Passive recovery means stillness and inactivity. By contrast, active recovery means being active in a way that promotes recovery rather than intensity

A few weekends ago I ran marathon number 44 , which was a controlled effort for sub number 31. After celebrating with a can of Guinness , or three, it was off back to the mainland and time for active recovery. Now when I recover from a marathon it is not a pretty sight. It’s a bit like drinking really, I can drink like a 18 year old (please note I only really drink after the Rottnest Marathon as it’s tradition and the beer mile because, well, it’s the beer mile?!) but I recover (and suffer) like a 80 year old. Personally I think the reason hangovers get worse ,with age , is because otherwise we’d all just keep drinking to excess and ,unfortunately, this can only end badly as we grow older. If there is a God, ( and it’s a bit if,) then I can see why he (or she?) programmed us this way. Best thing to do is abstain completely but then how can you enter the Beer mile, it is a quandary ?

Right , back to me recovering. Normally after a marathon I give myself a minimum of three days off , sometimes even up to a week. After that I gotta run, I mean ‘ c’mon ‘ we’re runners, it’s what we do right? Anyhow I say ‘run‘ in the loosest sense of the word because my legs are normally well and truely ‘goosed’ and it feels like you’re running on wooden stumps. The first gradient I encounter can result in racing people walking and minding their own business. The look on their faces when this old, balding , bearded runner (?) sidles up to them is priceless. I’m not sure if they just feel pity or disgust at my inability to pass them in a reasonable manor. Of course over time I eventually get back to a some sort of pre-marathon form and pace and it’s onwards and upwards to the next one. (Remember , there is always a next one.)

The week after my last marathon , Rottnest, was particularly testing as for some reason I only gave myself Monday off running. Tuesday I was back into it and ‘stumbling‘ around Kings Park trying to convince myself this was a good idea, when it clearly wasn’t. This continued for the whole week,  truth be told and as I type this post I really question my decision. Was running a week after a marathon achieving anything bar humiliation ?

Funnily enough I googled “passive recovery after a marathon” and Google returned a post I had written in November 2016. How good was that ? On rereading the post I impressed myself (which is easy to do , mind.) So it’s worth another read (link below)

https://www.runbkrun.com/2016/11/07/the-day-after-the-marathon-active-or-passive-recovery/

For me after Rottnest I felt I should have opted for ‘passive’ recovery and piled on the kilograms before starting again. Weight is another good indicator of recovery and if you aim to put on at least a couple of kilograms before setting out on your next adventure it won’t be a problem. After carbo loading before a marathon and adding a few kilograms after, to aid recovery, running the marathon itself suddenly seems worth it ?  I’m sure I read somewhere that Meb Keflezighi,  or Ryan Hall,  liked to add a few kilograms after a marathon and wouldn’t start training until he had. Probably Meb , but looking at Ryan since he retired it may have been him !!

From the Guardian online.

Your immune system has taken a battering, your muscles are torn in lots of places and you won’t fully recover for a few weeks.

The severity of the damage and speed of recovery after a long distance run depend on how fit the person is to start with. For the casual runner who has spent several months training properly, the physiological damage during the marathon would have started as a gradual congestion of waste products in the body. “Your tissues are asked to do something that they’re not normally asked to do at that speed at that number of repetitions at that distance,” says Neil Black, head of physiotherapy at the English Institute of Sport.

The fatigue leads to soreness and tightness in the muscles. This means that the runner starts to move slowly and inefficiently. “When they slow down, they will change their gait slightly,” says Clyde Williams, a physiologist at Loughborough University. “They’re changing to a recruitment of muscles that have not been used for training and that’s when you get fur­ther aches and pains.” In addition, about halfway through the race, the constant pounding of the feet on the roads starts to cause pain in the joints.

At about 20 miles, levels of glucose in the bloodstream start to drop and the stores of carbohydrate energy in the body are almost depleted. Runners will become more aware of the distress signals that the various parts of the body are sending to the brain. “The distractions of the crowds and the bands and the cheering become less of a distraction and the focus goes more on the body,” says Williams.

Dehydration is also a risk. Runners drink water en route to replace the fluid lost through sweat but can’t fully replace it, simply because of the time it takes to get water through the digestive system into the bloodstream.

All this adds up, effectively, to major trauma. After the race, runners are left with microscopic tears in their leg muscles, which leak proteins such as myoglobin into the bloodstream.”The body’s defence mechanism will see these tears as damaged tissue and will set up an inflammatory response,” says Williams. Part of this response is that free radicals are released, which also attack the tissue. This leads to the familiar soreness.

Runners often pick up a cold or an infection afterwards, as the immune system tends to be suppressed for several hours after the marathon.

It takes weeks for the body to return to normal. “A lot of people, after a week, feel reasonably well recovered but it would be very unlikely they truly had recovered at a physiological level,” says Black.

Hammering out 26.2 miles takes a toll on your body—not to mention all the training miles leading up to race day.

It’s time you got some rest.

Rest from running and recovery look different for everybody. Some runners need weeks of reduced mileage to work back into hard running while others, like elite ultrarunner Michael Wardian, can run seven marathons on all seven continents in seven days.

For those us of not like Wardian, deliberate rest from running is important to getting back into regular training.

This guide will teach you the basics of how to recover from a marathon, including how to massage, what to eat and how to rest before easing back into running.

What to Eat to Recover After a Marathon

Eating is an important component of training. You need to eat the right foods (and enough of them) to sustain your longest days, and you have to find nutrition that doesn’t upset your stomach. But what you eat after your run is just as critical because it replenishes lost nutrients and repairs spent muscles. The best post-run foods do both, and taste delicious.

Your body burns lots of carbohydrates—its favorite fuel source—during a marathon, and your muscles break down from the extended effort. So, it’s important to refill your tank with both carbohydrates and protein to restore balance (a 2:1 carb to protein ratio is recommended).

As with everyday nutrition post-marathon, reach for real, whole foods like leafy greens, lean proteins and fats rich in anti-inflammatory omega 3s to aid recovery.

And don’t forget to hydrate. Your body needs water to function properly and flush waste products out of your system. A good goal: Drink about half your body weight in ounces each day. That’s 60 ounces for a 120-pound person or 100 ounces for a 200-pound person. But remember this is just a rule of thumb. As temperature and humidity changes, so do your hydration needs (for example, warmer weather calls for more water).

When in doubt, check your urine; your pee should be light in color, not dark like apple juice, or worse, soda.

How to Massage After a Marathon

The 26.2 miles you just ran is likely the longest distance you covered since you began training, and a lot can happen over that distance. Inflammation and aches and pains from a couple of dozen miles pounding the pavement is almost always guaranteed.

Massage helps alleviate some of the aches and pains by loosening knots and adhesions in muscles or soothing nagging problems like plantar fasciitis.

Here’s how you can massage after your run:

• Save your shins. While you’re sitting down, stretch out your leg in front of you. Press your thumbs into the muscles on either side of your shin bone and rotate your ankle in every direction. Search for sore spots up and down your leg, and give them some extra attention. Repeat on the other leg.
• Get the glutes. Put a foam roller or a lacrosse ball beneath your glute and roll it around. When you hit a tight spot, keep the pressure there until it loosens up. Repeat on the other side.
• Care for your calves. Your calf muscles absorb a lot of impact from running, and they’ll begin to feel it after a marathon. Sit on the floor and place a foam roller beneath your calf muscle. Roll forward and backward to release tight areas on both legs.

A word of caution: Know when to call it quits. Massage can be uncomfortable at times, but it should not produce sharp pains, numbness or tingling. If you feel any of those, lighten up or stop for the day.

Running a marathon puts a lot of stress on your body. In addition to eating right and massaging away knots, your body will need time to repair itself. That’s why you need rest after running a long race.

How to Rest After a Marathon

But rest isn’t passive. Resting after a marathon takes conscious effort, and your body will thank you for it. Generally after a big race, it’s a good idea to take at least one full week of non-running recovery. During this sacred period, it’s OK to exercise, just keep it light and mostly resistance free. Think leisurely walks, hikes or bike rides.

