A Weekend on the Breede

With the 16th/17th been a holiday I took the 14th and the 18th off work to make it a long weekend, note to self here: we need to do this more often:

After a short morning run we packed the car:

All ready to go

and headed out...By lunch we were there:

Parked the car in the shade

And moved in for the weekend

We spent the weekend:

Cheese and Wine tasting at some of the near by farms.

We also did a bit of exercise on the river:

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Now as we drove there I look out the window of the car and other than the vineyards I saw:

A little hill over the river...

With a little road to the top!!!

Now I'm not very good at looking at a hill without wanting to run up it. So after an easy 10km out and back on the Saturday morning I Started to hatch a plan... But first let me tell you about the 10km run: It was up the gravel "drive way" 1km onto the gravel road about another km then I headed out on the tar till it was time to turn. On the way back I picked the pace up and ran 2 fast km 1st 3:44 and then a 3:19. Was very pleased when that km was over...

Now Sunday morning I left Dawn and the puppies in bed and headed down to the river. I first had to paddle across the river before I could start my run...
It was a 6:15 run to the gate, which I jumped over and headed up... Monster Climb about 300m up in the 2.4km to the top. I gave Dawn a quick call to tell her I was at the top and then the silliest of things happened, I looked at Ms 310 and did a little maths, I would have less than 8km if I just went back, so I decided to go down and up again...

2 Hills would not have looked good!!!

Up 15:14 down 13:05
Up 15:48 down 12:20
Up 15:39 down 11:05

Then I headed back...

I also needed a long run, so on the Monday I set off down the road we had driven in on... it was about 12km to the bridge, which I crossed and then headed back on the other side of the river. 23.5km took me to where I had crossed the river the day before, but the Canoe was on the house side!!! I had to swim the 300m across the river...

Don't worry I didn't only excerise when we were at the house:

Food needed to be cooked!

Then, all too soon the sun set and it was time to pack the car and head home:

Pollsmoor 10km race

The wind of the last couple of days was taking a break, and the sun was out!!! It was still almost 30 as I left home on my run to the start, why drive when the race is only 8km away and you need a warm-up


Pollsmoor 10km race, Plan before the weekend was to run 33:59, Like that was going to happen, so the plan changed, I would go out fastish and then run for money... (Nice thing about being old!!!)

On the start line I saw Gugs, none of the other guys were there!!!

See I'm looking to my left at Gugs (all the way on the right with oranje top)

A 1st km of 3:23 had me in 2nd with the 3rd 40+ just behind me. I hear that Gugs went through 1km in 2:55, I haven't done that since the turn of the century  I was pleased he only lasted 3km before he fell apart... (or it would have been me falling apart)

3;23 3:31 3:27 3:43 3:42 17:48
I now know 2nd was mine so I decided to aim at breaking 36min
3:40 3:37 3;34 3:39 3:31 18;03
2nd 40+ 10th finisher

Next story, a weekend in the Breede Valley...

December 2012

Where to start, well let us just have a little look back at were we have come from... OK it was Winelands Marathon, and the rest week, that about sums it up. So with the rest week now behind us it was time to start training again...

After my surprisingly fast half before the marathon I wanted a fast 15km and a fast 10km before the year was over, So the plan was to put in a couple of speed sessions. Yes I can handle the distance, so I just wanted the speed I had from before the marathon...

My plan was good, but the weekend got in the way (remember the long run with Sam over the mountain?) Then role on the 4th and my birthday!!!

What do you do for your birthday?

• take the day off.
• sleep in
• go for a run
• have lunch by the pool
• go out for a romantic dinner with my lovely wife

So I put in a days leave and slept till 07h00 before setting off for a run. I was on my own and with the Bakkie parked at the Nek I took off down the contour path again...

There are so many differnt runs I could have done, but with sam we had run slowly. (Sorry Sam) With the clock ticking and the 80's tunes in my ears I set off.I knew I would be faster than the weekend, but most of the time would be made on the mountain, so I was pleased to see the 1st split of 63:51 (2 minutes faster) then the split to Platteklip 23:41 (another minute). Lets call Platteklip 2.2km with 700m Climb!!! I still didn't have any bounce as I started the climb up the face of the mountain, but I slogged on, and then after about 20min I started to become focused and put in a little quad work!!! Stopping the clock on a fast 29:16. My breath caught up with me after 5 min and then I set off. I don't know where it came from, but I was on fire and the tricky sinlge track slipped beneath my feet like a tartan track...

Then 20min later I hit the wall (OK 2h20 on only water will do that) but lucky for me I had my Turbovite and a gu in my bag...

Shattered Coach

It took 10min to kick in and for my legs to start to work again... but by then the running was over I only had 5km to go and it was all down hill... 2h54:34 I stopped at my car, a full 25min faster than on the weekend!!!

The rest of my week was spoilt by a quick trip for work to Pretoria, so I only got in a couple of short runs... Role on the weekend and my 15km race.

I looked at the easy runs as a bit of a taper, so I thought I might be up for a quicky!!!

The wind was blowing and as I tried to push the pace I could do nothing, and with 6km down and the wind behind us I was flat, and was reduced to a jog...

After running like a three-toed sloth with only 2 toes, I headed into Constantia for hills on Sunday after 8 reps of about 1:45 (340m with 30+m climb) I was ready for home and the pool...

With the year almost over it's time to post this blog, as this weekend we are away for a few days and i hope to have tails from a far on my running adventures!!!