Comrades 2020

1owrez

Great test; we had JAR, Becca and Debra all in at once, and, a mystery caller joined briefly at one point too but then disappeared. So I think we have proven we can do this

Debra Bourne

Lowrez: thanks for organising that - it was good to see people.

Mc Hilly, sorry I missed you - I came in soon after you left.

Becca7

Sorry to have missed you McH

Mc Hilly

I think I was your mystery caller! I was just setting my alarm on the phone when I accidentally hit the link or the app or something and found myself unexpectedly joining a meeting! Wasn’t quite sure what I was joining and wasn’t appropriately dressed (had taken Comrades hat off) so immediately disconnected! 

Southern Snail

Sorry to have missed some of you guys last night. Only just seen your invite Lowrez.

Well I have just entered Comrades again for this year Have gone for the half and will do on NDW100 trail so will take me hours. Will have to think about how to go about hydration. Have to google if there's shops nearby any of it. No time limits. Have ordered a T Shirt too. Liked the way it said it would take 3/4 months to arrive after the event!!! Good old South African postal service

Mac3

Dubai - that's even tougher.  Lowrez may have to make some adjustments to his model for you!

Debra - having checked my local circular routes, I have one that x5 is a fraction over 90.2km.  I may put out a table with refreshments, but if I ask nicely (!), my OH might provide some refreshment on each lap. I'm encouraging her to think about the 5k and bag the unique medal.  It's a good opportunity to work on some nutrition ideas (one is a broth - easy to consume and full of electrolytes) and pacing.  A flat course isn't necessarily a good thing due to the biomechanic repetition so I may swap shoes to provide some variable stress.  No timing chip to worry about! I'm quite looking forward to it.

Peter R

Sorry I missed last night as well, worked until late (but did manage to fit in a cycle and run in between meetings)

DR: I lived in Abu Dhabi many years ago (1995) and was out for a run in the heat once and a taxi driver stopped and offered me a free ride home.  I must have looked a mess and had literally done less than 2kms.  

Mac3: you've got me thinking now about the full .....

Southern Snail

Peter - go for it! You're definitely fit enough for the full.

Mac - sounds like you've got it all worked out. I'm going to persuade Mr SS to do one of the runs too. I reckon its the only way he'll ever enter Comrades!!

I was absolutely amazed to work out that by August there is approximately 9 hours of darkness at night. I was thinking there wouldn't be as much running in the dark for NDW100 

baldstan

1owrez, sorry I missed last night too, ended up working late and then cooking supper even later. I'm also thinking about just doing the half. I've got a virtual relay I'm running in for the club the following week, and I think I might let the team down if I did 45K just before.

Dubai, I've been wearing a buff around my neck, only pulling it up if I'm passing close to people, and even a 100 metres with it over my face is uncomfortable, I don't know how you manage so long like that.

SS, I was at Holly Hill aid station on the NDW100 last year at about Mile 66, and I'd say at least a third of runners arrived there at dusk or in the dark. I've never been along that stretch of the NDW beyond Otford and I expect I'll be running most of it overnight, so like you Debra, I was thinking about using the Centurion One event to do a recce, probably parking up and running an out and back. I won't be leaving my car at the Holly Hill car park though - the police came and warned us it gets used a lot by joy riders, and the rest...

Becca7

I'm another with a buff normally around the neck - I've done this at Comrades as keeping the buff wet helps with the heat - but I wouldn't want to wear it around my face, so sympathies to Dubai.

1owrez

Just had my travel insurance renewal notification; I wasn't going to renew it now anyway because I would be covering a period where I'm just not travelling, and, I have no travel booked now that I might need to claim on... it was more expensive than last year despite having a 20% discount, it would not cover Covid19 or any other instance of anything that could ever be considered to be of that ilk, related or unrelated, it would not cover airlines going out of business, it would not cover tour operators going out of business... wtf would it pay out on then???

1owrez

Are there pictures available of the Comrades Legends Race T-Shirt and Medal - I have looked, but not very hard

1owrez

SD! Thanks for your Race4Charity donation Community Chest Durban are so pleased that I have managed to bring in some additional funds for them

Debra Bourne

Mac3: that sounds well organised. I managed to set up an aid station just inside the front door for my 50K on Sunday (3 long out-and-backs then a small loop to finish). Worked quite well.

Snail: further to your note about how many hours we'll be in the dark for NDW100, I'm thinking I need a new headtorch for NDW100 as my present main one not only eats through batteries (despite the manufacturer's claims) but has an intermittent fault of not turning on - which is a big problem! Trying to decide what to buy, which isn't easy.

baldstan: thank you for that info. Good to be prepared for when we'll be in the dark. I volunteered at Knockholt Pound some years back.

