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.
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’ !
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.
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.
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.
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.
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:
Did my last few runs feel harder than usual, even though they were the same training paces and distances as previous ones?
Do I feel less motivated to run today?
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.
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’ !
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’ !
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’ !
This Friday I’m taking on my sixth backyard ultra, the race with no end, runner against themselves in the truest test of mental and physical strength.
The concept of Big Dog’s Backyard Ultra is simple: Runners have an hour to complete a 4.167-mile loop at the race organizer’s home. Then they do it again, and again, and again—breaking for food and rest only in the spare time before they start the next loop. Hundreds of miles and a whole lot of pain later, the last competitor still running wins
I’m running Birdys backyard Ultra this week for the third time. ( https://birdysbackyardultra.com.au/race-information/ ) and this was my introduction to the event in 2020. That year I was allowed to run 24 hours and then had to leave and get home to look after the kids as no1 Wife was going out. Halfway through the event my Wife rang and let me know I could carry on but I had 24 laps set in my mind at that point and so focused on that goal. A pity because I finished lap 24 sub forty minutes and felt fantastic, with so much more left in the tank. I wonder whether that was because I knew I was finishing after working very hard getting through the night or I just left way too early. Either way it sums up what this race is about, it’s so much more mental than most running races, in these events a mentally storing runner will normally out last a more physically prepared runner but one who is mentally weaker. You don’t find that in most races but because this race has no set end time, it continues until there is one runner left, its a mental as well as a physical battle. After all you only have to run 6.7km (4.1miles) in an hour, that’s about 8min/k pace average, a slow jog really.
Mission accomplished. 24 laps done and dusted. Birdy’s 2020.
In 2021 I was preparing for the Delirious West 200 miler in October and , at that time, had never completed a 200 miler. ( https://deliriouswest200miler.com.au/ ) I wasn’t prepared to risk myself at Birdy’s and as such set a goal of a top ten finish, I achieved this on lap 28 albeit truth be told the course was far more difficult than the pervious year due to a course change due to excessive rainfall the weeks preceding the race. This made the course harder and thus recovery time was limited , every time you sat down the two minute warning seemed to start, fatigue built up over time and I was getting closer and closer to missing cut off. The course change made a huge difference as they had taken out the best running bits of the old course and added more technical single trail with mud. Over time the mud just sucked the life out of you.
Saturday morning and it’s still fecking cold 2021.
As well as Birdy’s backyard Ultra I have ran Herdy’s Frontyard ultra twice ( https://herdysfrontyard.com.au/ ) and the inaugural South Australian version , Hysterical Carnage. ( https://hystericalcarnage.com.au/ ) I’ve managed assists in both of these races, the last runner bar the winner, beaten both times by Australia’s premier backyard ultra runner Phil ‘one more lap‘ Gore. As I said earlier I love the format, it really is you against yourself where you can see how far you are prepared to go albeit everybody bar Phil of course because he always wins.
Last few runners , probably around lap 30.
This year I’m taking on the four backyard ultra offered by the Ultra Series, ( https://ultraserieswa.com.au/ ) adding No time to die ( https://nttdfrontyard.com.au/ ) to Hysterical, Birdys and Herdy’s. I’ve already ran Herdy’s in March this year finishing in the top 10 timing out at 35 hours. This wasn’t the result I was hoping for and I never felt great during the event and this was probably explained by a positive COVID result a few days post event. Well that’s what I’m putting it down to, we’ll find out on Friday I suppose.
So what makes me so passionate about this format.? I’m not going to sugar coat the event , it hurts and I mean it really hurts. Each runner needs to decide how much pain they are willing to put up with. Very few runners actually time out, very few. In my previous five races I’ve only timed out once. The other four times I had a valid reason to pull the pin before taking on another lap. Were they valid reasons though ? My Wife had given me a carry on card the first time I ran Birdy’s but I decided to stick to the original plan. For my next race at Herdy’s I did run 47 laps and must admit although I didn’t time out I was mentally done, albeit I was still lapping in the low fifty minutes so probably had a few more laps in me? For Hysterical Carnage in November last year I got to 37 laps with just me and Phil feeling relatively good but had my daughter with me and the plan was to spend some time in Adelaide with her. When you are left with Phil you either pull the pin early an get an assist or run for ten hours extra or longer and get an assist, the end result is the same. Remember a backyard ultra in Australia is everyone runs until there is one runner left and then Phil runs one more lap and wins. This year at Herdy’s I did time out on lap 35 but looking back could I have made the cut off, typing this months later yep, at three in the morning after running for over thirty five hours , no. That sums it up, before the event and after it you will second guess yourselves , asking yourself did you give your all ? That is what makes the event so special, it gives you the opportunity but it so difficult to take it, few do.
The image below shows Adam and I early on at Herdy’s this year, it was so humid and we were both absolutely buggered, as I said this format gives you the opportunity to really push yourself to places other races won’t allow you to go. It was brutal this year albeit I still citing COVID as the reason I pulled the pin earlier than planned. As I mentioned earlier in this post everybody has a good reason why they didn’t win, bar Phil Gore being unbeatable.
Sometimes backing up from a 200 miler isn’t such a good idea after all. Adam and I absolutely buggered.
I’ve added an article Ryne Anderson, CTS Ultrarunning Expert Coach, below, worth a read..
How a Backyard Ultra Can Boost Your Ultramarathon Training
Backyard Ultra Events exploded in popularity over the last few years thanks, in part, to their straightforward setup. The objective is to complete successive 4.167-mile loops, each in under one hour, for as long as you can. A little more than 4 miles in an hour sounds easy, and for the first few hours it is. Many hours later, it’s not so easy. Backyard Ultras are not only great challenges themselves, but they can also help runners solve failure points that plague them in start-to-finish races.
Backyard Ultras are “last person running” events, rather than a set start-to-finish distance (100 miles) or duration (24 hours). If you do not complete the loop and make it back to the finish line/starting corral by the top of the hour, your day(s) is finished. The repetitive nature of the laps encourages rote execution, the same process over and over. This creates a very controlled environment (or as controlled as you’re going to get in an ultra) that allows runners to find their limits and reach new distance milestones. Is every runner going to eventually run 354 miles over the course of 85 hours like Harvey Lewis’s record-breaking performance at Big’s Backyard Ultra in October? Probably not, but a runner can use the simple setup of a Backyard Ultra to solve failure points that have troubled them in past races and have a breakthrough performance.
Crewing
An effective crew can streamline time spent at aid stations, keep the runner mentally engaged, and solve problems before an issue derails your race. The beauty of a Backyard Ultra is that the runner sees their crew every hour. Backyard Ultras have basic aid station fare available to everyone, but each runner is allowed their own personal aid station tent. Within that area, the runner can have anything and everything they want. You can have a cot and sleeping bag for a quick nap, a camp stove to cook your favorite food, a wardrobe of extra shoes and clothes, and all your preferred nutrition and hydration products.
Four miles between aid stations and a set time to leave and get back out on course is the most accessible aid station setup of any ultrarunning event. There is no overthinking and overpacking drop bags that are scattered across successive aid stations on the course. Your crew is not frantically navigating sketchy forest roads and stressfully racing to the next aid station. The “hurry up and wait” mentality is replaced with “relax and wait.” The crew has more than enough time to prepare the aid station for the runner’s return. This encourages a stress-free environment to consume calories and address problems. You have time to make gear and clothing changes when necessary, and prepare optimally for the next lap.
CTS ATHLETE CHRIS MURPHY’S SETUP AT BIG’S BACKYARD ULTRA
Testing Nutrition and Hydration
Nausea and/or vomiting was cited as the second highest problem for finishers and the highest problem for non-finishers in Marty Hoffman and Kevin Fogard’s 2009 study that explored the issues that affected runners at the 2009 Western States and Vermont 100-mile races . Multiple factors contribute to stomach issues to stomach issues during an ultra. Among those are inadequate training, poor pacing during high temperatures, failure to stick to a plan, and not properly hydrating.
In a typical ultra, runners map out their nutrition and hydration plan before the race or set a reminder on their watch to remind them to eat and drink. Sometimes, however, a runner miscalculates the time between aid stations and runs out of food and water. Maybe the day was hotter than expected and the runner should have carried a third bottle. Or the runner simply lost their sense of time and frequency for how much they should eat and drink. Race at high elevation also affect some runners’ ability to consume calories.
Backyard Ultras reduce the guesswork of estimating time between aid stations and tracking energy and fluid consumption. Although the weather will change throughout the day and night, temperature should ebb and flow within reasonably predictable range because you’re staying within such a small geographical area.
Nutrition Goals
Nutrition goals can be as simple as eating a sports nutrition product on each loop, drinking one bottle of water, and eating some type of real food upon returning to the aid station. The crew member can easily keep track of how many calories the runner has consumed, what food options are working, and adjust hydration and electrolyte goals as the temperature changes throughout the day and night. For runners who successfully execute nutrition and hydration plans for 50k events but struggle beyond the 6- to 8-hour timeframe, the simplicity and standardization of a Backyard Ultra can be great for testing out different strategies.
Pacing
“I went out too fast,” is a common talking point in reviewing any ultrarunning performance. It’s completely understandable to go out too fast due to the palpable energy at the start line and feeling fresh a few weeks of tapering. But going out too hot can come back to bite you. You gain little to no advantage in “racing” each loop at a Backyard Ultra.
There is some strategy involved, at times. For instance, a faster loop means returning to your aid station with a little extra time to take a quick nap or make a gear change. But runners are generally better served by keeping their pacing steady throughout. Keep in mind, runners may have different goals, too. Some may be out to complete a personally relevant distance and then stop. Other runners are competing and attempting to be the runner standing.
A Backyard Ultra is not the format to chase a time PR at a certain distance. There is little utility in completing a loop in 40 minutes versus 55 minutes. Steady pacing encourages consistent energy expenditure and fueling habits.
Camaraderie
Between spectators, crews, and fellow runners, you will not be alone during a Backyard Ultra. In a standard ultra, runners spread out and may run solo for hours. Running by yourself can be advantageous because you’re likely to stick to your own personal race strategy. It can also be a hindrance if you lose focus, struggle with negative thoughts, and subsequently slow down. Running with company may lower perceived exertion, provide access to more encouragement, and create a memorable race experience.
Runners also develop a strong bond with one another throughout a Backyard Ultra. There is a competitive element, in that they want to be the last one standing, but there’s also camaraderie that leads runners to push and support one another. Harvey Lewis, Chris Roberts, and Terumichi Morishita would no doubt credit each other in each runner’s ability to crest the 72-hour mark and go beyond 300 miles at Big’s Backyard Ultra.
Put It Altogether
The simple and standardized nature of Backyard Ultras allows every runner to fine tune critical ultrarunning skills. A Backyard Ultra may not be your idea of an A-race, but you can use a Backyard Ultra to better learn about yourself as a runner, solve and correct issues that have plagued you in past races, and reach distances that have previously eluded you.
References:
Hoffman MD, Fogard K. Factors related to successful completion of a 161-km ultramarathon. Int J Sports Physiol Perform. 2011 Mar;6(1):25-37. doi: 10.1123/ijspp.6.1.25. PMID: 21487147.
What is humanly possible at a backyard ultra , how far can the boundaries be pushed ? This format is relatively new and as such the record for the most number of laps is growing almost monthly. As of today, August 2022, the record is 85 laps.
The most laps completed in a backyard ultramarathon is 85, achieved by Harvey Lewis (USA) at Big’s Backyard Ultra in Bell Buckle, Tennessee, USA, on 16 –19 October 2021. Backyard ultramarathons challenge competitors to complete a run of 4.167 miles (100 miles divided by 24) every hour until only one runner remains. Harvey Lewis won the 2021 Big’s Backyard Ultra after completing 85 “yards” – a total distance of 354.16 miles (569 kilometres). The race began at 7 a.m. on Saturday morning and finished at 9 p.m. on the Tuesday, with competitors running a trail by day and road at night. Lewis bested the previous backyard ultra record of 81, set by John Stocker at the 2021 Suffolk Backyard Ultra.
If you believe David Goggins ( https://davidgoggins.com/ ) we only ever tap into about 40% of our potential, there’s another 60% available but only a few can get access to it. This event certainly gives you the opportunity to find your extra 60% . The record stands at 85 laps and I’m calling it here , it will be over a 100 hours by 2024, the only limiting factor will eventually be sleep. Mental and physical conditioning will get you there but you need sleep, without sleep of course you fail or die; whichever comes first. At the moment this type of event is on the outer of the running world, mention a backyard ultra to most non-runners around the drink fountain and most have no idea what you are talking about. A marathon is well ingrained in the non runners vocabulary and these days and even ultra marathons adventures are met with a knowing sigh and roll of the eyes by non-runners , no longer the kudos of days gone past. Backyard ultras will gain traction around the water fountain in time but for the moment they are seen as quirky and hard to relate to, this will change but most ‘proper runners’ concentrate on the more traditional distances, for the moment.
I wonder if Goggins would ever stop..ever, at a backyard ultra ?
So will backyard ultras become the new marathon ? Not in the short term but they are a unique way to run a race and every hour , on the hour, you’re at the front of the pack, leading the race albeit briefly. The camaraderie of the event is special and unique where you see your fellow competitors hourly rather than for a brief ‘g’day’ at the start and then that’s it until the finish. Add in the down time when you can actually sit down and eat and you have the recipe for a great event. They will become more and more popular , similar to the park run sensation sweeping the world currently. It’s a more relaxed way to race and takes away some of the time pressure, it really is you against yourself. This is why I think the concept will take off.
As I continue my journey to the Melbourne Marathon in October this year I have been reading some of my old posts on racing marathons and sneaking under the holy grail of running, a finishing time of three hours.
I have been on my marathon training for about three weeks now and this has mainly been adding in some faster runs three or four times a week , with a more aggressive progressive run on Thursday morning and then a tempo Saturday. All my runs have become faster and I am trying to become comfortable with being uncomfortable. I love that quote , it sums up marathon training where as ultra training is a lot more relaxed. You get comfortable with being comfortable I suppose with ultra running, and eat a lot more. I am certainly back into marathon mode as I have started to worry about weight again, not something an ultra runner is normally concerned with. It’s all coming back to me, my love of the scales , the joy of reaching a racing weight and then the devastation of adding a few pounds, not something I have missed truth be told. There is also the pressure of meeting targets , be that weekly distance or pace. It is always difficult when you start but you see improvements weekly if you put in the effort and these improvements give you the energy to keep putting in the hard yards needed to reach your goal. A good example of this is the Mona Fartlek, a 20 minute run that as you improve you run longer. Run this once a week and you should see an improvement. Another example would be a 5km park run, again every week you run the same course and you should see your time come down. These small wins give you the impetus you need to keep on the straight and narrow, remember marathon training is a grind. To quote Brendan Foster ‘ You wake up tired and go to be really tired‘
It’ll be good to get back to Melbourne as I’ve ran it four times and represented Western Australia each time at the State Marathon Championships. This was so cool as we got to get changed in the MCG Stadium, hung out with the Kenyans, got free accommodation, massages and help with your travel as well as starting at the front of the field. I’ll miss that part but have entered this year with the VIR option, Very Important Runner. This way I get changed in comfort, get access to toilets and breakfast and also a massage and food afterwards, maybe not in the MCG but close by, at my age I’ll get the benefits but have to pay extra for them.
