If THAT doesn’t get you pumped up, then nothing will. Right now I am on a jetplane, to Johannesburg, connecting to London, to Los Angeles and to Kona. I am shooting halfway across the globe for my moment, to rely on myself and only myself, to give myself a shot at the greatest triathlon race on the planet. Over the next few weeks I am going to attempt something truly ambitious.

Failure is not going to get into my head. Here is the bit you are going to love:

I cannot fail, because I am only going out there to race myself. I cannot lose or come second, because I am going to go out there and DEMAND everything from myself, because I owe it to myself. That is why I cannot fail. Once you learn this, one of the biggest lessons in life, you too will drop from watching the others, racing the others and you will too learn that the greatest competitor you will EVER face, is yourself.

I am going halfway across the globe to put myself in the toughest conditions ever, to race myself in the place that brings out the deepest, darkest moments to the very front of your mind like a sledgehammer beating on your forehead, because I want to know what it’s like to look myself in the eye and wipe away every morsel of doubt, every fear I have ever had and smash through it. I want to run through the pain and into pure release, glory personified with a blank stare running back to Alii Drive where that finishline will not define me, where it will be an Ellipsis before my simple life carries on.

I am going to go and smash my second place into a million pieces so that there is only a 1st place left for me. There may be 1800 competitors out there in Kona on raceday, but I am racing only 1 of them…

So when you ask me what my goals are, when you ask me if I am ready, if I am scared, the answers are here for all to see. Now watch that video again, go find yourself in the moment and race yourself, completely in your own world, where nobody is visible but the barrier that is stopping you from becoming the absolute best version of yourself.

Bring. It. On.

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Why the “pure” to all your tags – email, twitter, etc?

I use the “pure” due to the fact that there are a ridiculous amount of “Kate Roberts’s” in this world. (editors note: this is true, I did a Google search for pictures of Kate, and there were plenty of other Kate Roberts’s) I was not able to use the username: Kate Roberts, so I decided to combine “Kate” or “Katie” with the word “Pure” As Kate and Katie means “Pure” hence the usernames katiepure and katerobertspure.

Tell the readers a bit about what it took for you to get where you are now in the world rankings with a move of continent, coach, etc… it looks glamorous but tell us about the nitty gritty stuff that is really hard about attempting to be the best in the world

After the Beijing Olympic Games I made the decision to look for an international triathlon coach, as I really believed that I could improve on my 32nd position in Beijing. I came to the realization that I was not going to progress further; if I continued in the same way that I did before Beijing. As someone who takes their professional extremely seriously, I wanted to do whatever it took to be the best.

In December 2008 I left the comfort of home for Australia and joined a squad of athletes under the guidance of Dr Darren Smith. We are a squad of 8 girls training together, with the exception of 4 male partners. I have undeniably learnt a great deal these past 18 months from Darren as well as my superb training partners.

My training partners include the likes of: Lisa Norden from Sweden, Vendula Frintova from Czech Republic, Barbara Riveros from Chile, Vicky Holland from Great Britain, Sarah Groff from the USA and Lauren Campbell from Canada. (Females) Andreas Gigmalyr from Austria, Bryan Keane from Ireland. Dave Matthews and Michael Gosman whom are both from Australia. (Males).

(Ed’s note: That list reads like a who’s who in the sport of triathlon. Kate clearly, was not scared of jumping in the deep end)

Darren, your typical hard core Aussie runs a training system where he trains us in Canberra, Australia from December/January until April/May every year. Then from May we head over to Europe and base ourselves in place called Davos in Switzerland for the European season of racing. Davos is situated on the German side of Switzerland and at an altitude of 1500m above sea level.

Darren adopts a hands on coaching method, where he attends all our training sessions, which I believe gives me a enormous advantage, as he can see how I am coping with training and racing on a daily basis and he is also able to give me exceptional technical advice that an online coach would not be able to do for me.

It has been a massive expense from my part and but I am really happy that I made this decision as I know that I have one of the best coaches in the world and thus I am doing things in the right way in my determination to be a world class triathlete.

