From IT Geek to Triathlete

Cycle - 0.6 hours - 07/20/2008

Andy — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 07:00:00 +0000

Logbook Activity Type: Cycle Date: 07/20/2008 Time: 09:00:00 Total Time: 00:37:47.00 Calories: 427 Distance: 13.18 km Average Speed: 20.93 kmph Ascent: 48 m

Short ride

Andy — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 12:00:00 +0000

I didn’t get to cycle this week. I really wanted to get a few short sessions in, but work is quit hectic at the moment.

The knee feels near perfect on the bike, but as soon as I start applying a bit of pressure it starts hurting again. Think I might have to see a specialist soon. Luckily it is winter, so I can afford to rest the knee a bit more.

Logbook Activity

Type: Cycle
Date: 07/19/2008
Time: 14:00:00
Total Time: 00:38:46.00
Calories: 425
Distance: 13.22 km
Average Speed: 20.46 kmph
Ascent: 48 m

Week 3 of the 100 push-ups challenge!

Andy — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 10:00:00 +0000

I did four sessions this week, with three sets in each. I increased the frequency to see if I was able to better manage the exercises. I reckon it worked ok, but I’m not strong enough to keep up with the programme. I’m definitely strongeer, but I’ll have to cheat in order to do the required amount of push-ups.

I’m going to do week three again and will try to stick to the programme.

Logbook Activity

Type: Strength Training
Date: 07/19/2008
Time: 12:00:00
Total Time: 00:30:00.00
Calories: 100

Day 2, week 2 of the 100 push-ups challenge!

Andy — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 13:00:00 +0000

Oops I missed a day, but today’s session went very well. I was able to do honest push-ups 90% of the time. I did sets of 16, 13, 11, 11 and 20!! 20 push-ups!! The most ever.

Logbook Activity

Type: Strength Training
Date: 07/12/2008
Time: 15:00:00
Total Time: 00:10:00.00
Calories: 30

First knee test

Andy — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 11:00:00 +0000

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.

Logbook Activity

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

Knee update

Andy — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 21:09:26 +0000

I’ve been going easy on my knees for the past few weeks. It seems like it is starting to pay-off. Normally I would get a numbed pain while climbing stairs, but I haven’t had any pain in the last two days.

I’m literally pulling out all the stops. I’m icing, stretching, resting and doing very light strengthening exercises. If progress is still on the up by Saturday, I’ll start doing slow and short cycling and running/walking bits.

I find this recovery process frustratingly slow, but what can you do. I guess my body just needs to be eased into exercise rather than being pushed hard… not that I was pushing that hard.

For anyone struggling with runner’s knee, I’ll recommend you start with these two articles on Time-To-Run and AAOS. From there, one can search for more information regarding stretching, strengthening exercises, etc…

Day 1, week 2 of the 100 push-ups challenge!

Andy — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 20:00:00 +0000

After a week, the push-ups are a bit easier, but all the sets are still in the ten’s. I did the prescribed sets of 12, 12, 9, 7 and 12 (2 extra…). The first set was an honest one, and I went all the way down, but the last 4 I could only go down 3/4 of the way.

Next week is going to kick us in the face with an opening set of 25!!

Logbook Activity

Type: Strength Training
Date: 07/08/2008
Time: 22:00:00
Total Time: 00:07:00.00
Calories: 20

Strength Training - 0.3 hours - 7/05/2008

Andy — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 18:49:11 +0000

Logbook Activity Type: Strength Training Date: 07/05/2008 Time: 20:30:00 Total Time: 00:15:00.00

Day 2, week 1 of the 100 push-ups challenge!

Andy — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 10:00:00 +0000

I was supposed to do my push-ups yesterday, but was still quite stiff and ended up doing them today. Even though I waited a day, I didn’t feel strong and cheated a bit… I didn’t go down all the way and stopped at around 2/3’s down. It was still challenging though. I ended up doing five challenging sets of 12, 12, 10, 10 and 14 respectively.

Rather than resting in between sets, I did a bit of leg work. I really enjoy these short strength training stints. I suppose I should increase the training time a bit, but I’m having fun for now.

Logbook Activity

Type: Strength Training
Date: 07/03/2008
Total Time: 00:20:00.00
Calories: 75

Quick leg workout

Andy — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 17:00:00 +0000

Logbook Activity Type: Strength Training Date: 07/01/2008 Time: 19:00:00 Total Time: 00:25:00.00 Calories: 75

Day 1, week 1 of the 100 push-ups challenge!

Andy — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 18:00:00 +0000

Ok so day 1 of the challange was already tough. I started with the +10 push-ups programme and managed to complete the five sets (10, 10, 8, 6, 6), but took 90-120 seconds breaks between the final 3 sets. I’m just not strong enough to do them otherwise. Wednesday’s 12, 12, 10, 10, 10 is going to be very hard.

Logbook Activity

Type: Strength Training
Date: 06/30/2008
Time: 20:00:00
Total Time: 00:07:00.00
Calories: 20

Take up the challange. Do a 100 push-ups!

