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To continue on with the trail running theme I thought I’d like to talk about the only other time I wonder off my beloved concrete. This is for the Simon Coates inspired ‘Choo Choo’ run. The idea here is to meet at North Dandelup Station (I say station in the broadest sense of the word. I think it has a small concrete outcrop it calls a platform but that really is it!) This is the same North Dandelup that the 6 inch ultra marathon ( http://www.6inchtrailmarathon.com/ ) starts from , give or take 3k as the race actually starts at the beginning of Goldmine Hill, but close enough. Anyhow we meet at North Dandelup station and then run via the trail to Serpentine Station, 35k away. The ‘living on the edge‘ bit is there is only one train through Serpentine a day so if you miss it you have a long walk back to Dandelup where we leave the cars.
So we all meet at Dandelup and depending on how confident you are of making the Serpentine train dictates your departure time. The train gets in at Serpentine at 10:21am so we normally give ourselves 4 hours for the run. Thus we leave around 6:30am, just as the sun rises before we enter the trail after a nice 4-5k of concrete hills to warm you up. Hopefully no one gets left behind.
The graphic below was created when Dave ‘Sugar’ Cane ran the inaugural Choo-Choo run when someone did get left behind. The story was the group of five set off but one of the runners was never going to make it and basically was sent back to the car rather than taking the rest of the group with them on the long walk of shame back to Dandelup from Serpentine. There is more to this and even an amusing You Tube video but I am not at liberty to divulge the full carrying on’s……
I’ve ran this the last two years and made the train quite comfortably, so much so we are talking up a 7am departure next year to really give the run that touch of danger. Last year Jon ‘Trail blazer’ Phillips cut it very close. In fact in the first photo you can see he is not even at the station and we’re talking minutes to the train arriving. At least I look worried …?
In the (selfie) photo below you can see the elusive TB bottom right looking very relieved. After running 35k the thought of a 10-15k walk back on the road (as the crow sort of flies) is not enticing. We would have probably come and got him, probably?
This year it was far too easy and we all made the train with so much time to spare we were able to pose at the local deli and even had time to eat a smorgasbord of home made cup cakes that a local had brought to the store to sell for charity. It was her lucky day as she encountered a bunch of runners with the appetite of a pack of Wildebeest. (I am making an assumption that a pack of Wildebeest have large appetites ? They always seem to look hungry whenever I see them on any nature programs. Not so sure about the eating cup cakes bit but you get the general idea? If anyone has a picture of a Wildebeest eating a cup cake I’d love to see it. )
So the point of this post is to once in a while challenge yourself. Give yourself a challenge where there will be consequences if you fail but if you succeed you never know you may get rewarded with cup cakes or faced with a bunch of runners smelling like Wildebeest.?
Footnote. I probably forgot to mention the actual 30k of trail you get to run on this bad boy of a run. (I took out the 5k of concrete at the start and finish) As you can see from the elevation at the start of this post there is a steep hill at the start which softens you up for whats to come. You then get about 20k of undulating trails and some wondrous views before the best finish to a run EVER ! The last 5k off the scarp is just biblical in its awesomeness. You are catapulted towards the train station and spat out at the end of the trail like you’ve been shot from a cannon. No wonder we all had such an appetite, at then end I reckon I was running faster than a pack of Wildebeest. There was one Wildebeest who may not have been as excited about the finish as some of us but he shall rename nameless. Roberto Busi
After a week recovering from the World Masters my mind is started to wonder towards my next goal race. I’m a big fan of hopping from goal race to goal race, improving each time. To this end I have raced nearly 30 times this year already and my next menu choice is the ‘6 inch ultra marathon’ ( http://www.6inchtrailmarathon.com ) on December 18th from Dandelup to Dwellingup. Even the start and end point sound like ‘trail places’, and it gets better as it is ran on the Munda Biddi trail. Man this is trail running country gone mad. I almost expect to see a young Bert Reynolds in a wetsuit wandering on the trail (For the older generation amongst us you’ll know what I mean.) I’ve attached the map below.
A description of the course form the race director, Dave Kennedy.
The Six Inch Trail Marathon is inspired by the famous Six Foot Track Marathon in the Blue Mountains near Sydney.Returning from New Zealand in January 2005 I bemoaned the lack of trail races in Western Australia. I wanted to move to the land of the long white cloud but family and circumstances warranted at least another year in WA. One evening I headed out to run a gravel road signposted “Goldmine Hill”. What followed was a soaking wet 15K with the highlight being running into the Munda Biddi Mountain Bike trail. The Munda Biddi was built to keep cyclists off the 964K Bibbulmun walking track. The first 335K section from Mundaring in the Perth hills to Collie was completed in 2004. I had seen some road crossing signs during the construction and was keen to one day experience the track either by bike or foot. Finding the track so close to my house in Mandurah had me pondering a race in the near future. On my return from New Zealand I had been discussing a possible trail race on a local runner’s message board. I bought the map and found that this town to town section was about 44K. Six Foot which I had dreamed of running for years sprang to mind. “We could have our own version”. I had ridden between the 2 towns, North Dandalup and Dwellingup, and the road was super hilly. I was a little disappointed by the lack of hills when I ran the trail but some less masochistic runners didn’t agree with me. The result is a 46K trail race starting at the foot of Goldmine Hill 1K from North Dandalup and finishing in Dwellingup. This run is designed to be tough but most marathoners can expect to finish within an hour or 2 of their best marathon time.
My favourite bit is the last sentence. This run is designed to be tough but most marathoners can expect to finish within an hour or 2 of their best marathon time. This is no understatement. This is one bad ass of a race that starts with a 3km hill to get you in the mood for the rest of the elevations, and then just when you think it can’t get any worse Dave has found the ‘rutted hill from hell‘ where my mate Jon actually fell in one of the ruts and had to be helped out ! I mean he disappeared. You hit this bad boy around the 32k mark when you are at your weakest and the first time you see it you really think it is a wall rather than a hill. Actually Jon has had a few mishaps on this course. Two years ago he found the only puddle on the whole course, and that is over 46k, and promptly fell in it, twice. He was running well at that point and it was deep into the race, this mishap cost him his mojo and he fell away quickly. Because of this he was made to wear armbands at the start of the following year.
