This weekend is redemption part#1 as I take on my first ever DNF , the Light Horse Ultra. ( http://lighthorseultra.com.au/race-information/ ) Last year I pulled out after 3 hours, a quarter of the way through the 12 hour event. I can think of many reasons why I did what I did but none make the DNF any easier to swallow, especially as it was my first. So what went wrong, basically I talked myself out of the event and gave myself too many reasons to stop rather than concentrating on a reason to continue. Running is a large part mental and the mind will always try and persuade you to stop, thus limiting the exposure to the pain of competitive running, be it a 400m lap or a multi-day ultra. Tim Noakes called this the Central Governor. ( Note: Please make sure you have a copy of ‘ the Lore of Running’ by Tim Noakes, it is the running equivalent of the Bible and every runner MUST have a copy. )
The text below is from Wikipedia so it must be true ?
The central governor is a proposed process in the brain that regulates exercise in regard to a neurally calculated safe exertion by the body. In particular, physical activity is controlled so that its intensity cannot threaten the body’s homeostasis by causing anoxic damage to the heart muscle. The central governor limits exercise by reducing the neural recruitment of muscle fibers. This reduced recruitment causes the sensation of fatigue. The existence of a central governor was suggested to explain fatigue after prolonged strenuous exercise in long-distance running and other endurance sports, but its ideas could also apply to other causes of exertion-induced fatigue.
The existence of a central governor was proposed by Tim Noakes in 1997, but a similar idea was suggested in 1924 by Archibald Hill.
In contrast to this idea is the one that fatigue is due to peripheral ‘limitation’ or ‘catastrophe’. In this view, regulation by fatigue occurs as a consequence of a failure of homeostasis directly in muscles.
The heart is able to regulate its output, to some extent, in accordance with the degree of saturation of the arterial blood … we suggest that, in the body (either in the heart muscle itself or in the nervous system), there is some mechanism which causes a slowing of the circulation as soon as a serious degree of unsaturation occurs, and vice versa. This mechanism would tend, to some degree, to act as a ‘governor’, maintaining a reasonably high degree of saturation of the blood: the breathing of a gas mixture rich in oxygen would produce a greater degree of saturation of the blood and so allow the output to increase until the ‘governor’ stopped it again. We realise the danger of a hypothesis partly suggested by teleological reasoning: in this case, however, we can see no other explanation of our experimental results
This hypothesis was disregarded and further research upon exercise fatigue was modeled in terms of it being due to a mechanical failure of the exercising muscles (“peripheral muscle fatigue”). This failure was caused either by an inadequate oxygen supply to the exercising muscles, lactic acid buildup, or total energy depletion in the exhausted muscles.
Tim Noakes, a professor of exercise and sports science at the University of Cape Town, in 1997 has renewed Hill’s argument on the basis of modern research.
In his approach, the power output by muscles during exercise is continuously adjusted in regard to calculations made by the brain in regard to a safe level of exertion. These neural calculations factor in earlier experience with strenuous exercise, the planning duration of the exercise, and the present metabolic state of the body. These brain models ensure that body homeostasis is protected, and an emergency reserve margin is maintained. This neural control adjusts the number of activated skeletal muscle motor units, a control which is subjectively experienced as fatigue. This process, though occurring in the brain, is outside conscious control.
The rising perception of discomfort produced by exhausting exercise progressively reduces the conscious desire to over-ride this control mechanism, which, if it were to be reduced, would lead to the recruitment of more motor units. Thus the presence of conscious over-ride would be undesirable because it would increase or maintain the exercise intensity, thereby threatening homoeostasis … as exercise performance is centrally regulated by the CNS, then fatigue should no longer be considered a physical event but rather a sensation or emotion, separate from an overt physical manifestation—for example, the reduction in force output by the active muscles. Rather we now suggest that the physical manifestation of any increasing perception of fatigue may simply be an alteration in the subconsciously regulated pace at which the exercise is performed. Hence the novel suggestion is that the conventional understanding of fatigue is flawed because it makes no distinction between the sensation itself and the physical expression of that sensation which, we suggest, is the alteration in the subconsciously regulated pacing strategy consequent on changing motor unit recruitment/derecruitment by the CNS.
The Light Horse is free to current or former Armed Forces Personnel , to quote the organiser Shaun Kaesler
I’ve participated in some pretty special events. Some short, some over a week. One thing I can promise you, this September 12th & 13th, the Lighthorse Ultra will be the most touching, emotional, respectful and memorable weekend that will pass all those events before. So many people coming together to mark our respect. This is our way to honour. Our way to remember. Our way to never forget.
The event also raised funds for Run for Resilience , a charity created by my good friend Wayne McMurtrie ( https://www.run4resilience.org/donate ) What more of an excuse do you need to run this event ?
For me, last year at the Light Horse Ultra , at 3am in the morning my central governor offered me the chance to get into my car and drive home to a good night’s sleep. It was an offer too good to refuse ! I feel as you get older you get mentally stronger, which explains the take up of Ultra running for us older runners. There is a downside to this of course with the added time on your feet giving the Central Governor more time to get to work and try and persuade you to stop. In my defense this was the first time I had attempted a time rather than distance race and also such a long period of time. I wasn’t mentally prepared for the 12 hours and never got my head around the whole ‘time on feet, just keep moving forward’ approach.
After Birdy’s ultra this year I was able to finally run a 24 hour race and, more importantly , run through the night, where the race is won or lost. Running through the night is so harder than running on a beautiful day bathed in sunshine, funny that. I remember at Birdy’s as soon as the sun came up I was invigorated and all with the world was now right. All my fatigue virtually disappeared and my last laps were the quickest. What happened , I reckon, was I could see the end of the race (I have set myself a 24 hour finish) , thus the Central Governor started to turn off fatigue and let me enjoy my last few laps. If I hadn’t given myself a time limit and ran too exhaustion I feel my last few laps would have been a different story. I’ll hopefully find out next year at Birdys’, this time it will be run to DNF.
So 12 hours of fun this weekend, not really , I’m not one to shy away from a challenge and always enter the longest option so this weekend we’re going 24 hours. What could go wrong ? On the plus side it’s a 6pm start so I get the night over first and then can enjoy the second half. (Is that even a thing?) Last year it was midnight start so I was tired from the start , which made the 3pm DNF easy to embrace. A 6pm start is easier to digest, I hope ? If nothing else mentally I’m stronger with my Birdy’s experience and also the memory of last years DNF. I shall call on my experience from last year to get me through this one and also this post and the one next week talking up my glorious run ! I don’t want another DNF post, you, as my readers, would expect more !
If you bored this weekend you can probably get updates on the Facebook page ( https://www.facebook.com/groups/1030338320430987/ ) , feel free to sit through the whole 24 hours with me ? Now that would be an Ultra !
For the first time since I started this blog I didn’t write a post for a calendar month. October 2019 was probably a low point in my running career highlighting in a 37:37 10k at the John Gilmour track last Friday evening. With Strava there’s no hiding from the truth and, looking back, I’d ran the John Gilmour 10k twice previously. The first time was in 2015, two weeks after the Rottnest marathon, but I still ran a respectable 35:34 minutes, the second time , 2017, I managed to snare a podium finish with a third place 36:01 minutes. On this occasion I was trying to break 35 minutes but couldn’t hold it together for the final 5k. On Friday I was aiming for around the 37 minute mark and eventually stumbled home in 37:37. To add insult to injury Steve ‘Twinkle Toes‘ McKean ran past me on the last bend, a perfect end to a perfect night , not !
As you can see from the splits below I managed to hang on for first 5k but then started a downward spiral to half marathon pace, which is fine in a half marathon but not in a 10k. On the bright side I faired a tad better than Jon ‘the Kingsley bullet” Pendse who blew a head gasket with three kilometres to go and crawled home at nearly 5min/k pace. That being said he had ran , and won , a 50k race five days earlier and a won a marathon a few weeks before that. It goes to prove eventually the piper comes calling and ,when he does, sometimes the price you pay is painful. !
As I crawled off the track I reminded myself that I have said many times a 10k is one of the hardest races as , in my opinion, you normally go out at 5k pace and feel great for 5k, the fly in your ointment of course is theres still 5k to go when you find you have am empty tank. Trust me people 5k , with am empty tank, takes an eternity ! In a 5k the worst case scenario you’d only have a few kilometres to run on empty. In a half and a marathon you’re normally more reserved as you respect the distance but for some reason the 10k doesn’t have that fear factor until you’re 5k in and prying for a quick and painless death.
Not a pretty sight?
Mentally this race came a bit early after my man-flu a few months ago. After blood tests, urine tests and even a stress echocardiogram , I wasn’t ready for a 10k track race but needed one more race finish to complete my 7 nominated races for the West Australian Marathon Club age group award. Rather than risk waiting any longer the track seemed the ideal time to complete my racing year. I knew I was in pretty poor form with no speed work for months but decided if I could just complete in 36-37 minutes it would be job done. The first few kilometres tucked in behind Jon were painless enough but once Jon stepped up I was content to cruise for as long as possible. My good friend Luke Munro ran past me around 4k and he was aiming for the same time as me so I tried to hang on but he eventually left me. After that it was round and round in circles in every increasing times , 25 times for a 10k . Many times I contemplated stopping but with each lap the end was nearing and I was content looking at the bigger picture, the age group win.
