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Comrades 2022
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I hope you don't mind if I lurk here occasionally to see how you're all getting on. It will be just lurking because, sadly, my Comrades running days are over. I do, however, hope to be there as a spectator for Comrades 2022. (I've already booked 3 nights at the Belaire Suites!).
Just to explain my recent 'absence' it's all been about health issues. This April I was out for a jog with Mark A and I blacked out merely 300 yards from our start at home. He called 999 and I was ambulanced to a week in hospital. Many cardiologist and other tests then led to being put on the list for surgery. I had open heart surgery for aortic valve replacement on 1st October. The valve issue was diagnosed in 2017, although it was said to have likely been developing for years prior. So, it's just been a case of when, rather than if, for surgery. If you see me on Strava, you might have noticed that I'm now slow walking regularly as part of my cardiac rehab. It will be a long, slow road getting back to reasonable fitness but I plan to get back to park runs and other events more modest than Comrades, in due course. Hopefully, also back to scuba diving over Comrades time.😊
Good luck with your training for Comrades 2022, as it's currently scheduled.
I hope to see many of you there.
Terry, also sorry to hear about your health issues. Never say never though! The guy who got me into running was a heart transplant recipient and we did several marathons and ultra marathons together (incl Two Oceans). Park run sounds a lot more sensible though, for now at least.
Lowrez- im also targeting Manchester for my qualifier. Got about 6 weeks to get up to minimum base fitness to start the marathon training plan
Ive got a bit comrades mad to try to motivate myself. Bought some resistance bands to do downhill-focused strength training, got a Coach Parry training plan, Comrades 2016 tv coverage currently on in the background whilst i work. I suppose the next step might be to do some actual running??
Sun 28 Nov - West Coast Half
I wish you all successful and injury free training.
Sorry I haven't posted much but haven't really be doing much (until this weekend obviously!!). I have continued to drop in from time to time though.
I think my plan for next year is to see how it goes re Comrades. Coach Parry did a Comrades webinar last week and they seem quite hopeful it will go ahead, although almost definitely with restrictions in place. At the moment I am planning on holding fire and perhaps get a late room or flight nearer the time.
lowrez - I've just signed up to pace the Manchester marathon with a friend next year. If you can get yourself up to around 4.30 there will be a pacing group to tow you round
And thanks all for the good wishes for my 100 miler. I have tomorrow off work (need to learn to walk again!!), so will post a race report sometime tomorrow.
Halloween 100 – 30th October 2021 – Saxons, Vikings and Normans
So for my first 100 miler, I decided I wanted it to be fairly easy. Well easy, in the fact you didn’t have to navigate or carry much stuff with you, plus a very generous 32 hours to complete the course. I knew everything else would be hard. So I decided upon Travis’s Halloween 100 mile race at Samphire Hoe down in Dover. He is such a great RD and have done plenty of races with him before so it seemed the perfect fit.
A location notorious for its bad weather, however, having been there about 6 weeks earlier to run a race and check out the route, it was simply glorious. I was hoping for the same this weekend. How wrong was I. Checking the weather constantly in the days leading up to the race, did nothing to encourage me it was not going to be very wet and very windy. However, as I opened the curtains on race morning, it wasn’t raining, yet, so I’ll take that as a little win!!
I had signed up for this race around May 2020 in the hope of doing it last year but with everything that was happening, deferred it to 2021. In the meantime, I have completely changed my running training and philosophy. This was now going to be the first chance to test out whether what I had believed to be true will actually work for me.
The start was at 8am, so got there just after 7am to collect my number. There was plenty of people already around since there was also a 24 hour race and 6 hour race going on at the same time, with the option to drop down to 24 hours if it all went a bit wrong. Something I had no intention of doing. As I collected my number, I was delighted to hear the original route would be used which included running along the sea wall. There was a doubt this may have to be closed for the bad weather that was due to hit us later. However, when we lined up for the start, Travis informed us, the sea wall had indeed been closed; he had been scurrying around, altering the course so it meant the backup course would be used, which included the wasteland area of Samphire Hoe, which I knew was not going to be that pleasant.
So at around 8.10am, off I went, walking of course since there was a slight slope to start with!! That was my plan, walk the slopes and run the rest as best I could. If I could still run after 60 miles or so I would be happy. Thankfully I had my amazing Mum to help crew me. She was brilliant, and soon after the start, certainly less than 2 miles as we passed the crew station for our trip up to the top of the cliffs, my first piece of food was passed to be consumed as I walked up the hill.
So for the next mile and half or so, walking ensued but when you got to the top of the cliffs, it was so very windy, walking turned out to be more economical. I knew I had to run some bits, so stuck to my plan of walking 5 minutes then running the rest of the mile. This had served me well in training so knew the ratios worked well for me.
The number still seemed huge as I finished the first 4 laps. 25 miles completed in around 5 hours 10 minutes. In that time though, amongst the winds, we had a complete downpour for about 20 minutes which felt like being in a shower. Thankfully as it turned out, that was the last of the rain, for me anyway and we managed to dry out when we ran on the top of the cliffs with all that wind!!
Doing a bit of quick maths, my time was hovering around the 20 hour finishing mark, which was never a realistic possibility since I knew I would be stopping to eat on numerous occasions. But I was pleased with how I was feeling, not tired and nothing really aching. I had though miscalculated the number of laps on the top of the cliffs, so when I thought I was on my last (6), I found out I had one more to do, so that messed with my mind for a bit. But I knew 50 miles would be soon on the horizon and was going to be stopping for about 20 minutes to eat some proper food, have a cup of tea, change of clothes etc, so knew everything should feel better with the world at that point.
