Tag: Runkeeper

  • My 1st Mudman Triathlon – Hermannsburg

    My 1st Mudman Triathlon – Hermannsburg

    If you had told me 6 months ago that I would be taking part in my first triathlon in 6 months time, I probably would have laughed at you, taken a bite of my pizza and washed it down with an ice cold Hansa :)

    Needless to say, life has some magic & interesting ways of working things out, and yesterday afternoon saw me taking part in my first ever triathlon. For me, this is a HUGE step personally. Since starting out with my #Project2011 about a month ago, I have made a complete turnaround on my lifestyle (More detail in later posts)
    I have gone on a fantastic eating programme, taken up Kettlebells (post about this soon), Mountain biking on the Cannondale at least once a week, swimming and generally trying to restore order in my life. So far, I can honestly say this is the best I have felt in years, but there is still a LOT of work ahead, and I just need to maintain focus.

    So back to the triathlon. The series is called the Mudman, which is a local series of 4 fun events in and around KZN, and the first one took place yesterday in a really beautiful part of the country called Hermannsburg, about 20km outside of Greytown. The town is better known for it’s German school, which is where the event took place. I opted into the half race, which consists of a 375m swim in a dam, 10km mountain bike through the pine forests, and a 2.5km run around the dam.

    Pano of the finish

    The race took place in the afternoon, and the swim was up first. I had been doing a few lengths at the Kings Park pool in the week, so had a bit of swimming training in, but swimming in a dam is a whole different story. No place to stand, and dam water tastes kak ! But it went pretty good, and I was out the water in around 20 mins. The run up to the transition area, where you get your bike, was around 250m, and I was buggered by the time I got up to the bike. But I took a bit of time out, and got kitted up, and got on the bike. I have been doing a few rides on the bike, and I think it definitely helped. I did walk a bit as well, but I was pretty happy with the ride. The first part was quite a climb, but at the top, I got a cup of Coke at the one watering station, and that gave me the energy boost I needed. After 1:05 hours I finally got off the bike, and prepared for the run.(Runkeeper activity of the ride)

    For those that know me, my frame is not built for running(yet), and I always knew this was going to be the tough one. I hadn’t done much running training, so I told myself I would take it easy. And that I did. I will admit that I walked most of the route, but did a few short jogs. After 35 mins (Runkeeper activity), I finally crossed over the finish line. There was this awesome feeling of joy & achievement for me. It felt amazing ;)

    Done & Dusted. Awesome !!

    An amazing sunset, after an amazing day…

    My total time was 1:58, and I was really happy with the time. Considering that I would have never thought I would be doing this, I am beyond ecstatic, and am looking forward to the next one which takes place on the 6th March at Albert Falls dam. The guys that I did it with have all made a “pact” that we will try and do all the events, and at the last one, we will do the full distance, which is double all the distances. I know that with a lot of training, this should be do-able, and am really looking forward to it :)

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  • 1st ride on my new Cannondale out at Holla Trails

    1st ride on my new Cannondale out at Holla Trails

    This morning I woke up at a mind numbing 5am, to get ready for my 1st ever “proper” mountain bike ride out at Holla Trails here in Ballito. The ride was the first of my #Project2011 where I am aiming to try and change my lifestyle completely and lose some (read:lots) weight. Thanks to the guys over at Cannondale, I have a shiny new bike to ride, and today I really put it through it’s paces.

    I met up at 6am with my mates Rich, Sean & my brother in law Roy. I warned them all ahead of time that there WOULD be walking, and even some moaning :) But suffice to say, I didn’t moan…walked yes. Rich planned a great route which involved some uphills(the walking) and some really cool single track riding along side a river, which meant some mud.

    In total we did about 10.5KM in an hour and half. It may not sound that great,  but the ride was pretty “technical” in terms of riding on the single track, which is a narrow path where you really need to concentrate and watch what you doing. I have to admit, I really enjoyed the single track riding which made for a lot of messy fun. The last stretch of the ride was pretty tough for me, as it was just “carry on cycling” riding, along a flat road, which meant pushing myself, which was good.

    After the ride, I really felt good and expected myself to flake out, but didn’t feel that way at all. I think my healthy eating plan that I started this week has hugely contributed to this, and I can feel I had loads more energy. What a difference !!!

    I used 2 apps on my iPhone to keep track of our progress. I will be doing a post soon on some of the apps I have been using to keep track of my health and fitness.

    You can check out my Runkeeper activity log of the ride, which shows a map, speed, altitude etc. I really enjoy seeing after the fact where we have been and analysing the ride.

    I know that in the next few months, I will be putting a lot more effort into the riding, and set myself a goal for the end of the year of doing an actual race, so expect a few more of these type of posts popping up soon :