Cyclists with a "Running" Problem

[Mats]

Carpet how was your first Marathon?

 

 

I finished my marathon.

 

However everything that can possible go wrong did.

Starting out my chest wanted to close down within the first 2 km.

I managed to get through it without using my asma pump and it started to ease at about 6 km.

Then from about 10 km my stomach started playing games. I had some unplanned pit stops on route followed by cramps.

From the beginning I just didn't feel the “mojo” but I carried on.

 

I went through halfway at about 2:22 and was considering packing it in but I continued knowing that there is going to be a lot of suffering happening on the second loop. At this time I also knew that I will have to revert to a strategy to keep going and try to finish.

The wheels started to come off very soon after this and I was walking more than what I was running.

 

For some reason my GPS was measuring more distance that what we were actually doing so looking at it had absolutely no point.

 

From about 27 km to 29 I was in a very dark place. I ended up on the pavement a couple of times due to my legs cramping. I had to walk for more than 2 km before I was able to try and run small stretches. During this 2 km the ambulance was very close on two occasions attending to other runners. For me that was very intimidating as I knew I was not looking good and I knew they will not even think twice to pick me up and load me in the back.

 

The last 10 km went better where I continued with the run walk combo.

At the last water point one of the water table guys gave me some of his beer which was the best thing I had all day.

 

I had a friend who ran with me the whole route and if it wasn't for his kindness and way he looked after me when I was in the “DARK” I would not have finished.

[ScottCM]

Well Done Carpet, that is some serious Vas Byt!!!!

[EmJayZA]

Had a nice LSD training run at the Hot Legs 32km. A tough but rewarding run with the last 5kms having some sting in the tail climbs (brutal at times)! Found it to be harder than the tough one but a rewarding and enjoyable run. Good turn out for their inaugural event! Alas race was not timed, hopefully they will have a timing company on board for next year. Feeling pleased with my running fitness in prep for IMSA in April

 

I decided to do the 15km for my long run last week. Was a very nice run, and think the event was organised really well. One of the mid water stations ran out of water, but all the others had more than enough. Besides that, it was a great way to do something new. I managed to do a shuffle up all the hills, so I am seeing some really good improvements in my running. Next year I will most likely do the 32km run in prep for IM. 

[Mudsimus]

I finished my marathon.

 

However everything that can possible go wrong did.

Starting out my chest wanted to close down within the first 2 km.

I managed to get through it without using my asma pump and it started to ease at about 6 km.

Then from about 10 km my stomach started playing games. I had some unplanned pit stops on route followed by cramps.

From the beginning I just didn't feel the “mojo” but I carried on.

 

I went through halfway at about 2:22 and was considering packing it in but I continued knowing that there is going to be a lot of suffering happening on the second loop. At this time I also knew that I will have to revert to a strategy to keep going and try to finish.

The wheels started to come off very soon after this and I was walking more than what I was running.

 

For some reason my GPS was measuring more distance that what we were actually doing so looking at it had absolutely no point.

 

From about 27 km to 29 I was in a very dark place. I ended up on the pavement a couple of times due to my legs cramping. I had to walk for more than 2 km before I was able to try and run small stretches. During this 2 km the ambulance was very close on two occasions attending to other runners. For me that was very intimidating as I knew I was not looking good and I knew they will not even think twice to pick me up and load me in the back.

 

The last 10 km went better where I continued with the run walk combo.

At the last water point one of the water table guys gave me some of his beer which was the best thing I had all day.

 

I had a friend who ran with me the whole route and if it wasn't for his kindness and way he looked after me when I was in the “DARK” I would not have finished.

Well done!

[shaper]

I decided to do the 15km for my long run last week. Was a very nice run, and think the event was organised really well. One of the mid water stations ran out of water, but all the others had more than enough. Besides that, it was a great way to do something new. I managed to do a shuffle up all the hills, so I am seeing some really good improvements in my running. Next year I will most likely do the 32km run in prep for IM. 

There are a lot of hills on the 32km and is quite relentless, not much of a rest between.  Hence why I said felt harder than the Tough One.  It was a nice to do a different route and as it was a chilled LSD base run for me as I move into the next 3 week build phase for IMSA, I was happy to run it with 3:04 hrs in Zone 1 HR  and the rest in Z2HR out of 3:17hr race time.  Which is surprising that I managed to keep HR down on some of those hills.

