The last race of the year is always one of my favourites, the 6 Inch Trail Ultra Marathon ( http://www.6inchtrailmarathon.com/ ) takes place normally on the last Sunday before Christmas and it a perfect time to get together with good friends and enjoy one of the best trails in Western Australia. It takes part on the Mundi Bindi trail ( https://www.mundabiddi.org.au/ ) a long-distance, mostly off-road, cycling trail which runs for over 1,000 kilometres (620 miles) from Mundaring to Albany. The completed Munda Biddi Trail opened end-to-end in April 2013 when it claimed the title of the longest continuous off-road cycling trail of its kind in the world. Once a year 47k of this trail is taken over by over 500 mad trail runners as they run from North Dandalup to Dwellingup.
The race starts at 4:30am to try and avoid the heat of the day because in WA, towards the end of December , you may be faced with a searing heat and this proved to be the case last year when the event was cancelled due to dangerous weather conditions. Luckily this year we had just about prefect conditions bar a slight headwind in some sections of the course but this proved to be cooling so not an issue. My game plan was to try and add to my eight sub4 hour finish times on my 11th time running this great event, the two times I had missed the 4 hour mark I had veered of course so was confident I could make this goal.
Full of beans at the start !
As the image above shows I was ready for the kick off with the sun just about to rise behind me lighting the way up the infamous Goldmine Hill start. This hill is steep and very long and has been the undoing of many a novice 6 inch trail runner. Mentally you need to be prepared for Goldmine because if you’re not expecting it your race can be over very quickly and it’s a long 45k if your legs have given up early. The first time I ever ran the 6 inch in 2018 this happened to me as myself and my running partner , Brett , had done no reconnaissance at all and didn’t even realise there was a Goldmine Hill. This was also in the daylight saving days so it was pretty dark. I remember thinking what had I let myself in for and would this hill ever end. Not a great start to the day and it got worse as we got lost early on and then staggered to the finish. Did I mention it was also seriously hot and humid ! I had such a bad day I tried to cancel my flights to the Comrades Marathon the following year as I was over ultra running. Funny how things work out, I did go to Comrades and ran a blinder and now, twelve years later, I’m still running the 6 inch and loving it.
Myself , Adam and Dazza.
An image above featuring one of my favourite Qantas Pilots, truth be told the only one I know, Adam and my Feral Pig buddy Dazza. Adam ran a great race scraping into the top 50 overall on the back of an injury interrupted build up. He’s running Delirious with me so this was a great confidence booster ahead of the big dance in February. (If anybody reading this fancies running a 200 miler in Western Australia then this is the race for you.. https://deliriouswest200miler.com.au/ . Epic!) Dazza was talking up a good time but unfortunately was undone by Goldmine Hill and his race was over before it began with a hamstring injury. He’s blaming Hokka’s and a law suit is forthcoming … He is not one to ever DNF though and struggled home in just over five hours which is a massive achievement when you have a goal so much quicker. Again he’s joining me in February and I’m sure it’ll be a different story then. Either way with Dazza there will be plenty of banter and a lot of laughing and swearing….
Right onto the race itself. I had set myself a goal of sub 4 and decided to go out with the third or four placed pack of runners and basically hang on for as long as possible. With experience I knew what to expect and the 6 inch really starts at the half way point initially and then the last 12k after the Escalator Hill. (As you can image any hill called the Escalator is a bad one !) I knew I was under done with no long runs in the last three months and although I was averaging well over 100k a week it was mostly flat bike paths, not idea preparation for trails. A tip here, run the terrain and elevation you are going to race on in training, not rocket science but often ignored. Runners get into a comfortable routine but no one improved in their comfort zone. ( Unless they are running Maffetone training of course but you would need to add serious distance to make up for the last of elevation. ? https://philmaffetone.com/method/ )
I executed the plan pretty well for the first 12k which is mainly downhill after the initial shock of Goldmine Hill. I was running with a group of 4-5 runners and comfortably keeping up. With hindsight maybe a tad too comfortable ? Either way I managed to get to the first aid station in a reasonable time and , at that point, I thought I was still in with a sub 4 finish. This all changed though when the half marathon runners set off a minute or two ahead of me at the 23k mark. In all previous years I have managed to run past their start with a good 5-10 minutes up my sleeve so I knew then I was in trouble. The traffic didn’t help and there was no ‘exploding‘ up the Conveyor Belt Hill , more like a ‘stagger‘ rather than the usual ‘swagger’… In past races I had taken a few names on this hill, which takes you to the highest part of the course, but this year I was struggling. Time to dig deep and hang on for 10k. About this time I met my friend Ben who I used as a yard stick for my pace, keeping him in my vision. I was also joined by Chris, another run under done but running well at that point and he pushed me along towards the climb ahead. At the bottom of the escalator I got a second wind and, as this part is an out and back, could see all the runners ahead of me. This spurred me on and before I knew it I was off the climb and into the last 12k of the race.
