Fraser Cartmell Ironman triathlete » Training in Stellenbosch

Saturday in the ‘Bosch

Fraser — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 08:28:56 +0000

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 the training routine kicked back into gear and marvelling at the sights of Freshers week here in Stellenbosch – it’s mad let me tell you. Simply mad!

Breakfast after a 6am 70k ride yesterday. – French toast: A-mazing!

After the aforementioned tasty breaky, I watched the ‘floats’ pass through town centre. Every year the first years have to ‘build’ a float according to their ‘res’ or as we know them – halls of residence. These are no ordinary floats let me tell you!! – There is a serious quantity of chicken wire, welding equipment, crinkly coloured paper and polystyrene goes into making these outfits wrap around a truck! Seriously impressive – and it is all in the name of charity. The whole town comes out to watch and there is totaly choas and traffic meltdown. Nobody seems to care though, which is all really different to what we get used to at home. Some pics for you -

Next week will be a big build week on the bike for me. I am going to start getting ready for my next race, which will certainly be a challenge; but one I am really getting quite excited about. More on that later though!

Have a good w/e!

Frase

Night times in South Africa

Fraser — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 16:22:04 +0000

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 me, you don’t want to be outside doing ANYTHING in that heat (least of all driving a car with leather seats!) so my run finished after 8.

Faustus, as always was there to greet me.

I am returning to East London for the 3rd time, having begun with the race in it’s debut year; 2008. I was 3rd that time around with the fastest swim and runs book ending a very below par bike ride, where I lost 12 minutes plus to the mighty Raynard Tissink. Last year, 2009, I finished 2nd, having led for much of the swim and bike, but yet again, had to succumb to the defending champion.

There is certainly a progression here; and I feel ready to step up and go for the win on Sunday. I believe I can succeed, but I have been racing long enough to know all I can do is give my best on the day and remember I have put in a fantastic block of training over the past 8 weeks both in Stirling and here in South Africa.

We have had a daily quote board on the go here in the house, each rotating our favourites. Yesterday was down to Toby, who is also racing this w/e … it was a good ‘un. Come race day we must be:

“Norwegian in the legs and Jamaican in the mind”

One night last week we watched a stunning sunset in front of Table Mountain (the flat bit, top left) and the new World Cup stadium in Cape Town (the shiny bit, mid right). It was a fun evening.

Be good to yourself….

Fraser — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 09:15:23 +0000

….. you might aswell, because who else will?

on this Tuesday morning in Stellenbosch I got up, ran 10 cracking Ks along the trails behind the University and town, came home, ate a breaky that was far too colourful for my own good before wandering down to the pool for a leisurely 3ks in the wet stuff.

Gottalovetaperweek

A Friday morning in Africa

Fraser — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 14:44:00 +0000

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: Needing to change a tire (there was a hefty hole in it mid way through our ride yesterday!)

07.45 (ish): Still grappling with said tire. But getting there.

10.15 (ish): Toby has his turn to grapple with his rig (saddles issues …..)

10.30: Finally finished our session of 8*4mins TT work with 2mins recovery

10.32: Approaching Stellenbosch (having swapped camera about)