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Right , Northcliffe is about 347km from Perth and about as country as you can get ! The hotel doubles as the pub, convention centre, holiday park and generally the catalyst of everything social in the town. The pubs landlord, Duncan , and landlady, Helen, are true blue Aussi’s who, if you cut them , would bleed green and gold. ! Such wonderful hosts and perfect for the event, they embrace the Delirious and for that few days in February become a runners dream location. The only downside to their wonderful establishment though is the rooms are a tad basic and my room, number 3, was right above the bar. On Monday night it felt like I was with Shazza as she dominated the pool table ! Luckily it was all quite Tuesday when I had ear plugs at the ready incase Shazza returned to kick some more pool table ass. The food at the pub is outstanding, steak on Monday , pasta on Tuesday and waffles both days, you got to love ultra running where you really can eat what you want this close to the event, no worrying about putting on a few pounds when you’re running over 200 miles. What a difference to running a marathon where you’re calorie counting weeks before the event and you spend more time on the scales than with your family. Ultra running really is the event that keeps on giving, one waffle at a time.
To show you how small Northcliffe is I had attached a photo of the train station, is that not the smallest train station EVER !! I’m assuming thee platform is for first class and the rest have to stand behind the painted line, brilliant.
Northcliffe train station, standing room only apparently?
Last year , it’s inaugural one, there was just over 30 runners for the event, this year that number doubled to over 60 starters and 15 , or so , defers to next year. Next year I’m sure it will sell out early and maybe even before it goes out to the public if Shaun offers entries to past runners and volunteers. I’m hoping that I’m on the list of past runners albeit a past starter rather than finisher as I’m going back 100% ! (with a full support crew , pacers , poles , better legs and a decent head torch!) Anyhow as you can see from the photo the start is epic , surrounded by like minded, nervous runners who are about to challenge themselves like never before and have an adventure of a lifetime . (or in my case DNF horribly about a third of the way in !) Its a wonderful place to be.
The photo below shows the race winner , Jon far left, who ran the race of his life. Destroyed the field on the first day, destroyed himself on the second and then came good to battle to victory on day four , before driving to the local parkrun and running the 5k. He has gone down in folklore for that trust me ! Will anyone ever repeat that ? I’m not sure but I’m pretty sure there’s a few people (myself included) who will try next year, the Delirious +5 !!! You have to finish before 7am on Saturday morning to make the Albany parkrun by 8am. Jon did it hard , with Peter Duff as his support crew driving his white BMW sports car through some seriously dirty outback roads, needless to say it was the colour of George’s shirt at the end of the adventure. Next to Jon you have my barista Georges. He, or his son Ben, make me and my Wife our morning coffee most weekdays. Over the last year I had been trying to persuade him to enter the race and he relented on the last day. Georges is recovering from shoulder and knee surgery a few months ago and, like myself , was undertrained .A cortisone a few days before the event got him through and he revelled in the adventure. I haven’t told him we’re going back next year, me to try and get into the Delirious +5 club and Georges for his double plugger, plenty of time for that and plenty of coffee to drink discussing it.
To my left in the photo is my good friend Amy who had been suffering , pre-race , with shortness of breath and also a tight calf. Unfortunately a few kilometres into the race the tight calf turned into a calf tear and although she stumbled on there was no way you can run 350k with a tear, impossible. Things went from bad to worse after Amy stopped as her calf swelled up and lots of blood blotches started to show up , as the calf continued to swell. The medic called an ambulance and off to Albany hospital Amy was whisked, rapidly. Turned out she had blood clots in her lungs , which explained the shortness of breath, and both her calfs. She is one tough mother though and already talking up next year. My goal is to try and recreate this photo at the start in 2021 and also at the finish……
The course is well marked and up to 112k you shouldn’t get lost, assuming you have a good head torch and the course on your watch . After that I don’t know as I was on a bus home to Perth, tail between my legs.
Theres a tradition , after one year, at the Delirious where you actually deliberately turn the wrong way 100metres into the race and run for about a kilometre before turning back. This was because last year this actually happened and most of the runners ran around 5k the wrong way before realising their mistake and returning,. Imagine the spectators watching all 30+ runners disappear running North instead of South and then, 20 minutes later, seeing them all come charging back and go the right way, priceless ! Shaun decided that because of this from now on all starters run the wrong way for a couple of kilometres, I suppose when you going to run 350k and extra couple should not be beyond you ? There was lots of giggling going on during the detour and the track, truth be told, was awesome. (I had actually walked that part of the track the day before believing I was going the right way myself, it’s easily done.)
The start of the race is biblical, you are full of beans and if you see a photographer you have to strike a pose. In the image below me and Georges are moving freely though the field, loving every step and excited about the journey ahead. This my favourite part of any ultra, well this and the finish, the hundred of kilometres in between can get a bit tedious ? I jest of course, in an ultra you really can enjoy the whole journey and still avoid the pain box if you have trained well and make the right nutrition and hydration choices along the way. Remember an ultra really is an eating and drinking competition, with running between aid stations.
More fun and games below, about 100 meters from the last photo, at this rate it’ll take weeks to get to the end , not days ! Can’t avoid a camera though, it’s be rude !
