After yesterday’s 30 km training run I was curious to see if I’d have to pay a price for that today.  Today I did a long and for me my most important training run, preparing for the 3 Peaks Challenge, happening in 2 weeks time, going up and down two of those three peaks.

A nice group of AAC runners, my running club, organized by two times Three Peaks Challenge Winner Caroline, went up Devil’s Peak on a stunning, wind free Saturday morning. Start was at the parking lot opposite the Devil’s Peak sign. The elevation at the start is approximately 350 m above sea level, Devil’s Peak is at 1,002 m.

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Beautiful morning, on the left Devil’s Peak, on the right a part of Table Mountain – both peaks were on my list today

We took it easy and actually did a hike up to Devil’s Peak. I very much appreciated this for various reasons. 1) It was beneficial to save energy for the second peak on Table Mountain I wanted to go to after Devil’s Peak and 2) I could compare the time difference between a fast and very energy consuming approach and an energy saving hike.

Last week it was more a running style ascent and it took me and Simon, who guided me, 45 Minutes to get on top of Devil’s Peak.  Today it took us 56 Minutes. 11 Minutes might sound a lot. When I think of race day, where I expect to run for about 8 hours, this is nothing. Actually those 11 Minutes would for sure save me a lot of energy.

After reaching the top, we rested for about 10 minutes, before we headed back. On our way down we hiked again, therefore it took us 1h 50min up and down (compared to 1h 27 min with Simon a week ago).

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Some AAC club members and running legends on top of Devil’s Peak

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The view from Devil’s Peak

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Yes, that’s me on top of Devil’s Peak

So the first peak was in the bag.

We waited another few minutes until the group had returned completely. Caroline and I took off again and she joined me for a while on my way up to Table Mountain. This time both of us increased the speed a bit, and it got way more exhausting.

Caroline turned around and I continued solo. Well, not really solo… It was already 9 ‘clock and lots of people wanted to hike up Platteklip Gorge (that’s the name of the hiking trail) to Table Mountain. I was curious to see how easy or hard it would be to pass them. It was very easy! Due to my heavy breathing 🙂 people heard me coming and many of them stepped aside immediately.

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Table Mountain, as seen from the top of Devil’s Peak. Maybe 1/3 from the right you can see a path winding up. That’s Platteklip Gorge, which I went up.

It took me 44 Minutes from the start of Platteklip Gorge to the top of Table Mountain. But I was not done yet. The 2nd peak of the 3 peaks challenge requires the runners to not only go up to Table Mountain. We have to run another some 2 km on a more or lass flat course to Maclear’s Beacon, with 1,086 m above sea level the highest point of Table Mountain.

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View from Platteklip Gorge, almost on top of Table Mountain

I had to shorten the course a bit since I had a breakfast appointment with my wife 🙂 I ran towards Maclear’s Beacon and turned around maybe 500 m before reaching it. After that, I ran back and the way down Platteklip Gorge was my last challenging part.

It took me 30 Minutes to go back to the road (44 min up). I could really almost run, but one has to be very careful. The large steps/boulders are quite challenging. Especially for the quads 🙂

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Me again, descending Platteklip Gorge after some 3h of running – and it was quite hot and no wind.

I felt the descent when I reached Tafelberg Road. To get back to the parking area some 1 km away I ran again –  and I never had that wobbly legs.

I’m extremely happy having conquered 2 peaks in one go. It’s very, very good for the mental readiness for race day. The race itself is 3x longer (distance wise) and includes 2x more elevation. But for a training run, I’m very satisfied.

And while I did this run I realized again, that’s it’s a beautiful world we live in, I can tell you 🙂

To answer the questions from the beginning of this post regarding yesterday’s 30 km run:  I do not think it had any negative impact on the run today.

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The well deserved breakfast with my wonderful wife

Distance 15.5 km / 9.6 mi Trail
(1,550 m/ 5,080 ft) elevation
Time 3 h 39 min
Monthly distance (October) 180.0 km / 111.8 mi
Annual distance 2,201.1 km / 1,367.1 mi