Race pictures to follow, but wanted to get a report out quickly before I head off for the 3 day trip it takes to get home from here. Yesterday was Xterra in Maui, the World Championships. I was hunting for a good day, a bit of a miracle, as my legs were pretty shattered from Kona, just 14 days prior. I had never trained straight after an Ironman and it proved to be hard and I felt the fatigue all week.

I had a bit of a nightmare the day before, as I replaced my chain as a precaution and once I did that, it turned out that other problems existed. I had to replace the cassette as well as the chainrings. Not a major issue on its own, but it turned out there were no chainrings on the entire Island. Crap!

In the end, I had to buy a new chainset at last minute, being the last guy to get his bike out of the shop. 6pm. Bit of a stress and quite a bit of walking around, which was not great.

Race morning arrived and I was excited to give it everything I had. I had heard great things about the race and was keen to give it a big go. I was still in the hunt for the overall Double title, if the two guys I was racing had a bad day or a mechanical, after the mishaps of Kona.

We had Hawaiian Warriors send us off with a traditional dance and before I knew it the gun went off and we were in the water, a mad thrashing of arms, legs and really, all bodyparts. Far rougher than the Ironman swim, I got punched in the head and kicked in the nose before the first buoy and decided to chill off the back of the pack as I saw I was quite near the front and knew the day was a long one. I survived the swim as best as I could and was out the water in a respectable time.

Loved the fact that my Forerunner was able to include swim, bike, run & transitions into the equation smoothly. Out onto the bike and man, the course was brutal. I was going well for the first 5km or so, the intensity was great and I felt great. The slow puncture (in my hip flexors) was next to arrive and was debilitating and I had really expected to feel flat at times, but this was totally not what I expected. My heart rate dropped by 8 beats and my hip flexors were super tight, without the power I have become accustomed to on the bike. The thing I had spent all year working on was now my biggest enemy. I was super on the flat parts, but everytime the road went up I went backwards. I was unstable out the saddle, something which made me laugh. My Fretten will tell you I love powering over the little hills, but yesterday I was hopeless, looking for a smaller gear and unable to get out the saddle at times, my hips were so tired.

The ride was super technical and the Morewood Zula was amazing on the technical stuff. I was loving the downhill stuff, slippery as all hell. The new tires were superb and the bike handled so well. Made up some places on the downhill but the Double title was gone, Thomas came by with a smile and I salute him for the effort he made yesterday.

Onto the run with the new Puma Haraka cross country flats, nursing toenails on the verge of falling out and wondering how I was going to lift my feet with them tired hips. True to form, the first km was flat and I was motoring. Then it went uphill for about 4km and I died, having to walk the steep stuff a few times with a soft chuckle to myself. When it was flat I could motor, but the hills were abysmal and the effort to lift my feet was excruciating, the hip flexors crying for relief. I caught 3 guys in my age group but it was in the end, not enough.

The beach was fun and the spooky forest was amazing. I cheered and jumped across the finish line with a big smile, happy that it was over. 4th and 80 odd seconds short of the podium on a day when I was really not myself is a big achievement for me and I was super happy with that awful tinge of “what could have been” but really, super happy to also have finished 2nd amateur in the world for the Double to Tommy, who has won it before and had raced 22 Ironmans and 6 Xterra Maui races.

Congrats to Conrad for winning his 4th title and to Mikey Keith for domination of the 15-19 category. He passed me on the bike like I was having a picnic at the lowest of my times, but his form picked me up and gave me a bit of vooma for the rest of the ride. The kid has a bright future indeed.

To all who dominated to the afterparty with myself and the joyous South Africans, thank you. Those who came along for the mass skinny dip, fantastic. I am awaiting the photo from Dan on the Koi I caught with my bare hands to share with you and hope nobody is sharing photos from the large gathering in the hot tubs on any social network. It was such a laugh, ALL night long, until the sun came out this morning.

Will get the pictures and the Garmin info up ASAP when I am back on my pc and have the pictures from official race photographers.

