JUST A TRAINING RUN

Saturday was the 16th time that I've lined up for Red Hill... Red Hill Race offers both a Classic 36.2km race and the standard Marathon. Over the last 17 years (missed 1999 due to an injury) I have only ever run the classic, 36.2km always seems far enough this soon after the Christmas fattening period!

In the old days it was easy to take it really easy and to stop at water tables and have fun. You never feel you need to run for a time because no-one will every ask what your 36.2km time is...

A couple of years ago...

Again I lined up with no plans of running hard... With the start of the race I settled into a nice group with a couple of friends and as we ran and chatted I found out 2 of them were planning of aiming at breaking 3hours, so a little faster than planned, but not to fast...
With the wind still behind us and the route still flat the running was easy and we past 5km in around 20:30 and started the first of 2 climbs at 8km. Dawn was following the race on her bike and had set off at tackle the hill before us. Then, as we were reaching the top, I could see her... Yes I had to pick up the pace and crest the hill before she did!!! She was kind and slowed to say Hi before heading down the hill on the other side...

It's not really that scary...

By 10km our group was back together and about 10 strong, Myself and Will set the pace with Gareth and Duncan in for the sub 3 in the marathon, while Greg, Damian, Bruce and a couple of guys I didn't know.

Now the profile doesn't really tell the true story... it's really flattish between 12 and 20 (the turn off for the marathon) A little down then a little up, but easy running, unless the wind is blowing!!! Wind, what wind? The Cape Doctor! Yes she was out to blow like the BIG BAD WOLF... So we needed a house of brick to be safe from the wind, or a man of TITANIUM, or just a sucker to take the wind... I was in front with Will as we went over the hill, so as we started down the others fell in behind us using a little gravity to make up lost ground.(I was the sucker)

We ran together till about 18km, the wind was bad now and Dawn was heading back she didn't like the wind on the bike and wasn't looking forward to the big hill, Red Hill!!! around this time Will had dropped back to talk to some-one else, I think I had said to much, or hadn't said enough! With the slight climb we had lost guys off the back and once out of the group they quickily fell back as fighting the wind and hill on your own wasn't fun!!! Duncan then joined me up front to check on the sub 3 pace and to say thank you before they turned off for a little 3km out and back...

Over the last couple of km we have past a number of 40+ guys and with John and Johnny running the marathon I was suddenly in 2nd (age-group). We turned to climb the hill, Red Hill (yes it's a real enough hill to have the whole race called after it!), and there were only Will and Greg left with me (Bruce fell of as we started to climb).

Marathon on the left...

We past 21km in 88:15 so if the marathon boys could hold it together a sub 3 was on the cards... The climb was as easy as that hill can get, we had the wind behind us pushing us all the way, like a gental hand just egging us on.

Once over the top it was easy... OK we could have hammered the down hill, but THIS WAS JUST A TRAINING RUN, so it was easy down and what a pleasure running the 8km back to the start. The wind behind us the no hills. The 3 of us stayed together to the end, which is a good sign... We can handle the distance and if we are going to run a marathon in a couple of week the sub 3 should / could be easy.

I know you want to know Duncan finished with 2h58:?? while Garath fell of the pace 3km from the end and finished with 2h59:59 or was it 3h00:00 last I know he was going to find out what the officials had!!! Me, well I had finished with 2h30:36 in 12th place and taking 2nd 40+.

My day wasn't over, as Dawn didn't want to stay for prize giving, So she drove home and left me to cycle the 20km home... don't worry the wind was behind the whole way!

BACK ON THE TRAIL...

After a week of training I was ready to start racing again. OK I wasn't really ready, but is one every really ready? My sponsor, CONTEGO, also sponsors a couple of Mountain Biker, so the event this last weekend was made for us...

