Note the subtle hint this advert brings across. Salad Spinner. Hmmmm….

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Those who know me will know that I am a thinker. That I see alot of what the world misses out on, the nuances of people and the things that bother them that they dont voice, I seem to feel in them. Its a gift my mother passed onto me, and one I am thankful for, as I have been able to help many people around me in times when they thought their struggle was alone.

In all my training lately I havent taken music along and have not had to because there is alot of my mind. Lots of good opportunities, lots of challenges and lots of normal nigglies when it comes to dealing with people.

Someone in my office remarked this week “Is there anyone you dont know?” and it got me thinking that indeed, I know lots of people, in many places. (more…)

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To say we live in the most amazing city in the world is an understatement. This is a mid-winter weekend but lets see whats ahead of us…

Red Bull Big Wave Africa. Link here

Friday 25 July 2008 1130h

The predictions are proving spot on at the moment as the swell continues to grow and the light offshore NW wind is creating super clean conditions out at Dungeons this morning. All the surfers are assembled in Hout Bay harbour and waiting in anticipation for their first official Red Bull Big Wave Africa 2008 practice session. (more…)

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The original article can be found on Belgium Knee Warmers.

Researchers led by Dr. Carsten Lundby at the Copehagen Muscle Research Center have just published a paper on testing for EPO via urine sample. Lundby and company administered recombinant EPO to eight male subjects to track the performance-enhancing effects of the drug. While the results of this study are plenty revealing in their own right, in the course of performing this study the researchers decided to send the samples to two laboratories to see if the subjects would test positive using the current test protocol approved by the World Anti-Doping Association (WADA). The results of this study were just published by the Journal of Applied Physiology, a peer-reviewed journal.

The seven-week study began with a two week “boosting” period in which subjects received high doses of EPO, followed by a two week “maintenance” period of reduced EPO administration and ending with a three week “post” period. During this time some 32 urine samples were sent to each lab. In the paper the labs aren’t identified; they are just labeled “A” and “B.” Lab A found all samples from the boosting period positive. However, it only found two of 24 maintenance-phase samples positive. (more…)

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This time of the year is always exciting to me. The Tour de France comes around and there are a couple assumptions to be made from this:

1. 4-5pm most afternoons are taken to spend time watching TV
2. There will be doping positives. Its part of the cleaning process, and as long as there is free will, there will be stupid ego`s out there.
3. New equipment to see that we might get next year!
4. Real bravery and real pain for our pleasure.

If you want more excellent cycling reading, I recommend you go to Belgium Knee Warmers as he writes really really damn well about the life.

So far the tour has been a real pleasure to watch, despite the idiots who ruin it for their entire team. How you as an individual with a ego problem, take personal control of the finances of the bus drivers, the admin staff, your soigneur, your team mates, management and indeed, the families of all those people, by doping, is beyond me. If you get caught, all those people are affected. I dont care about you, I care about what you are doing to all those people who trust you and depend on your to do the right thing, but yet, you opt to train less, eat worse, ruin the dreams of your fans, and indeed, remove people from the sport of cycling.

The GC has been incredible, and the speeds at times stupid. Anyone see the speeding camera go off yesterday as Fabian Cancellara was clocking 70km/h on the flat leading into the last climb? I saw it. I giggled like a schoolgirl because thats beyond my comprehension. and Jens Voigt? I love this guy… look at him here…

Isnt it just beautiful? He is a domestique this year and saving his energy, as a flat stage rider, to drop most of the peleton sans 10-12 guys, on the climbs. And to quote him…….

“On the Tourmalet Volodymir Gustov and I set a hard tempo. That worked out pretty nice since I actually managed to drop Valverde and Cunego,” Voigt said proudly. “To be honest, for a moment I felt like Eddy Merckx. It gives you a huge boost in motivation and morale; you just want to go faster and faster.”

mnandi.

Want to know how steep the climbs are:

That steep.

