Background
To qualify for Comrades this year we "only" had to do a sub 5 marathon, which I had really hoped would allow me to walk my qualifier.. Circumstances did not work that way and we ended up doing NMC the fast one in Nelspruit again, same as 2023 except it was our first marathon of the year. I really enjoy this race far more than Kaapse Hoop, it is really festive and good fun and we stay a Hippo waterfront which is such a good place the locals go there for a weekend.
The race was good I was doing quite well and on track for about a 4:40 when I felt my right hand Psoas tighten a bit , probably from overstretching while running downhill. I reigned in the pace and settled on a sub 4:50, which ended up as a 4:51 but still a fairly safe qualifier. Did not really feel my Psoas again after that.
Once again circumstances made us change our routine and we did the Tshwane North 50k on Easter Saturday believing Akasia was pretty flat, which it largely was. At 30km I paced Mr 995 Julian Karp and he told me the next 8km were tough, ha ha Tough is what makes it great I thought and kept going feeling really strong. This route is along Berg road which keeps you as close to the Magaliesberg as it can. But you can see 2 severe dips in pace, that was where we were taken up to almost vertical peaks. Supporters we jogging down and running up with you to try and help you get up. This was neither good for my Psoas or my Hamstrings, but being a little stubborn I tried my best to keep going at a reasonable pace...
Near the end after my watch being quite close to the km markers even km 49 was close but 50 came up and I saw nearly a km to go... I was pretty tired after this. That evening we still did a dogwalk as they would miss out the next few days..
My legs were a bit sore but nothing serious. We carried on training as usual with a 25km cycle mixed in- as we have committed to doing Amashova the cycle race in July. Legs were fine.
I truly believe that the best training one can do for Comrades is the Midrand Striders 60km , the profile is pretty close to first 60km of Comrades with some nice long steep climbs. My goal here is always to get as close to 7:30/km as possible as that is my target pace for an exceptional Comrades. I started off well but my legs just did not feel like walking. Two years ago I cut it short because of bloody toes after doing a 10km racewalk the day before with long toenails. This year I had no excuse, still cut it short and form about 41km onwards just got slower and slower. I did think that at least if I go slower I will have more time on the legs. I just felt like my Calves, Hamstrings and Glutes were all about to cramp and really did not enjoy it..
A week later I did Cradle 32 and although a little slow it is a tough route and I felt fine. I was a bit worried so decided to go see Kendrah the Chiro , first time in 5 years I think. She sorted out the Psoas and Hamstrings with some needles. We then went to Ngwenya where I at last got Liz to understand accelerating training during the week, essentially it is just every day is faster than the previous day, doing just 10km then we did a slower 22km and back to 10kms I felt fine , although I was taking lost of Electrolytes and Mag... Unfortunately on the last day Liz tweaked her knee which brought some concerns.. Back in joburg we took it easy with just Dogwalks and a 10km. On the Monday I went back to Kendrah as my calves were now tight so we needled Glutes Hamstrings and Soleus.
Off to Hilton to stay with Nicki, where we lazed around as we surveyed the route in the distance. I did my usual walk along Walters rd but Liz and Nicki went into the forest and Nicki managed to fall and hurt her hand and shoulder, that was my reasoning for staying on the road.Had to go into PMB to fix a puncture and go to registration. Also met with Nigel to give him some 0% beers and energy bars..
Liz got some amazing goodies from the Honorary Rangers who were her charity. Charity batch was with Green numbers this year in Group 2 so it was not benefit to do charity batch but next year I will go with Honorary rangers for sure..
On Saturday we set off to drive the route and stopped in Hillcrest to buy our snacks for supper. We seriously believe that just eating a snacky meal of Croissants, cheese , coleslaw. chicken strips etc works best. After checking in we walked to the finish as we always do to get a better feel for whats what and where to meet after the race etc. I truly believe everyone should be familiar with the finish before the race. We each had a tot of Ardbeg An Oa which calmed the nerves a bit
Race Day
It is really weird waking up at 1:30 AM but thats what we do.. I got dressed and popped down to collect whatever breakfast I could from the pick and go . Back up lift and we were ready to go. Busses were from 1 am to 3 am so we decided on 2:15. We walked out of the Maharani and as we went passed the Elangeni, the staff said to go straight through the hotel which we did, it brought us to the front of the queue, and almost straight into a bus. You realise how long this race is when it takes 90 minutes to get to PMB....The bus driver stopped in PMB as he did not know where to go. Someone wnet forward and Zuckerberg to the rescue he took us to the drop off.
