read more posts by
bigkevmatthews@gmail.com
I missed the Perth Marathon in June, City to Surf in August (what would have been my 10th in a row and continue my streak of running from the inaugural event) and Rottnest in October , together with the usual family holiday afterwards to recover. Yep, that steeplechase and racing spikes combination really was a very, very bad decision akin to investing in the hosing market with a recession on the horizon. (Funnily enough I did that as well but nobodies perfect ?)
Right, the 6 inch ultra was my last chance to reboot the BK legend (if such a thing actually exists ?) or at least have something positive to write about for the blog which, for the last 7 months, had concentrated on injuries starting with plantar and ending with fasciitis; after a while even I got bored writing about it ! Although there are 101 cures and after researching most of them I firmly believe time is the best healer with a bit of physio and exercise helping to speed things up a tad, no miracle cures unfortunately.
Luckily for me time was and is a great healer and the last few weeks I have noticed a definite improvement with the initial steps to the bathroom in the morning become easier and easier. After running two recon runs , both over 25k, I was ready and with the aid of my co-pilot Voltaren, got to the start line pain free. Truth be told the number of Voltaren I swallowed I could have probably got to the start line minus a leg and not noticed. (Note: I am no condoning taking drugs to mask injuries, and then running ultra marathons on trails but in the interest of this blog, and for you, the readers who have probably have enough of posts about plantar fasciitis, I was willing to give it a go….)
So at 3:58am on Sunday morning I found myself in the North Dandelup Community Hall checking in for my 10th (in a row) 6 Inch Trail Ultra Marathon ( http://www.6inchtrailmarathon.com) with the usual suspects of course.
After the obligatory check-in and pre-race find a toilet or it’s into the dark armed with toilet paper and little else (an activity thwart with danger as in the dark you can never really be sure the job is complete…) we are bused to the start line for the final pre-race banter. This normally involves geeing up Jon Phillips to put in his customary first 100m sprint and then spend 10 minutes recovering while we all jog off into the dark highly amused at his antics. For all non-Perth runners , i.e. Mum, Jon is a past master at sprinting the first few hundred metres and then recovering, hands-on-hips, bent over, while we all run past. His sacrifice is commendable and we all benefit from this tradition, in our own way.
So at 4:30am off we all went up Goldmine hill…If you know Goldmine hill you will know it’s a big, steep unforgiving mother of a hill. I’ve certainly waxed lyrical about it on a number of occasions over the years in this blog so feel free to search my previous posts on the subject. I’ve probably run out of descriptions for this bad boy and will leave my past posts to paint the picture. Needless to say we all managed to get to the top and off onto the Munda Biddi bike trail we all scuttled, enjoying another year of just about perfect conditions for December in Perth i.e. it wasn’t stinking hot !
I settled in with a group behind the three leaders who had set of at a pace I can only describe as ‘unsustainable for us mere mortals’. This leading group contained two professional athletes and a three time event winner. The second group was running at a more ‘human’ pace and we started to settle into a rhythm that would hopefully get us to the finish line quicker than 4 hours, the first goal of the 6 inch. The second goal was a top 10 finish and the final goal a Masters age group win (over 50) and the nice plaque that comes with it. With my nearest rival for this award having his normal interrupted training schedule I was confident I could retain this award from last year. Unfortunately this all changed at around the 5k mark when one of my running nemesis’s run up beside me . (I say running nemesis is the nicest sense of the word.) Stephen Stockwell had entered this event for this first time unbeknown to me though I should have twigged when I heard his daughter had entered, a rookie mistake. Me and Stephen have had some real battles over the year and it’s only been the last couple I have been able to keep him honest and when I do it’s always a struggle for both parties. Seeing Stephen cruise up to my side I knew my thoughts of a Masters win were suddenly no longer the ”walk I the park’ I had envisaged a few seconds prior, I was now going to work very, very hard for the privilege.
True to form Stephen set the pace in his normal racing strategy of ‘surging’ when the he feels the need and then slowing for no real reason I have ever worked out ? This continued until we got to the first road crossing at around 17k where I saw the first chink in his armour. There is a small but steep hill after the crossing and Stephen , together with a couple of other runners in the group, started to walk. It’s little things like this that in a racing scenario can be the difference between winning and losing. Mentally I was struggling with young Mr.Stockwell turning up, unexpected. This had initially thrown me and I was struggling with his early pace but determined to hang on. I figured the race for positions at the 6 inch starts in earnest after aid station 2 at the top of the escalator hill , around 37k into the race. This last 10k is where you really start racing for positions and also it’s in that last 10k you can haemorrhage time quicker than an ebola patient on blood thinners!
Right back to the race. My race strategy is always to stop to refill my water bottles, half full in each, at aid station 1 and then try and finish the race without stopping at aid station 2 and 3. It’s worked in previous years so my stop at aid 1 is longer than the rest of the chasing pack who then left me and the roles reversed. I prefer to be the chaser compared to the chased so I was more than happy to sit behind the few runners who had leap frogged me. I knew the conveyor hill was coming up (and the highest part of the course) and this one is a real test for the unaware, as this was my 10th running I knew what to expect, so prepared myself for what lay ahead.. Young Mr.Stockwell of course had never seen the Conveyor hill before and it served to be his downfall. We started the hill together but that was the last I saw of him until he came in 15 minutes behind me with his Daughter who won the Women’s event, finishing just over four hours. I think they both made top 15 which was very impressive as it was the first time for both of them, also a nice touch to finish together albeit Katherine insists she crossed the line first and Stephen, being the Gentleman and proud Father he is, was happy to concur.
