STEPPING STONES

As the little Excel blocks on my training program gets ticked off, week by week, day by day, exercise by exercise....they seem like very little stepping stones on a 'oh so long' journey. I think motivation and the need to stay positive becomes my biggest enemy. I constantly find myself digging for any positive and related articles and blogs from other great athletes and those I look up to.
The winter isn’t helping my cause at all and Saturday was a great example of this. We got up early morning to go for our long ride on a very cold and overcast morning. About 18km's from home we were heading right into a thunder storm which made every one turn around.....me too. I thought that I would ride home and from there I would then ride out in the other direction from where the storm was coming, but as we got home the storm was just behind us and 50m from home it started pouring with rain. My next thought was to wait 1 hour and then go out again....but, as I closed the door behind me I also closed my motivation outside. Needles to say, I only did 36km on Sat. Not good enough to reach my targets. Miss any days training, but NEVER the long ride or run!
I have learned from this and will never again be so lazy. Exactly what I am teaching my son, I went and did the opposite. Not a good example and you know what hurt most? He, 11 years old, went for his long ride and off the bike run later that same day! A good example for dad!

I will stay positive and reading tweets from other triathletes like @tristemmet and @raouldejongh really keeps one going and staying motivated.

The training last week went really well. I am doing power work in the gym three times a week and I can feel my legs getting stronger. Keeping a very sober mind on where my current fitness level is, like I always do, I honestly feel that I am well ahead of where I wanted to be.

The cycling went well with a 20km time trial time of 19"41. Obviously this isn’t done with aero wheels, helmet or clothing, but with my normal training 'kit'. With me focussing on the running and only keeping the cycling miles ticking over, I was very happy with this - knowing by how much I still can improve. During the power session on Thursday I took it easy just to look after my knees. I focussed on a smooth peddle stroke and breathing deep into my stomach. All and all, apart from Saturday’s lazy spell, a good week's cycling.

With the running I am very 'over the moon'! TT's are there to measure fitness, performance levels and improvement. In the time trial on Wednesday I was running 3"40km's and keeping my heart rate at 80%. How is this possible? Is this because of my good base? Is this because of my new running shoes? (Oh, I did not do the tt on my new shoes!) On my long runs I want to keep my speed at about 5 min/ km, but at this stage I get down to about 4"45 just to keep my heart from not dropping too far below 70%. But, my motto is to start slow; first get strong; then push times. With this in mind I WILL have the discipline to not go too fast too early, but wait a few months longer.

Swimming pool = stuff up. 16C water. Need I say more? You just cannot swim in water like that at 5 in the morning. I can just sit and wait for better times. The sad part is that I just have to swim in that water to get fit. One morning Wessel was sitting next to the pool (his 31kg body would freeze in that water) and Johan Stemmet chirped that it would be child abuse to let him swim! Sounded very funny at that stage, being in the water myself. We all hope the water gets warmer soon.

This will be a great week.

Keep fit!
TriJackal