What a simple, amazing video. As simple as striding out, we all know and understand the simple beauty of putting together any run. At times, running can be the cruel mistress, but really, it’s one of the most addictive things out there. The simple joy of running.

It’s beauty when its effortless is rivaled by very little out there.

If you are reading this looking for inspiration to get out there and try running, I urge you to try the tested 30 for 30 rule. Get out there and run for 30 minutes per day, for 30 days in a row. There are many lessons in those 30 days and you will come out an addict to your new kick, your reason to get outside and the reason you are smiling all day.

On Saturday evening, I went for a trail run around the Signal Hill and Lions Head peaks and got OWNED by the route – my legs were lead, my ambition to hurt just not there and my head not able to overcome. I knew the feeling and knew it was time to give the body a break. So yesterday, I was out on the 11 Global course, taking some snaps on the route on a new toy I have yet to even read the manual on. Triathlon is truly a beautiful painful thing to watch.

As the warrior poets passed me en route, letting the verse play out through their bodies, I was inspired. It is not often that I spectate. My races are very much centered around my experience and spectating through a camera gave me a new insight into the day. I tried to capture some of the moments out there, the attitudes of the racers and the emotions they are going through.

Belief, hope, power, fatigue, hopelessness then back into belief, power, focus and lastly, relief.

Here are some of the snaps.

The realisation that I needed a break came a day earlier than I planned to take a break, as this week is based around Xterra Grabouw on Sunday. Some would argue that I should have pushed through for that last big session, which is something I would consider every time. The smartest, and incidentally, fastest athletes I know are very in tune with their bodies.

Push till you crack, not break. That is what I am attempting to learn this season. I have no rest weeks, hardly any rest days and the combination of intensity and endurance work is taxing, but it’s a part of the lessons I want to learn, its a part of the commitment I have made, as an athlete who wants to represent everything the warrior poet represents, to take the chance at failing, multiple times, in order to succeed, for one specific day.

Without risk, there is no reward. Without hope, no life.

I saw so many warrior poets out there on Sunday around Big Bay – overcoming risk, or limping home, smashed. Every one of them a warrior poet in my mind. When you let it all hang out, you are living. So what if you fail? Your success will only know boundaries as long as you play it safe.

To close off today, I wanted to add a few pictures that I found this morning, around the theme of inspiration. I hope you enjoy them as much as I did.

These clips gave me a lift and the motivation to get out there tomorrow and give it my all as I am going to cover a dam/lake swim, some great riding on the Xterra route and a late afternoon run on my favorite trails around Lions Head. I hope they are still fresh in my mind as I try to cover 150km on Sunday before a short run and a few beers with mates in the afternoon. Let’s hope the motivation carries when I enter the pain cave this weekend.

I have more than a few stamps in the Pain Cave Passport from this year already, let’s hope they cash in nicely come April. Enjoy the clips and have a great weekend.

The 1910 Challenge from RAPHA on Vimeo.

There seems to be a constant battle between what we have, what we need and what we think we want.

We always need more, right? No matter how many bikes I own, there is always another that would “complete” the collection. But when I have cleaned out the garage, so to speak, and ended up with one or two bikes only, I managed perfectly.

One of the most challenging personal finance issues we all face is the ever-expanding definition of “need.” Things we once considered clear luxuries have somehow become necessities, often without any consideration of how the change in status happened. Cars that seemed just fine now seem old fashioned. Then there are children (I hear horror stories of parents feeling like ATM machines because every time their kids approach them its for cash) and their cellphones. Only a few years ago it would’ve seemed outlandish for 14-year-olds to need one at all, let alone the latest iPhone.

Achieving clarity about the difference between our needs and wants remains one of the biggest challenges in personal finance and a tremendous source of potential conflict within families. While simple in theory, the calculation is much more complex in practice.

One of the most discouraging parts of modern life seems to be this never-ending sense that we should want more. While this may not be true for everyone, it does seem like it’s become more difficult to be content with what we have. Whether it’s the media, our friends or even our family, it can be a challenge to separate real needs from wants.

So here are a few of things to think about:

• What if financial happiness is not about getting more but about wanting less?
• What if things start out as wants and become needs not because the thing itself has changed but because our feelings about it have changed?
• What if you can never really get enough of something that you don’t need?

