It’s been a week already since the 70.3 last weekend; how the time has flown by. I’ve been keeping myself to myself here in Stellenbosch since my wingman - Toby - has been missing in action whilst spending some time with his lovely fiancee. I’ll let him off!
So I have been having some nice food, getting [...]

Woohoo! I won! It was 2 years and 3 attempts coming, but I secured a victory in East London on Sunday finally - and it felt good for sure. It’s not easy to win a race these days, so I am more than happy with how I coped on race day to do just that.

Breaking [...]

Participating in the Press Conference on Friday avo - evidently deep in listening mode!!

Tonight was spent getting ready for the red eye to East London from Cape Town in the morning. It’s nearly race time already … the last 3 weeks for me here in Stellenbosch have flown by that’s for sure. Last night I had my last hard run since the daytime temp peaked at 44C. Trust [...]

Having taken inspiration from our very own Lesley I thought i could do a similar blog post (but with less crammed into the day/morning!) charting my morning ride with Toby Jameson, who is my new ‘roomy’ out here in Stellenbosch whilst we get ready for racing in East London at the Ironman 70.3 South Africa next w/e.

07.30: [...]

I’m home, I’m unpacked (well, the bike can well and truly stay where it is for a little longer, let’s not get carried away) and feeling a lot closer to human after the travel. Therefore I have had some time to reflect properly and objectively about Clearwater at the weekend. I still stand by my initial [...]

Last week when I had a wander around Lance’s bike shop here in Austin, Mellow Johnny’s, I took the below picture of this even more famous picture. I have it framed on my wall at home in fact. I see it every morning when I wake up for swimming. - Sometimes it doesn’t work I am [...]

I just got a couple of nice images from the weekend drop into the inbox. - Inside the last 5k of the bike, as I took the race lead. Pity I didn’t hold onto it for a bit longer ….. I’m working on that though. As Toby would say “drop ‘em like they’re hot”.

Photo credit [...]

Fraser Cartmell finished Ironman 70.3 Austin in 11th place overall and as 11th PRO.  (Quick race report below from me - thanks Nikola).

Swim: 22:59
Bike: 2:10:04
Run: 1:20:10
Total: 3:57:07
For full results check Ironman.com.
This race is still within his hard training and he has taper ahead of him (he should confirm this) - main race is Ironman 70.3 [...]

Just about to hit my bed after a lengthy pre race day … always things to do - a bit of exercise to loosen off, a trip to the race site to familiarise, race briefing plus I was asked to join in on the Pro Q&A Panel which was interesting, not least since Victor Zyemtsev from [...]

I knew before I came that Austin was famous for Lance Armstrong. I learned recently that it is famous for its live music culture. And I learned when the plane landed that it is the capital of Texas. All good so far from what little I have seen of it. Hopefully I will get out [...]

Contact has been sparse I admit, but the internet has been hard to come by I promise. I can confirm that I am still alive and kicking in St Moritz and have been doing my best to get into some decent shape. - I think I have managed over the past month and so I [...]

This is Nikola.
Just got an email from Fraser saying he will race Ironman 70.3 Antwerp on August 2nd.
I wanted to keep everybody posted on whats going on… he is enjoying the mountains very much so he is a bit quiet.
He still needs to sort out his race schedule for the rest of the year.
More info [...]

3rd place wasn’t what I went to Wimbleball Lake for, but given it was - on reflection - probably the toughest race I’ve finished so far in my career, I’m content with a podium; my 6th on the 70.3 circuit.
More to follow when i wake up ‘tomorrow’ - its nearly 4am right now after driving back up North, [...]

I’m gearing up for my major goal race
of the first half of the racing season this w/e.
It’s been an up and down first few months of 2009 racing for me, but I am finally feeling confident about my prospects of being able to race to my potential on Sunday morning. I’m very motivated and generally [...]

….to think of anything meaningful to blog about. However I will push on regardless and see where it goes.

I didn’t finish today and I am not really in the mood to write an extensive report on the subject to tell the truth. It is just really frustrating right now.
I was looking forward to moving another step towards full fitness, and had hoped to get myself a top 10 or better, which would’ve been a [...]

Swim 25:42
Bike 2:11:09
Run —
Total: DNF
Hope there was no injury!
This is Nikola, more will come from Fraser later on…

To say the past week has been stressful and hectic, would be a bit of an understatement, and so updating my website took a back seat. I’ve got some stuff to write about now mind you.