Down, (down again) and Back - 2014

Dory Dory

Well done, Izoard! Welcome to Durban. :)

Izoard

A Long Walk to Freedom Durban.

Background
I’ve largely fallen out-of-love with running inthe past year, but Comrades has always been on the bucket list and with work changes looming, it was unlikely I’d be down in South Africa much, after June.

So, with my usual “how hard can it be” approach, I signed up back in November, and promised myself to put the work in, so I could at least survive this monster.
However, a couple of flat 50ks and the Barcelona Marathon later, my kilometreage for 2014 was in the region of 740km, not quite the2000k+ the Comradians seem to have as their minimum benchmark.

Pre-race:
A couple of days spent working in Jo’burg and then arrived in Durban on Friday. It has been 14 years since I was here last, and time hasn’t done the city any favours. Aside from the beach, it is one of the less-palatable SA cities.

Headed to the expo, and was faced with a massive queue for registration. However, although they charge Johnny Foreigner a ridiculous multiple of the local price to do the race, one benefit is that there is an “international” queue – phew!
This still took 20 mins or so, but not quite the 2-3 hours the locals were dealing with.

Pretty big expo, but any of the decent Comrades stuff had belong grabbed – they pretty much ran out of everything by Friday evening.
Met up with Comrades Buddy (CB), who was staying in a far posher-hotel and hung out with him for the evening.

I decided against doing the bus tour on Saturday morning, as the thoughts of 4 hours on a bus to see scary hills was not what I needed…
Saturday was pretty tedious with the rising dread only punctuated by a decent feed at the posh hotel, before setting the alarm for an anti-social 2:30am.

Race Day:
Having seen the chaos at registration, I didn’t fancy signing up for the communal busses that take the 18,000 or so, from Durban upto the start at Pietermaritzburg. Luckily CB was signed up to a package that meant he had his own transport to the start, so I jumped in with him.

The pick up was for 3:30, which seemed a little tight, given the start at 5:30, but hey, they’ve done this before, right?
We eventually got on the road around 3;45, and Albert, our trusty driver, was immediately confounded by the road closures in Durban, so finding his way onto the M13 was an effort in itself.

Once on the highway, we seemed to be climbing forever –thank God, this was the down run!
Once we hit Maritzburg, the traffic was completely backed up, getting into the town.

We had a very nervous Dutch guy on our mini-bus, who was about to explode under the pressure.
Dutch guy: “How far to the drop off, Albert?”
Albert: “Not sure, boss”
Dutch Guy: “Will we make it on time?” (Imagine this in capital letters..)
Albert: “Ehhh, not sure, boss…”

We were inching along, and the clock was approaching 5, with the pens closing at 5:15.
Eventually, we made the collective decision to get out and run to the start, so an unscheduled 2k warm up run was required.

We got to the pens just at 5:15 and after much confusion, managed to find the bag drop. OK – let’s get into our pen!
Except, the pens had reached capacity some time ago, so we were still on the street, outside the pens, when the count-down started.

A feature of this race is the SA anthem, followed by Shosholoza (which is the unofficial/preferred anthem), both belted out with gusto, by the 85% South African runners.
Then the cock crows, and boom we are off – except we are not.

Medals and cut-offs are decided by gun time, so I wonderedif the 6 mins or so, that it took us to cross the line would be material lateron…
Once our pen starts moving, we pile in from the street.
Race on!

The plan was to “run” for as long as possible, before switching to the run/walk. With no idea of the hills, I wasn’t sure if this would be at 5km of 50km.
First up was a gentle descent out of Martizburg, before the climb to the first of the Big 5, Polly Shortts. Fairly straight forward, but only when we were descending the other (hard) side, did it dawn on me that the “up”runners have to do this with 8km to go in their race – mental.

After Pollys, it rolls until the climb to Umlaas Road, which is the highest point of the race at KM21. I felt this would be a great psychological barrier to get through – it is all down-hill from there, right?
The climb is long rather than severe and over we go, 2;10 or so on the clock. From here, it looked like (on the profile map), that it rolled for the next 35km or so, but that was somewhat misleading.

At this stage the sun was up, but looked like there would be some cloud cover to take some of the sting out of the heat.
The race is exceptionally well catered, with water stops every 2.5km and the constant support all chipping in with their own goodies. I was toying with the idea of a backpack, but this was like an IM marathon, with the amount of food/drink on offer.

Camperdown and Cato ridge passed by – all manageable, but taking a constant toll on the legs in the heat.
At 40km, we hit the bottom of Inchanga and CB says we better start walking. Mentally, I thought this was a bit early to start with this, but he’d done the bus tour, so I deferred to his wisdom.

Inchanga is a brute. This climb went on for ever, and I would have been proud to make it up on a bike.
Most of those around us were also walking, even guys with 20+ Comrades under their belt – mindful of the horrors that lay ahead.

