Mont-Aux-Sources 50km Preview

The time has come and tomorrow morning we'll be leaving for the Drakensberg! The Mon-Aux-Sources 50km Challenge awaits!

I am super excited and even more after I received this e-mail from the race organizer this morning:

Good Morning Good Morning J

 

He he he – some snow on the mountain this morning when we woke up – thought ill share it...just because I can and to make you a bit more excited! J

Awesome! I won't mind cold weather for this one at all. Here is the route description:

ROUTE INFORMATION

Make no mistake, the Mont-Aux-Sources 50km Challenge is a "toughie". But it's one of those races that are worth it. The route follows a hiking path up the Mahai valley and past the Mahai Falls to Witsieshoek Mountain Resort, a climb of some 1700 metres over a distance of 9 kms, and the first of four refreshment points.

From here to the Sentinel Car Park, a distance of 9 kms, it's very rough undulating dirt road resulting in a further climb of some 300 metres with fantastic views all around on a clear day. From the Sentinel Car Park to the top and back, water must be carried. Assume that the Tugela River is not flowing well enough to provide water on the summit. A concrete path is followed for a short distance then back to a zig-zag hiking path past the Witches, the Sentinel, Western Buttress and Sentinel Caves to the Chain Ladders, a further climb of 450 metres.

The altitude will be affecting you by this stage, especially those runners who live and train at sea level. Everyone wears a safety belt and sliding device attached to fixed ropes alongside the ladders. Peak High Mountaineering and Mountain Club of South Africa helpers will assist you to get attached and detached to the fixed safety lines. The trick is not to look down, but to concentrate on moving one hand at a time up the two ladders. You'll reach the top in next to no time, a short scramble over rocky terrain, a skip over the Tugela River and a much appreciated run down a gentle slope to the Tugela Falls.

Now the hard part begins! Labouring up to the Sentinel Gully. There is a risk of loose rocks and stones being dislodged in The Gully. Make use of the fixed ropes as far as possible, they will give you stability and guide you away from the loose sections. You cannot run down The Gully. Just proceed carefully and cautiously and you'll reach the bottom soon enough.

You'll be back on the path which led to the Chain Ladders. Just follow the same route back to the Sentinel Car Park, Witsieshoek and the Finish.

I'll be back next week with an update. I will keep you posted on Facebook if possible.

Run strong everyone!

Running Effort vs. The Time Of Day

During one of Bruce Fordyce’s up Comrades Marathon wins, he was the only runner in the top 30 that ran the second half faster than the first half. In other words he was the only top 30 finisher with a negative split for the race. When asked about this Fordyce replied that he ran the whole race at the same effort and therefore the flatter second half was faster. Fordyce always ran a consistent effort and did not try to run a specific or consistent pace.

Up Comrades Profile

I often do the same and try to keep a consistent effort and not always a consistent pace. Something that I find very interesting is how different my effort feels at different times of the day.

I mostly run early in the morning between 4 AM and 6 AM. I find that my total times for runs during these hours are always a lot slower than my times over the same distances when I run that between 7 AM and 8 AM or even up to 10 AM.

For example: I have a 12.2km route I run very often. When I run that during the week between 4 AM and 6 AM at what feels like a specific effort, I run the route in 01:23 – 01:26. For the same route and what feels like the same effort a bit later in the morning I average between 01:14 – 01:20. That is a big time difference over such a short route.

I always thought that I run faster with the same effort later in the morning, but my new Polar watch has proved me wrong. The watch shows that I do in fact put in a lot more effort during the later runs although it feels the same as the early morning efforts.

The pictures below shows my effort during the last three runs on this route. The sport zones show my heart rate during the runs with red=maximum intensity, orange=high intensity and green=normal intensity. Note the total time for the runs at what felt to me like the same effort/intensity.

Early morning: started at 04:50AM

Later morning: started at 07:51AM

Later morning: started at 08:46AM

The strange thing about this is that the effort I put in for all these runs felt the same to me. What does this mean? I’m hoping to find out soon. It leaves me with some interesting questions.

Do I need to push much harder when I run earlier?

Do we have optimum times of the day where our bodies perform better than other times?

How much does this differ from person to person?

What are your experiences with this? Do you experience the same? Can you answer the above questions for me?

I hope you all have a splendid week! Mine ends with the 50km Mont-Aux-Sources Challenge on Saturday.

Happy running!

Monday Update

I planted the tree we received at the Magaliesberg Challenge in a pot and realized I never took a proper photo of it and also not of the t-shirt and cap we received. So here it is...

Yellowwood - South Africa's national tree. So much better than a medal!

Cap and t-shirt. The shirt is Anette's. The women received shirts specifically for them...nice!

My 10km A Day Challenge is still going strong and well on track. I've had some good weeks in preparation for the Mont-Aux-Sources Challenge but will cut back during the next two weeks. So it is good to have some distance in the bank.