And, make sleep a priority because your body and muscles recover best when you’re asleep. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends seven or more hours of sleep per night for adults. Getting the recommended amount of shut eye will make you more alert and ward off sickness, too.

But the CDC says only about 35 percent of adults get the sleep they need, which affects more than just running recovery. Inadequate sleep is linked to chronic health conditions like Type 2 diabetes, heart disease, obesity and depression, according to the CDC.

Bottom line: You will train and recover better if you get better sleep. If you’re struggling to fall asleep or stay asleep, try these tips:

• Avoid drinking alcohol late in the evening.
• Before bed, eliminate exposure to blue light from TVs, computers and smartphones (if you must be online, consider downloading a free app like Flux that filters blue light).
• Get to bed at a consistent time, preferably before 10 p.m.
• Set your thermostat between 60 and 67 degrees Fahrenheit.
• Track your sleep to understand your sleep quality.
• Avoid working or reading in bed.

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Using shorter races to predict your times in marathons is possible if you also take into account your training and previous times. One of my favourite to predict your marathon time is doubling your latest half time and adding 10 minutes, less if you have more experience. E.g. a half time of  one hour 30 minutes would equate to a 3 hour 10 minute full marathon, for a relative beginner,  with a good 10-12 week training block under his or her belt. If they were an experienced runner, and had history of achieving close to these times , you could probably drop 3-5 minutes and aim for three hours and five minutes.

These are many websites with ‘race predictors’ that can even translate 10k or even 5k times into predicted marathon finish times but of course the less distance in the predictor race , the less accuracy in the prediction. I’ve mentioned this before but my mate Mikey K. reckoned he could predict his marathon time from a 1k sprint. Being an Engineer it probably involved pi or, knowing Mike,  the other ‘pie’; he is infamous for his beer and snacks after running as he continually grappling with his weight and VO2 max score. (If you follow Mike Kowel on Strava you’ll understand ! http://www.strava.com You are on Strava aren’t you ?)

https://www.mcmillanrunning.com/#calculator-input

https://www.runningahead.com/tools/calculators/race

http://www.pace-calculator.com/race-pace-predictor.php

Of course anything past a marathon and there really isn’t anything available as it turns into a mental battle with oneself and also hydration and nutrition start to play a more important part. As we all know an ultra is basically an eating and drinking competition,  with running between aid stations. First person to get to the finish wins. There’s no real predictors as such for these distances because there are so many variables. Who can predict blisters, hydration or nutrition issues, fatigue, navigational bloopers, drop bears; the list really is endless. Truth be told it’s amazing anyone every finishes an ultra at all. This brings me along very nicely to the next topic of this post , the Wild Goose event to be held this weekend.

In WA at the moment we are blessed with so many great events and I had initially entered this event but realised after the Light Horse 12 Hour race I was in fact human after all and not bullet proof. With a heavy heart I pulled my entry and it was definitely the right thing to do as I struggle around the Perth CBD recovering from the Rottnest Marathon.  A pity because all I have heard is good things about this three day event offering distances from 18k right up to 106k with the Ducks Nuts option of all three offerings on each of the three days. This one is on my hit list for next year maybe assuming I can drop down to the half distance for Rottnest because two weeks is not enough timer for me to recover from the full.

If you live in WA, or even Australia , it’s worth spending some time on the WA Ultra Series web page ( http://ultraserieswa.com.au ) The events are just awesome, the brain child of Shaun Kaesler,   who has just about single-handedly  created this vibrant smorgasbord  of running events that cater for all abilities. He is also behind the Delirious West 200 miler (and change)  point to point ultra in WA ( http://deliriouswest200miler.com.au ) and also its sister event over South, the Irrational South.  ( https://www.facebook.com/groups/www.irrationalsouth200miler.com.au/ ) I must admit to getting very excited about running the Delirious in February next year, it will certainly be EPIC ! Just got to keep Jon under control and hold him back, at least for the first 100 kilometres ?

Running on trails is a whole different ball game to the normal grind of day to day pounding the pavement. You can throw away the watch and just run for the pure joy of running, not target pace because the gradient normally dictates pace and trail running is more about time on feet and distance. Add in beautiful scenery and you wonder why you ever run in the concrete jungle,  that is our every day bread and butter. I’ll certainly get my ‘trail fix‘ next February on the Delirious !

As well as the Ultra Series WA there is the Perth Trail Series. ( http://www.perthtrailseries.com.au ) Their motto is ‘uncivilse yourself’ which I think is awesome , compared to Shaun and the Ultra Series WA which is all about doing ‘Epic Sh*t’, another great mantra to live your life by. Anyhow I have never done a PTS event but this is mainly due to a crowded racing calendar with the West Australian Marathon Club but maybe it’s time I gave some of these races my attention. The feedback has always been very positive, well organised with great trails to test yourself on. Gareth often sneaks off on a Sunday and runs these races, without ever telling us of course, and he always seem to enjoy himself placing near the pointy end most times. I must try and pin him down one day and ask his opinion on the series.  From the website:

Perth Trail Series delivers over 20 Trail Events in WA each year, putting over 6000 people on the trail. Woohoo! We’re an all ladies team, and we’re stoked to organise amazing event experiences right here in WA! Our events are held in some of WA’s most stunning locations and we’re proud of our world class events, and stunning locations.

We LOVE our trail community, the environment, and the event experience, which is why we’re leading the way in delivering low (sooooo close to NO impact) events …including the vibe at the end! Where there’s truckloads of high fives, PTS punch, music and/or some form of entertainment! And really cool people to chat with.

The Faces Behind the Trail Magic!

Of course the best trail race, in my humble opinion, is the one that’s been running the longest , and in WA it’s Dave Kennedy’s 6 Inch Ultra ( http://www.6inchtrailmarathon.com ) If you live in Perth you need to run this 46km trail ultra positioned on the last Sunday before Christmas. The perfect pre-Christmas present to oneself. Dave even throws in free beer at the end, ho, ho .ho !! It’s a point to point race from North Dandelup to Dwellingup on the Munda biddi trail. A beautiful part of the world with some challenging elevation and beautiful views.  One tip would be to avoid the pub food the night before the big event,. This is by no means a slant on the tukka but more the portion size , which is probably built for Americans, and big ones at that. Before last years event the boys all tucked into to some massive meals,  while I nibbled on some pre-prepared pasta. Bart’s had so much he took some back to the campsite and tried to finish it, unsuccessfully, the next day. Let’s just say none of the boys had good days on the trail the day after those bad boy portions! Post race they would be perfect, combined with a few beers and we have plans to stay behind for an extra day this year and ‘go to town‘ , literally. !

From the website…

Six Inch Trail Marathon is inspired by the famous Six Foot Track Marathon in the Blue Mountains near Sydney.Returning from New Zealand in January 2005 I bemoaned the lack of trail races in Western Australia. I wanted to move to the land of the long white cloud but family and circumstances warranted at least another year in WA. One evening I headed out to run a gravel road signposted “Goldmine Hill”. What followed was a soaking wet 15K with the highlight being running into the Munda Biddi Mountain Bike trail. The Munda Biddi was built to keep cyclists off the 964K Bibbulmun walking track. The first 335K section from Mundaring in the Perth hills to Collie was completed in 2004. I had seen some road crossing signs during the construction and was keen to one day experience the track either by bike or foot. Finding the track so close to my house in Mandurah had me pondering a race in the near future. On my return from New Zealand I had been discussing a possible trail race on a local runner’s message board. I bought the map and found that this town to town section was about 44K. Six Foot which I had dreamed of running for years sprang to mind. “We could have our own version”. I had ridden between the 2 towns, North Dandalup and Dwellingup, and the road was super hilly. I was a little disappointed by the lack of hills when I ran the trail but some less masochistic runners didn’t agree with me. The result is a 46K trail race starting at the foot of Goldmine Hill 1K from North Dandalup and finishing in Dwellingup. This run is designed to be tough but most marathoners can expect to finish within an hour or 2 of their best marathon time. Dave Kennedy

Dave Kennedy also two other great races , the WTF and the Lark Hill. (Thanks Dave Tams) http://wtfultra.com.

