There is a flow lately that is hard to put a finger on but it’s there and undoubtedly a positive one. The hard work done, I am able to enjoy the last few races of Phase 1 to 2011 and really just vibe out during the weeks, riding easy with mates and enjoying the experience. Today was just such an example. I got up early to start the ride in the dark with good mate Marc Perel heading towards Chapmans Peak on what can only be described as an artists brush perfectly flowed onto the morning where there was not a breath of wind and only the cream of the crop sunshine was allowed to rest on our backs.

We spoke cycling, we spoke life and piano pedaled out way up the hills and over, with only a few small digs to prep for Grape Escape on the weekend where the entire Pure Planet Racing crew will be in action for the first time.

I found an amazing list of carbon footprint documents yesterday in a random search where one click lead to another and another and this great set of variables was placed in front of me. Check them out below:

Link 1: Carbon Emmision Visualisation
Link 2: Google Docs List of Emmisions

Amazing what you think and what is the truth, sometimes.

I feel inspired by the people around me and driven by my teachers to improve, to better myself all the time. I keep learning about myself in the last few weeks, which is a refreshing thing really. Just when you think you know yourself, you can surprise yourself in the best ways, finding levels of depth you knew you were working on but not quite sure they had evolved just yet. There are a few guys and girls out there training for Ironman at the moment who I am sure are experiencing the exact same thing. If I think back about 5-6 weeks to go, you are tired, emotional but having breakthrough sessions a few times a week. The hard work is paying off just as much as it throws you into the gutter but the overall feeling is positive and energetic and expectant of great things.

The race this weekend should be amazing not only in the quality of racing that will take place but in the scenery and the camaraderie that will spill over the brim and into all our lives out there. It’s my first solo 3 day race, so I am a little nervous but quite anxious to get it under the belt.

I hope you are finding the same flow in your life lately, the same excitement for what the next 10 months of 2011 have on offer.

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This past weekend I opted to pack the car with 4 bikes, a case of Jack Black, running shoes, girlfriend, duvets and a load of high expectation and made a beeline (ok, we got lost) for the Westcoast National Park out on the R27, less than an hour from Cape Town. The Garmin Westcoast Warmwater Weekend (here-forth now called the GWWW) was happening for the 2nd time and last year I missed out, prepping for Cape Epic.

I heard about the gees, the vibe and the food. I was more interested in giving the legs a go all weekend and eating as much as I pleased, to be dead honest. The chance to mellow out and not take it too seriously, however, was a big draw card for everyone who arrived. The field may have been limited due to the park being, essentially, a museum for natural beauty, but it lacked nothing in quality. Dan Hugo, Lieuwe Boonstra, Richard Murray, etc.

Our first dinner was lovely, quiet and it was a dead heat between the beef and the ice cream for awesomeness points. These things happen. We all made our way to The Stables (not some fancy shmancy name for a resort with horses, but actual horse stables) where we rested our excited heads for a nights rest before the triathlon in the morning.

Now it’s fair to say Cape Town is beautiful. But to wake up and drive to the race with the views we had was very special. The “transition” was nicely informal and the bay was calm with a mild wind coming up slowly. In what was to become the weekend standard, a standard “Ingpen Mile” is roughly 1.2 miles. The race start came all too soon and we were in the water, swimming in knee deep azure mind blowing circumstances and I had to remind myself that this was actually a race as I drifted off the front 3 sets of feet at the end of lap 1. I lost contact with the guys there and let them go, content to save something for a bit later. I know Paul likes his courses tough.

I was about 1:30 down at the end of the swim and in 5th place out of transition, knowing I had to work hard on the bike, but content that the work I have been doing this year has been great. A greatly reduced training load (12 hours max a week this year, more or less vs around 20 a year ago, due to various commitments) meant that I would be relatively fresh. The ride route is fantastic because it’s open, there is nowhere to hide, you have to turn a big gear from start to end and really, it rewards those who want to do the work.

At halfway I was already 5min down on Dan, he was showing the work he has done on his time trial bike in the last year has not been without purpose, 3min down on Lieuwe and I was about 2min up on Nic Muhl who was riding out of his shoes at this point. It hurt on the way back, never quite sure where the wind was coming from. I had to work hard all the time and ticked off the kilometers with a beep on the Garmin.

