Boys love gear. It’s not a life changing statement and one that is pretty much widely accepted in the world. Equipment makes us happy. Whether its power drills, Morewood bikes or iPad2′s, we like our toys.

We are confined to keeping it in its own area, which I am sure you have become accustomed to. Let’s reflect on this area, often known as the Drawer of Death or the Man Drawer (kudos to TheHousemate for sending this along):

Excellent way to set the tone for the rest of this article. It is indeed extremely important for a man to have toys. If you do not believe me, please attend an Ironman race or a Geek conference. Worlds apart, they have 1 common fact: He with the most toys, wins.

So it is in this vain that I am doing a toys research program for O till O. A reminder of what that is…

54km of running.
11km of swimming.

Continuously.

Here are some images:

Really, equipment choice is going to make or break this day. Having the right wetsuit to be able to swim and run in, the right nutrition, the right shoes, the right paddles, pull buoy, socks, base layer, goggles, etc etc can all potentially ruin what is one of the toughest days in the world, anywhere. This is why I am researching and testing products already, possibly having custom stuff made and going about making it as easy as possible for my partner and myself.

Equipment plays a huge part in that. During Cape Epic 2009, we had ZERO issues with our Morewood bikes. In a race where mechanical issues can break you, our bikes held out perfectly. The 1 mechanical we had was human error, but there is no cure for that.

I have recently started riding a new bike and can honestly say that it’s a completely new animal. The work that has gone into every element of it’s design is incredible. I had years ago ridden it’s “older brother” for a season. It was considered the worlds fastest time trial bike for 10 years. This new, younger, more virile version has absolutely knocked my socks off. Want to guess what is it?

Testing equipment and making sure you have the best at your disposal nowadays is not that tough. Bike shops will try organize a ride for you. Running stores have demo shoes for you to take around a few blocks. Take your time. It’s possibly a big money decision, one which could affect you for years to come.

While I am nursing this knee of mine back to optimal health, it’s been fun to think of all the gear that makes getting from session to session just a little easier and analyse what I need to keep and what needs to be adapted. We should never stop innovating, testing and playing with gear. It’s an essential part of our nature.

A more inspirational post coming tomorrow…

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Some of you may have seen Raynard Tissink, South Africa’s highest placed finisher at Kona, had a special suit for the race. I got the inside scoop from Orca South Africa, who have a new website coming this week. This, from Bernard…

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The concept for the suit came from the fact that I was so convinced that Ray was going to have a great race at Kona this year that I decided to investigate making him a special one of a kind suit. It is always nice to not look like the rest of the field and to this end I started scratching my head as what to do. I then look at the suit that was made for Courtney Atkinson and thought, that is something to work with as it would reduce the production time as Orca had already been through the development. I made a few sketches and a few design notes and popped it off to Orca. They got it a bit wrong to start with but after some more mails they understood what I had in mind.

The idea was to us the SA flag but to turn it upside down so that the little black triangle (on the flag) would flow into the black of the suit on the legs. This way giving a seamless look, black is maybe not the best colour for Kona but on the other hand it works very well for showing the sponsors logos on the front of the chest. With that in mind I changed the back of the suit to white and then had the colours of the flag fade into the white so as to reduce the dark on the back, this was mostly considering the bike as he would be flat on his bars in the blazing sun for 4:30. I used the rear zip as this is a preference for Raynard and also makes the front of the suit look better for branding.

I used the Perform material as this is another preference of Raynard as he likes the feel of the fabric. I sent the first design to Raynard and Natalie and they were over the moon and gave me the go ahead. The idea was to keep the suit under wraps from the world until Kona but Raynard did use the suit in his last prep race to make sure all was cool (which it was).

In the end this all turned out to be a fantastic project and one that I will do again as I learnt so much in the process and to be honest the interest that it has generated has been truly amazing. You know that sometimes you make decisions and they turn out better than expected and offer you branding and awareness that you can never afford to buy and I think is one of those cases.

Raynard and Natalie are such great people to work with and it was so inspiring to sit up all night and watch the “time-lapse” video on Ironman live and follow the updates coming from the course (I was following you as well, don’t feel left out).

I have attached the final draft of the suit that we signed off. The delivery period was around 28 to 35 days from sign off.

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How proud does that suit make you to be South African? I think it was worth the punt and well done to Bernard for making it work and getting the suit to Ray for his best day out, ever…

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So much awesomeness, this new toy of mine, my 310XT. I have never been able to review any race as thoroughly as this. Here follows swim, bike, run as well as transitions.

Swim:

I clearly swam about double the distance. I was told to swim with it in my cap for a better reading, but this comes out pretty good. 1500m swim with a 100m beach run, more or less. Thanks to Conrad for the suit to swim in, after somehow forgetting my RS1 at home. I misread the rules and understood that like Ironman, where I swam in my Perform suit, we would not be allowed these speed suits in Maui.

