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bigkevmatthews@gmail.com
Anyhow reason behind this post is I have become am Amazon Affiliate which means if I recommend stuff to my reader(s) and they go and buy it from Amazon I get some coin. Unfortunately my readership currently consists of my 80 year old Mum who funnily enough doesn’t run but in the off chance someone else comes across this post, probably by mistake, then I can recommend the items I brought. It’ll be a win-win for all as I do make an effort and try to buy the best products, at the best price, albeit on Amazon.
Right, here’s the items I’ve purchased recently that I can recommend for quality and price, at time of posting of course. There’s no price promise from the BK Running blog , I ain’t Bunnings Warehouse people ! If you do find any of these items cheaper let me know and I’ll update the post. This really is a tester to see if you guys are interested in the same items I am and if I can get a small back-hander from Amazon to help towards running costs for the blog ?
The first product is a real bargain because for some reason the product on www.amazon.com is over $370 AUD but on www.amazon.com.au it’s $236.41 AUD. (See the link below)
https://www.amazon.com.au/gp/product/B00MN96JT2/ref=ppx_od_dt_b_asin_title_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Good news for you , bad news for me as the link I get is for the Amazon.com listing , which is over $140 AUD more expensive? This really is a bargain and if you want an awesome GPS watch for around half price use the link above. The reason I brought it was for the incredible battery life , easily more than enough for the 4 day (or quicker?) Irrational South race in October. In fact I have had my one for nearly two weeks and it still has over 70% batter life, albeit I have only used once in that period. (Being injured)
I have attached a review below but do your own research, the watch has been around for a few years and now represents great value for money.
https://andrewskurka.com/long-term-review-suunto-ambit3-peak-gps-sport-watch/
Next is my watch of choice and the one I am currently wearing and have been for the last 4 years, the GARMIN 235. Again this watch has been around for a long time but if something works why change it. ! Before this watch Garmin’s were to be used only when you ran, they were not your everyday watch. This all changed with the 235. It was bye-bye Rolex Submariner and hello sports watch. This watch is light , has an inbuilt wrist heart rate monitor which I feel is very accurate (Don’t listen to Mike Kowal!) and provides clear and accurate data as well as having the ability to download maps via apps. It may be looking a tad old in the tooth but for this price you’re getting a whole lot of watch. My Suunto is really for ultra races, where as the Garmin is my ‘use everyday’ watch.
Garmin Forerunner 235, GPS Running Watch, Black/Gray
Head torches, I hear you ask ? According to the link below this bad boy of a head torch is just under $40AUD. Unfortunately it looks like this is out of stock at the moment but keep trying, this is the headlamp of choice for quality and price.
Black Diamond Storm Headlamp, Dark Olive
My backup torch, because you need two at all time on the Delirious and Irrational 200 milers and there’s no point buying the same one ?, is the Petzl Tactikka 300. Petzl are a great brand and always good to have the best as a backup just in case. Not as many lumens as the Black Diamond but for me it’s a good product as a second torch. The link below is for the 200 Lumens, where as I brought the 300 and you can go higher of course, right upto 750 Lumens; which apparently you can see from space.
PETZL – TIKKA Headlamp, 200 Lumens, Standard Lighting, Black
Socks are next on the BK recommendation list and nothing beats the Injinji brand with the unique design giving each toe their personal sock thus stopping blisters, apparently. (The 5 Toe Fit System, funnily enough ) I used a pair on the Delirious recently and after nearly 18 hours of running my feet still felt great, unfortunately my quads were goosed but my feet , no problem. Each toe is cocooned in their own personal cotton sock thus , in theory, eliminating blisters.
Injinji Men’s Trail Midweight Mini Crew Toesocks
Ok, that enough for today. If you have any bargains you see on Amazon you think would benefit other readers of this blog, other than my Mum, please feel free to leave a link or email me and once a in a while I’ll write a post and advertise to the greater good of the readership, and some extra coin for me to keep the site going and/or retire early.
Rather than write about the experience I thought I’d add some video. My Daughters both got GoPro’s for Christmas so I ‘borrowed’ one and recorded some footage throughout the day. What do they say a video tells a thousand words ? (Forgot to mention I put in a bit of a dent in No3 Daughters GoPro on one of my many stacks during the day, it’ll come back to haunt me no doubt !)
