Pure Planet are a new kid on the block of a sustainable planet. Something we should all be giving attention to. Energy towards. Here is their motto: “It’s hard to understand it all. It’s hard to know what to do. It’s pretty overwhelming. You have stuff to do. Businesses to run. Money is tight. We get that. That’s why we are here. To help you. And it’s not going to cost you anything.”

In honor of this, their first venture is Car Free Friday, 3 December 2010. Super easy – get mates to taxi together, or run, walk, bike, hike, skate or kite to work (if you live in Blaaaauwberg) and enter the value of km you are saving that day to the lot on their website.

So go on, pledge your support to this amazing cause and let’s make a collective difference.

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So today, had you been following my whirlwind day filled with caffeine and meeting new people on a 14 stop day in Jozi on twitter, you would know I am here doing some work for our newest project at NML, called WeLove.

I could go on and on about it, but here are the essentials…

Because sometimes Like isn’t enough.

Remember the moment you found that perfect cup of coffee? The aroma, the smoothness,
the dark syrupy goodness? You wanted to tell the world how amazingly perfect it was. It felt,
well… a bit like falling in love.

That’s what WeLove is all about – sharing the places and things that get your pulse racing. The stuff you’re I’ve-never-felt-this-way-before passionate about. And it’s about sharing it with people who care as much as you do. People who are sad when their sushi is too sticky or their coffee is scorched. People who will let you know where to find the love and when the love is gone.

Truly dedicated “lovers” will even be rewarded for their loyalty, and if you own one of the most-loved places or things, you’ll have real people spreading their love for you.

So take a look, share your passion and discover someone else’s.

Sign up. Share the love. Enjoy the rewards.

WeLove is about sharing the places & things that you LOVE in SA, and getting connected with people who feel the same. Visit welove.net & start sharing the love.

It’s a massively fun project to be involved in and soon there will be other niches like Burgers, Pizza, Triathlon, Running, etc etc… (something for all people to play with).

I could also take pages to explain the process of sign-up, but if you would rather just download the entire press pack with the instructions on how to get going correctly, just click the link HERE.

There is a great competition with a Canon 550D, a iPhone 4 and a HP Notebook up for grabs too. Check that out in the press pack or on The Competition Page.

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The boy got skill…

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As I sit here today, I am pretty sore and walking funny, with an interesting balance of sore muscles, locked hip, 1 toenail (the other is hanging on for dear life), cuts and bruises (hugged a tree on the ride yesterday) but in the end, I handled yesterday far better than I expected. Having now done Ironman, Xterra and then yesterday’s 4 hour suffer fest in the space of 4 weeks is either stupid or testament to what I have been working on SO hard all year.

Body Composition.

I can show you truly amazing bodies out there. Perfection. Yet the guy or girl will constantly be sick or have injury niggles all the time. I know people who are super mega ultra fit who get cold sores, struggle with sinus all year and I even heard the story of a pro athlete who had an entire season destroyed because of a mild tooth infection he was unaware of.

Full body composition requires a few elements for me:

1. Nutrition – eat REAL food.

2. Stress – stress management is probably the most important skill of our time.

3. Regular sleep – 8 hours, boys and girls.

4. Prehab – yes, pre. Regular work on your ligament structure, muscle flexibility and suppleness as well as massage to pick up niggles before they are even niggles is something I have taken in a large way this year. My work with Biosport has changed me as an athlete, able to recover faster and get through the craziest year with the maddest training without 1 injury.

5. Consistency – I don’t add mega miles to a weekly schedule, unless I am in a specific “camp” week. Consistency in training can be a little boring and you may not see the big rewards in the moment, but you cannot do without it if you want to get the body as strong as possible.

6. Scheduled recovery – when I have to chill, I chill ALL OUT.

This is the only way to ensure full body wellness. That does not mean your muscles look great. It means you have a functional intestinal system with a “regular” gut, a skin & hair system where your hair shines, nails shine and grow fast and your skin is blemish free as well as a hormonal system which is able to respond to the training stimulus. Add to this that your blood is healthy and that your organs are functioning superbly and you get the overall FULL BODY composition picture.