After I dropped Stephen the rest of the race was uneventful until probably the last 5k. My friend Justin caught me on the Conveyor Hill and we ran together for around 10k which was nice as usually I’m alone at this point. Unfortunately for Justin his ITB started to play up and after the Escalator Hill (More like the Escalator Wall!!) I was agin cast adrift and left to my own devices.
During the 6 inch there was points on the course where I aim for, mental targets that I use to help the mind release the handbrake that is fatigue, at 42k there is a sharp right turn into a sweeping downhill section that, when I reach it, I know the race is done and all I have to do now is hang on. Mentally I find this point is where I can start to think about the finish and I always feel a surge of energy as I start to count down the k’s to the finish. This year as I cruised down this part of the course I noticed a runner ahead and started to dream of a top 5 finish. As this was the first time I had seen anyone ahead of me for well over 15k I knew I was catching him, and fast. This was then compounded by another runner , so all of a sudden a top 4 placing was on offer.
Last year I would have caught them but this year I was paying the price for my earlier over exuberance racing Stephen Stockwell and could only manage to maintain a sub 5min/k pace, just. In the end this was enough to nearly snatch fifth place from Gerry Hill (a three times winner) who was having a very bad day at the office but he managed to hang on and beat me by 9 seconds. So overall a 6th place finish and 3:46 finishing time, and of course, first Master. Before the race I was hoping for a top 10 and predicted 3:47 as my finishing time so more than happy with the end result. It really was just about the perfect race really.
As is the norm when I finish the 6 inch I make a beeline for the nearest esky and plonk myself in it ! This is a throw back to the ‘hot year‘ of 2013 I think and ever since I have made it a tradition, much to everybody’s disgust of course !!
After I dragged myself out of the esky there is the ‘wait at the finish line and see who runs sub4‘ time. All the boys had talked up their chances but none made the cutoff. Jon was , as always, the closest to the goal time and missed it by 1 minute. I think Jon may have the record for the number of ‘near misses‘ in his racing career, it must be at least 10 races where he missed the goal by less than a minute ! He’s infamous for taking too long to finish, he probably puts that on his ‘tinder account‘ where taking too long to finish could be considered a plus rather than a minus ? (By the way Jon is recently single so if any reader fancies some ‘Jon time‘ let me know…) Next in line was Marky Mark finishing just under 4 and a quarter hours but if his mum reads this it was 3:59… she’ll be so proud. Rhys and Mike K were next in great times with the only expiation to a great days running being Barts. Due to a suspect stress fracture and a 5kg Chicken Parmi at the local pub the night before he had to walk in the last 15k. He admitted he was close to DNF’ing but has ran one more 6 inch than Jon and he couldn’t let Jon catch him up, this was enough to get him to the finish line. Jon apparantly, who is the owner of the 6 inch finishers spreadsheet , has threatened to add an ‘average time’ column to give himself at least one more numerical advantage over Bart’s…. these lads are very competitive with Bart’s still insisting he is taller than Jon, albeit by centimetres! Special mention to Damo’ who placed 5th in the 3 inch (the half marathon version) with a respectable time and hopefully this will springboard him to new heights in 2019.
Once all the boys were in it was the obligatory shower, honey on toast and a cup of tea at the campsite before returning to the finish line resplendent in our 6 Inch finishers shirt. All bar Mike K. of course but being his first 6 inch he was forgiven and Jon will photoshop a 6 inch short on him for the offical photo! After the photo of the lads it was time for the handing over of the Masters trophy from Dave before we all scootered off back to the big smoke that is Perth and started to make plans for the 2019 running and a possible long weekend, boys only of course. It go without saying we’ll be back in 2019, if you’re reading this and fancy this race I highly recommend you pop along, you’ll see the usual suspects described in this post and more besides. It really is the prefect race to end the year and prepare to let your hair down (I wish I could !!) pre-Crimbo. For the BK crew there is one more race of course, the highlight of the year but that is another story for another time…. Merry Christmas all….Yours in running…BK.
This Sunday is the 14th running of the 6 inch trail ultra ( http://www.6inchtrailmarathon.com/ ) , probably my favourite race of the year as its not about the finishing time , the 6 inch really is all about the journey.
I’ve written various posts on this race over the course of this blog and they’re probably worth a revisit for some back ground before I wax lyrical about the main event…
Due to getting lost twice in the last three years (and three times in the last nine years!) I even went down to Dwellingup with the lads for a couple of recon runs this year. So am confident this year there will be no navigation errors. Saying that in previous years I’ve worn two Garmins and still managed to get myself lost, it’s a curse ! Funny thing is the 6 Inch is probably one of the easiest trail events around, on a proper trail race you might as well send out the search party now, I’m not coming home without help.
This year we are expecting good conditions with a low of 14 and a high of 25, which for December in Perth is probably about as good as you are going to get. For example today was 38 ! Last year was unseasonably wet and driving to the start line Brett’s wipers could hardly keep up with the deluge. Once we got off the scarp things calmed down and we had a great mornings trail running.
The lads and I all stay at the Heritage Centre in Dwellingup the night before the race as it’s a 4:30am kick off and if you factor in a couple of hours driving from Perth and getting ready at the start it makes for a very early wake up call on Sunday morning. This way we get to lay-in until 3am!
The couple of recon runs this year has really wetted my appetite for the trial running and combined with the Choo-Choo run earlier in the year I feel I’m turning into a trail runner as I mature. The Choo-Choo is another trail run where this time we race a train, hence the name… worth a read..I digress…
So what to expect over the weekend. It’s a boy weekend away truth be told and a time to relax , albeit after racing 47k, and finish the year running with good friends on amazing trails looking forward to a few days break and Christmas with the family. The 6 Inch has found a place in mine and the boys hearts and if you are ever in Perth for the last Sunday before Christmas you really need to come and join us.. ho ho ho !