I have so many stories that I would like to share with the readers about Darren but this could take a while.. So here are a few comments Darren likes to say to me..

Katie, how can you possibly go so slow?

Katie, I have never seen anyone as hopeless a cyclist as you!

Katie, how many times do I need to tell you, to get your act together or go and get yourself a day job!

Katie, you really are a dumb blonde. I need you to think for yourself.

Katie, for goodness sake, you are clearly not going hard enough. I expect more from you!

Do you eat a specific diet or are you one of the lucky few who eat whatever it put down in front of them.

I wish!

I am not one of the lucky ones who eats all that gets put before them and doesn’t pay the consequence. I do not follow a specific diet and I am not mental when it comes to diet but I like to eat healthy foods, as I believe that by following a decent diet then I just feel superior about myself and this contributes to good training and overall racing.

Eating healthily but without the obsessive behavior that goes along with it, means faster recovery and with Darren’s sessions, session to session recovery is the most important thing in the world to me.

How is the ITU circuit different now than it was a few years back in terms of the times the woman are doing, how tactics have changed and how much more regularly you need to race now?

The racing certainly seems to be getting tougher each year. I would say that the dynamics of the racing changes every year. This year, the girls appeared to be a whole lot closer on the run, than in previous years. (Bar Emma Snowsill at the final in Budapest) There were plenty of sprint finishes in the World Championships Series races. You do not see the girls breaking on the bike, like they do in the men’s races but maybe next year, there could be a few races, where the girls decide to be brave and go for a break during the cycle. The swimming is always very violent and psychologically you need to be tough to handle the “scrum” in the water. But I believe that now days, it is vital to be a completely well rounded athlete in all three disciplines.

For up and coming South Africans with hopes of making it to the Olympics, won’t you please set out the truths about the commitment and the sacrifice needed to get to the top. What can they expect?

The Olympics is such a special and magnificent event and I think that it certainly was worth all the effort and struggle to get there. It is by no means an easy process qualifying for the games and at the end of the day you are doing it for the complete love of the sport.

To be a true professional is years of commitment, determination and being able to survive on very little if you are in a niche sport like me. It was anything but easy and what the public sees when we race is just a tiny piece of the entire puzzle.

Politics, bucket loads of effort, tears, determination are a few of the fundamentals involved in getting there but honestly the immense pride and joy I experienced by competing at the games was worth every little bit of sacrifice.

If you could take any 3 people who ever lived to dinner with you, who would you take and why?

Gosh, now you have me thinking. I would need to be surrounded by someone whom I feel at ease with, so I am going to say that the first person on my list would be my twin sister Tessa. The next two people will be rather clichéd but I would very much like to have dinner with the USA president Barack Obama and also the cycling legend Lance Armstrong. They are two very influential people and I would love to pick their brains.

What can we expect from you for 2011?

That is a good question. I would just love, more than anything, to ultimately get onto a podium in a World Championships Series race and I am hoping that 2011 will be the year I can do that. If I can continue to race as consistently as I have this year, next year, then I will be thrilled. It is just a matter of staying injury free, keeping the focus as well as motivation going.

How much periodization is there for the short course athletes in your training program with the amount of racing you do.

The good thing about racing in Olympic distance triathlons is that we are able to race a lot more than Ironman and Half Ironman athletes. The structure that I follow is to a large base block of training for about 16 to weeks. (From January to April) This is where I put more emphasis on mileage and do lower intensity training. Then when the racing season starts come April. I tend to back off the miles and up the intensity of the training, so that I can get my leg speed up and my adapted to racing specific requirements.

Give a shout out to your sponsors…

Thanks so much indeed to the loyal support from my two main sponsors Greg Reis at BSG and John Taylor at Chocolate Graphics. Without their help, belief in me and encouragement throughout my year, I undoubtedly would not have had the year that I did have. I can never thank them enough and I hope to make them proud in 2011 and beyond.

