Glasshouse 100km - Race Report

For me, the Glasshouse ultra series is pretty special. For a start, it is where I started out in ultra running with the 50km at Cook’s Tour in May 2010. More importantly, the event has a real community feel to it and always reminds me of what I loved about this sport in the first place – the simple joy of running. Let’s not forget the delicious food on offer at the checkpoints either! This year, the 100km lived up to all my expectations and a little bit more.

I had one very simple goal and one very big goal going into the event. Firstly, I wanted to run my own race. I wasn’t going to go out hard to keep up with other people or run at someone else’s pace in the dark so that I wouldn’t be alone. The second goal was to finish in 14 – 15 hours but preferably closer to 14. I developed a race plan based on 14 hours and decided, with Tam’s advice, that I wasn’t going to reassess until at least 30km. I really wasn’t sure if I could do 14 hours, but I wanted to give it a go and decided I wouldn’t blow up too much if I got it wrong.

The race started pretty well and I stuck to both my goals. I let my friends run off ahead of me and I settled into a pace that I felt comfortable with. By the time I got through to checkpoint 4, at about 25km, I was pretty much on my target pace. I was having a pretty perfect day with only minor mishaps. I had missed a turn and run a bit extra, but not too far and my checkpoint plan didn’t go so well as I had trouble getting the lid off my bottle a lot. Sweaty hands suck.

I continued running fairly well, but I was having issues with tummy cramps and had to stop a few times. I thought my actual running pace was still pretty good, but I was starting to slow due to the stops. The cramps were also making it difficult to take down any solid food, so I was sticking to a trusty formula of coke and gels, but the yummy food at checkpoints looked oh so tempting. I took a longer break at checkpoint 5 to use the porta-loo, but after waiting outside for a few minutes, I came to the conclusion that I didn’t want to go in there after whoever was in there, because they were taking a bit too long. The bush loo would have to do!

I enjoyed the goat track between checkpoints 5 and 6, but some of the steep uphill seemed to sap my energy. The powerlines were next and I was most excited. I was a little disappointed to find that they were bone dry this year, which meant they were a lot less fun with no scrambling around in the mud. The sun was beating down and it was dry and dusty, which took away some of my joy. I still loved the steep, rutted down hills and with each energy sapping uphill, I reminded myself that there would be a downhill to follow. When the powerlines ended I was out on the road and I ran my way into checkpoint 8.

Lucky for me Libby was at Checkpoint 8 crewing for Nic. She insisted I eat some of his KFC and it actually went down really well. She helped me out filling a second bottle and getting myself organised. I was so glad to see her and get her help because I had started to feel a bit low. Forcing down the solid food helped too. I was much happier as I headed out of checkpoint 8 for the loop.

I had forgotten just what the loop at 8 is like. In my mind, it was the big downhill, flat for 8k then back up the big hill. I somehow blocked out all the other hills in the second half of the loop. I was over half way by that point and as the section was turning out to be a lot slower than I estimated, I knew I wasn’t going to make 14hrs. At the 50ish km mark I had checked my watch and I was pretty close to 7 hours, so that meant I would need to run at the same pace for the next 50km. I really didn’t think I had that in me. I was starting to blow up just a little bit and was already pretty certain I needed to reassess. The miscalculation of the loop’s difficulty confirmed I needed to reassess. Although I was a little disappointed, I was very happy I had given it a go and I didn’t think I would be horrendously off my target either.

After the loop at 8, things went pretty well. The run out to checkpoint 7 and the loop at 7 were quite easy and I welcomed the fire trail. I was ok with boring if it meant I could move at some speed. I decided to not pick up my spare headlamp at 7 but wait until I got to my ay-ups in my drop bag at 6 as I thought I had enough time, and I didn’t want to have to fiddle around with headlamps twice. I got a little nervous towards the end of that leg though, as it was meant to be 7.5km and my watch was showing 8km and I still couldn’t see the checkpoint. I knew I was on the course because there was plenty of flagging tape, but was it possible I somehow missed the checkpoint? I needed to get to that checkpoint for my headlamp! Just when I was getting really worried, the checkpoint finally came into site. I picked up my trusty ay-ups and helped a lady out who was crewing for her husband. I hope the Emodium helped him! I wonder if he was the one in the porta-loo earlier. Eww.

