It's my birthday and I can TRI if I want to‏...

Exactly what I had in mind...

So on Sunday I did my 2^nd ever triathlon. You will remember that last year Steph van Niekerk taught me the breathing technique of swimming for the event. This year my aim was to swim without stopping, ie no resting, no head above the water, doggy pedal or breast stroke.
 

I swam three times in preparation for the XTERRA not because I planned it that way, but I got a stupid virus a month ago and haven’t been able to train so also downgraded from entering the Championship originally to do the Sprint again this year due to my health & fitness.

 



Killing time before the swim
Photo: Julie Meyer

Dropping my stuff off & getting ready for transition was so much different from last year, last year I was still putting my wetsuit on at the race briefing, this year it felt like I forgot something as I had time to spare to take photos with Jules & muck about with other athletes. 

 

I came 2^nd last out of the water, but I didn’t stop once and that is all that mattered to me.

 

Onto the bike, now this was going to be fun. Zane put word out on Saturday that the bike course was a lot more technical than last year and it made me slightly nervous, but more excited.

 

Pokkeltjie pulling me through on the bike leg
Photo: Zane Smith

Somehow I didn’t have jelly legs once I started out on the bike, it is probably down to the fact that I hardly kick when I swim, my 2 legs are just a heavy weight dragging along with me.

 

The bike course had so many twists, turns, bunny holes which I almost discovered the hard way as I tried to overtake someone on the single track. I quickly started picking up a few people. I think years of riding awesome trails in the Surrey Hills & the ultimate Sellaronda Hero training ground in the Dolomites this year helped a lot. It felt like every switchback turn was towards the left. My left hand side is my dumb side… got to improve! My brain started getting tired towards the end and I knew it was time to finish the bike before I crash doing something silly.

The bike was so much fun and I started experiencing FOMO having to still run whilst all the others had been able to support me, I also wanted to be able to hang out, but I still had 5km to run.

I didn’t escape jelly legs, they were there as soon as I started the run leg. I knew that the ditch jump was waiting for me and unlike me, I didn’t want to get my new shoes dirty. I also have a bit of vertigo and although it isn’t that far down into the ditch, I didn’t look forward to it. The course is great, but the fact that your legs are tired makes it a lot harder. I felt like walking, but said to myself I’m not allowed to because I know I’ll be beating myself up about walking. I did walk a bit just because I could and didn’t want to run. After the water point and back over the field I thought we would’ve covered 4km already, but I then saw a 3km marker, I prepared myself to still go back into the woods where we were last year and thought I still had 2.5km to go so saved some energy for that. I got to the tree trunk crossing and thought yay I have an excuse to walk again, but no-no the ‘bossy’ photographer from Lighttrapper (who I now know as Rob who is a friend of friend) encouraged me to climb over and carry on running. J Before I knew it, I was out of the woods and onto the finishing straight. I was a little bit confused and felt like I cheated as I then felt that I still had loads of energy left.
 



Sprinting to the Finish line
Photo: Zane Smith

As I approached the finish line my friends started singing Happy Birthday to me, all of them & Carl & Terry from Squirtlube gave me high 5’s as if I was a celebrity in town. It was a special one & I will savour the memories for a long time to come. Thank you I wouldn’t have wanted to spend the day in any other way.

 

 



Hanging out with Carl @ Squirtlube and
The Winning Specialized Machine!
Photo: Zane Smith

We also had the opportunity to see Conrad Stoltz, XTERRA legend, 7 time World Champion race in this race. I’ve known Conrad from back home when I was still in university. Two of the things I can remember about him is that he was always riding his bike in Jonkershoek and washing it, I thought he was a little bit crazy. Little did I know that I would join this crazy hype of mountain biking & XTERRA a few years later.


I was so excited when I heard that he was coming to race in the UK as I’ve been following his career via his blog & other social media postings. Conrad & Liezl stayed with Carl from Squirtlube who we got to know through XTERRA England 2013 actually. Squirtlube has been sponsoring Tango Cycling since last year’s race. Carl also took Conrad out on our local trails and it is so nice to hear that someone who has ridden all over the world think that our local trails are fantastic.


Conrad smashed the bike course and like we would say in Afrikaans, he rode the rest of the guys kas toe! He won with a lead of 5 minutes over his next competitor and also won 50^thXTERRA title in his 22 year long career.


Caveman winning his 50th XTERRA title!
Photo: Zane Smith




Liezl, Simon, Jason, Willem, Paula, Lee-Anne & Myburgh
Photo: Tharina Cronjé

Jason, Lee-Anne, Liezl, Myburgh, Paula & Willem represented Tango Cycling in the Championship Distance. It was so great to be able to support all of them the same way they supported me. I have to say the Tango Cycling Support Crew made such a noise whenever we were not all together we just had to listen to the noise to know if one of our members went past.