Last year , because he fell into the ‘rut from hell‘ we made him take climbing rope to the top of Goldmine Hill. Unfortunately I got lost last year and turned a 46k into a 50k (for the second time in 7 attempts, even after wearing two gamins!) , because of this I have to carry a map up Goldmine Hill.
Trail running is something I must admit I don’t do enough of. Truth be told this race is probably the only time I get out on the trail bar the Simon Coates inspired Choo-Choo run. (I’ll save that for another post.) I revel in the first 10k and marvel at the wonderful views, basking in the freedom and joy of running at one with nature. After 10k I start to complain a tad about the elevations, grip (or lack of) issues and difficulty finding a pace when you have to wait ever step. By 20k I am seriously reconsidering my love of trail running and then when I see the hill from hell I am well and truely convinced concrete is the way go. This is further enforced when you are faced with the last 10k which seems to go on forever, especially the last 2k where I swear Dave had found some time and space portal where you seem to run forever and move no further forward.
When you finish the 6 inch you know you have been in a race and I have attached finishing shot of yours truely in 2014 which backs up my claim that this is a ‘kick ass’ race that tests you and pushes you to then limit, drawing a line in the sand and then forcing you over it.
This will be my 8th running and I can’t wait because although it’s a hard race these of the sort of events that you need to run to become a better runner , to be tested and face Dave’s 2k of ‘running and but no moving‘ after a 44k warm up. It’s sold out this year but if you are ever going to run a trail race in Western Australia I highly recommend the 6 inch…I’ll see you at the start.
Well this time last week I was asking myself some serious questions as I was about 28k into the Masters marathon and running into a headwind that made me question myself and why I do what I do. My friend Jeff was cycling alongside me but he could see I was in a dark place. As I mentioned in my race report I told myself to hang on for the 32k turn around and the tail wind that was waiting for me.
A week later and I’m still buzzing from the World Masters but at that 28k point it could have turned out so different. I could have given in to my inner demons demanding that I stop or walk or just slow. Their reasoning was sound, I was fatigued with the head wind, slowing pace and I still had 14k to go. It’s at these times in a marathon you have to ‘man up’ (or ‘woman up’ if such a term exists?) , embrace the pain and push on. The rewards are so worth it. Last week I staggered to 32k but as soon as I turned I was a totally different runner. I was caressed home by the tail wind but more importantly my whole mindset had changed. The 10k to go was now no longer a problem but an opportunity to chase down some runners ahead of me, all thoughts of not finishing had evaporated with the head wind, hell, I was going to enjoy the last 10k. (as much as anybody can enjoy the last 10k of a marathon )
No one races a marathon without having at one point (or many points) to argue with your ‘central governor’ which demands they slow or stop. The logic for this is sound but running marathons is not about logic. As Noakes and many coaches preach the human body can run 32k, and is probably designed to run around this distance. The extra 10k is where training and the power of the mind is called upon and if either is lacking you will be found out. No one can finish a marathon and say ‘that was easy and I didn’t really train for it‘, doesn’t happen. They may get to 32k feeling good but trust me the ‘pain train’ is coming if they are not prepared at that point and there is no hiding from it.
The article below from Amby Burfoot from Runners World (2012) is on Noakes and his ‘central governor’ theory. I said in a post before the Masters that although I could not over ride my ‘central governor’ I believed that with experience you can get some leeway and this is enough to allow you to finish strong because your mind knows from experience what to expect. Of course this was marathon number 41 for me so experience has come over a long period of time. It was at the 28k mark last week when my central governor was telling me enough is enough and with his ( or hers, now there’s a theory?) friend ‘fatigue’ was conspiring to protect me by forcing me to slow. This time I was able to persuade ‘myself‘ to get to 32k and reevaluate the situation with a tail wind and a boost you receive when the kilometres to go enters the single figure range. It was enough this time and I finished strong but if I had been faced with a head wind for the last 10k or some serious hills I’m not so sure my central governor would have been so forgiving. As I said in my race report I felt this time I was so close to paying the piper and when I do that will be a very interesting end result and blog post…. let’s hope I’m not faced with that prospect anytime soon.
For the last 40+ years, South African Tim Noakes, M.D., has been among the most iconoclastic of sports scientists. In the 1970s, he and colleagues proved that a veteran marathoner could die from heart disease, refuting the “Bassler hypothesis.” They did this with hard evidence: images of the unlucky marathoner’s heart.
In the 1980s, while everyone else was hyperventilating over dehydration, Noakes practically invented exercise hyponatremia, i.e., “overdrinking,” among endurance athletes. The evidence? Studies of how much runners drank during marathons, particularly their pre-event and post-event weight, and how this affected their plasma sodium levels. Too much drinking lowers sodium levels, and if it goes too far, this can become a life-threatening condition.
For the last decade-plus, Noakes, author of the justly-famous Lore of Running and the soon-to-be-published Waterlogged, has focused his attention on a concept he calls the “central governor.” In Noakes view, the central governor, i.e., the brain, is what limits endurance performance.Take for example the sub-2-hour marathon. We all know that no current marathoner can achieve that mark. But why? For most of the last century, exercise physiologists have given a host of reasons: insufficient leg muscle endurance, too much lactic acid, insufficient vo2 max, insufficient glycogen supply, too much dehydration, and the like. These are all very nice things, because each can be measured.
Noakes believes all these explanations are wrong. He says no one can run a sub-2-hour marathon because, in effect, the brain won’t let us. The marathoner hasn’t been born yet with a sub-2-hour brain, and the body to back it up.
But now Noakes has a problem. When it came to his heart and hyponatremia findings, he had solid evidence to support his position. But where’s the evidence for a central-governor impact on endurance performance? And if a central governor does exist, how do you measure it?
“The Noakes paper has an interesting concept for a role of the brain in fatigue and athletic performance,” notes Henriette van Praag, Ph.D., a reviewer of the paper and an neuroscience investigator at the National Institutes of Health. “It lacks a clear structural/physiological basis within the central nervous system. Thus, empirical evidence for the existence of a ‘governor’ remains to be established.”
