1. A debate on the Time Trial Saddle Shuffle.

2. I Wrote This For You makes just another great statement. So amazeballs.

3. Ironman is going through a huge set of rule changes. Current world champ, Chrissie “the unbeatable one” Wellington weighs in her thoughts.

4. Seth Godin tells you why validation is overrated.

5. ThxThxThx praises chocolate. Respect. There is a swear word in there. I apologise if it offends. Go eat some chocolate.

Oh… and the image? It lifted my mood. I thought you might want that too…

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In trying to build a kick-ass presentation video for a new client this morning I came across this video. I thought you should watch it too. Once you`ve watched it, you`ll know why.

We love sport for many of those reasons.

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with all the bikes looking to be ready again this week, I am looking forward to a bit of this again…

Not to go fast, but to go far. To see beautiful places, where cars might go by every 20min or so. Where I may have stop and take pictures. Where I may have to stop and eat a croissant from a deli so local there might not be a sign outside.

Where the mad rush of thoughts disappears but for the calm I experience when my body is humming like a finely tuned engine. Where I do not have to think, or worry, about life’s daily worries.

I am so excited about getting out there again. I really miss the solidarity that I experienced this year in the Cape Epic. The emotions that went with only two concerns in the world: My bike & my partner. I didn’t have to worry about me, my Fretten had that amply covered. Just pedal & make sure he is ok. BOOM.

One of my absolute dreams is to ride the Silk Route. Another is to ride all of these. You can see that the sense of adventure is what I am after. I am all about the big adventures now. The smaller days hardly excite me anymore. I have to convince myself they are a part of the process. This often blesses me with amazing experiences on a 30min run or a 20min swim (yes, I do those). Process is everything.

Come play with me. The world awaits us…

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“Hey, I can smell you from here.”

Hahahaha. I know you wanted something meaningful but this was too good to pass up.

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Feeling the combination of volume ramp & this football tournament (that ok Fifa? No Official Fifa 2010 World Cup held in the most amazing South Africa mentioned in there?) and a semi rest week was enforced not by the mind, but by the body, which is feeling quite fatigued. Desperate for a massage or two as well. Missing my Biosport treatments and it’s not until its gone that you realise how important they are.

Saturday: Woke up with a stiff ankle and a hole in my hand. What? Such is the life of parties around the World Cup in South Africa. Chilled with a big breakfast but wanted to make up for it, and managed 3 hours on the bike and a bit of core work as well, maybe 10min after. Very steady and easy. Helped that there was a game on TV to watch.

Sunday: It was a pearler with pockets of cloud and blue skies. I went out towards Simons Town and rode every hill in sight in ME and managed 4h30 in the end. Very stoked, I was strong on the way home into the wind and felt a bit of form coming through.

Monday: Ankle still a bit sore, so no running yet. Would be the case for the entire week. Managed 1h20 on the indoor bike and 40min of gymwork with the core, back, quads, hammies being the focus. 30min of ME work on the bike.

Tuesday: The weather crept in and kept me indoors. 1h30 on in the indoor bike and 30min of core/gym again in the afternoon after a quick 30min swim in the morning. 30min of ME work on the bike.

Wednesday: OFF. Was just over it and moved my rest day forward a little.

Thursday: Brought out the light and went over Chapmans Peak into Noordhoek and back after work. Got home in the dark but was well worth it for the ride was great and I felt great. 4 x 10min of ME work in there as well. 120min.

Friday: Woke up and managed a 30min easy run, ankle finally feeling ok again. Planning a 60min indoor ride a little later based on the fog but if it lifts, 90min it will be.

Weekly total was: 15h00 to 15h30 in total. So much for a rest week actually. Only 4 hours less than planned. Almost all of it on the bike, which I am excited about as the bike is the foundation of everything. Hand is almost healed up and it’s a good space to be in. Over the sinus infection, finally.

This weekend is a bit of a throw-back though with a visit to the farm with my dad so more than likely will have an easier week coming than this one was, which is not the worst thing in the world, as Knysna and its training camp, likely volume being about 30hours, looms only a week ahead.

Have a great weekend everyone.

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can’t seem to come up with anything to talk about today, so I went with the cute puppy vibe. enjoy. i will be back tomorrow, with capital letters and a fabulous story, just for you, ok. hugs.

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image nicked from CTG. Thanks Alex.

That bird means business, right? It looks more menacing than that Nigerian dude who occupies your corner, right?

I have just finished reading another killer article by Gordo on mental conditioning. It begs to make you ask the question:

How badly do you want it?

Realistically, the guy who is willing to outdo the other guy, in training, at work in terms of hours and effort, in terms of creativity or ingenuity, that is the guy who is going to get ahead. I had a discussion this morning with someone about the mental side of what we do. About the inability of people to focus on putting together not one good day or work, but consistent weeks of work.

As Gordo mentions knowing his limitations, one of mine is my competitive spirit. I have to limit training with people because I like…. no…. I LOVE to race. I can withstand a few training sessions with guys but in the end, I always end up racing them. The Wednesday night club run at ATC is my worst. You start with a jog and 4km later you have no idea why you are sprinting, but there you are, hammering it.

