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September 18, 2016

Race report – City-Bay Fun Run 2016

City-Bay, for the uninitiated, is, quite simply, an Adelaide institution. It’s been going for over 40 years and has at times boasted a field of over 40,000 runners and walkers. It is an event that pretty much stops a city, and is the goal race for so many new runners/walkers (including yours truly in 2013) – a nice flat/downhill 12k from the centre of Adelaide CBD to the iconic seaside suburb of Glenelg.

This was my 4th consecutive City-Bay. My first one was in 2013 and despite the timing issues, got me the desired sub-60 time of 57:32. Thanks to the sadly missed Brian Wyld I got the coveted sub-60 bib and that was a big contributing factor to my getting under the hour (and, importantly, making it to my 10am soccer game in time). In 2014 I also had a game to get to, and gave myself a bit more time to get there by beating my 2013 time (from memory I think it was 55:57) but unfortunately I didn’t have the luxury of starting the game on the bench as we only had the bare 11 players. I don’t think it was my best ever game!

2015 was another story altogether. Having decided to hang up the soccer boots earlier in the year, I had no game to get to. Somehow (and I still don’t know quite how) I managed a 51:21. You can read all about it here.
Then came 2016. I have had a pretty big year. So far, I’ve had 2 marathons and 3 ultras in 2016. There was NO WAY I was going to beat, or even get close to, last year’s time. For the first time, I had to face the very likely prospect of not running a PB. I was not sure quite how to deal with that.

My preparation was as good as could be expected. I had a solid hit-out on Thursday (despite a stop at the river to check out the aftermath of Wednesday’s big storm) and a decent speed session on Friday. Saturday was an easy 5k parkrun with my mum to celebrate Torrens parkrun’s 200th run.

Gear-wise I’d gone with something a bit different – all built around the pink sub-60 minute race bib (they said it was magenta but it was clearly pink). I went with a nice floral lululemon skirt, with a new blue Skins singlet which I’d bought way back in July at the Gold Coast Marathon expo and had only had the chance to wear once so far, and had had a fantastic run that day. I’d also gone with the 2XU compression socks with which I’d done a near-PB at the Barossa half and a Boston qualifier at Gold Coast (despite nearly losing a toenail as a result) and my almost brand new Brooks Ravenna 6 shoes (my 6th pair of Ravenna 6s!). To top it all off I wore my stock standard white hat and another new addition, a pair of pink leg warmers (worn as arm warmers) which I’d bought from the Central Market the day before for the princely sum of $1. Money well spent if you ask me but one of my running buddies at the start line somewhat unkindly told me that I’d been ripped off (I’m talking to you, Mark Newman!)

It was a chilly morning so I’d donned a tracksuit top and gloves as I made the journey to the finish at Glenelg. That was a bit of a weird experience as I drove along the race route of Anzac Highway, seeing the kilometre markers which I would see again a few hours later! From Glenelg, I trammed it back to the city, arriving an hour before the 8am start. The tram ride was interesting – I didn’t know anyone on the tram but most of the people around me were clearly newbies who would be happy just to finish. It kind of put things into perspective, and took me back to 2013 when I would have been stoked with anything under an hour. Oh to be able to just go out there and enjoy it without the (self-imposed) pressure to perform!

On arrival in the city, I first stopped at the portaloo before doing a warmup, then removing my jacket and dropping my bag at the baggage drop, and quickly downing my energy drink before making my way to the sub-60 starting ‘cage’ where I couldn’t look anywhere without seeing a familiar face!

I had a few goals. My ‘A’ goal was to run around 54 minutes which would equate to 4:30 per kilometre. My ‘B’ goal was under 55 minutes. My ‘C’ goal was to retain my spot in the cage by running under the hour. I didn’t set any goals beyond that. For me, anything over an hour would be a disaster!

My regular running buddy, Peter, who I hadn’t seen before the start, was also aiming for around 54 minutes, so I was hoping to run at least part of the way with him. It is always good to have someone to run at least a few kms with!

Another sometime running buddy, Matt, had reminded me of how I’d breezed past him towards the end of last year’s race. I laughed and said that would be unlikely to happen again!

While waiting in the cage, light rain started to fall. I hadn’t experienced a rainy City-Bay before. Another reason why I wasn’t going to get a PB (or close to it). Fortunately, the rain stopped and the sun showed its face just before the start!

And before we knew it … it was go time!

I won’t talk too much about the race itself because it was a hard slog from start to finish. My first kilometre was 4:30, spot on pace. I saw Peter ahead of me but he was quickly away and I didn’t see him again until afterwards.

There were a few other familiar faces along the way – Matt, who I think I finished just ahead of, and another Matt who hadn’t run since San Francisco Marathon about 6 weeks earlier. Also there were regular parkrunners Jacques (who I probably hadn’t seen since City-Bay last year) and Chris and Michelle, both of whom I knew I was unlikely to see again after they passed me early on. Beck was also out there but after a bad run last year she was with the main pack, outside the ‘cage’, so I wasn’t expecting to see her.

My first few kilometres were on or ahead of pace but it wasn’t long before the pace started to drop. Despite not needing to stop for a drink (I was carrying a bottle of Gatorade) and passing a lot of people along the way, my pace continued to slow.

I ditched my gloves at the first drink station. I’d worn them because it had been a bit chilly earlier, but really could have done without them. I tried to throw them in the bin but it was quickly apparent why I’d never made it as a netballer or basketballer.

I managed to get in the obligatory high five to a couple of kids at the halfway mark. There is a 6km race starting here, which would have started not long after we passed.

Then we hit 7km and I tried to tell myself it was ‘just a parkrun to go’ but for some reason that didn’t help.

At around 8km I decided that the kilometre split times were doing my head in (because they weren’t as good as I had wanted) so I pulled my arm warmer (by now completely redundant, as the sun was well and truly out and it was lovely running weather) up over my watch so I couldn’t see it. It was time to get the head down and just get this thing done.

I did have to look up from time to time. People have a nasty habit of stopping and walking without warning, and I could easily have run up the back of someone. Still, that last 4km really seemed to drag!

2km to go. Less than 10 minutes. Head down, one foot in front of the other.

After what seemed like an eternity, we finally got off Anzac Highway and onto the road that led us onto Jetty Road for the last few hundred metres. It felt like a lot more than that! A few people passed me on Jetty Road but mostly I held my spot and occasionally passed people. I stuck to the middle of the road, along the tramline, as I didn’t want to hold anyone up – I would have hated that last year!

FINALLY we turned the corner and the finish line was in sight. Unlike the previous 3 years there was no elation, no posing as I crossed the line, just pure relief that it was over! And huge disappointment when I finally looked at my watch and it was just over the 55 minutes! I’d given it everything I had but it just wasn’t enough.

I grabbed my race bag with the medal and made my way to the post-race recovery area. I hung around at the SA Road Runners Club marquee where I caught up with many of my fellow runners. Peter had done WELL under 54 minutes so there was no way I was ever going to be running with him! Beck had had an uneventful run and got her sub-60 bib back for next year. Gary had finished not far behind me and was very happy with his time. This for me was the best part of the day – getting to see all the other happy runners and forget how craptacular I felt my run was!

My response, when people asked me how I went, started as ‘Terrible’ then ‘Not as good as I’d hoped’ and finally settled at ‘Meh’. After 3 excellent City-Bays, I finally knew what it felt like to have a sub-par race. Much like this guy…

As I had lunch plans, I couldn’t stay long but I did manage to see 2012 Olympic gold medallist (and unsurprisingly the winner of the men’s 12k walk) Jared Tallent being interviewed onstage as well as Jess Trengove, also fresh back from Rio. I even managed to get a photo with Jared, as well as meeting Instagram friend Kristie who finished 3rd in the women’s walk – talk about mixing with the elites!

So, while it was not a great race personally for me this year, City-Bay is still a wonderful Adelaide event and just a brilliant day. Thanks so much to Race Director Joe Stevens and his team, including the fantastic volunteers, for making this event a ‘must-do’ for so many people every year, all the way from the elites to the back-of-the-pack gorilla-suited walkers!

And yes, despite saying ‘Never again!’ at the end of the race, chances are I will be fronting up again for my 5th City-Bay in 2017!

