BSG final - Casino

The last race of a long season was finally here. I was quite keen to race this and then have a well-deserved rest. The weather wasn’t playing along; it was raining cats and dogs. This decreased the moral and the willingness to race - but that was the mood of all the athletes.

The swim was weird as we started off fast and then took it very easy in the middle and fast again closer to the end. Only the German athlete got away on the swim. It was almost like the guys were taking the swim as a warm up to the real race. That immediately changed when we got onto the bikes. We cycled really hard and everyone worked well on the bike, taking turns and keeping the speed high. We caught the German athlete at about halfway on the cycle. Once we caught him the past went down for a while but then we picked it up for the end.

 I tried to put in a fast run, but my body didn’t want to. It was already in vacation mode, I had done enough on the cycle to secure my 2^nd overall place in the series so the last 2km on the run was easy.  I came 5^th in the final race and 2^nd in the series.

This was the perfect end to a mentally hard season for me, which had a lot of downs and a few ups. It was a good moral booster for me to come out refreshed and positive for 2013. It is now time to recharge the batteries and take a break from training and racing.

I want to take this opportunity to thank my Creator for my strength and talents, my parents and brother for always supporting and encouraging, my coach for guidance and friendship and lastly all my sponsors sticking to me even during the bad times.

Have a good festive season and happy holidays

Cheers

African Cup Zimbabwe

It was time for my big race of the year, the African Cup in Zimbabwe. This year has been very challenging for me; I had to deal with injuries so I was hoping to finish it off on a high. Since Henri was racing I knew I was going to play catch up the whole race, since he is a good swimmer.

Start

I was trying to limit the time Henri can open up on the swim and see if I can catch him on the cycle leg. After the swim leg he had a 1min 40 lead. During the first two laps on the cycle we managed to close the gap a bit, but after that the gap remained the same. I knew then the race will come down to the run. The run route was very hilly so I thought I might have an advantage.  But that was not the case, he had an amazing race and I was unable to come even close to him. After two laps on the run, I new I wasn’t going to catch him so I had to race Chris for 2^nd. But he was also too strong for me on the day. He also had an amazing race - this was also his last ITU race so he was determined to put on a good show and he did just that.

Finish

 It was an honour to race with Chris Felgate for a few years; he is a great guy and a great triathlete. He definitely left a mark on triathlon in Africa. Well done, Chris!

The last race that I will do this year is the final of the BSG series. I am currently 2^nd in the series, so I’m hoping to keep my spot.

Until then

Cheers

BSG Triseries - Worcester

The 2^nd last race of the BSG series was held in the Worcester - I am not a big fan of the Cape but I had to race there to be in contention for the series prize. Wian and I cycled to the race for a short warm up. Once we got there business was as usual, register, rack the bikes and warm up before the race started.

The swim start was hectic, but I managed to get to the front of the pack - Wian and Heri was a few meters in front. My transition from swim to cycle wasn’t good so I was at the back of the pack, but managed to work myself up to the front soon. At about 7km in the cycle I lost concentration and a few guys went off the front of the pack. I was caught napping and had to do the rest of the cycle on my own. I was feeling disappointed about the cycle and decided that I have to finish of the race with a good run. I surprisingly felt really good on the run and was pushing hard to see if I can catch any of the athletes that were in the cycle group in front of me.

Transition 1

 I only managed to catch Pieter and was 4^th in the end, but I was very disappointed with my race.  Some serious work needs to be done before my next race, which was the African Cup in Zimbabwe.

Until then

Cheers

Rudolf

BSG Triseries - Hartebeespoort dam

Race number 3 was up for the BSG series this past weekend. I was feeling good after my 2^nd place the previous week and I hoped that I can do well again. The same athletes form last week were racing, so we knew what to expect from each one.

Everyone did what they were supposed to do; Jeff came out the water first with Erhard, Pieter and I  chasing him down.

I thought this was going to be a replay of last week’s race. It was, until half way on the bike when Erhard made a gap and we didn’t put much effort in to chase him down. We were playing cat and mouse and handed the race on a silver platter to Erhard. It was a one man effort to try and chase him down. After a while I realized that Michael Davidson is chasing us and he can run like a demon. I tried to warn my group but they didn’t want to listen, so I decided to work and try to keep a gap so that Davidson can’t catch me.

I ran like a mad man trying to keep in front of Michael, which I did. I felt quite good on the run so I was happy that my legs were feeling good. In the end I was 2^nd again, I am happy with the result but the race didn’t go according to plan. Michael in the end finished 3^rd .