Into our pens which were much smaller this year batches were reduced to about 1500 from closer to 5000 in the past, which made it much more controllable.. We had our blanket which we sat on and chatted to various people. Met a group from the UK , one lady hoping for her back to back having done an 11:53 on 2500km of training in 2024 - sadly she did 12:16, I overtook her at about Umlaas rd. It was awesome to have Louis Massyns small batch just in front of us. The vibe was great as usual as we all enjoyed the singing. The first start went and we slowly moved forward to the real start line which was quite a unique experience. Eventually when the gun went having been in PMB for 2 hrs we felt liberated.. My first km was pretty close to the fastest km ever on Comrades at 6:51, I was not concerned as it is a good downhill. As per usual I use Norries guidance and try to just use even effort , meaning we go slower on the flats and even slower on the ups. I seriously felt that everyone seemed to be going faster than previous years.. I feel like I was going well at the top of Pollys and made sure I kept to the Left hand lane to ensure I was out of any rutting. As I started up little Pollys I saw a lady from Bothaville who was doing her 30th in 2023 and we did much of the race together, she was alone but I remembered a partner. I asked her where her hubby was, she said he passed away the day after getting home from last years Comrades. She had a picture and some ashes which she was going to scatter.. sadly her 32nd would be the first time she baled... eina. I felt the backs of my legs tighten a bit, but by the time I got to chicken farm I was wondering if I should just stop when I got to Nigel in Camperdown. It is really great having Race Screen on my Garmin as my expected time went out to about 11:40 and then gradually coming down. By the time I got my beer and bar at Nigel there were no thoughts of stopping. I sort of decided if my pace went post 12:00 then I could reevaluate. It was round about here that the 11:30 bus caught me with the words , "we are exactly on time but plan to finish at 11:28 to ensure all in the bus finish"... so why do they then carry on going till I am 4 rows deep in the bus then take a walk break. To be honest I HATE busses!! They always do this to me... I extricated myself from the traffic and informed the bus driver that their rules are to take 1 lane and no interfere with other runners. about 1km later they did the same thing, a few choice words were uttered and I stormed off... The next time they caught me there were many warnings about respecting other runners, may have even mentioned walkers! I think it was around Cato ridge that they went ahead and I never saw them again.
By now I had got my Predicted time to around 11:20 ( with the 11:30 bus ahead of me) and was feelling quite good. My biggest fears were Drummond to Bothas and the onramp before Tollgate.. I had forgotten to give my shirt to Nigel so decided t drop it off at Enthembeni school, which was successfully done - my daveawalker shirt has been donated... On my way up Nhcanga, Kypie's absolute favourite hill, I passed Juilan on his attempt at 1000 marathon's and Ultras, not quite knowing what to say I asked if he thought he would finish , and he complained about his back. Eish I guess I realised then it would be tough for him to finish.. I enjoyed the down into Drummond eating some nuts and ginger, I was welcomed by the announcing saying he loved my hair - sorry Liz. I saw a number of familiar supporter faces in Drummond then set off to greet Arthur and find Bothas. This is a tough grind and most runners aim to do it in an hour, I made it in 62 minutes and managed to see Trevor and Lorraine (My brothers friends) at their usual spot on Alverstone. When you get to Kearsney college you know that horrible hill is done. I mostly drank the isofit and sometime water, either in sachet or bottle (which was called Spring water).