Focused… or just damn tired ? I think it could be time for a running cap at all times…
As I have said before the pointy end of the 6 inch, the last 12k after the Escalator Hill, is where the race is won or lost. You can certainly haemorrhage time if your legs give out and this is where you are found out if you have not trained appropriately. Over the years I have had some great battles with myself over this last section and this year was to be no different. There is one nasty hill, some technical single trail and a lot of small gradients that sap your strength. I knew what was coming and was able to persuade my mind that my body was up the task, this was probably a tad optimistic but I remember what Goggins said about when you think you are totally done you are really only 40% of your actual available reserves. ( He probably used a few more F-bombs than that ! https://davidgoggins.com/ ) So with Goggins as my co-pilot I started to move through the field and push for the finish line.
If I’m smiling it must be near the finish !
I managed to finish in just under four hours and ten minutes for 22nd overall , 3rd in my age group and 4th female. (Disappointing not to make the podium but the beard always gives it away !) Given my training I was more than happy with the time and position and I had some great tussles along the way with good friends and new friends alike, thanks Ben and Chris for keeping me honest. As I said many times running is an honest sport, put in the hard yards and you’ll more often than not get your reward. I was missing my long trail runs and eventually I had to slow my pace to allow for this or risk blowing up early. Even though I didn’t get the finish time I had hoped for (my plan A) I had dug deep and got a good plan B time, actually this seems to be a recurring theme lately ? This tells me I need to go and hit the trails and run longer , more, not a bad situation to be in, just got to persuade No1 Wife this is the way forward.
Even a trail race deserves a sprint finish, with my good friend Jamal.
Even managed to catch up with my good friend Jamal, who is probably the worst race pacer on the planet and although he knew he was under done always goes out far too fast and pays the piper on the second half. Caught him walking with less than 2k to go and we ran together to the finish. He let me nudge him out on the line but the sprint was for the crowd, trust me after a 47k trail run sprint finishes are not high on anybody’s agendas.
So that was it, 6 inch number #11 and one more to join the exclusive ‘foot long club‘ and earn my double spike trophy and also entry into the ‘foot long’ marquee. At the moment there are only two members, Jon (#13) and Nate (#15) , I’ll have my #12 in 2021 and we have big plans for the marquee and a plaques celebrating our longevity, I wonder if I can persuade Dave, the RD and Nate’s brother-in-law, to pay for it all ? For any runners in Oz, assuming the borders come down, you really need to come over and run this event it really is special. Make sure you come along and say g’day, you’ll find me in the ‘foot long marquee‘ ……..
Finally, finished, 6 inch number 11 done and dusted ! Rob (got lost on his 12 inch attempt) , Adam and Barts. (injured)
The boys pretty in pink. ? Not sure about the finishers shirts Dave? Dazza, Adam and Dave, the RD.
When 6″ is not enough…..
As well as the 6 inch there is a tradition of runners running a 12″ version. This entails leaving the night before the event and running through the night to turn up at the start to then run back with the race. This was started by Simon Bonnick and has enticed a few runners over the years. Jon did the 12″ last year with Jimmy Brook and both then ran the Delirious West 200 miler, in the following February, with Jon winning and Jimmy claiming third. This year Jon wanted to up the ante and add another leg to the total, basically a 18″. He would leave at 4pm the day before the race, run from the start to the finish and then back to the start and return with race to the finish, a total of about 150k, give or take. I have video footage of the start below and also the point in the evening where he made it to the finish and picked up Rob, who was keen for a 12″ .
Unfortunately the boys got lost just before Goldmine Hill when they continued to follow the Mundi Bindi track rather than veer off down the hill to the start. This meant a 10k detour and by the time they go back to the start the race had left them and they were faced with an hour to make up. This proved too much and they both pulled the pin after Bart’s offered them a comfortable drive back to the finish in air conditioned heaven compared to another 50k run chasing the field. In truth Bart’s has alternative motives as he has run one more 6 inch than Jon and was injured so driving Jon back to the finish kept him one ahead, and bragging rights for another year. ! I’m sure the 18″ will be conquered next year , as long as Jon can avoid Bart’s and his offer of a lift !
Rob and Jon at the start of the “run back to the start phase” of Jon’s 18″ attempt , and Rob’s 12″ begins.
Next Sunday is the 15th running of the 6 inch ultra trail marathon, 46-48k , http://www.6inchtrailmarathon.com/ , (it varies depending on the trail condition and course changes?) of serious fun and so much better than Christmas shopping, actually anything is better than Christmas shopping truth be told, even Goldmine hill the seriously nasty 3k climb at the start of the race. Note to self when I’m halfway up that mother of a climb think to myself this hurts but nothing compared to the alternative ! (see previous sentence about Christmas shopping!) I think entries are still open so if you’re reading this and it’s pre December 19th get yourself an entry.
I
I’ve written a few posts on this race over the years and have attached a few links here for your viewing pleasure.
