Marathons
Now I have known Gary for many years and when he says he’ll do something he normally does, well actually he always does so I did make an effort to poo-poo his idea citing the old adage of , call me old fashioned, training or is his case , lack of training. He was not for the turning and insisted I help him in his goal. Begrudgingly I agreed as I was worried that he would injure himself or worse ! So of he trotted and started the journey from nothing to marathon ready in 4 weeks. In his corner was his new found devotion to everything arbonne and an unwavering believe in himself and his ability to run a marathon on limited training. Intermittently he would get in touch and ask for advice on his next block of training. He was a keen student albeit a tad out of control, in a nice way, and did everything asked of him and more.
Towards the end of his mammoth 4 week training block he rang me very excited with himself, which if you know Gary is the norm. ! This time though he was even more excited than usual and after he calmed down he explained that he had just ran 42k in training just to see if he could do it. It was a spur of the moment decision to keep running on his planned 20k Sunday morning long run. When he hit 42k he rang an Uber and then got them to take him to a garage and buy him some nutrition as he had no money on him, only Gary could get away with this trust me ! I then persuaded him to taper after his 3-4 week training adventure and he got to the start of the Perth City to Surf ready for his first marathon with a bib on his chest.
Unfortunately I didn’t make the start line so was unable to see Gary take off like a rocket and head off into the unknown with a big smile on his face which, by the look of the photos below, was the standard look for the rest of the day.
So how did he do ? Pretty bloody good if you ask me. His splits are things of nightmares though, going through halfway in just over 2 hours and then finishing in 4:39:35, nearly 40 minutes positive split for the second half of the race. Although not ideal, in Gary’s defence, the second half does have more hills compared to the first half but not 40 minutes worth. Looking at the photos though it seems his pace challenges did not dampen his enthusiasm and he was smiling from the start to the finish.
Not deterred after Perth Gary entered the Melbourne marathon and takes it on in just over a week. So two marathons in less than 3 months after starting at zero training kilometres. You’d thought that would be more than enough right, wrong ! Remember what I said at the start of this post about Gary living life at 11, well he has already decided marathons are not challenging enough so has also entered the Bussleton Ironman in December. ( http://ap.ironman.com/triathlon/events/asiapac/ironman/western-australia.aspx#axzz5T8EyTvYC ) Yep, that’s right a full ironman on probably 3 months training, again starting from zero; he only brought a bike last week !! He probably can’t swim. You really have got to admire his tenacity and the reason I know he’ll complete the Ironman, and also smash Melbourne next week, is because mentally he is so strong and his attitude , in my view, is worth months of training for ‘normal‘ people, i.e. people who live life on a scale of 1 -10 .
The point of this post is never underestimate a good mental attitude when it comes to sport, personally I feel it is over looked by so many people. You have to believe you can achieve your goal and see yourself doing it in your mind pre-event. Of course there needs to be that feeling of trepidation as well as you can’t be over confident, that leads to a fall apparently ? It’s getting the right balance between nerves and confidence, both are needed for you to perform at your best. Of course I’m more of an old fashioned athlete preferring to trust in my training (one of my mantra’s) as well as concentrating on the mental toughness you need to succeed.
Finally as I have said many times the actual event itself is the fun part of all your training. Everything that has gone before is for that time you creep up to the start line, bib on your chest and look forward into the unknown that is the race before you. Tell yourself ‘this is why I get up early in the morning, push myself in training and sacrifice so much time and energy, this is why I do what I do and today it will be all worthwhile, today is my day’……
Now we are the shining light of ultra and trail racing in Australia and this was certainly the case when two of the biggest names in ultra racing, globally, have just entered the newest, and longest, WA ultra in its inaugural year.
The Delirious West is another brain child of Shaun Kaesler, the godfather of WA Ultra running. ( http://deliriouswest200miler.com.au ) A 200 mile (and then a few extra as Shaun is famous for adding on ‘free miles’, bless him!) trail run on the world famous Bibbulum track. To quote the webpage :
It is finally here!! After more than 18 months of planning, we are beaming with pride to welcome you all to Australia’s first annual point to point 200 Mile Trail event.
The Delirious W.E.S.T. is run almost entirely on the Bibbulmun Track in the South West and Great Southern regions of Western Australia from the old logging settlement of Northcliffe, to the Historic port city of Albany.
The event will take place from Wed 20 February with a 7am start time and with a 104hr cut off, runners will have until 3pm Sunday 24 February to make their way to the finish line at the Great Southern Distillery Company in Albany.
The Delirious will traverse you through some of the most remarkable forests, unforgiving coastal scrub, stunning beaches, water crossings and some of nature’s finest landscapes along the World Famous Bibbulmun track. Although not the vert of many of the other World’s great 200 Milers, don’t be fooled by its charming elevation profile as the Aussie landscape can be unrelenting in its punishment of unsuspecting victims!