Welcome to the home of the Runningworks WTF 50 & 100 Miler, the first  & original 100 mile trail race in Western Australia.

Held annually on the last weekend in September (WA’s Queen’s Birthday Public Holiday weekend), the 50mi and 100mi events both start at 6am on Saturday.

2019 will see a change to the start location and course, with the new start/finish location at Nanga Bush Camp, around 10 minutes south of Dwellingup.  The 100 mile and 50 mile runners will depart together at 6am, and share the trail for the first 50 miles.

Why WTF? Other than being an attention-grabbing name, WTF is an acronym for “Waterous Trail on Foot”. The Waterous Trail, located south of Dwellingup, was to host the course for the inaugural event in 2013. Unfortunately, as the race-date neared, authorities advised of a prescribed burn in the area planned around the time of the event. This resulted in a switch to a course run between Jarrahdale and Dwellingup.  In 2019,  we decided it was time for a change, and thought about using the Waterous Trail loop, but decided there was a too much road, and not enough climb & descent, so a new course was created.

When: Saturday, September 28, 2019 at 6am.

How long in existence: Inaugural race was 28 September 2013

Welcome to the home of the Runningworks Lark Hill Dusk to Dawn 50 & 100km Ultra

Held annually on the W.A. Labour Day weekend in March, the 50km and 100km events start at dusk (7pm) on Saturday, with a childrens event (45min) at 6pm.  For both events, entrants will be given an official cut-off so long as they start their last lap by no later than 8am on Sunday morning (13h).

Where: Adjacent to the Lark Hill Sportsplex (east of the Lark Hill playing fields), Port Kennedy, WA

Course information:

• 25km (8 laps), 50km (17 laps) and 100km (34 laps) GPS measured trail races on a ~3k limestone loop course.
• The course consists of mostly compact-limestone, with ~200m of soft sand on each loop. There are some minor undulations, with a short climb into the start/finish point.
• Click here to see the course. The race director will lead the first lap, so there’s no change of getting lost.
• The children’s event will be help be over an ~800m loop for 45 minutes.

Next Race: 2-3 March 2019.

No. of finishers: 2018 – 58 ; 2017 – 61 ; 2016 – 52 ; 2015 – 71; 2014 – 47; 2013 – 39; 2012 – 35;

How long in existence: Inaugural race was 3 March 2012

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A few weeks ago inaugural member of the BK running crew, Jon Pendse, ran over 142km in the twelve hours at the USWA Lighthouse event ( http://lighthorseultra.com.au ) and I have attached his race report below as it is an inspiring read. I am mentioned a few times in the report as I sacrificed my run for his of course and it was not really a DNF on my part, more a suicide  mission ! (well it felt like one at the time?)  Jon’s time has caught the attention of the Ultra running community over East and he has been invited to attend the next 24 hour race with a view to making the national team. If anybody deserves this it’s Jon. We go back a long way (since meeting in the changing rooms of our work building, where all good relationships are born?)  and he is one of the most dedicated and hard working runners I know. Week in and week out he’s running and , more than that, so humble and encouraging, a true champion who ran a champions race and hopefully this is a stepping stone to national and then international stardom.  I’ll write a post on my glorious failure later… in the meantime enjoy Jon’s ramblings..

This is a story that continues from my Australia Day Ultra 100km race report held in January 2019 (https://www.runbkrun.com/2019/01/23/runjprun-a-race-report-from-a-local-legend/), where I had attempted to break 8 hours, instead hitting the wall spectacularly early on and slogging out a hard earned third place finisher in 8 hours 58 minutes.

I’ve been wanting to enter my first 12-hour race for several years now, ‘logically?’ this being the next step up in distance from a 100km ultra marathon, previously having run the ADU 100km race four years in succession.

The Lighthorse 12-hour Ultra marathon is a race that has appealed to me over a number of years, and having volunteered last year (and had runners envy) I decided 2019 would be my debut over the 12-hour distance.  Besides I would already be in ‘reasonable’ ultra-marathon shape having run ADU some three months earlier and would be continuing my normal marathon training load. For me, I find having a solid marathon training foundation bodes well stepping up to Ultra’s with not a lot of ‘extra’ training required.

I generally average around 120km-130km per week (if I’m not racing), with two or three ‘double’ days and probably once a fortnight I’ll throw in a triple day.  Most of my runs are about backing up on tired legs. Alternating the easy and hard runs, with my speed work coming from plenty of 5k parkrun time trials.

After having run the Bunbury marathon (2.56.02) some three weeks earlier, having run the WAMC 40 miler (4.48.36) four days earlier, and also having the upcoming Margaret River Ultra (80km) seven days’ time, my target for Lighthorse was not so much to race but more about enjoying the experience and having some ‘me time’.  That said I did have a target distance of 130km with a backup goal of 120km. Basically that meant first reaching 100km ‘feeling good’ and only then assess how I am going… if it was a good day I thought sub 9 hours should be very do-able, given I hit the wall at 40km at ADU 100 and still managed to run 8hrs 58. Not hitting a wall and running within myself would likely see a 100km split time of around 8hrs 45 minutes, and set up for a solid crack at 130km, knowing the temperature would quickly rise and the inevitable slowdown very likely to occur.

My good mate Kevin Matthews (BK) had also entered the race and having been a DNS at ADU 100 this year (he withdrew a few days earlier with pneumonia), this was to be our make-up Ultra marathon where we would run at least the first three or four hours together.  We even had our good mate Tony Smith (who knocks out training marathons in sub 3 hours on an almost weekly basis).

So much easier knocking out a large chunk of the race with someone else.  Even more so when the race has a midnight start; lonely, dark, cold, and scary!!

I was actually worried when I got a call from Kev on the morning of the race (I thought he may be a late scratching), instead asking what I had packed (my list was around half a page long!).  After going through all my items, he was happy there would be enough for both of us, haha. Shortly later I did get a photo of his race pack which contained 1 banana, and then a photo of 2 when I asked where mine was?

My fueling strategy was simple (self-sufficient), setup my own table, stock up an esky with ice, 40 x 350ml bottles of water, 10 x 350ml electrolytes, container on table with 15 gels, muesli bars, hat, sunscreen, and usb pack to charge my garmin.  Every 4 hours I’d run out of water bottles on my table, so a brief stop to put another 15 bottles on top of the table which would see me through another 4 hours. Repeat. (Lucky enough to have folks visiting on holiday, so they replenished my bottles on the table top in the last 2.5 hours so I had no need to stop).  Gel every 10k, and whilst it was cool around 350ml water per hour, and one electrolyte bottle per hour, but once it warmed up this became a lot closer to 2.5L-3L per hour with half going on my head cooling core temperature.

Onto the race; my suggestion of running the first kilometre in 4 minutes was quickly knocked back (I wasn’t joking), but in hindsight was probably sensible going along with a 4.45 starting kilometre.  BK was already worried we were cooking the pace far too quick for so early in the race. I wasn’t so sure, I wanted to bank some time knowing the forecast of 29 degrees would mean a drastic slowdown over the last two hours.  Surely if we bank some easy kilometres in the first few hours, this would set us up to succeed later in the day (what’s the worst that could happen?).

Six-hour split distances of 70k and 60k would achieve the 130k target.  Some simple maths said pace should be around 5.00-5.08 for the first 6 hours, and then a pace of 6min k’s for the last 6 hours, thinking likely actually running 6.30-7.00s, when it’s hot it is all about survival!  Targets are thrown out the window.

For the first hour and a half BK and I averaged around 4.45 per kilometre, mind you every kilometre that ticked by BK kept complaining shouldn’t we be running closer to 5.00.   I was feeling very ‘comfortable’ with plenty in the tank … it’s a long race after all, so there is plenty of time later if we do want to pick up the pace.