Through the marathon in 4:32 (KG, I’m still good for the 4:30 pacing in Dublin, honest:))and after 46km finally off Inchanga, down to Drummond.

40-55, was the real killer, and by the time we reached the top of Botha’s, my hamstrings were weeping in pain.
At this stage, I was cooked, but looking at the cut offs, we were well ahead, so, given it was “downhill” from here, we could make it, even if we walked most of it, however the plan was to run the down and walk the ups –if possible.

The descent from Botha’s was a killer on the legs and straight into another climb, before the “down” started in earnest.
While a lot around us were now suffering from the heat and general gastric ailments, I felt fine, except for the minor matter of my quads,calves and feet all cramping.

At this point, sub 11 was still on the cards and I was willing the cramps to ease out, so I could put together a reasonable stint of running, before returning to a relieving walk.
CB was in better shape than I was, but he dutifully waited up, whenever I’d start hopping around and cursing yet another cramp.

Walk up Cowie’s (the last of the Big 5), before switching onto the motorway, for the descent into Durban.
Sub-11 was slipping away, and I knew we’d finish inside the cut off, but I still wanted to run any bit I could, just to get off thismotorway.

It seemed forever, when we were driving up this road 12 hours ago, thinking at least we get to run down this to the finish.
I’d been looking forward to first setting eyes on the sea, but frustratingly, every hill crest, was a false dawn.

It may have been visible sooner, but I only registered it, about 10km from the finish.
A huge amount of suffering going on around me, but I was in my own world of shuffling hell, so was not much assistance.

Still some serious bumps to get past, before we hit the flatin Durban, with 2.5km to go.
We shuffle towards the stadium, the cauldron of noise getting louder after each step.
We close in on 1km to go and I turn to CB – except he’s not there.
Given he’s been waiting for me for the past 25ks, I presume he’s ahead,but I see him, white-as-a-sheet stopped just behind.

Looks like all those litres of water and other junk has taken it’s toll on his stomach.
We take a breather and he comes around and into the stadium.

Wow – what a finish.
The Sahara stadium is packed to the rafters and a wall of noise for the finishers – we get to do a lap of the field, before crossing the line together in 11:26 gun/ ~11;20 chip time.

I felt fine at the finish, so a slight sense of frustration that the legs packed up so early, but you get what you train for.
Bump into Boards Legend-of-Comrades, opus, who has knocked out a truly inspirational 8hrs something. Incredible.

Once we get a drink into us, attention turns to the bloodsport of counting down to the 12 hour cut off.
Heart-breaking to see people shuffling into the stadium, but who are going to miss the cut off by a couple of seconds. Once 1200 hits, the show is over – people start packing up and leaving, but runners are still streaming into the stadium – only in South Africa!

Eventually make it back to the hotel, where the next 4-5hours were spent in a writhing mess on the floor, with my entire body cramping in one way or another – the flight home today should be interesting.
All in all, a brilliant race – serious ultra with a big city marathon feel. Best finishing set up by a mile (including any IM finish) and the race itself is exceptionally well organized.

Almost all of the locals claim the “down” is harder – I find that very hard to believe. Anyone who has run the course in reverse, has my ultimate respect.
It is off my bucket list, but highly recommended for any of the serious ultra-heads here.

Done.

Kurt Godel

Well done on getting that monster off your list! It seems like an awful lot of suffering!

griffin100

I like the minimalist approach to training Definitely a race that's not on my bucket list!! Great report and well done.!

Dory Dory

You are a brave man, Izoard. Serious respect!!

Abhainn

Comrades is on my bucket list but after reading that I'll be expecting hrs of pain
Great account Izoard even with the excess details of suffering in there:)

ronanmac

Wow. Fantastic description of what seems to be a fantastic race. Fair play.

mossym

well done on the race and the report, it's a hell of an achievement to have it done

Izoard

Lost Sheep 2014 "Race" Report

I had great plans to get ready for this race over thesummer, once I had Comrades out of the way – never happened.

Any “training” has been doing gym work. Have not been in the water for a year, same for the tri-bike, and little or no running since Comrades.

By early August, I planned to transfer the slot, but missed the deadline and figured I could blag my way around and enjoy the scenery.

Race day was perfect – little or no wind and calm sea conditions – quick chat with BTH and catweazle and then down to business.

What could possibly go wrong?

Swim:

Very relaxed at the start, nice warm up and we are ready to go, waist deep.

Off we go and immediately, my heart is in the red zone and I’m really struggling for breath. Stop for 10 seconds, to get some free space and go again. As I’m reaching out, I get caught by a foot on my arm, delivering some hyper-extension on the left side, which serves to knock something out of place in my shoulder – some rotator-cuff issue.

Now, I’m struggling to breathe and can’t do any meaningful front crawl.