It must be noted I have been playing with nutrition lately and have found a way to hyperload my bottles with enough calories without the drink being mega sweet, eliminating the need for gels. More on that in a few weeks once all the testing is done.

Onto the run and I was told I was 2:30 down on Lieuwe Boonstra, clawing back some seconds on the way back. Nic was nowhere to be seen so I set off on the 11km run which included sand, surf, sand, road, sand, eland and more sand. At times, the sand was roughly calves depth and I was cursing Paul in language that is reserved for the worst of the worst. I was, however, catching Lieuwe and had him at 8km. This was a new experience for me. I had never caught him in ANY race in my life. Aware of the caliber athlete I was dealing with, I tried to get rid of him ASAP as I knew he was much faster in any form of sprint than I could ever hope to be.

I, however, was burning at around 10.5 out of 10 at this point. As we got off the beach sand, I went as hard as I could up the hill to get rid of him. By that, I mean I was running flat out with little surges for about 1km up a pretty steep hill at around 3:30 per km. That was what I had. I was breathing so hard I couldn’t hear my feet on the tar. He held to the top of the hill. Then, as we hit the peak, Lieuwe attacked. I tried as hard as I could to go with him. I checked the Garmin and I was going 3min per km and losing ground. Sneaky freaking russian had me. When we hit Preekstoel I had made peace with 3rd and took off my shoes for the trot in the water. Jogging in with a smile on my dial, I finished well and in a week where there was no rest, a great result. Dan was in a class of his own I tell you.

The afternoon was spent napping and eating before more eating and sleeping in lieu of the 14km (actually 17km) trail run in the morning and the 24km (actually 36km) mountain bike ride just afterward.

For the Sunday, all I can say is that I cruised both “races” as most of us did, enjoying the scenery and making friends along the way. The chance to cruise with mates in one of the most beautiful places you will ever go was apt reward for the previous days work.

If you missed out on this weekend, I highly suggest you get entries in early next year. It’s simply an incredible experience from passionate organisers filled with lovely people and moments that take your breath away. A special thanks to Electric Ink, Gamin and Oakley for putting on the event. We`ll be back…

Here are the files…

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We have to start a few days back from the actual race to appreciate the full extent of how crazy a weekend this was.

On Friday morning I woke at 4:20am and went to the airport, to fly to Johannesburg, the polar opposite of East London, to make a presentation to a client. Work comes first unfortunately, when you are not a professional athlete. Flight, Gautrain, 20min walk. Pitch, discuss, 20min walk, Gautrain, Flight, home at 9pm. Pack last things. To bed at 10pm. 2am scare. Very little sleep after that. 6:15am wake up, 8:45am flight to East London.

No bike in East London – SAA have left it in Cape Town. %$#^*&%%$

Off to register and collect new race gear. Race gear been completely destroyed in heat press. Resembles old chewing gum in places. **^$#$&(*&%^&

Revert to old kit. Wait for bike.

Assemble bike in the rain. No warm-up. Stiff legs. Not ideal…

Rack bike in pouring rain. Fail.

…and so went the “race preparation” and “rest phase” into the race start. Race morning presented itself as gloomy, windy and with much excitement. I woke up feeling tired but willing to hurt, which is a good thing in these environments where willingness to suffer equals reward in many cases. The excitement in the air was palpable and the fresh air was combined with nervous laughter and movement all around me. I sat quietly on the beach after failing a swim warm-up (12 degree water had me doing a dry-land warm-up instead) in the sand with my eyes closed, absorbing as much as I could and accepting the fate I was about to tempt. I knew I had to power the bike to get away from the guys I would normally run with. I knew that the deep fatigue in my body from weeks of initial prep for races in 6 weeks time would mean a slower run than normal.

I was well aware of what had to be done to get the victory today.

So I went at it full steam.

Around the first buoy with an ice cream headache and a member of a small pack of 6 who had gotten away. Awesome. I stuck my head down and sat feet for as long as possible until I lose them feet going around the 2nd buoy and back into the current. It’s choppy and windy and I am being thrown all over the place. I accept and make the best of it as I still have clear water to hopefully, all my biggest rivals.

Onto land and the scramble begins. Wetsuit off, run run run… find your bag, get all the gear out, wetsuit legs off and run out to find your bike. Hop onto bike and get shoes in…

GO INTO SHOES, FEET!!!