 

I left a comment on the organisers FB page about timing the event and they have advised that it was timed and we can expect to see results on http://www.raceresults.co.za/, even though there were no timing mats, no RFI chips and no clock at finish.  Will be interesting at least to compare race result to my garmin.

[Lexx]

So the past weekend was the Uniwisp 50km race. It wasn't to flat as my total accent was just over 500m. My plan was to just do a slow LSD run and get time on my legs. But I felt pretty strong and thought I'm just going to keep a constant pace and see where my fitness and stamina is atm. I didnt push to hard and felt in control the whole race, that's until we hit that Sh@t hill around mbombela stadium again. That slowed me down alot. But I still Managed a 03:55, which i'm pretty happy about. The only part I didnt like was those Chrome trucks that comes flying past you on the road. Sometimes even on the yellow line.

[SwissVan]

Well done Carpet for hanging in there

At least you have an “interesting” 1st marathon to refer back to for those around the braai stories.... ????

 

I think the correct term would be a character building event

Edited March 5, 2018 by SwissVan

[Hacc]

Congrats Carpet!! Welcome to the marathon club, there are not many people that can say they have run a marathon and it is a HUGE achievement, regardless of the time. 

 

I experienced the same problem with my breathing last year at Vaal. I just couldn't breathe. It was very humid and I actually felt claustrophobic with all the runners around me for the first couple of kilometers.

 

My normal "hitting-the-wall" kilometer is number 28... Even now after doing numerous marathons I still go thru that emotion of giving up. I usually try and convince myself just to continue for 4 kilometers because then you reach the single digit mark... with 10km to go.

 

Well done for continuing the second lap and not giving up. This shows that you are stronger than you think. I know you probably won't believe me now but it does get easier, mentally and physically.

 

I hope you celebrated your marathon with a couple of beers and maybe even champagne!!

[Hacc]

There are a lot of hills on the 32km and is quite relentless, not much of a rest between.  Hence why I said felt harder than the Tough One.  It was a nice to do a different route and as it was a chilled LSD base run for me as I move into the next 3 week build phase for IMSA, I was happy to run it with 3:04 hrs in Zone 1 HR  and the rest in Z2HR out of 3:17hr race time.  Which is surprising that I managed to keep HR down on some of those hills.

 

I left a comment on the organisers FB page about timing the event and they have advised that it was timed and we can expect to see results on http://www.raceresults.co.za/, even though there were no timing mats, no RFI chips and no clock at finish.  Will be interesting at least to compare race result to my garmin.

 

The no clock at the finish baffled my mind... Not even a finish banner... I will give some feedback on their page. 

 

I must say when I saw the 15km is an out and back I felt sorry for the 15km runners... Well, that was before I knew what was waiting for me on the 32km route.

[shaper]

The no clock at the finish baffled my mind... Not even a finish banner... I will give some feedback on their page. 

 

I must say when I saw the 15km is an out and back I felt sorry for the 15km runners... Well, that was before I knew what was waiting for me on the 32km route.

Both my mate and I commented on the out and back for the 15kms as it was almost 7kms downhill start, so would have been a longs slog back.  

 

Ya it was a bit weird with no finish line or banner, just run into the chutes and collect the medal.  Think the feedback will be beneficial as it could become a good race, if they take some of the advice, pay attention to some of the road crossings and water point issues.  

 

For me, I like the tougher routes like this... so will be back for sure!!

[ScottCM]

I have a 161km running problem starting tomorrow at 2pm.

 

 

Eish bud, best of luck out there. Give a race report on Monday

 

How did it go?

[EmJayZA]

Both my mate and I commented on the out and back for the 15kms as it was almost 7kms downhill start, so would have been a longs slog back.  

 

Ya it was a bit weird with no finish line or banner, just run into the chutes and collect the medal.  Think the feedback will be beneficial as it could become a good race, if they take some of the advice, pay attention to some of the road crossings and water point issues.  

 

For me, I like the tougher routes like this... so will be back for sure!!

 

Yeah, it was a long climb back. I stayed in Z2 all the way down, but then it become a tempo run back up, with very few flats and downhills to recover. Still was enjoyable though. My weekly hills session is paying off. 

 

They were handing out little peanut butter sachets, which I found odd. I am sure a lot of it went to waste. 

 

Well done to everyone else on a great weekend of racing. We have some really strong runners here. 

[Barry Stuart]

Did the Vaal yesterday for my first marathon with the goal of doing a sub 04h20 . Managed to get in with a 04h18 but those last 5km hurt a bit . That extra 500m at the end didn't help much either as well.

