As I prepare for the daunting prospect of propelling my body from Pietermaritzburg to Durban in less than 2 weeks time, sitting here with a cold front deluging buckets of water from the heavens I wonder what weather we will have on the day. A rerun of the cold 2012( glad I missed that one) or a berg wind resisted 2013( boy was it hot) I guess time will tell.
My mind is ready for this year, every race has been purpose driven , most training sessions have been rewarding. I have met some amazing people through walking, most have inspired me to achieve more , to set my goals higher, to strive for that little bit more, to them I say thank you.
One of the toughest parts for me as a walker in attempting Comrades is the qualifier, boy would I like more 60km plus races, much easier for me on the longer races as then the pace required is just a bit slower. Last year October i attempted revenge on SABS marathon, I did a poor time of 5:15 in 2014 and really wanted a sub 5 , I based my pace on 2014's distance, worked out I could do 7:04 / km on my watch and be safe. It was not to be I missed my qualifier by 19 seconds... finished at 7:04 but the route came out longer this year than the previous year- on my watch that is. I really enjoyed the race but felt very deflated at my mistake...
January we went to Cape Town for my nephews wedding , did the amazing Bay to Bay 30km ( better race than TOM 56 in my opinion) did lots of beach walking and some cycling but felt just under-trained going into Sasolburg 42.. Another route issue as the route had always been a bit short was up to full distance, as I realised this I slowed a bit and came in a 5:04... good training but still not a qualifier.
I toyed with Bergville 52 but decided instead to do the 42 at Cosmos 73.3 as my qualifier.. I knew the route from last year, Kypie (my walking buddy who is doing Comrades this year ) joined us , he picked up an injury doing Sunrise monster the week before ( I had hoped he would push me through my qualifier) I did not have Jane to pull me either ( she did Cosmos 42 last year as her first ever marathon, 1/2 a pace ahead of me the whole way). Oh well at least i have my Garmin...
My 310XT has one flaw, after charging when power is removed it sometimes switches on.. I had charged but on the morning of the race.. low battery ... bang another pacer gone.. I just though I will just use my normal watch. Liz and Kypie offered me theirs. but I'm stubborn and refused. As we started I looked back at Kypie he was not looking happy , ok he won't push me I thought. Then I saw Buks 5hr bus.. I'll use them I thought... My calculations said they are going too fast so I let them go. I was trying to do roughly 50 minutes for every 7ks.. and felt good at that . At 25km I thought I was ahead of schedule by 32 I was convinced I was behind. Your mind's ability to do maths fades with fatigue - dont try complex maths keep it simple... In the distance I heard Buks voice, ok I
need to catch them I thought.. I tried asking people their pace, both said 10 min/km. I knew they were wrong, but decided that come hell or high water I was going to qualify.. My strength in mind helped me as I truly accelerated to the fastest I could go. . I managed 4:57:35 ( average pace of 7:03- see SABS for relevance), finishing a dew seconds behind the 5hr bus.. Afterwards Buks admitted to doing some kms at 6:40 which is way too fast for the 5hr bus.. Kypie came in a bit later , I was truly chuffed he finished cant say looking strong but still moving.. We did the 21 and 10 km together at a really slow but comfortable pace..
I convinced Kypie to join us for our IngramsEaster100 ( 42 32 20 20) which includes a bit of VAT. The 42 in Midrand includes Norfolk and Milford , two notorious climbs, Liz Shane and Kypie were not very communicative when we got to the top of Milford... Gerhard on the bike encouraged Kypie quite a bit.. anyway we all did our 100km+ well done..
The midrand 60 which I did last year as well was Kypie's first Ultra...
Ok so now training is over , where does that leave us.
I am on 1237 as of today 20ks behind last year but missed the Love Run yesterday because of rain, so on a par. 70km behind 2104 but 110 km ahead of 2013 all on the 15th May.
A good year overall I guess.
My Goals for Comrades 2016
1 For Liz to finish her 10th Comrades- hope sjhe achieves her goal time
2 For Kypie , Giep and myself to all finish Comrades by walking it...
3 For me to better my down pb of 11:45 and possibly by overall Comrades PB of 11:27
My Plan for Comrades 2016
We (the walkers) plan to start together..
I will start my stopwatch at the gun , and my Garmin as I cross the start line, could be 6-8 minutes later.
My goals will be to get our pace to around 7:30- 7:35 per km and keep there to about 60km.
That will leave us 4:20 hrs to the last 30km ie just under 9 minutes per km.. I am sure we can all finish from there. Depending how I feel then either I will speed up a bit or just keep going at that pace. I need to go below 7:30/km average for a pb...
This is similar to my previous goals so I truly believe it is achievable..
Intention is to do 7:00 /km on downhills , just below 7:30 on the flats and keep as close to 8:00 /km on the ups as possible. in 2014 my first was 12mins and 20 of my last 50kms were 8 or above. Only the 56th km was above 9 it apears that is where I met up with a second of mine in Hillcrest.
From 60km on there were only 7kms above 8 which includes Cowies Mayville and Tollgate..
That section also includes some boring hot freeway walking...
My toughest part of the down route is Halfway to the top of Bothas about 8km of climbing...
These below show best and worse.
I set it a 91km as my watch normally ends around there
Good Luck and enjoy the day
My mind is ready for this year, every race has been purpose driven , most training sessions have been rewarding. I have met some amazing people through walking, most have inspired me to achieve more , to set my goals higher, to strive for that little bit more, to them I say thank you.