By around 20km BK had to stop for the toilet and said go on I’ll catch you up in two or three laps.  Well here was my chance, with BK flailing already, I wasn’t going to slow down to let BK catch me, so I decided instead I would speed up and catch him!  Then I’ll slow down and run at his pace. (Not the best strategy in hindsight but it did work)

Laps being 2.5km, and roughly 12 minutes per lap, with BK’s toilet stop (2minutes?), I’d only need to find 10 minutes, I thought I should be able to shave off a minute per lap and catch Kev within 8-10 laps… plus I would then be a lap up on BK.

I was actually quite surprised when I hit 25k under 2hours, wait a minute by averaging a comfortable 4.45’s that’s actually on track for an 8-hour 100km time…!  Well I’ve banked time now for the first two hours, so it is probably a good idea to slow down and run closer to 5-minute km’s.

Hitting anything under 9 hours at the 100km mark and I’d be well on the way to my 130km target.

The mind doesn’t work that way for me unfortunately.  Break or bust mentality, nothing to lose everything to gain.  

The good thing on a 2.5km lap is the amount of times you pass a human!  (not sure what else Jon was passing , I personally only saw humans but I only lasted 3 hours..?) Every time it’s slightly less scary knowing that I’m not alone (I’m afraid of the dark).  Around 22km Glen decided to join me for a lap, he told me he was basically doing an interval race, resting, running laps ad-hoc with friends and some of his athletes for support, wow what a coach and dedication!  We chatted away whilst running 4.40s, I mentioned to Glen my plan was to run 9 hours feeling good for 100km, which is true. However, Glen slightly twisted my words around and said most important thing I just said was focusing on the feeling good part, and then worry about the time later.  If you run low 9hours you might think that was a fail, but if you are feeling great then you are on a path to succeed. True.

After Glen ran this lap with me (hope he wasn’t too knackered), I decided screw the time, let me just focus on my running and getting to 100km feeling good (this is what I took from the chat with Glen).  Conditions were good and I was setting myself up for a big total, back of my mind the heat is what would slow me down the most.

My best races to date have been the least ‘eventful’, by that I mean I just held a pace not hit a wall and had minimal slow down.   

Around 33km who do I see in front of me BK!  “Jon I stopped for the toilet twice, and I’m feeling terrible I’m thinking I’ll stop at 50km…”  oh no, that doesn’t sound good, come on Kev you should do at least 100km. It’s 12 hours after all, you can go home sleep, come back and still run a good distance.  Ok, um well I’m feeling good how bout you run with me for a bit and see how you go, it seemed like a dream here because around 2km later BK was dropped and I was left back to my own pacing.  He later withdrew around 37km and 3 hours in. Not his day, but he’ll be back to put things right. Trust me no disrespect withdrawing in any ultra, they are challenging and a beast at the best of times.  They consume us, and part of the attraction for entering them in the first place.

I hit 50k just under 4 hours 2 minutes, and I was thinking wow half way to 100 and slightly over an 8-hour 100km split time, now that is some serious time ‘banked’.  I took some time here to re-assess, ok this isn’t a 50k ultra where you ‘race’ a marathon and jog in the last 7.2k. Be serious, now is the time to consolidate re-group and re-zone.  You can’t stay focused for 12 hours, break down the distance and run hour by hour on feel.

By this stage I was now starting to think where is Tony (T-train), he had laughed at the suggestion of joining me and BK on the start line and said you guys are on your own, I’m running 5-minute k’s and that’s it.

At 5min k’s this would put T-train around 4 hours 10 minutes at the 50k mark, so no wonder I hadn’t seen him yet, I was only around 8 minutes in front.  I slightly panicked thinking 8 minutes isn’t much, I would like to at least lap him so that I know how much distance I have being the lead runner. T-train isn’t one for slowing down, if anything he gets quicker the longer a race goes on and many a time has T-train rail roaded me in the last hour of a race.  On the plus he doesn’t know how to run slow (yet), I wasn’t so sure how long he would last hour after hour. He later succumbed to a Plantar Fasciitis niggle and withdrew around 65km. (I would love to get a three-way battle with BK and T-Train both in full form, that would be some serious competition).

By six hours I had clocked up just on 73km’s, which is 3km’s more than I had ‘planned’, greater importance still feeling fresh.  I was confident 130km was a very achievable target, that meant only 57km’s required over the last 6 hours. And if I could run reasonably consistent laps perhaps I could give 135km a nudge which would be a fantastic result.

I had already resorted to continuing my pace to 100km and only then re-assessing a new target distance.  I crossed my 40th lap just under 8 hours 16 minutes.  Awesome! Although I was slightly freaking out from pre-race plans best estimate for 100km was around 8 hours 45 minutes.  Some 30 minutes in front! Talk about banking time (I normally wouldn’t recommend this approach so don’t try this at home!).

I passed Glenn again around 110km running with Sarah, where I said that sub 9-hour 100km target and ‘feeling good’, um well I crossed 100km on 8 hours 16 but I am feeling good so I’ll take it!

110km is now well into new territory.  If I look at my training since 2015 when I began Ultra running, for runs greater than 50km; four 100km races, one 50km race, and training runs; 2 x 70km, 1 x 56km, 3 x 50km, (Plus my 40 miler 4 days earlier).  In fact no training runs more than 50km in the last 12 months. I did run seven marathons though in 2018 (with three done in 5 weeks), so I was cardio fit but not necessarily quick.

After 110km I was beginning to finally feel fatigued, still running consistent lap times but around a minute slower per lap than the previous 9 hours.  Closer to thirteen and a half minute laps.

It was around this time Shaun had some encouraging words for me, ‘Jonny come on mate you know you’re on track to break 140km’, I told him otherwise where to go, and I’d be ecstatic with 135km.  I’m the one running it’s getting hot and still have 3 hours left to run! No chance of 140km.

Not one for giving up, especially after my ADU lesson (thanks Mick again!), I did think well I’ll just keep running and take it an hour at a time.  Maybe I could go closer to 140km, I’m not cramping and I haven’t hit any wall.

By 120km I was just under 10 hours, a good two hours of solid running to go, 10km per hour and I would hit 140km.  I began thinking here, 6-minute km’s 6-minute km’s that’s all I need.

Crowd support had gained by this stage, I’m sure word was going around that I was on track for a big total… each lap more and more yelling out encouragement.  Truly inspirational having so many on the sidelines, many had seen my growth over the years (too many to name but I thank each and every one).

The last two hours were the hardest, however I had great support (folks) at the aid station keeping me hydrated and cool.  No time wastage which meant I could focus on running each lap.

SO much support on course from runners as well, constant encouragement telling me to keep going.  Each time I completed a lap a slight buzz knowing I was that much closer to 140km.

The last two hours each km split was consistently around 5.20-5.25 (last hour mostly around 5.35s), which is well in front of my 6min average needed to break 140km, things were looking good.  Yes it was hot, yes it was hard, but Forrest Gump was still running and not looking like stopping any time soon! Make hay whilst the sun shines. Plus who knows the next time hitting these sort of distances, surely this isn’t the norm.

Hard work had been done, and now was the time to ice the cake.

I hit 130km on 10 hours 53 minutes.  Accountant by day, that was an easy calculation even almost 11 hours in, 10km required in 1 hour 7 minutes.  I now only needed to run 6.5 minutes km’s. Something drastic would need to happen not to be able to run that pace given how I was feeling and where I was at (compared to ADU hitting the wall 10-minute km’s can be a tough ask! But today was different).  I was in the zone and today was my day.

Three laps to go, two laps to go, this is it, one more lap (with 27 minutes to go) and you’ve achieved 140km!  That final lap was amazing, totally surreal, I was floating. This is the stuff dreams are made of. The only problem was I was going to knock out this lap and still have another 11 or 12 minutes up my sleeve… I had been hoping to time the run to coincide hitting 140km with a minute or two under 12 hours so that I didn’t have to go back out again for a partial lap.  Would be nothing worse than finishing 1 km away on the other side of the course, and then hobbling back to the start. Surely makes more sense to finish near the start line with a very short hobble!

