May 25th -May 31st

"I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I needed to be." - Douglas Adams

Monday:

Spent the day walking around the Waterfront in Cape Town before heading to the airport at 4pm for my 8pm flight home.  Should get home about noon Denver time on Tuesday which will make about a 25 hour travel day ahead of me.  Did walk about another 7 miles today around town if that counts for anything.

Tuesday:  

Got home around 1pm Denver time today... so wiped.  Tried to stay awake as long as possible but did not sleep hardly at all on the plane last night.  Went to bed at 3pm, woke up at 7pm then back to bed from 9pm until 4am.  Hopefully that will get me back on track.  Did come home to a postcard from JT and some new prototype Speedland shoes that I can't quite talk about yet.

Wednesday:

9 AM:  4 miles averaging 7:40pace.  Easy short jog from work mid-morning. First run since the marathon on Sunday. Legs of course still feel like shit between the race and the long travel home. Still bloated and swollen from the knees down, mostly in the ankles/feet.  

5 PM:  50mins at VASA doing lift class with Paula.  Trying to get back into the routine.

Thursday:  

I had every intention to run today but bailed on it due to work getting super busy getting caught up and just still wiped out today.  This week is just about trying to get back to the baseline I was at before I left both sleeping and eating wise along with getting recovered from the marathon and travel.  A rest day today would do me good.

2:30PM:  75min massage to try and flush the fluids that is still lingering in my lower legs.  I still have cankles from the long travel.

Friday:

7 AM:  5.5 miles w/ 1100ft of vert averaging 9:30pace.  Easy lap from South Mesa trailhead trying to find my trail legs again.  Did trip on the way up and twisted my right knee that caused me to walk for a bit to work it out.  Hopefully nothing serious.  Also tested out another new prototype from Speedland that I may just really like, at so far.  I have 2 different Speedland prototypes that I am testing now in this build up to Hardrock.

-- Had plans to lift tonight as well but with twisting my knee today decided to bail on that and let it rest with the hope I can get back out on the trails again in the morning with Donnie.  

They posted the photos they took during Cape Town Marathon and of course I bought all of them, could not resist since it was only $60 for all 122 photos.  Here are a few of me and a few race photos as well.  As  you can see it just might be up there for one of the most beautiful road marathon courses out there.

Saturday/Sunday 

-- Ended up taking the whole weekend off from any activity at all due to how my knee was feeling from Friday's run.  Had issues even walking down the stairs at home on Saturday and got a little better on Sunday.  Really concerned to what happened to it.  I thought I just twisted it some in Friday's trail run but did hear a pop when I hyperextended it which now has me worried.  Decided that 2 days off will not hurt anything and actually may help me overall, especially with being a little burned out as well.  Plan on testing it on Monday morning before work so we will see.

Total Weekly Numbers

The lowest week I think I have had in a while without injury being the reason.  That travel really messed me up as far as recovering from the marathon last week.  Been grinding for the better part of the past 18 months without any real breaks so this was needed.  Hopefully the knee is good and we can start the real Hardrock training on Monday since it is only 6 weeks away so I have some serious hill work to do in the next month.

May 18th- May 24th

 "You can't be that kid at the top of the waterslide overthinking it. You have to go down the chute." Tina Fey

Monday:

--  Headed to the airport at 8am this morning for a long travel day, the longest travel I have done yet, heading to Cape Town.  It will take about 26 hours total to get there including the layovers getting me there on Tuesday afternoon Cape Town time.  

Did make it a point to walk as much as possible before my flight left DIA and during my layover.  I tracked over 7 miles today doing laps of the airports.  

Tuesday:  

-- Finished book 15 of the year on the flight over to South Africa.  Smile or You're Doing it Wrong.  Try to support people I know but not sure I would buy this book again, entertaining but just not my cup of tea.

Landed in Cape Town at 3pm Cape Town time with very little sleep.  I just don't sleep much on planes.  Not much to report besides checking into the hotel, shake out jog, dinner then try to sleep.  That was about the extent of my first afternoon/evening here.  Of course slept like shit.