The day before the race is the smaller version of the Delirious called the Bogan race, the race that stops a town. Truth be told with Northcliffe it’s very difficult to tell when its stopped or started ? The race is a foot race holding a barrel after sculling beer along the way, in bogan fancy dress of course, sort of a beer mile on steroids. The first two videos are the Race Director explaining the rules and then the start of the race itself. ( https://vimeo.com/396639530 )
and the start of the bogan race, the race that stops a town….allegedly. ? ( https://vimeo.com/396642998 )
Right , back to the race, here’s the start. You’ll notice we actually deliberately go the wrong way as it’s tradition after last years navigational cock-up when the whole field went left when they should have gone right. Not a good start to a 200 mile race when you get lost in the first 1o metres ? It’s amazing any of them even found the finish line !! I was actually following Jen on this footage and we ran together for most fo the fist 70k before she dropped me and ran an amazing race to finish second female and top 5 finisher. I should have hung on for longer ! (https://vimeo.com/396109352 )
Next we are an hour or so into the race , still smiling . I think at this point we were top 10, mainly because everybody in front of us got lost. Discussing our breakfast which consisted of waffles with bacon, ice cream, poached eggs and lots of maple syrup. The joys of ultra running. With hindsight more bacon would have probably saved my race ? (https://vimeo.com/396110335 )
Fours hours in and still enjoying it, lots of walking and running, it was starting to heat up at this point, just before midday and after aid station 1. Certainly underestimated the distance between aid stations and this was eventually my downfall. Not enough nutrition or hydration early on led to the quads seizing up later in the race (around the 70k mark) and a long bus and train journey home for me. (in my race gear as my bag of clothes was at the finish line in Albany but that’s a post for another day !) I have said many times on this blog an ultra is really just an eating and drinking competition with running between aid station a secondary activity. Get the eating and drinking wrong and the engine runs out of fuel, when that happens it doesn’t matter what car you’re driving, you stop ! End of story! In an ultra a well fed diesel will always out perform a Porsche with an empty fuel tank ! ( https://vimeo.com/396112207 )
Four and half hours in and we’re starting to have second thoughts !!! Scenery is still awesome but I regret not putting on sunscreen around this time ! (https://vimeo.com/396113019 )
Around eight hours in and we’re both goosed ! Really hot at this point and some serious walking ! ( https://vimeo.com/396108801 )
Eight hours in and we’re starting to worry ! Realising we’re not even 10% into the race… oh dear.! (https://vimeo.com/396113815 )
This was after the 75k aid station, not happy , quads were locked solid. !! Around the 10 hour mark, still loving the scenery but dehydration and lack of nutrition was starting to take its toll. (https://vimeo.com/396109049 )
An hour later legs were good, pancakes and bacon finally kicked in. Probably around the 80 mark, eleven hours. ( https://vimeo.com/396114361 )
Sunset , feeling pretty good at this stage, 6k into the next aid station and had managed to put together a good 10k of running. Legs had recovered at this point but unfortunately I went through one more aid station before pulling the pin. Quads totally seized around the 100k mark and I stumbled into Mandelay , at 112k , in a sorry state. Rookie errors, namely not eating and drinking enough between aid stations and getting totally dehydrated due to the midday sun exposure with no suntan cream, what was I thinking. A couple of stacks on the last stage left me alone in the dark with a fading head torch, stumbling about lost. Running a race this distance is 90% mental and I gave myself so many reasons to stop but none to carry on. With hindsight a massage and a few hours sleep may have been enough to loosen off the quads but even the next day I found walking just about impossible and when you run a 200 miler the numbers can destroy you. I remember sitting in the chair at the last aid station , after running for 17 hours, totally goosed, thinking I still have over 230k to go. At that point it was very easy to pull the pin when I found it painful to walk 10 metres ! (https://vimeo.com/396114936 )
So what’s the lesson learnt here. The race itself is just awesome and I can’t wait to try again. To that end I have entered another 200 miler in June called the Irrational South , another Shaun Kaesler special, what could go wrong ? ( http://irrationalsouth200miler.com.au/ ) Entries are open for a few more months if you want to join me, and maybe even get on the GoPro footage ? I even persuaded Jon to join me (albeit it is now sponsored by Trail and Tribe https://www.tribeandtrail.com.au/ so gets free entry)! and I’m working on Georges, it wouldn’t be the same without him and his ‘white t-shirt”? The only fly in my 200 mile ointment is a nagging, niggly knee injury that has stopped me running since Delirious so it looks like I’ll be going in undercooked again, wouldn’t have it any other way !!! Giddy up.
Rather than write about the experience I thought I’d add some video. My Daughters both got GoPro’s for Christmas so I ‘borrowed’ one and recorded some footage throughout the day. What do they say a video tells a thousand words ?