 



Paula receiving her spot for Hawaii
Photo: Zane Smith

As preparation for Half Ironman World Championships Paula entered the XTERRA as a mountain bike newbie. Underplaying her mountain biking skills she was a complete wild card. She completely smashed it and proceeded to not only just complete her first off-road triathlon, but to win her age group category and qualify for XTERRA World Championships in Hawaii in October.
Congratulations Paula, we are so impressed and very proud of you. You are one of ‘us’ now!

 

Tips:

1.     Ear plugs – for the swim. Myburgh told me about this, it was actually the first time I swam with them but it worked because it doesn’t sound like you are going to drown all the time.

2.     Turn up on time & set up your transition at your own pace and well in time before the start of the race

3.     Don’t carry heavy stuff around the day before the race or over commit yourself

Thanks :
 

1.     All my lovely friends for supporting me.

2.     The man who said ‘you don’t have far to go’ from his canoe when I started to battle towards the end of the swim – you got me there!

3.     Sam & Richard for an awesome bike course, thank you for taking the ‘hornet sting’ out of it as well (Sam I hear you took one for the team J).

4.     Richard Campbell for his memory of an elephant & being so complimentary towards me & the rest of the gang over the announcers microphone.

5.     XTERRA for putting on this event amidst all of the uncertainty, I will continue to come back for as long as I live on the mud island.

Results:

 

http://www.stuweb.co.uk/events/2014/08/24/1800/

Photos:

 

The face of Tango Cycling, Zane Smith took a back seat this year and moved in behind his camera lens to take some awesome on the day event photos for us.

Click here to view the photos.

Tango Family (minus Simon & Milli), Conrad, Liezl, Yolandi, Carl & Terry!
Photo taken: Carel du Plessis with either Paula or Zane's camera



XTERRA England forced me to Swim

I've been following Xterra World Champion Conrad Stoltz' career for the past few years especially since I've started mountain biking. I've never been able to swim properly so never considered doing triathlon as I've always had this fear of water, I think I've been jealous of others that were able to do triathlons.

Well as my dad would say I suffer under peer pressure, I'd like to rephrase that to fear of missing out. As soon as I saw XTERRA is coming to England I've decided that it is the closest I'll ever get to do one... So I sent an e-mail to my friends and got a group together. Many of them entered whilst I was still procrastinating clicking the button!

I was trying to ignore the swim element so kept riding my bike and started running again. Myburgh kept asking me when am I going to start swimming...

My first swimming session was 28 July, I swam 720m, with my head 90% of the time above the water... I left the pool thinking I can seriously drown... I'm surrounded by water and that it would be a bad idea for me to enter.

The next session was the following week and it was just awful. I like to keep my word if I said I am going to do something I AM GOING TO DO IT, so regardless of these horrible two swim sessions I entered...

16 August two weeks after I entered, my friend Stephne and I went to the pool. She is a teacher and her mom was a swimming teacher - I was in good hands!

She literally dragged me up and down in the teaching pool on a kickboard. I think she must've thought how on earth am I going to swim in the triathlon. I was so frustrated, swallowed so much water and started talking before I breathed. We finally found a drill that seemed to help. I had to stand with my back against the wall and blew bubbles through my nose and then started bringing my head to the side for some breath. We left the pool on a more positive note. I updated my Facebook status with the following:

"#XTERRA swim training back to basics last night. What a hack? Too many things to do at once talking NOT one of them, JUST breath, arms AND kick! So boring, but life threatening for me. Must keep going though.
Another good friend is a friend that drags you up and down in the pool on a kickboard! Thank you so much Stephne van Niekerk."

On the Sunday we went back to the pool and started with the same drill. I came up after about ten reps and couldn't believe that I have finally clicked the technique.

"I can report that I can now successfully swim, the penny dropped re the breathing today - so chuffed & grateful. I never thought that there would be a day where I enjoyed swimming more than cycling... BUT today was that day! Bring on XTERRA England, 8 September!"
After that I swam 4 more times of which twice was with a wetsuit. My housemate borrowed her boss' old wetsuit for me. Conrad Stoltz was obviously right when he tweeted to me saying that a wetsuit would make a world of difference - it did!

Thank you XTERRA for forcing me to learn a skill that I've wanted to be able to do all my life. Thank you Stephne van Niekerk for pulling your 32 year old friend up and down in the pool and teaching me how to swim properly! It has been the best birthday gift and I'll always be able to use it! I am far from a confident fast swimmer, but I've overcome my fear for water! If I can learn to swim at this age anyone can!

