Training Log Archive: Stijn

Took Neal for a ride down the spruit.. Or should I say he took me? That boy has an engine inside him! Was planning a longer ride but my bottom bracket gave-in early on. Loud cracking noises on every pedal stroke. It's about time I suppose as it's still the original BB which hasn't been serviced at all in the 6.5 years that I've had the bike!

C • Excuses... 6

Along the Spruit in Morningside. Calves feeling really tight - need to get road shoes soon!

Ran the 3rd leg for AR Club 2. Tony brought us back in 3rd and Wiehan in 4th. I had an average run with no real mistakes - just many hesitations. Brad passed me early on and then I got complacent with the pace up the big hill which allowed Nico to catch me as we started the downhill sprint for the last few controls. I should have held him off but another hesitation at 22 gave him the gap which he held to the finish.

1 chilled lap of the cradle with Dev while Fran did circles around us.

Awesome vibe - especially the fireworks at the start! Cheering crowds lined the whole route as well :-) First 5km in 22:27. Next 3.2km of mostly uphill in 16:14 and last 2.2km in 9:05.

Was going well until #11 which cost me 15 mins - running around like a headless chicken!

MEN - Splits

Morning run in Prince Albert. 1st lap warm-up with Fran 4km in 24:50 and then 2nd lap faster on my own: 4.3km in 18:29.

Morning session at The Bold and the Beautiful crag before driving to Prince Albert. 14, 18, 15, 16.

Climb at the Steeple in Montagu. Climbed Gospel Express, one of the most classic 17s around. 16, 17.

Kalk Bay to Muizenberg and back with Fran.

Hiked up and down the India Venster Route on Table Mountain to get to the climbing. Spectacular day to be in Cape Town!

Climbed the classic trad route, Jacob's Ladder, a 4-pitch 16 with huge exposure, vertically above where the Argus cyclists were coming past in Camps Bay. Got the usual pointing and gawking from all the tourists when we topped out with all our gear at the Upper Cable Station. Been meaning to do this route for a while now!

While I was climbing, Fran managed to clock a 3:40 for the Argus :-)

C • Argus time 1

Raced in a male pair as Team Charnas with John (who had a broken toe). The venue was Vanderkloof Dam in the Free State and we were bracing ourselves for some hot conditions.

We started hard but were still not quite able to match the Red Ants' pace up front. A bit of running and bundu-bashing saw us finish the first leg in 3rd place, just 10mins behind the Ants and 4mins behind the Ratels in 2nd place. Paddling is, however, not our strong point and we slipped down to 6th place on the long paddle down the Orange River.

What followed was a death march of a hike in near-flat terrain in the scorching 40-degree heat. We managed to pass Here Be Dragons again for 5th but shortly afterwards switched into finishing mode rather than racing mode - the heat was just unbearable. Despite numerous stops under farm pivots for a cold shower and a 20-min water topup at a farmhouse, we maintained our 5th place all the way to the Luckhoff Community Hall, where we arrived at 8:45pm. The other teams must have been struggling just as much.

The 150km MTB during the night saw us taking a few power-naps and one solid 2h nap. We regretted that when it got hot again the next morning! I had left the final map of this leg in the crate back at Luckhoff - luckily we got the control description for CP20 from the race handbook and we checked every bridge we crossed once we were off the map. CP20 was found easily enough but locating the transition without the map was much more difficult as the tracks of the teams in front of us went everywhere... We eventually stopped and asked a farmer for directions :-)

It was now 11:30am and super-hot again. Here Be Dragons had passed us during the night and were already 3 hours ahead of us. The teams behind us were many hours back so there was no pressure to head out into the heat and we had a chilled 3-hour transition in the shade. We started the next hike with a swim across the Orange River and then slogged it out in the heat all the way to the dam shore as it got dark at 7pm.

A storm moved in as we were about to start the final paddle, and to continue the leisurely theme of the race so far, we decided to wait it out under the gazebo. The wind finally died down at 9pm (still no teams catching us) and I really enjoyed the moon-lit paddle and abseil between the islands in the dam. We finished as the 1st male pair and 6th overall at 00:13 to the cheering crowd of Heidi :-)

Leg Details:

Leg 1: 9km Run (1h16m)
Leg 2: 28km Paddle (4h20m)
Leg 3: 34km Hike (7h30m)
Leg 4: 150km MTB (13h30m - including 3h sleep)
Leg 5: 19km Hike (4h15m)
Leg 6: 13km Paddle & Abseil (3h15m)

Total Transition Time: 7h - As I said, leisurely :-)

Logging each discipline separately - this is for the hiking/running.

MTB

Paddling

Sleep/Transition/Abseil