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Is downtime needed for breakthroughs ? and.. 8 tips from the GOAT.

The lads experiencing ‘downtime’..?

After the No Time to Die ultra I have been struggling with injuries and motivation. Running the Melbourne marathon in October was probably a mistake and I paid with tight hamstrings,  which made any sort of running at pace impossible. The only thing that kept me going was dry needling and strong anti-inflammatories; both dangerous long term ! Coupled with a knee niggle I have only really ran long twice in the last few months and both times were ultra races. Apart from a couple of back to back milers I have run very little and am struggling with motivation.

I have put this down to an aggressive racing calendar and I need time to recoup before more of the same next year. My only race for the rest of the year is the 6 inch ultra in late December. ( https://www.6inchtrailmarathon.com/   ) I’m hoping after the 6 Inch I’ll get my mojo back and head to the hills for my pre-Delirious West training block around Xmas and into the New Year. ( https://deliriouswest200miler.com.au/ ) This block of 4-6 weeks is paramount to success for the 200 miler, hours of trail running in the heat of a Perth summer.  Extreme heat is as good as altitude training apparently and I love trail running in summer so its a double bonus. Delirious is also my favourite race of the season so I don’t need much motivation to get up for it. The last few years it has been a very sociable affair due to COVID making it impossible for anyone but WA runners able to get to the start line in Northcliffe.  Albeit last year a forest fire almost put paid to the event coming a few days before the start. In the end it was turned from a point to point race to an out and back , which was still awesome as we got to start and finish at the Northcliffe pub , which is a great country pub and does the best food.

So this post is a couple of really cool posts by David Roche of  http://www.trailrunnermag.com website . One about does downtime lead to breakthroughs ?  and a second post on Kilian Jornet’s 2022 Training Data. This is epic and worth digesting. Kilian’s 8 tips may be a bit polarising for some but his thinking on double days , in my point of view, is spot on. As I have always maintained double days unlock your running dreams. Although I’m never sure why you would lock them up in the first place, anyhow locked up or not running twice a day will help you achieve your running goals. Run slow but run often. Another take away from Kilian’s tips is he runs slow nearly 60% of the time , active recovery he calls it. Again I must concur, when I saw the biggest improvement in my running times I was running between 12 to 14 times a week mostly at aerobic pace. (easy) This is what Maffetone ( https://philmaffetone.com/ ) and Athur Lydiard preach ( https://www.lydiardfoundation.org/ )

 

Why Downtime May Lead To Breakthroughs Sometimes it feels like the best/fastest/happiest runners never take breaks. But critical fitness adaptations happen when you rest. From an article by David Roche, March 2021 ( http://www.trailrunnermag.com )

Breaks make breakthroughs.

You know that statement is true because you could imagine it on a motivational poster of a puppy in a paw cast. To double-check the puppy-poster proof, I went through a list of the athletes that I coach. Every single one had some sort of layoff preceding their biggest accomplishments.

Injuries? This is running, so … yeah, it can seem like a cereal commercial with the number of snaps and crackles and pops. Some athletes had to stop running for months or years. Some were told they might never run again, only to come back and exceed anything they achieved before.

Here’s an objective, scientific fact: downtime is not a failure. It’s about more than that, though. The theory of this article is that if you play your cards right, breaks can lead to exponential growth processes that reset what you could have ever thought possible before the layoff.

Mental-health breaks? This is sentience, so … yeah, there were plenty of those too. Breaks come in many forms, good and bad, planned and unplanned, pregnancies and pandemics. Whatever caused the breaks, the act of taking downtime was often hard on those athletes. We all have those questions sometimes.

Champions don’t take downtime, right?

Maybe I’m not cut out for this?

Am I losing everything?

Here’s an objective, scientific fact: downtime is not a failure. It’s about more than that, though. The theory of this article is that if you play your cards right, breaks can lead to exponential growth processes that reset what you could have ever thought possible before the layoff.

Let’s start with the principles of fitness maintenance.

We’ll start here as an excuse to discuss how it’s easy to have misconceptions about how fitness changes and grows over time. A 2021 article in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research found that endurance performance can be maintained for 15 weeks on as little as two sessions per week, or when volume is reduced by up to 66% (as short as 13 to 26 minutes per session). The review article findings were based on a few studies that had untrained individuals do 10 weeks of six times weekly training sessions, followed by a detraining period of 15 weeks where participants were randomly assigned to reduced frequency, reduced intensity, and mixed groups. As long as there was some maintenance of intensity, participants did not significantly detrain.

Similar findings applied to strength training, with as little as one session a week being effective for maintenance in younger populations, and two sessions for older populations. The general conclusion of the review is that both frequency and volume can be reduced while maintaining fitness, with volume in particular being acceptable to drop by substantial margins over 50%.

 

The general conclusion of the review is that both frequency and volume can be reduced while maintaining fitness, with volume in particular being acceptable to drop by substantial margins over 50%.

I could walk 500 miles, and I could walk 500 more while reciting disclaimers. The studies apply in a narrow context for the general population, not for runners trying to optimize performance. And over longer time horizons, it’s likely that maintenance becomes short-term fitness loss as past adaptations start to fade. But the general principles overlap with the experiences of coaches and athletes about why it’s OK to take downtime.

All tie back to a general principle: once training levels reach a certain point, there might be variance around that point based on training status, but it’s always relatively quick to get back to those levels. Even if you feel out of shape, the past work you have completed is right there at the surface, ready to shine after a quick polish. That’s due to how the body retains training adaptations with time. 

 

Decreases in VO2 max take time and levels rebound quickly.

1989 article in Sports Medicine found that VO2 max decreases start to begin after two to four weeks fully off, tied to reduction in cardiac output and blood volume. Follow-up studies generally find around a 5% reduction after two weeks, and up to 20% at eight to 10 weeks.

RELATED: What You Need To Know About VO2 Max

While VO2 max may drop with time off, it doesn’t take much to maintain it. For example, a 1985 study in the Journal Of Applied Physiology had athletes reduce training from six to 10 hours per week to one 35-minute session, and those athletes had no reduction in VO2 max (but their performance decreased, likely due to changes in muscular output and efficiency). And even after total detraining, VO2 max bounces back with some focused intensity.

However, that initial VO2 max reduction may make running feel hard at first, especially when trying to go harder. After a few weeks off, even slight hills make my breathing sound like a broken harmonica. Don’t worry, you’ll be ready to rock within a few weeks.

However, that initial VO2 max reduction may make running feel hard at first, especially when trying to go harder. After a few weeks off, even slight hills make my breathing sound like a broken harmonica. Don’t worry, you’ll be ready to rock within a few weeks.

Blood volume changes happen fast in both directions.

Similarly, blood volume and cardiac output are highly sensitive to both time off and reintroduction of training. Another 1985 study in the Journal of Applied Physiology found a 9% reduction in blood volume and a 12% reduction in stroke volume after two to four weeks of inactivity in trained men. On the flip side, a 1991 review in the Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise journal found that blood volume increases quickly as training is reintroduced. And a 2015 study in the European Journal of Applied Physiology found a 17.8% increase in plasma volume in highly trained cyclists after just four exposures to post-exercise sauna.

Blood volume and stroke volume feed back into VO2 max, so the initial feeling of being underwater and gasping for air upon returning to exercise is likely going to be short-lived. Plus, as demonstrated by the 2021 study on detraining, it takes very little relative training to maintain baseline levels.

Detraining is gradual for the metabolic and aerobic systems.

2000 review in Sports Medicine found that after around a week, the body may start to rely more on carbohydrate metabolism, with reduced capillary density too. Those adaptations make the body work harder to get energy to working muscles and limit endurance—part of the reason why you might struggle immensely on runs over 60 to 90 minutes after a longer break. Again, the changes are reversed relatively quickly with reintroduction of training, and can be maintained at lower training levels.

Neuromuscular and biomechanical lag.

Running economy decreases short-term as the nervous and biomechanical systems get slightly less efficient. That could explain why those first few runs after a layoff feel so foreign, even if you have been cross training. In coaching, I often see athletes start to feel less awkward after a week, and downright natural after intensity is reintroduced (usually via hill strides to start). And muscles may lose some strength, particularly after very long breaks (like severe injuries). But as reviewed in 2019 in Frontiers of Physiology, nuclei may not be lost from muscles during that process, possibly contributing to quick bounce-back cycles.

RELATED: Run Less to Run More

So studies and training theory are generally in agreement: detraining starts after a week or two, progresses for a month or two, and begins to level off, with some ongoing muscular changes. It can feel like you’re so far away from where you were!

But here’s why I’m never worried about that downtime, whether it includes maintenance or not. Athletes usually have a rapid return to previous fitness levels with a small dose of consistency, with it being much easier to achieve again than it was the first time. Restarting training is awakening a sleeping giant.

But here’s why I’m never worried about that downtime, whether it includes maintenance or not. Athletes usually have a rapid return to previous fitness levels with a small dose of consistency, with it being much easier to achieve again than it was the first time. Restarting training is awakening a sleeping giant.

It’s not just that, though. The sleeping giant may wake up with superpowers.

While the science is unsettled, there are so many stories of massive breakthroughs coming off downtime ranging from a few weeks to a few years that there must be physiological resets that raise the ceiling on long-term potential for some athletes. Let’s look at a few possible explanations. 

Long-term recovery.

Every training session introduces some acute stress—muscular fatigue/damage, increased cortisol, hormonal disturbance. That acute stress is the whole point of training, allowing an athlete to build back stronger after adaptation. But some of those acute stresses have long tails. Take muscle damage as an example. If we did a blood test after a hard training session, there might be elevated creatine kinase, indicating some muscle breakdown. An athlete may report some subjective fatigue mirroring those results, subsiding in a day or two. Then they’ll do another workout. Heck, yes, adaptation!

Downtime can wipe the stress slate clean. Sometimes, athletes find that they were carrying a chronic stress weight vest around without realizing it.

But wait. While subjective fatigue may be approaching baseline, if we did a follow-up blood test, there would be a good chance that the athlete wasn’t fully at baseline, especially in heavy training. That’s how acute stresses can add up to become chronic stress—the long tails get stacked up over time. While chronic stress can be optimized with plenty of recovery and fuel, it’s always a risk of hard training.

Downtime can wipe the stress slate clean. Sometimes, athletes find that they were carrying a chronic stress weight vest around without realizing it.

Nervous/endocrine system hypotheses. 

The interplay of the brain and hormones in long-term growth is weakly understood due to how hard the neuromuscular and endocrine systems are to measure and isolate. For the nervous system, overtraining syndrome is a prime example. A 2020 study reviewed what we know about OTS—a series of dysfunctional adaptations to excessive training and inadequate fueling, with major nervous system impacts.

While approaches vary, the general rule is that a full shut-down of training is needed in severe OTS cases. Athletes often can’t jog their way through OTS, they need to eat and sleep and chill their way through it. Even if downtime is not in response to overtraining specifically, the same rules may be relevant: the nervous system works on longer time scales when responding to chronic stress.

For the endocrine system, sex hormones estrogen and testosterone can be reduced in hard training for endurance athletes, with evidence that the hormones may increase during downtime. As with the nervous system, there may be longer-term endocrine system processes at play when it comes to how hormonal changes affect health.

Gene expression and epigenetics.

Our genetics are not just a set of instructions that we can’t influence. External stimuli change how our genetic code expresses itself via epigenetics, and there is even some evidence that epigenetic changes can be heritable. With endurance sports, relatively small stimuli may start turning some of those epigenetic switches toward endurance. While it’s debated, that could be one explanation for how bodies can undergo such fundamental and positive changes over time even if exercise routines are a few minutes a day.

If I had to venture a guess about why breaks precede breakthroughs, it would be that major reductions in training may have a priming effect on adaptations to future stimuli.

So what happens with downtime? We’re not sure. But if I had to venture a guess about why breaks precede breakthroughs, it would be that major reductions in training may have a priming effect on adaptations to future stimuli. That could involve some mix of all of these physiological processes, plus other cellular-level processes like protein expression or mitochondria changes. Or maybe it has to do with the brain and neuromuscular system.

Whatever the exact cause, breaks are not something to fear and certainly not a reason to beat yourself up. Call it the Dell PC Theorem—sometimes turning it off and turning it back on can solve problems that slow everything down.

Is alcohol the answer? Probably not unfortunately, albeit I don’t drink bar a celebratory pint of Guinness after an event.

What does it all mean in practice?

I don’t know. I don’t think anyone knows. And that concludes my TED Talk.

Wait, not quite done. Here’s what I do know: the “breaks make breakthroughs” principle is seen over and over again, in every sport. It might just be availability bias, but I don’t think so. What I think is happening is that the principles of maintenance of training interact with detraining and longer-term recovery in a way that compounds interest on underlying athletic potential.

When an athlete first starts training, the body takes some time to build up. You know the feeling—immediate gains followed by slow progress. From that new normal, our bodies can detrain and rebuild relatively rapidly, getting back on the slow progress trend.

But maybe every athlete isn’t designed for slow progress indefinitely. Maybe they even face stagnation or regression no matter how hard they work. Whether it’s due to chronic stress or just our baseline genetics interacting with training over many years, some athletes may find themselves on a trajectory that undersells their ultimate potential.

Break. Injury. Burn-out. Pandemic.

What builds back from that break? There’s no certain answer, but I have my theories. And if you have had to take downtime, just know that all of those theories point to four words when it comes to your future.

DREAM REALLY, REALLY BIG.

David Roche partners with runners of all abilities through his coaching service, Some Work, All Play. With Megan Roche, M.D., he hosts the Some Work, All Play podcast on running (and other things), and they wrote a book called The Happy Runner.

A Jon Pendse classic…cross training is one of Kilian’s top tips, albeit he has snow to play about on, rare in Western Australia.

 

Eight Takeaways From Kilian Jornet’s 2022 Training Data

Kilian Jornet, aka the Greatest Of All Time, just published a summary of his training data and practices for all of 2022. His post is destined to be a legendary guide to thinking about training theory and what it takes to have the best season ever. Let’s break it down. Another article from David Roche, this time Spetember 2022. This is gold. 

Last week, I wrote a primer on Kilian Jornet’s training data between his course records at the Hardrock 100 and UTMB (data published by watch-maker Coros). After the article came out, Kilian messaged me a new link. In case you were wondering: finding out I was going to be a dad, my marriage, Kilian sliding into my DMs, in reverse order of importance.

I clicked the link and angels sang. Kilian wrote a post that is going to be a fundamental pillar of training theory, opening up the vault to his data, theory, and mindset. It’s almost unprecedented in the history of endurance sports–an athlete at the peak of their powers being fully transparent about the how and why behind their successes.

The most recent analogue I can think of is Nils van der Poel’s speed skating training. But I think Nils wrote his training manifesto with an understanding that it was unlikely that anyone was going to be able to repeat the wild block-periodization model with workout days that almost seemed impossible.

Kilian’s training, on the other hand, is far more mainstream, the type of approach that almost any athlete could use with modifications for their backgrounds. The GOAT just wants to add to the body of knowledge of endurance training, where he is both a student and a teacher.

The GOAT wants us all to be the GOAT version of ourselves.

Read his full post–it’s brilliant and important. In this article, I am going to provide context for his training, distilling eight takeaways that are relevant for everyone. My wife/co-coach Megan and I interviewed him on our podcast this week (listen here) for more details, one of the ultimate honors of our lives. Is it creepy if we name our kid Kilian? Before you answer, keep in mind that we already printed the sign to hang above the crib.

RELATED: Kilian Jornet Isn’t The G.O.A.T. of Trail Running Just Because He Wins Big Races

Kilian’s 2022 was absolutely astounding. 

Even as the ultimate fanboy, it’s mind-blowing to me that one athlete is the best short-distance mountain racer (course record at Zegama) and the best long-distance mountain racer (course record at UTMB) in the same year. The easy response to his dominance is to say he is a genetic outlier. But at the elite level of sports, it’s always a competition among outliers, and the genetic differences alone are not enough to explain dominance like Kilian’s 2022. Reading his post, it’s clear that he earned 2022 with a methodical, process-focused vision of long-term growth across decades of hard training.

On the podcast, he talked about how his training philosophy fundamentally shifted in 2018 and 2019, coinciding with the birth of his first child. Instead of long days in the mountains at zone 2, he shifted toward a different intensity distribution, emphasizing lots of easy volume and focused workouts. He made the changes without a coach (though he does work with exercise physiologist Jesús Álvarez-Herms). Instead, he made himself into an exercise physiology and training theory expert, applying what he learned and making changes based on what worked for him.

The GOAT wants us all to be the GOAT version of ourselves.

So his article is not a genetic outlier talking about the nuances of being an outlier. It’s a brilliant scientist talking about the process of maximizing potential based on universal principles of human physiology, adapted for specific variation in genetics and goals.

Time to get to it! Let’s dive into 8 takeaways from a training summary that will shape the sport for years to come.

One: Training is a long-term process of consistency and aerobic development.

A stunning figure shows Kilian’s weekly training volume since April 2009. While there is variance, most weeks average around 20 hours, split between running, skiing, biking, and other sports. There are big up-swings of skimo in the winter and running starting in spring, with his training following a seasonal cycle.

At the far right of the chart is a microscopic red circle encompassing 2022. It’s a striking visualization of how our brains can think short-term, but our bodies are playing on much longer time scales.

“There’s no such a thing as the magical session that will make you better or a training program that will work for everyone,” he says. “But the adaptations come from the repetition of training stimulus (consistency) and the individualization of those stimuli.”

Kilian has consistently averaged 1000+ hours of training per year, mostly easy, across multiple sports. His aerobic roots run deep. For all of us, the first principle of endurance training is to stack up easy volume over time. The foundation for all performance from the 800 meters up to 200+ milers is how the aerobic system processes energy and associated fatigue. That ability comes from the daily grind of easy training.

So, first? Put your own roots down. It’s a year-long thing, across decades.

Two: Most of his training is very easy, with a Pyramidal intensity distribution.

Now is the moment for every athlete to pay attention to specific guidance from the GOAT. You hear that most training should be easy, but what does that actually mean? Here’s Kilian’s breakdown of training intensity using the 5-zone model:

  • 58% zone 1 (active recovery, nose breathing)
  • 19% zone 2 (aerobic endurance, can keep for hours)
  • 16% zone 3 (tempo, sustained fast and can say several sentences)
  • 4% zone 4 (race pace, can say a sentence)
  • 3% zone 5 (max)

58% in zone 1! That is an astonishing number, echoing the evolution of training theory more generally across endurance sports. Easy volume does not just allow recovery for harder sessions, but it provides the fuel that makes the hard sessions possible.

His intensity distribution is strongly Pyramidal with hints of Threshold, with 77% of his training in Zone 1 and Zone 2. The 16% in Zone 3 and 4% in Zone 4 is a high amount of threshold work, similar to some approaches used by Norwegian runners and triathletes. The smaller amount of Zone 5 work shows that he still develops his top-end speed, but with a much lesser focus.

It’s tempting to get on the trails and assume that faster is better. But stacking up faster work causes everything to decline after an initial period of growth, as the musculoskeletal system wears down, the endocrine system gets overstressed, and the aerobic system erodes via less efficient lipid metabolism and mitochondrial function.

Admittedly, 58% of training in Zone 1 may be Kilian-specific, requiring wonderful aerobic efficiency and very high volume. On our podcast, he talked about moving quickly through the mountains at 110 to 120 beats per minute heart rate, which is my heart rate when getting food from the top shelf of the pantry. But every athlete should probably have a more even split between Zone 1 and Zone 2 than might be our natural baselines, with those percentages adding up to around 80%. All easy is not created equal, and it’s valuable to slow down some of those days for workout quality, longevity, and growth along the entire aerobic spectrum.

Pyramidal training intensity is the predominant approach used by elite athletes whose training has been the subject of studies, meaning the next biggest proportion of training is tempo/threshold, with a much smaller portion faster than Critical Velocity and VO2 max. Lots easy, some moderate, just a bit hard (and make sure that hard work has a focused rationale for improving mechanical output).

Kilian leaves room for disagreement. “I know, for example, that I can absorb a great amount of volume and Z2 and Z3 training, but if I do more speed work for several continuous weeks (Z4 and Z5) I will get injured or metabolically not as efficient,” he says. “For other athletes, it is the opposite.”

What’s fascinating in the research is that an approach with a higher proportion of top-end Zone 4 and Zone 5 work (known as Polarized training) is very rarely used long-term due to its tendency to cause quick adaptations, followed by stagnation (or injury).

Three: Kilian periodizes his training across the year, with a base period preceding specific training blocks.

Kilian’s winter is spent on skis, where he’s a world-class skimo athlete. From December to March, he would do 2-4 hours on skis (mostly in Zone 2) in the AM, followed by a 40-60 minute easy treadmill run in the PM. His training graphs show no hard workouts that entire time. Interestingly, he did a 100-mile race in February to test fueling. As much as I think Kilian’s approach has lessons for all of us, doing a 100-mile race off a ski-focus may just be a Kilian thing. It’s like wearing white spandex at Western States–don’t try this at home.

That base period reinforced an already-monstrous aerobic system. The fact that he didn’t only ski shows a lesson that might be important for athletes that get lots of cross training time. It can be helpful to reinforce mechanical adaptations for running year-round, even if it’s not the primary focus.

Starting in March, he trained for Zegama at the end of May, emphasizing big volume (150-190km / 93-118 miles per week) with 2 quality workouts. In June and July leading up to the Hardrock 100, he increased training volume up to 200km (124 miles) per week, but did no longer sessions, and kept doing 2 speed workouts a week. From Hardrock to UTMB, he primarily focused on recovery and maintenance (read about that period here).

Reinforcing an aerobic base year-round is key for all endurance athletes, and it may help to have a more focused block of aerobic development in the off-season. This winter in coaching, motivated by Kilian and Nils, I am going to focus more on dedicated base periods, particularly for elite athletes. For athletes that don’t have Kilian’s background and VO2 max, it may include a small amount of intensity like in a classic Lydiard model, emphasizing the mechanical adaptations to handle faster work (like hill strides).