First offering is the start. You’ll notice we actually deliberately go the wrong way as it’s tradition after last years navigational cock-up when the whole field went left when they should have gone right. Not a good start to a 200 mile race when you get lost in the first 1o metres ? It’s amazing any of them even found the finish line !! I was actually following Jen on this footage and we ran together for most fo the fist 70k before she dropped me and ran an amazing race to finish second female and top 5 finisher. I should have hung on for longer ! (https://vimeo.com/396109352 )
Next we are an hour or so into the race , still smiling . I think at this point we were top 10, mainly because everybody in front of us got lost. Discussing our breakfast which consisted of waffles with bacon, ice cream, poached eggs and lots of maple syrup. The joys of ultra running. (https://vimeo.com/396110335 )
Fours hours in and still enjoying it, lots of walking and running, it was starting to heat up at this point, just before midday and after aid station 1. Certainly underestimated the distance between aid stations. ( https://vimeo.com/396112207 )
Four and half hours in and we’re starting to have second thoughts !!! Scenery is still awesome but I regret not putting on sunscreen around this time ! (https://vimeo.com/396113019 )
Around eight hours in and we’re both goosed ! Really hot at this point and some serious walking ! ( https://vimeo.com/396108801 )
Eight hours in and we’re starting to worry ! Realising we’re not even 10% into the race… oh dear.! (https://vimeo.com/396113815 )
This was after the 75k aid station, not happy , quads were locked solid. !! Around the 10 hour mark, still loving the scenery but dehydration and lack of nutrition was starting to take its toll. (https://vimeo.com/396109049 )
An hour later legs were good, pancakes and bacon finally kicked in. Probably around the 80 mark, eleven hours. ( https://vimeo.com/396114361 )
Sunset , feeling pretty good at this stage, 6k into the next aid station and had managed to put together a good 10k of running. Legs had recovered at this point but unfortunately I went through one more aid station before pulling the pin. (https://vimeo.com/396114936 )
Right , Northcliffe is about 347km from Perth and about as country as you can get ! The hotel doubles as the pub, convention centre, holiday park and generally the catalyst of everything social in the town. The pubs landlord, Duncan , and landlady, Helen, are true blue Aussi’s who, if you cut them , would bleed green and gold. ! Such wonderful hosts and perfect for the event, they embrace the Delirious and for that few days in February become a runners dream location. The only downside to their wonderful establishment though is the rooms are a tad basic and my room, number 3, was right above the bar. On Monday night it felt like I was with Shazza as she dominated the pool table ! Luckily it was all quite Tuesday when I had ear plugs at the ready incase Shazza returned to kick some more pool table ass. The food at the pub is outstanding, steak on Monday , pasta on Tuesday and waffles both days, you got to love ultra running where you really can eat what you want this close to the event, no worrying about putting on a few pounds when you’re running over 200 miles. What a difference to running a marathon where you’re calorie counting weeks before the event and you spend more time on the scales than with your family. Ultra running really is the event that keeps on giving, one waffle at a time.
To show you how small Northcliffe is I had attached a photo of the train station, is that not the smallest train station EVER !! I’m assuming thee platform is for first class and the rest have to stand behind the painted line, brilliant.
Northcliffe train station, standing room only apparently?
Last year , it’s inaugural one, there was just over 30 runners for the event, this year that number doubled to over 60 starters and 15 , or so , defers to next year. Next year I’m sure it will sell out early and maybe even before it goes out to the public if Shaun offers entries to past runners and volunteers. I’m hoping that I’m on the list of past runners albeit a past starter rather than finisher as I’m going back 100% ! (with a full support crew , pacers , poles , better legs and a decent head torch!) Anyhow as you can see from the photo the start is epic , surrounded by like minded, nervous runners who are about to challenge themselves like never before and have an adventure of a lifetime . (or in my case DNF horribly about a third of the way in !) Its a wonderful place to be.
The photo below shows the race winner , Jon far left, who ran the race of his life. Destroyed the field on the first day, destroyed himself on the second and then came good to battle to victory on day four , before driving to the local parkrun and running the 5k. He has gone down in folklore for that trust me ! Will anyone ever repeat that ? I’m not sure but I’m pretty sure there’s a few people (myself included) who will try next year, the Delirious +5 !!! You have to finish before 7am on Saturday morning to make the Albany parkrun by 8am. Jon did it hard , with Peter Duff as his support crew driving his white BMW sports car through some seriously dirty outback roads, needless to say it was the colour of George’s shirt at the end of the adventure. Next to Jon you have my barista Georges. He, or his son Ben, make me and my Wife our morning coffee most weekdays. Over the last year I had been trying to persuade him to enter the race and he relented on the last day. Georges is recovering from shoulder and knee surgery a few months ago and, like myself , was undertrained .A cortisone a few days before the event got him through and he revelled in the adventure. I haven’t told him we’re going back next year, me to try and get into the Delirious +5 club and Georges for his double plugger, plenty of time for that and plenty of coffee to drink discussing it.
To my left in the photo is my good friend Amy who had been suffering , pre-race , with shortness of breath and also a tight calf. Unfortunately a few kilometres into the race the tight calf turned into a calf tear and although she stumbled on there was no way you can run 350k with a tear, impossible. Things went from bad to worse after Amy stopped as her calf swelled up and lots of blood blotches started to show up , as the calf continued to swell. The medic called an ambulance and off to Albany hospital Amy was whisked, rapidly. Turned out she had blood clots in her lungs , which explained the shortness of breath, and both her calfs. She is one tough mother though and already talking up next year. My goal is to try and recreate this photo at the start in 2021 and also at the finish……
The course is well marked and up to 112k you shouldn’t get lost, assuming you have a good head torch and the course on your watch . After that I don’t know as I was on a bus home to Perth, tail between my legs.
