Category: Comrades 2013

  • The longest week done

    Comrades Training Theory The short version of  the theory of the distance part of Comrades training is this: Starting with what you can cope with in January run weeks of increasing mileage so that first 10 weeks average is rounghly 10% less than the second 10 weeks average with a once a week long run…

  • The longest week

    So it begins … The only way really to simulate the demands of Comrades without running it and without breaking down:  The highest mileage and hardest work week, at the end of 4 weeks of increasing mileage and effort work. My target is the Comrades run distance of  87 km. There are still 5 days to…

  • Reaching my limits

    I must be getting to my limits. I’m not sleeping right. I go to sleep early to get a proper sleep and wake, after 4 hours feeling awful but unable to sleep again Nor am I eating right. I pick at food, eat junk and less healthy food because its easier and don’t make sure…

  • Number Stories

    What stories do the log-book numbers tell? Distance 77 km in the Two Oceans week, 33 easy the next, then 56 and 65 km building to 80+ km longest week. It’s not a lot by the hero runner standards by it is more than the minimum and just a tiny bit less than what I…

  • Rest day

    Don’t know if I like rest days. Part of me says “Run … just a bit”. Most of me restlessly rests. I get up at the same time as running days anyway. Sleep just isn’t a comfort thing. Or more accurately, my comforts don’t need to sleep – but that’s another story. The real me…

  • 5 miles-8 km

    Good miles or junk miles? Sure there was a time when I wouldn’t run less than 12 km at a time. That’s a memory I can’t do now. The thing is, these 5 mile runs in the morning are working for me. They are short enough to recover from before the next run. They are also…

  • Harder miles

    If it wasn’t for the Comrades urge, I would have stayed in bed. Wind chilled the dark cold. Bed felt good. The roads loudly called me out to accumulate more miles.  Before even 1 km it was all okay. I could have gone on but I ran till I was pumped, flirted with the pre-dawn,…

  • The 2nd last phase of training

    Building for peak mileage The recovery week after the 56 km long run is over. It made me sleep long on Saturday and Sunday and miss the Monday run. Today I wanted to get out the door and did and felt very strong over ~8 km: run 1 of building to the longest week of…

  • Two Oceans Marathon 2013 – after the run

    Two Oceans 2013 – the experience As always being part of a great event is enriching. Two Oceans has the great South African ultra razzmatazz: big field of runners, screeching loudspeakers,  anticipation, seeing old friends – always a treat at the start, during the run and after; the count down, squash up of bodies in…

  • So … the last two months

    After the long training run Because I live in Cape Town, the Two Oceans Marathon is my long training run for Comrades. Razzmatazz and a medal for a training run is great. Because the 56 km Two Oceans is on Easter Saturday the date moves around and the gap between Two Oceans and Comrades changes.…