Everything is now pretty much done in so far as training is concerned. I’ve had a really good couple of weeks including a number of brick sessions (mainly bike/run sessions) so I’m feeling confident. I’m looking to go under 5:30. 5:15 would be fantastic but that will mean I will have to “smoke” the run which is not an easy one. There’s a good 1.5km hill which has to be negotiated twice which in the past has left me walking.

I spent the weekend doing bike admin as I’m determined not to end up like IronMan last year. Just as well as on Saturday I punctured in the back wheel whilst testing out my race wheels (Zipp 606’s). I settled in to fix the puncture and believe it or not but the spare tube I had (with a valve extension on it) was too short – a replay of IronMan! Luckily I was not too far from CycleLab Westlake so I shouldered my bike and walked there to sort out the problem. It was clear that there was a problem with the wheels and not the road surface so I had them replace the rim tape and I collected my bike that afternoon (thanks to Dad and Mom for the lift home whilst my bike was being sorted!)

However, I was not happy with the valve extension which had been used so I went about replacing the tube only to find that with the new rim tape on taking off the tyre was extremely difficult. I ended up calling in the expert (Ian Seggie) and together we sorted out the problem. I hope that I have an incident free race on Sunday as it’s going to take some strength to get that tyre off the back wheel if I puncture – let’s all hold thumbs.

I popped through to Texas Peak to Marc and Rebecca this morning and collected some GU Roctane for race day – thanks guys – your product is tops and I couldn’t survive without it. My bike has just been dropped off with Focus.on.the.finishline (Paul and Kelley) who will be taking it to East London for me. Another great service for those of you who do not know about it – check out their website www.focusonthefinishline.co.za.

Now it’s time to start packing the car and we’ll be off first thing in the morning to spend a few days in PE before driving through to East London on Saturday morning.

Good luck to all those doing IronMan 70.3 and especially to those first timers – good luck Segg’s – the swim will be a breeze – no worries!

To end on a really good note. adidas Germany have very kindly come to the party and contributed the shortfall on what we raised at the IronMan in PE last year to ensure we hit the R80,000 target. This now mean that a whole bunch of young guys and girls from SCORE will be able to go on the lifeskills training course and ensure that we make a difference in the lives of those less privileged than us.

On a personal note – Mel I hope that things are going well with your new assignment in Switzerland – I’m sure it is a little colder than the 35 degree heatwave we are experiencing in Cape Town today.

It’s been quite some time since I last posted anything – a combination of not much happening and trying to sort myself out workwise. Now that I’m over the disappointment of Challenge Cape Town being cancelled I’m back into training for IronMan 70.3 and it’s been going pretty well. I’ve clocked up quite a couple of brick sessions over the last few weeks which have pleased me. With everyone on holiday and nothing much happening with my work commitments I’ve been able to average around 10 hours a week of training including some quality sessions. Earlier this week I ran Forest Road in Bishopscourt which is a really tough one plus kilometer hill which I haven’t done since I was training for Comrades many years ago.

With 3 weeks to go to IronMan 70.3 in East London I’m feeling confident of putting in a PB effort. I’ve never really raced IronMan 70.3 as it has always been part of my training for the full IronMan in PE, but this year with the training I put in for Challenge Cape Town I’m keen to go hard and see how it goes. It’s not an easy race by any means and I didn’t compete last year as I was ill, but in 2010 I did a 5:33 and I’d like to go under this. The run route has changed and I think it makes it a bit harder as you have to run two really tough hills. Hopefully some of my training on the mountain will help with the hills.

On the SCORE front things have been quite as Mel has moved on to an new challenge and will be re-locating from Cape Town – Mel we are all going to really miss you! I will continue to try and raise funds in whatever way I can for SCORE as I believe strongly in what they do and what they stand for as an organisation. Unfortunately since leaving adidas and the corporate world my “pulling power” has diminished somewhat and I have not been as successful in attracting sponsorships. It’s quite amazing the influence one could exert on various potential contributors when one held the position of adidas Managing Director – Brian Kerby Consultant doesn’t have the same effect! Anyhow, I will continue to try and make whatever difference I can in securing further funding for SCORE as they desperately need it to be able to continue the great work they do. I’m hoping that 2012 will bring more success for me on the work front which will enable me to better leverage the contacts that I make to increase the amount we raise for SCORE. There is still about R25,000 to go to achieve the target we set for last year’s IronMan (R80,000).

Wishing everyone all the very best for 2012 – may it be a wonderful year for you all.

It’s now official – Challenge Cape Town is off till 2012. I’m pretty disappointed as I’ve put in a lot of training through winter and although I’ve picked up a slight cold this week I’m was looking forward to competing over this distance in Cape Town in front of family and friends. Well, it’s not to be.

One pleasing thing that I can take out of it is that I now know that I can train through winter in Cape Town. The training certainly won’t go to waste – there’s no such thing in my mind. I’ve entered IronMan 70.3 in East London so I’ll take a few days off now to get properly over my cold and then continue training for East London.

