Big 5 Challenge – From a Weekend Warriors Perspective

This blog post, in true Cape Town style, is rather late. I have no excuses. I’ve been working hard, training hard and recovering hard. And in between all of that, moving house, catching up with friends, turning down job interviews, celebrating my moms birthday, taxi driving my brother around while he visited Cape Town, going to church leadership meetings and planning a potential side business and NGO. But like I said, I don’t really have an excuse, so here it is. My Knysna Oyster Festival and Big 5 Challenge experience.

So this trip almost got cancelled. As you can see from my last post, I got a little bit sick. I got hit hard with the man flu a few days after the Mast Challenge. Then just as I thought I was getting better, I got ahead of myself and wrote “Back In Action.” Only to find the Man Flu come back and hit me harder. Quite a few doctor visits, lotsa drugs (the safe ones, that the doctors prescribe.) a few painful injections in the bum, my daily dose of vitamins, a super healthy diet and lots of sleep, finally, with just 3 weeks to go, some improvements started being noticed in my health. On top of the sickness admin, accommodation plans started falling through as well as mates to mission up with. All signs pointed to saving my leave and rather just getting back into training here in CT.

But then as I started getting better, the ampdness started coming back as well. So I decided, stuff that, I’ve paid for my entry. Go up and make it a rad adventure and meet some cool new peeps. Aint nobody got time for excuses.

So I managed to sneak in 2 weeks of training and warming up the body. Reminding it of what was kind of capable of about a month or so ago. Then a easy week of “tapering” and friday lunch time I was off to Knysna. Not that I was ever racing for podium positions, but I did email coach and tell him, due to lack of training this will be a training week, not gonna push too hard. But then again, you always say that until you on the line.

DAY 1 – MTB Race 80km.

This will officially be the furthest I have travelled on my mountain bike. Up until this race I was slowly building up the miles back home, and had some long rides planned the 2 months prior to Big 5. But then that whole sick vibe sort of messed those plans up a bit. Had my race all planned out though, packed just enough nutrition and said to myself just find a comfortable pace and soldier through. Right off the start I realised sticking to personal plans wasn’t going to happen. The okes were quick off the line, think they were trying to catch the Elite bunch that started 5min earlier. And so I just followed suit. Thank goodness a fellow MTD athlete I had met on the start line came riding up next to me on Simola Hill and told me to hold back, we’re only 5km’s in, you’ll catch these guys a bit later on, not the elite guys that is.
Next plan to fail me was my nutrition. As I was heading down the first bumpy hill, out popped my bottle of 32gi endurance drink. I was kinda banking on that. Water stops now had to now be added to the cards.
Once you reach the top of Simola hill it’s a pretty steady jeep track most of the way, find a good rhythm and a good bunch and you can definitely set your self up for a pretty fast MTB time. I got stuck behind some cautious decenders on the only long single track the course had to offer, was quite frustrating and felt like a waste. But only had myself to blame. Should ride faster if you don’t want those guys in front of you.

Right up until 65km’s I was feeling amazing and surprised at how good my ride was going. Clearly I never lost too much fitness. Those thoughts left my mind as soon as they popped in, and with 15km’s to go the tank was running on reserves. The thought of running 21km’s after 80km’s of this at Enduroman in September felt quite intimidating in that moment.
It was a muddy a day out with a pretty darn cold start. But apart from that and a slightly tired me, it was a super fun ride and great way to to kick off the next week of activities.

DAY 2 – ROAD BIKE Race 109km.

For day 2 there were 3 options. 100km Road Bike, 2km Lagoon Swim or 20km Paddle. Why I opted for the road bike instead of the paddle  I still don’t quite know. I had this big idea that I wanted to try get a good time in the bag to maybe use for Argus seeding. And I figured it be a great workout for the legs? All I know is next year I’m definitely doing the paddle, also next year I plan on getting a bit closer to that podium. Not too close, but hey there’s no harm in going big. But I will definitely be using my paddling strength to my advantage next year. Big 5 is all about tactics and playing to your strength. Anyways, enough of that, back to the race.
It was yet another freezing start. I was rocking all the layers, base layer, long tights, bib shorts, top, wind breaker, buff, full finger gloves, the works. I was tempted to remove my tights when I saw a bunch of guys rocking their shorts. Luckily Lindsay, my mate I missioned to the start with in the morning, advised me otherwise.