I love the image below taken in 2010, notice the Garmin 305 which I still have and use it once a year at the 6 inch ultra, for tradition. Also notice I’m wearing a normal digital watch as I was paranoid at this time with my GPS watch failing as this had happened at the City to Surf earlier in that year , costing me a sub 3 finish. For a few years I would wear two watches, so funny. No Nike Alphaflys carbon fibre racing shoes, in 2010 it was all about racing flats, I think I have Nike racing flats on gifted me by my mate Dan Macey. Skins compression tights were all the rage back then, sadly another great company gone too soon. I PB’d every time I ran Melbourne, culminating in a 2:43 the last time, this year I just want a sub 3, just ?
It you want to follow my progress follow me on Strava , Facebook or Instagram (links at the bottom of this post) and subscribe to this blog, it’ll all be here, the good , the bad and the ugly.
Melbourne Marathon 2010.. a lot younger and notice racing flats, these days its all carbon fibre!
Mona Fartlek, one of my favourite sessions for some serious ‘pain box’ time.
Fartlek is a Swedish term to describe ‘speed play’, training method that blends continuous training with interval training. Fartlek runs are a very simple form of a long distance run. Fartlek training “is simply defined as periods of fast running intermixed with periods of slower running.”
Today was my Mona Fartlek day, a 20 minute workout that I adore. Though lesson to self, eating banana bread 2 hours before is not such a good idea ! I can normally get to around 5.6k for the session. Steve Monaghetti stills hits over 6km I hear and in his prime was nearer 8km. !! He is a running legend though.. enjoy the article on a true sporting great below.
I was lucky enough to meet Steve at a photo shoot for the Perth City to Surf in 2014 and again this year as he was Ambassador for the Perth marathon. Both times I was taken aback by his down to earth attitude and his willingness to embrace all our questions and comments.
This session is good as it is fairly short but you know it’s doing you good. Golden rule no2 , add pace after the distance phase. This bad boy workout is all about pace.
Me and a legend.
Steve Moneghetti is set to leave a lasting legacy that goes beyond his set of marathon medals. As a young man from Ballarat he and coach Chris Wardlaw devised a session that fitted in with his usual stomping ground of Lake Wendouree helped him become a four-time Olympian.
The Session:Mona Fartlek: (2x90sec, 4x60sec, 4x30sec, 4x15sec with a slower tempo recovery of the same time between each repetition. The session takes 20mins in total.
Distance Mona covered: The session was most often used on Tuesday night at Ballarat’s Lake Wendouree. The first time Mona did it as a 20-year-old he did not complete the Lap of the Lake (6km) in the 20minutes but in his prime he completed the Lake in 17.19 and then continued on to finish his 20min session. He still does it most Tuesdays and even at 52, covers 6km.
History
Mona devised the session with his coach Chris Wardlaw over the phone back in 1983 when he was just 20. He wanted a solid fartlek session, one that would help improve his speed as well as endurance and stimulate an ability to change pace mid-run, something that helped later on his career when tackling the Africans, who had a habit of surging mid-race.
The session became a Tuesday-night ritual for Mona and while it was set up for Lake Wendouree, he’d use it whether training at altitude at Falls Creek or overseas preparing for a championship marathon.
It is still widely used today with Ben Moreau and a host of Sydney athletes doing the session. A recent feature in the UK has led to a number of British runners adopting the session along with a number of runners in the US, although some are calling it the “Mono” session.
A good idea is to set your watch to beep every 30 seconds, so that you don’t have to look down at it all the time.
Mona says
“I was always a stickler for routine and I feel that this session, coupled with my usual Thursday night session of 8x400m with 200m float set me up and gave me continuity with my training.
The 15-second reps came at the end and really forced me to concentrate on accelerating hard when I was fatigued. One night when I was in top shape I covered nearly 7km with Troopy (Lee Troop).”
Tip for other distance runners
For many runners, the session will be too demanding initially and you will need to build into it.
Mona recommends just walking or jogging the recovery as you adjust to it.
Middle distance runners may wish to reduce the length of the session, halving everything (ie: 1x90sec, 2x60sec, 2x30sec, 2x15sec) to make it a 10minute session.
Golden rules, guaranteed to improve performance.
I wrote this post four years ago in 2016 so thought it would be a good opportunity to recycle as I’m on another training block heading towards another sub 3 at the Running Works Marathon at Bibra Lake, Perth August 30th. My Golden Rules are unchanged over this period and still ring true, follow them and I guarantee success.
The extract from Strava (you are on Strava right ? http://www.strava.com shows the last 5 weeks training I have put myself through as I prepare for the Running Works marathon in 6 weeks time. I will have given myself a good 12 week training block by the time I start my taper a week before race. This should be enough to sneak under three hours. (Rule 8 : Consistency) (The grey circles indicate when I commute on my Bionic (stand up bike) to work as well as run. )
It’s been a busy few weeks.
Funnily enough my ramp up started as soon as I started working from home , middle of March. The extra time allowed me to start to look at my training regime and slowly add distance , consistently. (Rule 1 : Run Further) I started at 40k a week and moved up through the gears to 162k last week which also included a trial half marathon on Saturday and a trial full marathon Sunday. When you can look at these graphics it gives you the confidence to lock in your marathon pace. (Rule 9: It’s all in the mind)
Build week on week …
As I mentioned earlier I commute to work on a stand up bike. My stand up bike of choice is the Bionic B-Runner but unfortunately the company went broke due to substandard Chinese manufacturing (funny that?), so if you need a stand up bike go to the Elliptical website and get yourself the next best thing. I have had an Elliptigo and they are ace, they are truly running without the impact, and they are also so much fun. ( http://www.elliptigo.com ) I sold mine to my good friend Mark Conway and regret it daily, just got to find a way to buy another one and sneak it into the garage without No1 Wife finding out ? These stand up bikes are perfect for extra training without the risk of injury (Rule 3 : Don’t get injured) I have used one when I had a calf tear a few years ago and was able to come straight back to racing with times duplicated before the injury, this would have been impossible without the training I was able to undergo on the Elliptigo.
Meb (Boston Winner and Olympic Marathon runner) on the ‘Go’.
Anyhow here is the post from 2016, worth a read..
This weekend I made a bold decision and stopped running at 29.5k when I got back to the City Beach car park after our long run into the Bold Park hills. It was a conscious effort to take control of my running from the evil that is Strava ( http://www.strava.com ) that has taken hold of many a good runner and turned them into a run recording web junkies. Truth be told I already had 121k banked for the week and knew I was over the 150k weekly total with another 10k planned in the evening to take me over the 161k (100 mile) threshold. So really who was I kidding stopping at 29.5k? It did impress the rest of my running group who ran in ever decreasing circles around the car park to get the extra 500m needed for 30k.
How did this happen ? Social media has a large part to play and these days every run is accompanied by a Strava upload as a minimum and a social media post if the run justifies it. Compare this to when I started running before the Internet and GPS watches (Yep such a time did exist and to tell you the truth it wasn’t that bad. ) when a runner who have to record all their information using a thing called a pen and paper. (To the young followers of my post these things are now defunct and serve no purpose bar to be used a weapons in disposing of zombies and other evil creatures in the mindless video games you spend hours playing. Note. That is the pen, the paper would be used as fuel to set fire to said zombies if the pen failed to do it’s job.) I’ll put my hand up with most of the running population as an avid Strava addict who has 4 Garmin watches and an iphone to make sure that every kilometre I run is documented and shared. I did try and run without a watch once, on the advice of a ‘friend’ (?) to try and recapture the feeling of that bygone age. I hated it and all the time kept thinking how I was going to record this and document my findings to the world. It is like if a tree falls in a forest does it make a sound, if you run without recording it on Strava did it happen ? Not sure about the tree and forest scenario but for the Stava question the answer is ‘no’, if it ain’t on Strava it didn’t happen.!
This brings me to the point of this post this morning. We do live in a digital world (this may or may not be a good thing?) but you still need , as backup, a non Strava recording of all your totals. I have attached mine below for the last 8 years and with the table as backup will use these totals to complement my golden rules of running.
8 years of recording running fun…
Run Further. Add distance, not speed.As you can see from the table my weekly average has steadily increased year on year with this year being the first I will break the 100k a week average for the year. In 2012 I was injured with a nasty calf knot, that I didn’t treat, which explains the delta compared to the previous year. 2014 my training had plateaued which is why I turned to Raf ( http://www.therunningcentre.com.au ) to train me in 2105 where my distance increased by 10%. I have taken this training forward and will probably increase another 10% this year. Distance first, everything else comes once the ‘foundation of distance’ has been achieved.
Run Faster. This is about adding pace after you have got your foundation after rule 1. 2011 was a break out year for me after 3-4 years of building a good running base. I had ran 3 Comrades campaigns in 2008-2010 ( http://www.comrades.com ) so my distance foundation was well and truly complete. In 2011 every time I put on a bib I was confident of a pb. It was a wonderful year. Unfortunately in 2012 I had a nasty injury which set me back but towards the end of the year I was able to train consistently again and in 2013 I was again rewarded with a magical year of running.
Don’t get injured. This is the hardest rule to obey as you always want to do more of rule 1 and 2 which can result in an injury. (I even hate typing the word!) In 2012 I succumbed to a calf knot which took me out for over a month. I struggled to recover from this and as you can see from the table I only ran 3 pb’s for the year compared to 13 the previous year and 10 the following year when I recovered. If this doesn’t back up this rule nothing does.! Don’t get injured, so easy to type but in reality one of the hardest thing for a runner to do, period.
Nutrition, nutrition and nutrition… Did I mention nutrition. It’s all about the proper fuel. So underestimated by so many runners. The number of times I hear the old ‘I run xxx kilometres a week so I can eat what I want’ . Not true, imagine putting low grade fuel in a Porsche, eventually the head gasket blows and you are faced with a serious bill, not to mention a misfiring engine. The human body is a finely tuned machine and should be treated as such, we all know what is good food and what is bad (normally the nice tasting stuff!), avoid the bad and put in the good, easy really. (bar the odd Yelo muffin of course, we are after all only human.) I’ll be exploring nutrition more next year when I have one more go at a sub 2hr 40minutes marathon.
Weight. So important, use to believe because I ran 100k+ a week I could eat what I wanted. Not true. This is another golden rule so often ignored. Runners can run so much faster is they hit their racing weightrather than a running weight. My go to man , Matt Fitzgerald, when it comes to everything running even has a website dedicated to this. ( http://www.racingweight.com/ ) If Matt has a website dedicated to this subject it must be important.
Baseline, document and evaluate everything. If it isn’t on www.strava.com it didn’t happen. Once you set a goal you have to be able to know how far you have come to achieving this, small steps but constant feedback. So buy a Garmin and start recording , everything !!! Contentious subject here. I’m a Strava addict and I know it but the purest will be horrified. You need a baseline to see improvement, set new goals and realize your goals. Buy a Garmin and to quote a small clothing company ‘just do it’.
Sleep. So underestimated but the bodies way of refuelling and preparing for the next day of running. Common sense but so often ignored. Sometimes the most obvious, common sense tips are the ones ignored. Sleep is when your body repairs itself, the more sleep the more repairs can be completed. It really is that easy, go to bed and dream about running.
Consistency. No point running 100k one week and then nothing. Marathon fitness is built up over time and this works hand in hand with rule number 1. I feel the figures from my running log back this up. I’ve steadily increased the duration consistently year in, year out (bar injury) and have reaped the rewards with 2016 being my fastest year yet as I move towards my fifth sixth decade. (Thanks Dave Kennedy) Running is all about getting out there on a regular basis again and again and again. Time on feet initially and then add pace before targeting certain distance with different run types, most important thinkg to note though is always consistently putting on the trainers and just running. ‘If you build it they will come’ type approach, keep running, build the foundation and the personal records will come. (This also works for baseball pitches apparently.)
It’s all in the mind. After 32k a marathon is down to mental strength and the ability to persuade your body you can still perform at your desired pace without falling to fatigue, which is the minds way of protecting itself. Never underestimate the power of the mind in long distance racing. Finally another massive part of running, the Noakes ‘central governor’. I’ve talked about this at length in various posts on this site. With experience I believe I can mentally finish a marathon stronger now then when I first started. I know what to expect and to this end can persuade my old friend fatigue to stay away for longer allowing me to achieve better finishing times. The mind is such an important part of running and needs to be trained as much as the body. When you race a marathon you will spend time in the ‘pain box’, the runner who can spend the most time in this little box of joy, before opening the door and embracing the old enemy fatigue, will run the fastest. I spoke to Steve Moneghetti after the Perth Marathon this year after he ran the 3hr30min bus and asked him how the professional athletes are so much faster than us recreational runners. His answer surprised me as he replied that a professional runner can stand more pain and this gives them the advantage need to push through and achieve the faster times. Again turning off the ‘central governor’ and spending more time in the ‘pain box’ avoiding fatigue and thus not slowing down. Common sense really, thanks Steve.
Steve Moneghetti enjoying time out of the ‘pain box’.
Finally some products that I endorse because I love them and they do what they say they will do.. simple really.
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 used this extensively towards the end of all 200 milers 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’ !
Once a year we run the underground event that is the Choo Choo race, runner versus train. The idea is simple you turn up at North Dandalup train station and run to Serpentine train station on the Munda Biddi trail, a distance of either 33km (the short course) or 34.5km (the original course). The return, and only, train leaves at 10:21am from Serpentine train station. You choose what time you leave North Dandalup, and hence the concept of ‘racing the train.’ Over the years we have left at various times after 7am but this year we decided we’d push the boundaries and leave at 7:25am. There was talk of a 7:30am departure but luckily , in hindsight, we decided against it and erred on the side of caution, we are getting older.
The rail line is used mainly for goods trains with the Transwa Australind train running once a day between Perth and Bunbury. It runs through North Dandalap, from Bunbury, at around 7:23am and then returns via Perth through Serpentine at 10:21am.