Footnote: I never published this post in time pre-race and now it’s Monday and the race has been and gone. I’ll post a full race report this week and it’s worth reading, it was a beauty !!
Was there a benefit of being injured for 6 months and avoiding racing or pace on hard surfaces ? Probably not, truth be told, but it did force me to get back on then Elliptigo and start commuting to work rather than sit on the train wasting my life away watching rubbish on my iPhone. By Elliptigo’ing to work I have found any extra 7 hours exercise weekly and this has allowed me to create a cardio-engine that I hope I can add a turbo too (by adding tempo and threshold sessions to my training week) and explode into 2019 a faster runner. Personally I have never felt fitter and at nearly 52 years old that is saying something. The GO is a hard work out and I’m not one for cruising to work enjoying the view, that’s not me people. As with all things I give it 110% (all exercise things that is …the important stuff!) and I regularly end up at work in the changing rooms sweating like a prize fighter whose gone 15 rounds with Ali. I just about recover for my 10.6k Kings Park hills and trails before jumping back on the GO and getting back in the ring with Ali. Needless to say I have not seem my pillow for 10 weeks, I feel my head move towards the pillow and then ‘hey presto’ it’s time to get up, sleep depravation is not a problem when you average over two hours exercise a day.
Another benefit of the GO is it is non impact training so the knees don’t take a hammering daily. My 10.6K Kings Park loop is 90% sand so my knees are spared any hard surface work here as well. End result the legs feel great with no niggles even though I’m starting to get up to 100k a week running and 200k a week on the GO. I’m still aiming for my 15 hours a week exercise after watching the ‘man in the halo’ video on Tim Don.( https://zone3.com/tim-don-documentary/ ) C’mon people, if Tim can average 15 hours a week with a broken neck we should be able to reciprocate, surely ?
Of course I’ve always known core work is beneficial to running but taking time to do any has always been a problem. I use to do a circuits class twice a week at work , when it was free, but never joined a new class when we moved buildings. (Although I did keep going for nearly two years as you could sneak in through reception into the gym where the class took place and I’d been going for so many years they just assumed I was still in the building. It was only when that part of the building closed my free circuit class days were finally brought to an end. Pity, that building also had an outdoor tennis court and a 28m lap pool. As it was my first building coming to Perth I assumed they were all like that…unfortunately not !) So the GO has allowed to me get my core fix as well as a cardio engine building workout. After many years the Matthews Six-Pack is back, though as Mike says it’s mainly ribs !!! I must admit to using a few kilo’s but am enjoying losing the ‘middle aged’ spread that was starting to introduce itself, mainly due my lack of running due to PF. I actually think it was a comment from no3 Daughter about me putting on a few pounds that made me embrace the GO, and boy I’m glad I did.
The first test of my new found fitness will be the 6 inch on December 16th and I’m secretly (well not that secretly anymore?) hoping to maybe give my course PB a tilt. I always aim for a top 10 finish, win the Veterans (over 50) trophy and try and beat all the women home. Last year I achieved two out of three but failed to beat Nera to the finish line after Zac got me lost… ok, ok.. maybe I helped get me and Zac lost. I love Zac’s comment you know you’re lost when Big Kev says “I know where we are” . ( http://www.6inchtrailmarathon.com ) The 6 inch will be a good yard stick from which to measure my fitness going into 2019 and one of the big goals of the year, the Australia Day Ultra in January. ( http://australiadayultra.com )
Last year I probably had one of the runs of my life to sneak under 8 hours and I’d love to go a tad quicker in 2019. This really will be a test of my GO inspired fitness and also the Nike Vaporfly 4% trainers I brought for the Bunbury Marathon but never used. They are virtually brand new so I’m hoping they’ll propel me to a new PB on the 100k course. With Jon and the T-train as my wing-men I reckon we have a good chance to all go quicker than we have ever gone before, isn’t that a Star Trek quote, or was that going somewhere where no one had been before and being bald ? (or was that bold, whatever… you get then picture ?)
So the point of this post, assuming you’ve read this far in which case well done, is you need to find another aerobic exercise that is non-impact and add this to your running bag of tricks. If you can combine this exercise with commuting to work then great, no impact on family or social time ( do runners get social time? If you do shouldn’t you be running instead..? ) Of course not all people are a lucky as me with the facilities and bike paths in the Perth area. My commute to work is 18k with 95% of that on bike paths and only a couple of road crossing where I have to interact with the car and its driver, who is usually too interested in their iPhone to look up , it’s a worry! The Elliptigo is , in my opinion, the ultimate cardio workout and best alternative to running, it gives you a running workout without the impact, trust me people it really is that good.
Right that’s it, I’m off to see if I can stay awake long enough to feel my head hit the pillow, confidence is, as always, low…..
The talk soon turned to the 6 inch trail ultra marathon ( http://www.6inchtrailmarathon.com/ ) and the second recon run this weekend. We had ran the first 27k last weekend and the plan this week was 29k from the 17k mark to the finish, including the infamous ‘escalator’ hill. They say hill, it looks more like a wall to me as you hit it at around the 35k mark and you’re normally ‘goosed’! Hills always look steeper when you’re goosed..!!
