I wanted to do something totally inspirational in terms of an interview after Ironman. For me there was one story that really stood out this year at Ironman. One that I was holding thumbs for 10 times more than others. I want to go back a little though before Ironman and share some of the stories on this amazing woman.

I met Liezel at varsity. She may have had pigtails and may have worn tie-die. I can’t confirm these details entirely for the fear of my car tires. Her fans are crazy about her. Transformed into a superstar TV personality, Idols Presenter and all around most-positive-person-on-the-box girl. She is also incredibly friendly and perhaps her best trait is that she is not scared to ask questions.

When I heard Liezel was entered for Ironman SA I was stunned. I thought to myself that this was a new dimension to her. She was BALLSY. I had never known her to run a step, never mind 42 200 meters after a 180 000 meter cycle and a 3800 meter swim. I knew about the limits of economy she would face. I imagined her time schedule to be crazy already, so throwing in 15+ hours of training a week would be a near impossibility.

I watched from the outside and picked up on the rumors. People, amazingly, were a little begrudged with her. They were blind to the PR and the exposure she was giving our niche sport in the mainstream media. I know that the editor of our biggest cycling publication told her she should stick to TV. I wanted to kick him in the nads when I heard this. Thankfully, Liezel processed it all as motivation to keep going.

When she didn’t make the bike cut-off at 70.3 in January I read stupid blog posts and heard stupid comments. I knew they would all just motivate her. I had full faith she was going to make it at Ironman and that she did. In doing it she gave more PR to the race than I reckon every athlete combined. She did it selflessly without asking for anything in return. She was just another athlete, talking about how amazing the experience was. I hope she can inspire you just a touch of what she has given me as inspiration this year.

I looked for her everywhere on the bike but I missed her somewhere. Sorry about that girl!

Here is her interview:

1. Why ironman?

I wanted to set a huge goal for myself in 2010 and what is bigger than Ironman?

2. What was the biggest obstacle?

My biggest obstacle on race day was the run, I thought with long legs like mine that I would be a natural runner but that has never been the case, and I was so worried that I wouldn’t manage the run distance at Ironman.

3. How do you manage your time? You’re a busy girl.

Finding the time to train was a challenge; I made big sacrifices with my family and my work, I wanted to complete this and I knew that with great sacrifice, victory will be so much more sweeter.

4. After the 70.3 setback how did you go about getting into shape for the big day?

After missing my bike cut off at 70.3, I started training with a coach, and we worked very very hard on improving my cycling.

5. Best piece of equipment you own?

My pink Oakley Radars

6. Any thank you’s you want to put out there?

So many Thank Yous! My family; my coach (Mike Moriaty from M.A.D Multisport); The team from Idols/Mnet for giving me time off to take part in the Ironman even though we were filming the new season of Idols. My partner who put up with me and encouraged me even though I couldn’t run and cycle when I started this journey to becoming an Ironman. I dedicated this Ironman to my mom and dad who never once stopped believing in me (and my biggest dream was to have them walk me across the finish line at the Ironman)

7. What’s next?

Next goal is the Knysna Marathon in July, I wanted to set myself a goal to work towards and improve my running. And of course, I want to do 70.3 in January 2011.

8. When the going got really tough, what kept you going?

When it got tough, I just thought of my setback at 70.3 and I motivated myself to just keep going. I also had many people telling me that I shouldn’t waste my time trying to do The Ironman after not making it at 70.3; and this kept me going and made me laugh through out the race because I knew I was going to finish!!! There wasn’t one moment on the day where I wanted to give up. I was loving every moment.

9. How has the challenge changed your mindset, your health and your life in general?

I have always lived a healthy life style, so this just added a more active part to my life. I have seen that I managed to train wise and work wisely. This challenge made me realise that I have the determination and courage to tackle anything I set my mind on

10. As a woman, any women specific tips for the female readers?

When I told my dad that I am going to do The Ironman, he never laughed and said I cant do it, he went out and bought a book called “Triathlon for Women: Triathlon: A Mind-Body-Spirit Approach for Female Athletes” by Lisa Lynam. This book was full of all the advise and tips I needed; I am sure allot of readers will find this useful

Thanks for the inspiration. See you at other events. To all those who didn’t believe she could do it. I hope you like the taste of your feet. Like the mantra says. Assume nothing, pursue everything, experience now….

