I wanted to write this a little differently, as a day worth of reflection still has me a little dazed as to the challenge that was out there on the day. Yes, sitting at the awards banquet last night I was happy, and I still am, but there was a moment of thought that went to what could have been. I am very happy with my result, how my body went and what I went through on the day.

As the experience is so personal, I thought to write this as a point of view, almost through my eyes and hopefully I’ll be able to take you with me on an amazing journey for the next 10 minutes or so that lead to the moment you see there in the photo.

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Beep beep beep! 4am alarms are never subtle and this was so different. Ok. Get up. Get food in and get the body going. Breakfast at 4am is never quite what it is at 9am. Force it down, you’ll need it later.

Coffee, brush teeth and into the car. Nice tune. Going to be a great day, can just feel it. Legs feel amazing; have felt so good all week. Time to cash in some cheques.

I have to pump tires, get nutrition onto the bike and get my special needs bags in, get body marked, swim bag in, toilet and quiet time in the next 60 minutes. Plenty time. It’s all going smoothly until the mechanic drops my valve extender into the wheel. Shouldn’t make a noise once going 40km/h, I think.

Bang! Pro’s are off, 6:30. Time to get into the water for a quick warm-up and then wait for the start. 1800 people in a squashed area with 15 minutes to go, feet and arms everywhere. People starting to panic with claustrophobia. The noises are not great. 10 minutes to go. Breathe. BOOOOOOM! I get a great start and find some nice hips to sit on. Into the front pack I go, the arms are feeling great. All the extra swimming was worth it. High elbows, breathe. Focus. I move to the back of the pack and find some feet. It feels great and the pace is easy. This is going so well.

Around the halfway and all is well. Group is sticking together. Nice. Pack slows a little and I look up to see a split as someone just ahead of me has swum skew. Oh well. Let them go, no point chasing. 500m to go and I work my way to the front of the pack so get a clear run up transition. Woop! 20th out the water I hear. Perfect.

Helmet, nutrition, glasses and go go go! Onto the bike, press start on the Garmin. Click. Legs feel golden. Up Kuakini highway to the first turn around and I feel great. Making up 2 or 3 places by the time we hit Palani and I just spin up, will catch the big bladders on the Queen K. Body is feeling amazing, just hold back. We are about 20 riding together and I am sitting near the front, about 3rd or 4th wheel, just cruising. 20, 30, 40km go by smoothly. Waikoloa comes quickly this time, despite the headwind. 38km/h is about right; the pack is riding so nice. All the contenders are here. The Katana is sweet and running like a dream.

Turn left, then right to Hawi and here is the wind. Cruising up, feeling good. Gusts are heavy, hold the wheel. I get blown across the road, almost two lanes and have to hit the brakes hard to avoid going off the road. Red card. Blocking, apparently. I say something. Not smart. 4 minutes becomes 6 and I am off. Pack gone. Don’t chase, you’ll catch them later, your run has been golden of late. Just be patient.

Special needs, must get my calories. They can’t find my bag. I press stop on the Garmin. 3 minutes later, I am off, without calories. No bag. It happens. Find your tempo and watch the wind, which is now gusting at 90km/h side on. Garmin says I am cruising at 60km/h down here. Woo hoo! The wind is howling, making riding in the aerobars virtually impossible. It’s not ideal and I can feel the body tense up. At 115km I for the first time in ages hit a real low. I decide its time to push through. It’ll go away, in 10km or so. I know my body; this is just how it goes. 125 become 135 and I am still in a dark hole somewhere avoiding thought of the past or the future. Just hold this moment right here. Yes, it hurts. No, its not particularly fun. Yes, it will pass. It’s stupid hot now. So hot it almost takes my breath away. 145km. Come on body, come back…. Please. Doubt, fear, looking at myself and realizing there is only one way out of this and that is to keep going. Headwind is not helping and I am continuously being dropped by single riders coming by. Motivation, please come back.

155km and all are good again. Something clicks. Checking splits, I know I can make it under 5 hours, ex penalties and lost bags. Awesome, considering how bad that patch was. All those hours spent, 100% worth it in that moment. Bag me and tag me and ship me off. Wait; still have a marathon to run with a pair of legs that want to run. Let’s do this…

Struggling with the socks in T2, on wet feet and an endurance athletic haze. That plugged into the wall feeling. Awesome. This is it, where it all happens. Let’s do this. I know I can run way under 3:10 if I just hold back on Alii drive. The Eutopia’s are awesome. I hear someone in T2 say its 126 degrees outside. Makes total sense, considering what I felt out there.

