are, know what’s around you and plan your real runs later during the week.  Tip: Make sure that you fly with compression socks so that your legs are fresh.

Since then I’ve done one hill workout and one long run.  The best way to get the runs in is to just wake up early and do them.  If you leave anything for the end of the day, it just doesn’t get done.  On vacation, you never know what time you’ll get back. Tip: Workout according to time and not distance.  This way you’re not stressed about holding other people up; just run half the time and turn around.

Sunflower Field

Something I saw on the way

Maccabiah Half marathon

On the 21st of July, I participated in the Maccabiah Half Marathon.  If you asked anyone who ran the race to describe it in one word, they would say HOT.  It began at 18:30 so everyone was soaked before the race even started.  At each water station I took a water bottle and ran with it.  It was so hot that when I poured the water on my head, by the time it touched my ears the water was warm… It was so hot that about 20 people were sent to the hospital for dehydration… It was so hot that my running clothes were soaked all the way through after the first 20 minutes … It’s hard to describe.  Due to the terrible conditions, I also had a terrible time – 2:03.  Fortunately, I made my coach promise to make me faster so the problem is as good as solved.

Stuff I need

As you know, my birthday is coming up Joking… No one has to buy me anything BUT I have accumulated some things that I will purchase soon for the marathon training.  Please let me know if there is a better product that I have overlooked.

Compression Calf Guards

CW-X Women’s Pro Fit Shorts

Nathan Speed 2 Wastpack

Some More Photos

בבוקר לקחתי את הכרישה, נינה, ונסענו לצומת נחשון. בתחילת הרכיבה הרגשתי עייפות עצומה. התאמנתי פחות בשבוע הזה בעקבות התחרות משבוע שעבר והרגליים שלי אותתו לי שהם מוכנות רק ללחוץ על הדלק ועל הברקס – רכיבה כזאת זה מחוץ לשאלה. (תתחילו להתרגל לתרגם לעצמכם כי זה רק יחמיר). בכל זאת, כמיטב המסורת, המשכתי עוד סיבוב ועוד סיבוב וכבר איכשהו עברה לה שעה של קירות וטיפוס לא פשוט.

פתאום הגעתי לחלק הכי יפה ברכיבה – rolling hillsבין העצים…
אני רגילה לראות את הנוף הזה מאד מהר מכוון כשאני מגיעה אליה בירידה אבל עכשיו המהירות היית קצת יותר ירודה ויכולתי לשים לב יותר לנוף. לאחר מכן היית ירידה מהירה מאד, במיוחד בגלל שרכבתי על הגב של קובי. ירדנו כל כך מהר שפחדתי להעביר את העישונים שלי מהגלגל האחורי של קובי, לשעון פולאר. אחרי הירידה הזאת שכחתי איך קובי נראה בלי חיוך מרוח על הפנים.

הגענו לבר בהר להפסקת קפה כמובן. מי שראה את בר בהר מרחוק, היה חושב שמחלקים שם אופניים עם הקפה – היה מפוצץ.

יש גם קומיקס וגם דופק.

פינה חדשה! פינת ה Tour de France

קודם כל למי שיש google earth – חובה להוריד את כל מסלול הטור כדי לראות בלוויי
זה נראה משהו בסגנון הזה (כשנכנסים פנימה אז אפשר לראות מסלולים בודדים)

כדי להוריד את הקובץ לחצו כאן

אני ארשום לכם כמה מושגים שאני לא הכרתי במהלך הצפיה שלי בטור. בעתיד אני ארשום את המחשבות שלי לגבי התחרות עצמה. אני פשוט לומדת הרבה תוך כדי ואני… להשוויץ

Breakaway, or break in short, is when a small group of riders or an individual have successfully opened a gap ahead of the peloton.

There are types of riders :

Climber, A rider who specialises in riding uphill quickly, usually due to having a high power-to-weight ratio.
Descender ,A cyclist who excels at fast descents, often using them to break away from a group, or bridge a gap.
Sprinter , Has the ability to generate very high power over short periods (a few seconds to a minute) allowing for great finishing speeds, but is usually unable to sustain sufficiently high power over long periods to be a good time trialist, and is usually too big to have a high enough power-to-weight ratio to be a good climber.
All-rounter , A racing cyclist who excels in both climbing and time trialing, and may also be a decent sprinter. In stage races, an all-rounder seeks a top-10 place in the General Classification. Eddy Merckx and Lance Armstrong were both notable all-rounders; Jan Ullrich, Ivan Basso and Alejandro Valverde are more contemporary examples.

Finally, my favorite new word
Echelon , (French) a line of riders seeking maximum drafting in a crosswind, resulting in a diagonal line across the road.