Scenery of the Tour of Good Hope
Yesterday was the final day of the road race Tour of Good Hope.
Time has been flying by, once again. After the busy week in Denmark, where we had to unpack from Tenerife, pack and move apartment and pack for Germany and South Africa, we finally made it to South Africa. I will spend 5 weeks in South Africa, and already only 2 weeks remain.
Thomas went with me here to South Africa, which was awesome. I don’t work well, when we spend more than 3 weeks apart. When we arrived, we soon jumped into some proper training sessions and I guess my body was just a bit overloaded all the sudden. First I caught a stomach bug (luckily it was only an overnight thing) and shortly after I got an infection in my sinuses. Luckily they have a very good system for athletes here, where you can see all kinds of specialists. I got to see a doctor and he gave me the advice to do three days of antibiotics to get rid of the infection rather quick. Normally I only take medicine, when it’s really really necessary, but having already had a cold in January that ended up lasting a couple of weeks, I didn’t hesitate much this time. Yes, please!
I had planned to do a local five-day tour on the road (Tour of Good Hope) as a final preparation for the Cape Epic and would only finish the antibiotics the day before that race started. Luckily the doctor said, that I could still do that race, even though I would feel weakened the first couple of days. Luckily everything went according to his predictions and even though I would have to cough at the beginning of the first days, I felt better and better every day and got a proper workout out of it.
All about those climbs (photo: Tour of Good Hope)
I found myself I very good shape and quickly learned the dynamics of road racing. The women’s field had the perfect size. Not too big, but still big enough for racing to happen. This would also be my very first meeting with british Sharon Laws, who spends a great deal of her winters here in South Africa. She for sure made it a hard race, but my stubbornness would see me answer her endless attacks and eventually I would come out as the winner of the race. Mostly I’m just very glad that the antibiotics worked and I got rid of the infection and hopefully won’t have to deal with other health issues in near future.
For now, I’m taking some easy days before we hit the pre Cape Epic week. The week leading up to the Cape Epic is always super busy. Lots of press meetings, dinners and other activities related to that race. Also, on Wednesday I’ll do the Songo Champions Race. Songo.info is working to improve the lives of the kids in the Kayamandi Township and having a race in the Township itself it a very spectacular and unique thing. I’m superexcited for all the upcoming events!
