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Race Report – Yumigo! Summer Trail Series Race 4 – Newland Head

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The Yumigo! Summer Trail Series is a fantastic series of trail races in beautiful surrounds, mainly in the Adelaide metropolitan area. Each of the 4 events, taking place in December, January, February and March, has a short and a long option – the distances getting longer each time! There are cumulative points that go towards trophies at the end of the series – overall winners as well as age group winners.

If you have been reading my blog for a while you might have seen my previous post about the only other race in the series that I ran – December’s opening race at Anstey Hill. If not, you can find it at this link:

https://randomthoughtsandracereports.wordpress.com/2015/12/13/race-report-yumigo-summer-trail-series-race-1-ansteys-hill/

The final event of the series was at Newland Head, near the popular seaside destination of Victor Harbor. This was a bit more of a hike for the city dwellers, although a sleep-in for the locals and the southerners! It was quite close to the starting point for the Heysen 105 which I did for the first (and probably not the last) time last year.

I had entered at the last minute. I had always intended to run, but I couldn’t decide whether to do the short (11km) or long (19.5km) course. I had run the long course at Anstey Hill, however I was not in contention for any of the overall series prizes, so it didn’t really matter which course I went with. Eventually I decided to do the long, because I didn’t want to spend less time running than it took to drive there!

It’s been a pretty hectic week, with all the Fringe events I’ve been going to. A planned early night on Friday night fell by the wayside when I decided to go to a late show and got home at 2am. 5 hours later I was up for parkrun. I managed a sub-22 minute 5km for the second consecutive week – I wasn’t sure how that would affect my legs for Sunday’s race.

I had a reasonably early night on Saturday night – not before catching another Fringe show – I think that’s 19 shows so far for this Fringe! I had all my gear ready to go before I went out, except I hadn’t decided what top to wear. I had gone with my old faithfuls – my newish trail shoes, calf compression sleeves, black running socks, and my Skins and black lululemon skirt which I have worn for most of my trail events. I had my small race vest – I was expecting to be out there for a few hours, and I’m not sure what the forecast was for Victor but in Adelaide it was going to be in the high 30s, so I needed some hydration on board. I put 1 litre in the bladder and 500mL of sports drink in the bottles – I didn’t want to fill the bladder any more as that would weigh me down and be uncomfortable, and I don’t tend to drink a great deal during races.

On race day I woke up at 5am and did all the last minute preparation, including choosing a top. I ended up going with the Mekong Athletic singlet which I’d purchased from a pop-up store at the previous Summer Trail Series event, at which I’d volunteered. I had run in it once, on an 18km road run a few weeks ago, and found it very comfortable. The mesh in the back in particular was very cooling, and despite the fact I would be wearing a backpack, I thought it would help keep me cool. Plus, (and this is not a minor consideration by any means) I loved the colour!

I had studied the directions of how to get there, and having been in a similar area for a social trail run a few weeks ago, I was pretty confident I could find my way. As it turned out I got there in plenty of time to collect my bib and timing chip, and join the seemingly endless queue for the portaloos! As always there were a lot of familiar faces there, many of whom I see regularly but others who I tend to see only at the trail races.

Despite the fact that it rained while I was driving and for much of the lead-up to the start, I sunscreened up, put on my hat and had my sunnies with me. By the time the race started at 8am, it had stopped raining, and while the sun hadn’t exactly come out, conditions were ideal for running.

So, at 8:00 both the short and long course runners started together. Straight up a hill! The first km was pretty much all uphill, and immediately the thought sprang into my head,”WHY did I not do the short course???” To make matters worse, there was also soft sand! I knew about the sand – I’d seen it recently at the social trail run and also last year at the Heysen 105. I don’t like running in sand. I like walking in it, and lying in it, but NOT running! It became a challenge to try to find the easiest path, avoiding the soft sand at all costs. Mostly I would be running on the very edge of the bush. The thought of snakes did pop into my head, but at that point I would have preferred a possibly snake sighting to definite sand running! Plus, my legs were a bit tired (and stiff from the drive down) and there was a LOOOOOONG way to go!

