With eight weeks remaining until the start of the 2019 FNB Wines2Whales Shiraz, Joanne and Sean Badenhorst of Team TREAD faced two different challenges. They’re a married couple with full-time work and family commitments. They have been cycling for over 30 years and are tackling some mid-life bicycle riding challenges together. This won’t be their first stage race as teammates; but it will be Joanne’s first Wines2Whales. Sean has done three previously.
His
Another busy work week included a trip to Durban on Wednesday and back on Thursday. I started off the week well with a tempo session at Power Lab on Monday night and a Power Lab HIIT session on Tuesday morning.
A lack of decent sleep made me decide to rather aim for a week of better sleep and not try to squeeze in Power Lab training sessions on Wednesday and Thursday. I rested Friday too because I had entered the Garmin MTB Classic race on Saturday and wanted to feel fresh.
The race went okay. I sustained a right glute injury when I did the Bezhoek Extreme race in June. It’s still sore when I push hard so I decided to not push too hard, but race steady. Luckily there’s lots of corners and minimal climbing on this route…
At around 30km into the race my left calf started to really hurt. Felt a bit like cramp, which is unusual for me. I managed to keep riding at a decent pace, but it was still sore.
When I got off my bike at the finish I could not walk. My left calf was on fire, it was so sore!
I hardly ever go for a rub after an event, but decided that under the circumstances, this could be the only way I’ll get home!
A young masseuse name Megan worked on my calf and then insisted on massaging the rest of the left leg. And then the right leg. Who was I to stop her? She asked me questions and made me realise that I may just be out of alignment following my back injury a year ago. While I couldn’t walk properly after the race, I was able to walk normally on Sunday, the following day, but with some pain in my calf still. I’ve never felt this physically out of sorts as a cyclist… I’m going to see someone professionally trained than can restore some alignment.
My week:
Monday: 31km, 1hr00min Tempo session at Power Lab
Tuesday: 36km, 1hr10min HIIT session at Power Lab
Saturday: 48km, 2hr15min38sec Garmin MTB Classic
Total distance: 115km
Total time: 4hrs25min
Hers
Busy weeks are the norm for the Bardys. On the home front, our son was away on school tour, so I had one less person to stress about. This allowed me a bit more freedom in my schedule, and I finally managed to get to the Physio to try find some relief for my three pains: lower back, right foot (old injury) and left shoulder (old injury). With the injuries all being long standing, the relief will be slow and take a good few treatments.
Lauren Angus at Lamberti Physiotherapists in Paulshof, has her work cut out.
I had planned an easier training week, which for the most part, went to plan.
My Week:
Monday: Some cross training in the form of a session at cRESULTS Digital Boxing
Tuesday: 30.5km, 1hr10 Low Cadence, Low Intensity session with sprints at Power Lab
Wednesday: 37km, 2h8min easy MTB ride Cradle Loop
Thursday: 24,5km, 50min Low Cadence, Low Intensity session at Power Lab
Friday: 8,4km, 51min Skills session at PWC Bike Park
Saturday: 50,3km, 3hr37 Long dirt road ride in the Free State
Sunday: 21,2km, 1hr33 Short and easy dirt road ride in the Free State
Total Distance: 172km
Total Time: 10hrs14min
Limited entries are still available for Wine@Whales Pinotage and Shiraz, https://wines2whales.com/riders/entry-information
