Lactic-Haze

Some folks asked me how the blisters are healing and why I haven’t started running again. As they say, a picture speaks a thousand words, so here is a pic of my one foot where the skin is now healing nicely. I’m hoping to start riding again this weekend, and once I have healed feet, I’ll start running again.

I finally got around to having the IronMan South Africa finishing picture scanned. Slow, but I made it!

We drove up to Port Elizabeth on Thursday 22nd April, and then pre-swam the course on Friday 23rd. Saturday the 24th was a easy 1hr bike ride and then it was bike racking, transition bag packing and the race briefing.

Sunday morning was ‘go!’ time. We got to the beach fairly early, and once my gf and the little one found a place on the pier I wandered down to the gathering area and changed in to my wetsuit. The Urban Ninja walked over and wished me luck, (thanks bud) and then it was off to the beach. I lined up in the 90min area, not being the strongest swimmer and waited. National anthem was sung, and the cannon went “BOOM!”

Waited 15 seconds and walked in and started swimming. All went well, if a bit rough, and I was suddenly glad for the heavy swells I swam in Cape Town. My goggles fogged a bit up but it was manageable, and the first lap felt longer than I thought. Exited and looked at the Garmin, 43mins…woop! Second lap was more eventful as a Vaalie grabbed me when a wave dunked him a bit, but we laughed and I got out of the water at just over 1.5hrs. Exactly as planned and I was in to transition.

Grabbed my bag, emptied it and started changing. One of the friendly volunteers helped me and 7mins later I was out on the bike course. First lap went well, and I started passing riders from the get-go. I caught up to Brendan (one of my training buddies) and cycled with him for a bit trying not to break the rules of drafting. Close to the end of the first lap I said goodbye to him and put some pain down. Second lap went really well, and then I stopped for a quick kiss from the gf before doing my 3rd lap. Towards the end of the third lap I started getting a bit tired of the riding, and thinking about the marathon ahead. A full marathon. Fsck… Total riding time was 5h55min, only about 10mins slower than I wanted but I felt really good. This was also the last time on the day I was to feel good.

A friendly volunteer grabbed my bike and I grabbed my transition bag and a lady helped me go from cycling kit to running kit. Exit the transition area and felt a stitch on the right side. Couldn’t run. I walked trying to get rid of it, and saw my physio cheering next to the road. She nearly hugged me to death when she recognized me!! Some advice and the stitch slowly went away as I tried to keep going. Brendan caught me and we ran the first University section together, before my feet really started aching. They were becoming inflamed and I didn’t know why.

Run lap two went slow…very slow. I was walking, trying to keep around 9min/km but the pain was hectic and my mood took a dive. Not even half way, and what had started as a really good day had gone very bad very quickly! I stopped at my little support group, and my gf had phoned my coach asking for advice. I lay down and did some stretches, but it didn’t seem to help. I was in for a long day!

Not even 21km done and the thoughts of quitting entered my mind. Going through the University section I took two Myprodols and the edge went off the pain, and I walked, but now at 12mins/km. I felt sorry, not for myself, but for my dad, my step-mom, my gf, her daughter and my best mate who were all waiting for me. I was going so slow and wasting their time. I passed the 28km mark and shouted at Francois Ashton with his mic, saying “don’t allow me to quit!” Last lap, and I was back to walking at 9mins/km, walking on the outside of my feet. I had found some other people to walk with and the chatting helped with the pain. As I came past Francois Ashton I had regained some sense of humour (after hearing Jack Parow’s – Cooler As Ekke) I shouted “next time I see you, I’m going down the other chute!”. University dark zone came and I walked and walked and walked. The blister on my left foot popped, and it was now raw meat on raw meat rubbing. I hobbled, I grimaced. I was not quitting. Other athletes came past me asking if I was ok, said words of encouragement and motivated me. I saw the first big banner, walked past Franchois Ashton and got a big handshake from him as he got the crowd to cheer for me. I managed a hobble and saw my girlfriend and the little one waiting for me. They had waited all day and all evening. She gave me a huge kiss as I got there and said “you want us to go with you?” I said “yeah of course!” They had been there the whole day. They dealt with my mood swings and fatigue for the last six months. It was only fair I take them with me the last few steps!

You can see me crossing the line in this video (click the link!) In 14h36m47sec I finished IronMan South Africa. I got the medal, I got the t-shirt and I got the certificate!

Unfortunately my day was not over. As I went to the line to collect my bike and transition bags I collapsed shaking. 15mins later I was in an ambulance off to the medical tent. Diagnoses was hypothermia. While in the tent being warmed with space blankets and a heater the doctor also had a look at my feet. They drained the blisters, put some padding etc on and eventually I got home at 1am.  Opened some cheap JC Le Roux, drank two glasses and slept! I was an IronMan.

…but I have unfinished business in P.E with that marathon…

Monday night I pulled off a 4km swim in the gym pool without any pull buoy aid or wetsuit. It’s a small 25meter pool, so it was 160 laps. Took me 1h46minutes. On IM day I can subtract 10% of that, because you’re being pulled along with the rest of the people in the water, you’re swimming in salt water and you’re wearing a wetsuit. I’m hoping for a 1h30m swim at IM, so this is right on the button.

