Merry Christmas! XOXO!

It twas the night before Christmas.......

Ironman Florida on TV!

Just watched IMFL on tv....thought they did a pretty good job with the coverage of the race and top pro's that day. I'm glad they once again mentioned Nina Krafts bad drug habits...her decision to use drugs shall haunt her forever...
Was really happy to see Sergio looking fantastic...which they showed him more! What a great run he had!
Listened to my kids saying every two minutes...is that you..is that you!!!!
I need to work hard on my swim this winter so I can get out on the bike and get some film coverage. My kids are starting to think I don't really do these races!

I'm in Florida for a few days...just hanging out with some friends. Went out last night,and stayed out way to late. I now know that I can't really balance the two as when I got a wake up call this morning to go swim...I desperately wanted to ignore it. Dragged myself out of bed and got the work done...but was not easy.
Home tomorrow...I need to get back on my schedule!

Whats up with the airlines????

I just opened up my bike case. It had been sitting in my garage since IMFL and I decided I really needed to do some trainer work. Well I am furious as once again the airlines are just totally out of hand. They really do not care that you are travelling with a 5000 dollar bike. They had obviously taken my bike out of the box to check for CO2's and never clamped my bike down again. I have one of those large travel cases from Multisports. My bike was just sitting there flopping all around. Well the whole one side of it has had its paint all taken off and it has 3 big chips in the frame. I had covered the bike with a towel and put padding in...it was all taken off. It is bad enough that we now have to pay $300 per flight to travel with our bikes but they treat your bike like S**T. The last time I flew with Delta they charged me over weight. The new rules are 50 pounds...the bike box almost ways that!) They then charged me over size too and another 50 for travelling with a bike! Ridiculous!I am going to have to start shipping my bike.
Well I sent them a letter today...we'll see what they have to say!

18 weeks and counting down!

Well I've been working on my projected race plan for 2008. I am definitely planning on an early season Ironman, as I feel I would like to get a jump start on the season. I have strong thoughts of going back to South Africa and racing in my home country where I was born. I did this race two years ago and I loved it,despite the fact that it was super windy. It was an extremely long choppy one loop swim course. It poured with rain as I entered T1. I stood in the rain 5 miles into my bike and tried for 20 minutes to change a brand new zipp tubular as hundreds of people road by me. I then rode with only half a co2 in my tire for 110 miles. I loved the 3 loop run course although the whole way people were braiing. The smell of boerewors
(South African sausage)cooking was a bit overwhelming after 10 hours of racing,especially when I was start to really feel the lack of nutrition and you craving salt. Instead I was salivating over the thought of eating a boerewors roll which I hadn't had in a few years! My mom and sister had flown in from Durbs to support me andhelp me with Sydney, my daughter who travelled with me. They had never seen me race, so it was an amazing experience to be there. It was special to me as it was my first pro race too and I qualified there for Hawaii!!!!So as I have not been back home to visit my family and friends since then, it sounds like a great excuse to go home. Another thing that is tough about this race is the time change. They are seven hours ahead of the USA so you really start the race around midnight if you don't have enough time to get adjusted to the time difference. This too can be rather draining I definitely recommend at least being there 10 days prior ifyouare thinking of doing this race.
My other option is Ironman Arizona which is also April 15th. This race would be a much easier option for me. I have never done but I hear it can be hot and windy. I've seen the course and it does not look very exciting but I do have a few friends from the Jersey Shore doing it,(Chris,Tom,Big Mike,Jamie) so it would be fun. The whole HTFU team(Paulo,Jonnyo,Mariana, Will Ronco,Zach Ruble and Miranda) will probably be there too....double fun! I do not need to make up my mind yet so I shall see how the next few months go. This shall be a tough decision!
No matter what I decide it is never easy training for an early Ironman in New Jersey. The cold icy snowy rainy days are never inspiring. I shall do my best to get out on my road bike whenever it is sunny and 40 degrees. I shall ride my mountain bike when its 39 and below and I shall ride the trainer when its icy,snowing or raining. I too shall make two winter training trips to Las Cruces New Mexico to try get some solid warm training days in before Ironman.
Well I am yet to unpack my bike from Ironman Florida so it is time to get motivated and do so. Here goes I have 18 weeks and counting....to Ironman!

Goodbye Team Timex!

Well I have not written in a few days as I got the very sad email from Ben that they had made the decision not to renew my contract with the Timex Team. Well as everyone knows in the triathlon world sponsorship deals close as of Dec 1st. Hence I have been scrambling to organize my future year. I was not totally surprised by this decision as my results have not been stellar this year due to all my injuries. But still I could not help but feel like I had just had my heart broken. My first reaction was but why? Well, I do understand it is a business and they need the best athletes to bring attention to their team. It is so tough when you are a dedicated athlete working so hard to get results and then you feel like you aren't good enough. Well this is only my second year as a professional in this sport and it is a learning curve for sure. I am realizing that this is not only a commitment to the training of the sport but you have to treat your sponsorship end as a business too. I am new to all this and I too shall learn from this.

I had a great time being a part of the Timex Team and I really enjoyed the friends I have made. They were a very supportive group that always got me what I needed. It was great to have the home base at all the races and a great mechanic Doug to work on my bike. This I will miss! I am working on my new sponsors for next year this week so I shall write soon.
So expect to see me in a new look for next year!

Back in training!

It's one month since Ironman Florida and I am back to a training schedule as of Monday. However last week in fear of the fact that I did very little at all for three weeks, I panicked and I actually got a solid 18 hours of fun training in with no real schedule.

My week of play included mountain biking 5 days...It always takes me a few days to get back into mountain bike shape. The guys that I ride with like to hammer in the woods, which for me means, biking all out,anaerobic for 2 hours. So last week was great as I either biked by myself or with my good friend Chris who had just got a fixed gear mountain bike. We spent some time jumping logs and just enjoying the woods and riding comfortably. Saterday was a great social ride with a few old friends coming out to join in the fun. It's been a grea week of mountain biking.
I too put in 4 days of swimming....My good friend and loyal swimming partner Maggie and I joined a friend who was preparing for a big meet. We jumped into her workouts. This put me straight back into the heart of swim training. My first swim day I was adamant that I was just going to take it nice and easy. After watching them for one day pushing all out in the lane next to me I was done. I had to join them. My new secret weapon for this winter was I wanted to work on my stroke. I am a retard when it comes to swimming anything other than free so I expressed this to my masters swim coach. He gave me a beautiful 10 x 100's IM set that almost killed me. After a week of fly sets my arms are exhausted but I am already feeling a little stronger.
Lastly I got a few good runs in. I shall be very weary of trail running this year as it was around January last year that I tripped on a root in the woods and all out football tackled a tree, dislocating my shoulder. It cost me 4 weeks in PT. So this week I gingerly ran in the woods a few times running with higher than usual knees. I too got a really solid 10 miles on Sunday...which I was not planning on doing. I had considered a local race down here called the reindeer romp that has a nice party after which I thought would be fun. The thought of trying to run all out for a 5 km was something I was not ready for. So instead my 7 mile run turned into a tempo ten miler that was quite enjoyable and I felt pretty strong.
So as Monday rolled along I was fully prepared for my first day back.

Its great to be back on a schedule. Every year my commitment to the sport grows. I am so ready to train as I want this year more than anything to succeed! I believe I can get the results I want and I am not afraid to work hard for it!