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Thanks to Kate for answering the questions and sending through some great photos of her rocking kit. I am thinking in 2011 the Urban Ninja should do a race in a suit like that? Maybe old school like Kenny Souza in a speedo and tri vest, minus the peroxide streaks in the Bon Jovi hair?

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There are times when you may have to chase back to where you may just have been, when a “life” mechanical forced you out of where you were, comfortably sitting, just a moment ago.

Like Spartacus, who shows immense descending ability in the video above to bridge after getting a flat, you may need to take some risks to avoid getting left behind. I personally rode with Fabian once, from the top of Llundudno into Camps Bay, when he had a flat but decided it was only 10km home, so he rode that downhill into Camps Bay with a flat back wheel. No hassles, he has the skills and understands where his strength lies. He is a pretty amazing rider. Here is a pic from that ride..

That was a fun day, with Stu O’Grady, Bob Julich, Fabian Cancellara, Luke Roberts & myself, Collin & Hugh Basel along for the tow. As unfit as they would be all year, there was just an amazing effortlessness about the way they pedaled their bikes. The day before, I had spent 2 hours riding behind Andy Shleck, who came in 2nd this year at Le Tour. Even then, a new signing to the team, Bjarne Riis told us he would be good enough to win Le Tour in just a few years. I spent a few downhills bridging the gap that day when they disappeared up the climbs of Stellenbosch.

My riding is totally different now to what it was then, but still there is no way I would even get close if they put the hammer down. I could probably outrun them at the marathon though. Well, I keep telling myself that. I also made them ride in the back of my bakkie, along with the owner of Cervelo, Phil White. True story, check it out…

Anyway, this is now turning into a ramble, without much point. There is no point to this other than to share a memory.

I know how fortunate I was to ride with the CSC guys that week. In the small Camps Bay ride, we had multiple Olympic Champions, Tour de France podium finishers and Spartacus, who had won Paris Roubaix, Prologues in the Tour and was only just beginning to show his power. I live a lucky life, I know this. It doesn’t escape me.

But I yearn for more…

Be great out there.

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With the wind howling on the weekend, I had to make my way out to Durbanville to ride what was supposed to be 114km in 3 hours. That was the goal. The attached Garmin file is therefor, a little misleading. There are a few km’s missing, where I am at fault for pressing the wrong buttons (I am still learning), right at the start. I had a mechanical issue out the gate and stopped the watch, only to realise this 10km down the road, which is too bad, as it was about the only 10km with tailwind. The rest was side on and not much fun. Learning to handle the new Urban Ninja wheels in this wind though, was a fantastic opportunity to test them in a race scenario.

Either way, the two main sections were covered at good pace and I called it with 8km to go for a bit of a cool down, as I was quite dehydrated (I went in the middle of the day and ran out of water at 10km to go, so just soft pedaled home until I could refresh before my t-run.

Nice little widget this, from Garmin. Something you`ll be seeing more of on here. I have, indeed, found an amazing new partner for 2010, and 2011, in Garmin. A big thank you, they have come to the party for the Kona trip in ways you cannot imagine. Also, this now makes me accountable for the mileage I do, as well as being able to show you what I am trying to achieve.

I wanted to push 37km/h for around 110km on the weekend. 37km/h gives me 4:51 at the Ironman distance. I went and found a course specific to Kona, with loads of rollers and drags. Indeed, only 600m in the 110km I have registered on the Garmin, but if you had to look at the altitude widget, you would find lots of little bumps in the road. What you will also not see is the headwind on the way home. In Kona, the wind kicks up once you get to the halfway mark, so simulating that meant having to suffer exactly like it, going through the mental notes of “damn, no tailwind to help early, and now, a headwind on the way home”.

Emotionally that is tough.

It took a lot of focus to do the ride on my own. Much bad language was heard around 80km by the birds and the bees. But you have to tough it out, get in the moment and make sure you get back home. I had SA Blog Awards to deal with that night, where Urban Ninja was voted the 2nd best sports blog in South Africa. Congrats to you, for voting so many times.