Until then, I wish you an amazing week ahead. Go out there and find something that gives you the joy a child experiences when he falls head over heels madly in love with his newest toy. Divulge in its amazepeguinballerness and squeeze every millimeter of joy out of it.

Continue Reading →

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…

Continue Reading →

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…

Continue Reading →

I believe I am going to be talking to my legs many a moment in the next few weeks as I absolutely do my best to obliterate them into being the strongest, leanest most economically endurance sports orientated pins in the world. Well, my world at least. The aim is to build a bit more strength for the purposes of going up the volcano in Maui on the mountain bike, but for me the greatest gain I wish to make is more economy at slightly faster speeds.

In true style, I am even going to tell you how I plan on doing it. Then you will sit back and watch and if it works, follow the rules, but if I crash and burn, laugh and point… right? You with me sunshine?

Swim:

I am going back to squad as of 1 August 2010. 8 weeks with squad should sort me out 1 shot in terms of open water swimming (by open water I mean in the sea with the turtles in Kona) for the Ironman swim. No wetsuits allowed, even if I will have an Orca RS1 Swimskin to help me along.

Last Kona I neglected my swim a little and I missed a key pack early on. 8 weeks of hopefully chasing the White Rabbit in the pool will make me a better man.

Bike:

So apart from having what will be the most tricked out Ceepo Katana in Kona, as well as the most tricked out Morewood Zula for Maui, I actually need to work on the bike, as I will have to do for the next 5-60 years of my life. Work on the bike never stops, contrary to popular belief.

Some of the key components to building a faster bike (Maui):

a. Threshold training (AT)
b. Weight Loss
c. Mental coaching (the pain means its good, right?)
d. Bike skills (learn to bomb down a volcano in the big ring like a Caveman or a Gollywog (when he doesn’t shave for 2 days))
e. More ME work (endurance power)

They key components for the Kona bike are different to the one in PE, by virtue that the course has about triple the climbing in. So here are my focus points:

a. ME work (sustained power) for the rollers, of which there are MANY in Kona.
b. Aero climbing, so staying aero over the rollers by teaching the body to remain aero and get the extra power to be as economical as possible.
c. Pack riding. I will more than likely be in a group of 40 guys in Kona, not on my own like PE, so I have to practise a bit of pace variance as the advantage of the pack is huge.
d. Economy. The run in Kona is freaking brutal. I need to bike as easy as possible, but want to ride under 5 hours again. This means I have to be stronger than in PE, but also that it has to be sustainable for 3 hours after the ride.

Run:

I have enrolled in a testing program at the Sport Science Institute here to learn a little more about my running. I outran best hopes in PE by 5 minutes, and almost outran it by 15minutes if I had just known a little more about my running. I am hoping the lactate testing, VO2max etc will give me a better insight into how I need to be training to achieve what I want to on the run in Kona. I will continue to use all the things which have taken me from 3:52 to 3:15 on the marathon at PE but I wanted to try something new, so according to the smartest people around, we are going to work on my ability to run more economically, not necessarily faster. The speed will come as a byproduct. More than anything, I want to be able to run stronger over the last 10km than I did in PE. Not by much, all I am looking for is a 10% extra at the end of the race. I faltered in PE due to a bloated stomach (too much sugar) and ill preparation (Sani2c and Cape Epic limited running in the last 8 weeks before Ironman) and this time around there are no excuses to NOT have that 10%.

Maui – realistically, I am going to be hanging on for dear life at that point, running a super tough 11km beach/rock/road/mud run 2 weeks after Kona, but I am going to try and remain calm and rip the legs off it.

In the middle, during this big block of training, however, my legs will come and go. Today, for instance, it hurts when I sit still (mean new gym set on Monday being the major culprit). I have hurt them this week already, but now need to manage the recovery process to the weekend where 10 hours of training await the poor pins. There is planned massage and floatation planned, so I should be ok. If I do blow up, you will be first to know, saying “I told you so”.

If I don’t push the limits out, I will never know how good I could possibly be. I am willing to risk the occasional blow out to know how far the rabbit hole goes, if you know what I mean?

Continue Reading →