Posts Tagged ‘XTERRA’
Life on the road. By Conrad Stoltz
France, 1996.
Triathlon heaven, those years. I was the youngest of a handful of South Africans racing for a village called Cahors. Every weekend we’d travel to races, chasing money, glory and adventure.
The Caveman’s semi-secret XTERRA tips
• XTERRA is a strong mans race. An endurance event. Don’t let the seemingly short distances fool you. Forget about 400 repeats on the track and all-out sprints on the trainer. Think sustained power evenly delivered over 2.5 hours or more. Getting from A to B as fast as possible is all about even pacing. In this game, a big aerobic engine and a large strength component will take you places. The good news is, both of these components can be built. The bad news is it takes a lot of hard work!
XTERRA Alabama 2007
Photos by Rich Cruse
‘T was a hot and sweaty midsummers’ day in Pelham Alabama.
XTERRA folks from all over toed the line at the Oak Mountain State Park, whether for XTERRA Series points, glory, or just fun and games.
This course is well known for it technical (fun) bike course, hilly run route, and of course- the infamous ‘Bama heat and humidity.
Do not take your New Years resolution lightly…
By Conrad Stoltz -2005
For the first time in many years, I didn’t make any real New Years resolutions. I used to, but for some reason I put it off as one of those foofy things we like to do during the follies of the Festive season; like opening crackers at Christmas lunch.
After a long, tough 2004 with quite a few disappointments, I took my recovery season seriously and just breezed though life- lazily coming out of my off season, haphazardly starting training for the upcoming season, slowly morphing into what seems to maybe one day become a fire breathing, ass kickin’ World champion triathlete again. Maybe, couldn’t say if or when.
New Years day came, and I started “serious” training like I always do. I trained so seriously, I even went on a “training camp” with friends near Clanwilliam for a week, and in-between these “training camps” I went crayfish diving with friends, I painted my house, and even bent my serious training beliefs to such an extent that wine, beer and bread was ok whenever it was within arms reach.
I was just going through the motions of training seriously. Logging the hours, sweating the sweat, waiting for the Christmas pudding bum to show signs of returning back to normal. I wasn’t feeling that burning hunger I get when training to be a champion. Working to become faster, stronger and more skillful everyday.
Mid January a friend called and we met for coffee. His expression looked serious, when he paused to gather courage, and took a deep breath before he started, I knew he wasn’t going to talk about the weak dollar. We had a good talk. Actually, he had a good talk. I had a good listen. The essence of the talk being: “Conrad, do-not-throw-it-away.” “It” being my God given talent to be a fast triathlete. It is a wonderful, yet fragile gift to have. Throwing such a gift away by painting my house, becoming an “uber crayfish diver” or enjoying fine wines at the wrong times is a shame. Slowly it dawned upon me: I am what my new Years resolution is: Empty.
Athletes have a very small window of opportunity, time wise. I can paint my house in the off season, but now is a time to make most of my talents. For within a handful of years my “best before” date will be over, and financially, I would have to provide for a family, and live the rest of my life with what I had made during these few critical years. I have matric (the old one, at least) and a few other lesser talents, but more than anything else, when I am an old ballie, sitting on the stoep, sipping coffee, I would not be able to be at peace with myself knowing that I wasn’t the World Champion when I could have been.