One of the benefits of track racing, I use the word benefit loosely, is you get lapped by the leaders and realise how fast they really are travelling as they go past you like you’re standing still. The winner on the night, Gerry Hill, ran 31 minutes so lapped me at least 4 times, just what you need when you’re struggling of course. Its amazing how quickly your Mr.Hill runs as he cruises past around 3:05min/k pace.
Right, so what’s behind my slide down the running pecking order in sunny Perth. One thing really, and one thing only, time on feet, or lack off. I just haven’t been running as much as I use to. Of course there have been a number of reasons for my decline in distance, namely moving house three times in the last 2 years, two bad cases of man-flu, two bad injuries and a general feeling of fatigue culminating in more time thinking about running than actually running ! I’ve mentioned all of these a number of times but if you need solid proof then our old friend Strava has the stats. (You are on Strava? … http://www.strava.com ) As you can see from the graphic below I had a good block of training leading up to the City to Surf marathon (end of August) but was then undone by man-flu which put me on a downward spiral for a few months. I managed to start training again middle of September but this has been sporadic at best and my weekend training has been non-existent. On the bright side I have been exercising more week by week and this has been helped by my time on the Giant Prelude bike commuting to work. I must admit to enjoying being cocooned in lycra on my morning and afternoon rides but justify this as cross training (and cross dressing!) and, as such , acceptable. It starts to become a problem if you find yourself clip-clopping around a cafe, dressed in sweaty lycra , ordering skinny, frothy frappacino’s !
A downward spiral of effort and distance.
The graphic below from Strava shows how each week I’m improving , albeit slowly , but it also highlights my lack of activities on the weekend which I need to address quickly. The numbers are certainly nothing like the 140-160k a week I use to regularly knock out in 2016-2017 and this explains my performance , add in a few extra years and kilo’s and everything becomes clear. The secret to running is consistency and as you can see, lately, it just hasn’t been there enough. So what’s the way forward. It’s three fold really, First I need to ramp up the kilometres to at least 100k a week , week in week out , for a 10 week block. Next lose at least 4-5kgs of weight. (don’t mention this to no1 Wife , she’s not a fan of my ‘prison of war on hunger strike‘ look?) , finally add some speed work on a weekly basis. There is a place for the Maffetone and Fitzgerald techniques advocating distance over all else but eventually you need to add the cream to the cake and add pace. This is another reason I put myself through the grinder last Friday, I needed to feel the pain that only a 10k race gives you.
Slow build, adding distance and time each week.
Is running that simple, distance, weight and pace; well really, yes it is. I’m sorry if all of the coaches out there suddenly realise I’ve summed up the sport in less than one sentence but their job is more motivational and keeping runners to a plan, the secret is no secret really. If you want to look at this in practive you need to look no further than my good friend Jon Pendse. Jon, this year , has been nothing short of a revelation. Running Australia record times for the 12 hour, winning marathons and ultras weeks apart, smashing his 5k park run PB weekly and still hitting 160k a week totals, week in , week out. Of course the distraction of a Wife has been jettisoned with his first divorce and this has turbo-charged his training. Maybe I should ‘ single life‘ as another secret to improving your running; albeit a costly price to pay as you get to my age ! Another big reason Jon puts his improvement down to is weight loss. The old Jon, or Mr.Squishy as his Son called him, was always carrying a bit of extra padding around the mid-rift, this has been eradicated as he now looks like a jockey with an eating disorder . I’ve mentioned this before but Jon really is living the dream at the moment and he puts a large part of this down to his diet, which surprising avoids too many carbs. I’m not going to get into the diet thing in this post but I will say Kenyans eat carbs and a lot of carbs, that is all.
The old Jon would eat anything, including medals !! The new Jon, not so much.
I’ve been very quiet on the blogging front and, truth be told , I’m still suffering from my first DNF at the Light Horse 12 hour race at then end of May. Since then I’ve only been to the keyboard twice, most unlike me. So what have I been doing for the last 4-6 weeks ?
Luckily I had the Rottnest Marathon to prepare for. This is without doubt one of the most idyllic , beautiful and brutal marathons in the West Australian Calendar. I have run this bad boy eleven times and managed to sub3 on six occasions. (The last 6 funnily enough). Over the years I been at the pointy end of the race many times and ran second on two occasions, as well as all positions upwards to 7th and a few other top 10 finishes. In my defence it’s normally a small field of less than two hundred runners as marathon runners are not big fan of hills and at Rottnest there’s four, that’s four per lap of course and there’s four laps, you get the picture!
One of the main reasons for Rottnest this year, bar a confidence booster ahead of the 2019 marathon season (which would include the Perth City to Surf Marathon for the 10th time and the Perth ‘Running Festival’ (ex-Perth Marathon) for the 13th time) , was also to take the record for the number of sub three marathon times on the Island. Currently I share this with Mark Page, both having run sub3 six times, this was to be my seventh. So the goal was a 7th sub3, age group win and the cherry on the cake would be a top 5 finish.
All smiles at the start. Always said the best part of the marathon is the first 100m’s and the last 100m’s…it’s the 42k in-between which is challenging?
Jon had organised accommodation and I was staying with his family, minus his ex-Wife, the T-train and the mighty TB; that’s trailblazer not Thomas Bruins. (Although Thomas Bruins is mighty but there’s really only one TB, the one, and only, original Trail Blazer, Jon Phillips) There was the obligatory pasta meal, pre-race, cooked by Jon this year due to his ex-Wife not being invited on the trip. In Karen’s absence Jon did a good job so I feel her days are numbered, actually they are well and truly finished!
Pasta party with Josef, Jon, the T-Train and TrailBlazer…
Safely seated on the sub 3 bus on the first lap.
The first lap was controlled with a big group of runners settling into a sub 3 bus and moving along comfortably at around 4:10min/k pace, faster in places when gradient allowed and slower when faced with the hills. For the first lap we went through averaging 4:06min/k, right on track. We had splintered into a group of five runners by this point with Tony, and two other runners, leaving the pack to go on and finish in the top 5.
On a side note I must add that this was without doubt the best conditions we had ever encountered at Rottnest. Moving the race from its usual October slot, which is spring in sunny Perth, so normally a tad warm, was certainly justified. The sun rising as we moved along the causeway, between the salt lakes, is an image that will go with me to the grave, it was inspiring. One of those ‘wish I had a camera moments‘, I can only hope someone did have an iPhone and took a photo because it was biblical. Normally there’s a howling wind with ‘foam balls ‘ rolling towards you, not today, it was perfect. If we weren’t racing me and Jon would have stopped for a hug ! Right, I digress…..
End of lap one , Jon pushing the pace and I’m playing with plastic cups? With a previous winner , Chris O’Neil, looking on in awe. (?)
The second lap was similar to the first with the pack dropping down to four and Jon pushing the pace through the start line onto lap three. Again we were right on time still averaging 4:06min/k, maybe not as comfortable as last one but still nowhere near the ‘red zone‘, yet. Now if you race Rottnest you know that lap one is comfortable and you breath in the scenery and the occasion. Lap two and things are normally heating up , literally, and you’re not so bothered with the scenery just the concrete road infront of you. By lap three you are well and truly over Rottnest, big time, and dream of long, flat, courses . Lap three is what makes or breaks you at Rotto. Survive and you tee yourself up for a great Rotto, fall apart and that last lap can last a very, very long time.
On this occasion I was lucky enough to find another gear and my third lap was my fastest. I jettisoned the last two members of the sub 3 bus and was now alone with my thoughts , the bus had become more of a personalised Uber ride ? I knew I was outside the top 5 so concentrated on my sub3 finish, my primary goal. I had 3-5 minutes up my sleeve but knew I would be paying the piper sometime very soon, both figuratively and literally . My fears were realised at around the 35k mark where the legs decided they had had enough for the day and started to misbehave. I probably dropped two minutes over the last 5k which cost me a sub 2:55 finish and a top 5 placing.
End of lap three and it’s just me and my thoughts before heading out for the final lap.
As I crawled up the last few hills I was handed a gold coin which you then have to hand to the pipe a few hundred metres up the road, this is a WAMC tradition and one I always look forward. Paying the piper means you have less than 4k to the finish and, with my experience, there’s no way I ain’t finishing that close, it’s just a case of what state I’ll be in. A top 5 finish was there if I could have kept my pace for the final 5-6k but today I was just beaten by the hills. I predicted somewhere around 2:55 so two minutes over was acceptable. I had gone through half way in 1:27:30 so a positive split off less than three minutes , on Rottnest , is just about perfect pacing.
Time to pay the piper, literally ! Gold coin donation as you pass the bagpipes on the last lap.
So, after paying the piper, I held it together to finish just under two hours and fifty eight minutes with a 4:10min/k average. (The course measured 42.7k on Strava http://www.strava.com. so the average reflects that.) Mission accomplished, sub three number seven on Rotto, 31 overall , and my sub streak moves to 28 in a row, a perfect day really. To say I was stoked is an understatement. This may have been my 44th marathon but given the last two years of injury it meant as much as my first in 2003. Overall I had ran a ‘controlled’ race with only the last 5 kilometres between me and a perfect finish. I’m not too overly bothered about dropping the ball , slightly , over the last 30 minutes as I’m sure with more training I’ll get my finishing kick back. Remember ‘distance unlocks your running dreams‘ and I just need to run more, simple really.