Kilian kept that aerobic focus going even when training for short races like Zegama. The benefits accumulate over time, so keep stacking those bricks.

Four: Most of his training sessions were relatively short, but with tons of doubles.

A big change in Kilian’s life was when he became a dad a few years ago. His wife Emelie Forsberg is one of the GOATs herself, and they balance the demands of family life, business, and training as a team. In practice, that means that one gets the early block, one gets the afternoon block, and then their nights are free after the kids go to sleep.

And that seismic shift in life’s demands may have also unlocked a training secret: Kilian rarely does “long” training sessions. Almost all of his runs didn’t exceed 4 hours in 2022 (with most far shorter), a major change from what I had heard in whispers about his training in the early 2010s. However, he still accumulated massive volume week after week. How does that math add up?

The answer is by using doubles–two sessions in one day. On our podcast, he said that he completed doubles almost every day. For all athletes, doubles may improve hormonal response to training, and avoiding excessively long sessions could reduce some of the chronic stress of high-volume training. These sessions can likely be as short as 10-15 minutes, running or cross training, and may have outsized influence on fitness growth. There’s a reason that almost every elite athlete training log includes doubles, even if we aren’t 100% sure on the mechanism of action that makes them nearly universal.

The outstanding question is whether other ultra athletes could excel from so few extra-long efforts in training. Kilian has completed so many ultras and long sessions that he has no doubts about his aerobic abilities, or how his body will respond late in events. Most of us step into the unknown, but nothing is unknown to Kilian. Interestingly, this approach focused on training frequency to accumulate volume rather than supersized single days overlaps with some of the training of ultra champion Camille Herron (and others), so it’s possible that very long efforts are an overrated part of ultra training.

Five: Kilian does workouts that focus on the specific demands of his events.

Now it’s time for some workout porn. I know that Kilian doesn’t want us to read too deeply into any specific session, but these are too good to pass up. He groups his sessions into 3 groups: speed, threshold, and tempo.

For pure flat speed training, he only did 4 workouts all year long. WOW! That includes track staples like 10 x 400 meters, which he says he limited due to risk of injury, a problem he faced in the past when focusing on road training. This may be a place where his genetic ability matters–he is very fast naturally, so it might not be an element that he needs to reinforce much, at least on flat ground. Most trail runners can probably limit their flat ground work, with just enough reinforcement to help hill strength translate into flat speed.

His staple session was an uphill/flat combination workout (like what I wrote about here). He starts with 1 or 2 intervals up a steep climb, with the downhill for recovery. After, he does a flat workout, such as a 10km tempo, 2 x 5km tempo, or 10 x 1k. On the podcast, he said that it improves his ability to run uphill fast and then on flats fast, like in a race. All athletes can likely use combination workouts, but scaled down to current levels.

His third big type of session was a longer steady run. He starts at high Zone 2 before increasing the effort, usually over 20 km to 30 km (12 – 18 miles). These long, steady runs are likely underutilized by many athletes in training, and they are a great opportunity to build specific endurance and musculoskeletal resilience. Just be careful not to turn them into races, since the intensity control is key to avoid an excessive amount of time in the upper intensity zones, undercutting aerobic growth.

The magic simplicity of Kilian’s training is that it’s usually 2 of those workouts a week plus easy running across daily doubles. Rinse and repeat, with specificity before races indicating higher volume preceding long ultras and a greater workout focus preceding shorter events. Finish up with a taper that is very easy and includes rest days for ultras, and a bit less easy with fewer rest days for shorter races.

Six: Most of his aerobic training is on steep and technical trails.

While Kilian consistently does moderate/hard workouts on flat ground or non-technical trails, many of his easy runs are on the trails where he lives in Norway. Just looking at a photo of those trails gives me a stress ulcer–they are steep and technical in ways that are rarely seen in the US outside of climbing routes.

He likes workouts to be on smoother and/or flatter surfaces to “privilege the metabolic and muscular capacities”–optimizing raw output. He likes slower days “on terrain that challenges other aspects (cognitive, mental, technique, visualization…and they’re much more fun!).”

Make sure that you aren’t sacrificing output in your harder sessions. On a steep and technical climb, an athlete’s grade-adjusted pace may be 1-2 minutes per mile slower than on a less technical climb. While the efforts feel equally hard, that translates to lower output, and likely to fewer adaptations. However, on purely easy days, you can have fun with it! Plus, working on technical abilities requires constant reinforcement, like all cognitively and neuromuscularly demanding physical movements.

Seven: Strength work is not a part of his training.

Readers, I know that you know that I am not a big fan of a heavy emphasis on strength training. But my views are far outdone by Kilian’s views. “I don’t do any strength sessions,” he says. “Having limited time for training, I believe that the stress to the body from strength training would be too much to be able to give the best at the running or skiing sessions, where I want to put the focus because they are more specific.”

However, it’s important to note that skiing is a bit like one long strength session, and the way Kilian runs up hills is similar to plyometrics. So he may be playing by a different set of rules than most athletes. I like a minimal-dose program, focused on the least amount possible to get the necessary adaptations, often as little as a few minutes 2-3 times per week.

Eight: It’s all about the process.

Near the end of our podcast, we asked Kilian about the one piece of advice he’d give an aspiring young pro. We had been diving deep into training theory, so I was trying to ask a leading question for him to give away his ultimate methodological secret. Instead, he swerved the conversation.

Focus on the process, not on the results.”

He described the importance of developing a deep love of daily training, through ups and downs, wins and losses. It’s going to take many years to see where the limits are, and it’s way better when it’s fun.

RELATED: Five Elite Coaches On The Biggest Change They’ve Made to Improve Their Training

Kilian talking about training is Kilian talking about anything. He’s a founder of the shoe company NNormal, which is set to be a major player in the future of the sport. Yet even as he’s probably being roped into conversations on growth models and projections, he’s still focused on the process of making a fulfilling workplace for himself and his employees. The same goes for parenting, with his eyes lighting up at the mention of fatherhood and all the new stressors that come with it.

Over the last few weeks, I have learned that Kilian is not the GOAT because of genetics. He is the GOAT because he loves it. We asked him how he reconciled a love of the mountains with all of the data he collects on his training. He had a genius reply: to him, science is a manifestation of his love, of his respect for the sport and the mountains and what they require.

I have never been so motivated to get out there tomorrow and run. I’ll be doing it for the love of the process, and all the messy narratives that entails. I hope you are as inspired by Kilian as I am, helping you get out tomorrow and embrace a love of that messy process.

And I hope that we all can do that year-round for a few decades in a row to find our true limits…with a substantial portion of those days in Zone 1.

 

Thankyou Kilian Jornet…

Finally as always I give a shout out to three of my favourite products…  fisiocrem ( https://www.fisiocrem.com.au/ ) is just bloody brilliant and does exactly what it says it does , it just gets the major muscle groups moving again. I use this extensively towards the end of the race when my quads are hammered.  It really makes a difference and allows me to move back through the gears towards the end of an event when most runners are stumbling home.

 

Fisiocrem is a must have in your ultra box of tricks…

Bix hydration is just ace, a product brought to life by Vlad Ixel a professional ultra runner who knows a thing or two about hydration. ( https://www.bixvitamins.com/ )  The best thing about Bix is it tastes good with many different flavours and you never get sick of drinking it, this is a big plus as Maurten and Tailwind (both great products)  can be difficult to digest later in the event.  From the website :-

As an Australian elite multiple trail running champion, with wins in over 40 ultra-marathon races across Asia, recovery from training and races has always been my top priority. 

In searching for a solid recovery and hydration supplement, I recognized that critical vitamins and minerals – both in diversity and quantity – were missing from almost all supplements on the market. I had the feeling that in an effort to maximize their bottom-lines, companies in the hydration space, failed to deliver a product that could meaningfully assist athlete performance. 

In order to address this, I began the development of a hydration product. After two and a half years of development alongside a leading German sports scientist, BIX Recovery, an advanced, high-quality recovery drink was born. 

BIX boosts 12 active ingredients scientifically balanced to replace lost electrolytes and assist in immune function. It’s designed with quality vitamins and minerals, in quantities that work! 

BIX is a recovery solution for everyone, that will get you to the top of your game!

Great hydration.

What can I say about HumanTecar,  ( https://athleticus.com.au/ ) it looks great, smells great and is awesome for recovery or even pre-run/workout. Read about the science behind it first and then try the products. The compression bandages are just magical after a long event. Put these on and the next day you are recovered, I have used them on a number of occasions and they never fail to astound me albeit the family poke fun at me as I look like a ‘mummy and smell funny’ !

 

 

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Back to back milers and Grand Slams, Hysterical.

Hysterical Carnage 2022 was to be the last piece of the jigsaw in the Ultra Series backyard ultra Grand Slam, running all four of the backyard Ultras in a calendar year. Myself , Jen and Renton were the only three runners who would complete this magnificent task. The image below is the Grand Slam runners and the Race Director, well one of them, Michelle in fancy dress. (Well I am assuming it’s fancy dress ?)  The three of us have had many adventures together over the four events and travelled to Adelaide twice  ( No time to Die (   https://nttdfrontyard.com.au/  ) and Hysterical Carnage  ( https://hystericalcarnage.com.au/ ) as well as Lake Towerinning in regional WA (for Birdy’s Backyard ultra https://birdysbackyardultra.com.au/ ) and inner city Perth for Herdys frontyard ultra ( https://herdysfrontyard.com.au/ ) A special mention to Margie Hadley who had run three of the four as well as the World team backyard Ultra in November (and set a new Women’s Australian record ) and also Nico Watkins who had also ran three of the four but fell at the last hurdle.

I also had  another objective for this event after running the Feral Pig 100 miler the previous weekend, I was after back to back milers, a feat I had never achieved or even attempted. To do this I needed to complete 24 laps.

Renton, Jen , Michelle and Myself before the start.

The conditions in sunny Loxton were as the name suggests, sunny. It was going to be a hot one but after Feral the previous week I wasn’t that worried, living and training in the heat of Western Australian summers had acclimatised me to the heat and it was no longer a worry. I have said many times I consider the climate of Western Australia to be just about perfect all year around for running.  We haven’t a Winter to speak off , Spring and Autumn are great temperatures and you can avoid the heat in Summer by running early if you so desire or just slower in the heat of the day if that’s your thing.

Shaun Kaesler and his pregnant Wife Sarah were also running and the five of us posed for the cameras before the start of the event, all smiles before the first lap. Sarah had targeted three or maybe four laps while Shaun was keen to smash his 10 lap PB and see how deep he could go. Shaun’s father, Frank, was also running  and is as big a character as his son, surprisingly.

Team WA, well a few of them. The Grand Slam runners and Sarah and Shaun Kaesler.
Team WA, well a few of them. The Grand Slam runners and Sarah and Shaun Kaesler.

The course had changed since last year which was a pity as it was one of my favourite courses. A large hill you had to walk and then a few kilometres of level running before a road section into a nice trail and then a swamp section  before some more level road running to finish. It made for fast laps which meant more time to recover, on the hour every hour.  We also had great conditions last year and I managed an assist to Phil Gore, for the second time that year. More than happy with my 37 laps coming two weeks after the Feral miler.

This year,  as the image below of last years race village shows,  we had water issues. The Murray River had burst its banks and Shaun had to come up with a new course. He did this by adding a big hill and a loop section around the Pioneer Village. On the plus side we actually got to run through the Pioneer Village this year , rather than around it last year. This was pretty cool , especially late at night when you had the place to yourself bar one disgruntled security guard. I’m not sure it made up for the extra elevation but I can’t complain, I still enjoyed the course as the last hill was a good reason to walk for a few hundred metres.

This is where last years event village stood ! You’d need scuba gear to put up a marquee this year.

Another bonus was the Loxton Council had been busy and put in stairs to help the runners climb the first hill. Last year the path got more and more challenging as the event went on with new ruts forming each lap. This year no such problem although I’m sure, as last year, the hill grew during the event, it certainly got harder.  We started the event in the caravan park and ran to a improvised trail before the stairs and this trail was undulating and technical, made for some near misses as we tired.

The local council had been busy and put in stairs on the first hill.

The 10am start was upon us and we were off into the heat of a spring day in Loxton. As the images below show it was a beautiful day initially but we all knew the heat was coming and it didn’t let us down. I ran a few laps with Shaun Kaesler who was enjoying his last event of the year for the Ultra Series, I think it was number 18 ? ( https://ultraseries.com.au/  ) This has been a great year for Shaun but I feel he has found his limits and I hope he had put things in place to make 2023 easier on him and his loyal staff.  It has certainly been a case of famine and feast after the COVID years and I see a bright future for the Ultra Series moving forward.  I highly recommend you get on board and participate in one of the many events offered, there are some seriously good ones.  Check out the website for more details.

 

You can have fun on a backyard ultra. Shaun , Jen and I.

As I mentioned before Loxton in South Australia, where the event is run, is Shaun’s home town and his family even have their own street. It was only a hundred metres off the course so we couldn’t resist sneaking a photo though please note we exited and reentered the course at the same point. I love the photo, me trying to see my iphone over the top of my sunnies and Shaun just being Shaun, sometimes an image can capture the moment perfectly.

Love this photo. Shaun showing off his family street in Loxton.

Right back to racing. I always divide any backyard ultra course into three separate sections, this is a big tip so make sure you digest it. For Hysterical the first part is from the start (obviously) to the top of the hill after the first road section. This encompasses the first hill , the next kilometre or so through the paddock and then the trail section before the road. This was the hardest section as the paddock was sapping on the legs and there was some gradient gain. From the top of the road to the end off the Pioneer Village was section two. Mostly all down hill or level this was easy running although the gradient was steep enough to test the legs later in the event.  The final section was from the exit of the Pioneer Village back to the start which included some level running before the road hill you ran down on the way out and a steep final descent back to the event village.

By breaking down the course into three sections you hit targets quicker and can also gauge where you are , time wise, if you are struggling to make the loop within the hour cut off. You also know when to put in more effort and when you can cruise. For me the first section was the hardest and when I got to the top of the road hill I could cruise to the end of the Pioneer Village before putting in some more effort to finish.  By doing this the lap passes quicker.

 

After the hill and before the road section, nice bit of running.

This event was always going to hurt coming so soon after Feral and it didn’t disappoint. I always struggle for the fist 15 or so laps at any backyard ultra but if I can get past 100km then the 24 hour lap becomes a target and I can normally find a second wind to get there. This proved to be the case at Hysterical. I enjoyed the heat of the day but was also relieved when it was time to don head torches and the temperature dropped. Night running is where you can lose yourself on the course and everybody retreats to their small circle of light ahead of them. This is where a good audible book comes in very handy, I was lucky enough to find Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir at Birdys and this makes such a difference. You actually can’t wait for the next chapter and time, and laps, disappears. I also used audible at Unreasonable earlier in the year and the Matthew McConaughey biography Green Light kept me entertained for hours.  For Hysterical I had Kevin Hart talking me though his life in ‘I can’t make this up’, another great book and it makes such a difference.

 

Sunset on Friday evening.

The sunset came quickly on Friday which was a good sign. I was finishing each lap around 45 minutes which is where I wanted to be, towards the  front of the field. It gave me time to get everything charged, nutrition and hydration and also a few minutes with the shoes off relaxing in my chair.  I was sharing a marquee with Renton and Jen who were both relaxed early on, both experienced enough to pace themselves, remember in this event its’ the runner who finishes last that eventually wins. Time between laps is as important as the running time. Get it right and you’ll be fresh for the lap , fueled and watered, get it wrong and fatigue will start to creep in and as Lazerus says ‘running a backyard ultra is easy until it isn’t‘.

Friday night , running along the fence.

Highlights of the evening was definitely running through the Pioneer Village alone or with a disgruntled security guard. It was very cool having the place to yourself and the bonus of public toilets was the cherry on the cake. The evening laps seem to disappear quickly and the temperature was never an issue, warm enough that you didn’t freeze when you stopped but cool enough you didn’t over heat running. I wore a singlet for the first day and night which was perfect, maybe adding a towel as a blanket when I sat in my reclining chair while I drank my tea, with three sugars of course.

 

It was cool running through the Pioneer Village in the evening.

Once the sun came up every runner was reinvigorated, the sunrise has that effect on people and you can just about guarantee another 4-5 laps just on the adrenalin  rush of making it through the night. The morning was cooler than the previous day as we had some cloud cover and the impending storm was brewing on the horizon. It was predicted to rain on Saturday and boy did it rain later in the day.  The storm that was predicted also arrived , with avengence but that’s later in the story.

 

Saturday morning and its beginning to warm up, head torches soon to be dispatched.

Love this view, below,  from the top of the stairs looking back to the start line. The Murray River looking resplendent , it really did put on a show for us over the few days we were there. The locals were saying this was a once in a decade like conditions so next year it’ll probably be dry and dusty , which is the norm apparently. On the Saturday we had a months rain in a few hours and for a lucky few we were able to appreciate it on the course. Luckily my Kathmandu Gore-Tex jacket did its job and even though I was nearly drowning while standing up I was never uncomfortable.

 

View from the top of the hill.

As you can see from the image below the sky started to turn early morning , around 9am I think I noticed something afoot. You could see trouble ahead. They had predicted a good storm and you could feel it coming. I have other things on my mind though. Once I hit sunrise I knew I was a shoe in for the 24 hour mark I coveted. I began to enjoy the loops and with the aid of fisiocrem and some Panadol my legs were behaving. I know I say this constantly but fisiocrem really does make a huge difference on multi-day events, just puts the spring back into tired muscles. No idea what they put in the product but it works.

 

Saturday morning and there’s a storm coming.

 

Seven runners left for the 100 mile lap, not sure where Kevin Muller was ?, anyhow mission accomplished and even better all the three Grand Slam runners made 24 hours, how good is that?  Backyard Ultra number four for the year and Renton, Jen and I can still finish high up the field, it looks like experience really does make a difference for this format but I always knew that.  A massive congratulations to Renton on a PB and he looked so good , until he wasn’t which happened quickly, lap 25 and he DNF’d.  Not a problem he was stoked to finally make the 100 mile club on a backyard ultra. I’m sure if Nico Watkins had made it to the start he’d have also made the 100 mile distance but alas no, he is still on the outer and has to wait outside , probably in the rain, while we bask in the glory of the 100 mile club.

100 miles, leaving on lap 24. Back to back ,milers baby !

As is now tradition I finished lap 24 and adopted the ‘dead runner’ pose , as I call it. Again as usual everybody takes a photo rather than check I’m ok, they could at least pause my Coros.? The photo below is a classic from Michelle and it sums up the day, bleak and lonely with worse to come, the weather gods were about to play their hand and it was a good one.

 

My traditional 24 laps, 100 miles, finishing pose.

The final laps and thing began to hurt. It seemed my strong anti-inflammatories were starting to give in to the pain from the now visibly swelling ankle. This was an injury I had picked up from the Feral Pig ultra caused by tightening the ankle timing bracelet too tight, rookie error. I had not ran , or even attempted to run, in-between the two events but knew that eventually the ankle would probably say enough is enough. Around lap 26 I mentioned this to the Race Director at the time, Michelle, expecting sympathy,  and she responded by pulling up my sock over the offending swelling and sending me back out onto lap 27, priceless.

I nearly forgot to mention lap 26 when the heavens opened up and I mean opened up. It had be brewing all morning and when it came it was a serious down pour. I’ve been on this planet for over 55 years but I can’t honestly remember a downpour as bad, or good if you’re a farmer which at the time I wasn’t ! The course changed completely and I went from running in a dust bowl to running in a river with a strength to nearly take your feet from under you. It was crazy but also pretty cool as as I said earlier I was prepared for the deluge and enjoyed the experience of running in extreme conditions, albeit for half a lap.  I managed to get back to the start , dry off and then Michelle kicked me out again, one more lap.

Lap 27 and all was dry again, so quickly, where did all that rain go ? Must be really porous ground  in Loxton ? I struggled from the start and was left alone with my thoughts by the other 5 runners.  Wayne Chapman was on course clapping us as we passed and he could see I was suffering. Wayne was brilliant the whole time. He managed 5 laps himself then spent the rest of the day and night supporting us,  popping up at every corner it seemed at the time.  His support did make a difference.  I managed to get in around 55 minutes and the five minute warning song was already playing as I slumped into my chair. By this time the foot had gone very troublesome,  to annoying and was moving towards very painful with possible long term injury.  I had achieved all my goals and was obviously the weakest of the remaining five runners as I was being dropped early each lap.

Undeterred  I thought I’d go for one more lap and call it if I made it to the finish. Again I was dropped by the top of the hill but this time I was walking early with little chance of even a stumble. I eventually made the left turn before the road with Wayne patiently waiting for me. This time though there was no words of encouragement good enough to send me on my way. I took up his offer of a lift back to the start after making a quick detour to say my goodbye’s to the remining runners on the course.

Wayne drove me right up to the start line, through the event village, and I popped out of his front seat and ran that bell for all I was worth. DNF lap 28, bloody awesome result. This left five runners on the course but the weather had yet to play its trump card, a thunder and lightning storm for the ages. This was enough to stop the event at lap 30, the right call,  and that was it.  The last five runners’ DNF’d with Mother Nature the winner, such is life.

 

Hysterical Carnage 2022 done and dusted. DNF lap 28. Very happy.

So that’s it, four backyard ultras for the Grand Slam, 130 laps, (Herdys 34 /6th /Birdys 36 /5th  NTTD 33 /LOS / Hysterical 27/6th )  just over 870km of fun, fun, fun, at least I think it was. ?  That’s eight backyard ultras and I hope to compete in many more, it’s an event like no other and when you know, you know.  If you haven’t tried one , do you won’t regret it, you’ll go further than you ever thought you could and at some point you’ll enjoy it, remember as Lazarus Lake says ‘ it’s easy until it’s not’…..