So who is crossing the pond to come to this new event, well the one and only Catra Corbett for one and her bestie Candice Burt, ultra runner and race director of the ‘Triple Crown’ of ultra running. A prettier version of Shaun Kaesler in my opinion, sorry Shaun but it’s true. With these two already lined up for the event next February you are going to get some worldwide attention and I’m sure the 100 spots will start selling fast so I’d recommend start thinking about this bad-boy of an event sooner rather than later. I may even take the plunge myself, just got to persuade No1 Wife to let me spend four figures on a race entry!!
So here I was at 9pm setting the alarm for the morning when Jon would pick me up and together with Mike, Adam, Chris, Mark and a few more we’d join together and try and break three hours. The foot felt good and I had ran twice the previous week, which compared to the weeks before was a ‘big week’. Gone were the 700km months and the 150km weekly average, since April my weekly average was 50km. This ultimately was what made the decision for me. One last check of Strava ( http://www.strava.com In Strava we trust.) and I made the call to Jon and became a DNS (Did Not Start) for the third time in my running career. (I couldn’t make the Disney Marathon , the four day event, in 2015 when Chevron decided they had too many planners and terminated my contract ; and last year I pulled a calf muscle a week before Bunbury thanks to Mark and his ‘cappuccino of injury’) Looking at the Strava extract below I think you’ll agree this was probably the right call.
How did it feel to pull the plug on a ‘Spartan’ run and also drop out of the ‘runners who have run all the Perth City to Surf Marathons’ group ? (For runners who run 10 of any marathon they become a ‘Spartan‘, don’t ask me why ?) It was absolutely devastating. I suppose because I had got so close, I even packed my bag for the big day, I had delayed the inevitable decision to the very last minute and had been kidding myself for weeks that there was a chance I could run. I should have been honest with myself from the outset and went about getting my foot better in April and May instead of ignoring the plantar fasciitis and just hoping it would go away. In my defense I’m probably not the first and I won’t be the last runner who has adopted this policy of denial, it is the ‘runners way’.
On the morning of the race I awoke to prefect conditions and took the boys out for a walk. (I have two Golden Retrievers, Sydney and Spencer) My Wife would have realised my mood was probably bordering on depression because she elected to come with me and I must admit while I waited in the car there was a tear or two as I thought about all that I was missing. Of course I composed myself before she joined me and the moment in the car was shared between me and my boys. I think they understood ?
What next ? Luckily for us marathon runners there is always a new goal and for me it’s Rottnest in late October. I have raced the Rottnest Marathon 11 times and finished top 5 on a number of occasions (last eight positions 4,12,5,4,2,6,3,2 ) with two second places, my last one being last year where I missed out by less than 30 seconds. At fifty-one years young I reckon I got one more podium in me and will start on a 10 week training block to make that happen. Will there be tears, hell yeah, will it be painful, of course, will I enjoy it, guaranteed. This is why I run, this is what inspires me, being the best I can be and beating my time from yesterday with a better time tomorrow. I’m racing me from last year and I’m sorry ‘2017 BK’; you’re going down !!!
Right, the point of this post after I have digressed for so long. As well as the lack of training there was also the mental aspect of marathon racing that I was struggling with. Over the last 2-3 months I had grappled with weight as I let the training disappear but still ate the same and, truth be told, maybe even turned to ‘comfort eating’ , (as a few of my training buddies have over the years, who shall remain nameless..) the old ‘I’ll start training in ‘x’ days, so might as well enjoy the downtime’. You need to be careful the ‘downtime’ doesn’t suddenly become the norm. I had certainly let myself go mentally and this was probably the deciding factor in the end. The extra three kilo’s, lack of running, possible injury and mentally not prepared, wow, when you type that out I’m surprised I got so close to actually starting. I really was in denial, big time ! Sitting on my bed at 9pm on Saturday evening all these points came and hit me like a ‘tsunami’ and the call was made. In the light of day it was the right call but at the time, and even now, it still hurts but that’s marathon racing, you need to have all your ducks in a row and be extremely lucky to even get to the start line fully prepared, when you do take a deep breath and soak it all in, the next forty two kilometres are what makes it all worthwhile.
The photo below shows the boys with their marathon finishers medals. Mike won his age group , 55-64, with a 2:59 finish (Is that an age group record for the run Mike?) while Jon was placed 11th overall and Mark L. made his Mum proud with another sub 3 finish. Mark C. is recovering from Boston, still!, and ran a good time for the 12k. Bart’s, far left of the picture, has a medal on but for the life of me I can’t understand how he got it or what he ran, if anybody knows let me know..!!!!
After writing this post I bumped into Mike on my lunch time run and he confirmed it was a City to Surf age group record, 55-64. His time of 2hours 59 minutes and 5 seconds beat the previous record by nearly a minute. Needless to say he is stoked as are we.