I head off and am struggling with my shoes, getting 2 out of 3 straps on each shoe fastened and decide it’s good enough for now, having fretted and lost enough time already. As per agreement with coach, we want to hammer the bike and test the legs there. I hear there is about 550m of climbing on the way out and the hills start almost immediately. By 5km I am in 2nd overall and I can see the superstar swimmer ahead of me, about 90 seconds up the road. I am content with how I am riding and settle in riding the hills well and managing to open gaps on everyone behind me slowly and steadily. At 30km I catch the last link to the lead in the age group race and hope the guy will help me a little at least. We hit 45km and I had done enough asking for help with no result, so made the decision to put my head down and ride home as hard as I could without destroying my legs. 800m of climbing had already happened and I was sure there was at least 200m on the way back.

I turned at 1h30 and knew that I could make it home in under an hour if the weather held. By holding I mean that it kept raining softly and consistently and that the wind would stay around 30km/h and not be too gusty. It was nasty out there already, dressed in white lycra and riding skinny tires with a pointy helmet. We are a strange lot, us triathletes.

But the weather was having none of my plans in it’s own mind. The rain became torrential, the wind gusty and I was out the aerobars quite a bit coming home, even having to hop a few potholes on the way back. 62min later and some seriously scary moments later, I had pedaled my way into T2 first with my superstar swimmer on my tail. Next time, let’s work together and instead of putting 2min into the field, let’s make it 5min??

A quick transition and I was onto the running route. I had been running 3:45 per kilometer quite easily in training and was looking forward to running the same sort of speed for the run. I had almost completely forgotten my crazy build up to the race until I hit the 5km mark and my body just shut down on me. I was well hydrated, full of calories and ready to rumble but the latent fatigue and stress was hating me. My heart rate dropped and my pace settled to a far less accommodating pace, considering I was being chased by a pack of fast runners.

I held through the first lap and managed to hold until about 13km when my good friend Marcel Roos passed me like a freight train. I had no answer, no matter how badly I wanted to go with him. I was in a world of pain and my legs felt like lead. I let him go with quite a bit of disappointment, but such is life, no? These things happen. 1km down the road I ran past an old mate and he picked up his pace to run the next 2km with me, helping me lift my pace a little again and stay focused on the task that lay ahead. I was still 2nd overall in the amateur race and reminded myself of that.

I made the last turn at 16.5km and saw that I had around 2min on a charging youngster and thought to myself… “stuff you kid, this old man is going to make sure you don’t catch him”. I closed my eyes and bombed down Bunkers Hill and managed to hold him to the finish line. This may sound strange to you but the race was over very quickly and almost disappointingly so.

I had a fun day out, suffered the elements, fought myself and come up just short of the overall win. Sure, my run was slow, about 8min slower than I had planned on running, but the reasons for it were easy to understand. I smiled as I walked the finish chute and thanked the crowds for coming out, despite the weather. A content settled over me that it had been a massive weekend already and that this was a very satisfactory day considering.

A special thanks to everyone who made the weekend possible. To sponsors Fairbairn Private Bank, Axis House, Garmin, BoE, Velocity Sports Lab, Ceepo, Puma, Whaspgel – many thanks. I was kitted to the nines out there, despite the kit issues. I am blessed to have you as a part of my life.

To all the warriors who fought out there. I heard 200 punctures out on the bike route. I heard 10 people had hypothermia on the swim. I saw many a hobble on the run. You are all warriors for choosing to race in the worst conditions ever. You humble me with your ability to keep going, despite the chips being down. You give me inspiration and you are the reason we all keep racing.

I salute you. Pics to follow shortly….

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It has indeed been a few interesting weeks. Much change has been happening and many plans constructed for 2011 and well, beyond. Schemes devised and changes to schedules made, fires put out and feelings returned, long forgotten. Very little training has been done in the last few weeks and on the weekend, I was fortunate enough to get back on the mountain after a few weeks hiatus in lieu of planning, partying and spending all my spare time focused on the first moments of a new relationship. Seeing as you never get them back, those first moments are to be savored like a plate of perfectly prepared pork belly with 4 (or more) glasses of Palladius & great mates to laugh with.

