When is a 7+ hour 'trail marathon' a sucess

• When the actual distance is closer to 48k;
 
• When the temperature is close to 100 degrees F;
 
• When the DNF rate was very high and a number were taken to hospital with severe dehydration;
 
• When, 10 minutes after finishing, you can get in your car and drive home with no issues;
 
• When the aim was to average 10 minutes per k with a combination of running and walking and still managed that despite the heat and extra distance; and
 
• When at 40k I was in serious position of being out of water and becoming quite disorientated and made it to the last CP that was about a 1 k away, took on plenty of water, took on plenty of simple sugar, waited 10 minutes and was recovered to be able to walk solid to the finish line.

 

All of those positives do not overcome the basic error of the organisers have a two loop course and when yo finish the first lap and tell you you have run 'about 24k' and you must do it all again. You then ask where is the change in the second lap to reduce the distance and they tell you there is no change. That didn't make sense then and sure doesn't make sense now.

 

If I had of known it was that distance I would not have entered. I entered because it was the 'Gelnbrook Marathon' and I was looking support a local marathon and add another to the list. It will not be added to my list of marathons. I could have stayed home and did more recovery for C2K instead of grinding out a tough 48k + trail marathon.

 

Anyway I am over it. But I have not recovered in the sense of feeling very fatigued. THe leg muscles are fine but I have not run and will only have a few short slow runs before C2K.

 

I need to do a lot of organising for C2K in the next few days. Clothes, food and car. Sue my faithful crew the last 2 years fly's in from the Gold Coast on Wednesday morning. It's a well settled routine. Shop on Wednesday and spend the afternoon sorting, labelling and packing the boxes.  For this result (yep a lot for one runner and crew but it is all about choices and a lot comes home). Not all food either, clothing, emergency medical supplies etc, etc;

 

 

Thursday we collect the other 2 crew members and drive to Eden. That takes most of the day. A dinner is organised for all of the runners and crew at Eden in the evening with race numbers being handed out, safety instructions and a lot of nervous talk.

 

Start at 5.30am Friday morning and with a little lunch and a lot of hard work it should be all over with us driving down from the car park at Charlotte's Pass just after midnight on Saturday

Medium and easy

Another beautiful morning around the Bay. A steady 14k at 6 minute pace.

No run

I have decided that if I can I will post each day to try and keep me focused and just generally thinking about running with C2K coming up. There is no of training I can do that will help me prepare for 240k and 40 hours of moving forward.

 

Al that training has been done over the last 8 months with the marathon training and running marathons. Now I just need to be a fresh as I can, injury & niggle free and GET MY HEAD IN THE RIGHT SPACE.

 

Like a good lawyer I will report there is nothing to report. A very late night in office or should I say early morning with a client with a serious problem and do paperwork. Needles to say the candle cannot burn at both ends so no run.

 

Last member of the crew joined last night. Now the challenge to bring 3 people who have never meet and are keen to help to mould them into a working team.

Where were they?

A beautiful morning around the Bay. The air was crisp with just a touch of coolness and no humidity. Just a gorgeous start to the day. I needed that after a full day at the College and then working at home on client matters until late.

 

BUT no one was at the usual start at the usual time. That was fine I didn't feel like being pushed so a nice solo steady 5.30 pace was fine.

When is finishing 100k a failure?

When you plan to run 175k and finish at the beach at Patonga on Sunday afternoon.

 

It didn't take long for the uneven trails and the steep climbs and decent to cause each achilles to scream in pain. They are happy on flat surfaces ticking over 5.30k's but no amount of training or rest can prepare them for what is the characteristics of the GNW course. I thought it might be a minor issue later in the race and well after the 100k's. Unfortunately that was not the case.

 

In the second section which is a wide road/fire trail it was obvious I could not maintain a good enough pace to build up a good buffer in the cut off times. I was a head but not by enough and by the time I left CP2 and well into the third section I was running fine (legs and heart no issue) but I could not push the pace and whatever time buffer I had was evaporating too, much too quickly.

 

On the run into the CP3 there are some nice long, slightly down hills sections. I was alone and moving fine but then realised that was not correct when other runners would pass me and be quickly out of site. I wanted to pick up the pace to stay with them but it did not happen. The pain was not sharp but constant and it just seemed to slow the running stride down.

 

I got into CP with an hour to spare and could have withdrawn then. But I know I could probably make it to 100k although it would be ugly and slow. Apart from the steep climb out of CP3 it is relatively flat. Also I was not sure if I would be back to GNW again and so I did want a 100k finish.