Rottnest 2019 done and dusted, counting the days to 2020.
So lessons learnt for all you sub3 runners.
Do the hard yards first, and that means distance and plenty of it. Research Phil Maffetone (the running bit and the diet if you can stomach a diet with very little carbs, initially?) , Arthur Lydiard and Matt Fitzgerald. Theses three preach the distance is king mantle before adding the turbo charger that is pace before finally fine tuning to your chosen event.
Indicator races are a valuable source of confidence. Coming into Rottnest I had ran 10 three times in 2019 , each time faster than the previous. I managed a 36:17, 35:55 and 35:38 in the weeks leading up to the marathon and these times gave me the confidence that I could sub3, even on a hilly course. Add in a 1:22 and a 1:19 in my two half marathons this year and I knew I could go out at 4:10min/k pace comfortably.
Trust in your training. If you’ve done the hard work you will get the reward. There is no secret to doing well at races, it really is about putting the work in, with your training, for the pay back with a bib on your chest. No surprises. This is another mantra I live by and I use sometimes when I am deep in the pain box, questioning the way forward.
The race is your time to shine, don’t be afraid of it but instead embrace it. The final part of your training is the race itself and this is where all that hard work pays off. The final 42.2km’s of any 12 week training program should be the most enjoyable. This is when the previous 12 weeks of hard work is suddenly worth the price you pay, sacrificing your social life, family life and work life. The race itself is pay back for all of this, enjoy it. !
After you finish and achieve one goal, start on the next. Without a goal we become joggers and start saying things like ‘ I don’t run with a watch, I run by feel’, ‘I just run because it makes me happy’; you’ll be hugging trees next. We run to challenge ourselves to be a better person today than we were yesterday, and even better tomorrow. The only person we are really racing is ourselves and you need to continually work to better the old you , or get as close as you can to the old you as Father Time starts to add seconds to your race times and pace.
Search the runbkrun website for my Golden Rules. These are my nuggets of information that will help you bring down your times. Not real surprises here but just good old fashioned advice from someone who knows, or at least thinks they do ?
The award ceremony for the first 50-59 runner with Visna Jerab, a Goodlife Gym executive and great triathlete and marathon runner.
After the obligatory warm shower it was off to the pub for the awards ceremony, I told you Rottnest was a magical place. After being presented with my 50-59 age group medal by my good friend Visna Jareb it was onto another one of my goals for the weekend, to drink the pub dry of Guinness. This sounds a lot harder than it actually is as the sub only serves Guinness in cans and one year there was only five and I managed to drink them all, hence the street goal every year since. This year I saw there was eight cans so had to get my good mates Zac and Steve ‘Twinkle toes’ McKean in to help me. I put in a good effort by demolishing three cans but that was me done. I staggered down to the 4:30pm ferry and back to the mainland I went. Bye bye Rottnest, as always it was a blast and I’ll see you in 2020….
Drinking an Island free of Guinness…. one can at a time , with Zac and Twinkle.
Racing can be fun, albeit for the first 100m’s…. the closest I got to eventual winner Nic Harman.
Last weekend was the Bridges 10k where I managed to win my age group with a respectable finishing time of 35:55, albeit a minute slower than last year. The field was loaded this year , where as last year I was 8th , this year I was 33rd and well and truly beaten by two women. In my defence the two women that beat me are on the cusp of Commonwealth or even Olympic call up’s so I’m ok with it . Anyhow as you can see in the photo I was certainly enjoying the first 100 metres , sharing jokes with my fellow competitors and looking forward to what lay ahead. Not my normal scalded cat start (please note the correct spelling of scalded after many “scoulded cats” in previous posts …..) , can you teach an old runner new tricks ?
Of course it was a different picture a kilometre or two later as I moved backwards down the field at a rapid rate of knots. Initially it was nice to run in a pack of runners but I spat out the back pretty quickly and it was time to open the pain box, jump in, lock the door behind me and assume the foetal position ! Got to love racing ! I managed to hold position from about 4k onwards and even pegged a few back in the second half so all in all a great day racing. Of course it was painful and of course you ask yourself why you do it but as soon as you finish and you have that medal in your hand all is forgotten.
This weekend I get to enjoy the experience again as I’m racing the Joondalup half marathon. I actually prefer a half to a 10k as you can ease into the race and it’s not all at threshold, there may even be a small amount of fun involved in a half, maybe ? I’ve raced Joondalup many times and always enjoyed the run as it’s a lap of the lake with a small loop to start to make the distance. No hills , bar a nasty rise at the finish, so it’s pretty quick. Predicted time would be around the 80 minutes which would be my slowest time but I’m still recovering from injury and it just takes time. The most important thing is I’m actually looking forward to the race with the pressure of a finishing time not as prevalent as normal. That’s not to say I’ll be giving it my all, if there’s a bib on my chest then it’s on for young and old… (I may have said that a few times ….)
So how can you stay motivated as you ease into back into the pack , assuming you are on the wrong side of forty. The answer of course is age groups. For the bridges in the 50-59 age group there was nearly 100 runners and it was my number one goal to be the first 50-59 runner over that finish line. This would then give me another medal and a voucher for another bag (to add to the 10 or more I already have?) Of course it’s not the medal or bag that’s really important , it’s the bragging rights as the 2nd and 3rd place runners were my good friends, a force competitors, Steve ‘Twinkle Toes’ McKean and Stephen ‘ the Surge’ Stockwell. In their defence I think both are either recovering from injury or nursing an injury but I’ll take the win.
The real race… 50-59.. 98 runners but only 1 winner ! With the MC with all the moves, Jules.
Another way to level the racing playing field as we get older is to add distance to the mix. Anything less than a marathon and I’m starting to move back to the pack but I still reckon I got a few years in the ultra world closer to the front. To this end I’ve entered the Lighthouse Ultra 12 hour race http://lighthorseultra.com.au (my first) , the Wild Goose three days trail ultra http://wildgoosechaseultra.com.au (my first) and of course the 200 mile Delirious West Ultra http://deliriouswest200miler.com.au (my first) . These three events will certainly test my theory. The only fly in the ointment of course is my infamous lack of navigational trail running skills. As my mate Zac Jeps once famously said “You know you’re lost when Kevin Matthews says ‘I know where we are”…?” I’m hoping the GPX files that are available are accurate otherwise my blogging days may be over!
There is also the small issue with elevation. Apparently these trail runners like their elevation, something us concrete hugging show ponies normally avoid. Lets face it there’s a reason that the Boston Marathon is so popular anD of the big 6 marathons most , if not all, are virtually flat. Marathon runners don’t like elevation, trail runners are the complete opposite, they crave elevation.! I’m pretty confident I can survive in both worlds due to basic cardio fitness and the stubbornness of a long time runner who hates nothing more than the thought of slowing, or worse, walking! Of course I expect to do some walking over the three events I’ve entered but I steadfastly refuse to take poles along, sorry people but I’m a runner who may be forced to walk (quickly) because of distance , but I ain’t a skier and there will be no poles unless there is snow . Why do I get the sense I’m going to regret that last statement ? Maybe I’ll make my partner in crime , Jon ‘Tinder’ Pendse, bring along some poles and if we need them I can just ‘borrow them from him‘ (when he’s not looking?)
All joking aside I do need to start to think seriously about the Wild Goose in June as it’s a three day event starting with a 18k hill run on Friday (see, elevation!), a 106k hilly 2 lap loop Saturday and then a 53k version Sunday, 1 lap. That’s a lot of distance plus a lot of hills and some serious navigation. Just writing that I’m starting to get nervous !
Other news last weekend was Jon running another sub three at Bunbury for a 5th place finish , I think that was 11th Bunbury marathon in a row , and the T-train getting derailed with 800m’s to go to the finish of the Bunbury 50k while leading the race. ( https://www.tonysmithruncoaching.com ) Another Northern Suburbs Coach , Ray Orchison ( https://runetics.com.au ) ran over the top of the T-train after giving him over 9 minutes earlier in the race. Tone was going for his third victory in this event but even trains get derailed once in a while. In his defence Tony had gone out chasing a huge time and went though the marathon distance less than a minute slower than his PB time, a time that would have got him a podium finish in the main event. After that unfortunately it all went horribly wrong and that just serves to show us mortals even the greats of running can have a bad day at the office. Steve Prefontaine sums it up beautifully ….
WAMC, Peninsula 10k , 3rd place. Quality time with Jon.
After the Darlington half last weekend I was buoyed and ready for another race to continue my comeback from the year from hell that was 2018. Seven months of no speed work what so ever had certainly taken it’s toll but the Elliptigo commuting ( http://www.elliptigo.com ) had kept my aerobic fitness and running around like a headless chicken in Kings Park has also helped, albeit on trails and as slow as Jon Pendse running Darlington with a hangover!
