When something happen without you expecting it, it makes it so special more than you ever imagined. On Wednesday it was the launch of the new VW Polo in South Africa and as a dealer I attended the launch. It was the same format as usual, having a dealer meeting in the morning, test driving the new vehicles, having snacks all day long and some lunch before driving the vehicles.
The only difference this time was they announced that there will be a guest speaker after lunch. How big was my surprise when they announced that Neil Armstrong will be the guest speaker. For those who don't know and I don't think there is any but he was the first man on the moon and also known as "First Man"
It was amazing listening to him and the hour long talk went by in a flash. Only afterwards do you realize how lucky you've been to actually meet one of only twelve people and the first man who have walked on the moon.
The whole experience was needles to say amazing and something that will be in my memory for the rest of my life.
Training wise it's been a week that's been good some days and also not so good on other days. Monday started of well and I did my swim and bike session. Tuesday and Wednesday I could only manage my running sessions and missed one bike and one swim session. Thursday and Friday's sessions were good again and I could do all my sessions.
This weekends training schedule is a 5h30 bike on Saturday and a 2h40 run on Sunday and some weight and swim session in between. I hope the weather clears as it's been raining most of the week and it is currently raining (Friday night). I am so tired of doing my long bike sessions on the Computrainer and would love to go out and get some sunshine.
I think I am mastering the run/walk technique as my times keep coming down with my heart rate also being lower. I will see how it goes on Sunday and if it is still improving I know it's working. I've cut the walk time down to 30 seconds from 1 minute after every ten minutes of running and it seems to work.
My next half Ironman is in two weeks time and if I keep improving I will give it a second try during the race. After that race I have one more Half Ironman on the 7th of March so I still have some races to play around and sort out my experiments.
I am also experimenting with my Newton shoes and it's been two weeks now that I run without socks. I never thought about it and gave it a shot and it's working. Last Sunday during my 2h20 run I had no issues. It is usually during long runs or during a race that you pick up some issues, actually only one issue -blisters.
On the family side my mother is not very healthy and I will appreciate it if she can be in your thoughts. She went to the doctor and there is basically three things that needs urgent attention.
The blog is becoming to long now and I will talk about it during the next post but it's basically a heart condition, diagnosed with diabetes and she needs to go for a mammogram.
Weeks training:
Monday:
Swim: 57 minutes, 2.5km
Bike: 2h05 65km
Tuesday:
Run: 55minutes, 12km
Wednesday:
Run: 1h35, 18km
Thursday:
Gym: 1h12
Bike: 1h30, 50km
Friday:
Swim: 1hr 2.5km
Sorry to hear about your mom. I hope she gets better.
ReplyDeleteThanks B, appreciate it
ReplyDeleteJ
Hi Johan, I hope things go well for your mom.
ReplyDeleteDo you run without socks because of the shoes?? Or is that something you are trying? (did that make any sense at all? haha)
She
ReplyDeleteThanks for the well wishes, appreciate it.
With the previous shoes I used(Zoot) it was easy to run without socks but with Asics I can't due to getting blisters. Now with Newton it seems I will be able to run without socks again.
Why? there are two reasons. The first is when I do an Ironman my feet get really wet especially during the second half of the run. Apart from all the sweat I also pour a lot of water over me to cool me down.
When my socks gets wet due to all the sweat and water they are so wet that it sounds like I am running in water. This also cause some blisters due to the wet socks rubbing agaist my feet. When I run without socks the water basically runs through the shoes and my feet aren't that wet.
The second reason is time. When I finish my swim leg I do my bike leg without socks. When I am done with the bike it is difficult trying to get socks onto my feet. I waste time doing that.
I know people say you must just run faster but that minute it takes to get socks on can be the diffrence between qualifying for Kona or not. I do try and run as fast as possible but so is my competitors. If they first put socks on it gives me a minute advantage.
Last year at Ironman South Africa I finished just 14 seconds ahead of the next athlete in my age group and I did get the last slot for Kona Hawaii.
So yes if I am swimming/cycling and running as fast as I possibly can due to my ability and training been done, not wearing socks can make a small 14 seconds difference and help me go to Ironman Worlds.
Hope that makes sense.
Johan
Johan thanks! It makes perfect sense now.
ReplyDeleteMy thoughts are with your mom.
ReplyDelete