As the sun started to set, I headed into the goat track towards checkpoint 5. I couldn’t believe how much more of the course I got to cover in day light this year than back in 2010. It was nice to actually do some of the goat track without the aid of the headlamp. I had a great time going through there and without the time concern, I didn’t mind the uphills either.

As I came out onto the road heading to checkpoint 5, it started to occur to me that I was completely alone in the dark. I hate the dark. I am scared of the dark. I started to panic. I convinced myself I was lost if I couldn’t see any flagging tape. I started to consider waiting for someone but as soon as that thought entered my mind, I reminded myself that I was 28years old and it is a bit pathetic to be afraid of the dark. I continued on, still a little panicked, but also determined.

As I left checkpoint 5, I remembered last year where I had given Chris what I thought was encouragement, with the advice that it was all downhill or flat from here. Woohoo! I took off with a spring in my step. I was going to make 14:45 I thought – fantastic! As I came past the point where my crew and Tamyka had met me in 2010, I remembered how I had yelled out to them “woohooo I am going to finish” and I felt that same sense of exhilaration this time around.

I continued by myself in the dark and was surprised to come across Bec with about 6km to go. I said a quick hello and continued on my way, determined not to seek out company in the dark. It was with great joy that I turned onto the track along the road headed back to the school. It was almost over! I said hello to all the 100mile runners who passed me leaving the school and thought to myself that I was glad I didn’t have to head back out from the school myself. Finally I got to the school and ran over the finish line – exhausted and amazed. I had finished in 14:35, 52 minutes better than my last attempt! It had been such an awesome day, with awesome people and a great event.

 

 

Alpine Race Report Part 1: The Beginning

It started with a text message. My friend Tamyka suggested I enter the 100km at the Alpine Challenge. At the time I laughed (or LOL’d) this off as a rather ridiculous idea. I had hiked about 50km of the course with Tamyka back in 2009 and could still remember the agony of hiking up T-Spur to summit Mount Bogong, and the bewilderment I had at the idea that she was planning to run the course. Thinking of that, I was certain there was no way I could run that course, and then there was the navigation to worry about too.

　
I am always a little taken in by Tamyka’s ideas though. In some way, I think she is better at gauging my abilities than I am and the more we trained together, the more the idea started to resonate with me. After a while, I knew I had to do it. I had no idea if I could finish, or even find my way, but I just had to try. I consider this to be the toughest 100km trail run in Australia and that is something I couldn’t miss out on having a go at.

My proper training started around December, when I finally committed to signing up. Having spent the end of 2010 and the first half of 2011 sidelined with injuries, I put a lot of thought into how to train for this event. It is quite apparent that my body can’t handle high mileage training and I only had to look at my record of overuse injuries to see that. So my Alpine training plan involved a lot of cross training. I also tried to avoid consecutive running days for the first couple of months. A normal week looked like this: run 20-70km, swim 2-3km, ride 70-100km and throw in some weights training.

I am proud to say that I didn’t get injured. In fact, I haven’t had an injury since I came out of that horrid moon boot back in April last year. I experienced minor niggles about 3 times and on each occasion identified the cause, rested and was niggle free within a couple of days. This is quite possibly my biggest running achievement to date.

By the end of February I was pretty exhausted from training. Although my mileage was low, I still found myself extremely busy. I all but gave up my free time and social life for training. I have no idea how people manage 100km plus weeks. Finally March arrived which meant tapering! I was very happy to give my exhausted self a rest.

Unfortunately, tapering is when the panic starts. With a bit of free time, I found I actually had time to think of the challenge ahead. Although the physical challenge was daunting – 100km with over 4000m of ascent – that isn’t what really worried me. I was fitter and stronger than ever and I had something far scarier to worry about – navigation!