I can tell you about some of the amazing things I have planned for 2011 already and some are still a work in progress. I have reconfirmed some amazing partners to Urban Ninja already with more increased involvement from both sides. A big part of this was to find a cause worth talking about in 2011 and as such, I am committing to a new upstart cause called Pure Planet. If you aren’t already aware of their Car Free Friday initiative for this Friday, then make the commitment and pledge to ride / walk / other to work this Friday.

Along with partners the aim is to take racing around the world to the next level in 2011 and do it by leaving no carbon footprint. Whilst I am endeavoring to race in South Africa, Spain, Switzerland, Sweden and possibly Australia in 2011, Pure Planet and Urban Ninja will rally to raise awareness to their cause as well as create enough carbon credits to facilitate this dream of racing the planet without leaving a footprint under the banner of Pure Planet Racing. I will be including various team “partners” for team events as well as special team members for races where I cannot participate. What a champion cause, right?

In addition to this, we will be documenting the entire year through a photography book which will be available for holiday season 2011. Some truly incredible photographers will be brought to document the cause, the races as well as the events to raise awareness for Pure Planet. This enables the dream to live on and the cause to be “seen” around the world.

This initiative has really got me going and is something I believe is truly unique. It is something I hope to look back on in 12 months time and be extremely proud of.

Then today is the day I officially got back into training, but first I have to rewind 24 hours and boast, just a little, at the amazing company I had for a ride yesterday. I got TheHousemate up just after 7:30am, both of us in a mild tequila haze, for what was supposed to be a group ride in Stellenbosch with Dan Hugo & the boys. When they caught us coming down one of the singltracks, the group was quite big and I thought I recognised one or two of the faces. Once we regrouped at the bottom of an insane 20 minute technical singletrack descent in Jonkershoek, I was mildly in awe at the crowd I was riding with:

Conrad Stoltz – 4 times Xterra World Champs
Dan Hugo – Multiple Xterra Champ
Giniel de Villers – 2 Time Dakar Champ
Jan Frodeno – Olympic Triathlon Champ

I was in awe and wanted to get going, but apparently we were waiting for someone to arrive. She was new to mountain biking, apparently. When Emma Snowsill rode out the forest, we all smiled. 3 times world champion, current Olympic Champion and multiple World Cup winner.

We rode every bit of single track in Jonkershoek over the next few hours, some of it far more hiking trail than single track, but after a few falls (read: completely and utterly ran out of talent) and some seriously scary moments, I was left smiling and excited. Lunch afterwards was amazing, just spending time with these absolutely world class athletes. How fortunate am I, right?

So back to training and back to working with a powermeter and a new coach as well. Based on my goals for next year, I had to stop advising myself to get the next level of performance out of this body as the clock ticks on. So we go all in this week. You will be able to keep track of the numbers via Garmin Connect and I will advise when you can get onto that, I promise.

Getting back into training involves more than just training and it means that little extra care that goes into eating, sleeping, packing bags, scheduling time out and making sure I am building the correct functional strength to carry my body the distance over the next 12 months. I am quite excited to have someone else think of my training for the entire period and teach me things about my body I had no idea existed.

2011 is without a doubt, going to be an amazing year. There is great energy around, I feel I have the right balance of partnerships and now with the focus on Pure Planet , a cause worth talking about. I look forward to finding new routes, trails, races, places, people and experiences. I will be hosting talks, camps and racing things which you have never heard of, but will from now on, never be able to forget.

The boy is back, with a whole new bad of toys… can’t wait to share them, with you.

…and all the photos of mountain passes? The road my life is currently taking truly excites me. Like a good mountain pass, the challenges presented are tough, but oh so worth the effort to get to the top and reflect.

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Photo Credit Jacques Marais

Before I start with the actual race report, which can be somewhat boring, I need to put big thanks out there to Max Cluer, first and foremost. The inspiration for his life comes from the passion he has for people achieving great things for themselves. Max pushes the limit with events, with people and with himself. His events are impeccably organized and always a treat. Having one of the best MC’s in the world to keep the vibe going helps and his energy is what makes the day that step above. If you can get to any of his events, do it. I have no professional association with Max, I just love his work.

As such, I decided to head back to Triple Challenge after the win in the Multi-X last year. I knew I would be tired, having raced Kona 4 weeks prior and Maui 2 weeks prior. I would never have imagined thinking I would be going into the race with 1 big toenail, the other hanging on perilously and both still sensitive. I would never have imagined I would be racing with a locked up right hip, the product of 3 long haul flights in a row. Would I have imagined waking up at 4am with a head cold? Not in your wildest dreams.