In a wonderful new paper in Frontiers in Physiology, Noakes makes little to no attempt to pin down the central governor with a measuring stick, such as the IQ scores often used for intelligence. He does seem to like something called the TEA (the Task Effort and Awareness scale), which he sees as a counterpart to Gunnar Borg’s RPE (Relative Perceived Exertion scale).
But Noakes tells the central-governor story in a narrative form that’s almost, well … almost readable. I’m not saying the paper is easy-going, certainly not for the faint-of-heart. And I’m sure there are vast parts of it that I don’t understand—it appears to have about 150 references, many of them from the last year or two of research.
Still, the quotes from great athletes are always entertaining. Roger Bannister says: “The great barrier is the mental hurdle.” Former marathon world record holder Derek Clayton says: “The difference between my world record and many world class runners is mental fortitude. I ran believing in mind over matter.”
Apparently Noakes does as well. In the provocative last section of his paper, he writes that the “illusionary” symptoms of fatigue are what separates the marathon winner from the runners-up. The first time I read this section, I couldn’t help but think about the people with illusionary thoughts who are often locked up in mental wards. Of course, Noakes isn’t saying that fast runners are crazy. Only that their thoughts are illusionary in the sense that they “are entirely self-generated by each athlete’s brain and so are unique to each individual.”
Noakes closes by quoting Vince Lombardi, who said, “Fatigue makes cowards of us all.” Noakes believes, however, that Lombardi got things backwards. Noakes writes: “My unproven hypothesis is that in the case of a close finish, physiology does not determine who wins. Rather somewhere in the final section of the race, the brains of the second, and lower placed finishers, accept their respective finishing positions and no longer challenge for a higher finish.” The winner’s brain simply doesn’t give in.
In other words, according to Noakes, cowardice produces fatigue.
It seemed I may have spoken to soon when I commended the T-Train on his recovery run the day after he took an almighty beating at the World Masters marathon. Tone had set his sights higher than he actually finished, with good logic as he has been training with me and keeping me honest at the end of our long runs as he always finds an extra gear when he smells the coffee and pancakes. (maybe that was what affected his world masters time, no coffee and pancakes to explode towards in the last 5k. I’ll make sure this is sorted for his next marathon, or maybe not? )
I had noticed that Tony was very quite this week on Strava, which is unlike him. As I mentioned in a previous post there is nothing Tone enjoys more than running a sub 4min/k average 10k the day after a marathon just to fish a reprimand from yours truely. I’m sure he must be smiling to himself on that ‘recovery’ run every time as he imagines the rebuke I will send his way via Strava.
It was later in the week it all became clear. It seems the T-Train had entered a 12hour race the week after the marathon, one I discussed yesterday the Light Horse Ultra, a 3/6/12 hour race around the ‘beaut 2.5k loop.’ So much for taking it easy the 2 weeks after a marathon, the T-Train was going to run over 120km in 12 hours, starting at midnight less than 7 days after racing to a good sub3 at Perth. One word, suicidal. ! To put this in perspective I ran 12k today and was glad to finish. I couldn’t imagine another 10k no matter 110k . In the end Tone managed to run 125km, I wonder if he thought the 2.5km track was a ‘beaut little track when he ran it for the 50th time…?
You would have thought there would only be one person that crazy to attempt a T-Train double in less than a week but no, looking through the results I see the female version, Margie Hadley, went one better than Tone and won the female 12 hour race after also competing last week at the World Masters. Margie managed 120km.
Looking at the photos on Facebook the event looked amazing and I said yesterday you will not find the comradery anywhere else like at an ultra or trail event. If you have never tried one I strongly recommend you put that right and either get into the nearest trail or find the longest ultra you can and run it, albeit slowly and eating and drinking a lot. (As discussed previously I consider an ultra an eating and drinking competition with the running bit a means of getting to the next aid table to eat and drink some more. The first person to get to the finish is the winner, they also get to really dig into the tukka at the end first, another benefit of finishing as quickly as possible)
After being blown away by the runners at the Light Horse Ultra I then saw on Strava my mate Jon had got up at 3am and ran 70km before the kids woke up and then umpired a Tee-ball game. What is happening to WA runners today? Jon has started his training for the Australia Day Ultra when he debuted last year with an impressive 2nd place in the 100k. This race still has entries available so if you’re reading this and fancy a move up to the ultra world this is the one to go for in WA. ( http://australiadayultra.com ) I’m even tempted to enter the 100k myself after I ran the 50k last year.
If you live in WA there is an ultra series you can run, including the two races mentioned above ( http://ultraserieswa.com.au ). Well worth a look and a great way to get into ultras. These events are organised by some awesome runners turned race directors and the time and effort they put into organising these cannot be over stated. These guys rock !
Footnote:- Like going shopping when you’re hungry , blogging about Ultra marathons when you know there is an event you can enter can be fatal. Just followed my advice and entered the Australia Day Ultra, the 100k option. (I did actually enter the 100k last year but dropped down to the 50k after a few bad runs in the heat of a Perth summer.) This year I will be stronger and all that blogging has inspired me. Albeit I did check I could get a full refund before January 7th. You don’t get that at a supermarket after you’ve over spent by about $100 because you were hungry when you were shopping. How good is running ? Of course you’ll be able to follow my progress as I move to three figure racing for the first time, and it’ll be my last race in my forties so seems like a good time to step up to the ultra world.
This weekend my friend Shaun Kaesler runs his 3/6/12 hr ultra marathon ( http://lighthorseultra.com.au ) in Perth. An ultra run in a local park around a’ beaut little 2.5k loop with a combination of ashphalt, limestone trail and boardwalk‘, Shaun’s words not mine. It is run on Remembrance day ‘celebrating the freedom we live for the service they gave‘, Shaun’s words again.
This beaut little ultra , my words this time, is one of many ultra marathons popping up in WA at the moment. All started by runners who love the tight knit ultra community and the characters it contains. Ultra and trail runners are ,for the most part, normally like-minded people working toward the greater good of this planet we spend our time destroying. They tend to work off the grid and their time on the trail is them reconnecting with nature and the very basic urge to just run , self supported , for a long time. Pushing themselves to the limits of their ability with the encouragement and friendship of fellow runners, all sharing the wonderful experience of just running in the most beautiful places untouched by man and all his vices.