At this point, I’m last and the green hats are disappearing fast. Can’t quite believe this is happening – I’m not a fast swimmer, but can usually go forever without an issue.

The kayaks start to circle and I realise that the game is up, after 100m.

The lads ask me what I want to do – This is excruciating - I want to get out, but I can’t actually say the words – breathing is getting worse, but I can’t DNF after 5 mins!

With a swim cut off of 70mins, could I breaststroke my way around, despite the breathing issue?

I eventually made a deal with myself – do what you can, until they pull you out at the cut off – just so I could rationalise that I was pulled, rather than quit.

Long story short – dog paddling and hyper-ventilating, I made my way around in 57:48 – last out of the water….

On my knees on the jetty, I couldn’t stand up, but with abit of help, I was eventually guided into transition.

I spent a few minutes contemplating what to do – but I really wanted to do the bike and enjoy the route.

Bike:

Off I went, and managed to catch a few riders on the first climb, before the Healy Pass. Caught a few more on the Healy itself and cresting the summit, I was so happy I’d kept going – stunning scenery and fantastic descent.

At this point my lower back was giving me a lot of problems(not surprising, given the year away from the tri-bike), so the rolling section to Glengarriff was spent in all sorts of contorted positions, trying to get some relief.

Wasn’t clear where the Caha Pass climb started, so after 3-4km of climbing out of Glengarriff, it was a relief to see the “Caha Pass” sign. However, this was not the end of the climb and there was a bonus 1.5km of ascent, before the tunnels.

The wind had picked up and was pushing me around a bit on the descent.

Caught a couple more on the run into Kenmare and was feeling a little bit better heading into the run.

3:35 bike.

Run:

My back was in bits from the bike, so this was never going to be enjoyable – a couple of girls who I had passed on the bike, immediately caught me by 2km, as I was shuffling along praying for some respite.

I had no idea what the run course entailed, but the hills seemed relentless. Switched to a run the flats/downhill and walk the uphill,and the back improved a little bit and I started to pick off a few runners ahead of me.

This went reasonably well until the big climb at km17, whereI started to cramp and 2 of the CTC girls I passed on the bike, came past.

Once over the hill, it was a relatively straight forward runback to Kenmare, but a couple of nasty cramps meant I was focussing on no one passing me, rather than catching the 2 in front.

2:21, for a 7:06 finish.

Ultimately, I was happy to experience the race and finish,after the swim horror show.

I now know, that I can’t blag this stuff anymore – so it was the severe kick in the ar$e I needed to start respecting these events and train properly for them.

Cracking race, great marshalling and camaraderie amongst the competitors in the back end of the event.

The new focus starts today!

griffin100

Sounds like a rough day out. Well done on finishing, would have been easy to drop out during the swim.

I agree, the blagging approach can only get you so far.........more so as you get older

Oryx

Well done. It sounds truly awful!

Kurt Godel

Jaysussss- that sounds like a horrible way to spend a day. On the positive, you have enough stubbornness not to take an easy DNF, and you recognise that winging these events won't get you very far. I hope you get into winter training in a big way, its too early for the pasture of the golf course just yet.

Dory Dory

Well, I guess that's one way to do the Lost Sheep.
Props on not quitting....and props on having the guts to cross that finish line 7 hours later. You do some crazy sh*t untrained, Izoard....so naturally the thought of a well trained and focused Izoard doing crazy sh*t is both scary and exciting. Sort of has a reality-show/adventure-insanity quality to it!

shotgunmcos

Ah yes Mr Izoard, time to put in a winter with that new focus or take up golf! Kudos for seeing it through with good spirits as usual

Izoard

Kurt Godel wrote: »

I hope you get into winter training in a big way, its too early for the pasture of the golf course just yet.

shotgunmcos wrote: »

Ah yes Mr Izoard, time to put in a winter with that new focus or take up golf! Kudos for seeing it through with good spirits as usual

Jesus...two references to taking up golf - I now know I've hit rock bottom;)

Abhainn

Your some man for the pain. At least enjoyed the scenery, that's something:)

catweazle

Izoard wrote: »

Jesus...two references to taking up golf - I now know I've hit rock bottom;)

Not sure if you would have the fitness for golf unless you have the buggy, have you considered snooker or darts?

Izoard

catweazle wrote: »

Not sure if you would have the fitness for golf unless you have the buggy, have you considered snooker or darts?

Your (cat) weazle words are pinned up on the fridge...

Back in the pool after a year hiatus - rotator cuff still giving me lip, but if the wheels come off tomorrow (Sporting Proud/Brittas Bay Olympic), at least I can walk the swim this time.;)

Racing my way to fitness...

Dory Dory

Will you be doing Donadea 50k again this year?

Izoard

Dory Dory wrote: »

Will you be doing Donadea 50k again this year?

I usually say "never doing that again...", every year.