Monday of marathon week is a day to reflect on what has gone before and start preparing your mind and body for the good old fashioned ‘kicking‘ they are about to endure. There is no sugar coating the act of racing a marathon, it is a massive mental and physical test and any weakness will be found out and exploited, and we do this for fun ?
I’ve been booked in for a facebook video post tomorrow at The Running Centre ( http://therunningcentre.com.au/ ) where I will talk through my top 5 tips for the marathon week but might as well spill the beans here pre-podcast.
You cannot gain any fitness in marathon week. The ‘hay is in the barn’ and there really is no point trying to add more ! Me, personally, I’ll run an easy 10k Monday and then maybe one more Thursday and that’s it. There are other things to concentrate on this week, save the running for Sunday. Alternatively short, quick speed runs but watch your hammy and calf, you are so close, this week is more about prevention of injuries not encouraging them when you are tired after your training block. (You have been training right?) Maybe treat yourself to a relaxing massage but I’d avoid a hard sports massage this close to a marathon. A proper sports massage is painful and has been known, if done incorrectly, to do more damage than good. This week is all about gently gently does it, soothing tired muscles no beating the hell out of them.
Start thinking about your nutrition and hydraytion plan and while you’re doing that be drinking water or electrolytes. This week you need to spend a lot of time in a toilet moving liquids through your system. If you’re reading this and not holding a drink bottle then you need to go and get one. For race day you need to make sure you have a nutrition plan which will involve digesting a carboshotz ( https://shotznutrition.com.au/ ) or Gu ( http://www.guenergy.com.au/ ) or something similar every 45 minutes, more if you can stomach them.
I’m a big fan of carboloading and aim for 10g of carbohydrates for every kilogram of weight. So for a 70kg runner that’s 700g of carbohydrates a day for three days pre-marathon. Assuming the marathon is on a Sunday you’d start gorging of carbs from Thursday onwards. Please don’t go overboard by also gorging on sugar and fat; it is actually quite difficult to hit your carboloading target so some thought needs to go into your diet for those three days. Also carboloading only works if you are fully hydrated at all times, your urine should be clear and virtually drinkable (I’m assuming clear is virtually all water but have never actually tried drinking it, I leave that to Bear Grylls and my mate Ghosty) There is also a train of thought that you should deplete your glycogen stores pre-carboloading but this has shown not to be the case. With nutrition I am not expert (hard to believe I know?) so do your own research, what works for me may not work for other runners. Due to my Wife’s cooking I have an iron stomach and have never been adversely affected by any products while racing. If there’s a volunteer holding a packet of ‘X’ I’m taking it, c’mon it’s free why wouldn’t you ?
The marathon itself is the icing on the cake after all your months of training. The last 42km of your training, the race itself, is where you can enjoy yourself. This is why we do what we do. Don’t be scared by the challenge, more excited about the journey and the final destination. Of course there will be hard times along the way but always remember with every step you are nearer your end goal, the race is the real thing not a training run, with every step forward there is one less step to go.
Finally the most important tip of all, running a marathon is more mental than physical on race day. Some time during the race you will question why you are running and the easy option will be to slow , this is our good friend fatigue and he is here purely to protect your body, sent by the mind who is not convinced you can finish without blowing a head gasket. Every marathon I have ever raced I have wanted to stop , actually just about every race I have ever run I have wanted to stop, so far I never have. This is what Tim Noakes called the ‘Central Governor’ ( https://runnersconnect.net/central-governor-theory/ ) If you can master the mind, you can master the marathon’. I just made that up but I’m probably not the first to say it ? Anyhow, positive assurance/thinking is gold when you are running a marathon. See yourself finishing in the time you want and play that over and over again when you are in need of a pick-me up, think of all the things you have given up to be where you are and the sacrifices you and your family , and friends, have made to get you to this point in time. Use these thoughts to propel you to the finish. Every runner has their own mantra or reason that when the chips are down will help move them forward. All marathon runners need to find their mental toughness, it is pivotal to success but rarely mentioned in training programs. I’m mentioning it here and if you take nothing else from this post but this it has been a success. Research the central governor, it could be the difference between success and failure, if you can convince your mind you have everything under control you won’t be hearing from fatigue anytime soon.
Next Sunday I, hopefully , will be lining up for my 10th Perth Chevron City to Surf Marathon. This will be a first for me for a number of reasons. It will be the first time I have ran the same marathon event 10 years in a row. I was a similar streak for the Perth Marathon last year but was denied by a calf tear and missed it, funnily enough it was to be my 13th Perth Marathon and I missed it again this year because of plantar fasciitis. Maybe next year ? At the moment I reckon I am 50-50 for the City to Surf marathon but that didn’t stop me turning up for a photo shoot and an article that will appear in the local newspaper this weekend. Never been one to shy away from some great (or any?) publicity.
