The Training Run….

On top

On the beautiful contour paths (Photo credit Toy Dupper)

Blog time after a some uneventful training weeks. My training has escalated to hills, hills and more hills. Last weekend I had a spectacular melt down after 6 repeats of the famous GOAT at Kloofendal. I was tired, I had a rough week and all my demons came to haunt me. When I get tired on the trails (especially during training) I start to doubt myself and it all seems too much. I am so extremely frustrated at the moment with the fact that I can’t seem to speed up on the trails. I am training so hard but something seems to be holding me back. However, I have committed to starting to be positive about my running and try put those demons to bed.

So this last weekend was the Uitsoek Mountain Marathon which I planned to use as a training run to gauge where I am. I put no pressure on myself and I wasn’t stressed about it. It did help that there were no cut offs looming. I promised a certain trail buddy (Peter Yberburg) that I will from now on believe in myself. I went to into Uitsoek with this attitude and it paid off. I enjoyed every minute of the race. I spent the first 10km of the race with my favourite trail buddy Darren Smith which was special. I also got to spend a few kilometres with my Bubbly Linda Rorich who had never experienced a trail like this. I think she is hooked…. 🙂

At registration – yes it appears we had a weekend of synchronised wardrobes (Photo credit Darren Smith)

Selfie

At the start taking a mandatory selfie (Photo credit Darren Smith)

The race certainly has to be one my favourites. The indigenous forest and grasslands made my heart sing. I pretended not to see the pine plantations LOL. The mud in the forest slowed me down unfortunately but I really didn’t want to get injured. I nearly bought a farm a few times. My trekking poles were a real lifesaver and I managed to stay on my feet. One of the many river walkways that we crossed however nearly brought about a spectacular face plant which was only saved by my poles. The wire on the walkway caught my shoe and ripped the whole toe box open. My toes kept popping out after that! I tried to strap them with some of my ankle strapping but it fell off after 3 kms. The Hoka’s are now in the bin… RIP

RIP Hokas….

I may have been slow but I have never felt so strong on a race. I used my hill counting and rested on the climbs and I felt amazing when I got to the top. I never once felt defeated and I had good spirits the whole way through. Had great fun getting to know the sweeper Toy Dupper who recently completed the Karkloof 100 miler. He was a great motivator and we were gunning for 8 maybe 9 hours. The mud had other ideas however and the sneaky climb out of the kloof was a bit mean, but when I got to the top I knew all the climbing was done and I was on the home stretch. I had a new spring in my step and I was off. Poor Toy was laden with all the markers and I couldn’t even see him behind me in the mist. I just thought the mist was thick because we were at the highest point and it didn’t phase me. I wasn’t cold, I didn’t even have my rain jacket on anymore. I saw a green light drifting in the mist and thought it was a check point. I waltzed up to them and was veering left with the markers. I was quite chuffed because it looked like I had caught the guy I had seen on the contour paths ahead of me. He said to me that they are taking us off because of the weather. I thought he was kidding, laughed and carried on going. I then turned around because no one laughed…. So yes they took us off the mountain at 28km. They said the conditions were changing too drastically and the muddy route back would be too treacherous in the dark. The temperature was dropping drastically so Search and Rescue made the call. I wasn’t too disappointed to miss the mud but I was disappointed because I felt so good and didn’t need to stop. I had prepared for a long day with a head torch packed. So I have some unfinished business at Uitsoek that I will need to address. I will have no problem going back though and really think I will make this one a regular. Sven and his team have a real gem. I would just like some sunshine and dry trails next year please! 🙂

This is what it looked like when they took us off

The important lesson is that I achieved what I wanted to and that was to get the elevation without dying. I am still however very frustrated with my pace. I can’t seem to get any faster. I have been losing weight (ok not as fast as I would like – I love food too much) and I have been training so hard so why can’t I get that little bit faster. I am going for blood tests today to see if there is something physiological holding me back. Not sure if my iron levels or something may be out of wack. I hope it is something that simple which I can fix easily. I will be so happy. I know I can do UTCT now. I just need to get past those cut offs. I don’t want to have to stress about them. I want to have the same attitude as I did this weekend at Uitsoek. Just go and have fun. With a little bit of speed and an awesome trail buddy with me (I am saving this titbit for a special blog) I know I can do it.

I leave you with a pic (Darren Smith) of the waterfall at our first water table manned by Otter hopeful Johardt van Heerden. It doesn’t get much better than this.

Breathe in Breathe out

Skukuza Half Marathon Start – sharing my happy place with special people

How hard can it be?

Last year I developed sports induced asthma out of the blue. I suspect my body was saying WTF after no exercise for so many years and I was telling it to do more than it had ever done. I was like the little train that could but I couldn’t. So I went to the doc and got some asthma pumps and it seemed to settle down. I then broke my ankle and undid all the hard work!

