BACK TO TRAINING

With most of the running down over the Christmas break just running it was time to start training once again, so without really worrying just who much training / running the guys have done we jumped into training with both feet...

Monday was easy... EASY, well the session wasn't there to leave you dead, but just to stretch your legs, so after a 5km warmup we found ourselves on the track.
20 x 200m

1st 4 were at 10km pace 42sec
2nd 4 at 40sec, 5km pace
3rd set of 4 at 38sec, 3km pace
4th set of 4 at 36sec, 1500m pace
them the last 4 flatout... they ended up around 34sec.

It was nice to stretch the legs a big and without clock watching as we will start doing as the big races get closer it was very do-able.

Tuesday was a different story, Yes it was hot and the route I choose for our 2 x 5km session wasn't flat... But it's early days and we really just wanted to run hard, and what time we did was not important... I was a good 30sec slower than last year this time!

Now while Wednesday had an easy forest run on the program I headed out to Tygerberg for the first of the Spur Summer Series Trail races...

These are hard to race, and this is a brutal race with a climb of 240m in the first mile... it took me 10:39 to get to the top, I was in 3rd place with my friend and running team mate Bernard out front and some kid, a track running inbetween us! This race might offer amazing views of table mountain, but like a roller coaster we flew down a mine shaft and then from 3km to 3.5km we climb another 70m, on this climb I moved into 2nd place, and for a bit I though I might beat a couple of the open guys...

Dylan caught me climbing through the forest

I should have been flying down the long single track, but the old legs just don't work like they did back in the 90's and 2 skinny youngsters ran me down, but with a bit of a climb now I was able to stop anyone else from closing the gap... I had a look over my shoulder and if I kept my running honest my 4th place (1st 40+) was safe. Now I was also clock watching as I now wanted to finish in under an hour and beat the setting sun!

59:27 for 12.3km with over 500m climb, the tailender would take twice as long and come home under the stars by head lamp.

The View from the top

When I put together the program I didn't aim it at me who would be racing on the Wednesday, so Thursday had 10-15 x 400m waiting for the boys... I left them to run on the track alone and heading into the forest for an easy 10... I'm getting lazy in my old age, or was it because I had a 36km race to run on the weekend, I don't know!

Red Hill 36.2km Classic is really just used as a training run and I set out doing that. A number of friends were running the marathon on offer, so I set out with them the help with a 3 hour bus. At 20km when they turned off I found myself alone with Red Hill to climb 160m in 2km... Dawn was on the bike watching the race and I passed her and the first lady on my way up. At the top I asked the officials how I was doing, 18th and 4th old man...

So what did I do? Jogged down the hill to the coast, then upped the tempo to see if I could run down the other old men!!! So much for an easy day out I start knocking off sub 4:00 km the truth be told it wasn't that hard, it felt good to be running like this after Bay 2 Bay a couple of weeks ago. Dawn had caught me (easy ofter the hill) and with 8km to go she gave me a split of 4 min to 3rd 40+... (2nd and 1st not to much further ahead)

He was a broken man and it didn't take long for me to run him down, with 3km to go I could see the next guy 40sec ahead, but I didn't had a couple of 3:30's in my legs to run him down, so I had to settle for 3rd (14th overall) 2h32:06

One of the nicest run in Cape Town

9km was enough for Sunday and I called it a week at 95km...

Next week more of the same...

SHOES

It was holidays and the start of a new year... So I did what all us runners do! I looked at my running gear, shirts (not that I run with a shirt on) shorts, bags, and of course SHOES.

Now if you are anything like me, you hate throwing out old shoes as much as you love new shoes, it's a real catch 22... So as you can well guess I have a couple of old pairs lying around. A couple of pairs that should have been tossed many miles ago, and with the start of a new year what better time to go through all the pair lying around and see if any could make it to the bin...

I am very lucky to be sponsored by New Balance at the moment and I had a meeting with them on the 8th about getting new shoes, so really I had to clean out a bit.

Looking at the shelve of shoes I thought, what about a last run in those old shoes, I've got a couple of easy runs planned, so why not...

This started on January 1, Yes I put on an old pair of shoes, and went for a little run... January 2, I put on another old pair of shoes... I was in trouble now, 2 days, 2 pairs of shoes!

Do you see the problem I was facing, How long could I keep going? With the 30km on the 5th I didn't use old shoes, 30km on the road, that would have been stupid, but the 6th it was raining any after that 30, I put on a very old pair and went for a little run. It was fun, but just how long was this going to last? I planned things that I had my V2 1010's on for Saturday's 2h35 on the mountain:

VEIW TO HOUT BAY

I wasn't running alone, I was lucky to be running with one of SA's top ladies...