I ran with Kate for the first few km, I hadn’t run with her in a while so it was nice to catch up. We had done a lot of our marathon training together in the last 2 years and regularly ran together on a Thursday. She was hoping for an age group win in the series (spoiler alert – she got it!) and I said I wasn’t going to race it, I was just out for a bit of fun. Plus I had no chance of winning anything – the only other race I’d done in the series, I’d finished 5th female overall. And 4th in my age group! Talk about being born at the wrong time!

The first 3km or so were uphill, then we hit a few nice downhill kms. All of a sudden I was enjoying myself, pulling out a couple of sub-5 minute kms and letting my legs have a break, just coasting down the hills with minimal effort.

The course, which I thankfully hadn’t studied prior to the race, was very well marked so there was no danger of getting lost. I say “thankfully hadn’t studied” because there were (I think) 3 out-and-back sections which did mess with my head a bit. I think they would have messed with my head more if I’d known about them in advance!

In one way it was nice to see all the fast people coming back while we were still going out. On the other hand I could see just how many people were in front of me! One of those fast people was Leon, who is doing the Big Red Run in June, 6 days in the Simpson Desert. (I MIGHT do that one day. It’s not on my immediate radar but having been to an info night last year, it does look mighty tempting!) He, unlike most of us, was seeking out the soft sand – it was ideal training for his big event! He had a clear path too, since most of us were avoiding it!

After about 7km I think, we came to a fork in the road. Otherwise known as a drink station. This was the point where the short course and the long course runners separated. This brought with it more thoughts of “WHY did I not do the short course?”. I had hoped that the females I could see in front of me leading up to the drink station were doing the short course but nope – they were going left with me!

Did I say I wasn’t racing today and I was just doing it for fun? I lied. I didn’t realise it at the time, but I should have known. If it’s a race, I get the white line fever. Even in parkrun which is not technically a race. If there is a run that has timing and placings, I seem to be incapable of just doing it for fun! Hence the reason why I rarely do a parkrun the day before a bit event! I was racing. I may not have been competitive but I was most definitely racing!

10km came and went and I thought to myself, “we got this.” More than halfway there! (And no, I didn’t break into the chorus of ‘Livin’ On A Prayer’ as is traditional! In fact there was no singing in this race!)

A few fairly flat kms later, I hit the next big hurdle which was a hill pretty much equal to the one at the start. Except, by now my legs were pretty damn tired! At no point though did I think of walking. Well, I thought of it but I was determined to keep running. Not necessarily because it would be faster than walking (as many runners would know, sometimes walking up a hill can be faster than running) but because once I started walking it would be hard to get going again. For this reason I didn’t stop at any of the drink stations even though they had Coke! I had enough fuel on board to keep me going, and I could keep myself motivated with thoughts of Coke at the finish line!

Someone said to me at the last turnaround, with approximately 3.5km to go, that there was “less than a parkrun to go!”. It wasn’t exactly comforting to me, because I like to race parkrun, so thinking of 3.5km of parkrun I was thinking of running to my absolute limit, rather than having ‘only’ 3.5km left to run!

The 17th km was probably the worst. Uphill. More sand. I was behind Matt and Robbie, 2 regular trail runners. I may have sworn a few times. I may have said “This SUCKS. I HATE THIS!” more than once!

The last 2.5km though were pretty much all downhill, on firm ground, and quite enjoyable! I didn’t let myself look at my watch at all except when it vibrated to indicate that I had completed another km. I find that especially towards the end of a race I find myself looking at my watch increasingly frequently. And more often than not only covering about 100m between looks at my watch! So I just concentrated on putting one foot in front of the other, and not falling over. There were a few tricky sections of trail, some quite rocky and very conducive to rolled ankles. I nearly went over several times!

