Monday, October 31, 2005
Round 2...Ding!!!
First the proof
I set myself a goal of 1:20 for the second triathlon. A bit ambitious, about 17 minutes more would have been more accurate. It was hectic. The swim was....well far, and cold... Water temperature was about 18 degrees celcius. That caused my heart rate to jump, to maintain the heart rate I needed more air and every bit of training in the gym went out the door. My only desire was to survive. Needless to say the swim nearly killed me (literally), all the fitness in the world wouldn't help, experience was severely lacking. In the swim the most important is the breathing, if you do not control your breathing long distance swimming is nearly impossible. I was gasping for air all the way, as a result all the technique was changed from proper swimming to doggy paddle. This ensured that I used lots more energy than what I originally budgeted. Stop think... Well here is news, you cannot stop to recover, as there are people all around you doing more or less the same amount of suffering. Everyone is moving and if you stop you have lots of people swimming into you so you get smacked from all sides. Luckily I made it... (otherwise I would not be writing this)
The cycle leg went a lot better, I caught lots of people on the cycle, some people event tried to stay in my slip stream. They disappeared... I really felt that I made some good time. I now declare it my strongest event ;)
I changed onto my running shoes and went out for the 5km run... Legs felt like jello/y... After about 1km I settled into my rhythm, (running till my heart rate peaks and then walking so my body can recover). Only a couple of strong runners passed me, I made sure that I kept up with other people that started round about the same time I did.
1:37 was the final time. Place 735 out of 1100 (roughly) that also includes teams. Not all that impressive, but not last either. I guess it sets a good target for next time. The next one I am doing is 27 November at Potchefstroom, I might as well make a weekend out of it. It took me 9 hours to recover, ate lots of food and slept... It was good!
The next couple of weeks I also want to go do some wake boarding... I found some pictures on the net of people that went wake boarding... It is somewhere in Midrand called "Leisure Lakes", wherever that is. If you know where please let me know. They have a cable system so no boat required. Now I only need to find the damn place. link here another here
This weekend I also tried something new. Horse riding. I have some pictures... I will post them asap. Everyone told me I would be stiff from the exercise, I was in pain during the ride, but soon afterwards I recovered. I have to admit that I have a couple of muscles(newly discovered ones) that definitely provide proof. Nothing serious though, maybe I am just so use to being in pain from all the exercise. Horse riding was fun, I am still amazed how the horse actually figures out what I want and then responds. Oh well, the hose also improvised... going through the ditch was not part of what I wanted, but proved to be great fun. So maybe it was part of what I was thinking in the back of my mind... Secretly I think that horses might have the ability to read minds.;)
I set myself a goal of 1:20 for the second triathlon. A bit ambitious, about 17 minutes more would have been more accurate. It was hectic. The swim was....well far, and cold... Water temperature was about 18 degrees celcius. That caused my heart rate to jump, to maintain the heart rate I needed more air and every bit of training in the gym went out the door. My only desire was to survive. Needless to say the swim nearly killed me (literally), all the fitness in the world wouldn't help, experience was severely lacking. In the swim the most important is the breathing, if you do not control your breathing long distance swimming is nearly impossible. I was gasping for air all the way, as a result all the technique was changed from proper swimming to doggy paddle. This ensured that I used lots more energy than what I originally budgeted. Stop think... Well here is news, you cannot stop to recover, as there are people all around you doing more or less the same amount of suffering. Everyone is moving and if you stop you have lots of people swimming into you so you get smacked from all sides. Luckily I made it... (otherwise I would not be writing this)
The cycle leg went a lot better, I caught lots of people on the cycle, some people event tried to stay in my slip stream. They disappeared... I really felt that I made some good time. I now declare it my strongest event ;)
I changed onto my running shoes and went out for the 5km run... Legs felt like jello/y... After about 1km I settled into my rhythm, (running till my heart rate peaks and then walking so my body can recover). Only a couple of strong runners passed me, I made sure that I kept up with other people that started round about the same time I did.
1:37 was the final time. Place 735 out of 1100 (roughly) that also includes teams. Not all that impressive, but not last either. I guess it sets a good target for next time. The next one I am doing is 27 November at Potchefstroom, I might as well make a weekend out of it. It took me 9 hours to recover, ate lots of food and slept... It was good!
