THUNDER THEFT

I am sitting and gazing out the window at the wind gently pulling on the leaves of our raspberry tree outside. Another day has broken with golden streaks of light brightening up the grey coloured landscape of our city. Yesterday I did a short run and after that I jumped on my little 125cc motorcycle and rode with Wessel as he did the final part of his training session. Man he looked so comfortable as he strode along finishing of his workout for the day. Kids truly are trophies we do not deserve or earn, but they are a privilege to have and love. They truly light up my life.

A few weeks ago Wessel entered his first 'open' cycle road race. For the first time he was competing against not only his age groupers, but also against adults. Although he is 11 years of age, the youngest category for him to compete in was under 14. I remember the lady at registrations making fun of him and asking him if he would be able finish the 50k ride. Myself, I didn't know what to expect. He has only raced a max distance of 30km's before and against children of his age. My thoughts were that only finishing would be great and that a top 10 in the 14 years age group would be above average for an 11 year old.

Because it was a race that started in Middelburg and finished at Loskop Dam 50km away, I had to take the car to the finish and therefore could not ride myself. My great friend, Johann de Klerk (did the Cape Argus in 2:47 which is brilliant)said that he would take Wessel through the race. He really couched the young lad and told him where to do what...there are a lot to learn when riding in a big group for the first time! We really thank him for that! About 5km before the finish there is a very hard 2km climb and that is where Johann told Wessel to go. I was sitting on the other side at the finish line watching the first guy crossing the line. 'Well done' I thought as I prepared myself for another 20 minutes or so before the little man would cruise in. Up in the distance, about 1,5km away, I saw the second guy racing down the hill towards the finish area. As he was about 300m away I noticed the tiniest little figure sitting on his wheel and looking very good. Could it be? As Wessel crossed the line in third over all, I was just so amazed and overwhelmed with joy. No time to get a camera ready. No time to cheer. He wasn't due for a while still! Just so unexpected!

Hard work pays off. Full stop.

In our family I was the fit one. Doing Ironman and racing my bike on weekends. He was 'just' the child. But, on that weekend things changed around. A child became the hero in his father's, mother's, sister's and friend's eyes. My thunder was stolen! I am still preparing to compete at the Ironman World Chanmps Kona 2011. I still want to be competitive in my age group. With all this in mind, I also know that the real race is up front. Where Alexander and Lieto fight it out. Never will I compete in that arena, but he is approaching it at speed.

All I want to say to The Weasel is this: In the hard world of sport, thunder theft is allowed. Work hard and fill up your bags...the journey is a great one.

Thanks to all my friends who train with him when I can not. For all the motivation and inspiration. Johann de Klerk, Warren Graham, Johan Stemmet. You guys all are part of the team.

Now, I should go get on my indoor trainer and kick out another two hours! Don't want to look too bad against the young man!!

Have fun out there. Be strong. Live hard.

TriJackal

ROADS NEED TRAFFIC

Have you ever seen the state of a tarred road which had been closed to traffic for a couple of years? It's condition is like that of a ancient sunken sea vessel. The whole surface is covered with cracks resembling varicose veins and the structure has grass and weeds growing straight through it. It is covered with dirt and looks like some scene from a horror movie. It is a sore eye to see and it is just unbelievable to come to the understanding that constant traffic would have kept this road 'healthy' and would also have extended it's life span.

Are we any different? Aren't we all like little roads designed to convey whatever we have chosen our cargo to be? I am totally convinced that this holds some truth, however ridiculous the comparison might be. The main truth in this whole picture we have just seen is this: Traffic is to a tarred road what healthy living and training are to the human body.

During the last three months during which I was plagued by injury and sickness, I was just dumb struck by the speed at which I in 'flesh' became the closed tarred road! I am over weight, unfit and while in this useless condition, I just started beating myself up over how I let it all go this far in the first place! When we as muscle driven vehicles stop doing what we do, then we become dusty, cracked and broken. We are susceptible to sickness and we open ourselves to depression and all sorts of ugliness.

All a road needs is a car or a truck or a bike to cruse over it every now and again. Not all are freeways carrying 10,000 cars per hour. Not all are quiet roads running through a neighborhood. But all roads have this in common: they need traffic.