The main reason for my reluctance to commit to the City to Surf is a bigger streak I am currently on with my number of sub three hour marathon finishing g times, currently sitting at 27 in a row. Of course if I run the City to Surf and DNF I lose both streaks where as if I don’t run the City to Surf and wait until my PF is completely cured I reckon I got 10 years running sub 3 hour marathons. (or there about’s…) So do I roll the dice or take the easy option and stay in bed next Sunday and just pretend the City to Surf never happened. ?
Thinking about it just now I realized this would be my 13th City to Surf in a row, if you count the two half marathons I did the previous years before the marathon was added to the agenda. Must be a ‘13th’ thing, it really is an unlucky number ? Then again I’ve ran with ‘666’ on my chest on a number of occasions and have always ran well, funny that ? ( or not if there is in-fact an after life, a small price to pay for the number of sub three marathons surely?)
I am currently two sessions into a three session Extra Corporeal Shock Wave Therapy treatment plan with the final session scheduled in for next Monday, the week of the marathon. The foot will then be strapped up by the Doctor and I’ll start downing Voltaren like smarties for a few days. Please note I am by no means condoning taking anti-inflammatories ‘willy-nilly’ but in my case it is a risk I am willing to take, risk and reward people, risk and reward. As I always say to my many Daughters, ‘Do as I say , not as I do’; does that make me a bad parent, probably ? I’m confident with a shed-full of anti-inflammatories , the EWST treatment , the foot strapping, orthotics (unfortunately I don’t think the Nike Vaporflys 4% are built for orthotics so on race day I’ll probably run naked, that’s naked in relation to wearing orthotics!) and my high pain threshold (?) I’ll be able to finish and finish under three hours.
Fitness wise I am also rolling the dice as 3-4 months of only running slowly and on grass or trails will certainly have taken the edge of my general aerobic fitness. To compound the problem I’ve not run for nearly two weeks as I try and give the foot time to heal while I under-go ESWT. The only saving grace has been my Elliptigo which I have been using for the last week. I’m hoping this will keep my aerobic fitness level at sub3 levels. For anybody who needs a running fix without the pounding this , at the moment, is probably the best thing to use. (http://www.elliptigo.com ) I rode a 2 hour hills session on the GO today and it certainly gives you that feeling of a good ‘long run’ without the pounding that normally entails.
On a totally different subject this Thursday, 23rd August 7pm -9pm, I’ll be at the Run Nation Film Festival showing at the Luna Cinema in Leederville. ( https://runnationfilmfestival.com ) If you’re in Perth come along and say G’day. The film is currently doing the rounds in Australia so check out the website for your nearest showing. I watched the 2017 version and there were some great short stories, my favourite was obviously the runner who attempted the 48 hour track ultra with little or no training, it was brilliant. !
While I was in the changing rooms at work my colleague Sascha came in after his run and asked me “when does this start to become fun?”. He, like me, had had a poor lunchtime run and wondered, after over 6,000k’s of running (thanks Strava.), why he was still to experience the euphoria of running. In that time he had ran three marathons, over a two year period, but his last marathon was a disappointment. After the Perth Marathon in June Sascha has struggled to maintain the intensity of his pre-marathon training program but with another marathon less than a month away he is going through the motions. Unfortuantely going through the motions can come back and bite you , normally around the 32k mark of a marathon. With marathon training you need to be all-in from the first run to the last (the race itself). There’s no half-hearted effort as this will only lead to failure, you cannot hide from a marathon.
Sascha’s ultimate goal is the holy grail of most runners, the sub three hour marathon. This is one of the main running yardsticks by which runners can be measured, the other major one is, of course, distance. We’ll start with the sub 3 goal. Personally I chipped away at my times to get my first sub 3 marathon finish. It was in my 11th marathon when I achieved this time and I had dropped my times incrementally until then. I started at 3:54 (three times !) then 3:26, 3:25, 3:19, 3:12, 3.09. 3:06 and finally 3:05. It was the Perth City to Surf in 2009 when I ran my first sub3, was what more remarkable was the fact I ran this time without my now trusted “speed beard”…..see below. (Also the days of skins for racing, now mainly for recovery but always worth having a pair in your closet. https://www.skins.net/au/ )
This year I will run my 10th City to Surf and marathon number 44, in total, and will be hoping to break sub 3 for the 31st time, for me it’s about keeping that sub3 streak going for as long as possible. The image below was from last year where I managed a reasonable time mainly due to the course being 500m’s short. Funnily enough at the time I wasn’t that worried about the length of the course, just enjoying the finish straight, my favourite part of any marathon.
