Project Creatine

Guest

Hello there.  Been under the whip a bit so can't post training details.  Will update on Tuesday

Guest

Whew, what a week. *Sorry for not updating the info sooner, but I'm afraid my boss wanted some stuff done pronto.

Well I did keep records so here goes. *Where were we?

Day 8

Today was a rest day.  Had Muesli with nuts for breakfast.  Pasta with ham and mushrooms for lunch.  Dinner was chicken breast, veggies.  

Week does not look too promising for training.

Guest

Day 10

I'm on study leave.  Bonus.  I got to sleep late and go riding in the afternoon.

Training

Went to Kyalami and hoofed it around the track a few times.  Took my walkman along so I could get my mind off the pain.  Why you may ask.  Coz it's time for INTERVALS.

Did 6 minute intervals.  
First 6 mins @ 145bpm.  Next 6 mins at 140bpm.
Then 6 mins @ 155bpm + 6 mins @ 140bpm.
Next 6 mins @ 165bpm + 6 mins @ 140bpm.  
Next 6 mins @ 175bpm + 6 mins @ 145bpm.
Next 6 mins @ 185bpm + rest.

I then did 5 +- 200m sprints.  Was exhausted.

Stats

Despite all the hard work, the HR results apparently don't lie.  Should have worked harder.

Dist 30.2km / Ave Hr 156 / KCals 1365 @ 35% fat use.

Forgot to look at recovery times.  Sorry.  Drank 500ml Octane.

Diet

Had Muesli with nuts and low fat milk for breakfast.
Ham and Cheese on Toast with Orange Juice for lunch.
Couldn't be bothered to cook, so went and got a Nandos burger and salad for dinner.  ;D

Took 5g ESR Creatine with Energade before breakfast.  Not sure on training capacity so decided not to "load" yet.

Guest

Day 11

Wrote an exam today.  Went well, thanks for asking.  ;D

More afternoon training.  cool.

Training

Went and had a couple of laps at Kyalami.  Took it easy-ish and just enjoyed the ride.  

Stats

Dist : 35km / Ave Spd 31.9kmh / Ave Hr : 143 / Kcals : 1238 @ 40% fat use.

Felt quite strong and comfortable on the bike.  Used big chain-ring on all hills and grinded away.  Drank 750ml Octane.  HR recovered as usual.  180bpm to 140bpm in about a minute.

Diet

Missed breakfast to go to exam.
Had toast with honey for lunch.
Grilled chicken breast with rice and veggies for dinner.

Had 5g Creatine before exam.  (I know I'm meant to take it after exercise but timing is all wrong at the moment.)  Don't feel any different on the bike.

Guest

Day 12

Usual Club morning ride.  Easy pace.  Took it easy on the hills.

I have looked at all my notes so far and other than the rides I did on days 15, 17 and 18, there is no significant difference.  Training has been consistent as has diet.  

5g Creatine every morning.  I'll skip to Day 15 to save you some reading.

Guest

Day 15

Today is a public holiday (bank holiday for non-SA).  Rode hard at Club ride on Saturday and did a solo 50km MTB ride yesterday.

Met some not so social MTB'ers for a "recovery ride".  Turned out to be a hard, unforgiving pace and to add insult to injury I had quite a painful crash off a drop-off, so was feeling a bit sorry for myself.

Training

Started out at quite a pace up a few hills and rode along the banks of the Jukskei river near fourways.  Undulating hills with quite a few testers.  HR was not going high and I was obviously more fatigued from the previous two days' rides.

Stats

Dist : 55.3km (MTB) / Ave spd : 18.9kmh / Ave Hr : 159 / Kcals 3241 @ 30%  Drank 1,5l Octane.

I felt weak and struggled to keep up with these monsters.  Took forever to recover and could not get my HR up.  Maxed out at around 185bpm.  I still don't think I've recovered.

Had toasted chicken and mayo for breakfast with a Cappuchino.  Was bloomin exhausted.  Skipped lunch and had chicken pasta for dinner.  Took 5g creatine in the afternoon, and another 5g after dinner.

Guest

Day 16

Rest day.  Took 5g creatine in the morning and 5g at dinner.

Guest

Day 17

Here is where I did notice a difference.  I'm not sure whether it's because I'm looking out for it, but I felt different during my rides today.

Training

I did two rides today.  The usual morning ride which was meant to be a recovery ride and a ride at Kyalami, which was also meant to be at a moderate pace.

Morning ride

Got into trouble to pushing too fast especially on the hills.  Used big chain-ring and pumped it up the first big hill.  Recovered from 178bpm (max sighted) to 150bpm in about 45 - 50 seconds.  Felt ready to go strong again but had to wait for the rest of the bunch.

Pumped it up the second hill, where the bunch split into two.  5 guys in front and the rest took the scenic, no hill route.  Pace increased dramatically.  Recovered from 194bpm to 168 in about 50secs but we were now working harder. and HR started rising from next short hill.

Sprinted down Oxford 83kmph.  Rotated the work between the 5 of us and worked on the uphills.  This group split as we turned into Sandton Drive.  2 of us left.  Took a fast ride, but not a sprint down SD 88kmph.  Recovered along William Nichol where we split and I rode the last hill alone.  Big chain-ring again and pumped it up the hill.  Recovered from 197bpm to 145 in 1min10secs.  Felt fatigued now.  Drank 750ml Octane

Stats

Dist : 45.92km / Ave Spe 34.5 / Ave Hr : 152 / Kcals : 1010 @ 40%.  (This is a significant improvement on previous rides)

Kyalami  

Rode with a friend who is less fit than I.  Rode easy but worked hard on the hills.  (Only got passed by Doud Ryder once).  Felt very strong but I think it is due to easy pace on flat sections of track.  Drank about 250ml water.