Right that’s it for Delirious part one.. I need a break and I’ll leave you with the image that will start the story tomorrow… some races are so long they need two posts !!
The first few rows in the image, nearest me, were my Asics Kayano phase, 2008 -2012. These were my Comrade years where I believed you changed your shoes every 400k come what may !! I was a resellers dream ! ( Comrades is the largest ultra marathon in the world and should be on the bucket list of all runners. http://www.comrades.com . It will be the 100th anniversary of the first race in May 2021. This will be an epic adventure with entries capped at 34,000 to correspond to the 34 original runners.) In 2008 I was training for my first Comrades and these were the days before online purchasing really. We , as a running group, would keep an eye on our local running store and as soon as they had a deal on Kayano’s we would raid the place, usually coming out with 3-4 pairs ! Then Wiggle came online in the UK and they delivered Asics to Australia and that was the end of buying running shoes in your bricks and mortar store. These days I do try and support our local retailer as it’s an unfair playing field, truth be told, with the online warehouses buying in bulk and saving on staff and business rates/costs, support your local running store people !
Initially I was a big Asics fan, I mean this was a company that specialised in running shoes and had the history and knowledge to produce the best product. The only down side was cost and weight. The Kayano is a great shoe but was at the upper end of the price bracket and when I started to up my mileage the cost of replacing shoes became more and more difficult to hide from no1 Wife !! Thus I moved to the ‘best shoe on sale’ approach on UK Wiggle ( http://www.wiggle.co.uk ) . Luckily I found my feet would just about fit any shoe so brand loyalty was gone and as long as the reviews were convincing I moved between brands based on lowest price. (Note Wiggle UK stop selling Asics and Adidas at the request of local resellers as it was cheaper to buy the shoes and get them delivered than go to the local shop)
So what have been the stand out shoes of the last 12 years ? I’d say the original Nike Lunaracer is right up there. This was a game hanger, a lightweight shoe with a bit of bounce, the Vaporfly of its time. I have attached images of the mk1 and mk3 , great shoes. These really did change the landscape for marathon shoes. Before these bad boys we’d run the marathon is as light a show as possible. All about saving weight which, with hindsight, was probably a flawed logic as you’d put on 3-4kilo’s due to carbo-loading!!! I’ve ran marathons in racing flats to save a few grams but risking all types of injury when your legs are tired and your form has been destroyed by fatigue. How the landscape has changed these days with marathon shoes weighing less than racing flats but given your more support than a 70’s Rock Star in high heels ! (That’s a reference to the latest Nike Alpha’s in case you missed it.)
The original Nike Lunaracer. A thing of beauty but not for the wide foot runners amongst us. The fit was always a tad ‘snug’.
Honourable mentions go to the Adidas Adios/Adizero Series and the Takumi sen 3. These are great shoes and the latest versions are still available. Very light but with a great Continental tread these were the shoes of choice pre-Vaporflys.
Another great brand and a great shoe is the Saucony Kinvara. This was very similar to the Nike Lunaracer but more usable as an everyday training shoe , as well as a racing shoe. It gave you a good combination of lightness and some rebound with is cushioning sole. The image below is the mark 2 , which is my personal favourite but they are all great shoes and we’re up to mark 11 now I think. I’d certainly still use these and if they are ever on sale will try and pick up a few pairs.
For your normal training shoe, combining weight, cushioning and rebound my shoe of choice would be the Nike Pegasus or Adidas Boston . These shoes both have some longevity making them cost efficient as well. (and thats important right?)
Best shoe of the last 12 years, there can be only one ! The original Nike Vaporfly 4%, harder to get than Rocking Horse sh*t when they first came out and $100 more expensive than any competitor but a game changer in racing shoes. I even paid nearly 50% more for a pair on ebay at one point , crack cocaine to a marathon runner ! The second generation Flyknit was lighter but , for me, too narrow a fit and felt very unstable. They redeemed themselves with the Next% and I am wetting myself with excitement waiting for the AlphaFlys. If this was the Oscars the Flys would win best movie, actor and actress, they are that good ! Only downside is there is little support for the foot and I have heard of people complaining about injuries but if you use them to only race in you’ll be fine. (at their retail price you’d need to be a rock star to use them as your daily shoe!)
This is the sort of post that I could just keep on typing , there are so many stories linked to each pair of shoes but ultimately you need to let go and, if they can be of use to someone else and spark the love of running , then it is a sacrifice I’m willing to make, giving up my collection. Although I feel like Golem in Lord of the Rings, giving up his precious, I know it was the right thing to do and I recommend anyone else out there sitting on a collection of memories does the same. Find a charity that can reuse your old shoes and make that call, you won’t regret it. Also it does allow you to start another collection of course but we’ll keep that between ourselves right…….
2019 started badly with a 1:22 at Darlington half. This was the first time I had run over 80 minutes for 6-7 years and although it was good for a top 10 finish (just) it was a disappointing result. I did manage to run sub 80 minutes at the Joondalup half and , with hindsight, this was probably the run of the year for me, again a top 10 finish and a reasonable paced race. I raced five 10k’s over the year , starting with a 36 minute finish before dipping just under 36 minutes on the next two, albeit just under, before two disappointing 37 minute finishes. Not somewhere I thought I’d be so quickly after running 34 minutes regularly a few years ago? Marathon season was another mixed bag. At Rottnest I managed to sneak under three hours with a 2:58 and 7th place finish, which was a fair result but at the City to Surf a few months later I only improved my time a few minutes to 2:55. Again this was the slowest I’d ran this event for many years ,albeit it was a controlled race and a good split between the first and second half so maybe I’m being hard on myself ?