One of the toughest parts for me as a walker in attempting Comrades is the qualifier, boy would I like more 60km plus races, much easier for me on the longer races as then the pace required is just a bit slower. Last year October i attempted revenge on SABS marathon, I did a poor time of 5:15 in 2014 and really wanted a sub 5 , I based my pace on 2014's distance, worked out I could do 7:04 / km on my watch and be safe. It was not to be I missed my qualifier by 19 seconds... finished at 7:04 but the route came out longer this year than the previous year- on my watch that is. I really enjoyed the race but felt very deflated at my mistake...
January we went to Cape Town for my nephews wedding , did the amazing Bay to Bay 30km ( better race than TOM 56 in my opinion) did lots of beach walking and some cycling but felt just under-trained going into Sasolburg 42.. Another route issue as the route had always been a bit short was up to full distance, as I realised this I slowed a bit and came in a 5:04... good training but still not a qualifier.
I toyed with Bergville 52 but decided instead to do the 42 at Cosmos 73.3 as my qualifier.. I knew the route from last year, Kypie (my walking buddy who is doing Comrades this year ) joined us , he picked up an injury doing Sunrise monster the week before ( I had hoped he would push me through my qualifier) I did not have Jane to pull me either ( she did Cosmos 42 last year as her first ever marathon, 1/2 a pace ahead of me the whole way). Oh well at least i have my Garmin...
My 310XT has one flaw, after charging when power is removed it sometimes switches on.. I had charged but on the morning of the race.. low battery ... bang another pacer gone.. I just though I will just use my normal watch. Liz and Kypie offered me theirs. but I'm stubborn and refused. As we started I looked back at Kypie he was not looking happy , ok he won't push me I thought. Then I saw Buks 5hr bus.. I'll use them I thought... My calculations said they are going too fast so I let them go. I was trying to do roughly 50 minutes for every 7ks.. and felt good at that . At 25km I thought I was ahead of schedule by 32 I was convinced I was behind. Your mind's ability to do maths fades with fatigue - dont try complex maths keep it simple... In the distance I heard Buks voice, ok I
need to catch them I thought.. I tried asking people their pace, both said 10 min/km. I knew they were wrong, but decided that come hell or high water I was going to qualify.. My strength in mind helped me as I truly accelerated to the fastest I could go. . I managed 4:57:35 ( average pace of 7:03- see SABS for relevance), finishing a dew seconds behind the 5hr bus.. Afterwards Buks admitted to doing some kms at 6:40 which is way too fast for the 5hr bus.. Kypie came in a bit later , I was truly chuffed he finished cant say looking strong but still moving.. We did the 21 and 10 km together at a really slow but comfortable pace..
I convinced Kypie to join us for our IngramsEaster100 ( 42 32 20 20) which includes a bit of VAT. The 42 in Midrand includes Norfolk and Milford , two notorious climbs, Liz Shane and Kypie were not very communicative when we got to the top of Milford... Gerhard on the bike encouraged Kypie quite a bit.. anyway we all did our 100km+ well done..
The midrand 60 which I did last year as well was Kypie's first Ultra...
Ok so now training is over , where does that leave us.
I am on 1237 as of today 20ks behind last year but missed the Love Run yesterday because of rain, so on a par. 70km behind 2104 but 110 km ahead of 2013 all on the 15th May.
A good year overall I guess.
My Goals for Comrades 2016
1 For Liz to finish her 10th Comrades- hope sjhe achieves her goal time
2 For Kypie , Giep and myself to all finish Comrades by walking it...
3 For me to better my down pb of 11:45 and possibly by overall Comrades PB of 11:27
My Plan for Comrades 2016
We (the walkers) plan to start together..
I will start my stopwatch at the gun , and my Garmin as I cross the start line, could be 6-8 minutes later.
My goals will be to get our pace to around 7:30- 7:35 per km and keep there to about 60km.
That will leave us 4:20 hrs to the last 30km ie just under 9 minutes per km.. I am sure we can all finish from there. Depending how I feel then either I will speed up a bit or just keep going at that pace. I need to go below 7:30/km average for a pb...
This is similar to my previous goals so I truly believe it is achievable..
Intention is to do 7:00 /km on downhills , just below 7:30 on the flats and keep as close to 8:00 /km on the ups as possible. in 2014 my first was 12mins and 20 of my last 50kms were 8 or above. Only the 56th km was above 9 it apears that is where I met up with a second of mine in Hillcrest.
From 60km on there were only 7kms above 8 which includes Cowies Mayville and Tollgate..
That section also includes some boring hot freeway walking...
My toughest part of the down route is Halfway to the top of Bothas about 8km of climbing...
These below show best and worse.
I set it a 91km as my watch normally ends around there
Good Luck and enjoy the day
wow there is so much preparation that goes into the Comrades. You have your mind all prepped, and your body all prepped. Hope the weather is good on the day, I will be watching and cheering both of you on from afar.
ReplyDeleteAll the best to you and our other Comrades walkers, perhaps one day when I am big I will join you, but I cannot imagine that amount of walk training - I have only done 446 walk and 100 run for a total of 546km this year - you guys are Titans!
ReplyDeleteYster manne. Promoters of respect for Walkers. I am proud to say "I know them". Will be looking out for you on race day. Stay healthy, and good luck.
ReplyDelete