From personal experience, I know that the shiny new toy I just had to have often ends up in a pile of things that I eventually need to sell. I’m not the only one that’s fighting this battle. It’s yet another example of why personal finance can be so complex. Because there’s no definitive list of the 100 things that every person must have, these end up being very personal decisions.

Add in the amazing sponsors to this site who send me amazing goods which add to the pile and it’s easy to see why I dropped off 6 municipal bags of goods and clothing at Songo.info last year and have just put together 2 more bags.

I’ve talked about some of the ways I’ve seen people look for balance between wants and needs. They include things like sleeping on a decision overnight. My personal rule is that before I buy something, I have to have read all reviews, spoken to an actual user of the product who I trust and gone to test it.

What have you done to help better define the difference between a want and need?

And how have you focused more on being content with what you have instead of always striving for what you think you want?

Anyway, food for thought for my long run later. Report back soon.

I wonder how their training went and why they completely mucked it up in not 1, but all 3 disciplines on the day. It got me thinking about all the little things in training that count towards a superb race day performance, which is the benchmark for most athletes. Train all they want, without a race day effort to show the work, they aren’t happy.

This, for me, is problem number 1 anyway. So let’s run through some of my favorite lessons out there:

1. Smell the Roses

This weekend, I had the joy of riding with the 2 guys who have put me in the pain cave more often than anyone on the bike, for the first time in roughly 5 years. Sure, the ride was tough, but for me, it was a byproduct of riding with my “brothers” through the winelands, on a route that has given us all so much happyscared during IM base weeks.

Stop and smell the roses while training. The athletes I train have to train on Sundays but its always their favorite routes at their preferred intensity, so that they will stop and have a look around them.

2. Overload Kings

The athletes I fear the most have the biggest capacity for work. It’s not that they are fast, its that they are fast AND train like madmen.

You should read THIS article if you don’t believe me. It’s the guys with the biggest capacity for work and the highest concentration towards eating ethically and sleeping meticulously that scare me the most. Natural talent goes only a part of the way. Show me the guy who is out nailing Basic Weeks every week and I’ll show you a man I fear on the back end of the run.

3. I am, therefor I am.

What does AeT feel like? How do you pedal at the right cadence when the little computer breaks on race day? How do I know that I`m about to get sick?

So many athletes have no idea of the constant 2 way conversation that is going on between body and mind. For them, its a one way from mind to body, willing it forward. With a bit of finesse and a bit of intuition, you will learn that the body will tell you everything you need to know. When they get sick they are surprised and yet, the body would have given signals for days and days ahead of getting sick.

Injuries don’t occur overnight and over-training takes months to achieve. Wake up and listen to your body.

4. Patience is Rewarded

Every single time. We cannot help ourselves and we attack early. When we get caught within sight of the line, legs totally gone, mind utterly blown, we regret not waiting a little. I have spoken enough of quiet power, of the quiet mind. Without the ability to be patient and make the move when it counts the most, you will fall short.

In training, don’t follow every move your mates make. Listen to your body and stick to the plan. The bottom line, is the finish line and often the guys hitting the summit first on morning rides are not the guys taking line honors on race day. When the moment hits, use it wisely.

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Use these simple lessons in your training and you`ll see performance rise, health be stable and injuries disappear.

It’s that part of you that jumps before checking over the ledge, the part of you that says I`m in before you`ve heard the end of the sentence and it’s the core of your journey towards a better you.

Society tells us to stay within the box, yet we champion the few heroes who defy convention. It lifts those who come back stronger, even though advertising tells us that the same shade of lipstick or same smell of cologne will make us a success. It’s a mixed message for sure.

It’s the freak that knows we need to destroy the box that we are in, the freak knows we need to break loose, bonk horribly on a long ride to know where the true limits lie and its the freak that has you delirious, lost on a trail somewhere with the biggest smile on your face.

The freak knows.

Feed it the things that make you happy and it will reward you with adventure, energy and creativity. Let loose, the freak will help you discover things, places and people you thought you would never know. It`ll take you to worlds you never comprehended and limits you created for yourself will be smashed on a regular basis. Noise will become silence as the freak gives you purpose.

Feed the freak this weekend. I know my fridge is loaded with food for it.