In January this year whilst getting back into the swing of things I was so focused on protecting my ankle and concentrating on what was happening to my feet that I never even noticed that I couldn’t breathe! I had been frustrated that I wasn’t making progress but I had complete blinkers on. It wasn’t until after I was feeling very down in the dumps and was summoned to the trails by Coach Fred that I realised my asthma was back. We were running up a tiny incline and I had to stop at the top because I was wheezing so badly! You would think this would be obvious! Fred immediately told me to get it sorted which I promptly did and went back onto the pumps.

Whilst it has improved in terms of wheezing, I am still really struggling to breathe while running. One of my awesome running buddies Riana is an OT and she picked up on some issues whilst we were away in the Berg. She has given me some exercises which I am starting on Monday. I couldn’t do them with the spider bite. She did an assessment on me and it appears, if I have this right, that one of my primitive reflexes from childhood has not integrated fully i.e. the Morro Reflex. This reflex just happens to have a lot to with breathing. So whilst I am going to go for a chest x ray next week, I am really hoping that the exercises that Riana has given me will do the trick. We live in hope.

Last weekend was one of my favourite races of the year in my happy place – the Skukuza Half Marathon. The Kruger National Park is where I go to recharge my soul, I absolutely love the place. And when I started running and heard about this race, it was a no brainer. To run and contribute to conservation – wow! This year was my third run and I am planning on doing this every year.

We spent the most amazing weekend in the bush with awesome fellow Randburg Harriers who just happen to be awesome friends. One was a newbie and now she is hooked – that’s you Miss Linda 🙂

The mandatory pre-race selfie – this is a keeper

The actual race is deceptively tricky. It is undulating with no major climbs but these steep little inclines that kill you. On last years run I came across a gentleman from Irene who had formed a little bus and was counting us up all the inclines. It is a technique I have implemented quite a lot since then and it is very effective.

I thus decided that this year I would do this on every single hill before I walked. My Bubbly Linda decided she would stay with me (after I tried to convince her otherwise as she is much faster than me). I always feel so guilty when people stay with me as I know I am holding them back but flip we had a good time. I loved every minute (except the one part….).

So the plan was to slay the hills. Well I think I did it a little bit too effectively as by the time I got to 7km where most of the hills are done, I was starting to feel a little green (the one part…). It is the first time I have felt remotely nauseas on a race. I have always secretly thought ag I don’t get that!! Super proud of myself! Well I had clearly not pushed hard enough. So I told Linda that I was feeling a little “groen om die kiewe” and I had to walk a little.

We slowly got the rhythm back and off we went. We had to dodge some creepy oke at one stage who kept looking at our legs… we eventually shook him!!

Once we hit the tar road, we met a lady from Bedfordview, Dalwyn I think her name was, who was doing her first 21km. She was taking a bit of strain. This is why I love running and for about 4km I forgot about myself and Linda and I helped her through a tough part of the race. We got her to run for almost 2km without stopping. By focusing on her, I forgot about myself and we just enjoyed the park. We showed her our hill technique and she did so well! She even caught up to us when we were walking. She finished her 21km and came and gave me a huge hug afterwards! That is what I love about running. I am certain she will be back!

My friend Natalie met us at the 19th hole aka the 19km mark with the SAB tent!! She had had three beers and was feeling merry. She had been waiting for me which I thought was so flippen awesome!! Just shows you how slow I am though! LOL. Linda and I skipped the beers. She ran in with us and we finished together, three Harriers in a row! So cool!

As much as I loved the race for all the other reasons, I was heavily disappointed in my finish time especially after putting in so much effort on the hills. I was 4 minutes slower than last year. The hill running was definitely a victory for me so I need to focus on that but I need to get this breathing sorted out. My legs were fresh at the end but I couldn’t get enough oxygen into my lungs on the last km of the race. I was huffing and puffing like a locomotive. It is beyond frustrating at the moment. I really feel that it is holding me back! The ebb and flow of emotions that I get while training is quite ridiculous! One minute you feel amazing and UTCT feels doable and then next day you think you never going to make it!!

On the plus side however and never one to dwell on the negative (even if it is driving me nuts) I got the spend this long weekend on a beautiful game farm in White River with fabulous friends. To hike and run in nature is just such a privilege and we took full advantage this weekend. My friend Peggy and I spent most of the weekend out on the trails and the kms just faded away. Peggy is a very keen hiker and you can follow her on Facebook as “the Backyard Hiker”. We plan on doing a hike in Kruger together next year. I can’t wait. I wish we lived closer together because we run very similarly. But it just means I have to come to White River more often. Going to be so tough.

Peggy and I on our morning trail run

Spotted:

Giraffe, Wildebeest, Impala, Zebra & Nyala all within 100m

Venom enriched running – aka Spiderwomen….

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Running on Leisure Isle with Sally

This week was an awesome holiday week which was long overdue. I visited my sister and the family who live in Knysna. I have been visiting Knysna for many many years but I wasn’t the fitness fanatic that I am now. So after a bit of drought from visiting (mostly because of travelling to trail races ironically) I booked a trip to Knysna to visit the family and actually participate in some of the well know Oyster Festival activities.

My trip coincided with the arrival of a huge cold front but luckily this passed before any of my activities started. It did however provide some frosty mornings.