So is Sascha justified in being disappointed that, after over 6,000km’s of running, he feels his running has stagnated to such a point he questions why he is doing it ? If marathon finishing times is his main goal then yes he has grounds for a ‘please explain’ moment. In this case he needs to look at his training as personally I feel he is repeating the same training runs daily and not varying pace or distance. He is stuck in the trap that many runners fall into in that they are not building enough distance , albeit slowly, to build their aerobic engine; while at the same time wearing down their mind and body with runs that are too fast to be truly aerobic but too slow to be anaerobic (like thresholds, tempos or VO2 max runs) To quote Albert Einstein “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, but expecting different results”. I’ve mentioned this to Sascha on a number of occasions but he always ignores me, this came back to bite him recently at the Perth Marathon when he went out ahead of the 3hour 15minutes bus and came home many minutes behind it. Has he taken my advice on board post-Perth Marathon, at the moment no so we’ll see what happens in a few weeks at the Perth City to Surf. Confidence is low but he has a few weeks so maybe reading this post will energise him ?
So how can Sascha achieve his sub3 ? There are no short cuts in running marathons , he will basically have to either train harder or smarter; preferably both. Marathons reward training and “trust in your training” is a mantra I live by. Put in the hard work and you will be rewarded, this is a fact. (bar injury of course) If you are stagnating you need to look at your training and work out ways to change the outcome by changing your routine, either add distance or pace with a caveat of only adding pace after building the aerobic engine. In Sascha’s case I need him to probably add 10-15% a week to his daily training totals as well as adding a 10k tempo and a faster long run on the weekends, simple really. To really help his cause he should run twice a day a few times a week because, IMHO, nothing improves running better than running more. Finally he needs to get out of the runners trap of running his slow runs too fast and his fast runs too slow, ending up running yourself into the ground and into the arms of our mortal enemy ‘injury’.
Right back to the title of the post, why do we run? Every runner has a reason for putting on the trainers and getting out there, there are too many to list but you do need a reason. A run for no reason is not going to be an enjoyable experience, actually it probably isn’t even going to happen, truth be told. It’s not as if you’ll find yourself in the middle of a park , dressed in your running gear , wondering how the hell you ended up there, looking around in a daze ? Each of you needs to remind yourself once in a while why you do what you do and I hope it is because you just love running, it really can be that simple.
Of course you can make it more complex, like all things in life, by adding goals and motivational targets but these need to be secondary to your love of running. If you don’t love it you will eventually stop, common sense really. I’ve seen it so many times over the years when good friends have just disappeared off the running radar (this is now called Strava http://www,strava.com ) Like a good marriage you need to keep the relationship, with running, fresh and exciting, and this for me is why I race marathons and the odd ultra. These events keep me coming back for more and I’m as excited about my run tomorrow as my run yesterday or even my first run many years ago, this is why I keep doing what I’m doing….this is why I run.
Entries for one of the best trail races in WA opened this week and of course me and the boys all entered immediately. ( http://www.6inchtrailmarathon.com ) The race itself is on Sunday December 16th , 2018 and this will be the 14th running, I think, and it’ll be my 10th time. (In a row if you don’t mind. Only Nate ‘Dog’ Fawkes has run all races with Jon “Trailblazer” Phillips second with 12 finishes..) This race is a perfect end to the year and sets you up for a long Xmas break before the Australia Day Ultra in January. We always stay the night ,or weekend, of the race at Dwellingup which is such a beautiful place and the race itself is a feast of trail running. I have written posts on my last two races , probably worth a read…. https://www.runbkrun.com/2016/12/19/sometimes-6-inches-is-enough/ and https://www.runbkrun.com/2017/12/18/its-not-a-good-trail-race-unless-you-get-lost/ There’s probably more on the blog, just type in “6 inch” in the search dialog box. Anyhow if you live in WA , or even Australia, you need to run this race, trust me it is that good. So many good memories over the years, well mostly good, I do tend to get lost on a regular basis but that’s trail running I suppose.
I think the photo below was 2015, Jon was made to wear pink arm bands after falling in the only puddle on the whole course the previous year. He out did himself later in the race by falling in a ‘rut’ up the ‘escalator’ hill, it was big enough he had space to lay down for a rest as Michael ‘Barts’ Barton jumped over him. The following year he was forced to wear some rock climbing rope as punishment for his latest misdemeanour. Also in the photo is Jon ‘trailblazer’ Phillips giving us his best ‘blue steel’ stare. Jon has finished 12 times, a try WA running icon.
In 2016 I grew the biggest beard I could for the race in an attempt to be more”trail ready”, it didn’t help as I think I got lost even with two Garmin watches. No worries, the 6 inch is more than just a finishing time, it’s a trail running , life changing, experience. More about the journey than the destination.
