Tag: sports

WRC 2009 – FxPro Cyprus Rally : SS6

Fxpro Cyprus Rally Wilson

Yesterday I went to see WRC 2009 FxPro Cyprus Rally Special Stage 6.  It’s a 30 km long stage, which pass by the famous Kelefos Bridge.  Usually it’s packed with spectators, and once the stage was even cancelled because the proper safety level could not have been achived.   Instead of watching the rally at the Kelefos Bridge view point, we went to the Finish of the stage and walked down a few turns from there.  It was an asphalt road with a few patches of gravel.   Weather conditions weren’t the best from the spectators’ point of view – cold, windy, with occasional rain drops.  But that could not have stopped true rally fans.

As always, I made a few pictures and uploaded them to my Flickr photostream.

WRC 2009 – FxPro Cyprus Rally : Open ceremony

FxPro Girl

Yesterday I attended the official opening ceremony of the WRC 2009 FxPro Cyprus Rally.  It was a pretty big event with TV coverage, cars passing the podium, FxPro girls, and a concert of Sakis Rouvas – some kind of Eurovision star.

I didn’t take any good pictures, but the FxPro press center were kind enough to share.  Click here to see more.

The surprise of the evening was that FxPro is not only sponsoring the Cyprus Rally, but also an FxPro Rally Team.

FxPro Rally Car

Disclaimer : FxPro is trade mark of EuroOrient Securities and Financial Services Ltd, the company that I work for.

Rally 2008 : Cyprus Rally in, WRC out

Homeboy Media News lets us know that the Cyprus Rally is back this year ( official web site confirms the news). The even will take place between Friday, May 16th and Sunday, May 18th.

Takis Kyriakides, Cyprus Rally Head of the Course, said “the new route will incorporate old tracks, which have been kept in fine condition through re-grading operations and regular maintenance, and the new ones designed and constructed this year”.

However, the event will not be a part of the World Rally Championship (WRC) as it used to be during the last few years. There was a chance that Cyprus would come back to WRC schedule this year, but it just didn’t happen. Next year maybe.

Back to the gym. Again.

Finally, my Christmas / New Year break is over.  The gym was closing for a couple of weeks, but, as always, I had some troubles getting back to my P.T.  The resulting two and a half month break devastated all my previous achievements…

Before I left the gym for Christmas, I weighted about 109 kilos and could run 3 kilometers for the first run, and another 1 kilometer after a short break.  Today, when I got back to the gym, I weighted an ugly 116.5 kilograms.  My running was even worse.  After half a kilometer down the way, I noticed a really old woman in black coat with a hood over her head running nearby me.  When I approached 1 kilometer, this woman picked up a really scary scythe, which was standing against the wall nearby.  At that precise moment, I decided to stop.

I went downstairs for some belly pain.  Here I managed to catch up with my previous results of 4 attempts of 30 exercises (whatever they are called), and then another 3 attempts of 10 other exercises.  I had to take longer breaks though, and it was more painful than I remember it used to be.

Going back upstairs for the second run, I felt really tired.  And noticed that the woman in black was still there, and still with the scythe in her hands.  She looked like she was waiting for someone, so I decided to skip it this time.

Overall summary: 116.5 kilograms of fat, bones, and flash.  1 kilometer jog is almost fatal.  That will need a lot of work to get back to the previous state.  And considering that the previous stage was far from perfect, it feels like there is really a lot of work ahead of me… Ouch.

Running P.T. update

It’s almost two month since I got back to the gym.  At first I started with the same program that I end up with last time.  For more than a month I was pushing and pulling weights up and down, back and forward.  Somehow, it didn’t feel the same.  It was much harder and results were much weaker, no matter how hard I tried.  That was a bit offsetting.

Then I did something very smart.  I talked to Uncle Vova – my coach, trainer, and P.T. advisor. He resolved plenty of my doubts. Aparently, doing weightlifting in the morning is not the same as doing the same weightlifting in the afternoon. The body needs to wake up and get prepared.

Since I can’t go the gym in the middle of the day with my current time table, but only in the mornings, Uncle Vova suggested that I change the program a bit. I listened hard, but than I changed it even further for my personal feeling.

Now I just run. I go to the gym about 8:30 in the morning and I run. When I can’t run anymore, I have a small break doing some other exercises (no weights though). After about 10-15 minutes I go back to running. And that’s it. But I do it every working day (Monday-Friday) for the last two and a half weeks.

The first week that I did this, I could run only about 1-1.2 km during the first time, and then another 0.5-0.75 km during the second time. Today I did 2.25 km for the first run and 0.75 for the second.

I feel that running works better for me. My mood goes up, I’m full of energy for the rest of the day, I have no pains, and I have some gains. I see (and feel) the progress every (and I mean every) day. And progress stimulates me…

Note to myself: consult with people in the know regularly. Listen to what they say.