I have so many people to thank for this event. My Grand Slam buddies Renton and Jen, we had so many laughs over the events, so many. Shaun Kaesler and his army of volunteers including the three race directors , Michelle, Georges and Kirk. These guys put in a monster shift and coped with all Mother Nature could throw at them. All my fellow competitors who always encouraged me and everybody around them, it really is a brotherhood (or sisterhood?) of suffering but this bonds us. Wayne Chapman for just being there , on every corner, encouraging us all. Tamas for being Tamas.Everybody who made me a cup of tea and there were a few of you.  Georges or Michelle’s Mum ?, for the best omelette ever and also the best Anzac biscuits. My Wife for crewing and doing a damn good job, Charlotte and Jasmin, two of my three daughters, for tuning up occasionally and not complaining too much and finally Michelle for the medical advice, I never knew you can fix most running injuries’ just by hiding them.

 

Finally as always I give a shout out to three of my favourite products…  fisiocrem ( https://www.fisiocrem.com.au/ ) is just bloody brilliant and does exactly what it says it does , it just gets the major muscle groups moving again. I use this extensively towards the end of the race when my quads are hammered.  It really makes a difference and allows me to move back through the gears towards the end of an event when most runners are stumbling home.

 

Fisiocrem is a must have in your ultra box of tricks…

Bix hydration is just ace, a product brought to life by Vlad Ixel a professional ultra runner who knows a thing or two about hydration. ( https://www.bixvitamins.com/ )  The best thing about Bix is it tastes good with many different flavours and you never get sick of drinking it, this is a big plus as Maurten and Tailwind (both great products)  can be difficult to digest later in the event.  From the website :-

As an Australian elite multiple trail running champion, with wins in over 40 ultra-marathon races across Asia, recovery from training and races has always been my top priority. 

In searching for a solid recovery and hydration supplement, I recognized that critical vitamins and minerals – both in diversity and quantity – were missing from almost all supplements on the market. I had the feeling that in an effort to maximize their bottom-lines, companies in the hydration space, failed to deliver a product that could meaningfully assist athlete performance. 

In order to address this, I began the development of a hydration product. After two and a half years of development alongside a leading German sports scientist, BIX Recovery, an advanced, high-quality recovery drink was born. 

BIX boosts 12 active ingredients scientifically balanced to replace lost electrolytes and assist in immune function. It’s designed with quality vitamins and minerals, in quantities that work! 

BIX is a recovery solution for everyone, that will get you to the top of your game!

Great hydration.

What can I say about HumanTecar,  ( https://athleticus.com.au/ ) it looks great, smells great and is awesome for recovery or even pre-run/workout. Read about the science behind it first and then try the products. The compression bandages are just magical after a long event. Put these on and the next day you are recovered, I have used them on a number of occasions and they never fail to astound me albeit the family poke fun at me as I look like a ‘mummy and smell funny’ !

 

 

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Beating a pig, Feral 2022.

The Feral Pig 100 miler is a beast of an event. Over 4,300 metres of elevation on brutal trail in the searing heat of a Western Australian spring day. The best is saved for last after returning to the start line and then having to face the hardest terrain of the day in the 38k ‘death loop’ , normally attempted in the late evening or early morning when you are at your weakest.

I have ran the Feral twice before , in 2020 I got my ass well and truly kicked 🙁 https://www.runbkrun.com/2020/11/13/another-lesson-learned-ultras-teach-you-stuff/ ) but I returned last year and returned the favour, take that piggy ! ( https://www.runbkrun.com/2021/12/13/feral-pig-100-miler-in-case-you-missed-it/ )

So it was best of three time and to give the pig a chance I picked up an injury post Melbourne Marathon,  in early October,  so had ran less than 100km’s in the five weeks coming into the event, not ideal. I had managed to get to the start line thanks to some dry needling from Myree (the most painful experience of my short life!) and some seriously strong anti-inflammatories, prescription strength.  Unfortunately the little running I had done in the last few weeks was pitiful at best and the only reason I rocked up to the start was the entry money was non-refundable,  as I had left it so late,  and I had no other plans so a three day hike on the bib sounded like fun. ?

As you can see from the Stava extract (you are on Strava right ? http://www.strava.com ) I had ran 6 times since the Melbourne marathon and I use the word ‘ran‘ in the loosest sense of the word.  With my tight hamstrings , a result of running ‘fast’ at Melbourne, I could only run while high on strong anti-inflammatories and even Myree and her needles of pain couldn’t release the hamstrings fully.  The orange activities are time on my Elliptigo  ( http://www.elliptigo.com ) which was the best cross training I could muster without inuring myself. I enjoy my GO time but it’s nowhere near enough exercise in preparation for a Feral assault.  The last three runs pre-Feral were pitiful at best and I was lucky to average around 6min/k , while the heart pumped at beats per minute reserved for sprinting, things were not good.   The ultimate low for me was my last run pre-Feral, an 11km run in the ghetto that is City Beach where I slowed kilometre on  kilometre until towards the end I was barely running. I passed two young men collecting from the verge when one of them starts to run backwards with me and asks his friend to video it. He was most excited that he could run backwards faster than this old fella,  struggling,  could run forwards. The worst part was my hammys were so tight I couldn’t go any faster and just had to take the embarrassment head on. I remember thinking to myself I had sunk to a new low in my running career.   As I mentioned in the last paragraph I had no right rocking up to the start of the Feral but with nothing better to do on the weekend a long hike , with like minded runners, sounded ok?

 

Undertrained is an under statement !

 

Undeterred by my lack of training and negative attitude from the Yelo running crew, in their defence it was ludacris to attempt the Pig really, I fronted up to the Perth Discovery Centre early evening on Friday to catch the 9:35pm bus to the start line.

It’s tradition before we leave to recite the Feral Pig pledge and once Shaun Kaesler talked us through it were away on the two hour bus journey to the start line  over 130km’s south on the Brookton Highway. The bus is a somber affair as all runners are desperately trying to get as much shut-eye as possible knowing it will probably be their last for a minimum of 24 hours  and, for most, even longer.  I nodded off a few times and was awoken when we left the highway and start to bounce along an off-road section  just big enough for the bus. The clock was showing 11:30pm so we have 30 minutes to kill before the start.

This is the time Shaun Kaesler gets all the runners into a big circle, everybody turns off the headtorches and we just bask in the silence and tranquility of our surroundings, trust me people it’s special. Worth running a hundred miles for, probably not but a nice touch and it certainly fills you with positive vibes and prepares you for the task ahead. Mr. Kaesler really is the pied piper of ultra runners and in Shaun we trust.  

 

All aboard the pain bus to the start, with Shaun Kaesler reading the Feral pledge.

The Feral start at midnight is unique and is a double edged sword, on one hand you have less than five hours until daylight but on the other you are starting a 100 mile race already sleep deprived and you know Sunday morning, early, you are going to have pay the piper.  Due to the remoteness of the route the first aid station, Sullivan Rocks,  isn’t until 41km, and it’s really for drop bag pick up only,  not hot food as such ,  and the second aid station , Brookton Highway, is at 74km. That is a long way between aid stations. After Brookton they start to come every 13km or so until the end and this is much more manageable.

The first twenty or so kilometres is very runnable with no real elevation to speak off, I settled into a group of four runners with the Feral pain train of 2021, Cam D’Silva and Andy Thompson joined by our new recruit Neily Rae.  Throughout the night runners came and went but the four of us were pretty constant until just after Mount Cook when Andy took off.  Mount Cook was as challenging as always , elevation and also it just gets cold and windy near the summit, funny that. Coming off Mount Cook you eventually hit some good running terrain again , the sunrises , and before you know it you’re at Sullivan Rocks, aid station one.

Saturday morning, the witching hours , 2am to 5am. Nice running terrain.

At Sullivans I was prepared with a drop bog, one of only two for me, filled with goodies including 5 weetbix and milk. I have learnt from the two previous races that this aid station is really just a place to pick up your drop bag. Nothing compared to the smorgasbord we would be presented with at Brookton Highway thanks to Shannon Dale, the aid station King. I wolfed down my weetbix but in the rush to leave (why? It’s a 100 mile race!) I must have repacked or misplaced most of my gu’s. I left Sullivan Rock with very little in the way of nutrition,  which was a mistake as the next aid station was another thirty two kilometres away.  The image below is me and Cam at the top of Sullivan Rocks about to get trampled on by the 100 km runners and 50 mile runners. They do it every year although this year I think we arrived ten minutes earlier than the previous year so we had a bit of a headstart, ultimately it just delayed the inevitable.

Cam and I just after the first aid station at Sullivan Rocks. Two thirds of the Feral train, after Andy left us !

After Sullivans Cam started to drop off citing an issue with his knee and Neily also faded leaving me with my thoughts and Taylor Swift on the Aftershokz, normal service had been resumed.  Cam actually made it back to the Perth Discovery Centre, over 130km, in pain for over 100km of that distance. Bloody amazing effort and together we’ll go better next year. (Did I just type that?) He is a young man with a big future in trail running and ultra distance running. We’ll run together in February when we both take on the Delirious West 200 miler , with his mentor Carl Douglas.  ( https://deliriouswest200miler.com.au/ )

Luckily before I reached Brookton I bumped into Tristan Cameron running with another miler and he had some extra nutrition he was able to give me as well as a water bottle. this certainly made the journey easier. To my credit I gave his some fisiocrem which helped his aching limbs. Fisiocrem is an absolute must for these events and I carry a tub with me in my backpack as well as tubes in my drop bags, it’s that good ! At every aid station and regularly throughout the event I would lather my legs in fisiocrem, it is ace !

 

Early Saturday morning as its still overcast, just after Sullivan Rocks heading towards Brookton Hwy.

Between Sullivan Rocks and Brookton Highway aid stations someone turned on the heat. This isn’t a problem for me as I love the heat , well I love running in the heat, daily life going about my business in the heat I whine like a stuffed pig.  Actually I think that should be ‘bleed like a stuffed pig’? but whine is better in this scenario. I very rarely bleed like a stuffed pig when it’s hot, unless I trip ? I digress. I was probably undernourished and dehydrated by the time I got into Brookton but all this changed as Shannon Dale and his aid station oasis recharged my batteries. As you can see from the image below he knows the way to my heart.  Bacon, egg and pancakes swimming in maple syrup, there are no words !

Bacon, egg and pancakes at Brookton Hwy.

I left Brookton Highway feeling like a million dollars, bacon has that effect on me. The next aid station was Dale Car Park , a mere 13km away. After the first two aid stations spanning nearly 74km, a 13km hop was childs play. The trail was also special with the spring flowers in full bloom and also the colours from a recent burn-off, stunning. I stopped several times to try and capture the images on my iphone 11 but to no avail. (Note to self, time for a new iphone 14 for Xmas. ) It’s amazing how the world changes after a good feed and this is a valuable lesson , if you’re feeling like you’re done just eat and drink , a lot ! You can then walk it off initially before running again, fully fueled. As I have said many times a diesel van with fuel will destroy a Bugatti with no fuel all day long.  Ultra running is all about getting the hydration and nutrition right.  Sounds easy right , not so trust me.

Feeling great after my Brookton HWY aid station feast.

Between Brookton and Dale Car Park I ran alone and just enjoyed the serenity of the occasion and the magnificence of my surroundings. The 13km slipped away quickly and before I knew it I was sitting down at Dale Car Park with a great cup of tea, white with three sugars, thankyou Harmony.  I had my second , and final drop bag, here and opened it to find a tin of rice pudding, winning. ! Rice pudding is my go to as it is easy to digest, is full of all the good things an ultra runner needs and tastes great. Please note I only ever eat Rice Pudding when racing, as a day to day treat its probably not ideal, probably ?  Before I left it was suntan cream time, thanks Heath Watkins, and off I went to take on more trails. Eleven more kilometres before Beraking aid station, another small hop albeit a few nasty elevations in the way. The fisiocrem certainly got a hammering at each aid station, making a massive difference.

The photo does not do this scenery justice, need a new Iphone !

Things were really heating up now and I had been running for well over 14 hours. The hill ( mountain?) before Beraking doesn’t have a name as such but boy it is long and grinds you down. Shaun mentioned at the start of the event that Beraking seems to be the DNF high point for the miler and I can see why. You’ve ran most of the night,  and all day , and are now tired, hot and have just faced a monster of a hill. You hit the aid station at 99km into the 163km race knowing you have a death loop (38km ) ahead of you as well as over 60 kilometers, very easy to pull the pin. I felt good at Beraking as the next aid station , Allen Road, is where I start to enter my ‘happy place’.  Allen Road to the Discovery Centre is a segment I have ran many times and know it like the back of my hand.  I knew once I hit Allen Road I could easily get back to the start before the final death loop, the hardest part of the whole event.

The Bibulumum track turned it on late Saturday afternoon.

The next aid station hop to Allen Road was around 16km, moving from 99km to 113km into the event. Again some serious elevations between these aid stations but the scenery made up for the brutality of the terrain.  The temperature started to drop as we neared sunset and I managed to get to the Allen Road aid station just before the sun disappeared. I gorged on chocolate at Allen Road, trying something different to try and boost performance and who doesn’t love chocolate.  Fueled on dark chocolate I climbed out of Allen Road and headed back to the start where I had left 18 hours earlier.  As I said earlier this is my go to loop and I know it so well, it would be a lot easier running this route with my history on this trail.

 

Snapped in my natural habitat..

Between Allen Road and the Discovery Centre I ran though the sunset which is my favourite time on the trails. The light is just so special at this time of the day and around each corner you are faced with another breath taking image. Colors change by the minute and it takes all my will power not to stop every few yards and take another photo.  I have added an image below but I have so many more, I could have probably have finished a lot quicker if I hadn’t kept stopping and taking photos but when the scenery is this good you just need to stop and take it all in.  This is why we do what we do after all.

 

Just when you think the Bib can’t look any better, along comes dusk.

Upto Allen Road aid station I had been mostly running alone but had been yo-yo’ing with Doug Bartlett for most of the day, we both came into Allen Road at around the same time and I suggested we run the last part of the race together. In the dark company can be a good thing. He agreed but he was too quick and I let him go early although I did catch him as we got to within 4km of the discovery centre and we talked about setting off into the death loop together,  after a 90 minute rest.  At this point we also nearly caught Andy Thompson, who had dropped Cam and I about 80 kilometres earlier. We heard him and Harmony, his pacer, a few hundred metres ahead of us but never managed to catch him. He also had a power nap at the Discovery centre and left with Doug.

We got into the Perth Discovery Centre around 9:30pm, 132km into the event and nearly twenty hours . There was no way I could face the death loop, the hardest 38km of the whole event, without some rest.  Doug and Andy also tried to get some sleep and I scurried off to my car , got changed into some pajama’s and dived into a sleeping bag. I set the alarm for 11pm and tried to sleep. Normally I drop off to sleep very quickly but for some reason I couldn’t get comfortable and lay there thinking about what lay ahead of me. This is the hardest part of the Feral pig, lying in your car with the opportunity to drive away and end the suffering or starting on the death loop knowing you’ll be out there for probably around nine hours. Two years ago I left at this point , driven home by Adam around midnight,  albeit I was pretty broken. Last year I breezed through the aid station and left after a quick pot noodle, chasing a buckle finishing time.  It was one for the pig and one for me, this was the decider, it all came down to my next decision.

After working with Rob Donkersloot from Mind Focused Running ( https://mindfocusedrunning.com/ ) there really was only one option. Change of clothes, change of mental attitude and into the night I would go, unfortunately at this point alone as Doug and Andy has already left.  It would have been better to run with them but I felt they were both running quicker and I didn’t want to hold them back. It was me, my shokz headphones and Taylor Swift again, the deadly duo reunited.  I walked to the aid station letting them know I was off into the death loop alone when I saw Neily Ray get some work done on his feet. The last time I saw Neily was exiting Sullivan Rocks, a lifetime ago.  I was going to wait for him when Shaun Kaesler informed me Tristan Cameron had just left minutes earlier. Company was too good to turn up, I left the aid station and chased Tristan down which didn’t take long as he was playing with his light about 100 metres down the trail.  This was good news, we agreed to run (hike?) together but in all the commotion I had forgot to grab any water or food. I had a 8km hop to the next aid station with no nutrition or hydration, great ? Again Tristan had more than enough for both of us so it wasn’t a problem.

The death loop (or DNF loop) is a real nasty piece of work. You have to run normally at night and after running a 132km warm up with a midnight start the previous evening. You’re tired, very tired and probably worse and you know you have a really long night ahead of you, and early morning. Last year I ran most of it and still took nearly 8 hours, this year there would be little running. Tristan and I just broke the loop down into four separate sections, what I recommend you do with any ultra distance event. Don’t concentrate on the finish , which could be days away, instead aim for the next aid station. Get there and then reset with your next goal being the next aid station, leap frog your way to the finish,  one aid station at a time.

For this loop we had just over 9km to the Camel Farm aid station, then a similar distance to Jorgensen park, Kalamunda, before retuning the same way , via the Camel Farm, to the finish. The first 18km was the hardest as we climbed from the Discovery Centre to Jorgensen Park. Once we go to Jorgensen Park we could turn and roll home, well that’s how we sold it to ourselves. We staggered and I mean staggered to Camel Farm where we stopped for a cup of tea albeit with no sugar, sacrilege, and some cold sausage rolls. As we sat there mulling over the next section Neily Ray came into sight and the duo became a trio.  The three of us would finish together and the company made the journey so much more enjoyable.

We left the Camel Farm to take on the hardest section of the death loop, the 9km to Jorgensen Park. There are two massive climbs within this section on just about un-runable single track.  Add to this we go lost on a descent following an old trial on the Gaia app, and when I say old I mean old, I reckon the last people on this trail would have been early settlers. ! We eventually made the summit at Jorgensen Park to an oasis of an aid station. Hot food, hot tea and great company. The only problem was we were all so tired myself and Neily actually nodded off in our chairs. It was time to get moving or we’d never leave. The mental boost from knowing you are on a descent to the finish and with a full stomach, cannot be under estimated.  Now every step was a step towards the finish line and mostly downhill. It got even better when the sun rose albeit it brought rain with it for good measure. Undeterred we kept moving forward and breezed through the Camel Farm on the way back, not even stopping, we could smell the finish.

I have no photos of this stage bar the two images below. The first the three of us at Mundaring dam at the top of the stairs, all smiles,  and the last one at the finishing line. I was just fatigued to take out my phone and take photos, and if you know me that is a big deal.  This race destroys you, it’s as simple as that.

The three amigos at the dam, a stones throw from the finish.

Mission accomplished. We staggered home from the Camel Farm and even broke into a trot on a few occasions. Overall just over nine hours for the last 38km and I’m happy with that. Tristan and Neily made it bearable and I’m sure we’ll all sign up again. In the end we finished in 32 hours 19 minutes and change. Given the build up to this event it goes down as one of my greatest achievements’.  A week before the event I was struggling to finish a 10km , to complete the Feral was a miracle and a testament to Rob Donkersloot and his work on my mental strength. No more talk of DNF’ing just enjoying the moment and reminding myself that this is what I signed up for and enjoy it.  He’s got a point you know.

 

32 hours and change, Feral Pig 100 miler 2022 done !

So what’s next ? Well you’re probably not going to believe this but Hysterical Carnage backyard ultra  ( https://hystericalcarnage.com.au/ ) is five days after the Feral Pig.  I love Hysterical and this year am taking the family along so it’s recovery and then racing again. No time for training due to the quick turn around. Only fly in the ointment is a very badly bruised ankle due to the timing chip ankle bracelet being too tight, rookie error.  It’s back onto the anti-inflammatories for one more adventure, promise.

As well as the strong drugs I also use my Human Tecar compression bandages and spray to aid recovery.  ( https://athleticus.com.au/ ) I have used the compression bandages after both of my 200 milers this year and they really work. We’ll see how they go this time, pre-Hysterical.

Finally as always I give a shout out to three of my favourite products…  fisiocrem ( https://www.fisiocrem.com.au/ ) is just bloody brilliant and does exactly what it says it does , it just gets the major muscle groups moving again. I use this extensively towards the end of the race when my quads are hammered.  It really makes a difference and allows me to move back through the gears towards the end of an event when most runners are stumbling home.

 

Fisiocrem is a must have in your ultra box of tricks…

 

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Eventually Injury always comes calling, time to get out the toys.

An injured runners weapon of choice, the Elliptigo.

After the No Time to Die Ultra I was broken and on my first run post event , the Thursday morning  Yelo  run, I blew up 5km into the 10km morning recovery. The last 5km back to Yelo was painful and I could feel all my tendons and leg muscles taught and ready to rip or tear. I put this down to little or no stretching since the last ultra and also not drinking enough liquids. I made an appointment with my dry needling guru, Myree , and that evening found myself on her massage bed in the world of pain that is a decent dry needling appointment. I normally avoid dry needling if possible as if it is done right it is so, so painful. Myree works miracles and she relieved the hamstrings that were tight as old buggery. Dry needling , done right, is very , very good at releasing muscle tightness but you certainly pay the price.

Thanks to Myree and some very string anti-inflammatories I was able to run the Melbourne marathon. As well as tight hamstrings I had felt a niggle on the inside of my right knee. The anti-inflammatories put an end to this but post marathon it returned with a vengeance. To this end I have only ran three times since Melbourne, in the last two weeks. This is not ideal with a 100 miler less than three weeks away and then my final backyard ultra of the season 6 days after that in Adelaide.

The Feral Pig miler is a beautiful as it is brutal, my race report from last year  is here :- https://www.runbkrun.com/2021/12/13/feral-pig-100-miler-in-case-you-missed-it/

Running this event with a dodgy knee, high on anti-inflammatories, is not ideal especially with a backyard ultra in another state. South Australia,  the following week. Then again at any start line you’ll find a high proportion of runners are carrying niggles or minor injuries, mental toughness, stubbornness and good drugs help carry the runner to the finish line, normally.