The next couple of weeks I also want to go do some wake boarding... I found some pictures on the net of people that went wake boarding... It is somewhere in Midrand called "Leisure Lakes", wherever that is. If you know where please let me know. They have a cable system so no boat required. Now I only need to find the damn place. link here another here
This weekend I also tried something new. Horse riding. I have some pictures... I will post them asap. Everyone told me I would be stiff from the exercise, I was in pain during the ride, but soon afterwards I recovered. I have to admit that I have a couple of muscles(newly discovered ones) that definitely provide proof. Nothing serious though, maybe I am just so use to being in pain from all the exercise. Horse riding was fun, I am still amazed how the horse actually figures out what I want and then responds. Oh well, the hose also improvised... going through the ditch was not part of what I wanted, but proved to be great fun. So maybe it was part of what I was thinking in the back of my mind... Secretly I think that horses might have the ability to read minds.;)
Sunday, October 09, 2005
Pain and suffering... so worth it!
Before I forget, woodstock never happened, well it did, but I wasn't there, it was the same weekend as the triathlon. So I decided to rather detox and focus on surviving the triathlon.
Roy injured some muscles in his leg, so the Friday when I registered for the event he decided to chicken out. I was going to suffer alone, no, technically I am sure there were going to be lots of people signing up sharing the suffering.
I was convinced it started at 10, so I rocket up 9:15... Well I was wrong. It started at 9, oh well, I got to the water around 9:25 and started swimming, but they already started removing the markers in the water, so I decided to jippo the swim, I did between 200m and 300m, I turned around and followed the last swimmer. I was one of the last people getting out of the water. I used to be a cyclist so the next event should in theory be my best event. There was a fairly strong wind so I struggled, but I did catch up to a lot of people. Getting back into the complex I got a puncture, so I ended up running with my bike the last 50m, next was the run... To tell the truth, my legs were feeling like jelly, all wobbly and saw. I ran about half of the distance, alternating between running and walking. I remember the feeling when I saw the 1KM mark, shocked that I still had 4KM to go. Here is my proof of finishing , look at position no 939.
That afternoon the legs were a bit saw, but I felt pretty good considering the distance I covered. The next day(Monday) I went back to the gym, and the Tuesday I ran another 5KM, Wednesday I swam 42 lengths, a bit more than 1KM, (1050m to be exact). I am getting close to the level of fitness I was when I was still cycling. It is hard to explain but your body puts you on a natural high, to tell the truth I am feeling great! I guess that is why people call me a fitness junkie.
Next triathlon is the end of the month, in Germiston Johannesburg. I am looking forward to it, this time I will be in time. I estimated that I should be able to finish in 1:20 at least. We will see if I can make that time.
Roy injured some muscles in his leg, so the Friday when I registered for the event he decided to chicken out. I was going to suffer alone, no, technically I am sure there were going to be lots of people signing up sharing the suffering.
I was convinced it started at 10, so I rocket up 9:15... Well I was wrong. It started at 9, oh well, I got to the water around 9:25 and started swimming, but they already started removing the markers in the water, so I decided to jippo the swim, I did between 200m and 300m, I turned around and followed the last swimmer. I was one of the last people getting out of the water. I used to be a cyclist so the next event should in theory be my best event. There was a fairly strong wind so I struggled, but I did catch up to a lot of people. Getting back into the complex I got a puncture, so I ended up running with my bike the last 50m, next was the run... To tell the truth, my legs were feeling like jelly, all wobbly and saw. I ran about half of the distance, alternating between running and walking. I remember the feeling when I saw the 1KM mark, shocked that I still had 4KM to go. Here is my proof of finishing , look at position no 939.
That afternoon the legs were a bit saw, but I felt pretty good considering the distance I covered. The next day(Monday) I went back to the gym, and the Tuesday I ran another 5KM, Wednesday I swam 42 lengths, a bit more than 1KM, (1050m to be exact). I am getting close to the level of fitness I was when I was still cycling. It is hard to explain but your body puts you on a natural high, to tell the truth I am feeling great! I guess that is why people call me a fitness junkie.
Next triathlon is the end of the month, in Germiston Johannesburg. I am looking forward to it, this time I will be in time. I estimated that I should be able to finish in 1:20 at least. We will see if I can make that time.