September 12, 2016

Taking the scenic route!

Trail running is a funny thing. Distances are not precise like they are in road races. Case in point, last Sunday’s trail race which went from 18k to 19 to 21 before settling at 19.5k. There is always going to be variation – different people will follow different paths while still staying on course, surprise obstacles can crop up, and of course a whole group of people can run the EXACT same route and ALL get different distances on their watches.
(Road runs are not ALWAYS a set distance. Local knowledge is important. Last weekend I went to a parkrun (not mentioning any names!) and managed to make what should have been a 5km run into a 5.2km run. The absence of the turnaround flag was not an issue for most of the runners, who were regulars and knew where the flag was MEANT to be. I found myself on my own, not seeing where the people behind me had turned, looking at my watch and realising I must have gone too far, and seeing the guy behind me turn around. It may have been an omen for the trail run to come that night – we’ll get to that.)

Then, there’s the other way that trail runs become longer (or shorter, but nearly always longer) than expected. Getting lost, or as we like to call it in trail running circles, ‘going exploring’.

One early example of this was during the Summit to Sea social run a few years back. It is a run from the top of Mount Lofty down to Brighton beach, traditionally following the Sea to Summit trail. It is ‘meant’ to be 34km and includes a hill climb at O’Halloran Hill late in the piece (but on the plus side there was a drink station there). Somehow we managed to miss a turn, cut out the OHH climb and drink stop, and cut it back to 32km. I later found out that SA trail running legend Terry Cleary said that the run was “from the Summit to the Sea, doesn’t matter which way you go!”

It wasn’t a race so it didn’t matter.

I memorably ‘went exploring’ in a large field during the Heysen 105 last year, a mistake I won’t make again. I can’t guarantee I won’t stray from the traditional route at some point, but I won’t make THAT mistake again!

This past weekend I organised a small group to run the last section of Heysen 105, usually around 18km, on Saturday night. This training run is traditionally held at night as the majority of people will finish, if not start, this section in darkness. The fact that the training runs are being held earlier this year meant that daylight saving hasn’t yet started, so instead of starting at dusk, it was already dark by the time we kicked off the run. Partner in crime Kate and I had decided to do the run a week earlier than the scheduled group run, because next weekend is the City-Bay Fun Run and we didn’t really fancy a potentially very late night and long trail run the night before what we hoped to be a fast road run! We put the call out to see if anyone wanted to join and on the night we had 13 other keen runners join us for our little adventure!

We had organised that people would stick together in small groups so no-one would be on their own, and I asked people to message me when they got back, so I would know we hadn’t lost anyone.

After meeting at the finish and carpooling back to the start, we headed off shortly after 7pm. Ziad, who I am guessing probably knows the trail better than any of us, and is frequently seen at trail races as sweeper, offered to stay at the back. He was running with Laura, who was hard to miss in her hi-viz yellow top and amazing glow-in-the-dark tights! Everyone else settled into their small groups and followed the Heysen trail reflective markers.

It was super muddy and wet, as Ziad had warned us (he had recently run this section during the day) and we quickly gave up on the idea of trying to find a dry path. There wasn’t one.

I ran with Glen for a while – he had done Heysen several times and he pointed out to me where he had gone astray last year. Once again – once you’ve made a mistake on a particular route, you can be sure you won’t do the same thing again!

I dropped back to run with Kate and James. I had met James 3 weeks earlier at the last Heysen training run and had seen him every weekend since – our 41km Yurrebilla epic training run, and Mt Hayfield the following week.

Things were going well – we were following the arrows, crossing creeks, running through mud and sand, and we’d got to about 13km, expecting we had about 5km to go, when we ran into Ziad and Laura. Supposedly they were the back of the group! We had somehow taken a 3.5km detour and STILL had 8.5km to go! How had this happened? We were definitely following the Heysen arrows!

Apparently we went wrong twice, but I can only explain one. It was a good lesson to learn. At some point we had followed the wrong arrow and gotten off the Heysen trail. The Heysen arrows are red but we had followed some blue ones. In the dark of course, they all looked the same! By the time we ran into the others we were back on the Heysen alright, but we were going in the opposite direction to what we were supposed to be! So theoretically, if we hadn’t run into them, we could have kept going all the way back to the start of the run!

(The purple line on the map shows the route we SHOULD have taken – thanks to James for this map!)

So from then on we were very careful to make sure we were following the HEYSEN arrows. (Of course, on race day, there will be a lot of additional markers, and the markers in this section will be reflective.)
I checked my phone from time to time and got text messages from people who had finished and were heading home. We wondered if we might be the last ones back!

The other time when we could potentially have gone very wrong was right near the end when the Heysen marker indicated to go straight ahead, but we actually had to go right, up a road to the campground carpark where the cars were. On race day that will be marked with an arrow. Of course, the race doesn’t finish ON the Heysen trail. If we’d kept going we would have ended up in the Flinders Ranges! (I like to think we would have figured it out well before then!)

By the time we got back we’d done 22km and Ziad and Laura were the only ones yet to come in. They arrived maybe 10 minutes after us, and we could all go home to shower and clean our shoes!

So we did our fair share of exploring, but we learned some valuable lessons which will stand us in good stead on race day in 6 weeks. Plus, I got a blog post out of it!

September 11, 2016

Having a ball!

A week or so ago I shared my new recipe for lime and coriander balls. You can find it here.

I decided to try something a little different today. Still sticking with the same basic formula but changing up the flavours a bit.

This time I used orange zest, a mixture of orange juice and rosewater, and a mixture of cashews and pistachios.

These balls:

are VEGAN
can be GLUTEN-FREE (use GF oats)
contain NO REFINED SUGAR
are a PIECE OF CAKE to make!

ORANGE, PISTACHIO AND ROSEWATER BALLS

(makes 16 balls)

INGREDIENTS

1 cup rolled oats (use gluten-free if needed)
1/2 cup raw cashews
1/2 cup plus about 3 tablespoons pistachios
10 Medjool dates, pitted
1 teaspoon orange juice
2 teaspoons orange zest
1 tablespoon melted coconut oil
2 teaspoons rosewater

INSTRUCTIONS

Soak the dates in hot water for about 10 minutes, and drain.
Place pistachios in food processor and grind to a coarse powder. Take out about 3 tablespoons worth and set aside.

Add dates, zest, juice, rosewater and oil, and process until they form a dough-like paste (mixture will clump into a big ball – this will take less than a minute)

Divide the mixture into balls – the number of balls will depend on how big you like them. I usually make 16 because it’s easy to make them roughly the same size – I divide the mixture in half, then half again, then again, then again.

Roll the balls in reserved ground pistachios and refrigerate until firm.

September 5, 2016

RACE REPORT – MOUNT HAYFIELD TRAIL RACE

2 weeks ago I did my first trail run in a little over 3 months. I was so happy to be back out there again after 3 months of marathon road slog. I was happy with my pace too, surprisingly slightly faster than when I did the equivalent run last year (a nice little 27km jaunt along the Heysen Trail, training for the upcoming Heysen 105).

1 week ago I somewhat ambitiously decided that the 20-odd km YUM 3 training run (the third of 3 official training runs for the Yurrebilla 56km ultramarathon, which when combined, cover the whole course) was not long enough, and with a small group of fellow crazies set out to combine runs 2 and 3. I estimated it would be 38km but it turned out to be 41km. It was a lovely day out but I was dismayed to see how slow it was compared to when I did similar runs last year. Admittedly I WAS only 2 weeks post marathon and I was only just getting my trail legs back, so I shouldn’t be too disappointed with how it went. I enjoyed the last few kilometres, after the brutal ascent up Black Hill – a nice technical descent into the finish at Athelstone. I did get a bit excited. And boy, did I pay for that – that last downhill section gave me the worst DOMS I’ve ever had, and I couldn’t walk properly until Thursday! It was a bit of a downer week because I started having doubts about my ability to run a sub 7 hour Yurrebilla and it was all because I had overcommitted myself to events throughout the year and not focused properly on trail training.

And then we come to my first trail race since UTA100 3½ months ago.

Mount Hayfield is quite far away from Adelaide. It was a good 1¼ hour drive to Yankalilla, the nearest significant town, and then a nice bumpy dirt road drive to the race start. Luckily I had organised to carpool from Yankalilla with fellow trail runner Sandy who had a WRX, which handled the road conditions much better than my little Corolla would have!

