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Monday, May 30, 2011

The North Face 100 - 14th & 15th May 2011

Pre Race
I last ran TNF100 back in 2009 and this year I decided that I was time to head over to the Blue Mountains and have another crack at the course. My main goal for this years race was to hopefully better my 2009 time of 19:01:28.

My training for this years race had gone quite well, and even seemed to be a bit more relaxed compared to previous years, but then again I think that my body has definitely adapted well to a few years of consistent ultra running.

Weather
With a maximum temperature of 8 degrees C for the day, there was no question that it was going to be cold. Luckily though the winds were quite low which made the conditions a lot more manageable. However, the skies were clear and this meant that we were definitely in for a cold night once the sun went down.

Race Start
This year the race organisers decided to have wave starts to prevent the bottle necks which has occurred at the start of the single track sections close to the start over that last couple of years. My goal was to run sub 19 hours so I put myself in wave 3, which started at 7:01am. Wave 1 started at 6:56am and wave 2 started at 6:58am.

Start to CP1 (0km - 18km)
I've done enough ultras by now to know that a slow start is the key to getting to the end in good condition so I positioned myself about mid pack and ran at a steady pace. Compared to 2009 the road section was longer (to allow the field to spread out) so it was to take a few km until we actually felt like we were in a trail race. When I got to the first single track section it was evident that the wave starts had not completely eliminated the congestion. I only had to wait a few minutes but even after we made our way onto the trail the going was very slow. There were several section were all runners came to a complete stop. This didn't bother me at all because I knew that I had a long day ahead of me and the time that I was losing at the start was not going to be an issue at all.


 When you get onto the first trail section of the race runners are greeted with some spectacular views. A runner whom I passed said to me "Are you wondering why you are doing this". My answer to this was "no I know exactly why I am doing this". After being greeted by the fantastic views, I was actually thinking to myself that to be able to experience the bush like this was the exact reason why I chose to do it. It didn't take too long for me to remember just how many steps there are in this race. There are lots! Come the end of the race and I knew that I'd be cursing just how many steps there are.


Probably the toughest section on this first leg is the climb up the Golden Stairs, it's a long tough clamber up a very steep section of trail. It is steep enough that not even the elite runners are able to run along this section. I took my time here but still managed to make up a few places on the climb and eventually made my way into the first checkpoint. I filled up my bladder and I was on my way to checkpoint 2.

CP1 to CP2 (18km - 38km)
The run to CP2 is probably one of the most runnable sections of the whole race so it was a good opportunity to get in good consistent running. I was only a couple k's out of CP1 when I met up with Nick, whom I have run with at quite of few of the ultras that I have participated in. As we were busy talking the next 12km up to the Tarros ladders seemed to pass quite quickly. Back in 2009 I had a 45 minute wait at the ladders so I was eager to see how the race organisers had improved this part of the race. When we finally got down to the start of the ladders we were told that there would only be a 3 minute wait; this was definitely a major improvement from 45 minutes!


The ladders didn't take long to negotiate and then we were into a reasonably technical descent for a couple of kilometres, taking us back down to the fire trail. Once onto the fire trail we had a nice easy run into CP2. Thanks to the fast descent down the Tarros ladders, compared to my 2009 race I was 44 minutes faster to CP2 with a race total time of 5:45:53I filled up the bladder, presented my two head torches to the race officials as part of the mandatory gear check, grabbed a fruit bun and then I was on my way to CP3.

CP2 to CP3 (38km - 54km)
This section of the race incorporates the out and back section on Iron Pot Ridge. The climb up to the top of the ridge is a bloody tough climb, it really is a hard slog up to the top of the ridge. The out and back section has a couple of tricky bits but otherwise is quite a nice piece of trail. It is the descent from Iron Pot Ridge that is an absolute killer. The trail is exceptionally steep to the point of making it quite hard to control your pace. My quads were burning more than they had in a long time. This part of the course is proof that running down hill is definitely not all beer and skittles!

The next significant part of this section was a long and steady climb up a gravel road on the way to CP3. I wouldn't say that I was feeling energetic, but I actually found that my legs had recovered from the tricky descent down Iron Pot Ridge and I was climbing quite well. I made up about 7 or so positions on the climb.

Not too long after I reached the top of the climb, 50 kms is passed signalling the halfway point. The legs always seem to feel pretty ordinary with 50km in them and as nice as it is to pass the halfway point, it doesn't really feel like the challenge is 50% completed.

After a few more kilometres of gravel road we were directed over a stile, through a paddock, and we were then at CP3. As this was the first checkpoint where support crew were allowed there was quite a crowd of people and it was an awesome experience getting enthusiastic cheers from complete strangers. It makes even middle of the pack runners like me feel a bit special for short moment.

A quick check of the stopwatch showed that I arrived at CP3 in a time of 8:21:12 compared to my 2009 time of 9:16:12; thus I was 55 minutes faster.

I re-stocked my food and drink supplies, had a sausage and sauce on bread (magic!), and was the off to CP4. My splits showed that I only spent about 5 minutes at this checkpoint.