To cap off a bad year my favourite race of the year , the 6 inch trail ultramarathon , was cancelled due to the extreme heat in Perth over December and the risk of a fire. ( http://www.6inchtrailmarathon.com/ ) I’d managed to put together a few good weeks of training (relatively) and was hoping to break 4 hours for the 9th on the course, this will have to wait until later in the year now ?
So was has 2020 got to offer in the way of challenges ? The first one is in February , a small matter of a 200miler called the Delirious West ( http://deliriouswest200miler.com.au/) I entered this event when entries first opened in March 2019, I think? I was the first to enter and managed to enter before entries had even opened by finding a link on the interweb , when searching for the race details, much to the angst of the race director! Anyhow here we are now 10 months later and the race is weeks away and I’m probably at my lowest ebb for many months, not a good combination. On the bright side a 200 mile race is mainly mental , apparently , which is lucky as physically I’m nowhere near where I need to be, albeit I have a few weeks to prepare. I did lash out on a nice running vest at the Kathmandhu sales so I’ll at least look the part. I probably need to think about other ‘stuff’ for the event as it’ll probably take 3-4 days to finish, vaseline comes to mind by the bucket load !!
I’d written off the Australia Day Ultra ( http://australiadayultra.com/ ) at this stage as I’m still recovering from a head cold shared by no3 Daughter a few weeks ago. Again , just as I was getting up a full head of steam , I’ve been derailed and have not put on the trainers for a few days, with little chance of that changing this week. Of course if I can conjure up a Lazarus like recovery it could be on the cards but confidence is low, unless I can get some of those ‘suck it up’ pills from Mr. Goggins? This was how I started 2019, a DNS at the ADU, albeit I had paid for that one, this year I’ve kept my entry money in my pocket for the time being, maybe you can teach an old runner new tricks?
Goals for 2020, well the first one is to survive the Delirious West of course. Then we’ll be back into the racing season, Darlington half in March, a few 10k’s between then and the Rottnest Marathon in June, Chevron City to Surf Marathon in August and the Perth Running Festival (for the fist time, finally?) in October. Maybe a half or two somewhere in there and finally the 6 inch ultra in December. I may go back and revisit the UWA Light horse in April and try and finish the 12 hour race, my only ever DNF (so far?), we’ll see ? All that was easy to type but first thing first I need to find my running mojo. It has eluded me many times over the last few years and, combined with injuries, left me questioning why I do what I do. All runners must eventually reach a point in their career when it all just becomes too hard, motivation can certainly wane when you know you’ll only ever be running slower each time you race. For me running has always been about racing your old self, the best you could do , and beating that time. Racing has always been my main reason for running and now , as I move back to the pack, that goal is disappearing. Of course I can always set season targets like continuing a long sub 3 marathon streak or trying to run sub 37 minutes for 10k or 80 mins for a half, but ultimately these are all times I would have scoffed at a few years ago. It does make the early mornings and double days seem that little bit harder, nigh impossible lately truth be told. This has the double whammy of hastening your retreat to the pack because you’re not putting in the time on legs, gotta’ love paying the piper ?
As I have said many times in 2019 this is quite a depressing post but , until I can get back in the game mentally , this does seem to have become the norm of late which is why I have been posting less than usual. It’s hard enough writing these posts I can only imagine reading them must be as challenging. No worries, I’ll make a promise to my readers (reader ? , Mum?) to try and be more positive in the future and maybe even start to rekindle my love of running which got me started on this blog in 2016. Looking back at those early posts I miss that ‘youthful (I’m not sure a 50 year old can be described as youthful??) enthusiasm , trying to hold myself back from running three times a day and gleefully describing PB adventures in all distances. Those days are gone and I need to reset my goals to make them at least achievable. I think the first one at the moment is to just start running again after three days off. Now is not a good time to start looking for my mojo again because in less than 6 weeks I’ll have over 200 miles to look for it and that may be a very painful experience. On the bright side it will make one hell of a post. Right, where did I put those ‘suck it up pills’ ………
This post was going to be about my 11th 6 Inch Ultra Trail marathon ( http://www.6inchtrailmarathon.com/ ) and another sub4 finish, unfortunately due to the extreme heat wave we have been suffering though this summer it was deemed too dangerous to run the event. The conditions in sunny Perth have been very sunny and the last few weeks has been a chore to continue to train for the 6 inch ultra. Many lunch time runs I have ‘showered‘ under a tap and staggered, rather than skipped, back to work where I soak in my own sweat in air conditioned heaven (must to my work colleagues disgust!) Unpleasant is an under statement and the heat is unrelenting , with three 40 degree days in a row before the Saturday when the race director, Dave Kennedy, made the right decision to cancel the event.
