Sabie Exp Training week 13 of 16

14 day booster programme


Monday 22 Nov - Day 4
20min incremental warm up
6 x (40+20sec) 95% / 50% of your VO2 Max test result
 4min easy rolling
6 x (40+20sec) 95% / 50% of your VO2 Max test result
4min
6 x (40+20sec) 95% / 50% of your VO2 Max test result
Cool down

Interval training along the railway line service road

Tuesday was day 5 and a "recovery" day. I did this routine on my spinning bike. So after a warm up  I did 20 intervals of 15 sec flat out and 15 sec rest. After a warm down it was time to shower and do some work. In the afternoon I took an easy ride with The Pretty One around Buffelsdrift. Strictly zone 1 riding.
Wednesday - Day 6 of the programme. We did 4 sets of 5x (30sec 100% and 30sec rest)

It rained so we did these intervals in Rynoue on their sealed road - less mud

Thursday we did the same intervals, but as many in row as you can do less 1. The Idea is to push yourself to a point where you feel you can do only one more and then stop before doing the last one.
Friday was day 8 of the 14 day programme. We did 3 intervals of 5 mins each in zone 3.
Saturday is time to do a race. Plenty of Zone 3 and 4 intervals in race conditions. We opted for the Rust de Winter MTB race. It was very clear that Kobie is still a lot fitter than me. 
23     03:15:10     Hill Kobie
35     03:36:38     Strydom Jaco
I spent 55 min in zone 4 and 1h34m in zone 3. The rest was Zone 2. But I felt good after the race and still had plenty fuel in the tank. I do not think I could ride much faster (Although I did help 2 guys fix their punctures) but I could ride for much longer.
Sunday is recovery day (Day 10) so the spinning bike comes into play with 5 intervals of 30sec 100% 30sec rest

Sabie Exp Training week 12 of 16

Monday 15 November 2010 - This was a rest day and enjoyed properly
Tuesday - We did a 5 minute all out test up Okkies track and put a peg in the ground. We will start a 14 day MAX VO2 Booster Programme on Saturday and then just before Sabie (21 days later) we will see if this booster programme did something for our top end. We followed this 5 minute session up with some more zone 4 intervals up Okkie.
Wednesday - We did about 40 minutes of Zone 3 training along the railway line service road.
Thursday - Did an enjoyable zone 2 ride around klipkoppie and played around a bit in the area behind Baviaanskloof Prison.
Friday - Week 12 means time trial time again.

30-Aug-10  01:17:18
03-Sep-10  01:15:51
17-Sep-10  01:09:47
07-Oct-10  01:05:58
30-Oct-10  01:02:08
19-Nov-10  00:59:47

Training does pay. The idea is to keep the heart rate constant and ride the route faster as you become fitter.

Saturday was day 2 (Day 1 was the 5 minute test) of our 14 day booster programme. Not my idea, something I came across on the internet long (2 years) ago and saved, and rediscovered recently.

• 20min incremental warm up
• 10 x (30+30sec) 100 / 50% VO2 Max
• 30min Easy/medium rolling

Sunday we did day 3 of the Booster Programme

• 10min incremental warm up
• 3 x (5+10min) 90% / 50% of your VO2 Max test result 
• 5min Easy rolling.

Afterwards I rolled along with The Pretty One and had breakfast with her at Ludwig's Roses


Included into the weekend's mix was a lekker kuier by my brother Rudolf and we went playing with the mountain bike and the Prado in an old quarry. Me on the bike and he in the Prado.

Sabie Exp Training week 11 of 16

Monday - I had brave plans to ride early, but on Friday while I was riding Cousin2Cousin, the book binding machine decided to become fickle and it needed my urgent attention on Monday morning. Then it was work, work, work.
Tuesday - We did go out for an early ride (05h00) and did a nice zone 2 ride (41km) with a bit of zone 3 mixed into the pot. The legs were still a bit heavy from the long ride over the weekend.
Wednesday - Wanted to go out early, But received a SMS from Kobie telling me he feels bad. We postponed to the afternoon. So in the afternoon we rode fairly hard and did about 20 mins of zone 3 riding
Thursday we rode a mix of zone 3 and zone 4 and Friday we took it fairly easy, as not one of us felt 100%
Saturday we set of to Suikerbosrant near Heidelberg and did a good solid session (1400m total ascent) of just over 4 hours. We rode the climbs hard and managed an hour and 20 mins in Zone 3.
Sunday I went with The Pretty One to TEAK Place and played on their lovely tracks.

All in all not as hard a week as it should have been, but quite an enjoyable week of training.

Cousin2Cousin - The ride

What can you say about a 261km, 19h57min 3566m ascent ride through surprisingly remote but very beautiful countryside? Maybe join me next time and experience the real reason why we ride our bikes! Not to race, but to experience. It was tough, I was dead tired in the end, my wheels came off with about 10km to go, but I hung in there and completed it. Maybe it was not the best thing to do while busy with a training programme for the Sabie Experience, but would I do it again? Tomorrow!

We were lucky. We had lots of cloud cover to keep us cool, and dodged most of the thunderstorms. As we crested Normandien Pass it was actually cold. Talking off a serious start to a LONG ride, 800meters of climbing in 15 km!

Our support crew (my two daughters, Liezl and Andrea) were spectacular and kept us hydrated and fed (actually I over did it with a huge hamburger that did not digest well and messed with my hydration plan). They stuck with us and waited at all the way points without getting lost. The stayed awake and escorted us on the one stretch of unavoidable tar at 01h00 in the morning without complaint. THANKS!

Carboloading the night before

Marike - Cousin from where we started

And away they go!

Taking a breather on top of Normandien Pass

Free-State - Actually anything but flat.

We were VERY lucky and missed a lot of thunderstorms that were passing us.

Pretty

Dam Pretty

Dam Tired. Another 7hrs to go!

Cousin Helena. Our destination - finally!

Sabie Exp Training week 10 of 16

Week 10 sees us into November. The Sabie Experience is approaching very fast now.

Monday 1 Nov 2010 - Interval training should be the name of the game during the next 3 weeks, but it will turn out differently I think. I have to many other things planned, but I will have to see. I did manage 12 x 3 min zone 4 intervals and felt pretty strong.
Tuesday - 2 solid zone 3 intervals of 30 minutes each.
Wednesday should have been zone 4 again, but work interfered and no riding was done.
Thursday I packed for Cousin2Cousin and at 15h00 Kobie picked me up and we left for Newcastle
Friday Morning 06h00 we left Newcastle heading for Fouriesburg and 261km and 20 hours later at 02h00 we arrived at Helena's place. Tired, but happy.
Saturday I rested seriously, and Sunday I took a nice 25km recovery ride with The Pretty One.

Sabie Exp Training week 9 of 16

Monday 25 Oct - Very flat and easy zone 1 ride of 33km
Tuesday - Tried to do intervals, but did not feel to good. I managed 6 zone 4 intervals of about 3 minutes each. Me thinks it is still the effect of the lung bug that I was shaking off.
Wednesday - Managed about 50 minutes of zone 3 training
Thursday was a planned rest day
Friday the idea was to ride another time trial, but my bike broke and I had to phone home. So it was a rather short zone 1 ride only.
Saturday I managed to ride the time trial and managed a time of 1h02m. Previous time trial My Sister came to visit and I rode with them (Elbie, Wouter and The Pretty One) for the rest of the morning
Sunday - Due to the visit and the over indulgence that went with the visit, Sunday was promptly declared another rest day. I hope week 10 will have more substance.