CP3 to CP4 (54km - 65km)
CP3 to CP4 may be only 11km but it's definitely not a part of the race to be taken lightly. Most of this leg is easy apart from one section that strikes fear into every single runner who tackles TNF100, and that is Nellies Glen. There are steps, steps, steps, steps and more steps! The climb up Iron Pot Ridge was tough, but Nellies Glen is without a doubt the toughest part of the race up until this point. I did however manage to make up a few places on my way up to the top. And what a relief it was to make it up to the top of the climb. After a kilometre or so of trail there was a couple of kilometers of bitumen and I was then at CP4, the Katoomba Aquatics Centre.

I arrived at CP4 in a total time of 10:17:21 compared to my 2009 time of 11:40:27. Taking into consideration that this leg of the race was 2km shorter than in 2009, I could still see that I was slowly shaving time away.

I had another sausage on bread (again magic!), replenished my supplies, put on my head lamp and safety vest and had a quick chat with my wife. All up I spent around 10 minutes at CP4 which wasn't too bad considering all of the things that had to be done.


CP4 to CP5 (65km - 89km)
It wasn't too long after I had left CP4 and it was time to switch on the headlamp. The first few kilometres out of Katoomba are pretty easy but I knew that one of the toughest descents of the course was about to come my way, and that was the Giant Stairway. This involves descending down more than 800 steps for a total elevation change of around 300m. By the time I got to the bottom my quads were burning to the point that I actually had a sit down for about 30 seconds just to let them recover a bit. After I started running again it probably took me around 15 minutes for the legs to feel ok again. I took it pretty easy because I knew that I still had the descent down to the bottom of the Kedumba Valley and I really struggled on that descent in 2009.

I actually found that I was running the descent really well and the k's were ticking over very nicely. Sure the legs were tired and sore by this stage but I was making very good progress. Eventually I arrived at the bottom of the vallley; this was signaled by the second creek crossing. It was now all pretty much uphill for the next 6 kms or so, climbing a total of around 700m in elevation change.

On the way up the Kedumba pass climb I actually started to feel a bit hot even though the temperature was around 0 degC, so I stopped briefly and took my jacket off.  There is no denying that the climb up Kedumba pass is really a tough and slow grind, but I managed to keep a nice consistent pace going and even managed to make up a few places on my way up the climb.

As I got closer to the top of the climb and out of the protection of the valley I started to get quite cold so I stopped to put on my jacket. At the top of the climb you get a bit of a reprieve by having a nice flat run for a couple of k's into CP5.

This leg of the race is definitely a tough part of the race, but I actually felt like I ran it quite well this year and that was reflected by total race time of 14:28:29 compared to my 2009 time of 16:23:49. I really couldn't believe that I had made up so much time and I had been waiting for the wheels to fall off but they didn't. I was now getting really excited that I was going to smash my PB, but I still knew that I couldn't get too far ahead of myself and needed to put in a good effort for the final leg of the race.

CP5 to Finish (89km - 100km)
I didn't really spend much time at CP5. All I did was fill my bladder, grab a coke from my drop bag, have something to eat, a quick chat to my wife and then I headed off towards the finish. I knew that something major would have to go wrong from here to not get home in under 17 hours, and it was nice to know that there were "only" 11km to go.

After stopping at CP5 I was actually starting to get really cold again. I had plenty of gear that I could have stopped to put on but instead I decided that I should run at  a good pace to get the body to warm up a bit. I knew that once I got through the bitumen section and back into the single track sections that it would be a touch warmer. I was really please with how I ran the first few km out of the final checkpoint but I knew that there was still some tough running ahead.

Even though the final section is quite short there are some tricky trails to negotiate, including the dreaded Lillians Glen. Having over 90km in the legs and the knowledge that I was going to break 17 hours, I felt that mind mind had somewhat shut down now. All I was interested in was doing just enough to make sure that I would meet that sub 17 hour time. To be honest, even if I was feeling fresh there were quite a few sections in the final leg that I wouldn't run anyway. There are lots of steep steps that really need to be taken with care. Eventually I made it to Lillians Glen and by that stage I really just wanted to be a the finish line. It was through Lillians Glen that I managed to clock up my slowest kilometre of the race; it took me 20min!  All of a sudden I wasn't so confident of the sub 17 hour time, and it really made me kick into my next gear and get moving a bit faster.

Slowly but surely I could almost see the light at the end of the tunnel, I could hear faint cheers from the finish line so this also spurred me on to keep moving at a good pace. When I eventually made it to the grassed section I entered that phase of a race where the pain seems to disappear and running becomes a lot more effortless. I was greeted with generous cheers from the crowd as I approached the finish, and finally crossed the finish line a total race time of 16:49:38, which was some 2hrs 11min faster than my race in 2009. I was absolutely ecstatic with my time.

All in all I was very happy with my race and thoroughly enjoyed running of the course again. TNF100 is a fantastically organised race, the trail marking is perfect and it's just a tough challenge. I have no doubt that I'll be lining up at the start line again at sometime in the future. It will be really interesting to how this race grows over the next few years. For anyone thinking about having a go at this race, I can highly recommend it.


