Switching Sessions

My day started early as I had to go to the Dealership this morning. My whole plan was to do my gym session before work, then leave work at around 11am to be home by 12pm and be on my bike at 12h30. This would mean I 'll be back from my 5h30 ride at 18h00 just before dark.

Well that was the plan. I don't know why but in my mind I thought the gym open at 5am on Saturday. I arrived at the gym at 5h30 only to be shown by the lady at reception through the door that they open at 6am.

I drove back home (only a 5 minute drive) and prepared my bike and bottles for this afternoons ride. I was back at the Gym at five to six but the lady just sat at reception with the door closed. 6am is 6am???? At least she gave me the opportunity to watch the sun rise, something I haven't seen in a while or at least not when I am not on the move.

As I was pressed for time I did my gym session the way Bryan Payne does his. Instead of resting between the two sets of 15 reps I moved to the next machine and started with that specific exercise. This way I was basically doing two different exercises at the same time. Normally it takes me about 1h10 to finish my gym session, this morning I was done in 53 minutes.

I rushed through my breakfast and was going a little faster than usually on my 105km journey to work but I was there just after 8am. No time for fooling around and I started working immediately.

I was so busy at work and with all the people coming to have a look at the new VW Polo I couldn't even finish all my admin I usually leave to do on a Saturday. Before I knew it 11am was something of the past. Eventually I only left the dealership at 12h30. I knew it was now too late to do my bike ride outside and on my way back home I was thinking of doing my bike indoors but 5h30 is so hard indoors. I decided to switch my sessions and do my long run today and my bike tomorrow, not something I like as it leaves me so tired on a Monday if I do my long bike on a Sunday but I had no choice.

When I arrived home I had something small to eat and started my 2h40 run at 2pm. As soon as I started I knew it was not going to be easy and I could feel my legs were still tired of this mornings weight session. The spark I had last week on my long run was no where to be found.

With about a half hour to go it started raining but I didn't mind as I was so tired and the cool rain was so nice. It was also a perfect test for me to see if my feet will be fine with a lot of water pouring down while I was running without socks. The rain was just enough to cool me off and make me wet and it stopped raining just before I finished.

I am glad to say I had no issues and I am now satisfied to run without socks in my Newtons. I did carry a pair of socks in a plastic zip bag just in case but I am glad to say I didn't have to use it.

I am still sticking to the 10 minute run/ 30 seconds walk technique. Today was one of those day where I can't really judge the technique as my legs were shot from the weights but I could still manage a 5:13 min/km pace. Slower than last week but I'm happy.

When I finished my run I was so tired I just layed down on the floor in our bedroom and recovered before I got going . If it wasn't for Eddy (Mr. Busy Body) I would have been laying there for a hour but he thought I wanted to play and was all over me.

My plan is to do my swim workout before Church tomorrow and then do my bike session after Church, this way I will be done by 16h30 and be home before dark. Just hope there is no rain tomorrow as I don't mind running in the rain but cycling in the rain can become a bit dangerous especially with all the Mining Trucks in and around Witbank.

Today's Training:

Gym: 53 minutes, 518kcal

Run: 2h40, 30.6km, 5:13min/km, 140bpm, 2531kcal, 89rpm(cadence).

Meeting "First Man"

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

Going slightly Mad

I am going slightly mad and that is according to Kim. When she came back from her week away from home she saw all these pieces of paper I've put up against some walls and cupboards and fridges in our house.

You see during the week that she wasn't here I planned my IM South Africa campaign and decided to write my goals down of what I want to achieve at IMSA this year.

I have read somewhere or it was on some course I've been that they say you must write your goals down for you the look at, being in your mind is not good enough.

Kim say I was just lonely and is busy going mad and I must take all these A4 papers off her fridge and food cupboards. I said I will take it off after IMSA. Surprisingly she hasn't taken them off herself as I just left it.

I looked at last years performance and also at my performance in Kona and decided on 5 things I want to achieve or be better at. I haven't made this lengthy and complicated list, just 5 things I am working towards.

This weeks training is still on track and if I can manage both my run and swim session tomorrow I will end the week on just under 20 hours training. This morning was so nice to sleep a little bit later than usual as I didn't go into the dealership. That is one thing if you wake up every morning at 4am, you appreciate the morning when you can sleep until 7am.

First I decided to do my gym session and had to rush it a bit as I had to do some business in town before my brick session. I also went and ordered my mothers present for her birthday. Her birthday is only 21 February but the present we decided on getting her needs to be ordered. They said it will be a week but I don't want to take any chances and ordered it well in advance.