Rocking up to the start of the Peninsula I decided that, unlike last year when I set off like a scolded cat, this year I would try and hang onto the leaders and work my way into the race, hoping the time on the Elliptigo would give me enough cardio base to finish strong. I had tried this at the Point Walter 16k last year and it seemed to work, from what I remembered. Looking at the splits below it does look like we went out too fast but at the start of the race I was running within myself and I’m surprised the first kilometre was so fast. There was a 5k runner taking point but it was obvious he was not in the longer race, so ignored. At about the 2k mark the different race distance part ways and I was disappointed to see three runners ahead of me take a right turn indicating they were racing the 10k like myself. That put me in my least favourite position, 4th, the first person to win nothing (assuming the top 3 get medals , which in this case they do.) Worse still one of the runners ahead was a 12 year old running prodigy and who had never beaten me and I had boasted to the boys on many occasions that no runner less than 13 would ever beat me, was today going to be the day I ate my words, again !
Right, 3k in and fourth position, nestled a 100m’s or so behind the leading pack of three runners. Things took a turn for the worst when another runner over took me and I was relegated to 5th place, with the thoughts of a medal disappearing fast. It was at this point I decided to roll the dice on my fitness and put in three fast kilometres to try and get back into medal contention. The game plan was to establish a buffer for the last 2k which would be used to hang on to 3rd place. Digging in from the fifth to the seventh kilometre achieved this and I was confident the gap was enough, assuming I didn’t blow a gasket, to get me to the podium.
As it turned out the plan worked perfectly and the last two kilometres , although still very ‘trying‘ (and that’s putting it nicely), were do-able and there was no time blow-out as such. That’s not to say it was easy and that is the point of this post.
A ‘regressive’ 10k
What is the best way to run a good 10k ? First of all I believe you need to either race quite a few 10k races, on a regular basis, to nail them or in training put yourself in the 10k ‘pain box‘ once a week and continually improve your time. This could mean starting 2-4 minutes outside your PB time but getting to within a minute in training, once a week, on tired legs. Thus when you get on your racing shoes (I assume you’ll have the Nike Vaproflys 4% ?) and you’re rested , together with the racing mentality of a bib on your chest or training chip on your shoe. you can produce the time you need. As with all things running experience and practice play such an important role. The more you run 10k the better you will become at running 10k, it really isn’t rocket science. (I’ve lost track of the number of times I have said that .) This , of course, goes for all distances.
Looking at my ‘regressive’ splits above you’d be right in thinking that today was probably not the best way to run a 10k but I was more interested in the medal, not the time. At 52 years old my days of getting on the podium are probably limited and I treat every time now as the possibility it may be my last, especially at the shorter distances. Today I worked very hard to get that third place but I was always have that reminder in my medal collection and it will bring back all the happy(?) memories of the race. (Well I enjoyed the last 100m’s ?)
You can break a 10k down into three stages, the first 1-5k you should be able to maintain your desired pace, if you can’t the second 5k ain’t going to be pretty. The hardest part of the 10k is then upon you, maintaining your race pace through kilometres 6-8k, this is where the 10k is won or lost in relation to reaching your required time. The last 2k you can normally find something and the mind will release the last bit of energy left to get the job done, bye bye fatigue , hello ‘sprint to the finish’ and vow never to do this again. !
Why is the 10k so hard ? A 5k is a hard race but worst case scenario, you won’t hit the wall until 3k so only have to hang on for the final 2k. In the 10k this can be double that distance. So many runners set of , full of beans, at their 5k pace. The one problem with 5k pace is at 5k you suddenly realise why it’s 5k pace. Your body reminds the mind that 5k pace is good for, well, 5k ? Not surprise there, leaving you with maybe 1-2 kilometres to digest this information from body to brain and then unfortunately four kilometres to reflect on your mistake , deep, deep in the pain box. To compound your mistake your body starts to remind your mind that its time to shut down vital bits to survive your earlier exuberance, starting with your legs , lungs and eventually mind. Trust me it ain’t pretty.
Is a 10k harder than a half marathon ? Yes, because for a half you’re a tad more sensible. No 5k pace for a half and also no 10k pace because a half isn just too long to fall apart before half way. The same for a full marathon, these are planned and people are usually sensible enough to set a goal pace and stick to it, at least for the first half of the race. Of course the marathon is a 10k race in itself , albeit with a 32k warm up ! Anyhow the half and full lend themselves to sensible pacing.
So whats the answer to run a good 10k ? As I said earlier practice and this can be either run a 10k race once a month or try and run within 1-2 minutes of your 10k PB once a week. Another option is running a park run every Saturday because if you can get to the end of a 5k and still feel fresh you can certainly last a few more kilometres before hitting the wall. Also if you can get to 8k you can always find something for the last 2k, surely ?
As I predicted in my post last week Nic Harman did break Robert De Castella’s (Deeks) Darlington half record today. Deek’s had ran 1:06:50 the day of his wedding and that record had stood for over 20 years. Today Nic ran a 1:06 dead to become the fastest runner to conquer the Darlington hills on the 50th anniversary of the event. In Deek’s defence Nic has no plans to get married today so he was probably a little more focused than Deek’s when he ran today.
So how good is Nic ? He has a PB for the half of 1:03:46 set in Cardiff this year as a member of the Australian Commonwealth team and he is at that stage in his career when every run is a personal best. (How I miss those days but unfortunately Father Time seems to have caught up with me , finally! ) If he was to find four minutes for the half he’s running sub one hour and all of a sudden he’s playing with the Kenyans and setting Australian best times. Of course finding four minutes is a big task but he is up for it and has the right team behind him to achieve this and more beside.
Speaking to Nic after the Darlington half this morning it’s clear his new goal is the marathon and specifically his first in July this year, the Gold Coast Marathon, on the 7th. To me the marathon is the perfect distance for Nic , he is the ideal weight, has the mental toughness required to compete at the highest level, the boy is focused , motivated and has Raf in his corner. Put all that together and you have the possibility of greatness.
Winners are Grinners.. can Nic become Australia’s greatest ever marathon runner?
Right enough about Nic , a talented runner with his whole glittering career ahead of him and more hair than is fair ! Let’s talk about a runner hanging on for dear life before being dragged, kicking and screaming, back to the pack with very little hair, which is unfair. After such a long lay off I always knew Darlington was going to be mentally and physically tough. I was not let down on either count. At 5k I was ready to pull the pin and started to think about all the posts I could write on failure and taking the positives from the negatives. It was only my good mate the T-train ( https://www.tonysmithruncoaching.com ) catching me at around the 5k mark that kept me honest. I slotted in behind Tony for a few kilometres and left the group I was running with and continued up the hill.
As you can see from the elevation below Darlington is about 12k up hill and 9k downhill (I’m never sure how that works but there is a loop you don’t run on the way back?) Anyhow I convinced myself things would be better on the final 9k and if I could get to this point I could ‘stumble’ home for a semi-reasonable time. So between 6k and 12k I got my head down and just kept Tony in sight as he gradually moved away from me.
As with all racing it’s easy to think you could have gone faster when you’re sitting at your computer screen, freshly showered and fed and watered. All of a sudden you think you could have gone a few seconds faster here, pushed a bit harder there but truth be told people you ran your heart out and there probably was nothing left in the tank to give. Well that’s racing for me and today was no different. I was not a pretty sight at the end of this little adventure but I’m blaming the humidity which was brutal.
Right we left with me watching the T-train disappear into the distance hanging on to a top 10 position with the downhill section of the race ahead of me. Not much to report on this part really , got my head down and knew if I could maintain some resemblance of pace I’d be a shoe in for a top 10 , which before the start was the main goal. I’ve raced Darlington seven time before and on a few occasions I’ve ‘exploded ‘down the hill hitting times I have never repeated on the flat, today was not going to be one of those days. My splits were best described as consistent and my last 5k was the quickest but really this is a given at Darlington. That’s not to say it’s easy , you just go faster for the same amount of pain ! The Nike Vaporfly 4%’s flyknit’s got their first hit out and I am happy to report they are even better than the original versions. Lighter and more ‘bounce‘ and they fitted perfectly. Thankyou Nike, we really are not worthy.
Finished in 1:22:55 which of course will be rounded down to 1:22 at work tomorrow, sounds so much better and no need to bother non-runners with seconds, it confuses them. I think I was 9th ( mainly due to runners ahead of me deciding to reinvent the course and getting lost within spitting distance of the finish. ) which will be great is that is confirmed and pretty sure I was the ‘first old bugger‘ as Tony puts it. (50-55 age group) All in all a very successfully day but not for all.
Jon had decided to sacrifice a good time at Darlington by watching Kylie Minogue last night and taking on board 6 beers and a bottle of wine. Let’s just say he was not firing on all cylinders and looked like death warmed up at the finish. Certainly proves the well held theory that alcohol and racing really do not mix, like beer and wine eh Jon ? H made up for his slow running by driving like ‘Michael Schumacher on meth‘ to and from the event, blaming his BMW , apparently that’s the way you have to drive it? He also wore the oldest and most worn racing flats I have ever seen. Jon is famous for running the Rottnest marathon in 2017 and then attempting the 5k straight after, with his kids, when the soles of his racing shoes came away from the rest of the shoe, the show literally broke in half ! Jon likes to get his money’s worth from his trainers!