Race Splits

Split
Race Time
Leg Time
Pos
Cat Pos
Gen Pos
17k Narrow Neck
38k Dunphys05:47:5305:47:53353259291
54k Old Ford Reserve-In08:21:1208:21:12317240267
54k Old Ford Reserve-Out08:26:3808:26:38289214241
67k Katoomba Aquaticl-In10:17:2110:17:21286213239
67k Katoomba Aquatic-out10:27:1110:27:11264194217
89k Queen Vic Hospital -In14:28:2914:28:29261198220
89k Queen Vic Hospital-Out14:35:0814:35:08248190209
100k Fairmont16:49:3816:49:38252191211

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Glasshouse 100 Mile - 11th & 12th Sep 2010

Why 100 miles?
I still remember the day roughly 4 or so years ago when I was browsing through the book shop at the Adelaide airport whilst waiting for my flight, and I cam across the book "Ultramarathon Man". As I was currently running marathons at the time I grabbed the book with quite an interest to see what the heck it was all about. When reading through the book I couldn't get my head around the 50 mile races and more so the 100 mile races that Dean Karnazes was talking about. It just seemed unfathomable, but as my interested in ultras grew, there was one distance that I kept on being drawn to; and that was 100 miles.

Looking though my blog it's evident that I started out with the shorter ultras, but in the back of my mind I always had the desire to want to complete 100 miles. It wasn't until I finished The North Face 100 in 2009 that I really started to think, "...just maybe". And it wasn't until the start of this year that I seriously thought that I was ready to have a crack. Signing up for the Glasshouse 100 miler was actually a lot more difficult that it may seem; it was definitely venturing into the unknown for me.

Training Schedule
First thing was first, I had to figure out what my training schedule was going to be. After some searching on the net and some good solid advice from the Coolrunning forums I settled on a program. As we always do, I tweaked it along the way, but here is every single run that I did in the 28 weeks leading up to Glasshouse.

Although the training schedule looked  a bit intimidating for me compared to other programs that I've done in the past, in particular the back to back runs, it turned out to be a thoroughly enjoyable and interesting experience.

Pre Race Tour



The race weekend for me started by flying to Brisbane on Thursday, taking things easy, and getting ready for UCB's pre-race tour on Friday. I definitely recommend this tour for any newcomers as it's a great opportunity to get familiar with the surrounding terrain and also 
check out what some of the checkpoint locations look like. It's also a great social outing where you get to meet some of the other runners and have a meal at the Woodford pub.




Night Before The Race
The night before the race I arrived back at my cabin early after having attended the race briefing, sorted out a few bits a pieces in my race kit, and then tried to get to sleep early. This would turn out to probably be my worst pre-race sleep that I've ever had. There is no question that I was exceptionally nervous and coupling that with the fact that I was getting up at 3:30am, it definitely made for quite a restless night indeed. I fell asleep at some stage but before I knew it my alarm was going off and it was time to get up.

The Race
I arrive at the Beerburrum school early, sorted out my drop bags, had my medical check in and then just took things easy having a chat to a few other runners. It wasn't too long and we were ready to run, albeit some 7 minutes late, meaning the race started at 5:37am.

The Beerburrum loop (CP2 - 3a - 1a -2) was understandably conducted at a rather quick pace. It doesn't seem to matter what the race is, but even in ultras everyone seems to get a bit carried away in the early stages. I think it has bit to do with nerves and simply having the feeling of not wanting to be left behind.

At the end of the first loop we had the tough climb up to the top of Mt Beerburrum. This was definitely a very tough climb which is steep enough that even the run down is not overly comfortable. Once at the bottom of the climb we were off to CP3a.

I only stopped briefly at CP3a to fill up my handheld bottle and then headed towards checkpoint 4. Along the way to CP4 we passed through a relatively overgrown piece of trail. There was another runner about 30 meters ahead of me who I saw run straight past a sign directing us to CP4, so I yelled out to him and back he came and took the correct route. The trail marker here was quite a distance off to the left and to add confusion for the people who didn't see this marker, there was ribbon on the trail straight ahead, making them think that they were on the correct trail. Later we would find out that someone had actually tampered with the trail markings here and quite a few people took the wrong turn, so it was good that I managed to see the marker off to the left. I had a quick stop at CP4 and then an uneventful run through to CP5 (34.5km).

A few km after leaving CP5 I arrive at a section of track referred to as "The Goat Track". As the name suggests, this piece of track is quite rough and rutted, with short ups and downs making for some reasonably tough running. Having said that though, I quite enjoyed The Goat Track and made good time getting to CP6 (41.1km).

As I left CP6 I started running with Scott (Bloodnut on Coolrunning); we were heading into the most notorious section of trail of the entire 100 mile course...the Power-lines. The Power-lines consists of a section of severely eroded 4WD tracks with short but sharp steep up and downhill sections. I really have no idea how any car actually drives through this section of trail. It's not only the terrain that makes this section difficult, but for most runners we do it in the warmest part of the day and there is very little wind down in the gullies. I seemed to be enjoying the rough terrain and Scott and I were making good time through this section. We passed Ray (Eagle on CR) and eventually Scott set me off on my own because I was running a touch better than he was at that stage. The terrain leveled out and I had quite a nice run into CP8 (51.6km).

