Cruyff: A Legend

I love the Thunderbird music in this video showing Cruyff scoring a flying volley of a goal. I think thats a young Jordi Cruyff in the Ajax kit at the start.

Sport Nutrition

I got this book at Xmas and I can recommend it from what I have read so far. There are 15 chapters covering things like day to day eating, training and improving all round athletic performance. I've found it good as it is very accessible to read and not strictly intended for highly tuned athletes.

Top Deck A380

Have booked a flight to Melbourne flying out on Singapore Airlines on one of the new double decker A380 Super Jumbo bad boys. Managed to acquire a good seat on the top deck at the back for the way out. The flight experience is supposed to be very quiet with very little engine noise. From the look of the size of it i just hope it can take off!

Boxing Day Challenge 2008

Following on from the Xmas Day swim at the Lido was the Boxing Day Challenge at the Cheltenham Racecourse. This was a cross country run over 4 miles around the racecourse, there were a couple of hills to negotiate and some mud. The sun was shining and it was bitterly cold waiting for the start. I felt really good during this event, the previous days swim may have helped. I finished in a not to bad time 7 mins ahead of Jeanette (hehe). Results here.

Time: 28.25

Xmas Day Swim - Lido

C.O.L.D ! We came, we signed the waiver, we swam, we got out and then went blue.

When competing in triathlons if the temperature of the water is 14°C or less then a wetsuit is compulsory as that is considered too cold. The water at the Lido on Christmas Day was 8°C and wearing a wetsuit here would be considered cheating, myself, Mark and Beano managed one width and then got out, it felt really weird getting out almost warm in the cold air with pins and needles all over the body. The mince pies supplied Debbie were very nice. Definitley worth trying once!

The Jolly Brewmaster - Boys are Back in town

Saturday evening before Christmas in the JB's and the Boys were back in town, Mad Goose was off but the Butty Bach was most certainly on..

Spoonful of Chips

Totti's nickname is 'cucchiaio' this translates as 'Spoon'. This name derives from his ability in chipping the ball when scoring. This video shows some of his best chipped goals. The penalty against Holland was in the semi-final of Euro 2000, and there is also a great chip against Lazio in the Rome derby.

As result his autobiography is called "Mo Je Faccio Er Cucchiaio", which means "Now I'm going to do the Chip Shot".

Old Trafford - 06 Dec 2008

Went up to watch Man United v Sunderland with Dean. Sunderland came for a draw and were very unadventurous and United were all over them although it took until the 90th for the goal to come

Seaford Triathlon

Seaford 08 was a great event helped by the one day in August where the sun shone all day long. This event was the first head to head between myself and my brother who lives near Brighton. It was also a chance to swim in the sea in competition conditions as I had already swam lake and river triathlons so far this year.

The course is very user friendly, conditions in the swim were fairly choppy but the water was warmish and there was lots of room during the initial scramble. The exit out of the water and run up the pebble beach to the bike transition was made comfier by a thin carpet which started after 5 or so metres after the water exit, coming out of the water breathing heavily i completely forgot about the painful pebbles under foot.

The cycle was 6 laps on the Seaford Esplanade, the road was good condition and there was little wind. The run took the same route but on the pavement adjacent to the beach. I thought this event was excellent for spectators as our watching family only had to walk from the beach to the esplanade area and were able to watch the cycling and running without moving again as watching triathlons must very boring!

My result was 1h21m finishing 22nd out of 92 competitors, a full eight English minutes ahead of Neil although i think next time he will be not taking so long towelling himself down during transition.

Overall: 01:21:17

Swim: 00:15:38

Bike: 00:39:41

Run: 00:25:58

Marco Bortalomi and Carlos Nieto at the Jug

, originally uploaded by davstar8.

The Captain of the Gloucester (and Italy) rugby team plus a Argentinian prop dropped into the Brown Jug today to officially open new extension out the back.