Finally my watch alerted me that I’d completed 19km and therefore there was around 500m to go. Piece of cake! I did the last 500m (actually according to my watch it was 600m) at 4:09 min/km pace, by far the fastest of my race so far. Not surprising really – I do like a strong finish and I probably tend to hold myself back in the preceding km or so to allow myself to finish with a burst of speed! There was a guy in front of me – I didn’t really want to pass him but he was running at that awkward pace, just a little slower than I was trying to run. So I called out “GO GO GO” to him so he knew I was there and could pick up the pace to avoid being “chicked”! (Mind you, had it been another girl in front of me, I would probably have just gone for it – did I mention I tend to get a bit competitive?)

My official time was 1:46:29. Having not had a time in mind for this race, I was very happy with that. I was 38th overall out of 106 starters and 8th out of 44 females, and once again 4th out of 21 in my age group, behind the same 3 girls who beat me at Anstey Hill (albeit in a different order), Bronwyn, Sarah and Kazu! Did I mention before that 30-39 Females is a very competitive age group? 21 out of the 44 females in the race were in my age group, and 3 of the top 4!

After the presentations, in which many of my friends won age group and overall prizes, regular running buddy Karen and her husband Daryl and I went for a lovely cruisy bike ride along the coast. The weather was perfect and it was a great way to give the legs some recovery and make the most of the trip Down South. (I had intended to go for a swim too but after the bike ride it was getting late and the fatigue was starting to set in – not the best for a longish drive home – so I decided to forgo the swim). We were really lucky with the weather too because thunderstorms hit during the drive home!

So what’s next? Well trail-wise the next big event is the Cleland Trail Championships next month – which will probably be my last big trail hit-out before the Ultra-Trail Australia 100km race in May! I’m really looking forward to Cleland because after choosing not to run it for the last 2 years because of clashes with other events, I’m finally doing my first one this year!

Thanks again to Ben and all the fantastic volunteers for a wonderful trail series! Hopefully I’ll be able to run all 4 events next summer!

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How was your Saturday night?

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It’s safe to say that things have changed for me over the past few years.

Even 5 years ago I would regularly go out and have a big one on Saturday night. Often followed by a game of soccer the next morning. Sometimes it was OK, sometimes not so much!

That was before I found running.

Now, Saturday nights are, more often than not, quiet nights, with either a long run, a trail run or a race of some kind to prepare for the next day.

Don’t get me wrong, I’ll still go out, but I will just have a few drinks, and not stay out till all hours of the morning. The time I get up on a Sunday now is the time I used to go to bed quite often after a big Saturday night.

It doesn’t work all the time. Last Valentine’s Day I went out and had quite a few ciders (it was a hot hot night) and had a horrible run the next day. (I wrote a blog post about it – https://randomthoughtsandracereports.wordpress.com/2015/07/19/theres-no-such-thing-as-a-bad-run-yeah-right/ )

After the Masters half marathon I may or may not have had a few too many red wines and then had to back up to pace the McLaren Vale Half the next day. That worked out OK but probably is not something I should repeat!

Last Saturday night I did pull an all-nighter but there was no alcohol consumed – I did drink my body weight in Coke and sports drink though. Somehow I have reached a point in my life where running around a 400m track ALL NIGHT is my idea of a good way to spend Saturday night!

This weekend just gone I was at another race, but not running this time. The day after the 100km race I texted Ben, the organiser of both the 100km race and the Yumigo Summer Trail Series. I hadn’t yet entered the Saturday night trail race, deciding to wait to see how I pulled up after the 100km. On Monday I was struggling with the expected muscle soreness and also a number of blisters that made it difficult to wear shoes. So I made the logical decision and told Ben I was available to volunteer at Saturday night’s event. Not only was it a sensible idea to give myself a rest, but it was time to give back.

