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.

Uploaded by SCORE:

This month’s Triathlon Plus features ‘We’re inspired by Brian Kerby.’ Read about Brian’s journey to completing IRONMAN 2011 and his involvement with SCORE.

SCORE are extremely proud to have Brian on the team. He serves as an inspiration to us all.

Click here to read the full article

I guess this happens after putting so much time and effort into one single event – especially if you do not achieve what you set out to do! I’ve been exercising pretty much every day since coming back from PE – more for my sanity than for fitness purposes. I’m justifying it by saying it’s exercising as opposed to training – training implies there is an event you are biulding up to which is not the case. I realise my body needs a rest but I can’t seem to just do nothing – I’m sure a bit of light exercise can’t do any harm. With the weather in Cape Town definitely turning towards winter it’s going to be easier to just roll over in the morning when the alarm goes off.

At this stage I’m still pondering entering Challenge Cape Town – an IronMan distance tri-athlon in Cape Town. The problem is this will require a lot of winter training which I’m not all that keen on – let’s wait and see!

I’m going to be having one final bash at trying to increase the amount of funds raised this week so expect an e-mail. With all the pledges we are probably still only half way to the target but I’m hoping people will be waking up to what I’ve done when all these holidays are over and everyone’s back at work and reading e-mails and logging into the website.

Yesterday we said our farewells and left PE to travel back home – it’s nice to be back home and sleeping in one’s own bed. The trip back was pretty uneventful outside another chip on the windscreen – I’m so pleased I decided not to replace the cracked windscreen in PE.

I woke up normal time this morning and thought I might lie in, but as soon as Louise and Kobi were up and getting ready to go for their early morning forest walk I realised that I couldn’t just lie in so I put my running shoes on and went to test the legs. I was really surprised how good I felt – a little stiffness but nothing serious. Ran for 30 minutes at a gentle pace and felt great.

As after all big events which you spend months preparing for, there is always the post race blues and analysis of what went right/wrong. I downloaded the race info off my Polar and added up the time I spent sorting out my technical issues – almost 75 minutes! If I take that time off my finishing time I still wouldn’t have achieved a sub-11 hour IRONMAN. I really felt I was in good condition going into the race but I’m now even more convinced that I have to run a sub-4 hour marathon if I want to break the 11 hour barrier. My run time of 4:21:09 just doesn’t crack it! Yes, I realise that I went too hard on the bike for the last 35km to pick up time, but still, I need to improve on my running off the bike.

I spent the whole day catching up on admin after being out of the “office” for a week. This evening I collected my bike from Paul and Kelly and took it directly to John O’Connor Cycles to remove the race wheels and check the tubes and give it a good clean – it was seriously greasy after all the wheel changes. I’m not sure when it’s going to get out again, but I’d rather have it in race shape than needing attention when it come to be used again. I think it might be time to pull out my mountain bike again. After dropping off my bike we had a wonderful stroll on the Mouille Point promonade and had a great coffee at Prima – the van next to the lighthouse – fantastic coffee – well worth the stop.

So what’s next? Really not sure. I did bump into Eddy Casar at the IRONMAN finish and he is running the Challenger Triathlon in Cape Town in November and I’m going to have coffee with him and find out more about this race. I guess after my performance on Sunday I feel there is room to improve and given that I have this fitness I’m keen to test it with another race – maybe – not sure? It will however have to fit in with my new focus of setting up my consultancy business as it is clear that I cannot rely on making a living out of tri-athlon!

On the donations front we are nearing the halfway mark with monies received and commitments made. So still quite some way to go. I need some of those larger corporates who were so generous last year to come to the party. From a physical point of view I’ve done my bit, but I’ll still be pushing hard to get in more donations so we can send those kids on leadership skills training. We all know that this is what this country needs to become even greater – educated leaders. Come on all – dig in and dig deep and let’s close the gap on the magical R80,000.