You can see I was completely focused on the race at this point…

Transition 1:

T1 takes a while in Maui. It’s a run out the water, over the beach, through the golf course and into T1. Put on socks, mountain bike shoes & gloves, helmet and off you go up the hill to the exit.

Bike:

There are some ugly numbers in there up some of those climbs. I was digging SO deep and not really managing to get anywhere. Nice to see how to course runs with the mapping feature and the overlaying land.

Transition 2:

Short & Fast…

Run:

Spot the areas where I walked! hahaha. I was a broken man, surviving with a grimace and a shuffle by this point…

In the end, it was all purely to get to this point…

Again, a biggest thank you to Fairbairn Private Bank, Garmin, Puma, New Media Labs, Morewood, Orca, Biosport, Rockets, Whasp and the never ending support from everyone who reads this blog.

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Its a bit later than normal, but here goes.

After a few weeks of successful racing I headed up to WP Trials on Friday last week with a bit of hesitance, as I was nursing an upper respiratory tract infection, commonly known as a Stuffy Head. I did not feel great and was going up to see how I went, but not to kill myself. My plan was to work hard in the swim and bike, and coast the run with a hopeful lead.

I knew some of the faster guys were not coming up and this gave me a bit of hope for the day as well.

We lined up on Saturday morning with the usual smack talk and chatter and I got a good spot on the swim line and before we knew it, we were off on our 2 laps. I hung with swim rabbit Emslie for about 300m and then backed off once I saw we had a gap on the group. I merely wanted to limit loss to Emslie but still build a bit of a break to the chasing pack before the bike got going.

My new Orca Alpha suit, boys and girls, is the shiznitz. It felt really amazing in the water, with less restriction on the arms than I have ever felt. I swim with quite straight arms, and the suit didn’t inhibit that for one second. Kudos to Orca, I think first 4 out the water were all in Orca suits.

Onto the bike, and the mission was to sit up till about 5km, then hammer till 30km, then spin into T2. Mission was on the way when at about 5km I passed young Emslie on the bike and motored by, riding hard (there may have been a bit of white foam on the mouth at this point), checking my Suunto to make sure I was keeping it above 170. At 10km, I had 75sec on 2nd place, at 20km, it was 120sec. On leg 3 I thought I heard a puncture and nearly platzed myself, but the faint noise wouldn’t go, even if the tire was staying hard.

At 30km I still had 120sec over Harold chasing, with a foxy Brendan Lowen on his ass like a fly to a vrot carcass in the sun. I could see they were catching as Harold murders the bike, his freakishly sized calves not being supportive for his running agendas. I was pumped full of Whaspgel by this stage and was ready to spin/hammer home, but I felt as if I was riding with someone holding onto my shirt.

The last leg was murder and I couldn’t understand why it seemed so much harder (inspection after the race revealed that the brakes had locked onto my rear wheel a little and it was tough to spin the wheel – hence the extra effort and loss of time in the last 20km) but kept spinning as I wanted to have semi-fresh legs for the run, whereas I knew the two behind were going to hammer all the way into T2.

The official gap was around 30sec into T2, but I set out running lightly up the hill, but not murdering myself. My Puma racers were perfect for the day, no socks, light, no blisters, and YELLOW!

All our flat running was about to pay off. I buried the downhills and the flats, going deep into GP circuits for inspiration. The lead went up to 1:30 by the end of lap 1, 2:30 by the end of lap 2 so that I had the time and space to chill on lap 3 heading home for a well deserved win, sinus and rubbing wheels couldn’t stop me today.

As I came into the finishline I knew that the sickness, the strange bike feeling and the new, much harder run route would add to around 5minutes of extra time, so to come in just over 2 hours was a happy achievement, and proof that these damn ME workouts have paid off, that the calorie counting has paid off, and that a new attitude is paying off.

Thanks to all my sponsors, you make it so much easier. Puma, Orca, Whasp, Suunto, Rockets (worn in the car on the way home for no sore legs the next day), Jack Black Beer (official recovery fuel).

all images credited to Tess

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Usain Bolt wants you to wear these for when he wins. Puma
is making them. Nice punt for one of the great partners who make Urban Ninja possible.

They tie to your back, so you can focus your arms on drinking a Jack Black whilst checking your heart rate on your Suunto , wearing your Rockets Compressox, with your Orca hoodie on for cold winter, and shooting a Whasp Green Mamba.

How was that for an associate punt? See – all my brands are what we in the biz like to call “complimentary services”.

