Training Log Archive: Stijn

I've been meaning to do this race for a while, so was really looking forward to it. Unfortunately, I got some light cold symptoms just 3 days before the race. It never really got bad enough to stop me from running - I just had to keep the intensity at reasonable levels, which was probably a good thing anyway given the length of the race.

The only section I ran relatively hard was the first flat 1km in Lady Grey itself, to avoid getting stuck in the bottleneck up the first climb to the microwave tower. I settled into about 30th place and took the climb at a comfortable pace. The weather was ridiculously good, with a beautiful sunrise as we were reaching the tower and cool views of the ridges, dams and valleys below us.

I stuck in a small group with Steve Black, Julia Bottger (eventual 2nd lady) and some others until about halfway between CP1 and CP2 when I had to make a pitstop. Probably a good thing I lost them as I was working relatively hard to keep their pace. Gradually reeled in a group of 3 (Johan & Albert Olivier and James). Their pace was sensible, so I stuck with them all the way along the road to Snowden. At this point I was finding the running sections much easier than the hiking uphills, which is odd for me.

Jono caught up to me at Snowden, and along with a struggling Andrew Erasmus (dropping back from the lead-pack), we jogged the long contour path around and up to Avoca. Andrew dropped further back here, eventually bailing at Balloch. I recovered nicely on the long hike up and over Avoca and was feeling full of running again on the way down past Skiddaw. Jono had to stop to sort out some house-alarm admin over the phone, so I set off after Johan/Albert/James and got a decent gap on them on the big downhill into Balloch.

A storm broke as we were descending to the Balloch river and Johan & I pushed relatively hard to reach Balloch in sub-10h (not sure why - it seemed like a good idea at the time!). 20 minute stop at Balloch, feeling great and keen to push on... all of that left me as soon as I hit The Wall. My quads were finished (probably from the faster downhill jeep track running) and I crawled over the 500m climb at a snail's pace. One or two people passed as I sat just over the saddle for a few minutes, contemplating the rest of the route and how close the finish of the Skyrun Lite route at the Wartrail Country Club was. Luckily I got rid of those thoughts and decided to push on, even if it meant hiking the rest of the 35km.

I was on my own all the way up the Edgehill Road, and up the Bridle Pass (quite eerie up there alone as it was getting dark). The turn CP took forever to arrive, but when I got there, I found 4 guys taking naps. I knew James & Mick Robey, so waited a few extra minutes for them at CP to have some company to the finish. Good move as we made some solid progress together, running the roads and moving well up the final steep climb to Halston Peak. Conditions were pretty epic on top with some very strong winds and picking our way down the loose and burnt gully with just 5km to go was a painful process.

Last bit of fence-following and a complimentary river crossing 50m from the finish line to make sure we finished with wet feet. We came in just before 1am, having passed some more guys before Halston, hence putting us in 20th place. I was really chuffed with the finish, given my low patches throughout the day... a proper epic slog!

Anyway, this has turned into an awfully long write-up! Splits below:

Microwave Tower: 1h15m
Olympus: 3h18m (46th)
Snowden: 4h56m
Avoca: 6h57m (45th)
Skiddaw: 8h28m (45th)
Balloch in: 9h55m (40th)
Balloch out: 10h14m
Edgehill: 12h46m (31st)
Turn in: 16h41m (30th)
Turn out: 17h06m (28th)
Halston: 19h24m (22nd)
Finish: 20h53m (20th)

http://www.movescount.com/moves/move46081774 (not a great idea to put the GPS accuracy on it's lowest setting - battery was still at 92% at the end and the pace/GPS data is all over the show).

C • congrats 11

Short run with full Skyrun pack. Fits well - ready to go!

TE 3.1 http://www.movescount.com/moves/move45665222

C • Good Luck 8

Beautiful day on the Spruit. Went down to Jan Smuts and back to watch the cyclists for a bit and added loops of Emmies & Delta Park as well. Knees quite a bit better, but the calves were quite tight from early on.

TE 5 http://www.movescount.com/moves/move45497376

Lekker run with Neal. Saxonwold, Rosebank, Illovo, Atholl, Birdhaven and Melrose. Knee is a bit niggly - need to take it easy.

TE 3.7 http://www.movescount.com/moves/move45131059

Jono's last run at Van Gaalen, so we slogged out the good old ridge route again :-) I carried about 4kg in my pack and really felt the difference. Was hoping for an easy run but worked hard most of the way. The heat didn't help either. Sky Run taper starts now!

TE 5 http://www.movescount.com/moves/move44898555

TE 4 http://www.movescount.com/moves/move44810316

I need to bring a leash for Rob next time. He kept pushing the pace for some reason, despite frothing at the mouth ;)

TE 4.4 http://www.movescount.com/moves/move44744961

Wanted to make this a long comfortable run, but struggled to keep the pace easy after the initial downhill kms. Calves very tight from the faster running yesterday.

TE 5 http://www.movescount.com/moves/move44637186

Pushed it.

TE 5 http://www.movescount.com/moves/move44538750

Followed a hiking trail at Berg en Rivier (between Bronkies & Loskop) where we had Brian's bachelors. Great route along the Wilge river with some technical stuff in the koppies as well.

TE 4.4 http://www.movescount.com/moves/move44438534

C • Any company? 4

At Hedianga with Jono. Technical trail and many many contrived loops. Good training though.

TE 5 http://www.movescount.com/moves/move44438556