Once again we were off to a fast start, this time however I had every intention of trying to stick with the front bunch. After 10km’s my hands and feet were freezing and had gone pretty much numb. This is a first in my riding history. And I’m no shy guy when it comes to fowl weather. CT just doesn’t get that cold. I lost my bunch a bit after the first climb out of Knysna. Legs were still taking a while to warm up. But I quickly caught them again on the flats and decent. By the 2nd climb I was doing a much better job holding on. I had found a good bunch and we were cruising down the N2. With 4 or 5 us doing most of the hard work up front. Could definitely feel all my Big Ring riding work in my favour here on the flats, felt almost effortless in the middle of the peloton. Everything was going great until we hit our first BIG climb of the day, I felt myself slow down and drop off the bunch very quick, way too quick? That’s when I looked down at my back wheel, fortunately to realise that it wasn’t my legs failing me, unfortunately a flat tyre was. Put my new tube in as quick as possible, hit it with a bomb, only to have my bomb adapter pull out the valve of the new tube.
So there I was begging fellow riders for a new tube. Eventually a kind young lady told her friend to give me a tube, thanks Megan? Was a full 20min before I got going again. I quickly discarded any hope of catching my bunch and was left to fend for myself the rest of the ride. It was a painful sight watching them come past me after the first loop, I was slightly tempted to just turn and join them. But I soldiered on and relived my argus. Just me, my bike and whole bunch of crazy thoughts to get me to the end. Day 2 done.

Legs still feeling surprisingly good.

DAY 3 – FEATHERBED TRAIL RUN 15km

This has to be one of the highlight events of the week. There are 3 time slots for this run, a morning, lunch time and night run. I opted for the early morning run. Once again it was a fresh start to the day, but weather predictions said it’d be warming up quite early on already, so I just braved out the cold for the start. Rookie error on my behalf, I didn’t know that I could leave my warm clothes in a bag on the ferry to collect afterwards. Next year I’ll remember that one. It’s a chilly boat trip.

The morning starts off with an awesome trip on the ferry across the lagoon over to the western head of Knysna. Apparently they reckon the Big 5 competitors are more hardcore and we get thrown onto the open cold ferry. Once we got to the other side we had a few minutes to warm up the legs while waiting for the other 2 ferry’s to arrive. Race kicked off with a steep climb straight away, which looped back around to the start, just to spread out the start field a bit and get somewhat of a natural seeding going. We then made our way around the head and started a steep ascent for about 7km’s. If you start off too slow you’ll find yourself stuck behind a bunch of people walking up the hill. But if the fitness aint all there, this is a great excuse as to why you were walking for a big first part of the race. Once at the top you get hit with the most insane view of the ocean and lagoon while getting your breath back and taken away at the same time. Then the fun starts, lots of soft windy single track all the way till the bridge across the lagoon. Personally I never found the bridge as intimidating as they made it out to be, but I can see why they make a point of warning all the runners. On a wet day it can make for a way more interesting slippery run.

After a great morning out on the trails, your race entry included a buffet breakfast. This went down well with a couple of war stories shared of the morning and week so far.

Legs were now starting to feel it a bit. I’d been good with my recovery steps in between events. But I definitely picked up a bit of a limp after this one.

I’d been staying out in Plett, so had been spending most of the evenings on that side. But that Tuesday evening I decided to head back to Knysna to join some mates for the Knysna Wine Fest. Lets just say the evening got a whole lot more festive than planned. There were just way too many delicious wines to “taste!” And on top of that, my world cup team, Germany, gave Brazil an embarrassing hiding, which just called for more celebration. Early on in the evening my mate Mark had already made the call that I will not be driving back to Plett, so thanks to them I had a place to crash for the night. It’s not a proper Oyster Festival if you don’t take part in the festivities.

DAY 4 – XTERRA DUATHLON Run 3km, Bike 22km, Run 7km.

That limp I wasn’t thinking to much about after Tuesdays Featherbed Trail run had now turned into a bigger concern than I realised. My right achilles tendon was shouting at me with every step I took. Clearly the lack of training and strength work prior to Big 5 had finally caught up to me. Should have taken it easier down the windy single tracks. Too late now. Luckily Xterra was only set to start at 12:30, so I found a physio in Plett. Basically just wanted to get a thumbs up for being stupid and pushing through the pain. She said chances of snapping it was small, but it was there. And just to take it easy on the run and pull out if the pain became to sharp.