One of the few half marathons where a negative split is just about a dead cert.
So the lesson learned from today is trust in your training and although it would be easy to pull the pin early that initial feeling of despair , and ‘total abject pain‘ will normally subside over time. Your training will eventually kick in and some sort of bearable pain threshold achieved, this is racing. Nothing beats a bib on your chest and the feeling your heart is about to explode through your ribcage, nothing. The benefits far out weight the pain that you need to put yourself in during the event, you come out the other end a better runner.(or in Jon’s case ….sober!)
I’ve always maintained the fastest way to improve is to race, as much as humanly possible, after your initial “building” training block of course. (and maybe a speed block and some resting ?, check out anything by Arthur Lydiard.) I’m hoping today will be the springboard to a reasonable 10k next Sunday and then maybe, just maybe, the Bunbury Marathon in April. I won this event in 2013 and went back in 2014 fitter and more focused than ever but totally blew up at 10k, made for a very painful lesson. Haven’t been back so it’s about time I returned to right a few wrongs….
Apart from the start line this is the closest I got to Nic all day ! The boy is quick….
This weekend is the 50th running of the Darlington half marathon, ( http://www.wamc.org.au ) the longest running race in the West Australian Racing calendar. ( I mean longest running race in the sense it has been running the longest , it’s not the longest running race in distance of course. .. but you probably realised that and I’ve wasted my time typing this and wasted your time reading it…I digress…..) It will also be an opportunity for young Nic Harman to take on the Darlington Half course record set by the great Robert De Castella. How great is Robert De Castella (Deeks) ? Well his Boston Marathon winning time of 2:07:51 is still an Australian record and he set it in 1986. His Darlington record is 66 minutes and change and he ran it on the morning of his wedding, so he probably had other things on his mind. I told you he was a great !!
An Aussi Icon. “Deeks” Castella
I predict, if conditions are right, Nic will beat the time set by “Deeks” and I’m even going to go as far as to say I also predict one day he will beat the Australian Marathon time as well, the boy has talent. Nic is running his maiden marathon at the Gold Coast in July this year and if he runs to his potential I reckon he’s got a chance of a Olympic Qualifier for next years big dance in Japan. It’s probably a year or two too early but I believe when you’re good enough you’re good enough, age is not a pre-requisite. Experience would be nice of course and for the next Olympics if Nic continues to improve I would think he would be a shoe-in for the team. There is the Commonwealth Games in two years of course which is probably the wiser option but sometimes youth disregards wisdom and exuberance wins the day. It’ll come down to his coach and manager I suppose and with Raf and his team currently on a high from his latest racing results the sky could be the limit. ( http://therunningcentre.com.au )
The next Deeks… time will tell ?
Talking of Raf, he took a team of runners to Japan recently and they all outdid even what he thought possible. None more than local celebrity Rochelle ‘rocket’ Rogers who propelled herself into Olympic contention. Rochelle worked in Raf’s store for many years and has been a prodigy of his for some time. In Japan she shocked herself and the Australian running community with a run that basically redefined her. A quantum leap in running times and if she can keep on improving the Olympics is a real possibility. Wow ! Local girl done good , big time. With Rochelle and Nic firing Western Australia is well and truly in the running spotlight….Enjoy the article below from http://www.runnerstribe.com .
Before you read the article below I’d like to put what Rochelle did into context. Mature marathon runners have a set time they aim for and pace themselves accordingly. We all know it is suicide to run how you feel at the start of a marathon as you are fully rested, carboloaded and full of adrenaline for the task ahead. You could easily run a 10k PB but after that you’re spent with 32k of pain infront of you. This as I have always said ‘the fastest marathon runner is the one who slows the least’. This means set yourself a goal pace and stick to it. If you do for the 42.2k you have your goal time, easy really. The only downside to this is you never really have the opportunity to smash a PB as you mature because you restrict yourself by sometimes holding back until it’s too late to do any real damage to your PB. I can normally predict between 1-5 minutes my finish time in any marathon, I can do this through experience of finishing forty three of them and counting. I know my chances of running anything faster than 5 minutes from my goal pace will never happen because I pace myself to a set time; also at 52 my days of running PB’s are probably behind me (probably?). Rochelle ignored all her experience and that of her coach and ran on feel, throwing caution to the wind and just basically ‘going for it’. This was going end one of two ways, total success or abject failure. in this instance total success.
I believe another reason for her startling time comes down to her footwear. The new Nike Vaporflys 4% flyknit I reckon is good for between 3-5 minutes , depending on your finish time, in a marathon, minimum. Longer if you’re a plodder with the caveat you need to get on your toes for these bad boys to really kick-in. I saw a photo of the start of the Tokyo marathon and all you could see on the elite runners were these new red flyknits. They really are game changers and now they seem to be available, just in time for the new Nike 5%’s to come out . Yep, Nike have overhauled the 4% and produced another 1% from somewhere. To non-runners this is negligible, to runners this is huge. Another 1% boost in pace and efficiency, with no extra training, where do I sign up. Word on the street is they are even more expensive than the 4%’s of course but whatever the cost I’ll be buying a pair to add to my two pairs of 4%’s I currently own. (not including my first pair of 4%’s which are now done.)
Of course the now ‘fly in young Nic’s running ointment’ is he is sponsored by Saucony. Now I rate Saucony, they make great shoes as do Adidas, Asics, New Balance etc etc.. but no one, and I mean no one, produces anything that comes close to the Nike Vaprofly 4%’s… not even in the same ball park, hell the same planet ! If Nic is really serious about breaking records and going to the Olympics he will eventually need to buy a pair of Vaporflys and I’m not sure how Saucony will feel about this. This is an issue for next year I suppose and one Nic and his coach will have to think very carefully about. Personally it’s a done deal, you want to compete with the best you need to be on a level playing field; at the moment Nic isn’t. On the bright side Nike do seem to have a bit of money to throw around so I’m sure once Nic has moved onto their radar he’ll be propositioned and before long I’m sure we’ll see him zipping around Carine in his Porsche 911 covered in Nike ‘ticks’, he just has to learn to drive first ?
Legalised cheating ? Who cares, just get a pair quickly before they get banned !!!
The art of placing one foot in front of another offers up an infinite collection of incredible stories. Too many of which will never be told. It is an inadvertent omission, a regrettable consequence of the modern worlds saturation of inspiration. Due to this, some people simply fly under the radar, only noticed when they stare you in the face. One of these people is Rochelle Rodgers. She is now one of Australia’s best marathon runners.
On February 24, Rodgers won the Shizuoka Marathon (Japan), her time of 2:34:45 shaving a nine-minute chunk from her previous best time set in Melbourne two years earlier. As she battled to the line, her bewildered coach Raf Baugh had screamed support from the side of the road, barely believing what he was witnessing. It was not just the Australian running community that would be shocked by the performance. Even her closest teammates did not see it coming — at least not yet. Nevertheless, it was real; there was no more need for dreaming. The new contender had arrived. The only question: where had she come from?
Shizuoka Marathon podium 2019
One reason for Rodgers’ relative anonymity in the upper echelons of the Australian running scene might have been her geographic placement. Residing in Perth (WA), her steadily improving results would often go unnoticed by her eastern competitors. For years, her performances consistently placed her on the precipice of the elite level, always thereabouts but not quite.
In 2013, aged 26, Rodgers ran her first Marathon in Melbourne. Placing 17th in a time of 2:57:20, she was introduced to the gruelling nature of the distance. Instead of being perturbed, it emboldened her. It was confirmation that she was exactly where she wanted to be.
“I can’t remember a thing about it,” she said, recalling that first race. “[But] I love the Marathon. I kind of find it therapeutic. I just enjoy my own time, my own space, and I love the challenge about it as well. I really enjoy the process.”
The next few years were indeed a process. Joining forces with Raf Baugh’s Front Runner Performance squad, she began to chip away at her time. A 2:50:19 for 6th in the 2015 Melbourne Marathon, followed by a 2:47:19 for 5th the following year signalled the first steps of progression. A 2:44:35 in Tokyo then preceded her first podium at Melbourne in 2017, where she placed 3rd in 2:43:50. In 2018, there was no improvement, but a win in Perth assured her that she had lost no ground. These were all good results, but nothing that foreshadowed what was to come.
“I couldn’t quite comprehend [her breakthrough run in Shizuoka],” Baugh said. “I’ve been coaching her for a lot of time. We’ve seen a lot of breakthroughs, but I think we were all a little bewildered by this one. There was no conscious expectation that running that fast was possible.”
Shizuoka Marathon
The goal heading into the Shizuoka Marathon was to run under 2:40:00. A modest aim in hindsight, but a time that would still have delivered a significant improvement on Rodgers’ fastest time. It was this aim that established the plan to run no quicker than 3:42/km, but no matter how hard she tried, holding back proved impossible.
“I felt really refreshed. I woke up feeling quite fresh in the legs, feeling quite good. I just felt comfortable and at ease with what I was about to do,” she said. “Early on we realised we were going too fast. We tried to slow the pace down, but then at the same time I felt really comfortable with how we were running, and I wanted to hold onto that for as long as possible.”
Moving into the lead at the halfway mark spurred Rodgers on, and by 30km it began to dawn on her that something special was on the cards.