Now go enjoy your weekend. I am going to use all my products this weekend. And next week…. I can announce that I have a new TITLE sponsor. I am very excited about this, but all I can say is that the trend of Urban Ninja having brands associated that are based on animal names continues… puma, whasp, orca…

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So, as we all know, local, triathlon, and shop, dont always mix nicely. More like oil on water.

So when I got an email from my good mate Bernard telling me they had a new online shop for their Orca goodies, as well as other products, I jumped at the chance to share it with you.

We have launched a new online store www.fluidlines.co.za the purpose of this new store to clear past season’s stock to make way for new stock that will be arriving shortly. There are some great bargains to be found on the site and I urge you all to have a look and register an account. We will be giving away a prize to a luck account holder who will be randomly selected and notified by e-mail. The cutoff date for the prize will be Friday the 28th August 2009.

Bernard Wyatt

How AWESOME. The site looks like this…

Slick. Buy that one – I just saved you R355.00 right there, for something you actually need…

Have fun shopping…

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This past weekend I went to Xterra with limited hope of a great run, as I am still definitely in the build phase of my speed back to being a good athlete. I had also been with mates the night before, which meant a few beers and a tequila (just one) but I managed to get good sleep in.

I ran a total PB and smoked just about everyone on the day. To look back and say it was all me is total rubbish. I am lucky enough to have the best equipment at my disposal to make the journey as easy as possible. This weekend was no exception. So when I came across this picture on the Xterra website, I thought to point out to you what the secrets are:

1. Whasp Green Gel. If you haven’t discovered the secret to instant speed, this is it. 100mg caffeine, Gaba, Green Tea, its all in there. It kicks like a mule and with a duelling 10km run up and down a mountain, I made sure to pop one ten minutes before my run started, as well as 20min into the run. I was just starting to fade when it kicked in and I ran the downhill in a blur.

2. Suunto T6c. The heart rate was not one to report back on, and I opted to leave the footpod at home, but it was amazing to keep the heart rate virtually at max for 41 odd minutes and I couldn’t do it without my trusty Suunto. From Ironman intensities to these kind of run till you vomit efforts, Suunto is the way forward. When I was slowing down I could see it on the watch and just kept on going on, especially on the downhill. I am proof that your heart rate can be higher on a downhill than on an uphill. You might not walk the next day, but its possible.

3. Orca is my wetsuit and tri race apparel sponsor. They make the best, no doubt. Another magic product they do are these running shorts. They are the perfect length, the perfect material, and they are so light you might forget you have them on. If you don’t own a set already, make sure you do. Perfect for trail running, perfect for the sidewalk, or even to chill in post 7 hour Ironman training ride.

4. Puma and I have come a long way, and their shoes have come on in leaps and bounds. The new Speed Racer is an incredible shoe. Tough enough for the slopes of Grabouw, and durable enough for me to run 21.1km in, I LOVE these. The weight saved over a regular trail shoe is huge, especially when its your 12459th step up the mountain. 180 steps a minute x 41 minutes x 50g saving per shoe = 369kg less carried by my legs over the run the other day. That’s a lot of weight less I had to lift with my legs over that short amount of time.

So, PB’s are available, if you are kitted out right, and you are willing to have the same look as I have there, which would be to run like a 200kg angry, slightly injured werewolf is chasing you.

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New Orca suit, New Puma racing flats, new branding…

Flat legs…

Click the pics for BIIIIIG versions.

swim exit - full tilt looking for parking!

struggling on the bike, full tilt and going slooooowly...

at least I dont look tired...

All in all, a really cool day, and worth every penny! for more pics, click across to www.11global.com

Thanks to all my partners, who make racing possible…

Kleinhoekkloof Wines
Puma
Orca
Jack Black Beer
Rockets Compression
Whaspgel
Suunto
Café Sociale

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If you made it all the way here, I may as well direct you into the right direction from here…

1. Seth Godin discusses if marketing is evil.

2. Gordo is all about realities lately it seems.

3. Viljoensdrift Wines have a new BUBBLY! Hooray!

4. WebUrbanist has some great time lapse photography going on.

5. Alan Couzens has some vital information for the Ironman Athletes out there who should all be maxing out on recovery time between work outs right about now.

Have a great day people. If you want to see some quality product…

Kleinhoekkloof Wines
Puma
Orca
Jack Black Beer
Rockets Compression
Whaspgel
Suunto
Café Sociale

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In the movie Hitch there was a moment where Will Smith said “Begin each day as if it were on purpose”

I came to Port Elizabeth this year with a clear mind and some simple goals.

