Portsea to Frankston 55km

The Frankston to Portsea 55km ultra marathon is a time honoured event that has been run annually since 1973, making it the oldest ultra marathon in Australia. It would have been terrific to do this event in the lead up to Comrades, however I was double booked on the day in question (11 April), being in Canberra for a 50km event.

However I decided that I wanted to squeeze in a 55km run in the lead up to Comrades... and since Comrades is an event dedicated to the honour of World War 1 veterans, there seem something very appropriate about doing my longest run for Comrades, on ANZAC Day.

So on 24 April, I stayed the night in tropical Rye and drove the short distance to the start line in Portsea on 25 April.

The weather conditions for the official Frankston to Portsea run on 11 April were apparently horrendous, strong cold head wind, horizontal rain... just appalling. As we drove to Portsea for the start of this run, the weather gods were not smiling either, and it poured with rain again. However it had passed by the time we arrive, so I started the event in good spirits... and doing unusual stretching routines....



The day was very much "four seasons in one day" and quickly I was way too hot with the arm warmers on. It was 12 degrees when I started but when the sun came out, it warmed out quickly.

I bought a new 2XU light weight run jacket and run belt, which were fantastic for the event. It was nice not to have to carry a drink bottle like I have been doing in previous long runs.



But the good weather was soon to end... as them thar clouds were turning nasty looking!!



And then of course, the inevitable happened, and the clouds opened ....







Running in the rain was actually very enjoyable. It wasn't particularly cold and the new run jacket was keeping me nice and warm.

In fact, when the sun came out, I was actually getting a bit warm. But the run was very enjoyable, scenic and because I was sticking to my Comrades target pacing, not particularly difficult running. Think a 55km cool down....



The course itself isn't particularly hilly. There are some rolling hills as you depart Portsea, but then its pretty flat for the next 30km and the hills pick up at the 35km mark. But it is a far cry from what will be faced in Comrades...

This photo does make it look a bit like I have just run over the edge of the world...



Approaching about 47km it was getting kind of warm... so it was time for a disrobe, and then I was on my way again, for the final hills and then big descent down Hopes Rise into Frankston and the finish line.





I deliberately chose to run down Hopes Rise (and not the coastal footpath coming down Olivers Hill) as it is steeper, and a bit more of a challenge after 53km. And it was slightly painful on the legs, but managed to trot down ok.



Even from a distance, you can see that the calves are under a bit of strain.



Not sure if this one shows both feet off the ground... or.... the perfect stride for a race-walker with both feet touching the ground!! Either way I am down the hill and homeward bound!!



And with that, it was down to the finish line at "Kittens" at 55km down in 5.58.17. Max HR of 143 and an ave HR of 136... a nice easy training run.



Overall - was a terrific hit out for Comrades. Once again the pacing and nutrition strategy worked well. While I was a bit sorer than I had expected, this was probably due to the 60km bike ride I did the day before... as I have an ironman triathlon in July as well.

I felt good enough at the end to trot off another 6km to have a late lunch at Mum's.. for a nice round 61km day.!!!

Canberra 50k Ultra

The Canberra marathon was officially cancelled following a dispute between two parties over the ownership of the race. Sounds odd doesn't it that there could be a dispute over something so basic... but there you go. As a result the Canberra Government was unable to issue permits for road closures to either party with the dispute before the Federal Court... so the event was cancelled.

There were a few attempts to get the event back on track... but alas they all fell through... much to everyone's disappointment.

However all was not lost. A group of about 25 people hooked up via the internet and arranged our own event on a 10km looped course put together by a terrific local bloke (Chris Gamon) to support Linda Christison.

Linda is an ex-elite marathoner who now is battling the effects of Parkinson's Disease. The race date of 11 April co-incides with World Parkinson's Day... so it was a nice symmetry for her to do the event. Despite the event not going ahead.. officially... we made it happen nonetheless!!!

Race day conditions were pretty good as we met by Lake Burley Griffin at 7am for the start. Some of the slower runners, and Linda and her sister who were going to walk the 50km, set off a bit earlier, but there was a good social crowd gathered for the start.



Weather conditions on the day were great - a little cool, nice and sunny and no rain. Although the wind did pick up during the day.

