June 2019
Using shorter races to predict your times in marathons is possible if you also take into account your training and previous times. One of my favourite to predict your marathon time is doubling your latest half time and adding 10 minutes, less if you have more experience. E.g. a half time of one hour 30 minutes would equate to a 3 hour 10 minute full marathon, for a relative beginner, with a good 10-12 week training block under his or her belt. If they were an experienced runner, and had history of achieving close to these times , you could probably drop 3-5 minutes and aim for three hours and five minutes.
These are many websites with ‘race predictors’ that can even translate 10k or even 5k times into predicted marathon finish times but of course the less distance in the predictor race , the less accuracy in the prediction. I’ve mentioned this before but my mate Mikey K. reckoned he could predict his marathon time from a 1k sprint. Being an Engineer it probably involved pi or, knowing Mike, the other ‘pie’; he is infamous for his beer and snacks after running as he continually grappling with his weight and VO2 max score. (If you follow Mike Kowel on Strava you’ll understand ! http://www.strava.com You are on Strava aren’t you ?)
https://www.mcmillanrunning.com/#calculator-input
https://www.runningahead.com/tools/calculators/race
http://www.pace-calculator.com/race-pace-predictor.php
Of course anything past a marathon and there really isn’t anything available as it turns into a mental battle with oneself and also hydration and nutrition start to play a more important part. As we all know an ultra is basically an eating and drinking competition, with running between aid stations. First person to get to the finish wins. There’s no real predictors as such for these distances because there are so many variables. Who can predict blisters, hydration or nutrition issues, fatigue, navigational bloopers, drop bears; the list really is endless. Truth be told it’s amazing anyone every finishes an ultra at all. This brings me along very nicely to the next topic of this post , the Wild Goose event to be held this weekend.
In WA at the moment we are blessed with so many great events and I had initially entered this event but realised after the Light Horse 12 Hour race I was in fact human after all and not bullet proof. With a heavy heart I pulled my entry and it was definitely the right thing to do as I struggle around the Perth CBD recovering from the Rottnest Marathon. A pity because all I have heard is good things about this three day event offering distances from 18k right up to 106k with the Ducks Nuts option of all three offerings on each of the three days. This one is on my hit list for next year maybe assuming I can drop down to the half distance for Rottnest because two weeks is not enough timer for me to recover from the full.
If you live in WA, or even Australia , it’s worth spending some time on the WA Ultra Series web page ( http://ultraserieswa.com.au ) The events are just awesome, the brain child of Shaun Kaesler, who has just about single-handedly created this vibrant smorgasbord of running events that cater for all abilities. He is also behind the Delirious West 200 miler (and change) point to point ultra in WA ( http://deliriouswest200miler.com.au ) and also its sister event over South, the Irrational South. ( https://www.facebook.com/groups/www.irrationalsouth200miler.com.au/ ) I must admit to getting very excited about running the Delirious in February next year, it will certainly be EPIC ! Just got to keep Jon under control and hold him back, at least for the first 100 kilometres ?
Running on trails is a whole different ball game to the normal grind of day to day pounding the pavement. You can throw away the watch and just run for the pure joy of running, not target pace because the gradient normally dictates pace and trail running is more about time on feet and distance. Add in beautiful scenery and you wonder why you ever run in the concrete jungle, that is our every day bread and butter. I’ll certainly get my ‘trail fix‘ next February on the Delirious !
As well as the Ultra Series WA there is the Perth Trail Series. ( http://www.perthtrailseries.com.au ) Their motto is ‘uncivilse yourself’ which I think is awesome , compared to Shaun and the Ultra Series WA which is all about doing ‘Epic Sh*t’, another great mantra to live your life by. Anyhow I have never done a PTS event but this is mainly due to a crowded racing calendar with the West Australian Marathon Club but maybe it’s time I gave some of these races my attention. The feedback has always been very positive, well organised with great trails to test yourself on. Gareth often sneaks off on a Sunday and runs these races, without ever telling us of course, and he always seem to enjoy himself placing near the pointy end most times. I must try and pin him down one day and ask his opinion on the series. From the website:
Perth Trail Series delivers over 20 Trail Events in WA each year, putting over 6000 people on the trail. Woohoo! We’re an all ladies team, and we’re stoked to organise amazing event experiences right here in WA! Our events are held in some of WA’s most stunning locations and we’re proud of our world class events, and stunning locations.
