Say what you want…. you cant ignore the fact that he ran that fast last night. As I bolted (erm… yes) out of my seat when the time came up I realised that we will never again see someone so dominant in sprint races.

Watch other athletes and you will see they are all taking in a bit of Bolt, taking things a little more relaxed. Does it work for them as well as for him? No idea. Ask them.

But Federer, Woods and Phelps are nowhere near as dominant as this 22 year old kid from the Caribbean, who smiles and enjoys his way to world records.

Last night he gave it all he had. Teeth out, nostrils flaring, it was beautiful to see that he does suffer. That he is human.

Don’t pretend he doesnt inspire you to want to be a better person.

Continue Reading →

This video starts with the simple mantra that there are only two types of people in life.

Those who say “I can’t”…

and those who say…

I CAN.

This weekend, go out and be that guy, or girl, who says I CAN. Who gets their dusty shoes out the cupboard and takes a walk around the block, then goes again. Who runs around the block a week later. Who in a month is running around 8 blocks, 6 months later runs their first half marathon, and sometime in April, 2011, is standing on the beach in Port Elizabeth with a wetsuit on, with 1800 other people, watching the sun rise over the ocean.

Then look back and remember this post, and remember to tell yourself, in the hush and the silence that preludes the most amazing day in the world, that YOU CAN, that you ALREADY HAVE, and that you are the spark of inspiration for a whole generation of people.

I CAN, my inspiration to help thousands of people. Because I CAN.

Continue Reading →

Have you ever found that you got your most creative ideas and revelations by just going for a walk or a run? Can you relate to that on top of the world feeling after a physical activity? Do you sometimes feel so under pressure that you just want to run away?

If you answered YES to any of these questions then listen up. Your body, mind and soul is telling you that it needs some form of exercise. Now I know you are already thinking “I don’t have time, energy, knowledge or the right shoes to do this plus I have tried so many times anyway” and I want to tell you, STOP KIDDING YOURSELF. You are the boss of you and you are the reason why your health and fitness is where it is today. You are the only one that can do something about it so buckle up and let’s get down to business. (I promise this will be fun!)

As a physical body you receive your energy through 3 channels.
1. What you eat.
2. How you exercise.
3. How you recover (rest).

So firstly, if I was driving my dream car (Audi Q5, soon that is), there is no way in hell that I will fill it up with Olive Oil. I won’t even fill up with petrol if it was a diesel model. Why? Simply because the car won’t work properly if I do that. So why on earth do we put garbage in our bodies and expect to work at full capacity?

Secondly, when we do exercise we are creating energy. Most people have a warped idea that you are tired after training, where in fact you feel more alert, more energetic and more alive when you do regular exercise. So what do we do when we are under work pressure? We cut on the time spend on training. How stupid is that! I know we all do that, but think about it. We are cutting away from the source that gives us energy in a time when we need energy the most. Realistically we should be spending more time creating energy (training physically), so that we can function in work, finance and family life more sufficiently.

Then lastly, we all have a 16 hour battery life. As humans we need to be recharged for about 8 solid hours to produce optimal functionality in the 16 hours awake. Studies have proved that lack of sleep has been associated with worsening of blood pressure and cholesterol, all risk factors for heart deceases and strokes. A prolonged lack of sleep has an intoxicating effect on your body. According to the Journal of Applied Sports Science, being awake for 24 hours has the same physical effect as a blood alcohol content of 0.096, which is above the legal driving limit. So don’t think you are Batman, Spiderman or even my beloved Edward Cullen that can do without sleep. If you don’t take the rest you need now, it will be deleted from the end of your life. So no long life for yoooooooouuuuuuu.

It’s not all complicated. A balanced lifestyle is actually much more fun than you think. You will find that majority of the successful business executives are in some sort of training program pushing the boundaries just as hard in the physical sphere as in business. Wouldn’t you want top of your company or industry? Have you ever stop to ask why that is? If not, I have to warn you that you might need to look at cognitive default reprogramming. (Say what?)

Since we live in a physical world and body, the way we experience our true capacity and potential is in the physical. Where you are now, you have not even scraped the tip of the iceberg of what you can do and achieve in your life. (Sorry to say, but I am also talking to myself here) If you thought that you arrived or that this is the best you can do, I have extremely exciting news for you. You can experience 100 times higher, better, faster, more. It is when we start pushing and keep pushing our abilities in the physical that we learn the characteristics we need to do in other areas of life.