Trail is a bit over grown!

Sunday I was on the road for 20km so I pulled out my road shoes, then come Monday it was time to start training and I was now almost out of shoes...

13 days...

On Tuesday it was over... I had run in a different pair of shoes every day for 13 days, and now I had better toss a couple of pairs!!!

So what sort of mileage have I logged in the older pairs:

My old KSO 5 Fingers have 1700km logged
The old New Balance MT 00 have 1600km logged
and I have another 3 pairs with over 1000km on them...

Not every shoes is good for that sort of distance, the hard rocky trails can eat your shoes, and the endless tar can flatten any cushioning... Since I run in mostly flat shoes I can log extra mile.

Please don't think all shoes are good for this sort of mileage, we don't want you picking up any unwanted injuries.

20 x 30km

Wow, with one year now behind us 2014 has started and the January races are there to be run... ready or not!!!

The first race here in Cape Town the the Bay to Bay 30km, so like the rest of the Road Runners I was up early and ready to Rock and Roll... I remember Dawn saying to me that it feels like just the other day that we were driving to the start of Bay to Bay.

I stood on the start line thinking about my race plans: Boy have they changed over the years... I can remember gunning from the start chasing the lead pack.

Today I would go out at 4:00/km and hope I could come home in just under 2 hours (That has been easy in years gone by!) From the start things felt OK and with the first km under 4 I was all smiles. Dawn was on the bike and had took off with the leaders to watch a couple of real runners. I promise I wasn't racing for a 40+ prise, but I did want to know who was up there... Tsungi, Graham, both miles ahead and then 3 guys I know I can beat! Oh dear...

5km and I was having fun running in a small group of guys, but then the hill too Llandudno I dropped most of the group including one of the 40+ guys and almost caught another! This was easy and I hadn't even put the hammer down... Down Suikerbossie I let him get away and the other guy catch up again, 10km in 38:40, easy peesy. Dawn wasn't cycling down any further, 500m was enough, and now she could watch the rest of the race and then see the leader on the way back. 11, 12 down hill 13 flat, then the group start to pick up the pace. Garmin called it 3:45, but the legs didn't want anything faster than 3:55. I would fall off the back and then work a bit to get back... This wasn't good, I now had to hold on till the hill on the way back, that would sort them out!

15km 57:05, but I wasn't going to stay with them, I now had a long was home on my own. first little hill didn't go so well the one guy left with me didn't fall off... Bring on Suikerbossie, I could see them up front and maybe the legs would have a bit of running left in them... No, while I did drop the guy who had been with me I was hardly running the others down. 1km up and I was being caught... That was not aloud, so I didn't slow as the 2nd km got steeper. Good I can still run. reach the top, there was dawn waiting for me and I past 21km in 83:30 9km of mostly down hill to go, sub 2 should be easy...

Ha Ha Ha

I had run at 4's going up, but that wasn't happening on the way down!!!

I wasn't sore I put caught run fast...

Dawn on the bike and looking good, but slow!

I'm not flying

My friend Anneline was on the side watching, I had to look good for her...

Made it..

20th Bay to Bay under the belt...2h02:14,  Ran my first one back in 1992, I'm getting old

THE END OF 2013

WOW, can you believe another year is over and it's time to start planning 2014...

Now before we think about what lies ahead I had better have a little look back at 2013:

First lets just see what I've been doing since I last wrote, so that takes us back to Christmas. I was at work on Christmas eve and with it being a half day I decided to put my run in before work. Lots of eating to do with the family that evening and so much to do before then. So I was up at 05h00 and I was running hills. Yes a hill session of 10 x a 400m hill (95-100sec) I was planning on earning Christmas dinner with my Sister and all the family.

All dressed up

It wasn't that late when we rolled home, But Dawn and I had thought a lot about Christmas day and planned on going to the 11h00 service, giving us a little time in the morning.

I headed off at 7 up the mountain, Nursery Ravine, from home it's 8km to the top and 750m climb, just the way to burn off a couple of mince pies!!! Dawn just ran past a friends house to check that all was well (1 of 3 houses we were looking after) before heading home to wake up her friend (best friend from Scotland) who was staying with us. Then the 2 of them took the dogs to the beach for a walk!

Already hot at the top...

Christmas Dinner was at 18h30 with Dawn's family, and they were coming to us. I had Chicken and Lamb to cook on the fire...

With so much food consumed I met a couple of friends at Constantia Neck on the 26th and the 3 of us ran up to the Dams for a swim. (another 600m of climb)

Perfect for a swim!