We LOVE our trail community, the environment, and the event experience, which is why we’re leading the way in delivering low (sooooo close to NO impact) events …including the vibe at the end! Where there’s truckloads of high fives, PTS punch, music and/or some form of entertainment! And really cool people to chat with.
The Faces Behind the Trail Magic!
Of course the best trail race, in my humble opinion, is the one that’s been running the longest , and in WA it’s Dave Kennedy’s 6 Inch Ultra ( http://www.6inchtrailmarathon.com ) If you live in Perth you need to run this 46km trail ultra positioned on the last Sunday before Christmas. The perfect pre-Christmas present to oneself. Dave even throws in free beer at the end, ho, ho .ho !! It’s a point to point race from North Dandelup to Dwellingup on the Munda biddi trail. A beautiful part of the world with some challenging elevation and beautiful views. One tip would be to avoid the pub food the night before the big event,. This is by no means a slant on the tukka but more the portion size , which is probably built for Americans, and big ones at that. Before last years event the boys all tucked into to some massive meals, while I nibbled on some pre-prepared pasta. Bart’s had so much he took some back to the campsite and tried to finish it, unsuccessfully, the next day. Let’s just say none of the boys had good days on the trail the day after those bad boy portions! Post race they would be perfect, combined with a few beers and we have plans to stay behind for an extra day this year and ‘go to town‘ , literally. !
From the website…
Six Inch Trail Marathon is inspired by the famous Six Foot Track Marathon in the Blue Mountains near Sydney.Returning from New Zealand in January 2005 I bemoaned the lack of trail races in Western Australia. I wanted to move to the land of the long white cloud but family and circumstances warranted at least another year in WA. One evening I headed out to run a gravel road signposted “Goldmine Hill”. What followed was a soaking wet 15K with the highlight being running into the Munda Biddi Mountain Bike trail. The Munda Biddi was built to keep cyclists off the 964K Bibbulmun walking track. The first 335K section from Mundaring in the Perth hills to Collie was completed in 2004. I had seen some road crossing signs during the construction and was keen to one day experience the track either by bike or foot. Finding the track so close to my house in Mandurah had me pondering a race in the near future. On my return from New Zealand I had been discussing a possible trail race on a local runner’s message board. I bought the map and found that this town to town section was about 44K. Six Foot which I had dreamed of running for years sprang to mind. “We could have our own version”. I had ridden between the 2 towns, North Dandalup and Dwellingup, and the road was super hilly. I was a little disappointed by the lack of hills when I ran the trail but some less masochistic runners didn’t agree with me. The result is a 46K trail race starting at the foot of Goldmine Hill 1K from North Dandalup and finishing in Dwellingup. This run is designed to be tough but most marathoners can expect to finish within an hour or 2 of their best marathon time. Dave Kennedy
Dave Kennedy also two other great races , the WTF and the Lark Hill. (Thanks Dave Tams) http://wtfultra.com.
Welcome to the home of the Runningworks WTF 50 & 100 Miler, the first & original 100 mile trail race in Western Australia.
Held annually on the last weeke
nd in September (WA’s Queen’s Birthday Public Holiday weekend), the 50mi and 100mi events both start at 6am on Saturday.
2019 will see a change to the start location and course, with the new start/finish location at Nanga Bush Camp, around 10 minutes south of Dwellingup. The 100 mile and 50 mile runners will depart together at 6am, and share the trail for the first 50 miles.
Why WTF? Other than being an attention-grabbing name, WTF is an acronym for “Waterous Trail on Foot”. The Waterous Trail, located south of Dwellingup, was to host the course for the inaugural event in 2013. Unfortunately, as the race-date neared, authorities advised of a prescribed burn in the area planned around the time of the event. This resulted in a switch to a course run between Jarrahdale and Dwellingup. In 2019, we decided it was time for a change, and thought about using the Waterous Trail loop, but decided there was a too much road, and not enough climb & descent, so a new course was created.
When: Saturday, September 28, 2019 at 6am.
