distance running blogs and events
2009 Loskop Marathon
Yesterday, 18 April, saw the 24th running of the Forever Resorts Loskop 50 km Ultra Marathon. This is an event that has been voted as one of SA's top road races for many a year and in my opinion it definitely deserves the credit. I completed my fifth and fastest Loskop to date this year.
Seeing as I have not yet qualified for the Comrades, the Loskop was basically my one shot at qualification, so I had quite a lot riding on the day. I usually prefer the Wally Hayward because it is a very fast, easy course, but because of the Comrades taking place earlier this year, it is not a qualifying race for the next year or so.
My plan for this years race was to finish in about 5 to 5:30. My Comrades training has been pretty interrupted thanks to a persistent cold / cough, so I did not want to put the bar too high as I only truly started training about 3 weeks before the race. But I did train very hard indeed in those 3 weeks :)
Throughout my distance running career of 5 odd years, I have always struggled with cramps. Come to think of it, I have hardly ever done any race over 32 km without having at least mild cramps at some stage. On Comrades etc they usually turn into pretty severe, debilitating cramps that tends to spoil one's race. I have tried most remedies through the years but none really seemed to work. What I enjoyed most on this years Loskop though, was the total absence of cramping. None whatsoever. My legs never even felt stiff, not even after the race or the next day. So I asked myself how this could be, and the following probable causes came to mind;
---- This is the first year that I have included serious gym work in my training. I try to do the super circuit at least once a day and I really focus on leg exercises. Who would have guessed that gym sessions actually helped... well obviously not me....
---- I ditched all the fancy supplements and stuck only to Magnesit and some Energy Dynamics Octane Gel for on the day. I take Magnesit on the road as well and it really does work, or it feels like it works in any case.
---- No more being a good boy the night before the race, give me beer and pizza! All my previous PB's over various shorter distances were run on pizza and beer, so I figured that should work for longer races as well. One large thick base Roman's Regina pizza and three Castle draughts seems to be the magic number.
---- I greatly reduced the amount of fluids I take in during training and races, sticking to the drink to thirst rule.
---- I go mountain biking for some variation in training.
Off all the above the most plausible reason is certainly the amount of time I spent in the gym. So before the Comrades, the gym will be seeing a lot more of me. Sure the others might have had an influence but I am sure the deciding was the gym sessions.
But back to race day. The Loskop is always an excellently organized race, this year was no exception. The start was thankfully moved back to 06:00 after being moved to 07:00 in 2008, which was a strange move indeed. Collecting race numbers was easy and after a minor inconvenience at the tog bag lorry (I handed in my bag without half the stuff that was supposed to go in the bag....) it was off to the start. The only thing I don't like about the start is they always seem to have politicians talking a bunch a crap that no one really cares about. I am aware that there are elections on the 22nd etc, but I am here now to run. So say good luck and fire the gun. That leaves more time for music and general jolliness.
The Loskop route is a pretty easy course, very easy in fact. There are only two challenging hills, Bugger's and Varaday's. The first 25 odd km are slightly (mostly) uphill but you hardly even notice it. The going uphill at the start is a good thing, later on the race is mostly flat and even slightly downhill which is very enjoyable. Apart from said hills off course.
Because I was only going for a five plus hour time, I decided to stick to a bus that came past me that was going for 4:50. I wanted to stick with them and then walk up Varaday's. A dodgy race plan but one that was in line with my perceived level of fitness. I have no idea who the bus drivers were, but they were two guys running for Gijimas and a nominated lady from Brookes. They were absolutely brilliant. By far the best bus I have ever run with and these guys are not even official flag carriers. They really run a tight ship and make you forget about the daunting 50 km task ahead. Soon the bus had about 30 members that were all running together very well and it became apparent that 4:50 was slowly turning into a possible 4:30. Now that might sound like bad bus driving, but I can assure you it was not. They managed the bus like pros and kept the pace as steady as a resting heartbeat. If anything all the bus members were pushing up the pace because we were all feeling so damn good. Whoever the drivers were, guys thank you and I really hope to see you on Comrades where you will be driving a Bill Rowan bus.
This is the part where I would normally complain about cramping and so forth,but I really cannot. This was by far the most effortless 50 km I have ever done. After 44 km of running with the bus, I came to the realization that my legs were feeling like I have not run a single meter yet. Sensing I could possibly still make sub 4:30, I started pushing the last few km's. When I reached the 45 km mark, I had about 23 minutes to go for the sub 4:30. That meant running the last 5 well under 5 minutes per km. The first km was easy, but at 46 km you hit Varaday's Hill which is a 2 km, steep climb. I just kept on pushing and managed to keep the next 2 km steady at about 5 min. This left me with some time to spare for the last two, glorious downhill kilometers into the resort. The Loskop truly has an awesome finishing stretch, unless your legs are shot. Then that last bit hurts like hell. I burned it down the hill and finished the race in 4:29.
After finishing, the strangest thing happened. I was not tired at all. My legs felt good as new. In fact my legs felt so good that I went mountain biking this morning with friends and wouldn't have said that I did an ultra the previous day.
All in all the 2009 Loskop was once again a brilliant race. Everything about this race is just good, the spirit on the road, the course, the water points, the organization,well basically everything. I will definitely be back next year to do my favourite race of the year!