No sooner had I checked in at CP8 and one of the volunteers said "Here's your drop bag". Talk about amazing service! I had to weigh in and was told that I was 2kg down on my starting weight so I needed to concentrate on getting some more fluid down.

At CP8 we did two loops; a western loop followed by an eastern loop. I had heard lots of people talk about how the 2nd part of the western loop was really tough and that the eastern loop was a lot easier. During the western loop another 100 mile runner, Paul E caught up to me. He had put in some hard yards to catch me so he could have some company to run the loop with. Paul and I chatted and soaked up the challenging terrain of the western loop. Strangely though, we both really enjoyed the terrain on the western loop and couldn't really see what all of the fuss was about regarding the difficulty of this part of the track.

It was during the western loop that I started to notice my stomach wasn't feeling great; it hadn't for the last couple of hours and I think it contributed to dropping 2kg since the start. After thinking about why it wasn't feeling so great, I came to the conclusion that it may have been the Endura that I was drinking at the checkpoints. It was interesting that a few other runners that I chatted to had said that quite a few people tend to have problems with Endura. So no more Endura for me.

I arrived back at CP8 (62.4km) for another quick transition thanks to the brilliant volunteers, and I was off to complete the eastern loop. Paul was going to take a bit longer at CP8 so he sent me off on my own. Other than the long climb back up to CP8 (70.4km), the eastern loop was straight forward.

With some 70km in the legs by now I was definitely feeling like I had done quite a bit of running, but I still had over 90km to go! Although I obviously knew I had a long way to go, mentally I was coping really well and was managing to "deal with the moment", and focus on just getting to the next checkpoint.

I ran briefly with Ann and Carol (both in the 100k) on the way to CP7. I arrived at CP7 (78.4km), stocked up with water and started running with Paul F (Gingerfox on CR). The 4.4km loop at CP7 was nice and flat and upon returning back to CP7 (82.8km), it marked the half way point for the run.

 By now the sun was starting to go down, my stomach was settling down and on the way to CP6 we got our headlamps out. It seemed that no sooner had the sun gone down that my body decided that it wanted to switch the lights out too. For about 30 minutes after we started running with the headlamps I felt like I wanted a nap; as it turned out this would be one of many of these moments throughout the night. After a while however, the body seemed to wake up and all was good.

The next checkpoint that Gingerfox and I arrived at was CP6 (90.3km), and what a reception we got here. Upon arriving at the CP Gingerfox asked, "Have we finished?" as it was such an enthusiastic reception. We replenished our supplies, had some food and headed off towards CP5.

Whilst on our way to CP5, as it was very still we could hear loud cheers in the distance and see some car headlights. Gingerfox and I just assumed that it was some spectators but to our surprise we actually came across a bunch of locals who had obviously had a few too many beverages, and one of the vehicles was off the side of the causeway sitting at about a 45 degree angle. The guys didn't really seem bothered that one of their vehicles was in a rather precarious position, and were more interested in giving us high fives and cheering  us along.

It was during this section that both Gingerfox and I started to feel the pinch. No one had mentioned this section being tough, all of the talk was about the Power-lines and western loop at CP8, but this section was tough. There were short and sharp ups and downs and it just seemed to take forever to get to CP5. On our way to CP5 we passed Robbie M who was having a tough time with his ITB. He was going to pull out once he got to CP5, but what a terrbile section to get through with an injury; Gingerfox and I really felt for him. I wasn't having any major problems but Gingerfox was getting a lot of grief from a bad blister on his heel.

Arriving at CP5 was another major milestone...99.9km; so basically 100km for the day. I was starting to get a bit tired of my gels by this stage so a rissole on bread with sauce went down just beautifully. Gingerfox had his blister patched up by the race medic and we set off towards the next major milestone; the Beerburrum school.

The running on this section was relatively easy, although we did question whether or not we were on the right track a couple of times. When we were about an hour or so from CP2 I asked Gingerfox how he was going, and to my surprise he said that he was thinking of pulling out at the school. He seemed to be running quite well to me but his biggest problem was just not "feeling right". We pressed on and eventually arrived at CP2 (112km) back at the school.

Gingerfox got checked out by some of the support staff at the school and I went off looking for my drop bag so I could change my socks. To my surprise my drop bag wasn't there. What was going on...did I actually have a drop bag here? The support crew searched for my drop bag but it definitely wasn't there. I didn't get upset because more than likely it was me that had screwed something up.

Someone offered to grab some soup for me so I took that offer up. However I didn't realise that they had to go all the way down to the tuck shop and heat it up. I stood around for a while, getting itchy feet, and upon realising that by the time they came back it would be too hot to eat anyway, I gave my apology to the checkpoint staff and thanked them for going to get the soup, but I had made up my mind I needed to be off running. I was so much in the zone that even though I knew Gingerfox was pulling out and after looking back at the race, I did hear him say something when I left, I had completely ignored his good luck wishes for the rest of the race. A few hundred meters down the road I felt like such a rude idiot; how could I ignore him like that? After talking to him the next morning at the finish I appologised, and thankfully he could see I was in the zone and completely understood how I managed to ignore him.

