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Well I was feeling better than last week, but then again this week was so easy compared to other weeks. I am starting to feel rested though. I did a bit of steep climbing this week and I felt really comfortable with my HR well below max. I have been getting some scary tell tale sickness coming on feelings and my resting HR is not where it should be. But then again I can also feel the excitement and a bit of nerves. The packing has started and the final bike prep is almost done. Next week this time we are on Day 2 of the Cape Epic 2006!

Ok, so the training really is over now and the race is next weekend. Here is my final self assessment. I have definitely felt better before, but I have also felt much worse. I suspect that I am maybe fighting off some sickness at the moment as my RHR has not been normal, but that could also just be nerves.

My knees feel good, but they are well rested, I will only know for sure whether they are going to go the distance on the 29^th of April at Spier. 

So there it is; 15 weeks of mud, dew and really early mornings! I await, with excitement the 22^nd of April!

This week I came up short by about an hour and a half, but I am still on target for the program. I still felt a bit tired this week so I was not too worried about riding fewer hours. On our long ride on Sunday I felt much better. We did an awesome ride on a new route with a lot of climbing 1650m in 67km with two absolute killer downhills. It was great preparation and a really good training ride with lots of climbing and long technical downhills. I am happy with the way I feel and am super keen to line up and ride Cape Epic 2006!

I was about 5 minutes short this week. I am really looking forward to the 2 taper weeks. I felt tired and lethargic this week. I trust that the program will see me through though and that I will be feeling good by the 22^nd of April. I am extremely excited for the race and can’t wait to get to the start.

This week I came up a bit short but I decided to rather have an easy week as I was not feeling that strong. I did my two standard weekly rides in some of the slowest times that I can remember, and it was not as if I felt like I was taking it easy. I was feeling super strong before the training camp, but am not feeling that way now. Hopefully I will feel better next week, if not, then I will start worrying a bit about peaking too early.

I was actually quite tired this week, even after a good rest last week. I have developed a problem with my right knee and I am going to physio until the epic to get it sorted. I couldn’t resist the temptation to race at Forest to Falls and even though I enjoyed the route and the race very much, I think I was really too tired.  I managed all the hours for this week and I am almost 2 hour over on the whole program. This next week is the last big week and to be honest I am looking forward to the last 2 weeks of the program for some rest.

Well so far so good, I made it through the training week and felt really good. Despite riding well in my endurance zone and doing a lot under it, my legs still felt quite sore after the 4 days of riding. After resting a bit this week I felt really good, but my Saturday ride showed that my legs were still recovering. So this coming week will be an easy one until the strength returns. After re-adjusting my minimum HR zone to 100 to be inline with Big Al, my total hours have shot up and I am now 4 hours over the program. This makes a lot more sense considering the amount of riding that I have been doing.

2 weeks with no report, so here goes! We had our west coast training camp for 4 days. It coincided with the biggest week on the program, so we had a really good week. I ended up over on my time, and then this week I ended up short as I was traveling for business. All is well though as I am still over on the program as a whole.

I felt the best that I have ever felt on a training camp and the bike performed superbly. I only had a very slight niggle with my right knee which seems better now, I will monitor it in the final four weeks. 

We had a really good training camp this weekend. Both of us felt strong and were starting to feel the benefit of all the training that we have been doing. We rode almost 430km and about 22 hours in total. Read the report back from the west coast cape epic training camp.

12/03/2006

This was quite a good week for me, I felt good and put in my longest week yet 411km. My hours are still short for my zone time by about 8 hours now, although my total training time is about 20 hours over. I am sure I will make some back towards the end of the program though. 

I am ready for the training camp, I’ll rest for a couple of days then do a ride or two and then the big training rides on the weekend.

I had a real good week. I think that my knees are totally sorted out now, I had no pain the whole week. We will have to see how they hold up next week at the training camp.

I am now exactly 2 hours over on the whole program. And I must say that I am feeling better than I did last year on the really long rides. Hopefully the camp will go well and then I should be ready for the big one!

This week came up a bit short because I did a race and took one rest day. I also took it easy this week after last weeks long hours. I felt good the whole week and was strong for the race, but do feel a bit tired now. The next two weeks are going to be tough because they are two big weeks with long hours. This is the final build-up to the epic so making the hours will be critical and then the tapering starts.

The training camp was brilliant for me! I felt really good on the long ride and was able to race well the next day, which really surprised me! I am now 2 hours ahead on the program and I am going to take it real easy this week!