 

The beauty of the Pig…

After the Feral Pig miler I’m heading over to Adelaide to compete in the Hysterical Carnage backyard ultra. I was lucky enough to grab an assist to Phil Gore, the story of my life, in the inaugural year last year but had an extra week to recover after Feral. For some reason Shaun, the race director,  has moved the events closer together ?  I’ll be gutted to miss either of these events as both are so good and this is why I’m still desperate to run both, even though the timing really makes it suicidal.

Last few runners , probably around lap 30.

So if I am to spend some time on the sidelines I have a few toys to play with to help keep my cardio fitness high enough that I shouldn’t lose too much. My Elliptigo (https://www.elliptigo.com/ ) is great for longer distances as you can cruise around 20-25km/h , it is seriously good fun to ride taking you back to your childhood, just puts a smile on my face every time I use it. I also have a generation one Bionic  , image below. This is an Australian made product but the company has unfortunately gone under due to dodgy Chinese manufacturing. It’s a pity as the Bionic is a seriously good running alternative and has the ‘airplane wing’  motion which is akin to running. It is a much harder ride than the Elliptigo and you’d normally average a few kilometres an hour less but also it works the body harder, making longer distances testing. The only issue with the Bionic is my rollers are starting to fail and there doesn’t seem to be any options for getting new ones, without these rollers it becomes unusable.

 

Bionic Gen1 , this thing is a monster !

With all injuries there are various stages, I wrote this post on the 5 stages of grief a few years ago when I recovering from a calf tear, I think. There’s be a few injuries over the years , I must admit to losing track.

The same stages apply to an injury.

My Daughter recounted this to me a few days ago in reference to my ongoing battle with injury. She reckoned I was moving into the depression stage and truth be told she’s probably right.

The 5 stages of grief can be virtually mirrored for injuries when you’re a runner. Well they work for me. The first stage is denial. For me this was probably as I hobbled over the road to Yelo to grab a coffee and muffin with the boys a week before the Bunbury Marathon. At the time I could just about hobble 10m’s but once I got settled in the cafe all talk was about the marathon in a weeks time. Not once did it cross my mind I may not make it. I had a calf knot which would either disappear itself with a bit of ‘pain ball’ magic or a trip to the physio  and dry needling. Nothing to worry about. That was three weeks ago and I’m still lame, silly boy.

Next comes anger. Boy, I was angry on Thursday evening before the marathon when 7k into a 10k last run I pulled up lame and knew instantly I had rolled the dice one too many times. I was also angry at myself for ignoring the calf all week and just assuming it had come good on its own. In my defence I had ran twice with no issues so assumed all was ok. With hindsight I should have gone to the physio on Monday after the weekends 10k race and had some needling and massage on the calf. I reckon the physio could have got the know untangled intimate for Bunbury and I would be posting about my 42nd marathon finish rather than adding to another post on injury.

Next come bargaining. For me this was about convincing myself I’d be right in a few days after physiology. Again . no problem, I bargained my injury window down to a week max with the upside this would be good ‘rest’ time, something I never do normally.

Once bargaining fails it headlong into depression, which is where I am now. Depressed at what could have been and also depressed that I’m still injured and my 2 days blip has become a 3 week road block with little sign of abating. Worse still my last 7k run was as bad as the first run 3 weeks ago which started this sad tale, so after three visits to the physio and well over $150 out of pocket I’m back to the start, injured ! Oh yeah, I’m depressed. It gets even worse, I’ve had to resort to spending two hours a day on the bike to try and save my cardio fitness. This is depressing but also painful. How these cyclist breed is beyond me.?  The family jewels have taken a right royal beating on the Perth bike paths and I either need to man up or get cycling shorts with more padding. (maybe a cushion! or even better a cushioned seat as the one I got seemed purpose built to inflict as much pain as possible. Maybe this is why cyclists spend so long in cafe’s drinking coffee and eating cake, to rest their ‘how’s your fathers’ ‘ ) 

Finally comes acceptance. I’m close to this stage currently as the Joondalup half in 2 weeks is now off the race calendar as is the 10k the following week. I realise that the 3 weeks of no running (with more time to come.) is too much for me to give a good account of myself at either of these races. I have no accepted missing the Perth marathon in June as this is an A goal race but I may have to reevaluate my predicted time. A lot will depend on Tuesday when I will slope off back to the physio and let his magic hands and needles do their best on my right calf.

Injury wise I’ve been lucky over the last 8 years. This is my fourth calf knot which accounted for maybe 4-6 weeks of no running, less than one week a year. I know that it about as good as you get but as I sit him typing away I’m not overly excited about my previous track record. If you’re a runner you get injured, this is as certain as the sun rising in the morning and setting in the evening. How long and when depends on so many variables but I could kick myself for missing the signs (for missing substitute ‘ignoring’!) and allow the 2 day injury to morph into this 3 week (and counting) career threatening calf knot from hell. Off course I did sell my soul to the Devil for this good run but was hoping to get longer than 8 years. That’s the problem with dealing with Lucifer, just can’t trust him. Oh well, onwards and upwards, the bike is calling and how much more pain can the family jewels endure? Surely over time the jewels will ‘harden up’ or maybe they just fall off ?

I have also got my treadmill back, the one  that I brought when we entered COVID lockdown early 2020 and then loaned out to Adam for a few years. I don’t think I’ve ever used it in anger truth be told but it should help as it’ll be easier on the legs, I can also add a good gradient if necessary ; without leaving my a garage. Not a fan of treadmills but I’ll get a TV set up in the garage and catch up on all my Netflix movies while exercising, winning.

 

My COVID treat..

Finally as prevention is better than cure I’ll be hitting my massage gun, every runner needs one of these , they are ace. I use an Australian made product, the Stryke recovery gun. ( https://www.strykerecovery.com.au/ ) I have had mine for over two years and it still does the job, I just need to use it more. This weapon has saved my life many times on the lionger ultras when you have time to really get into the aching muscles. This together with humantecar spray ( https://athleticus.com.au/ ) and fisiocrem  ( https://www.fisiocrem.com.au/ ) are must haves for longer events and also injury prevention.

 

The running answer to eternal youth ?

So its on the treadmill for a week and then hopefully two weeks of training before its on the two hour bus ride from the Discovery Centre (the finish line) to the start line in the middle of nowhere on the Bibbulmun track for the midnight kick off.  Where else would you rather be on a Friday night ?

Finally as always I give a shout out to three of my favourite products…  fisiocrem ( https://www.fisiocrem.com.au/ ) is just bloody brilliant and does exactly what it says it does , it just gets the major muscle groups moving again. I use this extensively towards the end of the race when my quads are hammered.  It really makes a difference and allows me to move back through the gears towards the end of an event when most runners are stumbling home.

 

Fisiocrem is a must have in your ultra box of tricks…

Bix hydration is just ace, a product brought to life by Vlad Ixel a professional ultra runner who knows a thing or two about hydration. ( https://www.bixvitamins.com/ )  The best thing about Bix is it tastes good with many different flavours and you never get sick of drinking it, this is a big plus as Maurten and Tailwind (both great products)  can be difficult to digest later in the event.  From the website :-

As an Australian elite multiple trail running champion, with wins in over 40 ultra-marathon races across Asia, recovery from training and races has always been my top priority. 

In searching for a solid recovery and hydration supplement, I recognized that critical vitamins and minerals – both in diversity and quantity – were missing from almost all supplements on the market. I had the feeling that in an effort to maximize their bottom-lines, companies in the hydration space, failed to deliver a product that could meaningfully assist athlete performance. 

In order to address this, I began the development of a hydration product. After two and a half years of development alongside a leading German sports scientist, BIX Recovery, an advanced, high-quality recovery drink was born. 

BIX boosts 12 active ingredients scientifically balanced to replace lost electrolytes and assist in immune function. It’s designed with quality vitamins and minerals, in quantities that work! 

BIX is a recovery solution for everyone, that will get you to the top of your game!

Great hydration.

What can I say about HumanTecar,  ( https://athleticus.com.au/ ) it looks great, smells great and is awesome for recovery or even pre-run/workout. Read about the science behind it first and then try the products. The compression bandages are just magical after a long event. Put these on and the next day you are recovered, I have used them on a number of occasions and they never fail to astound me albeit the family poke fun at me as I look like a ‘mummy and smell funny’ !

 

 

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How not to run a marathon, Melbourne 2022.

Melbourne tram, iconic image.

The last couple of years my focus has been on ultra races, in fact my last 18 races over that period have all been ultras. My last marathon was the Perth City to Surf in August 2019, just breaking the sub three hour mark finishing in 2 hours 55 minutes and change.  I had entered the Melbourne marathon on a whim earlier in the year and I was determined to try and continue my sub three streak currently standing at twenty nine marathons over a ten year period. Seemed like a good idea at the time but then the ‘No time to die‘ backyard ultra was introduced and I had to run it to get the Grand Slam of backyard Ultras. (Running all four of the UltraSeries backyard ultras in one year)

The only down side to this challenge was the backyard ultra was two weeks before Melbourne, essentially my last long run.  Normally a last long run is around 32km maybe a tad longer but not the 33 hour , 224km backyard ultra I ran. Deep down I knew this would come back to bit me and coupled with just about a total lack of marathon specific training I knew I was in for a torrid time, at best.

Right lets start at the beginning, well actually before the beginning,  at the hour and half before the start with myself and Adam cocooned in the VIR room (Very Important Runner) . This is a $100 extra you can pay to get a nice warm room in the MCG at the start with fruit, tea and coffee and the best bit, toilets without a queue a mile long.  You are then escorted to the front of the pack just before the start and then afterwards back to the room for a massage, light lunch and a shower ; and yes, toilets.  Probably the best $100 I have ever spent.  The image below is myself and Adam preparing to enter the VIR room up the VIR escalator, I told you it was a good deal.

Melbourne VIR entrance with Adam. No Barts and Jeff, too tight to spend the extra $100 !

The view from the VIR room was pretty special too, the MCG stadium in all it glory just before sunrise. This VIR option is the gift that keeps giving I tell you.  As the sun rose we were escorted out of the calm of the VIR room into the chaos that is a major marathon start line. It was good to get the option to start with the preferred starts, the fast runners , just behind the Kenyans. Adam and I noted the location of the three hour pacers and then some last minute stretching before the gun went off and it was on for young and old.

MCG pre-start, view from the VIR room.

The VIR room was also full of most of the Perth runners loyal to my good friend Tony Smith, him of Tony Smith Coaching. ( https://www.tsrunclub.com/ ) Tony has built an empire the last few years and his one goal is helping achieving theirs, a very humble but driven character Tony , as are his coaches.  Over the years we have had many tussles and trained many, many  hours together and laughed a lot and I mean a lot, easily done with like minded people.  His coaching business is growing but he still maintains a hands on approach and is genuinely interested in all his runners.  I love the image below as it shows us getting ready and I have many of these over the years. Tony is still running incredibly well and ran sub three for the marathon.

 

The T-train and I, two old warriors preparing for battle, again !

Right lets get to the interesting bit, the race debriefing. As the split below shows I basically tried to stay with the sub 3 bus and did so until 10k when I was kicked off and then struggled to the finish. Truth be told it was what I expected after running the No time to die ultra two weeks prior and as I always maintain you can’t hide from a marathon. I struggled from the start and a toilet stop at 5km didn’t help as I was then chasing the three hour pacers, when I eventually caught them around the 10km  my head gasket blew. As I said earlier its been three years since I’ve ran a marathon and in that time I have done no specific marathon training bar a few token efforts in the last few weeks.  My legs hadn’t recovered from the backyard ultra a few weeks previous but I was hoping I could run sub3 on past glories, a ridiculous concept really and at 10k all the cows came home and the piper was there with his hand out, he wanted paid big time.

I’ve very rarely been in this position before as I always train for the event I enter, be it a 4km sprint to a 200 miler adventure. This was always going to be a challenge and depending how the legs had recovered would determine the time in the pain cave. It looked , at 10km into the race, my time in the pain cave would be extensive, and very deep. It is in situations like this you need your past experience to decide a new strategy for the way forward, because you need to keep moving forward.  I decided I needed to get to halfway and then mentally I would be in a better place. At the moment I was running away from the start line, at halfway I was running back towards the finish line, a world of difference. I would then also give myself a pace target for the journey home to the MCG stadium.

From the 10km mark to halfway is good running , initially around a park and then along the beach front in St. Kilda, conditions were perfect.  I struggled to the halfway mark with runners constantly passing me but once there gave myself a target of pacing around the 4:40min/km to 5min/km , if I could keep this pace I would be able to get back to the MCG around 3 hours 15minues, a respectable enough time. From 21km to 28km I was able to maintain my new goal pace amd as we turned for home felt confident I could reach my new goal albeit I could see the 3hour 10min bus approaching quickly. With hindsight I would have been better off starting with this bus as I could have probably held on to the end, but was happy with my decision to roll the dice and pay the price, so to speak.

After the 3hour 10 bus went over the top of me we merged with the half marathon runners who were running considerable slower than me, it was actually nice to pass a few runners for a change as I had spent the last hour or so getting passed myself, constantly. We were then separated briefly before the marathon runners got to run the hills in Tan park while the half marathon turned for home.  The tan park has a few nasty rises, not really hills as such, but with less than 5km to go you can see the end so mentally you just need to switch to finish mode and it all becomes do-able. Coming out of the Tan Park the job is done as there is a 2-3km downhill stretch to roll into the MCG, albeit playing ‘frogger‘ with the now really slow half marathon runners.

Once you enter the MCG the magic of the finish engulfs you, the stadium is a 100,000 seater , four tier monster of a venue to finish in. The holy grail of Cricket and Australian Rules Football and it is an honour and a privledge to run on the sacred turf. I made an effort to smile for the camera and not look at my watch until I was well past the finish to get a good photo, albeit at 55 finding a good photo these days is becoming more and more difficult, thankfully we have photoshop and filters.

As you can see from the splits below they tell a sorry tale of reality kicking in around the 10km mark and then a slow and painful slide down the pacing chart from 4:15min/k to 5:00min/k. Halfway at 1:32:27 means a positive split of thirteen minutes in the second half, not ideal.  On the bright side, is there one,  I stuck to my second half plan, give or take, and couldn’t have give any more on the day.  It was good to finally run marathon number 46 after such a long time away.

 

The splits tell the sorry story.

After the finish it was back to the VIR room for a light lunch, massage and shower, how good is that ? I even managed to sneak Jeffrey in so he could enjoy the business class conditions.

All smiles in the VIR room after the event with the T-train.

As you can see from the image below taken from the VIR room conditions were perfect and the finish is just so special. The MCG is hallowed turf and just to run on it is worth the entry itself, magical times.

So after a snooze at the hotel it was time to all meet up at the Transport bar in Federation Square for a post event beer. I always treat myself to a Guinness or two after a race but today one was enough. Tony and a few of his runners joined Adam, Liam, Barts . Jeffrey and I and we talked for hours about the days adventures, time disappeared very quickly. There was so much laughter as we all had our own stories to share and these adhoc catch-ups are just so good, lime minded people enjoying each others company, what more is there ?

Christened the medal for my friend Jeff Hansen who lost his battle with Leukemia earlier in the year, it was a tradition he and a few of his close friends started. Jeff was a Race Director at the Delirious West backyard ultra , and the Mundy park run (his baby) and is seem interviewing me in the video clip below. He was admired and loved by the running community in Perth and beyond. Missed every day.

 

The dunking of the medal for Jeff.

So the Melbourne marathon has reignited my desire to go sub 3 , and maybe quicker, but before I can do that I have many ultras to finish culminating in the Run Brittania 1,000 mile race July next year. ( https://ratracerunbritannia.com/ ) After that though it could be time to put on the short shorts , drop the ultra puppy fat and start racing marathons again and who knows maybe stay on the sub three bus for longer or even beat it, funnier things have happened.

Finally as always I give a shout out to three of my favourite products…  fisiocrem ( https://www.fisiocrem.com.au/ ) is just bloody brilliant and does exactly what it says it does , it just gets the major muscle groups moving again. I use this extensively towards the end of the race when my quads are hammered.  It really makes a difference and allows me to move back through the gears towards the end of an event when most runners are stumbling home.

 

Fisiocrem is a must have in your ultra box of tricks…

Bix hydration is just ace, a product brought to life by Vlad Ixel a professional ultra runner who knows a thing or two about hydration. ( https://www.bixvitamins.com/ )  The best thing about Bix is it tastes good with many different flavours and you never get sick of drinking it, this is a big plus as Maurten and Tailwind (both great products)  can be difficult to digest later in the event.  From the website :-

As an Australian elite multiple trail running champion, with wins in over 40 ultra-marathon races across Asia, recovery from training and races has always been my top priority. 

In searching for a solid recovery and hydration supplement, I recognized that critical vitamins and minerals – both in diversity and quantity – were missing from almost all supplements on the market. I had the feeling that in an effort to maximize their bottom-lines, companies in the hydration space, failed to deliver a product that could meaningfully assist athlete performance. 

In order to address this, I began the development of a hydration product. After two and a half years of development alongside a leading German sports scientist, BIX Recovery, an advanced, high-quality recovery drink was born. 

BIX boosts 12 active ingredients scientifically balanced to replace lost electrolytes and assist in immune function. It’s designed with quality vitamins and minerals, in quantities that work! 

BIX is a recovery solution for everyone, that will get you to the top of your game!

Great hydration.

What can I say about HumanTecar,  ( https://athleticus.com.au/ ) it looks great, smells great and is awesome for recovery or even pre-run/workout. Read about the science behind it first and then try the products. The compression bandages are just magical after a long event. Put these on and the next day you are recovered, I have used them on a number of occasions and they never fail to astound me albeit the family poke fun at me as I look like a ‘mummy and smell funny’ !

 

 

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No time to die, it wasn’t and I didn’t.

Backyard ultra three in the UltraSeries ( https://ultraseries.com.au/ ) Grand Slam was the inaugural ‘No time to die’ Ultra in Adelaide.  Actually no one is sure what is involved in the backyard ultra grand slam we just know we have to run all four backyard ultras put on by the UltraSeries team, two in Perth and two in Adelaide. Currently there are five of us attempting this, myself, Jen , Renton, Margie and Nico. We have all ran the two WA backyard ultras, Herdy’s Frontyard ultra in March and Birdy’s backyard ultra  in August. How hard could another backyard ultra be ?

There was a good turn out for the first running of this event, nearly 60 runners. As as the photo below shows it was all smiles before the start. That’s the thing with backyard ultras, they really are incredibly easy at the start. You only have to run 6.7km in an hour , you could hobble in at 8min/k average and still have a few minutes. Runners normally find themselves killing time the first few laps  as they finish with twenty or more minutes to spare. Of course this doesn’t last long, to quote Lazerus Lake ‘ Backyard Ultra’s are easy until they ain’t’. 

Conditions for the event ranged from perfect to bloody awful. The temperature was always conducive for good running but the sideways rain at times didn’t help. One lap we sitting in the gazebo when a squall came in just as the five minute warning came over the tannoy, not ideal. Luckily these squalls never lasted long but the over cast conditions cost me a very sun burnt head on Sunday afternoon, lesson learnt , wear a hat or apply suntan cream, rookie error . I miss my mullet, hell I just miss my hair full stop.

 

The starting lineup of the inaugural ‘No Time to Die’ Frontyard Ultra.

We have Team WA in the image below Margie, Jen, Nico, myself, race director Shaun Kaesler, Renton and the other race director Micelle. You’ll notice the Race Directors are in fancy dress, well I hope they are. Shaun had arranged to put us all up in our own gazebo, complete with four separate pods for sleeping, it was very ‘business class‘ as he also supplied a gas heater.  We were joined by another couple of runners who added to the ‘party atmosphere’, one of which was Becky Beumer who would play a staring role in this event.

All the WA runners and the race directors, Michelle and Shaun.

This event started at 4pm on Friday afternoon giving us three hours of daylight before we’d need the head torch. I prefer the late start because it means you get to the night earlier so are better prepared to get to the sunset, if you can  get to the sunset you will give yourself a good chance of going for the first big milestone, 100km or 15 hours. After that its the 24 hours or 100 miles target, then 36 hours (150 miles) before the holy grail of 48 hours and 200 miles. In the back of my mind this is always the end goal.

One of the first three laps before it the head torches came out, Friday afternoon. My new Hoka’s Mach 5’s so clean, this didn’t last long.

The course for the ultra was flat and fast which gave us more time in the business class gazebo with the WA crew. As it was new to us I found the hours seem to tick over quite quickly and sunrise came around before I knew it, a pleasant surprise. Personally I find the first 15 hours in a backyard ultra the hardest, I struggle to get use to the constant stopping and starting but as I pass the 100km mark I can normally find a second wind to make the 24 hour goal. I have always got to the 24 hour mark at all six previous backyard ultras and this was a minimum for this one. I was relieved to hit this goal together with seven other runners, the final eight.

Friday night and another lap finished.

Hydration wise I was running with a 500ml collapsible bottle filled with Bix, various flavours. I love Bix as the flavours are just so good, you can enjoy the drink. Once every five or so laps I would switch to Maurten. ( https://www.maurten.com/ ). Maurten are very, very good and I highly recommend all their products. I particularly like the chewable bars and always feel a boost after eating one, they do make a difference. One caveat is the caffeine gel, this is just to much for me and I used it once in  backyard ultras before testing it in training first , rookie error I know. Gave me a headache due to the amount of caffeine, could be a personal thing so test before you use in racing scenarios.

Nutrition I always eat big meals when I would normally, i.e. 4-5 weetbix early morning drenched in brown sugar, pasta or similar for lunch and rice and meat for dinner. In-between these larger meals I would snack on something every lap.  A gel or similar every three or so laps, chocolate bar every two laps, tin of rice pudding once a day and loads of sweet tea. Always have some form of nutrition every lap. Balancing calories out to calories in takes some doing, remember you’re constantly exercising.

While I’m offering insights into backyard ultras here’s another little gem, break the lap down into three separate sections. By doing this you are able to hit targets quicker and not have to wait for the full lap. i.e. roughly every 2-3km’s have a point where you can tick a box. For this course it was two kilometres to a bridge and then a further 3km to the wetlands walking point (up a small rise).  From this point it was great flat running to the finish. Thus each lap I would look for the next section, twice on a lap and three times including the finish.  I always use this strategy in every backyard ultras, works for me.

