Diary of some MADmen – Entry three – 26 January 2018

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…..

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JOSH

Hey Diary,

Goodness gracious this crazy journey of ours is getting closer by the minute!

It honestly feels like yesterday that I sat down to write last weeks entry, where is the time going? Does anyone have a machine that can freeze time so that we can slot in some extra preparation runs? On the other hand, over preparation (running too much) is also a bad thing. Maybe we have the balance just right?

My main thoughts this week have been about how we are going to recover on the road down to the Cape! Ensuring that we get enough sleep and food (during endurance events, you will be surprised by how much you can/need to eat—the day you start you are actually eating for the last couple of days, because the number of calories you are burning as the event progresses increase by the day) so that we don’t turn into grumpy old farts who are a bore to be around!

During the MiniMAD weekend I learnt a few tricks (music playlists and what the boys like, snack wise. It would be helluva boring to eat the same snacks for a week, so variety is essential) and started to plan things out in my head (things will probably change and you need to be able to adapt). A little planning never hurt anybody though! As a “supporter” to my good mates Kurt and Al on this journey, I need to make sure that their needs are taken care of first and foremost—beers in the cooler box etc!

Another element of recovery is dealing with tired legs! Thank goodness there is a physio on the team with us, because I don’t think that I would be any good at sorting out any muscle niggles the guys may have on the road. Dry needling works wonders. If you haven’t tried it yet, give me a shout, I have a contact—even managed to convince Kurt to try it and he is now converted!

There is plenty ‘running around’ (pun intended) in my head at the moment—so forgive me if this entry is a little all over the place. My main takeaway is that we (particularly me, because I have a history of this) mustn’t do anything STUPID in the final countdown ’til our journey begins. Oh, and take a bit of time to plan/run things over in your head. It helps you prepare for different scenarios and more importantly, be there for your mates when they really need it!

Have a radical weekend, spend some time outdoors.

Oh and if you are feeling generous—drop us a donation to give us some extra motivation!

ALLAN

Dear Diary,

A much better week was had on the training front.

Westcliff stairs on Friday. Parkrun on Saturday. Hill repeats on Tuesday followed by a hockey match the same night, along with a few other “normal” training runs during the week.

Needless to say I was knackered after each session. Which to me is a great sign of a good workout.

Although, it may have been some lastminute.com training for this weekends Ottosdal Trap en Draf half marathon.

I reckon I won’t be doing a PB on the run but rather using it as a lekker training run.

What I can tell you is, I will not be keeping up with CN&CO CFO and former MADster from 2016, Rob Christian. The man is a beast!

What is cool about the run is that it is a night race. The 21km starts at 18:30 and hopefully I will be finished before the sun comes up.

I have no idea what I am in for. I have looked on various websites to check if I need a head lamp but the only indication of a NO answer, is the below image. I reckon I should be okay by sticking close to the lanterns.

It is also going to be Rikus Kok‘s, another CN&CO mate, first 10km run. He says he’s never done that distance before on foot but I reckon he’ll be more than fine. You know, because he is a young wipper-snapper and still has that youthful energy that lets you run for days!

I’ll let you know how it all pans out next week and if we survive.

Til then.

xoxo.

KURT

Dear Diary,

I am kakking a little for MAD2run.

Don’t get me wrong, helluva excited but proper nervous.

Training is not going as well as I want it to because of this ITB (knee) issue, but trying to run through the discomfort and get mileage on the legs.

I need to up my kilometres though. Aiming for 40km a week for now. And will up it by march. Is that even enough?!

Visited my physiotherapist, Kirsty, for the second time this week. Massaging (body torture), needling to try loosen the muscles up and strapping has been helping, so will continue seeing her to get this knee fixed.