Over the years, I have tried to learn as fast as possible what it takes to get to the top while working a normal day and dealing with normal stress like the amateur guy I am. I want to race among the middle pro’s and beat all the other guys with jobs. So what does it take? How do you get there?

Study:
Go out and read what the best guys are doing. Doc Gowans taught me how to do that – that man absorbed more knowledge on Ironman racing in the time he was a serious age grouper than most of you will in your lifetime and it worked. I learned so much from him and read all the books he read, all the forums and websites. Be studious… like the 8th dwarf.

1. Consistency:
Doing the work every day. I have found that my body and my mind work best with an average of two hours of training per day. I make sure my workout time is treated as high priority for every day, twice a day in heavy load periods. Essentially, its a meeting with yourself to better yourself. Make sure you arrive on time.

2. Be a Geek:
Work on your aero position, your running form, your swim style. Try different shoes, saddles, socks, creams and eye wear. Make sure you have what works best for you. The most expensive might not be the best for your riding style, your foot strike or your body type. Make sure you are geeky about saving seconds. When you add all those seconds up, over the years, it becomes more than just a few minutes.

3. Recovery:
If you analyze your hours in a day, a very small percentage is for actual training. Your primary focus should be on what you can do to recover stronger, better and faster. Eat like it’s your job. Sleep like it is your religion and find the little things that give you an edge on recovery: hot tub, ART, massage, compression, ice baths, mongolian rugby midgets running back and forth over your quads, etc.

4. Eat like a Champion:
When I look at the diets of the guys and girls around me at races, those at the front are eating for their wins. They cut out the processed stuff when it counts and sure, they indulge, but not like you do. Real food only: veggies, nuts, meats, etc. James Cunnama taught me to never take my body to depletion and this especially counts with what you eat. You are what you eat. Your body is your vehicle, feed it the best quality fuel.

5. Compromise a little each day for gains in the long run:
Could you add 30min a day and keep your weekend rides to 5 hours instead of 7, risking injury and illness? I try and forgo a bit of time every day to not have to ride ALL day on the weekend and run for 3h30, risking injury. Find the biggest volume you can do in the week and reduce the weekend “cramming of miles” as a starting point.

6. Hire the best:
Buy your idol a beer and pick his mind. Find a professor in applied movement online in a forum and hound them for the right answers. Having a training plan from a guy is great but you will need to do more than that. I make the effort to hang with the pro guys because I learn from them far more than they will allude to. I am not a threat to them and neither are you. They are the pinnacle. When it comes to a coach, choose someone who works within these 7 habits.

7. Push that envelope:
From time to time, you need to throw it all out the window and go big. I prefer bike camps, as they limit the risk of injury, but you need to go way beyond for a week to get through the ordeal. We learn from ordeal because our central governor is broken and keeps us in the comfort zone. Get out that comfort zone and push that envelope. DO IT, but in limited quantities that leave you exhausted but not depleted, fatigued but not injured.

+++

Super simple, right?

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.

I came across a wonderful article in my RSS reader today called Beyond Talent & Motivation. The following text is modified from that to suit my own life and where I like to implement these things, as well as where I see a particularly strong association in the way I am doing / not doing things:

I love persistent people who are able to learn from mistakes. People that persist at something as difficult as Ironman or Multi Day Stage Racing are driven by more than the desire for achievement. They want to really breakthrough. There is a desire for greatness that permeates extreme endurance sports. It’s completely infectious to outsiders who poke their heads in from time to time too.

When we look at exceptional athletes, what lessons can we apply to our own lives? What is different from the way we live our lives?

* They know their mission
* They simplify their lives to achieve their mission
* Their mistakes are visible
* They change as a result of their mistakes

Bring your mission down to a single sentence for each key area for your life (family, work, self). Here are mine:

* Love My Family
* Deliver Value
* Train Daily

Know the price of your time (something which has been a total revelation in the office I work in), so you will be at peace when you say “no” to attractive opportunities. The most successful people that I’ve had the pleasure of learning from are also really good at saying “no” with compassion (or they are great at creating total isolation, something I find myself striving for more and more).

Ironman is an interesting niche — consider nutrition — many of us hurt ourselves with excessive control, while living in a society that is, broadly, out of control.

Great athletes have the ability to discipline themselves enough to get the job done, but not so much that they break down. Keeping track of mistakes is a good way to figure out your relationship with control. You should also know your coach’s blind spots, with regards to control. This last point is something I can happily admit to still be learning. At times it’s tough to spot the blind spots on the athletes I am working with, as well as spotting where my own coach is perhaps not seeing the whole picture. Blind spots exist and we best learn how to spot them early.

Athletic mistakes (injury, excessive fatigue, poor performance, weight gain, chronic depletion, immune suppression) are a normal part of our journey. Typically, most of us will rationalize away our errors with an external cause. With any repeating set-back, look for the internal cause.