Just nice to beat all the football and rugby blogs… it shows you are a tight community who get involved. Thank you.

So, back to the brick. We do the brick because we want to simulate race day, what it feels like and to get a reality check on that.

For me, to have ridden the 114km mark in roughly 2:56-57 I reckon (factoring in 10km of downhill-esque riding missing from the data) at a heart rate of 141, I am super happy. I averaged around 145-148 in PE and will look to roughly do the same in Kona again. I am even more pleased that I was able to hold the same pace, into the headwind as with the tailwind on the way out. It took quite a bit more focus, effort and a higher heart rate for sure, but I managed.

My run after went great until about 2km when my mouth was so dry I had to make way for the Engen garage to get a coke into the system at 4km. Without a doubt, under fueled all day. When there is no aid station every 10km, its tough to stop and refill on a rural road. Still managed 6km in 25min. I only need to run 4:25 at Ironman to hit my ultimate goal, but the idea is to take it out a little harder in these bricks, but to follow the watch religiously in Kona. Hopefully, the thought goes, it will seem quite easy then, and that is the point, because when I hit the lab, I want to be able to shift a gear…

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Why do we love riding bikes so much? What is the attraction, and why on earth does it feel so much better than playing golf?

Is it the element of self driven speed? Which other sport propels you forward as fast on your own power? I cannot think of too many mainstream sports, apart from skiing downhill super mega ultra fast, that propel you as fast.

Is it the element of adventure, especially when it comes to mountain biking? The idea of being so close to nature that at times, you bury you nose right into the soft sand (much to the delight of those around you). The idea of exploration into “wild” areas. That is a very westernized idea, because for many societies, they live that close to nature, ALL the time.

Is it the element of danger? There is something which releases when I am bombing down a descent at 60km/h, especially on the mountain bike. That element of overcoming for survival, because let’s face it, you come off at that speed and you may end up taking a perma-nap.

Is it the camaraderie that is experienced on group rides? Belonging to something bigger than yourself?

Whatever your reasons, we love cycling because it’s easy, simple and gets your quite far out. For me, I love everything about cycling. The gear, the adventure, the danger, the solitude, the speed, the exploration and at times, the love in a group of cyclists.

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Yes, another motivational video. I love them. They make me want to go out and train. In truth, I write because I want it to be my fault.

I want it to be my fault that you are off your seat and outside with the fresh air in your hair.

I want it to be my fault that you took the giant leap of faith to enter your first race, your first test, your biggest challenge to date.

I want it to be my fault that you grimaced through the plateau and blew your mind and body out of the stratosphere and learnt to truly believe you can achieve anything.

I want it to be my fault that you reconsidered your life, that you reconsidered what is possible and made the leap into the unknown only to come out stronger and a bigger asset to everyone around you.

After all, once all that has happened, you`ll realise it has nothing to do with me, that it was not my fault in any particular way. That really, all I may have done is given the spark, but that really, it was all your fault.

ALL

YOUR

FAULT.

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I wanted to do a catch-up with James since the last interview we did, purely because I love the way he thinks and believe you could all benefit from hearing it straight from the horses mouth. He doesn’t need introductions, so we`ll get straight to the interview:

Its been a really successful year since we last spoke, give us an run down of life post Ironman South Africa until now…

2010 has been a bit of a year of up and downs… well, it was mostly down in the first half, and has been picking up since. Ironman South Africa was a big disappointment, being forced to withdraw due to a stomach problem. Thereafter I went to Europe and where I crashed my bike, punctured in a major race (Challenge France), had a worse crash on my bike (writing off my Cervelo P4!) and was forced to DNS Ironman Austria with a stomach virus.

But it has since turned around – two weeks after Austria I came 6th at Challenge Roth, two weeks later I won the Alpe D’Huez Triathlon, and 3 weeks later I came a close 2nd to Marcel Zamora at the extremely tough Embrunman in France. Now I am in the USA and my first race here, last weekend at Rev3 Cedar Point, Ohio was my best ever – winning in 8h21, with a 2h43:35 run split.

