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This time of the year there are thousands of Marula tree's that drop their fruit. The animals.... as everyone knows love them and  even though "The Gods must be crazy" show them getting drunk on them...it can never happen.

 

I was on my Tuesday pm bike ride and the turing point is quite close to the Gate of the Kruger National park. As I was approaching a small climb I saw some elephant dung in the road with lots of marula's that have not been digested. I thought to myself "I am sure there are elephants close by"....not thinking about it again as I work with them every day, I was quite interested to see if it was he herd or only bulls.......well....I had my i-pod on and must have gone straight past the elephant in the bush. I completely forgot about it and on my way back...after turning at Orpen Gate I saw a police vehicle parked next to the road.

I approached the vhicle and saw the elephant standing on the wrong side of the fence....my side...next to the police car. I slowed down to have a look and the elephant saw me. He tucked his trunk in, flattend his ears and came charging past the police car straight at me. I am not sure what happend next but this thing played out is slow motion in my mind. I remember thinking an elephant gan get to 60km/h and for some or other reason I was under the impression that if I drop a few gears and hit it hard I can get to 60km/h. I never looked back for at least 2km and went flat out!!!!  My heart rate was in zone 5 and I don't even know what my cadence was at.

 

Where the bull stopped or turned around I am not sure, but I do know that if you want to test your Max HR, try getting some motivation from a elephant!!!

 

Mike

 

 

Okay i may get this so wrong, as i have never in my life blogged!!  but today is the start of test week for me!!  that's a first for me too!! but it is just on 12 weeks 5 days until Ironman Western Australia so i think it is about time i actually get serious about my training,, especially as my husband is doing his first and he is blowing me away with the easy he has slipped into the mode of athlete,,,, (they don't call him legend for nothing)  so off to swim now.........

The pillars of distance training

 

Well we seemed to have missed spring in Josi, going from a pretty cold winter to 29° in one day!

That means dust off the bike, extract the mouldy socks from your takkies and buy new swimming trunks because last season’s Speedo is soo out and anyway it probably shrunk in the cupboard in winter.

Time to actually start serious training, so here are the pillars or framework for all distance training, no matter the discipline.

Easy to remember, the three S’s:

Stamina

Strength

Speed

Strength is divided into two: - Physical Strength and Mental strength

You will need to train for each S individually in the correct proportions and progressions to avoid injury and to attain your goals.

Whist of course there are cross benefits, such that Stamina training for example will add to your Strength and so on, you really should not train for more than one S at any given session. It would be foolish to do 30k’s of hill repeats at speed in training. Get it? So, plan your training to emphasize one discipline for each session.

The objective is to get the balance of the three S’s right in training for your target race so that you have the Stamina; Strength and Speed needed to reach your goal. The art is to bring all the S’s to a peak at the right time. This is what coaches do.

The only time that you should concentrate on applying all S’s at the same time is throughout your target race!

 

Happy training

BigD

For the Gautengers, Sunday provides a pretty tough 21.1K in the Vodacom Country Challenge.

 

Tough because it is early in the season, it is likely to be windy, but most of all it has a serious hill at the beginning and an even tougher climb at the end, with a few minor ones in between!

 

So, here is some advice on RUNNING HILLS

 

 

• Get up on to your toes
• Shorten your stride
• Pump the arms aggressively, as good arm action on climbs contributes a great deal to speed and effort on hills
• When swinging your arms try and envisage a rope tied to your chest bone and connected to the top of the hill. Then pump your arms in such a way as if you were pulling yourself up hand over hand on the rope by “pulling” the rope in towards your chest. This mimics the sort of arm pumping action which works best.
• Keep your chin up. Imagine there is a tennis ball under your chin which may not be dropped. This keeps the chin up and your airways open, Do not drop you head and look at your feet, this will close your airways and make you look tired (even if you are tired never let the opposition know!). This will also prevent you from running into trees and things.
• Run over the crest of the hill, you can recover on the run down. A great deal of time is often wasted by stopping to catch your breath at the top. You will just as easily catch your breath jogging downhill and will save a whack of time.
• If you simply cannot run, then walk but never, ever stop on an uphill

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On the brain stuff:

·         Every hill has a summit

·         There is not a hill in the world that you cannot walk up. Some people even walk up Everest

·         Try and pass someone on each hill, even if they are crawling and you are stumbling along, pass them and draw their energy.

·         A mantra is always good. You may recall the children’s story of the “Little Red Engine” who refused to give up when pulling his coaches up the hills?

·          He would say to himself over and over again

o   I think I can

o   I’m sure I can

o   I know I can

o   I will

Try the mantra in time to your steps all the up the hill. It may sound stupid but it works

·         Do not regard hills as a pain or a struggle or an effort.

·         Make hills your friend by powering up them