I started the race off nice and easy on the first run. Once again a great excuse for not having to push too hard up the first hill. Dammit, this is where all those hill rep sessions with MTD would have paid off. Not missing them next year.

I wanted to make up for my slow run on the ride, so I pushed that one hard right from the get go. I was warned before hand that the course was very technical. I was expecting a lot of crazy single track. Unfortnately the only single track was right at the beginning of the ride, after that came a solid few km’s of climbing. My Old Wagon trail and Mast Climb rides were paying off well here, did a lot of my catching up and passing here. The course may not have included a lot of single track. But it was one big mud fest from beginning to end. So sliding all over the show was the order of the day. I managed to do pretty well through all the mud patches until one long one had me diving face first into the mud.

Run leg number 2 was a frustrating one for me. I had the energy to go, but my leg was just too sore to push. I managed to pull it off without any walking, but the downhills were a frustratingly slow pace for me. Not that I’m crazy fast or anything. Left leg unfortunately also started taking strain now as I was over compensating for the right leg.

Apart from the whole sore leg situation, it was yet another fun day out in the mud. Followed by a well deserved free massage. Can’t wait to give this race a proper go next year. Stillwater Sports needs to get a massive high 5 for always putting together such awesome events and kickass goodie bags.

Day 5 – FINAL DAY, FOREST HALF MARATHON 21km.

You again have 2 options of either doing the Full or Half Marathon. The Half is a super fast run with a much bigger field, so if you have the endurance and pace for the full, finding points there is apparently a tiny bit easier.

Spent all of friday in front of the TV in my recovery tights, ice on legs and anti-inflammatories. Watching chick flicks and Le Tour de France. Saw the physio again in the morning, couldn’t even stand on my tip toes. She doubted that I’d be able to run the half. At that time I had to agree with her, I didn’t see it happening for me. But I wanted my finishers medal and bragging rights. So the above steps were taken to see if I could make a small recovery before the morning.

In true stubborn style, my ego got the best of me and early Saturday morning I set off back to Knysna to finish what I started. Leg was definitely feeling better, not great, but better. When I left Cape Town, I set a realistic goal of 1:45 for my half. With minimal training and 4 days competing behind me this seemed like a reasonable goal. After all it would be a PB after my gun run half of 1:50 last year. With a bit more running this year compared to last year, or my life for that matter, I had yet to see what sort of times I could run a half in. Unfortunately now my mind had changed from a sub 1:45 to a “just finish.”

After winding my way through some of the crowds in the start I bumped into a mate who was going for a sub 1:40. We stuck together for about 13km’s. And I was feeling very good actually. After 13km’s though I let him go, slowed down my pace a bit to ease up on the leg. All was great until Simola downhill got the best of me. My carves worked super hard, I went way too fast and by the end my achilles had gone back to shouting at me. I managed to push through till just 600m before the end. Sitting on a 1:43 finish, I was broken. Once again, the fitness was there, but the legs just weren’t playing along. Now with both left and right achilles tendons taking strain, I had to finish off on a jog/walk effort. Some one piped up “Come on, you’re right at the end.” In my head I replied, “I know dammit, I’m shouting the same thing to my legs.” Watching my garmin slowly tick away, I just managed to sneak over the line on 1:45 (According to my Garmin). YES PLEASE! With busted leg and all I got my PB and goal set for Knysna.

What a great week. The Oyster Festival organisers really put together a great event. I will be back next year, and after scouting out the vibe I have recruited a whole bunch more mates to join. We’re already looking out for accommodation and designing our race kit. The Race Is On!

Next up, Enduroman. Achilles still bust, and under strict intructions from physio to lay off the leg. The pro is that coach has added a few extra swim sets to the program, so hopefully by September I’ll be swimming a half decent time so that I don’t have to play too much catch up on the MTB leg. The cons though are that I’ve been missing out on some awesome trail runs and MTB rides and instead have been forced to stare at the floor for 3hrs on the Watt bike in the gym. Oh well, gotta do what I gotta do. I’ve set some big goals and I plan on exceeding my own expectations. So far I’ve proved my body is cabable of way more than I ever thought, and I’ve got zero intention of slowing down any time soon. ACTIVITIES!!!