Saturday saw us head out to Houw Hook Inn for a wedding:

Dawn's goddaughter!

We partied to midnight before heading to our room. Wait for it, at 06h30 I was up to join Bret for a little run on the mountains behind the Inn:

After 5km of climbing!

Bret crossing a mnt bike bridge

As if all of that wasn't enough I joined my from Eddie on Monday the 30th for 3 hours of trails:

No 100m record were run that day!

With the office still closed Dawn and I choose to put in a 2 hour cycle on the 31st, Then while dawn took the dogs for a walk I headed out for a run, don't worry I didn't head up the mountain, I headed to the track for 10 x fast slow 200's!

Now finally with the year behind us let's have a look at the magic numbers:

Garmin calls it: 4 560.31km run (I call it 4 555.2km)
Time: 370h59:10
Elevation gained: 112 844m
Day's run: 365
Races run: 47 (I also ran 4 x 5km TT that's another 20km!!!)

Distance: 991.8km should have run that other 10km

Best times for the year:

5km 17:23 didn't really race
10km 33:23
15km 51:51
21.1km 74:26
Marathon: 2h52:45 (to close to that half!)
I also did OK in a couple of trail races!!!

If you look at that I can't be unhappy...

2014, let it bring more of the same!!!

WINTER IS ON THE WAY

With the longest day now behind us, the days are getting short and short. Summer is a thing of the past and Winter is on the way...

Lucky for us here in Cape Town the weather should start to improve with the Summer wind starting to drop off. Isn't this just the best time of year? So many public holiday and half the world is on leave, in fact half the world is always on leave!!! Me on the other hand, I love being at the office over this time of the year, the roads are quiet and the phone almost never rings. So I find I can get a lot more work done and I even get the leave work early for time to time... Enough about work, I'm here to tell you about running!

Public holidays alway shout long run, long run on the mountain, and last Monday was no different. The I listen carefully to the call of the mountain and plan a route as to cover the ground I'm called too...

Vlakenberg was shouting my name, but the truth be told the route I started to think about would ahve killed me, it was up, down, up, along, up, down, up, down, and I would have being out for long over 3 hours. At this time of the year my body is pretty worn-out so I changed the plan to Up, Down out and back, up, down, with 2 hours being the mark. Then I put a call out to a couple of friends and while most had plans (there was another 10km race), one of my star lady runners joined me.

Making it look easy

It was her first time on the mountain and she made it look easy, if I take she up a couple more times she will become quite the trail runner!!!

One of the reasons I didn't run the race on the Monday, was there was another evening 10 on the Wednesday, and 3 10s in week would have just been too much. I was at the Waterfront for the midweek 10 and while I thought I could find myself running hard I wasn't going the aim at a time. While making my way to the startlineI saw a couple of the 40+ guys and with 3 guys who can kick my fat ass any day of the week, and a 4th whom I know would make me run harder than I wanted, I decided to pace a friend...

38:30 was his target, and with wind to think about I set the pace at 19:00 for the first 5 along us to slow in the 2nd half.
1km was easy and while we had start easy we passed the mark spot on and he was looking good, 2km and 3 and he was still there, but I could see he was starting to work a bit.
19:02 at 5km and he was still with me... 6km and while we had caught a couple more people he was not a happy camper!!! By 7km he was toast, but I was still hopefull...
Remember we had a little time in the bag for the 38:30, but now the time was slipping away... and while I know I could pick the pace up it wasn't about me, so I kept hanging back to help him keep going, then with 1km to go I felt him to come home in 39:00 while I fought a bit of wind at the end to finish in 38:40.

Good thing I'm so fat or the wind would have had me!

I was happy with my last km and my friend was happy with the 39:00 he had run...

The week again find me out and about, but this time round it was the slopes of Devils...

My team mate Eddie making it look easy...

It wasn't all sitting around and smiling at the view, some of it was hard work...

It was a long climb...

2hour 20 later and we had covered all of 22km (only 750m climb) and found ourselves back at the cars... 

I have a couple of days of work as the Office closes so any guesses as to where I plan to get my running done?

Have a great Chrismas, more from me in the New Year.

I LOVE RACES

With this Wednesday evening's 10km race being just down the road Dawn and I headed out to Race!!! Dawn loves this race as back in '98 she ran 38:35 her PB, while I haven't run any really fast times here it's alway nice to run hard at the end of the year...

It wasn't a big field as we gathered in the grounds of Pollsmoor Prison maybe 400+. Before we started the field honored the Late President Mr Nelson Madela with a moment silence and the National Anthem!

