From IT Geek to Triathlete

Post by:Andy

Thursday, May 8th, 2008 at 5:15 pm  |  No Comments »

 

Trail run leg seizure

I thought I would be a bit slow after yesterday’s sweet 40km ride, but wow! My legs were seriously unhappy with me on today’s trail run.

As per usual we went up the 100m ascent over roughly 1km. Cobus felt stronger and we burned up the hill. Right at the top my legs got so numb that they wouldn’t move anymore. I’ve never felt that before! Feels strange. We ran down the hill and I felt a bit better.

Again, as per usual we hiked up the next killer hill. One day I’ll run up that sucker, but not today. Again the down hill went much better. Then Cobus got a pain in his side and we decided to call it quits.

Not the best training session, but it was fun.

Workout:

  • Type: Run
  • Date: 05/08/2008
  • Time: 17:15:00
  • Total Time: 00:29:13.00
  • Average Heart rate: 167
  • Max Heart rate: 182
  • Calories: 259
  • Distance: 4.01 km
  • Average Pace: 7:16.89/km
  • Ascent: 101 m

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Post by:Andy

Wednesday, May 7th, 2008 at 4:00 pm  |  No Comments »

 

Cycle - 1.7 hours - 05/07/2008

Workout:

  • Type: Cycle
  • Date: 05/07/2008
  • Time: 16:00:00
  • Total Time: 1:44:29.00
  • Average Heart rate: 147
  • Calories: 1389
  • Distance: 38.33 km
  • Average Speed: 22.01 kmph
  • Max Speed: 55.2 kmph
  • Ascent: 426 m

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Post by:Andy

Tuesday, May 6th, 2008 at 5:15 pm  |  No Comments »

 

Recovery run

I had to get the legs moving again and went for a chill (almost) 6km at my work’s running club. I stuck by one of my friends that didn’t know the route that well and usually did shorter distances. Good thing too. The spirit is willing but the flesh weak.

I’ll kick it into high gear tomorrow.

Workout:

  • Type: Run
  • Date: 05/06/2008
  • Time: 17:15:00
  • Total Time: 00:44:54.00
  • Average Heart rate: 143
  • Max Heart rate: 179
  • Calories: 447
  • Distance: 5.84 km
  • Average Pace: 7:41.54/km
  • Ascent: 90 m

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Post by:Andy

Monday, May 5th, 2008 at 9:50 pm  |  5 Comments »

 

Check out my race calendar for May

Man, I just fell in love with May. This is the line-up:

  • 3 May: Forest2Falls Mountain Bike race (70km). Done!
  • 10 May: Trail run at the Moreletta spring (10km). [Updated] Done!
  • 17 May: Adventure race at Konka Camps, Magaliesburg (35km). [Updated] Done!
  • 24 May: Mabalingwe Lion Man Mountain Bike race (80km). [Updated] I didn’t do this race. Had other commitments.
  • 31 May: Tuks Alumni Legends 2008 half-marathon (21.1km) [Updated] or Magalies Monster Mountain Bike race (75km). [Updated] Done!

Unfortunately June is considerably less exciting with only one scheduled event. Perhaps, I’ll be able to ad a few as May progress.

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Post by:Andy

Saturday, May 3rd, 2008 at 8:00 am  |  No Comments »

 

Forest2Falls MTB race

So I did the Forest2Falls 70km on Saturday (results can be found over at Spectrum Sport Timing). What a tough race that is! 70km off road with a total ascent of around 1450m. Crazy.

It’s the second time I’ve done this race, but it wasn’t any easier than the first time round. Well, actually it was a bit easier. My HR averaged around 165 last year and it was only around 156 for this race. So my fitness level is definitely up. But since I’m training for multiple disciplines, my legs weren’t that accustomed to peddling as I would’ve liked. Anyway, here is a brief report.

It rained the day before, so we were expecting a pretty muddy event. We had the race briefing 10mins before the race and set off on time at 8am. It was quite chilly at first, but after a few km’s I acclimatized and was thankful of the colder weather.

The first 10km or so was a bit dull. It was mostly dirt roads through chopped down plantations. Then we reached some narly single track through the pine trees. Unfortunately some of the noobs couldn’t stay on their bikes and we had to walk bits.

After that we reached the picturesque Berlin cascades. I kept pushing so did not really have much time to appreciate it though. A bit unfortunate. We then hit a 16-18% climb for about 200-300m. Literally crawled up that hill. We then passed over the top of the river and rode down some more plantation roads. Crossed a railway twice and managed to get some air in the process. Great fun!