Looking back on all those posts it just hits home how much fun the 6 inch trail ultra is and also the memories we have made together which are priceless, most of them involve some sort of mishap to Jon with Bart’s normally enjoying it more than most. At the moment Bart’s still has a faster finishing time than Jon and with Jon attempting the 18 inch this year that is unlikely to change. Yes you did read that right, Jon is going to attempt to start his race on the Saturday afternoon, run from the start to the finish and then return to the start just before the official start of the race and then run back with the racing pack. Thus running a 18 inch ! I mentioned this to Jon as a thing over coffee and muffins at our weekly Yelo morning run , as a throw away comment. As soon as I said it I could see Jon’s mind go into overdrive and it was on. He’ll probably end up running nearly 150km over the course of the weekend, with no stops of note due to time constraints and having to be back in Perth for the Sunday afternoon for his kids. ! Truth be told this has YouTube documentary written all over it but no one else is made enough to paly along and it’ll be totally self supported. His logic is it will be good training for the Delirious West 200 miler in February where he will attempt to go back-to-back wins. ( https://deliriouswest200miler.com.au/ )
Been watching some seriously good videos on You Tube this weekend.. check out this on on Ricky Gates as he runs unsupported across America, that’s over 3700 miles. Outstanding job Ricky, inspiring. Made me go out for a 10k run, also unsupported
Well the Feral Pig Ultra well and truly kicked my backside. http://feralpigultra.com.au/ That about sums it up really. I probably underestimated the distance and the terrain. More the terrain really as I’ve ran longer this year, albeit on looped courses. The terrain is both beautiful, inspiring and brutal. I got through nearly 3,000 metres of elevation in my 132k but missed out on the last 1,000m ‘s of elevation in the 36k loop was was beyond me.
Looking back at this DNF it seems to be consistent with my other two major running failures, the 12hour Lighthorse last year and the Delirious 200 miler earlier this year. On all three occasions I under estimated what was involved and also mentally was not ready for the challenge. Driving to my lift to the race I was contemplating pulling out and even after registration, boarding the bus to the start line, I was still thinking of pulling the pin. In the end I made the two hour bus trip to the start and, at midnight, stood with 37 other runners looking into the dark bush.
The first 20k or so were at a good pace running with Nick , who had given me a lift to the start line. Nick had prepared meticulously where as I had done the distance but had spent no where near enough time on the trails, this was going to come back to bite me. I let Nick go around the 24k mark and slowed conserving energy for later in the race. Night time running is not my favourite past time and one of the positives I took from this race was the ability to run through the night, albeit just 5 hours as we started at midnight of course.
I came across another runner , obviously struggling, around the 30k mark . Darren had started quickly but injured his knee and we decided to run together , remember it was dark ! I ended up running the next 70k or so with Darren and we had such a laugh, two road runners out of their league. It turns out Darren was/is a gun triathlete and I had heard the name around the traps, we had a lot to talk about and time passed quickly. It was so lucky I had met Darren as the next 10k or there was some serious hills , when I say hills more like granite walls ! , to traverse. Without him I would have got lost, a lot ! When I said time passed quickly, distance did not. The track was certainly not runnable and we were happy enough to plod along , moving forward. Darren was about as excited about our situation as I was and when he hit the first aid station at 40k we both looked at the bus longingly, knowing that this was our last chance to DNF until we’d reach the Discovery Centre nearly 100k away. It was close, trust me, very close ! We were both in a very dark place way too early into a 100 miler and we knew it. Luckily we both decided to push on and I think then I made my decision that my race was now to get back to the start, the extra loop for the 100 mile distance I knew was beyond me. So off we went , up another granite wall !
More Granite walls. !
I had worked out in my head that there were four more aid stations before the start line at the Discovery Centre. In between each aid station there was normally a hut , which would have water dropped off earlier. Thus there was between 8-10 ‘smaller’ races between either an aid station or a drink station. This was now my plan, leap frog each one of these to the start line, simple really. Although the distance sound do-able when you’re running if you walk 10k it can take hours and this soon became obvious. Darren’s knee was getting no better but now his ankle was also playing up, making running difficult. Add in fatigue and heat and you have the ultra runners favourite place to be, the pain box. Sometimes I think ultra runners do what they do to find out how much pain and distress they can take, not for the love of the sport. Maybe that’s the point, seems to work for David Goggins.
https://davidgoggins.com/ Think of Goggins as the Chuck Norris of the running world, google his quotes , he has some good ones !!!
At 65k I was certainly not thinking like David Goggins.. as the video link shows. https://vimeo.com/477961609
I did manage to get to the drinks stop , around 70k , before stumbling to the second aid station, Brookton Road, at 73k. I had packed some rice and chicken , for breakfast, but it turned into lunch. It was probably the best thing I ate all day, real food. A big lesson is I need more of this and will be looking at my diet for Delirious in February, probably getting my Dietitian Guru David Bryant on board. It was starting to heat up now but Darren and I found a second wind and we managed to run for 5-6k before once again settling down into a stroll. The next aid station, Mount Dale, was 13k away with a drinks stop in between, how difficult would that be ? As it turned out very difficult, the heat and terrain were starting to take their toll and the extra time between aid stations, because of the walking breaks, didn’t help. As I said earlier time may go quickly but distance drags. We got to Mount Dale worse for wear but in the back of my mind I could see the finish , at the start line. It was now less than a marathon away, even walking this was manageable and the terrain really was so awesome it made the suffering almost worth it.