By now I was feeling pretty good and saw Ben Burger taking photos, and eventually got to Nigel at Hillcrest where I collected a beer and bar again, less comments about he's drinking a beer this year but it was a 500ml can not a 340ml bottle this time. We crossed the freeway and now the down would start.. 32gi were handing out anti cramp, which I guess most people did not know how to open so they just tossed them, what a waste. You just snap them and the chilli dip comes out, yes they believe capsicum prevent cramp- I like them so tucked in. By now my predicted time was about 11:35, which was perfect, down and down we went , then we crossed the freeway and on the flat I felt my right hamstring and calf tighten - never to reappear fortunately.
I probably went down Fields Hill faster than ever but just kept a consistent easy pace around 7:30, many people struggled down, one guy was lying down shoes off taking a nap.. others also stopped, which is not a good idea, you must keep moving forward 1 foot in front of the other and repeat till you see Moses... I walked in the right hand yellow lane as it has less camber, this seemed to work for me. Often in the passed I have tried to walk the shortest route but the overall camber changes so much which is hard as a walker. I do not enjoy Pinetown that much but getting through there means we are getting closer.. Going up Cowies is not bad, plenty of banter around, then only 18km to go and suddenly Sam calls out , he is Shane's brother from Carlton who was on the road supporting his club. He took a few photos, which were great
By now I was just ticking over rolling in the kms and feeling great , legs were fine no cramping. The one mistake I made was in correcting the distance on race screen. It should never stray more than I guess 400m , as it corrects to the nearest full km. I decided to leave it as is an just add 16 minutes to the total , so I pretty much kept my predicted finish at 11:30ish . The 11:45 bus came past on the freeway using all 4 lanes, and requesting I move to the side to all the bus to go past unhindered. Fortunately they went passed quite quickly and I did not see them again. They did have a remnant led by a conductor who was behind them, As they passed me they stopped, I diverted left to avoid taking out legs , as I got in front she said they would run for 3 light poles and promptly stopped after 1, fortunately before I caught them she started running again so I just hung back and let them go, never to be seen again. Up to Sherwood and the cutoff, down to the on ramp, which I took very easy as I have seen many legs cramp going up there and people topple..
Under Tollgate bridge and I was happy to just plod along at 8:00/km knowing I was pretty safe. I do not really like the freeway finish ,I much preferred going through the town. but as we were about to turn towards Moses, I saw Louis and realised he should be safe with about 2.5km to go. His 2 loyal lieutenants were with , I wished him well and strode on. That flat section from Kingsmead is from the pits , it just goes on and on.. As I came in I was confused by the announcer who I gathered was welcoming Julian in but it was the oldest finisher and then he said Julian was still coming but sound was bad, and Louis was mentioned as well.
Overall very happy with an 11:47:46, 12 of these now done, I guess next year I will do a few more marathons all walking... Running is a pain in the butt.
These were my segment PBS for the day, so I guess I did pretty well
Mcmillan Rd ClimbPR6:27
Post Race
When we got back to joburg Liz ended up on antibiotics for flu and I have been pretty much man down.. Have not felt like this since I had covid...This is Saturday and we managed a dog walk this morning but Pashas was pulling way tooo hard and now I feel my hamstring again..
Roll on Amashova, who is gonna join us?
Anecdote
Body Battery
Not sure how many people monitor their Garmin Body battery but I keep it on the back burner.. Here is my body battery for the day of Comrades. To have been at 5 ( which is the lowest it goes) form 4 hrs into the race, makes my performance even more impressive. Even my Midrand 60 where I felt terrible I ended at nearly 20..
Start
Yes a single start may have better vibe but overall I was very happy with the 2 group start.
Finish
I like the idea of the street finish but this worked up to the finish line after that it was cr8p. Too many spectators blocking the athletes getting out. Once the athletes got out they were exhausted so just sat down. It was SOOO congested I forgot to go the green number club, although I doubt I could have got there. We were worse than sardines even after they decided to open up group1 for group 2 medals- they still took 5 minutes to do that. Soup impossible to get there.. drinks same thing.. By the way what happened to Castle Lite??
Digimag
This was a real stuff up. I could not view it on my phone, normally I analyse start and finish to get it in my head, no chance of that, Why send the link on the Saturday before the race by email?????? Surely final race info could have included start and finish images. I agree in saving costs but that should have been emailed 2 weeks before the race.
Team Vitality
