Week 8 and Counting

Target: 13:36
Achieved: 25:26

I am in a plane flying over a Mountain range just before we touch down in Cape Town. A thought runs through my head as I think that surely this is not where we will be doing our Cape Epic training camp for the next four days, while looking at the mountains towering below me. I also look at these mountains as a smile comes over my face and I think what if it is where we will spend the next couple of days. Then of course the cold sweat as I think, what am I doing here and am I going to be the one to let everyone wait while I try and stay in touch with the group?

I meet up with Rick and we drive to the rendezvous point where we are met by some serious looking individuals. The first thought that comes to mind is to look for the weakest person and then to measure yourself. Only one problem though is that they all look like monsters with legs that will make a horse blush.

We drive closer and closer to those mountains and we are not turning away but rather seem to drive right at them. After some time I hear some talk going on and I hear these people talk about their previous Epics and freedom challenges and, and, and. Suddenly my IronMan seems so puny and irrelevant. I do not say too much and keep a seemingly brave face.

When we arrive I notice we are surrounded by mountains and more mountains with more mountains. So I come to the conclusion that when Di said we would do some climbing she was not lying.

We get the bikes sorted and give them a last quick service to settle down to some eating. The food is great and it is a pity that I cannot really enjoy it as I am just a little nervous. Steve briefed us and we agreed to meet the next morning for breakfast.

Day 1:

The first thing that comes to mind now is the sheer beauty of this country we call home. It is also remembered for the people I met. Rick “the horse” Afonso of course picked up speed from 60km. All in all I felt great as we finished for I now knew that I had some legs and they were keeping up well. We traveled just over 80 km for the day and did just on 1600m of climbing with just under 9 hours in the saddle. Riding time was a little less as we took quite a couple of breaks with lunch.

Day 2:

Legs were here today and just getting stronger Rick once again an animal. I tested my maximum heart rate (MHR) and it was there. I got through the hills fine. Then just as we got towards the end I felt it. O no I can feel a little tingle in the saddle and it seems to be the beginning of some sort of pain for my rear end. That evening I find it tough to sit on a normal chair never mind a saddle the next day. I am seriously concerned that I will become or already was the victim of a saddle sore. I put my pride in my pocket and spoke to Di. She gave me some miracle cream and I applied it liberally. Just over 8 hours 100km and 1500m of climbing for day 2 and very anxious about day 3 now.

Day 3:

I wake up and once again Di’s prophecies came true. The ass was doing fine. Now Steve gave me some good advice and suggested I plaster my shammy with oodles of “milk cream”. More climbing today and I pushed my MHR and it was there. I am absolutely elated as I do not feel any pain in the rear. I am rather comfortable and I love this ride as I now know how different it could have been. More scenery and I am loving the ride today, not sure if I said this already. My legs feel great initially but getting a little tired towards the end. I finish strong and Rick is still on fire. The heat was tremendous and we are suddenly into our last night of this tour. 110km of riding with 1600m of climbing and some real technical riding done today. Once again I could push into MHR. This is good and shows I am doing well so far. Some miracle cream and some good rest and life is a peach.

Day 4:

Way too soon and I will remember this day for the wind. This was a great day with lots of legs and I could feel I was in a strong day. For some reason Rick could not get beyond 65% MHR. This was still early in the day and we had to work hard to stay in contact with the group. Rick gathered himself took some hammer gel and then drank some Coke. He also did some cooling down and then he got legs from somewhere. I had to hang on like never before. Rick you da man buddy. Where is my gel again. Way too soon this trip drew to a conclusion.

Daytrippers, Di, Steve and Bruce you all rock and surely you helped me in my endeavors to becoming the Cape Epic Rider I want to be. Thanks both of you and to the others making this trip what it was. I will see you and give you my time on the Epic when I ride past you.

People I met in no particular order.

Steve:

thanks for the effort and never knowing the distance. I believe if you would have told us the truth we never would have started. You were our backup and always made sure we were sorted.

Di:

You mountain goat and never say “di” attitude is awesome. Always catching the ones in front then fetching the ones from behind. You just kept on going no matter what. You rule sister. Many a man will be eating your dust in the Epic.

Bruce:

The dependable. We sure made you work my friend. You were awesome backup when we needed anything.

Ray:

You sum up a true MTBer to me. To take a serious fall on day 1 then loose your bike on day 3 to finish with a loan bike then to finish an actual Epic day on someone else’s hardtail on day 4 is just mind blowing. You rock buddy and I look at you and know where I want to be when I am 58. I will call you friend from now on. See you in the Epic.

Derrick:

you know everything about everything and I truly learned a lot from you. Trust the equipment and know you will never win the Epic on a downhill but you can loose the Epic on the same downhill. I will take this with me to the Epic.

Heike:

Stay away from the hammer! You make the men look bad. You know you will make this Epic. See you there. Hope your partner knows what she is in for.

