Monday, April 11, 2011

THE MILL OR THE MOUNTAIN





On Thursday a friend of mine suggested that I give the HI-TEC INFINITY CHALLENGE a go, so I signed up for the 2km treadmill ran. I didn't sign up because I'm a great 2km runner, or because I love running on the treadmill, no I wanted to win an entry to race the Otter Trail...

2km isn't really running (when you are training for a marathon) so I ran 11.5km in the morning and then at lunch time Dawn and I climbed into the car and headed out to Century City. In search of Calan Walk's Cape Union Mart. Oh my hat I don't do people or shopping centers. Never mind we got there in one piece and I was ready to hope on the machine and set a time. The fastest time was set by one of my athletes, Will, he had run 6:58. Now that is ok for 2km but not really that fast, so I decided that the top spot was mine!!!
Ian keyed in my detail and hit the go button. No warmup and the clock start with the machine on 0km/h. I turned it up to 18km/h and the speed climbed.
I couldn't leave it at 18km/h as I was scared I would fall of the back.
The treadmill was set on a simple little program and every couple of 100m it would climb 1%. By the time it hit 7% at about 1.4km I was shattered (still running at about 16km/h). Unlike real hills when you reach the top you start going down hill, no here the gradient just dropped to 4%, 3%, 2% and 1%.

My throat was burning as the treadmill leveled out, and I had nothing left for a "sprint" to the finish:

I hung in there and finished with a time of 7:16 to place me 4th for the day, which I think isn't to bad for an old man who last ran on a treadmill 10 years ago.

Now role on Sunday and I had planned to meet Bruce (from team HI-TEC, who I am to pair up with for African-X next month) and Jayde. Bruce is from up country and hasn't run much on Vlakkenberg, so I had planned a little run for us.
Looks simple enough till I show you the profile...

1100m climb over 25.5km.

We took the run easy and even stopped for a swim in the dam:

Bruce

Jayde
And then a picture of Bruce and I...

I should really have taken pictures rould the over side of that mountain showing the climb and the sea in the background. It was a perfect day with hardly a breath of wind and the temp up close to 30!!!

After 2h52min we were back at the cars and ready for the rest of the day.

In closing I just want to say 3 hours on the mountain was easier than 7min on the treadmill.

9 comments:

  1. One of my favorite workouts is 12% incline intervals on the treadmill, but I don't hold them for more then 1-2 minutes and at a much slower pace (7-7.3 mph). I don't have too many hills near me and if I try to do speed intervals on the treadmill I am afraid that I will fall off. This workout fits both my needs of hill training and speed workout when the weather outside is not nice :)

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  2. I love running on my treadmill, but the incline is definitely different than running outside. You did great. Your run outside looks great, especially the stop at the lake.

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  3. I'm glad you're OFF the treadmill! I hate that thing. I always feel like I'm going to trip and fall! The HILL run with a swim looked AWESOME!!

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  4. I would definitely fly off the back of that treadmill! Nice job

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  5. I. Loved. This!!!!

    Awesome!!

    And your last sentence. has. made. My. Day. ;)

    A 7% incline is nuts at that pace!!
    You. Rocked. It!

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  6. @ EMZ 24 hours on a treadmill I still cann't get my head around that, after those 7min I felt funny standing on the floor, I though it was going to move... what are you going to feel like after 24hours?

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  7. Great post! I have to agree with you on the treadmill assessment.

    That mountain workout sounds AMAZING!!! You are so blessed! Beautiful area!

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  8. Hooohooo! Love pics! The treadmill assessment looks super fun! :) You look like a speed-demon!

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  9. FINALLY! My comment posted! I've been trying to post forever and it hasn't been working until today. :)

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