Once in a while though it is also good to test yourself and dip your toe into the ultra world. I run the 6 inch annually ( http://www.6inchtrailmarathon.com ) but it is an ultra really in name only, the distance varies from 46k to 48k depending on trail closures and the RD’s warped sense of ‘evilness’. You never know when a new hill (or wall as I call them) will appear! A few years ago my running buddy Ron Mcglinn created the Australia Day Ultra (ADU) , a 25K/50K OR 100K race on a 12.5k flat loop. I missed the inaugural year which featured the closest finish in racing history with my good friend Tony ‘the T-train’ Smith running over the top of Andy Wait. Andy had held off Tony until the finish straight and after, 50 kilometres, it came down to a good old fashioned sprint. What a finish and as you can see from the image below it didn’t end well for Andy. When the T-train runs over the top of you the only way is down… great racing lads. Funnily enough I had the same experience the following year when Tony was running me down on the last 2-3 laps, luckily I had enough to hold him off and grab the last podium place but, trust me, when the T-Train is chasing you it focusses the mind !
In 2017 I raced the 100k for the first time and my journey was recorded by Rod Donkersloot on his website http://www.whywalkwhen.com , his video is available at https://vimeo.com/201134104 , worth a viewing. The race went well and I managed second place after most of the field in front of me dropped out. In an ultra it really is survival of the fittest and you can gain significant places just by continuing. Time becomes secondary to distance in an ultra, it’s not when you finished, it’s just finishing. I was thinking about this on one of my runs yesterday and came to the conclusion that time matters less and less as you add distance. For example in a 5k run time is all important , where as finishing is just assumed. This is the same up to around the half marathon but after that, for the new runner, it’s about finishing. The non-runner doesn’t really care about time for a marathon upwards as they have no idea, normally, what a good or bad time is, just finishing is enough to gain kudos. Actually as your distance increases the longer you take becomes even more impressive, it’s a double kudos scenario around the drink fountain at work afterwards. As always I have digressed from the subject.
ADU 2018 was just about the perfect race, which funnily enough was the title of the post I wrote describing the experience, https://www.runbkrun.com/2018/01/23/australian-day-ultra-just-about-the-perfect-race/
Everything went well and as you can see from the finish line photo below I was very happy to finish and , trust me, the runners high does improve with distance !
As the race starts at midnight sleep depravation can become an issue after you finish. I was dragged from my hotel room for the presentations early , after arranging a late check. Just as I beginning to dose off the T-Train rang me and informed me they were presenting the trophy’s early. This proved to be a mistake on Tony’s part (??) and I ended up waiting another two hours in the blazing heat of an Australian summers day. Not happy and by the time the presentations came around I was just about comatose, as the photo below shows. I then had a three hour drive home to look forward to, the joys of ultra running ?
Right, finally, the point of this post. I received in the mail yesterday my certificate confirming that I had broken the AURA ( https://www.aura.asn.au/ ) record for the 100k for the 50-54 age group. Truth be told I remember seeing one of these certificates years ago and thinking to myself I would love to get one. It may have taken a few years, mainly waiting to get into the 50-54 age group, but I finally have one. This certificate is not just reward for the race itself but for everything leading up to the event. The early mornings getting up in the dark to run alone, the lunch time sessions in the heat, the tempo and threshold sessions where you fear for your life and the long runs that seem to go on forever. It is also for everything you give up in your pursuit of your goals, that could be quality time with family, potential career aspirations, social nights out with friends or just other hobbies that are sacrificed. As I have said many, many times “Running is an honest sport”, it rewards effort but also punishes runners who do not give their all; nobody has ever finished a marathon and said they did no training and surprised themselves ! (Unfortunately?)
It’s not about receiving certificates breaking records, although that is a nice to have, it’s more about setting yourself a goal and achieving it. Ultra races give you that sense of achievement and you will find out things about yourself that may, or may not, surprise you. Emile Zatopek was quoted as saying “If you want to run a mile, run a mile. If you want to experience a different life, run a marathon”. There is an ultra addition to this quote of course, “If you want to speak to God, run an ultra”. I personally have been lucky enough not to speak to God just yet but you never know what may eventuate in the future ? I would suggest speaking to God wouldn’t be an issue, it would be hearing his reply that would unnerving ?
The Ultra crowd also seem to be more sociable than the shorter distance runners and I would put this down to an earlier point about time not being as important with greater distances. There is certainly more of a feeling of ‘belonging‘ with the ultra scene and there seems to be a more relaxed atmosphere as the burden of achieving set times goals is secondary to surviving the distance. There is a ‘in this together’ sense of comradery there is sadly missing in smaller distance events. Anything less than a marathon really is you against the clock, above a marathon it’s you against yourself, with the time secondary. In Western Australia at the moment we are blessed with a new breed of Race Director who are providing amazing events, in amazing locations. Dave Kennedy ( http://www.6inchtrailmarathon.com/ ) , Ron McGlinn ( http://australiadayultra.com/ ) and Shaun Kaesler ( http://ultraserieswa.com.au/ ) are leading the way in making WA a hot-bed of Ultra running activity, and long may it continue. Australia wide there is the AURA ( https://www.aura.asn.au/ ) and it seems there are races available nearly every weekend, so many opportunities to talk to God, you’d be mad not to really ?