TOTALSPORTS CHALLANGE 2013, TERRA FIRMA, TSC is 7 events including a swim and 2 paddles, while the TERRA FIRMA only has the 4 land based events:

1. Road Bike, 50km
2. Road Run, 13.8km
3. Mountain Bike, 25km
4. Beach Run, 9km

I've done the 7 man team TSC before,  and have had a couple of good finishes running the last leg on the beach, this year I was on the road with Bernard on the Beach and 2 of Contego's bikes on the 2 bike rides...

With the 7 event guys hitting the change-over first it was difficult to follow who was in the lead at first. The first Road Bikers I saw were 2 guys going head to head over all 7 events (OK only 6 this year as a little wind had put play to the Surfski). They had started before the terra firma teams, Then the action started with my friend and Contego team mate Eddie, his partner came in with one other rider... my guy would be in soon. I wasn't worried about them as they were both in pairs, and Eddie would have a 2nd run and his cyclist would have to change his road bike for a mountain bike. After a couple more 7 man teams coming in the next group arrived and I saw the team colours. I thought I was getting a clean get away, but my team mate headed down the side shoot and I had to chase him.. maybe i lost a couple of seconds, but the 2 guys waiting there with me were now 10-20 meters ahead.

The clock was running and so was I, I took a look at Ms 310, and after blinking a couple of times to make sure the contacts were clean, I decided that the 2:45 pace that she was telling me was just a little to fast...

It was down hill to start and we hadn't turned into the wind as yet... 1st km 3:06!!! No Dion let them go you can run them down later... I past 5km in 17:15 and then the wind and heat started to made the running hard. I was passing a lot of guys, but most of them were 7 man teams. I caught and passed one of the guys who had started just ahead of me, but Riaan was still ahead, and his team was leading 'my race'.

Working Hard

At 11km we turned of the road for a little tail down to the lake, 2km later I handed over to the Mountain Biker (the 7 man teams had a paddler waiting). The youngster I handed over too rode the leg of the day and past the team ahead of us and road down Eddies partner (who was on his 2nd ride).

Barnard on the beach... he had said 2-3mins and I can catch them! Well the team had worked well and in was only Eddie (on his 2nd run) ahead of us, and he was caught in the 1st km!!! Since both teams are CONTEGO, they ran together for a bit before Barnard race home to bring our team in first!!!

I should now be writing about the Cape Summer Trail Series, as race 1 was held on Sunday... Yes I was running back to back races!

Held in Lebanon State Forest it a lovely run starting with a steep drop over the 1st 100m before climbing for most of the next 5km...

My old body didn't like the idea of running hard 2 days in a row, so not much of it was working as Owen set us off... After a lot of talking to myself I was moving in the right direction... But by now I was off the pace as the kids flew throw the forest. I got into a little bit of running on the way up and caught a couple of guys and also moved into 1st 40+. As much as I was willing to hill over I didn't want it to end. That 3:06 1st km of yesterday was a fluke, and I would need more to catch the lighties ahead of me and to keep Johnny at bay... So down I went, they were gone, but my lead over Johnny wasn't enough and he took the 40+ lead 3km from the end.

I had to settle for 8th and 2nd 40+... But never mind I'm not dead, I have legs, I'll be back...

After a little sleep...

My Little Girl

2013 TIME TO GET DOWN TO BUSINESS

I was lucky enough the plan a rest week over the New Year, so after a couple of big weeks to end the year I started the New Year with a couple of easy runs... But there is only so long you can rest for:
This is how my year ended and the new one began...
Monday 24 Dec: 10.3km including 10 x 200m (not hard, just tempo to keep the legs turning over.
Tuesday 25 Dec: Yes Christmas day I went for a run, up the mountain from home, 8km out took me to the top of Nursery Ravine... (this was before church)

Looking a bit old a weather beaten

That looks better!

Wednesday 26 Dec: AM 50km cycle with Dawn, but I don't call cycling real exercise, so that afternoon I headed out for 21.1km 89:16. That's the trouble when I run with Ms 310!!!
Thursday 27 Dec: Can't spend the whole day at home, so I went for a 25km run 2h17:00 half of it on the mountain, took a couple of pictures...