5PM: 3.25 miles averaging 8:20pace.  Shakeout jog after getting to the hotel in Cape Town. So wiped from the 24 plus hours of travel. Slow due to being wiped and having to use Google maps the whole time so I don't get lost. LOL...

Wednesday:

Morning through 3pm:  Today might have been one of the coolest days I have ever had when traveling somewhere.  I booked a half day tour of the Cape Town peninsula with stops at Boulder Beach where the penguins are which was my #1 thing I wanted to do here.  I was not disappointed.  I am just going to let all the photos and videos below kind of tell the story.

4PM: 8.2 miles averaging 7:30pace.  Easy hour on the boardwalk along the Waterfront after getting back from the tour. Run felt okay but sleep is hard to come by with this time change, not adjusting well, worried I will sleep through the race start on Sunday, lol.... hopefully I start to adjust better in the next day or two. Also always get really constipated and bloated, usually passes 24 hours after I arrive some where but has not yet. Of course this is my first time traveling like this for a race so there is that as well.  Of course since this was my first real run here I took a lot of photos.

Thursday:  

2 PM:  8 miles averaging 6:50pace.  Slept in today and took my time getting moving today.  Had nothing planned except for my run.  This was sort of an adjustment day for me, at least I hoped it would be.  Short workout day on the boardwalk along the Waterfront. Felt pretty good overall and got a lot of looks from people when I was moving at the quicker pace. Workout was:

20 min warm up
2x30 sec fast/30 sec easy
15 min at marathon effort
10-15 min easy

The marathon effort was below 6min pace.

Friday:

-- Spent the morning doing a half day bus tour of the city that ended with a stop at the race expo to check in and get our bib.  A lot of the tour was cancelled due to the rain but did get to see some cool stuff. 

 

2 PM:  15mins on the elliptical while waiting for a treadmill at the hotel to open then 3.2 miles averaging 7min pace on the treadmill.  Easy shake out on the treadmill since it was raining outside. Felt good and upped the speed the last few mins. Back locked up as I was walking back to the hotel room, WTF??!!

--  This evening we had the Age Group Championship Welcoming Celebration that they put on for us 1800 age group athletes that came to run.  Such a cool event they did for us.

Saturday: 

11 AM:  4.5 miles averaging 7:40pace.  Tried to sleep in this morning and overall made it a chill day before the race tomorrow.  Super chill shake out jog along the Waterfront again today. Did throw in some strides just over halfway through the run. Strides felt good today.

Sunday:  Cape Town Marathon!!!  26.3 miles w/ 800ft of vert averaging 6:22pace or 2:48:01 total time.  Went super well until it didn't. I gave it a shot. Honestly did not know how my body would respond with travel like this, first time doing this. Went through the half at just over 1:17 then shit hit the wall a few miles later. Bathroom issues started around mile 16.5 for 3 stops in the last 10 miles plus the right IT band and glute sort of cramped and shut down around mile 20. Basically just jogged the last 10 miles in to get it done. Guess being constipated and only sleeping 3-4 hours a night is not good for the week leading into a marathon. LOL.... I will be back to try the marathon overseas again in the future, I kind of want to figure out how to make it work for me with the long travel. My CIM time in December should get me into the Age Group Championships again in 2027 due to the timing of CIM.  In 2027 it will be in Tokyo.

Total Weekly Numbers

"I have not failed.  I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work." - Thomas Edison

Did not have the race that I trained for and that I know I can do but still would not trade this trip for anything.  It was a trip of a lifetime for me.  I learned a lot about traveling internationally to race, some do's and don'ts that I need to keep in mind if I ever try to do this again which I am sure I will at some point.  If you ever get the chance to run the Cape Town Marathon or any of the trail races they put on the day before the marathon jump on it.  This is one of the neatest countries out there.  Time for 1 week of recovery, getting back on the right time zone at home then 5-6 weeks to get ready for Hardrock 100.  The grind never stops.