Michael Van Staden Blog

SA Duathlon Champs

2010-06-02

Once again a dedicated BikeMaxPower athlete delivered an outstanding performance over the weekend to concur the South African National Duathlon Champs held in Bloemfontein.

Most of you that’s double my age would remember Ettienne Koekemoer, a former “retired” SA athlete. Ettienne returned to the sporting scene only 10 months ago with 1 goal in mind, World Champs 2011..

Ettienne started working with Ian Criag, BikeMaxPower nutritionist and running coach, and myself as the cycling coach. The 1^st thing Ettienne invested in was a PowerMeter for his road bike to track his fitness, pace himself correctly and to manage his fatigue compared to his current training load.

All the planning and dedicated planning paid off very well; Ettienne pretty much dominated the scene when he took the WP Duathlon trails and SA National Championships titles earlier this month.

For now, Ettienne will be taking a well deserved rest before we start building on a bigger base for the spring/summer season when he will give the Pro Classic series a try in Cape Town. At the age of 56, Ettienne had no problem to put me in the gutter and to ride me off his wheel at the same time..

Well done Ettienne!

PS: on the topic of "huge engines"- what do you guys think about Cancellara and his "motor doping"??

Skipping days

2010-05-28

We normally get the question “what must I do if I skipped a days workout”. I’ve come across a good article which explains perfectly

http://www.joefrielsblog.com/2010/05/missed-workouts.html

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Have a good weekend!

Planning made Perfect...

2010-05-26

Its proven over and over again that perfect planning, structured training program, enough rest, quality sessions and a strong mind is the key to perfect race preparation.

That’s what happened with Ollie le Court in Mauritius. This was the 1^st big race for the year, Trophe des Grimpeurs, the race Ollie was actually working towards. For most of you who haven’t been to Mauritius, it’s very undulating and the organizers can make it very difficult if they decide to head towards they mountains.. I’m talking about 8km climbs and steep too!

Ollie started with the elites, although he is 1^st year Jr rider. He cleaned up the Jr race and came 3^rd overall too! Armand le Court was not so fortunate, although good form, he had to give his bike to Yannick after he broke his chain. Armand’s bike won the day though (happy thoughts)!

Well done to both of you guy in Mauritius!

Ollie le Court going for victory

Also make sure you have a look at www.mydailysupplement.co.za for all your online supplement needs

Lets generate power!

2010-05-10

Morning guys,

i found this article browzing the web for my daily cycling fix. pretty cool and exiting i would say.. Technology just getting better, maybe a road bike with disk brakes soon? (if it's not in production already in someone's garage)..

Knysna big 5

2010-05-07

Doing the big 5 at knysna? http://www.gomulti.co.za/index.php?page=shop.product_details&flypage=vmj_genx_img1.tpl&product_id=30&category_id=7&option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=108&vmcchk=1&Itemid=108