its certainly interesting

it really is interesting having a new baby in the house. i just got back from my interval ( get my ass kicked ) session with some of my club mates and was told a story by my wife.

naturally it was about little baby Kiera. basically what happened was that it was feeding time, and that is basically the only time that she gets a bit cranky. anyway, kiera basically thought it was the end of the world. she was crying her eyes out and screaming her lungs out. so mommy got her bottle as quickly as she could, got her all comfortable and started feeding her.

withing about 5 minutes and 1.5 oz she was done and passed out. it was really funny as i came in and was watching jennifer do her absolute best to try and wake kiera up. making noises, tickling her, whatever it took. but all in vain. kiera looked as if she was drunk and was out like a light.

it was funny listening to jennifer talking to her asking what all the pre-feeding fuss was all about. it was if the world was ending, she said. kiera doesnt normally actually cry unless she is really pissed. all it took, was just a little 1.5 oz sip and she was satisfied. luckily after a few farts and a few burps. she woke herself up and polished off another 3 oz and everybody was happy.

on another note, i went out for my weekend interval training session with some of my club mates. ( yes the ones that kick my ass ) we had a really good ride. temp was about 60 and there was a 10mph wind.

all went well, i took it a bit easier during the week so it wasn't as bad as last weekend. i managed to keep up with them to about the midway point of the hills and to my surprise actually passed one of the guys on one of the hills. everybody was surprised and congratulated me at the top of the hill. needless to say that hill took a lot of steam out of me and i struggled the last few hills. it was a lot of fun though and they invited me back again and told me to keep on coming out.

i am going to try to make it as it can only be good for me. everybody should try to get interval training into their schedule so that they can improve their cycling.

great podcast

i listened to a really good podcast today, you guys should check it out.

here is the website, have a look. http://www.zentriathlon.com/

jason

valuable lessons learnt this morning

Learnt some very valuable lessons today on my morning ride. the basics of the situation are that i went on a 30 mile ride this morning with some guys that my tri club coach said will help me pick up some speed as they are pretty quick riders. Turns out she was right. You know that you are in trouble when you are doing 28mph going down a hill and they are leaving you in their dust. Lucky for me that was the only downhill that they did that to me, but it was more the uphills that were the problem.

So you might be asking about those lessons and basically i have an idea that i would like to Complete a 70.3 distance bike leg at 21mph. if the conditions are good for speed that would probably put me in the top 10. Naturally i would have to kill in the swim and run as well. As i am not running at the moment i am concentrating on my swim and bike training.

So the lessons would be that i have a long way to go. I definitely need to work on my leg strength as i sucked on the hills. I dont think it was to bad though as we were slowed down by a few traffic lights and we still finished the 30 odd miles at 19mph. It is great interval training though riding with them as you are pretty much sprinting at 20/25mph on the flat sections and they were probably averaging 15/20 mph up the hills. me on the other hand was probably averaging 10/15mph up those same hills.

The fact that i had a big gym workout on wednesday and did 57 miles on thursday probably didn’t help me any either. Thats what im telling myself anyway. So for the weeks to come im going to try and get into the gym as much as possible and work on strengthening my legs. if i can get 100 miles in on the bike a week would also be great and i definitely want to join the speedsters on the weekend for interval training.

ive got a lot of work to do, got my body fat down to 16.8 % and want to get my diet back in check as well. During the wife's pregnancy we let that slip a little and we are getting back into our routine of eating. I thought it was pretty funny, we were filling out the baby book last week and there is a section in it where you fill in how much weight daddy put ON during the pregnancy, lucky for me we had to scratch out PUT ON and fill in LOST and it turned out to be 10 pounds......

what motivates you

Day off

So i have taken the day off today. had a pretty good workout week. did my 56 mile ride last week thursday. it was really, really cold. stopped off at a bike shop and bought some full finger gloves. i decided that i might have to get some full boot covers as the toe cover warmers only seemed to work about 2 hours. after that my toes got freezing cold.

The weather was rather crummy on sunday so i went off to the gym and spent some quality time with the rowing machine. Fitness guru Ben Greenfield has studied the quality of the workout you get and apparently it is the second best calorie burn that you can possibly get in a gym, second only to the treadmill with an incline.

i used to row in school so i am actually a big fan of the rowing machine. depending on your intensity you can burn upwards of 1000 calories an hour on the rowing machine. As for me and my intensity i was burning around 750 calories an hour and seen as i was on the rowing machine for 75 minutes i burnt about 950 calories.

Monday morning my shoulders were a bit sore, but i definitely felt like i had a good workout. Monday morning i also went to the physiotherapist again. i am still working on getting my knee sorted out. I have an ACL sprain and am working with Shane at Edge Physical therapy in Frisco to get it sorted out. With the help of his Alter-g anti gravity treadmill i have been able to start running again. i have been running 3.1 miles at 65 % of my body weight and will increase my body weight as time goes by.