When taking the approach to living long and healthy, it’s essential to consider all these things, not just your muscles…

I think that all the racing I did this year could only have been done by taking care of ALL those things. Yes, it costs a little more but really, I am in this because of the journey and the journey is pretty awful when you keep getting sick, having to reset goals and ambitions because of injuries and can’t race your favorite races when you are so run down with stress that you think you`re having heart attacks.

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I had to write a presentation today about connecting with the consumer in the right way at the right time. My opening line went something like this:

“…take a deep breath, close your eyes and imagine yourself as the consumer, where every brand you interact with is trying to engage you in conversation or follow you on Facebook, Twitter and so on…”

The presentation went about current media trends, ways to make social media work for you, etc. Really though, without a long winded explanation, I believe that real is the new black and that the consumer is tired of being told what to do, how to feel and to beware other people’s feelings – even if it means staying untrue to yourself. The media will feed us everything that is not real. Hell, when I was in the US recently, in 200 TV channels all I got was the following:

1. I can sue just about all the companies I ever took medication from as a kid. Fact.
2. American politics is not about what you do right, but about what your opponent does wrong. Fact.
3. No music on MTV. Fact.
4. No international news. Even CNN is different to the CNN we get.

How is that real? How can Music Television show no music videos? How much fake behavior, energy and emotion are we fed on a daily basis? Maybe this is why people who are real are doing so well. Even if its just a little bit real, they manage to connect with an audience who in turn, want to be a part of what they are doing, because they know that it is real.

Faking what we are feeling, seeing and doing leaves us overly emotional and unable to use our greatest gifts, our minds. When the mind goes, all else goes with it.

There reality of situations is often not what we want to hear, share or do, but really, its the only option. It hurts when we disappoint people are first, in order to be true to ourselves. It sucks admitting you have an injury or didn’t train hard enough to achieve your goals. It’s devastating hearing from the one you love, that they do not love you back, anymore. But it’s real and reality comes from those situations and least we can deal with the truth and not the lie.

Inevitably, reality will always catch up with you, no matter how long or hard you try and hide it or from it. It compounds and grows and the sensible thing is to deal with it as it rises, rather than leave it. All realities are snowballs. Fact.

When recognizing the reality of any situation, it’s best dealt with there and then. Don’t hold back because you are worried about the other person’s emotional well being, etc. Some things just don’t work out or work out the way you wanted and that is the reality of the situation. By being honest and open about it, you can make good, consistent decisions that lead to a better reality on a far more consistent basis.

Here are some recent realities that hit me quite hard but that were dealt with, hopefully, as smoothly as possible:

1. Your stomach has shut down. Don’t cry about it, just get to the finish line as fast as possible.
2. Your hips are shut out. You cannot pedal like you want to. Just make it to the top of the hill.
3. You are not 22 anymore. Diving around in a warehouse at a foam party is going to leave you sore for a few days.

3 simple examples. It’s approaching the 1 year anniversary for a day which realities were dealt to me in a way I never expected. I have no remorse and no emotions left about it and it’s been a rock `n roll year, without a doubt the best in my life. I had not dealt with realities for quite some time and got smashed by a snow ball that had been accumulating speed for quite some time, but thankfully, it wasn’t a concrete ball.

I prefer real.

I get much grief for it when people react emotionally to my “stupid realist behavior”.

But I`m cool with that. I`m not mad about snow.

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Today I am leaving our wonderful accommodation in Kona for this place:

I am racing this weekend, just two weeks after Ironman Hawaii. A whole new experience, this training immediately after an Ironman. Will I do it again – hell yes. I feel way better than I ever have, two weeks after any previous Ironman. A combination of better preparation and better conditioning, sure, but also nice to have stayed active and kept moving. Exercise has been very light with only a few runs and lots of short bikes and swims. Feels pretty good.