Then I’ll be trying to do IronMan South Africa. It’s been a long journey, and a interesting one. This weekend was the last hard weekend. Saturday I went for a little ride with the boys. The idea was just to head to Hout Bay and return, with a stop for breakfast somewhere. I brought out the tri-bike again, since Olympic Cycles managed to true my rear wheel (much kudus and brand plus to them for it!), and found it it was not the right bike selection for the day. The boys decided to make it a harder day, so we climbed Kloof Nek, Llundudno, Chapmans Peak, had breakfast in Noordhoek, and then went up Ou Kaapse Weg, turned around and went back over Chapmans Peak again, over Suikerbossie and back home. Gavin and myself stopped for another cup of coffee at Paddocks before saying goodbye and I went home, with 4.5hrs in the legs and my last long training ride before IM done and dusted. The legs felt good!

Sunday morning I varied the program a bit, and we slept in. Woke up only at 8am, and then headed down to small bay at the Ons Huisie restaurant where I met some other IM people for a open water swim. My other half met a friend for breakfast so she wouldn’t be bored out of her skull while we swam 1.5km in the sea, then transitioned in to a 10.5km run. I felt good during the swim and the run so now just to carry some sort of form through to IM. Good times!

After the little gastro incident the coach ordered a progressively heavier load on the system over the weekend, just to make sure there wasn’t any residual effects. Friday being a public holiday was just a easy cruise out to Vida and back, 60km and a coffee inbetween. Saturday I was on the tri-bike and ran in to Roger and his wife and headed to Vida again, but this time on the way back I did a loop through Melkbos for some extra distance and time, finishing the day with a easy 3hrs in the saddle. Sunday we went for a quick MTB ride in Tokai since I had family obligations. Took a little tumble on some of the singletrack but nothing serious. Sh*t happens and I was just rusty.

Monday I was supposed to meet a friend to ride from V&A Waterfront to Stellenbosch etc. Coach wanted me to do a last long ride for before we start finishing off the rest of the training and head in to a taper time for IM. I get to the meeting point and my partner in crime sent me a sms bailing on the ride. Oh well, iPod and my own miserable company it was then. Headed out through Plattekloof to Stellenbosch, fighting a pumping wind all the way. Stopped at the Vida Cafe in Stellenbosch for a quick muffin and coffee before setting off again. I’ll say one thing for IM training…it’s long miserable hours alone. At least the tailwind for about 15km’s helped before heading through Durbanville and going home, with nothing but the tunes in my iPod for company. I refilled a bottle and asked my gf to follow me in the car and went out for another hour on the West Coast Rd (R27), using the tailwind to my advantage since I was tired of being in the wind all morning. At 175km’s I pulled off and loaded the bike in the car and called it a day. Long hard IM training session done and dusted! Later I downloaded the data from the Garmin and mailed my coach with the words ‘Today was fscking hard….that is all”

Tonight is swimming again, and then a few lighter rides in the week with a 10km run thrown in for good measure. Hopefully next weekend I can get a 4km swim in at Sea Point pool, and I need to do a 3hour ride next weekend followed by a 21km run. If I can pull that off, I will be fine for IM. Weekend after it’s the Zevenwacht duathlon just to give the legs some speed work and then it’s full on taper for IM. 19 days and counting…I can’t believe it’s this close!!

Last week Wednesday I was feeling very run down and tired, but just wrote it off as feeling the effects of the training. By the end of the day though, something was not right. I cycled home, showered and got in to bed and just slept. Wife came home with the kid and found me asleep, burning with fever. It got worse through the night and once I woke up in the morning we decided to drag me off to the doctor.

Turns out I had a bad case of gastro. Booked off work for two days and given lots of meds. My days were spent sleeping, visiting the loo, sleeping some more, and occasionally drinking something and trying to eat. Monday morning I was still not well and went back to the doctor. He prescribed some different drugs and booked me off for another two days. This time the drugs seemed to do the trick and by Tuesday I was feeling a lot better. Of course my training has been set back quite a bit, but coach said to chill out and recover. I’m allowed a easy ride on Friday morning, then we’re slowly upping the volume as the weekend progresses. Hopefully this didn’t affect my IM prep too much.

Went for a 10km run on Blouberg Promenade last night with Morne after my cycle home. We are really blessed in this country.

There was also a South African Navy helicopter doing some exercise with a small vessel in the ocean near the beach.

My mate Paul told me about this event, so Sunday morning it was off to go for a little sea swim. It only started at 10am, so for once I was able to sleep relatively late. Registered for the 2.5km swim, with wetsuit. No way I was going to even attempt to get in that cold water with just a costume on.

And it’s in to the washing machine we go. Just before the first marker I got wacked in the head and had to clear my goggles and reposition them before carrying on.

The first lap I was not a happy puppy, but settled in to a rhythm, and by the third lap I was in a group of about four people enjoying the swim. I cramped in my legs again, which is a concern.

Total time for the 2.5km was 1hour49sec, not my best time ever, but I was happy. It’s well within cut-off for IronMan (2hours for 3.8km). At this rate I would probably have done the IM swim in around 1hour25minutes. Bit more work to be done on my swimming, then we should be ok for surviving IronMan South Africa 2010!

This year, not wanting to risk my IronMan with a silly crash in the Argus, I did it on a mountainbike in a costume much to the enjoyment of the spectators. My good friend Nick Coyne came along for the ride and took the pictures.

Just leaving Cape Town in to the wind and thinking “Long day of fun ahead:)”

Lance who? Hehehehe

Thanks for the little Bar-One chocolates ladies!

Two other guys in costumes on a tandem. Great for laughs!

And we found these people with a proper Saeco coffee machine all wired up, so had to stop for a quick cup of coffee before setting off on the journey to the end again.

It was a lot of fun, and Nick has vowed to do the Argus next year in a costume as well. Let the good times roll!