There’s been quite a lot of unhappiness on the social media about the lateness of this announcement just 17 days before the race. I have to be honest I was apprehensive about whether it would take place after attending the launch and seeing how much still needed to be signed-off on (hence my entry into IM70.3). As I said on Facebook, the issues around the route should have been addressed months ago. I’m not sure how one gets road closures for an event of this nature when there is a field of only just over 400 athletes, as I was lead to believe. I really feel for those athletes who were planning to travel to the event as there are sunk costs which they are not going to be able to recover. For me in Cape Town it certainly isn’t too bad – as long as I get my refund which has been promised. I see that the Challenge Family are offering free entries to other races of theirs in other parts of the world as compensation – nice gesture but racing outside of SA is really expensive and comes with logistics I’m not sure I’m prepared for.

For those of you who have made contributions to SCORE based on my completing Challenge Cape Town I trust you will be OK with these being transferred over to my competing in the IronMan 70.3 next year. Who knows, but if the organisers managed to get Challenge Cape Town up and running for 2012 I might have a crack at it?

The training for Challenge Cape Town has been going pretty smoothly. The big 5 hour ride was done on the weekend and besides some wind around Cape Point it was OK. I must say though this week I’ve felt quite tired so I took the day off yesterday. I’ve been pushing around 9 hours a week of training which is not as much as I was doing for IronMan but I’m feeling like it should be enough if I can just put in one or two more big sessions. Last week I clocked 12 hours which was more like it. I’m off to Johannesburg tomorrow so unless there is some big mileage on the weekend I’m going to come up short this week, but I’m not too worried. I’ve pretty much been at it solidly since the beginning of the year – just counted back on my training diary that I’ve only had 31 days of no training this year! This includes tapering for IronMan and the recovery period which when looking back is really not enough for the body to recover. Anyway, I should have enough mileage in my legs by now to be able to finish. I think I might well have some down time after Challenge Cape Town although I have entered for IronMan 70.3 in East London in January 2012.

The big talking point at the moment on the social media is what the final route for Challenge Cape Town is going to be. It seems pretty late to be in discussions with the Cape Town City Council less than 4 weeks before race day trying to sort out a route! I’ve voiced my concern around the swim course as a single loop swim in these cold waters will require plenty of marshalls/lifeguards out on the water as one can get into trouble quickly in cold water especially as most of us do not have too much body fat on us to keep us warm. Cramping could be a major problem together with hypothermia especially after over an hour in the water. Still I’m looking forward to competing over this very tough course (whatever it might pan out to be?) in Cape Town with all the local support. It’s going to be great having the whole family out there supporting one. And the SCORE office won’t have to travel too far to come and support!

On the fund raising side I’m still hoping to achieve the balance of the target which is required to send the winners of the Cup of Heroes on the environmental awareness and leadership skills course. adidas International are hopefully going to make a contribution and then it is going to be up to all of us to make up the difference so as not to disappoint those children from Marapyane who won the Cup of Heroes 2011.

In my last post way back in April I suggested that there might be another IronMan left in me after the disappointment of IM PE. Well I quitely went ahead and entered Challenge Cape Town, an IronMan distance event, scheduled for Cape Town in November. Challenge is really the opposition franchise to IronMan and looks to be a little different to the normal IronMan events, differentiating themselves either through location, scenery or toughness. They certainly have covered all three in the Challenge Cape Town event – this is going to be one tough but scenic event. Check out the website on www.challengecapetown.com.

Training has been going OK as the weather has certainly played it’s part so far this winter – long may it continue, although we might have to pay the price come summer with the lack of rainfall. I’ve also been fortunate to be able to train during daylight hours as I’m now consulting and not in the regular 8am to 5pm routine. It’s amazing to see how many people are in the same boat as me when it comes to their working hours – having been in corporate so long I just took for granted that everyone pretty much worked at least 9am till 5pm. Believe me there are some people who seem to have it right and be able to get out there for midday cycles when the weather is at it’s best or swim mid-morning when the pool is not so busy.

There are now 8 weeks to go so the mileage needs to pick up and the longer cycles and runs need to happen. I’ve been doing an average of 8-9 hours a week so far which I’m happy with. The biggest concern I have is the swim which takes place in Granger Bay in water which is going to be around the 14 degrees celcius mark at best – with very little body fat this is a problem for me. I spent 20 minutes swimming up in the Silvermine Dam a few weeks ago and absolutely froze so being in the water for over an hour will be challenging. I’m trying to get my body used to the cold water by popping into our pool at home after training for 10 or so minutes – really not pleasant!

After catching up with Mel last week I’ve now committed myself to trying to raise further funds for SCORE to make up the shortfall of around R27,000 which we didn’t raise at IronMan PE earlier this year. We set ourselves a target of R80,000 to put some SCORE members through coaching skills training and I’m keen to see this happen.

By all accounts Challenge Cape Town is going to be far more challenging that IronMan PE so I would very much like to see us raising the outstanding funds so we can get these kids the training they need to fulfill their potential. If you are reading this you know only too well the great work SCORE do in the communities and in their 20th year their needs are the greatest they have ever been from a funding point of view. Times are very tough out there in the markets and sponsorships are hard to come by and it is also very difficult to hold on to those sponsorships you do have so every little bit of help is truely appreciated.

I feel that the target is very manageable but with me no longer in the corporate world it is that much more difficult to land corporate sponsorships, so I’m hoping that the smaller contributions from all of you out there will get us to the target.