I will never ever totally 'close my road' in the off season. I will close some lanes for 'maintenance', but there will always remain an open lane or two for some traffic to flow. Whether I just do easy gym sessions or whether I just go for relaxing swims.

When a road has been ruined by being closed for too long, then it takes a LOT of money and effort to recondition it back to tip top form. That is where I am at now...LOTS of effort and time to recondition my body.

Never again.....and that is a promise! Let the road begin.

Be strong and live hard!

TriJackal

FIRST STEPS

The Weasel has been sticking it out when it comes to his training. In the last three or so months I have seen a steady change in him as a whole.
Physically his body is fast becoming man and his little legs are starting to look like bonsai Armstrong legs! His mind and commitment is astonishing. For an eleven year old boy I am amazed at the effort he is putting in to fuel his dream. But, we are taking little steps.

His running is strong and last week I picked up a little fatigue. I told him to drop the effort a little bit and this week we will drop the intensity again to let him recover for a 50km cycle race this coming Saturday.
He easily runs 4:20 - 4:40 1200m. His long runs ave about 4:40 per km which I am happy with. He complains its too slow, but we will gradually pick it up.

His cycling is strong, but he needs distance in his legs. On the weekend we did a 60km ride and on the last 8km he dropped us by about 4min. I am unfit, but still!!

We are looking forward to the race Saturday. It is a 50km from Middelburg to Loskop dam. It will be his longest to date and I am looking forward to his feedback afterwards.

He started training with a Polar 625x. It is interesting to see the heart rate of a young boy. Max is about 210 and his resting is 59.

Myself. I have started slowly after my injury. Running 2 - 3 times per week and the same for the cycling. I don't know how I will ever catch up with the young lad again...but, I enjoy the easier side of things!

Have a good time and be strong and live hard!

TriJackal

OUCH

After the Tri Nations rugby match between South Africa and New Zealand, my wife an I went for a dance at the lodge where we were staying for the long weekend. Obviously it was very casual and therefore I was wearing shorts and my crocks. As we went for a 'fast' Usain Bolt turn (picture that!!) my foot slipped out of the shoe and I fell hard on my right buttock! The next day I couldn't walk and took some Voltarens for the pain. It went on like this for 11 days and I decided to go to the Doctor as it wasn't getting better. Well, to make a long story short, I tore the muscle - I actually fell it to pieces! No training for at least 4 - 6 weeks.

Bad timing, huh? The Weasel's training is picking up nicely and now dad/trainer/motivator is out of action. Well, he must just persevere and keep grinding it out until his old man is up and running/cycling/swimming again.

You should have seen his face when I gave him the Cervelo R3! Man, he totally freaked out. Love him and hope he keeps going.

Till next time, happy living!

Be strong. Live hard.

TriJackal

MIND MADE UP...THE WEASEL IS COMING!

After a month of some quiet time I have made a decision regarding my current Ironman plans. Seeing an 11 year old boy and an 8 year old girl growing up at the speed of light, I have decided to devote 100% of my time to them.

Tianari loves acting and scrap booking! I laugh and enjoy it with her mom and her, but I cannot contribute much more than giving my full support to her and the things she loves. I am a boy and I know nothing about acting apart from what I see in movies!! She has me always and I am there for her.

Wessel has a bright future in the sporting world and I want to take the steps with him because this is what I can relate to. After long rides on Saturdays I am too tired to go ride with him and this made him neglecting his training because of dad not being there. It isn't safe for him to cycle alone and should something happen to him I won't be able to forgive myself.

I will swim, cycle and run every meter with him. I am looking forward to it and in a few years time I can do Ironman 45-49 age group, who knows?

I am breaking the news to him soon and then the road begins...look out for the Weasel...he is strong, he is fast and he wont give up! Beware young world out there! The champ is focused now.

Till next time, be strong and live EXTRA hard.

TriJackal

WHICH WAY NOW?????

