Iceland, Eyjafjallajökull – May 1st and 2nd, 2010 from Sean Stiegemeier on Vimeo.

If you happened to have been stuck over the last few months trying to get in or out of Europe, you might not want to click the play button. For all the rest of you, California-based Sean Stiegemeier offers us an epic & beautiful timelapse of the ash spewing out of the volcano in Iceland that is reminiscent of pioneering films like Baraka or Koyaanisqatsi. Watch and be enthralled. via (Limitedhype.

This has nothing to do with anything but this being beautiful. Yes, my Ceepo was late, but wow, this is stunning!

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You have to love the concept. Brilliant. Will we see it locally?

Shhhhh……

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Pause.

think…

Be.

I.

I run. I swim. I pedal. I write. I drink. I laugh. I love.

Content (add meaning here)

Process & journey excite me far more than goal and destination.

I aim to inspire myself each day.

Greatness is almost always anonymous.

Go on, inspire yourself.

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This is an endurance sport blog and at times, those lines get a little blurred with personal experience, product profiles, videos for mom, dad and friends, etc etc etc.

In the last few weeks there have been a similar set of questions asked to me and there must be a reason for that. To clear some air and save me some time, here are some of the most common questions that have been asked of me with relation to endurance sport and how to increase performance.

First off, however, I need to be grateful for everyone who is wondering why I am not turning pro, after being 2nd South African home at Ironman South Africa a few weeks ago. I have no intention of going pro in the near future unless someone wants to jump in and sponsor me a considerable financial injection for a period of roughly 5 years, which is more or less what I think it’ll take me to become one of the worlds best Ironman triathletes.

My choice to not be pro is a combination of financial consideration, time commitment and loving my life outside triathlon. Ironman, mountain biking, multi sport and trail running are for me, distraction from my daily life. I don’t want to make it the means from which I earn my food and pay my bills. I do not feel I have the scope to improve within a year to a point where I can justify, financially, to commit for the next 6-8 years of my life, a life of training full time. Unless the back-up is there, I just do NOT see the point.

Thanks for the belief, but I have yet to find someone who when they asked if I was going pro, believed in me enough to contribute the financial commitment to the cause to make sure I was able to do it properly.

Back to the questions:

Q: How long did it take me to prepare for Ironman South Africa, 2010.

A: Me entire life. 10 years of low intensity high volume swimming, added to the middle area where I was chronically injured for about 10 years getting into triathlon, added to the last 3 years of proper cycling and running volume, combined with correct intensities and working on my weaknesses. Its not a short period. People who think they can train for Ironman for 6 months and go sub 10 need to be re-looking their strategy. The economy of a top level age grouper is close to that of a pro, and when we go back to the 10 000 hours principles, it’s a bitter pill to swallow that it might take you 3 years to get where you want without achieving your goal.

In a world of single serving immediate fixes, this isn’t what athletes want to hear.

Q: Why don’t you train in groups more?

A: Its a simple answer. Groups train too hard and too fast for me. They lack the ability to gauge proper intensity with respect to putting an entire good week together without skipping sessions of bombing out halfway through sessions.

There is a group of guys I ride with in Cape Town in the mornings, and I wish I could find more time to swim with the White Rabbit, but other than those two, they don’t quite get it. Even the group of biking guys beat me up the hills most days.

Q: How much HTFU do you recommend in training?

A: Very limited amounts, to be dead honest. Its more like STFD. That would be Slow The…. (you`ll work it out). I need to slow down quite a bit alot of the time. HTFU leads to periods of deep fatigue, where I find myself totally blasted in terms of motivation and ability to eat properly.

I advocate steady miles, and loads of them. There is zero intensity in my program. Not a meter. Not a second. Don’ train fast if you are going to go slow. The guys I help with coaching all go slow most of the time. I can break them going slow, so you can imagine how fast I could break them if I added intensity to their sessions.

So when people I coach email me saying they are tired, 99 times out of 100 I will tell them to take a day off and sleep alot and start again after that. It’s the same way I treat my body.

Q: So what’s the next big challenge?

This has been a particularly popular one lately. Here is the plan, as the next real challenge is putting the cash together to get to Hawaii.

May – take it easy. Yoga, bike riding, easy running and swimming.

June to Sep – 15 weeks of hard work, big base, long miles, loads of ME work. Very similar to what I did last year in the period Aug – October.

Middle September to 8 October – peak, taper, get ready to kick ass.

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That’s about that for today. Should answer a few questions. Have a great day.

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How calm and professional was that bike change?

I mean, he is the greatest one day cyclist in the world, but still, the mechanic even looks baffled at how smooth that was.

Who is your mechanic? Who is backing you up out there, carrying your spares for that moment when you need them. You may be in the smooth calm area of the mind that Fabian exudes with such crisp intensity that its like a red sea opening for him when he wants to come through, or you could be in a mess, cussing and flapping arms in the air like a banshee, but who is your back-up?

Give them a call today and thank them for being there for you, being awesome.

Do it…

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How is that blade to the head? Anyone know anyone local (Cape Town) who can do work like this? Please drop a comment in the comment area of this post… thanks!