One of the key things was overcoming adversity. How, as a professional athlete, do you deal with your essential work tool (your body) not working, almost at all?

Shit happens. And most people would do well to remember that. As a pro, it is often easier to deal with the disappointment of a bad race, or even the frustration of not being able to train properly as there is always another event just around the corner, whereas an age-grouper may need to wait a year for another chance. But sometimes your body simply does not perform. It is tough to tell sometimes whether it is motivational and you need to push through to that ‘next level’, or throw the towel in and live to fight another day. Knowing the answer to this question is always difficult, because when your body is failing, people tell you its in your head, and when your head is not in it, its easy to feel like it is your body shutting down. Learning to be honest with yourself is the most important thing an athlete can learn.

I know track running is a big part of your week. How should Ironman athletes approach track running and when in their seasons should they be doing track, if at all?

We do track sessions regularly in the team. But the track is merely a tool, like a power meter or heart rate monitor – It allows us to control the speed and intensity very precisely for a session. The illusion that we are on the track and therefore must be working really hard or fast is exactly that, an illusion. As with any tool which gives you an honest measure of where you are, like time trialling, track sessions can be used any time, but should be used carefully as if the feedback is not what you want, it can cause it to backfire badly!

For a new Ironman athlete, how many years of training would you recommend, as a coach, at a base level effort before they would be seeing any glimpse of their true talent? What I am getting at is the misconception that miracles happen in a season when it comes to “Going Long”.

Ironman requires levels of strength and endurance which take years to build. Using myself as an example, no-one would deny that I have the talent, particularly in running, but only now, more than three years since my first Ironman, have I even come close to running to my potential. And I am the exception – my rate of improvement is far faster than most people experience. 3-4yrs of consistent training at or near the level of a pro is roughly what it takes before you can judge someone’s Ironman abilities, never mind reach the pinnacle of those abilities. Unfortunately not everyone gets the breaks I have gotten to invest the time…

Music is a big part of life. Most athletes train with music. In the Challenge races, you are allowed music on the run (iPods). Do you feel this is an unfair “aid”?

I very seldom train with music, and normally it is only in easier session when my mind is allowed to wander. However team-mates (such as Bek Keat) use music all the time. Including in Challenge races. Race day is about your ability to focus. Music doesn’t help me do that. Bek turns hers off half-way through the marathon. I don’t think I would ever turn mine on! Personally I don’t think the advantage is very big, if there is any. But perhaps not having music is fairer on all sides…

What’s left until the end of the year for you?

To wrap up 2010 I will be racing in Ironman 70.3 Austin on 17 Oct, then Ironman Florida on 6 Nov. Then probably home to SA for the first time in 7 months (or perhaps a short trip to Thailand for Ironman 70.3 Phuket…). From December I start building again for Ironman 70.3 SA in January, before repeating most of what I did in 2010 again in 2011, but with better results… ;)

I get so many people telling me I should be pro. I don’t think so, purely because of how far I am actually behind where you are racing. Could you tell my readers about the time it took you to be a real pro, as well as the sacrifices you had to make to get there?

Being a Pro is more of a jump than most people realize. Yeah, you can sign the forms and race an event or two, such as IMSA, as a Pro… but for what? All you get then is some kudos from your mates, and maybe a tiny prize purse if you crack the top 10.

If you really want to turn Pro – racing often, making money, investing training time – it means a major lifestyle change and years of dedication and sacrifice.

Making ends meet is the hardest part, which everyone knows about, but even if you have a way to ‘break even’ while investing 3-4yrs while you build up as mentioned in Q4, there is still no guarantee of financial reward at the end of it.