Unfortunately , or fortunately, my accomodation was brought and paid for, with no refunds, so as a group we decided to go to Dwellingup anyway and just run the Sunday morning, conditions permitting. Thus on Saturday afternoon Barts picked me and No2 Daughter, Hannah, up from City Beach and off we went , via a small detour at Como to pick up another friend of mine Amy. We arrived just in time for a Question and Answer with three elite ultra runners, who had obviously double booked because Dave let me and Jon on the top table with Barbara Fieberg, a previous winner of the event and an Australian representative at 12 and 24 hours. All me and Jon could offer was an AURA age group record (mine) and his unratified 5th longest distance at a 12 hour event earlier in the year. In our defence we are still very keen runners and can at least offer some advice, using experience as our guide.
After the Q&A Barts insisted we hot foot it to the pub, to beat the rush, and get some decent good old fashioned Australian county tukka at the local tavern. If you read my blog you’ll understand last year this same tavern scuppered the event for Jon, Bart’s, Mike and Mark as they indulged in the pub’s enormous portions. I did giggle to myself as I ate my small portion of pasta later in the evening without the 5-10kg weight gain all the lads put on due to their evening meals. Needless to say the next day the lads struggled up the numerous hills with the extra weight , while I skipped off into the distance, still giggling like a 10 year old boy after his first encounter with his Father’s Mayfair magazine. This year we could all enjoy our meal , bar Jon , who had decided that even though the event was cancelled, unofficially, he would run the course backwards in the dark and then return the next morning. Yep, you guessed it, the infamous 12 inch. ! Only attempted by a few mad ultra runners who would leave at 10pm the night before the event, they’d turn up at the start around 4am the next morning and then register for the main event, kicking off at 4:30am. This would give them 94km and some serious kudos of course. Jon decided to ignore the ban due to possible fire risk and off into the night he went while myself, Amy, Mark and Bart’s settled down for the 4th showing of Run Fat Boy Run armed with a good bottle of red.
So while we finished off the film, but not the bottle of red , we were running at 4:30am the next morning, Jon set off into the dark on his quest to obtain the 12 inches he had always wanted ( or that was what Bart’s had said , not sure what we meant ?) The next morning we did get up at 4:30am, much to my Daughters disgust!, and set off on to the trails and headed towards the escalator for a cheeky 24k out and back. Conditions were glorious , albeit it did start to heat up quite quickly and we all agreed it was still the right decision to cancel. The picture below doesn’t do justice to the conditions, as I have said many times before trial running , when the light is right, is magical.
Once we returned to the accomodation, we freshened up and then scuttled off to the Blue Wren Cafe for a good old fashioned large Cappuccino and bacon and egg toasted sandwich. While me and the boys tucked into our freshly made toasted sandwich’s Amy had a Strava segment to attend to (you do have Strava right ? http://www.strava.com ) She had stalked this segment from Perth and was determined to leave her mark in Dwellingup with a CR (Coarse Record). There was a double incentive as the current holder had initially followed Amy on Strava but then unfollowed her. This is unacceptable , apparently , and punishable by a good old fashioned Strava segment beating, bless her. Once Amy achieved her CR we regrouped and waited for Jon , who eventually turned up after running for well over 11 hours. He , along with one other , had become a member of a very select club of men who can say they have a 12 inch under their belt. (Please note, at the time of writing, no woman has got her hands on a 12 inch, although I suspect in the near future one may get her hands on Jon’s 12 inch , if they speak nicely to him or whisper sweet nothings in his ear, he likes that apparently?) I digress , as always.
All in all a great weekend , spent with friends (and no2 Daughter) with many happy memories added to the trail running database to be retrieved at random times over the next few years , with much laughter , and some obvious innuendos.
Well it looks liker my old mate Jon Pendse is keen to give back to the running community and has offered free coaching, mentoring to all and sundry. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity to learn from one of Perth’s best known, and loved, local running legend. I have had the honour of running with Jon since 2008 when I first encountered him at the Bunbury marathon and then realised we both worked in the same building in Perth. After introducing ourselves in the mens changing rooms (?) we started a relationship that is going as strong today as when we first started on our journey over ten years ago. Rereading that please note that was a running relationship , I’m happily married (according to my current Wife!) and Jon was happily married but is now even happier single. (and running a lot quicker, go figure?)
Back in the day Jon was the target for all us St. Georges Terrace Running Club runners to aim for. He was the quickest runner at all distances and I spent 4-5 years admiring his form as he strutted off into the distance on many occasions, it was around 2011 I think the first time I pipped him to the finish line at the City to Surf. We had run together for the first 41k and then it was on for young and old for the final 1k sprint. I think my long legs gave me the edge as we both sprinted for the finish. Happy days.. I’ve managed to keep Jon in check up until this year when he has once again found the fire ( and got divorced, coincidence I don’t think so !) and just maxed out his running distance. The payback has been instant as he has won numerous marathons , ultra marathons and even set a top 10 Australian record distance in timed races over 12 hours.
So for any runner in the Perth area if you want to be coached by a running legend get in touch , his email is :jpendse@tpg.com.au He may even share his running spreadsheet which has to be seen to be believed ! (He is an accountant by trade funnily enough!)
