Training Log Archive: nmulder

Planner for B'sorah Mountain Marathon orienteering event.

Reverse (clockwise) loop of Cradle for a change.

6 hours of trekking at B'sorah checking control sites for next week's mountain marathon O'.

Finally caught up with my AP, including Mac Mac and the Parys AR.

Bergheim Trail Run, organized by Nina.

A very enjoyable and scenic race from Bergheim Holiday Resort, on the north side of the Magaliesberg, between Breedtsnek and Olifantsnek passes.

First few kms were in the bushy foothills below the Magalies, then at about 9km we started climbing. Got above the vegetation level onto the rocky grassland after a steep climb. Absolutely stunning up there just before and after the highest point. Started dropping down past Fernkloof, the lower section, which I'd never seen before. Pretty impressive, got to go back some time to appreciate the views and the landscape.

On the way down got into a 3-way tussle for 8-9-10 place with Piers and another veteran runner. He pulled away as it got flatter but Piers and I had a dice right to the end. I kept the pace as high as possible in the final couple of kms as we descended back down. Then, a short gradual uphill into the finish gave me a chance and I was able to get away for the 9th place overall (6th vet, with Piers 1st master).

Very surprised to go sub 2-hour, especially on one of Nina's races.

Cradle loop anticlockwise, out via Lanseria and back Elandsdrift. Decent time, especially for first ride in a while.

My weight has been down to about 78kg, so well below normal (81-83kg). Hasn't been this low since my pre-AR days. A year ago during hard lockdown in even got to about 87kg.

Probably stress from moving into new house, etc., as it hasn't been due to any training over the past couple of weeks.

Brown course, 8.1km, 400m climb, 21c

Had an early start, 4th starter. Had an immediate route decision out of the start and decided to climb and get on the track asap rather than contour. Went fairly direct into #1, despite the dense green and rock, and it proved to be easier than indicated. Back out down the hill in the more open areas. Crossed the gorge and the first steep up of the day.

Exiting #2 saw James coming up from the east, through a forest patch that was decidedly light green istead of dark green. After this I decided to run more route choices through green as the vegetation was not a slow down factor, but the rockiness underfoot was.

Got to #5 to see Carl arrive there (looking for 2?) and then saw James also too high looking for #2. Never saw Sarah R, the other Brown starter ahead of me. I reversed out of 5, going back past 4 on route to 6.

Easier section for a while after that until 11, then a 5 control zigzag slog up a big hill. Managed to run a decent amount of it.

On long leg 17-18, I went as direct as possible, slightly left of centre line, whilst linking up tracks as much as possible and cutting out bends in the tracks. A few areas of medium green were actually just scattered bush.

Final leg 20-21 I went left out for the road as it looked like the straighter line was going to be quite grass/rocky. AP thinks this was a 30s mistake based on split times, despite me still winning the split... Possibly.

Overall a very steep course at about 5%. Should have been set as the Mountain Marathon instead of B'sorah in a couple weeks time.

Brown - Splits

Scatterrun Event # 1 of 2021

Cold morning for a Scatterun, even with the late start. Didn't get a good look at the map in the 5 mins before the start, so just headed off on the first 1/2 of the controls, deciding to try and get all of these at least, and then make a decision on any short-cutting.

So cleaned up the west side of the map, but made a few small mistakes. Found that I was definitely not reading the uncrossable fences well at all and was running unnecessary distance on control order as a result.

Crossing the central road I stupidly decided to leave a 20 pointer out. It was too early to make that call. Finished the eastern half of the map (minus the 20 pointer) at about 73 min into the 150 min race, so had a long 1km run back to get it and then start the 2nd half of the controls.

The 2nd half went a lot smoother as I knew where everything was and I'd worked out the order, although still got caught by surprise by a few fences.

Ended up getting them all, but 2m51s overtime, so 30 points off. I probably lost about 10 min in time by not picking up that 20 pointer in sequence, so a bit unhappy with my control flow.

Easy run around the Estate.