The best thing about the ultra and trail community is without doubt the comradery amongst the runners. These guys genuinely care for each other and the environment. Probably because they get to experience the best of it and want to keep it pristine. Whatever the reason their cause is just and this adds to the whole feeling of enjoyment they experience when they ‘do their thing‘. Now I’m not suggesting we all ‘run to the hills’ (that would make a great song title..) but once in a while the odd foray to dance with Mother Nature is certainly good for the soul.
Another great addition to the ultra calendar is the ADU, Australia Day Ultra ran by my good friend Ron Mcglinn, in Ron’s words… ( http://australiadayultra.com )
Welcome
After being drawn to the beauty of this area, and running along this stretch of coast in and around the Leschenault Peninsula over many years, I have have felt drawn to share this beautiful area with other like minded running enthusiasts. I have looked for a slot in the Ultra running and Marathon calendar where there was very little happening for an opportunity to open this beautiful gem up to the running community.
One slot that did not seem to interfere with any other major events was the weekend of Australia Day …………….the dates may change slightly each year, but hey let’s just call it the Australia Day Ultra !
The course is mapped out as a 12.5 km out and back ( 2 x laps for 25km, 4 x laps for 50km and 8 x laps for 100km + 6km Kids Event) along the Australind Foreshore, taking in the scenic Cathedral drive through the paperbark walk. ( This was the old Bunbury road once apon a lifetime). There will be an aid station at each end of the course (6.25km) apart along with a self serve water station at the 3km mark so there would be no need to carry water or supplies other than the mandatory gear. There are amenities at the Australind end with decent parking a service station and shops. Toilet blocks and playgrounds are located at the Start/Finish line and at the 2 km mark ( Fees Field). There are no significant road crossing and the foot traffic will be separated from vehicle traffic, though you can park on the side of the track all along the length of the proposed course.
We are set for a Midnight start time for the 100 km, 3 am start for the 50 km, 6 am start for the 25 km, and a 9am start for the Kiddies 6km run to beat the heat!
This is going to be Very Flat and Very Fast, the perfect PB course.
This is AURA Approved and we offer discounts on the entry fee for AURA members. This is a certified course, so records will be up for the taking for those willing to push themselves that little bit harder.
Hope to see you out there.
This one is special to me as I saved Ron’s life once , the first time I met him actually. We were doing a recon run for the 6 inch ultra (see below) and we set of as a group and ran the whole 46k point to point, had lunch and then drove back to the start to pick up our cars. Ron has set off by himself and we met him on his way back about 15k from the cars. Anyhow we carried on another 30k , had lunch at the Dwellingup Pub (an experience in itself I can tell you.) and drove back to the start to see his car still parked, with no sign of Ron. Being totally unprepared we didn’t have his phone number and after a frantic call to Dave Kennedy, who also didn’t have his phone number, we started up Goldmine hill in my Prado. When we got to the top we saw a disshelfed Ron walking towards us. He had got lost and wondered about ‘bush’ for 3-4 hours totally lost. There was tall stories of looking for fish in brooks and Crocodile Dundee like encounters with nature. Anyway, to this day whenever we meet I remind him how I saved his life the first time he met.
Ron helped me drop down from the 100k to the 50k last year at this event which really is special at you start at 3am so the first 2 hours are in the dark and last year was a full moon. (I wonder how Ron arranged that? It’s the little things these Race Directors do that make all the difference…. ) Which was lucky for me as my ‘I don’t need a head torch I’ll run with the lead group’ plan backfired when I got dropped quicker than a Hilary Clinton victory speech and found myself alone in the dark. Lesson learnt for next year, don’t get dropped !
Last ultra-trail marathon I’m going to talk about in this post is the infamous 6 inch ultra marathon where I pit myself against the heat, hills and trails of the Munda biddi track. This ultra started 12 years ago as a fatass (free entry) but has morphed into a 350 runner sell out and it is one of the highlights of the year to run this with good friends. ( http://www.6inchtrailmarathon.com/?page_id=92 ) I’ve mentioned it before but it is well worth running this bad boy if you are ever in WA around the last Sunday before Christmas. Although I treat is as more of a long run with a bib on I still try and run sub 4 hours , which I have done 5 times out of 7. The difficulty of the course is obvious from this as it’s only 3-4k’s longer than a normal marathon but takes me over an hour longer, trail running is hard work!! I’ve attached a great finishing shot taken a few years ago which sums up the experience…
So from midnight tonight for the 12 hour race, if you’re anywhere near Yellagonga Regional Park, Ocean Reef Rd, Woodvale, I reckon you get down there and watch some seriously great runners doing their thing around a beaut 2.5km track, again and again and again………I’m assuming the 6hr will start at 6am and the 3hr at 9am so they all finish at midday. (seems logical anyway ? Check the website to confirm because these ultra/trail runners aren’t one to conform to what we would expect, otherwise they be concrete junkies like me !)
I’ve been finding these last few days that I’m waking earlier and earlier for my morning (recovery) run. This morning I awoke at 4am with my alarm set at 5am,. Well after 15minutes thinking this is ridiculous waking so early I decided that 4:15am was no ‘as’ ridiculous so off I went into the morning. As always I was glad I did as as I ran my old faithful 10k for the 166th time (thanks Strava) I got to witness another great sunrise. There really is something wonderful getting up as the sun starts to peak over the horizon. The light is amazing and you normally face the new day alone, basking in the solitude. My go-to 10k takes me through Star Swamp just as the Sun rises and I deliberately set my alarm so I’m hitting a certain part of the swamp as the Sun welcomes me.
Every time I see the sunrise I think of all the people asleep in bed who just get up , crawl to work in a zombie like state and never get to experience the ‘sunrise that could cleanse the soul‘ that I experience almost daily. These same people look at me with disgust when I tell them what time I rose and embraced the day, explaining that I’m running in the middle of the night. Maybe their night not mine. On a good day I get to experience the sunset over the ocean if I can get to the bike path in time. On many times I’ve ran with the sunrise in the morning and finished the day racing the sunset. How good is that ? I’ll tell you , bloody good.
