Here is a short list of great videos of the things we tend to repeat.

Someone commented on the weekend that without compression socks and headsweats visors, Ironman would be dead. It made me smile.

And last, but not least…

Continue Reading →

This is part of a journey and is neither the beginning nor the end. I am a student, not the law. I know a little bit about a little bit, so leave your comments below…

When you click that eating local, seasonal, ethical food, you just get “it”. You feel the difference, know the difference and value the choice. You make the decision to work a little harder to source your food because it’s ethical, clean food. You sacrifice time to source the right farms, the right butcher and possibly, the right wine maker. This is a journey for me. I am attempting to do the following:

1. Order fruit and vegetables from local suppliers.
2. Use seasonal fruit and vegetables only.
3. Choose local suppliers who I trust to get their food from ethical producers.
4. Drink wine & beer from farms and brewers who treat their staff with respect and farm the land with a vision for the future.

I eat meat. Sure, at home we toy with Vegetarian meals as a commitment to explore options and use creativity to spice it up a little. But I love meat.

However, I choose to buy meat from an ethical butcher, whose commitment to finding farmers who are ethical is stellar at a minimum.

I eat less meat than ever before. Coming from the Transvaal, being an ex swimmer, more was more growing up. I realise that eating meat is taxing on my system at times, especially when I eat loads of red meat, so I am careful, but it’s one of those things I truly enjoy, like a great red wine. Where you draw your line in the sand is entirely up to you and I don’t judge. People will make assumptions and get up in your face for eating meat when their choose is to NOT eat meat. I draw the line at less meat, but ethical meat I trust.

Perhaps you follow the Slow Food Movement (click) or something similar. Perhaps Meat Free Mondays are your thing or you only drink Organic Wines as a lifestyle choice. As long as there is some sort of conscious behavior around the fuel you put in your belly…

It’s your source of energy, vitality and recovery.

So take it seriously!

Good food costs a little more, but with careful planning, a bit of compromise and a little less mindless spending, we can all make a plan to feel better, live better and be better.

Continue Reading →

For the last 2 days, I haven’t had a word to say for Urban Ninja. I have written press releases, environmental business pieces and countless long, detailed emails. But when prompted to write something insightful, wise and inspiring for Urban Ninja, I have drawn a blank every time.

Needless to say, its immensely frustrating as I simply love writing in this space which is a space for me to talk about the things I want to talk about.

So I`m taking the day off. Same philosophy as when I completely hit the wall with training. Take a day or two off, sleep a lot, pull yourself toward yourself and come back rearing to go.

I`ll be back on Monday. It’s 70.3 race week and I am sure there`ll be lots to talk about.

Continue Reading →

BIGGEST TEAHUPOO EVER, SHOT ON THE PHANTOM CAMERA. from Chris Bryan on Vimeo.

Some incredible people out there. Let them inspire you.

Continue Reading →

By now, those of us who are doing Ironman South Africa come April should have made the commitment and started training properly. Finishing an Ironman is an incredible feeling. Training for it is far better, if you do it the right way.

Ironman is a big training day and many athletes never quite enjoy the actual day. After a very unsuccessful first try, I looked hard at the journey and worked towards learning what it took to enjoy the last 4 months before an Ironman. This training program is a result of that. It works for beginners, elite age groupers and those wanting to improve their times. It’s based on aerobic economy and keeping you training the whole 15 weeks without killing yourself. Only one gigantic week, the rest are all under 20 hours per week of training. Simply, that’s what it takes. I have seen many first timers put in 25 hours a week unsuccessfully. My program averages out at 18.

You should enjoy this time when you get fitter and more tired than you have ever been as well as be equipped emotionally to deal with the ups and downs that come with preparing for the toughest day in sport.

As with Challenge Cape Town and 70.3 Buffalo City, I have a pre-built program available to those who are looking for guidance for the race. This includes:

1. Course Overview.
2. Course specific training.
3. Nutrition Advice.
4. Swim, bike, run + functional strength workouts.
5. What to expect from the race.
6. Training Camp details and what to expect in your biggest week of training mentally, emotionally, etc.
7. Emotional preparation.
8. Equipment advice.