The course was also dead flat, except for the climb up and over a bridge on every lap, but that was not a severe climb at all.

For me, today was to be another test of my Comrades pacing and nutrition strategy... which like all good things, was dead simple. Run til the HR hits 140, then walk til it falls to 132... repeat til I finish. Nutrition wise I would have a Gu every 30 minutes and a Gatorade every hour.

There was an aid station table set up that I would pass almost every 30 minutes, so I had all the Gatorades stashed there, and stopped for a short chat and Gu on every lap, to make sure that the tremendous people doing all the helping at the table, hadn't been blown into the lake or frozen solid.!! Turns out that playing frisbee in a blanket keeps people pretty warm!!

The run itself was fairly uneventful. I felt completely fresh the whole way, had no nutrition issues, tiredness issues or leg issues, and just happily trotted my way through the run.





It was a really enjoyable day. Being only a small event, there was a lot of support between the participants - lots of waves, and hi 5's and it was a terrific atmosphere. It really felt like a big family or a small club out there. It was one of my more enjoyable runs... to the extent that I think I went slightly looping for some photos... but I was having fun!!



And this would have been a very common sight on the day. Trotting along, Gatorade in one hand, checking out the watch to make sure my heart rate was in the correct zone...



The run itself was as good as I could have asked. The following photo is how I look having just gone past the marathon point...



And then it was over. 50km done and dusted, a terrific hit out in the lead up to Comrades.

The stats for the run show a fairly even effort... as you would expect from the pacing strategy.

1st 10km in 1.04.05
2nd 10km in 1.01.28
3rd 10km in 1.02.47
4th 10km in 1.05.41
5th 10km in 1.04.52

for a total time of 5.18.53 (and a marathon split time of 4.28.08). Average heart rate was a highly comfortable 136...

No wonder I was a happy boy at the end..



After saying our thank you's and wishing our best regards to all competitors and supporters, it was time for some Canberra sight-seeing with my wonderful girlfriend Jill.

My Second Training Marathon

A week after doing my first training marathon, it was time for another one.

This time, the course wasn't quite so hilly, but to make it interesting I ran 15km the day before, and rode 80km the day before that. So the legs were a little fatigued before I even started.

For the Easter weekend, I was staying down in Rye, so this course was mostly flat, but there are a few rolling hills on the way to Portsea and London Bridge, and I did these twice.

The real test for this run, was could I learn the nutrition lesson from last weekend...

I changed both my pacing and nutrition plans from last weekend:

PACING

I would run til my HR hit 140, and then would walk and let the HR drop to 132 and then run again. With lactic acid showing up in the blood at 139, this intensity keeps lactic acid at basically zero.

NUTRITION

Pretty simple. I need 70g of carbohydrates per hour... so its a Gu every 30 minutes and a Gatorade every hour.

THE RESULT

Success on both the pacing and nutrition score. Finished in 4.39, and never felt the energy levels flagging at all.

This is a perfect pace for me for Comrades. The goal there is to get through the first 42km in 5 hours, and the 2nd 42km in 10 hours... which will get me home well before the 11 hour cut off to receive a bronze medal. A very successful weekend of training, and it takes the weekly distance to 80km, a new record.

Happy easter all.
:)

42.2km Training Run

Yesterday was my first "training" marathon. Sounds odd to most people, but if you are going to run the 89k Comrades Marathon, many of the long runs will be beyond marathon distance. This weekend, was my first.

I had a clear strategy for this run - it was a test to see if the pacing strategy would work. My goal for Comrades is to finish, preferably in under 11 hours and get a bronze medal, so a pace of just over 7 mins 20 seconds per km will get me there.

The Strategy
From past VO2 max tests - and associated blood lactic acid tests - I know that lactic acid begins to build when my HR hits 139. So to ensure I can get through the 89k run, my intention is to run at a pace that limits the build up of lactic acid.

On this run, I ran until my HR hit 142, and then walked until it hit 132... and then run until it got back to 142... and so on. So it was very much a run / walk strategy.

The Course
The course I chose around the hills of Mt Eliza had a vertical ascent of 695m. This is a pretty good approximation of the Comrades course which climbs 1175m, most of it in the first 60km.