As well as experiencing the sunrise you normally get to run through your local park alone or experience the city waking with very little traffic, well I do in Perth, it’s probably different in major cities but it’ll be quieter anyhow. Th early morning really is a magical time experienced by the few and that’s the way we like it. Living in Perth we are blessed with such a runner friendly climate. Nine months of the year it’s just about prefect all day and for the three summer months, where the temperature can get brutal, you take solace in the early morning when the temperature is kinder. I then bring out the bike and cycle to and from work after my morning run as this is great cardio (I’m an old fashioned cyclist who actually pedals. With the number of motorised or electric bikes on the bike paths actually meeting ‘normal’ cyclists is rare. When did it become the norm to ‘cycle’ to work on an electric bike without actually doing anything ? The world has gone crazy people with the same people then ‘clip-clopping’ into the local cafe and sipping their frothy light frappacinos’s cacooned in lycra. ) I have been known to say the odd derogatory remark about cycling but as a means of commuting in the Summer heat there really is nothing better. As for the lycra and coffee addiction, I can put up with it. Actually any excuse to drink good coffee should be embraced anyway. The lycra and headscarf, testing but after a while you get use to it and before long you’re ‘clip-clopping’ into cafes with your cycling gear fitting right in. (Although I’ve never drank a soya, light, frothy frappaccino , yet ?)
So what was the point of this post. I do seem to have ‘dribbled ‘on for longer than normal. The point is get up early and go and enjoy the sunrise and then run late and experience the sunset. They are both worth the effort and who knows if you running around King’s Park in Perth one morning you may end up in a ‘Paul Harrison classic’. (see below)
I attached a great photo of the sunrise in Perth take by one of my favourite photographers Paul Harrison, a very talented man.
I was sent this article by my friend Mike and it really does hit home. Will I take time off because of it, probably not but what I consider ‘down time’ is just running a lot less. My recovery still involves running albeit a lot less and I’ll be on this reduced training for at least a month. Is it better to have a complete break as advocated by this article by Greg McMillan in 2016 on his website.? ( https://run.mcmillanrunning.com/ )
Looking at my training log for the last 8 years I have has no real down time as such. Maybe a week off after the Rottnest Marathon as I vacation with the family counts ? Not as long as recommend by Greg in his article. I do have a ‘reduced workload’ period for 2-3 months over the summer months in Perth where most of the major races dry up due to the heat. Maybe this has been enough to keep me focused while still maintain the intensity and running goal times in the ‘running season’. Truth be told it isn’t reduced that much though when it gets really hot I jump on the bike and commute to work and reduce my running to once a day.
Maybe I’m actually following Greg’s advice without actually realising it ? Like all things running it is not a ‘one shoe fits all’ sport. What works for one person will not have the same affect with another. What Greg preaches is common sense and well worth considering and I will take it onboard. (maybe this will justify a trip to the local deli and another muffin ?) Spending more time with my family, that always put a strain on the marriage ? I’ll consult with my Wife before I embark down this road. I’m not so sure the family will appreciate more BK time…
THE LOST ART OF RECOVERING BETWEEN TRAINING CYCLES
I see a bad habit forming in many runners: the lack of a recovery cycle after their big races or racing seasons. Today, far too many are simply finishing one race (often a marathon) and immediately starting to train for the next one. You can get away with this a few times, but usually runners get burned out and leave the sport for new activities after doing this too often. The grind of always “training” weighs you down. Runners may also reach a performance plateau after a few races and fall well short of their true running potential, simply because they don’t allow a proper recovery phase.
In fairness, I understand this drive to move from one race to the next. I love running, too, and there is nothing better than being fully engaged in training for a big race. But never taking a break ignores one of the most important principles that we learned from great coaches and athletes over the last century: Top runners require a regular, full recovery cycle.
Great athletes build annual breaks into their training year. Not a reduced week or two of training every now and then, but weeks of complete rest. They don’t only rest, but they gain weight, too. Some add 5 to 15 pounds to their normally light frames while they enjoy time with their families, take vacations and generally do things they normally can’t because of their training.
If you follow many of today’s great runners, you’ll see that they, too, take the time to get away from the sport. Nick Symmonds goes fishing after the track season. Bernard Lagat talks about getting “fat” during his downtime, and the Hansons require their marathoners to take two weeks completely off after a marathon.
How can they do this? How can great athletes allow themselves to get out of shape? How can they tolerate the downtime without worrying about the competition?
While we worry about losing our fitness level, or that the competition is training and we’re not, these athletes know that planned annual breaks rejuvenate the body and mind in ways that outweigh losses in fitness. The worriers who plow through often take similar breaks, but rather than planned vacations, they are mandated by injuries, overtraining and burnout. Planned breaks take the pressure off — you don’t feel that your training is never-ending, jumping from one goal to the next. Science is discovering that the chemistry of the brain, the hormonal system and the immune system are compromised during hard training. Breaks rejuvenate these systems, allowing us to train better, more consistently and with more zeal across the next training plan.
Will you lose fitness? Yes. How much is hard to calculate and will depend on how long a break you take. But it’s not about how out of shape you get, but about how recovered you are and how ready to attack the next training cycle.
Remember that the recovery phase isn’t just the downtime, but also the time needed to rebuild mileage and pace. Many runners fail even when they do take time off, because upon their return, they jump right back into full training — again feeling the need to “get in shape.” You’ll need to plan on three to five weeks of rebuilding to your full training load. I usually start at 50 percent of full mileage, then increase 10 to 20 percent each week (with a recovery week of lower mileage every two to four weeks) until I’m back to 100 percent. Use common sense and build back slowly.
In the end, what’s the rush? A few weeks of downtime never ruined anyone’s running career — quite the opposite.
COACH’S NOTES
I took nearly a month off after my last marathon. I gained a few pounds. I enjoyed some new hobbies and time with family. But most of all, I rediscovered the desire, motivation and passion that drive me as a runner, and I couldn’t wait to challenge myself to do better. The next training cycle went even better than expected because I carried all the fitness from the previous cycle, plus my recharged motivation. I was able to run 2 minutes faster in the 15K than I had the year before. I’m convinced the recovery phase played a large role in this breakthrough.