So this weekend we’re off back to North Dandelup and on the Munda Biddi trail ( https://www.mundabiddi.org.au/ ) to sunny Dwellingup for the second half of the 6 inch. Must admit to being very excited as this part of the trail is inspiring and I know its going to be a good ‘crack‘ running with the posse. It won’t be the fastest traverse but it’ll probably be one of the funniest, depending on the state of Bart’s legs at the start. (He was dropped in the first 100 metres last week and didn’t we hear about it!)
If you don’t run trails then you really should, it’s the surface that keeps giving. First, it’s easy on the joints , next it’s harder on the core as you need to watch your step and finally it’s a better workout because you need to concentrate on what you are doing. The last point is clearly ratified at the end of any trail race when half the finishers are coming in ‘covered in claret’ (i.e. bleeding from falls.) On the run last week Gerry Hill, a two times 6 inch winner, stacked it big time and we were all surprised nothing was seriously damaged bar his pride. The trails demand respect. Finally the scenery on the trails is just damn right beautiful and you get reminded why you do what you do, running in its purest sense, no bib on your chest or time target, just being ‘out there’ with friends.
To prepare for the 6 inch I had stuck to my Elliptigo and running trails lunchtime diet and now feel ready for another tilt at a sub 4 hour finish and possible top 10. I have six sub 4 finishes under my belt and the other three times I got lost , just got to stay focused this year, Maybe these recon runs will help as really, after running the event nine times, I have no excuse for getting lost this year.
If the Plantar Fasciitis decides to hang around next year I may be forced to do a season of trail races, which truth be told isn’t such a bad thing, at my age it could be time to go longer on the trails and use my experience to gain an edge over the younger competition. I’ve always said ultra marathons are ready made for the older runner when mental toughness and preparation are more than enough to take on youthful exuberance. In WA at the moment there is a smorgasbord of trail racing so I’ll have enough to keep me busy but I’ll miss my one true love, the good old fashioned marathon on the city streets. Nothing beats this distance and terrain but a good trail distance may be the only alternative next year, we’ll see.
Of course there is one race next year that would certainly test me, The Delirious West 200 mile . ( http://deliriouswest200miler.com.au/ ) This is the first of its kind in WA and it looks like its going to be a beaut race in its inaugural year. If you run trails and live in Australia you need to seriously look at this one. If my PF hangs around and I’m restricted to the softer surface it will come into my radar early next year, just got to persuade my current Wife $1,200 is a reasonable race entry, I feel that may be harder than the race itself ?
Finally if you do decide to run the 6 inch ultra trail marathon this December 16th I highly recommend the bacon and egg sandwich , cappuccino combo at the only cafe in Dwellingup, The blue Wren Cafe, it kept me going for the last 10k today, the thought of it that is; it really is a thing of natural beauty sand did not disappoint!
Kings Park trails and the Elliptigo have been my salvation this year and I’ve managed to string together a strong last 3 months, albeit with more Elliptigo action than running. From the last 7 weeks you can see I’ve managed to avoid a day off exercise and have tried to exercise there times a day in the week when I Elliptigo to work. This has certainly been challenging as I’m not a ‘cruise to work in lycra‘ kind of guy. When I get on my GO it’s on for young and old, I’m racing baby, be it the clock, average pace, the cyclist infront of me ; whatever. This means I get to work in the mornings and home in the evenings on the cusp of a heart attack normally and I wouldn’t have it any other way, I am in a ‘building phase’ and I’m building a cardio engine that will allow me to add a turbo to it (i.e pace) early 2019 and hopefully onwards to glory, that or an early grave and some rest in my box. ? I must admit ti feeling great, albeit tired a lot, and there’s even the chance the BK six pack is making one more appearance before it scurries off to hide behind some well placed toxic fat as I fade away into old age. With my Elliptigo I may be able to avoid that for a few more years and maybe even nudge a PB or two in the near future. The proof will be in the pudding so speak and if my PF finally leaves I have the chance to try this new cardio engine at the Australia Day Ultra in January, around Australia Day funnily enough ? ( http://australiadayultra.com ) It was at this event I set the AURA ( https://www.aura.asn.au ) age group record for the 100k and I ‘d love to knock a minute or two off that but with the interrupted year this is highly unlikely.
Right to the point of the post, cross training can and needs to be a weapon in the arsenal of the competitive runner. Running twice a day every day, even with the second run an easy one, eventually catches up with you. I’m testament to that with my calf tear last year (thank you Mark Lommers and your Cappacino laced with injury !) and a bad case of Plantar Fasciitis this year. On the plus side the previous 8-9 years I ran virtually injury free. Must be a fifties thing which I’m hoping to grow out off in my sixties ? With me I have found the Elliptigo gives me that runners heart rate and cardio workout without the pounding on the legs, supported by some big names in the running world albeit they’re sponsored so have to write good things about the GO. I actually love my time commuting to work now and I’ve found an extra 6-8 hours a week where I can give myself a good workout without affecting work or family time. The alternative is sit on a train with all the other commuters glued to my phone wasting my life away. I actually mislaid my train smart rider months ago and cancelled it before finding it again (Always the way?) Anyhow I’ve never actually been to Transperth and reactivated the card, no need I have my GO . As you can see from the Strava image above ( You have Strava right ? Everybody has Strava don’t they… if not , get it quick and feel free to follow me ; click on the icon at the bottom of this post)
Another point of this post is to remind everyone I’m still here. I’ve moved house in the last month and managed to fill seven garages full of ‘stuff’, it seems the Matthews family are hoarders ? ( I’m currently staying at a 4 villa complex I brought that i can’t seem to sell? The joys of being a property developer in your spare time, in between running… ) This coming from a man who never throws out his running shows and probably has 4 boxes full of old pairs. They are like old friends to me and if you were to pull a pair out of any box I could tell when I wore them, what races , if any, I ran in them and probably how many kilometres I put in them. My Wife just shakes her head, actually everybody shakes their heads but they’re all special to me. Is that wrong , who knows? If i can find all the boxes in the 7 garages I’ll get them all out for a photo, it’ll need to be a wide angled lens if course !