Well maybe destroying is a bit optimistic but we’re moving in the right direction before Darren stops for a scenic break. Next footage is around the 100k mark https://vimeo.com/477117008 and I’m pretty well gone by then , before the final video is just before sunset. https://vimeo.com/477118081
That’s it for the videos , once it got dark I was too busy concentrating on staying upright to think about video footage. I’ll need to work on this for Delirious as most of the interesting footage happens when the sun goes down, somesay.
I made it back to the Discovery Centre, the start line, around 10pm Saturday evening, about 22 hours of running, walking etc. I had a second wind a few hours earlier and called my elected pacer , Adam, and asked him to join me at the start for the final 36k loop. Unfortunately since the phone call I had yet again fallen into a hole and by the time I reached him I was done. After some time contemplating life and looking at what was ahead I decided to pull the pin rather than walk for another 7 hours in the dark to finish. As I was walking away Shaun Kaesler, the owner of the USWA and inventor of all these races caught me and persuaded me to have a go. Well actually he told me to have a go at the loop. Anyhow we did move on past the start into the dark but straight away got lost and ended up taking over 15 minutes for the first kilometre. This did not bode well for the next 35 and I could see Adam wasn’t that impressed with the idea of walking around in the dark for 7 hours. He had come to pace me to the finish and assumed it would involve some running, silly boy. ! That was enough, we staggered back to the start line and embraced another glorious DNF.
Some rocks ..
So what were the lessons from this race ? Number one is to be better mentally and physically prepared. This race was not an end goal race but it still needed to be approached with the right mind set. Has it done me any good pre-Delirious ? I think so. I’ve learned I need to go into Delirious with a very positive mental attitude but also I need more trail running experience. If you want to race trails, you need to run trails, it’s a simple as that. As Rob remarked over lunch today I haven’t got the meatest legs but most road runners don’t , trails runners do. Their quads and calves are normally larger than road runners because of the constant ‘stepping’ motion while they run. Road runners, think Kenyans, the smaller and lighter the legs the better , to a point of course. There will be definition but not bulk. My quads have let me down and I know I need to spend some serious time squatting , which I will pre-Delirious.
I need to also run my own race. Throughout the Feral I was either running when I wanted to walk or walking when I wanted to run, due to company. I wasn’t confident enough to set out on my own for fear of getting lost but this ultimately was my undoing. On the flip side the company , in ultra’s, makes the racing so much more enjoyable so it’s a fine line getting this right. Finally I need to get the nutrition guru on board, David Brant, http://www.catalystdietitian.com.au/about.html , his insight got me through Birdies backyard Ultra so I’m confident he can help me for my 200 miler next February.
The Feral Pig has beaten me for 2020 but I’ll be back in 2021 and the end result will not be the same. The lessons I have learned will hopefully propel me to a sub 23 hour finish, that’s the goal. As with the Light Horse this year I’m always prepared to go back to my failures and try to put things right, otherwise what’s the point of failure ? Right I’m off to do a 1,000 squats……
This Furloughed Friday trail time was on the Bibbulmum Track . The Bibbulmun Track is one of the world’s great long distance trails, stretching 1000km from Kalamunda in the Perth Hills, to Albany on the south coast, winding through the heart of the scenic South West of Western Australia. ( https://www.bibbulmuntrack.org.au/ ) We planned a 30km run on some challenging single track including some serious climbs, with beautiful scenery. As you can see from the image below it was a great day for a trail run.
Start of the Bibbulmun track.
For this adventure I was accompanied by Adam, Jeff and Rob and we happily skipped off into the wilderness, excited about the trails we had ahead of us. The plan was to get Mundaring Dam and the infamous Golden View. This was a route I had run alone three months period and it just about destroyed me. I was hoping after 10 weeks of ‘furlough Fridays’ I would better prepared and easily ‘gobble up‘ this challenge. If nothing else it wasn’t raining which was a good start and starting earlier I wouldn’t be racing the sunset, which without a head torch is always stressful.
The usual suspects. Adam, Rob , Jeff and myself.
The video below shows some of the climb after the camel farm, it was great to run down this track but in the back of our minds we always knew it would be a different story on the way back. Funnily enough it wasn’t that bad coming back, which is unusual of course. It may have been we knew we were close to the finish and you can always find something when you can ‘smell the coffee‘ so to speak. (with pancakes of course.)
The lads halfway through the last climb, still with a few kilometres ahead of us, joy. Rob was struggling but as he was the designated driver, and had the car keys, he knew we’d never leave him ! He had missed a few Friday trail runs with injury and there’s no where to hide on the trail if you’re short of fitness, especially if your running buddies have been running trails weekly. Rob certainly knew better than to give me his car keys.
