A Dip in the Training Plan

It has been 5 weeks since my last blog past. My Annual Training Plan has taken a dip followed by a comeback over this period. We celebrated Mishkah 21st, and also had Mom’s Hip operation and house renovations to contend with.

The red highlighted area on the Training Duration Graph indicates a significant drop off from my planned 12-13hr training weeks during Base Phase. My ATP plan targets 500hrs, and the drop off has necessitated a reschedule and reallocation of hours for the remainder of the year. Following the reallocation my 500hr target still feels manageable, attainable and realistic.

The red pointer on the Performance Management Chart indicates a drop off on the blue fitness line. The next race is in July, ample time to restore Fitness. The orange form line has hit a new high, one of the positive outcomes, indicating improved specific muscle recovery. It cannot be claimed as a quality rest period, due to the fact that lots of physical work was required, there were significant disrupted sleep patterns, and increased levels of stress.

The emotional impact of missed workouts over this period was challenging to manage. It initially became a self-destructing spiral, moving between declining training motivation levels, uncaring junk food consumption, weight gain, and associated bloated discomfort. A good thing was taking some quiet time out during this period, and putting it all into perspective. This helped with the sanity and keeping emotions in check.

All is back on track now as can be seen from the charts above. Last week was a 13hr training week, and this week is on schedule to be a 14hr week. Midweek 3-4 hr training days have started to become part of my training routine, which if sustained I am certain will have a significant effect on endurance levels.

Aca Joe Pro Classic Series Wk3

The League season is in full swing, and this week marked my 3rd League Race, the Bouckaert-Soenen over a distance of 126km. This was also one of those weeks where my training programme needed to be altered to accommodate work requirements. My Tuesday hill intervals and Saturday Pre race ride were cancelled, luckily I could still accommodate my Wednesday Crit session as planned.


The criterium this week was well attended by the elite teams, and it was cool to rub shoulders with them albeit a tad intimidating. The wind was a strong south 34kph, this caused some strong cross winds on the track, resulting in a few splinter groups of 4-5 riders as opposed to the previous week's two distinct bunches. I managed to work hard and last for the full 60 min, at avg power of 258W, previous 60 min high was 242W. I love seeing these small improvements, Great Motivators !!!

I am 2nd from front

Action shot of Elite Guys

Early morning temperatures on Sunday, Bouckaert-Soenen Race Day, were an indicator of the heat we were about to experience in the Paarl – Wellington area. Race start terrain was flat, and the peleton speed was a respectable 36kph for the first hour, till the first climb of the day, Riebeeck Kasteel, elev gain 250m, 4.5% grad. Sitting in the peleton was my first time participating in the dynamic, which is breakaway challenges and peleton reel back in. Some Exciting stuff !!! One day I will be part of the breakaway ( I wonder if they will catch me…)

Back to reality… so it is on the climb that the Vet Group Leaders accelerate and leave me at the bottom to struggle in my ‘breakaway’ ha ha ha….

On the downhill, the next start group A-C, caught me, and I managed to stay with them for the next hour or so. I was quite satisfied with myself that I managed to stay with this group for as long as I did. Eventually the heat got to me, about 34deg, and I dropped off that bunch. I still managed to keep a good average power to the end, and even managed a competitive sprint on the line with remnants of my starting group. My race time was 3h38, a 30 minute improvement on last year’s race time. I also finished 46th out of 63. A move up in position of 4 places in comparison to last week. Another week of Good Improvements !!!

Let’s Ride