Wednesday, April 1, 2009
Before we head off into the sunset
Had a bit of bad news yesterday regarding our flights to Windhoek, but guess will just have to take it in our stride! (Didn't mean to use a running analogy!)
This week is a bit of rest week with a biggish weekend, but we need to reshuffle some of the days because we're heading off to Port Elizabeth to watch IronMan.
Although I must admit, I tried running last night, no aches and pains, but oh my word, I felt sluggish.
I have been to PE since the IronMan began there, first as a spectator in 2005 when I went to support two friends who were participating, and the following year as a participant. It will be strange to go and not compete, but I think for me it will also be interesting to stand back and watch for a change, see what the latest trends are, get some new ideas.
Of course there are now more than two people who I am going to support, and I have to say that having done the first IronMan, even though the day turned into a nightmare for me (see I wasn't joking about the bad luck with racing) it did have a profound influence on EVERYTHING that happened after.
In my circle of friends now, i have watched people work soooo very hard for this one, and I am really holding thumbs that they get what they want!
So anyway, without sounding overly melodramatic, I just want to wish my little surrogate family the best of luck, Carla, Duncan, Alison, Sandra & Steve.
And to my friends Claire, Trevor, Nix & Dave - kick some ass.
The ultimate sign of progress, I guess, is that there's now WAY more than just two friends to cheer for!!!!
This week is a bit of rest week with a biggish weekend, but we need to reshuffle some of the days because we're heading off to Port Elizabeth to watch IronMan.
Although I must admit, I tried running last night, no aches and pains, but oh my word, I felt sluggish.
I have been to PE since the IronMan began there, first as a spectator in 2005 when I went to support two friends who were participating, and the following year as a participant. It will be strange to go and not compete, but I think for me it will also be interesting to stand back and watch for a change, see what the latest trends are, get some new ideas.
Of course there are now more than two people who I am going to support, and I have to say that having done the first IronMan, even though the day turned into a nightmare for me (see I wasn't joking about the bad luck with racing) it did have a profound influence on EVERYTHING that happened after.
In my circle of friends now, i have watched people work soooo very hard for this one, and I am really holding thumbs that they get what they want!
So anyway, without sounding overly melodramatic, I just want to wish my little surrogate family the best of luck, Carla, Duncan, Alison, Sandra & Steve.
And to my friends Claire, Trevor, Nix & Dave - kick some ass.
The ultimate sign of progress, I guess, is that there's now WAY more than just two friends to cheer for!!!!
Rest Week
Hi Guys and girls
Its been a great week so far - no running - hahahaha, apart from the short club run that we did yesterday (10km). The run yesterday was very interesting.... almost like a delayed fatigue. My legs weren't stiff or sore but just couldn't move quickly. When I wanted to accelerate it felt as if I was putting my foot on the accelerator but the car was in neutral!
Andie, Ryan and myself are off to PE tomorrow to support Ironman. We will make a short stop in Cape St Francis to do a 4 hour beach run.
This week have mainly been about swimming and gyming.
Ciao for now
R
Its been a great week so far - no running - hahahaha, apart from the short club run that we did yesterday (10km). The run yesterday was very interesting.... almost like a delayed fatigue. My legs weren't stiff or sore but just couldn't move quickly. When I wanted to accelerate it felt as if I was putting my foot on the accelerator but the car was in neutral!
Andie, Ryan and myself are off to PE tomorrow to support Ironman. We will make a short stop in Cape St Francis to do a 4 hour beach run.
This week have mainly been about swimming and gyming.
Ciao for now
R
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Training Stats - Powered by QlikView
Hi
I have updated the training stats for March and used QlikView to generate the views of the data!
If anyone can think of a different view of the data that would be interesting to see - let me know!
Andrew
I have updated the training stats for March and used QlikView to generate the views of the data!
If anyone can think of a different view of the data that would be interesting to see - let me know!
Andrew
End Of March
It's the end of March already, time is slowly tick-tocking down and its 7 weeks to go now. Managed to get a swim and a gym session in last night after work, I must admit that the upper body felt tougher than usual for some reason - but it was a slighly different routine, just to keep things interesting.
Visited Chris this morning, who did some more work on my back and neck - more clicking - but hopefully my headaches will ease a bit. Also my calves were quite sore - could have been something to do with the thumbs pressing into them - and I have to made the effort to do the rehab exercises to strengthen my achilles for running.
And no, the irony of having to do exercises for my exercise has not escaped me.
Visited Chris this morning, who did some more work on my back and neck - more clicking - but hopefully my headaches will ease a bit. Also my calves were quite sore - could have been something to do with the thumbs pressing into them - and I have to made the effort to do the rehab exercises to strengthen my achilles for running.
And no, the irony of having to do exercises for my exercise has not escaped me.
Monday, March 30, 2009
STATS ON OUR TRAIL RUNNERS!!!
Well Done guys on your second block weekend of training under the belt - a great confidence booster as well as experience.
Andrew, you are learning to fine tune your nutrition & (literally) think on your feet while you are running to get the best out of your body
You are both getting stronger & fitter, & with 7 weeks to your big race, your recovery is noticeably improved!! Congrats!!