As runners we give up so much in our pursuit of what we love, running. To fully do the noble art of running justice you have to give away a few things in life. Like all good things there is a price to pay.
The week after the marathon is a magical time when really you get to do what you want without the constant fear of not training. If you want you can do no exercise the week after a marathon and this has been shown to do as much good as gentler recovery. The only reason I run in the post marathon week is I love running and my treat to myself after a marathon is to run, albeit slowly. Can you treat yourself after so much running with more running, not sure ? Anyhow this is the week to go large on the ice cream scooper make multiple visits to your favourite deli and order that high fat, sugar laced muffin you normally just stare at in wonder.
Basically let yourself go (to a point) while you reload before your next goal, because people there is always a next goal. A runner without a goal is not a runner. With no goal why would you push yourself into the pain box on those interval sessions, run yourself close to vomiting on the VO2 sprints or push yourself to the limit on a fartlek and then go past that limit on the next sprint. All these things are done with a specific goal in mind, be that a marathon, an ultra or even shorter distances, runners need goals. This week though you have no goal but to enjoy being a ‘normal’ person. Not worrying about weight gain, fitness loss or recording every step you take on Strava. Imagine that, that’s why I go for a run.
So what do I consider letting myself go ? I do take Monday off running and maybe an extra coffee for a couple of days with a piece of banana bread. That’s about it, actually that sounds party sad really as reward for 3 months of running between 10-14 times a week but when you actually enjoy the running what are you really rewarding yourself for doing. ? If running is what you love than you can’t really reward yourself for doing it, can you ? Funnily enough you can because it is meeting your ‘goal’ you are really rewarding yourself for , which is why we needs goals. With goals you can do the thing you love and then still reward yourself for doing it via goal setting.
This week I will stand by my advice with slow and steady runs only. No double up days for a few days anyhow and no pace work for a week or two. The odd extra coffee and a few sweet tweets will be embraced off course but I’ve never been one to go mad or let myself go, too many goals to look forward to.
The week after a marathon can be a wonderful time but remember this is what normal people do and as runners we ain’t normal. We like early mornings, early nights, time in the pain box and hours upon hours of running. Life as a runner is a privilege, an honour and a joy, and once a week we even add the odd muffin, how good is that?
There are two trains of thought regarding recovering from marathon. Most suggest an easy first week of little or no exercise and then a slow second week, staying away from any speed work. Week three and four are still recovery weeks albeit slightly less so each week. I normally give myself 4 weeks of no racing as a minimum and certainly no speed work for at least two weeks. The second week can sometimes be the most dangerous time as runners are always keen to push the envelope and think they are bullet proof, so add pace before their bodies are ready.
The other train of thought (an apt description) is you just ignore the fact you’ve run a marathon and continue training like it never happened. This is what my good friend Tony ‘T-train’ Smith does on a regular basis and always posts his splits on Strava to wind me up. That was until today when I saw on Strava a very reasonable recovery run at a pedestrian pace, compared to the normal T-train sub-4 minute recovery sprint. I put this down to one of two things. 1. He is starting to listen to me and realises the error of his ways. (unlikely) 2. After finding him in the recovery position next to the bin at the end of the finishing chute yesterday he is still totally suffering from yesterdays beating he took at the hand of the World Masters marathon (likely)… NB. There really isn’t two trains of recovery, there is only one, slow and steady is the only way.
I use to give myself three days off and then start training on Thursday but these days I take the day off after the marathon and then it’s back into it, albeit at a very relaxed pace. I am now a firm believer in running on tired legs (and my legs are seriously tired at the moment!) is good training and as I have discussed before don’t underestimate the good work you could be doing just by getting out there. Thus I can’t wait to get on my compression tights (another good article of clothing to have for these recovery runs) and go for a very relaxed 10k tomorrow morning. With Spring finally sprung over here in Western Australia the mornings are glorious and I’m finding running tracks everywhere. Even this morning while walking from the train station I snapped this photo of what I see as great running track compared to what the general public just see as a bike path. I just can’t wait to get back into it.
This week is all about ‘smelling the roses’ with maybe a small gathering on Sunday for some pancakes and some ‘Masters Marathon debriefing’. As I said before only one thing better than running a marathon is talking about running a marathon, over pancakes and decent coffee of course. Next week is also another easy week , just adding distance if I feel I can. (Very important to listen to your body for the next two weeks). Recovery weeks three and four are similar but maybe the odd steady or tempo run and longer on the weekends but at a slow pace; more time on legs. After four weeks you are generally good to go.
So what next ? The World Masters has been my goal since June this year and now this goal has been achieved it’s time for a few short term goals to keep me honest. The first of these is my favourite off -road trail race the 6 inch ultra marathon, named after it’s big brother the 6-foot which is an event over east in the Blue mountains. ( http://www.sixfoot.com ) The 6 inch was started 12 years ago and has grown from a ‘fat-ass’ free entry race to a 350 runner sell out that it is now. ( http://www.6inchtrailmarathon.com/?page_id=71 You’ll recognise the athlete bearded runner in the link.) This will be my 7th year of running it and it is always a challenge given the terrain, the elevation and the heat. It is another special WA event though and, as the last run of the year, very sociable, it’s like a private party where the entry is a 48k pre-party run.
Finally an article from coach Jeff from Runners Connect gives you a few pointers about recovery. Funnily enough doesn’t mention the T-trains ‘train like it never happened approach’.
Recovering from a marathon is a critical component to a perfect training plan that runners often neglect.
Unfortunately, if you don’t properly recover from your marathon, you’ll increase your injury risk, increase the total marathon recovery time, and limit your long-term potential – making it harder to break your PR and stay healthy.
As a running coach, I’ve heard all the arguments from athletes wanting to jump back into training or racing immediately after their race.
More often than not, runners who do not follow a proper post marathon recovery plan find their subsequent performances stagnating or they suffer from overtraining symptoms.
Today, we are going to give you the best ways to recover from a marathon; this article will outline the science behind post marathon fatigue, so you can feel comfortable knowing you’re preparing your body for optimal performance down the road.