It’s a full schedule 15 week program, running at R990 for the complete program. That works out to R66 per week, which is very, very cheap if you are considering personal coaching.

If you are interested in the program, please contact me directly at raoul [at] urban-ninja.co.za on email or leave a comment below and I will get hold of you.

It’s a beautiful journey. Time to enjoy the ride.

Continue Reading →

It’s been a while since I made a list like this and it occurred to me that I better do it before the year is over. Maybe you can discover some new things in this list, if you`re Capetonian or just an athlete…

Places to Eat

La Boheme in Sea Point, for its outstanding food & wine and it’s memories with amazing people.
El Burro for its very delicious food and authentic experience. The only place close on the Mexican scale is Wahaca in Londontown.
Chai Yo in Mowbray is the real deal. Love the food there.

Places to Drink

Sotano is where I like to take the mrs for a glass of wine and some tapas to nibble. It’s relaxed and the wine list is amazing.
&Union needs no intro. Great wine, great beer, great pregos.
Round House has a Terrace outside where you can sit and sip a magnificent bottle of wine quietly whilst watching over the Camps Bay strip.

Places to Swim

Grabouw Country Club. Where we race Xterra SA Champs.
Silvermine, otherwise known as Godspool to a select few who know.
Durban (Addington to North Beach and back) is the best sea swim around.

Places to Ride

Double Century Loop out near the farm, cutting it a little short, its 180km of solo epicness.
Day 2, Sani2c is without a doubt the best day of mountain biking out there.
Day 3, Epic Unsupported Tour (through de Hel) is a slog at points and a crazy downhill at points, a test of will at points and just a crazy day, really.

Places to Run

Signal Hill / Lions Head Loop. 14km with 560m of vertical gain in there, loads of single track and the best views around. I can walk out my door and be on the trail in 5min.
Cecilia Forest into Kirstenbosch is one of my favorite places to run. Fast running with lots of jumps and stairs.
Promenade (strange, but I really love running the Prom when its quiet) in Cape Town is a place to improve speed whilst losing yourself in the moment.

Places to Chill

The Ledge above Kasteelpoort above Camps Bay. A place to feel humble and remain in touch with your roots.
Kleinhoekkloof is incredibly special to me. For many, many reasons.
Home (I LOVE my home) is where the heart is. Seriously, if you can’t chill at home, where can you chill?

Cycling Websites

Marc Perel is incredibly passionate about cycling. A bro in the know… (with a mild ‘cross and TT obsession)
Cycling Tips has some incredible photography for those who want to know why cycling is beautiful.
The Inner Ring is the soul of cycling and they get to the heart of the matter.

If you hover over the name of each of those, the link will pop up and you will find their online presence.

That’s about it. Let me know if you need more details on any of these…

Continue Reading →

The Volvo Ocean Race has hit Cape Town and PUMA has an array of entertainment and activities planned for the duration of the stopover.

The PUMA Quad, a pop-up store and entertainment venue, is built from four 40 feet containers, with three creating a ground level and one on the top. It is located near the Amphitheatre at the V&A Waterfront. It will be open from 9am to 9pm from Friday 25 November to Sunday 11 December. The ground floor will host a PUMA shop selling official Volvo Ocean Race merchandise as well as PUMA Sailing products.

An entertainment area, which opens up onto a wooden deck, will house Bar Mostro where PUMA will host events and keep PUMA fans entertained in true PUMA style.

PUMA Quad activities include Grinding Competitions, Spinnaker Sessions – sunset music sessions with cool local DJs, a photobooth and an extraordinary shopping experience.

Continue Reading →

Today we announced Garmin Fit for iPhone and Android – our first fitness app that lets you track metrics such as speed, pace, distance, time, calories and with the help of Garmin accessories displays heart rate and cadence. Garmin Fit also maps and automatically uploads workouts to Garmin Connect. Garmin also introduces its ANT+ adapter for iPhone allowing you to use your Garmin ANT+ accessories with your iPhone.