Big thanks to Forever Resorts and all the other sponsors for making it possible -- and to all the volunteers! You guys rock.
Seeing as I have not yet qualified for the Comrades, the Loskop was basically my one shot at qualification, so I had quite a lot riding on the day. I usually prefer the Wally Hayward because it is a very fast, easy course, but because of the Comrades taking place earlier this year, it is not a qualifying race for the next year or so.
My plan for this years race was to finish in about 5 to 5:30. My Comrades training has been pretty interrupted thanks to a persistent cold / cough, so I did not want to put the bar too high as I only truly started training about 3 weeks before the race. But I did train very hard indeed in those 3 weeks :)
Throughout my distance running career of 5 odd years, I have always struggled with cramps. Come to think of it, I have hardly ever done any race over 32 km without having at least mild cramps at some stage. On Comrades etc they usually turn into pretty severe, debilitating cramps that tends to spoil one's race. I have tried most remedies through the years but none really seemed to work. What I enjoyed most on this years Loskop though, was the total absence of cramping. None whatsoever. My legs never even felt stiff, not even after the race or the next day. So I asked myself how this could be, and the following probable causes came to mind;
---- This is the first year that I have included serious gym work in my training. I try to do the super circuit at least once a day and I really focus on leg exercises. Who would have guessed that gym sessions actually helped... well obviously not me....
---- I ditched all the fancy supplements and stuck only to Magnesit and some Energy Dynamics Octane Gel for on the day. I take Magnesit on the road as well and it really does work, or it feels like it works in any case.
---- No more being a good boy the night before the race, give me beer and pizza! All my previous PB's over various shorter distances were run on pizza and beer, so I figured that should work for longer races as well. One large thick base Roman's Regina pizza and three Castle draughts seems to be the magic number.
---- I greatly reduced the amount of fluids I take in during training and races, sticking to the drink to thirst rule.
---- I go mountain biking for some variation in training.
Off all the above the most plausible reason is certainly the amount of time I spent in the gym. So before the Comrades, the gym will be seeing a lot more of me. Sure the others might have had an influence but I am sure the deciding was the gym sessions.
But back to race day. The Loskop is always an excellently organized race, this year was no exception. The start was thankfully moved back to 06:00 after being moved to 07:00 in 2008, which was a strange move indeed. Collecting race numbers was easy and after a minor inconvenience at the tog bag lorry (I handed in my bag without half the stuff that was supposed to go in the bag....) it was off to the start. The only thing I don't like about the start is they always seem to have politicians talking a bunch a crap that no one really cares about. I am aware that there are elections on the 22nd etc, but I am here now to run. So say good luck and fire the gun. That leaves more time for music and general jolliness.
The Loskop route is a pretty easy course, very easy in fact. There are only two challenging hills, Bugger's and Varaday's. The first 25 odd km are slightly (mostly) uphill but you hardly even notice it. The going uphill at the start is a good thing, later on the race is mostly flat and even slightly downhill which is very enjoyable. Apart from said hills off course.
Because I was only going for a five plus hour time, I decided to stick to a bus that came past me that was going for 4:50. I wanted to stick with them and then walk up Varaday's. A dodgy race plan but one that was in line with my perceived level of fitness. I have no idea who the bus drivers were, but they were two guys running for Gijimas and a nominated lady from Brookes. They were absolutely brilliant. By far the best bus I have ever run with and these guys are not even official flag carriers. They really run a tight ship and make you forget about the daunting 50 km task ahead. Soon the bus had about 30 members that were all running together very well and it became apparent that 4:50 was slowly turning into a possible 4:30. Now that might sound like bad bus driving, but I can assure you it was not. They managed the bus like pros and kept the pace as steady as a resting heartbeat. If anything all the bus members were pushing up the pace because we were all feeling so damn good. Whoever the drivers were, guys thank you and I really hope to see you on Comrades where you will be driving a Bill Rowan bus.
This is the part where I would normally complain about cramping and so forth,but I really cannot. This was by far the most effortless 50 km I have ever done. After 44 km of running with the bus, I came to the realization that my legs were feeling like I have not run a single meter yet. Sensing I could possibly still make sub 4:30, I started pushing the last few km's. When I reached the 45 km mark, I had about 23 minutes to go for the sub 4:30. That meant running the last 5 well under 5 minutes per km. The first km was easy, but at 46 km you hit Varaday's Hill which is a 2 km, steep climb. I just kept on pushing and managed to keep the next 2 km steady at about 5 min. This left me with some time to spare for the last two, glorious downhill kilometers into the resort. The Loskop truly has an awesome finishing stretch, unless your legs are shot. Then that last bit hurts like hell. I burned it down the hill and finished the race in 4:29.
After finishing, the strangest thing happened. I was not tired at all. My legs felt good as new. In fact my legs felt so good that I went mountain biking this morning with friends and wouldn't have said that I did an ultra the previous day.
All in all the 2009 Loskop was once again a brilliant race. Everything about this race is just good, the spirit on the road, the course, the water points, the organization,well basically everything. I will definitely be back next year to do my favourite race of the year!
Big thanks to Forever Resorts and all the other sponsors for making it possible -- and to all the volunteers! You guys rock.
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