I had entered the long course which started at 8 and was meeting Sandy at 7 so that meant leaving home around 5:45.

The long course was originally stated to be 18km, later revised to 19km. I was a little surprised to hear at the start from several different people that it was a bit longer and might even be 21km! 21km is very different to 19km! Trail races are notorious for being not quite exactly the distance they are meant to be. I was hoping it would be closer to 19km but I kept 21km in my mind as the worst case scenario.

We were told to bring a change of shoes as it was going to be MUDDY!

Sandy and I had been chatting in the car and the topic turned to goal times. He said he’d be happy with anything under 2 hours and I thought that sounded pretty reasonable. Little did I know…

You know how they often recommend that you study the course map before a race so you don’t get lost? Yeah, I don’t do that. I prefer not to know. I knew there was some elevation but I didn’t know the detail and I was quite happy with that.

I had forgotten my energy drink and remembered as I was already on the road, but didn’t want to go back for it. I did have my energy supplement which I stashed in one of my arm warmers (it sounds dodgy but it isn’t. COMPLETELY legal) so I wouldn’t forget it. I did manage to lose that on my bathroom stop at Yankalilla. So I was left with NO caffeine, my only option would be to get a coffee from the coffee van but I NEVER drink coffee before a run. (ALWAYS after, though!)

Given that Trail Running SA has adopted a “no cups” policy, I had decided to wear my small race vest with about 750ml water in the bladder, 2 x 250ml bottles of Gatorade and enough powder to make another 500ml of Gatorade if needed. My plan was not to stop at any of the drink stations so I was anticipating that the water and Gatorade I started with would be enough to get me to the finish.

After collecting my bib (Bib number 5 – I’ve never had a single figure number on a bib before!) and a quick portaloo stop, it was time to go!

We were lulled into a false sense of security by a nice downhill start. Sure, it was muddy underfoot and there were rocky sections so you really had to pay attention to where you were putting your feet, but it was downhill. I guess we were all thinking, “What goes down must come up!” (and I’m not talking about the food at the post-race aid station!)

Up until the 7km mark everything was going nicely. 44 minutes, average pace 6:17, admittedly almost all of that was downhill. Then we hit the first major climb.

In previous races, I have tried not to walk up the hills. This was not possible for me when I hit that first climb. I tried a new tactic on a few occasions during this race – run 10 steps then walk 10. I’m not sure quite how effective it was, as people were still passing me, walking, while I was doing this. I can probably safely say I got up the hills quicker using this technique than I would have had I just walked.

The first big climb was followed by a few nice downhill kilometres to prepare us for the Big One.

The bottom of the big hill was the point where I decided to pull out my phone and take a few photos. It’s not something I normally do in a race (except in an ultra, when there is always going to be walking and there are always going to be photo opportunities), but when I realised there was no way I was running up that thing, I felt it was necessary to try to capture just how steep it was, in photographic form. It was pretty steep alright – my elevation profile shows it being pretty much vertical for a long way, then a few teasing little downhills before climbing again.

I gave up on the “run/walk” strategy on this particular hill. It was a long hard plod (almost verging on a crawl).

I think at this point (in fact, probably earlier than this) the whole idea of sub 2 hours became an impossibility.

Mercifully, the big climb was followed by a few downhill kilometres before we faced more uphill, but none of the other climbs were anywhere near as steep or as long as that one.

Most of this run I did on my own – occasionally I would see a familiar face (usually passing me) but for most of it I was just concentrating on sticking with the person in front (and ideally trying to make up some ground). There was one girl who passed me on an uphill – not looking like it was too much of an effort – so I assumed she must be doing the short course. Plus she wasn’t carrying a bottle or wearing a hydration vest, and there’s no way anyone could run this kind of terrain for 2+ hours and not need a drink! I didn’t expect to see her again but when we passed the drink station where the short course runners went one way and we went another, I was surprised to see her still in front of me (by now, just a dot in the distance).

As we got close to the 18km mark I could see her ahead of me and I did eventually manage to catch her. Her name was Mel and I asked her if she had a bottle stashed somewhere to which she replied no, she never runs with any kind of hydration vest/belt/bottle etc. There was also a guy called Trevor who was running with us at that stage. Mel said “only 1km to go” and I thought to myself, “Would now be a good time to bring up the 21km thing?” I decided against it. I instead said “Hmmm, we’ll see about that – never believe you’re near the end until you can actually SEE the finish line!”

19km came and went, and still no finish line. SURELY we didn’t have another 2km of this to go?

Not long after that we saw Greg, one of the volunteers, who said “Only 200m to go. Maybe 300m”. I could cope with that, and I didn’t think he’d lie about something like that! Then we saw Bev at the drink station and she said “It’s just up there!” and then we could see it – that magnificent mystical structure that they call the finishing arch that somehow miraculously makes you run faster. I said to Mel and Trevor “Shall we run it?” to which they replied in the affirmative and promptly went on to finish just ahead of me. (Mel was 2 seconds ahead of me in 10th place – not that I was in any way thinking about placings on this occasion but top 10 would have been nice!)

The last 2.5km were uphill but compared to some of the earlier climbs it wasn’t so bad. The final distance was 19.5km – more than enough!

Priorities, priorities – my first stop was the food tent to get me one of those famous vegan brownies before they were all gone! I’d volunteered at the last 3 Trail Running SA races, the last two on the finish line food table, and had managed to get a couple of said brownies, but I didn’t want to take any chances of missing out! Then it was time to catch up with other fellow runners/torture addicts to see if they’d found the course as challenging as I had!

Turns out I wasn’t the only one who found it tough. 2 people separately described it as “harder than Mt Misery” – an event I’ve never run but which is notoriously tough. So it wasn’t just me being a wuss/completely out of trail condition! It was a legitimately tough course!

I had to get back to town for a Fathers’ Day lunch but I made sure I waited until after the presentations and lucky prize draw before I left. Good thing I did too, because I won a hydration pack – valued at over $200! Go me!

Thanks to all the fantastic volunteers from Trail Running SA who put on yet another brilliant event. It was great to be out there as a runner after volunteering at the last 3 races, and it just makes you appreciate all the more what the volunteers do to make these races happen. Thanks to Sandy for the lift from Yankalilla to the race and to Laura for giving me and my filthy stinky shoes a lift back after the race!

Massive thanks too to the awesome Sputnik who seemed to be everywhere on the course snapping away and from whom I got most of these photos.

Well done to everyone who participated in both the short and the long course, and hopefully I’ll see a lot of you again at Kuitpo in November (I’ve already entered!) if not at Yurrebilla in 3 weeks!

Yes, it was tough, yes, there were certainly times when I didn’t want to be there, and yes, I would do it again in a heartbeat!

September 3, 2016

I like balls!

Before I go any further and you get COMPLETELY the wrong idea of what this post is about, this is a recipe post!

Energy balls are a fantastic easy on-the-go snack. They can be expensive to buy, but why buy when they are so easy to make? The beauty of making your own is that you can tweak the recipe to suit your taste, or if you happen to be missing one ingredient, you can often substitute another for equally good (and sometimes even better) results.

I have an old favourite recipe which I might tell you about in a future post, which is a raw cacao ball. I tweaked it by soaking the dates in fresh espresso coffee instead of hot water, to make mocha balls.

Anyway, today I am going to share my new take on an old favourite.

Here is a link to the original recipe – I’ve made these balls so many times that I can now make them without even consulting the recipe for the ingredients or quantities.

I am a little obsessed with coriander (some of you may know it as cilantro). I get that from my Mum, who famously once said “If I could dry it and smoke it, I would.” Well, I’m sure she COULD, but I’m not sure it would have the desired effect…

I am determined to come up with a recipe that incorporates coriander into a dessert. I know coriander is probably THE most polarising herb there is, so if you’re a hater, just leave it out. (Also, we can’t be friends.)

So, what I’ve done is swap out lemon for lime, and vanilla essence for chopped fresh coriander. Simples!

These balls are vegan, can be gluten-free if required, contain no refined sugar (the dates are the only sweetener) and are EASY AS to make!

