Race report 2012 Cross Triathlon World champs Alabama USA

Racing with a cracked elbow = a lot of pain and discomfort, but I needed to give it a try.

At the start of the swim my elbow felt okay and I swam with the front guys up to just before the first buoy. The strapping on my elbow started coming loose and from there on it felt as though someone was hitting me with a 10 pound hammer with each stroke. I went backwards from there. The pain was one thing, but it was also about the fifth time in the past 4 weeks that I was doing a proper swim and not just kicking up and down the pool.

I got out the water quite far back from the leaders and with a slow time. I then spent quite a lot of time at the beginning of the bike putting my feet into my shoes and putting on my elbow brace and gloves.

The first lap of the bike was okay, but I was still losing a lot of time because I was riding like a girl as every little bump caused me pain. Getting out the saddle also hurt like hell, but I did my best to just suck it up and keep on grinding. Conrad Stoltz, again, took huge chunks of time out of me. It is really amazing to see that man move! I try and do it like he said in a tweet recently, “low air, big gear, no fear”, but I have a long way to go.

On to the run and I was hoping that I would feel better. I was really keen to make some time back on the guys, but I was so broken and just had nothing in me after pretty much 4 weeks of minimal training. So I just did my best and hung in to the end.
I ended up in 18th place. It was really not cool to race in so much pain and with so little fitness, but it was still a great racing experience and I took a lot from it.

So does this mean that off-road triathlon is not for me? No way! Although I was extremely disappointed I still had a lot of fun and I plan on coming back next year and making a proper go of it!
Praise God when you race well and praise God when you race badly. So I will keep on praising Him because I know that He is good and I know that He will be good to me no matter what happens.

A big well done to Conrad for his second Cross Triathlon World title and also to Nico Sterk who came 17th . You guys really raced well!
Well done to Carla van Huysteen with a great performance coming 3rd in the elite ladies.
Bradley Weiss “roomy” for winning the u23s
Charne Prinsloo for coming 3rd in the jr womens race
Bradley Schuit for winning the jr men

So for now it’s back in to full training as my elbow allows me and I am so happy to be here in GER Sigmaringen with Robyn. Going to do some good racing and training in the next 4 months living my dream as a pro athlete and part of the dream is that Robs is with me.

Once again I will leave you with the legend’s saying “The Cave Man”

Low Air, Big Gear, No Fear!

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

Fun in the sun on Saturday

Fun in the sun on Saturday

After Thursdays hard brick session Lindsey told me to take it easy this weekend and recover properly so that he can kill me again in the next week. So that’s what I did. Had a nice sleep in on Saturday, got on my bike by 11am and went for a nice and easy spin around Roodeplaat dam didn’t even look at my CycleOps Joule 2.0 to see how my watts are doing. I just went out to have some fun in the sun. Ipod in and just jamming along with the music. When I got back I went for a nice jog off the bike running with my Inov-8 F-Lite 230 for the first time really good shoe for on and off-road.

Here is a video clip of me going around the dam finding away to entertain me. Please don’t blame me for bad camera work. Didn’t look at the LCD screen. I was having a look out for putco busses speeding past me at 140kmh”crazy stuff”. If you have been on that road you will know what I mean.

In the end it was a really nice day spent in Africa!!! Love this place!

Untill i blog again keep on and keep it in the BIG Blade!!!

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

2011 Africa Champs Maputo Race report

Maputo, Mozambique was the venue for the 2011 African Triathlon Championships and it was the first time that a triathlon was held in this beautiful country. The Mozambicans did not know know what these skinny athletes were doing swimming, riding and running around in these funny tight suits

We stayed at the Southern Sun host hotel which was a really nice place and when inside it was hard to imagine that a busy African city was just outside the door. It was good to meet up with my old friend Richard Murray who has been racing all over the world trying to pick up some ITU points, his most recent victory being at the European Cup in Brasschaat.

The day before the race the weather was amazing, no wind and some nice warm sun – perfect weather for racing. I checked out the race route and thought about how I would race. The bike course was a very hilly and bumpy one, on some bad road surface and there was a mean hill on each lap which we would have to do 8 times in total.