It was early and the horse were still in their PJs...

Friday 28 Dec: Popped up to the Nek to meet a couple of friends, but missed them!!! So went for a run with some-one else I met, just up the road to the Dam on the mountain, 5km up and then back. Didn't want a big run as I had something special planned for the next Day!!!
Saturday 29 Dec: Met the boys at the club (UCT) for a little run!!! Over 3h14 later we had only run 26.4km, but with 1300m+ climb and most of it on single track including Devils Peak in the mist...

I reached the top!

This is Cape Town in Summer, not Scotland!

Sunday 30 Dec: was flat and on the road 11.5km.

So yes it was time for an easy week!!!

We have, what they call the Runners Memorial 8km race on the 31st each year and it was to be Dawn's come back race after a Hip-Op!!! I was running with her and if we walked the whole way I would still need a run, so I ran 5km in the morning (ok it was 4 x 1km reps and a bit of a warm up and down). 18h00 race Time, Dawn and I hid on the side so as not to get in the way of the fast runners and to be ahead of the slow walkers!!! My wife ran like a star, running the whole way with only 3 of the 8km over 6min we finished in 47:20.
Tuesday 1 Jan: The plan for the rest of the week 4km easy run about the block.
Wednesday 2 Jan: OK I was going to just jog around the block, but Eddie gave me a call... So I took him for a little stair session at Rhodes Mem!!!
Thrusday, Friday and Saturday 3, 4, 5 Jan; I just head out round the block for 4-5km,
Sunday 6 Jan: Bay to Bay 30km... Yes the year starts with a bang, no time to get into it, 30km first up, but all the coach says is: just make sure you can run the last 5km.

Lots of us heading out.

My timing was perfect: I finished with a 1h57:57, the same time as 2012...
With Sunday under the belt training has started and last night (Tuesday) they were dropping like flies as the first track session of the year was down as 30 x 200m (45sec rest). It's only 6km hard, but 30 is a big number and 200m is short, so we / they were running fast. I wonder if any of them can walk today!!! We have a little 12-15km forest run to get through...

Has your year's hard training also started, and do you need to work as hard as me to burn of the Christmas Eve Dinner and Christmas day lunch, not the mention the beer and wine, Champagne and chocolate!!!

Roll on 2013

2012 only History now...

2012 is now a thing of the past and all the dreams I for for the year, well some are realized and some have been carried forward to 2013... So what was on that 'dance' card? Run, and run some more, in fact first up I planned to run lots... Back in December 2011 I ended up running on the 10th... And as luck (or fate) would have it I ended up running every day for the next 2 weeks!!! That's what I (stupidly) though I should see what sort of running streak I could put together. Now when I had a younger man's body (and mind) I did a bit of streaking!!! But not like this... So with 2012 a leap year I set about running on every day... Yes the day before a big race, I would run 4km around the block, and then for the couple of days after a marathon, I would also just pop out for 4-5km... (I hear you only need to run 1 mile, but really!!! Then again they would count it is you were on a treadmill!!!) So in the last 366 days I run anything from 4km to 42.2km, with weekly mileage between 65km and 150km totalling 4703.5km (92 834.3km since I started running!) Races, I was aiming at club colours in 3 distances, but as in 2012 and 2011 I come up short... Only reaching the standard in the half (74:36) I will try again this year. I ran lots of races about 45 in total, but I can't tell you more that that as my full records are at the office and I'm not going there for a couple more days!!! I do know I didn't reach the magic number of 1000km raced, but I have been there before, so it's not the end of the world... I don't run PRs any more, but as a 40+ I do run age group bests, and this year past I was luck so sneak in a couple of podium finishs... So thank you for 2012 and I wish you all the best for 2013! Bring it on...

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:

Add caption

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!!!