The last couple of months I have been building to this event and have been gradually increasing the time on legs but neglecting speed work and this has come back to bite me in both my last 10k races. Early November I ran a 37:36 at the John Gilmour track 10k and last Sunday I went slower at the Fremantle 10k, 37:56. The first time , on the track , was excusable as it was the last race I needed to win the WAMC age group 55-55 category but the time did sting. I was determined to go better and the Fremantle 10k gave me that opportunity. As with the previous 10k I started well enough but was unable to hold the pace and had to work very hard to keep sub 38 minutes , saved by a last minute sprint. A 15 second plus difference from kilometre 1 to kilometre’s 7-9 is not ideal pacing, you should be looking to hold the same pace throughout with maybe a faster last kilometre to account for the ‘kick’ finish. In my defence I was going slow enough that a ‘kick’ finish was achieved , albeit a very small ‘baby kick’?
Every race teaches you something and the last two have taught me I need to add pace to at least two of my weekly runs. I’m planning a Mona Fartlek at least once a week and then maybe a 10k tempo/threshold to try and bring my 10k time back under 36 minutes (as a minimum) next year. Of course this will have to wait as I have the trail ultra in a few weeks and then the Australia Day Ultra in January ( http://australiadayultra.com/ ) before the Delirious ( http://deliriouswest200miler.com.au/ ) in February, all ultra’s. !
I’ve written a few posts over the years on the 6 inch..probably worth a recap…
There’s more, just type in ‘6 inch’ in the search bar and you’ll find many, many amusing posts on this race and that’s the point of the 6 inch. It comes at the end of year, a few days before Christmas , where the finishing time is not important (as long as it’s under 4 hours). It’s more about the boys having a night away from our families and just being boys again, albeit for one night only. The experience of driving down Saturday , staying over Saturday night and watching ‘Run Fat Boy Run’ (an absolute classic film which all runners need to watch!) , running with some great friends on the Sunday morning and then a final get together to recount stories from the day, great times. It really is a special event and one all trail runners need to run sometime in their career.
So have I done enough over the last few months to guarantee a sub 4 finish ? I’d say at the moment I’m 50-50, conditions will dictate the final finish time I feel. Perfect conditions I got a chance, too hot and it’ll be a closer run thing. Either way I have a date with an esky at the finish so if I finish ahead of you I’d be careful where you choose your post race drink. It’s another great 6 inch tradition apparently. I’m excited about my 11th time taking on the 6 inch and hope to continue the tradition for many years to come, finishing sub 4 may not be on the cards for many more years but either way I know my old mate Mr.Esky will always be there to greet me at the end and that’s enough to keep me coming back for more. (and watching Run Fat Boy Run with the boys, again you all need to watch that film!)
As you can see from the image below I have been gradually building up my training from nothing at the beginning of October to my first full week in many months this week. Bu where does that leave me in relation to my fitness over the last 2 years ? If you want to follow me on Strava feel free to use the link below:-
With Strava all the data is there as I haven’t missed saving a run to Strava for many years. I did try and run without a GPS watch, deliberately , a few months ago but it was a disaster. I’m a Strava addict and that’s just the way it is. I started running before GPS devices and tracking software but , in this case, consider technology to be a good thing and now cannot run without a GPS watch welded to my wrist. Remember if it’s not on Strava did it happen ? There are other training software packages of course and Training Peaks is probably the nearest thing to Strava. Truth be told it’s probably a better option for the ‘true athelete‘ because I’ve heard the data analysis is better but Strava is more like the facebook of the running world, and as I’m ‘virtually’ very sociable it’ll always be Strava.
The image below sums up everything I have talked about in the preceding paragraphs. In 2018 I was running well and coming off the back of a great couple of years , 2016-17, where I had hit quite a few running goals. These included a 16:40 5k, 34:18 10k and even a 2:41:44 marathon , three years after a similar time. 2018 was going to be a similar story and I even harboured , secretly, thoughts of maybe one more sub 2:40 marathon assault. Unfortunately all these plans came crashing down during a 3k steeplechase race at the Australian Masters in April. I had been fighting plantar fasciitis for a few months previous to the Australian Masters and , with hindsight, racing a 5k, 10k, 3k steeplechase (in racing spikes for the first time EVER!) and 10k cross county on consecutive days was probably not a good idea. That was 2018 written off and it was a long period of slow grass/trail running that dragged my fitness down to around 80 . I then tried, and failed , to get ready for the Perth City to Surf marathon (August) and the Rottnest Marathon (October) before finding salvation in the Elliptigo, combining commuting and training, for a high score of nearly 180 just before the 6 inch ultra.
This was shown to be true as I aced my 10th 6 Inch trail ultra-marathon with a 6th place finish and ran a new veterans record (over 50) , beating my previous time the year before , albeit I had got lost that year which for me is usual at this event ? I was then ready for the Australian Day Ultra in January and felt I was a good chance to try and beat my 7hour 47minute time for the 100k I had ran the year before. My confidence was boosted by my fitness score for January 2018 sitting on 160, while I was 180 just after the 6 inch a year later, maths was on my side?
