Ironman Transition Time: 20:11

Well after thinking long and hard about it and talking to my Family and Coach I am not going to do Ironman South Africa beginning of April this year. So you won't find my name on the entry list this year.

My Knee is good but not 100% and trying to push now and be ready in two months time may just be the wrong thing to do, thinking long term.

Since injuring me knee in November I haven't done any long bike rides or any long runs and currently I can only manage about 1 hour running before my knee feels "tender" and as many Ironman triathletes will tell you, you need to put in the long hours in training to survive on race day.

Obviously I am very disappointed but I think it is the right decision thinking long term. I am going to do to some IM70.3's for now and will take on the Ironman challenge again in 2012.

Today on my bike training saw these three guys playing in the main road with their man made "draadkarre" (cars build from wire), don't see it that often these days. I was doing 4x15min intervals and chose the Zaaihoek road, a not so busy 10km road outside Witbank which ends with a T junction.

Bit boring doing the loop a few times but it's quite good for intervals with no major hills and traffic.

Luckily my intervals were done when I had to stop for the train on my way back home.

Yesterday we went to the venue where by sister is thinking of getting married on the 7th of May. After talking to the venue coordinator and looking at different options she decided on this venue. I must say it is quite nice and they have accommodation available at the venue, so no driving home after the wedding.

Me, my Mother and Sister listening to all the ideas the lady from the venue is proposing.

A Proud Daddy Moment

To some of you this may be old news as I posted a message on Twitter earlier but we are so happy. DJ's been elected Head Girl at her school for 2011.

She is so happy and can't stop smiling but I told her now the hard work begins and everyone will look at her with hawk eyes to see if she step out of line in any sort of way.

Training wise I am really happy with the running even thou my legs muscles hurt from the running but most importantly the knee is 100%. Amazing how quickly you can loose that muscle strength you get from running even when you do bike training.

Training on the bike's been hard on the mind lately with all of my training being done on the Computrainer with all the rain we're having. Really challenging riding indoors during Summer, just doesn't feel right.

Took these pictures of Eddy and Dolly while I was watching TV and you can just see the different personalities. Guess who's the "busy body, can't get enough" type and who's the calm easy going dreamer.

Saw something very funny on my way to work. This women passed me on the Highway and she started throwing paper out of the window after tearing it up. I kept my distance and could see exactly when she's tearing it up as her car would drift almost off the road and then you'll just see papers flying out of the window. This routine happened about five to six times.

Wonder what she's trying to hide from whom!!!! (Bit difficult but you can see the small paper pieces right in front of me on the highway)

Not even the rain could stop me

Did my first run Yesterday morning and I'm glad to say the knee felt good. Although it was only a 5km run, I'm happy.

I had a swim and run session planned yesterday and thought let me bum a lift with Kim to the gym and will run back home after the swim workout. On our way to the gym it started raining but only a drizzle.

When I finished my swim and changed into my running gear, the rain started to come down hard but I had no choice but to run. I just had to test the knee and I "waited" seven weeks for this moment and didn't want to miss it. Needless to say when I got back home I was soaking wet but happy.

Tomorrow the running session is 45 minutes and can't wait.

Funny how the ability to run again can changed my mood. One thing about running is it just clear my mind and I just feel better afterwords. Not the same with biking as you constantly need to be on the lookout for cars and people and can't really let your mind go.

Above is the Garmin file of my run session. Not a pretty sight and hard to believe it's of someone who did a 40minute 10km run at his last Triathlon 10 weeks ago. The long and hard road to getting tip top again has just started.

Just be Yourself

DJ returned from her school camp earlier today and she kept us busy for a good hour telling us about the camp. It was a school camp for all the newly elected leaders of the school for this year to identify the head and deputy boy and girl for this coming year.

I may be wrong but I told her before the camp that leaders are born and you can't pretend to be one. If it's within you to lead, guide and inspire, it comes naturally and it's not a switch that you switch on whenever you need to be one.

