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R-squared

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  1. Organisers of first-time courses often have poor perception of difficulty. First Winelands marathon (1979 I think) was described as fast and organisers got Johnny Halberstadt and others along to break SA record. Winning time was about 2:25; next year described as ‘tough and grueling’!
  2. Probably a combination of altitude and age. Altitude drops barometric pressure and thus alveolar and arterial oxygen partial pressure and thus saturation; advancing age slowly decreases oxygen uptake in lungs irrespective of smoking. Urban pollution probably worsens this and road cycling (in particular) exposes you to a lot of noxious particles (mostly diesel) and chemicals that damage lung tissue over the years
  3. Have run and cycled over that foot bridge at all hours with no problems to date. Lots of security on western side - USA and UK embassies!
  4. Usual best answer is ‘it depends’ - mostly on severity and cause of pneumonia. TB and other destructive pneumonias, including Staphylococcal which is common after measles or influenza, will often leave scars and airway damage (bronchiectasis). More usual causes such as viral or Pneumococcus will often resolve leaving little or no long term functional damage. You need quite a lot of damage to affect VO2max as normal individuals often have 20-30% of ventilatory capacity left at maximum exercise. The significance of VO2max as a predictor of exercise performance is questionable and a debate of its own.
  5. Longer runs! 15-18 km and other training means your cardiorespiratory fitness is good but marathon running requires musculoskeletal conditioning as well. You have no idea how sore your legs can get past 30 km until you've tried it without the preconditioning! Hill training, both up and down, will also help with getting some eccentric muscle contraction training to prevent the dreaded DOMS (delayed onset muscle soreness)
  6. I agree with keeping on M4 - the stretch through Wynberg is a bit heavily trafficked but do-able; Stanhope-Palmyra-Campground is a pleasant ride, also has the option (when more familiar with area) of taking back roads through Keurboom Park and Rondebosch to avoid a lot of the traffic. This also gets you out of a lot of the wind on the way home in summer when the South-Easter can be a real handful.
  7. A common problem in runners (and presumably cyclists) is achilles tendinopathy. This is usually related to overuse and is not an inflammatory problem but more a dysfunctional repair response to recurrent use. Needs a competent physiotherapy assessment and diagnosis. Rehabilitation and strengthening exercises incorporating eccentric loading of achilles are usually helpful and revolutionised my running
  8. Most opioids are banned, however looks like codeine and tramadol are allowed. Just shows - you need to look up everything before opening your mouth or putting something into it! There are reports of codeine metabolites in the urine coming up as morphine (definitely banned) so always need to be careful about what you take.
  9. This dosage sounds a little improbable and potentially lethal if so. Myprodol has 250 mg paracetamol, 200 mg ibuprofen, and 10 mg codeine per capsule. Maximum recommended dose of paracetamol is 1 g 6 hrly, more than this can cause liver damage (failure with bigger doses). Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs like ibuprofen have been associated with kidney failure during exercise. Codeine is on WADA banned list. (Incorrect assumption - always check before you type!) In summary, nothing good about Myprodol during exercise - used like that it can kill you or get you a doping violation (if codeine metabolites cross react as morphine)!
  10. The hills are imperceptible but the south-easter will give you a proper sorting-out on the way home!
  11. Avoid Main Rd like the plague! Road: Liesbeek Parkway->Malta->Albert Rd brings you out in Strand Street. There is a semblance of cycle lanes and it is a popular route. Traffic and parking on cycle lane bit of a problem but Main Road is lethal! MTB: Alternative route is over the the lower slopes of Devil's Peak from the Rhodes Memorial road - more of a challenge but also popular.
  12. Can't draw any inferences from the race numbers - I entered early and have 52047
  13. Wind - 30 km/h? Try cycling into the teeth of a 45 km/ h south-easter for the whole commute! Would take the rain though!
  14. This ramp is quite narrow and narrows more at the top - only feasible way up from that part of town though. A possible solution would be to make the first kilometre or so into a 'neutral zone' and have the start mats after it widens out on the freeway. This would help to keep the fast starters controlled (maybe?)
  15. Very happy with mine, handles rough roads like a dream. Copes well with smoothish gravel sections. Did however upgrade wheels to Roval SL35 which I felt have made a difference compared to stock wheels
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