I seem to have digressed , as is my way, but I’ll make more of an effort to post to the blog now I’m nearly uninjured, I have so much more to talk about when I’m racing of course. This weekend there may be a story or two as I’m running a recon run for the 6 inch ultra on Saturday. Even though I’ve ran the course nine times I’ve got lost three times and that’s even wearing two watches with a GPX file loaded to keep me on track. Needless to say I’m not the best person in the world to run the 6 inch with and the running joke , excuse the run, is when I tell people I know where we are you need to panic because you are then officially lost, harsh but true unfortunately! (Thanks for that Zac!)
So far I have managed to maintain my cross training and running targets but must admit to feeling fatigued daily and I’m hoping this is just the phase I need to go through to build the ‘engine’ that will power me to a successful 2019 and beyond. Not sure how much ‘beyond’ I have in me as I’ll be 52 next February and even with the best intentions I realise my time near the front of the pack is limited and eventually I will be dragged, kicking and screaming, back to the chasing pack. Of course there are a few more years , I hope, of running sub3 for the marathon and protecting my 27 in-a-row current sub3 streak. It would be nice to nudge that close to 50 before I eventually succumb to Father time, we’ll see.
The whole point of this cross training program is to allow me to build my engine now for 2019 and not waste this time. I understand that PF has limited my training, and that is an understatement, but like Tim Don I have found a way to keep moving forward and adapting to my injuries. Of course a mild case of PF is not a broken neck but myself and Tim have both felt the devastation of injury and the fear of slowing down. Tim was 39 when he broke his neck after setting a world record for the Ironman, hitting forty we all realise he is going to struggle to maintain that intensity long term and his , like mine, time in the sun, at the front of the pack, globally in his case, is limited. This is why he chose the halo compared to less painful option which would have probably killed off his triathlon career, certainly at his level. He considered the three months of pain a small price to pay for the future glory of still being at the top of his game. Personally if someone offered me the same choice I would take it , three months of intense PF pain but with the caveat that after three months the PF is fixed and you can continue on. Currently PF has been hanging around for 5 months and still I cannot run on my beloved asphalt, it’s better but not 100% yet.
This is why the Elliptigo has become so important to me, that and my Kings Park trail runs. Between the two of them these exercises allow me to ‘scratch‘ my daily exercise itch and , I hope, still maintain my running fitness. In-fact I hope that my three times a day exercise regime may even allow me to return even stronger and fitter than before I was so cruelly cut down at the Australian Masters in April. How I regretted that event that may have earned me 8 gold medals (4 State and 4 National) but destroyed my 2018. Not only did it decimate my racing calendar, worse than that it made me totally reliant on trail and grass running which, socially, just about made a running leper. I’ve never spent so much time running alone. No more Sunday long runs with the boys and , worse than that, no post-long run pancakes or waffles.. ! This is another curse of being injured, you miss your time with your friends because most dedicated runners over time lose any friends who don’t run. It’s hard to balance training with social events and I’ve mentioned many time No1 Wife has created a whole social life for herself without me. I’m the stay at home baby sitter while she goes out with her friends , who I’m assuming are similar middle aged Wife’s with Husbands who prefer the couch to the bar. Actually I should take more of an interest because she did mention the other night she was out with the pool cleaner and we haven’t got a pool ? Only joking , current Wife does have a good group of lonely Wife’s who together cobble together a good social life while leaving me to watch Netflix films on all sorts of sport and the kids of course.?
Right, after digressing yet again for most of this post the point is two fold. First, make cross training a part of your training program and second always keep looking forward. Ok 2018 is a write off for me but I’ve reset the goals and am determined to make 2019 a special year to make up for the disappointment of this year. The Elliptigo will help me clock the hours training without risking an injury because half the training hours will be on non-impact equipment, while still aiding my running as the GO is as close to running as you can get, IMO. (Now the Bionic has stopped selling due to the company folding.) I’m hoping these extra 6-8 hours a week on top of around 100k of running will build the aerobic engine enough that by early March next year I can start to add pace, the classic Lydiard training program. I’m about half way through the initial ‘Conditioning‘ phase. I’ll then start to move up the pyramid which should stand me in with a good chance of going sub 4 hours finish time at the 6 Inch Ultra in December, assuming I don’t get lost for a fourth time ! ( http://www.6inchtrailmarathon.com Any trail runner reading this in Perth or Australia, you need to enter this event quickly, it’ll sell out soon.)
Lydiard Basics
The principles of sound training that Lydiard developed in 1960s––based on experimenting on himself and a small group of local New Zealand runners––have stood the test of time as the scientific studies have caught up to validate his approach. Many of the principles that are part of the Lydiard system are found in coaching and training systems in use today, and nearly every successful athletics coach or athlete consciously or unconsciously emulates Lydiard’s training system by laying an endurance base and making use of periodization for peak performance.
Initially, this culminated in sending Murray Halberg, Peter Snell and Barry Magee to the medalist’s podium at the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome. Subsequently, too many runners to mention have used Arthur Lydiard’s approach to achieve an impressive array of Olympic medals and race wins throughout the world.
Lydiard based training is based on five critical principles:
- Conditioning – At the start of any Lydiard training cycle, there is a long phase of aerobic running to build endurance and lay the base for a strong performance on race day.