Water, ice, coke. Repeat. Focus. Form. Hold back. Whatever you do, just hold back till 21km. Bladder bursting, stop for the official world record pee at 3 miles. Now that feels better than I expected. Let’s get back into this and crush it. Heart rate is 150, running 4:10 per km. Legs feel amazing. Aid stations going perfectly. Wow, already at the old church. Turn around and head back. Good job! So thirsty.

The way back is easy and feels great. Easy now, control. Hold back. Slow it down to 4:20 per km so you can smash the Queen K, I tell myself.

Walk/jog up Palani, quick, little feet. Up onto the highway and let’s do this downhill thing. At 18km my stomach drops and I am searching for good news, but it’s nowhere to be found. It’s not a cramp, this is serious. You are in white shorts Raoul, there is no hiding anything. Toilet stop. Stomach explodes. Its ok, won’t happen again. Get back out and onto pace. Cramps. Shit. Nausea. This is not good.

Toilet stop, holding back nausea. Run. Repeat.

Energy Lab. It’s hot hot hot. Cramps are excruciating. Feeling dizzy. Come on! Just one foot in front of the other. It’s becoming an aid station to aid station run with slow walking through the aid stations. Out the lab and back to town. You can do this. Come on.

Toilet stop.

Run. Feeling better. Back to 4:30 per km between aid stations, but the aid stations are slow and I let the cramps go. The acoustics coming out my rear are awful and all I can offer is apologies to other athletes. 2 more hills Raoul, you are running well, despite the odds. Let’s finish this.

One more hill. Come on. Hold it together. The pain will stop when you hit the line.

Really now? What the hell is this? How are my toes so freaking sore all of a sudden? Walking down the fun downhill? Really? It makes me smile. I high five some people. They think I am crazy to be walking, but I cannot explain how sore my big toes are. Damn wet socks. 1 mile to go. The pain is unreal until I hit 200m to go. This time, I am not going to care about the extra minutes. I high five people, cheer with the crowd. Hug a fellow competitor. I walk when I get to the carpet.

There is no finish line. Just an ellipsis for a release before life continues. I close my eyes, raise my hands and breathe. It’s quiet, there is no noise and I cannot hear people or music. The moment feels like forever, but it’s maybe a second. Release. No pain, no feeling, no tears this time. It’s a beautiful, simple moment. Just a pause, but it’s earned.

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Kona is amazing, the place that inspires beyond what can be explained. I am epically grateful for the opportunity to compete here. Thank you to all the kind people who support me, send me messages and wishes of going well. I believe I had the form. That will come in another post. For now, times don’t matter and this is all about the moment.

This is the place where mistakes are magnified, but where pushing through collectively rewards greater on an emotional scale than any other race. I could analyze about penalties, better stomachs and what could have been, but really, I have no regrets.

I hope you enjoyed that. I could never give it the full meaning. That is why I write, because I hope to inspire you to try this out. To live it through your eyes. Thank you for listening.

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I have wanted to interview Dan for a while, having bought him a drink when he was underage in a dodgy bar in Madeira, many moons ago. It’s been a privilege to watch his rise through the ranks to being in my opinion, one of the finest multi sport athletes in the world. He is a thinker, a tinkerer and like me, mildly obsessive at times. These answers should convince you to watch his progress and learn from the details he presents to the world.

I may be one of the guys who understands your drive to get every nanomillimeter out of your body better than most. How much of a difference do you think body composition makes, even among the pro ranks, where differences are small and vary race to race?

My man, that’s a lengthy response with currently heated emotions you summon. Yes, at the top it seems to become ultimately specific. Perhaps the most relate-able example is a Contador vs Cancellara – both cyclists, both icons, both unbeatable when the playing field suits them.

The Xterra racing on the USA circuit is really varied, and often highlights strengths and weaknesses amongst the few at the top end. The series final was the past weekend, which including 3000ft of elevation gain on the bike alone. Which is as much climbing as Alp d’Huez. With remote transitions we hardly had any descent, making it a very course specific race. I was grumpy regarding all this, until fellow South African, Conrad Stoltz, who is not a climber either, biked 5minutes into the rest of us.

Reality is, we all have varied ability, and limitation in how much we can adjust them. I am still figuring my own capabilities, and am really curious to spend a season more focused on Ironman 70.3 racing. I believe my body and energy systems may be better suited to most 70.3 courses. I can only race a handful of events in a season, and being able to hand pick the courses and condition that best suit my ability is weighing odds to my favour.

Tell me/us about Boulder and why you have seemingly fallen in love with the place.