Lesson to self, when you’re tired and near the end of a three hour plus run , do not try and use a Go Pro, it never ends well and this video shows why ! Please excuse the language at the end. This was my second stack of the day and something I need to wo rk on with the Irrational South ( http://irrationalsouth200miler.com.au/ ) and Delirious West ( http://deliriouswest200miler.com.au/ ) races coming up, both 200 Miler’s with plenty of opportunity to spend time ‘eating dirt’ ! The last time , and only time, I attempted a 200 miler earlier in the year I was eventually undone by too much time horizontal on the ground with quads seized solid. Rookie error really with poor hydration and nutrition choices leaving me totally empty of fuel, resulting in legs that just couldn’t run or lift high enough to avoid the roots and rocks you find running trails. There was also my lack of preparation and missing mental toughness that all culminated in a DNF. No worries, I’ve learned my lesson and will be better prepared in October this year. (Assuming I can get over the border to Western Australia after the event ?)
The day was another great trail run , bar the two stacks, and it’s always nice to run without the constant worry of current pace, average pace and overall time, the constant indicators of a road runner that can sometimes take away the beauty of what we do. On a trail it’s all about the experience of being ‘out there’ , yes we spend more time stopping for photo opportunities or just to take in the scenery around us but the benefits are the added effort it takes to stay vertical, watching every step, and also the core workout you get as you constantly adjust to the terrain, something you don’t experience on a straight piece of concrete. Everybody needs to get lost once in a while, what’s the worst that can happen ?
Climbing mountains will build strength in the legs but it’s actually the downhill running that will do more for strength than uphill running. When running downhill runners can experience forces up to five times their body weight with each footstep. Running on level ground or going uphill the forces are “only” two to three times body weight.
Downhill running also involves eccentric loading of the leg muscles particularly the quads (thighs). This means the muscle is lengthening as it’s contracting. Eccentric contraction cause more muscle damage than regular contractions thus signalling the body to become stronger.
In effect, trail running provides better strength training benefits for the legs compared to road running.
Trail running also challenges coordination, agility and balance more so than running on roads, especially if running on technical trails full of rocks, roots and uneven terrain. Avoiding falls, negotiating steep slopes, cutting around sharp corners and landing on unstable surfaces all help build athleticism in trail runners.
This is the category where trail running really excels when compared to other forms of exercise. “Green” exercise or working out in the outdoors offers many benefits you can’t get in the gym. In our wired world full of electronic devices getting a run in nature is a great way to reduce the mental stress from being connected 24-7.
Here’s how trail running can help you beyond just physical fitness:
Improve your mental health.
Increase vitality, energy and positive engagement.
Reduce tension, confusion, anger and depression.
Provide greater enjoyment and satisfaction so you’re more likely to repeat the activity at a later date.
Make you more creative.
Exercising in the outdoors also optimizes your circadian rhythm helping you sleep better. And getting a good night’s sleep on a consistent basis is a cornerstone of good health. Poor sleep habits can lead to a host of problems both physical and mental. (Not to mention that running up and down hills will tire you out enough to sleep well.)
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 ….
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.
Follow me on
On Thursday the usual Yelo progressive crew did what they had to do to justify the best coffee and muffin combination in Perth, maybe even Australia ? This week we were graced with a couple of new recruits namely Nic Harman, fresh from representing Australia at the Commonwealth Games half marathon (The Australian team got Silver) and Rob Robertson , a local identity who wanted advice on banting, keto and diets generally. The eight of us set off on a relaxing 10k out and back as the company and post run conversation (with coffee and muffins of course) was the real reason behind the run and we all knew it. Towards the end of the run the group did splinter but not enough to warrant any real complaints, truth be told we were all impressed young Nic managed to hold himself back albeit he had ran 10k, pre-Yeo run, at a pace a minute or more a kilometre quicker.
The usual suspects and possibly the fastest runner from WA , Nic Harman, and Rob Rob, a NSRG legend.
The talk soon turned to the 6 inch trail ultra marathon ( http://www.6inchtrailmarathon.com/ ) and the second recon run this weekend. We had ran the first 27k last weekend and the plan this week was 29k from the 17k mark to the finish, including the infamous ‘escalator’ hill. They say hill, it looks more like a wall to me as you hit it at around the 35k mark and you’re normally ‘goosed’! Hills always look steeper when you’re goosed..!!
Me taking on the escalator, trust me it is steep!!
So this weekend we’re off back to North Dandelup and on the Munda Biddi trail ( https://www.mundabiddi.org.au/ ) to sunny Dwellingup for the second half of the 6 inch. Must admit to being very excited as this part of the trail is inspiring and I know its going to be a good ‘crack‘ running with the posse. It won’t be the fastest traverse but it’ll probably be one of the funniest, depending on the state of Bart’s legs at the start. (He was dropped in the first 100 metres last week and didn’t we hear about it!)
If you don’t run trails then you really should, it’s the surface that keeps giving. First, it’s easy on the joints , next it’s harder on the core as you need to watch your step and finally it’s a better workout because you need to concentrate on what you are doing. The last point is clearly ratified at the end of any trail race when half the finishers are coming in ‘covered in claret’ (i.e. bleeding from falls.) On the run last week Gerry Hill, a two times 6 inch winner, stacked it big time and we were all surprised nothing was seriously damaged bar his pride. The trails demand respect. Finally the scenery on the trails is just damn right beautiful and you get reminded why you do what you do, running in its purest sense, no bib on your chest or time target, just being ‘out there’ with friends.