Its now time for a short break from racing triathlon and time to focus on the Continental Run2Stop charity Challenge over the next 9 days.  Looking very much forward to this.

Until then

Cheers

Rudolf

BSG Triseries - Abrahamsrust

After a 2 week break from racing the first race it was time for the 2^nd event of the series. This will be a much smaller elite field due to the fact that a many of the athletes will be in Auckland for World Champs. The main contenders for the elite race is Erhard, Pieter, Jeff, Chris, Michael and I.

The swim was unusually fast because we were such a small group of athletes that started. Jeff was out in front as normal with myself following him about 6 seconds back. Pieter, Chris, Erhard and I were with me in the swim pack. The four of us formed the main pack chasing down Jeff so that we would become the main pack.

Once we caught Jeff we cycled well together with only a few hiccups along the way. Chris somehow managed to drop off the pace and it was a four way race for top honours.

Jeff, Pieter, Rudolf, Erhard on the way to T2

 I had a fast transition and was out first but that only lasted for about 200m when Erhard and Pieter came flying past me. I thought to myself then well third place it is for me today. But after 1km on the run I saw I was slowly starting to catch Pieter. this gave me hope and I went for it on the run. I managed to catch him at 2km. I put in a small surge just to get a gap and then settle back into my rhythm. Erhard was too far ahead to try and catch; he had the victory wrapped up and in the bag.

On my way to the finish

 In the end I came 2^nd, I was very happy with that result as it was the best position I have ever achieved in the BSG series. So things are eventually starting to look a bit brighter for me this year.

Next weekend the race will be at Hartebeespoort Dam.

Until then

Cheers

Rudolf

BSG Tri Series - Buffelspoort

The local BSG triathlon series started  last weekend at a new race venue at Buffelspoort in the North West Province. We started the day at 4am driving to the venue. Once we arrived, we headed straight out to registration and transition. After that was done we could relax a bit and catch up with all the athletes and friends that we haven’t seen in a while.

 Warm up was as usual with a few friends and jokes in-between, and soon we were ready to race. I was confident that I will have a good swim as I have been working hard in swimming training the last few weeks. This paid off as my swim went great and I felt good all the way in the water. I exited the swim with Wian and Jeff, Henri was in front again as usual. I had a quick transition and quickly off on the bike leg. Wian was close on my heels and we worked well together. But just before we caught Henri my legs just decided to give up on me for a few minutes and I was dropped from the group. I couldn’t believe that, cycling is normally my strongest discipline. I cycled on my own for about 2km until Wikus caught me and then we worked well together until the end of the bike.

Swim exit

 I had another fast transition from cycling to running and felt good again on the start of the run. I knew I just had to keep trying as hard as can to stick with Wikus. I started well keeping Wikus just ahead of me for about 2km then he started to open up a gap. But when I hit 3km my legs just decided to give up on me again, but I knew this will happen since I haven’t been doing running speed work.

Wikus, Rudolf

I finished 5^th and I am happy with that result. Huge congratulations to my friend Wian for winning the first race.  Good luck to the athletes racing World Champs in Auckland in two weeks’ time.

I will be racing the next event of the BSG series in a weeks’ time.

Until then…

Cheers

Rudolf

Sprint World Champs, Sweden

I was at home watching the Chelsea football game on TV, when my coach phoned me and asked: “Hey Rudolf, you want to go to Sweden for the Sprint World Champs?” I immediately said yes, why not? So arrangements had to be made very urgently, because I would be flying in 2 days time to Stockholm. Luckily, I already had a current visa so that was one headache out of the way.

I met Wian and Carlyn at the airport and since we all 3 are good friends, travelling was much more fun and exciting.

We arrived at the hotel in Stockholm on Wednesday and was ready to settle in. Unfortunately, the hotel room was a bit small, but Wian and I are good friends so it didn’t bother us too much. That afternoon we went for a swim at the local University, which was quite easy to find. We had a nice swim and ran the afternoon in the rain wich was quite pleasant. Carlyn and I were the “googlers” and Wian was responsible for finding the food shops and restaurants…. – he did a good job with this. The next few days until race day was more or less the same, we trained and explored a bit and it rained like tomorrow was never going to come.

On race day I was anxious, since it was a World Championship race and I was fit, but not race fit. While warming up, I recognised a lot of athletes who took part in the Olympics, and then I realized that I was “nobody” and I was really racing against the top athletes in the world. My nerves were gone, but I was determined to have a good race.