Then, I am going to provide you with an optimal post marathon recovery plan to help get you back to running your best as soon as possible.
Marathon recovery is critical and often overlooked. This article will provide you with the ultimate marathon recovery plan and the time it takes to get backWhat Happens To My Body When I Run A Marathon?
Marathons are tough on the body – there’s no way to sugar coat this fact.
Muscles, hormones, tendons, cells, and almost every physiological system is pushed to the max during a marathon race.
It doesn’t matter if you’re a Boston qualifier or it’s your first marathon, 26.2 miles is 26.2 miles and your body has undergone tremendous physical duress, let alone the stress you have put on your body running according to your marathon training schedule.
Here is a list of some of the scientifically measured physiological systems that are most effected after a marathon and how long each takes to fully repair.
Skeletal Muscle
Muscles soreness and fatigue are the most obvious case of damage caused by running the marathon distance.
One scientific study conducted on the calf muscles of marathon runners concluded that both the intensive training for, and the marathon itself, induce inflammation and muscle fiber necrosis that significantly impaired muscle power and durability for up the 14 days post marathon.
Accordingly, it will take your muscles about 2 weeks post marathon to return to full strength.
Cellular damage
Cellular damage post marathon, which includes oxidative damage, increased production of creatinine kinase (CK) – a marker that indicates damage to skeletal and myocardial tissue, and increased myoglobin levels in the blood stream (which often results in blood being present in urine).
One study concluded that CK damage persisted more than 7 days post marathon while another study confirmed the presence of myoglobin in the bloodstream post marathon for 3-4 days post race.
Both of these studies clearly indicate that the body needs at least 7-10 days of rest post marathon to fully recover from the cellular damage caused during the race.
These markers, along with a suppressed immune system, which is discussed below, is the primary reason that the optimal marathon recovery schedule avoids cross training the first 2-3 days.
Immune system
Post marathon, the immune system is severely compromised, which increases the risk of contracting colds and the flu.
Furthermore, a suppressed immune system is one of the major causes of overtraining. A recent study confirms that the immune system is compromised up to three days post marathon and is a major factor in overtraining syndrome.
Therefore, it is critical that you rest as much as possible in the three days following a marathon and focus on eating healthy and nutrient rich foods.
The research clearly indicates that the marathon induces significant muscle, cellular, and immune system damage for 3-14 days post race.
Therefore, it is essential that all marathon runners have a 2-3 week marathon recovery protocol that focuses on rest and rejuvenation of these physiological systems.
How To Recover After Running a Marathon
We’re going to outline a nutrition, rehab, cross training, and running plan for the 3 weeks after a marathon. This rehab plan is guaranteed to help you recover faster and return to training as quickly as possible.Immediately post race
The immediate post race recovery protocol can be a little difficult to plan ahead of time, so I wouldn’t stress about it pre-race.
Focus your energy on pre-race nutrition and race strategy. These notes are simply to give you some guidance after the race.
After you cross the finish line, try to get something warm and get to your clothes. You’ll probably get cold very quickly, and while it won’t help you recover, getting warm will sure make you feel a lot better.
Try to find something to eat. Bananas, energy bars, sports drinks, fruit, and bagels are all good options.
Many marathoners can’t eat soon after finishing, so grab a handful of items and make your way to friends and family.
When you get back to the hotel room, you should consider an ice bath.
Fill the tub with ice and cold water and submerge your lower body for 15 minutes. You don’t need the water too cold, 55 degrees is optimal, but anything colder than 65 degrees will do.
After your ice bath, you can take a nap or walk around to try and loosen the legs.
At this point, you’ve done about all you can do for the day. Relax and relish in your accomplishment.Days 1-3
Running: None
Cross Training: none
Recovery Tips and tricks:
Soak in a hot tub for 10-15 and stretch well afterwards.
Each lots of fruits, carbohydrates, and protein. The Carbs and protein will help repair the muscle damage while the fruits will give you a boost of vitamin C and antioxidants to help combat free radical damage and boost your immune system.
Light massage will help loosen your muscles. Don’t schedule a deep tissue massage yet, just a gentle effleurage massage or a light rolling with the stick.
Days 4-7
Running: One day, 2-4 miles very easy
Cross Training: Optional – Two days, 30-40 minutes easy effort. The focus is on promoting blood flow to the legs, not building fitness.
Recovery Tips and Tricks:
Continue eating a healthy diet
Now is the time you can get a deep tissue massage if you have areas that are really bothering you or that are injured.
Contrast bath your lower body. To contrast bath, take large trash cans and fill one with hot (hot bath temp) water and the other with ice water (cold enough so some ice still doesn’t melt) and put your whole lower body into the cold. Hold for 5 minutes and then switch to the hot for 5 mins. Repeat 2 or 3 times, ending with cold. This helps rush blood in and out of the area, which facilitates healing.
Epsom Salt Bath. About an hour before bed, massage your legs out with the stick or self massage and then soak in a hot/warm bath with 3 cups epsom salt and 1 cup baking soda for 10-15 minutes. After the soak, stretch real well and relax. This always perks up my legs quite a bit and you’ll also sleep great.
Days 7-14
Running: Three or four days of 4-6 miles very easy.
Cross Training: Optional – Three sessions total. One easy session and two medium effort sessions for 30-45 minutes.
Days 14-21
Running: Begin to slowly build back into full training. My suggestion is four to five runs of 4-8 miles with 4 x 20 sec strides after each run.
Cross Training: 1 easy session, 1 medium session, and 1 hard session of 40-50 minutes.
Don’t worry about losing any running fitness during this recovery period.
First, it’s much more important to ensure proper recovery so you can train even harder during your next training cycle.
If you don’t let yourself recover now, you’ll simply have to back off your workouts when it matters and put yourself on the verge of overtraining.
Likewise, you won’t lose much fitness at all.
In my experience, it takes about 2-3 weeks of training to get back into good shape and ready to start attacking workouts and planning races.
Try not to schedule any races until 6 weeks after your marathon.
I know you may want to avenge a disappointing performance or you’ll be coming off a running high and you’ll want to run every race under the sun.
However, your results won’t be as good as they might be if you just wait a few weeks and let your body recover and train a little first.
