Rugby Madness

I figured the best way to shed some pounds would be structured running at different intensities. In theory it sounds easy. Find something where I run at different heart rates to shed these bloody pounds and my cycling will become easier. Not so bad.

Holy cow I think I made a boo boo.

I joined a rugby club!

First practice I pitch up to I'm buggered just playing touch. I hung around on the wing hoping the ball wouldn't come my way. Thankfully it didn't!

Whistle blew and it was business time. 

Holy crap, after the first set I was done! I was seeing stars and had sweat in my eyes. My throat closed up and lunch appeared at the base of my throat. All the okes where standing chatting. No ways! Whistle goes and off we go again. At this point I'm following blurred dots which actually are people running in front of me. 

It doesn't help being an Alpha male, I have to keep my image. CRISIS: do run to the loo to vomit or do I do it like a man to one side and carry on. I hate having to be an Alpha male sometimes.

They tell us that now we nice and warm we can do some fitness. I don't like this one bit. The rest of the practice happened. I felt like I was on a roller coaster ride of pain. I had no control of my body.

When I got into the bath later on with a Winhoek draught I spotted a grass stain and small roastie on my leg - I must have fallen or been tackled. My shoulders also hurt so I must have tackled somebody- sweet, I hope it looked rad and manly!

Even the bloody Poodle felt sorry for me. When I was dressed and slipping in and out of a coma on the couch she came and cuddled my legs. The last thing I want is sympathy from that bloody cretin! Just to show I'm a man I kicked her off. Like a boss.

Second practice I get told to put my takkies on we going for a 3km warm up run. It wasn't so bad - ran with my mate Con and we did it in 21minutes. Thats 7 mins a kay. same as what my Dad finished the Comrades on, maybe its not so good. 

I'm now fitter and enjoying my rugby, I can feel the overall fitness in my cycling.

As much as Sades is running Super Tutors she got a full time job as a Grade 3 remedial teacher at Clarendon *BOOM*. So with all her getting everything ready we haven't had time to run in the mornings, but thats not an excuse from Monday we've decided.

This weekend I have two full days off so I have a lot of riding to do.

I'm looking for a relatively unfit cycling partner who is keen on getting fit. male/female/young /old with one requirement - have a bloody sense of humour.

The MIle

Last week I was too nervous about the mile to blog and this week I've been to broken but here it is.

We arrived in a bit of a rush as we where blindsided by traffic. So we quickly undressed got our caps and tags together and ran to the shuttles the mile provides to transport us accross to the start. The queue was massive and we where "worried" we might miss our start.

To our rescue a Karkloof Canopy Tours Land Cruiser pitched up and even though I'm a Landy fan I piled on and hung on tight to get to the start.

Almost there a stupid kid ran across the road and the driver screeched the brakes sending all us sweaty speedo clad guys into a horribly uncomfortable pile. Drenched in strangers sweat we climbed off the cruiser.

I made fun of Mom being in the blue group earlier on, turns out it was three batches better than me.

As I touched the water the nerves hit me, I was far from fit but the Navy was there on standby incase I drowned.

I suffered, the first bouy I convinced myself was 600m just to feel like I was further than I should be.

Never in my life have I had ear problems whilst swimming but Saturday I did.

I ended up doing breaststroke the whole way and when I got tired a rolled  onto my back and did an impersonation of a dying beetle which seemed to propel me in the right direction. Only draw back was I watched a small kid catch up 50m and sail past me.

When I finally reached the end I downed an Aquelle had a chat to Alex and joined Husky for a beer. BAD MOVE. In a minute I was on the ground sweating, writhing around feeling as if my chest was going to explode. I thought this is it, I 'm having a heart attack. The rest also started to get worried when my arm got pins and needles and the pain increased. 

BBBRRRAAAAAWWWWWWPPPP - the pain was gone! Hey? What the hell was that? Turns out its not clever to down a beer after an athletic event and all you need to do is to burp it out like a child. Lesson learnt, when I down my beer after the next event Sadie needs to burp me.

Mom and Sadie beat me :( I need a new sport.

Step in cycling!!

I'm really looking forward to the long hours on the bike in prep for Hill2Hill. This is going to be a real test.

Hilt and Dad reckon I'm gonna need to do 10Hours a week min! I'm making a plan to get an indoor trainer for Winter.

My motivation, when I get to the long hours I can ask Mom guilt free for her famous energy bars.

On a side note, who saw the meteor shower in Russia? 

I've put myself on standby, who knows, Hunger Games could be just put on ice.

I'm still an Alpha Male and ready to rock!

Sports Talk - Duzi - Mom's smurf group

So now I'm starting this whole sports thing I suppose I have to start Passionately supporting a team.