6 inch recon with the posse. 27k of fun on the trails…
To prepare for the 6 inch I had stuck to my Elliptigo and running trails lunchtime diet and now feel ready for another tilt at a sub 4 hour finish and possible top 10. I have six sub 4 finishes under my belt and the other three times I got lost , just got to stay focused this year, Maybe these recon runs will help as really, after running the event nine times, I have no excuse for getting lost this year.
Top of the escalator, my happy place !
If the Plantar Fasciitis decides to hang around next year I may be forced to do a season of trail races, which truth be told isn’t such a bad thing, at my age it could be time to go longer on the trails and use my experience to gain an edge over the younger competition. I’ve always said ultra marathons are ready made for the older runner when mental toughness and preparation are more than enough to take on youthful exuberance. In WA at the moment there is a smorgasbord of trail racing so I’ll have enough to keep me busy but I’ll miss my one true love, the good old fashioned marathon on the city streets. Nothing beats this distance and terrain but a good trail distance may be the only alternative next year, we’ll see.
Of course there is one race next year that would certainly test me, The Delirious West 200 mile . ( http://deliriouswest200miler.com.au/ ) This is the first of its kind in WA and it looks like its going to be a beaut race in its inaugural year. If you run trails and live in Australia you need to seriously look at this one. If my PF hangs around and I’m restricted to the softer surface it will come into my radar early next year, just got to persuade my current Wife $1,200 is a reasonable race entry, I feel that may be harder than the race itself ?
200 miles, how hard can it really be ?
Finally if you do decide to run the 6 inch ultra trail marathon this December 16th I highly recommend the bacon and egg sandwich , cappuccino combo at the only cafe in Dwellingup, The blue Wren Cafe, it kept me going for the last 10k today, the thought of it that is; it really is a thing of natural beauty sand did not disappoint!
A runners treat, after 47k of trails you’ve earned it !
Tapering, every runners worst fear, well most runners anyway. It’s a topic that usually divides runners, we all know it is probably the right thing to do but so is eating more vegetables and avoiding sugar, and we ignore these gems of wisdom normally. I have attached a post I wrote back in September 2016 on the subject when my only avid reader was my Mum and her feedback was minimal at best, being in her late seventies and never have run in her life the subject tended to alienate her but she did enjoy the photos of me running.
I have the 6 inch ultra marathon coming up next Sunday ( http://www.6inchtrailmarathon.com/) and should be in week two of taper mode. The common consensus when it comes to tapering is a three week period of reduced mileage and I use to follow this religiously in my earlier running days. This then morphed into two weeks and lately a very ‘steep’ one week taper. Funnily enough looking at my running spreadsheet, you have a running spreadsheet right?, (of course you have Strava http://www.strava.com) I noticed last year pre-6 inch I ran twice a day Monday to Thursday and gave myself a two day taper. This then translated to a top 10 finish and a course PB time.
A 48 hour taper, more than enough ?
Last year, as in seven of the last eight years, I ran with my good friend Brett Coombes, who paces me for the first half of the race and then lets me accelerate to the finish from the halfway mark, admittedly it is a long acceleration given the course is 47k long (note, this distance is never set in stone as the course director, Dave Kennedy, is always find new and more brutal hills and trails to add to the race, bless him.) I remember going through halfway with Brett and meeting the half marathon runners who were about to start, this gave me the boost I needed to propel me up the next hill and towards the finish. For the first time in many years I finished strong and would have probably ran a negative split, off a 48 hour taper , go figure ? Would I have ran better if I had tapered the normal way giving myself 2-3 weeks rather than running twice a day , not sure and that’s the issue with tapering, it is so personal. (as all things running are truth be told.) Admittedly the 6 inch ultra, being on trails, is more about survival and time on feet compared to a ‘marathon-sprint’ distance and the finishing times are normally an hour on top of your marathon finishing time minimum, sometimes a lot more if the hills get hold of you ! The pace varies with the terrain and the conditions of the trail so you never reach marathon pace or if you do its only when you are running downhill aided by gravity. Does this mitigate the need for a taper ?
I know Dave Kennedy, the race director of the 6 inch ultra, isn’t a big taper fan and treats most races as a ‘fast long run’ but he is mainly an ultra runner where the pace is slower than a marathon or shorter. Is it the ‘need for speed’ which justifies the taper and does distance mitigate the tapering requirement ? I’d argue it does as an ultra to me is a long run , just longer and if you get your nutrition right the fuel and your general fitness will get you from A to B. Not so with a marathon where, if you race it, you will need every ounce of your available resources , so these need to be at 100% pre-start, without a proper taper I don’t feel you’ll start at 100%. Nutrition does not play as an important a role in a marathon as you do not need to be out on the course that long compared to an ultra. When I ran the ADU 100K ( http://australiadayultra.com/ ) I ran every day in the week up to the race and felt no ill effect but for a marathon I will only ever run twice in the preceding week and both times only for 10k at a very sedate pace. (my ‘steep taper’ I talked about earlier.)