- Response Regulated Adaptation – Trying to run at training paces that are not aligned to your current fitness level is not a recipe for success. Lydiard plans adjust your effort levels based on how you are responding to training stimulus to optimize your fitness improvement.
- Feeling Based Training – Learning to accurately interpret the language of your physiology allows the runner to stretch the training envelope while avoiding the perils of overtraining.
- Sequential Development – Unlike many running plans that seek to develop multiple facets of running fitness at the same time, Lydiard training is based on a philosophy of developing the building blocks needed for a good race day performance individually over a longer training cycle to allow optimal fitness development.
- Peaking – The later phases of Lydiard training are designed to guide and sharpen the runner to a point where they are in peak condition on race day in an excellent position to run the best race possible.
The Lydiard Training Pyramid
A typical Lydiard plan includes five distinct training phases over (ideally) 24 weeks.
While it is a longer training cycle than what you may be used to, the length of the cycle allows the safe development of running fitness as each phase builds on the previous one. The individual runs are not significantly different from what you might find in another training approach; it is the overall structure and flow of the plan that sets Lydiard apart.
Aerobic Base Building – a period of aerobic runs (run by overall time, not mileage) at a variety of paces to develop stamina and a base of conditioning.
Hills – Develops the leg power and flexibility that will be needed to support faster running while continuing to develop the aerobic base.
Anaerobic Development – Adds faster running (tempos and intervals) to prepare the runner to be able to handle race pace.
Integration – Race distance specific tuning and sharpening including shorter distance time trials.
Taper – Final preparation for race day.
Time to pay the Piper? … no way baby, plenty of time left in the BK running machine…look out 2019.
Unfortunately with my old friend Plantar Fasciitis still hanging around I knew I’d need to find some cross training exercise to help me meet my 15 hours a week target. So with the aid of the Elliptigo ( http://www.elliptigo.com ) I set about achieving my goal with gusto. As you can see from my Strava details below ( http://www.strava.com ) I have managed to hit my magical 15 hours exercise only once in the last few months, and this is without a broken neck. Maybe the Halo makes exercising easier ? Note: the last sentence was humour at its worst and I do not recommend anyone going out and breaking their neck , putting on a halo on the possibility it may aid future exercise regimes ! The extra hours spent exercising has been challenging but i certainly feel stronger now that when I started this 6 weeks ago. The rides to work on the GO are still hard work and, combined with a lunch time run, I am certainly sleeping well at night. I can feel my body adapting to the extra hours and looking forward to 2019 I’m excited for what I might be able to achieve.
Of course this year has been written off from a competing stand point and this will be brought home again next weekend when I miss Rottnest , a marathon I have historically done quite well at. Five top five placings and two second places probably makes Rottnest my best marathon from a position only view point. Not my fastest due to the terrain and heat but definitely one of the hardest and this makes the playing field a little more level when you’re racing younger, fitter and faster marathon runners. As Rottnest is a four lap course on the last lap mental strength comes to the fore and you can sometimes find yourselves passing runners that normally you wouldn’t see for dust. If any Perth runners are reading this post and feel they are ready to tackle a marathon next Sunday I’d go book a ferry ticket and get over there, if not this year I’ll see you next year for sure, need to win that race one day and at 52 , in 2019, I’ll be the perfect age ?
I seemed to have digressed again, it’s a curse you know. So back to cross training and how it can help you as a runner. If I tried to run for 15 hours a week I think I would be a physical wreck. I would normally average around 12 hours a week when I’m hitting multiple double days and around the 130-150k a week. This was my training in 2016 and early 2017 and I did achieve some great times but eventually injury came calling. With hindsight, so easy to type this two words, I should have cut the mileage early in 2017 and spent more time on the GO when I felt the onset of Plantar Fasciitis, there were early warning signs I ignored. This has come back to bite me big time with the biggest injury of my career. Lesson learned I hope and I will be making the GO a continued part of my exercise artillery. Of course the GO is not for everyone but , I hate to say this, a bike may be an alternative or joining a gym and just spending time on general aerobic exercise or body pump type classes, high intensity low impact. The only caveat to high mileage weeks is there is always the ability to achieve these if you drop the pace and run on ‘forgiving surfaces‘ i.e. trails or sand. I have running friends on Strava who run over 20 hours a week without getting injured but always run most of these kilometres on trails or at a very relaxed pace. If you add pace and asphalt to mileage you end up injured, trust me on this.
The GO enables me to get the running feeling without the high impact of running and also helps me avoid wearing lycra, which at my age is a very good thing for all concerned ! With the commute to work I have been able to hit 160k a week on the GO and that’s 7-8 hours I’d normally spend on the train idling my life away on my iPhone with the rest of the carriage. By commuting to work I am out-there living the life in the real world not through a 6″ high resolution phone screen. It really is a win-win situation, I even get to save a few dollars a day on the train ride, I’m sort of a professional commuter albeit a very poorly paid one. It also helps me find exercise time I can justify to No1 Wife and many Daughters as it doesn’t impact our family time , although I will admit to scuttling off to bed before my 10 year old these days due to being so tired after my three times a day exercise regime, a small price to pay I think ?
Now I have known Gary for many years and when he says he’ll do something he normally does, well actually he always does so I did make an effort to poo-poo his idea citing the old adage of , call me old fashioned, training or is his case , lack of training. He was not for the turning and insisted I help him in his goal. Begrudgingly I agreed as I was worried that he would injure himself or worse ! So of he trotted and started the journey from nothing to marathon ready in 4 weeks. In his corner was his new found devotion to everything arbonne and an unwavering believe in himself and his ability to run a marathon on limited training. Intermittently he would get in touch and ask for advice on his next block of training. He was a keen student albeit a tad out of control, in a nice way, and did everything asked of him and more.