After 35km we passed the start again to do a different 35km loop. The 35km race stopped here.

The second 35km sucked big time! A 900m ascent for the second loop. Blegh! Just as we left the start we were smacked right in the face with a 250m climb called Heartbreak Hill. That hill did indeed break me. Sort off.

The terrain was crazy. If you weren’t crawling up a hill you were flying down a bumpy dirt/grass road. The roads were overgrown with “savannah type” grass, which was only cut short for the race. Or so it seemed. It was like a million little speed bumps. You could never quite settle into a rhythm.

I made up some serious time on the downhills and reached a maximum speed of 66km! WHHOAHAAA!! No one ever passed me on the downhills… save a 50-60 year old guy down one of the final hills. Can you believe it!? He came flying passed me saying something childish like “WHHOAHAAA!! That was fun” Hehe. Awesome. I want to be that guy when I’m older. Anyway, back to race.

The final 15km had less grass, but my legs were dead by then and there were still plenty of hill climbs left. I considered walking up the hills a number of times, but my legs were dead. It would’ve been a waste of time. I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t be able to push the bike up the hills.

I must say, one cool thing about the final 35km was the patches of mud along the course. It wasn’t nearly as muddy I thought it would be. There was only a few puddles/ponds in the dips. I blasted through those and was dirty as hell by the end of it all!! Brilliant! As Murphy would have it, I fell 4km before the end in the last bit of mud of the race. I tried to overtake someone and my bike lost grip at around 25km/h. I slid down the road on my shoulder. It was spectacular!! Wish I had that on film.

In the end, I finished with an official time of 4:13:12, finishing 116th out of 240 competitors. Not too bad. Quite pleased with that. I say this after every event, but I wish I was a bit fitter. Just enough to get through that final 10-15km with greater ease.

All in all, a good race. I’ll recommend it. Especially the 35km race.

Workout:

  • Type: Cycle
  • Date: 05/03/2008
  • Time: 08:00:00
  • Total Time: 4:13:12.00
  • Average Heart rate: 156
  • Max Heart rate: 178
  • Calories: 2916
  • Distance: 70 km
  • Average Speed: 16.59 kmph
  • Max Speed: 66.96 kmph
  • Ascent: 1,445 m

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Post by:Andy

Thursday, May 1st, 2008 at 5:00 pm  |  No Comments »

 

Pre-race ride

I did an easy 20km today in preparation for Saturday’s mtb race. I took it easy, or rather, forced myself to take it easy. I had to pull myself away from all those hill climbs and kept myself from gunning down the smooth straights. Damn… I’m almost drooling. Hehe. Think I have issues.  But its hard if your legs feel so fresh and you just touch on the pedals.

Hmm… Saturday is going to rock!! 65km of the sweetest single and jeep-track in the country. The race is called Forest-2-Falls, which is self-explanatory. It’s not all forest though. There’s a lot of rocky hills and trails through pine plantations. If I remember correctly the total ascent is around 1000-1200m., so it’s quite a hilly area.

I’ll have a short race report for you guys on Monday. Have a great weekend! Whopa!!

Workout:

  • Type: Cycle
  • Date: 05/01/2008
  • Time: 17:00:00
  • Total Time: 1:02:00.00
  • Average Heart rate: 125
  • Max Heart rate: 155
  • Calories: 644
  • Distance: 20.76 km
  • Average Speed: 20.09 kmph
  • Max Speed: 31.6 kmph
  • Ascent: 85 m

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Post by:Andy

Thursday, May 1st, 2008 at 12:30 pm  |  No Comments »

 

Logbook Daily Record for 05/01/2008

Health:

  • Date: 05/01/2008
  • Weight: 70.5
  • Mood: Normal
  • Resting Heart rate: 50
  • Sleep Hours: 9
  • Sleep Pattern: Normal

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This Week

Distances
Bike: 18 kms
Run : 7 kms
Hours of Activity
 Bike: 1.0 - 54.8%
 Run : 0.9 - 45.2%
  Total:1.9

Last Week

Distances
Bike: 31 kms
Run : 9 kms
Swim: 1,200 meters
Hours of Activity
 Bike: 1.8 - 52.7%
 Swim: 0.5 - 14.8%
 Run : 1.1 - 32.6%
  Total:3.4

Year to Date

Distances
Bike: 1,183 kms
Run : 372 kms
Swim: 19,000 meters
Hours of Activity
 Bike: 63.5 - 45.0%
 Swim: 9.2 - 6.5%
 Run : 41.0 - 29.0%
 Strength: 9.5 - 6.7%
 Other: 18.0 - 12.7%
  Total:141.2
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