My progress up to now:

Weeks done: 12
Weeks to go: 40
Km done: 902
Km to go: 2748
Ave per week done: 75.17
Ave per week required: 68.70

Week 1: 84
Week 2: 80
Week 3: 83
Week 4: 69
Week 5: 56
Week 6: 54
Week 7: 80
Week 8: 71
Week 9: 80
Week 10: 86
Week 11: 89
Week 12: 70

That's all for now! Have a super week of training everyone!

2012 Magaliesberg Challenge Report

We left home just after 06:00 on Saturday morning to drive to the Van Gaalen Cheese Farm where the Magaliesberg Challenge takes place. I was ready for the 35km while Anette was ready for the 10km event.

We arrived with plenty of time to register and chat to some running friends. The venue is friendly with a beautiful view of the Magaliesberg in the distance. Although beautiful, I knew it won’t be long before I would be on some grueling climbs and descents on the mountain.

The 35km race is a point to point run and runners are transported to the start in the middle of nowhere by bus. This is quite a bumpy and shaky ride on some gravel farm roads.

Runners are dropped off in the middle of nowhere and then follow the 35km route over the Magaliesberg back to the finish. I did the inaugural race  last year, so I knew exactly what was ahead…well almost…

Drop off point and start.

Race briefing.

During the race briefing we were told about a 4km loop that was added this year to make up for the short course of last year. This, we were told, included a killer climb up a very steep “kloof” (gorge/narrow valley).

After the race briefing it wasn’t long before we were sent on our way. The first few kilometers are run on farm roads towards the mountain. This spreads out the field before the climb up the mountain. However, there was a fence to climb through after about 1km and we were queuing patiently for this. We climbed over and through numerous fences during the race.

Waiting for my turn to get through the fence after 1km.

As we progressed towards the mountain the route slowly starts climbing steeper and steeper. At first you don’t notice it, but after about 4km you realize that you are climbing already and the legs start screaming to relax before the actual mountain climb starts.

The climb to the top is a zigzag trail that seems to carry on forever. This is the “hospitaalpad” – the trail was used in the war to get wounded soldiers to the hospital safely. The views are splendid and as you climb higher it becomes more beautiful. Watching beautiful views definitely helps the climb to the top.

Beautiful!

It was a cool morning and I was running with a long sleeve shirt over my t-shirt. It felt a bit warm at times, but I knew once we go over the top of te mountain the cold wind would get us from the other side. I was so right about this!

Eventually I reached the first summit of the day. A great first milestone under the belt and I was feeling good. This is a really beautiful place.

Over the first summit.

There are rocks and rocks and more rocks on this mountain. The route along the top is not flat by any means. There are lots of ascents and descents as you make your way along the Magalies. I was aware of how dry and harsh the environment is. We humans are wimps for sure. Surviving in this landscape, as the local wildlife do, is certainly not easy.

Harsh, dry landscapes.

The harshness is complimented by beautiful rock formations and views. As with most trail runs, I felt privileged to be running there.

I had no specific plan for the race. Just cruise over the mountain back to the finish…yeah right…easy! This was my last long run before the upcoming Mont-Aux-Sources Challenge. My plan was to take it easy and spend some quality time on my feet. I did exactly that. I never worried about my time or pace. I only worked on keeping a steady pace and effort all the time.

 Cruising over the Magaliesberg…

I’m experimenting with food and fluid intake for my longer runs as I often have problems with nausea after 4 hours or more on a run. I actually carried more than 4kg (9lb) fluid and food during this run. I used more than half but I won’t carry that much during a serious race.

There are some parts that reminds of the moon…or is it Mars…?

I was still feeling good when I reached the main descent. This takes you down the mountain right to the bottom. It is steep and slippery with loose rocks, gravel and sand all the way.

Top of the main descent.

Once my legs just had enough from the steep descent I was treated to this sign…

Yes, Stairway to heaven! This was the start of the newly added loop.  It was steep and testing with plenty of loose stones on the way to the top.

Hard to go up on tired legs with this under your feet.

Still climbing.

Well, I did reach the top of the staircase to heaven, but luckily I didn’t pass on to heaven yet. It was now time to descent back to hell… The climb down was difficult and extremely technical. There was no trail and we just followed a dry river bed down the mountain.

The way down.

Nearly at the bottom. Amazing to see some water flowing out of the dry ground.

There was a warm and boring 3km loop at the bottom and here I felt they were just trying to make up distance. It felt like we were running in circles.

Who or what died here?

I finally reached the one and only checkpoint/waterpoint on the route. I was tired but good. The run to the finish was long and slightly downhill. I could see the finish, but it felt as if it never came any closer.

Long road to the finish.

I finally reached the river and knew I had only about 3km to go. My legs were feeling great and I’m very happy about that. I was a bit warm and slightly nauseas, but overall felt good. 

I ran the final kilometer through the reeds and river and was very happy to reach the finish. Anette welcomed me home and came to run the last bit over the line with me. I was happy.

We received a Yellowwood tree for our efforts. The Yellowwood is South Africa’s national tree. I love the tree and feel it is worth much more than a medal would have been. We also received a good quality shirt and cap.

Happy with my tree.

Although I ran a very slow race I wanted time on my feet and feel I did exactly what I wanted. Another successful race in the bag.