This is the reason why I started FROM MONDAY Corporate Wellness. I am here to Inspire, Equip, Motivate and Celebrate the journey from success to success. My WIG (Wild Improbable Goal the Fairy Godmother helped me with) is to see Africa become the wealthiest continent in the world. Wealthy in Finance. Wealthy in Health. Wealthy in relationships and Family life. I believe with all my heart that a healthy and fit body carries a healthy and fit mind. By taking care and having respect for oneself first, everything else will fall into place in our own lives, our family, our community, our businesses, our economy, our nation, our continent. Capish!

If you believe this with me and want to see this change happen in yourself and within your company, contact me on 083 245 3898 or marilu@urban-angel.co.za so that I can tell you more about the FROM MONDAY program

Continue Reading →

Caster Semenya wins the 800m gold by a country mile

Well, Caster Semenya has delivered South Africa’s first medal in a World Championships since 2005, and becomes only the second women to win a title for SA. Her time: 1:55.45., some 2 seconds ahead of former world record holder Jepkosgei of Kenya, is a new PB, her second in a few weeks.

If you tuned in earlier today, you’ll know about the controversy surrounding Semenya. There will be much more written about this, that is for sure. If you have some time, I’d encourage you to go to this post, and then read the comments at the bottom – such a fantastic range of opinions, from the outright upset at the terrible situation Semenya is in, to thought-provoking questions on the matter, to opinions on what should be done. It’s a great read – thank you for your time and consideration, everyone. I wish I could do more justice to your comments!

The 800m final – an unpleasant affair

The general atmosphere of the race was unpleasant - as Conrad put it in his comments to that last post, there really was not a scenario with a positive outcome in all this, and we saw that tonight.

There was almost nothing in the way of congratulations from rivals, race commentary was stilted and ‘strained’, and there are reports of booing from the German crowd. Among athletics websites, there is a general resentment and anger (people take the sport seriously, they feel this makes a mockery of the event), and it is directed mainly against Athletics South Africa, but also against Caster Semenya (which I don’t believe is fair – the governing body, sure, as mentioned, but not the athlete, for I don’t believe she is wilfully cheating).

Added to this, we’ve now started to see the usual mud-flinging, accusations of racism levelled against officials and athletes, discrimination against entire nations (an ASA official effectively accused Australia, as a nation, of conspiring against Semenya…seriously, on live radio).

There have been multiple denials (two separate officials contradicted each other on the same radio station over here today – one said “no test had been perfomed”, the other confirmed the tests), and the President of the South African Olympic Committee, Gideon Sam, has demanded that the IAAF either release results or stop making “malicious” comments. That’s just to give you the perception of what is happening here in SA, where we have reacted as one might expected when a first gold medal in years is challenged…

Having posted earlier this afternoon that things would get nasty, I expected a few days, but it has not taken very long, and it’s already ugly.

A future world record holder?

But all speculation aside, watching the race, and looking at its numbers, let me throw out a prediction:

Caster Semenya will break the world record of 1:53.28 (Kratochvilova) within the next 12 months, if she continues to improve and train effectively. It could even come this year. All she needs is a pace of 55 through the bell, and another 14 seconds through to 500m, and I believe she’d be able to finish in 1:53 or faster.

To take a race out in 26.9 seconds, then press through the next 200m in 29-odd seconds (to hit 400m in 56.83s), take the third 200m in about 29 seconds, and then still kick off the final 170m the way she did, and put two seconds on opposition over the final 200m – that suggests that 1:55 is a sub-max effort. And she did this looking well capable of speeding up if required. It was, had you not known any of the controversy, a quite astonishing performance.

And I honestly will predict that Kratochvilova’s record will fall. Of course, people said that last year, when Jelimo dominated, and that has not come true, so there are no sure things. But Semenya looks well capable of that record.

This is a soap opera and a situation that has few positive outcomes, not for Semenya, not for those she competes against (who are now racing with such doubt and controversy hanging over them too) and not for people who watch the event and cannot make sense of the politics and denials and confusion.

Based on your comments, I have a few thoughts still to express, but that must wait for another time, so join us then! Oh, and there is other athletics too – Usain Bolt goes for number 2 tomorrow, though I’d be surprised if he breaks 19.30s. Then again, who knows…

this article was written by Ross Tucker at Science of Sport

Continue Reading →

So in the last week I have finally seen huge results by putting in the…. erm…. hungry hours.

I got back from Knysna and was, for me, fat. 82.3kg for me is overweight, and I could see it in pictures and felt it running, especially. It was a combination of lots of swimming (I pick up muscle quickly), bad eating habits and stress.