 

I heard a lot about how flat Vaal is which makes you work the whole way, after yesterday i can fully agree with that.

 

PS . Nice meeting Mr Winter and Andrew Steer out on the course.

 

Kudos, Khronis. That's a great time, especially for your first go.

[candz1]

Well done Carpet..thats fantastic, you never gave up!!

 

"you are braver than you believe, stronger than you seem and smarter than you think"

[Barry Stuart]

I finished my marathon.

 

However everything that can possible go wrong did.

Starting out my chest wanted to close down within the first 2 km.

I managed to get through it without using my asma pump and it started to ease at about 6 km.

Then from about 10 km my stomach started playing games. I had some unplanned pit stops on route followed by cramps.

From the beginning I just didn't feel the “mojo” but I carried on.

 

I went through halfway at about 2:22 and was considering packing it in but I continued knowing that there is going to be a lot of suffering happening on the second loop. At this time I also knew that I will have to revert to a strategy to keep going and try to finish.

The wheels started to come off very soon after this and I was walking more than what I was running.

 

For some reason my GPS was measuring more distance that what we were actually doing so looking at it had absolutely no point.

 

From about 27 km to 29 I was in a very dark place. I ended up on the pavement a couple of times due to my legs cramping. I had to walk for more than 2 km before I was able to try and run small stretches. During this 2 km the ambulance was very close on two occasions attending to other runners. For me that was very intimidating as I knew I was not looking good and I knew they will not even think twice to pick me up and load me in the back.

 

The last 10 km went better where I continued with the run walk combo.

At the last water point one of the water table guys gave me some of his beer which was the best thing I had all day.

 

I had a friend who ran with me the whole route and if it wasn't for his kindness and way he looked after me when I was in the “DARK” I would not have finished.

 

You can tell a lot more about a person's ability from their properly *** runs than you can from the ones where they fly. You've got the most important ingredient for distance running; GRIT!

[Andrew Steer]

Had a surprisingly solid outing at Vaal after my usual imperfect prep. I'd actually decided to bail on Saturday evening as I'd been having more 'calf pain' heading towards the weekend - this after having no issues running all week. After some deep massage and digging around the area though I realised it was actually my achilles that was just a bit inflamed and causing the pain and I might be good to run it still. I would just start, hope for the best and see how it went...

Niggles aside, I'm also just not in great shape, mileage is very low, training terribly inconsistent and also carrying some unwelcome extra pounds - with Om die Dam and Two Oceans around the corner though I just needed to do this or face my season seriously unraveling...

 

I started nice and chilled with my wife, my achilles lathered to the max in arnica... as I warmed up the pain in my achilles eased up and I got into a nice comfy rhythm. Saw Carpet and Seamus out on the route and wished them well, later joining up with Mr Winter and Khronis for large chunks of the route - always good to have company out on the route if you can manage it!

 

I'd planned 2:10 for halfway with a solid fade lined up for the second half, but ended up hitting half way in 2:04 - the fast route had us struggling to run slow despite pulling up the hand brake numerous times. After half way I just began wondering when my cramps would come, there was no way I was good for this. Miles ticked away nicely though, having someone to talk *** with always helps, around 30km in though my legs started to tighten up a bit and keeping the pace down was definitely no longer much of a problem. I kept shuffling on though, just ticking off the kays and making sure that finish line was getting closer all the time. With 5/6kms to go I was still around a sub 4:20 which would have been well above expectation, but soon after I realised my watch and route markers were a good half a km+ out and I wasn't in a position to crank things up to make back those few minutes, so I just shuffled along and kept trekking on to the finish a little surprised my legs had managed to go the distance (albeit rather unimpressively) - my mat to mat time was 4:26 in the end

This route definitely suites me for some reason, I enjoy the light rolling nature of it over the pan flat Johnsons. I was 11 minutes slower than my time from last year (not that I can complain), but there is definitely lots of work to be done. The later Comrades this year might be a big blessing for me.

Well done Carpet on your first marathon. In most countries that's as far as people go, it's just in SA we're befok with these even sillier distances. I know your time wasn't what you hoped for, but you will look back on this day with fondness, and remember how far you pushed your body. Vasbyt is something that will serve you very well down the road. It does at least get easier now that you've ticked the first one off.

Well done everyone else on their runs, some nice new pb's, and some impressive running in general going down.

Next stop the new Om die Dam route (after that little bike race in the Cape)