A day off running pre-race tomorrow, unlikely.
As I’m racing tomorrow there was no early morning run this morning. I am now wondering around lost. I have persuaded my Wife to get up early so we can drive to Yelo for a coffee and muffin breakfast (carbo loading for a 10k?) and after that I will return to my ‘lost’ state.
I’m a runner who loves to run and hates not running. Even now i’m making excuses for reasons why running today would be a good idea, not twice as that would be silly wouldn’t it? So my reasoning behind a run would be to loosen the legs (they aren’t tight), it’s not really a target race tomorrow (that is actually true, tomorrow is really a good hit-out pre-half next weekend) or get rid of some pre-race nerves (I ain’t nervous) . No luck there, let’s face it the reason I want to run is I love running, plain and simple.
Tapering for my next marathon will be a challenge. The last one I ran 100k the week before and called that tapering as I was averaging 130k a week. I’m normally ok on marathon week as even I understand the need to rest. I normally only run twice in the week before a marathon and actually enjoy the calm before the storm, but for a 10k tomorrow, hell I should be running now not typing.
So will probably sneak out for a ‘relaxing’ 10k sometime today, c’mon you’d be mad not too wouldn’t you…..
A quick article on tapering below by Pete Pfitzinger, M.S. suggests a 7-10 day taper for a 10k, I’m thinking 7-10 hours.
Most performance oriented runners will do pretty much what they’re told in training. Run 8 x 800 meters at the track? Sure. Do a 40-minute tempo run? No problem. It’s when we’re instructed to scale back, run less and conserve our energies, that we balk.
Training provides long-term fitness improvements but produces short-term fatigue. Leading up to an important race, the challenge is to find the optimal balance between maintaining the best possible racing fitness and resting to reduce the fatigue of training. This is referred to as a well-planned taper.
To achieve your best when it counts, you can only afford to do a full taper before a few key races each year. If you race often and were to taper thoroughly for each race, you would have little time left for hard training. So you learn to “train through” some races. But for the big ones, you will want to go all out to achieve your best.
A recent paper published in the International Journal of Sports Medicine reviewed more than 50 scientific studies on tapering to find out whether tapering betters performance, and how to go about it. The review showed that there is no question tapering works. Most studies found an improvement of about 3% when athletes reduced their training before competition. This translates to more than five minutes for a three-hour marathoner or more than a minute for those racing 10K in 40 minutes.
How Long Should You Taper?
Several of the studies concluded that the optimal length of taper is from seven days to three weeks, depending on the distance of the race and how hard you’ve trained. Too short a taper will leave you tired on race day, while tapering for too long will lead to a loss of fitness. How do you find the right balance? Consider than any one workout can give you far less than a 1% improvement in fitness, but a well-designed taper can provide a much larger improvement in race performance. Therefore, it is probably wiser to err on the side of tapering too much than not enough. The optimal number of days to taper for the most popular race distances are as follows: marathon, 19 to 22 days; 15K to 30K, 11 to 14 days; 5K to 10K, 7 to 10 days.
There are other ways to aid performance without running. In the picture below you can see Jon has gone for performance enhancing pink arm-bands to aid his ascent of Goldmine Hill, the meanest start to an ultra globally I reckon. The hill is at the start of the 6 inch ultra and is long, steep and normally ran in a half-light pre-sunrise. You get to the top of the 3k climb absolutely ‘goosed’ and this then sets you up for the next 43k of trail ‘pain’, got to love a trail ultra? As the race is in the middle of a Perth summer it is normally hot and very, very dry. One year Jon found the only puddle on the course that I have seen in 8 years of running this event and proceeded to fall in it not once but twice. He was then dropped like a bad rash as he struggled on encased in mud which dried almost instantly. Because of this he was made to wear arm-bands the following year for the Goldmine hill ascent. This year is his 6th running the event and he will be rewarded with a red spike, which is a tradition of the race. Barts though has other ideas and my lodge a stewards enquiry into the use of the arm-bands as they constitute a performance enhancement and are, as such, banned by the IAAF rule book, similar to blood doping according to Barts. I’ll let you know if Dave takes this protest on board and makes Jon run another 6 inch next year as punishment, over here in sunny Perth we take our trail running very seriously.
Surrounded by Jon’s at the start of the 6 inch. Notice Jon’s pink arm-bands, a performance enhancer perhaps?
Footnote:- on my lunchtime run I couldn’t stop thinking about this post and the relationship between a good taper and PB’s. Last year I made a big effort to run twice a day whenever possible and this brought my weekly average to around 130k a week, compared to around 100k the previous year. On the back of this I ran some times I though beyond me as I approached 50. The highlight of the year was a 10k PB (34:18) followed by a half PB the following weekend, (1:15:00) both were at the end of long weeks, crammed with distance. I’ve added the Strava image for that period below. (remember ‘Strava is life, the rest is details’… http://www.strava.com )
Big weeks , no taper and then two massive PB’s ?