Although there are some hills on the course I consider them marathon friendly in that they are short, sharp inclines followed by long drawn-out declines. This allows you to gain back any lost time and maybe even bag a few extra seconds. Of course there is ‘heartbreak hill’ at the 39k mark which is a 2km hill of pain asking some serious questions. Of course there is a 1km stretch to the finish after this ‘tester’ that allows you to explode into the finishing chute. ( Funny story with that finishing stretch, I’m sure every year they move the finish further and further down the road as my ‘finish sprint’ seems to become a tempo/steady run by the end, whereas years ago it was a threshold from start to finish ? Maybe it’s just me ?)
Of course there was the infamous short course of 2017 where it was not accurately measured and was probably 500m short. Trust me I personally was not that worried and even managed to sneak under 2:50 for the marathon thanks to the generous course. Of course I was outside my PB by nearly 10 minutes but my friend Mark C. ran a PB but always has a hard time defending the result to us ‘true marathon runners’. (He also has a dubious half time on a short course as well, maybe he’s just lucky ?) Unfortunately I hear this year the course has been re-measured, pity
The City to Surf has also been my fastest marathon on two occasions and , on average, my fastest full stop. I’ve ran 2:58, 3:03, 2:49, 2:45, 2:41, 2:49, 2:48, 2:41, 2:49 , the only blemish running over sub3 was in 2010 when my Garmin stopped at the start and I fell off the back of the pack at around 15k leaving me to run the rest of the race alone with no idea of time. The day was also humid as hell and I was wearing a Chevron sponsored top which didn’t fit well. I gave myself lots of reasons not to run sub3 that day and , with hindsight, could have done things differently. For the next few years I ran with two Garmins just to sure this never happened again and have only recently started to run with just one Garmin as my co-pilot.
The photo below is one of my favourite of the 2010 event with Jon realising I was dropping off the pace and ‘encouraging‘ me to speed up. Around this time in my running career I would use Jon as my pacing yardstick and would try and stay with him for as long as possible before he scuttled off into the distance and left me to finish alone. It took until the City to Surf marathon in 2011 until I was able to beat him to line and that was only in the last few hundred metres where I felt gravity helped me more than Jon due to my long legs and extra weight. Truth be told I felt a bit guilty as we were together for the fist 41k and even discussed our finishing strategy but as soon as I smelt the finish line and saw the ocean it was ‘on for young and old’ and all previous conversations were forgotten, that’s racing.
Another bonus of the City to Surf marathon is the marathon tent which, as the name suggests, is for marathon finishers only. In the good old days of the Oil and Gas boom (the event is sponsored by Chevron.) this tent was a magical place filled with muffins of all flavours, sports drinks, massage tables, changing rooms (well a changing room?) and a tribe of helpers who attend to your every need. Unfortunately those days are long gone and the marathon tent even disappeared for a year before a public outcry persuaded the organises to reinstate this ‘business class’ lounge of the running world.
So anybody who is reading this in Australia needs to get themselves to Perth on August 26th and take part in one of the most scenic marathons on the planet. From the website :-
The Marathon is considered the most picturesque course in Australia. Perth’s best natural assets are on show starting from the colonial heritage of the CBD on St Georges Tce and finishing on the lush parklands of City Beach. The course traverses past the crystal waters of the Swan River and the iconic Old Swan Brewery, through the beautiful grounds of the University of Western Australia and alongside the botanical wonder of Kings Park.
It forgets to mention the ‘Surf‘ bit of the City to Surf, in this case one of the best beaches in Perth, namely City Beach, where me and the boys normally meet every Sunday morning before setting off on another long run pre-pancakes at Clancys cafe, when they are on the menu of course. The other option is the infamous waffles which is good but not in the same league as the pancakes. I hear on the grapevine that pancakes are in at the moment so I’d recommend you pop along quickly…
When fatigue comes calling you need to realise this is your mind protecting your body the only way it knows how but this central governor , as Tim Noakes calls it, can be bypassed but it takes experience. Personally when I get to 32k now I switch over the ‘finish mode‘ but I’ve ran 43 marathons and 18 ultra-marathons so experience has given me the confidence to do this.
That’s not to say the 42k distance is now a walk in the park. Somewhere within the marathon you have to dig deep, ask yourself some serious questions and face your demons; this is what makes marathon racing so addictive. For me now it’s between 21k and 32k, at 21k I dig myself a big hole and then spend 10k trying to get out of it !! Will the full 42k ever be easy, no, not if you race it. For elite runners, park runners or even weekend warriors somewhere in the marathon they have to ‘hurt’, it’s just a case of how much ‘hurt’ you are prepared to put up with. Slow down enough the hurt goes away but thats not racing , that completing and it’s a whole different animal. We don’t complete marathons we race them.
