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I recorded 2288m of which probably 100m is the run up the beach to the timing arch into T1 and maybe 50m from the start line until you hit the water.
Seen some reports of hectic swells?
Well done on the great times, guys!
hmmm
Well, at least the athletes received a fair amount of notice. Saw some other IM event switch out their nutrition partner two weeks before the race. IIRC it was IM UK and the switch was from High 5 to Infinit. Athletes were complaining about how stupidly expensive it was compared to the High 5.
Hopefully it is more available than High 5.
I swear, getting back into the swing of things is harder than the actual sessions. Been away for like 4 months from it all, and contemplating doing a 6 month build to Durban. But keep things light and with a goal to finish.
I throw them into a drawer. Will hang them on a nice hangar when I get round to setting up my pain cave properly.
Sorry for jumping in on your post Cheese, the excitement got the best of me!
How does one get there? Or rather, which entrance? I've driven past the gate on corner of Milner Road and Bram Fischer often, but is this even a usable entrance?
You just drive in and present your license. Park at Higher Ground. You can get directions at the gate.
Just be careful in the dark as the tarred roads are popular with runners, and are not lit up at all.
Non-athletic friends are one thing, Ironman widows are another matter altogether.
. Really tough balancing family and training especially if you have little one as well. I can see why long-distance triathletes have such a high divorce rate (Google it, it's a real thing)
We don't have kids, so I don't have the same time constraints as people with larger families do. But, I can imagine it being a real thing. Personally, if we had kids, I would not be doing this at all. There is no way I would be able to juggle everything, unless the kids are older, or I have a massive support system of parents / in laws / full time nanny, etc. Luckily, my hubby is so supportive, he lets me get away with almost anything time wise. I think it is however very important that we all have something in our lives that we love to do, and follow a passion. A lot of couples lose that individuality as well I think.
As for my mates, yeah, lost our closest friends because my best female friend was super critical, would get very, very offended when I couldn't go out from exhaustion on a Friday night, and told me I was too ambitious. I even got told I was getting old because I would fade at 11pm. Human nature is very odd, and it's always the closest ones that hurt us the most. I wouldn't change my choices though. Just one of the many things that triathlon changes. Thankfully my family are so supportive and understanding.
Fantastic, thank you. Will def start doing that from tomorrow morning. How many speed work sessions should I do per week? Something like this, all the way up and until I start a program for IMSA?
- Tuesday: speed work session
- Wednesday: 30 min brick at race pace
- Thursday: 30 min zone 2
- Friday: speed work session
- Saturday: 30 min brick at race pace
- Sunday: 120 min LSD run, zone 2
I would break up the two speed work sessions into a hills session, and then track. For the hills set, do something like a 15 minute warm up, 15 minute run at threshold pace and then into 200/400m climb, run back down to recover, go back up (3 or 4 times). This is good to build strength in your calves and glutes.
Track, you can do repeats of anything from 200m to 800m. You will have to check your suggested paces in an online calculator. For this you will need to do a 5km time trial. I usually do a 5km TT every 6 to 8 weeks to check that I am training according to my current fitness and speeds. My coach has us doing up to 2km repeats at insane speeds. Throughout the first one, I always wonder how I am going to make it through the rest of the session, but by some miracle, I always do. Almost throw up on some sessions they are so rough. I must say these sessions are the hardest, but I think necessary to get faster.
Also, you can introduce speed work into your long runs. So, do like 7 x 2/3 minute intervals at threshold in your long run. It's called Fartlek, or speed play.
I think speed work should be in every program, every week.
With a half IM you can still train and have a fairly active social life, with full IM training, it becomes very difficult to maintain that social life.
I noted that my non-athletic friends did not take kindly to my training at all. They took it as an affront that I was choosing to train over them 
11:11 at the end of the day, 3 minutes quicker than my up from last year, cup of soups never tasted so good - also still in disbelief I've actually made it through this crazy week.
What a day out, my battles beforehand almost made the day seem a little easier, things ended as well I could possibly of dreamed, my wife completing a 'perfect day' waltzing in around 11:45... that smile with her back to back is priceless.
Somehow I'm already thinking about next year... lots of lessons learnt this year to take forward
Well done! And I bet you will probably look back at this one with a lot of fondness. Thanks for the awesome write up.
BAB0AF3A-C01D-4B76-ABA8-8C726E27BE0E.jpeg
https://www.226challenge.co.za/
this looks like a fun way to step up in distance...
169, 113 & 56,5 options too
1-3 February 2019.
entries limited.
I want to tackle EL 70.3 again, so this is not an option for me. Would love to do it sometime though. It's great that we have choices.
This could be interesting, let's see what everyone did mileage wise (Jan - Race Day) and time achieved on the day?
I would include how many marathons / Comrades have been completed in the last 3 years as well. This data on its own does not really paint a true picture. A bigger base is generally a better indication.
We really have a great pool of runners here. Well done again guys. How do the legs feel the next day? Can you walk?
2
Congrats everyone. You are all very inspirational. I hope to be on that start line one day.
Running shoe question: -
I currently run in Brookes Ghost 10. They have a heel drop of 12mm. These shoes have about 350km on them.