Boulder is the triathlon mecca of the USA. Especially for the long course triathletes. A tough generalization, but Ironman racing is the pinnacle of the triathlon niche in America. And all its A-list reside for all or part of the year in the small town nestled against the Colorado Rockies. Between the perfect weather and perfect bodies – there is plenty excellence and inspiration to feed off and become the best athlete you can.

Boulder is at 5400ft, but a quick drive and you’re running at 8500ft, or any longer ride can be done mostly on Peak to Peak highway, which again is undulating at 8000ft. There is rolling when going North-South, and flatlands when headed East. West has a variety of climbing to suit any session.

Beyond the triathlon circles its very similar to Stellenbosch. Small, a uni town, affluent, very sports orientated. And overwhelmingly hippy. I’ve not smelt such strong weed nor seen so many dreads on any of my travels. I do like how progressive town is – definitely a thinking man’s home with a active lifestyle as habit.

Working with fat oxidative rates and improving them is becoming slightly more trendy but I still find myself with blank faces when I approach smart people about it. Can you tell us your experience with working with fat oxidative rates for the body as well as where the limits and shortfalls lie?

Sure, I was trying to maximise my aerobic oxidation capacity this past summer. Forcing more and more of my energy to come from fat energy as opposed to carbohydrate energy which has lactate as a by-product. I am still a student of the game, and will always be it seems.

My feeling is that optimal diet is not such personal to individual athletes, but to individual athletes and their current race goals. I got incredibly efficient at aerobic exercise, which would have been golden had I been training for an Ironman. However, with 2h racing much time is spent at Threshold and even VO2 max, and I’m uncertain whether focus on fat oxidation should be primary or secondary.

Either way, I tipped over the edge, not for training too much volume, or eating too little, but for eating vary specifically and in specific patterns. Forcing my body into a state of hypoglycemia regularly. The hormones that respond to restoring normal blood sugar get desensitized and eventually a domino effect had me totally “hormonal” in bad way. Sure, thats an oversimplification, and lack protein was critical to the melt down, but trying to maximise fat oxidation laid the foundation to a collapse. At the same time, there is much benefit not just as an athlete but as an individual pursuing a state of well-being.

Good fats are beyond good. They’re essential. Sugar and stress is the enemy of health.

You are coming to the Big Show this year (Kona), to watch, work the expo and watch the race. Is it on your to-do list, or like Conrad, are you going to leave it to us “crazies”?

I have never felt more inspired to race Ironman some day, and especially to race Kona. I have spent the past four months very close to the inner Ironman elite here in Boulder, and could not resist the thinking that Ironman is normal and that Kona is the holy grail.

It may be years from now, but I will race and represent South Africa in Kona.

For Maui, what are your expectations this year after a bit of a melt down mid year? I know of a few pro’s who’ve had melt downs mid year and come back to win a world champs later in the year, across various sports. Where do you see your role in the race?

I’ve had one outing at Maui before, and am really excited to be returning two years later. Getting there, and getting to the finish is not to be taken for granted. I hope for a bit of magic, but I know how much better I can be, where I can still improve as a rounded athlete, and until such a time as me believing I am the best I can be, it is hard to believe I’ll be the best in the world.

I am swimming well, and riding is close. With some good legs on the day I’ll be close off the bike, in theory, and would gladly be surprised on the run. We’ll see.

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There you have it. Dan is someone who takes his profession extremely seriously, someone who I enjoy talking to and who I learn from every time we go for a bike ride (where I am merely hanging onto the back). We wish him luck for Xterra Worlds, but more importantly, we will be buying him a coffee in Kona to laugh at life. Follow him on Twitter for more regular updates. His tweets are always raw, which is kieeeef bru.

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Why the “pure” to all your tags – email, twitter, etc?

I use the “pure” due to the fact that there are a ridiculous amount of “Kate Roberts’s” in this world. (editors note: this is true, I did a Google search for pictures of Kate, and there were plenty of other Kate Roberts’s) I was not able to use the username: Kate Roberts, so I decided to combine “Kate” or “Katie” with the word “Pure” As Kate and Katie means “Pure” hence the usernames katiepure and katerobertspure.

Tell the readers a bit about what it took for you to get where you are now in the world rankings with a move of continent, coach, etc… it looks glamorous but tell us about the nitty gritty stuff that is really hard about attempting to be the best in the world

After the Beijing Olympic Games I made the decision to look for an international triathlon coach, as I really believed that I could improve on my 32nd position in Beijing. I came to the realization that I was not going to progress further; if I continued in the same way that I did before Beijing. As someone who takes their professional extremely seriously, I wanted to do whatever it took to be the best.