I was now on my own for the first time at night and I seemed to get a bit worked up about it, kind of like a mild panic. After a while I realised I was being an idiot and managed to calm myself down. I've done a lot of running on my own at night, in fact I really enjoy it, and so far the trail marking had been fantastic so I just needed to focus on what I was doing.

After leaving the school at CP2 there is approximately 3km of running on a path along the side of Steve Irwin Way. I was still managing a good mix of walking and running but my body was definitely starting to feel like it was progressively getting worn down. And my feet were starting to become quite sore. I arrived at Moffats road which meant I was now heading away from the highway and over towards CPs 9 & 10 on the eastern section of the course.

It was actually quite nice to finally be out on my own at night, and running through what seemed like a deserted forest; it was just me, my headlamp showing the way and a long tunnel of trees to negotiate. The night time stages of ultras are actually one of the things that I really enjoy about long races.

As I progressed towards the Bruce Highway I was really starting to feel the discomfort of having been on my feet for so long, but mentally I still had a very good outlook on the race, I didn't at all hate what I was doing and I didn't have any thoughts of not making it to the end.

I passed under the Bruce Highway and was then presented with a tricky muddy steep section of track heading into CP9 (125km). When I arrived at CP9, Paul E who I ran with back at the CP8 western loop was there with Rodney (Hermie on CR). They were both attending to some feet issues and were about to tackle the short climb up Wild Horse Mountain. I ate some sausage rolls, quiches and started the 750m climb up to the top with Paul and Rodney. At CP9 you get given a token with you race number on it; you have to place in the box at the top of the climb to prove that you actually did complete the climb. It was a quick stroll back down to CP9 and then the three of us headed towards CP10.

Paul and Rodney told me that they had pretty much resorted to a walk now and that I should press on if I felt like it. Walking sounded great to me by now, and to be honest the pace of the walk was quite a brisk. On the way to CP10 our progress was slowed due to numerous large puddles across the entire track, and sometimes it was difficult to figure out which way to go around them. Nonetheless, we eventually made our way to CP10 (131km).

Sitting on the stool at CP10 was a bit like sitting at a bar in the pub. You didn't even have to lift a finger; the support staff would fetch your drop bag, fill up your bottle and get what ever food you wanted. I must say it was absolutely appreciated to get such fantastic service late in the race.

The next section to be completed was the western loop from CP10. Even though my mind was still strong (feet were hurting like hell though!) it was even more encouraging to be running (well walking!) with Paul and Rodney as they were just so positive. There was no question in their minds that we weren't making it to the end. On top of that, it was just fun being with these guys; Paul could talk the legs off on an iron pot (there's an Aussie saying for you Paul!) and Rodney came up with some humorous topics at times. Our legs hurt, our feet hurt even more, but we were having a great time! This section provided a number of tricky water sections that slowed us down somewhat, but otherwise was a simple section of trail. Paul was our numbers man, whipping out his Garmin to figure out our pace and calculating our ETA back to CP10. It was in this section that I had another drowsy patch; I popped a NoDoze which seemed to help as the drowsy patch eventually passed. On the way back into CP10 we crossed paths with Andrew H (Whippet Man on CR) who had been out on the CP10 eastern loop by himself.

We had another quick rest and replenishment at CP10 (140.4km) and headed off on the CP10 eastern loop. It was on this loop that it struck me just how far I had actually travelled. All of a sudden the km to go were slowly but surely getting a lot smaller. We only had around 25km go...surely nothing could go wrong now could it? I didn't want to get ahead of myself, but I was really starting to get a feeling that I was going to get to the end. Sure the legs were sore, and the feet were worse, but moving wasn't getting any more difficult that's for sure.

As we approached the end of the loop the sun began to rise and it was fantastic to feel the dramatic change in light conditions. The other thing I thought to myself was that it was the second sunrise that I'd seen for the race...cool! We arrived back at CP10 (149.6km), stocked up with food and water, packed away the headlamp and set off on our power walk back to CP9.

We got to CP9 (154km) without a hitch, had a short stop and chat to the guys manning the checkpoint and we were off on the final leg of the race.

Based on my splits sheet I thought we only had 10km to go, but I forgot about the approximate 2km diversion between CPs 2 & 9, meaning that we had around 12km to go. Oh well, we were still travelling ok so it didn't matter too much. We actually found out at the end of the race that the course markers were supposed to take off some distance at another part of the course, so as a consequence this year turned out to be the longest Glasshouse ever (I think?).

By now I knew that something major would have to happen for any of us not to make it to the finish. Under the Bruce Highway we went, then some long forest sections, Moffats road and finally we were back at Steve Irwin Highway. As we ran on the path along side the highway I actually started to feel quite emotional on a few occasions. I've felt emotional in quite a few of my ultras and I think if you feel like this then you are doing it for all the right reasons; to me it tells you that it really does mean something special to you. It probably shows that you've given your all, because there is no doubt that the mental/ emotional part of running ultras is just a big as the physical part.