Meet my coach, Stephné van Niekerk

 

The beautiful swim start

 

 

My 1st Triathlon - XTERRA England

It all started way back in June when I was determined that I had enough time to learn how to swim and train for the XTERRA.

I've never been able to swim properly so never considered doing triathlon as I've always had this fear of water, I think I've always been jealous of others that were able to do triathlons.
 

As soon as I saw XTERRA is coming to England I've decided that it is the closest I'll ever get to do one... So I sent an e-mail to my friends and got a group together. Many of them entered whilst I was still procrastinating clicking the button!
 

We are coming...

 

SINK or SWIM?!
 

Liezl and I managed to arrive late at the race briefing, not even wearing our wetsuits, needless to say I didn't hear a thing of what was waiting for us.


 

The Mess

The horn blew and it was as if I froze, rebelling, do I really have to swim now??? The buoy was VERY far in the distance and I felt so sorry for myself. My arms was tired from lugging the wors around for the Chill Zone the day before. I started off head above the water... half-heartedly trying to do the breathing thing. Round the halfway buoy I've lost the field and was on my own apart from the few lifesaving kayaks loitering around me. I had some strong words with myself, "You didn't learn to swim for NOTHING, Steph will be so disappointed if she sees how you are not implementing what she taught you." I also didn't want to be swimming all day long. It was a long 27 minutes of silence, but I did it.

I ran on wobbly legs (I mustv'e been kicking for a change Steph ;)) to T1. Zane & Simon arrived just in time to see me at T1. Myburgh was screaming at me to go faster in T1, but I couldn't get my socks and gloves on properly, it was sticky.
 

RIDE LIKE A HORNET STUNG YOU

The start of the bike leg was weird. I wasn't used to my legs being like jelly and found it quite frustrating as I couldn't get into a rhythm. The first part was more technical too and I kept thinking, but you can ride technical sections, what is going on? After 3km I seemed to get better. I was frustrated that I was so far back in the field, so decided, the bike is my strongest part and if I wanted to make up some time, then NOW is the time to do it. Inspired by the UCI Mountainbike World Champs the weekend before I just went for it.

Past the half-way mark I was able to see Katy in the distance in her Tango Cycling kit, so it kept me motivated to catch her.

HAPPY SO HAPPY

I caught up with some guys and didn't expect to see Stu in front of me, he offered to pull over so I could overtake him. I was just about to pass the guys sitting behind Katy when I heard them swearing, the course went under some trees and the next thing I just saw things flying around and felt a sting on my bottom! I tried to ignore it and kept going at it, although it was quite painful.

I loved the ride, overtaking a few people gave me confidence again and made the memory of the swim short lived.
 

RUN

Back in T2 I noticed blood through my trisuit and saw the sting still in my trisuit. I ran along over the uneven field with my wobble legs through the first forest section. I suddenly noticed a marshal and some people and then came to a sudden STOP. There was a ditch, the width was longer than my length. The marshals told me to jump and I was like, "With my short little legs???" So I jumped inside the ditch and crawled out the other side. They also told me mind the bog which I interpreted wrong and went down right in the middle and sank into the bog up to my knees. It was fun though. The run was much harder than I expected. We had to cross the same ditch on our way back, but this time by using a tree stump, I literally shuffled/crawled over whilst holding on to it.

I've done it!

The last part of the run was through more forest parts, it was so nice to run through it, but it just felt like it was never ending.

Coming down the home straight I heard the voice of Annelize in my head. Just make your steps longer and keep breathing deeply.

The way I got cheered on over the Finish line made me feel as if I won the race,  just the ribbon was missing. :-) It was special - thank you!

Katy & I located the First Aid people. They were only able to offer us ice for our sting injuries, so I stripped off and the lady had to hold the icepack on my bottom. She did say after a while that I can hold it myself to which I just said I know...



The Sprinters
Stu, TC, Jason, Katy, Liezl & Willem

Liezl made it onto the podium in her very first triathlon ever! We are so proud of her.

Pokkeltjie claiming her place on the podium!

Tango Cycling Chill Zone 

Braaimaster

 

This was Gerhard van Niekerks idea, I executed it. #goodmanagingskills

 

Gerhard braaied wors for us and we all had boerie rolls after our races. It was so nice to have a place to put our stuff and it was so good to have the shelter from the rain.

 

 

 



Gerhard van Niekerk & his brainchild



 

Pokkeltjie claiming a hug from The Machine
 

TC

 

Our other friends did the championship distance and it was fun to watch them compete! The course was well designed so we were able to support them at so many places. The 'internal' competition was strong between, Johan, Oli, Zane, Myburgh and Simon. :-) Lee-Anne is so head strong and despite sufferring from knee ache she soldiered on. Lizzie Doyle was called up by XTERRA and got offered a place at the World Championships in Hawaii in a month's time! Sooooo cool and proud!
 