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Red Bull Minidrome from Radar Films on Vimeo.

Red Bull Minidrome…

Too cool…

Hope that’s Jack Black Beer.

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I found this in my RSS reader this morning…

If you want to live a balanced life then there are 5 essential habits that you need to develop.

1. Awareness and mindfulness. Awareness is the key to balanced living because it lets you see every moment of your life and appreciate it. A mindful person lives in the present and does not get obsessed with the future or the past. It’s important to plan for the future and learn from your mistakes in the past, but it is even more important to appreciate who you are right now and find joy in this state.
   When you are aware of this moment you are calm and you do not make any decisions that you might regret later.
   When you are mindful you are in balance with the universe.
2. Appreciation of your body. By “appreciation” I mean taking care of your body. If you are grateful for the very first gift that you received in your life (your body) then you must take care of it. It means making healthy choices in life, exercising and being generally active, eating a balanced and healthy diet, letting your body rest when it’s tired and pampering it every once in a while.
   Your body is the tool that lets you experience so many wonderful moments in life and you need to do your best when taking care of it.
   Clearly, balanced living is not possible without a balanced body.
3. Creativity. Every day we face a lot of challenges and choices in life. Some of these challenges might be easy while others will be more difficult. If you approach each of your challenges with creativity then your life will be filled with adventures. Conversely, if you turn off your creativity, then your life will turn into torture.
   Creativity is a wonderful tool that lets us turn our dreams into reality, turn play into work and work into play, and enjoy life even when it seems empty.
   Creative people are the ones who can make the exquisite setting for the diamond of their life.
4. Patience. With patience we can overcome almost anything whilst without it we can ruin almost anything.
   Patience can help us turn our dreams into reality (losing weight, starting a business or blog). It can help us be better parents, spouses, friends and even strangers (sometimes a smile from an understanding stranger can make the biggest difference when you are having a bad day). If you are patient you do not have to worry about the minutes spent in traffic or in the line at the grocery store. With patience you can see results in all your endeavors and you do not have to spend the precious time of your life getting mad or infuriated.
   Patience leads to mindfulness and mindfulness brings you in balance.
5. Simplicity. Simplicity is probably the most important part of life balance. When you build your life around simplicity you reduce the number of out-of-balance things that can disrupt your happy living.
   In balance everything is simple. There are two opposites (like black and white) and you just have to pick something in the middle:
   • Simplify you work schedule so that you do not have to think about a hundred things at the same time.
   • Simplify your relationships by connecting with people you truly care about and getting rid of the ones you don’t.
   • Simplify your diet by choosing simple healthy ingredients that are part of balanced nutrition.
   • Simplify your social media exposure and enjoy living life and getting things done rather than wasting time online.

   Simplicity makes life balance simple.

I would like to think I am striving for a balanced life. I think much of it comes from respecting yourself, the fact that you are human, but most importantly, if you are a sports freak like myself, respecting the fact that you are not unbreakable.

I have run my body into the ground to the level that I could hardly get out of bed for 3 months.

I have injured myself to the extent that I had to get operations and 6 months of rehabilitative treatment to be able to use limbs again.

I have gotten so thin that my body attacked my muscles for energy, in a feeling which I can only describe as “wasting away” but hey, I was fast for a few weeks there!

But here is what I learnt:

In order to go faster, you have to go slower. In order to get lean, you need to get strong first. In order to go long, you need to go short, first.

Simple rules. Simple Life. Some would call it a simple abundant life. I like that. These 5 rules in the main area of the article are a great way to find that balance and the basics steps to learning to respect yourself, before you can respect others.

Have a great day…

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That image you see there, is the decisive move with the two best one day cyclists in the world in it, at the Tour of Flanders this year. You don’t have to be a cycling expert to get it.

Our lives are cutthroat most of the time. We love to battle. We somehow love to reflect as well, to look back at what we achieved. Most of us do it too soon, however, never fully capturing the moment. Do you think the two of them sat up at the top of the climb to reflect on the gap they had just created? I think not. I think they got to the top and pedalled even harder down that hill to make sure they stayed away from the chasing pack.

There is always someone coming at your heels. For your job, for your contracts, for your goals, your life. A product of our “modern” world they will say. I am just not buying it. Unfortunately we don’t always have the choice. We have to attack. When we are out of breath after the attack, we have to find that extra gear where there isn’t one and keep going.

Don’t look back.

If you are willing to make the break, don’t worry about those you leave behind. They are chasing you, after all…

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There might have been a time
When I would give myself away
Oooh once upon a time I didn’t give a damn
But now, here we are so whataya want from me
Whataya want from me

Just don’t give up I’m workin it out
Please don’t give in, I will let you down
It messed me up, need a second to breathe
Just keep coming around
Hey, whataya want from me
Whataya want from me
Whataya want from me

Yeah, it’s plain to see
that baby you’re beautiful
And there’s nothing wrong with you
It’s me, I’m a freak (yeah)
but thanks for lovin’ me
Cause you’re doing it perfectly

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That song is for my mom. She loves that boy. Mom’s are just the best. Mine is waaaaay better than yours!

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