Stephan:

Always quite but always there. Consistency comes to mind buddy strong and never giving up is what I remember from you. To have come from Germany a couple of days before where the temp was -1 to ride in the sweltering heat for 4 days takes a special person.

Julia:

What you on woman? You led for so much of the time and rode with the best of the week. This 1 week after a 70.3 IronMan event, EISH

Daryl:

Six months on a bike and you rode with us on some trails that made me shiver and yet you were always there and there about. Keep on going and do not over train now my friend.

Stan:

You a polish bear with some serious mental toughness. You are the man. I recon you should just eat more.

David:

My fellow smurf. As strong as an ox and deceptively fast on the downs. I feel your pain in the rear and I really respected you when you went back to go and help Ray. We need lots of you in the Epic

Partner Rick:

Only one thing scares me more than a charging lion and that is Rick on his Trance. Dude you need to give some of those secret pills you use just before the 70km mark to me as well. Looking forward to sucking your wheel in the Epic buddy.

I am sure you all want to know the miracle cream and it is Aloe Gel Plus by Alcare.

Service your bikes well.

You can never have enough lubrication on your shammy. Like Steve says “It’s got to squirt when you sit”

I will add more to the blog soon

Happy Riding

Week 7 and the ATTAKWAS

Target: 12:30
Achieved – Attakwas

ATTAKWAS = 126km MTB, 2620m of climbing, Technical enough to make world renowned riders push their bikes through technical descents, yes descents! Plenty sand lots of rock, river crossings, awe inspiring rip roaring descents, the ones you manage to ride. Views that make me get goose flesh here and now just thinking about it. Man! I am privileged to live in this country. All of this is the reason this race was rated the number 1 race for 1 day races in country last year.

‘Wow!’ is all I can say. When I heard it is the toughest 1 day MTB race in the country I was a little concerned whether the legs would stand up to the test. Then to add to the pressures of the day, this was also the first time I could show my partner that I was able to take on the Epic. Then I see the MTB’ers around me in the shoot and there is no BS here, these guys can ride.

One would normally work towards a race like this and treat it as an * “A” race as it deserves nothing less. Unfortunately this is not in our plan and our “A” race is the Cape Epic. This meant that we could not build in much or any taper at all. This is tough on a race like this.

I decided not to do too much riding in the week before and try and build in some taper. I did miss my target time for the week BUT if you take the entire experience into consideration and also the effort for the day one can see that we over achieved.

My nerves were shot by the time I got to the start. Nutrition was sorted (see later for the detailed plan) and packed with all the water I could carry. Then the start and just over 10 hours of mind boggling pleasure we finished this amazing race.

I will not bore you with all the details but rather sum it up.

Legs:
My legs passed this test and yes they took strain but I had no cramps and pumping them for 10 hours with some radical bike hiking, just for a real test, and they felt good enough to be able to ride the next day again.

Nutrition:
Hour 1: 15 min – 200ml Game
30 min – ½ banana + 200ml Water
45 min – 200ml Game
60 min – ½ banana + 200ml Water

Hour 2: 15 min – 200ml Game
30 min – Nougat + 200ml Water
45 min – 200ml Game
60 min – Nougat + 200ml Water

Hour 3: 15 min – 200ml Game
30 min – ½ Jelly Babies + 200ml Water
45 min – 200ml Game
60 min – ½ Jelly Babies + 200ml Water

Hour 4: 15 min – 200ml Game
30 min – ½ Peanut Butter Sandwich + 200ml Water
45 min – 200ml Game
60 min – ½ banana + 200ml Water

I then tried to repeat this cycle to the end, but ended up eating a hamburger in between and yes, paid for at with quite a serious loss of energy a little later. I did manage to work my eating plan again and felt good for the last 20km again.

Do NOT stray from your eating plan as I would have paid for it in the Epic the next day.

All said and done I am happy that I consumed exactly the correct amount of GAME which provided me with 25 carbs per hour and then I made up the other 25 carbs with solids.

Recovery:
1 x sachet rehydrate and standard recovery drink with a good dinner x 2 that evening.

Technical:
I learned a hell of a lot in just this 1 race. My bike is awesome and took everything I could throw at her and ate it up waiting for more. I pushed my limits in this race and it was good to see afterwards that some of the pro’s pushed as well on the descents.

Partnership:
Boy do I have some work ahead of me. Rick is a horse with plenty of go. The man took a while to warm up and then all of a sudden I was just hanging in there from about 70km onwards. I recon I am safe when I say that we will compliment each other, for when he was struggling I felt good and when I was down I just sucked his wheel and he pulled us through. I will surely be able to add some value to the team in the form of nutrition as I have done the IronMan before and it is all about nutrition in the end. The 2 is now a team and we will work hard to keep it this way.

