{"id":5574,"date":"2015-02-19T11:17:29","date_gmt":"2015-02-19T09:17:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conradstoltz.com\/?p=5574"},"modified":"2015-02-19T11:33:29","modified_gmt":"2015-02-19T09:33:29","slug":"durban-ultra-triathlon-1994-throwbackthursday","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conradstoltz.com\/index.php\/durban-ultra-triathlon-1994-throwbackthursday\/","title":{"rendered":"Caveman tries to remember Durban Ultra Triathlon 1994 #ThrowbackThursday"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Conrad<\/a><\/p>\n

The year was 1994. In a time before the internets. The year\u00a0 Apartheid<\/a> crumbled. The year I had “Mark Allen hair” Nowadays its called a mullet.<\/p>\n

“Ironman” was nothing but one race on a more-distant-than-the-moon volcanic island full of “Scotts” or, closer to home, “Ironman” was a Boere style triathlon: 20km K1 paddle, 120k\u00a0 bike, run around Harties- dominated by hard hard men with tough names like Rockley and Bester.<\/p>\n

To us, the “Durban Ultra” was the pinnacle of endurance triathlon. 4k ocean swim with sometimes huge swell, 120km hot & hilly bike and I cant remember much about the 30km run. I’m pretty sure I walked a lot.<\/p>\n

My idea of “race nutrition” was “eat an energy bar on the bike”\u00a0 and some sugar cubes wrapped in tin foil for the run. No wonder I cant remember anything.<\/p>\n

Those were the pre internets days, so\u00a0 if you were there, or remember who won (Phillip Oosthuizen?) or where I finished, feel free to comment below.<\/p>\n

In 94 I lived in PE on a mattress on the balcony of a 5th floor flat in Central with Kevin Richards. I think Kevin rented so high up, so that he could see over the surrounding buildings what the surf at “Fence” was looking like. There were friendly prostitutes on the steps to the front door, and sometimes you’d share the lift with them as they take their clients to the rooftop.<\/p>\n

Kevin was the big dog in SA at the time and I felt privileged to learn straight from the pro..\u00a0 The insiders respectfully called him “Bergie” – in part because he lived a very simple life on a shoe string budget and rode the same black Lejeune for maybe 8 years. Spending much time with no frills “Bergie” is probably where some of my “caveman” roots took hold.<\/p>\n

“Sponsorship” comprised of a free Bodyglove wetsuit and free Adidas running shoes. With T-shirts, a track suit and a kit bag thrown in on the deal. At this time, my bike was either a 2nd had LOOK KG96 bought from Simon Lessing for too much, or a purple and black 3rd hand (via Simon then Kevin) Cannondale R600 “Tri bike” with 26″ wheels.<\/p>\n

With the Sporting Sanctions against South Africa lifted, we spent the winters racing in France and the summers racing in South Africa. Dreamy Endless Summers with endless racing. With no coach, no off season, up to 33 races a year, and a propensity for smashing<\/strong>\u00a0 every training session- I had the recipe for overtraining pretty much dialed. In the pic one can see the tell tale signs of chronic overtraining-\u00a0 a “fit fat” athlete- where the body goes into “man on the island” preservation mode caused by rising cortisol levels which suppresses testosterone production.<\/p>\n

In hind sight, “rest” is not a sign of weakness, but of strength.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The year was 1994. In a time before the internets. The year\u00a0 Apartheid crumbled. The year I had “Mark Allen hair” Nowadays its called a mullet. “Ironman” was nothing but one race on a more-distant-than-the-moon volcanic island full of “Scotts” or, closer to home, “Ironman” was a Boere style triathlon: 20km K1 paddle, 120k\u00a0 bike, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1625,6],"tags":[1653,1749,1754,1652,1775,672,1638],"yoast_head":"\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n