And once you do ‘go Pro‘ properly, the biggest change (one which I am still trying to come to terms with) is all the travel and time away from home. South Africa only has 2 major events per year, so travel is not optional. In fact, having been away now for almost 6months, I feel I don’t where ‘home’ is any more! This unsettled lifestyle with very little time at home is a big sacrifice in terms of relationships, family and friends. Thank goodness for Skype, but even with Skype, relationships are nearly impossible, you miss your best friends’ weddings and your family get-together’s. These are not what you think of when you see me cross that finish-line first… but they, and all the other sacrifices, are what I am thinking of! Is it easy? No. Is it all worth it? For me, yes. But every Pro, or potential Pro, needs to find their own answer…

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I think its rather informative to know the sacrifices and levels of mental toughness it requires in this game, at the pro level. James always has an open ear for me to ask questions and relay ideas to, which is more valuable to me than many of you know.

Whilst he is not in Kona this year, he is racking up big wins and gaining experience so that he can really make good at The Big Show in the near future.

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Yes, a video of a Caveman on a bicycle. Fitting, right?

Well its pertinent because I am in my testing phase in preparation for a small race in 3 weeks time. This involves over race pace workouts to ready the body for the effort of the day. While there is more rest in the last few weeks, the work quality is also higher, so as I have stated before, I am becoming less fit, but faster. It’s a contentious time for any athlete as the will to go out and train is still there, but you simply can’t. The focus is rest and trusting that you have done the miles.

Testing is an interesting protocol, and after a hopeful announcement tomorrow, I will be able to tell you more about my 2011 year as well as the testing protocols that I am going to go into later in the year, with said coach of Conrad Stoltz. I will be moving back to training with power and hopefully breaking some more ceilings by training smarter in 2011, after a 16 months phase of training much longer, harder and further than I have ever done.

Contrary to popular belief, coaches are not there to change your life. They are there for you to consider possible alternatives to blow through some ceilings that may have kept you from your best performances in the past. They are not there to make you happy. If anything, a good coach will know how to challenge your thinking and break you down systematically, building you up better than you were before, all without you really knowing what is going on.

I can only learn, and share forward and I have been blessed with a very special peer group who I have direct access to. People far smarter than myself. Testing myself against myself, physically as well as emotionally, psychologically and soulfully at times. It’s been radically uncomfortable at times, even if I have been smiling.

The importance of testing is also to perform a standard set of tests at different times in the same environment to the same protocol. This allows you to track vital elements, like we just saw in that video. Benchmarking is a vital part of any athletes best performance management. As simple as your local hill climb, riding it at the same heart rate every week and watching for time improvements to as in depth as fat oxidative rate testing (which I would love to do – highly valuable to anything over 4 hours), benchmarking is a vital element.

Testing doesn’t have to involve high heart rates or lung sapping leg bursting maneuvers. It could be as simple as riding a flat road at a relative intensity point to point. Often the high intensity stuff doesn’t relate to race day performance, especially when its of the extreme endurance stuff I love.

On a different note, Urban Ninja is back into the top 2 sports blogs in South Africa, as voted by you. On Friday I will find out if its the best, or 1st loser (2nd place). I will let you know.

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The emotion involved when it goes wrong is something you cannot account for. When we put it all on the line and something goes wrong, our emotions may, at times, get the better of us.

But there is really no need to resort to violence, like these two, especially when in cleats.

I realise I owe you all a bit of a breakdown of the week as well as something I want to offer up for a bit more help with the Hawaii Project. So let’s go back a week and look at totals and how it all panned out.

I needed to do a big week. I had to do it WHILE doing a full work week. Contrary to many an opinion, I worked 9am to 4pm every day last week. Some days were less attentive than others, but there was no sleeping all day from home. I apologise in particular for the Wednesday at work, when I was struggling to remember my own name. Day 3 is always the worst. Thankfully, you wake up day 4, fully into the groove.

31 Hours of riding, all below AeT. At times I simply had to drop off the group to maintain the lower intensity if I was riding with others, but for the most part I rode on my own anyway. I rode twice a day on Tuesday through Thursday and rode the mountain bike 4 times during the week as well. I would imagine I could average it out at 30km/h so call it 930km I rode in the week, total, if it had all been on road. Very happy with that. Add to that 5 hours of running, all around 4min-4:20 per kilometer, all around 150HR. I ran every day, in small chunks at lunchtime. On the weekend I upped it a little to run 60min and managed to maintain form, pace and heart rate throughout the week with my running. Total run time was 5 hours, around 70km in total. Swam 3 hours in 4 swims, which equates to about 12km for me.