1owrez

Blimey Cheryl doesn't half go on doesn't she

Debra Bourne

lowrez: I thought it was a good email. Long, yes, but thorough. It's a really difficult situation to be in. James Elson had to explain similarly regarding advance (and ongoing) costs and not being able to give people 100% refunds for Centurion races.

1owrez

Consider the lilies

Southern Snail

Aah used to love Life of Brian 

Southern Snail

Wow yes that was a long email!! But have just read it all. Obviously difficult times, but that goes for us all. 

I donated charity money at the time of entry and have just bought The virtual race, t-shirt and medal. I don't know what they look like Lowrez - never looked - but figured every rand helps them regardless of what they're selling or whether its awful looking, so just added it all on!! Hope not though.

Debra - I bought the Petzl Swift RL SS20 earlier in the year. Haven't got a back up one yet. Perhaps I need to turn it on and see how long it lasts on the various different setting. It seems comfortable enough. Got home just before dark at South Devon ultra so never needed it.

1owrez

I know they needed to vomit all that up SS had me remembering that Cherie is not super mum

I too filled me bag as full as it would go and made a charitable donation (which annoyingly doesn't list on the charity page listed... and is going into a general pot for distribution, whilst yesterday I had an invitation to enter from Wildlands who guaranteed if I pressed their button it would all go to them) The sight of paraphernalia is massively important to some of the younger generation I am trying to get to do the 5k or such, T-Shirt in particular needs to be trend worthy!

1owrez

Would love to kid y'all that my T-Shirt has arrived already, but this is from a previous year, ran 18 miles in it today. I'm experimenting with taking nothing in on these longer runs and I faded terribly towards the end which in my mind is classic wall territory... did some of you say you consume zero up to marathon distance? Presumably you can train your body to expect zero nourishment for, well, how many miles can you stretch it to?

I think today has convinced me to drop to the half marathon distance, unless I take a run walk approach and don me ultra vest to carry a day's worth of supplies, and spend a long time on the road, run one, walk one, 14 of each.

Debra Bourne

Entered for  a half-Comrades, ordered T-shirt and made a donation. Didn't see anything to order the medal separately - did I miss that somewhere?

Mc Hilly

I think everyone automatically gets a medal? I assume that once finished will need to upload the results somewhere and also address so they know where to send the T Shirt!

Southern Snail

We need to upload the results before midnight on the day. Cool t-shirt Lowrez.

Was talking to Mac and have been experimenting with run 3 miles walk 1 minute just to give the legs a change. My last 2 x 28 milers in the last 2 weeks have been done like that (I suspect it was more than a minutes walk at the end!!!) It's not been too bad and I haven't had to stop other than a toilet break. I've been taking water with nuun in and salt stix. No food first week and half a (horrible) flapjack type thing last week. Theres no time limits on the Comrades Lowrez so you could put loads of walk breaks in but not half and half. Food and drink on the day need thinking about though 

1owrez

Pretty sure I'm just going to go out and clock a nice half marathon SS punching upwards to a 28 just isn't in my legs at the moment and with the whole year of running blown to pieces I don't think I am going to look back on this one and be disappointed or anything.

You have done massively well cruising 28s on fluid alone - how is it possible to locate a horrible flapjack , you need to enter Picnicland - I am about to post a stream of results, hoping you might like the next course, its taper time!

marty74

Cool pic lowrez

I've been experimenting the other way with fueling. Been reading up, and from what I have found, the consensus is to consume between 200-300 calories / hour. So have been working out what foods and quantities account for that. I think I am going to look like a pack horse when I'm out running

1owrez

Thanks Marty and SS

When I started marathon running I was advised that you need to take in 1g of carb per minute (have I got that right) and that is a hell of a lot of carbs! I remember the first time I went sub-4 my belly was dragging along the ground behind me I had drunk so much carb mix - that number just isn't right, you would die from obesity carrying on like that. I always had the impression that running would knock weight off, but definitely not so for me carrying on like that. I am still much heavier than I would like so I am looking at how running can actually assist in weight loss - hence trying to get around some distances with zero input. Must admit though, if I was in an event and got to a support table; I would not be holding back

1owrez

Monsterland is complete! MmcH's mus had a dreadful finish and came in just seconds too late; what a disaster! MAR romped  home past Rodan for a Mronze.

1owrez

We have three crunners queueing at the cheese counter for some Danbo, service is very slow due to social distancing, maybe they will have completed their purchases by the end of next week.


I managed to make it out through the self-service check-outs to join the finishers in the stadium, very pleased with my cronze!

1owrez

In Insectland Iike It is on the climb up Ichneumon, IcHilly is stuck between Blow Flies and Fleas (bet that's a bit itchy!), I'm on the way up to Clownies whilst IAR and Iax are well on their way into Dogbane, can Iax smash the 10 hour barrier?