“Garmin Fit is the ideal solution for users who are new to the fitness tracking landscape and for those looking to stay totally connected,” said Dan Bartel, Garmin’s vice president of worldwide sales. “To be able to utilize Garmin’s powerful fitness accessories with the same device that plays music, makes calls and uploads workouts automatically to share and analyze, makes Garmin Fit a must haveapp.”

Whether running on a local trail, cycling around the neighborhood or traveling for  business Garmin Fit makes it easier than ever to see how far, how fast and where you have been. Garmin Fit ensures you will never be stuck without a way to track your workouts even when you forget to charge your Forerunner GPS enabled  watch or fail to pack it for a trip. With the tap of a button Garmin Fit displays time, distance, pace and calories and even allows you to control your music from within the app. Never miss that important call – during a workout you will also be able to view and answer incoming calls and text messages without interrupting Garmin Fit ($0.99 USD).

Upon completion of a workout, you will be asked to name the activity and will have the opportunity to input notes about how the workout went or what the weather was like. The data will then be automatically sent to your account in the ever-expanding and free Garmin Connect community (http://connect.garmin.com). Here you can quickly and easily log your workouts, track your totals, set goals, share workouts with friends and family and participate in an online fitness community of more than 70 million activities around the world. Garmin Connect displays metrics such as time, distance, pace, elevation and heart rate. This information is shown through charts, illustrations, reports and a variety of map representations including street, photo, topographic, and elevation maps. Garmin Fit will display the previous 30 days of Garmin Connect history as well as charts directly on your smartphone — giving you an extra tool to achieve your goals.

With Garmin’s ANT+ adapter for iPhone, available now atwww.Garmin.com ($49.99 USD), you will be able to monitor and record your heart rate and cadence directly on your phone when paired with those optional accessories. One such accessory is a footpod sensor – which allows you, when training indoors, to track your speed, pace, distance and run cadence.

Continue Reading →

You are now using the new, improved Urban Ninja. In an effort to improve services, I teamed up with Obox Themes to have a full custom design done for Urban Ninja, a first since I started this blog 3.5 year ago.

As you can see, I have tried to keep the clean look and feel as much as possible. All the information you require is on the home page and here is how to best navigate the site.

On the header, the Categories menu item is a drop down to the new, simplified categories list. Here you will find them broken down into those categories, in the traditional blog style. Also in the header are the links to my Twitter, Flickr, Youtube and RSS feeds.

The slider at the top of the page hosts the 5 latest posts on the blog, which virtually replaces the old blog entirely.

Below that are the 4 main pages which people use, Pure Planet Racing, Coaching, our family farm Kleinhoekkloof and the About page.

I have included the latest 2 posts from the most popular categories in Urban Ninja, which are Movement (relating to all things movement), Balance (what we are all aiming to achieve) and Inspiration (essentially why you come here). If you want to see more in those categories, click the Categories header item for the drop-down menu.

The Partners who make this website possible are listed below that. An full in-depth list of all partners, technical and presenting, are listed by clicking the Sponsors item in the header as well.

Here are some of the other features I love about the redesign:

1. Integrated Facebook Comments. I love these and they make it easier for you to leave comments and share comments.
2. The ability to give each partner to this website it’s own page.
3. This website works on all mobile devices, thanks to Obox’s Mobile Plugin for WordPress.
4. I can customise the header background for each post I put up which allows me to be more specific with video, etc. You will see this post has a background on the header that you will not find anywhere else on the website.
5. There is a video channel coming soon. We are filming the first 10 episodes of Urban Ninja TV this weekend…

More than anything, I wanted to have this remain a blog because that is what it is. I am not trying to be a news channel or a magazine. A big thank you to Marc, Dave & The Coding Bro who make up Obox for being patient and calm and presenting a more professional looking blog to you & to your continued support. I look forward to hearing your comments (good and bad) about the new layout.

Continue Reading →

There you have it. If you don’t quite understand, read my previous post on Gym Etiquette. That should explain quite a bit and why this image is such a great one to explain what is going on there.

Continue Reading →