There are less than 5 hours until the kickoff, and South Africa has gone completely crazy. Everybody is hooting, blowing their vuvuzelas, wearing the yellow and green of our national side Bafana Bafana, all getting ready to support our team in the opening match.

The traders on the street are doing a roaring trade, with lines of cars stopping on the side of the road, hoping to still buy a flag or supporters shirt.

We are going to have a great game, and we are going to show that Africa can put on a great show!

Go South Africa!

Netathlon does not have a mechanism by which you can export the training data to import into your training software (well at least not that I could find!). So, I created a simple utility to do just that.

This very simple free utility converts the RAW data generates by Netathlon into a HRM file that can be imported into most training software (tested with SportTracks and Polar Precision Performance).

Download Netathlon to HRM.

No cost or registration (also no viruses or spyware). Just install and off you go. Download the installation here (only about 400k). The software only runs in Windows, and works on Vista.

Instructions

It is very easy to use, simply select the file(s) that you wish to convert, and it saves a copy as a .hrm file. You can then import the .hrm file into SportTracks, and all of your training data will be available. Remember to select metric or imperial units first.

DO NOT RENAME the RAW file before converting. The RAW file does not contain the date of training, so the only way that you can get the date is from the file name.

Upgrading

To upgrade, simple uninstall the previous version, and install the later version.

A few notes

• This utility was written by me, it has nothing to do with the folks that created the Netathlon software
• I have only tested it with cycling files. However, if you have any other Netathlon files, send them to be and I will have a look
• This utility is provided “as is”. While it works fine for me, I cannot guarantee that it will not do any damage on your machine. USE AT YOUR OWN RISK.
• You may not modify the software, however feel free to distribute it.
• If you have any comments or suggestions, please leave a comment below, or Email me – cdstrachan@gmail.com

Version History

1.0.3

• Updated to support Run and Row files.

1.0.2

• added support for Polar Precision Performance software.
• Fixed minor error with progress bar when running more than one import sequentially.

1.0.1

• first version supported SportTracks only

If you do like this software, how about making a donation to my favourite cause.

Finally, thanks to this site, and this site for the help on the file formats.

Today is exactly one year after my back surgery. I cannot believe that it is already a year ago, and I am amazed at my progress over that time. This is a good time to reflect on my experience, and perhaps offer a little guidance to anybody in a similar position.

Disclaimer: I am not in the medical profession, and I have not expert knowledge, so do not do anything without consulting your doctor!

So, let me tell you about my experience over the last year.

What exactly did they do?

A Laminectomy Discectomy – basically the doctor drilled a small hole into the back of my spine (L4), stuck in a pair of tweezers, and removed the broken pieces of disks. While for anybody this is a frightening experience, it is a routine procedure which only takes about 40 minutes from start to finish.

Why?

I slipped a disc. To be more precisely, I ruptured the disc between the L4 and L5 vetebras (lower back). The ruptured piece of disc was pushing onto the nerve which goes into my left leg, resulting in a massive pain in my left leg for several weeks, and while I could walk, it was very difficult. I slipped the disc while loading the dishwasher. Of course this in itself is very low maintenance task, however it was the catalyst. If not that, something else would have caused it. At least I have finally proven that house work is bad for you!

How successful was it?

Extremely. For about a year before the operation, I could tell that my back was not quite right. There was nothing specific that I could put my finger on, but any pressure on my back caused pain. I had previously been running about 10km, and cycling every weekend. However, during this period running even a few hundred metres caused me pain (I could continue to cycle). Even basic back stretches and exercises were painful.

When I woke up after surgery, I was pain free. The pain had completely gone. When the morphine wore off, I was still (am still am) largely pain free.

Completely pain free?

No, I still have a little pain from time to time, especially after sitting for a long time, but in general  I have very little pain. If I have any pain, a little pilates or walking helps. In fact, regular walking seems to be the best thing for my back. Any pain I have nowadays is more from back strain than from the slipped disc. Now, I very seldom take any medication for pain.

What about rehab?

One of the most overlooked intervention in back surgery is rehab. The day after my operation, the physio threw me out of bed, and exercises began. After about two months, I started going to classes at the physio to continue to mobilise my back. Now, I still go to weekly pilates or Gyrokinesis classes at the physio, although my focus has (at least internally) shifted from rehab to preventative maintenance of my back. Now, I am doing exercised that I couldn’t do years ago (I can even touch my toes if I have warmed up). Today, I can cycle about 60km without any difficulty, and I can run about 5km. When I need to stop, it is because my legs are tried, and not because of my back.

Would I recommend it?

Surgery is always a scary prospect and never without risk. However the difference this procedure has made in my life is immeasurable. If I had the recommend it to somebody in a similar position, I would definitely do so.

Friday was the six month anniversary of my back surgery. It is difficult to believe that it is already six months. But then the time has really flown.So how has the recovery been?

Well, today I cycled 23km on my indoor trainer, which is the furthest  I have been since my operation (UI used to cycle 50-70km on the weekend).

My trainer is pretty cool; it is a TACX IMagic, which connects to my laptop. This means that I can cycle on one of several 3-dimentional virtual courses against virtual cyclists. Whenever I go uphill, the tension gets harder, and whenever I go downhill, the tension gets easier. I also have a couple of real-life courses. So I can cycle the Argus Cycle Tour and watch real footage in my lounge – great for winter training. It is pretty cool and really does makes indoor training quite fun!

The main difference between the indoor trainer and training outdoors, is that when you go downhill outdoors, you can stop peddling on the downhill, but on the indoor trainer you have to keep peddling all the time, otherwise you stop. This makes indoor training a lot more tiring, so my guestimate is that the 23km I did today is equivalent to about 40km on the road.

Technically, I am allowed to start running again, but I am not quite ready for that – I think I will stick to the cycling in the mean time.

Back to the recovery. Overall, I am much stronger than a few months ago. I am happily doing exercises now that I could not do several months before my surgery, so that is a very good sing. I do still get back pain, but not to the extent that I did before. In general if I do have pain, it is because I know that I have overdone something.

I have become far more aware of my back, from how I sit, bending correctly, being careful of heavy weights, etc. I am attending regular Gyrokinesis classes with Shari Rosenberg. Shari and her whole team are fantastic, and the classes are really helping me with my movement and strengthening of my back.

I have learned two things over the last six months. The first is to be patient. Anybody who knows me will know that patience is not one of my strongest points, but recovery takes a while – just one step at a time.

The second is that recovery is not a straight line towards improvement. It is continuous up and downhill process. Three steps forward and then one step back. However, the overall progress is forward, so I am very pleased.

I didn’t get to ride the Argus this year, but I did manage to take a few photos on the route, and at the finish line. Most of them are of my team – Team Whiff – who raise funds for physically and mentally disabled people.

The video below was taken on Lakeside Main Road. This is just a few of the 35000 cyclists than cycled past. If you listed to the audio, it sounds like a swarm of bees. Looks a bit like a flash mob, doesn’t it?