Hurricane Bill at the Jersey Shore

Figures when the waves are finally fun to play in...(South African Style )...they won't allow us to swim! :-(





Look at the size of the foamy behind Sydney and I

Proud to be an American!

After 17 years of living in the USA I decided it was time to make it official. So when I got back from racing Ironman South Africa I started the process rolling and sent in my paperwork for Naturalization.
Thursday was the BIG day and all week I tested everyone I came into contact with on their knowledge of the government and American History. I was amused as most Americans don't know their government as well as they should and don't remember the history of it either. So thanks to all who let me quiz them and all that helped me study! I headed to Mt Laurel NJ for my Immigration Interview and test. I took little Sydney with me as my good luck charm.
The process went easier than I expected. The interview went great and the test was short...so short that after 6 correct answers he told me I had passed.
For all who are curious the questions were...
1. Who is the current Chief Justice of the Supreme court?
2. How many voting members are in the house of representatives?
3. For how long do we elect each Senator?
4. Which President is called the "Father of our country"?
5. What month do we vote for the President?
6. Name 2 wars in the 1900's?

I then got to read and write in English and had a few more questions to answer and I was done!!! I was told to come back in 5 hours to be sworn in! Wow, I was not expecting that. So Sydney and I drove back to the shore, so I could get a bike trainer workout in and to pick up Hank and Tanner and then we all drove back to Immigration so I could take the Oath and get sworn in! We got to watch a video of President Obama welcoming all 46 of us to America and that was it. I became American!
Thanks to all of you that sent me nice messages. It is exciting and a big deal for me. For the last few years I was always torn between racing as a South African or as an American. I was allowed to race on the American Team as I have lived here for so many years. Coach Paulo would always laugh when I would ask him what I should put down on my race entries. He would tell my it's my choice. I was always torn. So there will be no more RSA's in front of my name in racing anymore. But I will always be South African in my heart!

Nutrition Focus

I was very excited to receive my order of food from veggiebrothers.com today. They are a New Jersey based company that makes healthy gourmet vegetarian cuisine that does not harm animals, the enviroment or themselves. It is all organic and I ordered the sampler which included a few vegetable soups,grilled mahi mahi steaks( made from soy fish), crab cakes (made from tofu),vegetarian flank steaks,manchurian pepper steaks, meatballs(made from vegetarian ground beef), and soy chicken cacciatore.
There were even some healthy soy chicken nuggets and hot wings for the kids.
They offer breakfast and lunch options too.

I look forward to trying these all out.
I had read Brendan Braziers "Thrive" book who wrote about the Vegan guide to Optimal Performance in Sports and Life. His plant based diet describes the benefits as lowering body fat and increasing muscle tone,sleeping better and more restfully,increasing energy and mental clarity and building a stronger immune system to name a few.

While my training is lower I will try this plant based way of eating and see how my body responds to it and how my energy levels are while working out.

New Race Plan

Well, alot of people having been asking me where I am going to be racing next! After me racing three Ironman back to back last year it seemed the obvious choice for many was that I would go race Ironman Canada or go back to Louisville to try get a spot for Hawaii. This always sounds like a great idea but it is very hard on the body and it may not always work out like it did last year. I felt very bad in Louisville last year and it was a struggle the whole run as my legs were still fatigued from IMLP and the 100 degree heat did not help either. It was a good lesson in mental toughness though. Coach Paulo was definitely against me racing and had suggested I wait a few more weeks and possibly do Ironman Wisconsin. I would have loved this but my son has been working hard for his own big event. I shall be proudly watching as he tests for his black belt that weekend.

So I have decided to go race the new Georgia 70.3,the last week of September and then head down to race Ironman Florida in November. I am not a big fan of the drafting that goes on in Florida but I shall be more prepared mentally for it this year. This is a good course for me as most of my training is done in the flats. I am 11 weeks out so this will give me plenty of time to continue gaining fitness,work on my running and get my nutrition dialed in.

I shall definitely miss racing in Kona this year but I will be cheering on all my friends from here in New Jersey.

Some photos from Ironman Lake Placid

Happy to be finished!

Focused!

Yes, it was a mistake wearing that black shirt...but I was nice and warm!

Swim start




The spectators through this section were great!