South Africa has a long history of being brilliant at all things sports orientated. We have the largest mass participation swim (open water – Midmar), bike (Le Argus) and run’s (Ultra Marathon – Comrades) in the world here. We have the terrain, the genetics and the facilities.

In triathlon, we have world beaters like Conrad Stoltz, Raynard Tissink, Dan Hugo and James Cunnama. We have one or two up and coming guys like Richard Murray as well, but where is the real depth. I read this article yesterday and when I look at the depth of Australian triathlon, I must wonder where we are missing the boat here in South Africa, where the talent exists, surely?

Then I came across the fastest amateur splits in Kona, and my jaw dropped, properly. Sure, the conditions were great, but for an AG without a pack to help him, how is the 39 year guy who went 6 minutes slower than race winner Crowie?

1st 4:30:13 1226 Damien Favre-Felix FRA

2nd 4:35:17 1025 Andrea Zamboni SWI

3rd 4:35:26 1197 Markus Ganser GER

4th 4:38:13 1754 Kai Lueddecke GER

5th 4:38:27 1337 Sam Gyde BEL

+++

That blows my mind.

But then I look at the guys run splits. Check this out:

1 2:43:29 1797 Thorne, Joe 27 Austin TX USA

2 2:56:48 1337 Gyde, Sam 36 Destelberg O-V BEL

3 2:57:28 1499 Sloan, Chuck 34 Tulsa OK USA

4 2:58:09 1901 Duffy, Brian 23 West Chest PA USA

5 2:58:21 1755 Haak, Steffen 29 Karlsruhe BW GER

Mad when the fastest age grouper outruns the guy who broke the overall record, but hey, I hope we see Joe Thorne as a pro in the future.

Top 3 guys in my age group – all under 9 hours. Same for 35-39. Crazy.

Where are these up and coming guys in South Africa? Our fastest guy was a 35-39 year old, Shaun Winkler, who had an amazing race for 9:26:24 – an amazing achievement. But where are our future stars, the 25-29 year olds going 9 hours, like so many other countries have?

Are they not supported enough to be able to make the life of a pro? I know we have an ITU program through Lotto Funding (which is showing results and would hopefully lead to future development of athletes beyond ITU), but where is the support for the guys who COULD be great. I know from chatting with the professionals that they fought long, tough years to pay for their first years as professional athletes and continue to struggle not only for financial support but also support from government, etc.

But athletes are also to blame. Bad mentalities towards what sponsorship entails continues to frustrate me and the sponsors who want to help the sport grow. Simple things like maintaining blog, twitter accounts and believe it or not, the most simple things like good grammar, not swearing or using vulgar language are often forgotten by athletes.

Surely someone should be watching them, coaching them, helping them forge a career, not just a few results so that when they get injured, they have a presence, an audience to fall back on?

I believe we have the talent here. Our gene pool is ridiculously deep. There are athletes with the right attitude, the right work ethic who just need a little bit of help, but may be too scared to ask for help.

I am going to end this post on the positive note that I believe we have the talent, that the infrastructure could be there for these guys and girls and that future world champions are among us today. I urge them to talk to other athletes about WHAT IT TAKES. Speak to James, to Ray, Conrad and Dan about the times they had to rough it to get to races, prizes, etc. Send them an email – they always respond. I urge their sponsors to nurture them with caring hands, help them to create the right content for their presences. Get your PR agency to work with them and build an audience for your brand with them.

On that note, a massive thank you to all the partners who make this Urban Ninja what it is. It’s a big journey. We have only just begun.

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Recently I discovered there was a term for collecting all sorts of data on devices and measuring your performance gains over time. I mean, I work with one Paul Cartmel, possibly the king of gadgets and measurement. When I went through the process of losing 8kg a few years back, I tracked my calories, progress and weight, I wrote down how I felt when I woke each day and tracked my training as well. The project was a success because of this, I am sure.

So now, Quantified Self is a great way to explain all this behavior. The video gives an intro to that and I wanted to drop you some resources if that was your thing, well, because I have a hunch there are more than just a few people who read this blog who would fit into this “box”.

Quantified Self Tracking Guide.

Quantified Self and the Future of Health Care.

Changing Behavior Using Data.

Invasion of the Body Hackers.

That should keep you busy for a few hours.