The swim was like a fight all the way, with athletes hitting and kicking everyone around them, but that’s part of the game. I knew that if I was being kicked or hit I was still in the race with the pack. I had a relatively good swim and exited about middle of the field. This gave me a bit of confidence in the race. The cycle route was very hard and technical. On the first lap the athletes accelerated after each turn like in a sprint of the tour de France. I was not prepared for this, and eventually I couldn’t stick with the pack. I rode on my own at my own tempo for half a lap until I caught a few people and we rode together until the end of the race.

During the run leg my legs were shot and I ran just for survival and to finish. In the end I was 55^th, I was very happy with this result, since I was actually training for a 5150 and not a sprint race. I took a lot of positives form the race and gained valuable experience.

Next I will be racing the local BSG series in South Africa which starts at the 30^th of September.

So until next time

Cheers

Rudolf.

European Tour

Since I arrived back home from Taiwan 2 days ago, I made a “quick” check in at hospital to be treated for food poisoning and then left for Europe for races within 2 weeks.

The first race was the European cup in Holten. I was still feeling a bit sick form the food poisoning that I got in Taiwan, but my spirit was high and I hoped for the best. The day before the race I trained a bit of 3 disciplines – wasn’t on top, but ok. On race day the sky was blue and the water was warm, it was perfect for the race. I started the swim pretty good until the first buoy, but then I was kicked, smacked and just beaten around. This lap was disappointing as I saw a group just about 30m in front of me. On the 2^nd lap I felt a lot better and started to catch them. In the end they were about 10m ahead of me. I sprinted through transition and was on my bike head down and smashing myself to get to the group with a few other athletes. This lasted about 3km until my body said “okay it’s enough - time to stop”. I was sick again and obviously not 100% recovered from the food poisoning. I was so disappointed after being forced to stop, but still had the World Cup in Tiszaujvaros to look forward to.

In Tiszi I felt much better and ready to rock and roll. I thought this was going to be a good race; it consisted of 3 heats and the final the following day.  I was placed in the 3^rd heat. The heats were taking place on Saturday and the final was scheduled for Sunday. It was sure to be very hard racing, because it was a World Cup and the quality of athletes were really good.

The swim consisted of 3 laps of 250m which was tough, 11 corners in the swim, that meant a lot fighting was going to happen. I started next to a “giant”, and I just hoped – please, please don’t dive onto me during the start. Unfortunately that just happened!! I decided to give it my all and swam like never before. Me and a few other athletes just missed the pack and was cycling hard to catch them, but disaster struck again - I got a puncture at about 5km in the cycle. I couldn’t believe it, so much bad luck in 2012?!

Later I realised that this is all part of the sport and life – just always train hard, believe, head up and never give up.

The tour was absolutely amazing.  Thank you to everyone who made it possible – TSA and LOTTO the Managers. A huge thank you also to my personal sponsors: Futurelife, K-Swiss, ASG, Biogen, Compressport, CycleOps, Tuks and HPC for there support and trust in me.

Then also to my Mom, Dad and brother for always supporting me.

But most of all thank you to God for the talents that he gave me and keeping me safe.

I’m on a short break now  -  so until next time

Cheers

University World Champs – Chinese Taipei

It will be the first race since the Corporate Ironman Challenge way back in April. I was also excited to catch up with Wian and Wikus, my friends and training partners, who left for Europe a few weeks earlier.

Wian, Mari, Wikus, Rozi, Rudolf, Carlyn, Jono

Once we got to the hotel after the long flights to Taipei, the first thing that went through my mind, was …… holy crap this place is hot like hell! I enjoyed the heat for about the first hour because its winter back in SA. We built our bikes and then rested in the room until Wian and Wikus arrived. When we saw each other, we were very happy and went crazy for a few min. The first two days, we spent just talking and catching up. We chatted and joked throughout the week while all the other athletes were much more serious.

Having fun - Danny Su

The Hotel in Taipei was amazing! Each team had their own helper form the University, our guide(helper) was Danny Su, he was one of the most friendly and helpful persons I’ve ever met. Even though he struggled to speak English, he really tried his best to help us in every way possible. Thumbs up to our team manager, Jono.  Jono was also a fun guy to have around and on top of everything during the whole trip. But hats off to him he really made the tour easy for us - he made sure that we only need to focus on the race and everything else will be sorted.

The opening ceremony

On race day it was hot as hell and was going to be tough, the water temperature was 30 degrees so you knew that today was going to be a hectic day. I had a pretty good swim, leading the 2nd pack out the water with Wikus. Wian was in the front pack about 16 seconds ahead. Wikus and I cycled well together with the French and Japanese athletes to catch the front pack. Once we caught them it was like an easy Sunday cycle. Nobody wanted to work on the bike so we relaxed and took it easy, I think everyone was saving for the very hot run that was coming up. Once the run started I felt pretty good until about 5km to go when I started cramping and the heat got to me. I suffered through last 5km and made it 19th over the line, but I felt dead. Wikus and WIan had an amazing race ending up 4th and 9th respectively, congrats to them!