We had decided that we would all cross the line together and that no matter what, we were going to run across the line. I don't think we looked like Usain Bolt, but we did our best and eventually crossed the line together. My time was 27 hours 24 minutes and 44 seconds. What a journey! I must admit however, I feel a bit guilty when I see that the time keepers gave me a time one second faster than Paul and Rodney. I not really sure how that happened; if anything I though I was slightly behind them both.

Post Race
It's definitely no secret that the one thing that hurt the most was my feet, so I was quick to take off my shoes and see what the damage was. Even though I had planned to change socks during the race, because I mucked up my drop bag position I didn't end up changing them, and in fact didn't even take my shoes off for the entire race. I hate taking my shoes off and I guess I got to a stage where my feet just hurt, but they did't seem to get any worse. Looking back now, I do think it would have been wise to change my socks and clean out my shoes. Having said that though, surprisingly the only damage to my feet was a small blister on my little toe on my right foot, and an even smaller blister on the toe adjacent to my big toe. All up, I was pretty happy with how my feet held up.

Nutrition
My primary fuel source was my home made energy gels, of which I went through around 1.2 litres of mix. Surprisingly I could still stomach them towards the end of the race which was encouraging. I also carried dates and my favourite Redrock chips. Other than that, foods that I remember eating were: a chicken sandwich, various fruits, meatball on bread with sauce, sausage rolls and quiches. I basically avoided as much as possible having anything with high quantities of simple sugars in them; this is something I've really focussed on since The Cradle Mountain run and it has made a big difference in my performance. All in all, other than my slightly upset stomach for a few hours, I was pretty happy with my nutrition.

Wrap Up
Overall I had a fantastic time at Glasshouse, it was very well run,  the volunteers were absolutely fantastic at the checkpoints, and above all, I achieved my goal of completing 100 miles.

Do I want to have a crack at 100 miles again...I don't know. At no stage during the race did I hate what I was doing and when I crossed the finish line I didn't even remotely get the dreaded "I'm never doing that again" thoughts. So I guess that doesn't mean no and only time will tell to see if the urge to complete 100 miles again starts tapping me on my shoulder. Until then...I hope to see you out on the trails somewhere!

Tuesday, June 8, 2010

Adelaide 12 Hour - 5 June 2010

Well after the success of the Adelaide 6 hour last year, Ben stepped it up a bit this year and included a 12 hour event. I had a great time at the 6 hour and there was no way I was missing out on having a crack at the 12 hour. Ben really has done a brilliant job in going to the effort of getting the race officially certified by AURA, with the distance being certified too.

As the 12 hour was not my main focus this year I didn't do any specific training or any special taper period prior to the event. My goal race is the Glasshouse 100 miler so I had a super quick taper, which involved a weekend off from training, followed by a light week of running and I was as ready for the 12 hour. I didn't really have that much of a race plan other than aiming for around 55km at 6 hours, and then just holding on and hopefully getting to 100km.

The weather for the start of the race was perfect. There was barely any wind  and the temperature was nice and cool. We were briefed by Ben, and in a similar fashion to last year, a seemingly uneventful call by the race director set us off on our way.

The first few hours passed by with relative ease, however I noticed that because the track was slightly damp from overnight rain, dirt was flicking up into my shoe and also inside my poorly fitting Injinji socks. I love Injini's for ultras but the pair I was wearing had passed their used by date. They were a bit loose around the ankles and hence were taking in grit. I was wearing my Asics 2150 GTs which haven't worked well for me at all compared to my usual Kayano road shoes. After about the 4 hour mark I had to stop and empty the grit out of my socks and change into my trusty Asics Gel Trabucos. I brought these along because I know I can run forever in them and not get any blisters.

As we approached the 6 hour mark it definitely started to get tough, and from a mental perspective it was really hard knowing that the 6 hour guys were going to be finishing soon. After having run for close to 6 hours the desire to want to stop running and sit down had well and truly kicked in. Anyway, I was bang on target and manged to clock up 55.53km for the 6 hours.

The next couple of laps were really tough. The 6 hour guys were resting their legs at the finish line and we still had 6 hours to go. Damn it looked so nice to be not running, but I had signed up for the 12 hours so I had to keep on moving. Over the next couple laps most of the 6 hour runners had left and it was nice to have to track to ourselves and be able to concentrate on the task at hand.

Hours 6 to 8 were horrible for me. I had a desire to sit down that was so intense I couldn't stop looking for places to sit down on the lap. I would see a park bench but it was too far off the track, I would see a post to sit on but it wasn't big enough for my butt, I was see a steel gate to the council depot but it looked too high. This went on for lap after lap but I managed to keep moving and only sit down for a few seconds on an electrical box right on the edge of the track.

I had been taking on gels and some potato chips later on, but I soon turned to what was on offer on the food table provided for the runners. I reckon I stood there for about 15 seconds trying to figure out what I wanted. Some coke went down and I reluctantly broke off a small piece of pizza which actually tasted fantastic. Down went the rest of the slice of pizza with another cup of coke to wash it down.