Stats

I didn't wear my HR monitor so I don't have any stats other than distance (28km) and Ave spd (30.2kmh)

Had oats for breakfast.  Forgot Creatine at home.
Missed lunch.  (Darn work commitments)
Had Macaroni & cheese for dinner.  Took 5g creatine after Kyalami.

Guest

Days 18 - 20

Could not ride this weekend. :-[

Only took 5g of creatine each day.  Pigged out a bit aswell.

Guest

Day 21

Felt awful this morning.  It was cold and windy and I didn't sleep well at all last night.  Rode with Douglas Ryder and the boys and they were in no playing mood this morning.  A friend got dropped and didn't have a flashy tail light so I decided to wait and ride solo.  Did a short cut and was re-united with the bunch a little later.

Training

The usual morning ride but this time at pace.  Nearly wet myself up the Westcliff hill and started getting fuzzy and falling asleep.  (This is usually how I feel at close to 100% effort.)  Despite how bad I felt, I still recovered pretty quickly from 197bpm  (I think I may have touched 199) to 158bpm as we waited for the bunch to consolidate.  Then we hit it again.

We didn't do Jan Smuts hill but turned left past the zoo.  Took the pace easy-ish at this point as we knew that if we met up with the bunch again, it'd hurt.

Bunch caught us in Rosebank and off we went.  Pace was not as hard as I expected.

Stats

Dist : 40.43km / ave speed 35.2kmh /Ave HR : 156 / Kcals : 1181@35% fat use.

Diet

I had oats with Muesli for breakfast.  (Yuck)  5g creatine
Chicken and Mayo roll for lunch.
Chicken stirfry for dinner.

Had 5g creatine directly after the ride this morning.

drjackfrost

hello labrat,
just a quick mention on how important this is to many athletes well done.

another note is that although it sounds impresive to say that you can grind round the track in your 52 or 53 chain ring or blade, it is actually quite dumb.let me ask you how many articles have you seen on this site alone ,of people complaining about knee trouble.Now let me ask you another thing ,how do you think they got it? they get these problems by pushing too hard in base training as well as pushing too bigger gears in training in genral, a:this is not helping you build ,develop or even improve you cadence or climbing ability.it actually inhibits you from improving.so please be clever and dont mess yourself up for your future in cycling.

__________________
THE GREATEST GIFT A CYCLIST HAS IS PASSION, WITHOUT PASSION CYCLING IS JUST EXCERCISE!

Guest

who is Douglas Ryder lab rat ? some local pro? can you beat him? is that your goal  ;D ;D

Guest

Douglas Ryder

Douglas was born and raised in Cape Town and at the age of 12 rode his first Argus.Douglas has represented South Africa on numerous occasions, including the 1996Olympics in Atlanta USA, as well as leading the South African National Team in Malaysialast year.  Douglas is the defending champion of the Cape Argus Pick 'n Pay Cycle Tour.He balances a high profile IT career with the high demands of an international cyclist.He was recently married and currently lives in Sunninghill.  

Age:                        30

Achievements:

2002                              Captain: Microsoft Pro Cycling Team

                       Captain:  IBM/Lotus Supercycling Team

Captain:  SA National Team
Tour de Langkawi - Malaysia
·      Best national team
·      Beeld Engen Series Winner
·      1st : Pick 'n Pay Argus
·      1st : Tour of Durban
·      1st : King of the Mountains Tour of Lesotho
·      2nd: Engen Pelindaba Classic
·      2nd: Continental African Championship
·      2nd: Elite 180km  
     
2000      Captain: IBM/Lotus Cycling Team

Captain: SA National Team
·      Tour de Langkawi - Malaysia
2nd out of 25 teams in overall team competition, most successful team result ever.  
·      1st  : Tour D'urban
·      39th: Rapport Tour
·      1st  : King of the Mountains - Giro del Capo
1st  : Stage 2
·      6th  : Argus Cycle Tour
     
1999      Captain: IBM/Lotus Supercycling Team

Captain: SA National Team
·      Tour de Langkawi - Malaysia
·      Prudential Tour of England
·      2nd : Tour D'urban
·      2nd : EP Herald
·      9th  : Rapport Cycle Tour
·      4th  : Giro del Capo Tour
·      5th  : Argus Cycle Tour

Guest

Dr Jack Frost,

Thanks for the heads-up, I will keep it in mind. *One thing I failed to mention is that I keep my cadence up while riding up these hills. *If I find I start labouring, I will change down. *Does this change anything?

GG, and Goat.

Yup, that's the fella, no, he chats to his mates while I'm riding at close to my max. *I think I have a few more base miles to do, (like about 10 000) before I'll be able to consider myself worthy of even trying. *Nope, I'm afraid, I'm still a relative newbie to the sport. *(I've only been riding for just over two years and half of that was as an absolute novice not knowing my backside from my elbow.) *Not that I've progressed much since then. *I now just ride early enough to start, and hopefully end a ride with the serious guys. *

ps. . .  I'm riding this afternoon so I'll update details tomorrow.