How long in existence: Inaugural race was 28 September 2013
Welcome to the home of the Runningworks Lark Hill Dusk to Dawn 50 & 100km Ultra
Held annually on the W.A. Labour Day weekend in March, the 50km and 100km events start at dusk (7pm) on Saturday, with a childrens event (45min) at 6pm. For both events, entrants will be given an official cut-off so long as they start their last lap by no later than 8am on Sunday morning (13h).
Where: Adjacent to the Lark Hill Sportsplex (east of the Lark Hill playing fields), Port Kennedy, WA
Course information:
- 25km (8 laps), 50km (17 laps) and 100km (34 laps) GPS measured trail races on a ~3k limestone loop course.
- The course consists of mostly compact-limestone, with ~200m of soft sand on each loop. There are some minor undulations, with a short climb into the start/finish point.
- Click here to see the course. The race director will lead the first lap, so there’s no change of getting lost.
- The children’s event will be help be over an ~800m loop for 45 minutes.
Next Race: 2-3 March 2019.
No. of finishers: 2018 – 58 ; 2017 – 61 ; 2016 – 52 ; 2015 – 71; 2014 – 47; 2013 – 39; 2012 – 35;
How long in existence: Inaugural race was 3 March 2012
I’ve been very quiet on the blogging front and, truth be told , I’m still suffering from my first DNF at the Light Horse 12 hour race at then end of May. Since then I’ve only been to the keyboard twice, most unlike me. So what have I been doing for the last 4-6 weeks ?
Luckily I had the Rottnest Marathon to prepare for. This is without doubt one of the most idyllic , beautiful and brutal marathons in the West Australian Calendar. I have run this bad boy eleven times and managed to sub3 on six occasions. (The last 6 funnily enough). Over the years I been at the pointy end of the race many times and ran second on two occasions, as well as all positions upwards to 7th and a few other top 10 finishes. In my defence it’s normally a small field of less than two hundred runners as marathon runners are not big fan of hills and at Rottnest there’s four, that’s four per lap of course and there’s four laps, you get the picture!
One of the main reasons for Rottnest this year, bar a confidence booster ahead of the 2019 marathon season (which would include the Perth City to Surf Marathon for the 10th time and the Perth ‘Running Festival’ (ex-Perth Marathon) for the 13th time) , was also to take the record for the number of sub three marathon times on the Island. Currently I share this with Mark Page, both having run sub3 six times, this was to be my seventh. So the goal was a 7th sub3, age group win and the cherry on the cake would be a top 5 finish.
Jon had organised accommodation and I was staying with his family, minus his ex-Wife, the T-train and the mighty TB; that’s trailblazer not Thomas Bruins. (Although Thomas Bruins is mighty but there’s really only one TB, the one, and only, original Trail Blazer, Jon Phillips) There was the obligatory pasta meal, pre-race, cooked by Jon this year due to his ex-Wife not being invited on the trip. In Karen’s absence Jon did a good job so I feel her days are numbered, actually they are well and truly finished!
The first lap was controlled with a big group of runners settling into a sub 3 bus and moving along comfortably at around 4:10min/k pace, faster in places when gradient allowed and slower when faced with the hills. For the first lap we went through averaging 4:06min/k, right on track. We had splintered into a group of five runners by this point with Tony, and two other runners, leaving the pack to go on and finish in the top 5.
On a side note I must add that this was without doubt the best conditions we had ever encountered at Rottnest. Moving the race from its usual October slot, which is spring in sunny Perth, so normally a tad warm, was certainly justified. The sun rising as we moved along the causeway, between the salt lakes, is an image that will go with me to the grave, it was inspiring. One of those ‘wish I had a camera moments‘, I can only hope someone did have an iPhone and took a photo because it was biblical. Normally there’s a howling wind with ‘foam balls ‘ rolling towards you, not today, it was perfect. If we weren’t racing me and Jon would have stopped for a hug ! Right, I digress…..
The second lap was similar to the first with the pack dropping down to four and Jon pushing the pace through the start line onto lap three. Again we were right on time still averaging 4:06min/k, maybe not as comfortable as last one but still nowhere near the ‘red zone‘, yet. Now if you race Rottnest you know that lap one is comfortable and you breath in the scenery and the occasion. Lap two and things are normally heating up , literally, and you’re not so bothered with the scenery just the concrete road infront of you. By lap three you are well and truly over Rottnest, big time, and dream of long, flat, courses . Lap three is what makes or breaks you at Rotto. Survive and you tee yourself up for a great Rotto, fall apart and that last lap can last a very, very long time.