During the prize giving that evening, we all just wanted to have a good time and party, but when the medals were handed out, we realised that we won the bronze medal in the team competition. We went absolutely crazy - it was so amazing to have won a medal at a World Championships.

With the bronze medals

Thank you very much to everyone – my parents and sponsors - who made this trip possible. Thank you to Jono and my team mates, Wikus, Wian, Mari, Rozi and Carlyn for an amazing tour.

I’ll be racing next weekend a European cup in Holton so until then……

Cheers

Rudolf

4th in a row

Soon Specsavers Ironman weekend in Port Elizabeth was approaching. For a lot of people that means a long day out racing and putting months’ worth of training to the test. For me it’s the  Vodacom Corporate challenge. It’s the race at 10% of IM distance the day before the main event. It’s meant for fun but for me it’s about keeping the streak alive.

Preparing for the race

I have won the race on 3 previous occasions and I was going for a fourth this year. But it was going to be hard, I was sick the whole week so I didn’t know what my body is going to react. But on race day, I felt good also because I”m  was able to ride on my new Cannondale Evo bike for the first time. With the warm up, I was feeling a bit sick still but not too bad. I decided to swim hard to get a gap on the rest of the field so that I can have an easy transition and to have a bit of alone time on my new bike. Dan Howitz caught me at about 8km on the bike and we worked well to make a gap on the rest of the competitors.

The race was going to come down to the run with me and Dan exiting transition together, I thought I was going to push the first 2km and open up a gap and then I can take the last 2km a bit easier. My plan worked perfectly, but when I reached the point where the crowd started to cheer, I couldn’t slow down – it was really amazing. Once I reached the final few meters on the red carpet I knew I had the race and the streak. It is always an amazing feeling winning a race but this race is one that I really enjoy.

So hopefully next year I will be back and keeping the streak alive for one more year.

Cheers 

Africa Cross Tri Championships

I was finding myself on unfamiliar ground last weekend when I raced the African Cross Triathlon Championships. That’s right – after a year, I was doing an off road triathlon again. I did not train mountain bike for the past year, but was eager to give it a go. I was lucky to be able to ride my brother’s Cannondale scale 29er, I have to say that is an amazing bike.

I rode half of the race route the day before, just to get a general idea of how bad I really am on the mountain bike. It wasn’t too bad I have to say.

On race day, I was really relaxed and didn’t feel stressed in any way, I was just going out to have fun and if I have a great race then I would be happy.

During the swim leg Theo and I was leading, we entered transition together and left it together. He is a better mountain biker than I, so I just wanted to stick to his wheel. I did manage that for about 6km then he opened up a small gap on me. I decided to race at my own tempo and not to kill myself. But then I saw Theo had stopped to fix a puncture and I took full advantage of the opportunity and went hard for a while. On a technical decent Nico caught me and I was applying the same tactic - stick with him for as long as possible and keep the gap small. Again he just dropped me and it felt like I had no power, so I went back to plan B ride and continue own hard tempo.

There was a fun but tricky single track section that I had to keep my nerves and notcrash, I’m happy to say that I managed that. The rest of the cycle was fun and fast.

Start of the run, Nico had almost a 2min gap on me, I was trying my best to catch him keeping a good pace but in the end not good enough. Nico won and on the day he was the better athlete. Theo had more bad luck with punctures and that took him out of the race.

I finished 2nd but very happy with the result, coming from no mountain bike training to come 2nd at an African cup.

Thanks to all my family, friends and sponsors for supporting me.

Till next time

Cheers

My Africa Champs "adventure"

The past weekend we headed to Mauritius for the Africa Triathlon Championships. I have been there once before for the African Cup end of last year, the place was amazing and I was really happy to go back to the island. Once we got to the hotel, it was just as beautiful as I remembered it. I was sharing a room with Wian Sullwald, my friend and training partner, with whom I stay in Pretoria. We decided to go cycle the next day to the race venue and check out the route.