Race day

The race was starting unusually early at 7:30 and so we needed to be up at 5:30. This is normal for me but for the other athletes it was crazy early. After waking up I had a look out the window to see that a big wind was up and the sea was going crazy! Richard and I have a theory that if the weather is good the day before the race then race day is definitely not going to be good! Warm up went well and we were ready to go. As we were being called up they were still struggling to keep the buoys in place. As they put the first one in it took off and headed north to Inhambane! That should give you some indication as to how crazy the sea was. They managed to get one buoy to stay still and had to make it an out and back swim that would only be 1200m.

We were off and I had no idea where I was, I was just swinging my arms and looking for other athletes. Only once I had finished the swim did I realise that I was in the front pack. I rocketed through transition with what felt like half an ocean in my stomach, onto my bike and headed to the hill. I was definitely the fattest in the pack because every time we went up the hill I was huffing and puffing like a bufflo running up a hill! But coming down the hill was a different story and I flew past the guys like a bird gone crazy, or maybe it was just my MTB skills kicking in. Abrahm Louw from Namibia was racing like a true champ. He had a gap coming out of the swim and he stayed away the whole bike. Amazing performance from him – well done!

On the last lap of the bike Richard attacked and all of us went with him. I was 3rd out of T2 just behind Richard and Hendrik de Villiers. The gazelles quickly pulled away from me, while I was struggling to get into a rythmn.

I ran as hard as I could and it was good enough for 2nd place in u23 elite. I was really happy with that result. I wanted to win, but it was not what God had planned for me for this race. My time will come. Praise God for my second place.

Now it’s time to knuckle down with World Champs, in September in China, in mind

‎​After the race we went to a pub to enjoy the local beer, 2M. This is the only beer in the whole world that I will drink.

We triathletes just can’t sit still and relax, we always have to do something! So we played some darts. Good fun!

You know you can’t come to Mozambique and not have some seafood. It was so fresh and tasty. But the 2M beer didn’t go so well with it……..:(

There you have- it my trip to Maputo was a lot of fun. God has blessed Africa!!!

Here is a slide show I made of the trip.

10 out of 10 to ATU and TSA for hosting the event. You guys did a great job. Hope to see a World Champs in Africa soon.

Untill I blog again.

Keep on

How to fix a blister in 24hrs

I got a really big blister for running on the track on Tuesday. First it was a small one then I just left it. But then it got rally big and very sore. In the end it got as big as an golf ball and was struggling to walk.

The next day I made my way to the doc at the HPC for some advice. African champs is next weekend and I really need to fix it before then. The doc said here is a needle and a syringe. Oh ja and some alcohol strips to clean my foot. So the doc told me what to do. He didn’t have all the stuff to do it for me. I when and got some Merthiolate. Had no idea what that was till I saw it is highly flammable! I was like oh my greatness!!! This is not going to be fun!

I call this the blister kit! the PVM bar is the for you to put it in your mouth when you injected the Merthiolate in to the blister.

Step 1: clean your foot NB!
Step 2: drain all the fluid from the blister. Clean again after!
Step 3: draw up the Merthiolate in to the syringe. Clean the needle.
Step 4: injected the Merthiolate in to the blister. Wait for it wait for it ok now you can scream!!!!!!!!!!
Step 5: Wait 2-3hrs and do that again. The next day you will be ready for training again.

in it goes!

Wait for it wait for it ok now scream!!!!!!!!! ;-(

Job well done:

Was training the next day.

Race Report on my 2nd place at the Momentum iFlex Duathlon Kameelfontein

It has been a really long time since I last did a duathlon. This race came at just the right time as a bit of race preparation 3 weeks before Africa Champs. A good opportunity to test my legs and to see where I am at.
Racing is so good for you; it is the best training that you will ever do. Race intensity is just on another level and can’t really be recreated in training.

The race venue was just outside of Pretoria close to Roodeplaat Dam at a school called Kameelfontein. This area is like my backyard as I do a lot of training here. The run route was long and hilly and the cycle was a very hilly out and back course.
The race distances were 5km run, 40km cycle and another 2.5km run on broken legs.