1. Dont walk on the run other than aid stations.

2. Dont blow up.

3. Have FUN!

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simple goals. I had a time in mind around 10 hours, and was feeling confident, as it was my first proper taper since swim days years past, and I was feeling the effects more than I ever had. I had a homestay, courtesy of James Cunnema and Alexa Cunningham, who opened their spare room to us. THANKS YOU TWO! it made a huge difference being in a comfortable space with the zen-like presence of James. The amount I learnt from him just in the few days leading into the race was noticeable to those around me. He is going to become one of the greats of this sport someday, mark my words.

3 days prior to raceday I felt real power for the first time in many years, and I held it back. I was light and floating, irritable and full of energy. Perfect. I was healthy and the athletes I coach were calm too, so no worries with them.

Race morning brought a shower of rain but by the time I had set up in transition with my new Prototype bike, the skies had cleared and brought what was undoubtedly the best weather ever for an Ironman in South Africa. I had a quiet word with myself not to kill it on the bike, as it was perfect weather for a blow-up at 32km into the run. I had to leave something for those last 10km.

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I swam with Ray Tissink for lap one and on his feet for lap 2 to come out the water in just under 50min. I thought my watch was broken, but put it down to flat conditions and swimming squad again. When I saw who was around me, I was content, my usual pack of guys. Onto the bike and did what I had practised for the last 8 weeks. Start strong for 30min, settle in, and then hit that zone. Much to my dismay the heart rate monitor wasnt going at all, so it was going to be a day filled with going on “feel” which can be very dangerous on a day like this. I held back the whole way on the first lap and was in at 1:40. What the? thats 5hr pace, and 20min faster than I was hoping for.

Made a conscious decision to slow the hell down in lap 2 and came in at 1:46. Much better. Going over the last speedbump into the 3rd lap I heard a nice, definite crack from the front end of my bike. My aerobar was cracked. I had a quiet chuckle (caffeine will make anything seem trivial after a 2 week hiatus) and got to riding with both arms leaning on the remaining extension. Held back again and came in around 1:45 and was excited to be in around 5:10.

At Ironman you will see that after the speed of moving forward on your bike for 5 hours, when you start your run, you seem really slow and easy. I had a trick up my sleeve in the form of a footpod. I went out and my first km was too fast. I backed it off until I was happy with what speed I was going, and held that for the first lap. I have to note that I had company for about 15km on the bike and about 5km on the run. It was a solo day. By 11km on lap 1, I was alone, and had caught a few guys. Even with the footpod and slowing myself three times on lap 1, I overcooked it by 5min. Amazing. Had I not held back, I am sure I would have overcooked it by 10 and ended up walking the last 7km again like 2 years ago.

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The heat was up suddenly and I was passing people I shouldnt be. But then I thought to myself, this is Ironman. This is the 1 day of the year we all arrive and put out cards on the table. There are no excuses. You go ALL in, big dog style. Stuff happens out there, but you make the most of it. Its bragging rights day.

I held well on lap 2 and got a smell of 9:30 about 3km into the final lap. I decided to push at 6km to go and see what I could do. As I pushed the pace, my bladder decided that I couldnt run anymore. I stopped for a wee break that lasted more than a minute, but felt like an hour. I even had a gel while at it. Classic. Pushed really hard from there, felt like going flat out, but was in fact, according to the footpod, ambling along. Felt like I was going full tilt and saw I gained a total of 200m per hour in speed. Realised I was cooked but was smiling because I was still going faster than alot of guys, and catching people the whole way.

I came around the corner at 9:30:23 and stopped… I was going to soak this up.

I got the crowd going, cheered people, high fived some spectators, held back tears of joy and crossed the line in 9:31:07. An hour and 5 min faster than last time around.

ROCKING!

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my athletes totally outshone me and they were 1:30 and 2:20 faster than last time around or predicted. I am so proud of you guys.

Monday rolled around after an awesome night culminating in everyone finishing the race under 17hours, and I went to slot allocation for Hawaii with a long shot. It turned out positive and i got a slow for the Big Show. I am going to Hawaii for Ironman. I still cant believe it.

to my mom and sister who made the trip down, love you. To my dad who couldnt make it for the trip, but sent my sister and mom down, I appreciate it more than you know, and next time, i`ll personally fly you down. It was amazing having mom and sister there. TO ATC for the support, Gert said it best “it was like having a Whasp Gel everytime we went by their gazebo”. To my girlfriend Marilu, thank you for being patient with me and letting me live my dreams. MWAH! To all my sponsors : Whasp, Orca, Oakley, Suunto, Zipp, Puma and CEP Compression Socks, many thanks for all the help. You make it way easier than it is for alot of people.

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so now its time for ice cream, beer and late nights for a few weeks before we start prepping for something I have dreamt of for 10 years.

to every single person who helped out on raceday, who came to support, and who raced. You are ALL such a part of the experience of Ironman, I applaud you all. You all answered that question and your answer was “I can”

ciao.

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