When I got back home I wanted to do my 5h15 brick session but Kim said that her sister's child is coming to show us her newborn.

The visit turned out to be longer than I thought and I had to change my plan of riding outdoors to riding on the Computrainer as I would now finish when it's dark. Right at the top is a picture DJ took when I was about halfway with my bike session and above is a picture of DJ holding Nathan, she was so excited to be able to play with him.

We had to close Eddy in the spare bedroom as he was even more excited than DJ and was all over Nathan. He was staring out the window looking for sympathy or for someone to open up for him.

Today's Training:

Gym: 50minutes, 483kcal.

Bike: 4h45, 154km, 129bpm, 3903kcal

Run: 30minutes, 5.9km, 140bpm, 473kcal

Chain Reaction

With Kim away this week, we are all taking strain and I am so busy trying to get to everything. I had to start training a little bit earlier in the mornings to be done with my training before 6am. Then it's a mad rush to prepare breakfast, have DJ's lunch box ready for school and pack my food for the day and get ready to leave before 7am to drop DJ off at school.

For the first two nights DJ slept in her own bed but on the third she came upstairs and said she can't sleep alone in her bed. I could see when I got back from work that she is not feeling well and misses Kim.

When Kim is home she sleeps in her bed alone, no problem but I think because she misses her she needed that comfort. Allowing her to join me in bed was the start of a chain reaction which caused some very uncomfortable sleeping for me, and the best of this is it will now continue until Kim gets back.

You see when DJ came to join me her poodle Dolly also joined as they are inseparable. Dolly sleeps with DJ in her bed. With Dolly now on the bed, Eddy who sleeps on a pillow beside our bed decided that if Dolly can be on top why must he be sleeping on the floor. So Eddy jumped up and joined the party and the more I tried to chase Eddy off to sleep on his pillow the more determined he became to sleep on the bed.

Eventually I gave up and let them take over. Then Kim's cat Max, who usually sleeps on the chair in our bedroom corner decided to come and have a look and see who is all these new faces in his Mommy's bed. Luckily he was chased off by Eddy and went back to his chair.

Well for the rest of the night I had less space than what I need to sleep comfortably. This whole thing continued Wednesday night and will most definitely happen tonight as well.

Training wise I am having a good week. I haven't missed one session and feel good and can feel I am making some progress. I must add that if I had to continue with this one parent lifestyle for more than a week I won't be able to get all my sessions in.

Some blister I got from this week swimming and using flippers to do some of the drills. I am now forcing myself to include at least 15 minutes of drills during my swim sessions which I did not do before. In the past I would have just jump in the pool and start doing the laps as per my training schedule.

I have some new respect for single parents training for an Ironman and also for Kim. Maybe it is a good thing to have a week like this one, to see how much she is helping me to do what I love doing.

Weeks training:

Monday:

Swim: 1h12, 3km

Bike: 1hr, 32.5km

Tuesday:

Run: 55min, 11.5km

Bike: 2hrs, 65km

Wednesday:

Swim: 1h05, 3km

Run: 1h20, 15km

Thursday:

Gym: 1h05.

Going to be a long week

This week is going to be a long week. For a start it is going to be the first week this year, in fact since middle December last year that I will be working a full week. In December it was the public holidays and in January it was first the short leave and then the Ironman70.3 that made all my weeks a three or four day week.

Secondly Kim is attending a week long training course(for her work) in another city and is only back Friday night. She drove through this afternoon as she must be there early tomorrow. It is to far for her to travel everyday and she is sleeping over. My mother is here to help but getting all the training done, getting DJ ready for school, feeding all the cats and dogs is going to be more than a hand full. If my mother's flat wasn't on the same stand as ours I think I would have had some trouble.

And then it is training that will also be hard. After IM70.3 last weeks training was not that hard but with me getting a bit "soft" and picking up some flu/cold I did not complete the whole weeks schedule.

Lucky for me it seems if the bug is something of the past and I could manage a 4 hour bike and a 30 minute run(brick) this afternoon. Funny how I could feel that I was not 100% yesterday but today when I woke up I could feel I am fine. I think resting yesterday and doing no training helped me get over it.

And as always Eddy sleeping while I train. Funny but as soon as I get out of the Aero Position or stop pedalling he jumps up and think I'm finished. Can understand when he jumps up as I stop pedalling but how he knows when I am getting out of the aero position I don't know. Will start calling him my Aero watch Dog, will thank him if I can be aero for the full IM bike route.