Theres a tradition , after one year, at the Delirious where you actually deliberately turn the wrong way 100metres into the race and run for about a kilometre before turning back. This was because last year this actually happened and most of the runners ran around 5k the wrong way before realising their mistake and returning,. Imagine the spectators watching all 30+ runners disappear running North instead of South and then, 20 minutes later, seeing them all come charging back and go the right way, priceless ! Shaun decided that because of this from now on all starters run the wrong way for a couple of kilometres, I suppose when you going to run 350k and extra couple should not be beyond you ? There was lots of giggling going on during the detour and the track, truth be told, was awesome. (I had actually walked that part of the track the day before believing I was going the right way myself, it’s easily done.)
The start of the race is biblical, you are full of beans and if you see a photographer you have to strike a pose. In the image below me and Georges are moving freely though the field, loving every step and excited about the journey ahead. This my favourite part of any ultra, well this and the finish, the hundred of kilometres in between can get a bit tedious ? I jest of course, in an ultra you really can enjoy the whole journey and still avoid the pain box if you have trained well and make the right nutrition and hydration choices along the way. Remember an ultra really is an eating and drinking competition, with running between aid stations.
More fun and games below, about 100 meters from the last photo, at this rate it’ll take weeks to get to the end , not days ! Can’t avoid a camera though, it’s be rude !
Right that’s it for Delirious part one.. I need a break and I’ll leave you with the image that will start the story tomorrow… some races are so long they need two posts !!
The first few rows in the image, nearest me, were my Asics Kayano phase, 2008 -2012. These were my Comrade years where I believed you changed your shoes every 400k come what may !! I was a resellers dream ! ( Comrades is the largest ultra marathon in the world and should be on the bucket list of all runners. http://www.comrades.com . It will be the 100th anniversary of the first race in May 2021. This will be an epic adventure with entries capped at 34,000 to correspond to the 34 original runners.) In 2008 I was training for my first Comrades and these were the days before online purchasing really. We , as a running group, would keep an eye on our local running store and as soon as they had a deal on Kayano’s we would raid the place, usually coming out with 3-4 pairs ! Then Wiggle came online in the UK and they delivered Asics to Australia and that was the end of buying running shoes in your bricks and mortar store. These days I do try and support our local retailer as it’s an unfair playing field, truth be told, with the online warehouses buying in bulk and saving on staff and business rates/costs, support your local running store people !
Initially I was a big Asics fan, I mean this was a company that specialised in running shoes and had the history and knowledge to produce the best product. The only down side was cost and weight. The Kayano is a great shoe but was at the upper end of the price bracket and when I started to up my mileage the cost of replacing shoes became more and more difficult to hide from no1 Wife !! Thus I moved to the ‘best shoe on sale’ approach on UK Wiggle ( http://www.wiggle.co.uk ) . Luckily I found my feet would just about fit any shoe so brand loyalty was gone and as long as the reviews were convincing I moved between brands based on lowest price. (Note Wiggle UK stop selling Asics and Adidas at the request of local resellers as it was cheaper to buy the shoes and get them delivered than go to the local shop)
So what have been the stand out shoes of the last 12 years ? I’d say the original Nike Lunaracer is right up there. This was a game hanger, a lightweight shoe with a bit of bounce, the Vaporfly of its time. I have attached images of the mk1 and mk3 , great shoes. These really did change the landscape for marathon shoes. Before these bad boys we’d run the marathon is as light a show as possible. All about saving weight which, with hindsight, was probably a flawed logic as you’d put on 3-4kilo’s due to carbo-loading!!! I’ve ran marathons in racing flats to save a few grams but risking all types of injury when your legs are tired and your form has been destroyed by fatigue. How the landscape has changed these days with marathon shoes weighing less than racing flats but given your more support than a 70’s Rock Star in high heels ! (That’s a reference to the latest Nike Alpha’s in case you missed it.)
The original Nike Lunaracer. A thing of beauty but not for the wide foot runners amongst us. The fit was always a tad ‘snug’.
Honourable mentions go to the Adidas Adios/Adizero Series and the Takumi sen 3. These are great shoes and the latest versions are still available. Very light but with a great Continental tread these were the shoes of choice pre-Vaporflys.
Another great brand and a great shoe is the Saucony Kinvara. This was very similar to the Nike Lunaracer but more usable as an everyday training shoe , as well as a racing shoe. It gave you a good combination of lightness and some rebound with is cushioning sole. The image below is the mark 2 , which is my personal favourite but they are all great shoes and we’re up to mark 11 now I think. I’d certainly still use these and if they are ever on sale will try and pick up a few pairs.
For your normal training shoe, combining weight, cushioning and rebound my shoe of choice would be the Nike Pegasus or Adidas Boston . These shoes both have some longevity making them cost efficient as well. (and thats important right?)
Best shoe of the last 12 years, there can be only one ! The original Nike Vaporfly 4%, harder to get than Rocking Horse sh*t when they first came out and $100 more expensive than any competitor but a game changer in racing shoes. I even paid nearly 50% more for a pair on ebay at one point , crack cocaine to a marathon runner ! The second generation Flyknit was lighter but , for me, too narrow a fit and felt very unstable. They redeemed themselves with the Next% and I am wetting myself with excitement waiting for the AlphaFlys. If this was the Oscars the Flys would win best movie, actor and actress, they are that good ! Only downside is there is little support for the foot and I have heard of people complaining about injuries but if you use them to only race in you’ll be fine. (at their retail price you’d need to be a rock star to use them as your daily shoe!)