Hands in the air I was overwhelmed having completed 56 laps and the 140km milestone!  What a day. Well I guess I may as well go back out for the last 11 minutes or so, I’d already been out for so long anyway, could even clock up another 1-1.5km… I felt so good here though with the adrenaline pumping I sped up to 5.15s, and managed to knock out another 2.2km.  Total for the day 142.2km!! Totally surpassing wildest dreams, where did this come from, how did I do it?

Running a ‘marathon’ is life changing, running an ‘ultra-marathon’ redefines what the human spirit is capable of.  Never give up. These are my words, this was my story.

2020 will see my biggest challenge yet taking on the W.E.S.T Delirious 200 miler.

By Jon Pendse

Lap times:  https://my2.raceresult.com/123341/results?lang=en#0_ED7D9B

25k split times:  1.59.37 / 2.02.11 / 2.09.11 / 2.04.38 / 2.10.16 (last 25k was around 2.14)

50k split times: 4.01.48 / 4.13.49 (last 50k of race around 4.24)

Currently on 57 official marathons, striving to achieve joining the elusive Australian 100 marathon club; https://australian100club.org/member_list.php?runner=148  

You can follow me on strava for all my training and future races

I’ve been a bit quiet on the blogging scene for a few weeks because I have moved house, for the third time in 18 months. I also make it more and more difficult each time by accumulating more ‘stuff’ , which I will never use, each time I move. For example I knocked down my family home and built four smaller villas in an attempt to mimic Donald Trump and , through property development, make my fortune. Unfortunately I am now discovering while young Donald has lost his hair (it’s a wig right?) and making your zillions from property development isn’t an easy as first envisaged.  This is a prime example of life getting in the way of running. All of a sudden I’m spending my time moving heavy boxes around Perth and working muscles that , as a runner, I have no right working. If I’m not careful I’ll be back up to the 80kg Beef-cake my Wife dreams about, truth be told I was that fine specimen when I me No1 Wife and lost the 10kg to aid in my endless pursuit of running personal bests. I suppose I courted and won over Karen before deciding I wanted the ‘Schlinder’s list extra’ look , when she was thinking Rocky (and I mean the chiseled version in Rocky 3. !)

Anyhow this move has resulted in me only running twice in 5 days and, if you know me, this is unheard of , bar an injury of course. All my time has been spent moving between houses driving hire trucks and the family SUV full of ‘stuff’. Add to this No1 Wife took No1, 2 and 3 Daughters to Aberdeen over the Easter holiday so left me with the boys. (Stanley and Spencer, two 2 year old Golden Retrievers; who are useless for helping when you’re moving house, funnily enough?)

Needless to say it has been a hard week and one which will culminate Friday night/Saturday morning with a 12 hour race. The race starts at midnight Friday night and will finish midday Saturday. As there’s a race briefing before 11pm I’m not expecting any sleep pre-race and certainly will not be napping when the guns goes. (Although Jon is bring a tent for some reason, probably to hold all his food, he loves his ultra’s, well the eating bits anyway?)

The Light Horse Ultra is a 3/6/12 hour race over a 2.5km loop which changes direction every three hours. ( http://lighthorseultra.com.au/ ) As I’m doing the 12 hour it’s a midnight start which means head torches and probably skins for the cold evening conditions. Of course thing warm up rapidly in WA when the suns pokes her head above the parapet,  so I’ll need to change halfway through the event. Luckily Jon has his ‘food tent’, hope there’s some room in there for me in-between the potatoes, chicken, donuts, gu’s… etc etc.. the list is endless! In the image from the website you can see Jon leading the charge , what the other competitors don’t realise is he has one thing on his mind and it’s not the next lap, it’s the next ‘ultra treat’…

Give Jon his due he is stepping up into the ultra world with great gusto. On Monday he came second in the West Australian Marathon Club 40 Miler (64k) event, sneaking in under 5 hours. Friday night he’ll aim for 130k+ and then the following weekend is the Margaret River Ultra; an 80k trail event with some series sand-time.  ( http://rapidascent.com.au/margaretriverultra/ ) That’s over 275k+ of racing in less than two weeks. He will need to eat a lot of food to accomplish this and I feel this may be his hidden agenda. We’ll need to keep an eye on the scales and his infamous bumble bee top ( see above photo). The more he eats the more the top rides up his stomach, when we can see his midriff it’s a sign he’s done (eaten) too much.

As always I digress, the point of the post is life gets in the way sometimes and you need to do what you can but not over think it. Of course it would be great to be able to run whenever you choose and let everything else take a back seat, and you can, it’s called being a professional runner.  Before you jack in your job though please note the money is crap to non-existent and you have to be really, really, really good , to then make peanuts , truth be told.  We’ve often discussed why this is and I feel it’s just down to the general public at large not ‘getting’ why we do what we do. A friend of mine once told me he watched me and my fellow runners in a 10k and no one was smiling , the complete opposite in fact , it looked like everybody was in pain. He couldn’t for the life of him see any enjoyment anywhere. Even at the finish everybody seemed to be ‘disappointed’. This is the view of most people when I know I loved that 10k and ran a great time and felt fantastic for weeks afterwards. Of course the event is painful but that’s the whole point, we’re pushing ourselves. In a world where we are protected from just about everything running gives you that rush of adrenaline that you can not find anywhere else, at least not on a daily basis. When you race, really race , you are only racing yourself and the best you can be, or have been, no one else; unless you’re that really , really good pro runner with no money we talked about earlier, they’re racing for the glory and a pair of Asics shoes.?

So when life does get in the way , just do whatever you can to maintain your fitness level and don’t worry, there is light at the end of the tunnel and eventually the world will get back to normal and you’ll be hitting those high mileage weeks you can only dream about at the moment. Right. that’s me, time to take the boys for a walk… or maybe a run, now there’s an idea ?

Every Thursday I set the alarm for 05:15am to meet the boys at 5:45am outside Yelo cafe in Trigg and then we set off for my favourite run of the week, the progressive. Without a doubt this is the best run for a number of reasons.

1. You start at a very relaxed pace as the first 1-3k’s is all about catching up with the local gossip from the lives of the various members of the BK posse. Lately a few of the boys have left their partners and this has certainly made the early kilometres a lot more interesting than in previous years. For a start I now know that you need to swipe right if you like someone on Tinder. (It’s a different world this dating game these days, back when I was a boy you’d drink yourself silly and then stagger up to the prettiest girl you’d think would give you half a chance and make your play. Of course this normally ended up in total embarrassment for all parties involved and much amusement to all your friends who would be watching from afar. Happy days… I think? Now you just download an app and swipe left or right? Where’s the fun in that? )
2. Because you start so slowly you work into a run,  and the middle section feels easier because of the slower pace at the start. I live by the mantra ‘you never judge a run on the first kilometre‘,  many times I have had an awful first few kilometres but more often than not finish like a train. If you start and feel great and finish badly that is not a good sign of course, maybe over training ?
3. When eventually you do start to increase the pace you are fully warmed up and thus the chance of getting injured is reduced. See, I told you, this really is the run that just keeps on giving.
4. This is a favourite of the Kenyans, need I say more. The fastest runners in the world start most of their runs at a very relaxed pace, one even us mere mortals could keep up with. The finish is a different story and it’s every man for himself as they reach Olympic pace and push themselves before their cup of tea and afternoon nap, bless ’em.

1. The final reason (and yes this should be number 5 but for the life of me I can’t get the software to behave!) , and the most important,  is we get to enjoy the best coffee and muffin combination on this planet, and probably all planets assuming there are any more inhabited by runners, coffee and muffins ? Yelo at Trigg ( http://www.yelocornerstore.com.au ) really is the runners dream serving the best tukka and coffee I have ever had the privilege to digest. The only fly in the ointment is Yelo has been sold to a developer who has plans for a block of high end flats. This is very, very bad news and the boys have discussed chaining themselves to the railings in an attempt to stop this going ahead. This was finally poo-poo’d as being chained to a railing would certainly adversely affect ones ability to run. ?