Now, my favorite piece of new equipment shown at the Tour is the new Giant TT bike. the back half is pure Cervelo P3c, and the front half is just incredible. The front impact is what impresses me most. Notice the lack of cables in the air and around the head tube, which is first point of contact. Well done Giant. I am in love. I doubt this will make it to production, but I have to find one, even if I have to rob a team bus somewhere.

Today is a rest day, but tuesday and wednesday are going to be epic carnage and alot will be left out on the open roads of the Alps.

Enjoy……

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I`ve had quite a busy week and been on the de-tox after being sick and eating badly next week and its amazing how the body reacts. Apart from doing Power Yoga in a 40deg celcius room to loosen the hips and get some heat training in for Kona, I`ve also cleaned my diet out and upped the water intake. My skin looks like a 13 year old boys` who`s just learnt the fine art of “Frenching your girlfriend”

awesome.

Whilst I`m sweating like a Siberian bushpig in downtown Calcutta at Yoga Zone I have had some interesting breakthoughs (some quite hiliarious) :

1. Dont sweat the small stuff. Excuse the pun. I am not a yoga master of sorts, even though there are people in my class who can bend like putty. Whilst my ego wants to be better than everyone, I realise that they have their skills and I have mine, and together, only by quitting the need to be better at them at THEIR skill, will we get along harmoniously. In turn, they might appreciate my ability to run at the end of an Ironman with a smile on my face.
2. Girls are different to boys. As I dare look around the class mid-downward-dog I realise that girls are inherently more flexible than guys, even if they arent stronger, they are always able to get into the positions with more ease. Men are the foundation, and women are the stuff that flexes and fills the foundation.
3. I sweat alot more than I thought possible.
4. Small steps get to the end result alot faster. I can try get into the full position of the Crow, the Gorilla or the Quasi-footed-cathairbearded-saskwatch but I find taking it slower with small continuous improvements (a principle called Kaizen) makes me happier and gets me there faster.

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I`ve been quite tired this week as well, lots of stuff going on and decisions to make and people to see and the normal stuff if you want to be an Urban Ninja, so I checked our Gordo`s blog for the week and ta-da! The man was on the money again.

check out what he wrote…

Q. What is the #1 killer of athletic success in training?
A. Fatigue.

I have been working with athletes for ten years now and the greatest challenge that we face is managing fatigue. Athletes that successfully manage fatigue are more consistent with their training (and happier) thereby increasing their ultimate athletic success.

Here are some tips for improving how you manage fatigue.

Chasing Fitness – Chasing fitness happens when you sit down and calculate the “fitness” required to meet an athletic goal. You then train at your goal fitness level, rather than your current fitness level. We do this in a lot of different ways – solo athletes, do this by chasing Personal Bests in workouts; group training athletes, do this by seeking to “win” workouts with “faster” athletes.

My experience is the best training partners are slightly weaker physically, stronger mentally and very fun to be around. You then let the group dynamics lift your fitness.

As for the effect on your training partner… remember that most of your competition isn’t consciously seeking their personal best, they are controlled by moment-to-moment emotions.

Chasing Averages – I’ve nuked myself a few times with this approach, most recently last week. Here is how it works… you sit down with a recent lab test, or race result. The data is “real” so you have confidence that it will provide a reasonable benchmark to what you should do. You then pull out the exercise physiology textbooks and calculate the precise intensity that you should hold for the workout. Then, for an unexplained reason, you add 5-10% to the intensity and 10-20% to the duration! Fortunately, I cracked fairly early in that workout!

Another word on why averages are misleading. Have another look at the chart above. The average of that ride was 253w. About 6% of that ride was less than 100w but less than 2% of the ride was greater than 400w. With heart rates/power/pace, there are always more very low values than very high values. The longer, and more variable, the workout the greater this effect. As well, my brain always seems to “normalize high”. If you ask me to guess the average power of an effort that I just completed (when I watched the screen a lot), I am nearly always 5-10% too high.

What does this mean?

A – If your goal effort is 180-190w then you’ll probably average ~175w if you execute correctly.

B – If you set your powermeter on “average watts” and try to hit a number then the majority of your ride will be well over that number and you’ll fail to notice (highly costly) power spikes.