Some of the hardcore ones:
Zane, Simon, Lee-Anne, Myburgh & Lizzie
 




Oli & Johan

 

You can find more photos of the whole day on the Tango Cycling Facebook page

VIDEO:

http://www.magisto.com/video/LlVFPlUFCi09VRZpYw

HIGHLIGHTS:

• Thank you XTERRA for forcing me to learn a skill that I've wanted to be able to do all my life. Thank you Stephne van Niekerk for pulling your 32 year old friend up and down in the pool and teaching me how to swim properly! It has been the best birthday gift and I'll always be able to use it! I am far from a confident fast swimmer, but I've overcome my fear for water! If I can learn to swim at this age anyone can!
• Watching the full distance competitors crossing the ditch and the bog
• I also had the opportunity to meet De Wet & Carl from Squirt and am hoping to speak with them again soon.
• It was great doing it with friends and being able to support each other was fun and such a blessing

The biggest challenge of doing a triathlon:

You have 3 finish lines... and you are ALL out all the time!

TIPS:
 

Wear a wetsuit - Conrad Stoltz was obviously right when he tweeted to me saying that a wetsuit would make a world of difference - it did!
What others said:

Katy Hamlin: "I'm chuffed for completing the thing and watching Zane fall in the stream was priceless. ;) The funniest thing was cycling through the hornets nest - reckon we should set up a victim's support group for bikers with bum stings! I definitely wasn't prepared for how off road it was so would be more specific next time."

Liezl van Zyl: "My highlight was being the 3rd lady overall. It was so unexpected but very rewarding and encouraging. And of course the boerierolls afterwards #yesplease. I should probably practise my transitions as a shocking 4 minutes for T1 is just unacceptable. I mean...what did I do? Blowdry my hair? I would definitely do it again. It's a well organised event and it was such a great atmosphere...especially with all the friends being there to support us for the Sprint tri and when we returned the favour by cheering them on in the full tri.

Stuart Hamliton:

My highlight has definitely have to be the swim. For the sprint distance race the water was as smooth as glass. You don’t get better open water swimming conditions than that! Hearing the screams and squeals of the people in front of me getting stung by wasps made me smile! Only funny because I wasn’t stung. (though I did feel guilty!) Would you do it again and why? For sure, it was my first off-road triathlon and it was such great fun. The support was some of the best I have ever experienced, and to be able to support the other athletes in the other race distances was awesome. For next time I would train! One bike ride in 6 months is hardly preparation enough!

RESULTS:

http://racetimingsystems.net/Results/IndividualResults.aspx?Id=1424

ENTRIES OPENED FOR NEXT YEAR:

XTERRA England to be hosted on 23 - 24 August 2014 at Vachery Estate again.
http://xterra-england.co.uk/

I'm definitely planning to do it again and hope to see you there! Very happy that XTERRA is offroad otherwise I might've never ever done a triathlon.

 

 

England's 1st XTERRA - Up for the challenge?

Dear All

I've first seen this advertised on XTERRA's Facebook Page, it is now official, England will present it's first XTERRA basically on our doorstep. 8 September 2013.



Conrad Stoltz

For those that are not familiar with XTERRA, it is a triathlon, but offroad (an open water swim, mountain bike ride and offroad run). South Africa's Conrad Stoltz has won the World Championships four times already and the sport has really grown back home over the last few years. I've been following his career and that is why I'll be entering into this race regardless of the fact that I can't really swim.



Dan Hugo in action

This past weekend a younger South African, Dan Hugo won in Richmond, USA.
http://www.xterraplanet.com/news/dsp_content.cfm?id=3591

There are different races on the day, so you can basically enter whatever tickles your fancy, you can enter as a team of you can do the offroad run or 6hr mountain bike race.

http://xterra-england.co.uk/races.php

A few of us have already been egging each other on for this, so if you are up for a different challenge, then please join us?

Myburgh kindly arranged a discount code for us with the organisers, so please drop me a line  at tangocycling@outlook.com if you are keen to do this and I will provide you with a discount code. The code will only be valid if you enter the full or sprint XTERRA Triathlons.

It would be so much fun if we can do it as a group under the banner of Tango Cycling. I'm hoping to have cycling shirts available before then.

Excited,

TC

Ps. If only Paula had a mountain bike, we could possibly have a champion friend amongst us. :-)

Pss. Just to make sure you know what you are letting yourself in for...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r3S0wu4Zbfk :-)