On this occasion I was lucky enough to find another gear and my third lap was my fastest. I jettisoned the last two members of the sub 3 bus and was now alone with my thoughts , the bus had become more of a personalised Uber ride ? I knew I was outside the top 5 so concentrated on my sub3 finish, my primary goal. I had 3-5 minutes up my sleeve but knew I would be paying the piper sometime very soon, both figuratively and literally . My fears were realised at around the 35k mark where the legs decided they had had enough for the day and started to misbehave. I probably dropped two minutes over the last 5k which cost me a sub 2:55 finish and a top 5 placing.
As I crawled up the last few hills I was handed a gold coin which you then have to hand to the pipe a few hundred metres up the road, this is a WAMC tradition and one I always look forward. Paying the piper means you have less than 4k to the finish and, with my experience, there’s no way I ain’t finishing that close, it’s just a case of what state I’ll be in. A top 5 finish was there if I could have kept my pace for the final 5-6k but today I was just beaten by the hills. I predicted somewhere around 2:55 so two minutes over was acceptable. I had gone through half way in 1:27:30 so a positive split off less than three minutes , on Rottnest , is just about perfect pacing.
So, after paying the piper, I held it together to finish just under two hours and fifty eight minutes with a 4:10min/k average. (The course measured 42.7k on Strava http://www.strava.com. so the average reflects that.) Mission accomplished, sub three number seven on Rotto, 31 overall , and my sub streak moves to 28 in a row, a perfect day really. To say I was stoked is an understatement. This may have been my 44th marathon but given the last two years of injury it meant as much as my first in 2003. Overall I had ran a ‘controlled’ race with only the last 5 kilometres between me and a perfect finish. I’m not too overly bothered about dropping the ball , slightly , over the last 30 minutes as I’m sure with more training I’ll get my finishing kick back. Remember ‘distance unlocks your running dreams‘ and I just need to run more, simple really.
So lessons learnt for all you sub3 runners.
- Do the hard yards first, and that means distance and plenty of it. Research Phil Maffetone (the running bit and the diet if you can stomach a diet with very little carbs, initially?) , Arthur Lydiard and Matt Fitzgerald. Theses three preach the distance is king mantle before adding the turbo charger that is pace before finally fine tuning to your chosen event.
- Indicator races are a valuable source of confidence. Coming into Rottnest I had ran 10 three times in 2019 , each time faster than the previous. I managed a 36:17, 35:55 and 35:38 in the weeks leading up to the marathon and these times gave me the confidence that I could sub3, even on a hilly course. Add in a 1:22 and a 1:19 in my two half marathons this year and I knew I could go out at 4:10min/k pace comfortably.
- Trust in your training. If you’ve done the hard work you will get the reward. There is no secret to doing well at races, it really is about putting the work in, with your training, for the pay back with a bib on your chest. No surprises. This is another mantra I live by and I use sometimes when I am deep in the pain box, questioning the way forward.
- The race is your time to shine, don’t be afraid of it but instead embrace it. The final part of your training is the race itself and this is where all that hard work pays off. The final 42.2km’s of any 12 week training program should be the most enjoyable. This is when the previous 12 weeks of hard work is suddenly worth the price you pay, sacrificing your social life, family life and work life. The race itself is pay back for all of this, enjoy it. !
- After you finish and achieve one goal, start on the next. Without a goal we become joggers and start saying things like ‘ I don’t run with a watch, I run by feel’, ‘I just run because it makes me happy’; you’ll be hugging trees next. We run to challenge ourselves to be a better person today than we were yesterday, and even better tomorrow. The only person we are really racing is ourselves and you need to continually work to better the old you , or get as close as you can to the old you as Father Time starts to add seconds to your race times and pace.
- Search the runbkrun website for my Golden Rules. These are my nuggets of information that will help you bring down your times. Not real surprises here but just good old fashioned advice from someone who knows, or at least thinks they do ?
