Mohammed Ali once said “The fight is won or lost far away from witnesses, in the gym and out on the road long before I dance under those lights.” and I’m starting to learn the same is true for Ironman. I’m learning triathlons, and especially the longer ones, take a ton of preparation away from “those lights”. I’m really battling at the moment with the solitude of it all. The long swims. The long rides. The long runs. Especially at this time of the year when everyone is talking about winding down and getting away and I’m looking to ramp things up and focus more. I actually just looked at a calender and it is only 16 weeks until Ironman South Africa. 16 weeks until I dance under those lights.

I have been visualising the red carpet and in particular the feeling of heading down that stretch of beach front in Port Elizabeth. The crowd cheering and going wild. Running towards the finish line you realise what you have achieved on that day. More than the 3.8km swim. More than the 180km cycle. More than the 42.2km run. Its the culmination of months and months of commitment and sacrifice. Doing more and going further than you thought possible. Everyone craves glory but few are prepared to put in the hard yards. Few are prepared to make sure the fight is won in the gym and out on the long road.

As you get closer and closer to the line the pain dissipates. The pain of the thousands of kilometres you put in away from the witnesses. When there was no one around to share a sunrise. Or a sunset. A rainstorm. Sunburn.

The first steps have gone unnoticed. The final steps to the summit will not. I haven’t been there yet but I have let myself feel what it feels like to cross that finish line. To the end of the red carpet. Arms raised. Skin crawling with goose bumps. You are an Ironman. Over and over and over again. 16 weeks until I live my visualisation. 16 weeks until I dance under those lights.

I was thinking about Thursday’s Prestige Ultra Triathlon at the Vaal last night. I forgot to mention in my race report about the organisation and I feel quite bad about it. I had a bit to say about the organisation of the last race I did and completely forgot to mention how great this one was. Even though the weather was shocking the race was an absolute pleasure to do. The marshals on the run and the folks manning the tables were out there all morning in the cold and rain and their support never waivered. The tables were superb. They were slightly closer together than normal (about two kays apart) which made a massive difference because I forgot my energy gels and other nutrition in transition so a pb on the run would not have been possible if it wasn’t for the folks out at the tables. I must say a huge thank you to each and every one of them. I will definitely be back for he next one and hopefully the weather doesn’t mess things up then.

I’m sitting watching the cricket this afternoon Mike Haysman just mentioned that we received 100mm of rain on the Highveld overnight last night. I think I was up for most of it! Today was the BSG Prestige Ultra Triathlon and the weather didn’t play ball.

I woke up a few times through the night last night. Some of it had to do with nerves but there was also the mother of all storms last night and the lightning and thunder woke me up a few times as well. Up at 4:00 for a 7am start. I packed the car, popped my bike on the bike rack and was soaked before I left! The drive down to Vanderbijlpark was Read more…

I’ve been chatting to mates who are planning on running Comrades 2011 about their thoughts and training for the 2011 edition of the race. Everyone seems to be gearing up to get their training on properly come January. I went back to my training logs from last December to see what I was doing. What a difference a year can make. Last December I was battling the peroneal tendonitis and was running on and off. I went back and found a 10km run that I did in December 2009 to compare it to the 10km I ran on Monday. I was more than 10 minutes quicker on Monday (bear in mind that I also cycled 60kms before Mondays run and the route I ran was a bit tougher than the 2009 one). My splits are what really interested me. My fastest kilometre a year ago was 6:46. My slowest yon Monday was 6:51. My fastest was nearly a minute and a half faster than the one last year. (See the two workouts below on Garmin Connect) Read more…

I can’t actually believe how fast this year is wrapping up. I looked at the triathlon racing after Comrades 2010 and plotted out what races I was planning on doing in the build up to Ironman 70.3 in East London in January and the Ironman in Port Elizabeth in April 2011. I only scheduled 3 before the end of 2010 and two have come and gone already. The next big triathlon on my racing calendar is the Prestige Ultra Triathlon in Vanderbijlpark on the 16th of December. 11 Days to go to my first half ironman triathlon. Just writing that scares me. I’m doing a half ironman having only done two triathlons up until now. My training has gone well and I am pretty sure I’ve done what is needed. I’ve got a couple of longish cycles planned for early next week but other than that it’s time to taper. I always get nervous when I start taking my body to places it has never been before. You never quite know how it is going to react to the stresses and strains you put on it. It was the same in he build up to Comrades this year every time I went up to a new distance I was nervous. The only time I attempted to double what I had done up until then was from an ultra marathon to Comrades. I am practically doubling what I have done to this point in triathlons. That is a huge step up and I think I’m understandably nervous. I’ve done more than the individual distances in training (except the run, I haven’t gone further than 15 since I picked up some ITB in August) but it is now a case of stringing it all together on the same day. I’m sure there is going to be pain on the day but I really hope I have a good race as this is my dress rehearsal for the 70.3 in East London which is just 6 weeks away. Now THAT is scary. 6 weeks away from my first surf swim. I’ll leave that for another post.

Wow. Wow. Wow. That’s about all I can say really. Was veg’ing in front of the telly last night. To be honest I don’t even know what I was watching. I’ve always been a massive fan of music. I love movies that have great soundtracks. An ad came on with an amazing song. I still don’t know what it is (After a bit of research on Google turns out it is written and performed by Leah Siegel and the song is called human although it is often thought to be called It was dark when I found you) but it sparked my interest and I focused on the ad. I missed the first part of it but caught the last half and was blown away! I then went back on my PVR and watched it again. The word that comes to mind to describe it is powerful. We often get flooded with messages about aids and HIV and they tend to get lost in the noise. But this one definitely got the message across. I really wanted to share it with you and I hope you share it to. Let me know what you think.

I’ve been meaning to write this race report all week but things have been pretty hectic so here goes. Last Sunday the 28^th of November I did my second triathlon, the Tshwane African Cup at the Pretoria West Power Station. If I had seen this picture before I entered I don’t think I would have.

Where we swam at the Pretoria West Power Station

I’m sure there are better venues to have a triathlon in Pretoria. The water wasn’t the cleanest I’ve swum in to be dead honest I’m worried I might have a pair of boobs growing out my back in a few years from now.

As far as the race goes, I wasn’t planning on Read more…