This Thursday ,for the first time in ages, I managed to finally achieve a perfect progressive as the image from Strava (you are on Strava right? http://www.strava.com) shows. As I mentioned earlier Bart’s set the pace for the first few kilometres and there was much laughter as we talked through the high points of the previous weeks adventures. This is my favourite part of the progressive, the pre-pace banter. Once Bart’s drops off the pace (he has a dodgy hammy) we start to concentrate on the job in hand and after we turn for home it’s on. The normal distance is 14k but after being out for most of last year I have built up to 12k. This week we dropped to 10k as I’m racing the Bridges 10k on Sunday so am saving the legs for the time in the pain-box which is part and parcel of racing, if it doesn’t hurt you ain’t racing.

The post below was written by Jason Saltmarsh and reinforces what I had posted , some nice examples of progressives at the end but for me it’s just start slow, get quicker and finish like your life deepened on it ! As I always say ‘ Running is simple, hardwork is always rewarded‘.

Progression runs were once called the Kenyan secret. They’re great for building stamina, mental strength, and teaching the body to run increasingly faster at the end of a race. A progression run is a run with structured pace increases from beginning to end. The distance and pace will vary based on your specific training goals.

Let’s imagine two runners are preparing for a race. They both run their 10-mile workout in 70 minutes. However, one runner does it with even 7:00 splits, and the other runs the first 5 miles at 8:00 pace and the last 5 miles at 6:00 pace. Who will be better prepared on race day?

The Benefits of a Progression Run

The structure of the progressive run forces runners to start slowly. It teaches them mental patience and allows the body to fully warm-up before running at a harder effort. Many runners are too eager to hit the gas pedal on their runs, progression runs will help them become more disciplined.

Progression runs increase stamina and fitness. Athletes who regularly incorporate progressive runs will actually speed up towards the end of a race when everyone else is trying desperately to hang on. The marathon race begins at mile 20.

They will mentally and physically learn how to make a long killing drive to the finish that particularly in high school racing can be absolutely devastating to their competition. — Nate Jenkins, 2:14 marathoner

According to coach Greg McMillan this all comes at a very small price in terms of training fatigue and recovery time. Runners can use this approach several times during the training cycle for extra quality work, without fear of overtraining and injury.

Progression runs allow you to insert fast running into your training runs (feeding your need for speed) but in a way from which you can easily recover. — Greg McMillan, M.S.

When to Add Progression Runs to Your Plan

If you follow the Arthur Lydiard approach to training, you’ll want to add progression runs after the base building phase to introduce speed. But, progression workouts are really something you can add anytime. Depending upon the distance and intensity of the progression run, you may want to schedule it following an easy day and preceding a rest day.

How to Structure a Progression Run Workout

Progression runs start slow and end fast. Begin your run at an easy pace with successive pick-ups until you are a running at a hard effort. Often times, progression runs are described as running “relaxed.” Accelerating without strain is an important concept.

The number one benefit of progression runs is that they train you to react to surges in a relaxed fashion, which is important in marathoning,” he says. “You never want to cross the threshold too often in a marathon, and this workout pushes that redline in a gradual manner. All pace changes are done gradually so that your nervous system isn’t all out of balance. — Keith Dowling, 2:13 Marathoner

How far you choose to run, and at what pace you do your workouts is up to you. There are endless possibilities. The goal of the run is to become comfortable running your goal race pace on tired legs at the end of your workout. This is not a tempo run or a race effort, it’s designed to boost your stamina by introducing speed gradually over the course of your training run.

Sample Progression Run Workouts

Quarters with Fast Finish — 8 miles
2 miles @ 10K pace plus 60 seconds, 2 miles @ 10K pace plus 45 seconds, 2 miles @ 10k pace plus 15 seconds, 1 mile @ 10K pace, 1 mile @ 10K pace or faster

Out & Back — 35 minutes
Begin with an easy 20 minutes on the way out, then return at a pace that’s 1-2 minutes faster until your back to at the start

5K Race pace Thirds — 45 minutes
50 percent of 5K race pace for 20 minutes, 75 percent of 5K race pace for 15 minutes, 5K race pace for 10 minutes

McMillan’s Fast Finish Long Run
Begins with a long run at 1-2 minutes slower than marathon race pace. Pick it up to marathon pace with 6 miles left in the run. Pick it up again with 2 miles to go and finish with an all-out 400m

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As regular readers of my blog will know I’m a big believer in distance is king and the key to unlocking your potential. Of course some may argue that you need to add threshold, tempo, fartlek, VO2 max, track work, 800m’s , 1500m’s, Gregsons’ the list is just about endless and grows daily but all this is really just noise. If you really want to improve you have to build a foundation for success and this, my friend, is distance. Maffetone (https://philmaffetone.com ) , Matt Fitzgerald ( https://mattfitzgerald.org/about/ ) and the late , great Arthur Lydiard all champion distance over pace, that’s not to say pace does not have its place, of course it does as the reason for distance is prepare yourself for the next step, adding pace.

Lets not get ahead of ourselves though. If you want to improve as a runner just run more than you are doing right now, that really is it. Once you’ve doubled, tripled or better your average weekly distance you’ll notice achieving your desired race targets just got a lot easier.  As my favourite coach once said ‘There is no such thing as junk miles’, a Raf classic statement. (Please note Raf is my favourite (full time) professional coach   ( http://therunningcentre.com.au (I also rate  my good friend the T-train; ( https://www.tonysmithruncoaching.com ) both are excellent so if you want a coach and live in Perth give them a call. )

Tony sums up my distance is king statement. Two out of the last three weekends he has risen before the sunrise , ran a sub 3 marathon and then finished it off with a 5k park run. That’s a 47k Saturday morning run. By repeating this run on a regular basis it becomes the norm, as much as running a marathon a week in training can be. He’s training for the Bunbury 50k in a few weeks, an event he has won twice , no surprise there. By doing the hard work in training you take away all the unknown variables in long distance running, trust in your training, it’s a meme I live by. The harder you train the more unlikely you are to get a bad result, training just takes away the uncertainty of racing. The Bunbury 50k is a week Sunday, Tony will probably win it for a third time and I predict, if the conditions are good, a big PB for the T-train. I’m fairly confident this will happen, why, because I watch him train on Strava and can see he is ticking all the boxes. He also has experience in his corner and being a mature runner, a bit like myself, can deal with the metal struggles we all go though on the longer races. I’ve said it many times running a marathon, and beyond, is all about mental toughness as well as the physical preparation. I know many runners who should run so much faster but crumble under pressure , while others just seem to flourish over the longer distances and embrace the challenging mind games you need to play with yourself to persuade your mind your body is up to the task.

Remember the mind will also always try to protect the body and it does this with it’s good friend fatigue.  Fatigue is the arch rival of our trusted goal ‘Personal Best’ and will do everything in it’s power to stop us obtaining some PB time ! It does this by persuading your body that is cannot go on at the current pace and the only answer is to slow or stop. I really believe that as we age as runners fatigue starts to find new ways to test your mental strength , and together with his mate ‘self doubt‘ and ‘acceptance’ combine to persuade you that this is all too hard. The good runners , later in their careers, find a way to block out these nagging thoughts and continue onwards but as you age it does get harder and harder and all of a sudden you start to look at age adjusted times or season bests etc.. all ways you can kid yourself all is right in the running universe and slowing is something we all do.

Trust me the T-train is not listing to fatigue, self doubt or acceptance. He is listening to PB and thoughts of victory, mentally he is still on the ball and has the mental character to continue in his pursuit of new improved running times and distances. I feel his time in the military is another reason why he is such a great competitor and also why he is so mentally strong. I have met many ex-military runners and to a man/woman, they are always giving their best and never beaten, well not without a massive struggle. They also seem to embrace the harder , longer distances and excel at these races; not for them the show pony shorter distances where physical aerobic fitness is more important that mental toughness.

Another one of my running buddies, Wayne McMurtie, embraces this ex-forces toughness and his Run for Resilience  ( https://www.run4resilience.org/ ) website highlights his goals and passions. Wayne ran 1500km over a 22 day period and his reason for the run is described below.  He then ran the inaugural 200mile Delirious West  ( http://deliriouswest200miler.com.au ) February this year and has signed up for next year already. Wayne may not be the fastest 10k runner in the world but add distance and all of a sudden you have a steely competitor.