This is the sort of post that I could just keep on typing , there are so many stories linked to each pair of shoes but ultimately you need to let go and, if they can be of use to someone else and spark the love of running , then it is a sacrifice I’m willing to make, giving up my collection. Although I feel like Golem in Lord of the Rings, giving up his precious, I know it was the right thing to do and I recommend anyone else out there sitting on a collection of memories does the same. Find a charity that can reuse your old shoes and make that call, you won’t regret it. Also it does allow you to start another collection of course but we’ll keep that between ourselves right…….
2019 started badly with a 1:22 at Darlington half. This was the first time I had run over 80 minutes for 6-7 years and although it was good for a top 10 finish (just) it was a disappointing result. I did manage to run sub 80 minutes at the Joondalup half and , with hindsight, this was probably the run of the year for me, again a top 10 finish and a reasonable paced race. I raced five 10k’s over the year , starting with a 36 minute finish before dipping just under 36 minutes on the next two, albeit just under, before two disappointing 37 minute finishes. Not somewhere I thought I’d be so quickly after running 34 minutes regularly a few years ago? Marathon season was another mixed bag. At Rottnest I managed to sneak under three hours with a 2:58 and 7th place finish, which was a fair result but at the City to Surf a few months later I only improved my time a few minutes to 2:55. Again this was the slowest I’d ran this event for many years ,albeit it was a controlled race and a good split between the first and second half so maybe I’m being hard on myself ?
To cap off a bad year my favourite race of the year , the 6 inch trail ultramarathon , was cancelled due to the extreme heat in Perth over December and the risk of a fire. ( http://www.6inchtrailmarathon.com/ ) I’d managed to put together a few good weeks of training (relatively) and was hoping to break 4 hours for the 9th on the course, this will have to wait until later in the year now ?
So was has 2020 got to offer in the way of challenges ? The first one is in February , a small matter of a 200miler called the Delirious West ( http://deliriouswest200miler.com.au/) I entered this event when entries first opened in March 2019, I think? I was the first to enter and managed to enter before entries had even opened by finding a link on the interweb , when searching for the race details, much to the angst of the race director! Anyhow here we are now 10 months later and the race is weeks away and I’m probably at my lowest ebb for many months, not a good combination. On the bright side a 200 mile race is mainly mental , apparently , which is lucky as physically I’m nowhere near where I need to be, albeit I have a few weeks to prepare. I did lash out on a nice running vest at the Kathmandhu sales so I’ll at least look the part. I probably need to think about other ‘stuff’ for the event as it’ll probably take 3-4 days to finish, vaseline comes to mind by the bucket load !!
I’d written off the Australia Day Ultra ( http://australiadayultra.com/ ) at this stage as I’m still recovering from a head cold shared by no3 Daughter a few weeks ago. Again , just as I was getting up a full head of steam , I’ve been derailed and have not put on the trainers for a few days, with little chance of that changing this week. Of course if I can conjure up a Lazarus like recovery it could be on the cards but confidence is low, unless I can get some of those ‘suck it up’ pills from Mr. Goggins? This was how I started 2019, a DNS at the ADU, albeit I had paid for that one, this year I’ve kept my entry money in my pocket for the time being, maybe you can teach an old runner new tricks?
Goals for 2020, well the first one is to survive the Delirious West of course. Then we’ll be back into the racing season, Darlington half in March, a few 10k’s between then and the Rottnest Marathon in June, Chevron City to Surf Marathon in August and the Perth Running Festival (for the fist time, finally?) in October. Maybe a half or two somewhere in there and finally the 6 inch ultra in December. I may go back and revisit the UWA Light horse in April and try and finish the 12 hour race, my only ever DNF (so far?), we’ll see ? All that was easy to type but first thing first I need to find my running mojo. It has eluded me many times over the last few years and, combined with injuries, left me questioning why I do what I do. All runners must eventually reach a point in their career when it all just becomes too hard, motivation can certainly wane when you know you’ll only ever be running slower each time you race. For me running has always been about racing your old self, the best you could do , and beating that time. Racing has always been my main reason for running and now , as I move back to the pack, that goal is disappearing. Of course I can always set season targets like continuing a long sub 3 marathon streak or trying to run sub 37 minutes for 10k or 80 mins for a half, but ultimately these are all times I would have scoffed at a few years ago. It does make the early mornings and double days seem that little bit harder, nigh impossible lately truth be told. This has the double whammy of hastening your retreat to the pack because you’re not putting in the time on legs, gotta’ love paying the piper ?
