In an effort to test my email forwarding is working I have attached a post I wrote in 2017 and rereading it the same things ring true today. We still talk about Jon’s height and weight challenges, Mike’s VO2 score and Mark now has a training plan from Raf ( https://therunningcentre.com.au/ ) rather than Matt Fitzgerald. Oh and Donald Trump may get reelected, funny how things just don’t change ?
There has been a few forced changes though. We have lost Phil and Zac to the motherland and the T-train has started to run 24 hours a day, so has started his own training company, https://www.tonysmithruncoaching.com/ . I hear he is very good, somesay.
The reason behind the post still rings true of course, running is a social sport and to achieve your best you need to surround yourself with like minded people and also better runners so you can aspire to catch and compete with them. A runner creating a tribe of ultra runners is Shaun Kaesler and the Ultra Series WA , also known as Tribe and Trail. ( https://www.tribeandtrail.com.au/ ) What Shaun is creating is magical, bringing together like minded people and turning them into ultra running machines achieving so much more than they ever thought possible. Watching him at work is a thing of beauty and his success is building event by event. I have never met anyone quite like Shaun and his love of what he does really is inspiring. For any runner in WA (or SA now with the Heysen 105 https://heysen105.com.au/ ) you need to get onboard the trail revolution. ( https://ultraserieswa.com.au/ )
Right that’s it, enjoy the post from 2017 , it made me smile.
Looks like Perth has more than one coach !
Time is getting away from me lately. My twice daily posts have morphed into daily and now weekly posts. Life is getting in the way it seems. Although this may have affected my ability to get to the keyboard you’ll be glad to hear I’m still putting in the kilometres, some things really are sacred. After Darlington half last weekend I managed to drag myself out for a recovery run in the evening, after first posting about the race of course, priorities.
The recovery run on the same day as the event is normally an exercise in pain management and this one was no different. I struggled, and I mean struggled, to hold anywhere near 5min/k average and my right ‘hammy’ , which is as fickle as a Donald Trump voter, was threatening to let go the whole way. Luckily it survived long enough to get me home and immerse myself in deep heat. (Much to the kids disgust of course, some people just don’t appreciate the soothing smell of Deep Heat at the dinner table, these non-runners are a funny bunch?) The next day was no better with recovery run #2 at lunchtime, much to the amusement of Jon and Mike who recover a lot better than me obviously. Both of them look forward to the recovery run after a race as they both save something so they can tease me with a pace just outside what I can achieve before slowing down to let me catch up, before repeating the process. Got to love running humour ? This lack of pace continued until the Thursday morning progressive where I managed to salvage some pride with a half decent hit out before a similar run in the afternoon. On the second run I actually nailed a perfect 10k progressive for the first time in months. I’m blaming the company I keep on the Thursday morning run where we get to sub 4 pace far too early in the 14k distance leaving you nowhere to go at 10k but slower; well for me anyhow. It then stops being a progressive and turns into a 5k tempo. (I’ve written a few posts on progressive runs and their benefits, if you search on the word ‘progressive’ you should get access to them.)
After Thursday my confidence was restored and even ran a good double up on Friday to prepare me for my first Park Run of the year. I have certainly advocated the park run on this blog many times and I firmly believe this is a must-have for all wanna-be runners of all distance. The 5k is long enough it will test you (and bite you in the backside if you go out too quick!) but not long enough that you can’t race it and still put in a good training week.
On Saturday I wasn’t expecting to much but with the help of my mate Andy went off like a rocket and managed a 3:09min/k first kilometre (when will I learn?). I did manage to hold 3:20min/k for the next 2k but let myself down a bit on kilometre four with a 3:29. I kicked for home and registered a 3:20 but the damage was done in kilometre four and I missed a PB by 8 seconds. No problem, I wasn’t expecting one and I felt good for the duration. A bonus was grabbing the Carine 50-55 age group record (from Andy funnily enough, remember him at the start!) to go with my 45-50 age group record. Also managed a top 10 finish nationally among all the ‘age grade’ champions for the park run courses. When you get to 50 it’s all about age grades and groups. (Sorry Mark Lee but it’s all us old timers have left to chase, quality twenty year old runners are now something we read about, not catch!)
Carine Park Run, first lap. Holding on to a slender lead….
Sunday came and luckily we had decided in the week to go with the Mark Conway plan (which Mike is copying , you didn’t hear that here.) and run a 20k easy, for no other reason than we were all a tad jaded after Darlington and fancied a shorter-long run. Due to family commitments I couldn’t start until 6:30am so we all decided to meet at Yelo at that time and either start from there or at least meet the rest of us and continue (if you needed a few extra kilometres.) My 9 year old Daughter did find this amusing as the main reason for this delayed start was her and here were 10 runners changing their lives because of her. We’re a funny lot runners, but accommodating, thanks lads.