Such was the start to this year’s Triple Challenge – I had a triple threat of deep fatigue, injury and questionable health going for me on race morning but was up for the day. It was only going to hurt for 4 hours, so I figured I should have a race plan at least, considering I was racing some pro guys, some seriously fast amateurs and had the big X on my back. Fun boys’ adventures to try and hurt each other, but high five each other afterwards, you know…

The day was bright and less muddy than I expected which was a blessing for me as I had no idea how the hip would hold under sudden movement. We set off and I started specifically slow, letting Justin Porteous go early on, as I knew I would never have his speed, him being an Xterra specialist, me being a 9 hour I-will-get-less-tired-than-you-eventually kind of guy.

Myself, Stu Mac & Gareth “work on top, play in the back” Harrington were running comfy, steady and managed to bridge to Porteous at 6km or so. I thought that I would have but one opportunity to try and hurt him today and this was it, so I ran by steady, his breathing in my neck like an ominous undeniable eventuality settling in there. I was working up front trying to get these 3 guys to drop back but there was none of it. They hung like a bad rash, despite my feeble attempts at getting rid of them.

Photo Credit Triple Challenge

I ran specifically slow up the last hill as I knew the flat section into T2 would give me a chance to bridge back and hammer the transition for Plan B. There was no Plan C so I was going to go ALL IN on Plan B, which involved getting out of sight and hanging on for dear life, as I was well aware that the body was going to high five me in the face, eventually. 4 went into T2 together and I came out with about 20seconds and just put the hammer down as hard as I could. At 10km it was a minute, at 20km it was 3minutes and by 30km I was 4 minutes up on a chasing group including Cas Van Ardenne and John Ntuli, who was a big threat if he could hold it together, considering he dropped us like flies on the first run.

Around 30km there are a few short, sharp hills. The first two I was out the saddle, motivated, going for it. Hill 3 I was seated, begging my legs for forgiveness, promising that if they held on until the end of the ride, I would take them for 10 sessions of floatation when we got home.

“come on boys!” – as my Fretten would say.

There was nothing in return. The boys had gone on holiday, right there and then. Instant heart rate drop of 10 beats, motivation out the window and the deep fatigue hit like a freight train in a Denzel movie. I started bobbing and weaving and power shifted trying to get over a little rise and somehow heard a ping (broken spoke) instead of a bang (ripped rear derailleur) and there was definitely someone looking out for me at that moment.

The spoke was catching into the derailleur but I kept pushing on as decently as I could, hoping I would be able to hold the boys off till T3 where my run should have held me for the win but they pounced like hungry tigers once they caught sight of me. Porteous is a pro and handled himself accordingly, passing me without a word, Ntuli hanging on for dear life to his wheel as I was bending the spoke back into the wheel in order to progress a little more smoothly.

I chased hard on the descent and had them in sight until I overcooked a bank and ended up hugging the adjacent tree with my left arm and I knew I was in trouble then, my concentration levels peaking at Amy Winehouse somewhere on the scale between 1 and Lindsay Lohan. It was desperate stuff out there.

Photo Credit: Jacques Marais

Then the best moment of the day as I hit the last tar section. 5 proper African dogs must have seen this bleeding, weary eyed “thing” in a white suit emerge from the bush and thought this was easy pickings, flanking me 2 on each side and one in the rear as I peddled hell for leather for the 2km to get rid of them. I was petrified and impressed at the same time, a rare combination that led to cramped calves and an elevated heart rate again. I must have made some time back there because shortly after this I got into T3 as Porteous was coming out and I could see Ntuli in there. I reckoned 90sec to Porteous and 60sec to Ntuli and somewhere the never-say-die 4 year old in me said “catch them”. Where the voice came from is another story entirely considering I was hanging on by one fingernail at this point with cramps in calves, hamstrings and quads.

Nevertheless, I set out and caught Ntuli at 2km and gave it my all when I passed him as I could see Porteous ahead, maybe 30-40seconds. Just as I made my mind up that I was going to catch him it felt like I got stabbed in the hamstrings approaching the aid station. I ran straight past it, had to go back to get a band, went in the wrong direction again and lost 2nd place to a far more calm and collected Ntuli at this point.