As I have said many times in 2019 this is quite a depressing post but , until I can get back in the game mentally , this does seem to have become the norm of late which is why I have been posting less than usual. It’s hard enough writing these posts I can only imagine reading them must be as challenging. No worries, I’ll make a promise to my readers (reader ? , Mum?) to try and be more positive in the future and maybe even start to rekindle my love of running which got me started on this blog in 2016. Looking back at those early posts I miss that ‘youthful (I’m not sure a 50 year old can be described as youthful??) enthusiasm , trying to hold myself back from running three times a day and gleefully describing PB adventures in all distances. Those days are gone and I need to reset my goals to make them at least achievable. I think the first one at the moment is to just start running again after three days off. Now is not a good time to start looking for my mojo again because in less than 6 weeks I’ll have over 200 miles to look for it and that may be a very painful experience. On the bright side it will make one hell of a post. Right, where did I put those ‘suck it up pills’ ………
This post was going to be about my 11th 6 Inch Ultra Trail marathon ( http://www.6inchtrailmarathon.com/ ) and another sub4 finish, unfortunately due to the extreme heat wave we have been suffering though this summer it was deemed too dangerous to run the event. The conditions in sunny Perth have been very sunny and the last few weeks has been a chore to continue to train for the 6 inch ultra. Many lunch time runs I have ‘showered‘ under a tap and staggered, rather than skipped, back to work where I soak in my own sweat in air conditioned heaven (must to my work colleagues disgust!) Unpleasant is an under statement and the heat is unrelenting , with three 40 degree days in a row before the Saturday when the race director, Dave Kennedy, made the right decision to cancel the event.
Unfortunately , or fortunately, my accomodation was brought and paid for, with no refunds, so as a group we decided to go to Dwellingup anyway and just run the Sunday morning, conditions permitting. Thus on Saturday afternoon Barts picked me and No2 Daughter, Hannah, up from City Beach and off we went , via a small detour at Como to pick up another friend of mine Amy. We arrived just in time for a Question and Answer with three elite ultra runners, who had obviously double booked because Dave let me and Jon on the top table with Barbara Fieberg, a previous winner of the event and an Australian representative at 12 and 24 hours. All me and Jon could offer was an AURA age group record (mine) and his unratified 5th longest distance at a 12 hour event earlier in the year. In our defence we are still very keen runners and can at least offer some advice, using experience as our guide.
After the Q&A Barts insisted we hot foot it to the pub, to beat the rush, and get some decent good old fashioned Australian county tukka at the local tavern. If you read my blog you’ll understand last year this same tavern scuppered the event for Jon, Bart’s, Mike and Mark as they indulged in the pub’s enormous portions. I did giggle to myself as I ate my small portion of pasta later in the evening without the 5-10kg weight gain all the lads put on due to their evening meals. Needless to say the next day the lads struggled up the numerous hills with the extra weight , while I skipped off into the distance, still giggling like a 10 year old boy after his first encounter with his Father’s Mayfair magazine. This year we could all enjoy our meal , bar Jon , who had decided that even though the event was cancelled, unofficially, he would run the course backwards in the dark and then return the next morning. Yep, you guessed it, the infamous 12 inch. ! Only attempted by a few mad ultra runners who would leave at 10pm the night before the event, they’d turn up at the start around 4am the next morning and then register for the main event, kicking off at 4:30am. This would give them 94km and some serious kudos of course. Jon decided to ignore the ban due to possible fire risk and off into the night he went while myself, Amy, Mark and Bart’s settled down for the 4th showing of Run Fat Boy Run armed with a good bottle of red.
So while we finished off the film, but not the bottle of red , we were running at 4:30am the next morning, Jon set off into the dark on his quest to obtain the 12 inches he had always wanted ( or that was what Bart’s had said , not sure what we meant ?) The next morning we did get up at 4:30am, much to my Daughters disgust!, and set off on to the trails and headed towards the escalator for a cheeky 24k out and back. Conditions were glorious , albeit it did start to heat up quite quickly and we all agreed it was still the right decision to cancel. The picture below doesn’t do justice to the conditions, as I have said many times before trial running , when the light is right, is magical.
Once we returned to the accomodation, we freshened up and then scuttled off to the Blue Wren Cafe for a good old fashioned large Cappuccino and bacon and egg toasted sandwich. While me and the boys tucked into our freshly made toasted sandwich’s Amy had a Strava segment to attend to (you do have Strava right ? http://www.strava.com ) She had stalked this segment from Perth and was determined to leave her mark in Dwellingup with a CR (Coarse Record). There was a double incentive as the current holder had initially followed Amy on Strava but then unfollowed her. This is unacceptable , apparently , and punishable by a good old fashioned Strava segment beating, bless her. Once Amy achieved her CR we regrouped and waited for Jon , who eventually turned up after running for well over 11 hours. He , along with one other , had become a member of a very select club of men who can say they have a 12 inch under their belt. (Please note, at the time of writing, no woman has got her hands on a 12 inch, although I suspect in the near future one may get her hands on Jon’s 12 inch , if they speak nicely to him or whisper sweet nothings in his ear, he likes that apparently?) I digress , as always.