So off on the short 20k run we went, ten of us started which normally calls for road closures in Western Australia. (We did pass Mark Lee running in the opposite direction dressed like a Christmas Tree which amused the group greatly ..?) Ten is a good number because it takes about 10k before you actually run out of the ‘initial banter’, this can be stories from the week regarding anything the group would find of interest. Truth be told there are a few subjects which are mandatory of course. Jon’s height and weight are also discussed early as well as Mike’s VO2 max score, add in Mark C’s training plan from Matt Fitzgerald and you’re good for 5k minimum. We then discuss politics for at least 2-3k but lately because of Donald Trump this has started to last a bit longer and normally involves a lot more laughter than previously. (American voters, c’mon, it is a joke isn’t it…?) My training plans are then fair game and also discussions about possible posts. Add in a few Phil quotes and before you know it you’re turning around for the run home.
This of course is when the real running happens. The outward journey is social, we’ve generally not met since the previous Sunday so we have a lot to catch up on. I mean as runners we live very full lives. We sleep, worry about our weight, distance, ‘niggles’, pace, alcohol intake (well my group for some reason doesn’t seem to be too worried ?) and then, well that’s about it really but all of this needs to be discussed at great length. Add in potential races and I’m surprised we have time for anything else bar eating muffins, pancakes and drinking coffee.
So back to the journey home. I must admit without the T-train lately (he’s still injured from the ADU 100K in January.) the last 5-10k has been a tad pedestrian. Tony would always push the finish and we often found ourselves at 5k tempo pace at the end of a long run. Luckily this is considered one of your ‘go to runs’ (a long run, fast finish) but I always felt the T-train just enjoyed putting us all through then ‘ringer’ at the end of a 30k, lovely guy Tone. (maybe we don’t miss him?….) Today was no different and I up’d the pace and split the group as we all moved towards Yelo and the final goal, a berry and white chocolate muffin and coffee combo. (see below!)
The holy grail of running…Yeo muffin and coffee combo.
Being it was only 20k the end came around sooner rather than later and we all continued the conversations we had started 90 minutes previously outside Yelo, The topic of conversation didn’t really change much, (and never does truth be told but that’s the point isn’t it?) Jon’s weight and Mike’s VO2 score were discussed and Phil came out with some more gems which funnily enough were mostly already on the internet. This brings me to the reason behind the post. (Finally I hear you all shout !) … The Sunday long run is more the one time when you can let your hair down (excuse the pun in my case!) and just run with good friends who love the same things you love and then at the end celebrate the whole ‘running thing‘ over good coffee and ‘tukka’. If it does you good as well then that’s a bonus but it’s not the real reason we all run long on Sunday, there’s something far more important , running with your mates. (It is also important to know Mike’s VO2 score and Jon’s current weight battles but that’s secondary, I think?)
The boys, Mark L., Mike, Phil, Al, Jon and me, Mark C. and Zac.
Well the Feral Pig Ultra well and truly kicked my backside. http://feralpigultra.com.au/ That about sums it up really. I probably underestimated the distance and the terrain. More the terrain really as I’ve ran longer this year, albeit on looped courses. The terrain is both beautiful, inspiring and brutal. I got through nearly 3,000 metres of elevation in my 132k but missed out on the last 1,000m ‘s of elevation in the 36k loop was was beyond me.
Looking back at this DNF it seems to be consistent with my other two major running failures, the 12hour Lighthorse last year and the Delirious 200 miler earlier this year. On all three occasions I under estimated what was involved and also mentally was not ready for the challenge. Driving to my lift to the race I was contemplating pulling out and even after registration, boarding the bus to the start line, I was still thinking of pulling the pin. In the end I made the two hour bus trip to the start and, at midnight, stood with 37 other runners looking into the dark bush.
The first 20k or so were at a good pace running with Nick , who had given me a lift to the start line. Nick had prepared meticulously where as I had done the distance but had spent no where near enough time on the trails, this was going to come back to bite me. I let Nick go around the 24k mark and slowed conserving energy for later in the race. Night time running is not my favourite past time and one of the positives I took from this race was the ability to run through the night, albeit just 5 hours as we started at midnight of course.
I came across another runner , obviously struggling, around the 30k mark . Darren had started quickly but injured his knee and we decided to run together , remember it was dark ! I ended up running the next 70k or so with Darren and we had such a laugh, two road runners out of their league. It turns out Darren was/is a gun triathlete and I had heard the name around the traps, we had a lot to talk about and time passed quickly. It was so lucky I had met Darren as the next 10k or there was some serious hills , when I say hills more like granite walls ! , to traverse. Without him I would have got lost, a lot ! When I said time passed quickly, distance did not. The track was certainly not runnable and we were happy enough to plod along , moving forward. Darren was about as excited about our situation as I was and when he hit the first aid station at 40k we both looked at the bus longingly, knowing that this was our last chance to DNF until we’d reach the Discovery Centre nearly 100k away. It was close, trust me, very close ! We were both in a very dark place way too early into a 100 miler and we knew it. Luckily we both decided to push on and I think then I made my decision that my race was now to get back to the start, the extra loop for the 100 mile distance I knew was beyond me. So off we went , up another granite wall !