Will upload some more Garmin stuff after the race, so you can see how that went. I am going to go all in with the Forerunner on Sunday, covering all 3 disciplines. It’s going to be very important to watch my top end heart rate as I would imagine I am going to have very little speed but a very solid sub maximal effort in me, so its going to be all about those last 5km on the run where I am either going to lose or gain 5minutes, which is podium in age group.

THBK Jnr did quite a cool interview for Xterra TV and you can catch that by clicking here…

Also, have a read at this, It’s what i`m going to be reading on the airplane to Maui. I need a break from my current book which I am slightly obsessed with. Thankfully its 1200 pages so lots to be obsessed about and much going on there, but a break is needed today.

Here is a great preview on the weekends race too…

I have new tires, new chainrings, new (well, have run in them to wear them in) shoes, new clothing, gear and all the energy inducing nutrition a dude could dream of. I am ready, set and hopefully, will save enough for the Spooky Forest and the last few hills home.

Have a great weekend out there…

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For those who wanted to see it…

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What a week that has gone by. Thought to drop an array of thoughts, facts and figures before its out. Below is first up, the run of Ironman. 3:24 for a slightly long run, but if you click through you will see the moving time is 3:13 and you should be able to see the short and long potty stops. 11 minutes of lost time, but that was what it was. I am still proud to have run a 3:13 ex potty stops with a seriously bloated stomach and hyponatremia. I am excited to see what I could run on a great day now. I am thinking under 3:05 on a good day.

…then I spent the week hobbling around with bad, oozing toes, which have subsided and I have now been for 2 short runs and all seems to be ok. Have ridden and swum every day until today, which has been interesting in its own, training the week after Ironman. Tough, but the legs did come back.

The afterparty was great. Yes, the skinny dipping tradition continued. Thanks to the Specialized crew who were part of the madness and respect to driving the crazies around the island looking for stuff to do at 3am.

Today we went exploring and man, this island is amazing. In 7 hours we did sunshine, clouds, rain, lava rock, lunar landscape, tropical rainforest, pine forest, Scotland landscape, true KZN style areas, flowing Karoo outbacks, dry desert, and the beach. Crazy, but here on Big Island you get 13 of the worlds 14 climates, all on 1 island. It varied from 10 degrees celcius to 35 as well. Crazy.

It, by the way, is not possible to jump over a waterfall, as witnessed in this awesome picture. Them Puma’s are bright and have had so many compliments about them. Another impossible thing is to summons whales from the highway, desperate as I tried…

What there is here though, is ALOT of climbing on the bike. Check this for a ride, which we did on the Zula’s this week…

1300m climbing in 30 odd kilometers. It was so beautiful up above the clouds. We are going back there tomorrow. Excited. Got some new tires which are the bizniz and thanks to Dan for that. It’s been a joy to hang out with him as well after the interview we did a week or so ago, which was actually done way before I left.

Having TheHousemate here has been easy too. He has left the world of financial business at home and has trained up a storm. He is going to suprise himself next weekend in Maui, when we are racing this. Have met Tommy, who has won the Double (Ironman + Xterra combined time) and he is about 7 minutes up on me. Really too bad I had a bad day out at Ironman, because its doubtful I will put 7 minutes into him at Xterra, but I am going out there leaving nothing on the course, going ALL IN, just a hairs breath short of full retard to make it happen. I am looking forward to being on the fabled course and all it has to offer.

That’s really it for this week. Been a great, eventful, busy one. Going to watch Jackass 3D tonight for some light entertainment. Should be amazing. Chat on Monday…

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I’m sick of following my dreams, man. I’m just gonna ask where they’re going and hook up with them later.

— Mitch Hedberg (via brlouis)

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not too much going on but recovery this week. toes are aching, continuously oozing. my legs ache all the time. i am tired. it gets better as each day passes and it was expected. it’s much better than at IMSA, but nonetheless, music always makes it better. especially this song…

chat soon.

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