Of course for some ‘completing’ marathons is a goal in itself and thus they hurt as much as the runners racing. That is fine and a marathon is a different challenge for each of us, the most important thing is you need to be able to look yourself in the eye afterwards (with a mirror I assume?) knowing you gave it your all.
Right back to the point of this post. A good marathon runner will have a small time margin between the first half of the race and the second, a small positive split is a sign of a proper paced race; I believe anything less than 5 minutes between the first 21k time and the second shows a good pacing strategy. If you negative split I maintain you probably went out too slow and could have run quicker but keep in mind that doesn’t mean setting a half PB in the first 21k of the race, this normally (actually always) ends in tears. I think in my 43 marathons I may have ran a negative split once or trice but no more. I have ran a + 1-5 minute positive split on a number of occasions and this is now the norm, remember what I said about experience. In fact the last time I really blew up in a marathon was 4 years ago, since then all have been in the 1-5 minute range. This is not to say racing marathons gets any easier, hell no, I’d even say they get harder but with experience I’m mentally better prepared and can deal with the pain. I’m not selling marathon racing am I ? All this talk of pain, hurt , fatigue, the mind protecting them body.
Unfortunately racing marathons hurts , there is no sugar coating it but it does have its positives. Finishing strongly and achieving your goal is life changing and you will be a better person for it. This translates into everything you do, it takes a special person to race a marathon and push themselves, once you have achieved this you take the experience into your family life, work life and social life. You feel stronger and more empowered and as everybody knows the best part about finishing a marathon is letting everybody know about it. (?)
Over the weekend two of the boys ran great times but may have been a tad over zealous in the early parts of their respective events. Jon ran 3 hours 2 minutes at Bunbury for the marathon and won his age group but for the first 10k he looked like he may have been confused about the distance he was running as he was cruising along at sub 2 hour 46minutes marathon pace. This was all good for 10k but then the mind realised what was going on and put the handbrake on. Jon then struggled for the next 32k but still managed to pull an age group win out of the bag and a respectable time. Funnily enough I did the same thing at Bunbury in 2014 and still find it difficult to contemplate a return, the mental scars run deep.
At the same running carnival the T-train blew a gasket with 10k to go in the 50k ultra-marathon. He was chasing another great runner who had blown his head gasket moments earlier, but in a more spectacular fashion it seems. Tone still managed a great time of 3 hours 35 minutes but was on for a sub 3:30, his initial goal, until the wheels fell off the cart and he had to work very hard to keep moving forward. This proves it can happen to the best runners. Between the two of them Jon and Tony would probably have well over 100 marathons and ultras to draw on but both got their initial pace wrong and paid the price. Luckily they are mentally strong and kept moving forward, enough that both finished well up the field. The T-train even won his event. !
Pacing can also go bad in shorter distances. In my previous post I described the Bridges 10k I had run last year, blowing a gasket at 5k and hanging on for dear life. Well it seems there’s no fool like an old fool as I replicated the same race a year later, albeit 13 seconds quicker. Yet again I set off at 5k pace and suddenly realised at 5k why they call it 5k pace. ! Made the next 5k more of a challenge I suppose, no point making it too easy. On the bright side I ran under 35 minutes for the Bridges 10k for the fist time at the 6th attempt so it wasn’t a complete disaster but there has to be a better way, surely ? Before the race I had predicted (hoped for?) a top 10 finish, an age group win and a sub 35 minute time, ended up 9th , first in 50-60 age group (how did I get so old, I much prefer the 5 year age group groupings , 50-55 sounds so much better ?) and 34:59:49 so all goals achieved but not the most pleasant 10k race I’ve ever ran. Luckily in a 10k race the worse that can happen is you explode at 5k and hang on, not so in a marathon or ultra. Jon and Tone worked very hard in their respective races to dig themselves out of the holes they had dug for themselves, this comes with experience and mental toughness can be acquired over time, maybe you can teach old dogs new tricks, maybe…….
So to sum up this post, because as always I have digressed , for any distance draw upon your previous experience and training to dial in a ‘race pace‘ and stick to it. You will always feel like going quicker at the start but this will come back and bite you at the finish , and then some. Remember for a marathon it’s a 10k race with a 32k warm up, the race really does start at 32k and it is in the last 10k you will make or break the race. Pace it right and you’ll continue to the finish at your race pace feeling like a million dollars as you pass the rest of the field, and you will run past so many runners if you just maintain your pace, no need to speed up they’ll just come back to you. Get the pace wrong and the final part of the race will become a mental battle between you and your demons, which in itself is a learning experience and can be beneficial long term but the proper pacing option is so much easier , so lets aim for the first option.