Another tip is, as with all ultra’s, you will have up’s as well as down’s and it’s knowing when you are in a down part of your race and having the ability to mentally drag yourself out of the dark place and into the light. Working with Rob Donkersloot of Mind Focused Running  ( https://mindfocusedrunning.com/ ) has allowed me to recognise when I need to ‘mentally’ man up (can I use that term anymore?) and concentrate on changing my attitude, in a backyard ultra it is so important to do this, more so in this format because you have the ability to work on this while you rest , on your chair, each lap. If you are feeling a bit down chat to your crew or anybody who will listen, they will help with words of encouragement and sometimes that’s all it takes. Of course having a crew that knows you is a huge bonus and working with Rob, when he has crewed me, has been so good, the man knows his stuff and also makes a mean cup of sweet tea ! Going deep in a backyard ultra is so much more mental than physical. (Caveat, Nico took this to the extreme and did little or no training, there does need to be a bare minimum of training pre-event, there is an element of physical fitness, call me old fashioned) Right, back to the race report….

 

Sunset on Friday night , looking back over the wet lands.

Friday sunset was spectacular and after the sun disappears its just you and the small beam of light ahead of you. Time to put on my Taylor Swift mix and audible , seventy seven hours of Sherlock Holmes stories read by Stephen Fry.  I find the evening is great for just disappearing into your own thoughts or catching up with books read to you using audible. ( https://www.audible.com/ ). Add in a spotify account and you have just about every bit of music you could ever desire on tap. I think this is my favourite time as you don’t feel the need to talk to fellow runners as everybody just disappears into the darkness and their own world, ‘Kev time‘ as I like to call it.

 

Event village, looking very quiet, all the runners would be out on a lap.

The magnificent eight joining the 24 hour club.  It was a relief to get to 24 hours because anything else was now a bonus and I knew I could get to the second night.  Runners started to drop out quickly after 24 hours and by lap 28 we were down to the final four. We had lost Nico at 100km / 15 hours. A bad knee got the better of him , that and no training ? Renton equaled his PB of 20 laps but was timed out on lap 21, so close to his 24 hour dream which I am sure he will get to at the Hysterical Carnage in November. Margie pulled the pin after lap 24, treating this as a training run with the World Satellite Championships in a few weeks, bigger fish to fry for this young lady. She has easily finished first on all 24 laps and looked relaxed, we’re expecting big things from Margie in a few weeks time.  Jen got to lap 29 and then rang the bell at the start of lap 30. She had plenty left in the tank but was lapping a tad slower than Becky and I and thus found herself running alone. In the end she just wasn’t enjoying the solitude. Unfortunately in a backyard ultra you each run the lap your way and if others are on the same strategy,  and running similar times,  that’s great and you have some company. It’s hard to adjust slower or quicker for company because eventually this will come and bite you. I knew Jen was suffering but was worried if I started to slow I’d lose the time I craved in-between laps and fatigue would start to set in, a minute here or there towards the pointy end of a backyard ultra is so important, trust me ! This is why events such as Herdy’s in WA are so popular because the field is nearly five times larger and you have company well past thirty laps, it makes for big totals.  This event will grow and solitude will be a thing of the past even deep into the event.

 

The 24 hour, 100 mile, club of eight.

 

Hamming it up for the camera Saturday morning.

 

Becky and I are pictured below starting lap 31 and setting a new Women’s South Australian record. Becky had been struggling with knee and hamstring issues for quite a few laps but was always smiling and never complained, just kept ticking off the laps, and that’s the way to get a big total at these events. We managed to get to midnight together and this was always Becky’s primary goal so she decided to pull the pin and grab the assist, handing me the opportunity to run one more lap for the win.

It was surreal running the last lap alone albeit with an accompanying bike, knowing each step would be your last on that course , at that point. I was quite sad truth be told as I had a bit left in the tank and would have probably made sunrise and then who knows ? Easy to say that sitting in my lounge typing this a week later but I really do believe there is more to give. Saying that I was more than happy to stop, take the win and scuttle off to one of the pods with a warm swag and a stretcher bed to fall asleep, and man I needed sleep, 33 hours of running does that to you.

Becky sets a new SA Women’s record, 31 laps.

To the winner the spoils. As well as a trophy for first male I was also presented with an overall winner trophy and a boat. Not a bad haul I reckon albeit I have to give the boat back next year , actually I have to arrange to get the boat to WA as it’s currently in the Ultra Series SA storage unit. I’m under no illusion this win was down to nothing more than  timing, with the Australian Satellite Championships in a months time all the top backyard ultra runners were preparing for this event.  I had decided against running the Satellite championships as my racing calendar has been,  and continues to be, hectic and another trip over East was just one event too far.  This event has been booked in from the start and to take a win was beyond my wildest dreams, I am truly blessed so far this year. At my vintage I treat each win as my last and an unexpected bonus for all the hard yards I’ve put in over the last twenty or so years of racing. That being said this one was very special.

 

A sneaky martini, shaken not stirred, after the event, Sunday morning.

All that was left to do on Sunday morning was packup the event village and go and watch the annual South Australian Aussie Rules final, what a better way to recover ? I think Shaun called this ‘active recovery‘ , I called it bloody hard work! Shaun did  provide the best bacon and egg sandwich I think I have ever tasted in my life, albeit I was so hungry I could probably have eaten a sweaty thong and thought it tasted good ? A few coffee’s later we were sitting in Adelaide Oval barracking for a team I had no idea even existed hours earlier, we lost by the way.

 

All done, ready for the next one.

I need to thank the volunteers who put in massive shifts over many days , the race directors Shaun Kaesler and Michelle Hamlin, who went above and beyond what is expected and continue to do so every event. My fellow runners who all helped offering encouragement every lap, these little comments make a big difference. I probably didn’t chat as much as I could have but do try to help my fellow competitors if I can, this event did take a lot out of me and I didn’t really settle into any rhythm until laps 24. I need to take my shokz ( https://shokz.com/ ) head phones out more and will concentrate on this at Hysterical, promise ! If I don’t let me know please. Finally to team WA and Backy, you guys rock and I had such a great weekend, pre-event and post event. Becky was just bloody good to spend time with and her crew were always so supportive of her but also me, they must have felt sorry for the bald old fella alone towards the end.  Jen gets a special mention as she just went about her business and yet again finished on the podium, so consistent and in the near future Jen is going to go long, very, very long.  Margie looked the top runner all day long and it was lucky for me this was a training run for her, as I said earlier I was successful by timing rather than talent.

That’s it for the inaugural ‘No time to die’ frontyard ultra, a raging success and my one and only win. So happy with the result but also with the whole weekend, spending time with like minded people doing what we love and that’s the point really.  I now need to get ready for the Melbourne Marathon in a few weeks and then the Feral Pig 100miler four weeks after that before taking on the Hysterical Carnage backyard ultra four days post miler, that will be interesting but I choose to enter so it’s down to me. What could possibly go wrong?

 

Finally as always I give a shout out to three of my favourite products…  fisiocrem ( https://www.fisiocrem.com.au/ ) is just bloody brilliant and does exactly what it says it does , it just gets the major muscle groups moving again. I use this extensively towards the end of the race when my quads are hammered.  It really makes a difference and allows me to move back through the gears towards the end of an event when most runners are stumbling home.

 

Fisiocrem is a must have in your ultra box of tricks…

Bix hydration is just ace, a product brought to life by Vlad Ixel a professional ultra runner who knows a thing or two about hydration. ( https://www.bixvitamins.com/ )  The best thing about Bix is it tastes good with many different flavours and you never get sick of drinking it, this is a big plus as Maurten and Tailwind (both great products)  can be difficult to digest later in the event.  From the website :-

As an Australian elite multiple trail running champion, with wins in over 40 ultra-marathon races across Asia, recovery from training and races has always been my top priority. 

In searching for a solid recovery and hydration supplement, I recognized that critical vitamins and minerals – both in diversity and quantity – were missing from almost all supplements on the market. I had the feeling that in an effort to maximize their bottom-lines, companies in the hydration space, failed to deliver a product that could meaningfully assist athlete performance. 

In order to address this, I began the development of a hydration product. After two and a half years of development alongside a leading German sports scientist, BIX Recovery, an advanced, high-quality recovery drink was born. 

BIX boosts 12 active ingredients scientifically balanced to replace lost electrolytes and assist in immune function. It’s designed with quality vitamins and minerals, in quantities that work! 

BIX is a recovery solution for everyone, that will get you to the top of your game!

Great hydration.

What can I say about HumanTecar,  ( https://athleticus.com.au/ ) it looks great, smells great and is awesome for recovery or even pre-run/workout. Read about the science behind it first and then try the products. The compression bandages are just magical after a long event. Put these on and the next day you are recovered, I have used them on a number of occasions and they never fail to astound me albeit the family poke fun at me as I look like a ‘mummy and smell funny’ !

 

 

Feel free to follow me on Strava.


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This Friday is ‘No time to Die.’

This Friday I take on the inaugural No Time to Die front year ultra in Adelaide. Another event put on by Shaun Kaesler and the team at Ultra Series SA ( https://ultraseriessa.com.au/ ) This will be my seventh backyard ultra and as usual I’m excited, why wouldn’t you be ? Anyone new to the backyard ultra concept it is a 6.7km loop on the hour , every hour until there is only one runner left standing, everybody else is a DNF, assuming the last runner does the final lap alone. Invented by Gary Cantrell, known as Lazarus “Laz” Lake, an endurance race designer and director. His races include the Barkley Marathons, Big’s Backyard Ultra, Barkley Fall Classic, Vol State 500K, and Strolling Jim 40. ( You must watch this You Tube video on the Barkley Marathons https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NDZdsqbcGTU  or https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bG97F6b_6o4 )

The race itself sounds simple and to quote Laz ‘is easy, until it isn’t’. The distance and time given to complete each lap (or yard as Laz calls it) is initially laughable and competitors often finish with twenty or thirty minutes to spare but over time fatigue and mental , as well as physical,  tiredness creeps in , one lap at a time. In the end you are scrapping home just within the hour and every step is a challenge, this is when you find out about yourself and that’s the point of the event. This event really is you against yourself, surrounded by like minded people.

 

The stare that says ‘one more lap!’..

My last backyard ultra was a few weeks ago where I managed to get round 36 laps, 150 miles for a 5th place finish. You can read the post here  https://www.runbkrun.com/2022/08/18/birdys-backyard-ultra-2022/

This was my third time running Birdy’s after 24 and 28 laps the two previous years. That’s the thing with backyard ultras , you can keep improving even as you age. My PB is 47 laps and I still harbour ambitions of reaching that elusive 48 hours or 200 miles. I think it will probably have to wait until next March at Herdy’s front yard ultra in Perth. ( Shaun Kaesler names the backyard ultras held in the city as front yard ultras , compared to the normal backyard ultra which are normally held outside the city. It’s an Ultraseries  ( https://ultraseries.com.au/ ) thing I suppose?)

My final backyard ultra for the year, and my fourth, will be the Hysterical Carnage backyard ultra in Loxton, SA. I ran the inaugural event last year and can’t wait to get back. Loxton is so cool and the course is just brilliant, even the first hill is cool as it’s unrunable so gives everyone a good excise to start slow and gain some elevation as the image below shows. Albeit I hear they have put in steps now but the I reckon you’d still be better off walking that first few hundred metres of vert. Read about the 2021 event here https://www.runbkrun.com/2022/03/01/hysterical-carnage-backyard-ultra/ There’s also a rumour Shaun Kaesler may be making a run at the win, I’ll leave that here, with Phil Gore a probable no show due to other commitments.

Last few runners , probably around lap 30.

If you want to race a backyard ultra the list of events , globally, can be found here : https://backyardultra.com/races/ They are gaining in popularity and will soon become a main stream type event, similar to a marathon of a 100 miler.  They offer the runner a unique opportunity to start at the front of the field every hour and also gives the mentally strong runners an advantage over the physically trained runner. As David Goggins ( https://davidgoggins.com/ ) is so fond of saying when you think you’re done you’re about 40% there, the other 60% is available but to be able to access it you will need mental strength, not physical. This is why a backyard ultra can be a leveler, gives us older runners one final chance of competing at the pointy end of an event.

Another benefit is its the only ultra format where you get to see your fellow competitors constantly, not just at the start and then many hours , or days, later at finish. The comradery is special because really there is no overall winner, everybody is trying to help everybody else achieve their goals, one lap at a time. Of course in the end everybody DNF’s bar one and that also helps takes the pressure of chasing a  poduim or even placings; the first person to DNF is as much a DNF as the last. person to DNF. The number of laps to get your DNF is a personal achievement or goal.

You also get to eat a lot which is probably another reason I love the format and spend time talking to other competitors as you’re rarely in the red zone , so to speak, where talking is difficult; reference in a marathon as an example. Where else can you sit down for a full meal and still be considered racing, only ultras. !

Herdy’s Frontyard Ultra 2021 was the biggest backyard ultra in the World, so far… mainstream here we come.

 

Right here’s a final treat on this post, the race report from Phil Gore prehaps the most decorated backyard runner in Australia and a future world’s best..

 

“Time wasted at the lake is time well spent” – Unknown

Birdy’s Backyard Ultra

Friday 5/8/22 – Sunday 7/8/22

“[A] Backyard Ultra is a form of ultramarathon race where competitors must consecutively run the distance of 6706 meters (4.167 miles) in less than one hour. When each lap is completed, the remaining time within the hour is typically used to recover for the next hour’s race.” – backyardultra.com

If you’ve been following my journey, you probably have a good idea of what the backyard ultra is about. If you are new here, feel free look through my previous blogs for the Birdy’s and Herdy’s run reports. Also recommended reading is “Backyard Ultras, the new Marathon” by Kevin Matthews – it really sums up the format of event quite nicely. The 2022 edition of Birdy’s Backyard would be my third year in a row competing in the event, and my sixth backyard overall.

“Most success springs from an obstacle or failure” – Scott Adams

I first did Birdy’s in 2020, having never competed in anything longer than a 12-hour race before. I was completely unprepared, I had no plan, I was basically just winging it the whole time. My strategy was just make it to 24 hours and then hang in there for as long as possible after that. I didn’t even have a crew until about the 8-hour mark, and even then, it was just one person – my wife Gemma. She was about as clueless about crewing for a backyard as I was for running one. Fortunately, we had some other people jump in and help towards the end, and it really did take a village to keep me going. I finished as the assist, with 39 yards, and had absolutely destroyed myself in the process. However, I learnt a lot from that experience, and since then I have put much of my focus at improving myself at the format. At my very next backyard ultra (Herdy’s Frontyard Ultra 2021), 7 months later, I went on to win and break the Australian Record with 48 yards. Every time I ran a backyard ultra, I was constantly learning – discovering new things that worked well and changing things that didn’t. By the time I made it to Birdy’s Backyard 2022, I had five backyard ultras under my belt – four of which I had won, three of which I had entered the 200 mile club (48 yards), and two of which I had set a new Australian record.

Aerial view of race village and start area. Photo credit: Astrid Volzke

Having run a 24-hour track ultra just five weeks prior, and pushing myself so hard that I had to take a few days off of running, I was not sure if I would be properly recovered in time. I toyed with the idea of using it as a training run, going into it with a limit on how many laps I would run (possibly just 24). As race day neared, I ultimately decided that if I’m going to enter, I might as well do it properly. Although I was feeling pretty good, I was also aware of the fact that if I hadn’t properly recovered that it could soon catch up with me and potentially end my race prematurely.

“We’ve got a sign out there that says ‘Bridge ahead, 97 people at a time’. That is a piss take” – Shaun Kaesler (Event Director)

The Birdy’s course, set at Lake Towerrinning in WA, has been slightly different each year. The original course from 2020 had to be altered in 2021 due to flooding. We lost the beautiful single track through the forest and gained a horrible, muddy track through a swamp. This year, it was closer to the original course, with the forest instead of the swamp, but it still retained some of the other smaller variations from 2021. The extended bridge was still there, although Graeme had to attend to it the previous day to make some final repairs. Last year, Event Director Shaun Kaesler had specifically asked us to make sure there were no more than 5 on the bridge at a time. It seemed everyone had a problem with counting to 5, so this year he made the instruction clearer – 1 person per segment of the bridge at a time. From what I saw (although I didn’t see everyone as I was usually towards the front of the pack each time), people were a bit more respectful of the rule this year.

The sign just before the bridge. Photo credit: Astrid Volzke

Although we had received a bit of rain in the lead up to this event, there was nowhere near as much as we had received the previous year. The water crossings were minor and there were no waterlogged paddocks to have to navigate your way across. However, you could still see remnants of make-shift stick bridges created by runners, a stark reminder of how bad it was last year. The 2022 course, I would have to say, was my favourite iteration of the course yet.

My base for the weekend was set up pretty much the same as the previous year. I had my caravan parked alongside Chris Martin’s caravan, with a couple of marquees in the middle. I have come a long way from the first year when all I had was a tent, a chair, one bag for clothes and one bag for food. I was now super organised, with many of the comforts of home. This year, Chris and I were also joined by Aaron Young, who was running his third backyard with a previous best of 28 yards. The three of us would share the marquee space and planned on working together to reach a big total. My crew were veterans Gemma (my wife) and Wayne and Amanda (who unfortunately had to disappear early and unexpectedly), plus a newbie to Team Gore – Eve Knudson. Eve was registered for the race but wasn’t planning on going much more than one lap. She finished two, timed out on the third, and then jumped on to crewing duties.

“Goals are about the results you want to achieve. Systems are about the processes that lead to those results” – James Clear.

I don’t focus on goals in backyard ultras. I focus on the journey. I have a system in place, and all I do is just follow that system and the goals look after themselves. It really can be that simple if you just break it down to one lap at a time. Coming into my sixth backyard, I had fine-tuned my system a lot, and following it felt like it was the smoothest it’s ever been – for myself and the crew. I didn’t pay attention to what lap I was on, and my crew knew not to tell me. They just told me what was required for that hour or what to expect for the next one. I have everything pre-planned, from what pace I’m going to run at, what I’m going to eat, when I’m going to sleep, and even the little things like when I need to apply sunscreen or check my watch battery. I do allow myself some flexibility with it as I don’t like to be super rigid, but it does provide a really good guide. The more I can plan beforehand, the less thinking my crew and I need to do on race day(s).

The race kicked off at 10am Friday and it looked like we were going to get pretty lucky with the weather conditions. It had been freezing overnight and was still slightly chilly in the morning. I wore my long sleeves for lap 1, but by lap 2 it had warmed up enough for short sleeves. The first day is always quite social, everyone is in good spirits and chatting away. And because no one is trying to ‘win’ each lap, it’s easy to run with mates and have a laugh together. There was a generally positive vibe amongst everyone, a contrast to the previous year when there had been a lot of negativity in relation to the course and the weather.

With Kevin Matthews just before the start of lap 1. Photo credit: Rob Donkersloot

Just before the sun set on the first day, my wife and crew chief Gemma arrived (she had been at work all day and have driven down straight after). This was the cue for my first foot bath of the event (I wasn’t going to give Amanda or Eve the displeasure of cleaning my feet). I’ve talked about foot baths in my previous run reports and it’s something that I highly recommend. This year I included the use of Squirrel’s Nut Butter Happie Toes as a part of the foot care routine and it made a huge difference. I think by the end of the event I only had two or three blisters, and even then, they were only minor.

“Sleep is the best meditation” – Dalai Lama

A couple of laps after sunset and I was settling into my sleep routine. This is where I quicken the pace to maximise my break time and therefore get more sleep. I was averaging about 36 minutes per lap, a huge difference from the previous year, a reflection on just how much easier the course was this time around. From the time I settled into bed, until my crew woke me at 57 minutes past the hour, I was managing to get almost 20 minutes of sleep time. There were two things I introduced this year that made sleeping so much easier – meditation, and noise cancelling earphones. The meditation is something I had been working on for the previous 4 months with Rob Donkersloot at Mind Focused Running. It really helped calm my mind and help me drift off. And the noise cancelling headphones were a game changer – I can’t believe I had never considered trying them before. I wouldn’t even hear the 5-minute warning song (Surfin’ Bird by The Trashmen). Sometimes it would feel like I had rested for well over 20 minutes and I’d internally panic that my crew might have forgotten to wake me. I had to ask them to set an alarm at the 57-minute mark so I could trust they would remember.

That first night was freezing. So cold in fact that my frosty breath, illuminated by my headlamp, made it really hard to see where I was going. At one stage this caused me to trip on a rock and fall over – luckily no damage was done. By midnight I was running in trackpants, and I never run in trackpants. I’m sure glad I packed them – they were just one of those items I threw in for ‘just in case’, but didn’t think I would ever actually use. A good reminder to always be prepared for any scenario. The plus side of the cold weather was that it probably helped me get the laps done quicker. Compared to the heat at Herdy’s, where I wasn’t really getting in any quicker than 40 minutes. As the night progressed, I was definitely looking forward to that sun coming up! People talk about that surge of energy you get with sunrise, but I already had the energy – I was just looking forward to running with better lighting and visibility. It’s also a good excuse to slow the pace back down and make it more social again. About halfway around the lake on the 6:00am lap I was able to take my headlamp off – always a good feeling! A few laps later and I had a shower and felt ready to tackle another 24 hours.

By 24 hours we were down to about 16 people. Not as many as we had at the previous few WA backyard events, but from only 90 odd starters, 16 was a pretty good percentage. There were lots of quality runners left in the field too. Kevin Matthews, who was ranked 4th in Australia and had been my assist twice. Jessica Smith who was the current female Australian record holder with 41 yards. Chris Martin, Rob Parsons and Carl Douglas who had all done a minimum of 33 yards before and I knew were determined to go further. Aaron Young was a bit of a dark horse with a previous best of 28 yards, but I knew his training in the lead up had been looking strong. 24 hours is a big milestone, and people often tend to drop out at milestones. There was a spike after 12 hours with seven people not continuing, and again after 100km with eight people. This time however, no one dropped out after completing the 24th hour – it almost seems cliché to do so (three people, however, dropped out after completing ‘one more lap’, and finishing with 25 yards).