Towards the end of his mammoth 4 week training block he rang me very excited with himself, which if you know Gary is the norm. ! This time though he was even more excited than usual and after he calmed down he explained that he had just ran 42k in training just to see if he could do it. It was a spur of the moment decision to keep running on his planned 20k Sunday morning long run. When he hit 42k he rang an Uber and then got them to take him to a garage and buy him some nutrition as he had no money on him, only Gary could get away with this trust me ! I then persuaded him to taper after his 3-4 week training adventure and he got to the start of the Perth City to Surf ready for his first marathon with a bib on his chest.
Unfortunately I didn’t make the start line so was unable to see Gary take off like a rocket and head off into the unknown with a big smile on his face which, by the look of the photos below, was the standard look for the rest of the day.
So how did he do ? Pretty bloody good if you ask me. His splits are things of nightmares though, going through halfway in just over 2 hours and then finishing in 4:39:35, nearly 40 minutes positive split for the second half of the race. Although not ideal, in Gary’s defence, the second half does have more hills compared to the first half but not 40 minutes worth. Looking at the photos though it seems his pace challenges did not dampen his enthusiasm and he was smiling from the start to the finish.
Not deterred after Perth Gary entered the Melbourne marathon and takes it on in just over a week. So two marathons in less than 3 months after starting at zero training kilometres. You’d thought that would be more than enough right, wrong ! Remember what I said at the start of this post about Gary living life at 11, well he has already decided marathons are not challenging enough so has also entered the Bussleton Ironman in December. ( http://ap.ironman.com/triathlon/events/asiapac/ironman/western-australia.aspx#axzz5T8EyTvYC ) Yep, that’s right a full ironman on probably 3 months training, again starting from zero; he only brought a bike last week !! He probably can’t swim. You really have got to admire his tenacity and the reason I know he’ll complete the Ironman, and also smash Melbourne next week, is because mentally he is so strong and his attitude , in my view, is worth months of training for ‘normal‘ people, i.e. people who live life on a scale of 1 -10 .
The point of this post is never underestimate a good mental attitude when it comes to sport, personally I feel it is over looked by so many people. You have to believe you can achieve your goal and see yourself doing it in your mind pre-event. Of course there needs to be that feeling of trepidation as well as you can’t be over confident, that leads to a fall apparently ? It’s getting the right balance between nerves and confidence, both are needed for you to perform at your best. Of course I’m more of an old fashioned athlete preferring to trust in my training (one of my mantra’s) as well as concentrating on the mental toughness you need to succeed.
Finally as I have said many times the actual event itself is the fun part of all your training. Everything that has gone before is for that time you creep up to the start line, bib on your chest and look forward into the unknown that is the race before you. Tell yourself ‘this is why I get up early in the morning, push myself in training and sacrifice so much time and energy, this is why I do what I do and today it will be all worthwhile, today is my day’……
Now we are the shining light of ultra and trail racing in Australia and this was certainly the case when two of the biggest names in ultra racing, globally, have just entered the newest, and longest, WA ultra in its inaugural year.
The Delirious West is another brain child of Shaun Kaesler, the godfather of WA Ultra running. ( http://deliriouswest200miler.com.au ) A 200 mile (and then a few extra as Shaun is famous for adding on ‘free miles’, bless him!) trail run on the world famous Bibbulum track. To quote the webpage :
It is finally here!! After more than 18 months of planning, we are beaming with pride to welcome you all to Australia’s first annual point to point 200 Mile Trail event.
The Delirious W.E.S.T. is run almost entirely on the Bibbulmun Track in the South West and Great Southern regions of Western Australia from the old logging settlement of Northcliffe, to the Historic port city of Albany.
The event will take place from Wed 20 February with a 7am start time and with a 104hr cut off, runners will have until 3pm Sunday 24 February to make their way to the finish line at the Great Southern Distillery Company in Albany.
The Delirious will traverse you through some of the most remarkable forests, unforgiving coastal scrub, stunning beaches, water crossings and some of nature’s finest landscapes along the World Famous Bibbulmun track. Although not the vert of many of the other World’s great 200 Milers, don’t be fooled by its charming elevation profile as the Aussie landscape can be unrelenting in its punishment of unsuspecting victims!
So who is crossing the pond to come to this new event, well the one and only Catra Corbett for one and her bestie Candice Burt, ultra runner and race director of the ‘Triple Crown’ of ultra running. A prettier version of Shaun Kaesler in my opinion, sorry Shaun but it’s true. With these two already lined up for the event next February you are going to get some worldwide attention and I’m sure the 100 spots will start selling fast so I’d recommend start thinking about this bad-boy of an event sooner rather than later. I may even take the plunge myself, just got to persuade No1 Wife to let me spend four figures on a race entry!!
The Serpentine train leaves North Dandalap at 10:20am so we decided this year to leave a tad earlier than previous years due to the various running injuries we were all embracing. Calf strains, Achilles issues, carrying too much weight (I’m not sure this is an injury Barts!) and good old Plantar Fasciitis to name a few. Thus at 6:40am we set off up the scarp, mainly due to Bart’s insisting we get a move on as he really wasn’t ready for a 35k sprint to the finish. He had got lost last year when he was dropped halfway up the scarp and had to run a lonely thirty or so kilometres to the finish. This year he was determined to stay the course and refused to leave a key hidden on the car so if he got lost he knew I’d have to find him and my lift home. Little did he know I had arranged alternative transport if we ‘lost’ him. In the end he made it and ran a large proportion of the run with us, complaining most of the way of course. I don’t think Bart’s like any hill in any direction, up or down, as both seem to set him off on a tirade of abuse. This from a man who loves trail running ?