Amazing that it is a week since I had a beer or wine, just last week I said I am done with it until IM in April, time flies. On the eating healthy side it is also going good but with the last three days not training 100% the fat loss has been slower than expected but I am sure it will pick up again with the long hours of training coming.

O, and sorry for posting another pic of Eddy but I couldn't resist. This is the Jersey he got from Nina when we stayed with them in LA. It is still a bit big but will be ready for winter, amazing how quickly he is growing.

Well that's it for now, DJ standing next to Pc and keep asking me when am I finished, I must come and watch Tv with her.

Today's training:

Bike: 4hrs, 129km, 135bpm, 3722kcal

Run: 30min, 5.7km, 142bpm, 499kcal

I can feel It's Coming.

First let me just share with you the mess Eddy created yesterday when we arrived back from work. He can now reach the Toiler roll holder and destroyed the roll. He is so active and naughty but if you look at the picture below how can you get cross with him.

This morning Kim wanted to assault him as he chewed her one shoe to pieces as she left it next to the bed when she got ready to go to work. She went downstairs to have breakfast and help DJ get ready and when she came back he was having a ball with the shoe. Thanks Eddy, you cost me a new pair of shoes.

Getting back to the post heading I can feel that I am busy getting sick. Knowing my body I can feel the lack of energy, the headache, the stuffy nose in the morning, the signs are just there. It started yesterday morning as I woke up, I could immediatly feel that I am not 100%. I still did my Gym session but started feeling worse as the day went by.

Last night I was suppose to do a 90 minute Tempo bike but could only manage 30minutes. I started getting dizzy and didn't feel to well. I decided to rather stop than push through and do more damage than good, there is still plenty of training time left.

This morning I felt better and went for my run but as the day progressed I started feeling bad again. I didn't want to go to the doctor yet and bought some flu medicine at the chemist. Tonight was suppose to be my swim speed workout but I gave it a miss.

I will see how I feel in the morning and will decide if I am going to do my long bike or rather rest and recover to have a good week next week.

The past weekends IM70.3 and maybe the stomach bug on Friday night was just too much for the body and maybe it triggered the flu. Add all the germs that is floating around in airports and you are almost guaranteed to pick up something.

Glad the first part of the weeks training was spot on and I could manage all my sessions.

I had a look at my training totals during last years IMSA training and the totals for Hawaii's training block and I couldn't believe it but I am ahead of schedule compared to IMSA and just a little bit behind the Hawaii schedule but only just. So I am not that worried as I thought I was way behind.

The weight is also moving in the right direction and I am closer to my race weight than a week ago. Since Monday I've stopped drinking Beer and Wine and will be off the Beer and Wine until IMSA and I am also cutting out the chocolate and sweets. Having gels and Mars bars on my long bike rides will be my treat for the week. I am doing good so far this week although it's early days and there is still 12 weeks to go.

Wednesday's Training:

Swim: 47min, 2km

Bike: 1hr, 33km, 835kcal, 127bpm

Thursday's Training:

Gym: 1h12, 594kcal

Bike: 30min, 17km, 394kcal

Friday's Training:

Run: 30min, 5.8km, 443kcal, 129bpm

Sleeping on the Job

On Monday morning as we waited at the airport to board our flight back to Johannesburg I saw this employee of the Airport Company sleeping in the departure hall. At first I thought it was very funny but later I was upset about it.



The wheelchair he is sleeping in is not his and he is not paralyzed. It is one of the wheelchairs they use to assist passengers!



Now I don't know about you but I have never slept at work while I was suppose to work. I go to work to work and go home to sleep. Never mind sleeping at work but to do it in front of your customers!



What is even worse is that we as passengers are customers of the Airlines and of the Airport Company. Now have you ever slept in front of 300 customers?



A lot of passengers were foreigners and I heard people speaking German and even the guy in the tiny tight Pink short of which I posted a picture of on Twitter was Italian and visitors to our Country. I know that because I could hear the air hostess when she talked to them on the plane.



Now everybody is going on about the Soccer World Cup that is starting in June. With this guy sleeping while he is on duty it is definitely not sending out the right message to those foreign visitors to our lovely country.



When we walked through the door to board the plane after a 30 minute delay he leisurely stretched and slowly stood up and walked to the other side of the hall. In total he was sleeping for more than a hour from just after 11am to about 12:30pm while we waited to board the plane. Wonder if he went back to his Wheelchair and slept further later the day as it was just before 1pm when we boarded the plane.



I know this has got nothing to do with Ironman but I just felt like sharing it with someone.