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I am getting more and more comments on the amount and type of training I do. The conversation will go something like this…

Friend: “Dude, awesome race at Ironman. You must be racking up the hours. Why aren’t you pro?”

Me: “Thanks, but I have a normal job and train normal hours. I am not near pro level. Top age grouper and top pro are worlds apart.”

Friend: “Seriously, you must be racking up 25 hours a week?”

Me: “No, I average around 16-18 hours a week.”

Friend: “Liar!”

The argument goes on and as such I am going to put my weekly average miles on. My weeks start on a Saturday anyway, so posting them every Friday is a good way for me to reflect on the previous seven days. Fridays are also my days off in general. I will start this week with what I managed:

Saturday: Off

Sunday: 30min run to the gym, easy, followed by 60min indoor spin (100 cadence, 120hr). 15min run.

Monday: 40min (2km) swim and some minor core work (about 20min) in the Morning. Afternoon was a 35min jog on the promenade making sure I kept the HR down to being able to run with my mouth closed.

Tuesday: Slept in in the morning, was just too good. Afternoon session was a 45min spin (100 cadence, 120hr) and a 45min run, easy easy.

Wednesday: Morning swim, 40min (2km)

Thursday: 60min Vinyasa Yoga in the morning. Afternoon was 45min spin (100 cadence, 120hr) and a 30 session of core.

Friday: 45min spin (100 cadence, 120hr)

That’s it.

So not really a heavy week, right? I am still getting my body back into action and should be getting in my first longer outdoor ride this weekend plus a trail run out there somewhere, hopefully. The plan is to do 15 hours next week split as follows:

Swim: 2 hours
Ride: 7 hours
Run: 3 hours
Gym: 1 hour
Yoga: 2 hours

As the weeks go by, I`ll get more riding in and that will go up towards 14 hours a week, with 2 hours swimming, 5 hours of running and 2 hours of yoga per week. That’s really my biggest weeks in training, 23 hours. I might do 2 of those.

Average will be about 10 Hours of riding, 4 Hours of running, 2 Hours of Swimming and 2 Hours of Yoga. 18 Hours. Not more. I can’t do more than that and maintain health and work at full steam.

For what I am doing in training, well I am working on the following for the following 16 weeks:

Economy
Flexibility
Economy
Core stability
Economy
Power
Economy.

Quite a simple equation as to what I feel is most important for the successes I want to achieve in Hawaii at Ironman and Xterra World Champs. My goals have been penned but those I can’t share just yet…

Buy me a RealBeer and we can talk about it…

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For the past few days I’ve felt the urge again. It went away for a few weeks recently. There was considerable pain involved in a 9hour 11minute stretch just before the yearning dissipated.

The emotional wreck that was left after those 551minutes found itself buried in frozen dairy, fried bread and real barley hopes and water. It had irregular hours of sleep, mostly a lack thereof. It relished in the lack of routine.

The yearning has some back.

Last night I felt it for the first time. That return to something resembling moving “smoothly”. I felt it for about 200m of the 2000m I swam this morning too.

It will take months for the entire picture to fit together again, for the quiet power to come back, but the yearning is the first sign that I am ready to return to action. Ready and willing to be tired, to push boundaries and remain calm in the process.

So if you see me out there on the roads or in the forest and I don’t always greet, it’s because I am chasing dreams and I sometimes get so into my zone that I swear the world is a blur. There are only beats and movement when I`m that far into my world.

The yearning is back. See you out there.

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I love personal planning. Having recently completed a 6 month cycle of planning it’s been time to reflect and see where I can adapt and change some things moving forward to give me more breathing room. I have a list which I like to answer. Reflect on the items below and think about how these items may play into your goals for the future. What things drive your personal satisfaction and what things deter you from meeting your goals?