Next week:
We are doing the 4 day Epic training camp and this means we will do about 450km of riding with 8000m+ climbing in a mere 4 days. This happens this week and will show us exactly where we are in preparation for the Epic.

This week in summary:
WOW with some serious work ahead. Stick to the eating plan. Trust the technical lines and most of all work with your partner.

Thanks all.

* “A” race = training plan with load, overload, recovery then taper. This would typically take 12 – 16 weeks of final preparation on the back of a huge base.

Week 6

Target 9:58
Achieved 10.09

And another one bites the dust. This is now getting serious and if you are not into some heavy training you surely will have quite a tough time lying ahead.

I could not do a long ride this weekend as I was driving down to Knysna on Saturday. This meant lots of consistent work in the week. I managed to get through 9 hours at home and finished with an awesome 1:15 ride in Knysna on Sunday.

I forgot to bring my connecting cable along to download the pictures and will do it as soon as I get home.

This week then started on Tuesday with 2.5 hours followed on Wednesday with 2.5 hours as well. I did 2 hours on both Thursday and Friday and this left me on 9 hours. I did all of this training on my home trainer.

The feeding is now fine tuned as I am into a serious rhythm and my body knows exactly when to demand what. That may seem a little boring but the last thing I need is to wonder if I had enough to eat at the end of a stage.

My heart rate is down to an awesome 43 BUT I believe it has something to do with the coast.

As mentioned before I am going to use this week as a taper for the ATTEKWAS on Saturday. My heard skipped a couple of beats when we drove through the mountains and I saw what was waiting for “Team Old MTB Toppies”.

My next update will have some great pics and hopefully a good result.

Week 6 in conclusion:
We said goodbye to Meryl and it was once again very apparent that one should live life today and not wait until we retire. The training and feeding went well. My heart rate is back to normal and I am tapering for the ATTEKWAS.

Ride long and wear those Helmets.

Week 5

Target 12:28
Achieved 12:30

What a week. This was the toughest week thus far and not because of the time. The plan was to do 2 hours on Tuesday take Wednesday off and do another 2 hours on Thursday with a 5 hour ride on Saturday with the balance split between Friday and Sunday.

I started on Tuesday with the planned 2 hour indoor trainer and within 5 minutes I knew it was not going well. You get to know yourself after a while and I knew I was not into a good training session. After about 30 minutes I started feeling much better and finished the 2 hours as planned.

I decided to check my resting heart rate the next morning and as I thought, it was up by 7 beats and my Polar put me into “Training Affect”. This means that I was on my way to over training and thus had to change my strategy. If not I could over train and end up loosing several weeks.

The suggestion here was that I take a couple of days off followed by a couple of days of easy and light training but I was also in the longest week of the program so far. What to do? I took Wednesday off and decided to test my RHR again on Wednesday. It dropped by 2 but was still 5 up from the usual 45. On Thursday morning I decided to do the RHR before I planned anything and once again it was sitting at 49 and 4 up.

I decided to take another rest day on Thursday. Friday I did another RHR and it was still sitting at 49 and I decided to put in some time on the home trainer. I decided that I would watch my Heart Rate and get off as soon as I felt just a little weird.

I ended up with 2 hours on the home trainer and I felt quite good. Did a RHR on Saturday morning and it was once again at 49. Decided to do some riding and ended up with 3 hours on the clock and with 7 hours thus far for the week.

Did a RHR on Sunday and it was again at 49. I decided to get on the road and play it by heart rate. I ended up in Suikerbosrand and finished it and rode back home and ended up with 110km on the clock and 5:30 for the day.

I achieved my time and managed to stay out of danger with my Heart Rate. Thanks to Polar and their system that warned me early. I did my HR on Monday morning and yip you guessed it I was still at 49 beats. This is good news as it shows that I am training hard but keeping within normal range.

I am planning an easy week this week with short interval training. I will also rest next week as I am doing the ATTEKWAS (http://www.dryland.co.za/) on the 17th January and I will have to taper just a little for it.

Both Rick and I are going to do it and it will be our first chance ever to see where we are at in relation to the Epic and also each other. We will follow this up the next week with the EPIC training Camp. I am Planning to do my entire week within the one day and thus use the rest of the week as a taper

This week in conclusion:
It was the end of 2008 and the start of 2009 with some partying. A work colleague passed away and it shook me. We were not that close BUT we always spoke about work life balance and as a result it was again proven that we should not wait until we retire before we start to live. We should live now for today and let tomorrow take care of itself. RIP Meryl. My condolences to her husband and 3 children whom I am sure will sorely miss her friendly attitude towards life.

I also hit training effect but managed to put in the hours needed to call this week a huge success. I have been toiling with the idea to do IronMan South Africa one week after the Cape Epic finish and with all that happened this week I decided to give it a bash. After all we only live once and I am so looking forward to spend the week in between IM and CE with my family in Knysna.

Until my next update, train hard and do not leave anything for tomorrow if it can be done today.