There are moments out there where you have to laugh and I had such a great one about 30seconds later. You have to jump into and out of this 2m deep pit on the run. I was on Ntuli as I jumped into the pit but the landing sent me into what can only be described as panic mode. My body was revolting against my mind and I was contorted in spasm, standing still in fear of moving in a 2m deep hole near Inanda Dam, 2km from the end of a 4 hour day with only a smile to laugh at myself. This was it, the moment of truth where I had to obey. Movement meant immobility. It took about 30seconds but I made it out the hole, now running with a straight right leg (the hip had truly had enough) for a while until the cramp eased and I could jog to the finish.

I had forgotten about Porteous and was happy to plod behind Ntuli to the finish. The Battle Royal was over and the body had truly given in, the mind only a short umbilical cord ride behind it, thinking of pizza and ice cold Jack Black Beer.

The best man won. The new kid, who came in second, 60seconds down, despite getting horribly lost on the first run, is the future. The guy who came in 3rd was just happy to have given them a run for their money. I left nothing in the bank; it was all out there somewhere. The joy of having my family out there to watch was definitely a part of it, the fact that special people had made the effort to come out to watch from a distance kept me moving and the spirit of competition and racing neck on neck for 4 hours with 2 great competitors was the icing on the cake.

The battle was over, but we are all aware that the war is far from won. Triple Challenge is a race that is going to grow and better, stronger guys will arrive to challenge. I will never go into this race quite in the state I was in again. Mistakes get magnified on a course that leaves to margin for error and it’s an honor to have been part of the action out there.

I am now done racing until January. I will share my 2011 race schedule later in the week but for now, I need to learn to walk forward down stairs again and this body needs some rest before the next adventure. There will just always be another…

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With the wind howling on the weekend, I had to make my way out to Durbanville to ride what was supposed to be 114km in 3 hours. That was the goal. The attached Garmin file is therefor, a little misleading. There are a few km’s missing, where I am at fault for pressing the wrong buttons (I am still learning), right at the start. I had a mechanical issue out the gate and stopped the watch, only to realise this 10km down the road, which is too bad, as it was about the only 10km with tailwind. The rest was side on and not much fun. Learning to handle the new Urban Ninja wheels in this wind though, was a fantastic opportunity to test them in a race scenario.

Either way, the two main sections were covered at good pace and I called it with 8km to go for a bit of a cool down, as I was quite dehydrated (I went in the middle of the day and ran out of water at 10km to go, so just soft pedaled home until I could refresh before my t-run.

Nice little widget this, from Garmin. Something you`ll be seeing more of on here. I have, indeed, found an amazing new partner for 2010, and 2011, in Garmin. A big thank you, they have come to the party for the Kona trip in ways you cannot imagine. Also, this now makes me accountable for the mileage I do, as well as being able to show you what I am trying to achieve.

I wanted to push 37km/h for around 110km on the weekend. 37km/h gives me 4:51 at the Ironman distance. I went and found a course specific to Kona, with loads of rollers and drags. Indeed, only 600m in the 110km I have registered on the Garmin, but if you had to look at the altitude widget, you would find lots of little bumps in the road. What you will also not see is the headwind on the way home. In Kona, the wind kicks up once you get to the halfway mark, so simulating that meant having to suffer exactly like it, going through the mental notes of “damn, no tailwind to help early, and now, a headwind on the way home”.

Emotionally that is tough.

It took a lot of focus to do the ride on my own. Much bad language was heard around 80km by the birds and the bees. But you have to tough it out, get in the moment and make sure you get back home. I had SA Blog Awards to deal with that night, where Urban Ninja was voted the 2nd best sports blog in South Africa. Congrats to you, for voting so many times.

Just nice to beat all the football and rugby blogs… it shows you are a tight community who get involved. Thank you.

So, back to the brick. We do the brick because we want to simulate race day, what it feels like and to get a reality check on that.

For me, to have ridden the 114km mark in roughly 2:56-57 I reckon (factoring in 10km of downhill-esque riding missing from the data) at a heart rate of 141, I am super happy. I averaged around 145-148 in PE and will look to roughly do the same in Kona again. I am even more pleased that I was able to hold the same pace, into the headwind as with the tailwind on the way out. It took quite a bit more focus, effort and a higher heart rate for sure, but I managed.