The photo below shows the starting line up for 2018 taken at North Dandalup train station, funnily enough we were the only people about early on a Sunday morning in the country. I managed to persuade five ‘newbies’ to join us and supplied all of these with a GPX file of the course as I didn’t want them to suffer the same fate as Bart’s from last year, bless him.
So off we went up the scarp, which is a road section and probably one of the hardest sections of the run as you’re in danger of getting collected by mad country drivers cutting corners. Thankfully this year it was very quiet and I don’t remember seeing any cars, which is unusual, they were probably all still in bed after the West Coast Eagles, a local footy team, managed to sneak into the Grand Final the day before. As you can see from the elevation below the start is a challenge but the finish is ‘to die for’. It was a this point last year we lost Bart’s (the start not the finish.) and history repeated itself with Mark, a new runner from Brisbane, dropping off the pace early and, in Choo-Choo tradition, left to fend for himself. I felt a small amount of guilt but this was quickly forgotten when I realised the task ahead and I had supplied Mark with a GPX file of the course , so he had no excuse to get lost.
The conditions this year was perfect and we had given ourselves more than enough time to finish by leaving probably half an hour earlier than the year before. This certainly made the journey less stressful than previous years and we settled into a good rhythm with enough pace to complete the task at hand but not enough we couldn’t natter away discussing a plethora of topics and generally putting the world to rights. We as a group splintered early which seemed silly truth be told as it wasn’t a race and there seemed no point running a few hundred metres infront of each other. I ran with Jon, because he had the GPX route loaded into his Garmin 310, and Liam for conversation. (with Bart’s always a few hundred metres behind us complaining about something?) The three of us eventually caught up with the two Mark’s at the ‘drinks stop‘. I say drinks stop in italics because there was no drinks. Simon had hidden a carton of water and a box of Gu’s behind a tree but it seems these country people are resourceful with good eyesight because there was no supplies to be seen. Not a problem though but it did the make the last 5k or so a challenge as we were into the ‘dead zone’ (over 32k) with little water and no nutrition, a good test of your bodies capabilities to survive on it’s won internal fat resources I suppose. Luckily the last 10k is predominantly downhill so you can sort of ‘fall‘ to the finish line. ( It is to be noted this year Trish refused to bake for us which made the return trip to Dandalap a bit of an anti-climax as the reward of Trish’s baking (which is awesome by the way) would not be there to greet us, in the end we made do with McDonalds pancakes but thrust me they ain’t the same!, anyhow I digress.)
After regrouping with the two Mark’s the group of five set off to the finish and the conversation continued to improve with numbers. The highlight of the last part of the run was most of us falling prey to the only puddle on the whole course, how does that happen ? Mark C,. attached it with gusto (he’s Scottish you know and use to large expanses of water !) and nearly went in, this made me more cautious but it was to no avail and I ended up in the same situation, soggy socks and shoes for the last 10k or so.! Once we started to descend of course it was ever man for himself and Mark C. probably set the record for the fastest kilometre with a 3:10 down the steepest part of the hill. He was very excited and reported feeling a runners high as he snowballed down the hill at speed, more probably he was just totally knackered as we had all just ran just about 35k on a few sips of water.
It’s hard to put into words the run itself as it really was just about the perfect day. A good distance, beautiful trails and great company rounded off with Brownes Mocha and a danish at the Deli. Chuck in a train ride where the guard announced to the whole train of our adventures as we boarded and departed and the day really couldn’t of got any better. Talk at the Deli (see below) centred on next years departure time as we had plenty of time to relax at the deli before the train, well most of us that is. If you remember at the start I mentioned Mark from Brisbane getting dropped at the 3k mark, you’ll see he’s not in the photo below. We all thought he was gone and I had even arranged at the Deli to let him know we’d drive back and pick him up, save him the 18k walk back to the train station. Well he made it with 3 minutes to spare, albeit the train was late as usual so he could have probably stopped at the Deli for a danish.
As you can see from the photo below taken at Serpentine train station Mark is back into the fold and happy to be there, he currently holds the record for cutting it closest to missing the train, probably beating Trailblazers record set a few years ago. I’m sure Jon can get closer with a bit of effort ? Honourable mentions must go to Allister Caird who set a course record running the route in 2hrs 27 minutes, thats a 4:11k average, sub 3 pace for a hilly trail run, Boom! He could have left nearly as hour after us and still made it. Nigel also went well considering he twisted his ankle at 15k and ‘hobbled‘ to the finish in good time, a big call as if the ankle had given way completely it would have been a long night on the trails. Of course Mark gets a mention for running the whole route by himself under the stress of a potential long walk back to the car. He looked relaxed when he finish and puts his time down to this was his first trail run back in Perth, he’s from Brisbane you know. Bart’s also went well after we dropped him just after halfway, we actually dropped him earlier but always made sure he could see us, sort off. At least this year he ran the whole course after his miracle run last year.
Right that’s the Choo-Choo for another year. I’ll try and drum up some more enthusiasm next year as if you live in Perth you really need to do this run. We all agreed we’d leave later next year but the departure time is personal to your ability and general fitness and also if you want that added bonus of really ‘racing a train’ and trying to cut it closer tham Mark, fromBrisbane’s, valiant effort of three minutes to go. Up for the challenge ? All aboard…..