This September, a solo, supported ultra-marathon journey will be taking place in Queensland as a mark of remembrance and commemoration for all Australians involved in conflict – past and present.

The Run for Resilience will be a 22-day, 1500-kilometre journey of resilience and coming home. Wayne McMurtrie and his Support Team will step off from Anzac Square in Brisbane at dawn on September 1, making their way to the central-west Queensland town of Winton.

Why this route? Mr McMurtrie says that in 1914, as the chaos of war swept across the globe, and from Winton, young men boarded a troop train to Brisbane and began their journey towards war, earning their place in the legend of the ANZAC.

“The Run for Resilience will be a reversal of the original route, signifying how the country trains its troops to go to war, but doesn’t train them to come home,” he says.

“As we run across all levels of terrain, the run will focus on telling the story of current generation young veterans as they struggle to re-define their sense of self-worth and identity, while re-discovering their passion and purpose as they make their way back home in today’s modern society”.

“Community engagement will be a key factor to the success of the Run for Resilience, and to achieve this Fee Mc will host live “Campfire Sessions” to promote positive interactions with local community groups, sporting clubs, schools, regional government, local ESOs and Reserve units along the route.”

With 2018 marking 100 years since the armistice between the allies and German forces, and signalling the end of World War I, the Run for Resilience will also highlight the isolation that many young veterans experience when their time in uniform ends, as well as the tyranny of distance that veterans in regional Australia face – including gaining access to services, support and employment.

Mr McMurtrie will be Joined by his sister, Cairns Community Radio Presenter Fiona and together they will document the journey through the Community Radio Program “Campfire Sessions with Fee Mc”.

Fee says “We will invite members of the communities that we visit to join us around the campfire to share their stories and encourage conversations that break down the stigma around mental health”.

The end of the journey will coincide with Veterans Health Week, which will be held from Saturday, 22 September to Sunday, 30 September.

The Run for Resilience’s charity partners PTSD Resurrected Inc and EDit (Ex-Defence integration team) are currently working to assist young veterans in recovering from the traumas experienced during their service and to re-integrate into life at home with their families and to become respected and valued members of the community.

In September, the community will be encouraged to support the Run for Resilience in any way they can, by either joining the run, join us by the campfire, provide a donation, cheering participants on, or just by joining the conversation.

Run For Resilience’s Charity Partners

PTSD Resurrected Inc was established in 2017 to restore hope, healing, and purpose to individuals suffering from PTSD as a result of trauma experienced during their service. The charity recognises trauma does not only impact an individual, but the entire family and as a result helps those individuals and their families to address trauma from a holistic perspective. Visit ptsdresurrected.org for more information.

EDit (Ex-Defence integration team) is a veteran-owned, Australian not-for-profit entity providing employment, transition and integration solutions for former defence members and their families as part of a veterans employment program. Their vision is to see more veterans in meaningful civilian employment and to break down the workplace cultural barriers to the commercial world through a quality transition course and in educating organisations on how best to integrate a veteran into a non-military workforce. Visit edit.org.au for more information.

More Information, Donate & Volunteer

For more information to donate, or to volunteer go to https://www.run4resilience.org/

Continuing on this distance and the military theme (please note it started as distance only, the military bit just happened ?) the Light Horse Ultra is coming up in Perth towards the end of next month. ( http://lighthorseultra.com.au ). Shaun, the RD, has offered free entries to serving or ex-military personnel. This will make it one tough race for all. Three options a 3hr, 6hr or 12hr around a 2.5k loop, if that isn’t a mentally challenging race then what is ? Perfect for the strong minded.

This race is one of the many challenging courses created by Shaun Kaesler and his WA Ultra Series. ( http://ultraserieswa.com.au ) Of course the mother of all marathons is on this weekend, the Barkley Marathon, a marathon where the norm is no one finishes. !! There’s no website and the entry is a non refundable $1.60 ? If you want to find out more google it or watch the documentaries on Netflix, they are amazing. (Where dreams go to die)

To prove my point here’s a list of the Barkley finishers, not winners, finishers… !!!

The Barkley Marathons is one the hardest races in the ultrarunning world. Created by founder Gary “Lazarus Lake” Cantrell, the race provides one of the most grueling ultramarathons ever created. Here is what you need to know about the mysterious race that takes place in the hills of Tennessee.

History

In 1977, James Earl Ray, who assassinated Martin Luther King Jr., escaped from Brushy Mountain State Penitentiary in the town of Petros in Morgan County, Tennessee. A massive manhunt took place over more than two days, but Ray only made it roughly eight miles through the hills and backwoods surrounding the prison before being caught.

Uninspired by the low mileage of the criminal, Cantrell believed he could make it 100 miles in the mountains around the penitentiary. Thus, Barkley was born.

The name is said to come from Cantrell’s neighbor, Barry Barkley. The reason for this is unclear. The first official running of the Barkley was in 1986.

Field Size and Composition

Though the race has grown in popularity over the past few years, the race caps participants to around 40 people every year. The field consists of runners of all abilities, from elite runners to people Cantrell says have no business being there. This is especially true for whoever receives bib No. 1. That is known as the human sacrifice—a.k.a. the one person Cantrell thinks has the least chance of finishing. Each year, the official participant list is usually kept hush-hush until the race begins.

The race is popular, but the application process is a secret. The information that exists says that mailing in an application, which is subject to changing each year, and a non-refundable registration fee of $1.60 is all it takes to enter. However, when and how is a well-kept secret. There is no official race website.

If you are accepted into the race, you receive a letter of condolences. Racers are also expected to pay another fee, which often takes the form of an article of clothing such as a white, button-up shirt or socks. Cantrell picks the item to bring to the race each year.

First timers—or “Barkley virgins” as Cantrell calls them—are also asked to bring a license plate from their state or country.

A Brief Look at the Course

The course is not well-known outside of those who have attempted a loop of the fabled race, but for your main reference you should know it takes place in Frozen Head State Park, which is in Wartburg, Tennessee. From there, all you need to know is it takes you through the park, by the closed Brushy Mountain State Penitentiary, and up and over wicked terrain and switchbacks.

You must complete five loops of the course to earn the title of Barkley Finisher. The distance for each is about 20 miles, according to Cantrell, though runners often dispute the claim saying it is roughly a marathon. (Add in the fact that it’s easy to go off course, and you can see how it becomes longer.)

The elevation is one of the most notable challenges of the race. The total elevation gain (60,000 feet) if you complete all five loops is the equivalent of climbing Mount Everest twice.

Being in the woods and often off blazed trails, runners are subjected to the thorns, briers, and other unpleasant plants to run through. Runners often return from a loop battered and cut up.

Race Date

The race historically takes place during the first weekend in April, though it has been run in March before as a way to throw off spectators. Only racers are allowed on the course. Media and spectators are quarantined to only two spots while crews must wait at the campground near the yellow gate in Frozen Head State Park as they await runners returning.

How the Race Works

The start time occurs between midnight and noon, usually on a Saturday. However, racers are never told when the race will officially start. The only indication they receive for the start time is by Cantrell blowing a conch shell, which could come in the middle of the night, to signify that the race will start exactly one hour from that time.

Once the hour is up, runners line up at a yellow gate at a campground within Frozen Head State Park. When Cantrell lights a cigarette, that starts the race and the clock. Participants then have 60 hours to complete the race. That is a hard cutoff, as learned by Gary Robbins, who appeared to be six-seconds off the cutoff time in 2017. (It was later deemed that Robbins came in from the wrong direction.)

Runners must touch the yellow gate as they leave. When they complete a loop, they must touch the gate again to officially finish. Once touched, they can go to their crew and recover. When they are ready to go back out, they receive a new bib and touch the gate to start again.