An early goods train, cars everywhere. The locals get very confused, which is easily done apparently.
This year there was well over fifty runners and the car park was packed as is the norm for this event. We managed to find a spot on the grass and just off the pavement, honest, the benefit of a four wheel drive. Arriving late car parking is limited as the usual parking capacity is around twos cars at best. As I said before the station is called North Dandalup but I’ve yet to find the rest of it, it’s small ! There was seven of us booked to leave at 7:25am giving us less than three hours for the 33km short course. Lauren and Katt decided to leave at 7:15am to give themselves some breathing space which wasn’t needed as they both ran a quicker time than all of us.
Lauren and Katt leaving a few minutes before the 7:25am group. The girls could have easily ran with us, albeit we would have slowed them down.
As this was the latest we had ever left I don’t recall seeing the train returning to Perth before. The previous latest time was a few years ago when Mark Lommers , Jeff and I left at 7:22am , giving ourselves just less than three hours. Last year we left twenty minutes earlier. There was talk in the week of leaving at 7:30am and it was only a last minute change of heart from yours truly that gave us the extra five minutes. This was , in hindsight, a masterstroke.
The 7:25am group with the train returning to Perth from Bunbury arriving at North Dandalup station.
We always love the photo of the watch with the time on it to prove what time we actually left North Dandalap but truth be told it’s always on Strava and in Strava we trust… ( http://www.strava.com ) In the photo below it’s Jon showing the time on his watch and Adam confirming. Jeff has already started and Mark Oakshott is poised to explode. Mark ran the longer course and still passed us before half way, in our defence he is younger, more committed and just generally more talented than us ‘older runners’.
Proof of starting time albeit it’s on Strava of course. Mark waiting patiently, Jeff jumping the gun and Jon and Adam poised..
The first 8km of this run is all up hill , up to the top of the scarp, and some parts are steep. If you were to take your average pace for this part of the run you’d never make the train, if you left late enough. The next 15km or so is undulating running through some pretty good trail on the Munda Biddi ( https://mundabiddi.org.au/ ) , the best bit of course if coming down of the scarp. Ten kilometres of some seriously good downhill running starting with crushed limestone trail and finishing off with sealed road. It is here you make up serious time and catch the train. Of course it is also here you hemorrhage time and miss the train, you decide.
Every year we run this race we get four photos. The obligatory start photo, half way , all the runners at the deli and the same runners on the platform at Serpentine. I added in the runners in the train shot last year when TransWA gave us a carriage all too ourselves, which they did again this year, thanks TransWA. The image below shows the guys at halfway, Mark Oakshott had just passed us so missed out, the one downside to being too quick. Myself, Adam, Jeff and Jon had run the shorter course.
At this point I had not looked at my watch , just assuming we were running well and would make the train if we continued at the normal Choo Choo pace which would include a fast finish, as is tradition. I remember hearing Jeff saying we had an hour as we posed for the halfway photo and as such plenty of time. At the time I ignored him as I assumed he had that wrong but it turned out he hadn’t. I reckon Jon , being an accountant, did the maths as he left us here like a scolded cat. We all ran hard but there was never ever any talk of missing the train or even being close, this was probably a mistake or a good thing ? A mistake as I could have gone quicker, maybe, or a good thing as I wasn’t stressed about missing the train. I really believed I would arrive at Serpentine with at least five minutes up my sleeve, grab a Brownes Mocha and enjoy the adulation of leaving last ( or close to last as Allistar Caird and Sean Ralphn left at 7:35am and made it easily!)
The obligatory halfway photo, that nearly cost us !
We all put on the afterburners after the traditional half way photo (it’s actually about 20km but we were never any good at maths), everyman for himself as we each decided how much pain we would embrace to make the finish. We passed our good friend Jon ‘Trailblazer’ Philips with about 7km to go and he was not in a good way. His chances of making the train were nil, or worse, and I promised to send a car to pick him up and transport him back to the start. No one has actually been forced to run back to the start, we talk about it but that would be really cruel. Jon had lost himself to chocolate of late and was moving towards a 100kg goal weight, great for mud wrestling not so good for train racing. He was probably regretting his fifth mars bar as he neared the top of the scarp and was faced with a sub 30minute ten kilometres to make the train ! Needless to say he didn’t and Sam Hoffman and his beautiful young family picked him up.
The Deli photo, minus about 40 runners !
As I have mentioned the Serpentine Deli is one of my favourite shots but this year I was so late they didn’t wait for me and all the runners started towards the train as I was probably a few hundred metres away. It was at this point I realised I had probably cut if fine, very fine. I did manage to grab a few stranglers including my mate Cam who had ran with me on the Feral Pig 100 miler last November, his first ultra and he nailed it, a young man with a big future under the tutorage of Carl Douglas. As you can see from the photo not quite the fifty or so runners who completed the event but you get the idea. To add to my woes the deli had sold out of Brownes Mocha’s so I had to make do with an Up ‘n’ Go chocolate milk drink, good but not the same truth be told.
I insisted on the Serpentine platform photo, it is tradition.
Once I grabbed my Up’n’Go milk drink I scurried off to the platform and organised the Serpentine train station photo with the help of Irvin, my partner in crime. It’s not all the runners as at least three were still on the way to the platform at this time , of which only one, Adam, made it. There were also other runners who had cars at Serpentine and left before the photo, rookie mistake. The numbers go up every year and so they should, it’s a great event and the best part its free, bar bringing some tukka for the post event debrief back at North Dandalup.
All aboard, it was about this point Adam turned up, and Cedric didn’t .
It was about at this point Adam turned up as we were boarding the train. Adam was one of the first runners to miss the train in 2020 when he kept on running on the Munda Biddi trail rather than turn off and head down the scarp to Serpentine. In his defence the turn off is unmarked and he assumed the trail went to Serpentine, unfortunately it went to Jarrahdale, where he realised his mistake. He wasn’t the only one that year funnily enough. This year he had ran with myself, Jon and Jeff as well as a couple of runners we had picked up on the way. The last 10km or so was an ‘every man for himself‘ type sprint to the train station, he was last and thus just made the train. I will say I have ran this event maybe eight times and this was the first time the train was anywhere near on time. I had always factored in 5-10 minutes , minimum, wiggle room, not this year.
All aboard.. Choo Choo class of 2022.
Once on the train it was time for another traditional runners on train photo. TransWA had given us a whole carriage again and this photo just sums up the whole event, I mean how good is this. Where else in the world can you get to race a train and then return riding in a carriage to yourselves, for the cost of a single ticket, less than $9, priceless.
Once we got off the train at North Dandalup everybody got out their tukka as requested and we had a magnificent feast in the bus shelter as the rain that had been teasing us all morning decided to come in. As always there was way too much quality food and the conversation was flowing with everybody had a story or three from the mornings adventure. This is probably my favourite part of the event , like minded people chewing the fat over quality tukka, after fishing a great trail run and beating a train, it really doesn’t get any better. The rain came in big time later in the afternoon so we were very lucky to avoid it, bar a smattering while we ate.
As we ate the last runner was brought back to us. Cedric had started with us albeit a little late so he missed the starting photos. He was ahead of me when we reached the point where you turn right for the short course or continue on for the longer version. I’m not sure what course he wanted to do but , with hindsight, he chose the wrong one and went long. This cost him as he missed the train by about 500 metres, small decisions big consequences. Luckily there was still people hanging around at the Deli and they took pity on a him and drove him back to North Dandalup, with a great story. So this year the train claimed two more victims, I’m pretty sure the train driver now realises our little game and will be making more of an effort to catch us out from now on, and why wouldn’t he after all it is a race right.
Finally some products that I endorse because I love them and they do what they say they will do.. simple really.
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 used this extensively towards the end of all 200 milers 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 :-
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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’ !
Bunbury is the gateway to the South West—one of Western Australia’s most popular tourist destinations—and we’ve been getting passengers there since 1947. Initially, a steam locomotive travelling at 63 km/hr, our current train, the Australind, makes the 167 km journey in just two and a half hours. The train is an ADP/ADQ built by Comeng right here in WA.
With an onboard buffet and air-conditioning, sit back, enjoy the ride and start your trip off on the right foot.
It’s that time of year again when runner takes on the train. North Dandalup train station this Sunday, 17th July, to leave at whatever time it takes to get to Serpentine train station before 10:21am when the only returning train departs.
The premise is simple we leave North Dandalup as late as possible to make the 33k route on the Munda Biddi ( https://mundabiddi.org.au/ ) to Serpentine before the 10:21 train Australind train leaves heading to Bunbury. ( There is a longer version we use to run before part of the track was closed but the 33k route seems to be the route of choice at the moment ? I assume the GPX on the facebook page is the 33km route? https://www.facebook.com/events/1496964190782408 )
There’s no second chance as there is only one service per day so if you miss the train it’s either a long run back on the trail or a shorter run , as the crow flies, on the main road. Over the years we have had a few runners miss the train but they have always managed to grab a lift back to the start, a runner on the side of the road crying does attract attention apparently.Note: The Munda Biddi runs to Perth, if you get to Jarrahdale you’ve gone too far !
Ticket purchased and so excited, I’ve attached a few posts from the previous years to get you all in the mood. Also please bring some tukka as the best bit about racing a train is talking about how you beat it afterwards , with good friends while eating cake, simple.
One final word of advice , it’s called ‘Race the Train‘, not ‘Run to the Train’, please make an effort to actually race the train by not giving yourself too much time. Over the years I had a few close calls and that’s the point of the event, we need to give the train a chance. Note: in the eight or so years I’ve been racing, and beating, the train it’s always be late so you could probably factor that in, albeit not TransWA have read this they’ll probably be early ! But joking aside it is actually more fun to have that touch of danger hanging over you. There was talk of a fine for people arriving too early and we’ll discuss this at the feast afterwards, it could involve press ups equal to the number of minutes you arrived too early , multiplied by a factor of X !! Myself and Irwin will discuss this week.
Best $8.90 you’ll ever spend…including GST.
Racing trains is so much fun .. Choo Choo 2021
One of the last groups to leave at the start
The Choo Choo run has been going for around 10 years, a Simon Coates idea, but its been more of an underground run until last year when Irwin Swinny put out the word and the runners came, in droves. This year was no different and what a turn out. When we arrived at North Dandelup train station it looked like a car park at a mall in Christmas, cars everywhere. I have no idea what the locals thought, I reckon we doubled the population of Dandelup that morning ! (Funnily enough I have no idea why the station is called North Dandelup, trust me there’s no South, West or East Dandalup, it really is a one horse town and probably a pit pony at that !)
The image above is not the passenger train returning to Perth but an commercial train, probably mining, with about 100 carriages, estimated ! It was starting to get light before the last carriage passed us. In Australia we do big trains ! Great selfie by Mark to capture the image by the way.
This year we aired on side of caution and decided we were all nowhere near our fitness levels of last year so left just past 7am , giving us just over 3 hours for the 33k trail run. In our defence it had been raining for like weeks and the trail was going to be soft underfoot. No record breaking times this year and this seemed to be the case for all runners, it wasn’t a case of racing a train more like running between two train stations comfortably. This will need to be addressed next year with fines for arriving too early at Serpentine, maybe arriving 10 minutes or more before the train will attract some form of forfeit !
We were the last to leave and had a good group consisting of myself, Mark, Cedric, Tom, Mitch and ultra Jon. (I say ultra Jon as this is the bigger, and happier, version of marathon Jon, who is lighter and always grumpy!) The group set off at a good pace and this was to continue for the whole journey.
The first hill as the sunrise peaks over the top…the hill is a lot steeper than it looks in the photo !
The start of the journey is a 6-7k uphill climb as you move from the bottom of the scarp to the top. This is mainly on road and being in the country you will be taking your live in your hands as country drivers make Lewis Hamilton look pedestrian. I suspect most of them are returning home from a ‘quiet night‘ , which probably involves drinking their own body weight in spirits ! You need to be very wary and always have an exit plan which would normally be a quick dive into the nearest field ! I was feeling brave so took a photo as the sun rose over the scarp, as always the photo never does the scene justice.
We continued on at a good pace until we had the compulsory photo at around 26k, you’ll see the same shot in all my posts on the Choo Choo runs, we are stickler’s for tradition. (or just boring as my many Daughters would say?) Funny story at this point, in the first few years of the Choo Choo Simon Coates use to leave water here but one year we turned up and it had been stolen ! What are the odds, on a Sunday morning, someone driving by and spotting bottles of water hidden in the undergrowth and then taking them ? ! Only in the country…
The compulsory just over half way photo.
After the compulsory water stop (if there is any water?) it’s probably the best running part of the route before the drop off the scarp which is worth the attendance fee alone. If you have anything left in the legs that drop into Serpentine is a thing of natural beauty. By the time I arrived at the top of the hill I was goosed so stumbled down at just over 4min/k pace, the guys had left me in their wake and were recording low 3min/k’s , at the end of a three hour run ! This more than makes up for the morning climb up the scarp three hours earlier risking life and limb with the Sunday Formula One drivers !
After a slightly hair raising run from the bottom of the scarp to Serpentine via the local main road it was time to regroup for the compulsory Serpentine General Store photo before ambling to the train station. As you can see a lot of very happy runners, refueled on chocolate milk, crisps and just about anything with carbs or sugar. Albeit we had to leave some space for the post tukka get together at North Dandalup Station, it’s tradition.
Next to the train station where we had another traditional photo before boarding the 10:21 train to North Dandalup, late as always by about 10 minutes. Next year I may factor in this 10 minute buffer and really make a big effort at leaving very, very late, albeit I’ll probably drop a car at the station in case I miss the train as there is no way I’m missing the post run food smorgasbord.! It’s basically the previous shot but at a train station rather than outside a deli.
Waiting for the train…
Finally the best photo of the day by a country mile, Transperth had reserved one of the two carriages for out 9-10 minute journey from Serpentine to North Dandalup, how good was that !!! Gold , you couldn’t make that up !! It was the coolest 10 or so minutes of the whole day, imagine that you’re own train carriage with your friend , priceless ! I reckon next year we could be in trouble as I’m not sure they’ll put on another carriage for us runners but you never know unless you join up and see for yourselves. Keep an eye out on facebook and an ear to the ground and be part of the coolest free trail run globally…Choo Choo 2022 ! All aboard….
If there’s one photo to sum up the day , this is it !
Choo-Choo 2020 , this time the train managed to beat a few runners !