Recently I have suffered with extremely tight and sore calf muscles (before 1km even sometimes), incredible sore right hip and now the latest is piriformis muscle syndrome. This is getting so bad now that I can hardly run.
Do you think it could be the running shoes? Previously I ran in New Balance and had tight calves but no other issues.
Very frustrating
Sounds like you need a visit to the chiro. I have had a lot of issues as a new runner (the same as yours except piriformis), and a chiro found the problem. My issue was hips that were out of alignment, which has caused issues everywhere. Working with a bio to sort out that and muscle imbalances from the misalignment.
Thanks for the insight, Ryan. Much appreciated.
If the bulk of race fitness comes from approximately 40 days out, then my late burst of training from 30 days out is not as effective as I was thinking it would be. I must keep this in mind for my next event - Tour de Tuli in August - Woohoo!!!
Ryan's base is much, much bigger though. So, I don't think this statement is really true for everyone. I have a very small base of just over a year of training. That does not mean I can back off my training until 6 weeks before EL, for example. I think consistent stress to the body over a long term (especially if one is new to the sports), with increased load for peak fitness building into the race is the best way to go about it.
2
Slowed down my pace and at 10km it was a sufferfest of 7min/km+ till the end. Lots of walking but luckily I made it in 6:15.
Got new respect for you tri athletes, and will see you in East london next year, and hopefully in PE if all goes well.
Well done! Excellent time for your first. Lots and lots of hills training for EL... See you there next year.
Where to get the results?
Google does not bring any happiness in that regard.
The Ironman app has all the results.
He was actually my bike mechanic for Cape Epic in 2014 when they were still Bike basement .. I think you are referring to Thabo (Vusi is the bigger guy behind the counter normally - I stand to be corrected though)…
Super nice guy and very talented runner...
You are correct. It was Thabo.
Wanted to share a quick story. I went to Cycle FO to pick up some additional winter gear as this winter is proving to be a lot colder than last year. When I went to pay, there was an issue with the card machine. Cycle FO's bike mechanic (Vusi iirc) was helping me pay. While we were standing around waiting for the shop manager to come back to assist with the machine, Vusi started telling me about his Comrades journey. He is about to do his third Comrades.
He ran his first Comrades in 7:15! I was floored. His aim is to get 10 consecutive Silver medals and he is a bit worried about it this year because he has picked up a little niggle in his calf. If he does not get a silver this year, he will have to start all over again. He runs from his home in Tembisa to the bike shop or sometimes his boss will drop him further away so he can run home. On weekends he will bash out a 60 or 70km run, starting at 3am. He is not sure how many KMs he does in a week, but he estimates around 150km. He said that he doesn't have any funding for "supplements" (like 32gi or High 5), and he has done some runs with nothing (which he says is very painful and difficult).
Just goes to show you can find talent, passion and inspiration anywhere.
Has anyone tried Maurten sports drinks yet?
It is now available in SA and it seems they will have a stand at the Comrades Marathon Expo.
The drink is used by some of the best runners who supposedly don't get financial benefits for using the product. Eliud Kipchoge, Geoffrey Kirui, Galen Rupp, Desiree Linden, Mo Farrah etc etc. all use Maurten.
Looks like very similar ingredients used in the Asker Jeukendrup's recipe as was discussed on bikehub.
https://community.bikehub.co.za/topic/30246-asker-jeukendrups-home-made-go-faster-drink/
Wow. It's very expensive. Seems very similar to High 5 though. Would be easier to get in high amounts of carbs purely from liquid.
We triathletes do runs of the bike for fun
I did a brick this weekend, and enjoyed my run more than the bike. Very happy to say that the "brick" feeling gets less and less after each brick session.
I cannot imagine what you guys are going thru emotionally, that trained for Comrades and cannot run.
I decided to pull out of Durban 70.3. It's not such a big event as Comrades, but was significant for me as I trained for it for a long period of time and was very focused. The decision was difficult, but I chose to look at it in a positive light. If I had a bad race (and I am quite sure I would have), it would have completely demoralized me. I decided to take it easy on myself, fix my issues and go back stronger next year. I will cross that finish line stronger.
The race is just a small reward at the end of the day. I do this for many reasons: the people, to stay healthy and fit, to keep motivated and I enjoy the training. All of that will still be there if I don't do the event.
Fartlek runs are important. They should be in your training blocks. Teaches you how to control pace, and add some speedier intervals into the long run.
I wouldn't taper for two weeks. Maybe the second last week reduce intensity and distance by 20% and then last week by like 50%. I would keep the speed work, cut out the long run and long ride to stay sharp.
My taper before EL from Monday to Thursday was:
Threshold run - 8 x 500m
1600m of swimming with 100m and 50m threshold repeats
1 hour IDT with short intervals at FTP
45 min Fartlek
Then just some quick sessions before the race at an easy pace with surges to race pace:
20 min swim
20 min cycle
20 min run
Ironman 2020 African Championships Port Elizabeth
in Multisport
Posted
Jeeze. Just heard the news. Gutted for all the athletes!