In December 2008 I left the comfort of home for Australia and joined a squad of athletes under the guidance of Dr Darren Smith. We are a squad of 8 girls training together, with the exception of 4 male partners. I have undeniably learnt a great deal these past 18 months from Darren as well as my superb training partners.

My training partners include the likes of: Lisa Norden from Sweden, Vendula Frintova from Czech Republic, Barbara Riveros from Chile, Vicky Holland from Great Britain, Sarah Groff from the USA and Lauren Campbell from Canada. (Females) Andreas Gigmalyr from Austria, Bryan Keane from Ireland. Dave Matthews and Michael Gosman whom are both from Australia. (Males).

(Ed’s note: That list reads like a who’s who in the sport of triathlon. Kate clearly, was not scared of jumping in the deep end)

Darren, your typical hard core Aussie runs a training system where he trains us in Canberra, Australia from December/January until April/May every year. Then from May we head over to Europe and base ourselves in place called Davos in Switzerland for the European season of racing. Davos is situated on the German side of Switzerland and at an altitude of 1500m above sea level.

Darren adopts a hands on coaching method, where he attends all our training sessions, which I believe gives me a enormous advantage, as he can see how I am coping with training and racing on a daily basis and he is also able to give me exceptional technical advice that an online coach would not be able to do for me.

It has been a massive expense from my part and but I am really happy that I made this decision as I know that I have one of the best coaches in the world and thus I am doing things in the right way in my determination to be a world class triathlete.

I have so many stories that I would like to share with the readers about Darren but this could take a while.. So here are a few comments Darren likes to say to me..

Katie, how can you possibly go so slow?

Katie, I have never seen anyone as hopeless a cyclist as you!

Katie, how many times do I need to tell you, to get your act together or go and get yourself a day job!

Katie, you really are a dumb blonde. I need you to think for yourself.

Katie, for goodness sake, you are clearly not going hard enough. I expect more from you!

Do you eat a specific diet or are you one of the lucky few who eat whatever it put down in front of them.

I wish!

I am not one of the lucky ones who eats all that gets put before them and doesn’t pay the consequence. I do not follow a specific diet and I am not mental when it comes to diet but I like to eat healthy foods, as I believe that by following a decent diet then I just feel superior about myself and this contributes to good training and overall racing.

Eating healthily but without the obsessive behavior that goes along with it, means faster recovery and with Darren’s sessions, session to session recovery is the most important thing in the world to me.

How is the ITU circuit different now than it was a few years back in terms of the times the woman are doing, how tactics have changed and how much more regularly you need to race now?

The racing certainly seems to be getting tougher each year. I would say that the dynamics of the racing changes every year. This year, the girls appeared to be a whole lot closer on the run, than in previous years. (Bar Emma Snowsill at the final in Budapest) There were plenty of sprint finishes in the World Championships Series races. You do not see the girls breaking on the bike, like they do in the men’s races but maybe next year, there could be a few races, where the girls decide to be brave and go for a break during the cycle. The swimming is always very violent and psychologically you need to be tough to handle the “scrum” in the water. But I believe that now days, it is vital to be a completely well rounded athlete in all three disciplines.

For up and coming South Africans with hopes of making it to the Olympics, won’t you please set out the truths about the commitment and the sacrifice needed to get to the top. What can they expect?

The Olympics is such a special and magnificent event and I think that it certainly was worth all the effort and struggle to get there. It is by no means an easy process qualifying for the games and at the end of the day you are doing it for the complete love of the sport.

To be a true professional is years of commitment, determination and being able to survive on very little if you are in a niche sport like me. It was anything but easy and what the public sees when we race is just a tiny piece of the entire puzzle.

Politics, bucket loads of effort, tears, determination are a few of the fundamentals involved in getting there but honestly the immense pride and joy I experienced by competing at the games was worth every little bit of sacrifice.

If you could take any 3 people who ever lived to dinner with you, who would you take and why?

Gosh, now you have me thinking. I would need to be surrounded by someone whom I feel at ease with, so I am going to say that the first person on my list would be my twin sister Tessa. The next two people will be rather clichéd but I would very much like to have dinner with the USA president Barack Obama and also the cycling legend Lance Armstrong. They are two very influential people and I would love to pick their brains.

What can we expect from you for 2011?

That is a good question. I would just love, more than anything, to ultimately get onto a podium in a World Championships Series race and I am hoping that 2011 will be the year I can do that. If I can continue to race as consistently as I have this year, next year, then I will be thrilled. It is just a matter of staying injury free, keeping the focus as well as motivation going.