Recently we had the 6th running of the ‘runner versus train‘ Choo-Choo race. The concept is simple, you leave North Dandalup station then run 33k (35k?) over mostly trails to Serpentine station to catch the 10:21am train back to the start. The game is deciding how late you leave North Dandelup. Over the years the record for the latest departure time was around 7am but this year, due to part of the course being shut and thus 2k shorter, we decided to try and break the sub 3 hours and leave at 7:22am. It was Mark’s idea and although I was onboard Jeff was none the wiser to our plan having never ran the Choo-Choo before. So we let the last few runners start their journey and held firm, waiting for 7:22am to come around.
One of the last groups standing, holding firm just before first light. This group left just after 7am.
Jeff was a tad confused when the last group left just after 7am and myself and Mark continued to pontificate and make no effort to move away from the station. Eventually we let him in on our plan but he was less than excited, expecting a relaxed amble from one station to the next , stopping for selfies and rose smelling. He knew if we left at 7:22am it would be on for young and old and if you stopped there would be a good chance the train would be well gone when you eventually arrived at Serpentine Station. Of course he was in a catch 22 situation as the last group had left and he had no idea where he was going , so would need us for directions. There was much head shaking and grumbling but all this served to do was to gee up myself and Mark , who then took great pleasure in talking up the challenge ahead. We can be a cruel lot us runners !
The first sub3 group, with one very unhappy China man !!
So at 7:22am precisely we set off for Serpentine Station, giving ourselves 2 hours and 59 minutes, assuming the train was on time. From past experience I knew we could make the 35k version of the course in 3 hours, including a 5 minute drink stop. Having a nasty 2k loop taken out due to storm damage would probably give us 10 minutes , so we should have 10-20 minutes to play with. As I said earlier Jeff had not ran the Choo-Choo before , where as myself and Mark were old hands and knew what to expect. As you can see from the graphic below the run starts with about 8k of serious hill, as you rise onto the scarp. It then undulates, mostly uphill , until the 25k mark at which time it’s all guns blazing to the best finish ever !! Knowing this is coming it allows you to do the numbers in your head factoring in the fast finish. Jeff did not have this prior knowledge and at every kilometre got more and more discouraged as our pace dropped due to the terrain ahead of us. Again Mark and I did nothing to alleviate his angst and just kept on, knowing we were on track but not divulging this to Jeffrey.
Choo-Choo elevation.
The run itself was pretty uneventful as we had the GPX of the route on Mark’s Garmin (what did we do before GPS watches ?) so the couple of time we wondered of course we were made aware by the watch and we turned around and continued on the right track. Not having this would prove to be the undoing of a few runners because although the course is predominately on the Mundi Bindi bike trail ( https://www.mundabiddi.org.au/ ) eventually you have to leave the trail and return to the road and ultimately the train station. Some runners missed that turn and ended up in Jarrahdale , luckily the two runners in question where able to blag a lift to Serpentine and still made the train in time, after running over 40 kilometres, outstanding job ladies. Some runners thought were less fortunate and my mate Adam was unable to make the train in time, missing it by nearly 10 minutes. He was given a left back to the start and had to endure a slow clap as he arrived , rightly so of course. He was eventually allowed to take food from the tukka table but there was grumblings of discontent from the runners who had completed the course, these was talk of banishing him to a separate part of the park, as I said earlier we are a cruel lot us runners .
The best Deli in Serpentine.
You’ll notice in the image above no sign of Jeff, we had left him to his own devices about 5k from the finish as it was every man for himself at that stage and me and Mark fancied a Mocha before the train. Jeff did make the Serpentine Train station show below (far right) but was still smarting over the whole affair and will probably leave a lot earlier next year, a lesson learned.
All the runners bar the 5 DNF and TB who cut it very, very late (as usual!)
The Australind Train on it’s way to Bunbury via Serpentine Station, 10:29am; 8 minutes late I seem to remember.
The train ride itself is a bit of an anti-climax due to a number of factors. One, it takes an ‘as the crow flies ‘ approach to travel between the two stations, funnily enough, and two, it is a lot quicker than us runners ! The journey itself takes about 12 minutes for the 18km or so distance. Thus you just about sit down , get comfy, before it time to get up again and leave the train, not even time for a cup of tea from the buffet (which was actually shut this year anyhow?) No worries, we had organised for everyone to bring tukka for a post run debriefing because we all know that runners love talking about running as much as running.
Irwin and I enjoying the moment just before the train arrives.
I need to give a big shout out to Irwin Swinny who kick started the Choo-Choo this year after a leave of absence in 2019. He set up the Facebook page and, with his influence, we had a record turn out. With Irwin’s help I feel this event can go from strength to strength with more and more people experiencing the stress of racing a train. He has an excellent podcast, Stimulate Run, that is well worth a visit ( https://anchor.fm/irwin-swinny ) ,you’ll be surprised who you can listen to.
Best thing about running , is talking about running after you finish running , over cake ! Look’s like I’m doing all the talking for a change ?
So at the moment the record for the last to leave will stand at 7:22am, albeit with an asterix for the short course option. We later found the 2k loop we missed was runable it’s just not part of the Munda Biddi anymore as this is built mainly for bikes. Sam Hoffman ran the fastest time for the day albeit stopping his watch when waiting for his running partners. Still outside the course record set in 2018, 2hrs 27mins by Allister Caird, an average of 4:11min/k. At that pace you could chance your arm and leave at 8am and pry the train is a few minutes late, not that would be a story worth telling !!!!
Footnote: After this adventure my good friend Amy (wearing purple in the picture above) decided she would do the Choo-Choo in reverse. This meant catching the train from Perth to Serpentine, running to North Dandalup and then hanging around at the local servo’ station before catching the train from North Dandalup back to Perth, in the afternoon. Of course you could kill time by running longer , the possibilities are endless. Amy did report that there is a lot more elevation running it backwards and the hill up the scarp is a killer. Of course this then lends itself to a double Choo-Choo but the logistics would be quite complicated. It it to be noted one runner ran from Serpentine to North Dandalup , starting before 2am , and then ran the Choo-Choo. (well done Chemie Banger) I’m calling this a Choo-choo-choo; ultra runners always find a way to push the envelope, I suppose that’s the point ?
Man versus Train, again !
Right a quick post on the 2018 man versus train race where we leave North Dandalup train station and run the 35k to Serpentine train station and catch the only return train back to the start. Miss the train and you have a 18k run on a busy road or a 35k trail run back to North Dandalup. !!
The Serpentine train leaves North Dandalap at 10:20am so we decided this year to leave a tad earlier than previous years due to the various running injuries we were all embracing. Calf strains, Achilles issues, carrying too much weight (I’m not sure this is an injury Barts!) and good old Plantar Fasciitis to name a few. Thus at 6:40am we set off up the scarp, mainly due to Bart’s insisting we get a move on as he really wasn’t ready for a 35k sprint to the finish. He had got lost last year when he was dropped halfway up the scarp and had to run a lonely thirty or so kilometres to the finish. This year he was determined to stay the course and refused to leave a key hidden on the car so if he got lost he knew I’d have to find him and my lift home. Little did he know I had arranged alternative transport if we ‘lost’ him. In the end he made it and ran a large proportion of the run with us, complaining most of the way of course. I don’t think Bart’s like any hill in any direction, up or down, as both seem to set him off on a tirade of abuse. This from a man who loves trail running ?
The photo below shows the starting line up for 2018 taken at North Dandalup train station, funnily enough we were the only people about early on a Sunday morning in the country. I managed to persuade five ‘newbies’ to join us and supplied all of these with a GPX file of the course as I didn’t want them to suffer the same fate as Bart’s from last year, bless him.
So off we went up the scarp, which is a road section and probably one of the hardest sections of the run as you’re in danger of getting collected by mad country drivers cutting corners. Thankfully this year it was very quiet and I don’t remember seeing any cars, which is unusual, they were probably all still in bed after the West Coast Eagles, a local footy team, managed to sneak into the Grand Final the day before. As you can see from the elevation below the start is a challenge but the finish is ‘to die for’. It was a this point last year we lost Bart’s (the start not the finish.) and history repeated itself with Mark, a new runner from Brisbane, dropping off the pace early and, in Choo-Choo tradition, left to fend for himself. I felt a small amount of guilt but this was quickly forgotten when I realised the task ahead and I had supplied Mark with a GPX file of the course , so he had no excuse to get lost.
Choo-Choo run elevation. It’s all about the finish….
The conditions this year was perfect and we had given ourselves more than enough time to finish by leaving probably half an hour earlier than the year before. This certainly made the journey less stressful than previous years and we settled into a good rhythm with enough pace to complete the task at hand but not enough we couldn’t natter away discussing a plethora of topics and generally putting the world to rights. We as a group splintered early which seemed silly truth be told as it wasn’t a race and there seemed no point running a few hundred metres infront of each other. I ran with Jon, because he had the GPX route loaded into his Garmin 310, and Liam for conversation. (with Bart’s always a few hundred metres behind us complaining about something?) The three of us eventually caught up with the two Mark’s at the ‘drinks stop‘. I say drinks stop in italics because there was no drinks. Simon had hidden a carton of water and a box of Gu’s behind a tree but it seems these country people are resourceful with good eyesight because there was no supplies to be seen. Not a problem though but it did the make the last 5k or so a challenge as we were into the ‘dead zone’ (over 32k) with little water and no nutrition, a good test of your bodies capabilities to survive on it’s won internal fat resources I suppose. Luckily the last 10k is predominantly downhill so you can sort of ‘fall‘ to the finish line. ( It is to be noted this year Trish refused to bake for us which made the return trip to Dandalap a bit of an anti-climax as the reward of Trish’s baking (which is awesome by the way) would not be there to greet us, in the end we made do with McDonalds pancakes but thrust me they ain’t the same!, anyhow I digress.)
After regrouping with the two Mark’s the group of five set off to the finish and the conversation continued to improve with numbers. The highlight of the last part of the run was most of us falling prey to the only puddle on the whole course, how does that happen ? Mark C,. attached it with gusto (he’s Scottish you know and use to large expanses of water !) and nearly went in, this made me more cautious but it was to no avail and I ended up in the same situation, soggy socks and shoes for the last 10k or so.! Once we started to descend of course it was ever man for himself and Mark C. probably set the record for the fastest kilometre with a 3:10 down the steepest part of the hill. He was very excited and reported feeling a runners high as he snowballed down the hill at speed, more probably he was just totally knackered as we had all just ran just about 35k on a few sips of water.
It’s hard to put into words the run itself as it really was just about the perfect day. A good distance, beautiful trails and great company rounded off with Brownes Mocha and a danish at the Deli. Chuck in a train ride where the guard announced to the whole train of our adventures as we boarded and departed and the day really couldn’t of got any better. Talk at the Deli (see below) centred on next years departure time as we had plenty of time to relax at the deli before the train, well most of us that is. If you remember at the start I mentioned Mark from Brisbane getting dropped at the 3k mark, you’ll see he’s not in the photo below. We all thought he was gone and I had even arranged at the Deli to let him know we’d drive back and pick him up, save him the 18k walk back to the train station. Well he made it with 3 minutes to spare, albeit the train was late as usual so he could have probably stopped at the Deli for a danish.
At the Deli after a Brownes Mocha and a Danish, life really is that simple sometimes! (Notice no Mark from Brisbane)
As you can see from the photo below taken at Serpentine train station Mark is back into the fold and happy to be there, he currently holds the record for cutting it closest to missing the train, probably beating Trailblazers record set a few years ago. I’m sure Jon can get closer with a bit of effort ? Honourable mentions must go to Allister Caird who set a course record running the route in 2hrs 27 minutes, thats a 4:11k average, sub 3 pace for a hilly trail run, Boom! He could have left nearly as hour after us and still made it. Nigel also went well considering he twisted his ankle at 15k and ‘hobbled‘ to the finish in good time, a big call as if the ankle had given way completely it would have been a long night on the trails. Of course Mark gets a mention for running the whole route by himself under the stress of a potential long walk back to the car. He looked relaxed when he finish and puts his time down to this was his first trail run back in Perth, he’s from Brisbane you know. Bart’s also went well after we dropped him just after halfway, we actually dropped him earlier but always made sure he could see us, sort off. At least this year he ran the whole course after his miracle run last year.
At the hub of Serpentine, the ‘bustling’ train station. That’s a lot of smile , while I’m putting on my best ‘just finished 35k grimace’ face…
Right that’s the Choo-Choo for another year. I’ll try and drum up some more enthusiasm next year as if you live in Perth you really need to do this run. We all agreed we’d leave later next year but the departure time is personal to your ability and general fitness and also if you want that added bonus of really ‘racing a train’ and trying to cut it closer tham Mark, from Brisbane’s, valiant effort of three minutes to go. Up for the challenge ? All aboard…..
Choo-Choo run 2017, man against train.
The Choo-Choo run was an idea of Simon Coates a few years back. Basically we all drive to North Dandelup Station (and I use the word ‘station’ in the broadest sense of the word, it is actually a small raised platform and a car park.) and run to Serpentine train station to catch the only train back to the start. Miss the train and you are faced with either a 10k walk back via the road (and in the country running on the road is suicide due to the drivers all believing they are Michael Schumacher, before the skiing accident !) or worse, repeating the 35k trail run in reverse. (Now there’s a thought ? )
It’s not a race as such, more of a man versus train type run with friends. Everyone leaves at different times with the idea being you’ll all arrive together at the finish, a handicap run I suppose. There was talk of a prize for the last person to leave North Dandelup and make the train but this, for this year at least, was shelved. As it was I have attached a photo of the runners who left last @ 7am, this was 30 minutes after last years leaving time so we’d given ourselves little margin for error . Its a 35k testing trail run which should take around 3hours and the return train leaves Serpentine @ 10:20am.
All aboard the Choo-Choo run 2017, the last to leave @ 7am.
So off we went full of the joys of spring bounding up the first 6k which is all uphill and on road. As I mentioned earlier this is testing for two reasons, one, the hill is large , unforgiving and long (as all good hills should be) but there is also the threat of getting cleaned up by the ‘country drivers’. In the country life may be slower but the driving is anything but. There’s a reason that even Kangaroos get wiped out on a regular basis. Faced with slowing down country drivers decided to speed up and fit ‘bull bars’ to their cars, so rather than avoid Kangaroos(or runners!) they accelerate into them . Bless ’em.