“I realised I was probably going to achieve a faster time that I had set out to run,” she said. “But in the back of my mind, I knew that I had never run that fast for this long before. I didn’t know what the next 12km was going to be like.”
Now the only thing that could stand between Rodgers and the greatest run of her life was the will of her mind in dealing with the mounting discomfort. Utilising mental imagery that took her back to the idyllic sanctuary of her local trails, she powered on. Meanwhile, following on the train, coach Baugh was riddled by nerves.
“I’m pretty invested. I love it. It gets to the point where I’m almost like — I’m sitting on the train completely waiting for the next timing split to come through,” he said. “You’re just willing the athletes on even though, at that point, you can have no impact on what’s going on in front of you. You’re praying to the gods.”
Shizuoka Marathon
Ultimately those prayers were answered. With one final effort, Rodgers breached the tape, recording a monumental victory.
“We turned a corner and Matt (her training/racing partner) looked behind me and said ‘you’ve got this’. Then I heard Raf say I was on for 2:34, and I just legged it,” she said. “I crossed the line and collapsed to the ground, and was like ‘what have I just done?’”
Rodgers’ time of 2:34:45 was not just a mammoth personal best, but also over two minutes quicker than the IAAF world championship qualifying standard of 2:37:00. It took nearly an hour for her to realise the significance of what she achieved.
“When I crossed the line I didn’t realise I’d run the world champs qualifying time. I didn’t realise until later, once we got back to the hotel. I didn’t even know what the [qualifying] time was. It wasn’t even in the back of my mind,” she said. “I wasn’t expecting it at all. It was never the plan.”
With many marathon runners considering to opt out of the 2019 IAAF World Championships in Doha (Qatar), Rodgers is well aware of the opportunity she may receive. It would be the completion of a lifelong dream to pull on the green and gold.
“Ever since I was a little girl my dream has been to represent Australia. For me that’s always been my main focus,” she said. “It’s unbelievable. It’s something I’ve always wanted to do, and it’s an opportunity that I’m going to grab with both hands and take it. It’s incredible that I’ve been able to put myself in a position where it’s possible that I could be running for Australia.”
Such an achievement could potentially place Rodgers alongside some of the runners she looks up to the most, such as Sinead Diver and Jess Trengove. It is something that may take a while to sink in.
“It’s almost surreal,” she said. “I look up to those women because they inspire and motivate me to run and push myself. So, to be saying that I’m in that same sort of category is unbelievable. It’s just so surreal.”
Shizuoka Marathon
If she does stand on that midnight start line in Qatar, it will be a treasured moment. At 31 years of age, it would be a reward for her persistence. The innumerable kilometres covered chasing the faint glint of hope — the dream that came true.
“I’m willing to take on the challenge,” she said. “I’ll be soaking it up. It will be an unforgettable moment and a very overwhelming moment, but I will be very proud if I am able to [run for Australia].”
The inevitable question: what about 2020? What about the Olympic Games? Her response is measured, but her voice betrays the once impossible thought. Why not?
“Never say never. I’ve learnt that the body is capable of a lot more than what you believe it is. Impossible is nothing.”
Her days of flying under the radar are gone. Rochelle Rodgers is here to stay.
As I was taken down with the dreaded man-flu a week out from the Australia Day Ultra I will leave the race report to my usual partner in crime, Jon ‘swipe right’ Pendse. Jon is a marathon and ultra marathon running machine and it has been a honour to run with him over the last 10 years or so, after meeting in out office changing rooms.
In the early days Jon was a lot quicker than me and I regularly ran with him for the first 10-20k of a marathon before dropping off the pace. It wasn’t until the City to Surf Marathon of 2011 when I was able to pip him to the finish line by a few seconds after we both discussed finishing together. Sorry Jon but white line fever got the better of me !! Since then we have ran most events together and a large proportion of my training runs.
Anyhow I digress, Jon has written a great race report on the Australia Day Ultra which is certainly worth a read and it’s fitting he should be the first ‘guest writer’ for the blog as he has been involved with most of my posts in some manner and had to put up with man hours of BK putting the world to rights, which, truth be told has normally been a two way process… Enjoy.
Coming in to this year’s 100km ultra (http://australiadayultra.com/) I felt I had done my apprenticeship having completed the previous 3 years of ADU (having ran 8.53, 8.56, and 8.06), and this year was to be my first year ‘racing’ over 100km. This is a ‘race’, not a long training run right?
Although I had a breakthrough result in 2018, I didn’t really feel I was ‘racing‘ the distance at that time. Off the back of a consistent year with plenty of k’s in the legs (around 6,300 clocked up over the year), 2018 completing 7 marathons, 3 ultras, 5 half marathons, I felt I was ready to push for a sub8 hour 100km, given 2018 I only really aimed for sub 8.30 and managed 8.06!
Going in this year I set the following Goals; A sub 8 hours, B sub 8hrs-30, and C sub 9hours. Hmm an hour difference between an A goal and C goal, only races over 100km could you get away with such a large variance!
So here are my race splits;
Lap splits (12.5k) of 55, 57, 60, 67, 80, 80, 72, 64
25k splits of 112, 127, 160 (ouch), 136
Spoiler (it’s a very long race report!): I finished in 8:58:53
What I didn’t really consider was ‘racing’ in humid warm conditions, ok, even if its 18-20 degrees, the sun isn’t out so surely it’s not that bad? After all I’ve ran the previous years before in similar conditions (although I guess I treated those as long training runs), whereas this year I was going out at race pace, basically 10-15 minutes slower than a 50k race time.
To make things harder, my wingman & ultra-extraordinaire BK (www.runbkrun.com) narrowly avoided pneumonia only 2 nights before race night and gallantly chose to DNS rather than risk a death sentence.
So, this race was set to be a solo time trial. This is not a Sunday stroll! 😊
Unfortunately, I came undone in the 4th lap where I knew I was working way to hard and dropping too much time. 8 laps and sub 8 hour target even my 8-year-old can work out the pacing strategy… 1-hour laps or less and repeat x 8, easy?
Well the first lap was quick, but I felt good (probably due to the taper) and more importantly I felt in control. Second lap slightly slower but 57 was about spot on to where i needed to be (57-58), knowing I would need close to 10 minutes banked by 50k for the customary slow down on the second 50k. The plan was to hit 50k in 3.48-3.55 (which is 12-20 minutes slower than 50k race pace).
The 4th lap blowout meant I hit 50k just on 4hrs, at this point i knew sub8 was off the cards.
Suddenly I hit the dreaded marathon wall around 53k and was soon reduced to a walk/jog strategy… problem being hitting the wall in a marathon and you might have 10-15k left to go (I’ve hit the wall many times in marathons) … but this time around I still have 47k to go! I remember thinking how the f**k am i going to run the remaining 47k (which is the 6-inch trail marathon distance minus the hills). I was walking and could barely run. This km split was around 10minutes! Doing maths at this pace I’d be lucky to finish before noon! I should have been finishing around 8-8.30am.
This was never part of the plan, what the f**k can I do… (Please note Runbkrun does not condone this language but in the context of this post it is allowable!)
I did have a few positives going for me though… 1. Yes, I’ve hit the wall but it’s very early and only around 4.30am, the sun hasn’t even come up yet. 2. the chase pack (Margie and Chris) will very shortly be approaching 3. I wasn’t cramping or injured, so it was ‘possible’ I could regroup and rebuild.
So once Margie and Chris joined me, I soon found out they were in quite a similar state having hit a similar wall not that much earlier…
All 3 of us ran several km’s together, running low 6-minute k’s.
At this point I was happy just moving along and ticking of a few more km’s.
Margie told me she’d been running through a couple of niggles/injuries and was now seriously considering stopping. It was here I also agreed and said I’m seriously thinking of making it to 75k and calling it a day. Only in Ron’s race can you stop at any shorter distance and still claim a finishers medal albeit a shorter distance. (There was that famous DNF from Rhys a few years earlier when he stopped at 25k thus winning the race 3-4 hours before it had even started!) Besides 75km is still an ‘Ultra’ marathon and you get a finish time. That’s still a good day out in my books, and an experience to learn from for next time.
So, at my slower pace laps 5 & 6 I managed 80 minutes each, but usually in a marathon you get slower not quicker, and so after some more maths i was staring at 90 minutes for lap 7 and +90 minutes for the last lap… that would put me around a marginal sub10 hours.
This was all in the back of my mind, I’d now been dropped by Margie and Chris, and was heading back to complete my 5th lap.
It was here I saw Mick Francis on the middle aid station (must have been about 59km), and I quickly stopped for a brief chat, I heard he had to withdraw earlier with injury! But was still out supporting those remaining in the race, what a champ! [Mick’s our local legend and ultra-marathon god (he’s run more than 100 marathons and if that wasn’t enough has also ran more than 100 ultra-marathons), I’ve known mick for many years now, good mate and many races completed together], perfect place now for me to pick Mick’s running brain;
I told Mick I’d hit the wall at 50k and i could probably just make it to 75k and what’s the ultra-etiquette for pulling the pin…? Surely no point me running the extra 25km just to finish, that could be an extra 3hours in the sun walking and jogging! Besides I’ve run the 100km three times previous so have nothing to prove, surely he would agree and say yes stop at 75k call it a day recover and look for the next race, or try again next year.