After the obligatory warm shower it was off to the pub for the awards ceremony, I told you Rottnest was a magical place. After being presented with my 50-59 age group medal by my good friend Visna Jareb it was onto another one of my goals for the weekend, to drink the pub dry of Guinness. This sounds a lot harder than it actually is as the sub only serves Guinness in cans and one year there was only five and I managed to drink them all, hence the street goal every year since. This year I saw there was eight cans so had to get my good mates Zac and Steve ‘Twinkle toes’ McKean in to help me. I put in a good effort by demolishing three cans but that was me done. I staggered down to the 4:30pm ferry and back to the mainland I went. Bye bye Rottnest, as always it was a blast and I’ll see you in 2020….
On the 27th April I ran my first DNF at the 12hour Lighthouse ultra and it has taken me this long to even think about typing a post on the experience, well over a month. This is a post I thought I’d be writing many years from now and never envisaged penning this particular post so soon in my young (?) career. Right some background to the event. The Lighthouse is a 2.5k loop that starts at midnight and continues through to midday, as 12 hour events do of course. The plan was to podium at minimum and maybe even sneak a win, this , with hindsight , was to be my undoing..
I have said many, many times that marathon and ultra running , actually any distance racing , is to a large proportion a mental struggle with oneself. If you haven’t questioned yourself in a race you ain’t running fast enough. The human body can go so much faster than we allow it but the safety barriers, we put in place to protect it, prevents us from reaching our true potential. Training allows us to move those barriers and thus we run faster. Trust in your training is a mantra I live by and better training always equals faster racing. I believe this is because we have persuaded the mind (the main instrument in protecting the body) that we can run that little bit faster and not do too much damage. This is why better training equates to faster racing, simple really.
Coming into the 12hour ultra I was unprepared mentally. I questioned the reason for the event even upto driving to the start line, not a good idea. The previous two weeks I had moved house and this had mentally , and physically, exhausted me, not ideal preparation. Also this was to be my first ‘time rather than distance race‘ where the idea is to run as far as possible in a given timeframe, again not a good sign. The few days before the event my running had been substandard with my heart rate higher than it should have been given the pace, another sign I ignored and this culminated in a nasty cold after the event. Typing this I’m surprised I actually lasted as long as I did.
Right , lets cut to the chase and describe the race. I arrived tired, remember it starts at midnight which is way past my bedtime, and set up my esky full of drink bottles and Gu’s. Jon joined me and we decided to go off around the 5min/k pace and try and hold this for the 12 hours. Simple really but when we started Jon found another gear and we were motoring along at around the 4:40min/k pace and leaving the rest of the field behind very quickly. This should had been a sign to me that this was too fast as there was some great running experience behind us, and along way behind us. I tried my best to calm Jon down but he was having the run of his life and I was hanging on for dear life, a situation which could not go on.
To add to my tale of woes I was struck down with toilet issues and had to make an unscheduled toilet stop at 18k. This was also an excuse to let Jon go on his merry way and give me some respite from the relentless pace. The only downside to this pitstop was it was totally dark in the toilet cubicle as I was using Jon’s headlamp when we raced, sitting behind him. So here I was, just before 2am, rummaging around in a dark toilet cubicle questioning why I was there and not even thinking about the 9-10 hours ahead of me. Eventually I did the ‘paperwork’ and started on my merry way , alone. As you can see from the image below I did manage to hold 5min/k for around 7 kilometres before another unscheduled stop, this was now becoming an issue.
Jon lapped me around this time and all thoughts of a podium were well and truly finished. I managed another 6k before my third, and final, toilet stop and trust me I was now in a world of pain. Pace was steadily decreasing while the heart rate was rising, not good indicators so early in the event. The final straw when when we changed direction at 3 hours, turning back to the finish line I knew I could not continue for another 9 hours, as it was the I was lucky to make another 9 minutes. So at 3:19:22 into the 12 hour event I packed up my gear and stumbled off into the night to drive home to bed, destroyed. I must admit it was long and lonely drive home but it was the right decision at the time but that didn’t mean it didn’t hurt, big time. Getting home around four in the morning one of the dogs had decided not to wait for their scheduled toilet stop and left me a nice coming home present on the tiled floor of the kitchen, things really couldn’t have got any worse as I cleaned up their ‘gift’, it seemed to be a recurring theme of the night !