Good day all. Long time not hearing from me? I have been away from the office a lot on business and it has kept me from putting pen on paper! Sometimes we put our minds to a cause or we plan the future as much as we can, but then we are often bowled a un expected ball and our pre meditated shot does not fit anymore.
I have really committed to Ironman 2010 and my lifestyle has changed to suit this undertaken quest. The last week or so we have landed a franchise deal for our province which will cause me to be away from home too often. I will travel 5 – 6 hours a day and therefore will have little family time. I will have to do a lot of admin after hours as we will be seeing clients during day time. I am not a professional athlete and my work is what feeds the children.
Hopefully we can work hard to make this a success and then in a year or two I can go for Ironman again. In the mean time I will keep on training where possible because we do not know how things will pan out in the future.
Let me know what you take is on this and please leave your suggestions. I am excited about the business and I must focus on this for now. Should we have bought an existing and smooth running entity, then it would have been easier to maintain a working days hours. But, our province is very big and would require long distance travel making the daily hours to work much less.
It saddens me to temporarily shelve my dream, but hey! Life goes on! This venture is potentially very big for us and I have to pursue it in full.
Have a great day and always remember to live hard and be strong!!
Trijackal

Things happen...

Sunday was an extra ordinary experience for both me and my son. As we went for our long run we ran along side the local casino and mall. As we passed the casino a thundering gun fight burst loose making us dive in behind an armco barrier next to the road. It was a weird experience for me in the sense that it was the first time ever that I had to react to a possible life threatening situation regarding a child of mine. The biggest sore for me wasn't the shooting as such, but within my heart as I was looking back to where he was lying at my feet and reading the emotions going through his 11 year old mind at that stage...not nice. Constantly asking:'Daddy, whats happening? What's going on?' Cars were all over the place and two bullets ricochet right over our heads into the trees behind. He did the first 12k's with me and after I had dropped him off at home, he begged me with tears in his eyes not to run by the mall again.
I do know this: our little ones matter most and we have to look after them first. I will do whatever I can to make a future for both of them in a safe environment. Shootings are a weekly occurrence in our city and I will seek wisdom in making my choices regarding this.

Wessel is really getting fit and he is becoming stronger each and every week. With the hill sessions he is whipping my butt dropping me like an old horse...and hey, I'm really not that bad!! Great future little man, just keep up the hard work!!

My training is back on schedule again and I have recovered well after the week off from 'sweating'. I feel a bit tired, but that's normal and I have found my heart to be a bit higher than normal. Another three to four months and I think that I will be on par with my fitness levels of Ironman SA 2008. That will give me six months to get really strong and put in the IRON MILES!!

I feel really good about meeting my goals for 2010. I will not be competing in any triathlons before IM SA 2010 and will run a marathon (42.2km) around November/December. I will really try to see how close I can get to a time of 2:50 which will give me a great base for a 3:05 - 3:10 Ironman marathon at the end of April next year. Doing the marathon in November will give me a lot of recovery time too. I feel much stronger than previous years and I know these times are well within my ability.

Believe it or not, but my swimming is improving! I am getting the lap times down and I am sure that with blood, sweat and tears I can get it down to a 1 hour IM swim!! I am really excited and I am really trying to do my best regarding technique, etc. Slowly but surely I am getting there, but currently still as unfit as a rock! Come October, I will put in major open water miles in both the dam and sea to make sure I don't suffer from cramps coming out of the water like in 2008. It stuffed up my whole Ironman that year making me cycle and run with such pain that I just coasted to the finish.

Cycling, brrrr! The winter time is a pain regarding this discipline and although I love it most it is the one this year that I battle most to do!! My indoor trainer is broken, but luckily my dad has a nice one that I can use since he is also not riding during this time of year. I only need to keep my fitness levels up until September this year to enable me to get the miles in to take me to a time of around 4:45 come April 2010.

On yesterdays cycle with Joahan Stemmet, my chain slipped as I stood up on an uphill section and I bumped my left leg right above the knee cap. Hell it was sore and I think I will give it an extra day with ice and rest.

That is just about it from South Africa regarding my progress. All the best with your endeavors and I wish you great health and safe training.

Remember: Although we live in a sometimes wonderful and sometimes unfair world: always be strong and live hard!

TriJackal