We managed to get to the top of the road section intact after one close call when three cars cut a corner and we happen to be on it, you certainly feel alive when that happens trust me. Once we regrouped a quick headcount indicated we were one short (literally!) . Bart’s , who had driven me down to the start, was missing so I volunteered to run down the ‘hill of death’ and find him. After a longer run that I had wanted to take on at such an early stage of the adventure I found Bart’s ‘huffing and puffing’ up the road in a world of pain. This after 6km’s into 35k challenging trail run , racing a train. Not a good start and I indicated the best thing he could do was return to the car and wait for us or at least give me his car keys (as my bag was in his car, it wasn’t about the bag though , honest ?) Bart’s insisted on carrying on and asked me to come back and check on him during the run. Due to the time constraint we had set ourselves I told him in no uncertain terms this was not going to happen and once I left him he was on his own. Surprisingly he was ok with this and, with no prior knowledge of the route and less than 3 hours to run the remaining 29k, was happy to take on this adventure , alone. So Barts was dropped quicker than Hilary Clinton endorsements after the American Election, never to be seen again, or so we thought ?
Drinks stop @ 21k.. notice no sign of Barts ?
After dropping Barts like a bad habit I caught up with the back markers and eventually the main group. We continued on our merry way commenting how enjoyable trail running was and how we should do it more often. Please note this is the same conversation we have at the beginning of every trail run, unfortunately our views on trails can sometimes be a tad different by the time we finish; and that’s be nice about it ! Anyhow we made it to the 21k mark where our ‘race director’ Simon Coakes had dropped water and gu’s, it was the least he could do after DNS’s the previous evening due to umpiring his son’s footy game and pulling a hammy. (He’s getting old Si, bless him.)
What goes up must come down.
The last 14k after the drinks stop is the best part of the Choo-Choo run as you run off the scarp which means some wicked descents into Serpentine. Last year I was able to take advantage of the terrain and put in some seriously fast splits but this year, due to it being 2 weeks after the Perth City-to-Surf marathon, my hammy’s had tightened up so every step was painful as I hobbled (and that’s being nice) down the hill. No worries. reached the Deli and tucked into my first Brownes Mocha for probably 6 months, man did that taste good !!
Choc milk time at the Deli, job done.
We had 20 minutes until the train arrived so just enjoyed telling tales of the day when all of a sudden who comes into sight, walking the wrong way to the Deli, but Barts. ! Unbelievably he had somehow managed to get to the finish in time for the train, albeit running 3k less , somehow ? At the time of writing this post it has to be noted we have not seen any Strava evidence ( http://www.strava.com) of Barts and whatever trail he did run but assuming he said he did what he did I am in awe of the man.
A Lazarus comeback from Barts, almost made me believe in religion
Funnily enough the train was graffitied at the main depot so was cleaned before it set out on its journey, resulting in a 45 minute delay. We could have started at 8am, not 7am, and still made it easily. When the train did arrive at the station there was no sign of any graffiti and maybe next year this could be a cunning plan for a lie-in, just got to persuade someone with a spray can to get the train before it leaves ? That’s wrong, right?
Graffiti, a likely story, more like the train driver fancied a sleep in !
The photo below is all the crew who made the finish including a few runners who left before the 7am sweepers. There has already been lots of talk of leaving even later next year but we’ll see; no one has actually missed the train yet so there will be a first. One thing for sure it won’t be Barts, if he can recover from near exhaustion at 6k and then still finish less than 3 hours later after running 32k I reckon the man could fly if he wanted to. Running gives you so much and on that Sunday it allowed me to witness a miracle, how does one go about nominating someone for a sainthood ? Saint Barts of lost causes, it has a nice ring to it, if only he was taller…..
The last 200 miler in the Triple Crown Down Under was perhaps the most testing. A 200 miler in the Blue Mountains had never been attempted before and Shaun Kaesler, owner of the Ultra Series WA and SA ( https://ultraserieswa.com.au/ ) had to jump through more hoops than a circus clown to get this bad boy of the ground. There were course changes right up to registration due to park closures and I lost count the number of times I uploaded the GPX file onto my watch and Gaia. In the end though we all converged on Glenbrook for registration and race briefing on Monday 20th June. The 200 mile race was due to start Tuesday at 11am (120 hours cut off) , with the 100 mile version starting Friday afternoon (44 hours cut off) . I had spoken to Rob Donkersloot, ( https://mindfocusedrunning.com/ ) my crew for the event, about a possible finishing time and he reckoned 80 hours would be a good effort. Personally I was hoping to finish before the 100 milers started late Friday afternoon. This really was not the main objective though, due to the unknown nature of the event I was more concentrating on enjoying the journey and finishing with a smile on my face. No pressure, just enjoy the whole experience. Of course once we got going and after a few days into the race you start to give yourself targets, makes things interesting and it is a race after all.
The 11AM kick off on Tuesday allowed myself, Rob and Veronika to sneak off to our favourite cafe in Penrith where we were based, just outside Glenbrook. The High Street Depot was an oasis of quality food and coffee in sunny Penrith and I reckon we went there at least 6 times, and I had pancakes maybe five times.
A late start meant one last breakfast pre-race in our favourite Penrith cafe, High Street Depot.
This is why I run Ultra marathons and specifically 200 milers, quality pancakes consumed with no guilt what so ever ! High Street Depot, Penrith, if you are ever in Penrith go , the food is incredible. ( https://www.yelp.com/biz/high-st-depot-penrith )
High Street Depot, best cafe in Penrith.
An oasis of calm in a sea of chaos, Rob Donkersloot.
I was very lucky to get Rob to crew for me as he has a wealth of experience and has crewed for podium finishers at locations as diverse as the Death Valley ( https://www.badwater.com/event/badwater-135/ ) and the Coast to Kosciuszko ( https://coasttokosci.com/ ) to name a few big events, while also finishing some massive ultra’s himself. His calming influence is the perfect partner to my ‘excitable‘ personality. He also makes a mean cup of tea, with three sugars of course, which is paramount to success when I run ultra marathons. After helping me to , surprising, victories in the 24hour Lighthorse Ultra and Kep V2 100km I was in good hands.
Shaun had come up with an unique idea where all runners are professionally photographed (by the Eventurers https://www.facebook.com/groups/2503403049690798/user/100064028886011 ) before the start of the event and then straight after finishing thus capturing them at their highest (pre-event) and lowest (post-event). A great idea and it certainly worked in my case. The pre-start below show me excited but also apprehensive about what is about to befall me , the post event just shows me absolutely goosed. If you have chance go to the facebook page and check out some of the shots, they are awesome. (https://www.facebook.com/groups/2503403049690798 )
Right to the race. There was over 40 competitors for the 200 miler and we all lined up nervously for the starting photograph. Lots of laughter belied a nervous energy boiling just below the service. As this was the inaugural running of the event no one was 100% sure of what they were about to face, WA runners more so as all we had to train on were ‘hills’ at best, no mountains. The elevation was going to be a challenge as well as the temperature. Amongst the WA runners were five runners aiming for the triple crown, completing all three 200 milers in the same calendar year. Rob, Sarah, Raquel and Aimee would all complete the three peat while Nicola succumbed to the cold near the halfway point, coming from Broome this was always a risk. She’ll be back I’m sure and slay the beast that is the Unreasonable East and I look forward to watching her do it !
West Australian runners, Myself, Rob, Harmony, Sarah, Aimee, Nicola, Peta, Veronika and Raquel.
Right to the race. There were over forty runners in the 200 miler and nearly 100 in the 100 miler, massive numbers for the inaugural running of this event and I’m sure these numbers will more than double next year and beyond. The image below is the 200 milers all nervously smiling for the cameras, in most cases, or is that more of a grimace contemplating the journey ahead. ? It is a nervous time the start of any ultra event because you do what you can to take out all the various problems or issues that can derail you but you know if it’s not going to be your day the event will find a way to torpedo you. You get in the best physical and mental state you can and hope the hydration, nutrition, conditions and any other variables fall your way. No one is ever guaranteed a finish in an ultra, nobody.
Surround yourself with like minded people…..
Unlike other 200 milers when your crew is normally at every aid station in the Unreasonable I would only see Rob sporadically throughout the event. The first time I would see him on day one would be at Wentworth Falls, nearly 100km into the event. Drop bags were available at each aid station but I was confident I could get to Rob with the food and drink from the aid stations and a number of bars and Gu’s I would carry in my backpack. I would then see Rob again at Katoomba where he allowed me a 90 minute sleep break, he estimated I’d reach Katoomba around 5am with his Ultra pace prediction spreadsheet and it was bang on, actually it was bang on all event and myself and Sarah would often ask Rob what time we would be at certain aid stations and invariably he was right.
Before jumping ahead of myself at Katoomba there’s important pieces of the jigsaw that need explaining. I had decided to run with Veronika for the first day as she was normally quicker than me at the start of these events, Adam and I always start these races very relaxed and often find ourselves near the back of the pack on the morning of day two. For me the hardest part of any 200 miler is the first day and night, if you can get to the morning of day two you are in with a very good shout of finishing. This is then exponential for the next day or two as you near the finish, you just get into a routine of constant running and your mind and body react accordingly. Personally I finish on day four like a train as I believe the mind realises you are close to the end and releases more energy rather than trying to protect itself by convincing the body it is fatigued.
Aid Station locations.
Unreasonable East 200 miler Gaia map iteration #no idea really, but a big number !
With this plan in mind Veronika and I set off down the hill from Glenbrook , over the weir and into the first 14k loop clockwise before rejoining the trail to The Oaks. On the return we would run the loop in the opposite direction and this would have tested runners towards the back of the pack hitting this part of the trail in the dark. It all sounds easy at race briefing but add in over 100 hours of running, extreme fatigue and darkness and you have no idea what’s up or down , forget which way the bloody clock goes ? There’s a story there but I’ll save it for later in the piece.
Hamming it up for the photo about two kilometres in.
The photographers for the event , The Eventurers ( https://theeventurerstravelphotographers.com.au/ ) were/are amazing and they are responsible for the photos of me running , how good are they , very good. ! They even got me looking semi-reasonable off the ground in the image below, outstanding work. Please note this was probably 10k into the event and the last time I would ever be able to leap so high, trust me.
Early in the race I was still able to jump to a reasonable height.
Another image of Veronika and I as we move through to The Oaks aid station. Funnily enough we went past a naked hiker just after this photo, apparently it was naked hiking day , still wasn’t expecting to see naked hikers. Albeit I also encountered a naked hiker in the Delirious West 200 miler in February this year, albeit it was a lot warmer. That’s two in two events, maybe I cursed or blessed ? Veronika seem quite enameled and actually started a conversation with the young fella, I just kept on moving , head down.
Still on the first 14k loop, smiles all around, with Veronika.
Image below is two very happy runners at the first aid station, The Oaks. 24km into the race, gorging themselves on great pancakes and Anzac biscuits. The aid stations really stepped up to the mark and the selection and quality of the food was just gourmet like. These events are so special in that all the volunteers will do whatever it takes to help you achieve your goal. it really is a team effort and when you succeed they also bask in your glory and rightly so. Especially on 200 milers the shifts some of the volunteers do are biblical, sometimes they are out on the course longer than most of the competitors and this goes double for the race directors. These guys start weeks before the event and finish days afterwards, you need to be able to handle days and days with very little sleep and still be able to function, seriously hard core. ! Sometime I feel we runners have the easy part to play, all we do is stumble from one aid station to the next where we are treated like royalty and waited on hand and foot.
First aid station, The Oaks. Veronika and I indulging in great pancakes, gotta’ love ultra’s..
The only downside to starting at 11am is it gets dark very quickly, add in it was the winter solstice and you have more darkness than daylight, great timing Shaun ? This meant we hit the second aid station, Woodford, at dusk (46km into the race) and hurriedly put on our head torches before continuing into the night and making our way to Knotts Hill, 14km later at 60km. We would then do a 13km out and back loop getting back into Knotts Hill around the 86km mark before making our way to Wentworth Falls and the first sighting of our crew at 99km. As we left Woodford we were joined by Sarah Niven, a WA runner who was one of the five runners gunning for the triple crown. Sarah had spent some time in New South Wales before the event and ran with the Blue Mountain Runners so knew the course. This was great news as I had not ran the course and had little or no idea of where I was going without constantly checking the Gaia app on my iphone. I latched onto Sarah and ran with her until Friday morning with less than 30km to the finish when I left her as I was worried , in my sleep depraved state, I wouldn’t be able to finish.
Finding Sarah was gold, not only was she running the race of her life she was also so positive and this positivity rubbed of on all around her, mainly me ! We were perfectly suited pace wise and the conversations flowed in between me indulging in my audible app on my iphone listening to Matthew McConaughey talk about his life or Taylor Swift on my spotifiy. Sarah is a nurse who chooses her placements depending on their location and the running and biking offered in that location, she then explores the area in her van and generally lives the life most runners dream about, thus she has some great stories. The miles just disappeared unfortunately this wasn’t the only thing that disappeared. Veronika was struggling to keep up with Sarah and I on the out and back from Knotts Hill and as she came in as we were leaving. This would be the last we would see Veronika bar crossing later in the race, remember it’s an out and back It’s a pity Veronika couldn’t have hung on for longer but in these type or races you have to run at your pace and it’s difficult to continually run with the same person, in my defense I left her with another couple of runners under strict instructions to look after her. Veronika would finish late on Saturday evening after a massive effort as she was unsupported which is another level of mental toughness. Rob stated before the race that he thought this was just about impossible unsupported, she proved him wrong but she certainly suffered for the privledge. She is still battling third degree frost bite even now two weeks after the event, as I said so tough.
Coming into Knotts Hill, Tuesday evening.
Knotts Hill cooked some seriously good ham and cheese toasties, now I don’t think I have ever eaten a ham and cheese toastie, not being a big cheese fan but in an ultra, after nearly 12 hours of running, you eat what is on offer and I know a ham and cheese toastie is full of the calories and carbs that I needed. It was bloody gorgeous and we left requesting the same when we would return three or so hours later. This certainly helped us run the out and back quicker than we normally would have, remember an ultra is all about the food in the end, actually it’s all about the food in the beginning, middle and end ! Funnily enough the ham and cheese toastie tasted even better three hours or so later and we put this down to the cheese aging well in this period, or us just being more and more hungry. Probably a bit of both.
As this was an out and back we bumped into most of the field, initially the front runners and then the back of the pack, as we turned and returned to the aid station, and another round of ham and cheese toasties. Everybody looked great and we stopped for a few photos and many high fives with our fellow competitors. The first night there is a carnival atmosphere before the fatigue of further nights turns it into survival, primarily, albeit with quality tukka.
Knotts Hill with some old fashioned heating.