Mick said it so simply… Jon are you injured? No. Then get back out and do the job. You’ll get respect and will teach you something you can’t read about. (Wise words from the man known as ‘Yoda‘ in the WA running community. A real , true blue Aussi’ Icon; Mick not Yoda.. please note I am assuming Yoda is not from the WA?)
Well the way he said it I was like why did I even ask, ha-ha. I knew the answer already, but I was also seeking acceptance that it would have been ok for me to stop. (Obviously I still could have stopped, but ultras aren’t for the faint hearted, those out there have something regular runners don’t have and many will never experience – no offence, but wait until you’ve done 100km, it will teach you many many lessons – I’m still learning).
This gave me a bit of a mental boost, and I continued my marathon shuffle at 6min k’s.
Margie was still a good 6 or 7 minutes ahead, I was stoked to see she went back out for the 6th lap which meant she’d make at least 75km, and likewise I went back out to start my 6th lap.
Meanwhile T-Train express had been setting a blistering pace in the 50km, well in front of his counterparts… he went on to win and smash out a PB and run 3hrs-27, wow!
But when T-Train was coming back on his final lap I yelled out to him phone BK at the finish line tell him Jon’s f’d, reckons he won’t break 10hours, can he do a quick poll in the BK Run Group and get the opinion on stopping at 75km?
I needed at least one person to say stop if anyone would the BK Group would… surely better to claim a 75km finishers medal than the +10hour potential finishing time (please).. Besides 75km is the point of no return, once you run past 75km there are no more finishers medals left other than the next barrier at 100km.
So, if you’re going to pull the pin, stop at 75km!
So now on this 6th lap I was still struggling and still shuffling.
I saw Margie again on the turnaround and she was going back out again for her 7th lap, wow what a champ especially with injuries and hitting the wall. Well that was it, if Margie is going to see it through, so am I (not that Mick hadn’t already told me earlier). And just before i went back out again for my 7th lap, T-Train looking fresh as ever… goes “spoke with BK he says it’s a 100km race not a 75km race.” (He lied, Tone never called me , though I would have said that !)
Alright decision made well and truly.
So, going back out now on my 7th lap things are warming up, but I’ve had almost 25k of shuffling along, and I’m starting to feel a slight second wind.
I started running a few sub 6-minute k’s, and soon enough was running around 5.30’s… so a lot more running and a lot less walking! Albeit tough and still a challenge ahead but at least I only have less than 2 laps to go! Things are starting to look up.
The whole race I’d been consistent with nutrition/hydration, had my strategy and didn’t really deviate. Setup my own esky at mid aid station, have a gel every 10k, and grab 2x250ml water bottles every time i passed that aid station. Although I’d been drinking around 600ml-700ml per hour (the other 300ml-400ml) I’d tip on my head to try and cool the core body temp) I still felt dehydrated and physically couldn’t take on any more fluids. It had been a long warm night that was for sure.
So with my new determination, I had the remaining 25k to go. Between 75k-82k I averaged around 6:30s, however I was definitely starting to feel some running legs returning, a lot less walking! The tide had turned. At the out turn-around I had a quick toilet stop, and then I was good to go. It was from here I was able to hold 5:15s, more importantly I was feeling great again, and could almost feel the finish line in sight although I did still have the final lap to run. Ron had chocolate medals this year right…! We often joke ultra-running is not actually about the running, it’s all about the food and my impartial attraction to the distance.
On completion of the 7th lap I clocked in at 7:54:05, which was a 1:12:45 lap time. Maths time again… I was feeling great, could it be possible I could break 9 hours? Sub 1:06 final lap?? Hmm. Challenge accepted. After all, given how I was feeling and could taste the finishers 100k medal, may as well go for it I had nothing to lose. Sub9 hours would be a fantastic result given where I was at 53km. Still managing to hold 5:15s, felt great at this speed again… I couldn’t work out what pace the sub 1:06 equated to, however if I could hold the 5:15s and get to the final turn-around in 33 minutes, then I would be in the ball park. And that’s exactly what happened, held the pace and got to the turnaround just under 33 minutes, a look at my watch slightly under 8hrs27. About bang on if I wanted to go under 9 hours. Still feeling great at this stage, no sign of cramping, and this was it, the final home stretch. Only 6.25km remaining and the last time I’ll see this end of the course for 12 months. It’s game on. I didn’t really have to do anything special, I didn’t need to speed up, just hold the pace and see it through to the finish. As I left the mid aid station, I yelled out to Mick I’ve got a sniff of a sub9 hour so bring it on. The final 3k was magical, this is how I had hoped I would run the final lap or at least this feeling, something you can’t replicate. I’d smashed my mental barriers and now I could enjoy the achievement of finishing my fourth 100km. I soaked up the atmosphere and ran beaming with smiles. Ok, not a sub8 and not a sub8:30, but who cares. I was so close to calling it a day, getting to this point everything was forgotten. The endorphin runners high here was more than worth hitting the wall at 53km.
This was a personal journey and my story of the day. Never give up. Respect. Pride. Proud. Redemption. And just plain mental! We are runners. And we are warriors.
I’ll be back next year to join the 500 Club -ADU Hall of Fame! Hopefully BK will have recovered by then and raring to go, I still have a sub8 hour in me?? (have I learnt anything, hmm)
Anyone interested here is my Australian 100 marathon club profile page as I endeavour to run 100 marathons (currently at 56 and 13 ultras).
2018 has been a bitter sweet year for me. It started well enough with a top 5 finish at the Darlington half, my best placing and then breaking the AURA (Australian Ultra Runners Association) age group record 50-55 for 100k was a massive goal achieved. Then the Australian Masters came along and it all sort of went horribly wrong. The Plantar Fasciitis that was ‘lingering’ announced itself well and truly after I ran the steeplechase in spikes , that really was a ‘what was I thinking’ moment which basically destroyed my year. I scuttled off to Kings Parks and like a leper with Ebola quarantined myself on the sand trails for 6-7 months. No longer was I the concrete pounding , marathon eating, show pony of the last 10 years. No, I was hidden amongst the trails of Kings Park and hidden well and truly from view. Of course I had my Elliptigo ( https://www.elliptigo.com/ ) but this was also constrained to commuting to and from work and although there were some ‘apparent‘ sightings ,as far as the running scene was concerned, the enigma that was BK was gone.
I missed the Perth Marathon in June, City to Surf in August (what would have been my 10th in a row and continue my streak of running from the inaugural event) and Rottnest in October , together with the usual family holiday afterwards to recover. Yep, that steeplechase and racing spikes combination really was a very, very bad decision akin to investing in the hosing market with a recession on the horizon. (Funnily enough I did that as well but nobodies perfect ?)
Right, the 6 inch ultra was my last chance to reboot the BK legend (if such a thing actually exists ?) or at least have something positive to write about for the blog which, for the last 7 months, had concentrated on injuries starting with plantar and ending with fasciitis; after a while even I got bored writing about it ! Although there are 101 cures and after researching most of them I firmly believe time is the best healer with a bit of physio and exercise helping to speed things up a tad, no miracle cures unfortunately.
Luckily for me time was and is a great healer and the last few weeks I have noticed a definite improvement with the initial steps to the bathroom in the morning become easier and easier. After running two recon runs , both over 25k, I was ready and with the aid of my co-pilot Voltaren, got to the start line pain free. Truth be told the number of Voltaren I swallowed I could have probably got to the start line minus a leg and not noticed. (Note: I am no condoning taking drugs to mask injuries, and then running ultra marathons on trails but in the interest of this blog, and for you, the readers who have probably have enough of posts about plantar fasciitis, I was willing to give it a go….)
So at 3:58am on Sunday morning I found myself in the North Dandelup Community Hall checking in for my 10th (in a row) 6 Inch Trail Ultra Marathon ( http://www.6inchtrailmarathon.com) with the usual suspects of course.
4am check-in grimace… 3:58 to be exact.. Barts, Mike K., Jon, me and Marky Mark (with his Mum’s socks?)
After the obligatory check-in and pre-race find a toilet or it’s into the dark armed with toilet paper and little else (an activity thwart with danger as in the dark you can never really be sure the job is complete…) we are bused to the start line for the final pre-race banter. This normally involves geeing up Jon Phillips to put in his customary first 100m sprint and then spend 10 minutes recovering while we all jog off into the dark highly amused at his antics. For all non-Perth runners , i.e. Mum, Jon is a past master at sprinting the first few hundred metres and then recovering, hands-on-hips, bent over, while we all run past. His sacrifice is commendable and we all benefit from this tradition, in our own way.
Some pre-race banter with TB..4:27am apparently. (I think Jon is still asleep!)
So at 4:30am off we all went up Goldmine hill…If you know Goldmine hill you will know it’s a big, steep unforgiving mother of a hill. I’ve certainly waxed lyrical about it on a number of occasions over the years in this blog so feel free to search my previous posts on the subject. I’ve probably run out of descriptions for this bad boy and will leave my past posts to paint the picture. Needless to say we all managed to get to the top and off onto the Munda Biddi bike trail we all scuttled, enjoying another year of just about perfect conditions for December in Perth i.e. it wasn’t stinking hot !