Lap 24, feeling fresh after a shower. Photo credit: Astrid Volzke

“The only way to become excellent is to be endlessly fascinated by doing the same thing over and over. You have to fall in love with boredom.” – James Clear

The second day for me is usually where the boredom sets in. It’s not physical fatigue, or tiredness, or muscle soreness that makes it challenging, it’s just the grind of doing the same thing over and over. The first milestone I aimed to tick off was my PB (51 yards), and to get to 24 hours wasn’t even halfway there. As I said to my crew at one point “I just can’t be bothered!” Although that was somewhat true, I was actually quite accustomed to the monotony of running laps. I haven’t ever done a race further than 47km that wasn’t a lapped format. And I probably had at least one training session a week that was just running laps somewhere. Consequently, this time around, the boredom didn’t quite hit me as hard. I didn’t reach the point where I was questioning why the hell I signed up for the event in the first place. I was better able to just focus on the journey and be present in the moment (thanks Rob). I continued to follow my systems – I was on track with my plan. I didn’t have any issues sticking to the pace, I didn’t have any issues with my nutrition (thanks Gaby), I was having foot baths at the required intervals, etc.  Despite a bit of rain here and there, the weather wasn’t really too bad. All in all, the second day went pretty smoothly. As we reached sunset, we were down to 10 runners, and the second night would be a real test for the remaining runners.

The 10 remaining runners heading into lap 32 (5:00pm). L to R: Carl Douglas, Chris Martin, Aaron Young, myself, Jen Millum, Jessica Smith, Charles Bosveld, Michael Bellmon, Rob Parsons and Kevin Matthews. Photo credit: Gemma Gore

The next big milestone was 36 yards, also known as the 150 mile club, which six runners made it to. However, only four continued after that. Kev and Carl rang the DNF bell, leaving myself, Jess, Rob and Aaron. I was still feeling relatively good at that point, but I wanted to know where everyone else was at. I wanted to go far in this event, and I’d need their help to do it. As much as it is a competitive event, it’s also about working together. I sacrificed my sleep break on the next lap to run at a slower pace and give myself a chance to chat with the other runners. I wanted to help motivate them and let them know I was there to help if they needed anything. Not surprisingly, they all seemed pretty determined and self motivated – I think that’s a quality you have to have to get that far in a backyard. My crew was also all over it, talking to the other crews and seeing if there was anything they could do to help. I remember after one of the laps, it would have been around midnight, I was half asleep and Aaron came back complaining about sore feet. Gemma, who was trying to get to sleep herself, heard this and jumped up to help. She taped up his feet using my special blister stuff and kept him moving.

It had been slightly warmer the second night, thanks to the cloud cover – but this also came with an increased chance of rain. It had been light and sporadic for the first part of the night, picked up around 11pm, and at 2am it really bucketed down. This deterioration in weather coincided with the ‘witching hours’ which would make it a really challenging night for everyone. The runners who had dropped out before this point were probably snuggled up in their warm, dry beds, thankful that they weren’t still out there.

“When it’s pouring rain and you’re bowling along through the wet, there’s satisfaction in knowing that you’re out there and the others aren’t” – Peter Snell

As it turned out, I didn’t mind the rain. I embraced it. I might even go as far to say that I enjoyed it. Sure, the course became flooded in parts and avoiding puddles became impossible. The rain was so heavy it was hard to see past the droplets falling in front of my face. There was definitely more work for my crew, trying to stay on top of getting me dry during the breaks. But you can’t control the weather. You can only prepare for it. And this is exactly what I prepared for when I ran the 24-hour track ultra in Canberra five weeks previously. As it turned out, we ended up with reasonably good weather then, but the preparation wasn’t wasted and now I had the chance to put it all to good use. I didn’t let the rain slow me down, I still had a plan and a pace I needed to stick to. I ran straight through puddles and didn’t care about getting shoes and socks wet – I had packed enough spares. Gemma cleaned and dried my feet while I slept. I was thankful for my UGLOW rain jacket that I had only just picked up a few weeks earlier. It did an awesome job of keeping me warm and dry – honestly the best rain jacket I’ve ever owned. Although I wasn’t letting the rain affect me, my biggest concern was how it might be affecting the others – I didn’t want the race to end prematurely. I was thankful each time I saw all of them at the starting line. They seemed to be handling it well.

The remaining four heading out on lap 45 (6:00am), after surviving the worst of the rain. Sunrise is imminent. Photo credit: Shaun Kaesler

A couple of laps before sunrise, the rain died down (although the course was still flooded). There was light at the end of the tunnel. The remaining four of us had survived the worst of it. It would only be easier from here, right? But no sooner had the rain stopped that we had our next casualty. Rob was a DNF after 44 yards, a massive improvement on his only other backyard performance of 36 yards. One lap later, just as the sun had come up, we lost Jess. She had persevered through the night, waiting for that surge of energy that normally comes with daylight, but it never came. She had a phenomenal performance though, breaking her own female Australian Backyard record of 41 yards, raising the benchmark to 45 yards. By 7:00 am, it was down to just two runners – myself and the dark horse, Aaron Young.

It was at this point that I changed my process. I dropped my pace back so I could run with Aaron. He had no goals, but just wanted to push on as far as possible. He knew I wanted to beat my current PB and Australian record of 51 yards, and he told me he would at least be able to get to there. In fact, he was talking about getting to the third night. I had to ask my crew to put on a load of washing, as the wet weather had accelerated the rate at which I had gone through my socks, tops and buffs. My watch said I had about 10 hours left, and feeling optimistic, I put it on charge for a little bit during a couple of the breaks. That gave it about an extra 10 hours, good enough to get through to about 65 yards. That would do for now, and I could charge it again later if need be.

Aaron and I running together through the “Caravan Graveyard”, shortly after sunrise on the third day. Photo Credit: Astrid Volzke

I hung back with Aaron, and we walked and jogged the course together. Thankfully the rain had stopped, but there was still a bit of flooding on the course. However, now that the sun was out, we could navigate through it a bit better and found a way to get through the whole lap without getting our shoes and socks wet. I quite enjoyed these laps Aaron and I did together, just talking and getting to know each other better. As much as I had dropped my pace back to help him get through, he was helping me a lot too by keeping me motivated and giving me something to focus on.

“It ain’t over ‘til it’s over” – Yogi Berra

As we kept ticking off the laps, I was feeling much the same, but I could tell that Aaron was beginning to deteriorate. At no point, however, did I let myself think that I had it in the bag. I had been caught out with that mindset before. At Herdy’s in 2021, when it was down to myself and Kev, I had starting thinking around the 36th yard that he was going to drop out soon. That wasn’t good for my mental state – my mind was telling my body it was almost over. I was continually thinking I only had one or two more laps left, and each lap became increasingly difficult to keep going. I learned from that experience and now every time I do a backyard I continually tell myself “It ain’t over ‘til it’s over”. I have witnessed other events where runners have been circling the drain for several laps, coming in just under cut-off each time, only to pick up again later in the race and be back in the game. I knew that by working with Aaron to get further, I was potentially allowing more time for him to get better and/or for me to get worse, and there was still every chance he could beat me. Such is the nature of a backyard. But my primary goal wasn’t to win. I wanted both Aaron and I to go as far as we possibly could.

We were coming in consistently around 53 minutes per lap. This messed with my routine a little bit as I prefer to do the laps under 50 minutes to allow for more rest. Coming in past 53 minutes meant by the time I got to the marquee and sat down there was probably only a little over a minute before “Surfin’ Bird” started playing. Even though I didn’t need to get up at the start of that song, it triggered an automatic response to start mentally preparing for the next lap. It didn’t matter too much though, I was happy to keep going at that pace if that’s what it took to keep Aaron in the game.

Refueling whilst Gemma tends to my feet; Aaron in the background being tended to by his crew. Photo credit: Astrid Volzke

We got to the end of 51 yards together, which for me, was the minimum I had hoped for us to get to. If Aaron had dropped out at that point I would have done 1 more yard to make it 52 – a new PB and Australian record. Aaron said to me he would hold on for as many more laps as possible, but truthfully, it didn’t sound like it would be a lot. I figured he had at least a couple more in him and I would continue to work with him to get the laps done. By lap 53, we were cutting it fine to get in within cut-off. With about 1km to go, after a quick discussion with Aaron, I ran ahead to allow myself a bit of extra time for the break, as I had some things I needed to do. I came in just under 54 minutes (my slowest lap for the event so far). I let everyone know that Aaron was still coming, but he was cutting it close. He came in just as the 2 minute siren was sounded, his crew quickly attended to him and then we both got to the start line for lap 54.

We walked/shuffled the first km together. Aaron couldn’t move at the required pace and it took us over 10 minutes to get to the 1km mark. We were a couple of minutes slower than we needed to be. I asked Aaron if he thought he might be able to pick up the pace. He looked wrecked, and I kind of felt bad for asking him. He made the decision that he wasn’t going to be able to finish the lap in time and gave me the ok to run ahead. I put my arm around him and shook his hand. I told him how inspiring his effort was and that he should be really proud of himself. And then I left him. I was on my own to finish off the last lap. Despite the state I had left Aaron in, I tried not to tell myself that it was the last lap. I ran the rest of the lap conservatively. I wasn’t going to rule Aaron out until the hour ticked over and he hadn’t reached the finish line. As I said before, “It ain’t over ‘til it’s over”, and thinking you are almost finished is a bad mindset to get into. As it turned out, he had headed back after going through the caravan section returned to the finish area, arriving just a few minutes before I got there. The race was over. I had completed 54 yards (362.34km), a new Australian record (which got to hold for another week until the bar was raised to 59 yards).

Aaron being helped back in after turning around during lap 54.
L to R: Chris Martin, Aaron Young and Ben Ridley. Photo credit: Astrid Volzke
All smiles after finishing lap 54 – the final lap. Photo credit: Astrid Volzke

Although I was already on the at-large list, by winning this event I earned myself a ‘silver ticket’, which guaranteed me entry into the Backyard Satellite Championships, which will be held in October. This is chance to go up against 14 of the best backyard runners in the country, as well as to see how Australia fares against the rest of the world. 50 different events in 50 different countries compete simultaneously to see which team can get the furthest.

*****

I’d like to make a special mention to some of the services and products I use throughout my training and were invaluable on race day

My nutrition for this event was once again done under the guidance of Gaby Villa at Intenseatfit. I always had enough energy to get me through lap after lap, and never had gut issues. In events like these, I’ve always been a fan of just eating real food and eating main meals at the times of day when I normally would in everyday life. Gaby was able to work with me on this and design a plan to suit my preference, but a substantive change she added is the use of a carbohydrate drink (I used Trail Brew), and this made a positive impact.

I’ve been working with Rob Donkersloot at Mind Focused Running for several months now, but this was the first backyard ultra I’ve done under his guidance. I definitely felt a difference in terms of my mindset this time around – I was much better able to just stay in the moment, didn’t let things out of my control get to me and I was a lot more patient. The backyard ultra, I think, is the perfect event to just focus on the journey and not worry about the overall goal. You literally just have to take it one lap at a time.

OC Clothing Co make awesome running tops, not only are they a quality product, they also have some funky designs – and also do custom made ones. I felt particularly privileged to run in my mates personalised “Team Strong Arms” top, as well as the obligatory BK top for lap 47. It’s worth investing in lightweight gear that wicks sweat away and won’t sandpaper your body.

Love the camaraderie in the “Team Strong Arms” tops by OC Clothing Co. L to R: Myself, Kevin Matthews and Chris Martin. Photo credit: Astrid Volzke.

Which brings me to my next product – T8 Sherpa Shorts and Commando Underwear. These are what I run in every day but are particularly suited to long events like these. I can go for 24 hours or longer at a time without the need to change and suffer no chafing issues. They are super quick drying so even with the downpour on the second night, I didn’t need to change them between laps. The thing I love about the Sherpa Shorts the most though are the handy little waistbelt pockets. Plenty of room to carry a water flask and a phone, plus gloves or snacks or anything else you might need to take out on a lap with you, without feeling weighed down.

My UGLOW rain jacket was particularly handy for this event. I’ve already talked about how helpful it was with the amount of rain we had the second night, but I just want to give it an extra shout-out here. I was so glad I had it and that night could have gone very differently if I didn’t. Hey – I actually enjoyed running in the rain!

In my UGLOW jacket at the start of lap 43 (4:00am), still smiling despite the rain. Photo credit: Gemma Gore

I’ve briefly mentioned it already, but I’m a big advocate of foot care. Damaged feet due to blisters, maceration, lost toenails, etc can end your race prematurely, or at the very least, make it extremely uncomfortable to continue. Prevention is better than the cure, and the two main products I swear by to help protect your feet are Steigen socks, and Squirrels Nut Butter – Happie Toes. Steigen socks are specifically designed to reduce friction and reduce moisture retention – which are two main causes of blisters. Changing them often helps reduce blisters even more, so I always have plenty of pairs ready to go. The Squirrel’s Nut Butter I’d apply to my feet after every foot bath (every 12 hours or so). It’s also good to use in the week leading up to the event – just massage into the feet every night before bed. Speaking of Squirrel’s Nut Butter – their original anti-chafe salve is also a handy thing to have in your backyard tool kit if you are prone to chafing on other parts of your body.

Steigen socks, hanging out to dry after a wash. Photo credit: Gemma Gore

A good pair of properly fitting shoes are also essential for looking after your feet. It’s also a good idea to take multiple pairs of the same shoes, as well as different models of shoes, to be able to rotate through during the event. You might find that one pair starts rubbing in a particular spot, or your feet swell and don’t fit so well anymore, or shoes get wet, etc. Always good to have some back up pairs to change into if required. Thank you to Tarkine for providing me with multiple pairs of the Goshawk which made up a major part of my shoe rotation for this event.

And finally a big shout-out to Tribe & Trail in Maylands. This is my go-to shop for running gear and equipment, including most of the above stuff I’ve just raved about. It’s worth checking them out.

End event. I love the contrast this photo shows between winner and assist. Photo credit: Emma Luscombe

 

Three of my favourite products…  fisiocrem ( https://www.fisiocrem.com.au/ ) is just bloody brilliant and does exactly what it says it does , it just gets the major muscle groups moving again. I use this extensively towards the end of the race when my quads are hammered.  It really makes a difference and allows me to move back through the gears towards the end of an event when most runners are stumbling home.

 

Fisiocrem is a must have in your ultra box of tricks…

Bix hydration is just ace, a product brought to life by Vlad Ixel a professional ultra runner who knows a thing or two about hydration. ( https://www.bixvitamins.com/ )  The best thing about Bix is it tastes good with many different flavours and you never get sick of drinking it, this is a big plus as Maurten and Tailwind (both great products)  can be difficult to digest later in the event.  From the website :-

As an Australian elite multiple trail running champion, with wins in over 40 ultra-marathon races across Asia, recovery from training and races has always been my top priority. 

In searching for a solid recovery and hydration supplement, I recognized that critical vitamins and minerals – both in diversity and quantity – were missing from almost all supplements on the market. I had the feeling that in an effort to maximize their bottom-lines, companies in the hydration space, failed to deliver a product that could meaningfully assist athlete performance. 

In order to address this, I began the development of a hydration product. After two and a half years of development alongside a leading German sports scientist, BIX Recovery, an advanced, high-quality recovery drink was born. 

BIX boosts 12 active ingredients scientifically balanced to replace lost electrolytes and assist in immune function. It’s designed with quality vitamins and minerals, in quantities that work! 

BIX is a recovery solution for everyone, that will get you to the top of your game!

Great hydration.

What can I say about HumanTecar,  ( https://athleticus.com.au/ ) it looks great, smells great and is awesome for recovery or even pre-run/workout. Read about the science behind it first and then try the products. The compression bandages are just magical after a long event. Put these on and the next day you are recovered, I have used them on a number of occasions and they never fail to astound me albeit the family poke fun at me as I look like a ‘mummy and smell funny’ !

 

 

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Doing nothing is sometimes the best way to improve.

With adding my commute to work on the Elliptigo these last few weeks ( https://www.elliptigo.com.au/ ) I’m starting to feel fatigued on my lunch time runs. This, together with a full racing calendar stacked full of Ultra’s, is starting to add up and I took my first day off in a month last Sunday. Did I feel better on Monday, probably, it’s hard to tell these days. Last year was my hardest in terms of races and longest in terms of distance and I seem to be going harder and longer this year. With my 55th birthday in February I am now close to sixty than fifty and this is a sobering thought. Maybe this is why I’m pushing myself harder because I know the end is in view, I’m not saying the end, end , if you know what I mean, I saying my ability to compete at the front of the field. With ultra races I can use my mental strength to keep most of the field behind me but each year I know I will move back through the pack. I have no problem with this but it doesn’t mean I will accept it and not go down without a fight. To this end I entered the 1,000mile Run Brittania last month. ( https://ratracerunbritannia.com/ ), I’m hoping training for this event will ‘keep me young’, probably a runners logic ?

 

Meb (Boston Winner and Olympic Marathon runner) on the ‘Go’.

 

Benefits of the Elliptigo.

 

One way I can probably slow down the aging challenges is weight training and a structured rest regime. I have known this for many years but made little effort to do either albeit I did join a gym for a few months before Delirious 2021 in October. I was paranoid that my quads would give in so tried to work leg muscle groups. Once I finished Delirious my gym career was put back on hold , and it remains in this holding pattern.

As for days off I still struggle but maybe if I was to go to the gym, instead of running,  I can kill two birds with one stone ?  It’s not a full day off in the purest sense of the term but better than nothing I suppose.

 

 

Resting can be fun..

 

Why you should take at least one day off from training every week

Here’s why you shouldn’t be skipping rest days if you really want to reach those running goals BY TED SPIKER

 

When staring at a new training plan, you quickly realise there’s a lot to do, and that’s on top of all the other things in your day-to-day life. So when you see the word ‘rest’ on your schedule, it’s tempting to skip past it and look for the next ‘real’ to-do. After all, why would you do nothing when there’s always something to cross off that long, long to-do list?

The answer to that question is simple: NOT running is just as important as fitting in that long weekend run or that Tuesday speed session. Rest days help to strengthen your body, sharpen your mind and boost your motivation levels so that you actually want to get out for your next run.

‘Rest is not a four-letter word,’ says Dr Kevin Vincent, director of the University of Florida Running Medicine Clinic in the US. ‘The big reason you need it is recovery and recuperation. Every time you run, your body has to adapt to get stronger.’

That’s because when you run, you aren’t just building your stamina and strength; you’re also breaking your body down, causing a tiny amount of tissue damage with every step. And allowing yourself time to recover afterward is what makes it possible for you to come back better next week, next month, next race.

‘As much as athletes focus on their volume of training and the speed at which they do workouts, what they do outside of running is equally important to becoming stronger and more resilient in the future,’ says Dr Adam Tenforde, assistant professor of physical medicine and rehab at Harvard University, US, and a former elite runner.

Dr Bonnie Marks, staff psychologist at New York University’s Sports Performance Center, agrees. ‘If you don’t have time to recharge, it can lead to staleness and general apathy about training.’

In other words, rest right and you’ll run better, avoid time on the physio’s treatment table, stay motivated and gain more reward from your running. Fail to rest properly and you’ll slowly – or sometimes rather rapidly – fall apart. Follow these training tweaks to optimise recovery and build a stronger, and more rested, you.

Why rest matters

Whether you’re strictly a recreational runner or training more regularly and seriously, there’s value in taking at least one day off from your training each week – even if you’re deep into a run streak. That day off is when your body uses nutrients and undergoes biological processes and hormone cycles to rebuild itself, says Tenforde. Still got ants in your runderpants? Here are four more reasons to chill.

1.Your muscles bounce back

When you run (or do any kind of exercise), you create microscopic tears in your muscle fibres and your body likes those about as much as you like trying to open a sweaty gel packet after 15 miles. So it responds by rebuilding your muscles stronger, in preparation for the next session. Sounds like a good deal, but there’s a catch: that response only happens with adequate time off from exercising. Vincent says that, depending on the length and intensity of your workout, the body needs a minimum of 36-48 hours to properly reboot. Without it, the body has no opportunity to rebuild and strengthen muscles; they just continue to break down. That negates all the hard work you put in.

  1. You avoid stress fractures

If you’re trying to sidestep an injury, rest is crucial. Contrary to what ill-informed naysayers will trot out, running is actually great for your bones – the impact stresses the bone tissue, and just like a muscle, that increases cell turnover and forces the bone to remodel with stronger structures, says Vincent. ‘But if you run today, tomorrow and the next day, it never has time to fully repair.’ Eventually, you could be looking at a stress fracture – and a lengthy spell out of action.

  1. Tight tendons are protected

Tendons are connective tissues that hold muscle to bone, so they work constantly as the body moves. But blood doesn’t get to them easily, so they take longer to repair than tissues that get a more plentiful supply of your claret (like muscles), explains Vincent. If they don’t get that much-needed time, the constant pounding can cause chronic damage, such as tendinitis – which is inflammation from overuse.

  1. Your brain has time to chill

Yes, running is a form of stress relief. But every time you lace up, it actually increases the levels of the stress hormone cortisol in your body. Why is that? ‘The body doesn’t know if you’re running away from danger or if you’re running for fun,’ says Vincent. That cortisol bump can cause mood issues, irritability, sleep problems and other health issues if stress levels are chronically high. Think of it like a scale: overtrain, and you’ve tipped too far in one direction; schedule regular rest days, and you’ll bring yourself back in balance.

Rest up or one day you’ll need to pay the piper.