As the image below shows the temperature dropped in the evening and this was expected. As part of the compulsory gear you had to carry a thermal vest and pants, as well as a good quality waterproof jacket. In the image below I’m wearing my thermal top and a running top, as well as my reflective top (also compulsory gear), also my favourite beanie which unfortunately went missing. with my new gloves at Katoomba (my kids hated my beanie so they’re stoked it’s gone?, I reckon they bribed Rob to mislay it?) It was cold when you sat at aid stations but when you were moving this was enough, we really did have perfect conditions, no wind to speak off the whole time and sunshine all day bar a sprinkling of rain on day one that was a minor inconvenience at worst. The week after Unreasonable there was mass flooding in the Sydney area and the event would have been cancelled.
Knotts Hill on the way back, it’s an out and back leg.
After Knotts Hill Sarah and I put on a spurt and caught a few runners coming into Wentworth Falls. It was less than 13km to this aid station and after gaps of 24km, 22km, 14km and 26km , this was a small leg. The night was clear, still and perfect for running with a good surface , we gorged ourselves and made Wentworth in good time. The only downside was we passed the Falls at night and unfortunately we did the same coming back so it was the one of the only parts of the course I never saw in the light . The same can be said of the halfway point , Black Range and the three river crossings. We left Cox’s River at dusk and made Black Range in the early evening, a three hour sleep in the car, and we left Black Range in the early hours of Thursday morning , arriving at Cox’s River just before sunrise.
Seeing Rob at Wentworth Falls was just ace. We had a laugh with the volunteers and I got to sit down and eat some great tukka while updating Rob on the day so far and what lay ahead. We had just caught another of Rob’s runners John Mcateer who had hobbled into the aid station with a bad knee. I asked if he would like to join Sarah and I but he decided to rest up and treat the knee. John then ran to Katoomba and onto the Medlow Gap before pulling the pin, the knee was shot and when you are not even halfway you can’t just ‘walk it off’. To even get to Medlow Gap was a massive achievement and he left everything on the course, today was not his day, it was the right decision.
We rocked into Katoomba just before sunrise on Wednesday morning and was prepared for ninety minutes sleep in the 6 bed sleep station that would be there to greet us. I reckon I was top 10 at the time and hoped that there would be space for me at the sleep station, if there wasn’t I would have to continue Foggy Knob over 25km away, not ideal. As it was I needn’t had worried as the sleep station wasn’t set up and I say sleep station in the broadest sense of the word, it actually turned out to be a three room tent. Luckily for me Rob has influence, I told you he was good , and he knew someone staying at the caravan park so I was allowed to rest my weary head in a nice bed albeit I didn’t really sleep, go figure. Rob woke me ninety minutes later and the sun had risen but it was still freezing. As the image below shows we got ourselves rugged up and of we trotted heading towards Medlow Gap, obviously after the obligatory pancakes from the amazing volunteers included the Godmother of the Ultra Series Melanee Maisey.
My crew and I , probably early Wednesday morning at Katoomba. It was as cold as it looks…
Day two started in spectacular fashion as we moved down the Furbar steps and along to Scenic World and the cable car before continuing to the Golden Stairs to climb out of the valley before heading to narrow neck, and some abseiling before finishing at Medlow Gap. This 18km had just about everything, views to die for, stairs that try to kill you and it seemed like thousands of them, great trail running around narrow neck, some abseiling just before Medlow Gap, awesome climbs, fire trails and did I mention the views. A stunning leg which Sarah and I ran at the perfect time of day, early morning moving into lunch. I would have hated to run this in the dark and miss all the aforementioned ‘good things.’ I’ve attached four images below showing some of the scenery but the photos can never do the place justice.
The Three Sisters looking resplendent.
Heading towards the Golden Stairs.
The Golden Stairs, there is a lot of them !
It’s hard not to stop every 5 minutes to take more photos, the scenery really is stunning.
Wednesday morning was so good, the crisp morning combined with stunning scenery made the distance fly by. There were testing segments of course often involving a serious amount of stairs even going up or going down, or serious climbs but it is the Blue Mountains. We moved to narrow neck and our first date with the rock climbers who would help us traverse a rock ladder, well I say ladder in the broadest sense of the word more like random pieces of metal sticking out of a vertical rock wall. When you take on a Shaun Kaseler 200 miler it becomes more like a triathlon than a foot race. At the Delirious West 200 miler there is a river crossing in a kayak, here you abseil, so much fun. Again we hot this part of the course just before lunch on a crisp morning with no wind, other runners took on this beast in the dark with howling winds maybe not so much fun? Veronika actually found herself wandering about aimlessly on the way back and had to be ‘rescued‘ by the rock climbers albeit I’m never sure if this was actually part of her master plan.
Sarah and I loving life heading towards Medlow Gap from Katoomba, Wednesday morning.
This event had everything even abseiling.
After the abseiling there was some really cool single trail running as you came off narrow neck and descended into Medlow Gap where we were met with probably the best aid station on the course due to the main chef being a professional cook. He was so good he was gifted a free entry to the race next year which I think is a good thing albeit they will be missed as this aid station was just ace. Please note all aid stations were ace and the food was of such a high standard throughout but the breakfast wrap (on the way out) and French Toast (on the way back) here were next level and all cooked over an open fire. We were promised French Toast on the way back and this was kept us going in some dark times as we moved to Black Range that evening , knowing we’d be back at Medlow Gap the next day eating French Toast. As I have said many times a 200 miler is more about the food than running.
Scenery was inspiring, another view of the Three Sisters.
Foggy Knob aid station is just 7.5km from Medlow Gap which was a reasonable distance and also one of the rare sightings of my crew as Medlow Gap was a no crew aid station, surprise that. A 7.5km leg is a breeze after all the longer legs and before we knew it we were at Foggy Knob enjoying some quality time with Rob. The next aid station was also no crew so I would not see Rob till early evening at Black Range, the turning point. We were predicting a late arrival but Rob was confident we would be many hours earlier, as always he was right. I’m not sure how his magic excel spreadsheet works but everyone needs to get a copy, it knows us better than we know ourselves ! Because it was only 7.5km from Medlow Gap I must admit to not checking out the food offered at this aid station, actually both ways because I had filled my belly at the previous aid stations both times. Rookie error, next year will make more of an effort.
Conditions continued to be prefect, as they were the whole time and we headed off to Cox’s River and our date with the swinging bridge. There was a serious climb out of the aid station and then a long undulating road section before moving to Cox’s River on the UTA course and then heading up, and it was up, to Black Range where we would sleep for three hours. Highlight of this section was the burrito at Cox’s River just before sunset, outstanding. Funny typing this post I can remember the food at each aid station but the terrain and running seems to be harder to recall. I just remember a lot of uphill and stairs, so many stairs. As you can see from the graphic below the climb to the highest point is from Cox’s River to Black Range and boy it is a climb. Its a 19km leg and it it all uphill and serious elevation as well. I remember being at the bottom of one climb knowing it was over seven kilometers and working out in my head it would be ell over an hour and half of climbing to get to the top, and it was dark at this point. Luckily I had Taylor Swift on spotify to accompany me to the top and this helped albeit I had probably played her songs many times during the day, they still help time disappear, unfortunately not so much distance that’s down to me and my poles.
Photographs never show gradient, the image below looks like a nice gradient , trust me it wasn’t. The leg to Black Range was so steep and so long. Luckily it got dark and that helped, I think ? There was also three river crossings which were unavoidable so wet shoes and socks added to the fun. Highlights of this leg was seeing all the front runners coming back from Black Range ahead of us, flying down the hill as we stumbled up it. We arrived at Black Range in the early evening, as predicted by Rob, and had a quick hot chocolate before completing the 6k out and back loop and settling down in the car for a three hour sleep with Rob. I made sure I was fully rugged up in the car as it was freezing outside. Thermal top and leggings , running shirt, pajamas, jacket, beanie, I looked like the abominable snow man ! It certainly helped as I was warm enough and got some sleep, maybe a few hours, in between Rob’s snoring.
Moving towards the half way point at Black Range on part of the UTA course.
This little sign in the floor means so much to 220 milers in this event. It means you have reached the highest point on the course and now every step you take is heading back to the finish, not away from it. Mentally it is a huge boost and I was invigorated as I moved past it and back the way I came. Little things like this are massive when it comes to finishing these type of events. Once I passed this point I was never not going to finish, I would be running more downhill than up on the way back and also on terrain I had already ran , so I was less worried about getting lost. I had a good sleep planned and was excited about running down from Black Range , compared to running up to Black Range. I also had a breakfast burrito at Cox’s River planned as well as French Toast at Medlow Gap for lunch, there I go again food, food, food. This is becoming more of a post for Master Chef than a running blog.
A small sign but a significant mental boost when you see it !
We left Black Ridge in the early hours of Thursday morning with a goal to reach Cox’s River just before sunrise and indulge in another burrito before pushing on the Foggy Knob and Medlow Gap. I have mentioned this many times but an ultra is more than a foot race it’s an eating and drinking competition, with running between aid stations. For a 200 miler the nutrition and hydration become more important as if you get the it wrong you stop, simple as that. Without fuel things tend to grind to a halt pretty quick. Luckily I have an iron stomach and can eat just about anything but I know so many ultra runners who have come undone due to nutrition or hydration issues, get your strategy sorted before you get to the start line, ultra running 101.
Cox’s river and a breakfast burrito.
After our breakfast burrito at Cox’s River we arrived at the swinging bridge just before sunrise as the image below shows. We were still on head torches but as soon as we crossed the bridge the sun woke and it turned into another beautiful day in the Blue Mountains.
Thursday morning , the swinging bridge over Cox’s River.
Thursday morning sunrise was spectacular and I have used that term so many times in this post but the race just kept on giving, day after day. The locals couldn’t believe how lucky we’d been with the weather and I wonder if we can be so lucky two years in a row, we’ll find out in 2023 I suppose. We were back on the UTA track heading back to Foggy Knob and a rare meeting with Rob. The run into Foggy Knob was hard and the quads and hammy’s were starting to complain. I need some time on the massage gun as well as some fisiocrem just to release the muscles for the day and night ahead. I agreed with Sarah to take some time at the aid station to work on my legs, while refueling of course, albeit we both knew we had French Toast less than 8km away at Medlow Gap to look forward to.
The sunrise just after we crossed Cox’s River on the swinging bridge.
Heading towards Foggy Knob early Thursday morning .
The massage gun and fisiocrem did the business and we were soon back on the trial heading the short distance to Medlow Gap and our favourite aid station, with French Toast on order for lunch. My legs were so much better and I’m not sure if it was the massaging and cream or just the anticipation of the food ahead if us.
Working the major leg muscle groups. Love my Stryke Recovery massage gun and fisiocrem.
Rob, Sarah and I at Foggy Knob, the second time. a rare sighting of my ever supportive support crew.
So here is the infamous French toast with bacon and bananas drowned in maple syrup, you really have to experience this albeit you may have to wait until 2024 as the creator of this masterpiece is running Unreasonable next year. As with all photos in this post they never do justice to the captured images, this French Toast will go with me to the grave ! After this there was a monster climb to narrow neck, some great single track trail running before abseiling up a large rock face. Luckily as I mentioned earlier I have an iron stomach and as soon as the meal is finished I can run, maybe I should have been a cyclist ?
Proper outback cooking, so special. French toast and bananas getting readied for my stomach.
Medlow Gap, the food was just so good. Bacon, egg wrap on the way out and French toast on the way back Thursday morning.
My Dad was a big fan of Physics and would often come up with the comment ‘It’s all physics Son’, this is also true when it comes to abseiling, what goes down must come back up, sort of like gravity I suppose. I’m not sure if going up was easier than coming down, I enjoyed both and each had their own challenges. This was definitely something I enjoyed and albeit I had the benefit of sunlight on both occasions and no cross winds, other people weren’t so lucky I hear.
What goes down must come back up !
A selfie after ascending the rock face of truth as I call it. We were both relieved and looking forward to the rest of the day ahead and enjoying the glorious surroundings, again. Thursday was such a great day as you are over halfway and your body and mind just get use to the all day running, it becomes the norm as such. I’ve said it many times and still believe a 200 miler gets easier not harder the further into the event you travel, culminating in a sudden burst of energy when the finishing line is in sight and by insight I mean in that day.
I was now so confident of finishing I put a post on the Facebook page asking for Glenbrook to get the Guinness ready as me and Sarah were as good as home, probably a tad premature, we were still well over 80km from the finish which equated to another day of running. Unfortunately unbeknown to me it is very difficult to get Guinness in Glenbrook and this is the one tradition I missed out on, my two pints of Guinness after finishing. At the after party Shaun did put on trays of Tequila so I did manage a few shots instead of my Guinness and a mojito. That will be it for me until probably next February after Delirious, I’m not a big drinker.
Heading back to Katoomba, Thursday afternoon.
After Medlow, and fueled on French Toast , we set a serious pace to reach Katoomba by late afternoon. Back down the Golden Stairs and then up Furbur steps , which seemed to have got a lot longer on the way up. Rob was waiting for me at Katoomba and we agreed a ninety minute power nap before powering on through the night to try and finish Friday. At Katoomba they had set up the sleeping station, well two room tent, and I settled down for some shut eye. Unfortunately no one told the family next door that this was a sleeping station and in a tent it felt like they were sitting on the edge of my bed. The temperature was dropping as daylight gave way to darkness yet again and I gave up on trying to sleep instead I stumbled off to the shower block where they had heaters which would allow me to do some massaging and also get changed in relative comfort. This would come back and bite me in a big way later in the early hours of Friday morning as sleep depravation was now becoming a problem. Usually I have a good three hours a night but so far I probably only had three hours total, for three days, this was unsustainable. Eventually I would have to pay the piper of course, to quote Boris Johnson ‘them’s the breaks’.
The Blue Mountains really turned it on for the event.
Did I mention stairs ? There is lots of them !
Looks just a s good on the way back as the way out.
So after my ‘sleep’ break (or attempted sleep break) at Katoomba we left for Wentworth falls, again in darkness as the sun has just disappeared on Thursday evening. Fifteen kilometres to the falls aid station and then seventeen kilometres to Woodford, the second last aid station. Rob met Sarah and I at Wentworth falls as that would be the last I saw him until early Friday morning at the last aid station, The Oaks. We also met up with Adam Darwin who we have been leap frogging for hundreds of kilometres. Adam left the aid station a few minutes before us but we caught him quickly as he was suffering with foot blisters the size of footballs. He was obviously in pain but was still moving forward with a pacer.