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In an effort to share more knowledge and due to the fact that I am not coaching one-on-one any longer, I have created a 24 week comprehensive program for Challenge Cape Town on the 6th November. This has no association with the actual race, but this program offers the following:

1. It’s build for those who just want to finish all the way to those wanting to win their age groups.
2. It is course specific to the race and the challenges that the race route presents specific to this race: Cold Water, Hills and more hills (and possibly wind).
3. It explains the basics for success and the various tricks to maximize your aerobic capacity, get to your optimal weight and be able to move with minimum energy for hours on hours at a time.

There is a Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) area as well as explaining all the terms within the program.

The program starts around 12 hours per week and peaks at 18-19 hours per week throughout the peak weeks. There is no wasted time and no pointless mileage in here, just good clean work with a purpose towards building aerobic capacity and economy for all three legs of the race. It includes core work as well as basic nutrition information and a race day calorie calculator for you to take into your training to make sure you are practicing correctly.

It sets out your training from right now until the actual race for each and every day, taking you through the months including rest weeks, mini training camp weeks and building through the year so that you will peak at the right time for the race in early November.

I am asking R1800.00 for the full program, which works out to R300.00 per month. This does not buy you one-on-one time with me but I will endeavor to answer questions you may have as your training progresses over the months. This is a once-off payment and around half the cost of what I would normally charge per month for coaching.

If you are interested in the program please contact me by clicking the contact page and getting in touch with me that way.

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I was able to pair the Garmin Edge to the Powertap pretty seamlessly yesterday. One click. There is still some calibration to happen but for most things, it picked up most of the 20 intervals I did yesterday and you can see that on the image above. Why intervals of 10 sec?

I am doing mostly shorter races in the early part of the year next year with quite a bit of Mountain Biking in there and the short accelerations are where I SUCK, so we are working on improving this for me so that I can be competitive when the little moves go. I generally lasso off the back when the small accelerations go. So from now, on yo-yo-ing off the back of your attacks, foxterriers! I got you covered from now on.

Some people wanted to know just how hectic this Epic Unsupported tour of ours is? Here is the official itinerary (remember: we have no support, carry everything you need for the week on your back and really only know about 70% of the route – the rest is a bit of a guess):

Epic Unsupported Tour Itinerary – 2010

Friday 17^th Dec

• Leave Cape Town at 13h30 to George via Ashton to drop car at farm
• overnight at Vineyard View Guest House in Louvain (4kms from race village)

DAY 1: Saturday 18^th Dec

• Stage 1 of Rock Pedal Classic: George Showgrounds to Louvain over Old Montagu Pass (61kms & 1,100m – approx 3 hour ride time)
• overnight at Vineyard View Guest House

(leave car in George and collect next day)

DAY 2: Sunday 19^th Dec

• Stage 2 of Rock Pedal Classic: Louvain to George Showgrounds, back over Montagu Pass (51kms & 550m – 2hr30 approx ride time)
• overnight at Vineyard View Guest House

DAY 3: Monday 20^th Dec

• Louvain to Prince Albert via Oudtshoorn & Swartberg Pass (134kms & 1,900m  +- 6 hours ride time, excl heat stop)
• overnight at Acacia Cottages, 5 Pastorie Street, Prince Albert

http://www.princealbert.org.za/acaciacottage.htm

DAY 4: Tuesday 21^st Dec

• Prince Albert to Seweweekspoort through Gamkaskloof and De Hel (111km & approx 2,750m incl 2km portage/climb)
• overnight at Stone Cottage, Seweweekspoort, http://www.seweweekspoort.co.za/index.php?module=htmlpages&func=display&pid=26

UNKNOWN FROM HERE!

DAY 5: Wednesday 22^nd Dec

• Seweweekspoort to Vrede, Anysberg Nature Reserve (90km with 17km in Reserve, approx 800m)
• overnight in Anysberg Nature Reserve Accommodation, (Leguaan & Seps Cottages),

http://www.capenature.co.za/reserves.htm?sm[r2][subsection]=537&reserve=Anysberg+Nature+Reserve#reserve_tabs

DAY 6: Thursday 23^rd Dec

• Vrede, Anysberg Nature Reserve to Kleinhoekkloof, Ashton via Kruisrivier and Montagu (100km, incl 27km in Reserve, approx 1,200m)

DAY 7: Friday 24^th Dec – Route 62 unnamed Pass

• On Route 62 there is an epic climb Raoul has always wanted to ride. We are going to see if we can do it. (100km, approx 2500m)

DAY 8: Sunday 26^th Dec – Kleinhoekkloof to Wellington

• Route to still be determined. Gotta find our way to Mischa farm for a night there. (110km, approx 2000m)

DAY : Monday 27^th Dec – Wellington to Cape Town

• Last day with probably quite a bit of road riding, but the aim is to ride into the gate at home. (90km, approx 500m)

Total Distance:  847km & 13,300m climbing

So a bit longer than Cape Epic, but with a bit less climbing, sadly. The email banter has been fun and should be fun to see how we cope with all this thrown at us. I am SO excited I can taste it.

