First knee test
I went cycling for half an hour this morning. I took a slow pace, because I want to ease my knee back into action. I hope I get it right, because I’ve overcooked it a few times before. I didn’t feel any sharp pains, but I stood-up once and the left knee hurt a bit. It felt like there was still traces of inflammation, but nothing worth stopping for.
When I got off the bike, the knees cracked a bit; similar to someone cracking their knuckles. I once read this happens when the muscles around the join are a bit weak and hence are unable to keep the join in its place. So I reckon I should gradually increase the strength of the muscles without causing further inflammation.
The plan is then to take it real slow for 3-4 weeks, focussing on the frequency rather than training time. I’ll keep on taking anti-inflammatory pills whilst keeping a very close eye on any pain or continued cracking.
Workout:
- Type: Cycle
- Date: 07/12/2008
- Time: 13:00:00
- Total Time: 00:31:22.00
- Average Heart rate: 124
- Calories: 250
- Distance: 9.15 km
- Average Speed: 17.5 kmph
Filed under: Cycle
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Daily cycling commute
Workout:
- Type: Cycle
- Date: 06/04/2008
- Time: 17:30:00
- Total Time: 00:49:45.00
- Average Heart rate: 129
- Calories: 486
- Distance: 13 km
- Average Speed: 15.68 kmph
- Ascent: 226 m
Filed under: Cycle
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Carboncopy ride
Pretty much the exact same training session as the one I did yesterday. I stayed in Z2, really trying to focus on building my base. It’s unfortunate that I have another race in a week’s time, since this will interfere with my base building period. Oh well, I hear it is an awesome race not to be missed, so I’ll try to take it easy… riiiiight.
Also, my knees are still sore. I’m sure it is inflammation that is not clearing up properly. This is largely my own fault. I kept on running even though they weren’t properly healed. I skipped today’s scheduled running session, but I have another one Thursday. Hmmm… perhaps I should cycle while the other guys do the trail run. Yeah, think I’ll do that.
Workout:
- Type: Cycle
- Date: 06/03/2008
- Time: 17:00:00
- Total Time: 00:37:22.00
- Average Heart rate: 127
- Calories: 452
- Distance: 12.84 km
- Average Speed: 20.62 kmph
- Ascent: 94 m
Filed under: Cycle
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Recovery ride
I was surprisingly sore after Saturday’s run, so I just went for a half-hour ride. It was a surprisingly comfortable ride and I don’t think I really target the same muscles / movements as with running. Oh well, it was just fun to get back on the bike again.
Workout:
- Type: Cycle
- Date: 06/02/2008
- Time: 17:15:00
- Total Time: 00:37:23.00
- Average Heart rate: 129
- Max Heart rate: 152
- Calories: 433
- Distance: 12.86 km
- Average Speed: 20.64 kmph
- Max Speed: 40.5 kmph
- Ascent: 83 m
Filed under: Cycle
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Dark & Dirty night ride
Went for my second night ride with the Dark & Dirty guys. These rides are more social and the focus is on fun rather than training. Good thing too, because I’m still suffering from fatigue. Fatigue or I’m getting sick, but I’m quite sure it’s fatigue.
I feel like a bit of a pansy. I did three different races (MTB, AR and trail run) the previous three weekends and it proved to be too much for my body. After this week’s Polar HR workshop, I know what I’m doing wrong during training, so it isn’t any wonder I’m feeling fatigued. But still… I feel like my body should have been able to keep up. Three races isn’t that tough.
Anyway, I’ll work on my base and build, and then I’ll be able to gun it again!
(P.S. The total ride time was closer to 3 hours, but just to keep track of my actual training time, I’m logging 1:30.)
Workout:
- Type: Cycle
- Date: 05/22/2008
- Time: 19:00:00
- Total Time: 1:30:00.00
- Average Heart rate: 135
- Max Heart rate: 170
- Calories: 806
- Distance: 26.48 km
- Average Speed: 17.65 kmph
- Ascent: 240 m
Filed under: Cycle, Mountain Biking, Night Ride
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Daily cycling commute
The second day commuting. Things went a bit more smooth than the first day.
At this stage, packing my bag is the biggest time waster. So I left a towel and some shower stuff at work. That should shave a few minutes.
Can’t really think of other areas where I can save time… Unless I want to keep clothes at work, but I’m not sure I want to start doing that yet. Hmmm… I suppose I can just pedal harder. Sounds like a good plan!
Workout:
- Type: Cycle
- Date: 05/19/2008
- Time: 17:00:00
- Total Time: 00:39:31.00
- Average Heart rate: 139
- Max Heart rate: 172
- Calories: 512
- Distance: 12.99 km
- Average Speed: 19.72 kmph
- Max Speed: 58.7 kmph
- Ascent: 245 m
Filed under: Cycle
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AR: MTB leg
Our MTB leg was a bit disappointing… well disappointing at first. The terrain was rubbish for the first 4-5km. We had to go up very ‘technical’ hills (aka crappy terrain with WAY too many rocks) were the inclines were between 20-25%. That’s insane if you ask me. I managed to ride 2 of the 8 odd hills, but had to push my bike up the others. Really did not enjoy that at all. Didn’t see anyone else (other than Gert) who was able to ride those.
Then just as we reached the end of the ‘technical’ section, Cobus’ derailer broke off. Clean break. We spent around 30mins trying to turn his bike into a fixie. We couldn’t get him going an unfortunately he had to walk back to the start. Gert and I decided to press on though.
The rest of the MTB section was brilliant. Some twisty downhills with a bit of gravel. I managed to get the end out a couple of times. The flat sections was also great and at times we averaged around 35km/h.
We made up a lot of places but lost so much time that our total ride time was around 1:34:00. (I logged 1:01:30, purely because I want to keep track of how much time I actually spent exercising).
Workout:
- Type: Cycle
- Date: 05/17/2008
- Time: 09:30:00
- Total Time: 1:01:30.00
- Average Heart rate: 158
- Max Heart rate: 190
- Calories: 602
- Distance: 12.7 km
- Average Speed: 12.39 kmph
- Max Speed: 43.6 kmph
- Ascent: 329 m
Filed under: Adventure Racing, Cycle, Mountain Biking, Race Report
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Daily cycling commute
I started commuting to work today. Reduce that carbon footprint and also safe on petrol.
My transitions can do with some work though. Hehe. It took me like 20mins to pack my bag. The shower at work another 15mins. The change back into my cycling gear around 5-10mins and the shower back home another 10mins.
Perhaps I should keep as much stuff as possible at work, such as a towel, shower gel etc. Not to sure if keeping clothes there is taking it to far. I don’t want it to look like I’m sleeping under my table.
Tomorrow I’m meeting Cobus for a trail run again. Think I’d have to take the car. Don’t want to start the run with tired legs. My knees are quite sore after the weekend’s running, so I hope they’ll be ok tomorrow. I’ve been trying to give them a bit of a rest, but they still hurt quite bad when I get my footing wrong. Oh well, we’ll see how it goes tomorrow.
Workout:
- Type: Cycle
- Date: 05/14/2008
- Time: 17:00:00
- Total Time: 00:40:33.00
- Average Heart rate: 145
- Max Heart rate: 181
- Calories: 489
- Distance: 12.57 km
- Average Speed: 18.6 kmph
- Ascent: 209 m
Filed under: Cycle
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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
Filed under: Cycle, Mountain Biking
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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
Filed under: Cycle, Mountain Biking, Race Report
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