Personally I can control going a little slower in big races that are not as important to me. The excuse of not being near the front is easier than on a 8km club run. How lame. How true.

Save it for raceday. The bottom line is the finish line. Not who makes it home first this afternoon. One of the biggest factors for success in my ENTIRE life is being able to put together not one week of consistent work, but 10-12 weeks at at time. That is one of my strengths. As TheHousemate would say, Less Haste, More Speed.

For those interested in success at life, put together a few weeks of GOOD work, not one week of AWESOME work. The Obox boys personify this. They are able to put together incredible work hours for weeks at a time with an incredible focus. Not one week non-stop.

Be that bird. Focused, with a plan, that spans months, not weeks. People laugh when they hear I am on a 5 year plan for Ironman, that I`m not even into the third year yet. I saw the first real results of it this year, of the consistent work that went into the last 28 months. It’s a big pill to swallow. I am talking not only about sport here, but about work, life, sacrifice, forgiveness and getting over myself.

In terms of a picture, I had to build a bridge, and get over myself. With some of us, the wood is quite a way away though and it takes time to carry it to the water before we can even begin the build.

many talk, few do.

simple, but not easy.

I have had to eat those words (along with my feet) a few times along the way, but hey… check this smile. I say that with no arrogance and the utmost humility for what life has taught me & the smile is for all the times I was too stupid to kick my toes not once or twice, but eight or nine times doing the same thing. As Gringo says: “From the school of life baby”.

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Watch it. Take the 20minutes from your schedules and watch that. Learn from it.

Yes, it contains some bad language, so don’t show it to your 8 year old. Apologies for that, but Gary Vaynerchuck is talking about the number one thing that is lacking for up and coming athletes I have to deal with. Grow your personal brands.

Results are not enough anymore. Learn from the history books from guys like Dan Hugo & Conrad Stoltz. Sponsors want to see you have an audience. I get weekly requests from athletes to be a part of our Multisport Team and one of the main things I ask them is if they have an audience. Most never return my email. They only want free stuff & to race in kit. They won’t write race reports, they won’t write blogs, develop a community and they really come across as not caring at all. It saddens me that they can’t see the truth.

It’s far easier to have a huge community and to have to back that up with results than to perform all year around. I would be willing to put money on it that this post will be read more than 1000 times by athletes with the potential to develop a brand for themselves. I would also be willing to bet that less than 5 of those athletes start a blog, or even start to try to create something. I would also be willing to bet that 4 of them stop within 6 months.

Are you going to be that 1 guy I am looking for, who makes a brand for himself out there? I am looking for you. There are great opportunities for you out there. You`ll have 999 other guys who will envy what only you had the goonz to do. Simple, but not easy.

Or even better, are you going to be that girl.

This is a topic I am hugely passionate about. I have to thank Nikola for all his advice in this department. Even when he knew he wasn’t giving it.

Who is going to be smart enough to follow this advice?

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You are never too old to have toys.

This company clearly realises this. As we get older toys tend to become more expensive, more complicated but this is brilliant. Simple, effective and packaged to the nines. I want it.

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This Football Tournament has been hell on wheels for my training but I think I scraped through and seem to be over about 80% of this virus as well, so a personal high five is almost in order, but not yet. Here we go:

Saturday: Woke up mildly hungover after a crazy World Cup opening party. There was even pavement scooter riding (with the law chasing on foot) involved. Managed to get 2h30 done on the bike, mildly amusing myself in the process.

Sunday: Still feeling quite average, health wise, I again ventured out for only 2h30 on the bike, but managed a 1h00 run in the late afternoon, which felt much better after an afternoon nap.

Monday: 1h15 on the indoor bike with much focus on ME work. 45min of gym afterward surely hurt. Went to the stadium on Monday night to watch the football and it was superb!

Tuesday: I felt like HELL in the morning and slept in. My sinuses were deadly. Went to get more muti & felt quite a lot better once I was moving in the right direction. I did an interesting brick workout in the afternoon which involved a 60min run / 75min yoga / 20min run in total. I felt like a runner for the first time since starting again and this was a bit of a breakthrough session for me.

Wednesday: 4h30 of riding, 3h20 of it on the MTB and quite hard. I felt like I lost almost all my MTB skills in the 10 weeks I had not ridden the bike. Eventually it came right. Climbing was ok, not nearly stellar. I was pretty poked by the time I had made the 25km back on the road into the headwind. Went out to the Bafana game a little later and again fell off the wagon & had a few too many tequilas. eish.

Thursday: Properly tired and mildly hungover. I totally slept in and just managed the day. Dragged my feet to gym for a random session of 40min swim / 40min indoor bike. It did NOT feel great. My hammies are also SO tight from the mtb ride.

That totals us for the week at: 17 Hours. It was a good week all in all and with some focus next week I should be back at more regular training.

Building up to the Knysna week of “camp” phase is going semi-ok and by all estimations I should get a pretty good week in there of about 30 hours I hope, which should jump-start the engine again.

Have a great weekend y`all. I have 8-9 hours on the cards with a riding focus. Well, really it’s all riding. All I have to do is get through the England game relatively unscathed. Let’s hold thumbs cause we all know I get caught up in the energy and next thing you know…

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