Remember I mentioned earlier I would have to eventually pay the piper for my lack of sleep during the event well between Wentworth falls and Woodford I paid , big time. The trail from Wentworth falls to Woodford is generally up hill and for the last few kilometres to the aid station very up hill. It was during the last few kilometres I lost my grasp of reality and the forest just turned into a hallucination, everywhere I looked things weren’t as they should be. I have hallucinated many times, mainly in backyard ultras, but nothing compared to what I was experiencing , the whole forest just came alive with all sorts of stuff. It was actually quite cool as I’ve always enjoyed the games the mind plays when it is totally sleep deprived and you are totally fatigued.
Luckily the aid station was only a few kilometres away and both Sarah and I needed sleep. There was two stretcher beds with blankets at Woodford and we both grabbed a bed with blankets and got some shut eye. We asked the volunteers to wake us in 30 minutes and as we awoke Adam turned up with his pacer. It was freezing cold of course and we settled into seats as Adam got his blisters looked at by the course paramedic, the volunteers provided some great toasties and tea but it was time to leave and move towards the last aid station which we would hope to arrive at just before sunrise.
This was now into early Friday morning and I was still sleep depraved. I would try and walk three or four steps with my eyes closed before opening them and then repeating the process. Unfortunately there was 22 kilometres between Woodford and The Oaks and we were both absolutely knackered. We were averaging 10 minute kilometres and doing the numbers we would not get to The Oaks before sunrise, things were starting to look grim. Eventually Sarah called it was time for a dirt nap, we were both dead on our feet.
Sarah had a pretty cool trail sleeping blanket so gave me her space blanket which I sued with mine and wrapped myself up like a burrito. These space blankets are surprisingly warm and I was pretty toasty in the dirt. Sarah set her alarm for 10 minutes and we both dosed. The alarm went off far too early and we both raised ourselves as the sun rose, it was pretty cool truth be told. Welcome to Friday morning with the image below greeting us.
Waking up from our dirt nap to see this amazing sunrise.
Once we awoke from our dirt nap I knew I needed to get to the next aid station quickly and get some Rob time before the push for the finish. I was worried that sleep depravation would get the better of me so close to the finish. My good friend Darlene Dale was pulled out of the Delirious a few years ago within 20 kilometres of the finish and I was desperate not to go through that. Thus I had to say my goodbyes to Sarah which pained me as she had been such good company but I just needed to step on and finish as quickly as possible.
I jettisoned all the extra clothing I had on to get me through the night , go down to shorts and a running shirt and hit the afterburners. This took Rob by surprise because as I arrived at The Oaks there was no sign of him and he admitted he had me arriving later than I did. IFinally beat his spreadsheet !) In his defence he was only a few minutes away and when he arrived I changed clothes and shoes for the last time and set off on the last leg for the finish line.
For the last loop I put on the Hokka Mach 5’s, a brand new white pair and they felt great. The Altra Olympus 4’s I had worn for the whole race are great shoes but better suited to single trail, they don’t have the cushioning that this race needs and when I come back next year it will be in a pair of Hokka Mach 5’s.
The last leg is a straight line initially and then a loop in the opposite direction to last time we ran the loop, four days ago. (anti-clockwise this time.) I knew we had to do this loop but wasn’t sure where the loop started , luckily while I was wondering which way to go a car pulled over and pointed me in the right direction. I was still feeling good but the loop seemed to go on for ever and to add to my woes my iphone decided to die and my cable didn’t seem to be working with my back batteries, joy ! I was blind albeit I knew where I was on the course and which way to go but was starting to second guess myself as I seemed to be running for such a long time. Again I was thankful this was early morning in sunshine, I couldn’t imagine going though this in the dark and second guessing yourself, I was certainly missing Sarah now. Eventually I hit the weir and knew all I had to do know was climb the hill to the finish, what could go wrong now.
Well it seems quite a lot. ! As I run the climb I came to a turn off and saw some pink bunting, did we take this off shoot from Glenbrook four days ago, I couldn’t remember. This was when I needed my iphone and Gaia, unfortunately my iphone was dead and I couldn’t work out how to text Rob on the Garmin tracker. I was totally done so decided just to sit down and wait for some direction from the general public. Luckily I didn’t have to wait long before Jac Cresp’s Husband and Son stopped and asked if I needed help. It seems the son recognised me after meeting me earlier in the race at the Katoomba showers. They pointed me in the right direction and I was off again on the final rise to the finish line.
As I was taking so long Shaun had sent a chaperone to point me to the finish and I was happy for the help, I made a big effort to look reasonable for the finish and put on a spurt, for the camera of course, I was done !
The money shot, finishing the Unreasonable East 2022, just over 73 hours.
Done and dusted, 73 hours and 8 minutes official time but it was so much more. The elevation made it incredibly hard but the company, incredible conditions and scenery made up for that. At the end I promised never to run it again but two weeks later I can’t wait for entries to open and that sums up 200 milers, they become addictive. Next time we can’t get conditions as good so it’ll be a challenge for sure but I’ll be better prepared albeit the Race Director has found another 4,000metres of elevation and is keen to add this to the 10,000metres we already climb, joy ! I’m smiling as I type these words remembering some of the experiences I shared on the trail. Bad experiences, there weren’t any as such, there was challenging times of course and times it was a struggle just moving forward but that’s the point, the race makes you look deep within yourself and allows you to ask yourself questions which are , in normal life, you can’t answer. This is the reason you run a 200 miler, to find out who you really are. ?
Tired but stoked to finish.
Two of the RD’s , Shaun and Steve at the finish. Absolute legends but you knew that.
Hugging Simone, something I love to do when ever I get the chance. She is the calming influence behind the chaos that is Shaun Kaesler.
As I mentioned earlier there would be an after shot straight after finishing and I love this image, trying to contemplate what has just happened and the relief to have finished. This image sums up what a 200 miler takes out of you, everything, there is nothing left to give and that’s how I roll. I love it.
Finish photo, looking goosed.
So what do you get for finishing a 200 miler in the Blue Mountains bar memories , well a half finished jigsaw of course with the promise of the missing pieces if you run another 200 miles in the Blue Mountains. How good is that ? You’d have to return surely, wouldn’t you?
Finishers jigsaw, notice the missing pieces.
Surrounded by legends, the Race Directors, Shaun, Nicola, Steve and Michelle. Thankyou guys.
The finishers left at the after party.
The first triple crown down under recipients, Rob, Aimee, Sarah and Raquel.
Rocking the Georges beanie at the after party.
Finally some products that helped me through the race and should be in your drop bags or backpack for all 200 milers… 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’ !
In October 2021 I ran the ‘Wet’ Delirious West 200 miler. The Bibbulmun track was waterlogged in places and we had a great time running from Northcliffe to Albany. In February 2022 the race was back to its traditional starting date and we set off from Northcliffe albeit this time on an out and back course due to a forest fire restricting access to Albany. We would be running to Tree Tops and then turning around and racing back to Northcliffe. I had a new crew consisting of Marky Mark Lommers and the Wangster, Jeffrey Wang. Adam was reunited with old faithful himself Dav, the invisible crew that no one knew was there but he just goes about his business, ruthless.
As you can see from the image below, leaving my house, we were in good spirits as myself and Adam set about chasing down our double plugger trophy. (The first time you complete Delirious you are given a single plugger (flip flop to us Poms), when you return and complete Delirious for a second time you get the second plugger mounted on a nice wooden plaque, hence the double plugger trophy. Probably the most expensive two dollar plugger you will ever buy! )
The boys ready to get Delirious. ‘Marky’ Mark, Jeffrey , Adam, Dav and me.
We left for Northcliffe on Monday giving ourselves a few days to acclimatize before the race start on Wednesday. I had a great airBnB booked for a few days and we explored the area while always keeping our reason for being there in the back of our minds. The highlight of the two days was climbing the Gloucester Tree near Pemberton. Of the five of us the two pilots were DNF and refused to go further than a few metres off the ground albeit Adam claimed he was half way where we was about three rungs up, so funny. I had climbed the tree in October when Barts insisted I give it a go and boy it was scary but with all things familiarity breeds contempt and this time it was a piece of cake . All the boys, in my crew, enjoyed the challenge.
Me and my Crew up a tree. Notice no pilots?
Driving around Pemberton and Nortcliffe there was Delirious crew and runners everywhere you looked, all nervously last minute carbo-loading or spending time huddled over Gaia examining the new course and planning sleep stops and race strategies. I’d ‘stickered’ up Dav’s Land Cruiser and he proudly cruised the area.
Dav’s car fully sickered and fully sick !
After check-in on Tuesday and before race briefing is the race that stops a town, the Bogan crew race. Marky Mark was determined to win it in his budgies and he didn’t let us down. The two previous years the winner was rewarded with free entry to Delirious the following year but this year Shaun decided it would be a draw with all competitors given an equal chance of winning. Unfortunately for Mark his name was not drawn out. He is still reigning Bogan champion and I hope to persuade him to defend his title next year. Truth be told he loves wearing his pink budgies.
The Bogan Crew winner, so proud.
Rod Donkersloot from Mind Focused Running had come down to support his three runners, myself, Michael and John. ( https://mindfocusedrunning.com/ ). I have used Rob’s program and have been unstoppable since, no more DNF’s for me. Training the mind is overlooked by the majority of runners and Rob has designed a course that is tailored to getting the best out of the most important asset you have as a runner. He’s sort of a more relaxed version of David Goggins without the swearing. ( https://davidgoggins.com/ ) I would recommend getting in touch with Rob if you are seriously thinking of running a 200 miler in the near future, he’s a sort of insurance policy for a good finish.
Rob and the Mind Focused running crew.
Right to the start of the race. Due to border closures there was a small and intimate starting lineup of light minded friends who all knew each other. Like a long training run with mates really. This will be the last time we see such a small line up so we all were enjoying the moment as we knew it would never happen again. In 2023 I’m predicting at least 100 starters, maybe more, with a load of out of state runners. Although this is not a bad thing I will miss the small field of friends. Starters included Jon Pendse , out to defend the title he won in 2019, Michael Hooker, a pre-race favourite, Bianca and Sue , the first mother and daughter combination to attempt a 200 miler ever. My old mate Hoppy who pipped me to the post the previous year, Charles and Trevor Bosveld who would be as competitive as ever , with each other mainly ! Veronika looking to put the previous years DNF behind her and of course Adam going for his double plugger.
The start line…
The video below is a few kilometes into the race , well actually it’s not part of the race as its tradition to run the wrong way for a few kilometres as this is what happened on the first running of the event and now every year since the race takes the wrong turn as a nod to the original error. Shaun Kaesler, the RD, loves these traditions. The race itself doesn’t really start until you head back to the start line which use to be a four kilometre loop but because of the out and back nature of the course this year was probably more like ten kilometres ? Gotta’ love traditions ?
After returning to the start line and then moving towards the halfway point at Tree Tops myself and Adam were full of the joys of spring, it really was perfect conditions and we got our heads down and just enjoyed being on the trails, amongst friends. I always find the first day and night the hardest and particularly the fist 50k or so to Dog Road. Once I get to Dog Road I pick up my poles and its pretty good running all the way to Mandelay where we would have our first sleep. I always find waking from a good sleep, albeit two to three hours, and you are reenergised for the day ahead. You can then repeat the process and, voila, before you know it you’re at the finish line. Myself and Adam ran alone for most of the day and maintained a steady pace, we were passed by Sergio early in the day and he went on to win the event running a massive PB. Bar Sergio we maintained our position in the field , cocooned in the top 10 until we met Veronika late in the day just outside Mandelay. Helping Veronika into Mandelay probably cost us a few positions but you can’t go past a lady in distress albeit she recovered extremely well in Mandelay and left hours before us !
Adam on the hoof, a thing of natural beauty.
Next couple of videos is myself and Adam running towards , and entering, the first aid station. As always a few kilometres further than anticipated. Running between aid stations is how you break down a 200 miler, it really is an eating and drinking competition with running between aid stations an after thought. Rather than one 200 mile distance you break it down into twenty 20k or so distances and then leap frog from one to the next until you finish. This way the furthest you ever have to run is the 20k or so between an aid station, small manageable steps. Focus on the next aid station , get there, reset and go again. When you get really tired grab a few hours sleep and just continue until someone tells you to stop, usually at the finish line.
The first aid station, Chesapeake West , came and went pretty quick, no time even for a cup of tea. Had a few biscuits and some sandwiches from memory but it was a hurried affair which is ridiculous as we’re running a race that will take 3-4 days. Later in the event you tend to slow down but at the first aid station it is hard to relax and just take your time. As we were leaving another group of runners turned up and this just added to our anxiety, ridiculous I know but early on it feels like a race, later in the event it becomes an adventure as the field thins out and you are happy for company. Everybody was full of beans and the early aid stations have a carnival like atmosphere, the volunteers are eager to help any way they can and everybody is feeling great, good times had by all.
Aid station number 1, done and dusted.
The next two videos show Adam and I moving towards Dog Road where we would meet the crew for the first time, grab some food and them continue towards the first sleep stop at Mandelay. Conditions were still perfect with some good shade protecting us from the midday sun. It was great to meet the boys at Dog Road and we would then run through Pingerup and Brooke Inlet Road aid stations before reaching Mandelay in the early hours of Thursday morning for the first sleep stop. We would start our sleep around the top ten but due to crew error, no one set the alarm, we had a longer than planned sleep and woke to find we’d been relegated to just about last spot, albeit with a sleep stop up our sleeves. This wasn’t an issue as we would leap frog runners as they slept at Warpole later in the day of course. Albeit all our fans (?) would have been dismayed at our position in the field when they logged on to dot watch Thursday morning.
Both crews at Dog Road on the way out.
At Dog Road with both crews, boys sorted us out with some tukka and we grabbed our poles. Last year ,the wet year, the course was different to Brooke Inlet Road. It was a really good downhill section that seemed to go on forever, unfortunately this year it was back to the original course and was mainly uphill, go figure? Me and Adam basically complained all the way to Pingerup where we were met by the lovely Simone and her husband Heath who provided great pancakes, a Delirious tradition. As I said earlier I always find the first 50k the hardest, enjoyable but also testing. After Dog Road I find it becomes easier and Pingerup and Brooke Inlet Road tend to arrive quickly before a sleep at Mandelay.
Video below is 79k in after Pingerup, looks like I had bacon and eggs, not sure that’s true. I must have had pancakes?
Some scenery, the course is pretty special.
On a side note my good friend Jon Pendse, a previous champion, twisted an ankle in the first few kilometres. He managed to get to the first aid station in top three but then got lost and managed to arrive at the next aid station the wrong way. He was told to return to the first aid station and come back the right way. Unfortunately when he tried to do this his ankle blew up and his race was run. Thus when I arrived at the second aid station there was Jon , leg up in the air, beer in hand , smile on his face. It was a shame because Jon is a very accomplished ultra runner and although he’s been concentrating on marathons lately he would have been a good threat for at least a podium.