So what to take from this tale of woe. For me it highlighted how mentally unprepared I was for the race but, more importantly, how badly I had started , setting unrealistic goals that in the end destroyed me. Being my first time over distance race I should had prepared myself for the long haul and setting off at 100k pace, when I was not in the form to do so, was always going to end in failure. With hindsight, and this is so easy to type, I could have taken an hour to compose myself and got back out there, hell I could have gone for a 6 hour sleep and still ran for another 3 hours ! The possibilities were endless with the nine hours I had left in the event but in the end I did nothing and just sculked off home, a beaten man. Could I have carried on ? It’s a question I ask myself on a regular basis and I truely believe I couldn’t at the time. Three in the morning suffering from sleep depravation, toilet ‘challenges’ and a heart rate rising quickly, I was in no condition to continue, yep, stopping was the only answer but it could have been so different. Will I go back next year ? Hell yeah, for redemption and to prove to myself I can give the 12 hour a good tilt.
What will I do differently ? Just about everything. I’ll mentally prepare myself for a start, really want to finish and finish strong. The pace will be dialled in early and it’ll be sustainable. Jon will be running the 24 hour version so I can stay away from his suicidal pacing and finally I’ll avoid my home cooking as No1 Wife will be home, so no toilet stops ? I’m really looking forward to it, truth be told, but of course there are plenty of other fish to fry before I return to the LightHorse next year.
Confidence wise , mine took a beating of course. My first ever DNF hit me very hard, it’s taken me weeks to even think about typing this post. On the bright side I have taken so much from this , I will never take on an event unprepared and always give the ultra events the respect they deserve, not just turn up and think it’s may right to finish and finish high up the field and strong. In ultra running nothing can be taken for granted and just assuming you are going to go well on past performances is threat with danger. The only thing that semi-guarantee’s results is training, trust in your training not historical data from past experiences.
From the Sciene of Ultra website this paragraph sums up the while DNF thing for me .. https://www.scienceofultra.com/blog/zion100k
They say that the opposite of love is not hate, but rather indifference. That is exactly what I was experiencing. I was completely indifferent to the event. I didn’t love it or hate it, I just had no interest at all, indifference. I asked myself whether this was just frustration; it was not. I had been replaying all the times I’ve heard people say they regretted dropping out of a race and that their advice is to just walk if possible…finish it. But, finishing was not part of my reason for entering the race. I’ve completed 100k races before, with nearly twice the elevation change. I had nothing to prove with finishing. I knew I could finish and that held no absolutely no meaning to me. So, I dropped out.
I was totally indifferent to the event at three hours, I was not enjoying myself and the thought of another 9 hours filled me with dread. It was this I suppose which in the end made my decision for me. I was not in the race to finish but to podium or at least finish high up the field, when this started to slip away (when I DNF’d I was sitting 6th) the race held nothing for me.
‘You learn more from your failure than you do from your success‘, is that true, maybe. I have certainly spent more timing thinking about what happened and working on ways to make sure they never happen again, so from that point of view you do take more from failure. To sum up how early I pulled the pin on the race I ran 33k the next day at 4:37min/k pace , comfortably. Mentally I was in a better place and the legs felt great, imagine that after a 37k race I was running a quick long run faster than race pace. What a difference a day makes, or even a goodies night sleep. I’ve managed to string together a semi-reasonable few weeks which culminated in a 35:38 10k last week and this is a confidence booster with the Rottnest Marathon in two weeks. I certainly feel a lot better going into a race and distance I know and love and there will be no mental challenges on Rotto. (Bar the normal marathon ones of course?) The goal is to run sub 3 for the 7th time and set a new record which I currently share with Mark Page. ( The two of us have six sub3 Rottnest Marathon Finishes). For those of you who don’t know Mark Page has finished Comrades second on two occasions, which is a pretty big deal. He was a pretty handy runner in his time and set numerous records so to go one better than Mark will be a massive honour. Looking at my training I’m in with a shout and I’ll certainly give it my all.
I found a great article from Nic Errol, originally from Perth funnily enough, on his first DNF, far superior to mine. Worth a read people… https://nicerrol.com/2018/02/26/live-and-learn-anatomy-of-a-dnf/
Right it was good to get that post out of the way and I can continue to motivate rather than depress people. With what I have learnt from this race I hope to avoid writing ‘My second DNF’ for a very, very long time, remember I’m at the beginning of my career and time is my friend… yours in running…