Unfortunately (I seem to be using that word a lot on this post?) I picked up man-flu a week before the ADU 100K ( http://australiadayultra.com/ If you are in WA for January you need to run this event. Probably the fastest and flattest 100k on the planet?) As you can see from the graphic below man-flu hit me hard (Only a man understand that statement!) and in a few months I had lost a serious amount of Strava fitness points. Again I threw myself on the Elliptigo and managed to have a pretty good early racing season posting some OK times but nothing compared to the previous few years. I was probably a minute slower on the 10k, 3-4 minutes for the half and 5-10 minutes for the two full marathons I ran. Funnily enough, although at the time I didn’t realise, I was still dropping Strava fitness points and the slope moved down to around 140 , from a 160 at the start of the racing season. This was unusual because I wasn’t injured but had just lost my mojo a few times and basically wasn’t put in the training kilometres. As I always say running is an honest sport and if you don’t put in the time training you are not going to get your times, simple really.
Right, where are we now. Sitting around 140 after another trough thanks to catching another bout of man-flu , so much for the flu-jab working ? Ont he bright side I’m hitting some training goals and have rediscovered the long run with the boys this weekend. The 20k went well enough but the bacon and egg sandwich afterwards was a disaster, it seems the restaurant has started to substitute ham instead of bacon. A heinous crime which will result with me and the boys boycotting said restaurant until they change back to the good old fashioned bacon and egg combo.! I even backed it up with a 15k Sunday for a three figure running week for the first time since August. So to sum up, you need Strava and you need to pay the for the premium package to get your hands on all that data presented in such a way to aid your training.
Of course the real test will come in December this year when I take on the 6 inch ultra trail marathon for the 11th time (in a row !) ( http://www.6inchtrailmarathon.com/ ) . I’ll be trying for a record 9th sub 4 hour finish but it will certainly depend on conditions. Probably need a tailwind all the way and freezing conditions, in a Perth summer this is unheard off! Also working against me is the last few years have been ran in great conditions so we’re due a hot one, we’ll see, whatever happens there will be many stories coming out of the day and that’s more important than the time for this race, really. I’ve written at least three posts on this race so if you have more time and want a good laugh I suggest you use the SEARCH option on the site and type in ‘6 inch’, you won’t be disappointed.
Of course one person not returning to the 6 inch this year is Mike Kowal who ran a shocker last year and blames the Escalator ( a hill of biblical proportions you run up and then stagger down!) at 38k for destroying his legs and making the last 10k very painful. Personally I feel the writing was on the wall last year when this photo was taken and he refused to put on his finishers t-shirt, it was a sign it seems !! One person who will be there is Barts (to my right in the photo below) who has ran the course one more time than Jon (for new readers (?) the runner to my far left in the photo) , this is discussed every time the race is brought up, much to Bart’s delight. Bart’s also has a faster finish time and Jon was forced to add a ‘average time’ column to the 6 inch spreadsheet so he was faster than Bart’s. As you can imagine this caused much hilarity within the running bunch and around this time of year it is a source of constant amusement to all. Unfortunately (there’s that word again?) for Bart’s Jon is in good form and will be aiming to take his time in December. It would be a pity if that happened because I’ll miss the banter this subject has generated over the years, nearly as much as the topic of who is the tallest, Bart’s or Jon; maybe Jon should use average height?
As you can see from the splits below I managed to hang on for first 5k but then started a downward spiral to half marathon pace, which is fine in a half marathon but not in a 10k. On the bright side I faired a tad better than Jon ‘the Kingsley bullet” Pendse who blew a head gasket with three kilometres to go and crawled home at nearly 5min/k pace. That being said he had ran , and won , a 50k race five days earlier and a won a marathon a few weeks before that. It goes to prove eventually the piper comes calling and ,when he does, sometimes the price you pay is painful. !
As I crawled off the track I reminded myself that I have said many times a 10k is one of the hardest races as , in my opinion, you normally go out at 5k pace and feel great for 5k, the fly in your ointment of course is theres still 5k to go when you find you have am empty tank. Trust me people 5k , with am empty tank, takes an eternity ! In a 5k the worst case scenario you’d only have a few kilometres to run on empty. In a half and a marathon you’re normally more reserved as you respect the distance but for some reason the 10k doesn’t have that fear factor until you’re 5k in and prying for a quick and painless death.
Mentally this race came a bit early after my man-flu a few months ago. After blood tests, urine tests and even a stress echocardiogram , I wasn’t ready for a 10k track race but needed one more race finish to complete my 7 nominated races for the West Australian Marathon Club age group award. Rather than risk waiting any longer the track seemed the ideal time to complete my racing year. I knew I was in pretty poor form with no speed work for months but decided if I could just complete in 36-37 minutes it would be job done. The first few kilometres tucked in behind Jon were painless enough but once Jon stepped up I was content to cruise for as long as possible. My good friend Luke Munro ran past me around 4k and he was aiming for the same time as me so I tried to hang on but he eventually left me. After that it was round and round in circles in every increasing times , 25 times for a 10k . Many times I contemplated stopping but with each lap the end was nearing and I was content looking at the bigger picture, the age group win.
One of the benefits of track racing, I use the word benefit loosely, is you get lapped by the leaders and realise how fast they really are travelling as they go past you like you’re standing still. The winner on the night, Gerry Hill, ran 31 minutes so lapped me at least 4 times, just what you need when you’re struggling of course. Its amazing how quickly your Mr.Hill runs as he cruises past around 3:05min/k pace.