The bib is very important in this race. It does not track the runner or splits; rather, each loop requires runners to make it to various points in the park. At those checkpoints are books that Cantrell has placed there. Your bib number is the page number you need to rip out of that book. Typically, nine to 11 books are placed in the woods, and if you are missing a page then you didn’t officially complete the loop. There is one map at the start line for runners to copy, and no GPS technology or course markings are available for runners.

To complete the race, you must complete five loops of the course. The first two are done clockwise. The second two are run counterclockwise, and, it can be one or the other on the final loop. Each loop must be done in 12 hours to even attempt the full course, unless you’re attempting the “Fun Run”—that’s three loops with a time limit of 13 hours, 20 minutes for each loop (40 hours total).

Most runners struggle to complete one loop. It is considered a high honor to complete the “Fun Run,” which is three laps.

It shouldn’t be hard to believe that there haven’t been that many finishers over the three decades the race has been around. The “Fun Run” wasn’t even completed until 1988 by “Frozen” Ed Furtaw when it was a 55-mile race. After that, it took until 1995 for someone to complete all five loops.

Only 15 individuals can call themselves official Barkley finishers by completing all five loops in less than 60 hours.

If you drop out, you surrender yourself at the yellow start gate and “Taps” is played on a bugle to symbolize you tapping out of the race.

Want to know more? You can read about Cantrell and the race from a 2011 Runner’s World classic titled “Notorious,” or you can check out a new feature from Outside.

The Barkley Marathons has gained in popularity over the past few years, mostly because of new documentaries and stories that take you inside the race weekend. One of the most popular is The Race That Eats Its Young, which came out in 2014. Another new film, titled Where Dreams Go to Die, documents the two-year stretch where ultrarunner Gary Robbins attempted to complete all five loops. You can view it on YouTube now.

Consistency in running is paramount to success and historical data is a good way to predict the future.

Running success is very rarely an overnight thing. As I have said on many occasions ‘running is an honest sport’ and the more time you run the better you will eventually become. (barring long term injuries ofcourse) This is why the 80/20 method championed by Fitzgerald, Lydiard and Maffetone works so well. 80% of the time at a relaxed pace putting little strain on the body as you aren’t pushing the envelope, so
to speak. The faster you run the more pounding you give your joints and muscles, physics as my Dad use to say. Also running off road on trails is another way to avoid injuries (barring a twisted ankle etc) and also helps with the core as you engage the core and fire muscles you wouldn’t use on a flat, even, straight concrete road/path. With a good trail you need to be mentally on the ball and watch every step, compensating for gradient and surface changes. Trail running is also great fun and you get to meet a more ‘running friendly’ lot than the show pony’s of the asphalt racing world. Although as a show pony myself both communities are friendly and open but the trail runners are extra friendly and open; if that is possible.

Right back to consistency. Darlington half last weekend was my 9th in the last 11 years. I missed one through injury and one when they had a road cycling race and cut off the freeway leaving me and Mike on the wrong side of the road unable to get to the start line, very frustrating! (damn pesky cyclists! ) My times for Darlington have been consistent as detailed below.

2009 1:25
2010 1:24
2011 1:21:12 (9th)
2012 Injured
2013 1:19:45 (9th)
2014 1:17:22 (5th)
2015 1:21:46 (10th)
2016 DNS (due to pesky cyclists)
2017 1:19:16 (6th)
2018 1:19:02 (4th)
2019 1:22:55 (9th)

What does this show me? Unfortunately, I’m slowing down but, after coming back from injury and the race being held on a particularly humid day, by how much is open to debate. Will I ever break 80 minutes again? Probably not but if I can run sub 90 minutes for a few more years I’ll be happy enough. Six top 10 finishes in the last seven years is something I am very proud of but more importantly I’ve had some great running battles with good friends and managed to do so much better than I ever thought possible back in 2009. To be running quicker 10 years late is a sign of consistent training, day in, day out and even today I thought to myself how much I still love running.

So, as you can see,  I can gleam so much from historical results, what you can’t see of course is the memories and Darlington holds some great memories. 2009 I ran with my good friend Brett Coombes after we had run Comrades the year before and were training for Comrades 2010. We ran a controlled race and finished together, albeit I remember Brett left me a 100m’s from the line. I’m still smarting!

In 2010 I ran the whole race with Jon and we crossed the line hand in hand. Sounded like a good idea at the time but luckily no one took a photo! It was also the first time we bumped into my now good friend Mark Lee as he weaved in and out of the bush answering natures calls. Something he still does ten years later! How he was a professional football played in a previous life is beyond me?

2011 and me and Steve ‘Twinkle’ Mckean had a great battle and it was here he got his ‘twinkle’ nickname as he would sneak up behind you when you least expected him to. We pushed each other all the way and I just managed to edge past him and grab my first top 10 finish. Highlight was me swiping the last few drinks at one of the drinks stops leaving him with nothing, all is fair in love and racing twinkle.

Funnily enough I can remember much about 2013 but another top 10 was the end result. 2014 was the year and a big PB for the course. I look at my splits for this run and now can’t comprehend how I ever went that fast. My last 10k is still the fastest I have ever ran that distance. I remember I was closing down on 4 th place and this was a runner who was always so far ahead of me. I think this really was a break out race for me coming after 2013, which was a breakout year of racing. Probably my running peak looking back now.

Unfortunately, after the high of 2013 I had a shocker in 2014 after Darlington. I blew up in the Bunbury marathon, as defending champion, and this put me in a running slump for well over a year. In the early stages of 2015 I started to work with Raf and Darlington ( http://www.therunningcentre.com.au ) was the first race under his tutorage. It didn’t end well, and I went over 80 minutes and ran a shocker. With Raf’s help I rediscovered my love of running by adding distance and pace and this is something I take with me to this day.

2017 and 2018 were both sub 80 minutes and good top 10 finishes and I enjoyed good races with great completion on both occasions. Not at the dizzy heights of 2014 but I was now in my fifties so happy to win my age group and stay competitive.

This year though was slower, and I certainly felt the long lay off with Plantar Fasciitis. It was also humid, so the top 10 finish and a reasonable time was a big tick in the ‘comeback’ box. The only fly in the ointment is the continual increase in the ‘pain’ associated with running these times. The increase in time, albeit minimal, is not exponentially reflected in the increase in the pain of achieving these times. Basically, it hurts a lot more now than it did 10 years ago! I feel this is the reason you start to slow as a runner, age and your mind,  conspire against you and the bearable pain threshold begins to come into play at a pace a lot slower than previous years and races. The pain is the same but the pace is a lot slower. Is it possible to raise the pain threshold? Possibly but it is probably a temporary situation at best. Let’s face it as you get older you eventually have to slow down, it’s just a case of when this happens and how much you slow?

This weekend I have another race, this time a 10k which I won last year ( a very rare occurance and probably my last 10k victory …) running sub 35 minutes. I’ll be happy to run 36.xx minutes on Sunday and if I achieve that it will be mainly down to the Nike Vaporflys 4% flyknits (I’ve mentioned these a few times right? ) Do I think I can go sub 37 minutes ? Not sure, I’d hope so as I’ve not run over 36 minutes for many years, actually 2010 at the WAMC run for gold 10k where I ran a 39:25 coming back from injury. (it felt a lot quicker i remember thinking when I crossed the line that day ! )  I remember that day doing my best impression of a scolded cat and basically hanging on for dear life in the last few kilometres, story of my racing life. This weekend I’m going to make an effort to start slower and finish stronger, maybe you can teach an old dog new tricks?

The table below highlights the effort I have needed to put in to keep reaching my your goals. Is that a problem ? No way, training is fun, racing is fun and writing about running is fun. I lead a charmed life really….

So the point of this post. Keep a track of all your running in either a spreadsheet or Strava (you have got Strava right ? http://www.strava.com ) and use this to predict the future as well as setting realistic goals. Also remember it’s better to be consistent over a long period rather than having peaks and troughs  in your training. Another valuable tip is to cross train as much as possible if you get injured. Swimming, cycling (on an Elliptigo of course http://www.elliptigo.com) or even gym work is better than nothing at all. If you can’t run do anything to get the heart rate pumping, it all helps long term and may make the comeback easier.

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