LIME AND CORIANDER BALLS

(makes approximately 16 balls)

INGREDIENTS

1 cup rolled oats (use gluten-free if needed)
1 cup raw cashews
10 Medjool dates, pitted
2 teaspoons lime juice
2 teaspoons lime zest (one lime gave me enough juice and zest)
1 tablespoon melted coconut oil
1 tablespoon finely chopped coriander/cilantro (optional if you’re a weirdo who doesn’t like it)
Unsweetened shredded coconut (to roll the balls in)

INSTRUCTIONS

Soak the dates in hot water for about 10 minutes, and drain.

Place the oats and cashews in a food processor and process until they become a powder.

Add dates, zest, juice, oil and coriander, and process until they form a dough-like paste (mixture will clump into a big ball – this will take less than a minute)

Divide the mixture into balls – the number of balls will depend on how big you like them. I usually make 16 because it’s easy to make them roughly the same size – I divide the mixture in half, then half again, then again, then again.

Roll the balls in coconut and place in fridge to get firm. Because you want your balls to be firm.

Don’t eat them all at once (I challenge you!)

August 29, 2016

Is it worth it?

Whenever something in life seems particularly difficult, requiring sacrifices, hours upon hours of blood, sweat and/or tears, you really need to ask yourself one question.

Is it worth it?

I remember being asked this very question at work after returning from UTA100. Now I will add that I was very broken that day, and actually amazed I made it in to work at all. So in hindsight, it was probably a fair question. But despite my brokenness, there was no hesitation when I responded, “Of course!”

I guess this applies in all areas of life – work and relationships being two that immediately spring to mind. Today I am going to focus on the running side (surprise, surprise!)

Training for a marathon, or ultramarathon, requires (for me at least), a lot of hours of training. Sometimes you don’t really feel like training, but you kind of have to do it. And almost always, you finish the run thinking “I’m so glad I didn’t listen to 5am me!” It also requires sacrifices – almost always having to go to bed early on Saturday nights in order to be fresh for Sunday’s long run. And you (well, I at least) can kiss goodbye the thought of doing anything productive on a Sunday afternoon after said long run.

Any time it all seems too hard and you can’t seem to get motivated, think about the goal and ask yourself that question.

Is it worth it?

I have not yet done a triathlon but I do plan to at some stage. I don’t, however, see myself doing an Ironman at any time. My theory being, if marathon training requires running 5 times a week, pretty much wiping out all of Sunday and not being particularly functional the next day, how on earth could I possibly find time to do all the Ironman training, with a marathon PLUS the cycle and swim legs to train for? And not just the time factor but presumably there will be some muscle soreness to factor in, but presumably not much opportunity for rest/recovery days. So for me, at this point in time (never say never) the answer to the question, “Is it worth it?” would be “No”.

Lately my Sunday Runday recovery has consisted of getting into my compression pants (I imagine watching me trying to put those bad boys on would make quite amusing viewing – I am lucky enough that I don’t experience cramps when running like a lot of my friends do, but the one time that I do get cramps is in my feet when trying to get my compression tights on and off!) and crashing on the couch for a few hours when I really should be doing something useful like making dinner or getting stuff organised for work on Monday. I don’t seem to get DOMS (Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness for the uninitiated) anymore. It pretty much starts either as soon as I stop running, or when I get out of the car after driving home. But is it worth it? So far, I’d say yes.

I don’t believe in going for a long run just for the sake of it. If I’m going to run 20km or more, it will be for one of the following reasons:

It is a race that I believe I can do well in (not necessarily figure in the placings, but run close to a PB) and preferably one that has a finisher medal.
It is a training run for a race I believe I can do well in (and DEFINITELY has some kind of bling at the end of it)

Most runs would fit into one of these categories anyway, because lately it seems like I’m always training for something. And that doesn’t look like ending anytime soon, because after my last big race for the year (Heysen 105 at the end of October) it won’t be long before Boston Marathon training kicks in. (I just checked the calendar. 16 weeks from Boston is Boxing Day!)

I know of a lot of people who go for 30+ km runs (and sometimes even more) just for fun. And good on them, but that is not me. For me, the time taken for the run, plus the time taken to recover from the run, is NOT worth it.

I read a story about a woman who ran the Kangaroo Island Marathon this weekend, and it was her 504th marathon. I can safely say you will NEVER be reading a story like that about me. This woman was in her 70s, and even if she’d started in her 20s (which is very young for a marathon runner), that meant she must have done 10 marathons a year for 50 years! (I worked that out in my head!) So far I have never done more than 2 in a year – that is well and truly enough for me. I don’t run marathons for fun (again, I know a lot of people do and I admire that, but it is not me). I train, I make all the necessary sacrifices, and I leave it all out there. If I am going to run 42.2km, I am going to give it everything I’ve got, and feel like I’ve earned that bling. Consequently there is no way that I would ever be able to run 10 marathons in a year.

Only once have I ever considered pulling out of a race. That was the 2015 Clare half marathon. I had gone out way too fast (a common mistake!) and consequently died in the back half. I didn’t specifically ask that question, but I must admit that a few thoughts crossed my mind. One, the medal at the end. Two, knowing that I COULD definitely finish (ie my legs were still working, just not as well as I would have liked) I would have kicked myself if I’d DNFed (if I had had the strength in my legs to do so!) So in that case, pushing on despite having a crap time, WAS worth it!

I know people who have pulled out of races because they know they’re not going to get the time they want. That’s fair enough too, because they have other races further down the line that they’re training for, and to push on to the finish just so they don’t have to DNF, might jeopardise a good performance in a future race. So I totally get that. For them, the answer to the question “Is it worth it (to finish this race)?” is a resounding NO.

One of the ‘sacrifices’ I’ve made this year was to stop running trails for 3 months, from UTA100 in May, to last weekend’s Heysen 105 training run. Every time I’d see photos on Facebook or Instagram of friends out enjoying a beautiful trail run (often in glorious weather too), I’d be wishing that was me out there, instead of pounding the pavement in preparation for my 2 marathons. The reason for my self-imposed trail ban was three-fold:

Rest my dodgy hamstring which REALLY doesn’t like going up hills.
Avoid the likely injuries that go along with me running trails (usually just a minor stack resulting in a few grazes, but the potential for a rolled ankle is always there and would be a MAJOR inconvenience while trying to train for a marathon)
I needed to get in a long road run each weekend and to try to do that AND a trail run would be a recipe for disaster.

But was it worth it? HELL YEAH it was. My first marathon this year was my Boston qualifier, which was my number 1 goal for the year. The second one was to try to get my friend Beck her BQ, which we didn’t quite manage to do, but I enjoyed most of that run and I totally don’t regret doing that. And when I did get back out on the trails last weekend, I think I enjoyed it all the more (despite my lack of sure-footedness!)

Some runs are better than others. That first trail run back was an absolute delight, despite the fact that I ran most of it on my own (by virtue of being not quite fast enough to stick with the lead pack, and significantly faster than those behind me) and my pace was pleasing considering I hadn’t done a trail in so long. The trail run this last weekend, 41km along the Yurrebilla Trail, was a bit of a slog and a wake-up call – a lot slower than I would have expected, a lot HARDER than I remember, and it showed me that I have a lot of work to do before the Yurrebilla Ultra in 4 weeks to get my goal time of under 7 hours. But – it will be worth it!

So, I am willing to put up with the early starts, early nights, not-so-delayed-onset muscle soreness and the occasional blister or lost toenail, if the prize at the end is something I really want. As soon as the answer to the question “Is it worth it?” ceases to be a resounding “YES!” then it’s time to start seriously considering what I’m doing!

August 22, 2016

Race photos – a how-to guide

It’s no secret, I am a sucker for a race photo. It’s entirely possible that I have spent more money on race photos than race entry fees. I don’t want to add it up and find out for sure!

People often comment on my race photos and say things like, “How can you look like you’re not dying?

With a quiet patch coming up in terms of races, but a few big ones coming up, I thought this week would be an opportune time to share my tips on nailing a good race pic!

But first, here is my first EVER race photo, from my first EVER race in November 2012.

SO much wrong with this photo. Mostly the outfit.

Could be worse though – I could be Tess, photobombed by a tree!