I made the decision to do some homework, and worked out a plan to eat healthy, whole foods, based on a calorie count of 2300 calories a day, total. Cut out a lot of sugar, all wheat, all milk and generally made the decision to tell myself to take 2 cups of HTFU and be hungry for a while. I started doing more regular cycling as well.

6 weeks later, 75.7kg and almost 7kg lighter, I feel much better, healthier, and have dealt well with the hunger. I can even feel the difference in the pool.

In the past, I have used fat burners (eek! I know I know) and other products to help me along, but this time I went clean, and focused on taking lots of anti oxidants and got enough sleep.

Whats my goal?

I want to get to around 73kg, as there is definitely still room for improvement, and apparently, according to good mate Robin 800g = 10 watts on the bike saved. With Epic in the distance, and around 20km of vertical ascent, for me to be 72kg vs even 80kg, that’s 100watts less I have to put out per pedal stroke for 1000km in the African sun.

Thats how Bradley Wiggins did it – so I can do it too. I want it THAT badly.

Continue Reading →

its been a while since I had a personal update for you guys in what I am involved in and where I am going with my life. I guess as someone who benchmarks alot, and someone who shares all this information about how I believe you should live your life, I should show that proof is in the pudding at points.

So lets have a look see (honestly) at how I`m going along…

This site had grown from 50 people its first month to 57 000 last month thanks to a wonderful sports blog who sent me 40 000 odd visitors, but the average is around 10 000 per month. Thats up from 50 visitors a month to around 400 a day. UNIQUE visitors. Its amazing to me that this keeps growing, but the proof is in the pudding I guess. Thank you for coming back all the time. Its a very humbling experience.

I wish I had more time to market, spend time writing and doing more effort for this site, but life has me real busy at the moment with the following things:

1. I started a collabo effort to create ROK, a online brand agency, which does Urban Ninja for other people – create content, update, integrate and more than anything, tell the right story for your brand. This is going very well.

2. I am coaching, and involved with more HP style athletes as we go, and my coaching platform is in the phase of expansion, to be able to offer daily emails, weekly mails, nutrition tracking, programs, etc etc… all off a custom Training Peaks metrics system.

3. I am in the process of creating a foundation called ROK This, which aims to give 5000 weeks off food, 5000 warm items of clothing and R400 000 to sustainable projects by April 25th, 2010, which is the date of Ironman SA, and also, the birthday of my amazing girl.

4. KHK Wines (our family farm) continues to show record breaking growth, and we are planning a cellar this year, as well as planting olive trees for a future range of boutique premium olive oils. We are extremely excited about this years harvest, as it was our best yet, and we look forward to the product doing really well on the market.

5. My sponsors are incredible to me. Thank you Puma, Whasp, Suunto, Rockets, Jack Black Beer, Orca and a few more who I cant talk about just yet as I am still to sign agreements with guys, but the level of involvement from people is incredible. Thank you.

6. My life is gorgeous, and I am always amazed at how blessed I am. I live in an incredible place surrounded by amazing people and I am involved in fantastic projects all around me. I have incredible friends (who I have neglected somewhat recently working 8am till 10pm) and a wonderful support structure and peer group.

let’s all raise a glass to the future. its looking bright indeed….

Continue Reading →

Want to know more about Ironman and be reminded what an adrenalin rush it is to cross the finish line? Want your friends to be in on the secret? Then join us when Triangle Events comes to your town for a series of Information Evenings.

Put these dates in your diary:

CAPE TOWN
Tuesday, 1 September 2009
Kelvin Grove Cricket Ground
6:30 for 7:00pm

DURBAN
Tuesday, 8 September 2009
Durban Country Club
6:30 for 7:00pm

JOHANNESBURG
Tuesday, 29 September 2009
Protea Hotel Balalaika
6:30 for 7:00pm

PRETORIA
Wednesday, 30 September 2009
Waterkloof Golf Estate
6:30 for 7:00pm

PORT ELIZABETH
Tuesday, 13 October 2009
Protea Marine Hotel
6:30 for 7:00pm

EAST LONDON
Thursday, 15 October 2009
Garden Court, East London
6:30 for 7:00pm

Whether you are a seasoned Ironman, first timer or would just like to learn more about the sport come and join us at the Information Evenings – no booking or cost involved! You stand a chance of winning a free entry to the 2010 Spec-Savers Ironman or Ironman 70.3 SA. This prize will be drawn after the final Info Evening in East London.

For further details please contact Gail Faiers on gail@triangle.cc or call the Triangle office on 041 – 581 7990. We look forward to sharing the thrill of Ironman with you!

