Lactic-Haze

Ran the 21km Lion of Africa Half Marathon on Saturday as part of my IM 2010 prep. Another hilly course through Constantia that really ate the legs and didn’t let up until about the last 3km. I did manage to run with a legend, mr. Chet Sainsbury. Reading up it seems he organised the Two Oceans for 27 years! In talking to him during the run it turns out he has done 28 Two Oceans marathons in his time. He was running with another mate of his (I can’t remember the name) who has done 30 Two Oceans marathons. Much respect.

The interesting thing was watching them run and pace themselves, especially towards the end. Guys would come running past and on the slightest uphill we would catch them again. I just kept following the legend, and finished the 21.95km in 1h58mins. The 310XT made sure I was doing the correct pacing the whole way and I can’t imagine running without it now.

Ok, maybe not the very first one, but the first one I attended. The boys were on fire!! I decided to start in the usual fast group and hung out near the back. Usually not a good idea as some idiot always loses a wheel and then you have trouble getting over the gap back to the bunch. I lasted about 45 or 50minutes, and then did two laps cruising around the track before heading home. The legs felt good, but I have absolutely no explosive power, just long steady state power. Finished the day with just over 3hours training and 98km in the legs. Not bad for a Wednesday

It was WP Triathlon Champs on the weekend, but the nice folks at TSA allowed non-TSA members to enter and just take out temp licenses for the day. Only thing was that we would need to start at the back of the groups and would not be eligible to get chosen for SA’s…not that this bothered me in the least since I was bound to be in the back half of the finishing field anyway. They also had different starting groups, and I would be in the 20-39 male group.

Another day in the washing machine!

The route was nearly a copy of the one in December, except that they put an extra marker in the water, lengthening the swim by maybe 50m, and the bike route was a little different. The run, a tough 3.3km loop would be the same as the last time. The previous time at Mykonos was a learning experience. I had a few duathlons under my belt but not a triathlon, and I made a lot of mistakes. Those were all files for experience and I promised myself I would improve on those mistakes.

The water was about 2′C colder on Saturday and I made a point of actually swimming out to one of the markers on the course as a warm-up and not just jump in the water like last time. Warmed the right muscles and got used to the cold. Swam out with another competitor and showed him the markers etc. We got out, went to the briefing spot and jumped back in the water again. I felt much calmer and soon the whistle went. I found a pair of feet to follow and had a really good swim, getting through the first lap without getting hit, dunked, swum over or anything. By lap two of the swim the field had spread a little, but I was in a steady stream of bodies, instead of being out there on my own at the back like last time. I just concentrated on getting my stroke right, breathing correctly and soon I was out of the water trying to get my wetsuit off.

In the transition there was still folks changing, and people coming in behind me. Big confidence booster vs last time when I was on my own there. Strip the wetsuit off, pour some water over me to rinse off and get my cycling shoes and helmet on. Another mistake I didn’t make was being in the right starting gear this time (53×21 this time), and soon I was out on the road on the bike. The course was a bit windier than last time but I just put my head down, checked my heart rate and did my thing. My heart rate was lower than last time, and I was doing the same speed. This is good. As per last time I started catching people soon, and just powered through the wind. On the second lap it was starting to get a bit noticeable, but being my strength, I had to put it to good use. Two laps done, turn in to the Mykonos Casino again down to the transition area and park the bike. Running shoes on, grab a gel, and start my run.

The run was a tough bugger and I just tried to follow as many feet as I could before letting them go. There are some really fit people out there! I love my Garmin 310XT! I just kept checking the pace and would force myself a little faster if I started fading. Greeted a few familiar faces on the course like the Urban Ninja and kept going at 5min30sec/km. On the 3rd lap, Mari Rabie (winner of the 70.3 in East London) came running past me like I was standing still and I just had to chuckle. Amazing talent in this country! The run felt a lot better than last time, and before I knew it I was running down the finishing chute having done another proper ITU triathlon.