That was my 39 hours. I had 2 massages and cannot tell you how much I ate, all I can tell you is that it was alot. I dropped 1.5kg it seems, but none of this happened during the actual camp. It has all happened this week. I was 76.5kg going into it and this morning I weighed in at 75kg, which means 1kg left to go before the race, more or less (I don’t get too technical on these things anymore as my body shape is in constant change in the last 18 months and I am just letting it do what it has to do), in order to be where I was in PE in April at 74kg. Any lighter and I may have issues with travel and health and it leaves me with a bit of weight to lose on the day as well, which is allowed.

I wanted to offer a package to someone around my size, shoe size as well (what with extra product lying around) who enjoyed wine and may want to be coached by me for a year. Sounds like a garage sale and it is, of sorts. In total, the entire “lot” is worth R15 000.00 and it includes:

Urban Ninja Bike Kit x 1 (medium bibs + top)
Urban Ninja Tri Kit x 1 (hope you like white – medium)
Kleinhoekkloof Sauvignon Blanc 2009 x 6 – think gooseberries & fresh cut grass over khakibos with a hint of passionfruit
Kleinhoekkloof Merlot Rose 2009 x 6 – turkish delight, cherries and a honey-ish linger on the pallet
Puma Complete Road Racer III size uk 10 (orange baby!)
Puma casual run gear (medium top + shorts)
Rockets Compression Vest size medium
Urban Ninja Cap
Urban Ninja t-shirt
2 tubs of Whasp AminoPro Naartjie
1 bottle of Whasp Gel Blueberry
1 Case of the World’s finest craft beer, Jack Black Beer

Then Jason from Olympic Cycles has come forward to help with an amazing prize, in the form of a full Body Geometry Ergofit worth R800 as well.

Here is an overview:

The full fit manual is available here as well. Thank you Jason.

It’s not all though. I wanted to offer someone my coaching services for an entire year for 2011. This would ideally be for something endurance related, but perhaps the challenge comes for something else. It includes training programs, mental coaching as well as coffee, muffins and the occasional tequila after races. Essentially though, its a slot in the limited slots I have, which are pretty much FULL at the moment, in addition to all that’s offered above.

In total all these items are worth R15 230.00 in total. If I could get R8000.00 – R10 000.00 for all of it, then that would be amazing, which would mean you pay for the coaching and basically the rest is free. I realise this is specific to size 10 shoes and medium kit, but hey, that’s what I have and really its about the Ergofit Fitting, the Coaching and the Booze, right? I am hoping someone will find the value in there and the continued effort that goes into maintaining this platform and come to the party and help me be the fastest age grouper across the double (Ironman Hawaii + Maui Xterra) in 2010.

If you may know someone who would want this sort of package, or who want the cool stuff and you may be a size 10 and medium and they want to give you the gear, then pass along the link on the page.

I really do NOT want this to come across as charity, I believe there is fair value in there and I am not asking for R500.00 for a pasta party or overpriced t-shirts. If you need a breakdown on the value, fill in the contact form on the site and I will mail it to you. If you are interested in buying this package from me, please do the same. I will be most grateful for the contribution to the cause.

Have a superb weekend. I am running the first leg of the Table Mountain Challenge tomorrow for a bit of a lung busting workout the the real 3 week taper starts tomorrow. I am suitably excited and finally starting to feel a bit rested from the 39 hour week. Remember, Assume Nothing, Pursue Everything, Experience Now…

Lastly, Click the SA Blog Awards button, one more time…

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Click the SA Blog Awards button and send this to your entire mailbox. Life as we know it on planet earth does not entirely depend upon it, but hey, do it for me…

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