So my question is do you need to taper or can you just increase your base fitness levels to such a point that even without rest you can run a PB just because you are just ‘fitter’. ? I believe you can and my Stella 2016 was down to purely running more, a trait championed by Maffetone and Fitzgerald.
The Yaberoo trails less than 20 minutes from home but I rarely, read never, venture north and inland. It’s always the coast or a trip to the ‘hills’ via Darlington. I stumbled upon the Yaberoo trail via Google of course, how did we survive before Google ? My first foray was a few weeks ago pre-Rottnest marathon and I only ran 10k as I was in taper mode. It was hard to turn at 5k for my return trip because I was enjoying the trail so much but knew in the last few weeks pre-marathon more really is less.
With the T-train that is Tony Smith being a local ‘up-North’ we were in good hands but truth be told the trail was just about idiot proof so getting lost would be difficult. We met at the trail entrance at Burns Beach road at 6am all ready to hug trees. The day was going to be warm so the early start is mandatory in Perth from about October onwards, this was another reason to hit the trails, shade. As with all Sunday long runs the first 5-10k are all about catching up with the local ‘man gossip’ in Perth, well the running world anyway. This is one of the main benefits of company, time and distance can disappear very quickly. The T-train had dropped water at 7.5k and this was eagerly consumed as the day was warming up quickly, as is the way in Perth. We continued on our merry way and were surprised to hit the half way point at 41.5k as Tony had promised us a 32k run, so even with our limited math we expected the halfway at 16k. Jon, being an accountant, confirmed this. We’re not sure if the trail had been shortened due to the earths tectonic plate movement (and no one noticed) , unlikely, or Tone got it wrong, likely. Either way we stopped for a selfie using Jon’s seflie stick which I assume all trail runners have and do , well looking at the various Facebook trail running groups this seems to be the case ?
Half way and all is good. (from left to right, Bart’s, Ross, T-Train, myself and Jeff, with Jon and his selfie stick at the front. Well it is his stick…)
Another reason for our disappointment was the run had disappeared before us so quickly and effortlessly. This either meant we were in good form or , the more likely option, the first half was mainly downhill and we would pay the piper on the return. Not to worry, there was still plenty to talk about and off we set on the return journey bouncing up the trail like Tigger chasing heffalumps and woozles. It soon became apparent option two was the reason behind our rapid outward journey, well maybe not rapid but requiring less effort than our inward journey would. Not to be deterred we all remarked on the scenery and even though there seemed to be hills where before there were none (How does that happen? So many times on out and back courses you find hills that were not there on the outward journey, running is a weird and wonderful sport with so many little surprises, appearing and disappearing hills is obviously one of them. ) our mood was not dampened.
What is the difference with trail running compared to the concrete jungle most of us run daily ? I think the biggest difference is the virtual silence, bar the native fauna, (and the constant chatting of your fellow runners) and of course the natural beauty that really is inspiring. When you look up from the trail and take it all in it is breath taking. You realize how lucky you are to be doing what you love with good friends in a surrounding that is just amazing. For me the icing on the cake (excuse the pun) of course is the breakfast coming my way at the end of the trail, but that is personal I suppose. (Must remember this is a running blog, not an eating blog , though looking back on many posts they seem to be related?) Trail running is also good for teaching a runner good form as they cannot ‘zone out’ and aimlessly put one foot infront of the other, paying little attention to the terrain. Do this on a trail and you’ll find yourself on your backside quicker than you can say ‘sprained ankle with ligament damage’. If you look at the finishing photos of the 6 inch ultra you’ll see a lot runners sporting claret indicating a fall somewhere on the trail. This was another reason for the trail adventure, 6 inch training. ( http://www.6inchtrailmarathon.com/)
I think the photo below sums up our feelings compared to the first photo just after the start. Another thing trail running does it test you, which is good but you certainly earn your waffles and coffee after a long trail run, more so when you add in some altitude. After this photo there was still another 7.5k to the finish and a couple of those nasty hills that weren’t there on the way out, funny that ?
Return journey, a few less smiles , more grimacing. ?
Mission accomplished we then all scuttled off to the nearest café , which in this case was at Burns Beach and after a quick swim we settled down to the post run conversation, good company over good food sitting in the sunshine, we really are blessed in the land of milk and honey. (or should that be pancakes and coffee?)
I reckon the trail was too much for Bart’s as he over ordered for the first time in many years. Mug of coffee plus a large boost juice pre-breakfast. Fatal mistake as the food was late arriving and by the time it did he wasn’t in the mood to eat it. It was a pity because the breakfast looked really good but Bart’s certainly played a DNF card. He did confess to over indulging the night before and this may have combined to his downfall, either way it was another talking point, I’m surprised we left that café before lunch.
A rare sight, Bart’s well and truly beaten even before he stared.
If you want to experience the Yaberoo Trail in a race situation it is part of the WA Ultra Series run by my friend Shaun Kaesler. Have a look at the website for the event, http://yaberootrailultra.com.au/ , or the Series as a whole , http://ultraserieswa.com.au . Shaun has put together a World Class Ultra Series for WA and is to be commended for his passion for all things Ultra, he’s also a really nice guy with a great beard !
I
