Today we did a brick session, which to me is a new form of training. It consisted of a 1hour bike ride followed by a 30 minute run, repeated 3 times and in theory getting faster each time. To add insult to injury the riding leg took in the 2nd climb of the Argus Cycle Tour, the infamous climb up Smitswinkle Bay. With a total altitude gain of 1010 meters and with a howling North Easterly wind on the return leg for good measure, it was a proper workout. 

The day started with an early call at 4:30am, followed by an hour’s drive to Simonstown to meet the bunch at 6:00am sharp. Since when did 4:30 happen so early in the day? 

I took a couple of positives away from the session as well as two little negatives to add balance. 

On the bad side, one of the objectives of the mornings training was to test the food we are planning to use for nutrition at IronMan in April. Two problems cropped up immediately. The first and most obvious one was that I left all my carefully planned food goodies at home over 60km away. A Big thank you at this stage to USN sponsored athlete Kent Horner for donating some delicious USN calories to my stomachs cause.  

The second and not so easily remedied problem is that I apparently don’t have a clue what to eat on race day anyway. 

I love muffins, and my initial Google research indicated that being low GI, they would be the perfect food for the job at hand. Except that they are not very palatable in 35 degree heat. They are what my dear old mom would call ‘claggy’. I compromised by swopping muffins for pancakes. I mean the ingredients are vaguely similar and they are easy enough to cook. 

At this stage I should point out that if when making pancakes a fly comes into the kitchen, it is easy to mistake a spatula for a fly-swatter. And a crushed fly is equally similar to a blueberry. And a wife is a lot like a fly eater. I’m not telling her if you’re not. 

So, baby potatoes, pancakes (still to be tested), energy gels and Perpetuem are top of the ChrisH feeding regime at the moment, but I really don’t think it’s enough variety. The range of energy powders, bars and gels at the local sports shop is staggering and enough to confuse even a confused person, so I’m going to have to swallow my pride and ask the guys in my training group for advice on what they eat. More on this in the future, although the future as far as my IronMan quest is concerned is a mere 2 Months away. 

On the positive side I have a brand new pair of running shoes. Spiffy blue and white New Balance 1063′s. How good are they you may ask? Well good enough that I don’t even know that they are on my feet. I love them.  

And if you think the nutrition section of the sports shop is confusing, try choosing the right pair of running shoes from among those punted by the many manufacturers. There are dozens of them, all making similar claims, and frankly I doubt if there is really anything to choose between any of them. Which begs the question, why did I chose New Balance over the others? 

I chose them for the same reason my hydration pack is a Salomon and all four of the family bikes are Raleigh’s. Because the New balance directly supports South African sports and in particular the sports that I love, multisport and adventure racing.