Total time: 2h40m (7mins better than December via improved transitions+better performance in the different disciplines)

Swim: 32mins (1min improvement, while the top guys took 2mins longer)

Cycle: 1h06min (my HR was lower than in December and I shaved a minute off the time)

Run: 56mins (cut down 4mins from time in December)

I had a very interesting ride on Sunday morning. Birthday party of a friend the night before and had one glass of red wine too many and thus was not feeling 100%. The people I was supposed to ride with was also not at the meeting spot so it was me and the iPod on the way to Llundudno. Along the way I spotted a dude riding in a IM top, and started chatting to him. He is doing his 3rd IM this year and gave me some sage advice. “Respect the distance”.. We spoke a bit more and from all accounts, my training is on the right track.

This morning I was reading up, especially on the blog of Joe Friel. All my friends with the PowerTap devices live by Joe’s advice and training, and my coach also references him once a while on my cycling training. Much to my surprise he also knows a thing or two about IronMan training. I read the following on his blog, and it really gave me hope that I might just finish IM in PE this year.

“If you’ve never run 26.2 miles before doing a marathon may help with the mental issues, especially if you just run it slow and easy. But physiologically speaking, running for a fast marathon time and running the final leg of an Ironman are otherwise not similar. Your pace in an Ironman run will be very slow by your marathon racing standards. The training to race a marathon would be greatly different also. That is not the way you train for an Ironman run. Then there are the issues of time spent training for a marathon in regards to swim and bike training time (cycling for most is really the critical sport in an Ironman), and also the time needed to recover from a marathon with an upcoming Ironman.”

What do you think is a good average run volume for someone training for a low 12hrs Ironman?

“Volume is not a critical measure of preparation for an Ironman run. More important is the duration of your longest run/walk. I’d suggest this to be 3 hours even if you believe your split will be around 4.5 hours. Two other runs during the week may be short (less than an hour) in order to build and maintain some level of running economy. So, indirectly, I’d say the answer to your question probably works out to be 4-5 hours at the peak volume of training. The single most important element of preparing for the run is to become as fit as you can on the bike. That will allow you to hold back on the ride yet still produce an acceptable time and have the legs left to go 26.2 miles.”

Wooh! Joe Friel may just have put my mind at rest regarding my IM in PE!

I was invited by ChrisH to come ride the new Welvanpas Wine Farm mtb trails this Saturday. Invited Frank and Roger along and Saturday morning it was us, the MTB’s and some good trails. The farm has several routes to chose from, white (17km), blue (10km) and yellow (18km). We decided to do the white route first, then the yellow route.

The white route had a bit of climbing, and a lot of singletrack. I mean, it had a LOT of singletrack. It was awesome! Some of the more technical areas most of us took fairly calm, seeing as we have big events coming up in the near future and a broken bone takes 10 weeks to heal. The last thing I need now is a broken collarbone.

After the white route we refilled bottles, had a cold drink at the little shop and then set off for the yellow route. Once we actually found the route it was cool (we got a little lost). Temperatures were starting to rise a bit (36 – 38′c), but we stopped at a stream and cooled ourselves before setting off again. Lots of climbing on the route before we started some of the best singletrack I’ve ridden in a long while. Eventually got back to the start area with 3hrs of riding and over 1000m of climbing under the belt!

Just remember this: The Ironman is an individual event. Much of it is done in solitude as you fight your own demons. Even if you have company in the marathon–they cannot carry you. It is what is inside you that will determine how your day ends.

Between a 21km 1/2 marathon and a 42km marathon lies 30km…well…in my peanut brain it does. That’s my story and I’ll stick to it. So, as part of my IronMan 2010 training I decided to do the Bay to Bay 30km run on Sunday. 30km’s doesn’t seem that far. I’ve done a 21km and it’s only 9km further…hah! Problem is that Bay to Bay runs over Llundudno, down Suikerbossie, then back over Suikerbossie and down Llundudno before going back to Camps Bay. No problem!