She told me that's just what she did, being herself and was amazed at one or two of the children that where totally the opposite at the camp than what they are at school.

With all this we started talking about my school years and after digging out my final school year uniform and showed it to her, I looked at the size and thought, "Hey this might still fit me" after 23 years.

That was one of those "make me feel good" moments as I tried it one and it fitted. Must say it's about one size too small but it fits. Don't think too many people can still fit into their school uniform after so many years.

Coincidence that my high school uniform and DJ's uniform looks almost identical apart from me not being that big on academic awards and only have one award (for being a leader at school) on the blazer compared to all her awards.

Not my fault they didn't recognise Wrestling and Judo as a school sport back then and even being national champion meant nothing to the school. You can play for the school's first rugby or cricket team and get plenty of recognition but not for being the best in your country. Something I still don't understand.


Training wise I can't wait for tomorrow. It will be my first running session in more than seven weeks. It's been six weeks since surgery and I stopped running a week or so before I had surgery. Must say my knee is feeling very good.

I think the gym work the last coupe of weeks and working hard on the bike might have help. It's only a 30 minute easy run but hey it's a run.

One BIG advantage of my mother's house being on our property and baking cakes almost daily for people ordering from her is I can just send through the request and consider it done.

After lunch today I had this urge for something sweet and asked my mother if she can't bake us something small (still need to look at the weight). Before I knew it nine freshly baked Cupcakes arrived, some vanilla and some chocolate.
OK, the picture only have six but we've already started enjoying them.

Just shows you

Had a conference down in Port Elizabeth (PE), the host city to IMSA this week and picture above for those not knowing is the pier on the swim course.

With VW (franchise) and Kelston's (company I work for) headquarters down in PE, I do visit the IM host city quite often and every time I am down there I just have this amazing feeling and reliving all those special IM moments.

One thing I can say about the new company I work for is that they are just amazing. What a difference attitude make. The things that was promised to me which never materialized after I constantly asked for it the past two and a half years at the previous company happened at the new company within three months without me asking or reminding them once. Just shows you!

Training wise it is going great, Bike performance is improving by the session and swim performance, well I maintain. You can watch how many YouTube videos and yes my fitness is improving but still need a coach to sort out the technique


Well family wise it's going to be a very quite weekend with DJ at a school camp until Sunday.

My sister and Gerhard also finalized their wedding date, which will be the 7th of May. As you can imagine 99% of topics/discussions and arrangements in our house are now about the wedding.

We've also lost an Uncle, on my fathers side and an Aunt, on my mothers side the past two weeks. Not nice no matter what you say.

Back at it

Well after taking a little break from blogging and twittering I'm back.

The funny season is also over and things start to normalize again at work and training wise. We've spend some time at our Holiday Flat down at the South Coast during the first week of January, with me traveling between work and vacation.

Kim and DJ had some Mother/Daughter bonding time for three and a half days with me going back to work before I joined them again.

I guess the knee surgery and the idea of not being able to run got to me and I did no training whatsoever during the first week of 2011 and probably the reason I haven't blogged lately.

Was also not that pleasant to push the enter button on the PC on the 30th of December, sending an email to Ironman New Zealand race organizers, requesting a refund on my IM entry. It was the day before the deadline to still get some respectable refund on my entry fee.

My mind wanted to do the race but eventually my body convinced my mind that it's not gonna happen. My only reason entering IMNZ was to get a Kona slot and with my running below par I knew it wouldn't happen.

I can only start running towards the end of January and the race is March 5, not possible. Don't wanna spend a fortune traveling halfway round the world, just to finish. Maybe next year!

Well after taking a whole week off I think I've found my Mojo again and let's see if I can be race ready for IM South Africa April 10. Know it's gonna be tight but I'm ready to give it a go.

DJ with the puzzle she and Kim finished during the three rainy days down at the coast.