The Body
I have had a chest cold for a couple of weeks and have been on anti biotics for two days to get over the cold. Hopefully the body will be in better shape on Comrades race day.

The Weather
It was warm and mid 20's with reasonably high humidity for this training run. This will be in sharp contrast to the Comrades start which will be in the dark and cold with a temperature likely to be between 5 - 10 C. So my HR should be a little higher for this run than on race day.

THE RESULT
Marathon completed in 4.49.35 with a max HR of 148 and average HR of 137. The legs felt great but I was a little tired at the end due to a lack of Gu's ingested on the run. I must have a nutrition plan that provides 70g of carbohydrates per hour for each hour of the run. I was a bit short on this yesterday.

Overall, while it would have been nice to be a bit quicker (my only "real" marathon was done in 3.51 in October last year), I am confident that this strategy will work to get me through Comrades. And, as my endurance and fitness improves, I will be able to run for longer at these HR levels, thus increasing the average speed.

Can't wait for the next long run "test"!!!

Maroondah Dam 30km Trail Run

Having completed a long run of 33km on each of the last two weekends, I was feeling quite prepared for the 30km trail run. Sure there was 1000m of climbing, but how bad could that be...(the training runs had 500m of climbing)??

After registration, we caught the bus to the start area and then I found out that the 30k was so hilly, the time to complete the run is usually the equivalent of your marathon time. Oh crap... I may have underestimated these hills.....

There was a reasonably large group for the 30k run - another group started earlier for the 50k run, and happily I was smart enough to realise I wasn't yet ready for that run!!



So after we received the race briefing, the clock struck 10am and we were off!! The forecast was 34 degrees so it was already getting warm as the event started, and to make it nice and tough from the start, the run started at the bottom of a nice big hill!!



While the run climbed 500m in the first 6km, there was some lovely scenery to run through.



The hills though... were brutal.



After the brutal hills though, the course was really enjoyable.





After a slow start to keep the HR down... the pacing was working and I was running myself through the field.... until about 10 of us took a wrong turn on the trails... which cost us about 4km and 40-50 minutes. And of course, the wrong turn we took was hilly. The pic below is the group of us trudging back up the hill to the course...



Getting back onto the course, and around the corner we saw the pink ribbons we should have been following. Grrr it would have been nice if they had been BEFORE the corner and not 100m after it (when there were orange ribbons on the turn off).

Never mind we were back on the trail, but the drinks were running a bit low now after the detour. But the 2nd age station came and went and then it was up (yet again), this time off trail to a telephone tower. Here the going got really tough, just walking up this hill got the HR to 90% of max....

Photo below is about 2/3rds of the way up the hill, and it was all this steep!



And you can imagine how steep the down hill was! Even more brutal than the uphill. It was so steep I could barely walk down it, let alone run down the hill.



And here is one of me having fun on the down hill... actually really just looking happy that I hadn't fallen flat on my bum!!



Finally, after all the hills, and some more uncertain intersections where we had to guess which way to go as they weren't marked, it was a lovely downhill curling bit of track. I was getting pretty tired by this stage, but I didnt think it was far to the finish.



Unfortunately it wasn't the finish, just the third (and final) aid station.



And that realisation was bad news. I became shattered, and needed a seat. Happily they had one, else I would have fallen on my bum!! :) A few snakes, orange slices and a water refill later, I began the relatively short journey to the finish line.



On the way to the finish line, an amazing thing was sighted on the Maroondah Dam trail run.... I found the Maroondah Dam!!!



Gorgeous views approaching the finish line...



And then it was done. 30km trail run (plus 4km getting lost) in about 4 hrs 47. The quads were cooked, the body dehydrated from a lack of drink on a hot day, and did I mention the quads?? Happily there was a (very) cold water stream flowing right near the finishing picnic area, and before I ate my finishers snag (but after I collected my finishers medal), it was time to put the legs in the icy water.

Admittedly it did take me a few attempts to submerge the legs into that icy water, but finally the quads were under the water, and all was beginning to recover.

The rest of the post race week was two massages, two stands in the bay, a few cold baths and a lot of doing nothing, and by the following weekend, I could run again. Which was a nice relief as I was so sore, I was worried I had actually done myself a mischief.

The endurance challenge of 2010 has begun... and event one... is done!!