Continue Reading →

Rock that! this, from Science of Sport

The limits to performance

As mentioned last night, it’s still just too early to produce any kind of 10m splits, though hopefully the buzz will speed up the release of those numbers (if you have them, let me know!)

And, as is customary when a world record is broken, people are turning to the next world record and asking how low can it go? Bolt himself said that he could run 9.4s. Like Haile Gebrselassie’s prediction of a 2:03 marathon, a lot depends on whether you believe that 9.4s means 9.40s or 9.49s.

I certainly think something below 9.50 sec is possible, though it starts to approach what I believe is a limit for performance. Last year, some scientists predicted that the ceiling existed at 9.48s, although those predictions always come back to haunt scientists! Peter Weyand once threw out a figure of 6 seconds, though I think we can safely say that’s not going to happen.

One year ago, 9.58s was hypothetical only, and Bolt has pushed the event forward by two generations in one year (it was exactly a year, to the day, between Beijing and Berlin, incidentally. Bolt must enjoy August 16th). So given that improvement, why not 9.4s by 2010? I somehow don’t see it improving that much so soon, but perhaps small increments, and given a long career, Bolt might yet go sub-9.50s. Certainly, not much seems impossible for Usain Bolt, though there is so much hype and lack of objectivity around, it’s difficult to tease out real from make-believe!

Amazing. Another great article of Bolt vs Gay (that’s Tyson Gay not some rumor of ill intent) can be found here.

UNREAL! I really enjoyed that. It will power me through my afternoon session.

Continue Reading →

Usain Bolt wants you to wear these for when he wins. Puma
is making them. Nice punt for one of the great partners who make Urban Ninja possible.

They tie to your back, so you can focus your arms on drinking a Jack Black whilst checking your heart rate on your Suunto , wearing your Rockets Compressox, with your Orca hoodie on for cold winter, and shooting a Whasp Green Mamba.

How was that for an associate punt? See – all my brands are what we in the biz like to call “complimentary services”.

Now go enjoy your weekend. I am going to use all my products this weekend. And next week…. I can announce that I have a new TITLE sponsor. I am very excited about this, but all I can say is that the trend of Urban Ninja having brands associated that are based on animal names continues… puma, whasp, orca…

Continue Reading →

this post was written by Chuckie V

It’s not easy to read the last three or four blogs that Matt Fitzgerald has written. It’s not that he’s suddenly decided to write poorly for the first time ever, or that he calls me bad names (which I would understand, quite truthfully). Nor is it through the use of a bunch of weird words with scores of syllables and hidden meanings. It’s hard to read because he touches on a subject I don’t ever care to relive, but one I must occasionally deal with as a coach.

Matt is a beaten down man, mostly because of an innate and unquenchable desire to perform well at a silly little (well, not so little) triathlon, so he can qualify for the big dance in Kona. But as “fate” would have it his head is writing checks his body can’t cash—specifically his Achilles tendon, his knees and his __________(fill in the blank). Injuries have left him sidelined and missing out on what he loves doing most: running, cycling and swimming.

So there on his little corner of the wireless world he’s opened his wounds for all to see and read. Advice, of course, poured in.

As is usually the case with the injured athlete, Matt freely admitted that anger immediately surfaced (this, as expected; first comes denial, then anger, then disappointment, then acceptance, and then, hopefully, the drive to solve the issue{s}). And while I tend to think that anger is a necessary element of athletic performance (particularly at the top end of sport), there’s definitely good anger and bad anger. And anger caused by injury is never good (unless, perhaps, you’re cage-fighting a chimpanzee).

Because he’s such a nice guy and offers so much to the sport, one can’t help but hope that Matt flips a quick U-turn. But I fear he won’t (after two and a half decades in sport I’ve come to know the type). Not only does he appear to harness too much of the wrong kind of anger but he also seems a trifle impatient, and while the former may be a helpful ingredient for success as an endurance athlete, the latter never helps. When injured, the endurance athlete must make use of his time and shift his or her focus on to solving the problem and not just feeling sorry for himself or asking “Why me?” or trying to work his troubles out during subsequent workouts. Often, time is all it takes, and time is something we know we have but worry we don’t.

Contrary to what Matt writes injuries don’t just happen. They happen for a reason (and often times, because of a number of reasons…as is the case with him, what with a number of injuries). The athlete who can see through his rage and watery-eyed disappointment, and through his own stumbling subjectiveness, is the athlete who can begin to solve them. I should know. I was one of them.

Continue Reading →