Training Log Archive: nmulder

Day 2 of Hobbit Trail Run from Cata hut to Hogsback.

Very cold weather overnight, but we just missed out on the predicted snow. If the mountan tops had been just 200m higher...... Changed into the Salomon Fellraisers which was a brilliant decision for these conditions.

Started at 05h30, so needed headlamps for 45-50 mins. A light drizzle at Cata turned into an ice blizzard going over Geju saddle. I set the pace and intentionally slowed things down a bit. Still a bit shocking to be 6 mins slower than 2014. Stewart and Bennie went ahead, but predictably didn't take the straightest line down the the Pines on the other side, loosing about 5 mins and putting me and Jacques ahead of them by a few minutes.

I was running well and felt comfortable pushing the pace slightly down the Malan Forest. Jacques was just able to hold on, but we opened a gap on Stewart and Bennie who had almost caught us at the cliff top. This section is now extremely overgrown and the wet conditions also conspired to slow this split down by more than 11 minutes over 2014 times! Held the lead up the Mnyameni climb, but Bennie and Stewart eventually caught me on the contour path, taking Jacques with them. I settled down into a stead rhythm, but lost more time over the Wolf River section than I expected.

Weather was pretty cold and tough on the Wolf River. I started getting cold at one section, but popped some more food, which definitely helped. Hanno joined me at the road crossing and ran behind me all the way to Schwartzwald Road. He got a brilliant view of me falling down the cliff as my feet slipped on the wet rocks as we went over the edge into the Zingcuka forest. I got off very lucky. :-)

Didn't refill at Zingcuka as I was hardly drinking in the cold weather, so got an extremely fast split to Schwartzwald. Hanno waited behind here whilst I started the climb up to the Hog, missing 1 hairpin turn and loosing about 5 mins. At the top of the forest section the course was rerouted to avoid the Hog itself due to the bad weather. After Geju Peak and Wolf River, I had expected this and was a bit relieved, even though it wasn't in my favour. The 38km race was even cancelled on the day due to the conditions.

The alternative chicken run was on jeep track around the side of the mountain. Not quite flat, but a lot easier and faster than the Hog. This was my worst section of the day. I ran out of energy and struggled to get more food down quickly enough. Legs were also dead at this stage. Got passed by a flying Keith. The route rejoined at the old water point in the forest and I managed to pick the pace up to a fair level through Kettlespout Falls and down to Hogsback.

Finished feeling fairly decent in 5th place for the day. A storming Leslie finished about 90s later which gave him a 1 minute lead over me on the combined results (so close!). Final finish results were Stewart, Bennie, Jacques, Leslie, Me.

Enjoyed the race, although I was disappointed over my racing performance. Looking forward to having the full 90km course back in future years!

CP	2016	2014	2013	2012	2008	2006
Geju Peak	0h47	0h39	0h41	0h45	-	-
Mnyameni Hut	1h57	1h38	1h42	1h48	1h39	-
Wolf River Road	4h10	3h47	3h59	3h59	-	-
Zingcuka Hut	4h45	4h20	4h35	4h40	4h32	-
Schwarzwald Road	5h00	4h36	4h53	4h56	4h53	-
Hogsback 8k mark	short cut	5h40	6h05	6h00	6h01	-
Back of the Hog	short cut	6h11	6h25	6h36	-	-
Kettlespout Falls	6h47	6h43	7h14	-	-	-
Finish	7h19 (Arminel)	7h09 (Arminel)	7h43 (Arminel)	(7h54) (Hogs_Inn)	(7h23) (Hobbiton)	- (Hobbiton)

Day 1 of Hobbit Trail Run from Maden dam to Cata hut.

Weather was coolish but dry, with expectations of snow and a severe cold front overnight creating interesting conditions for Day 2.

06h15 start. I missed 2015 and the change to a new April date. Back in the original November slot, we used to start in the light, but we now had about 20 minutes of headlight usage instead.

I led out the field until Mike's turn-off. There were new 'closed trail' markers so Mike had made the call to cut McNaughtons Krans loop off and instead directed us up the track on the shortcut to Gwiligwili hut. This cut off about 45 mins / 5-6km and also saved our legs a lot. Just before Mike's 2nd marshaling point, Stewart broke ahead and Bennie soon followed. Jacques stayed behind me. I readjusted my speed a bit higher due to the shorter course, but knew that Stewart and Bennie would be finishing well ahead of me, so I was racing for 3rd instead.

All went well through Gwiligwili. We re-caught Stewart after he made a wrong turn, but he didn't hang around. We maintained a decent pace all the way to Dontsa hut, refilling bottles at the Waterfall. Got caught by Pieter just before the hut and Jacques pulled away with him just after the waterfall. I managed to once again blow going up Doornkop (4th year in a row?). Even threw up again just after the trail split. This is now getting more than annoying. Running out of theories to try and correct this issue. Didn't really recover well and was slow off the Kop. Picked it up a little on the final leg into Cata, but not enough. Got caught by a flying Leslie just 10 mins from the end, so finished 6th.

Apart from the Gwili-Dontsa split, all my other splits are slower than 2014, which was dissapointing. Not as fit as I though I was or the cold two weeks ago took more out of me than I expected. A pity, as these were the best running conditions yet.

CP	2016	2014	2013	2012	2008	2006
Gwiligwili Hut	1h26 (short)	2h19	2h19	2h29	2h10	-
DontsaHut	3h53	4h48	5h13	5h24	4h43	-
Doornkop	5h26	6h13	7h03	7h00	6h10	-
Cata Junction	6h27	7h07	8h09	8h00	7h00	-
Finish	7h26	8h11	9h13	9h02	7h53	8h46

Around the block, clockwise.