On the Thursday before I flew down I discovered a tiny bite which I thought was actually a pimple on my tummy and didn’t think much of it. Maybe I should have…..

So my first challenge for the trip after having taken full advantage of not having to get up at 4:30 for gym was to run the Featherbed Trail Run organised by the famous Collins brothers. A 15km race from Buffalo Bay back to Knysna. It was rather weird rocking up to a race where you didn’t know anyone. I felt a little lost I won’t lie. I missed my trailies. Luckily I met up with Chandre Boshoff from Garden Route Trails who was very welcoming. I now have trailie friends all over the country!

The start of the Featherbed Trail run on Buffalo Bay beach

The run involved about 7km of beach running which was rather intimidating but turned out to be beautiful. Luckily the sand was hard and easy to run on.

Running on the beach I met AJ a fellow trailie who is on an amazing weightloss journey. He was 300kg and has lost a substantial amount of weight and is still going strong. He was doing the big 5 challenge and was inspirational. Ironically he ran in a spiderman shirt (he wore the same shirt when I bumped into him on the half marathon). Unfortunately I couldn’t stay with him as it would have been fun! I left him with the sweeper which I was a little relieved about. Its always a relief to shake the sweeper!

With a nasty climb up to Brenton it was a fabulous downhill run to the finish. I just had to contend with the 11km runners coming past which forced me to run on the railway track and did disrupt my run. I saw this as an opportunity to practice strides. Running across the lagoon was such fun. We were told by Mark Collins that it was illegal to fall on this run, particularly on the lagoon bridges! LOL

I must say the race was super well organised and the lucky draw prizes were amazing. I hooked up with some fellow Harriers at the end and Dave won a Suunto watch which was pretty cool! Put this one on the to do list. Its not very hard and very picturesque. You also get a lekker meal at the end which is always a win… 🙂

Running across the Knysna lagoon along the unused train line

I realised after this run that the bite I thought was nothing may be something more than just a pimple. It was starting to look a little red and angry but I felt fine and did some self medicating. How bad could it be…..

On Thursday, my fellow bubbly Sally arrived which was fabulous as we would be running the Knynsa Forest Half Marathon together. We took a nice trot around Leisure Isle to loosen the legs. Bit of trail, bit of road. What a pleasure!

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Friday was a tourist day and got to spend some time with my 16 year old nephew who I haven’t seen for ages! I even got a selfie with him! We spent some time on Brenton on Sea beach and showed Sally some of the sights of Knysna in beautiful winter sunshine.

My handsome nephew Josh

We also realised that I definitely had a spider bite which was not looking so lekker! But there was running to be had and despite instructions from mother dear I just patched it up and hoped for the best…

Saturday morning we dragged my poor sister out of bed at 4:30 to drop us off at the taxi’s to take us into the forest for the start of the marathon. Luckily it was just a free wheel down the road so she could go back to bed shortly thereafter.

What a well organised run. We arrived in the forest just after 5:30 and then proceeded to freeze. Luckily Sally and I had purchased some warm blankets to bring with. Momentum sponsors blankets for the first 2000 runners to arrive in the forest and these are then donated to charity. We were concerned that we wouldn’t be in time so came prepared. I must say I nearly took one anyway as they were so nice and warm but ours worked just as well. No blanket was going to defrost our toes however which was the biggest problem. We caught up with Loskop buddies Rose and Lynette who were styling dressing gowns! It was rather comical but very effective! I will be doing that next year. It was rather funny to see blankets going flying when the start gun went off! Luckily it was a rather warm day and the cold didn’t last long.

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In the start shute with Sally, Lynette and Rose

Whilst they call it a forest marathon you actually run through plantations. Now all my trailies know I am a bit of a purest and loathe exotic trees and alien vegetation. I did however enjoy the route and it was much tougher than expected.

So about that bite… I realised whilst running with a lady from Greenstone (we found out later that she actually follows me on strava! Small world) and enjoying ourselves that my heart rate was a little high but I felt fine. That bite was definitely having an effect. But there was still running to be done…

Sunday morning I woke up with very sore calf muscles and a VERY sore spider bite. Not being the skinniest person my stomach tends to move when I run – not a pretty picture I know but this was going to be a problem. But I wasn’t missing the Houtkapper. From exotic forest the day before, this was going to be indigenous forest which I just couldn’t miss! Hey, maybe I would see an elusive Knysna elephant (you would have heard me back in jhb if I had). The forest was super special, I loved every moment even though I couldn’t run the downhills. There were lots of steep uphills which made it quite a challenge but luckily I had my trusty trekking poles to help me! And I didn’t even see the sweeper whilst power walking so that was a win!

Beautiful indigenous forest – heavenly

The week was special in that I had some awesome supporters. Josh took some pics of me at the marathon and I had Josh and my sister cheer me in at Houtkapper. That certainly made up for the lack of trailies.

Back in jhb now with a huge infected spider bite and feeling a little sorry for myself. Can’t run until it heals which may take a while but hey.. just call me spiderwomen…