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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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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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Saturday:
Instead of going for a ride, I served wine for 8 hours, drinking a bit of it (ok, a lot of it) and proceeding to do hyper extensive calf jumps for 4 hours (commonly referred to as crazy dancing/bouncing). Judging by how sore I was the next morning I`m going to add it as worth while training.

Sunday: OFF day. Wrecked from Wacky Wine Weekend.

Monday:
AM: Swim 40min
PM: Indoor Ride 60min easy + 20min core work

Tuesday:
AM: Indoor Ride 90min easy with some ME work (about 20min total) + 15min core work
PM: 45min run + 75 min yoga + 25min run. Tough work-out, running an extended route to yoga, then 75min of Vinyasa based yoga and a 25min run back in the dark and in the rain.

Wednesday:
AM: 40min swim
PM: 60min run easy easy, forcing myself to slow down. Sore throat now in full effect.

Thursday:
AM: Skipped session due to sore throat.
PM: 2h30 ride super easy, focus on riding with mouth closed to keep intensity down. ME work on the climbs (x 4)

Friday: OFF

Total around 14 hours which is on track even though I have a sore throat. So many sick people around it’s tough to stay healthy. Am trying to sleep regular hours and eat well and not let it get into my chest. I pushed the limits at Wacky Wine though, standing on my feet for 9 hours a day, then proceeding to party it up with family and friends for 2 days. I have nobody or anything to blame but myself.

Today is going to be a day of recovery and hopefully getting my health back on track before we start long, slow work-outs tomorrow, hoping for 4 hours tomorrow and 5 hours on Sunday as the start of the next week.

But for today, we are going to be going large for the opening of the World Cup. I hope to not run into too many Mexicans, especially in square bottles.

Overall I would give the week a 6/10 out of effectiveness for training. Not great. Work to do.

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I am getting quite a few emails lately about where you should be in your training and I know my guys and girls are all feeling the pressure of the upcoming event.

Worry not Ironmen and Irongirls, you will be victorious! Your task is easy. Think of all I have to get through before I get to IMSA 2010 and you should feel very, very calm. Here is my schedule:

5-7 Feb – training camp Ceres
13-14 Feb – Lighthouse to Lighthouse MTB race
21 Feb – Xterra SA Champs
5-7 March – Sani 2 C MTB Race
20-28 March – ABSA Cape Epic MTB Race

That’s all before I get to rest up for IMSA. I am racing all of those races. Now if I watch my weeks carefully, I should be super strong going into IMSA, but this approach is not for anyone. I have spent 3 years building mileage to be able to handle this kind of schedule, so I would watch it if I were you.

Back to you, of course. Your stresses. Let’s check where you are:

1. Can you bike 150km quite easily, around your IM intensity (not pace) and have a normal afternoon after that?
2. Can you run 25km quite easily, without too much pain?

If you can manage those two, then you are right on track. Here are some common thoughts at this stage:

1. I am slow. One of my guys said to me after our long run the other day that he felt his run sucked. I mentioned that he had just run a half marathon close to his PB in training and that he looked pretty comfortable to me. You are ALL overanxious about your form at the moment.

2. I am tired. Um… no s**t. You should be doing mega miles, and being in the hurt locker right about now. Your weekends should breeze by in a haze.

3. I need to do more. You can always do more. Even the pro who goes 35 hours a week, can do more. Its NOT about more. It’s about the quality of everything around your training. Here is a quick checklist of those:

a. Is your home life in check?
b. Is your personal life on track for non-destruction?
c. Are you managing your niggles?
d. Are you sleeping regular hours?
e. If your work life in check?

If those are all good, then you are on the right track. There is life the day after Ironman, you know. Sure, until then we are, from this day until then, going to give it our all…

But you want to make sure you have friends and loved ones around the day afterward. Many people lose those in the process.

So from here on in…

+++ Train Smart
+++ Live Smart
+++ Eat Smart

If I don’t see you until then, read my schedule, and you`ll know why.

RokThis launch is right here, I can smell it. You will know more about why I am doing this crazy schedule then.

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