Sunday, up at 4:30am, get dressed, eat, do my morning pre-race check before driving to the start. Arrive about 15mins before the time and find myself a spot after doing a few stretches. Greet some people from the office and wait for the gun. *bam!* and we’re off. I promised myself not to set off too fast, hoping that I could conserve some energy for the way back. In my mind I hoped to do a 3hr race, but I knew that was just a dream, and that 3h15m would be a more realistic time to aim for. My snazzy new Garmin 310XT kept my pace in check and I was feeling good. On Llundudno I started running with a girl from the office (Gabby) and she was part of a two person relay team. She was hoping for a 1h30m 15km, so every km I gave her a pace check and we managed to chat a bit.

Soon Llundudno was a thing of the past and we were running down Suikerbossie, myself guarding against going to fast and aggravating a ITB that sometimes reminds me that I was not built for running. At the 15km mark I said goodbye to Gabby as she turned in to the transition area and I kept going, feeling a little bit under strain now. I grabbed a water sachet and wolfed down one of my Gu’s before hitting the winding neighborhood climbs out of Hout Bay. Walk a little bit, then run again. In front of me a blonde lady twisted her foot and I asked if she was ok “I’m fine thanks!” came the reply, and a quick look at the Garmin said she was doing the same pace as me. We started running Suikerbossie together and chatted a bit, me grateful for the company.

Gabby (girl from the office) drove past and greeted us both, turns out I was now running with her relay partner doing the 15km’s back to Camps Bay. Talk about small world! On Suikerbossie, blonde lady even had the strength to quickly take a pic of me suffering up the hill. Bicycle or feet, that hill hurts!

At the top of Suikerbossie, with 21km’s done in just under 2hours, I told her to go and that I would pootle on at my own pace. Blonde lady would have none of it and told me to just hold her pace. I thought ‘ok, lets see how this goes’, and the downhill went at a decent speed. We were passing some people, and other fresh people would pass us, but we got to the 25km mark in another 20minutes or so, leaving me with 5km to do in 40 minutes. Now the human body vs spirit is sometimes a very interesting battle to witness. My legs were saying “woaaah tiger, easy there! we’re hurting!”, but my mind said “dude, 40minutes for 5km’s, you can pull this shit off!!”

At the 27.5km mark (a water stop) I finally stopped to walk and grab some water plus coke and let blonde lady go. The proverbial wheels were coming off. I ran to 28km mark, with 2km’s to go, and had a look at the Garmin. Lots of time to spare, so I walked for 100meters and then started running again, but now only doing 6m45s/km. Beep! Last 1km to go. Shuffle shuffle, keep going, see the line, walk a little, run more. Woop woop! Crossed the line in 2h53m43s. Never in my wildest dreams did I think I would make it in 3hrs, much less beat that goal by another 6 minutes. Much thanks goes to Gabby from the office and her blonde lady friend for the company and pacing. Aaah runners, I must say, they’re a friendlier bunch than cyclists

I’m back at work today, and thought, instead of typing a long boring string of text, I would just sum my holiday up in some pictures.

Swimming at Silvermine:

Running the Mitchells Brewery 10km:

Cycling…a lot! Road and MTB:

…and now it’s back to routine of working, swimming, cycling and running as I prepare for IronMan 2010 in less than four months time. I am shit scared!

Bonus time and I bought myself a toy or two. One of these being a Garmin 310XT. I’m not going to go in to a full review of the Garmin, DC Rainmaker did a really good one. Really, he did a VERY good review! Much of my decision to purchase was based on his review.

The really cool and yet quite useless feature I like is the integration with SportTracks software and Google Earth. Ok not the SportTracks integration. It’s totally awesome. The Google Earth overlay is just gravy This was a run I did this  morning, exploring some of the paths in and around Parklands / Sunningdale.

I’m finally not pissed off enough to write a report. Jailbreak organizers have shitty luck, and this year was no different. Short version of the story, gale force winds, cancelled bike leg, thus a 2.2km swim, and a 25km trail run through dusty plowed fields. This for R895 entry fee in total. Fuck. That. Shit! Eventually, due to the lessons learned from Mykonos I did the 2.2km swim and went home. The swim itself went much better. Cleared the goggles properly this time, didn’t get hit as much and while I was still very near the back of the field, I did 45minutes for  2.2km’s, which is a good improvement on Mykonos.