Training Log Archive: nmulderIn the 7 days ending Sep 7, 2008:
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| « | » |
| » now | |||||||||||||
|
|
|
|
| ||||||||||||
| Mo | Tu | We | Th | Fr | Sa | Su | ||||||||||
Sunday Sep 7, 2008 #
Note
Flew back to Joburg. Spectacular scenary with all the flowers in full bloom in the Karoo and heavy snow cover on the Hex River and Boland mountains.
Saturday Sep 6, 2008 #
Note
Competed in the first regional selection round of the Land Rover G4 Challenge, which took place near Prince Albert in the Western Cape. An incredible experience. Wow. It'll be a few days before I get to write a full report and log for what we did. However, I managed to finish Top 3, which gives me a pretty good chance of making it into the national selections in one month time. It all depends on the results in the remaining 3 rounds, so I'm holding thumbs.
Orienteering race (Land Rover G4 Challenge) 30:35 [5] *** 3.9 km (7:51 / km)
shoes: Salomon 3D Pro black #9
0735 - Task 1 of 8 rotations for the day. You moved around in teams of 3 or 4 between each rotation, driving between the various tasks. However, all tasks were still independent. First up for us was a map orienteering course. Interval starts, fairly good satellite map with roads, fences and contours superimposed. Beautiful terrain in the middle of the Karoo. Almost world class. Unfortunately too far removed from anywhere to ever have an orienteering event here! Good planning by John Collins as well (hint to John... start up an O' club!). Had the fastest time for the day.
Paddling race (Land Rover G4 Challenge) 5:19 [5] 0.3 km (17:43 / km)
0920 - Flat water kayaking in a gorge in a white-water plastic boat. 30s time penalties if you touched any canyon walls when going around a 5-fingered course. Tight fit, but I managed to avoid any penalties. Did a few 360's by mistake as those boats are a mission. Never quite got the hang of them. I probably did reasonably well, but don't know my final position.
Rope Work race (Land Rover G4 Challenge) 5:23 [5] 0.03 km (2:59:27 / km) +30m 29:54 / km
1007 - Jumaring and Abseiling! This was superb. Had to jumar up a 30m rope as fast as possible, collecting up to 20 flags on the way up. At some had to turn around and abseil down before the 6 min time limit expired. I got to 17 before I chickened out. Got down with 37s still to spare! Could easily have got 18th flag, which would have given me 1st for the day. Instead finished 2nd. Very tough, but very enjoyable.
Paddling race (Land Rover G4 Challenge) 34:42 [5] 1.5 km (23:08 / km)
1124 - Paddle Rogaining! Mass start in your group of 4, with 10 CPs located around a dam. Paddling in the plastics again, with a 40m time limit. I got all well inside the time, but struggled to locate 2, including 1 underwater. Luckily with the mass start, I had team mates who helped me search. Time must put me quite high up the leader board, but once again, don't know exactly where.
Mountain Biking race 30:56 [5] 7.3 km (14.2 kph)
1237 - MTB Rallying! We were each given one of the Land Rover bikes and set off at 2m intervals on a rally course. We had our rally instruction book in 1 hand, and a flag on a flag pole in the other. This was for the ostriches. Great course, including a water crossing, some superb Karoo jeep track and a monster uphill. The flag was used excessively, waving them frenetically at some of the male ostriches (wrong time of year) who were feeling a bit too agressive. Earlier in the day we'd watched a competitor on an earlier round getting kicked off the bike by one! I had a good ride, but rode past 1 cp on the route by 70m. Had to return to it and lost about 90s. Pity, as I think that would have given me a win. Was probably about 2nd instead.
Orienteering race (Land Rover G4 Challenge) 28:08 [5] 2.1 km (13:24 / km)
shoes: Salomon 3D Pro black #9
1358 - Compass orienteering (without a map!). We had to locate 4 cps using compass bearing and distance judgement in some good karoo bush. I got to my 1st cp quite soon, but then had a crisis of confidence. Had trouble deciding which CP I had found and thus on what bearing I should go next. Stood still for about 8 min when there was a 30m time limit. Took a guess (turned out to be right) and headed off. However, I was unable to find the 2nd, so moved off to the 3rd. With 20m down, still only had 1 cp, so things were looking bad. Then had a bit of luck and found #3. That meant I was able to work out where # 2 had been, but had to leave it as time was running out. Went for #4 and found it immediately instead before going for the finish. This was probably a bad round as I know that quite a few guys got all 4.
Orienteering race (Land Rover G4 Challenge) 32:38 [5] 4.25 km (7:41 / km)
shoes: Salomon 3D Pro black #9
1500 - GPS Rogaining! Great fun, needing to find any or all 10 cps using a GPS only. The CP points were already plugged in. I've never used one properly, so the first 3 controls were a bit haphazzard as I figured out how to use the thing most effectively. Thereafter things started going smoother. The terrain was very bushy, and very sandy. We were actually running on sand dunes most of the time. This sapped me and as it was now late in the day I was quite slow. Finished with no more problems. Only placed 5th, but at only 1min behind the winner. Two of the other group rotations ran as teams, which I was unable to do as the other guys in my team weren't strong runners. They also had earlier runs, which gave them an advantage... damn... but I suppose I had the same advantage elsewhere.
Note
1600 - The final rotation was Land Rover driving in a Karoo river bed. Once again lots of fun. I was paired up with Ina Van Tonder from my group which worked quite well. I think I did quite well, but who knows.
Note
We also did a diary camera talk in the evening... for points.
Friday Sep 5, 2008 #
Note
Flying down to Cape Town for the Landrover G4 Regional selections. Hope to make National selections next month.
Trail Running race (Land Rover G4 Challenge) 19:51 [5] 4.0 km (4:58 / km)
shoes: Salomon 3D Pro black #9
1800 - The first test in the G4 was a mass trail run. 20 guys biltzing a 4km course. I finished about 10th. Fastest guys were running about 4 min/km. Oh, and it was done in the dark with just a Petzl headlamp to light your way!
Mountain Biking race (Land Rover G4 Challenge) 18:00 [5] 4.4 km (14.7 kph)
2020 - MTB Eliminations! 400m round a banked quad track for 5 laps, with devil-take-the-hindmost on each lap. Managed to always avoid being last each lap and progressed through the heats and semis into the final. Unfortunately I was first out in the finals (5 guys). Very happy with the result, but could have gone 1 lap further!
Note
2200 - Team exercise where we needed to build a rope / pole structure to get a snack bar off a pole in the middle of a farm dam. Usual rules apply, i.e. no getting yourselves or your equipment wet. We did okay, but were just a bit slow, having to retie some knots. We finished 3rd (out of 3), but only by a short distance.
Wednesday Sep 3, 2008 #
Road Running 28:04 [3] 5.05 km (5:33 / km)
shoes: Asics Gel Nimbus 2007
1745 - Run through Berario.
Tuesday Sep 2, 2008 #
Mountain Biking 1:27:46 [3] 26.13 km (17.9 kph)
shoes: Specialized Epic Comp 2006
0720 - Rode over Northcliff Hill (Hearn), then Alberts Farm, Emmarentia and back via the scout hall. It's 2-Sep and there is still ice on the ground in places! Av 17.8 Mx 47.9
Road Running 29:34 [3] 5.5 km (5:23 / km)
shoes: Asics Gel Nimbus 2007
1745 - Short run to stretch the legs through Berario and Fairland.
Monday Sep 1, 2008 #
Gym (Virgin Active) 1:20:00 [3]
0645 - Have started increasing weight level a bit.