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| Alan
Training Diary |
Albert
Training Diary |
| 31/12/2006
The final week of our program turned out
to be great with a successful 3 day training camp. Total
16 week program training time was 165 hours with 141
hours in zone so that works out to 85% efficiency which
is not bad. The target was about 152 hours in zone. I
did not feel so good at the training camp and was really
flat on the last day. I think this was just as a result
of being a bit stressed and tired. I had put in the
hours in the 16 weeks before so I felt fine but there
just wasn’t the power that I needed. It just proved a
point to me that in order to fully benefit from all the
training it is critical to get enough sleep and manage
your personal life so that there are minimal outside
pressures and influences. Although the whole 16 week
program seemed a bit shaky it worked out ok and has laid
a good base for an intense 12 week program to come.
|
My first 16 week training program can be
summarized, simply as; not ideal. We finished strong
with an awesome training camp on the west coast. My knee
niggles seem to be back, and I will have to monitor it
carefully. I am looking forward to a dedicated effort on
the next 12 week program. |
| 02/12/2006
This
turned out to be the week that we moved house so
needless to say the training took a bit of a back seat.
But I still managed most of my hours with some shrewd
planning and long days and short nights. But my bike
needs a bit of a service now after not receiving any
attention for almost 2 weeks now. We are into the wind
down in the festive season and the final stretch of this
16 week program now.
|
I am
finally back on track. This week basically replaces my
poor attempt at a big week last week. I managed over 14
hours. I felt surprisingly good, with a 90km on Saturday
and an 80 on Sunday. I have started to use a recovery
drink after rides and I can truly feel the difference.
Your body is more able to train at a good intensity the
next day. I believe that using the recovery drink at the
Epic next year will really help. I am using Energy
Dynamics Ignite and Protein Blast before bed after long
training days. The ED products seem to agree with me, so
I am not going to try anything else for the moment.
My knee
feels good, and while it is only 95% it is a great
feeling to ride almost, pain free!
|
| 25/11/2006
The
biggest week of the program worked out well. A planned
monster of a ride turned out as just that. After
spending just over 9:30 hours out riding it was exactly
what was needed for the biggest week of the program. We
had a lot of stops so it wasn’t all riding time. We did
two big climbs and totalled 2335m of ascent for the day
which is not bad going, together with some technical
descents and some hike a bike sections aswell. I felt
good the whole way and noticed that the slightly slower
pace definitely takes less of a toll on your overall
comfort levels.
|
Another
whopping 5 hours short on the weekly program. But in
this game, one must focus on the positive. I am over my
stomach bug. The Bilharzia should be dead and I should
start feeling better and better. And my knee feels the
best it has in 6 months.
Going
forward, I am just going to try to get as many good base
miles in and start the 12 week training program in
January healthy and strong! |
| 18/11/2006
This week went well but I
was short on hours because I thought I had to do about
11h but actually it was 12h - how dumb is that! I had a
good long ride on Saturday, 5 hours plus and I felt good
all the way. Rode in the new kit and it fits perfectly
and works even better, so it is going to be a winner.
Now what to do about my partner? I'm starting to get
nervous, not for him but for me, so much bad luck can't
happen to just one person! Then again I have been sick
for two epics in a row so it can strike at any anytime!
|
Disease and disaster has conspired to keep me way off
the training program. I contracted bilharzias again and
on top of that I got a stomach bug on the weekend. The
only riding I did was the 94.7 MTB race where I felt
sick as a dog! Anyway, that is all part of it! I hope to
be riding again by next weekend, the good point of all
this is that me knee feels really good after all the
rest, let us hope it has finally come right. |
| 11/11/2006
This week was nice and short
and a bit of a rest week, well compared to other weeks
that is, at 9 1/2h there was still a bit of riding to be
done. I enjoyed the fewer hours and took most days easy.
The coming two weeks are the biggest in the program so a
bit of a rest was a good idea.
I still feel good
although don't feel any faster on the bike but hopefully
that will come later. |
I took a bit of a gamble
this week, and ended up 3:27 short! On the physio’s
recommendation I went for a cortisone injection on
Tuesday, to try to finally put this knee problem behind
me. It necessitates a 4 day lay off. Since it was an
easy week, I thought it would be a good time to do it. I
then raced on Sunday at Highland Gate which was great
fun. Needless to say the knee is not miraculously
healed! I will just keep monitoring it and hope for the
best. I think I have given the medical profession enough
of a chance to get it right, now I will leave it to
Mother Nature. Lots of stretching and strengthening and
I am sure it will come right.
|
| 5/11/2006
This week turned out to be
great Cape Epic training in the rain. With 3-4 cold
fronts moving through the Cape I somehow found myself on
my bike in the middle of all of them. Good thing is that
I wasn't phased by the wind and rain.
I had a long 115km ride
that went well and I felt really good although I have a
nice strong tail wind pushing me home. I was a little
bit over on my hours this week which was good seeing as
it was the first real long week |
I
pulled up 15 minutes short this week. My Sunday ride was
out of zone a lot of the time, so in theory I did the
time, but not all in zone. I felt terrible on my big
ride compared to last week. My legs were tired and I
blew on the ride home. I hope this is just teething
pains as I get back into the big miles. The club rides
are at a very intense pace, and I hope this is not
taking too much out of me.
The knee
seems to be no better and no worse. As long as it is not
getting worse I can deal with it, but as we get closer
to March, I will have to consider some serious
treatment. |
| 29/10/2006
Well it
looks like I am back on track, but it is not easy. The
riding is easy and I want to do it, but the work
pressures are making it difficult. The solution is
earlier mornings and better planning because as a well
known Astra-naut once said “Once the Epic starts the
truth serum will be administered”. So there can be no
hiding behind excuses and re-adjusting of schedules to
suit time constraints.
However despite all of this I am feeling
good and I dare to say that I feel a bit stronger than
the same time last year. Unlike my poor partner I have
actually had a good winters training where hopefully I
picked up a bit of strength. Last year my legs were sore
a lot of the time, but so far this year I am not
experiencing as much soreness. But it is still early
days so lets see how it goes. |
We are in week 7 of the
first 16 week training program and this is only the
second week that I have made all my hours! Appendix
recovery is now complete and I am focused on training
again. I still have a knee tendon injury which I am
slowly nursing but other than that I feel really good.
I did
113km on Saturday and I felt super! I was really worried
that I would bonk as this was my first big ride in ages,
but I felt really good.
I was a
bit more than an hour over on this week’s schedule and
that was really good for me as I find myself more than
13 hours short over the program as a whole. Anyway, no
sense in crying over lost hours, they are gone forever,
I must look forward and focus on the remaining 9 weeks.
My biggest concern at the moment is to get my knee 100%
and then all should be good for the rest of the
training. |