When I think about the highest achievers, they have an ability to learn from their errors and take steps to limit repeating the same errors. They also have the confidence to stand by their decisions.

The difference between a good race and a great race likely comes down to a dozen key decisions across the year. As a good athlete, you’re already doing things right. Get visibility where you may have gotten in your own way last year.

As you head into the new year — keep what worked and simplify your life so you can do more of what you’re good at. When you do your season review — seek counsel to create a limited number of guidelines to protect you from your extreme tendencies.

+++

What a great piece of advice.

Tracking greatness and spotting the traits in those who I choose to surround myself with which, in my humble opinion, make them outstanding human beings, is the simplest way to learn how to be great ourselves. It doesn’t happen overnight and it takes many tough decisions along the way. People around you may not realise how much strain you are taking having made these decisions and you may end up holding onto something wild and trivial to give reason and justification to your actions, but in the end, you cannot bullshit life.

It will be clear for all to see and in the end, it’s about toughing it out, even when it looks easy to those around you, because like John Collins said;

“You can quit. You`ll be the only one who knows why, and the only one who cares.”

Do, Learn, Repeat…

After two years of steady state work and no high heart rate stuff I can tell you that it hurts more than I like to explain. I doubt myself at the start of each workout and wonder how I am going to get through this without giving up. Case in point this week were the following workouts:

12 x 1min K*KOFF Cycling Intervals. Basically, 12 x 1min as hard as I can go, try to hold a good average wattage on the power meter and try to finish strong, not coughing up a lung. Easier said than done…

I did not manage to get stronger as I went, in terms of max power, but a better average power was achieved once I settled and learned how release it more like a slow puncture than a total blowout. This session had my legs sore for a good few hours afterward. It felt like they were throbbing.

Next up was this morning, running 10 x 30seconds at a virtual sprint, but coach assures me its not a sprint, just almost. Ja dude, whatever. Don’t take a fat kid to a cake party and tell him he can’t dig in. I thought to myself that 3min per km would be ideal, considering that I am tired at the moment, ALL THE TIME. Did I mention these intervals are hard? Who took away my steady state riding and running, where I could admire the scenery?

Oh wait…

I did.

Anyway, here is the chart.

There is a missed interval in there – must have been running too fast for the satellite to keep up. pffffffft. 10 x 30sec around 2:45 per km it ended up at with 60sec recoveries. For the more technical minded guys, the efforts were always on 200m per 30seconds. Quite stoked with that. It’s been a while since I saw anything under 3min per km.

Maybe there is something to finding speed in the molasses. It’s in there somewhere, but man, it`s taking it out of me to find it. I have huge applause for the guys who do this on a regular basis, and make my numbers look trivial. They may look big to you, but this is pretty standard stuff and cruising pace for my pro athletes out there.

Back in the very really REAL world, this is merely pretty good for an amateur guy. We train in hope to see improvements, and as Conrad says… “Gooi nog hout!”

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.

There are times when you may have to chase back to where you may just have been, when a “life” mechanical forced you out of where you were, comfortably sitting, just a moment ago.

Like Spartacus, who shows immense descending ability in the video above to bridge after getting a flat, you may need to take some risks to avoid getting left behind. I personally rode with Fabian once, from the top of Llundudno into Camps Bay, when he had a flat but decided it was only 10km home, so he rode that downhill into Camps Bay with a flat back wheel. No hassles, he has the skills and understands where his strength lies. He is a pretty amazing rider. Here is a pic from that ride..

That was a fun day, with Stu O’Grady, Bob Julich, Fabian Cancellara, Luke Roberts & myself, Collin & Hugh Basel along for the tow. As unfit as they would be all year, there was just an amazing effortlessness about the way they pedaled their bikes. The day before, I had spent 2 hours riding behind Andy Shleck, who came in 2nd this year at Le Tour. Even then, a new signing to the team, Bjarne Riis told us he would be good enough to win Le Tour in just a few years. I spent a few downhills bridging the gap that day when they disappeared up the climbs of Stellenbosch.

My riding is totally different now to what it was then, but still there is no way I would even get close if they put the hammer down. I could probably outrun them at the marathon though. Well, I keep telling myself that. I also made them ride in the back of my bakkie, along with the owner of Cervelo, Phil White. True story, check it out…

Anyway, this is now turning into a ramble, without much point. There is no point to this other than to share a memory.

I know how fortunate I was to ride with the CSC guys that week. In the small Camps Bay ride, we had multiple Olympic Champions, Tour de France podium finishers and Spartacus, who had won Paris Roubaix, Prologues in the Tour and was only just beginning to show his power. I live a lucky life, I know this. It doesn’t escape me.

But I yearn for more…

Be great out there.