I went for a slow 4km walk on Tuesday morning – that was the first time I’d put shoes on since the end of the 100km! I walked again on Wednesday night, this time a slightly faster 6km. By Thursday morning I was back running – a slower than normal 10km but still, running! I thought to myself, “I COULD have run this Saturday” but was happy with my decision to volunteer. I did a Mt Lofty hike on Friday and a leisurely run back down – this time wearing my trail shoes which are slightly bigger so therefore didn’t put as much pressure on my toes. That was relatively comfortable.

On Saturday morning I did my first Torrens parkrun for the year and managed a very respectable 22 minutes flat.

Saturday night I was volunteering at a drink station with Michelle, who had placed in the 50km run the previous week, and Tina, who I didn’t know. Michelle was originally meant to be running but hadn’t recovered as well as she’d hoped so had joined Tina and me on the aid station. It was Michelle’s idea to dress up – I told her what costumes I had and we decided to go with beer wenches. Given that we were going to be serving drinks, it seemed appropriate, and hopefully it would give the runners a bit of a laugh!

To get with the ‘beer wench’ theme I brought a couple of steins and some beer and cider. Michelle had some moscato and glasses for all three of us. We were all set!

The three of us were dropped at our aid station, seemingly in the middle of nowhere but accessible by 4WD. Everything was set up, all we had to do was pour cups of water and Coke, and get out the food (bananas, chips and lollies). Luckily it wasn’t too windy, as it had been when I’d volunteered at Yurrebilla – that day we couldn’t even have all the cups of drink ready to go, as they’d blow away!

It was a warm evening, so we were expecting to be busy. I’d brought my iPod and speaker, mostly to keep us entertained but also for the runners as they went past.

It was just over half an hour before the runners started coming through. They seemed amused at our appearance but not enjoying the heat so much. Apparently there were a few nasty little hills in the course too. The early runners didn’t stop – they were the fast guys! Some had their own hydration vests/belts to save them from having to stop.

After a while we decided to start handing out cups of water as people ran past. We got it down to a fine art – I didn’t see any cups dropped! Some people wanted cups of water poured over them and we happily obliged. I was actually surprised that more people didn’t go for the Coke on offer – although towards the end it seemed to be more in demand.

Over the course of the run we saw the short course runners twice and the long course four times. As the race went on people started to look more fatigued, although once the sun went down the temperature dropped, making conditions much more pleasant for the runners. (And the volunteers too – Michelle and I were both wearing wigs which were very hot and scratchy!)

There was some singing, of course. I do seem to recall singing ‘I Will Always Love You’ as one quite bewildered looking guy ran past! Like at the 100km race, I hope the singing provided some amusement and didn’t put people off! At least it might have made people run faster, to get away from us!

It was quite a surreal experience, being in the middle of nowhere, cranking out some tunes, having a sneaky moscato in between the rushes of runners, and enjoying some lovely scenery (the sunset was spectacular, and I won’t lie, there was some nice eye candy on view in the race too!). Probably not many people’s idea of a fun Saturday night, but I couldn’t imagine a place I’d rather be!

Although in the beginning I did have a little ‘run envy’ (runvy?), I think I had a much better time volunteering than I would have had I run. And I’m sure my legs and feet will thank me for it!

I will be out there running the next, and last, event of the Summer Trail Series, at Newland Head in March. I can’t promise there won’t be singing. You have been warned!

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Thredbo Fun and Fitness Week – Part 2

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Wednesday 13 January

This morning we had the Women from Snowy River and the Men from Snowy River fun runs. It was an interesting concept, segregating the genders, but I can see why they do it – it allows everyone to participate, so the men can marshal the women’s event and vice versa. The women went first so we were all there for a 9am start. It was a 3.8km run, the directions given by the MC at the start were all Greek to me, so I would have to rely on the marshals’ directions and/or following the person in front. It was what is known as a yacht handicap, where the winner is the person who finishes closest to their estimated finish time. The slower walkers started first at 9am, with the fastest runners starting last. The idea was that the slowest walkers would take around 40 minutes, and the timekeeper would count down from 40 minutes, and when he called out the time you thought you would run, you would start. I went for 19 minutes – I was toying with 19.5 minutes but when the MC said “Remember – you always run faster than you think you will”, I stuck with the original plan.

