Training Log Archive: nmulder

0915 - Tough race today at Pelindaba. Grass is still quite high after summer and plenty of undergrowth. Started more or less last and didn't expect to catch anyone. Messed up #4 (map fault?) and #5 (my fault), caught Eugene, Tania and Tim crossing the bridge to the S part of the map. Proceeded to mess up #7 (too close to edge of map) and #8 (not my day). The 4 controls seemed to set the tone in general, with my run on the whole course just not flowing nicely. However, caught Garry just before the finish, and realised the time was still good. Finished 1st in the end, 18 mins ahead of Paul and a few secs more ahead of Garry. A quick look at the splits seems to show that I got off to a good lead on leg 2-3. Will need to wait until the results are online too see where else I made mistakes and good legs.

Knee held up okay. I taped the kneecap to one side and only started feeling a kniggle after 45 mins. Hope it holds out - 10 more days until I head off to Europe.

1 - Splits

0800 - My goal for Mabalingwe this year was to break last years time of 3h30. The start line packed a few big names, so I wasn't planning on trying to better my 15th place of last year. Race started off well. I mantained a pace that was probably faster than last years, hanging around in the area of the first 2 ladies (Speedy and Jeanie). Got hold of a good group on the fast gentle climb at 20km, where we hit 37km/hr. Got dropped at 35km when I eased off a bit, but I still blew at 50km the base of the big hill. Lost a few places, but lost more time. Recovered on the flats after that and had a great downhill finish over the last 10km. Didn't recatch the ladies, but just had Dreyer behind me (puncture). At 10k out, I thought I was heading for a 3h40, so was chuffed that I got so close to my mark. Climbing the hill when blown cost me. I figure I finished about mid-20's. Numbers were down a bit this year. Maybe 30% off? Still a big turnout of about 1800 people, 600 on our distance. Av 21.4 Mx 44.8

No knee troubles, although maybe I felt a shadow of weakness?

1100 - Short run through Fairland. Tested out the knee. No problems.

0730 - To avoid further damage to the knee, decided to do some high intensity training on the bike instead. 500m hill sprints up 11th from the triangle to Kessel. Did a warm up first and then 2 x 500 (1:31, 1:30) with a slow cycle down the hill before a warm down afterwards. No problems, so I think this will probably become a regular training fixture in the future. Av 21.15 Mx 47.1

0730 - Emmarentia. Only got 1km before my knee kicked in.

1200 - Started looking at my knee problem. Did a lot of emphasis on hip stability.

1800 - Went out to test the knee niggle again. Started off well and then increased the pace. Was going very well to 5km, when I hit the first downhill. Felt it quite quickly. Easy back from there. At least I can answer the physio's questions now.

1200 - Bio.