Comrades 2018

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  • 1owrez1owrez ✭✭✭
    So are you in competition with me for the flowers this year Becca?

  • Becca7Becca7 ✭✭✭
    Haha, I hope not lowrez.  I might be pushing it to maintain my record of sub 10s but I'm hoping I still have a chance of that.
  • 1owrez1owrez ✭✭✭

    Actually, I'm considering "having a bit of a go" this year rather than being as tentative as I have on past occasions. I suppose I did push it quite a bit 2 years ago in the second half to get out of that self-made jam...

    Do you have an tips on where to put the effort in to gain a better time Becca? I don't want to waste any extra beans I might dig out on the big day.

  • Becca7Becca7 ✭✭✭
    No dramas from you this year would be good lowrez, unless it's drama in which you bag a Bronze.  I think that even effort is important.  The finish of the Down run is where a lot of the downhill is, so it's important not to overdo the first half.
  • Becca7Becca7 ✭✭✭
    And I'm sure you know this but it's not a good idea to run all the way down Fields Hill, as this punishes the legs too much.  
  • 1owrez1owrez ✭✭✭
    Aha - so a similar run to 2016 but focusing on the road ahead and not the photo opportunities with the admiring crowd! Maybe I can introduce the drama of me trying to dip under that Bronze wire instead of the survival wire? 
  • 1owrez1owrez ✭✭✭
    Hmm, what time to aim for half way then? Do I need to have an hour in the bag by then do you think or is that burning too much too early?
  • jkissanejkissane ✭✭✭
    Condolences on your loss Bike It.

    My number for the run is 26362 & will be arriving in King Shaka around 10am on Fri. 

    Did the last session on the Comrades training plan last night (6x2min hills) all easy runs from now on. It's a weird mix of relief & anxiousness now on my part :smile: My only goal for Sun week is to cross the finish line! My watch is only going to be showing me HR with no time data at all to stop any temptations creeping in.

    Doing a bit of pacing at parkrun next Sat & then providing moral support to a friend in the local half-marathon on Sun. He's been touch & go as to whether he'd take part & only committed today which is great. Won't be fast & I'd imagine we'll be taking a few walk breaks but that's perfectly fine of course.
  • lowrez: I think this one gives good suggestions regarding where you can afford to push the pace: https://bryanstonbombers.wordpress.com/directions/comrades-2010-2/barry-hollands-comrades-down-run/

  • 1owrez1owrez ✭✭✭
    Mmm good fodder, thanks Debra - I like the shirts he's advertising too!
  • Mac3Mac3 ✭✭✭
    I add my condolences too Bike It.  Hoping things turn out better for you on all fronts.

    JK - that's brave just to work off heart rate, but it sounds like you've done all the right training.  Won't it be tempting to check on splits?!

    I've used 5km splits the past two years to try to even out the bumps but I'll be keeping an eye on HR to make sure I'm not pushing too hard, which we all know is easy to do.  Tapered (Lowrez?!), fresh and raring to go.... I was thumbing through my Lore of Running by Tim Noakes and he says (echoed by Bruce I think) that every minute too fast in the first half will cost you 3 in the second half.

    Becca - I did the 10k at Leiden last year but I was moving last weekend so couldn't make the short trip there. I had been planning to do the half too.

  • 1owrez1owrez ✭✭✭
    Mac - ha ha - not tapered (enough yet) - not fresh - not raring to go - but thinking that 3 years of caution/respect is enough - served the apprenticeship - time to try and engineer a different result - even if that is just a few minutes faster than usual - I absolutely understand first half speed, having clocked a 6:09 for half way last down run and a 22 minute negative split to haul in an 11:58  in total - I just need to adjust that calamitous combination into something more constructive overall, so I wasn't looking at going "too fast" first half, just enough to crest half way with a gambling chance of a Bronze. Odds are I'll probably blow up and be stretchered off at the base of Fields Hill :)
  • Becca7Becca7 ✭✭✭
    Like JK I tend to use heart rate to judge effort and don't look at how fast I'm going.  When I get to half way I will assess how I'm doing and the heart rate strategy should hopefully have left me with enough in the tank.

    Mac - a shame you couldn't do the half, it was great training for the heat, if not the hills.  I hope the move went well.  
  • PG3PG3 ✭✭✭

    Just wishing everyone the best of luck for the big race in a few weeks time.

    Lowrez I hope you get to the half way a little faster than last time but make sure you still get to the finish (obviously the most important part)

    JAR - Chip!!!!