1. Don’t be afraid to fake it!

Trust me, the photo does not always reflect my frame of mind at the time! The smile in the second photo is definitely very fake. But hopefully you would have been so dazzled by the brightness of my outfit that you would not have noticed that.

2. Be aware of where the photographers are.

In a road race, they’ll usually be along the left side of the course, usually wearing a hi-viz vest. I tend to try to run along the left side where possible. Also, then I get to high five spectators!

3. Wear something distinctive.

It’s not always practical to wear a costume, although in some themed runs it can be fun to get into the spirit of it! It’s also great to dress up when you’re a pacer, so your ‘bus’ passengers can easily pick you out of the crowd!

Bright colours are also good. The added bonus is if you have to find the photos yourself among hundreds of other photos, you won’t have too much trouble picking yourself out!

4. Prepare a few interesting poses.

This is a work in progress for me. Usually all I can think of to do is wave at the camera. Different facial expressions, hand gestures – the list is endless!

5. Might as well jump!

One of my running goals, and one I have failed at spectacularly to date, is to nail the perfect jumping photo. I’ve thought about doing it several times but chickened out at the last minute. I tried one during Heysen 105 last year but succeeded only in almost strangling myself with my buff. I tried it at the top of Mt Kosciuszko (the highest point in Australia) but it was so windy that day I was a bit worried about being blown over and landing on a pile of rubble! Here is a video that gives a few tips (from someone who DOES know how to do a jump shot) on how to perfect your technique!

6. Pics with others are always more fun!

Also, tight arse tip: if you run with a friend, you can just buy one lot of race photos and share them!

7. A good finish line photo is essential!

Ideally, wait until AFTER you cross the line to stop your watch (ie not like in the last photo!)

Bloodied knees optional (like in the first photo)

8. Make sure your race bib is visible at all times!

When bib recognition is used, and you get a link to all your photos, a visible bib is essential, otherwise you may miss a bunch of photos. In a shorter race, generally having the bib attached to the front of your top will make it visible. In a longer race where you may either change your top or put a warmer top on over it, it’s best to wear your race bib attached to a belt. I have been doing the latter for the past 12 months or so and never find the bib interferes with my running, and I always get all my photos! (Chris, in the blue and white, didn’t get this photo sent to him as his bib was not visible. Luckily I’m generous and I sent him a copy!)

9. If you’re going to wear a hat, make it a white one.

This is a tip from a photographer friend. With darker hats, it’s REALLY hard to see your face. Plus, darker hats get hotter. Normally you’re wearing a hat because it’s warm. Lighter coloured hats will keep you cooler! I almost ALWAYS wear a white hat. Gets a bit dirty especially on the trails but it can always be washed! Doesn’t look so white up close now but still looks OK for the photos!

10. The photos you take yourself, or that friends take, are often the best!

Selfies during an ultra, or photos taken by friends who are supporting, are often more natural and can be the best photos you get of an event. Plus, they’re free! And if you happen to know the official photographer it often leads to better pictures! (The composite photo shows a few different interesting facial expressions when I was unaware I was being photographed – the one in the middle shows when I saw my friend Dave behind the camera!)

BONUS: Don’t be afraid to photobomb!

I don’t think I was even aware I was photobombing in this race photo! The second photo is one of my favourite pics from this year’s Gold Coast Marathon. I had no idea I was being photobombed, the guy taking the pic offered to do it again but I loved it the way it was!

So there you have it, my top tips for getting the best race photos.

Do you have any other great tips to share?

August 15, 2016

Race report – Adelaide Marathon Festival 2016

The 2016 Adelaide Marathon Festival consisted of 4 events, the marathon, half marathon, 10k and 2k family fun run. For the first time since the redevelopment of the Adelaide Oval, all the events finished on the hallowed turf. As a cricket tragic from way back and with Adelaide Oval being my spiritual home, there was no way I was missing out on this opportunity.

I had run Adelaide last year for the first time, as a pacer in the half marathon – that was also my first experience of pacing. You can read about it here.

This year I had also volunteered to pace the half, on the condition that if I needed to run Adelaide for a Boston qualifier, I would run the full instead. I decided early on (even before Gold Coast) that I would commit to running Adelaide Marathon as well, so I gave the organisers plenty of notice to find another 2 hour pacer.

I was running Adelaide with Beck, aiming for somewhere between 3:40 and 3:45, to try to get her across the line to Boston too.

My taper week was uneventful.

Tuesday was my usual 12k run, albeit slightly slower than usual. To make up for it we threw in a few short sharp efforts.

Thursday was a short 6k easy run. I noticed some discomfort on the outside of my left foot. I then realised that the shoes I was wearing had done over 900km! Luckily these weren’t the shoes in which I was planning to run the marathon!

I took Friday off and did an easy parkrun with Mum on Saturday.

On Saturday afternoon I had volunteered to do a leaflet drop for SARRC (SA Road Runners Club – the organisers of the marathon) – basically putting flyers on cars along the tighter parts of the course, to politely ask people to park elsewhere on marathon morning. My designated area was the Mills Tce zigzag section and along Strangways Tce beside the golf course. The Mills Tce section I had earmarked as probably the most difficult section, after last weekend’s reccy run with Beck. It was great to get another chance to see it before race day, although hopefully I would be covering that section a bit quicker during the marathon!

I had a quiet night Saturday night, watching Olympics highlights, and my marathon eve dinner (as per tradition) was pizza – homemade dukkah-roasted pumpkin, chickpeas, spinach and pine nuts – with a cider. I’m glad I had the foresight to make 2 pizzas!

The alarm went off at 4:45am on Sunday and I dragged myself out of bed to get ready. With ideal running weather forecast (mid teens as a top, not too cold overnight, and no rain) my kit was pretty standard – pink SARRC top, rainbow arm warmers, black and white skirt with compression shorts, pink calf sleeves, and my slightly newer shoes. I’d bought a pair of cheap gloves at the market the day before so I put them on along with track pants and a jacket, and my standard white hat. Ready well ahead of the time I needed to leave to pick Beck up, I sat down to watch a bit of Olympics coverage. Then, it was time to go. I thought, am I missing something? OMG, my Spibelt with race bib attached! I’d hung it up on my wardrobe door so my cats wouldn’t use it to sharpen their claws, and damn near forgot it! After grabbing that and putting it on, I headed out to pick Beck up and head to the Adelaide Oval.

We got there in plenty of time, surprisingly there’s not much traffic on the road before 6am on a Sunday morning! That gave us plenty of time for a warmup, toilet stop, bag drop, energy drink, sunscreening and a fair bit of socialising! Unlike at Gold Coast where we had to be in our starting area a good 20 minutes before the start, we could wander onto the road with just a minute before the starter’s gun. Also unlike Gold Coast, and one of the best things about having the race based at a major sporting stadium, there were plenty of CLEAN toilets, running water, soap and even hand dryers! None of those stinky portaloos here!

We met our 3:45 pacer (‘bus driver’) Simon – I hadn’t realised that Beck and Simon hadn’t met before! He was easily visible, like all the other pacers, in his fluoro yellow SARRC top and helium balloons. Also carrying out pacing duties were fellow Yumigo athletes Paul (pacing 4 hours) and David (pacing 3 hours). Sadly we were not going to be able to get anywhere near David’s bus, and we were definitely planning to stay well ahead of Paul!

In the start area we saw Mick who was wearing the No. 1 bib – quite an honour! I expected him to be on the 3:00 bus but he said he didn’t think he would be – his goal race is Melbourne in October. Still, I expected him to be well ahead of me, unlike at Gold Coast 6 weeks ago!

Also there was Nat, running buddy and cycling teacher, who was doing her 3rd straight Adelaide Marathon and was aiming for around 4:30, so we were unlikely to be running with her during the race, although we would see her a number of times in the out and back sections.

It was cool but pleasant, and after warming up I had decided I didn’t need the gloves, so had left them in my bag. I did realise at this point that I didn’t have my sunnies! I thought I must have left them in my bag but I later found out they were sitting on the passenger seat of my car! It was too late by now to get them, so I had to just hope it wouldn’t be sunny!

Aaaaand just like that, at 7am, we were away!