I've always supported the Sharks and Dolphins and National teams, but apparently thats not enough.

Somehow life puts me with these incredibly knowledgeable sports people and the conversation usually goes towards sport. "Did you see Steyns bowling this weekend?" How do i answer that?

Yes, I walked past the TV and saw Steyn did indeed bowl and News24 said he did well. If I answer yes I have to wing a 15min conversation based on the sports report I hear on the radio on my way to work and have to keep faking I'm a sports boff. The flipside is I could answer "No." and at the next braai I'll end up in the smoke and not allowed to touch the tongs. Life is complicated. As a test Sadie bumped into a friend in the mall and while chatting her boyfriend says to me "So what team do you support?". What sport? What do you say to that? How does somebody assume I know what he's on about?

With my brain puzzling I blurted out "Andy Birkett" then realizing Andy Birkett is not a team but an individual. SHIT!! Before I can recover and palm it off as a joke the girls say cheers and if we meet at a braai I will be assumed not capable of handling braai tongs.

On the Subject of Andy he's racing his rowing race next week down Pietermartizburgs refuse removal river.

It's quite popular and even has it's own TV Show. I think he must be very confident if he trusts my brother and Herb as his seconds.

This last weekend I went to watch the first XC race which was awesome, I rode my bike all the way across town to go watch. The racing was awesome to watch and the smell of my own sweat coupled with the smell of gum trees made me realise how much I've missed cycling.

I did hear of cycling's simpleton who tried a new sponsors product the night before and didn't read the label properly. He thought the "label read does not contain caffeine". Doffie tried it and spent the night awake.

There is hope for me if there people like that in the world.

Mom and I are both doing the mile on Saturday, this makes me nervous, imagine the horror if she beats me!!!

She BBMed me last night to ask me what does it mean if she's swimming in the blue group? I told her it's the group for Smurfs. I don't think she believed me tho. She probably thought "Dammit I BBMed the wrong son". Hard mistake tho, I saved my number on her phone as "#1 son" - not referring to the fact I was born first, rather to the fact I ROCK.....

The Poodle has been behaving, she now has two new toys. A stuffed elephant and a stuffed sheep. This has muffled her yapping as the animal is constantly in her mouth. I wish I thought of that before I gagged her and dropped her into the wash basket. 

I read a fantastic quote last night. " You can never fully trust the source of an internet quote" Abriham Lincoln

Cheers :)

P.S O ja, if you wanna see how @andybirkett1 is doing on the Duzi Follow my boet @HiltonFrost and Herb @Mark_Malherbe and they'll tweet when they see him.

Poodle Pedicures and TAPOUT shirts

Driving in town yesterday I saw this skinny kid wearing a TAPOUT shirt. Man that drives me mad, really, a skinny kid wearing a shirt that claims he is such an MMA fighter that he would inflict such pain to his opponent that his opponent would have to tap out. One day I will punch one of them in the face just to test how tough he is.

Gripes aside I got my Midmar seeding today. I'm in group Green. Sadie reckons thats the group for scardie cats - Dam straight, the seeder reads my blog. Sadie is in the Yellow group which we all know is for those who wee in the pool.

Hilts has been staying with us and the Poodle thinks it's great. No matter where the poor guy goes Poodle follows him and nibbles his feet. Hilt loves this, he reckons he hasn't had to cut his toe nails since he moved in. I think he just likes my sworn enemy and is to brotherly to tell me so. Dam that Poodle...

My bike wheel is at Minnaars being serviced and will be back tomorrow then its a week left for Midmar training. After that I will be running and cycling trying to get fit for the hill2hill.

For those who don't know what the hill2hill is, it's a mountainbike ride from Hilton to Shongweni near Durban. Theoretically it starts up high and ends near the coast, BUT the organisers take you through the Valley of a Thousand Hills. Trust me, I've seen the Garmin maps and they don't call it the Valley Of a Thousand hills for nothing. I have time I think. I'm not 100% sure when it is but I think its a bit later on in the year. 

Before the hill2hill is a 12 hour night relay my Dad puts together. I'm really excited for this. There's something special riding in complete darkness with just the beam of light from your handlebars lighting the way.

Well that lasted until 3am when I suggested the team goes for a beer for encouragement. The single beer was followed by a double cane and coke and things became interesting.

Looking forward to it again this year, hopefully fitter and can handle my booze a bit better - might even bring some home brew to make things fun.

Hope you all have a good weekend and if you at a loose end on Saturday there's some racing at Cascades, PMB in the morning with the main race at 12:00. Both Hilt and my Dad will be competing.