All in all a great weekend , spent with friends (and no2 Daughter) with many happy memories added to the trail running database to be retrieved at random times over the next few years , with much laughter , and some obvious innuendos.
Well it looks liker my old mate Jon Pendse is keen to give back to the running community and has offered free coaching, mentoring to all and sundry. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity to learn from one of Perth’s best known, and loved, local running legend. I have had the honour of running with Jon since 2008 when I first encountered him at the Bunbury marathon and then realised we both worked in the same building in Perth. After introducing ourselves in the mens changing rooms (?) we started a relationship that is going as strong today as when we first started on our journey over ten years ago. Rereading that please note that was a running relationship , I’m happily married (according to my current Wife!) and Jon was happily married but is now even happier single. (and running a lot quicker, go figure?)
Back in the day Jon was the target for all us St. Georges Terrace Running Club runners to aim for. He was the quickest runner at all distances and I spent 4-5 years admiring his form as he strutted off into the distance on many occasions, it was around 2011 I think the first time I pipped him to the finish line at the City to Surf. We had run together for the first 41k and then it was on for young and old for the final 1k sprint. I think my long legs gave me the edge as we both sprinted for the finish. Happy days.. I’ve managed to keep Jon in check up until this year when he has once again found the fire ( and got divorced, coincidence I don’t think so !) and just maxed out his running distance. The payback has been instant as he has won numerous marathons , ultra marathons and even set a top 10 Australian record distance in timed races over 12 hours.
So for any runner in the Perth area if you want to be coached by a running legend get in touch , his email is :jpendse@tpg.com.au He may even share his running spreadsheet which has to be seen to be believed ! (He is an accountant by trade funnily enough!)
The last couple of months I have been building to this event and have been gradually increasing the time on legs but neglecting speed work and this has come back to bite me in both my last 10k races. Early November I ran a 37:36 at the John Gilmour track 10k and last Sunday I went slower at the Fremantle 10k, 37:56. The first time , on the track , was excusable as it was the last race I needed to win the WAMC age group 55-55 category but the time did sting. I was determined to go better and the Fremantle 10k gave me that opportunity. As with the previous 10k I started well enough but was unable to hold the pace and had to work very hard to keep sub 38 minutes , saved by a last minute sprint. A 15 second plus difference from kilometre 1 to kilometre’s 7-9 is not ideal pacing, you should be looking to hold the same pace throughout with maybe a faster last kilometre to account for the ‘kick’ finish. In my defence I was going slow enough that a ‘kick’ finish was achieved , albeit a very small ‘baby kick’?
Every race teaches you something and the last two have taught me I need to add pace to at least two of my weekly runs. I’m planning a Mona Fartlek at least once a week and then maybe a 10k tempo/threshold to try and bring my 10k time back under 36 minutes (as a minimum) next year. Of course this will have to wait as I have the trail ultra in a few weeks and then the Australia Day Ultra in January ( http://australiadayultra.com/ ) before the Delirious ( http://deliriouswest200miler.com.au/ ) in February, all ultra’s. !
I’ve written a few posts over the years on the 6 inch..probably worth a recap…
There’s more, just type in ‘6 inch’ in the search bar and you’ll find many, many amusing posts on this race and that’s the point of the 6 inch. It comes at the end of year, a few days before Christmas , where the finishing time is not important (as long as it’s under 4 hours). It’s more about the boys having a night away from our families and just being boys again, albeit for one night only. The experience of driving down Saturday , staying over Saturday night and watching ‘Run Fat Boy Run’ (an absolute classic film which all runners need to watch!) , running with some great friends on the Sunday morning and then a final get together to recount stories from the day, great times. It really is a special event and one all trail runners need to run sometime in their career.
So have I done enough over the last few months to guarantee a sub 4 finish ? I’d say at the moment I’m 50-50, conditions will dictate the final finish time I feel. Perfect conditions I got a chance, too hot and it’ll be a closer run thing. Either way I have a date with an esky at the finish so if I finish ahead of you I’d be careful where you choose your post race drink. It’s another great 6 inch tradition apparently. I’m excited about my 11th time taking on the 6 inch and hope to continue the tradition for many years to come, finishing sub 4 may not be on the cards for many more years but either way I know my old mate Mr.Esky will always be there to greet me at the end and that’s enough to keep me coming back for more. (and watching Run Fat Boy Run with the boys, again you all need to watch that film!)
As you can see from the image below I have been gradually building up my training from nothing at the beginning of October to my first full week in many months this week. Bu where does that leave me in relation to my fitness over the last 2 years ? If you want to follow me on Strava feel free to use the link below:-
With Strava all the data is there as I haven’t missed saving a run to Strava for many years. I did try and run without a GPS watch, deliberately , a few months ago but it was a disaster. I’m a Strava addict and that’s just the way it is. I started running before GPS devices and tracking software but , in this case, consider technology to be a good thing and now cannot run without a GPS watch welded to my wrist. Remember if it’s not on Strava did it happen ? There are other training software packages of course and Training Peaks is probably the nearest thing to Strava. Truth be told it’s probably a better option for the ‘true athelete‘ because I’ve heard the data analysis is better but Strava is more like the facebook of the running world, and as I’m ‘virtually’ very sociable it’ll always be Strava.