Next morning we did our cycling and I was really feeling good on the bike. I thought this was going to be one of my better races. It was eventually, but…. it had a BIG twist before I could race. Whilst cycling the route and going down the downhill, we had to take a sharp left turn and there it happened - I hit a car at 40km/h which just suddenly stopped in the middle of the road. I just remember that I didn’t want to fall, so I grabbed on to the car’s spoiler and hung on for dear life. After a few seconds I let go and my head was spinning and wanted to explode. I looked at my bike and saw it was shattered, broken beyond repair. I wanted to cry!!!! Immediately, my friends that cycled with me, Wian, Wikus, Eddie and Hendrik told the guy that it was his fault.

After checking if I am fine, the guy took me to the hotel and after that to the police station. While we were on our way to the police station, my mom, coach and Wian’s mom arranged with my brother fly to Mauritius and bring his bike for the race the next day. His reaction only was: “o, ok cool”. I still don’t know how they managed all arrangements, from the time Lindsey first contacted my mom, till my brother was at the airport ready to fly, in under 3 hours. At that time I didn’t know how badly my arms were bruised but all that I know is that I wanted to race so badly. I was ready to race, or compete depending on how my arms felt in the swim. For the rest of the day, I was applying ice to my arms and having anti-inflammatory tablets. My brother arrived at about 9 that evening and we assembled his bike and I was ready to rock and roll.

The race morning my arms were as stiff as logs and I was really unsure about how on earth I am going to race. I went for a short swim to loosen up my arms and it felt better after that, so I had a bite of hope left. At the race venue, I did a long swim warm up and just before the start of the swim I told myself that it will only be a few minutes of pain then my arms can rest for the rest of the race. The swim start was frantic and I could feel my arms wanting to explode. I had a goodish swim in the end but my arms were dead. I made a silly mistake in transition lost the pack, but Hendrik and I started to chase the front guys. Half way through the cycle I dropped Hendrik, but Travis caught up to me and we cycled well to the end.

I knew the front guys were far ahead and I needed to have a super run on the day. I went out of T2 and thought well I am behind so if I blow up on the run it will be fine. I started out on the run like a bat out of hell and gunned it to the finish. In the end I came 5th elite and 1st U/23 Elite. I was physically and emotionally drained. My whole body was screaming of pain but it was worth it.

After the race all of us got into holiday mode and chilled till we needed to go home. The next morning my head still wanted to explode because of the pain so I went to the doctor who confirmed that I had concussion, but it wasn’t too serious.

This trip was full of surprises and unexpected events. But if it wasn’t for my mom, dad, brother, coach and everyone else who helped me to race and perform well, all of this wouldn’t have been possible.

Cheers
Rudolf

Injury and races

I had and Achilles injury during early 2012, which was very frustrating, because my heart and head told me to train, but my body said “SLOW DOWN”. I had wonderful advice and treatment from my coach and physiotherapist and am lucky that it’s sorted and I can now continue training.

Keeping this in mind, I did not do the standard distance at the CGT Championships, but did the sprint to test my leg and kick start intensity. With almost no competition, I managed to win the sprint race.

Next up was the Sprint African Cup in Cape Town, which doubled up as SA Sprint Championships. I had a terrible race, couldn’t get any rhythm in the ICY cold water and on the run. I could only manage a 26th place in a very strong international field..

Two weeks later, I did the Momentum Teavigo Duathlon race in Pretoria with distances 5-40-2.5. Things were looking much better, with a solid bike and fast 2nd run. I was starting to get positive again.

SA Championships and Premium African Cup in Port Elizabeth was next up. I had a really bad swim and was playing catch up on the bike (which never happened). I started a very strong run and felt good, but after 4km, my Achilles hurt again, and I decided to not risk any recurring injury and call it a day.

Next up will be African Championships in Mauritius.

Cheers
Rudolf

Holiday time

I had a break from training after Mauritius and I thought I might share with you want I did for a few weeks at home. The first week nothing really happened, except for an operation to remove my wisdom teeth. So for a few days I was kind of incapacitated and during this time I improved my FIFA12 skills on Xbox. Actually I did this for most of the vacation. It was fun to stay at home with no training and just relax with my friends, family and my dog. I also caught up on all the latest movies. I also realized that Mtv only plays about 10 songs a day and repeats it throughout.

I caught up with some of my school friends, which are having fun and enjoying the student life. Some of them have changed completely, I wonder if I have also changed since school and if I did, to which extend? But all in all this was a good relaxing vacation for me; I might have taken it too easy during my rest.

I went for a training camp in Golden Gate, the training was supposed to be long and easy low intensity. But the first few days were like a race, I was huffing and puffing on each training set hoping for it to end. But at the end of the camp, I was enjoying training again. From next week I will head back to Pretoria for training and starting to sort out my 3rd year’s studies at Pretoria University.

Cheers
Rudolf