Andy — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 10:48:59 +0000

I’m a bit of pansy when it comes to upper body strength. I can cycle 4 hours with a smile on my face, but ask me to do 20 push-ups and I’ll fail miserably, let alone 100! I think I managed 15 the other day, which was an all time best.

A friend sent over the one hundred push-ups challenge this morning and I’m like “Yeah right, a 100 push-ups. Never!” I’ve never tried a challenge such as this and since I’m waiting for my knee to recover, I think I’ll give it a go. Hell, I’ll be happy if I manage to get above 20.

Strength training

Andy — Sun, 29 Jun 2008 17:15:00 +0000

I’m busy moving, so I setup my weights again today and did a quick 20min all-round workout. The plan is to get the muscles around my knees stronger, so I can get cycling and running again. In the process I’ll do a bit of upper body stuff too.

Oh, and my bike went into for a new fork on Saturday and I’ll get it again on Tuesday. It’s going to be hard not to go for a ride. Perhaps just a quick 10km or something…

Logbook Activity

Type: Strength Training
Date: 06/29/2008
Time: 19:15:00
Total Time: 00:20:00.00
Calories: 75

Thursday trail run

Andy — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 15:00:00 +0000

I went for an easy trail run to kick my training off again, but it wasn’t long for the knee started hurting again.

If it’s not flue, it’s the knee. Quite discouraging. I read up a little more about runner’s knee and it seems like one has to wait around 3 weeks before resuming training.

My workload at work has also increased quite a lot, so I’m throwing in the towel. I’ll start training again in 3 weeks or so.

In the meantime, I’ll try to do a bit of strength training. Would be nice to go swimming, but it is damn cold and the municipal pool is closed for repairs…

Logbook Activity

Type: Run
Date: 06/19/2008
Time: 17:00:00
Total Time: 00:26:00.00
Calories: 300
Distance: 3 km
Average Pace: 8:40.23/km
Ascent: 100 m

Cold… continued

Andy — Sun, 15 Jun 2008 13:27:42 +0000

My little cold developed into flue and died again. I’m feeling much better, but was unable to do my race on Saturday. Damn I hate that!! Such a cool race and I had to stay at home.

I’m still short of breath, so I reckon it will be at least another week before I can start training again. I’m definitely an addict. Hehe. I get all cranky just thinking about not being able to train… and it’s only been a week and a half since my last session.

Well to all you healthy folk, enjoy. I’ll be out there again shortly!

Cold

Andy — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 12:57:57 +0000

I got a cold on Friday and went to the doctor asap. He gave me a bowl full of meds! Something has to die… hopefully the virus. Normally I won’t run to the doctor this earlty, but I would be guttered if I won’t be able to do Saturday’s race. Hopefully I’ll be well enough to ride.

Daily cycling commute

Andy — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 15:30:00 +0000

Logbook Activity

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

Carboncopy ride

Andy — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 15:00:00 +0000

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.

Logbook Activity

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

Recovery ride

Andy — Tue, 30 Nov 1999 00:00:00 +0000

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.

Logbook Activity

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

The perfect first half-marathon

Andy — Sat, 31 May 2008 05:00:00 +0000

Well perhaps, not perfect. It’s not like I won or anything, but the race was exactly as I imagined it would be. Here’s a brief race report:

The race is called the Tuks Alumini Legends 2008, which is held organized by my university - The University of Pretoria. The race started from the Waterkloof Airforce Base. I was about 15mins early and when I came around one of the final corners… surprise! Huge pile-up! Ended up being 15mins late and had to start with the 10km walkers… the shame!! No only joking. I struggled to keep up with those frontrunners… or walkers rather. Amazing how fast those buggers actually are.

I hoped that we would run on the airfields, but instead we just ran down to a nearby dual carriage road and just ran up and down the damn thing. Boooorrrrring!! Sheesh, I can do that any day of the week. Why don’t the spice things up a bit? Anyhow, moving on.

So I decided to keep my HR in zone 3 during the whole race and perhaps gun it towards the end. I warmed up for the first 2kms. I made up good time during the first 5km. It was all downhill, so I was able to stay below 6:00/km. After a turn at 5, we ran uphill for 4km. It was hard to not run faster, but at least I didn’t have to walk.

Things flatten out over the next 8-9km. I found the running to be quite easy up to the 15-16km mark. The left knee started to feel a bit swollen and sore, but luckily it didn’t get any worse. In spite of my legs being a bit tired, I took the pace up a bit for the final 2km. It was mostly uphill, so my average speed stayed more or less the same.

In conclusion, the race was just as I expected (apart from the route). Not easy, but far from tough. I expected the first 10 to be easy, the next 7-8km to be slow but steady, and final parts to hurt a bit more. I don’t think road running is my thing though. Can’t see myself doing many more of these. Perhaps it’ll become a bit more fun if I’m able to increase my tempo a bit.

Logbook Activity

Type: Run
Date: 05/31/2008
Time: 07:00:00
Total Time: 2:13:52.00
Average Heart rate: 162
Max Heart rate: 179
Calories: 838
Distance: 21.18 km
Average Pace: 6:19.35/km
Ascent: 117 m