Diary of some MADmen – Entry four – 2 February

Diary of some MADmen is a weekly entry from three crazy guys who are part of the #TEAM18 for MAD2run. They will be running from Joburg to Cape Town, in relay, to raise funds for the MAD Leadership Foundation. For those of you who know the three guys; Josh, Kurt and Allan, what they say in their weekly diary entry could more often than not, be taken as them fooling around. But, as they are all Elite Athletes, we aren’t entirely sure if they are…..

If you’d like to get involved and support the cause, click here to do so

KURT

Dear Diary,

Yesterday we had our MAD2Run, run thru at Hudsons Burger Joint in Parkhurst.  Burgers, beer and 5km fundraiser. It was lekker. Proper gees all round.

I didn’t get to run as I offered to help marshal, clean and sweep the route for any straglers, but the beer/s were well worth it.

Our entire CN&CO team (except our preggy Josie in Durban) was there. Felt so lekker to have them there and we really appreciate their support.

On the ITB (knee injury) front, it’s still there and bugging me. Starting to stress now about getting miles on the legs.

My physio says it is getting better and she has been great but has referred me to an orthopaedic surgeon to “speed up” / “help” the inflammation and pain.

My fellow MADsters are all doing 15-20km runs and I can’t get in a 10km because of the pain.

Let’s see what the Orthopaedic surgeon has to say . . .

Didn’t do enough running this week but did manage to smash my PB (still slow) for my 5km. #silver-lining.

Also been a fat week for me, and my diet has taken a knock . . . badly. Back on the wagon from next week. I need to start embracing 5am runs and try double up in the afternoon.

A bunch of the team do MAD training on Wednesday and Friday mornings. When I say MAD, think
8 x 400m sprints with a 90 second break in-between, then a casual 5km jog and stairs training (I’m sweating just thinking about it).

Think I will give it a bash and see how far I get.

Anyway, I’m going to do Parkrun tomorrow and try get in 15km this weekend before I see the physio and surgeon.

Until next week. Ciao.

 

JOSH

Hello Hi!

You well?

The build-up continues and it’s not slowing down for any one! Another week down, it’s now 7 weeks to kick off! I’m both excited and nervous at the same time—this is the beauty of doing something outside of your comfort zone though, so best we embrace it!

 

Shucks that is corny imagery, but pretty much sums up this MAD2Run journey! Not only a physical challenge, running 20 + km consecutively for 7 days (oh and throw a Two Oceans half in on top of that, so make it 8 days), also a mental one, a little sleep deprivation and I am sure there will be a few curve balls flung in amongst everything!

It’s most definitely worth the challenge though, because we have the opportunity to contribute to something far bigger than ourselves and to experience things (like running through the Karoo at 2am in the morning) which I doubt I would ‘normally do’.

My lesson from this week, as kick off draws closer:
Control the things that you can in the build-up and on the journey. If you try do everything, you’re either going to have a full head of grey hairs by the time you arrive in Cape Town or you are going to be one grumpy old fart! We are all individuals and have different ways of taking on this challenge, remember that!

A big weekend of running incoming, wrapping up another week on the training front! Enjoy the weekend and remember to keep challenging yourself to be/do better.

Till next time.

Over and out!

 

ALLAN

Dear Diary,

What a great run the Ottosdal Draf en Trap is. I felt exceptionally good on the run and was able to better my previous 21km time by 20 minutes. Still lots of work to do though.

I’m not sure what it was; maybe it was the culmination of hills repeats and stairs workouts. Maybe it was the 3 hour drive to get there and the need to stretch the legs. Maybe it was only starting the race at 18:30 when it was cool and then the armageddon looking clouds with accompanying sandstorm that rolled in and threatened to break but never did, thankfully.

Either way, it was a good run. I walked when I wanted to. Something I have learned over the last few years to do, instead of walking when I have to! All the while singing this song in my head but changing the words to “walk”.

Ottosdal is an interesting place too. We stayed in one of only two guesthouses, Die Ouplass Gastehuis, both owned by the same people. Except ours was on their farm, 13km out of town. What amazing hosts Magdelena en Coert were. They made sure our braai was lit and ready for us when we got back at 22:15, so we could quickly shower and then braai our dinner. Which was accompanied by very generous G&T’s poured by yours truly 😊

This week has been a bit more relaxed on the training front, but it is all planned. Tuesday was a good 8km run followed by a hockey match which saw me cover another 4km but in sprint work. It’s good to cross training. The short sprints will work different muscle fibres.

Yesterday we had a “Hudson’s Run Thru – 5k” in both Joburg and Cape Town. Hudsons has come to the party in a great way. For the month of February, if you buy the MAD burger there, they will donate a percentage of the price towards us. So get out there and go eat the delicious burger.

Training this weekend sees “Team Average Joes” doing  15km from Josh’s house to Parkrun and then back. He’s promised us he will cook breakfast when we get back home but we may just end up at Higher Ground, another supporter of MAD2run.

Have a super weekend.

xoxo

P.S. In spite of the overcast conditions, and the howling winds blowing some of the paraffin lamps out, there was sufficient light to see where you were going.  So if you plan on doing the Draf en Trap next year, you don’t need to worry about a headlamp.

Entry three – Diary of some MADmen

Entry two – Diary of some MADmen

Entry one – Diary of some MADmen