I'll see if I have the gra for running, post DCM, assuming KG doesn't sack me from the pacing team in the meantime...

You planning to make a special guest appearance?

Can Anto even afford your appearance fees???

Dory Dory

Izoard wrote: »

I usually say "never doing that again...", every year.

I'll see if I have the gra for running, post DCM, assuming KG doesn't sack me from the pacing team in the meantime...

You planning to make a special guest appearance?

Can Anto even afford your appearance fees???

My people and Anto's people are working out the contract details as we speak. We've run into a bit of a snag regarding what color roses and M&Ms I'd like in my dressing room....but rumor has it you may have connections to getting me in to a local golf club while I'm there.

Izoard

Dory Dory wrote: »

My people and Anto's people are working out the contract details as we speak. We've run into a bit of a snag regarding what color roses and M&Ms I'd like in my dressing room....but rumor has it you may have connections to getting me in to a local golf club while I'm there.

I also heard, you "don't do stairs" either.

Apparently, he has Mariah Carey on stand-by...

Izoard

After the horror show in Kenmare last week, I was not looking forward to this, at all.

Woke to drizzle on Sat morning, but by the time I got to Brittas Bay, it had cleared up and we were looking at good race conditions, albeit a little windy.

Swim:

Was pretty nervous walking down to the start – rotator cuff didn’t feel good and memories of the breathing issues in Kenmare were fresh in the mind. Only 38 of us (including relays), doing the Olympic (150+ for thesprint…), so there was going to be nowhere to hide.

However, the swim is parallel to the shore, so worst case, I could walk the swim…:eek:

3-2-1, and in we sprint.
Water lovely and I’m getting about75% extension on the left arm – good enough. Very relaxed, so I’m assuming my issue in Kenmare was initially psychological, but soon manifested itself as a breathing meltdown.

A little choppy near the shore, so after a few mouthfuls of the Irish Sea (the joys of only breathing to your left, in a race like this), I headed for calmer waters. With the current turning in our favour, this had a nice “downhill” feel to it.

The only challenge was to sight the marker bouy, which we had to round on the outside. I missed it, so had to swim back out to it – an unnecessary minute or so wasted.

The swim time was taken back at transition, so included a 350m sand/tarmac run.

Swim 27:39

Bike:

The traditional route of South Car Park-> Jack White’s->N11 ->Arklow turnoff-> Coast road x 2, had thankfully been scrapped at the last minute. The N11 roadworks, made it a death trap, so the new route was north from Brittas Bay for 7km or so, before turning left, past the Kia Vartry garage, to a 10km turnaround point.

Usual tardy transition and on the bike.

After 200m, a wasp/bee lands above my right eye and promptly delivers it’s venom.

I don’t react well to stings, so was cursing the insect,with the expected swelling and reduced vision.

However, that would come later, so the focus was on the current pain of general climbing for 7km on lumpy roads and into a cheeky breeze.

The turnaround seemed to be an eternity away, but once we made the turn, it was a fast return leg. No easier 2nd time around,but good to have the fast leg just before the run.

Felt I was going OK, but was not making any in roads into the few ahead of me, that I had aspirations of catching.

Bike 1:27

Run:

No back issues this week, off the bike (at least I was usingthe bike that I had done some summer spins on…), so was comfortable starting the run.

This is a tough run – heading South from Brittas Bay, you hit a very steep (but short) climb after 800m and my run legs had not arrived yet. There was a lad just ahead of me, so I couldn’t take the easy option and walk…

The course continues to roll to the 5km turnaround and I was closing slightly on my victims ahead.

However, the turnaround is at the bottom of a hill, so I struggled to keep my momentum, now that we were heading back into the wind.

Picked off a couple more, but my primary prey remained out of sight.

I noticed that the sting, while irritating, had not resulted in the expected swelling – maybe I got lucky.

Back in for a 53:16 run finish and 2:52 total (12thoverall).

Anything under 3 hours on that course is generally a good day for me.

Chatting to a few lads after, one of them pointed out that I still had the sting hanging out of the side of my head, so he pulled it out.

By the time I went to bed that evening, I looked like I’d done a few rounds with Tyson…normal service resumed.

Good craic afterwards, with the BBQ and beers flowing - always a great event.

Time to get the runners on and tool-up for DCM!

griffin100

Nice report.

Are you pacing DCM this year?

Izoard

griffin100 wrote: »

Nice report.

Are you pacing DCM this year?

Yes, assuming KG hasn't been reading my Kenmare race report...

Kurt Godel

Izoard wrote: »

Yes, assuming KG hasn't been reading my Kenmare race report...

I've read it, the tears are still rolling down my face! This endurance racing on zero training is nuts, I must do you up a 3-week program next time.:)

Nice going in Brittas, thats more like it!

Izoard

Lovely day for a lunchtime run - 15km out, back and around Sandymount....