More Granite walls. !
I had worked out in my head that there were four more aid stations before the start line at the Discovery Centre. In between each aid station there was normally a hut , which would have water dropped off earlier. Thus there was between 8-10 ‘smaller’ races between either an aid station or a drink station. This was now my plan, leap frog each one of these to the start line, simple really. Although the distance sound do-able when you’re running if you walk 10k it can take hours and this soon became obvious. Darren’s knee was getting no better but now his ankle was also playing up, making running difficult. Add in fatigue and heat and you have the ultra runners favourite place to be, the pain box. Sometimes I think ultra runners do what they do to find out how much pain and distress they can take, not for the love of the sport. Maybe that’s the point, seems to work for David Goggins.
https://davidgoggins.com/ Think of Goggins as the Chuck Norris of the running world, google his quotes , he has some good ones !!!
At 65k I was certainly not thinking like David Goggins.. as the video link shows. https://vimeo.com/477961609
I did manage to get to the drinks stop , around 70k , before stumbling to the second aid station, Brookton Road, at 73k. I had packed some rice and chicken , for breakfast, but it turned into lunch. It was probably the best thing I ate all day, real food. A big lesson is I need more of this and will be looking at my diet for Delirious in February, probably getting my Dietitian Guru David Bryant on board. It was starting to heat up now but Darren and I found a second wind and we managed to run for 5-6k before once again settling down into a stroll. The next aid station, Mount Dale, was 13k away with a drinks stop in between, how difficult would that be ? As it turned out very difficult, the heat and terrain were starting to take their toll and the extra time between aid stations, because of the walking breaks, didn’t help. As I said earlier time may go quickly but distance drags. We got to Mount Dale worse for wear but in the back of my mind I could see the finish , at the start line. It was now less than a marathon away, even walking this was manageable and the terrain really was so awesome it made the suffering almost worth it.
Well maybe destroying is a bit optimistic but we’re moving in the right direction before Darren stops for a scenic break. Next footage is around the 100k mark https://vimeo.com/477117008 and I’m pretty well gone by then , before the final video is just before sunset. https://vimeo.com/477118081
That’s it for the videos , once it got dark I was too busy concentrating on staying upright to think about video footage. I’ll need to work on this for Delirious as most of the interesting footage happens when the sun goes down, somesay.
I made it back to the Discovery Centre, the start line, around 10pm Saturday evening, about 22 hours of running, walking etc. I had a second wind a few hours earlier and called my elected pacer , Adam, and asked him to join me at the start for the final 36k loop. Unfortunately since the phone call I had yet again fallen into a hole and by the time I reached him I was done. After some time contemplating life and looking at what was ahead I decided to pull the pin rather than walk for another 7 hours in the dark to finish. As I was walking away Shaun Kaesler, the owner of the USWA and inventor of all these races caught me and persuaded me to have a go. Well actually he told me to have a go at the loop. Anyhow we did move on past the start into the dark but straight away got lost and ended up taking over 15 minutes for the first kilometre. This did not bode well for the next 35 and I could see Adam wasn’t that impressed with the idea of walking around in the dark for 7 hours. He had come to pace me to the finish and assumed it would involve some running, silly boy. ! That was enough, we staggered back to the start line and embraced another glorious DNF.
Some rocks ..
So what were the lessons from this race ? Number one is to be better mentally and physically prepared. This race was not an end goal race but it still needed to be approached with the right mind set. Has it done me any good pre-Delirious ? I think so. I’ve learned I need to go into Delirious with a very positive mental attitude but also I need more trail running experience. If you want to race trails, you need to run trails, it’s a simple as that. As Rob remarked over lunch today I haven’t got the meatest legs but most road runners don’t , trails runners do. Their quads and calves are normally larger than road runners because of the constant ‘stepping’ motion while they run. Road runners, think Kenyans, the smaller and lighter the legs the better , to a point of course. There will be definition but not bulk. My quads have let me down and I know I need to spend some serious time squatting , which I will pre-Delirious.
I need to also run my own race. Throughout the Feral I was either running when I wanted to walk or walking when I wanted to run, due to company. I wasn’t confident enough to set out on my own for fear of getting lost but this ultimately was my undoing. On the flip side the company , in ultra’s, makes the racing so much more enjoyable so it’s a fine line getting this right. Finally I need to get the nutrition guru on board, David Brant, http://www.catalystdietitian.com.au/about.html , his insight got me through Birdies backyard Ultra so I’m confident he can help me for my 200 miler next February.
The Feral Pig has beaten me for 2020 but I’ll be back in 2021 and the end result will not be the same. The lessons I have learned will hopefully propel me to a sub 23 hour finish, that’s the goal. As with the Light Horse this year I’m always prepared to go back to my failures and try to put things right, otherwise what’s the point of failure ? Right I’m off to do a 1,000 squats……