 

Why you need to ease off

A lot of runners worry that time off can cause them to regress, but that’s not necessarily true. Jason Fitzgerald, coach and founder of Strength Running, says you can take a full week off and be fine. That’s why most sports doctors suggest scaling it back for one to two weeks after each big event. (Example: four to five days of very light physical activity – such as walking – then a week of strength, core work, flexibility and short runs to loosen things up.) When you follow this advice, you’ll enjoy these benefits.

You’ll fine-tune your body

There’s a difference between being totally sidelined and being hampered – aka feeling discomfort without major pain. If your body gets some proper R&R, it’s more likely that the problem will heal instead of turn into a fully fledged injury, says Fitzgerald.

Your body’s protective systems reset

When you fail to rest, you are, in effect, telling your body’s inflammatory process to be on high alert. That process is protective, yes, but when it’s in overdrive from constant running, it backfires – putting your body in a chronic state of inflammation that increases your risk of infections and other illnesses, says Kate Mihevc Edwards, an orthopaedic specialist at Precision Performance in Atlanta, US. Taking even a one-day run holiday will reduce the inflammation and lower your odds of being struck down by illness.

 

You can acknowledge growth

There’s real value in flipping through old training diaries or your historic Strava data and seeing how far you’ve come, says running coach and two-time US Olympic Marathon Trials qualifier Dr Magdalena Donahue. ‘You need to see what you’ve done, what worked and what didn’t, and let your brain relax,’ she explains. ‘The pause helps you come back a lot more energised and focused.’ Plus, it’s always great to look back on the runs you actually smashed…

You’ll stay motivated

If you’re constantly churning out the miles like a hamster on a wheel (now you see the relevance of the picture), that desire to do better, which originally burned so strong, can dwindle. Call it burnout, loss of mojo, whatever… coming back from it can be a long, hard slog. Scaling back helps you maintain your hunger to train and improve, so you don’t have to mentally start over at square one, says Fitzgerald.

Do I need more time off?

Sometimes you can tell. Like when you can’t walk down the stairs. Other times it’s not so obvious. If you’re wavering about taking a break, Vincent suggests asking yourself these three key questions:

  1. Did my last few runs feel harder than usual, even though they were the same training paces and distances as previous ones?
  2. Do I feel less motivated to run today?
  3. Does running feel more like a chore than something I enjoy?

>If you answered yes to any of the above, you should consider more rest.

How to start getting more rest

Ok, so you’re starting to get why time off and rest is important, but how do you go about doing that? Try these options:

Go low-impact

Incorporating low-impact exercise (such as cycling, rowing and the elliptical machine) allows you to get the aerobic benefits you’re after without taxing your bones and tendons as you would by running. If you have access to a pool, swimming is one of the best options (try aqua-jogging for running-related benefits, or lap swimming if your legs need a break). ‘It has zero impact and being in a cool pool is soothing,’ says running coach Dr Magdalena Donahue.

Try ball sports

When you play tennis, social netball or just kick a football around in the back garden with the kids, you form more well-rounded muscles and bones, which reduces your risk of injury. ‘When you’re running, everything is linear, so your bone gets stronger in one plane of motion,’ says Vincent. ‘By doing something with lateral, back-and-forth movement, you strengthen in all planes.’

Make friends with your couch

Rest days don’t mean you have to veg out all day – in fact, Sarah Lavender Smith, author of The Trail Runner’s Companion (Falcon Guides), says you should always try to move a little – but there’s nothing wrong with taking a few hours to relax. Just do it on the day before your long run, not after. ‘It’s a mistake to go on a long, depleting run and then overeat and lie around the next day,’ says Smith. Doing so causes feelings of lethargy, bloat and overall blahs, she adds.

Cross training…

Play computer games

Studies have found that playing computer games can help control anxiety before performance, and one even discovered that players needed less recovery time after a stressful event. Researchers aren’t entirely sure why this is the case, but they theorise that by offering a way to escape to an alternative reality, computer games work as a calming mechanism to decrease stress.

Sleep more

Not only does a good kip combat mood issues and fatigue, but Fitzgerald says your duvet time is also the time when your body gets the most work done during its repair process. Plus, some research shows that poor sleep quality may be associated with loss of bone density, putting you at risk for developing stress fractures. (See? It all comes full circle.)

Meditate

Science shows that this practice can help improve performance, ease symptoms of pain and boost your breathing. Marks suggests lying on the floor with your eyes closed, focusing on breathing from your belly – not your chest – for at least five minutes. (A good way to check if you’re getting this right is to place a book on your tummy – if the book rises, you’re breathing right.) If you struggle with staying that still – or your kids confuse your meditation time with human-trampoline time, opt for a quiet walk in nature or download a meditation app you can use at the office.

 

WHAT IF I’M A STREAKER?

We’re not the ones to tell you to break a #RWRunStreak to catch up on your box-sets, but be aware of intensity. If you’re heading out for an easy mile to continue your streak, don’t worry about a rest day. But if intervals and speedwork are part of your routine, ‘recovery is much more important to fit in’, says Dr Bryan Heiderscheit, director of the University of Wisconsin Runners Clinic in the US.

How to fuel your recovery

No running, better rest, what next? Food is next, the fuel that makes you a better run also makes you better rester.

Don’t change too much

While many runners think they need to tighten their grip on calorie intake on a rest day, that’s not really the case. ‘It’s not necessary to restrict energy intake,’ says Dr Stephanie Howe Violett, a running and nutrition coach and winner of the Western States 100 ultra race in 2014. ‘That’s when most recovery and adaptation occurs, and proper nutrients are important to facilitate those processes.’ Instead, try to tune in to your hunger cues and opt for food quality over quantity.

Space out calories

Many people stack their calories towards the end of the day, meaning they eat a light breakfast and lunch and then go supersize at dinner time, says Tenforde. But that depletes your energy and makes your body more susceptible to breakdown. A steady supply is the best strategy, so if you must go light on your first two meals, balance it with nuts or fruit in between.

Fuel with micros

Carbohydrates, protein, fibre – those are the macronutrients you need to fuel a strong recovery. But runners also need micronutrients such as calcium, vitamin D and iron to replenish the body. Eating whole foods – lots of fruits, vegetables, and meat or beans – will help cover your micronutrient bases. Violett says you should aim for about half of your plate to be full of vegetables, whole grains and fruit. Then add a serving of high-quality protein and top with fat (better if it’s unsaturated) to make sure you get essential fatty acids that also aid in your recovery.

Hydrate

Rest days are a great time to pre-hydrate, as starting a run dehydrated is about as much fun as losing a toenail, says Violett. That doesn’t mean down a gallon of water at once – just be mindful about your intake over the course of the day (and check that your wee is a light- straw colour to see if you’re on track).

Enjoy that beer

Violett says it’s no big deal to indulge in a cheeky snifter, but it doesn’t exactly fuel your recovery. Opting for a ‘recovery’ beer after a tough workout? Eat a solid meal first. Going straight for the booze can hurt the body’s ability to restock glycogen stores, and your muscles may not recover as quickly.

 

Mission accomplished..Delirious West 2021.

 

How To Combat the Effects Of Aging As An Older Runner  BY JASON FITZGERALD

It’s no surprise that running gets harder as you get older. Recovery is slower, VO² max is lower, and injury risks are more numerous. 

How can the older runner keep running strong – and healthy?

Running is something I intend to do for the rest of my life. But very soon I’ll need to address the limitations of my aging body.

I’m not 22 anymore. I can’t run a 1:13 half marathon off 6 hours of sleep, recover with 5 dirty Martinis, and still rock an 18 miler the next day for a long run.

The indiscretions of youth were fun… but they won’t work when I’m 52!

Running is also becoming a much more popular sport for older athletes. In fact, a study of the New York City Marathon from 1980 – 2009 found that:

“The percent of finishers younger than 40 years significantly decreased, while the percent of masters runners significantly increased for both males and females.”

As more and more people find running, it’s increasingly clear that many of them are older athletes.

My goal is to run as successfully as possible for as long as possible. This means quite a few things:

  • Stay healthy (this should be a top goal for any 40+ runner)
  • Maintain competence at skills (full range of motion, coordination, measures of strength, etc.)
  • Feel good on most runs (free of pain, aches, niggles, etc.)
  • Maintain a healthy body composition and preserve muscle mass (I want to look good. There, I said it!)

In effect, my running goals will transform into longevity goals as I get older (for more on longevity, I highly recommend Blue Zones for showing you the keys to living a longer, healthier life).

But running gets a lot harder for older athletes. How can we mitigate the effects of aging so we can keep running well into our golden years?

It starts with understanding why Master’s athletes start slowing down.

Why is running harder for Master’s runners?

Well, what isn’t hard about running when you get older? Most aspects of physical performance decline with age – it’s simply the reality of the aging process.

Specifically, you can expect:

  • Decreased maximal heart rate
  • Fewer blood capillaries
  • Smaller and fewer muscle mitochondria
  • Decreased VO² Max
  • Lower levels of testosterone
  • Decreased growth hormone production
  • Decreased muscle mass
  • Increased body fat
  • Decreased muscular strength

These factors result in slower recovery and race times. The hormonal effects of aging are particularly pronounced; with lower levels of anabolic hormones like  human growth hormone, testosterone, and IGF-1.

The hormones that supercharged your teenage and young adult years are greatly diminished, leading to lower muscle mass, reduced sexual drive, and poor recovery from workouts.

Combined with other age-related physical declines, runners can expect an annual performance decrease of about .7% – with more notable plunges around age 40 and 60.

By age 70, the average person will have lost 30-40% of their muscle mass.

Interestingly, a 2014 review article on aging and exercise published in the Journal of the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons concluded that:

Decades of research support the fact that much age-related deterioration is the result of the effects of sedentary lifestyles and the development of medical conditions rather than of aging itself.

This is fantastic news because it means that when it comes to the aging process, we are not passive bystanders.

We can mitigate the decline of being an older runner to prolong our running careers, our health, and even our lives.

How to Train Older Runners to Feel Young Again

There is a simple training strategy that will inject more youth into anybody’s running: strength training.

Just consider its myriad benefits and how they impact the older runner:

  • Lifting weights triggers higher levels of testosterone and growth hormone (anabolic hormones that build muscle – and “big lifts” are betterat producing more testosterone)
  • Successful running for seniors depends on maintaining muscle strength and proper range of motion
  • Lifting creates denser mitochondria, the “energy factories” of the cells, which decline as you get older

The hormonal component to this story is worth some further explanation.

See, running is catabolic – it breaks down muscle. This normally isn’t a problem because the recovery process rebuilds that muscle very effectively.

But that recovery process slows down as you get older. There are fewer hormones to get it done efficiently (and running doesn’t produce as large a surge of anabolic hormones as other types of exercise like strength training).

Not only does the hormone testosterone reduce the impact of catabolic hormones, it makes other hormones (like IGF-1) more anabolic as well.

After a hard weightlifting session, your body is swimming in muscle-building hormones. That simply doesn’t happen after a hard run! Coach Jay Johnson agrees, noting:

When you do strength work you get a hormonal stimulus that is different than you get running. Specifically, you up-regulate testosterone and human growth hormone, both anabolic hormones.

Anabolic simply means “building up.” Running is a catabolic, “breaking down,” activity.

When you view running the through the anabolic/catabolic lens, it makes sense that you would want to do some strength training to complement your running.

The lesson? If we want to run well into old age – injury-free and with some semblance of ease – we’ve got to lift weights.

Lifting Helps Non-Runners Too!

In addition to how lifting will benefit running, it’s also critical for older runners aged 65+ to promote healthy, long lives. Stronger seniors who have maintained more muscle strength are at a lower risk of falling – a significant cause of age-related trauma.

Doctors are noticing as well. Timothy Quinn, a professor of exercise science at the University of New Hampshire notes:

Older runners should try very hard to get to the gym to lift weights a few times a week.

This focus on strength training throughout the aging process will help runners (and non-runners alike) maintain their strength, flexibility, fitness, and resilience to injury.

How to Start Weightlifting (even if you’re a Master’s Runner)

I want to keep experiencing runs like this into old age!

Most forms of strength training are beneficial – no matter if you’re a master’s runner, senior, or a 14 year old just getting started!

But certain types of strength work have more benefits than others.

If you’re not yet comfortable with strength exercises, start with bodyweight strength training. It will improve your general strength, range of motion, coordination, and begin to counter the effects of muscle loss due to aging.

But if you’ve been doing bodyweight strength routines – like the Gauntlet or Tomahawk Workouts – regularly, it’s time to take the next step.

Because without progression, there’s no progress.

Now, it’s time to start weightlifting! Putting up heavier weight in the gym in a more structured “weight lifting” environment is how to get the powerful, full benefits of lifting:

  • Neuromuscular coordination and enhanced running economy
  • Power and the ability to recruit a higher number of muscle fibers
  • Improved mitochondria development and testosterone production
  • Stronger hypertrophy stimulus – preserving precious muscle mass

These are significant adaptations to lifting weights that won’t happen with bodyweight exercises. The stimulus simply isn’t strong enough.

 

Why Fatigue is a Necessary Part of Training and How to Manage It

Training is like trying to walk a tight rope. You need to balance putting in grueling workouts and mileage with the ability to let your body recover. Favor one aspect too heavily and you’ll either have a poor performance from lack of training or get injured and overtrained from doing too much.

That’s why learning how to manage fatigue, and understanding the role it plays in endurance training, is critical to improving as a runner. In this article, we’re going to outline why a certain amount of fatigue is necessary to improve as a runner, how to strategically implement it, and how to find the right balance.

Why fatigue is necessary

The basis for all training theory is the what we call the workout and recovery process. Running first breaks down your muscle fibers. The harder you run, the more muscle fibers you damage. Your body then works to rebuild these damaged muscle fibers and if the recovery process goes well, these muscle fibers are repaired stronger than before. That’s how you become faster and stronger through training.

But, as you may realize, it’s nearly impossible to fully recover from a workout in 24 hours. It might be possible following a very easy day of running, but any type of speed, tempo or long run is going to require anywhere from 2 to 14 days to fully absorb and recover (here’s a breakdown of what research says about how long it takes to recover from different workout types).

That means, unless you want to only run two or three times per week, training while fatigued is a necessary part of training; especially since we know slow, easy mileage is the best way to build aerobic endurance and is the foundation for running performance. The trick is finding that balance between running enough miles to build you aerobic capacity without overdoing the fatigue.

Herein lies the “art” of training.

However, there is also a way that we can utilize this fatigue to make your training more effective.

How to utilize fatigue to run faster

In training vernacular, coaches use a term called “accumulated fatigue”. Basically, this theory posits that fatigue from one workout accumulates and transfers to the next run so that you’re always starting a workout or a long run a little tired from your previous training.

This is important for longer distance races like the marathon because it’s nearly impossible to run the full distance of the race in daily training. Furthermore, if you were to start every workout fully recovered and fresh, it would be difficult to simulate how your body feels late into a race.

As such, we can strategically implement the theory of accumulated fatigue to better target the specific demands of your race.

For example, during marathon training, one of my favorite methods for introducing accumulated fatigue is to buttress the long run against a shorter, but steady paced run the day before. As an illustration, you would run six miles at marathon pace on the Saturday before your Sunday long run. Because of the harder running on Saturday, you start Sunday’s long run not at zero miles, but rather at six or eight miles, since that is the level of fatigue and glycogen depletion your body is carrying over from the previous run.

You can even apply this theory to 5k training. Using what we know about muscle fibers and the recruitment and fatigue ladder, I often have athletes run a short, explosive hill workout (something like 9 x 60 second hills at 5k pace) two days before a 5k specific workout (12 x 400 at 5k pace with 60 second quick jog rest). The hill session fatigues and depletes the fast twitch muscle fibers so that during the 5k specific work, your intermediary Type IIa muscle fibers (the ones primarily responsible for running at 5k pace) have to handle more work and thus are more specifically targeted.

How to find the right balance

Training would be much easier – and runners much happier – if you could just train hard and fatigued all the time. But, you can’t simply continue to accumulate fatigue and run these types of workouts all the time (although some runners certainly do try). There needs to be a balance.

  • First, try to keep the specific accumulated fatigue workouts to once every two weeks and only schedule them during the race-specific portion of your training schedule. This ensures that you don’t overdo it and that you don’t get burnt out long-term.
  • Be sure to keep your easy runs slow. One of the most common mistakes runners make is running their easy day mileage too fast. This hinders your ability to recover and doesn’t provide any additional aerobic benefit. Research has shown that the most optimal aerobic pace for an easy run is about 65 percent of 5k pace. For a 20-minute 5k runner (6:25 pace for 5k – 7:20 pace marathoner), this would mean about 8:40 per mile on easy days.
  • Finally, don’t be afraid to take a down or rest week every five to six weeks where you reduce mileage by 65 to 75 percent and reduce the intensity of your workouts. These down weeks help you fully recover from and absorb previous weeks and months of training so that fatigue doesn’t build-up too much.

 

Three of my favourite products…  fisiocrem ( https://www.fisiocrem.com.au/ ) is just bloody brilliant and does exactly what it says it does , it just gets the major muscle groups moving again. I use this extensively towards the end of the race when my quads are hammered.  It really makes a difference and allows me to move back through the gears towards the end of an event when most runners are stumbling home.

 

Fisiocrem is a must have in your ultra box of tricks…

Bix hydration is just ace, a product brought to life by Vlad Ixel a professional ultra runner who knows a thing or two about hydration. ( https://www.bixvitamins.com/ )  The best thing about Bix is it tastes good with many different flavours and you never get sick of drinking it, this is a big plus as Maurten and Tailwind (both great products)  can be difficult to digest later in the event.  From the website :-

As an Australian elite multiple trail running champion, with wins in over 40 ultra-marathon races across Asia, recovery from training and races has always been my top priority. 

In searching for a solid recovery and hydration supplement, I recognized that critical vitamins and minerals – both in diversity and quantity – were missing from almost all supplements on the market. I had the feeling that in an effort to maximize their bottom-lines, companies in the hydration space, failed to deliver a product that could meaningfully assist athlete performance. 

In order to address this, I began the development of a hydration product. After two and a half years of development alongside a leading German sports scientist, BIX Recovery, an advanced, high-quality recovery drink was born. 

BIX boosts 12 active ingredients scientifically balanced to replace lost electrolytes and assist in immune function. It’s designed with quality vitamins and minerals, in quantities that work! 

BIX is a recovery solution for everyone, that will get you to the top of your game!

Great hydration.

What can I say about HumanTecar,  ( https://athleticus.com.au/ ) it looks great, smells great and is awesome for recovery or even pre-run/workout. Read about the science behind it first and then try the products. The compression bandages are just magical after a long event. Put these on and the next day you are recovered, I have used them on a number of occasions and they never fail to astound me albeit the family poke fun at me as I look like a ‘mummy and smell funny’ !

 

 

Feel free to follow me on Strava.


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Running the length of the United Kingdom, what could possibly go wrong ?

The most EPIC race I could find.

Next year I have entered the inaugural running of the Run Brittania Ultra, yep , I’m going to run the length of the United Kingdom from Lands End to John O’Groats.  To say I’m excited is the ultimate under statement, I feel like a small child on Xmas Eve, only 100 times better. This race, over 35 days, yep, 35 days, one more time, 35 days, is going to be so, so cool.

From the events website:

This is a major physical and logistical undertaking, the entire distance is still fairly seldom attempted on foot in one sitting – and rightly therefore constitutes an enormous lifetime achievement for any runner or walker.

We’ve put together a truly stunning 1000 mile, 70, 000 ft elevation adventure that spans the entire length of this great nation, but not as you have ever seen it. Our route has been put together with painstaking precision, encompassing a real ‘runners line,’ largely avoiding busy roads and packing in huge chunks of off-road terrain. It is a swashbuckling tour-de-force through 4000 years of British History and landmarks, taking you on a journey through the very soul of this storied Isle. We have also managed to weave together several of the UK’s most famous and enjoyable long-distance paths, including major sections on the South West Coast Path, Wye Valley Way, Offa’s Dyke, Clyde Walkway, the Great Glen Way and all 95 glorious miles of the West Highland Way.

The entire distance is still fairly seldom attempted on foot in one sitting – and rightly therefore constitutes an enormous lifetime achievement for any runner or walker.

According to the website it has a difficulty of 5 , which I assume is the most, hell if it was a 1-10 scale I reckon it’d be a Spinal Tap 11.  ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KOO5S4vxi0o ) Did I mention the 35 days , albeit I think four of those days are for rest , recovery and massage ?  That’s an average of 50km a day or just over a marathon , doesn’t sounds a lot but I’m sure towards the end,  when you’re running through the Scottish Highlands, fatigue may play its hand.  For some reason Rat Race ( https://ratrace.com/ ) decided to go from Lands End to John O’Groats  meaning you take on the hardest part, i.e. Scotland!, at the end. I’m sure it’s all uphill as well ! Maybe they should think about doing a Comrades and reversing the direction each year,  though having to find the 8,000 pounds entry fee annually could be a hard conversation to have with your family.  Actually I hope my Wife doesn’t read this post , she tends to ignore them, so I can blame our lack of family holidays on the ‘nasty Russians causing inflation and crashing the stock market’, not me entering one of the most expensive foot races on the planet.

 

To get a feel for this smorgasbord of hurt check out the itinerary below. Doesn’t seem that bad when it’s written down in front of you and it all looks very nice with the beautiful British sunshine and tail wind caressing you home. I have a feeling there may be dark, dark times when you question your own existence on this planet and I would expect nothing less.  Of the 40 starters I would expect more than half to drop by the wayside just because of the various and numerous things that could derail you, injury, hydration or nutrition issues, alcohol poisonings, mugging, kidnapping , death , the list of possibilities is endless. On the bright side because it’s a stage race I’m assuming we’ll be avoiding too much night running and given the time of year the daylight hours  will be at their maximum; it’s actually ran over the summer solstice which is good. Maybe a slight detour to Stonehenge to do a few laps around the attraction when the druids are doing their thing, do they still sacrifice virgins on the longest day or is that a myth ?

