Training Log Archive: nmulder

Felt tired, but good after the race last night. Despite some good sleep however, I was totally poked today.

Had junior training in the afternoon, but I decided Alex hadn't done enough training this weekend and got him to put out the controls (Thanks Alex!).

From Orienteering Training

C • Tired 1

Me and Mac competed in the Sabie Shenanigans, a 2-stage MTB race with 'Rally' instruction diagrams instead of markers. This is our first time back since we first did it in 2005 and placed 10th. Mac wasn't feeling too lekker, with a mild bout of flu, but decided to ride anyway.

We started about 2/3rd of the way down the field (1 team per minute) and set off at a strong pace. Lots of technical reading and a few new single tracks in the Sabie area. Hit the first big hill from 5 to 13km. Lots of lovely views of the waterfalls, but Mac was clearly struggling on the hill, although perfectly fine on the flats and downs.

We made one error at about 20km, where a new track saw us turn too early. Problem rectified after about 3 mins and 600m. Otherwise, one or two small overshoots, but no other errors. We estimated total time loss of 6 min due to nav and another 10+ due to illness. However, suprisingly this was good enough to take the half way lead, with Max Knox 1 min down (after time penalty for missing a section of the course somewhere - they also didn't start 2nd stage). Next were team Polar whilst Derek Putter's team were also close behind as 1st mixed.

Got to use my Suunto's bike pod for the first time. Worked absolutely brilliantly, as I could follow the distance on my wrist watch (bike board obscures normal cycle computer). I could also take splits distances, so reading the rally instructions was a relative breeze.

Suunto Pod details: Max 54.7, Av 16.9 (stopped working for about 1.5km when knocked away from magnet by a rock).
Cateye computer details: Av 17.7 Mx 53.6

TE 4.3, Epoc 186, 1658 kcal.

The night stage!

We got to start last due to our ranking after the first stage. First teams off at 6.30pm, then 1 min intervals until us at 7.21pm. They scrambled the seedings a wee bit, which meant Polar started 3 mins ahead of us. They were the main target!

We made full use of our Petzl Ultras and definitely had the best lighting out of the entire field. It made a massive difference on the downhills, where we could got at least 95%+ of day speed.

Mac got off to a much better start and raced really well. We caught the Polar team suprisingly quickly, halfway up the first big hill at about 7km. One of them was also suffering and they soon gave up the tempo. We set off at a smoother pace and just tried to get past as many teams as possible. All went well and Mac made it to 5km to go before going through a nasty patch. He recovered on the final downhill however, where we made our 1 mistake, turning left 1 road too early and riding parallel on a tougher road for a bit. This allowed the Mankele team to recatch us and lead through a section, but an error on the final single track got us back in front.

We managed to catch all but 2 teams, which was a nice feeling, getting the overall win by 11 minutes. Managed to get back to our chalet at Merry Pebbles and shower and change before prize giving. Fairly nice medal that I'm really going to treasure.

Comparison of bike computer reading, Pretty nifty!

Suunto: Dst 36.05, Av 17.8, Mx 46.0
Cateye: Dst 36.06, Av 17.9, Mx 45.6

TE 4.2, Epoc 174, 1289 kcal.

Resting up before the Shenanigans tomorrow.

Did a fast time trial, was quite happy going sub 21, but then had a look at my HR data. Only 3.1 training effect and a mediocre average of 145bpm. Ouch. Only got to 171 max, all indications are that I need to push harder to get a more positive training effect as my body is capable of handling it.

TE 3.1, Epoc 79, 230 kcal.

5 x Hill sprints up 8th Ave from Johannes to Kessel rd (180m). Jog back down.

Warmup 10:17
40.6, 39.8, 40.4, 40.0, 39.9.
Warmdown 8:50

TE 2.0, Epoc 25, 154 kcal.

Fair ride out to Weltevreden Park (first time over the new foot bridge over the highway) then Potgieter and around / over the back of Northcliff hill. Av 21.4, Mx 54.3

TE 2.2, Epoc 38, 514 kcal.