1. Big Picture (3-4 most important things)
2. Key Likes (3-4 areas that most drive my personal satisfaction)
3. Geography (where I will spend my time )
4. Body — key points for my body
5. Mind — key points for mind/knowledge/education
6. Spirit — when and how I will rest (from training, from work, from everything)
7. Places I want to visit
8. Personal Asset Allocation (today, five year, ten year)
9. Next twelve month expense projection
10. Next twelve month income projection
11. Personal Top Ten List — the ten most important things in my life that require focus, effort and time
12. Actions — what actions/habits are most important to me
13. Hazards — what items need to be watched to avoid roadblocks

Once I get those answered I always have a better idea of how to move forward with more ease and a better idea of how to make key decisions. Having a standard set of questions also means I can go back and see how I answered these questions 6, 12, 18 months ago and see if I was being realistic then, which helps adaptation and correct planning going forward.

That’s all for today. Back to your lives…

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Right, after the wonderful article on “Woolies Cleaning Up” I thought it would be time to get back to some high performance sports stuff. One of the things that I discuss most with Ironman guys (they ask the most questions – almost as many as the girls – keep it up girls!) is learning to listen to your body about when you are pushing it a little hard.

Many endurance athletes get sick aplenty and struggle with weight management and never quite get to their goals because their training goes well for a few weeks and then #BOOM its a blow up scenario, followed by 4-5 days of bad sleep, bad behavior and zero training. If athletes get sick, they can miss up to 2 weeks of good work, which in essence they will never recover.

So how do you learn to be aware of these things? How does it “feel” just before you get sick.

How do I know when I’m pushing it too hard? How does it feel before I blow up, mentally and physically?

For me I have a set of key indicators for when I am totally pushing my limits and in turn, my luck, my health and my long term outlook. I have to live a little more controlled than others but that is just how my body functions. I deal with wine and beer better than ice cream and pasta. Find what works for you and what doesn’t and list the things that don’t work and the things you are prone to craving when you are pushing it. Here are my things:

1. Sugar – when I am close to the limit, I crave sugar.
2. KFC – nothing beats a Boxmaster Deluxe Upsize with a Chocolate Shake when I am feeling on the edge. Its a sure sign I need to back off.
3. Erratic sleep – I will be dead tired by 8pm and ready for bed but when I get to bed I sleep badly. My body is so broken I can’t sleep properly. This happens to me a few times a year, but that’s only because me + music + forests = totally overdoing it.
4. Hiding from the world – I will go into a cocoon when I am overdoing it, avoiding people, socializing and crowds of people. Insert me into society and I tend to be short and upsetting to those around me.

Those are probably my 4 biggest indicators. I pay careful attention to them as they generally come before I get a sore throat and a clogged up nose. I sometimes ignore them, but it’s always to my detriment.

A useful way to do this is to keep daily track of your food intake and general emotional state. The only way to spot trends is to analyze the data and unless you are creating data you will never know the onset of emotional and physical decoupling.

So what’s the biggest lesson in all of this?

If you see me walking on Noordhoek beach on my own eating a piece of oily fried chicken with a milkshake in my hand and feel the immediate urge to ask me how many minutes per week you need to spend riding at FTP to FTP + 5% to achieve that sub 5h30 bike split….. just walk away, ok? I want you to make it to the race.

By the way: How rad is that picture of Lance?

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Last October, Woolworths, along with partners Engen and Nampak began trialing recycling facilities at eight Engen service stations in the greater Cape Town region.   The pilot has offered Western Cape residents the convenience of dropping off their glass, paper, plastic and cardboard for recycling while filling up their vehicles or shopping at selected Woolworths Foodstops and Engen convenience shops.

The response to the trial has exceeded expectations. Nampak doubled its collection from popular sites such as Welgemoed and Meadowridge soon after the trial began and increased its collection frequency from most of the sites.

Justin Smith, Manager of Woolworths Good business journey says the success of this pilot is a win for both the Western Cape and South Africa. “Woolworths is delighted that the public have partnered with us to make this trial a success. The message from the residents of the Western Cape is clear – they want to recycle and are looking for convenient recycling solutions.”

“Our projections show that we will be collecting about 140 tons of recycling per year from the first eight sites alone. We’re now planning to install recycling facilities at an additional fifty Engen sites nationally over the next six months.” continues Smith.

Says Pierr Roodt, Engen Retail Marketing Manager: “We are excited to be the first South African oil company to become involved in a recycling project of this nature and we would like to thank our customers for embracing and supporting our endeavour to reduce their carbon footprint in South Africa. We are privileged to partner with Nampak and Woolworths who both share our commitment to preserving the planet.”