Training Log Archive: nmulder

Legends MX 4x4 Advendurance Trailseeker Series near Bronkhorstspruit.

Very wet conditions, but managed to avoid the worst mud during the run. Lots of sandy ground. A lot of flat dirt track stuff to start before climbing a small ridge with a lovely single track descent off it. Then a bit more flat until we turned up onto the final ridge. Lovely trails here and good O' area amongst the wattles and rock. I hadn't been passed or passed anyone since 1km and at about 17k someone started coming up behind, so I accelerated on the last technical section along the ridge. Felt a good pull on my left calf. I slowed right down and let him past, doing a very slow jog into the finish.

Lovely route and superbly well organized run.

Ferndale TT. Faster than the previous week.

Ferndale time trial.

Only my 2nd Skyrun, with the last one done 8 years ago in 2012. Don't remember much of the 2nd part after Balloch from back then.

Started off fine. I think I was about 20th through the gate onto the mountain, which was a very nice position. Took the right track this time (yay!) and didn't have a single person slowing me down. I wanted to get to CP1 at about 1h16 (6 mins off my PB) and I managed that to the minute.

Overall the plan was to be at Balloch at about 9h20 - 9h30, about 30 mins slower than my 2012 attempt. From there I wanted a negative split to the finish, ideally finishing in about 17h and change (so 1.5 - 2 hrs faster than 2012 where I lost 1hr of nav in the dark and 30m - 1hr by blowing on Edgehill road area).

Arrived at the Tower on my target time only in about 50th place... crazy. I then kept a steady clip to Olympus. On route I had to tighten my newish shoes. I had them too loose after having tied them too tight a couple of weeks ago and getting nerve pains as a result then. This time I felt a hot-spot and thought I had caught it in time. It faded and didn't trouble me, but only noticed at the end of the day that it had actually started a blister on my R heel. Doh! Saw quite a few familiar faces on this part of the route.

Arrived at Olympus still feeling good with lots of energy in reserve, now up into about 30th position. Caught Mac and Jess Barrow here. Ran with them for a while but lost a few minutes when I had to throw up almost immediately after downing a gel, about halfway between Olympus and Snowden. I had been eating and drinking well until this point. Felt good again after that and almost managed to close the gap again before CP3. This was still a strong leg for me, only 1 min off PB split and still only about 16 min down of PB, so on target time. Went through CP quickly and then caught Mac and Jess at the Snowden cattle stream. Refilled fully with water here.

A few kms later I was throwing up again. This time on baby potatoes, which is a first. Didn't recover after this one and I barely ran a couple of steps again for the rest of the day. I dropped back rapidly through the field. Lots of quick conversations with people checking on me, so I must have looked pretty special. The one positive of seeing so many people around passing me is that I got a good look at seeing various route options and which of these is the quickest, especially in the Avoca area!

Got to Avoca in about 80th and paused in the shade of a cliff for a while. Then plodded on to Skiddaw, close to 100th position by then. It was actually pretty impressive to see so many runners (almost 1/2 the 100km field) doing very respectable times to this stage of the race, at least when compared to average Wartrail times. Position stayed approximately the same until Balloch (I covered the ground faster than I expected given the walking pace) where I pulled out. From past experience, I wouldn't recover properly to finish the course, even with a couple of hours of down time at Balloch cave.

Took about an hour before I could start drinking and eating a bit again, so probably the right call. Could have taken a drip with the medics, but that would only have delayed the problems again.

So very disappointed with how the day went. I've been getting sporadic stomach trouble over the last 10 years and though I had it all sorted a year and a half ago, with no problems since then. More research and testing needed. It's partly stomach acid buildup, partly nutritional choice, stress, etc.

This year's failure makes me very keen to come back hard in a years time, but we'll need to see how 2021 plays out.

CP

Skyrun 2021

War 2020

War 2019

War 2016

War 2015

Sky 2012

War 2012

War 2011

War 2007

War 2006

War 2005

Best Split

Microwave Tower

1h16

1h18

1h23

1h18

1h14

1h10

1h15

1h14

1h22

1h16

1h17

1h10 - Sky'12

Olympus Hut

3h07

3h17

3h22

3h12

2h56

2h51

3h11

3h01

3h37

3h14

3h16

1h41 - Sky'12

Mt Snowdon

4h39

4h52

5h08

4h46

4h26

4h23

4h54

4h31

5h43

4h51

4h55

1h29 - War'11

Avoca Peak

6h54

6h46

7h18

6h39

6h14

6h03

6h46

6h15

7h33

6h45

7h00

1h40 - Sky'12

Skiddaw

8h40

8h22

8h42

8h07

7h27

7h26

8h16

7h31

8h55

?

?

1h13 - War'15

Balloch

10h35

9h58

10h47

9h43

8h51

8h47

9h49

8h55

10h21

9h42

9h57

1h21 - Sky'12

Edgehill

11h06

2h19 - Sky '12

Bridle Pass

13h24

2h18 - Sky '12

The Turn

14h58

1h34 - Sky '12

Mt Halseton

17h25

2h27 - Sky'12

Wartrail

18h59

1h34 - Sky'12

C • Tough day 1

Drove down to Lady Grey with Brian and Gerhard (support crew for Brian).

Easy hike up the first part of the first hill of Skyrun. Have missed the tracks here for the last 2 Wartrails, so don't want it to happen again.

A nice morning training run turned a bit ugly when I saw my car lights flashing, and the car then driving away from where I had parked it. Gone! Analysis of heart rate shows what a bit of adrenaline can do.

Born2Run time trial. Still improving the time. :)

Ran at Kings Kloof again. Up past the waterfall trail, then the red loop in reverse (bumped into Fred R. here on his 3-4 hour training run). Then across the valley again, avoiding the main route and down the historic jeep track back to the car park. Very hot and humid again.

It's been wet for the last few days, so still a lot of puddles running around Cradle Moon. Lovely misty morning. Did a loop through the yellow area, then hiking trail, up the jeep track from the boma to the grassland dam, then back across the red area, finding 2 rhino along the way. Took a while, but finally spotted the accompanying ranger as well.

Wolwespruit time trial with Ryno. There are a few new added parts to the new route, bumping it up to about 9.5km, but we also did the hill again up and down towards the end to add another km.