It was about now that I started to come good again. Don't get me wrong, things still hurt like hell but I was running a lot more consistently, but still not consistent enough to be able to see me getting to 100 km.

Over the day I mostly ran on my own, but one of the runners I spent a fair bit of time with was Kym. Kym was running a beautiful pace and had actually got two complete laps up on me since the 6 hour mark. He was on track for his first ever 100km run and was really on a mission. Nothing was holding him back at all. Over the next couple of hours I ran probably about 3 key laps with Kym that  put me back on track for 100km.

Even when I got into the 90s, I still didn't believe that I could get to 100km. I even said to Kym that I simply didn't want it enough at that stage. However, I continued to make reasonable progress and with about 35 min to go the numbers seemed to be looking good. 100km was definitely possible. All of a sudden I became super focused, the pain completely disappeared and I was running fast. It really is impossible to describe this sensation to those who haven't experienced it. It is a truly bizarre sensation to go from being absolutely wrecked to being able to effortlessly run along. Thanks to Chillimans photo's below, it shows that I ran an 11:11 lap (2.2km), which would most definitely be my fastest lap of the whole day. And this was at the 98km mark...how does that happen?


Thanks to my now effortless pace, I could see that I would get to 100km, albeit with about 6 minutes to spare but I would make it. All of a sudden the whole day just seemed so much more worthwhile. I was so much more satisfied. I ran right up to the sound of the siren and managed to complete 101.093km in 12 hours making it my longest ever run.

There were some amazing achievements amongst the 12 hour runners. Mal clocked up a phenomenal 133.7km, which was truly amazing to watch, Ron knocked off another age group record with a run of 116.972km, Zac completed a PB of 109.110km and Kym surprised everyone including himself in totaling 101.2km. At one stage I asked him if he was going to have a crack at a 100km race sometime this year. He said he was thinking about it but didn't have any idea that 6 hours later he would achieve that goal today. I must thank Kym for the few key laps that he dragged me along on in the latter stages of the race, because without those few laps I wouldn't have got to 100km. Click on the image below for the splits.




I must mention the 6 hour guys too. Check out their awesome performances below!

6 hour:
Male:
Brett Worley 65.183km
Stan Trzepacz 63.5
Adrian Mills 62.943
Doug Reid 62.390
Colin Brooks 61.637
Graham Tottey 57.411
Cliff Pannell 54.800
Karl Riedl 54.268
Stuart Drayton 46.645
Female:
Emma Vaughan 52.878
Susan Worley 41.082

Congratulations to Ben for putting on a fantastic event and thank you to all of the support guys that helped out lap counting, course marking, preparing food and just generally providing moral support out on the track. It was an immensely satisfying day for me, and hopefully for all involved too. Sometimes I wonder why I run ultras, and I sure did ask that question many times this day, but the sense of achievement and high that you get from running something like this makes it all overwhelmingly worthwhile.

Glen

Monday, April 5, 2010

My Bad Experience with Hammer Perpetuem

Perpetuem "The world's finest endurance fuel"- or is it?
In my search for optimal ultramarathon nutrition strategies I came across a product made by Hammer Nutrition called Perpetuem. On face value it seemed like the perfect supplement for ultra endurance events and could even be used as the primary fuel source. Here is some info from the website about the different ways it can be mixed up.
  • The One-Hour Bottle - Mix the suggested amount of Perpetuem for your bodyweight in a 21-24 ounce (approx 520-710 ml) water bottle. Consume one bottle hourly.
  • The Multi-Hour Bottle - Let's say you've determined through testing that 2 scoops of Perpetuem per hour is your ideal caloric intake. For a 4-hour workout, you'll need 8 scoops in a bottle, then filled with water and shaken well. You then nurse this bottle, taking small sips every 15-20 minutes. At this concentration, the water in the mixed bottle does not contribute much at all to your hourly fluid intake needs. To meet your fluid requirements, you carry a second and possibly even a third bottle of plain water, or use a hydration system, or know where you can refill along your route.
  • Gel or Paste - Perpetuem can be made into a super-concentrated, near paste-like consistency and dispensed from a Hammer Gel flask. Using a blender or bowl and spoon, mix scoops of powder with a small amount of water, gradually adding water as necessary to create the consistency desired. Depending on how many scoops per hour you require, and how concentrated the mix is, each flask of Perpetuem can supply you with 2-4 hours of fuel. As with the multi-hour bottle, you must carry additional bottles of plain water or use a hydration system to meet your fluid requirements.

Suggested Doses by Body Weight (135 calories per scoop):
  • 0 – 120 lbs (approx 54.5 kg) – up to 3/4 scoop/hr. This provides approximately 101 calories.
  • 120–155 lbs (approx 54.5–70 kg) – 1 scoop/hr. This provides 135 calories.
  • 155–190 lbs (approx 70–86 kg) – 1.25 to 1.5 scoops/hr. This provides approx 169 to 202.5 calories.
  • 190+ lbs (86+ kg) – up to 2 scoops/hr. This provides 270 calories.
My thoughts on the different methods
I don't like any hydration strategy that stipulates we need to drink a certain volume of fluid per hour, as given what is known about hyponotremia these days it is simply bad advice. Besides that, I don't like a nutrition plan that is dependent on drinking a certain amount per hour because this would mean my energy intake would vary considerably depending on the weather conditions. If I had a race/ training run on a cold day where I don't need to drink much, then I'm going to miss out on calories unless I over drink. Out of the 3 methods I liked the idea of either the multi bottle or the gel/ paste option.