My run after went great until about 2km when my mouth was so dry I had to make way for the Engen garage to get a coke into the system at 4km. Without a doubt, under fueled all day. When there is no aid station every 10km, its tough to stop and refill on a rural road. Still managed 6km in 25min. I only need to run 4:25 at Ironman to hit my ultimate goal, but the idea is to take it out a little harder in these bricks, but to follow the watch religiously in Kona. Hopefully, the thought goes, it will seem quite easy then, and that is the point, because when I hit the lab, I want to be able to shift a gear…

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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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You are NOT a superhero.

In my life, I can do one thing well at a time, and hence, the time allocation part of my day is vital. Everything has its place and if that’s missing everything seems to be a mess, like 10 colors of clay mixed together. My definition of “well” is world-class, and this might not be your goal. Define what “well” means to you. My goal is to be world-class in what I do – marketing, branding, coach, athlete, boyfriend. I may not achieve this with every decision, but this is what my goal is and its what I’m continuously working towards. You will need to make choices if you want to perform relative to others. You are also going to have to make a habit out of doing things that your competition are unwilling to do. Lately I have been a bit lazy with the athletic side of these goals, but that’s all about to change again, as time has been allocated to once again be a world class athlete.
These habits need not be ‘evil’! Moderate exercise, eating well and getting enough sleep are probably the greatest areas for us to outperform in the long run (by not dying early). In the end, am I shooting for a short term performance or a long term wellness goal? Can’t I have a bit of both?

Obligation to think

Hiring a coach does not remove your obligation to think. I am always encouraging my athletes to think for themselves – to remember what certain heart rates “feel” like. To NOT push the first 30min on the bike. I think the majority of nutrition problems at Ironman level come from a lack of good thinking by the athletes.

I see this all the time – changing nutrition plans leading into the race, putting products you may be intolerant to in your race plan, pushing the first 30min on the bike and wondering why your stomach cant process food in hour 10 and onwards. Your decisions ultimately relate to your overall performance, and a coach cant be responsible for all your decisions.

We are all inherently programmed to know right from wrong. Its your obligation to tune into that frequency in all areas of your life.

Schedule your life.

”Your training must be consistent with your life situation and, taught to me by Molina, the time you have to train has no impact on human physiology.” – Gordo Byrn.

Your competition does not care about your schedule. We don’t get to set the rules of engagement. If you can build a program around your life situation, you are already 90% of the way to your potential. Don’t begrudge the guy who has to work 4 hours a day. He has made choices to get there. He surely doesn’t care that you are working 9 hours a day. Work with what you have and make that work for you.

Slower athletes might be smarter than you.

You are going to need a lot of help to achieve ambitious goals. Probably the #1 mistake athletes make (myself included) is ignoring the possibility that a “slow” person might have something to teach them. Triathlon embodies this form of intellectual arrogance — I was a poster boy for it! It was only once I stopped preaching and started listening that I improved beyond my own expectations. I learn as much from the athletes I coach as I do from the books I read. The 13-15 hour athletes carry lessons for us 9 hour guys if we can just let our egos go for a second.

Avoidance tactics.

Keep track of the choices that you make that result in self-sabotage. Here’s a few of mine:

• Sleeping past 6:30am
• Coffee after 3pm
• Getting loaded with undue stress.
• Overeating on starch/sugar
• Switching training sessions around
• Getting to bed after 10:30pm
• Shooters. I have been known to enjoy a Tequila or two, on occasion.

They are small individually but if any of the above becomes a habit then my productivity will plummet and I am a lot less likely to achieve my goals. It might be my personality, but I have an easier time nurturing my good habits than trying to prevent others which may not be so good for me.

That would fall under the “work at your strengths” banner, instead of the “combat your weaknesses” one. I personally find that when my good habits are in order and being reinforced, the bad ones seem to dissipate as there isn’t space for them to manifest into what essentially is a jam packed schedule for life.

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Don’t say that. Don’t wear that. Don’t drive like that. For most of our lives we’ve been taught to live within confines, not just accepting the rules, but very often anticipating them and adapting to them before stepping out of bounds. We frame it as what’s appropriate.

The limits we choose to respect define us as surely as the ones we don’t. We are loyal to friends and family. We follow traffic laws (most of them). We pay taxes (whatever the accountant deems necessary), and sometimes we attack even when we know we’re riding on borrowed legs. Who cares if there is a run to follow, right? (more…)

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