Then the gun set us off I got into my running, the first 200m was into the wind and I went with the lead group so as not to have to fight the wind, we then turned right and right again... Tanith (Yes Tanith Maxwell who ran the marathon for SA at the 2012 Olympics!) was tucked in behind me, Lenka and Nelson were just ahead, with Rich and Byron a couple of m behind... (was hoping to get a couple of the boys to run a good time)
3:20, fast yes, but it is an easy km as I had warmed up properly...
3:27 Lenka and Nelson still 5m ahead, I think Rich was still close behind, through the joggers path and on to km 3
3:22, I don't think we running to fast, the next couple of km have a climb out of the cycle track and a couple of turns
3:37, we now on Firgrove and it's a long pull up, only Tanith is still with me, we took Nelson and Lenka on the cycle track and they fell of the pace...
3:35 5km 17:24, past the school and still climbing, I take the turn... I'm a little naughty and find myself slowing a touch to let Tanith stay with me. (I don't feel I could catch Nichoals and the 2nd 40+ about 50m ahead and didn't want to run alone!)
3:40, dam need to start working again...
3:32, 500m left till the turn I can feel some-one chasing us. We turn and I tell Tanith if she wants it she needs to use the down hill to make up a bit of time.
3:33, It's VOB's Warren Jeppi, and Lenka isn't far off... 6:50 needed to break 35... I go for it, my pace doesn't really change, They feed us onto the grass just before the turn back into the prison... I find myself closing the gap on the 40+ guy... a left turn in the prison send us up (can't call it a hill, but at the top I catch the 40+ guy, I've dropped Warren and Tanith, and Lenka didn't have the legs to race on.
3:31 it's now 2 old men running together, I think he got a bit of a fright seeing the 40's on my vest. We are now running into the wind, and I am tucked in behind him... I can beat him if I can get to the grass finish, 400m to go and I find myself lossing touch. Why is my head week, where is the fight. We hit the grass, 200m to go... I'm catching again, but the grass isn't really a trail and I've left to much to catch him...
3:27 finish 3rd 40+ man in 12th place with a time of 35:10

Another 10km race under the belt number 212!!!!

A TIME TO REMEMBER

Over the years I have been lucky enough to have had many memorable runs, but most of them have been races:

• I can remember running in the inter schools during my last year, the first race of the day was the 3000m and the 3 schools packed the stands, it felt like I was running in an Olympic final, with 1 lap to go there were 4 of us still together, all 3 schools still in it... But with 300m to go I kick and come down the home straight alone... An hour later I lined up for the 1500m again I kicked with 300 to go and was able to drop the other guys!
• I can remember running the Voet in the same year as Josia Thugwane set the record (1995), I finished 11th with a time of 2h38, good enough to win the race on many occasions.
• Knysna 1996 will also stay with me forever, as I ran an almost perfect race leading from the gun and winning in would would be my 2nd fastest marathon... 2h33
• There are other 10, 15 and 21.1km races that I remember well, but not today...
• it's not often that a non race stands out as a memorable run, but if you run with me I can tell you stories about running in the hail and pull ice out of my hair! I can tell you about running on the mountain as the Cape was in the grip of the storm. Or about swimming in the dams on the mountain in the middle of a long run, but those or all stories for another day...  

• In the mid 90's I had a group of friends and we met 4 times a week at 05h30 for an easy morning run before work... It was a dark chilly morning on 8th of May 1996 like so many other mornings before, I climbed into my car and set off on the 3km drive to Monica's place... I remember the windows of the car were misted up and visibility wasn't great! (the drive isn't really long enough to really clear the windscreen.) Like most mornings at that time I was still half asleep and then there ahead of me I saw a group of guys walking in the middle of the street... I slowed and had to cross the road, I remember thinking: I hope they aren't up to no good, then as I was past I saw a cop car following them from some distance! Again I only thought it was good to know our boys in blue were keeping the suburbs safe while the rest of the world was asleep...

•  A few minutes later I was parked and we set off for our run, Chris, Monica, Noo, Nicky, Velda... Up the road and then... There ahead of us were this group of guys, still walking slowly and taking up half the road! Dressed in heavy dark coats I wondered if the police were still around, then Chris (ever alert, and friendly) greeted them, the way he greeted everyone we past: Good Morning Mr President!!! 

• OMG it was the President, Nelson Mandela was out for a morning walk... 

•  Over the next couple of month we would see him a number of times, and Bobby who wasn't with us that first morning, never missed a run there after...

This morning at 05h00 when I got up for my morning run I check Facebook while getting ready and the news of his passing was the only thing out there...

As I set off alone this morning down the quiet deserted streets I took the time to remember the life of this man who has change this country for the better...

R.I.P. Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela