Race report on Joburg City triathlon

It’s time for the South African Triathlon Season to kick off and what better way than with the first event of the Joburg City Triathlon series. A lot of triathletes descended on Germiston lake for this big race.

Leading up to the race I was really keen for a good one after my disappointing 48th place at World Champs in China. It turned out not be so good but it’s still early in the season and I am looking forward to race the next 9 weeks.

We started about 10min behind the women . This meant that we needed to be on the look-out for ladies with a wide breaststroke kick. It can be brutal when your face is the receiver.

After fighting through the breaststroke kicking ladies it was myself, Erhard Wolfardt and Rudolf Naude exiting the water just after Chris Felgate and Abrahm Louw.

In T1 I kicked off my Sailfish wetsuit in record time – it was much-needed in the chilly 17 degree water.
The first lap of the bike was okay, but halfway through the second lap I lost my legs and didn’t really find them again the whole race.

During the bike leg I lost a couple of places and was in 7th place into T2. I slipped on my fast Inov-8 road-x 155 with my bright green Xtenex races and I was outta there! I was really keen to run a fast 10km as I have really been working on my running. Unfortunately my quick 10km didn’t materialize, but I passed one guy and finished 6th. Happy with that considering that it wasn’t a great day for me. It’s not the end of the world.

The big guy up in Heaven, who I call my King, has a plan for me and it was that I didn’t have a great race. It is not my plan, buti t is the best plan for me. So just trusting in Him right now.

A big well done to the top 3 – you guys were flying. Abrahm Louw, in particular, showed that he is in really good form. Very happy for him. Baie mooi ou maat.

Next race up is the BSG Energade series race at Roodeplaat next weekend. Looking forward to it!

Until I blog again, keep on smiling

How not to dismount

I am busy writing a book about things not to do in a triathlon.

One of the things that’s getting a whole chapter is ”How not to dismount’’ Wian Sullwald was so kind so show us how not to do it. Thanks Wian!

Must say Wian is one of our up and coming stars!!!

Have a look out for him.

Keep on

Momemtum Iflex Duathlon event #6 Race Report

It was an unbelievably cold day in Potch (and an extremely early start to get there), but I was very keen to race and test my legs. It was also my first race for my new team. Team Inov-8 so I was so keen to kick off with a good result. I love the shoes they are so light and comfortable and the best thing about them is that I didn’t get any blisters. This is the first shoes that I have ran in that don’t give me blisters. 10 out of 10 for Inov-8 for sorting that out! The shoe I chose to race in was the Inov-8 Road X-Lite 155 Racer.

I had a good first run with Erhard and Brand and the three of us managed to get away in T1 and stay away on the bike. All was going well until about 8km to go when I picked up a 2cm nail in my back tire. The race referee was in a truck behind us and they had picked up two other guys who had also gotten flat wheels. The truck pulled up as I stopped and I asked if they had a back wheel for me. Johan Pretorius gave me his wheel and just as I was busy putting the wheel in the chase pack flew past me. I quickly closed the skewer, jumped on my bike and absolutely killed myself catching up to them. After a 3km TT I caught the bunch and went straight to the front to try and catch Brand and Erhard again. There were two guys who were racing in teams that were able to help me chase.The rest of the bunch was just sitting and sucking wheel like leeches. My legs were burning like a bonfire and unfortunately there was not enough time to bridge the gap to the front guys.

Here is the profile of the bike route from CycleOps PowerAgent.

By the time we got back to Potch I could see Erhard and Brand ahead of us. I went into T2 with the group and I sprinted out as fast as I could – with my helmet still on my head! It was so cold that I couldn’t feel it. Luckily Robyn was there to shout “HELMET” and I chucked it just before I left the transition area.

The end of my 2nd run. So Broken!!!!

I didn’t feel my feet until the turn around point as they were just so frozen. I was running so hard that I couldn’t see where I was going. I just knew that I was going to need a wheelchair to get around after the race.
I hung on for 3rd place, but unfortunately I was disqualified because I took someone else’s wheel.
It was a really good training session and I was pleased with the way that I had fought back and not given up after puncturing.

No words for this photo!!!

So now I know that I am ready for World Champs. Well done to Brand and Erhard – they raced really well.
I really enjoyed the race and I am definitely going to do more of them next year. Well done to Andre de Beer and his team for great organization of the races.

Keep on