The image below sums up everything I have talked about in the preceding paragraphs. In 2018 I was running well and coming off the back of a great couple of years , 2016-17, where I had hit quite a few running goals. These included a 16:40 5k, 34:18 10k and even a 2:41:44 marathon , three years after a similar time. 2018 was going to be a similar story and I even harboured , secretly, thoughts of maybe one more sub 2:40 marathon assault. Unfortunately all these plans came crashing down during a 3k steeplechase race at the Australian Masters in April. I had been fighting plantar fasciitis for a few months previous to the Australian Masters and , with hindsight, racing a 5k, 10k, 3k steeplechase (in racing spikes for the first time EVER!) and 10k cross county on consecutive days was probably not a good idea. That was 2018 written off and it was a long period of slow grass/trail running that dragged my fitness down to around 80 . I then tried, and failed , to get ready for the Perth City to Surf marathon (August) and the Rottnest Marathon (October) before finding salvation in the Elliptigo, combining commuting and training, for a high score of nearly 180 just before the 6 inch ultra.
This was shown to be true as I aced my 10th 6 Inch trail ultra-marathon with a 6th place finish and ran a new veterans record (over 50) , beating my previous time the year before , albeit I had got lost that year which for me is usual at this event ? I was then ready for the Australian Day Ultra in January and felt I was a good chance to try and beat my 7hour 47minute time for the 100k I had ran the year before. My confidence was boosted by my fitness score for January 2018 sitting on 160, while I was 180 just after the 6 inch a year later, maths was on my side?
Unfortunately (I seem to be using that word a lot on this post?) I picked up man-flu a week before the ADU 100K ( http://australiadayultra.com/ If you are in WA for January you need to run this event. Probably the fastest and flattest 100k on the planet?) As you can see from the graphic below man-flu hit me hard (Only a man understand that statement!) and in a few months I had lost a serious amount of Strava fitness points. Again I threw myself on the Elliptigo and managed to have a pretty good early racing season posting some OK times but nothing compared to the previous few years. I was probably a minute slower on the 10k, 3-4 minutes for the half and 5-10 minutes for the two full marathons I ran. Funnily enough, although at the time I didn’t realise, I was still dropping Strava fitness points and the slope moved down to around 140 , from a 160 at the start of the racing season. This was unusual because I wasn’t injured but had just lost my mojo a few times and basically wasn’t put in the training kilometres. As I always say running is an honest sport and if you don’t put in the time training you are not going to get your times, simple really.
Right, where are we now. Sitting around 140 after another trough thanks to catching another bout of man-flu , so much for the flu-jab working ? Ont he bright side I’m hitting some training goals and have rediscovered the long run with the boys this weekend. The 20k went well enough but the bacon and egg sandwich afterwards was a disaster, it seems the restaurant has started to substitute ham instead of bacon. A heinous crime which will result with me and the boys boycotting said restaurant until they change back to the good old fashioned bacon and egg combo.! I even backed it up with a 15k Sunday for a three figure running week for the first time since August. So to sum up, you need Strava and you need to pay the for the premium package to get your hands on all that data presented in such a way to aid your training.
Of course the real test will come in December this year when I take on the 6 inch ultra trail marathon for the 11th time (in a row !) ( http://www.6inchtrailmarathon.com/ ) . I’ll be trying for a record 9th sub 4 hour finish but it will certainly depend on conditions. Probably need a tailwind all the way and freezing conditions, in a Perth summer this is unheard off! Also working against me is the last few years have been ran in great conditions so we’re due a hot one, we’ll see, whatever happens there will be many stories coming out of the day and that’s more important than the time for this race, really. I’ve written at least three posts on this race so if you have more time and want a good laugh I suggest you use the SEARCH option on the site and type in ‘6 inch’, you won’t be disappointed.
Of course one person not returning to the 6 inch this year is Mike Kowal who ran a shocker last year and blames the Escalator ( a hill of biblical proportions you run up and then stagger down!) at 38k for destroying his legs and making the last 10k very painful. Personally I feel the writing was on the wall last year when this photo was taken and he refused to put on his finishers t-shirt, it was a sign it seems !! One person who will be there is Barts (to my right in the photo below) who has ran the course one more time than Jon (for new readers (?) the runner to my far left in the photo) , this is discussed every time the race is brought up, much to Bart’s delight. Bart’s also has a faster finish time and Jon was forced to add a ‘average time’ column to the 6 inch spreadsheet so he was faster than Bart’s. As you can imagine this caused much hilarity within the running bunch and around this time of year it is a source of constant amusement to all. Unfortunately (there’s that word again?) for Bart’s Jon is in good form and will be aiming to take his time in December. It would be a pity if that happened because I’ll miss the banter this subject has generated over the years, nearly as much as the topic of who is the tallest, Bart’s or Jon; maybe Jon should use average height?
