Pap en Vleis

Today's brick session was "pap en vleis", no other words describes it better.

Let me explain.

The staple food of the African people in South Africa is "Pap" as we know it. It is maize meal which is then use to make porridge. Together with this they will have a sauce and meat. The Afrikaans word for meat is "vleis".

When there is a job to do and it is really hard work, you will hear the African people say "This is pap en vleis". By that they mean that to do the job you would have to had your "pap en vleis" to be able to do the job or as some have told me it could have the meaning that you will get your reward when the hard work is done.

They won't use this phrase for anything but only if the task is really hard work.

Now to get back to my "brick" session today and why I say it was "pap en vleis". For the last four weeks I could not get over four and a half hours of biking when I do my long rides after having bronchitis and on the schedule today was a 5.5 hour bike and a 30 minute run.

Now to most Ironman Triathletes that does not sound like much but it was hard. I am currently in the power phase of my weight training which means I am lifting heavier weights at lower reps instead of the usual 12-15 reps per set. Add to that a very strong wind today and jumping from a 4.5 hour bike ride to a 6 hour brick session and you have a killer of a session.

Finishing these session is what makes me smile on the day of an IM. It is not easy and it is really hard but to push through helps a lot to make it less painful during an IM. It is easy to spot those people on the day of an IM who did not do their "pap en vleis", when they start free feeling at 120km during the bike leg or start the 42.2km marathon walking.

Training for the week has been good and luckily the health is good and the motivation is still at 100%. Tomorrow is my long run (2h40) and a 4km swim.

Only 9 weeks until Kona.

Week's training up to Saturday:

Swim: 8km.

Bike: 307 km

Run: 42.5 km

Gym: 2 sessions

Total: 18h28, 357km, 14575 kcal.