April 28, 2016 | Running
KZN Trail Running Hilton College Night Trail Run
I’ve been drawn to trail running for a number of years now. Not so much to the traditional Ultra-running scene but rather to shorter faster races. This race was my first Night Trail Race but by no means the first time I have run at night. I have done numerous Training runs on trails and road at night often without a headlamp. I was fortunate enough to have a headlamp with me on this occasion even if it wasn’t as bright as I’d have liked.
Training
My primary goal for this year was to implement a more consistent training schedule, and I have already failed on that endeavour. I’ve been hit with two bouts of influenza and a spider bite, in total about 3 weeks of no training. The problem is not so much the time I spent not training but rather the time It took me to get back to my normal training habits.Training this year has been a mish-mash of various training programmes and schedules. I started this year training for my first Road-Half marathon which saw me reach a peak volume of 70km per week. After the Road Half I decided to focus all my running energy on a 3 race series in June, each of about 7km long. I embarked on a over ambitious quest to increase my weekly volume by more than 30% In preparation for the June Trail Series. Inevitably I burnt out due to over training and the fact that I probably hadn’t recovered fully from my half marathon. I decided to hire a running coach and used his training programme for about 4 weeks before let him go just because I wasn’t happy with his training techniques. He encouraged low-volume, quality workouts. I prefer Higher-volume with just one quality workout a week. To sum it all up my training has been anything but consistent, however I do believe I am fitter than I have ever been in my life.
Pre-race
Pre-race preparation was interesting, since it was a night race I had to be mindful of my diet throughout the day. Co-indecently It was hot dog day at my place of work and I consumed roughly 5 of those awful over processed soy, ground meat and white bread concoctions. Shortly before the race I had some bread with peanut butter and banana, one of my favourite pre-run meals, since it’s loaded with energy but light on my stomach.The race started at 06:30pm so I left home with my dad at 05:00pm since he would be my driver for the night. (I don’t have my license yet and I am too lazy to get it anytime soon) I arrived and sat in the car with my father, just chatting and killing time. The sun was only setting now and we still had a good 45mins until the start. Bib Collection was smooth, since I was there rather early. I got a glow in the dark bracelet and a cool KZNTR sticker that is now on my laptop. At about 06:05pm I did a 15minute warm up. In hindsight it was way too early to warm up. The race start was delayed by 10 minutes so I did some strides next to the start line just to stay loose and warm. While waiting for the start my Father bumped into someone he knew that would be racing as well and we talked for a bit. He was rather surprised to find that my goal time was sub 1hour. I thought this was a slow time and his doubt was making me rather nervous. Was the 12km course considerably harder than the 7km course? I could only wait to find out. Bearing in mind that this was my first Night Race I was a bit nervous on how fast I could run on technical trails with minimal illumination.
Having raced on this course twice before I knew what to expect, although prior to this race I had only ever raced the 7km races. I would be doing the 12km race this time. The course consists of roughly 50% Jeep Track and 50% Smooth single track with lots of sharp turns and direction changes.
The Race
The race was started over the PA system, no horn or gun. Just a very casual 5-4-3-2-1-GO. I set off in a sprint. I aimed to get in front of as many people as possible before we hit the single track trail that would start in 1.6km. I managed to find my pace and I was being passed by lots of people, mainly boys from the School. This didn’t worry me too much I was pretty sure that most of them were participating in the 7km event. The format of the course has you running down hill for most of the first half of the race and then back up hill for the second half so I was rather conservative in the first half. Most of the race is a blur to me, in fact, I don’t remember much other than kilometre after kilometre of dirt track rolling by in the illumination of my headlamp. I was really focused on the road and trail. Remembering how even pro’s like Sage Canaday can get injured due to one moment of lapse in concentration that could potentially derail an entire season. A few of the things that really stood out for me during the race was a large and steep downhill section where I was flying down the hill. I had no depth of field since my headlamp was so dim. Every few steps I would put my foot down expecting the earth, but instead my foot was met with nothing, and then a big jolt. At this point I was flying down the hill, thinking to myself “I have to go back up again sometime.”Just after the 6km point. The Half way point, I was confronted with a monster of a hill. I didn’t realise that it was so big until I had been climbing it for a half minute or so. I just tucked my head down and focussed on climbing the hill. Breathing hard and almost out of breath I saw two headlamps in front of me. Knowing I could pass two people gave me the determination to keep grinding my way up this hill. For interest’s sake and maybe a bit of a humblebrag; this hill reached a max grade of 38% in some sections, It really was a monster. When I reached the top I caught up with the two headlamps, two guys donned in Salomon Gear, hydration packs and compression socks. One of them said “Did you just run up that hill?” When I said that I had he replied “You mother…”. I laughed and kept running. It was along this stretch of the road that the moon could be seen rising to my right, it really was a beautiful sight and I kept trying to steal glances at the view while still trying to focus on where I was going.
At the 8km point I came across the first and only water station. They were offering energy drinks and energy sweets of some sort. I would have preferred water but in the dark I could only see the juice so I just went with that. Downing the juice in one gulp I kept running. I was close now my legs had felt like lead after that massive hill but for some reason they felt fine now. At the water station the course had re-joined with the 7km course and was now passing people doing the 7km course. Many of them were mid to back of the packers, and a lot of them were walking. I was really in awe of how many of them said “Good run” Or “nice run” as I passed them. It’s small things like that that make me love trail running. You don’t get that sort of comradery on the road.
At this point I was gunning it. Trying to ignore any pain in my legs, the jeep track allowed me to run somewhat faster. Running past a group of boys from the School one of them said “OH look how pro I am, catching up with the 12km runners like this.” That made me laugh. Looking at my watch it was only 1.5k to the finish so I doubled my efforts. As soon as I hit the tar I knew I was close to the finish so I sprinted as I crossed the line I collapsed to the ground, exhausted.
Post Race
My final results: 00:57:3510th place overall
1st in the Junior age group (I’m 19yrs)
I can honestly say that this race was one of the most enjoyable experiences I have ever had in terms of running. If I did this race again I would definitely invest in a more suitable headlamp.
You can find the Strava Data for this race Here.
And you can find out more about KZN Trail running Here.