No Man’s Land Training – A fit athlete will have the capacity to train every session a little bit “too hard”. Taking the three main physiological markers, AeT/LT/FT, the mid points between each of these, should be avoided, with particular attention being paid to the mid-point between AeT and LT. There is a big increase in recovery requirement (and hardly any training benefit) from training slightly over these points, as opposed to slightly under. See the attachment from last week for more info.

NOTE – intensity moderation is easier to apply to others than ourselves! Having a coach review workout files (post fact) can help you stay sane.

The final three points are sleep, life stress and nutrition (including drug/alcohol use). These are huge in terms of their impact on the amount of fatigue we carry around in our lives.

Sleep – an extra hour of sleep, every night.

Life Stress – consciously choosing to do less, in order to achieve more.

Nutrition – eat real food.

The more simple you can make your life, the greater the chance that you will be able to execute successfully.

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If that sounds too technical for you, go get some sleep! For the rest of you, food for thoughts for the weekend!

Ciao. Raoul

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Morning/Noon/Night wherever you are.

Ive been away for 10 days in Knysna doing the Oyster Festival for work, training, and uuuuuuuum…. oysters and champers! It was one of the most mixed emotion weeks of my life I tell you. Arrived in good nic, raced well in the MTB and the night run, bonded with old friends again, etc etc…

Tuesday was when the proverbial hit the fan. I was running along with Jeannie Bomford at the Featherbed trail run and in a moment where I was admiring the (feel the) awesomeness, I rolled my ankle almost to the floor over a small rock on a flat path. Not my proudest moment ever, but I knew I had to run it out to avoid it growing to the elephantitis proportions. bummer. Couldnt walk much for the rest of the day and needless to say I was a wreck wed, thurs, fri as I couldnt train and………… du dum du dum…………. Knysna dished out its finest infected water and a whole kablewey (insert huge cartoon animation of kableweeeeey here) of us ended us vying for bathroom rental space!

Wednesday doesnt exist for everyone but Dale and Big Blade Kennedy who played nurse nurse and helped us back to health. Thanks boys, you guys saved a week heading down the loo……….

We then cruised through the weekend running the Half Marathon with many many PB`s. I ran as fast as the foot would allow and cruised home in 1:23 and some change feeling better than before the start.

The afterparty rocked rocked rocked. squeak that fricken takkie people! Havent seen people go bushbananas like that in a while.

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So, some educational stuff again. Today I`m going to talk nutrition as its on the front of my page at the moment again. I want to talk about something called Nutritional Healing. I’m going to keep this as simple as possible to remove any wiggle room that our minds might seek to create.

Gordo but then again, his knowledge has helped me alot.

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Phew! In other news, KHK Wines are available from me now for a limited time;

Sauvignon Blanc – R38

Merlot Dry Rose – R45

Red House Blend – R50

Shiraz 2006 – R85

thats per bottle…

Adios senoras and senoritas…

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As far as mates go, I`m well….. lets just say I`m blessed. I mean, LOOK AT US! The last supper didnt nearly have it this good. From Blue Steel to La Tigre and all the way back to a fresh dose of Magnum the guys seem to have it down, hand pointing and gesturing in all directions.

If you dont have a regular night out with the lads I highly suggest (read: get off your ass now and make some friends damnit!) you organise one. Its good for the soul.

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In other boys news, I will be teaming up with Gringo & Co for a week of racing/playing/work at Knysna doing the following races:

1. 50km MTB ride through the forest. Rokking.
2. 50km Road bike (on the MTB)
3. Night Run 13km (running with Marilu)
4. Featherbed Trail Run 13km
5. Mile swim in the lagoon.
6. Xterra (3km run, 20km MTB, 10km run)
7. Runners World 8km brekki run
8. Forest 21km run

Also throwing in a round of Golf at Simola. All in all, a cracking week. Hoping that my recovery tools will include champagne, oysters and some squeaking of takkie on a dancefloor somewhere.

Roco.

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For those of you going to Knysna Oyster Festival, dont cry, but this is our pad of luxury…

mnandi……………

give us a shout if you`re in the area.

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