Jon, rolled his ankle before the aid station. As a past winner he was hoping for a quick finish, not this quick though !
A great photo of Mark, Dav and Jeff on some downtime, of which there is a lot apparently. My crew destroyed a slab of VB allegedly and then some, while always obeying the Western Australia drink driving thresholds. The one comment from Mark about the actual race was a telling one ‘I didn’t realise how much you ran‘. I’m not sure what he was expecting in a 200 mile race but to the untrained eye there is a lot of walking but when you see it close up there is also a sh*t load of running !
There is a lot of waiting around as crew, best keep busy !
The image below show Heath and Simone feeding me I assuming pancakes at the Pingerup aid station. I’m sure it was pancakes? Love these guys.
Love these guys and their pancakes.
After Pingerup the run to Brooke Inlet Road is one of my favourites, great running and beautiful scenery which you run through just before sunset so the light is spectacular. As you saw on the video earlier in this post although you really are alone at this part of the course albeit in my case I had Adam as company for the first day. The three times I have ran Delirious we have always had glorious conditions and this part of the course has never let me down, who doesn’t love a sunset in the middle of nowhere with a good mate.
First day into the sunset.. pre-Broke Road.
After Brooke Inlet Road night comes in quickly and the 20k run to Mandelay is always done in the dark. In the previous Delirious this was twenty kilometres of ankle deep water which was so much fun as it was unrunable. This year Adam and I put on the headphones and moved through the track knowing we had a sleep stop in Mandelay. All was going to plan until we came across Veronika about ten kilometes in to the stage having issues with her head torch. We stopped to help her and all was going well until a small insect decided to embed itself in Adam’s eye and started to bite him. This was extremely painful and Veronika offered her assistance, being a well respected Doctor apparently. With some vigour she swiped a tissue across Adam’s eye removing the insect but also nearly removing Adam’s eye. She did admit to maybe being a tad more aggressive than normal but location and conditions dictated this approach, apparently. I’m not sure Adam appreciated this aggressive style and I’ve not seen a man in so much pain for a long time, albeit I was slightly amused at the situation but Adam was not happy. The things you see on the trail.
Veronika was struggling and we walked her into Mandelay as well as keeping her vertical on the last few steps. We left her to retire to our sleep stations while she promised to get some rest. Her rest was a tad shorter than ours though. We woke to light outside our swags which was not a good sign, we had told our crew to wake us before sunrise so we could eat and get ready and leave just before the sunrise, light meant we had over slept. In fact we really had over slept, over three hours sleep and we left Mandelay as the back of the pack came through the aid station. No more top 10, we were probably only three or four of the back albeit we were very well rested. Veronika had stayed at Mandelay for a matter of minutes claiming she couldn’t sleep and we had now given her a few hours advantage.
Very rested at Mandelay.
Morning of day 2 , out of Mandelay Beach.
I did manage to get this image as we left Mandelay so it wasn’t that late in the morning, the crew did get us out just after sunrise and off we went to Mount Clare. This is a hard twenty plus distance which drains you, plenty of rises and eventually you have to get to the top of Mount Clare , which as the names suggests will involve a climb.
On the way to Mount Clare from Mandelay.
On the bright side there are some extremely great views from Mandelay to Mount Clare albeit its still bloody hard running. You skirt the coast for half the route before heading inland and starting the climb to Mount Clare. I left Adam at this point and made my way to Mount Clare alone. I was feeling good and decided that I would run my own race and if Adam caught up that would be good but there was no point either of us trying to change our pace to suit the other runner, on a 200 miler it just doesn’t work. I did bump into Adam as I left Mount Clare and then again as I left Warpole but after that I only saw him as I returned from Tree Tops and then at the finish. The previous year I had ran with Adam to the last day when he had to slow due to a fractured rib and we were hoping we could run together for the whole event this time. It is always better to run with company if you can but this year I would run alone from the point I left Adam bar one stage from Warpole where I was joined by Charles and his pacer Laura.
After I left Adam I ran to Mount Clare, quick pit stop and then through to Warpole, which is mainly downhill, coming of anything with a ‘Mount’ in the title you’d expect a downhill I suppose. I had a quick shower at Warpole and then started towards Tingle Tree before reaching the halfway point at Tree Tops. All of this running was in perfect conditions, warm but not hot and I was cooled at each aid station with plenty of ice and hydration, I was running well at this point and arrived at Tree Tops in the late afternoon just in time for a great steak, cup of tea and some mint slices, perfect evening meal. Over the last few aid stations I had made up a number of places and leaving Tree Tops was probably back in the top 10. Our sleep strategy was starting to make a difference and I decided to try and get back to Mount Clare for one more sleep.
I put on the after burners and passed a number of runners coming back from Tree Tops, as they moved towards Tree Tops. I had Sergio, Michael Hooker , Trevor and Charles Bosveld and Sharene ahead of me, not bad as I was probably nearly last coming out of Mandelay.
Mark cooking while updating social media. His steak at Tree Tops was beautiful.
Leaving Warpole heading towards Tingle Tree on the way out after a shower and some tukka.
Mucking about at Tingle Tree.
My three favourite things in life, Tea, biscuits and Jeffrey.
Heading up to the turn around at Tree Tops.
The video shows me leaving Tree Tops, 180km in, about 7pm Thursday night. Plan is to get to Mount Clare at 2am for a sleep.
A Green frog…
Day three, 225km in , just leaving Mount Clare heading towards Mandelay. 130km to the finish, can I do it in one day ? In the video I was not interested but as the day went on and with my crew pushing me I did make a run for a sub 70 hour finish and the infamous gold buckle.
Mandelay beach on the way back, brutal 21k from Mount Clare.
Mount Clare to Mandelay is brutal, there is no other word. I started this leg in great spirits after a good three hour sleep but ended up destroyed on Mandelay beach twenty one or so kilometres later. It just seemed to go on forever and you were always so close to the ocean before taking a right turn away from the beach and heading inland, on numerous occasions. Add in some humidity, elevation and trails that needed your 100% concentration and you have a monster of a leg. On the way out it wasn’t half as bad I’m sure but the video below show how destroyed I was coming into Mandelay. Watching the video I forgot about the March Flies eating me alive on the beach, so funny.
After a quick nap, the sun came out and so did the budgies. Leaving Mandelay on the way to Broke Road .
I’m glad to report that after arriving at Mandelay the sun came out , and unfortunately so did Mark’s ping budgies, and after a twenty minute nap under a towel I was ready for the final push to the finish line. Rob Donkersloot , he of Mind Focused Running, ( https://mindfocusedrunning.com/ ) was here as was my good mate Shannon Dale. Between the two of them , with my crew, they got me ready for the next stage of the race, a pleasant leg to Brooke Inlet Road and then Pingerup. By this time the sun has started to warm things up which is not a bad thing as I love the heat and have no issues with hotter temperatures. I skipped away from Mandelay ready to enjoy the next leg but I had underestimated the heat and the leg to Brooke Inlet Road soon became a struggle with little or no shade.
When I eventually bumped into Mark a kilometre out from the aid station I was well and truly frazzled. Rob had made his way to the aid station and again with the help of my crew I was rehydrated, fed and set on my way to Pingerup which is a no-crew aid station. I made sure I had enough hydration after my earlier error of judgment and this leg was about as good as I could have hoped. Quick plug for fisiocrem as my quads were suffering pre-Brooke Inlet aid station , probably due to hydration issues, so I smothered my legs with the product. Thirty minutes later and they’re feeling a lot better and luckily they also had some fisiocrem at Pingerup so my legs got another dose of this magical cream.
I was currently running 6th overall with Trevor and Sharene the nearest competitors albeit probably a hour or so ahead. Emma and her family fed and watered me and I was off on my way towards Dog Road which was a great running leg with a good bit of downhill and a great surface for picking up some time.
The boys misbehaving, again !
On the way back to Pingerup.
Heading back to Dog Road, some good running and hallucinations.
The part of the course was the only part I remember hallucinating and I put that down to a good sleep strategy. I was convinced I saw two runners ahead of me while I was answering a call of nature and made a big effort to run them down only to find when I reached the top of the ridge no one there. This happened twice more which showed I was sub-consciously thinking of catching Sharene ahead of me and I did eventually catch her at Dog Road, as I entered she was getting ready to leave with her pacer. It’s funny the games your mind plays when you are sleep deprived. I find things I have been thinking about will eventually end up as hallucinations later in the day. Personally I don’t mind hallucinations as they have never been anything that has derailed my race an, truth be told, they’re pretty cool. I’ve had some pretty good ones over the years normally on backyard ultras in the second night when you are totally sleep depraved of course.
Coming into Dog Road, quick change of clothes and onto the gold buckle chase through the night.
At Dog Road it was decision time. The plan was always to finish Saturday aiming for a PB and a midday finish. At Dog Road I had the opportunity to run through the night and finish around 3AM, a massive PB and a Gold Buckle run. (sub 70 hours) This would mean running the last 50km or so at a reasonable rate and also finishing to a crowd of maybe three or four maximum. Option two was a good three hours sleep at Chesapeake East or West and then finishing in the daylight , running the last leg in beautiful sunshine finishing in front of a large crowd, a PB but no gold buckle. It was always going to be option one of course. Pacers would have been nice at this point as the last 50km was running through difficult terrain with trees down over the path and also navigational challenges due to fatigue and the general nature of the course. Add in the stress of trying to make a certain time and it needed to be a seriously good finish.
Chesapeak East or West ?
Last night racing towards the finish and a sub 70 hour gold buckle run.
So its was on like Donkey Kong, my gold buckle fast finish. I passed Sharene between Dog Road and Chesapeake East and after a short stop moved on into the night towards the last aid station , Chesapeake West. I knew this would be a stressful last 50km but I made the decision to chase the buckle and it was time to pay the piper. While continually checking Gaia ( https://www.gaiagps.com/ ) I managed to stay on track and after clambering my way to the last aid station was met for the last time by my trusty crew and a great bunch of volunteers who fed me some seriously good eggs from memory. Trevor Bosveld was an hour ahead but according to the volunteers not travelling that well. I wasn’t bothered really but there was a small chance I’d catch him if I put a hurry on, this was all I needed. I loaded up the best of Taylor Swift on the after shokz headphones (you must have a pair of these head phones ( https://shokz.com/ ) ) and off I stumbled into the night for the last time.
To add to my anxiety I’d probably forgotten to fully charge my head torch in all the commotion and only had one spare lithium battery for my second head torch, it’s only 24km what could go wrong ? With this on my mind I started to increase the pace , more out of necessity now with every minute possibly being my last with a head torch. I wondered how far I could run using the iphone torch as my main source of illumination, probably not very fast or very far !
This was my second 200 miler , completed, and as with the first I was probably fresher at the end than the beginning. As I said earlier the first 50km are the hardest for me and the last 50km had now turned into a threshold run albeit at ultra threshold pace around 6-7min/k. Taking into account the running obstacles and the elevation this was moving trust me. I kept this suicide pace until I bumped into Trevor and his pacer about 5km from the finish. Now as I mentioned earlier Trevor was suffering and I had just clawed back an hour in around twenty kilometres. Give Trev his due he’s a stubborn bugger and was not going to give up fourth place without a fight. I passed him but he hung on tenuously until we both ended up on the main road lost. This was a funny situation , myself, Trev and his pacer, looked like three gunslingers, all looking at each other waiting to see who blinked first. In the end we all ran off together once we found the trail and I left the two of them. Now as I mentioned earlier my number one head torch had died about 10km in the leg which left me on my spare, after I left Trevor the torch decided to stop, not at the ideal moment truth be told. I was now in total darkness and I knew if Trev saw me he’d get a second wind and continue to chase me. I searched in my backpack for my spare lithium battery under the light of my iphone, found it, changed it and was off like a scolded cat. No sign of Trev so I settled into a quick but not suicidal pace to the finish which I knew was about three kilometres away.
The terrain was not perfect for a fast finish !
I started to look for my crew as I neared the finish as we had agreed to run in together but all I saw were some of Trevor’s family who looked none too pleased to see me, funny that ? I crossed the line as expected with just Heath, Jeff and a very drunk Jon Pendse there to greet me. It was nearly three in the morning and in my crews defence I was over an hour earlier than anticipated and a drunk Jon was very annoying, in the nicest possible way. He had forced Jeff to take shelter in the car and Mark had made himself fall sleep to avoid drunk Jon.
My crew at the finish line.
In Jon’s defence , although very drunk , he did manage to take this photo of me finishing. A better effort than my sleeping crew. !
Done, just over 68 hours. 4th place.
After fighting off Jon I asked were my swag was as I was desperate for sleep. Both my crew looked at each other and admitted to not making up the swag expecting me much later. They scurried off into the night to finish the job and I hobbled to meet them holding Jon at bay. Once the swag was made up I fell into it and a deep sleep waking only when the sunlight pierced my swag and Sharene finished.
I manged to sneak into the Northcliffe hotel for the best shower ever and then waited around for Veronika and Adam to finish, please note they finished in that order albeit Adam was smiling while Veronika had broken down a few kilometres from the finish and it was not her greatest hour, that’s a 200 miler for you ! She had survived for so long with no sleep that at the last minute her mind and body let go , literally. She finished in second place so the sacrifice was so worth it, what a woman. Adam, just slept too much and enjoyed himself while being looked by Dav, a sort of business class run while Veronika was in the cheap seats ! There will be some serious racing next year between these two.
Adam’s finish.
So here is the photo I had dreamt about since DNF’ing my first attempt at Delirious in 2019. The double plugger trophy , surrounded by people I love for what they bring to the sport and a sub 70 hour finish, over the moon. That’s a thing with running, set yourself a goal, do the hard work and you will get your reward. That double plugger is a constant reminder of two years of so much laughter, tears, high and lows , great training runs in beautiful trails with like minded people and also the love you feel at these events with the volunteers and crew all joining you in your goal. It really is so special and that’s what keep me coming back to these events, the people involved. I cherish this photo.
Surrounded by legends as I pick up my double plugger.
My final image is the class of 2022 minus a few runners who left pre-presentations. We’ll never see such a small group of legends running Delirious and it’s so special that we all know each other and what we have all been through. I was honoured to be part of this small field and I know we all share a bond that you will only understand if you take on the beast that is the Delirious West 200 miler. So , are you up for it ? If so I’ll see you on the stating line in February 2023 because wild horses couldn’t keep me away.
Class of 2022
Finally some products that helped me through the race and should be in your drop bags or backpack for all 200 milers… 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’ !
