Training Log Archive: nmulder

Felt good on the start line. Easy neutral section down to the dirt road, where a couple of guys broke away on the first hill. I stayed with Craig and the Merell guys up over Lundean's Nek and down to Telle Junction. Road was in bad condition with the recent heavy rains, with lots of washouts and landslides.

The bunch broke away from me going up the hill at Telle. I've never been able to stay with anyone beyond this point and once again I was riding on my own, this time into a strong headwind. Gap at Majuba was still only 2 mins, but it grew rapidly from there. No one in sight behind me, so I had to grind on.

Wasn't as fast down to Sterkspruit as in the past, partially due to the road conditions. Only maxed about 50 instead of 70 at the winter wartrail in '07. After Sterkspruit, the headwind was at it's worst and probably slowed me down 10's of minutes. Went through a bad section before Herschel, but recovered and pushed the pace again to the finish.

Finished 1 hr down on the 2 pro athletes and 35 mins behind the Merell / Craig foursome. 7th overall. My own time is 35 mins slower than my '07 time in windier and warmer conditions.

Still a bit disappointing in hindsight, especially once I've looked at my HR data.

Telle Junction 49.88km - 2h08 - HR ave 129, Sp Ave 23.3
Majuba Neck 19.67km- 3h18 - HR ave 126, Sp Ave 16.8
Sterkspruit 20.23km - 4h12 - HR ave 116, Sp Ave 22.4
Herschel 23.74km - 5h39 - HR ave 115, Sp Ave 16.4
Ndlokovana 17.95km - 6h31 - HR ace 112, Sp ave 20.8

Overall Av 20.3, Mx 56.3

TE 2.9, Epoc 67, 3212 kcal.

Event: Garmin Wartrail 2011
 

Day 1 of the Wartrail.

Perfect weather conditions for the trail run.

Had a steady start out of Lady Grey, tucking in behind 6 guys on the trail up to the tower. Immediately obvious that the race is much more competitive than 4 years ago. At CP1 (Tower) they (Nico Schoeman, Craig C-B, Tweet, Hanno, Don, Change-a-life Guy) broke away, leaving me, Tommy and 2 others as the 2nd bunch. They did a very fast lap across the flats until it got daylight. I held my pace. A 4 min deficit soon turned to 0 after some good route choices crossing the first few fences. The 1st bunch speed was definitely up and down, depending on whether Nico was pushing the pace or not. They once again pushed approaching CP2 (Olympus) and I let them go. Pace was extremely fast, well within course record.

Had a good section from CP2 to 3 (Snowdon). Only Tommy left with me. Found the track easily and stayed perfectly on it the whole way. Could have done a bit more running here, but my split was still easily a PB. Still 4 mins behind.

CP3 to 4 (Avoca). Started catching them again once we got off-path and got the gap down to less than 2 mins. However they started accelerating in the approach to Avoca, going high onto the ridge. I stayed low on the shelf, which turned out to be the slower route by about 2 mins. Got to Avoca about 8 mins behind the leaders, who were now stringing out. Hanno had dropped off the pace and was now with me.

CP4 to 5 (Skiddaw). Tommy, Hanno and I stayed on the ridge, but should have stayed closer to the fence, loosing about 2 mins. No-one in sight apart from C-A-L team guy. Went okay, but didn't increase my PB as much as per the other splits.

CP5 to Finish (Balloch). Just after this, I went through a weak patch. Hanno broke for it and opened a big gap quickly, also catching C-A-L. Tommy pulled me through by pacing me. Food intake got me going again. Took a new route down the big hill directly to the river junction. Much faster. Still a PB for this split, but once again, should have been faster. Was about 1km away from transition when last year's course record went by.

Finished tie 7th with Tommy. Finish order was Nico, Tweet, Don, Craig, Hanno, C-A-L, me and Tommy. The top 4 all broke the course record, with the winner almost 25 mins ahead of me. Ouch. Was a great help having Tommy with me all the way.

TE 5.0, Epoc 299, 5682 kcal.

Split 2005 2006 2007 2011
CP1 1h17 1h16 1h22 1h14 HR ave 166
CP2 3h16 3h14 3h37 3h01 HR ave 158 - fastest 1h47 ('11)
CP3 4h55 4h51 5h43 4h31 HR ave 155 - fastest 1h29 ('11)
CP4 7h00 6h45 7h33 6h15 HR ave 151 - fastest 1h44 ('11)
CP5 ?h?? ?h?? 8h55 7h31 HR ave 147 - fastest 1h16 ('11)
Finh 9h55 9h42 10h21 8h55 HR ave 138 - fastest 1h24 ('11)

5 short laps of Emmies.

First 4 laps of the TT. Lots of bumping around me.

Out at lunchtime for a quick spin. Mostly around Sunninghill. Got caught in the rain which was a good reason to finally wash my bike.

Dst 19.28, Av 23.4, Mx 54.8

TE 1.9, 22 Epoc, 331 kcal.

A suprisingly fast time, with the warm-up helping to get the legs moving after this weekend. Ran with Nathan.

TE 3.1, 85 Epoc, 256 kcal.