We started relatively conservatively – the plan being to stick with Simon for as long as we needed to, with the aim to move ahead of him if and when we felt the time was right. To try to go ahead of him too early was just asking for trouble. ‘Time in the bank’ is an easy mistake to make in a marathon – go too fast too early and you will lose that ‘banked’ time and more when you fatigue badly at the end.

I hadn’t used ‘Pace Alerts’ on my watch for a while but decided that might be an easy way to ensure we stayed on pace. 5:20 minutes per km would have us sitting right on 3:45. 5:12 would put us just under 3:40. I set my pace alert for 5:05-5:20.

The course is interesting – quite undulating and 2 laps can be a bit mentally tough. It’s also hard to maintain even splits when you’re going up and down. I found this particularly challenging last year as a pacer – it’s best for a pacer to maintain even splits throughout.

The first kilometre was slightly uphill, heading up Montefiore Road and around Light Square, the only time the course ventures into the Adelaide CBD (the rest of it is adjacent North Adelaide). We got through in 5:21 so we were just behind our goal pace but given the slight uphill that was fine. We were running close to Simon at this stage, so close at times we were getting balloons in our faces! Note to self: running DIRECTLY behind the pacer is probably not the best idea!

One of the great things about a course with lots of out and back sections is the opportunity to see a lot of the other runners. Early on we saw all the leaders in the marathon as they came back past us, but later in the race the front runners were so far ahead we didn’t cross paths with them again.

We went through 5km comfortably in 26:19 with an average pace of 5:16. This was around the start of the challenging Mills Tce zigzag, just after we passed the first drink station where Alison and Kay were working hard to keep the drinks coming!

Beck and I had both put ‘special drinks’ at all the drink stations – the drinks themselves weren’t all that special but having bottled drinks is more convenient than trying to drink out of plastic cups while running. With bottled drinks, you can grab the drinks even if you’re not quite ready for them, and you’ll have them when you need them, rather than having to wait another 5km for the next drink stop. I remember at my first marathon in Liverpool the water was all bottled, and it was so handy, I’d grab one at one drink station, and hang onto it until I got close to the next one, and so from the first drink station onwards I was not without a bottle in my hand. I used the same tactic at last year’s Barossa marathon (some bottles with Gatorade and some with water). At my last 2 marathons, at Gold Coast, personal refreshments was a privilege restricted to the elite runners. Here, at Adelaide, my drinks were all Gatorade, given that I had hardly drunk any water during this year’s Gold Coast, which was a much warmer day than Adelaide in August! I’d attached straws to the top to make them more visible, but as it turned out they weren’t that easy to spot, and actually quite annoying to carry! So I won’t be doing that again! Beck’s drinks were all water as she was using gels for nutrition. After the first drink station, once I saw what Beck’s drinks looked like, I offered to get her drinks for her as we passed each station – either I’d run ahead and grab them, or I’d drop back and get them, and catch up with her. This was so she could maintain a steady pace and not have to stop/start.

We passed 10km in around 52:45 – our average pace was still 5:16. We’d gone around the Mills Tce zigzag, up around Wellington Square where we’d seen familiar faces Trish and Britt marshalling, and back around the zigzag again. As predicted, this was quite challenging but the way back was slightly easier. On the way back I spotted Lisa, a former colleague and triathlete, marshalling on one of the corners. We were still comfortably on the 3:45 ‘bus’ by this stage. Also with us was Gary, who I had met at Henley to Henley, looking at doing a sub 4 hour time for his first marathon, and looking well on track to achieve this. Around 10km we got our first drinks. It took me a while to find mine and I ended up running around behind the drinks table, and dropping it on the ground before grabbing it and catching up with Beck and the bus. I realised it wasn’t quite as strong as I like it (I use the powder and mix it myself) but it would have to do!

Ahead of us were a lot of familiar faces in the marathon. Not far behind David (3:00 bus driver) were Gordon and Alex running together, Mick and Leon (the latter easy to spot in his bright red wig!) and then a bit further back around the 3:30 bus were Riesje and Zorica, both looking very strong every time we saw them. Also around there was Charlie, who I had met at Henley to Henley doing the run/walk strategy. I saw him a number of times during the marathon and thought he must have been taking it easy at H2H because on that day he and I finished together, whereas in the marathon he was WELL ahead of me!

Somewhere between 11 and 12km, heading back along War Memorial Drive towards Montefiore Road, we reached the 1 hour point and we saw the nearly 1000 half marathoners head towards Light Square on the start of their journey.

We ran into the Par 3 Golf Course carpark towards the Torrens Weir – very familiar territory, as this is where Torrens parkrun happens every Saturday. Here we saw a very familiar face, Karen, dressed up in a Where’s Wally outfit to cheer us all on with her funny signs.

We were still sitting on 5:16 pace at 15km (1:19:05) – we were in very familiar territory, around the Uni Loop. If we were able to maintain this pace we would be looking at a time of around 3:42:15. Just before this we’d passed the Adelaide Harriers drink station where there were a lot of familiar faces. Julie even had one of my drinks in her hand ready to give me when she saw me coming – talk about great service! I still had plenty in my bottle at that stage and I knew we’d be coming back this way soon so I said no thanks and kept going.

Although the pace seemed to be about right, we had to take into consideration that the distance showing on our watches was significantly more than the kilometre markers showed. The kilometre markers we assumed were accurate – GPS watches are notoriously not so much. Early on, our watches were vibrating to indicate another kilometre had passed, and it was about 200m before the marker. As the race went on, the discrepancy got bigger, up to 400m and then 600m. So the splits I have are based on a slightly inaccurate watch – without having officially timed splits that was all we had to go by. (There was a timing point at the top of Wellington Square but I think that was more to stop people from cheating by cutting corners, rather than giving split times)

As we approached the end of the first lap, we actually increased our pace slightly, going through 20km in 1:45:00 with an average pace of 5:15. This was one part of the course we hadn’t seen – when we did our reccy run last week, we’d run too far along the river, to the point where the only way to get up onto Montefiore Road was to go up stairs. We knew that wasn’t right – there would be no stairs in the marathon. I think I would have preferred the stairs – the hill was short but nasty. We ran up Montefiore Rd, back onto War Memorial Drive and back past the Adelaide Oval to commence our second lap. It was here that we saw (well, probably ‘heard’ is more accurate) Michelle for the first time, unmissable in a brightly coloured wig, marshalling at the entrance to the Adelaide Oval carpark. Boy, would we be happy to see her next time around!

As we went back towards Light Square I commented that I didn’t feel much different now than I did at the start of the race. A good sign, surely.

We were still sitting on 5:15 pace when we passed 25km in 2:11:27. This was on the way up War Memorial Drive past the golf course towards the Mills Tce zigzag. This was the first time we saw some of the half marathoners, among them Megan, Chantel, Caitlin, Neil and Michael.

Somewhere along this zigzag we fell off the 3:45 bus. We were gradually starting to drop behind but still within striking distance. At one point Simon looked around and wondered what was going on because he couldn’t hear me anymore. I offered/threatened to sing but it didn’t eventuate. We were convinced that Simon was ‘speeding’, because by 30km (2:38:11) our average pace had only dropped slightly to 5:16 as we ran back down Strangways Tce into the last zigzag. We decided not to try to run after the bus as that would waste valuable energy. Instead we decided just to stick to our own plan – we were still on target for a sub 3:45 finish.

(GPS inaccuracy is one of the difficulties of pacing. Normally the GPS says you’ve gone further than you actually have, so you need to run slightly faster than your watch would suggest, but you can’t go too fast otherwise the passengers will fall off the bus!)

At around 32km, with just over 10km to go, I remember saying to Gary, “This is where it gets ugly”. Gary had never run more than 33km in training so soon he would have surpassed his longest distance run.

As we ran back towards the weir, Karen had been joined by Shannon, Brian and Kym. Karen chased Beck and me for a short while – it was a welcome distraction and great support!

I think we ‘dropped’ Gary not long after this – I hope it wasn’t something I said!

But I was right. It did get a bit ugly after that. We reached 35km in 3:05:08 and our average pace had dropped slightly to 5:17. Just before this, with around 8km to go, factoring in the GPS inaccuracy (the GPS was about 600m out by now) we reached the low point – running past Adelaide Oval along the river, Beck called it. 3:45 is not going to happen, we just have to get it done now. Things went a bit quiet for a little while as we dug deep and focused on ticking off the kilometres.