Right, so what’s behind my slide down the running pecking order in sunny Perth. One thing really, and one thing only, time on feet, or lack off. I just haven’t been running as much as I use to. Of course there have been a number of reasons for my decline in distance, namely moving house three times in the last 2 years, two bad cases of man-flu, two bad injuries and a general feeling of fatigue culminating in more time thinking about running than actually running ! I’ve mentioned all of these a number of times but if you need solid proof then our old friend Strava has the stats. (You are on Strava? … http://www.strava.com ) As you can see from the graphic below I had a good block of training leading up to the City to Surf marathon (end of August) but was then undone by man-flu which put me on a downward spiral for a few months. I managed to start training again middle of September but this has been sporadic at best and my weekend training has been non-existent. On the bright side I have been exercising more week by week and this has been helped by my time on the Giant Prelude bike commuting to work. I must admit to enjoying being cocooned in lycra on my morning and afternoon rides but justify this as cross training (and cross dressing!) and, as such , acceptable. It starts to become a problem if you find yourself clip-clopping around a cafe, dressed in sweaty lycra , ordering skinny, frothy frappacino’s !
The graphic below from Strava shows how each week I’m improving , albeit slowly , but it also highlights my lack of activities on the weekend which I need to address quickly. The numbers are certainly nothing like the 140-160k a week I use to regularly knock out in 2016-2017 and this explains my performance , add in a few extra years and kilo’s and everything becomes clear. The secret to running is consistency and as you can see, lately, it just hasn’t been there enough. So what’s the way forward. It’s three fold really, First I need to ramp up the kilometres to at least 100k a week , week in week out , for a 10 week block. Next lose at least 4-5kgs of weight. (don’t mention this to no1 Wife , she’s not a fan of my ‘prison of war on hunger strike‘ look?) , finally add some speed work on a weekly basis. There is a place for the Maffetone and Fitzgerald techniques advocating distance over all else but eventually you need to add the cream to the cake and add pace. This is another reason I put myself through the grinder last Friday, I needed to feel the pain that only a 10k race gives you.
Is running that simple, distance, weight and pace; well really, yes it is. I’m sorry if all of the coaches out there suddenly realise I’ve summed up the sport in less than one sentence but their job is more motivational and keeping runners to a plan, the secret is no secret really. If you want to look at this in practive you need to look no further than my good friend Jon Pendse. Jon, this year , has been nothing short of a revelation. Running Australia record times for the 12 hour, winning marathons and ultras weeks apart, smashing his 5k park run PB weekly and still hitting 160k a week totals, week in , week out. Of course the distraction of a Wife has been jettisoned with his first divorce and this has turbo-charged his training. Maybe I should ‘ single life‘ as another secret to improving your running; albeit a costly price to pay as you get to my age ! Another big reason Jon puts his improvement down to is weight loss. The old Jon, or Mr.Squishy as his Son called him, was always carrying a bit of extra padding around the mid-rift, this has been eradicated as he now looks like a jockey with an eating disorder . I’ve mentioned this before but Jon really is living the dream at the moment and he puts a large part of this down to his diet, which surprising avoids too many carbs. I’m not going to get into the diet thing in this post but I will say Kenyans eat carbs and a lot of carbs, that is all.
My last couple of posts have been about my illness and recovery, albeit probably premature, and as Strava shows below ( you all have Strava right http://www.strava.com) I have been quiet of late. I was still contemplating the Perth Running Festival ( https://perthrunningfestival.com.au ) next weekend but the run last Friday was a reality check which ended up with me sitting on a park bench at 12k into a 16k run feeling very sorry for myself. This was the kick in the balls I needed to take another week off and just get better. As of writing this I’m hoping I’m now better although I have strained my side throwing the ball for the dogs ! You can tell when you’re getting old when you get injured walking the dogs, joy ?
Of course another thing to do when you can’t run is enter events due to the FOMO effect. (Fear of missing out, every runners nightmare!) True to form I have entered a 100k race in the NSW Blue Mountains next May, when you’d be mad not to surely? ( https://www.ultratrailaustralia.com.au ) The Ultra Trail World Tour hits the Blue Mountains in May and it looks amazing. I have friends who rave about it so need to tick this one of my ‘races to do’ list. Add in the 6 inch Ultra in December, the Australia Day Ultra (100k) in January and the Delirious West (200 miles!) in February and the start off next year looks busy before we get into the three marathons I’ve penciled in in June, August and October. Also need to put that 12 hour Light Horse race, in April, to bed next year after I dnf’d this year. Sprinkle in a few half marathons and 10k races for the WAMC Club Championship and it’s going to be a busy 2020.