How much periodization is there for the short course athletes in your training program with the amount of racing you do.

The good thing about racing in Olympic distance triathlons is that we are able to race a lot more than Ironman and Half Ironman athletes. The structure that I follow is to a large base block of training for about 16 to weeks. (From January to April) This is where I put more emphasis on mileage and do lower intensity training. Then when the racing season starts come April. I tend to back off the miles and up the intensity of the training, so that I can get my leg speed up and my adapted to racing specific requirements.

Give a shout out to your sponsors…

Thanks so much indeed to the loyal support from my two main sponsors Greg Reis at BSG and John Taylor at Chocolate Graphics. Without their help, belief in me and encouragement throughout my year, I undoubtedly would not have had the year that I did have. I can never thank them enough and I hope to make them proud in 2011 and beyond.

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Thanks to Kate for answering the questions and sending through some great photos of her rocking kit. I am thinking in 2011 the Urban Ninja should do a race in a suit like that? Maybe old school like Kenny Souza in a speedo and tri vest, minus the peroxide streaks in the Bon Jovi hair?

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In a world which preaches HTFU around every corner I am a guy who likes to preach STFD (come on you`re smart, work it out) for most athletes. Just this week I have started working with a new athlete who dismally wrote me an email to say he had to walk some of the flat pieces of his run to keep his heart rate in the right zone. This happens a lot when I start working with new athletes, especially on the run.

They are also very irritated with me for the first few weeks of working together. Why do I have to walk the uphills? Why do I have to go so slow on the uphills on the bike? Why so many short runs?

Management of intensity and workload is something that you accumulate over time. The volume of work I can deal with now compared to even a year ago is different. You have to start small to create consistency. 2 years ago I could manage a few weeks of 12-14 hours a week of training. Now I am able to easily cope with 20+ hours a week if I had the time. Its taken me ages (lots of walking to start, lots of slow hill riding) to get this going but really the effects now are plain to see and for all the funny looks I got in the middle, it was totally worth it.

Athletes have large variability in their tolerance for both workload and relative intensity. Over the years I have had this explained to me as:

Constitution – some athletes have superior constitutions… they can just handle it.

Experience – athletes have been racing fast, or training strong, since they were young kids… they can just handle it.

Mental Strength – the athletes that can’t handle it are mentally weak. They could do it if they would harden up. You need to buckle down, toughen up and just handle it.

Part of the reason why I dislike HTFU is the philosophy points many athletes in COMPLETELY the wrong direction. STFD is more appropriate for the majority of people that I coach, perhaps Steady … … Up (STFU).

All of the above make intuitive sense but may fall apart when we take into account Survivor Bias.

Survivor Bias is when the result is skewed by the fact that many participants died, or quit, or went bankrupt… along the way. The results are skewed because you are only left with survivors to analyze. The victors get to write history.

As a new athlete, you aren’t (yet) a survivor. So basing your approach to what works for the survivors could end up being anywhere from great to disastrous. If it is a disaster then you’ll probably fade out of the sport and we’ll never hear from you again. If it is great then you’ll reaffirm the bias that is already built into the data.

How many of you have used these excuses?

…I’ve always had a high heart rate
…I can handle a high heart rate
…it’s just the way I am
…I barely move when I train at a low heart rate

Something Mark Allen taught us all is that heart rate could be a more accurate measure of stress, than work. Mark’s program is as much about capping stress as it is about building bottom-end endurance. Many athletes are stress-limited in their athletic lives (under recovery being a lot more common than over training).

Something I learned from swimming is that smaller (especially female) athletes can handle a lot more stress than larger (especially male) athletes. We saw it this year in the Cape Epic where the smaller guys do far better on consecutive days, whereas the “bigger” pro’s can smash out the watts for one or two days but tend to fade towards the end of the race faster than the 60kg whippets.

When I cap my athletes (and my own) heart rates around AeT they cannot understand it. They feel cheated, like they are not working hard enough. Which is great in the first hour. When they are HUUUUUUURTING to hold that same heart rate 4 hours into their 5 hour ride, they get a better grasp of where we are headed with the mileage and the intensities.

Many of them get it wrong in that they believe they are paying me make them swim, bike and run. I believe they pay me to optimise recovery and correct intensities. That is why I don’t ask for training logs and I dont babysit my guys and girls. They are responsible for themselves and what I do for them is teach their bodies to recover, session to session, more progressively over time, so that they too can deal better with cumulative body and mind stress over extended periods of time.

So that when everybody else is fading, 8 hours into the day at Ironman, they are just rock solid and just keep ticking along like the little train that could…

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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?

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