As we passed the Harriers drink station again I grabbed a second Gatorade even though I still had almost a full one. One in each hand would make me balanced! Beck was starting to cramp at this stage and she didn’t have any drinks left at this drink station, so I offered her some of my Gatorade. I knew that one bottle was more than enough – I’d purposely overcatered and we really didn’t have far to go now. We saw Andrew, a very fast runner who was initially on the 3:00 bus but he was in real trouble with cramps and was now walking and it looked like it would be a long hard slog for him to get to the finish. And he wasn’t the only one. Although our pace had slowed significantly, we never stopped running, and passed a lot of people who had slowed to a walk.

We passed the very welcome 40km marker in around 3:33:02 with average pace 5:19. If the GPS was accurate we would have been looking at a time of JUST under 3:45. At this stage we were running along river, near Elder Park, and it was here that the 10km race leaders started to pass us. Most of them were in red and white Adelaide Harriers singlets. (I’m not even joking, 5 of the first 6 runners we saw were Harriers)

All that was left was the little ‘bitey’ hill up to Montefiore Rd and then we would be on the home stretch!

Our last few kilometres were 5:50 and 5:43 (our slowest, not surprisingly!) and we made our way back past the front of the Oval, up King William Street, up another (not quite so bitey) hill on Pennington Tce and into the carpark, cheered on by Michelle! This was it!

At the northern entrance to the oval I saw my parents waiting to cheer me on. Alongside them was Sputnik, a regular at running events, often taking photos WHILE running but this time just on photography duty. He seemed to be EVERYWHERE, and I wouldn’t be surprised if he covered more ground than we did! After quickly saying hi to Mum and Dad, we ran into the oval and onto the hallowed turf!

We saw a time clock that showed around 2:48. I said, “Yep, I’ll take that!” Never mind that it was clearly labelled ‘half marathon’ (they had started an hour after us)!

We ran around the oval and Beck grabbed my hand as we made the final dash to the finish line and crossed together in an official time of 3:49:22 – not quite what we had hoped for, but sub 3:50 is still very respectable! (My Strava time was 3:49:05 for 42.8km!) Laura and Naomi were on the finish line and gave us our medals before we had to start making our way up the stairs off the oval. (Yes, stairs. Whose idea was that?)

(I later checked the results and Simon finished in 3:44:19 so he was spot on pace – not bad for a first time pacer who only got called up at the last minute!)

It was time to celebrate – we got a photo with ambassador Steve Moneghetti, saw Mum and Dad again and caught up with a whole lot of other running friends. In particular there were a few who had run their first ever marathons (among them Rachel, Toni and Wendy). We were a bit worried because we hadn’t seen Gary and we thought he wouldn’t have been far behind us. As it turned out he was only about 4 minutes behind us but we must have been otherwise occupied at the time so we missed seeing him finish!

There were some other great results too. Bronwyn, who does really well in trail and ultra races, finished second in the marathon. Jenny was 6th female and Riesje broke 3:30 for the first time, Zorica not far behind her.

I ended up staying at the Oval until about 1:30, having a coffee first with Beck, Zorica and Leanne, then after helping out with some publicity photos for SARRC I ran into Anna and went back to the cafe to have another coffee with her and the Southern Running Group. I got a photo down by the Oval with my 5 marathon medals and then made my way back to the car and home where I annihilated the second pizza I was so glad I had made the night before!

Later in the day a group of us gathered at the pub, firstly for dinner to farewell regular running buddy Alison who is moving back to Canberra soon, and then later in the night to watch SA’s own Jess Trengove run in the Olympic marathon in Rio. It was amazing how quickly the marathon seemed to go, compared with how looooong it seems when you’re running it (and also, not an elite runner by any stretch!) It was a very long day but a perfect way to end it.

Well done as always to SARRC for putting on a BRILLIANT event. Thanks to the many wonderful volunteers for making it happen, and to the amazing supporters along the way! Congratulations to all the participants, especially those who were doing their first marathon! We didn’t quite get the result we were after but it was just a fantastic day nonetheless!

August 8, 2016

Running with music – yay or nay?

Music has always been a big part of my life. Some of my earliest memories are of the music my parents used to (and still) listen to, such as the Eagles and the Grateful Dead. Music can instantly take you back to a time and place, and equally can remind you of people from your past. Music in the car is an absolute must for me – to the extent that when I was about to buy my current car, and the dealer told me the stereo wasn’t working, I was about to walk away. I love to sing while I drive (and often also when I run) – I’m not sure if the people around me enjoy it as much as I do!

The topic of listening to music while running is a hotly debated one. Sure, if you’re running on the treadmill (something I have NEVER done, and would prefer not to if I can avoid it!), I would imagine listening to music would be the ONLY way to make it tolerable. But does music have a place when running on roads? Trails? Track? In races?

Prior to starting running, I often would do the Mount Lofty climb with a group of friends. On the way up, we all did our own thing as we were different paces, and on the way down we’d all walk together. On those occasions I would listen to music, and later when I started doing the climb on my own, I would again crank some tunes to keep me motivated!

In the beginning (and when I say ‘beginning’ I mean the beginning of my running life) – probably early 2013 when I first started going for runs on my own – I could not imagine running without music. At that stage, solo running was a chore and the music was a welcome distraction.

Then, I went through a long period of rarely ever running on my own, after I got into a regular morning running routine. On those runs, I would never listen to music. Although, in the early group runs, I would often find myself on my own in the middle of the pack, WISHING I had some music to listen to!

Getting towards the end of a long run or race, I will often tell myself how much further to go in time rather than distance. Somehow “only 20ish minutes to go” is mentally easier to deal with than “only 4km to go”! While using music, I sometimes say “just a few more songs”. Whatever it takes to get you through!

When running on the road, I tend to keep the volume low, and use earphones that allow me to hear the sounds of traffic, cyclists and other potential hazards! I did buy a pair of running earphones in the early days but they were hopeless (albeit very comfortable). The standard iPod earbuds seem to work as well as any, and if they have a tendency to fall out I can always wear a headband over my ears. I hate those massive cans that you see people wearing. No way can people hear anything of the outside world with those bad boys!

In 2015 I started doing a lot more trail running. Admittedly, most of the time I run with at least one other person – my sense of direction is a little challenged and it doesn’t take much for me to get lost! But even when running alone, such as during ultramarathons and shorter trail races, I never listen to music out on the trails. I like to be able to hear what’s going around me – the sounds of nature, my own footsteps, and the sound of a runner or mountain biker behind me, wanting to pass.

Which brings me neatly to my next point – using music during races. Whether on road or trail, I am not a fan of it. I don’t do it myself and I find it particularly frustrating in a race when I’m trying to overtake someone wearing earphones and despite me calling out that I’m passing, they don’t hear me. Even more frustrating was when I was marshalling a 5km race a couple of years ago and had to yell at some people SEVERAL times to tell them to turn around. I would be very happy with a blanket ban of music devices during races.

The only exception I make to this is in looped track races, such as the recent Adelaide 6/12/24 hour race, and the 50km/100km track championships in January. I think it’s quite reasonable to have music in those types of events for several reasons:

Not much chance of getting lost – no marshals’ instructions to follow
No vehicular traffic and no or few bicycles to contend with
It helps keep you sane!

As long as you are aware of other runners wanting to go past you, I have no problem with people listening to music in those types of events. I did it myself in the second half of the track 100k, and while I didn’t feel the need to have any music during either of my 6 hour races, I did have my iPod and headphones on standby, ready to go with some motivating tunes!

And that segues nicely into the final part of this post, a few of my favourite running tracks and the reasons behind them! I’ve listed 10 but it’s not necessarily a top 10. My preferences change daily, depending on my mood, the type of running I’m doing and a myriad of other reasons.

BON JOVI – LIVIN’ ON A PRAYER

No running playlist is complete without this gem, if only to belt out the chorus at the midway point of any race! The first time I cranked this one out was at the halfway point of the Yurrebilla 56k last year. I decided to start singing it at the checkpoint, and Beck joined in, along with a few other bemused spectators and participants!