We seem to be making some progress with my business. Its taken some time but are finally getting things sorted out now. hopefully before to long i will be able to start making some money and if all goes well we will be able to send Kiera to daycare come january. stay tuned for details.

Kiera is really doing well. She is getting so big now, almost 11 pounds i think. It sure has been a life changer having her around. Jennifer is also doing well. She has started going to the gym, doing some light cardio and today was her first day to have her bodybugg back on. i think she is ready to get the last of her baby weight off.

56 miles, alone and 40 degrees

So had an awesome 56 mile ride this morning and thought i would share some of it with you.

So the plan was to meet up with some friends this morning but when i woke up i had a text message that one of them was ill and the other couldnt make it either so i had to make the decision if i was still going to go or not. something else i had to contend with was the knowledge that it would be a high of 45 degrees today.

So i made the decision to go out anyway and packed my stuff into the car. Took my bike off the trainer and hooked it to the back of the car. felt pretty good that i would be warm enough as i had the woolen socks on and another pair over them as well. i had recently bought a pair of toe covers for my shoes as well so i was all set to go.

i got down to the parking lot from where i ride and got all set up. at this stage my car was telling me that it was 37 degrees and was a little concerned that there might be a bit of ice around as it was snowing and raining yesterday and i had a lot of shady areas to ride through and was sure there would be a few puddles around.

the ride:

the ride started off pretty well although it was cold and passed a few icy puddles but only saw them on the grass and didn't come across any ice on the pathway i was riding on. right away i knew i would have an issue with my fingers as i don't have proper winter gloves yet and was riding in my normal fingerless gloves. they were freezing right from when i started and i wished i could stick them in a pocket or something, naturally i couldn't as i was doing 20mph and was on a narrow little pathway that was swerving around trees and stuff. luckily for me near the lake i ride around is a store called richardson bike mart and i whipped out my phone to find directions to it and stopped by and bought some nice full finger gloves that definitely made my ride more comfortable.

the mind plays funny tricks on you when you are involved in endurance events like this and its difficult to explain to normal people ( as we are not normal ) exactly how tough it really is.

for example, at mile 12 i was telling myself thats its really cold outside and no-one will blame me for only doing 25 miles today as apposed to the planned 56 and it would be pretty easy for me to go back to my car. lucky for me i fought through that and kept riding. at mile 25 it came back and i told myself surely 30 miles would be enough for today and i could do the rest on he trainer at home. then i reminded myself that with the wife and kid at home, that would never happen. so i fought through that and carried on riding. it was about this time that the wind picked up a little bit and my feet started getting cold.

mile 30 - 40 really went well and my legs felt strong and then i remembered at 40 that i still had 16 miles left to go before i was finished. i dont care who you are but thats enough to take the wind out of anybodies sails. 40 - 50 was ok and it was the last time up the 3 hills that hug the west side of the lake. i have just recently discovered them and am planning on getting to know them a lot better over the next year.

mile 50 was when i hit my wall. my legs were DONE. i found it funny that once again, the last 10 miles of my ride were marred by a 100mph headwind. why does it always happen to me.

im sure it wasnt quite 100mph but after 50 miles it sure did feel like it. if anyone is planning on doing i ride of this distance there are a few things you need to remember to take into consideration.

a: weather, be sure to be warm enough or cool enough, if its hot outside.

b: nutrition, find what works for you. try different types of stuff. Gu gives me stomach cramps at about 2 hours so i've changed to hammer gel now and it seems to be working really well for me.

c: water, remember u should be drinking about a bottle of water an hour, probably more in the summer when you sweat a lot. try not to drink to much as you will have to stop and pee if you have to much.

d: equipment, you are going a long way from home or your car, take your phone and wallet with u incase you might need them. i'm sure i don't need to tell you about flat tire kit. also tell someone where you are going and what time to expect you back. even better ride with someone else. you can never be to safe.

all in all, i had a great ride. its the first time i did that distance all by myself and physically, as well as mentally, it was really tough and goes a long way towards gaining 70.3 experience. which is what im training for next year.

i am setting up a little website as well to give people a better idea as to what it takes to compete in triathlon and im also hoping to sell some nutrition etc on it to help me fund my new triathlon habit.

please have a look at it, even though its still under construction in a few areas and feel free to give me some ideas as to how i can make it better. if you think its crap, you can tell me that as well.

http://tinyurl.com/yd55exm

happy training

jason

madiba

hey guys, i know its been a while.

i just watched an interview on tv with morgan freeman about his role as nelson mandela in the new movie invictus.

its a weird feeling to see a movie made about a huge event that affected your life in such a way. i was born in south africa and was a part of the massive transformation that took place in south africa in the mid 90's. Nelson really did an incredible thing in transforming south africa into what it is today.

Its a pity to hear stories about how crime and poverty are destroying a country that has so much promise.