This is not a marked course. There was no flagging tape in trees, no signs at junctions and sometimes, the trails become quite indistinct. I can read a map and use a compass. I found my way around the Canadian Rockies just fine, and the one time that I did get lost, I managed to use the contour lines and some landmarks on the map to figure out where I was and scramble back to safety. Feeling confident in those skills would be rational however, and all I could think about was when I had hiked the area 2 years earlier with no map reading or navigation experience to speak of. Back then I had to rely entirely on Tamyka. Even worse, I remembered coming down Quartz Ridge and losing the path several times because it was indistinct and overgrown.

In the spare time I had between packing and coming up with a race plan, I studied the map. This only made me panic more. On top of this, there was talk of a course change due to all the rain, so I was absolutely convinced I was going to get lost. Most likely this would happen in the dark. I am afraid of the dark. By race week I was feeling ill with worry. I somehow managed to stuff a suitcase full of all the gear I would need, plus some I didn’t, get on a plane and eventually end up in Bogong village.

I Would Rather Be Running

There is really nothing to like about waking up at 3:30am, driving to Robina, waiting around for 3 hours and then diving into murky canal waters. So it is really no suprise that I hated race 4 of the Gatorade Tri series. Still, I was a little shocked by just how miserable I was, especially after the swim leg. Even more suprising that I kind of want to do another one, despite saying "I am never doing this again" as I crossed the finish line. Here is my report on my first sprint distance triathlon (750/20/5).

Race day did not start too well. After racking my bike I went to put my wonderful Garmin 310XT on, only to have the band break. I didn't even have a spare waterproof watch so I could at least see my splits and have some idea of how I was going. To make the wait even more pleasant, the weather was miserable leaving me cold and soaking wet. My wave started second last, so the elites had actually finished before my feet even touched the water.

Swimming in a canal is most unpleasant. I usually swim at Ithaca or Bellbowrie pool, where I generally share my lane with one other person and swim in peace with good visibility. Today's swim was very different. For a start, the water was very murky so I could not see where I was going at all. I would swim a little bit of freestyle, look up and discover I was heading off course and realign myself, then the whole thing would happen again. This was one of the many reasons I just gave up and swam breaststroke. I positioned myself at the back of the pack at the start because I know I am a weak swimmer. I at least didn't have to battle with other swimmers for the first few hundred metres. I did have to do battle with seaweed and reeds however and I got myself tangled a few times. Then some people in the wave behind me caught up and I was getting hit and spashed. Then the girls in my wave who were still around me seemed to become quite aggressive. I think they all had a sudden panic that they didn't want to come last, and they didn't care who they hit or kicked on that mission. I had a few good wacks to my head and one in the ribs, making me very cranky. I thought I must have been dead last as I came out of the water, but race results indicate I was ahead of four other competitors in my category.

My transition went much better than in my first triathlon attempt. I had no trouble locating my bike this time and didn't waste time with socks. I was quickly out on the road on the bike. I was very excited to overtake those girls who got aggressive on the swim leg. I overtook a few people on the first lap but then I think I stayed in the same position until the end. The roads were wet so I took it very easy on the turns but some people didn't. There were quite a few crashes and stacks.

I was in and out of transition very quickly again. I didn't feel as stuffed on the run as I did last time, and I had swum and rode a lot further this time, so I think that the brick training helped, and I don't think I went out quite so hard. Again I overtook a couple of people at the start but then stayed in the same position for quite a while. The only wave behind mine was the team wave so sometimes it was hard to know who was in my wave and who wasn't. I assumed the runners who looked really fresh were in the teams so i was ok with them overtaking me. For the first lap of the run I was sitting about 50m behind a girl and I just couldn't close that gap. On the second lap she stopped for a water and I put my foot down, passing up the offer of a cup of water and moving past her (really who needs water with 2km left). I stayed in that position to the end and even managed to sprint over the finish line.

It was really just the swim leg that I hated, but I wouldn't say I really enjoyed the rest either. Still, I am interested to see if I can do better so maybe I will do another one. Maybe. I would rather run 100km though. At least the other runners are nice to me, and being slow over a really long distance is kinda ok. Also, I still find the term 'sprint' rather offensive. The only bit I sprinted was the last 100m or so.