The Road Test
The night before my training run I mixed up one gel/ paste mix in a gel flask and also one multi hour bottle and refrigerated both of them over night. By following the suggested dosages I should have had enough energy requirements for over 4 hours.

To try the two different methods I was going to first consume the paste mix which would last for the first half of my run, and then the multi hour bottle which would last for the second half of the run.

I thought that the paste mix actually tasted quite good, although it did somewhat remind me of eating cake mix. It was thick but went down very easily with a splash of water. My general nutrition strategy is to take on calories every 30 min so that I have a nice steady stream of energy entering my system. At a bit over the half way mark of my run I had finished the paste mix and all seemed to be going well.

Next it was time to start using the mutli hour bottle. The mix pretty much tasted like a milk shake which is not really what I'd consider to be ideal during a run. After my first drink I realised that I had probably taken on about a third of the bottle instead of a quarter. I didn't think would be a big deal as long as I waited a bit long until I had my next drink of the mix.

It was about now when the wheels started to fall off. I was starting to feel bloated and even after 45 min I still didn't feel like taking on any more Perpetuem. I was starting to feel a bit nauseas but was still running well. 

After about 60 minutes I finally took on some more perpetuem but it wasn't sitting well in the stomach. By the time I got to the final descent of my run after 4 hours I was starting to feel quite bad. Not only did I feel like I was hitting the wall but the nauseas feeling in my stomach was getting to the point where I felt like vomiting.  I actually think this was the closest I have ever come in a training run or race to vomiting. The Perpetuem was obviously sitting in my stomach and as I hadn't absorbed many calories in the last couple of hours due to the issues I was having I was really struggling to run.

I finally got to the end of my run (4.5 hours) and had to sit down for about 20 minutes until stomach started to settle down.

Summary
The only thing that I consumed in this training run was water and Perpetuem so my problems seems to be linked to the Perpertuem. I've never felt this bad before during a run so perhaps there is something in Perpetuem that doesn't agree with me. There are lots of folks out there using Perpetuem in long ultras so I thought that I'd be onto a winner. I guess this is why we experiment during training. Maybe I might try it again on another run, but at the moment I simply can't stomach the though of drinking the stuff again.

Sunday, April 4, 2010

Home Made Energy Gels

I came across the idea of making my own energy gels after looking at the Home Made Gels, Gu's and Bars thread on Coolrunning. It seems that the primary ingredient in energy gels is Maltodextrin, which is readily available from most chemists and also home brew shops.

The maltodextrin that I bought is comes in a 900 gram tin and is called Polyjoule. It costs around $14. Some guys get their maltodextrin from home brew shops in the form of powdered corn starch, but I'm not 100% certain about the validity of this comment saying that it's not wise to use the home brew stuff. $14 for a tin of Polyjoule still makes a lot of gels at minimal cost so I'll stick with it for the time being.

As for the recipe, well there's not really much to it all all. Throw some maltodextrin into a mixing jug and add some hot water to make plain gels. In my opinion the unflavoured stuff actually tastes surprisingly quite good. It will initially look quite milky but overnight it will turn into a clear gel so just be a bit patient. Some guys nuke their mix in the microwave but I don't really like doing that.

As for flavours, well try anything that you think might sound like a good idea. I've personally used quite a few cooking essences, with my favourite so far being chocolate and coconut. Go easy on the flavourings as they are quite concentrated and you won't need much at all. I've also used citric acid to give a tangy lemon flavour, but citric acid is very potent and I've found it hard to get a consistent flavour. You could also try adding in some Gatorade powder or any drink flavourings that you like.

The benefits of caffeine for endurance sports are well know and I briefly touched on some advice from a leading sports nutritionists in one of my other posts. Here it was recommended that 3-5mg per kg of body weight every 5 hours is all that is needed. I personally use Nodoz tablets and simply crush them up a bit, dissolve in some hot water and mix it into the gel mix.

I have also experimented with trying to add some healthy fats into the mix as this is something that we supposedly need during long endurance events. So far I have just added a dash of flaxseed oil. It does separate over time but a quick shake of the gel flask mixes it up fine.

My longest training runs to date where I have solely used energy gels has been 4.5 hours and I must say that they worked fantastic. I took some gel every 30 min with water and I didn't have any energy crashes at all. I actually think that my performance during my training runs using gels only has probably been better than anything else I've used so far.

How long it would take me before I get tired of my home made gels I'm not sure but the results are definitely encouraging.  They will most certainly be a part of my overall ultramarathon nutrition strategy.

Making your own gels is a fun, cheap and effective way of supplying your gel requirements. Give it a go!