The start of week 3 marks just over the halfway point of the training camp. The time goes by quickly. While I am down here I have my work with me on my computer, which I spend about 30 hours a week on. Not bad with a flexible job, as it makes trips to Uganda like this possible. I have worked over 4 years at Holdsport and hope for many more years there.
Tempo session with Tomas and Milos from Muyembe. The foot of Mr. Elgon can be seen in the background.
Trails everywhere
Rarely have I experienced a place with as many trails as here! By trails I don't mean dirt roads, but small paths that weave their way between fields, banana tree plantations, around slopes, from mud house to mud house. So if you really wanted to, you could run different routes daily from Kapchorwa for months - but that assumes that you are not afraid of a little but of climbing. A 10km long loop around Kapchorwa on dirt roads will have at least 200m of climbing. If you stick to trails only, it might be at least 350m of climbing.
No maps on the web, even on Strava, show many trails and potential running routes here. I would guess that less than 5% of the paths/dirt roads/trails in the area are mapped, so we really had to go exploring to find all the cool places to run.
A trail runners paradise.
Intensifying the training
It is slowly starting to get better with my glute injury, so I have gradually stepped up the intensity. So good that I have been able to participate in the Discovery Uganda 10km race, which was held in the town. Read more about the competition here.
I also did some interval training on some of the area's tracks. There are 5 different tracks in the area:
- High altitude training center. This track opens soon and has been about 10 years in the making. The area's only tarten track, otherwise you have to go to Kampala. It is located at an altitude of 2600m.
- Cheptegei's own dirt track at 2500m altitude. Located next to their camp, and was built when they could not wait for the other one to be finished. You can't train on this one unless you have connections to the group.
- Dirt track in Kapchorwa. Not the best track in the world. Quite rocky and especially in the afternoon it's quite crowded as football and volleyball are played on the grass area with a large number of spectators. Cheptegei does not like this track, but I have seen Kiplimo use it.
- 8km from Kapchorwa at Sebei Collage School. Actually just a lawn with a single track around it that is 400m. Here NN do most of their speedwork. No access to this track without contacts.
- 21km from Kapchorwa at Chemwania Primary School. This is a pretty nice dirt track. Here NN's junior team belongs to. Relatively flat track. Located at 2050m altitude.
On the way home from one of the trainings on boda boda.
One of the days we went out for a easy morning jog, we saw Jakob Kiplimo and his group running intervals on the gravel track in town. It's no joke when they train. Got a picture of his splits from that workout - see bottom of page. Not a session I was going to copy here at altitude on the same track. Also got to meet Kiplimo's coach Iacopo. Really nice guy. He is an Italian at about my age and I had some good talks with him. Even went for a run with him, as he is quite a skilled runner himself.