A quick post this time as I’m just getting back into the swing of things. I also need a shout-out to the boys in Berlin racing the full this Sunday. The T-train, Mark C. , Dean and Mike K. are representing the BK running crew and I’m sure will do us proud. Mike K. is running for fun after an injury interrupted training program while Tone and Mark are gunning for PB’s . Expect the T-Train to set Berlin alight and finish high up the his age category. If all goes well he could knocking on the sub 2:40 door. Mark C. has trained the house down thanks to Matt Fitzgerald ( http://8020endurance.com ) and one of his ‘magic training programs‘ . Mark is gunning for another 2:48 marathon time or quicker, this time of a certified course .. Dean will either run a great sub 2:40 or blow up spectacularly, there’s no middle ground with that guy ! I’m hoping it’s another sub 2:40. Phil was meant to be joining them but got struck down by the dreaded man-flu this week and had to pull the pin. I feel your pain brother, I feel your pain !!
That last paragraph was Saturday and I managed to repeat the process for Sunday. Today was about walking the dogs again, twice, dropping no2 Daughter into Perth, sneaking in work for a couple of hours and then returning to Perth to pick up no2 daughter. A quick trip to Yelo for a coffee and muffin and the day is gone. It’s amazing how the day can disappear. I’m sure I’ve written posts on making time for running in-between life’s demands but I seem to have lost the knack lately.
In my defence I am still recovering from Man-flu, which as every man knows it potentially life threatening, so I shouldn’t be too hard on myself surely? Could I have got up early and ran, definitely, did I, no. This ,it seems , is the problem. For that last few years I have always been an early riser and have seen the sunrise on hundreds of occasions and each time was as enjoyable as the last but for some reason this year I just haven’t had the motivation. There must have been two or three posts on losing my mojo this year alone and, even now, I’m struggling. I’m partly putting this down to man-flu as I was so keen to kick-on after the City to Surf and run a quicker time at the Perth Running Festival (PRF) ( https://perthrunningfestival.com.au ) As this is now not going to happen I’m considering binning the PRF completely and concentrating on the 6 inch trail ultra in December. A lot will depend on how I go this week. If I can run 100k for the week, and not feel too fatigued, Perth Running Festival could be on, if not I’m happy enough to concentrate on the 6 inch.
Is two sub3 marathons enough for 2019? Probably not, I do need to sneak in another one but timing is everything and there’s not too much around early November if I miss the PRF. I found a marathon over in NSW which fits the bill on the 17th November ( https://www.jervisbaymarathon.com/athletes/event-info/ ) but its a fair way to travel ?
On a different note my mate Zac sent me this image, see below, yesterday. It seems me and my mate Geoffa made the top 10 Melbourne Marathons in 2010. We were both representing Western Australia in the National Marathon Championships. What this really meant is no one else wanted to go and we were going anyway so it was money towards flights and free accomodation with the other runners, and the invited Kenyans. It also meant getting changed in the MCG with the elite runners and starting at the front of the 7000+ field. As you can see in the photo below for a few hundred metres I was in the lead and consider my early pacing , albeit for 100 metres, pivotal to Japhet Kipkorir breaking the course record. Unfortunately at the finish line I was nowhere near Japhet as I had sacrificed my race for his record, or something like that. I have raced Melbourne four times and PB’d every time so if you are ever in Australia around early October I highly recommend it. ( http://melbournemarathon.com.au/events/ )
Starting at the front helps and one year I did make a big effort to try and get to the 1k marker in the lead. I think I got to around 800m’s before realising I had left the field way behind me and all of a sudden I was the one idiot runner you sometimes see at the start of marathons. I could see the cameraman on the BMW bike pointing the camera right at me and I wondered what the controller was screaming at him at that point in time? Probably ‘ignore the bald guy with a beard at the front’ !! Lesson learned, I slowed and let the lead pack run past and sneaked back into the pack, my tail between my legs. We still joke about Geoffa’s what skins and how they embarrassed a state , needless to say I don’t think white skins are available in 2019, luckily !
Training wise I’m glad to say that finally I did go for a run. (Monday) Albeit not quite 10k , I managed 9.3k and finished in a reasonable state. 5:13min/k average is the best I’ve managed for a few weeks so I’ll take the positive from the run but nowhere need the 4:10min/k average I need for 42.2k in less than three weeks. The Perth Running Festival will be a challenge and I’m putting my sub3 streak on the line. On the bight side the T-train is driving the bus so it will finish sub 3 guaranteed , just need to make sure I’m still on it ! Talking of bus driving perhaps the worse ‘bus driver’ is certainly Jon Pendse. He had arranged to take Jeff and Big Paul to a sub 1:30 half marathon many years ago and sped off at sub 3:45min/k pace. All bus occupants were jettisoned before it even left the car park, epic bus fail ! Last year there was a similar story for the sub3 bus at the Perth Marathon. I had positioned myself about 300m’s from the finish (I was injured) and when the sub3 bus came into view , they were dawdling with very little time to make the final few hundred metres. I made it known in no uncertain times they needed to get a wiggle on and they all looked shocked as they thought it was in the bag. Not so it seems and Mike just made it under the 3 hour mark, while the back of the bus missed out and Jon also miscalculated, missing out by a few seconds. In Jon’s defence I think he has ran 3hours and xx seconds at least 8 times over his career, it’s a talent apparently?
Bit of a mixed bag today, I’m running albeit very slowly and the Perth Running Festival is coming. This will be an interesting few weeks but that’s the point isn’t it, you play with the cards you are dealt and hope you can bluff your way to a win, what could possibly go wrong ?