They’re broken down the event into five 200 milers, give or take,  with a day rest before each one, simple really. I’ve ran three 200 milers so far in my illustrious (?) career and always felt pretty good at the end of each one but as for going again after a days rest, four times, not so sure. I don’t suppose anybody is really including the organisers. There will be forty runners who are determined to find out come June next year. Over the event I’m hoping to make some lifelong friends as you tend to do on these type of events, they tend to bring people closer together, united in hurt.  It’s hard enough for most people to contemplate anything past a marathon and a 200 miler is always met with the ‘they’ve invented cars now, you know that right’. With Run Brittania they’ll probably resort to ‘they’ve invented planes now, you know that right’ , bless ’em.

Truth be told it’s a good point, a 1,000 miles is a bloody long way anyway you look at it, with most of the course being trail with some serious elevation thrown in for the hell of it. There will be some seriously great scenery especially at the start as run along the cliffs in Cornwall,  as well as the Scottish Highlands towards the end of the journey. I’m sure Wales will offer up something special as well.

Another big reason for entering this event was it starts in my old stomping ground. I grew up in Penzance and only left after finishing University in my middle twenties. I was then drawn to Aberdeen for work before emigrating to Australia in 2001. I am very excited about the first day running from Lands End past what I consider to be the two best beaches in the country, Sennen and Gwenver. It was here I spent my youth surfing the Atlantic swells that hit the coast after marching over the pond from the States. Great waves, great memories and a misspent youth.  I hope to retire to this part of the world when no 3 daughter finishes her education in 3-4 years, dust of the surfboard and start watching ‘Big Wednesday’ again on a weekly basis. I use to love my surfing as a youngster and only gave it up due to the sub-zero temperatures of Aberdeen  and the crowds of Perth.  I will return but I have a few more running goals to achieve before I give away competitive racing, with this event being the first of many.

 

Running shoes,  I will be using Altra’s of course, ( https://www.altrarunning.com/  ) unless Hoka ( https://www.hoka.com/en/us/ ) offer me a sponsorship deal, I normally use the Altra Olympus range and I have brought many version 4’s and am looking forward to the new edition that has just dropped.  I have also brought two pairs of Mont Blanc as they were on sale at Running Warehouse,  too good an opportunity to miss.

 

But before Run Brittania I have a smorgasbord of racing to complete starting with the inaugural No Time to Die Frontyard Ultra in Adelaide, the third backyard Ultra in the four event series, in three weeks.   ( https://nttdfrontyard.com.au/race-information/ ) The series culminates with the Hysterical Carnage Backyard Ultra in early November. ( https://hystericalcarnage.com.au/ ) Between the two events I intend to run the Melbourne Marathon for a fifth time, hoping to continue my sub 3 marathon streak currently sitting on 29 in a row, as well as the Feral Pig 100 miler a few days before the Hysterical Carnage.  As you can probably make out for me it’s all about racing, it’s why I do what I do. I love the training and daily running but I need the goal to aim for, and that means a bib on my chest, don’t judge me.

I suppose that’s why I’m so excited about Run Britannia, it’s 35 days of racing , back to back, for a competitive runner like me it’s a dream come true albeit there is the opportunity for the dream to turn into a nightmare very quickly but that’s the beauty of the event, the unknown.  The organisers are all about getting as many runners as possible to the finish line , it’s not a race as such and just finishing will be ever runners goal but you can bet there’ll be a spreadsheet somewhere with daily totals which will add up to a cumulative time, you would have to surely ?  More importantly how will I get the run to show as one long run  over 35 days on Strava ? I think I’ll go down the route of saving one day at a time and then stitching them altogether for the mother of long runs ! That in itself will be worth the entrance fee.

 

 

 

I will certainly be using these three products for the event…  fisiocrem ( https://www.fisiocrem.com.au/ ) is just bloody brilliant and does exactly what it says it does , it just gets the major muscle groups moving again. I use this extensively towards the end of the race when my quads are hammered.  It really makes a difference and allows me to move back through the gears towards the end of an event when most runners are stumbling home.

 

Fisiocrem is a must have in your ultra box of tricks…

Bix hydration is just ace, a product brought to life by Vlad Ixel a professional ultra runner who knows a thing or two about hydration. ( https://www.bixvitamins.com/ )  The best thing about Bix is it tastes good with many different flavours and you never get sick of drinking it, this is a big plus as Maurten and Tailwind (both great products)  can be difficult to digest later in the event.  From the website :-

As an Australian elite multiple trail running champion, with wins in over 40 ultra-marathon races across Asia, recovery from training and races has always been my top priority. 

In searching for a solid recovery and hydration supplement, I recognized that critical vitamins and minerals – both in diversity and quantity – were missing from almost all supplements on the market. I had the feeling that in an effort to maximize their bottom-lines, companies in the hydration space, failed to deliver a product that could meaningfully assist athlete performance. 

In order to address this, I began the development of a hydration product. After two and a half years of development alongside a leading German sports scientist, BIX Recovery, an advanced, high-quality recovery drink was born. 

BIX boosts 12 active ingredients scientifically balanced to replace lost electrolytes and assist in immune function. It’s designed with quality vitamins and minerals, in quantities that work! 

BIX is a recovery solution for everyone, that will get you to the top of your game!

Great hydration.

What can I say about HumanTecar,  ( https://athleticus.com.au/ ) it looks great, smells great and is awesome for recovery or even pre-run/workout. Read about the science behind it first and then try the products. The compression bandages are just magical after a long event. Put these on and the next day you are recovered, I have used them on a number of occasions and they never fail to astound me albeit the family poke fun at me as I look like a ‘mummy and smell funny’ !

 

 

Feel free to follow me on Strava.


Follow me on
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or follow me on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/runbkrun/

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Birdy’s backyard ultra 2022

I have ran Birdy’s Backyard twice before and both times I had reasons to finish early. The first year, 2020, I was under struct instructions to be home early afternoon the day after the start, so I had a 24 hour limit. This was a pity as I struggled through the night but for the last few laps felt fresh as a daisy and my last few laps were by far my quickest.  I often wonder if this was my central governor ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Central_governor ) realising I was limited to 24 laps and reduced the feeling of fatigue as it knew I was close to finishing. No need to protect the body when the end is in sight ? Race report attached  ( https://www.runbkrun.com/2020/08/16/most-fun-you-will-ever-have-in-running-gear/ )

In 2021 I had the Delirious West 200 miler ( https://deliriouswest200miler.com.au/ ) a few weeks after Birdy’s and decided that this was my A race for the year , demoting Birdy’s. I decided that I would go further than my previous attempt but not too far as to risk injury or long term damage pre-Delirious. Added to this there was a course change due to the amount of rainfall we experienced pre-event. Parts of the course were flooded  and these were replaced , unfortunately the new course was far harder due to the mud and soft going underfoot. It meant we were probably four to five minutes slower per lap which over time added up. Very quickly fatigue played a part as you were just returning to your seat before you were up again and off on another lap. The mud eventually sucked the life out of you.  In the end I managed 28 laps but was pretty goosed towards the end..  ( https://www.runbkrun.com/2021/08/30/birdys-backyard-ultra-wow-just-wow/ ) It was a smart decision as I ran a great race at Delirious finishing in just over 83 hours but more importantly having a great time ( https://www.runbkrun.com/2021/10/31/redemption-worth-waiting-for-day-1/ )

So 2022 I was in two minds, I had just ran the Unreasonable East 200 miler ( https://unreasonableeast200miler.com.au/ ) and had other events coming up that would need my full attention. Because of this I downgraded Birdy’s to a B-category race and set my goal to 36 laps. This would give me 150 mile club membership for all three of the current Ultra Series backyard ultras. (I have a pb of 47 laps  for Herdy’s Frontyard Ultra and 37 laps for Hysterical Carnage) Of course if I thought I could go deeper I would but I wasn’t prepared to break myself to do it.

Friday morning, early, pre-race.

The week before Birdy’s we had had a very wet and windy spell that seemed to go on forever so we were very lucky to wake up to perfect conditions Friday morning as the image above shows. The Lake looked magical and there wasn’t a breath of wind, it wasn’t even that cold. This has been the same the two previous years , at the start anyway, and it is such a great way to start the event. With a 10am start time everybody is just so relaxed and the food van was there to serve quality bacon and egg toasties and great coffee, life was good.

This year the boys were all training for the Melbourne Marathon so had a decided that the Perth half was a more marathon training type event and so stayed in Perth. I drove down alone but had Rob to help me as he was also working with Phil Gore. Veronika was game for a very long run so also joined me. The Penrith three were back together, we had all gone to Unreasonable earlier in the year staying in Penrith, hence the nickname.  Rob Donkersloot, from Mind Focused Running, ( https://mindfocusedrunning.com/ ) is a great crew, so relaxed and with so much experience, he is the voice of reason in the chaos that is a BK Ultra.  He was also working with Phil and the two of them will certainly push the boundaries of what is possible in these events for years to come.

The Penrith three, Rob, Veronika and I

Right 10am, lap 1 and we are off. I took the GoPro out for a spin for the first lap, the one and only time.  As you can see from the image below there is a lot of smiling going on. This continues for the fist few laps as the course was pretty dry and quick and finishing 6.7km in an hour is relatively easy. This gives you lots of time for socialising between laps and this is one of the draws of the event, every lap you are basically in the lead , standing with the event favorites albeit briefly normally.  It takes on a carnival like atmosphere and everybody retreats to their marquess to go about their pre-start routines, on the hour , every hour. Of course some are a lot more organised than others with Phil Gore, spoiler alert the eventual winner, being probably the most organised. Phil and his team has taken this format to another level with a detailed spreadsheet stating what is expected of him for each lap. That will show him when to change, what to eat and when to sleep. He just goes through the spreadsheet one line at a time until there is nobody else left and then he runs one more lap to win, it really is that simple. He has now won the last five events he has entered only losing the fist one as an assist while setting an Australian record.  We are very excited to see how he fares against the rest of the world October next year at the World Championships in the States.

First lap , leading the charge, GoPro in hand.

The good thing about a 10am start is you get seven laps in the light and  with the ambient temperature we were treated to perfect running conditions, Shaun Kaesler even managed to get in 10 laps before he was required to help with RD duties.  ( Felix , the race director, and his bother Simon had both came down with COVID a few days before the event so Shaun stepped into the breech, again!) It was good to run a few laps with him. There were surprisingly few DNF’s early as I think people just pushed themselves further than they thought and also were just having to much fun.

Although there were few DNF’s early there was one DQ on lap 1. Unfortunately for Frank the first lap was live streamed on the Facebook and Lazarus Lake was watching, the Godfather and inventor of the format. Frank had forgotten his water bottle so stepped back into the corral to collect it after leaving with the runners, this is against the rules , no outside assistance and no returning to the corral or start line after leaving. Frank made a big song and dance about returning for his water bottle and this was picked up by Lazarus who got in touch with the race directors and insisted he was disqualified.  As you can imagine Frank was less than impressed but eventually saw the funny side and ran over 10 laps anti clockwise , out with the event,  receiving high fives and words of encouragement from the runners. He is still maintaining he could have won it which,  given his vintage, he is over 70, is hard to believe. ?

 

Chatting to the Ultra Series owner Shaun Kaesler.

The Birdy’s course can be broken down into three smaller sections. I use this technique on all backyard ultras. For Birdy’s the first 2km or so is very runnable, mainly on crushed limestone, past the caravan graveyard to the bridge. The next section through the meadows is the hardest of the three and requires more concentration with a couple of creek crossing involving a small leap, which is perfect for pulling hammys or twisting ankles.  Once you get through this section there is the swamp section which is my favourite because there are two sections where you have to walk and also the terrain is just great fun to run on, you know you are also close to sitting down and a rest.  Breaking the loop down helps as you can achieve three goals a lap rather than one, small steps, big gains. Later into the event these smaller goals make completing the laps so much easier compared to waiting for the finish each time, it can be the difference between making a lap or not.

Running through the swamp area Friday afternoon, still smiling.

The image above is me probably early Friday afternoon, not a cold enough yet for gloves or a beanie and still smiling as I come out of the swamp and head towards my chair for some hydration and nutrition. Get the eating and drinking strategy right and you will go far in this event, get it wrong and the fuel tank empties quickly and you come to a grinding halt. I see it so many times , runners cruising along one second and then a DNF, all down to stomach issues. Luckily I have always been blessed with a iron stomach and can usually find something to eat, even when I don’t feel like it. Weetbix is a good go-to food when all else fails, add sugar and it can get you through the next lap easily. I usually carry a 500ml soft water bottle filled with either plain water, bix, poweraide or maurten that I sip on while I run. I also make sure I have main meals when my body expects it, i.e. a good breakfast, lunch and dinner. As you’re not running that quickly you can eat more than you normally would,  pre-run, and if you have to walk sections of the lap to help with the digestion so be it.

Three amigos early on Friday…

Myself and Phil had our own t-shirts created by the guys at OC Clothing ( https://occlothingco.com.au/ ) and Chris also got in on the act with his own design. Chris is a very talented artist but maybe not so talented at T-shirt design, or at least colours. It’s an acquired taste I suppose.  The three of us certainly stood out ? Add in the red shorts and we are making a statement, not sure what we’re saying but we’re making a statement. Funnily enough I lost my BK shirt at this event last year ?

Friday afternoon, just before sunset.

The event starts at 10am and with perfect conditions there wasn’t much of an attrition rate early on with most of the runners making the first sunset, which was stunning as the images above and below show.  I have said this a few times already on this post but we really were blessed with perfect conditions. Again the following week , post Birdy’s, the heavens opened and half the course was underwater so it would have been a return to the slower, mud dominant course, I’m not sure how Shaun does it but he seems to have made a pact with the devil ? As the sun set the whole course lit up and my photos do not do it justice of course, damn you iphone 11.  Of course the price you pay for this wonderous lap is then eleven hours of darkness as day gives way to night.

Running through the night has its advantages and disadvantages, the main disadvantage is the cold, it really does get very cold very quickly. Not so much when you’re running but when you sit down each lap you certainly feel the cold as your body, covered in sweat, cools very quickly. Double blankets help but eventually you have to leave your cocoon and make your way to the start, for one more lap. I always find the first couple of kilometres can be testing but after that I was never worried about the temperature, truth be told it wasn’t as cold as the first year and this was probably down to the cloud cover.  Another challenge can be running over the middle section of the course from the bridge ,  through the meadow to the swamp. This becomes more technical in the dark and also add in fatigue and you have the recipe for a good fall. This year I avoided a fall but there were a couple of near misses on the second night.  This also adds to your lap time as you need to tread more carefully and are also tired and thus you have less time resting, fatigue then builds and voila , you’re out.

Another reason we lose a lot of runners through the night is we hit certain milestones that encourage runners to quit. The first one is 100km at 15 hours, which is early morning,  around 2am. This is the start of the witching or DNF hours as I call them , between 2am and 5am. These three hours you are at your weakest because your body expects sleep. Add in a milestone and all of a sudden it’s ok to ring the bell. If only these runners lasted a few more hours they would run through the dawn and the sun boosts every runners resolve and I reckon you’re good for another 5-6 hours minimum. That then puts you around the 21 hour mark with the 100 mile goal in view. This is how you go deep in a backyard ultra, milestone after milestone , after milestone. Similar to what I described with breaking down the lap into three separate sections, to go deep in a backyard ultra you give yourself a reachable goal, reach it , reset and then repeat, simple really.

Friday evening sunset.

Come the evening the team at UltraSeries WA  really excelled and put on the bright lights, literally. It was a magical time with a Xmas like feel as the image below shows. The first night was also notable for the hundreds of head torches crawling their way around the course, I just wish I took a photo to show you the effect, it really was very cool.  The second night is the complete opposite with a handful of head torches and you find yourself alone with your thoughts deep into the lap, which is fine as I always have my shokz headphones turned on ( https://shokz.com/ ) and either Taylor Swift or a best of the seventies compilation serenading me forward.   Note I did try and listen to David Goggins but he is an acquired taste and in the end I gave up and put Taylor Swift back on, a lot more palatable.

Early into Friday evening, xmas has come early.

Most backyard ultras are the same for me . I enjoy the first ten or so laps when you can comfortable cruise into your chair with fifteen minutes plus to spare. I struggle between ten and high teens when it becomes harder and normally you’re running though the night.  Once I get out of the teens I can comfortably make my way to 24 hours and after that running in the daylight is easier up to sunset. It’s the second night where I can struggle, funny that, and I have made the middle thirties three times now without breaking through to the forty hours plus. I need to work on this as if I can get to the second morning I know I can get to 48 laps and this is my holy grail of backyard targets.

The Caravan graveyard, as we call it.

 

The 24 hour , 100 mile club. 10am Saturday morning.

I have ran six backyard ultras now and managed 24 hours minimum each time, I will keep this tradition going as long as possible. Each backyard ultra more runners are joining me in this club and soon 24 hours will become the goal for so many more, the 3 hour time for marathon runners equivalent.

Phil and I Saturday morning.

Spending time with the legend that is Phil Gore, a backyard ultra in Australia is a format when all runners continue for as long as they can and then Phil runs one more lap and wins. He set a new Australian record at Birdy’s finishing 55 laps which only stood for less than two weeks before Ryan Crawford ran 59 laps at Clint Eastwood backyard ultra.  Phil and Ryan will meet at the Satellite Championships in October so am expecting the 60 lap ceiling to be destroyed. Phil is probably the nicest runner you will ever meet, so humble but so talented, a powerful combination.

Down to the final 9 , late afternoon Saturday.

 

 

 

The final 6, 150 mile club, lap 36.

At lap 36 I knew this would be my last lap. It was 9pm and I’d finish at 10pm , 36 hours after I started but more importantly I’d get into the 36 hour club for my third backyard ultra event. As I mentioned at the start of this post this was not an A race and 36 hours was always the end goal. Could I have made it through the night ? Not sure, I knew there was a storm coming , and it did big time, and laying in the back of my Prado , after I had DNF’d while the storm raged, was the right decision. A course PB to add to my 24 and 28 hours previous attempts and it bodes well for next year when maybe I can finally get to 48 hours at this event ?

I had ran with Carl Douglas on this lap and he was sufferings with a calf issue and also decided to pull the pin after lap 36, thus we were both 4th male equal or 5th overall.  Both of us had ran a course PB and both of us have our eyes on bigger goals in the near future, Carl is chasing a Big’s backyard Ultra World  Championship entry  ( https://www.bigsbackyardultra.com/ ) while I still covert  48 laps , just not sure when?

 

Another sunset, Saturday evening.

Pretty proud of this image, beats the Friday night version by a country mile I reckon. Can’t wait to get my iphone 14 , when it comes out , and my photographs should get even better. Taken from the bridge looking onto the sunset. When the sunsets and rises you could literally spend the whole lap taking photos, so beautiful.

 

Things starting to get very lonely on Saturday night.

 

Carl and I collecting our DNF spoons after not starting lap 37.

So that’s Birdy’s 2022, mission accomplished,  I think ? . 36 laps is a course PB by eight hours and although I could have probably ground out a few more I wouldn’t have made it through the night and sometimes you need to pick your battles.  2022 has been a very busy year so far , after a very busy 2021, so I need to sacrifice some races. As I have stated before I am happy to run more races but not give them my all, compared to targeting a smaller number of events. I live for the racing and to this end am happy just being out there with a bib on my chest rather than chasing goals,  albeit if a course PB or time does come into view I’ll do all I can to snare it, it is racing after all and I’m still a competitive little bugger !

Right next event is five weeks away, another frontyard ultra in Adelaide, ‘No time to Die’ ( https://nttdfrontyard.com.au/ ).  This should be a flat and fast course and depending on weather conditions could be one to go long on ? A lot will depend how I pull up after Birdys but with the humantecar compression bandages I was running three days after the event.  (see details below).  These compression bandages are magic and I used them after Unreasonable East 200 miler and was running the day after the event, at a good pace., I’m a big fan. If you have an ultra coming up or are currently doing long training runs you need the bandages and spray, great product. ( https://athleticus.com.au/ )

 

As always I would like to highlight products that helped me through the race and should be in your armory for backyard ultras… fisiocrem ( https://www.fisiocrem.com.au/ ) is just bloody brilliant and does exactly what it says it does , it just gets the major muscle groups moving again. I use this extensively towards the end of the race when my quads are hammered.  It really makes a difference and allows me to move back through the gears towards the end of an event when most runners are stumbling home.

 

Fisiocrem is a must have in your 200 miler box of tricks.

Bix hydration is just ace, a product brought to life by Vlad Ixel a professional ultra runner who knows a thing or two about hydration. ( https://www.bixvitamins.com/ )  The best thing about Bix is it tastes good with many different flavours and you never get sick of drinking it, this is a big plus as Maurten and Tailwind (both great products)  can be difficult to digest later in the event.  From the website :-

As an Australian elite multiple trail running champion, with wins in over 40 ultra-marathon races across Asia, recovery from training and races has always been my top priority. 

In searching for a solid recovery and hydration supplement, I recognized that critical vitamins and minerals – both in diversity and quantity – were missing from almost all supplements on the market. I had the feeling that in an effort to maximize their bottom-lines, companies in the hydration space, failed to deliver a product that could meaningfully assist athlete performance. 

In order to address this, I began the development of a hydration product. After two and a half years of development alongside a leading German sports scientist, BIX Recovery, an advanced, high-quality recovery drink was born. 

BIX boosts 12 active ingredients scientifically balanced to replace lost electrolytes and assist in immune function. It’s designed with quality vitamins and minerals, in quantities that work! 

BIX is a recovery solution for everyone, that will get you to the top of your game!

Great hydration.

What can I say about HumanTecar,  ( https://athleticus.com.au/ ) it looks great, smells great and is awesome for recovery or even pre-run/workout. Read about the science behind it first and then try the products. The compression bandages are just magical after a long event. Put these on and the next day you are recovered, I have used them on a number of occasions and they never fail to astound me albeit the family poke fun at me as I look like a ‘mummy and smell funny’ !

 

 

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