With the ADU ( http://australiadayultra.com/ ) only a few days away I am in the runners limbo that is ‘tapering and carboloading’ at the same time. This period, the last few days before an ultra, is the most testing for any runner. A runner is nervous enough about the upcoming challenge without adding in eating more (carboloading) than they normally would coupled with running less, (tapering) two things alien to most runners. Add in the constant fear of injury and worse, picking up a cold or flu, and this make runners very unhappy people to be around. My Wife and kids know to avoid me the weekend of a marathon and are unsure why I’m grumpy so early in the week. (They haven’t worked out the ADU starts at midnight Friday so I’m a few days early for my ‘grumpy Dad’  phase.)

As this is my first 100k I have taken the approach of still running daily but dropping the second run each day this week. This is tapering enough in my view as the runs all week have been pedestrian at best and I have run on the heart rate rather than pace. I even ran less than 100k last week albeit I did run a 5k race at the end of the week and managed to sneak in 95k total for the period. I take the approach that the legs will recover in 5 days after a 5k race so should be firing on all cylinders tomorrow, just in time for the Friday start. I have already discussed my tapering views for an ultra arguing that if you treat it as a very long run you don’t need to taper that much, just make sure you’re fresh for the start. The proof will be in the pudding on this one unfortunately. (Talking of pudding, must be time for another muffin ?)

Food wise I have been carboloading since yesterday going back to my ‘old faithful’ diet which has served me well the last 58 marathons (including 17 ultra-marathons) . Basically lots of honey on toast, orange juice, pasta or rice and the odd muffin for good luck. Repeat this for 3 days prior to the event and you’re done. I’ve written a post on carboloading on the blog before and if you search on the subject you’ll find it. Written by the nutrition and exercise guru Matt Fitzgerald the article discusses whether you need to carboload if you are going to eats carbohydrates while racing. Obviously in an ultra, over the 8 hour plus racing time, you are going to have to ingest some serious carbs so am I wasting my time carboloading ? Is it really an excuse to eat more Yelo muffins.? Probably, as I have booked in a 10k easy run tomorrow morning with a few friends to celebrate carboloading, the one time you can eat a Yelo muffin ( http://yelocornerstore.com.au/ ) and not feel guilty. (Truth be told I never actually feel guilty eating Yelo muffins but must be seen to advocate a healthy diet, most of the time.)

Final piece in the ultra jigsaw will be the mental attitude which I must admit to be struggling with at the moment. Two reasons really, first the race starts at midnight and is a 3 hour drive to the start. Current plan is to work all day Friday then go home to grab some food and then drive to the start to arrive an hour before. This would be 11pm. Spend an hour preparing myself and then start at midnight with no sleep hoping I can get to the end of the race before sleep depravation kicks in. Even typing this I can see a plan thwart with danger. Of course the biggest issue is the ‘no sleep’ before the start and obviously during the race. (Unless I can learn to sleep-run in the next few days, which is highly unlikely.) I had planned to drive down on Friday with No.2 Daughter and grab a few hours’ sleep before the race but she had a better offer apparently. I may need to offer her some incentives to come down with me as this would be the better solution. Another issue will be running for 5 hours in the dark before the sunrise and then of course you’re faced with the heat problems. Funnily enough the more I type on this post the more I ask myself what have I let myself in for !

Pacing is another piece of the jigsaw I need to get right. (This jigsaw is getting bigger, and harder, by the minute) . The game plan is to set a target pace early on and stick to it for 100k. How difficult can that be? Seriously, reading up on the way to run an ultra it seems all ultra-runners slow down towards the end (funny that, can’t think why?) but it is the ultra-runner who slows the least that eventually triumphs. After typing this post I’m now more in the ‘I just want to finish and not die’ mode rather than worrying about podium placing. Because this distance is new to me it really is set the pace early and hang on for as long as possible, hopefully somewhere around 99k I’ll have to dig deep. (Rather than the 70k mark which I feel is more realistic.)

Enough of looking at all the issues associated with the ADU, let’s concentrate on the good things to look forward to. It’ll be fun running for so long (I assume?) and achieving a running milestone with good friends. The experience will make me a stronger runner no matter the outcome and as with all ultra’s you will learn something about yourself along the way. The event itself is special with a great bunch of runners joined together in their own personal challenges. The comradery in an ultra is like nothing else in the running world, it really is a ‘one for all and all for one’ attitude that you do not find in any other distance. Best part though is last year when I finished the 50k I treated myself to pancakes, bacon, banana, maple syrup and ice cream which I can assure you will be the carrot dangling in front of me at around 70k when I’m physically spent and need that mental toughness to get me to the finish line. It’s amazing what pancakes can get a runner to do and as I’m running a 100k race this year maybe I can order two portions, is that wrong ?