This week went ok. Although I felt rested from the previous week, the previous Sunday ride did take it out of my legs and they only felt strong by the end of the week. This week my riding was much more efficient, I tried to increase my pace so as to stop dipping out of zone and it worked quite well. I plan to have a really big week for the Sabie training camp so should gain some hours back. 

Had a brilliant week! Knees are really feeling good. Did a 135km on Saturday and felt the most comfortable that I have ever felt for 6 and a half hours.

Looking forward to the training camp next week. I have caught up all the lost Barberton week hours now and am back on track.

I did a bit of extra time this week. As usual I rode alot more that what the graph says, because I was below zone.  My legs were not as sore this week and I could feel that it was a lighter week with some recovery taking place. We did quite a hard ride on Sunday, not really planned but turned out that way. My bike is taking strain and is going to have a full 4000km service.

I managed to get all my hours in this week. I was 5 minutes short, but considering how tough the Heanertsburg race was I think it will be ok! Knees and everything felf real good this week.

This week I came in under zone time again despite trying to ride extra. It is quite difficult to stay in the right zones when riding with other riders of different levels. I am going to have to make more of an effort to get all my hours in. This is the second week that I have let slip and it is not good. But other than that I feel great and my legs are feeling strong. I am going to start concentrating more on some climbing work because I can feel that my climbing legs are not as strong as they can be.

I had an awesome week. Got some new equipment, i.e. shoes and a saddle and it all worked out great. New shoes seem to have addressed some of the knee problems and my knees were pretty pain free on the big rides, so things are really looking up! Also, managed to make some time back on last week’s disaster.

This week went fine and everything felt good. I didn’t make my zone hours again despite having spent over 13 hours on the bike this week. I need to work on my training efficiency by trying to stay in my zones especially when I ride alone. I did a good climbing training ride this weekend. Having ridden mostly on the flats till now, you get used to doing high average speeds, whereas on these long climbing rides it seems like you are going nowhere slowly. So it is something that I will need to do more of to get used to again.

This week was a total disaster! I tried to rest up for Barberton but due to shocking conditions the race was shortened to just the 40km route. I then decided to come back home to clean my bike and be ready for a good long ride on Sunday to try to salvage some of the training week. While servicing my rear shock, however, I broke the mounting bolt!, so there you have it 7:38 short!

I will just appreciate the rest and attack the remaining weeks with some vigour! AND NO MORE RACING!

The first part of this week was a bit hard because I didn’t rest after my big Sunday ride last week. But then I recovered quite well after that. Then the last part of the week was really easy going. I was a bit under this week because I rode below zone to stay with riding partners. So now I have had a good rest and my knees and legs are feeling good.

I finally managed to calm down this week and exercise in the correct zones. It was a short week and I took it easy! My right knee is still not feeling 100% but it is getting better. I am not changing my set-up again for a while, I want everything to settle then I will reassess!

I sold my Polar 720i and upgraded to the Polar 625x the main reason for this is the new Own Optimiser tests that are included in the new models. This test checks recovery rates and also training intensity and advises if you are too lazy or over doing it. I think this will be valuable for the rest of the preparation.

Also got some of the running equipment, so I am planning to run once a week, nothing too hectic, to prepare for the Epic portages!

This week was quite good. It was the first week in more than a month with no real wind to speak of so the riding was a bit easier. Both my knees were a bit sore during the initial rides but seemed to get progressively better. I did a monster ride on Sunday, it wasn’t supposed to be but the result of a new route with lots of sand and walking and a bit of a headwind coming home resulted in a 6+ hour ride. It was good though because it has been more than a month since I did a ride that long. It also helped me make up lost time so I am on target again.

Rain, rain, rain!!! It was tough to get the hours in this week. I rode twice on the road to avoid the mud and once in pouring rain! But I managed to be 40 minutes over for the week. I am still riding way too hard and I will really concentrate on taking it easy next wee, as it is a rest week anyway. I am feeling good though. I have picked up some problems with my knees again. This time it is the right knee which is very strange. I have adjusted my cleats and I think that it is getting better. I think it is ITB again and I know how to treat that, so I should be ok.

This first week got off to a bit of a shaky start. The previous week I had a really hard ride and felt a bit off and had fallen on my knee which has taken most of this week to feel better. I have missed my zone hours because one of my rides turned out way easier than expected so I ended up well below zone time. 

Week 1 was better than expected. I used the public holiday on Monday to get in some miles and ended up ahead on the program. The week was at too high an intensity though, so I need to bring it down a notch for next week. I am feeling good though, except for a bee sting on Saturday that has left my arm sore and swollen, all is well.