So 50 miles and I was at around 10 hours 30 minutes, so pretty much the same time as the first 50 which I was pleased about. It was giving me confidence that my pace was pretty much spot on and I hadn’t yet started to slow. But then the darkness fell and I had the 16 laps of the wasteland underneath Samphire Hoe to complete.
Those first few laps were tough. It was a 1.64 mile out and back so you were constantly passing people, at some points on paths that you could just about pass on, but with the glare of everyone’s head torches, became interesting at times. It seemed forever for those numbers to start coming down, but eventually I got to 7 so knew I was in single figures at last. Travis and Rachel were great at the aid station with encouragement all the time.
I still didn’t really know what time I would finish in. I was just playing games with myself each mile. I really wanted a sub 24 hour finish so was simply trying to keep each mile below the magic 14.24 target time. If I could do that, based on the first half of the race, I knew I had a chance. I was still running as strong as ever, when I did run and apart from feeling a bit achey, everything else was fine.
Eventually 75 miles came into view at about 16 and half hours. The numbers felt manageable now. Less than a marathon to go and if I could do it under 6 hours, then I would finish under 23 hours, beyond my wildest expectations. I had some more food and challenged myself to complete the next 4 laps (about half marathon) in 3 hours and see where I was. My next major milestone was going to be 86 miles, the furthest I had ever run (The Ridgeway), so that was a boost and fun to see mile 87 come up on my watch.
That half marathon came and went fairly swiftly. It was just a case of keeping moving forward, to which thankfully I could still do. My main head torch then decided it was time to run out, so a quick swap to a backup one ensued. I put my main one on charge and set off again. Oh my god. I didn’t appreciate how much light my main head torch gave me. The next lap I had to tiptoe around the course trying not to fall over since my backup wasn’t that great at all. It had been charging for about 40 minutes so decided to change back over the next time I passed my car and then run on a lower setting, hoping this would get me to the end.
I then decided to eat some more food rather than press on for the final 3 laps in one go. I felt the break would prove more useful rather than trying to trudging on. But then I was into the 90’s. That felt amazing and gave me such a boost. The course was getting thinner with people as they either had finished or stopped for whatever reason.
The final lap through the wasteland for the final time was good, I could still run when I wanted to and then back to the start for the final little half lap. A quick stop to make sure Mum was awake so she could be at the finish and then off I went. I still stuck to my plan, walking the up bits (such that they are!!) and then running the downs. I knew I had less than 20 minutes of running left now. My legs felt surprisingly Ok as I walked up the final hill. And then along the final bit to the finish that I had run 16 times previous. Amazingly I managed to increase my speed and finished with a smile on my face and a bit teary.
So I had completed my goal of 100 miles. Finish time of 22 hours 25 minutes and 39 seconds. Beyond my wildest dreams and something I never thought possible. I know I have given it my all, both in training and the race. It made it extra special to be able to share it with my Mum. We have some wonderful memories of the weekend together.
At least now I can tick that off my list. I know it’s only been a few days and the motivation may well return to do another, but at the moment, I am perfectly content with just doing one.
I’m almost certainly not going to Comrades next year, can’t imagine China relaxing it’s 3 week quarantine requirement in the near future, so trips abroad will be limited. I must admit I’m looking forward to a marathon I have in early Dec (if it doesn’t get cancelled) and then a relaxing few months just doing very gentle runs and training for nothing!
You were doing heart rate training if I remember. How exactly did you do it?
In the end, I settled upon using the Maffetone method. Basically your HR number which you don't go above is calculated as 180 - age. This gives you your number which is known as your Maximum Aerobic Function. I just wanted something very simple to follow and as I have been learning during the year, as long as you are running in your aerobic zone, it really doesn't matter about the pace.
I have to say though, the first 6 or so weeks were quite tough to continue with the method. I had to basically reset everything I thought I knew and had to believe in the process. During this time, pretty much every run I was running a bit, then my HR would spike above the MAF number so I would have to walk to lower again. This continued for about 6-8 weeks and then that light bulb moment happened. I could run for my entire run under my MAF number, or at the very least 1-2 beats over. And from then, it has been so enjoyable.
Every month it is recommended to run a MAF test. Basically a 5 mile run over a known course to track your improvements. Over the year, for me anyway, my pace per mile has reduced by well over a minute at the same effort / intensity. So I know it is working for me.
Coupled with the fact I wanted to run more for the 100 mile race, this was essentially the only way I could see to get the more time on my feet, stay injury free and not be tired after sessions so could build week on week. I walk a lot more during my runs now, particularly the longer runs and have been practicing my run / walk strategy loads.
I have to say it helped so much not having any races to run at the start of the year so you were basically just running for yourself. My enjoyment of running has never been higher. As long as you can leave your ego at the door, don't worry what Garmin, Strava or your friends say, then I reckon HR training can work. It is not a short term thing though and results will take time to see.
It intrigues me now what I might do at Comrades using this strategy. Before when I have trained, I used pretty much the same plan but somehow expected different results. Now I have made a big change to how I run so I expect the results to different one way or the other
how are we all, and ready for pending LD4
I noted that since Comrades AGM earlier in the week their posts have gone very quiet, was hoping they’d be announcing more on the race, qualifying window etc, seems they may have known of Omicron before others 🤷♂️ 🤷♀️
who knows what’s going to happen now? I was considering after 2Oceans release details earlier in the week to possibly do that but in all honesty that’ll be lucky to go ahead in April surely?!