2010 The Endurance Challenge

Much is happening in my life at the moment. Much of it good, some of it less so, but all of it is "life". Dealing with stresses and adversities can be a full time job, or it can be a distraction that takes time away from the important things that you want your life to be.

For me, the big picture is about having a memorable life. A significant part of that is challenging myself to achieve things... usually in an athletic sense. Often those challenges are about doing multiple events close together - I always like to have the "next goal" planned, often before the current goal has been achieved. So there is always something to look forward to.

So amongst all of the clatter that happens in day to day life, I have decided to make 2010 not just a year that I turn myself from Ironman to Ultra Marathoner, but have created what I think is a fairly significant list of events to complete in 2010. If I can get through all of these, it will have been a highly successful year.

This blog will capture the story of each event, with photos, memories, highlights and lessons from the journey.

So far the trip is going well. A key challenge is the Comrades Marathon in South Africa in late May. Having never run further than a marathon before, the step up to 89km's is a significant physical and mental test. To date, I have comfortably been able to get to my long runs to 3hrs20 to 3hrs25 for a hilly 32-33km run (ok a walk / run as I walk when my heart rate gets over 145 beats per minute). I am recovering very well from these and last weekend backed up that run with 10km the following day. Total distance covered for that week was a record 67km. Progress is being made.

This Sunday will be my first trail run event at Maroondah Dam. The early weather forecast is warm and 32 degrees and given its a 10am start for the 30km run (I didn't think I was quite ready for the 50k option - and I am keen to build distance slowly to reduce the risk of injury), it should be pretty warm out there on the run.

So here we are in mid February. The endurance challenge has been laid down, now its time to complete the challenge that I have set myself.

The First Challenge - Melbourne Marathon - October 2009

The first challenge on this new found goal of "just running", was to do the Melbourne Marathon. Bearing in mind this was only 6 weeks after Ironman Canada, I wasn't going to be in perfect shape.

Despite this, I had set a goal... sub 4 hours. My ironman marathon PB was 4.32 set at Kona in 2008, and I wondered whether I could go under 4 hours. My half marathon PB is 1.49 so I thought I was a chance, but I just wasn't sure how much the Ironman would have taken out of the legs.

Race day was perfect... weather wise, and I arrived at the start with only minutes to spare so there was no nerves and not much waiting around. Ok I'll admit it, I left home a bit late and was saved by a great car park.

There was a lot of people crowding the roads for the first 8km which was good to keep the excitement in check. But I was feeling great and when I hit the open roads around the Albert Park Formula 1 Grand Prix track, I "put the foot down" and scooted past the 4 hour pacer who I had been previously keeping in sight.

I rolled out the next 10kms at about 5.15 per km and was feeling very comfortable. I went through the half way point in 1.53 and all was looking good for a sub 4 hour time... assuming I didn't hit the "wall".

Then 27km came and the quads started to tighten.... By 30km the tightening was really painful. By 32km it was like... oh crap, still 10km to go. But go I continued to go... I wanted to get under 4 hours.

At 35km I felt like I was running on someone's else's legs, I couldn't really feel them. Then there was a slight downhill at about 38km.... oh my god... the pain, the insanity of running on blocks of wood that used to be legs!

Finally that enormous downhill slope (of maybe 1%!!) was past and it was shuffling along, still at under 6 mins per km, to the finish line, located in the mecca of sport in Melbourne, at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.

Through the under ground entry and onto the arena and around to the finish. Four hours was well and truly covered. Finished in 3.51.42 and I was extremely pleased with the effort.

Compared to an ironman, I felt aerobically terrific. Normally I am completely shattered after an ironman, but after a marathon I felt fine. Sure my legs felt worse than they have even felt before... but they would recover!!!

So the test of running versus ironman... definitely the running bit was fun.

The next day at work... I had to step up a small step. I had to stop, and think my way through it. Two girls asked me if I was ok... it was extremely painful lifting my leg!! I had turned from 42 to 92 in one weekend!!

As you can see below, I wasn't looking that fantastic when I finished... the quads were completedly shot to pieces and there was definitely some leaning happening!!!

It would take me a month to get over this event.... but I did now have a sub 4 hour marathon to my name!!!

Definitely more marathons coming up in 2010!!!