Patience is a virtue, but it will pay off in the end.
Well what a day. I am sitting here with a cup of tea and a few chocolate biscuits as this post could take all night. This has to rank as one of my best ever days running as it was just such a great event with great friends, great support and pretty good conditions. It really was everything running a marathon should be. There were times when you felt you could run forever, times when you just wanted to walk and give the whole thing away and of course the runners high when you realise you are going to achieve all your goals when you have asked yourself some tough questions and answered them all.
I know this sounds pretty dramatic but ask everybody who finished today and they all have their stories containing questions that had to be asked, time in the pain box, mental battles with fatigue and generally we all come out better at the other end. Funny thing now is I can only really remember the good things, like the last 10k with a tail wind and legs that had something left for the run home, finishing strong and getting a sub 2:45 time, 7th overall finish and 2nd in my age group. The feeling of running down runners who are far quicker then me (albeit they were probably injured.) and the relief when you see the finishing chute finally. Man, running gives you so much on days like these.
First of all lets break the race down into manageable chunks. With all marathons I’m a big believer in the first 21k is really where you should be relaxed and if you start to question yourself before halfway you are in for a world of pain. Proper training and a realistic goal should make the first 21k hard but achievable. Today was different. I had been second guessing myself since the Rottnest half. The week on Rotto’ after the half was probably not the most ideal training and although I ran twice a day I was certainly fatigued. This manifested in a good Masters 5k but not the PB I was hoping for. Thus the seed of ‘self doubt‘ was planted and then along came his partner in crime ‘weight gain‘ when I weighed myself yesterday and found to my horror I was 2kg heavier than 3 weeks ago. (I remarked to my Wife Karen in Yelo Saturday morning, while eating a chocolate and banana muffin, I had ‘let myself go‘, to her amusement !) Thus for the first 21k I was certainly running quicker than I should have really , given the conditions, but knew I was running in 3rd place in the age group so this is where I needed to be.
So as the course is a two lap course we started the second lap into a head wind which I knew would be my partner until the 32k mark and the last turnaround before the run for home. This was a double whammy as I felt this was not going to be my day and could feel myself thinking about all the (wrong) reasons to justify a slower second half. When I started to do the maths, adding on 1:30 for the second half, I knew I was in trouble. I managed to struggle to the narrows bridge and into the head wind from hell (I am assuming in hell you would probably be faced with a head wind as I suspect Lucifer is the sort of demon who would find that amusing. I, of course, will never find out as we all know BK will one day be God’s training partner.)
I digress. My mate Jeff managed to catch up with me at 28k (on his bike) when I was at my worst, slowing down and thinking of so many reasons that I could justify stopping. This is what running a marathon is all about. These times when you ask yourself some really hard questions, give yourself the easy way out and then decide to get back in the pain box and shut the door behind you. I reached a decision to get to 32k and introduce myself to the tail wind I knew was waiting for me.
32k, as already discussed, the ‘death zone’ for runners. If you are going to have a bad day it will normally start around this distance. Training, character, nutrition, fuel all get you so far, at 32k it’s time for the mental part of marathon running to take over. This is what running marathons is all about, the last 10k. As I have already discussed this is where the Noakes ‘Governor’ kicks in and the mind works with his old friend ‘fatigue’ to slow you down. (Commonly known as ‘hitting the wall‘) Surprisingly this time I had managed to convince myself that if I could get to 32k the tail wind would ‘caress’ me home. This was all I needed, instantly with a tail wind I was reinvigorated and knew the last 10k would be challenging but do-able. My race was saved. This proved to be the way it panned out and I even managed to move from 3rd to 2nd in my age group and catch a WA running legend Todd Ingraham , albeit an injured Todd Ingraham. Finished 7th overall, 2nd in my age group and even part of the Australian team who won gold as our combined times was nearly 2 hours quicker that the British who were second.
So what did I learn about today. When you race a marathon it never gets any easier. I certainly had to dig deep, real deep, to pull this one out of the fire. The City to Surf and Perth earlier in the year were both a lot more pleasant, I won’t say easier. I went out too hard and ‘trusted my training’ to get me home in one piece and with the help of the tail wind I got the job done. For marathon number 41 I may have once more managed to avoid ‘paying the piper‘ but this time he was close, real close.
Other highlights of the day. The support on the course was just amazing. I tend to keep my head down and try and zone out during a marathon so if it looked like I ignored you, believe me I didn’t. Every shout of ‘go bk’ was registered and helped, trust me. Of course I must mention Tom Millard and his family for the ‘Run BK Run’ sign at South Perth, that made my day and I certainly made a big effort not to let them down as I passed. Thanks guys.
Myself, Mike and Mark stayed around for the awards ceremony which actually took longer than the marathon but was worth hanging around for just to be inspired by the runners taking the stage. We learnt a lot from the national anthems and specifically Chile has the longest national anthem in the world. Hearing it for the first time we all assumed the recording was stuck as it seemed to go for ever. Imagine our amusement when about 10 minutes later it was played again. Those Chileans love their national anthem, and why wouldn’t you when it starts sounding like a Mozart tune and ends up more like Justine Bieber. We were also concerned for the two oldest Japanese runners who took to the stage when the wind was virtually at typhoon stage each holding large Japanese flags. At one point I was convinced we were going to lose them in a scene reminiscent of the opening scene of the Wizard of Oz !
My training posse also preformed admirably with Damien and the two Marks grabbing silver in their age group as the second fastest 35-40 age group team ‘in the world’. Well done lads. Mark C. also threw in a 29 minute PB , bringing his marathon time down from 3:33 to 3:04. I can’t take all the credit , the City beach pancakes and a ‘speed beard’ would have also contributed to this biblical PB. If he keeps repeating this feat he’ll be the first man to run sub 2 hours at the City to Surf in August next year. Now that would be worthing blogging about !
Finally a big thank you to the West Australian Marathon Club ( http://www.wamc.org.au ) and the army of volunteers. An outstanding job and it sounds like this could be the last time the World Masters holds the marathon as part of the bi-annual games, which is a pity but what a way to go out.
Right I may treat myself to another cup of tea…….