The gun went and I found myself running in the front with Brand du Plessis, Travis Johnston, Abrahm Louw, Chris Felgate and Johan Pretorius. I really didn’t think that I would be able to run with those front guys, but there I was, even controlling the pace. At the halfway turn it was just me, Travis, Brand and Johan. The so-called “2.5km” on the way out was very hard as it was trudging up a constant drag. On the way back Travis moved next to me and we ran side by side until he put in a couple of surges, but didn’t get away. We were all in transition together and out onto the nasty, hilly, windy 40km bike course. Here is the race profile from my race on power agent from CycleOps. Blu is Speed and Red is Elevation.

Up to the first turn around we were riding like a bunch of girls. At the first turn Abrahm caught up to us and from there we still rode together like a bunch of girls.

On the way back on the last lap I started to think about the final run and I saw that Johan was still with us. He is an ex-1500m SA Champ and not someone that I wanted to run the final 2.5km against. So on a long hill I went to the front and picked up the pace a bit. I saw that we was taking strain so I dropped a gear and picked up the pace again and that’s when he dropped. I then went to the back and rested a bit for the remainder of the ride. Then just before the end of the bike leg there was another little hill so I thought “let’s have some fun.” I attacked and Travis came with me. We only made about a 5-10 sec gap on the rest, but it allowed me to get into and out of T1 first.

Oh boy! When I hit that second run I felt my legs burn and all the hard training I had done that week came flying back to me. Travis came flying past me so I dug deep and bridged the gap and we ran to the turn-around together. I was thinking man we are running fast now until Travis dropped a gear and pulled away from me. That guys has some serious acceleration!. He made a 15sec gap and kept it to the finish. I was very happy with my 2nd place! Praise God!!!!

Well done to Travis- he is the new SA Duathlon champ.

The top 10.

Event #4 Final Results – Roodeplaat – Pretoria – (Road) – 12 June 2011
Mens Time
01. Travis Johnston 01:31:17
02. Theo Blignaut 01:31:33
03. Brand du Plessis 01:32:02
04. Abrahm Louw 01:32:31
05. Johan Pretorius 01:35:16
06. Chris Felgate 01:36:08
07. Jean-Pierre Ten Napel 01:37:07
08. David Labuschagne 01:37:40
09. Gavin Salt 01:38:31
10. Patrice Gautier 01:39:36

Keeo on

Mountain Biking 101

Friday after work I met up with Robyn at the LC sport grounds for a mountain biking lessen. She was just done with her exams.She wanted to go have some fun. After I showed her so basic skills and had a small fall on the mountain bike. I was looking for some fun and I did. Playing like the good old days. Robyn soon I want to see you doing this! Really good training for balance.

CycleOps Trainer Session from Hell!!!!!

This morning at 6am I got on to my CycleOps fluid2 trainer knowing that it’s going to be a nightmare. Lindsey Parry gave me a killer set to do on my trainer it was 8x5min zone 4 that is 300watts. Oh boy it was so hard. Really happy that I did it and I stayed in my zone 4 for all of them. My legs are still broken from the weekends race but no rest if you are coached by mr Parry! I love my Power tap It’s so hard training with it but you can see the improvement. In the end it’s all worth it. Thanks to bicycle power trading for this amazing sponsor. Power training is the way to go! Get your CycleOps Power Tap today at: http://www.bicyclepower.co.za/ CycleOps the leader in POWER!!!!

Have a look at my profile from this mornings session.
The yellow is the power “watts”, Speed blue, Green cadence, Red hart rate, So every time you see the yellow line goes up in means I am dyeing!!!

Here is a short clip of me doing my set this morning. Thanks to my house hold Lettie for the amazing camera work!!! All she said was “hey boetie jy lyk moeg” and I was broken.
Keep on

2nd at the Momentum iFlex Duathlon

It was a really good day for me today at the Momentum iFlex Duathlon. I went in to the race to test my legs and see how’s the training going. Man I am so happy. Praise the Lord our God for my 2nd place. All Glory to Him!

I will post a full race report soon.

Keep on and praise God!