Training log - 05.08 - 11.08

This was supposed to be a high mileage week but some work-induced rest days meant it was a mid-mileage but also included some good strength training.

Monday - Run - Lost in Newlands Forest

I set off up to the contour path and although feeling sluggish I got up there in decent time. From there I set a decent pace to the King's Blockhouse and did the loop around the top and down to Tafelberg road. It was at this point that I realised my eagerness for summer completely messed up my knowledge of what time it gets dark and as I rounded Devil's Peak to get pack to the Southern Suburbs side of the mountain I knew I was going to be in trouble. I had decided to completely ignore all advice I have ever received and was running without any food, protective gear, first aid kit or headlamp. I opted to head down the mountain biking trails rather than along the contour path but by the time I was back on the Jeep track it was pitch black. After stumbling around in the dark I came to a point where I could either head on a little incline or take a left onto some single track. My logic was that I needed to get back to the M3 as soon as possible so I headed on the single track. Pitch black trail stumbling is quite frightening but I eventually found what looked like a deserted building. After a mild panic I spotted a road past and eventually found myself on tar which popped out near UCT. I realised I had been in Groote Schuur Estate which I have never even been in day time so no wander I was confused. Later looking on Strava I realised that when I opted to go on the single track I was actually quite close to Newlands Forest and so ended up on a blind detour. After collecting the last car in the car park, I vowed to always run with a headlamp even if it is mid-day in an Icelandic Summer.

12.7km
750m climb
1:21:31

Tuesday - Rest day

Wednesday - CrossFit - Filthy 50

Sies

The kind people of TAGG CrossFit served up one of the most famous and toughest CrossFit workouts for us. The aptly named Filthy 50 involves 50 disgusting reps of 10 different exercises for a total of 500 reps. The time cap is 30 minutes so this was going to be longest CrossFit workout yet.

50 x Box jumps    60cm
50 x Jumping pull-ups
50 x Kettlebell swings   16kg Russian
50 x Walking lunge steps
50 x Knees to elbows   (or in my case Knees to somewhere near my triceps)
50 x Push press   20kg
50 x Back extensions   with 16kg kettlebell
50 x Wallballs   6.5kg
50 x Burpees
50 x Double unders   150 single skips



Good spirits after the filthiest 50

I was happy with my performance and felt quite strong until the wallballs. After slugging them out, the burpees were done through sheer determination as I could only manage 3 at a time (16 sets of 3 and 1 set of 2!). I was happy that I finished the workout in the time cap but I am keen to give it another go in a few months to try and do better.

Result: 29:38





Thursday - Rest day

Friday - Run - Constantia Nek to Noordhoek

Good morning Southron people

We were due for breakfast at the Outlaws in Noordhoek so I thought I would take my little sister's boyfriend (let's call him Silver) on a more scenic route to get there. Silver is a very accomplished (read fast) road runner but quite new to trail so I was hoping to get him hooked. After consulting www.trailroutes.co.za I found that we can get dropped at Constantia Nek and run over Vlakkenberg and Silvermine down into Noordhoek Village. We started climbing immediately which was tough on the legs without much of a warmup but after eventually reaching the top we were treated to some fun single track. Little patches of more climbing and dropping down until we landed on the tar road up to the Mast. We turned right and stretched our legs to jog all the way up. This is a solid incline but added some decent mileage on. After suffering through the flashbacks of the Mast Challenge in April (www.mastchallenge.co.za) we headed down the trail which basically goes around the side of Elephants Eye.

Proof that we made it to the Mast

There was some pretty hairy single track where if you took your eye off the path you would see a pretty steep drop-off, we decided to keep our eyes on the path rather and this took us down into Silvermine Reserve near the damn. Back on road again we upped the pace and ran down to the gate. At the gate we took a right to go back on the trails. Unfortunately we took a wrong turn here and found ourselves on Ou Kaapse Weg. We were feeling exhausted as we forgot to take water with us and there was nothing along the way so, instead of back tracking, we ran down Oukaaps to our finishing spot at Noordhoek Village. This was an incredible training run with a good combination of climbing and single track as well as some road sections to stretch the legs and get some mileage in. This will surely become one of my favourites.



22.4km
716m climb
2:43:52

Saturday - Rest day

Sunday - Run - Seven Oaks Vineyards

Team TAGG CrossFit

We were away for the weekend again for a planning session with the team from TAGG CrossFit. The Lady Falcon, Iron Toad, MouseFit and I headed to Seven Oaks Vineyards (www.sevenoaks.co.za) for some rest and strategizing. Seven Oaks is a small wine farm which has a group of rustic and quaint self catering cottages. It is situated between Rawsonville and Wolesely. The owners turned their old compounds into some slick cottages that provide the perfect retreat from big city life. On Sunday morning we took a break from work and staring at the snow capped mountains to go for a short jog through the vineyards. We did a lap and then some back and forth through the cherry blossoms until finishing along the river. Lots of fun.

6.3km
45m climb
0:37:39

Week run total

Mileage - 41.4km
Metres gained - 1,511m
Time - 4h43

The view from our cottage. Note the snow on the mountains, the same mountain range that I will be running up at the end of October for the Matroosberg Skymarathon