    Everyone avoid sick people, falling down the stairs or hit by cars.  I am training for a half ironman and got hit by a car 10 days ago.  My leg is one huge bruise and I have a bursa on my hip.  I think I can still make the start line but its not ideal.  Neither is the fact that the driver drove off (I did get the registration though so I might be able to do something)

  • 1owrez1owrez ✭✭✭
    Wow PG3 - if you can pin a driver to that reg at that time they will be in serious trouble I think. Blimey - you are lucky to be alive by the sounds of it. I hope you bounce back quickly - do you not fancy an up run sometime :):)
  • PG3PG3 ✭✭✭
    Thanks Lowrez. I gave a description of her so fingers crossed.  It could have been much worse. She overtook me and then turned left on me at a miniroundabout!  She needed to wait a few seconds to stay behind me.  Hey ho.  Anyway I hope this doesn't happen to any of you guys or any stupid pre race injuries or illnesses and you all have a great race.
  • Becca7Becca7 ✭✭✭
    PG3, poor you.  I hope that they find this impatient driver.  Good luck for your half Ironman.
  • PG3 - sounds awful. Hope you get the driver. Recover well

    Lowrez - so are you thinking of a sub 11? They were my thoughts to start with. I can do a marathon under 4h30 and under the old Comrade rules that was a qualifier for an 11h finish. But I'm not a pro and it's only my second (and last) Comrades and I think I'd be worried I'd mess up and not do the 12 hour cutoff and I feel I need to commit to one or another. 
  • PG3: that sounds unpleasant. Sympathies and I hope your injuries get better very soon. I nearly had a similar accident recently - a BMW overtook me and immediately turned left. Thankfully I caught sight of it out the corner of my eye and was just able to brake, veer round the corner and not get hit.

    Bit of a conundrum really: I can cycle and risk accidents (and it's not exactly resting), or I can run (accidents less likely, but risk of over-training), or take the train (increased risk of catching a cold or something).

    No idea about my pacing really for Comrades this year. Try to run "easy" and get to half way in something between 5 and 5.5 hours then keep going, I guess? I've no chance at a sub-9 and based on last year I'm not expecting a sub-10, but I really want to keep under 11 hours if I possibly can.
  • marty74marty74 ✭✭✭
    PG3 - that's such bad luck. No accounting for idiot drivers mind you....

    And the last down run i did in 2016, i ran the majority with the 10 hour bus (who was great BTW) and we went through drummond in 4.58 and finished in 9.57. Just to give some idea of what pace you could expect them to do.
  • 1owrez1owrez ✭✭✭
    SS - definitely stick to your strategy - you have the once in a lifetime opportunity of that back to back medal :) Don't go thinking that 11hrs was the "original true" format either - it started as a 12 hour race - 11 hours has been dabbled with but 12 is the true standard. At 4th time out for me its a lot less of a risk to have a punt at Bronze, even if I end up a dnf because of it.
  • Lowrez - you’re right of course. If I don’t get a medal and a back to back I’ll have to do another 2 comrades back to back, which isn’t my plan. Although I don’t know what next years plan is?
  • jkissanejkissane ✭✭✭
    Mac3 said:

    JK - that's brave just to work off heart rate, but it sounds like you've done all the right training.  Won't it be tempting to check on splits?!

    Nope, if I get the effort level right then the rest will take care of itself (or at least I hope so!). If at any stage I'm tempted to sneak a look at times then I'll just remember myself sitting in the 'bailer bus' feeling miserable last year which should put a stop to it pretty fast  :)

    Hope you're well on the mend PG3, that's a terrible experience to have had.
  • Snail: "If I don’t get a medal and a back to back I’ll have to do another 2 comrades back to back" - I THINK it's a on-off opportunity - has to be your first two Comrades finishes ever.

  • Debra - I have a feeling that they changed that so that providing you did 2 consecutively then you got the back to back even if you'd done it previously. Thought I read that last year but maybe I made it up :(
  • Terry48Terry48 ✭✭✭
    I bought a 'retrospective' back to back medal at Comrades House last year because that medal never existed in my 5 or 6 years that would have now qualified under current rules. They were happy to validate that post event purchase off the back of my record confirming, as it did, any two consecutive years.  :)

    I also tried to purchase a Bill Rowan off my sub 9 year (8:50) in 1980, before that medal existed.  Sadly, they could not do that one.  :'(
  • marty74marty74 ✭✭✭
    Safe travels everybody. See you in Durbs somewhere....
  • I’m here and I can confirm it’s warm and lovely.  Haven’t run for a week due to work so hoping to get a few runs in here even just to remind my legs what they’re here for!  Wish you all a safe trip over 
  • 1owrez1owrez ✭✭✭
    edited June 2018
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