I settled in with a group behind the three leaders who had set of at a pace I can only describe as ‘unsustainable for us mere mortals’. This leading group contained two professional athletes and a three time event winner. The second group was running at a more ‘human’ pace and we started to settle into a rhythm that would hopefully get us to the finish line quicker than 4 hours, the first goal of the 6 inch. The second goal was a top 10 finish and the final goal a Masters age group win (over 50) and the nice plaque that comes with it. With my nearest rival for this award having his normal interrupted training schedule I was confident I could retain this award from last year. Unfortunately this all changed at around the 5k mark when one of my running nemesis’s run up beside me . (I say running nemesis is the nicest sense of the word.) Stephen Stockwell had entered this event for this first time unbeknown to me though I should have twigged when I heard his daughter had entered, a rookie mistake. Me and Stephen have had some real battles over the year and it’s only been the last couple I have been able to keep him honest and when I do it’s always a struggle for both parties. Seeing Stephen cruise up to my side I knew my thoughts of a Masters win were suddenly no longer the ”walk I the park’ I had envisaged a few seconds prior, I was now going to work very, very hard for the privilege.
True to form Stephen set the pace in his normal racing strategy of ‘surging’ when the he feels the need and then slowing for no real reason I have ever worked out ? This continued until we got to the first road crossing at around 17k where I saw the first chink in his armour. There is a small but steep hill after the crossing and Stephen , together with a couple of other runners in the group, started to walk. It’s little things like this that in a racing scenario can be the difference between winning and losing. Mentally I was struggling with young Mr.Stockwell turning up, unexpected. This had initially thrown me and I was struggling with his early pace but determined to hang on. I figured the race for positions at the 6 inch starts in earnest after aid station 2 at the top of the escalator hill , around 37k into the race. This last 10k is where you really start racing for positions and also it’s in that last 10k you can haemorrhage time quicker than an ebola patient on blood thinners!
Right back to the race. My race strategy is always to stop to refill my water bottles, half full in each, at aid station 1 and then try and finish the race without stopping at aid station 2 and 3. It’s worked in previous years so my stop at aid 1 is longer than the rest of the chasing pack who then left me and the roles reversed. I prefer to be the chaser compared to the chased so I was more than happy to sit behind the few runners who had leap frogged me. I knew the conveyor hill was coming up (and the highest part of the course) and this one is a real test for the unaware, as this was my 10th running I knew what to expect, so prepared myself for what lay ahead.. Young Mr.Stockwell of course had never seen the Conveyor hill before and it served to be his downfall. We started the hill together but that was the last I saw of him until he came in 15 minutes behind me with his Daughter who won the Women’s event, finishing just over four hours. I think they both made top 15 which was very impressive as it was the first time for both of them, also a nice touch to finish together albeit Katherine insists she crossed the line first and Stephen, being the Gentleman and proud Father he is, was happy to concur.
Starting to feel the pressure of the chase at halfway….
After I dropped Stephen the rest of the race was uneventful until probably the last 5k. My friend Justin caught me on the Conveyor Hill and we ran together for around 10k which was nice as usually I’m alone at this point. Unfortunately for Justin his ITB started to play up and after the Escalator Hill (More like the Escalator Wall!!) I was agin cast adrift and left to my own devices.
During the 6 inch there was points on the course where I aim for, mental targets that I use to help the mind release the handbrake that is fatigue, at 42k there is a sharp right turn into a sweeping downhill section that, when I reach it, I know the race is done and all I have to do now is hang on. Mentally I find this point is where I can start to think about the finish and I always feel a surge of energy as I start to count down the k’s to the finish. This year as I cruised down this part of the course I noticed a runner ahead and started to dream of a top 5 finish. As this was the first time I had seen anyone ahead of me for well over 15k I knew I was catching him, and fast. This was then compounded by another runner , so all of a sudden a top 4 placing was on offer.
Last year I would have caught them but this year I was paying the price for my earlier over exuberance racing Stephen Stockwell and could only manage to maintain a sub 5min/k pace, just. In the end this was enough to nearly snatch fifth place from Gerry Hill (a three times winner) who was having a very bad day at the office but he managed to hang on and beat me by 9 seconds. So overall a 6th place finish and 3:46 finishing time, and of course, first Master. Before the race I was hoping for a top 10 and predicted 3:47 as my finishing time so more than happy with the end result. It really was just about the perfect race really.
As is the norm when I finish the 6 inch I make a beeline for the nearest esky and plonk myself in it ! This is a throw back to the ‘hot year‘ of 2013 I think and ever since I have made it a tradition, much to everybody’s disgust of course !!
The traditional head in the esky shot.
After I dragged myself out of the esky there is the ‘wait at the finish line and see who runs sub4‘ time. All the boys had talked up their chances but none made the cutoff. Jon was , as always, the closest to the goal time and missed it by 1 minute. I think Jon may have the record for the number of ‘near misses‘ in his racing career, it must be at least 10 races where he missed the goal by less than a minute ! He’s infamous for taking too long to finish, he probably puts that on his ‘tinder account‘ where taking too long to finish could be considered a plus rather than a minus ? (By the way Jon is recently single so if any reader fancies some ‘Jon time‘ let me know…) Next in line was Marky Mark finishing just under 4 and a quarter hours but if his mum reads this it was 3:59… she’ll be so proud. Rhys and Mike K were next in great times with the only expiation to a great days running being Barts. Due to a suspect stress fracture and a 5kg Chicken Parmi at the local pub the night before he had to walk in the last 15k. He admitted he was close to DNF’ing but has ran one more 6 inch than Jon and he couldn’t let Jon catch him up, this was enough to get him to the finish line. Jon apparantly, who is the owner of the 6 inch finishers spreadsheet , has threatened to add an ‘average time’ column to give himself at least one more numerical advantage over Bart’s…. these lads are very competitive with Bart’s still insisting he is taller than Jon, albeit by centimetres! Special mention to Damo’ who placed 5th in the 3 inch (the half marathon version) with a respectable time and hopefully this will springboard him to new heights in 2019.
6 Inch Finishers shirts all-round bar Mike, a rookie error ! (albeit it was his first time)
Once all the boys were in it was the obligatory shower, honey on toast and a cup of tea at the campsite before returning to the finish line resplendent in our 6 Inch finishers shirt. All bar Mike K. of course but being his first 6 inch he was forgiven and Jon will photoshop a 6 inch short on him for the offical photo! After the photo of the lads it was time for the handing over of the Masters trophy from Dave before we all scootered off back to the big smoke that is Perth and started to make plans for the 2019 running and a possible long weekend, boys only of course. It go without saying we’ll be back in 2019, if you’re reading this and fancy this race I highly recommend you pop along, you’ll see the usual suspects described in this post and more besides. It really is the prefect race to end the year and prepare to let your hair down (I wish I could !!) pre-Crimbo. For the BK crew there is one more race of course, the highlight of the year but that is another story for another time…. Merry Christmas all….Yours in running…BK.
Receiving my Masters Trophy from the Race Director, Dave Kennedy.
This Sunday is the 14th running of the 6 inch trail ultra ( http://www.6inchtrailmarathon.com/ ) , probably my favourite race of the year as its not about the finishing time , the 6 inch really is all about the journey.
I’ve written various posts on this race over the course of this blog and they’re probably worth a revisit for some back ground before I wax lyrical about the main event…
Due to getting lost twice in the last three years (and three times in the last nine years!) I even went down to Dwellingup with the lads for a couple of recon runs this year. So am confident this year there will be no navigation errors. Saying that in previous years I’ve worn two Garmins and still managed to get myself lost, it’s a curse ! Funny thing is the 6 Inch is probably one of the easiest trail events around, on a proper trail race you might as well send out the search party now, I’m not coming home without help.
6 inch recon with the posse. 27k of fun on the trails…
This year we are expecting good conditions with a low of 14 and a high of 25, which for December in Perth is probably about as good as you are going to get. For example today was 38 ! Last year was unseasonably wet and driving to the start line Brett’s wipers could hardly keep up with the deluge. Once we got off the scarp things calmed down and we had a great mornings trail running.
The lads and I all stay at the Heritage Centre in Dwellingup the night before the race as it’s a 4:30am kick off and if you factor in a couple of hours driving from Perth and getting ready at the start it makes for a very early wake up call on Sunday morning. This way we get to lay-in until 3am!
The couple of recon runs this year has really wetted my appetite for the trial running and combined with the Choo-Choo run earlier in the year I feel I’m turning into a trail runner as I mature. The Choo-Choo is another trail run where this time we race a train, hence the name… worth a read..I digress…
So what to expect over the weekend. It’s a boy weekend away truth be told and a time to relax , albeit after racing 47k, and finish the year running with good friends on amazing trails looking forward to a few days break and Christmas with the family. The 6 Inch has found a place in mine and the boys hearts and if you are ever in Perth for the last Sunday before Christmas you really need to come and join us.. ho ho ho !
Footnote: I never published this post in time pre-race and now it’s Monday and the race has been and gone. I’ll post a full race report this week and it’s worth reading, it was a beauty !!
Gotta love the heat…love my esky time at the end of the 6 inch.
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