U2 – WHERE THE STREETS HAVE NO NAME

It’s got a great beat, perfect tempo and the first words are “I wanna run…” – what more could you want?

SURVIVOR – EYE OF THE TIGER

Another song that was sung by me just after halfway in Yurrebilla. This one also came out towards the end of this year’s Gold Coast Marathon, and really helped me get through the last few kilometres and even pass a few people while singing it (I think they were probably so put off that they slowed down, rather than me getting faster!). It also happens to be featured in one of my favourite episodes of my favourite show, ‘Supernatural’.

CHOIRBOYS – RUN TO PARADISE

It’s a great song. It has ‘Run’ in the title. It takes me back to the summer of ’88 when my family was in the process of moving back to SA from Melbourne. We spent a week or so at the Rising Sun Hotel in Port Wakefield. This song was on high rotation on the pub jukebox and it quickly became a favourite and remains so to this day!

MILEY CYRUS – THE CLIMB

An odd choice yes. It has made appearances several times during races. The first one was during the climb out of Horsnells Gully during Yurrebilla 2016. It came out again during the final stages of UTA100, as we ascended the Furber Steps, much to running buddy Anna’s disgust! The most recent ‘performance’ was during the Gold Coast Marathon as I approached the final few kilometres. I aborted that performance early as I clearly was not getting anywhere near hitting the high notes. Anyway, it is a favourite of mine especially where hill climbing is involved!

QUEEN – DON’T STOP ME NOW

Because Queen. Duh.

BRING ME THE HORIZON – IT NEVER ENDS

Not one I tend to sing along to so much because I can’t quite understand all the lyrics, but it is a cracker to listen to on solo runs, which fortunately, despite the title of the song, DO (eventually) end! Plus their guitarist at the time was originally from Adelaide!

EVER FALLEN IN LOVE – THE BUZZCOCKS

Short and sweet, catchy AF and a great pace for running!

PANAMA – VAN HALEN

The number one song to crank in the car to instantly put me in a great mood. If I happened to hear it during a race it would certainly give me a huge boost, right from the opening guitar riff. It’s so 80s and so so good!

GOING WRONG – ARMIN VAN BUUREN

This one has an awesome beat. And it’s nearly 6 minutes long which means that I can cover a fair bit of territory during the course of the song!

So, what is your view on running with music? When is it, and when is it not OK? And what tunes do you like to run to?

August 1, 2016

Just keep running…

Friends often ask me how I manage to keep doing events, often vastly different events, close together, without much rest and without getting injured.

Well, given that I didn’t do any events this weekend (I know, shocking!) I thought this week was as good as any to share a few words of ‘wisdom’ that have helped me and hopefully will help others too!

DISCLAIMER: There may be a little overlap from my recent post “20 things I’ve learned about running” (link here)

REST DAYS. In an average week I will have 2 days off from running, usually Monday and Wednesday. I know some people can run day after day after day (sometimes even twice a day) but that’s not me. I do usually go to the gym on my ‘rest’ days, but I don’t do cardio. Lately I have been doing some of my long runs on Saturdays instead of Sundays – this usually means doubling up, with the 5k parkrun in the morning and then a long run around lunchtime or in the afternoon, but what it also means is I get an extra rest day, and even better, 2 full rest days in a row! (Also, even if I go hard at parkrun, the fatigue from that doesn’t usually hit me until the next day. Kind of like I’m trying to trick my body into running again before it realises what it’s doing!)
VARYING TERRAIN. At the moment I am doing all road runs because I am 2 weeks out from a marathon. As much as I would have loved to be out running at Mt Crawford this weekend, the chance of my falling over and sustaining some kind of injury is just too great. Even a grazed knee (my favourite trail injury) would slow me down and I just did not want to risk that. However, after the marathon is over I will be trying to get out on the trails at least once a week. I find trail running much easier on my joints and muscles and I am definitely feeling the effects at the moment of having done nothing but road running since UTA100 11 weeks ago.
VARYING PACE. Not all my 5 runs in a week are at fast pace. On a typical week, I would do Tuesday at ‘easy’ pace, Thursday at ‘tempo’ pace, Friday speed training or hill running, Saturday parkrun (5k race pace usually!) and Sunday long run at an ‘easy’ pace.
RECOVERY. After my long run, I get into my compression pants as soon as possible and leave them on until the next morning. That is easier said than done sometimes! Not to mention getting them back off again the next morning! You know that thing called DOMS (delayed onset muscle soreness) that all athletes would be familiar with? Well lately, the MS has not been all that D! In fact if I sit on the couch for a few hours on Sunday night, I am really struggling to get up! However, with the compression pants on, and downing a couple of paracetamol tablets before I go to bed, weirdly enough my legs feel pretty good on Monday morning! Even after a marathon! A good spicy curry also helps with recovery – I’m not sure if that’s science or just superstition. Either way, it works for me!
MANAGING INJURIES. Sometimes with an injury, you CAN continue to run but it will only get worse over time. Sometimes, you can’t run at all (that’s when a lot of my friends have discovered cycling and swimming). Sometimes, you just have to manage it and rest won’t make it better. Fortunately for me, my chronic hamstring tendon issue fits into that last category, and I know that:
1. Some days will be better than others, and there’s no point trying to flog yourself on a bad day. (Unless that happens to be a race day, of course!)
2. Running uphill and running fast are the two things that seem to cause it to flare up. Therefore, while I am not going to stop doing either of those things, I need to try to mix things up. Hence the importance of varying pace and terrain. Weirdly speed training doesn’t seem to bother it! Maybe because we run on a grass surface?
3. If I run, say, over 30km on road or track, regardless of pace, it is going to hurt at some point. I think it was actually the 100km track race in January that really did me in! (That is not to say I won’t do it again next year!)
WARMING UP. I now ALWAYS warm up before a race of up to marathon distance. In some cases (in particular the middle distance track events) the warmup will be longer than the race itself. This year, for the first time, I warmed up for a marathon. I also happened to run a PB that day. Coincidence? Maybe, but I don’t think the first few kilometres would have been very comfortable had I not warmed up. Even for parkrun, unless I am taking it easy, I will always do at least a 1km, preferably 2km warmup. Ideally I will warm up until I can’t feel my hamstring niggle anymore. Then, when the starter says “GO!” I can hit the ground running.
STEADY BUILDUP AND TAPER. For marathon training I follow a 16 week programme, varying it as needed to fit in other events. I make sure I increase the distance of my long runs steadily – ie I won’t go out and run 21km one week and then 40 the next – even though my body is now accustomed to running these sorts of distances. Each time I train for a marathon I’m kind of starting from scratch. I also make sure to taper properly. In previous years I have done a 4 week taper. Because of my unconventional leadup to Gold Coast, I did a 3 week taper which seemed to work fine. For Adelaide, with the 30km Henley to Henley race 3 weeks out, it is again a 3 week taper.
PRIORITIES. This year, my #1 priority was to run a Boston qualifier at Gold Coast. I also wanted to run UTA100 which was 7 weeks before that. I realised that if I were to smash myself at UTA I would need a good few weeks recovery time, which I couldn’t afford. Therefore, I set myself a relatively modest goal of finishing under 20 hours (OK, I did say 16 but that was just a number I pulled out of the ether – anything under 20 hours was a bronze belt buckle and that was just fine by me) and a week later was able to manage a 30k training run. I have another interesting juxtaposition of events coming up in September. First, the 12k City-Bay Fun Run which I have run 3 times and PB’d every time – if I’m honest I am aiming for close to 50 minutes this year. Second, 1 week later is the Yurrebilla Trail 56km ultramarathon at which I am hoping to run in close to 6.5 hours. You see my issue!
BEING ABLE TO SAY NO. I have realised that I do have to pick and choose what events and training runs I do. If I am focused on a goal (ie at the moment I am focused on the Adelaide Marathon) every run I do needs to contribute towards that goal. A 56km trail run 2 weeks out from what needs to be a fast marathon, as tempting as it sounds (and believe it or not, it was a tempting proposition to me!) is NOT what I needed to be doing. Instead, with a 25km run in my plan, I ran 15 laps of a local 1 mile block. SO much fun. NOT. I am so looking forward to being able to do long trail runs on the weekends instead of pounding the pavement!

Does anyone else have any words of wisdom that help them to keep on running?