Since starting training in the beginning of January, Rob is down 2kg as his body has leaned out with the speedwork, hill training & distance. Andrew is down 4.5kg over this period too, showing just how hard he is training for this amazing challenge.
Keep up the training!!!!
Andrew, you are learning to fine tune your nutrition & (literally) think on your feet while you are running to get the best out of your body
You are both getting stronger & fitter, & with 7 weeks to your big race, your recovery is noticeably improved!! Congrats!!
Since starting training in the beginning of January, Rob is down 2kg as his body has leaned out with the speedwork, hill training & distance. Andrew is down 4.5kg over this period too, showing just how hard he is training for this amazing challenge.
Keep up the training!!!!
Block Weekend Part Two
Hi everyone,
Made it through block weekend unscathed, so to speak. All of the days were basically running for time as opposed to distance.
I had a bit of a task as well because I had to try and play around with some variables to get to the bottom of my nausea. The problem I have, and it sounds really funny, but I cannot swallow food when my heart rate is high. I chew and chew and chew but cannot get the swallow reflex to happen. I started Saturday's long run with some bars but found myself after about three and a half hours firstly unable to get passed one and a half bars, and very hypoglycaemic. I managed to trudge on to the top of MacClears beacon at just under four hours, thinking "Oh well, here we go again, Rob and Ryan will have to wait for Andrew again". I chugged some Myoplex down and we started back down towards Constantia Nek. Anyone who has run with me knows I absolutely suck at descending, it's probably worse since my ankle incident because the natural instinct for survival kicks in and I brake everytime I get to a technical section instead of just relaxing into it. As we started down the mountain, I watched the other two slowly (well, not that slowly) pull away from me and I though, well this is nothing new. I still had a bit of the shakes but trundled on regardless, Rob stopped for me to catch up a bit, and asked how I was doing - at that stage I was starting to feel a bit better, after ten minutes I felt like nothing had happened at all...and stranger than strange, I caught myself tackling the technical down sections without actually overthinking it, just looking for a place to put my foot down, and found myself...and I think I was having fun.
Okay, so now its probably going to rain for ME having that, but its true.
Technically, I don't have the experience or strength of my running buddies, but it didn't matter for once.
Sunday's run was one of my favourites - throught the Constantia green belt. The Klaasenbosch trail always feels so Tolkien, and it was great to have the girls with us - Carla, Alison & Sandra who are all three in the final preparation for IronMan next weekend. My pack felt heavy on Sunday, even though it was a shorter run than Saturday, but managed.
The time left is now not that much.
Sunday, March 29, 2009
15 Hours 4 Days
Howzit Guys
Well its done Block Week 2!! Woooo hooooo! hahaha. Listen all things considered, the distance, the hours... all went well. My calf, although tender, hung in there the whole time - even with the steep acents that did on Saturday. Every run over the last four days we have done with packs. Our packs on average have been about 8kg's.
Thursday and Friday were road / trail combo's. The trail in each case is a route we have through Kirstenbosch and the constantia green belt.
Saturday was a bit of an Epic crossing... up Suikerbossie, up Llandudno ravine...all the way to the dams..then follow puffer route to Mcclears Beacon... then home via puffer to constantia nek...then to Hout Bay.....hectic....it took me long enough just to type it (on cell phone..watching Bond 007 on TV).
Andie did well too, trying different things with his nutrition, now is the time to test! We ran quite a bit with Sand Crab too.
Sunday - back to Green belt - some of the usual supects joined us, Carla & Ali.... and Sandra Boer ... another one of our Ironman buds (this one so happens to have gone to Kona - the holy grail of Ironman!!!). We finished with the Ironmanners..and then put in an extra hour for good measure...all in a days work.
Well i guess its 4 days of running about 150km-ish... good going.
Andie took some kick ass photos at the dam.. i'm sure he will post!
Chow for now
R
ps - thanks Ryan for compression Socks - i look like a dork but they work!
Well its done Block Week 2!! Woooo hooooo! hahaha. Listen all things considered, the distance, the hours... all went well. My calf, although tender, hung in there the whole time - even with the steep acents that did on Saturday. Every run over the last four days we have done with packs. Our packs on average have been about 8kg's.
Thursday and Friday were road / trail combo's. The trail in each case is a route we have through Kirstenbosch and the constantia green belt.
Saturday was a bit of an Epic crossing... up Suikerbossie, up Llandudno ravine...all the way to the dams..then follow puffer route to Mcclears Beacon... then home via puffer to constantia nek...then to Hout Bay.....hectic....it took me long enough just to type it (on cell phone..watching Bond 007 on TV).
Andie did well too, trying different things with his nutrition, now is the time to test! We ran quite a bit with Sand Crab too.
Sunday - back to Green belt - some of the usual supects joined us, Carla & Ali.... and Sandra Boer ... another one of our Ironman buds (this one so happens to have gone to Kona - the holy grail of Ironman!!!). We finished with the Ironmanners..and then put in an extra hour for good measure...all in a days work.
Well i guess its 4 days of running about 150km-ish... good going.
Andie took some kick ass photos at the dam.. i'm sure he will post!
Chow for now
R
ps - thanks Ryan for compression Socks - i look like a dork but they work!
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