 

At CP3 I gathered my thoughts. Ate and drank and generally took my time so that I could leave prepared. I also enjoyed a great time talking to to the vollies, most who know me and just having a chat to in part take my mind off the mental intensity of the event. I left 20 minutes before the cut off and got to CP4 12 minutes before the cut off at 3.48 am Sunday morning.

 

I had no idea how much damage I had done the achilles. However within a few days I it was back to normal. Which means I live with and walk with continual pain that surprisingly is much less when I run. No doubt the different foot strike pattern etc.

 

The last marathon of the year on Sunday. On a trail that has all the characteristics to again play havoc with the achilles. But I am in and will do it.

 

I am in C2K ultra in early December. It is mostly roads but a lot of uphill over the last 60k. Hopefully I can once again make it to the finish.

When in doubt .....

It is not really a case of 'When in doubt...' but a case of.... I don't need any more training I need recovery.

I am tired and fatigued and I am not sure it is just lack of sleep. Maybe it is just pre-event phantom feelings that are not real or is it a fact. If it is a fact then all I can do is take it as easy as I can. So no running this morning and organising my drop bags instead. 

Nothing I can do except deal with what I have. 

Wednesday and the usual Bay run

As I say often it Wednesday and so it is the usual lap of the Bay with the usual suspects. 

It was very humid this morning but still very pleasant. As usual JD, Rach and I all had reasons why it was going to slow etc but after starting all that trash talk was forgotten and some solid running done. I trailed JD the whole way. He was just way too strong. Rach decided to turned back at 3k for a 6k total. 

At 31.20 a lot slower than last week but way harder.

Mentally I seem to have sunk very low and negative about GNW and my chances if finishing. That should not be as I have been injury free since April - since then no, zip, zero twinge or anything that prevented me from running training. I should be positive and confident but I am not. But I am mentally fatigued from some very stressful cases that have been occupying a lot of time and mentally very draining.

I can't do anything about the past and can only deal with the next few days. I need to rest mentally and physically and start picturing me running along Pataonga Beach Sunday afternoon and embed that in my mind so when things get tough on the weekend that will drive me on. The rest maybe a short walk and some stretching - so not a complete shutdown. 

I guess a case of getting the mind to where the body is. 

Carcoar Marathon # 150 and 4.26

Number # 150 done !!! I can clearly remember my first and second as they were such epics run with no knowledge of what was required to prepare and no widely if any available material. That was 1982. Others I remember, my first sub 3, the sub 3 at Gold Coast when I was 58 and bits and pieces of many others. 

The travel and friends I have made will remain with me more vividly. In particular the trips to country NSW with Blue Dog, Bernie and Seris. Those weekends were a ball start to finish. Unfortunately there were none this year, maybe next year ..... 

Travelled up over the mountains early on Saturday and spent most of the afternoon around Cowra. My wife has a connection with it and she had not visited it before.

The time of 4.26 or so was a bit disappointing compared to last year but I did had a plan that I stuck to and time was not important:

• to leave plenty out there on the course and save something for the GNW 100 miler next week;
• get in some practice of walking the hills and I did that on most of them.

I was slowed a bit by getting a bruised heel early on and having to deal with that. I am not sure why but I did try some trail shoes I have not run in often. Perhaps they are not cushioned enough. I don't think they will be used next week. I feel okay today with no real stiffness but will need to take it easy this week. Just the lap of the Bay on Wednesday and maybe that will do it until Saturday morning.

3 x 1k for Friday

A new running friend, Gwen and I have run this session on the last two Friday'.s

Certainly not a session that I enjoy but a pleasant change. It was so nice at Timbrell this morning with the sun coming up over the city well Leonhardt Oval. The air was a little crisp but fine when we warmed up. We have no other plan at the moment but to built Gwen up and so it has been just the 3 and all as close to 4 minutes as we can manage. 

I was spot on each one this morning although Gwen is a little out of her comfort zone and was a few seconds behind. We were running even paced but she slows just a fraction on the last 200 meters. With a few more sessions that should not occur. 

I am ready for the marathon on Sunday.

Hard 11k

It was warm and humid around the Bay this morning. Last week I ran with the Timbrell boys with there 1k reps. As usual they were at it this morning but I gave it a miss in preference for a bit longer. Maybe tomorrow I will do some 1k reps.

Today it was 11k as hard as I could go taking into account the solid run yesterday. Average 4.49 per k and that was fine. Still nothing broken or even threatening to break so all is progressing well to be able to get to the start line at GNW ready to go with both a positive body and mind.