Of course, we all had to run sans watches – that made it really tricky!

The person who started immediately before me started on the 19.5 minute mark, so 30 seconds ahead of me. My first mission, when I started on my own, was to keep her in sight and eventually catch her, which I did. The course was undulating and on variable surfaces which made it especially challenging – the Pipeline track was particularly congested!

I’m not sure exactly what time I did but I estimate I was around 18 minutes, so 1 minute too fast. The winner finished SPOT ON her predicted time! I was a winner though because I brought home another bottle of wine for the lodge from the barrel draw, this time a lovely McLaren Vale GSM.

After the run we watched the start of the men’s race before heading back to the lodge. After lunch a group of us decided to head up Mt Kosciuszko. The final event of Thredbo Fun and Fitness Week (TFFW) would be the Kosciuszko Classic but that can potentially be cancelled if the weather is bad, so we decided to take advantage of the excellent weather and head up there in case this was our last chance. David, Karen, Daryl, Geoff and I headed up in the chairlift and started the approximately 13km hike to the summit and back. On the way up we saw the other 2 Davids from the lodge who had been to the summit already and were on their return journey.

The first part of the hike was a bit boring, on metal grid, until we reached Rawson’s Pass. This was exactly the same path we had hiked the previous day, and was hard going. From Rawson’s it was a not-too-bad trek up to the summit. It was sunny, a bit windy at times but never cold. I walked with David as the other 3 had raced ahead.

At the summit we patiently waited for our turns to sit on top of the marker that indicates the highest point in Australia. Then Karen and I decided to try doing a jumping photo – after about 10 minutes of attempts we got a few decent shots but decided our jumping game could use a little work. It was super windy up there!

On the way back down we saw Lorraine (who had done the summit the previous day with Sally) and Shelley, on their way up. We made it back to the chairlift in plenty of time (the last ride is at 5pm) and waited in a queue to get back down to Thredbo.

Wednesday night was the official dinner of the TFFW which most of us from the lodge were going to (after I had been assured of a vegan meal) so I showered and made myself presentable before heading down to the lounge where a few people were standing on the balcony talking to someone on the phone. Turned out Lorraine had dropped her phone off the chairlift and was out looking for it, and Mandy had gone up to help her look. To further complicate matters, it had started raining quite heavily. Eventually they realised that they weren’t going to find it in those conditions, and came back down to get ready for dinner. Lorraine was quite optimistic that it had survived the fall intact. Karen and I had already planned to give Crackenback another crack (pun intended) in the morning so offered to have a look for it while we were up there.

The dinner was fantastic – 2 lovely courses of vegan deliciousness and to top it off they had vegan wine on the menu! All in all a fabulous day – topped off by the Adelaide Strikers’ thrilling win later that night (without a TV in the lodge we had to resort to following the game via phone app, but it was exciting nonetheless!)

Thursday 14 January

We started the day with a repeat of the first day’s Crackenback climb. It was a bit more leisurely given that we spent a fair while looking for Lorraine’s phone, and miraculously Karen spotted it – no visible damage AND still with plenty of juice! Not bad after a fall from a chairlift and a night in the cold and rain! Good advert for the iPhone 6S!

We made it to the chairlift just in time, as the rain started to fall.

After a coffee, Karen and I showered and changed and headed to the ‘big smoke’ – Jindabyne – with Dave and Peter. We had a bit of a wander around the shops and stocked up on food at Woolies, and stopped off at the Wild Brumby distillery where I bought a bottle of freshly bottled gin.

The afternoon event was meant to be an aquathlon which David, Karen and I had both planned on entering (Karen and I had already wussed out due to the weather – persistent rain) but it was postponed until Friday. So we just hung out at the lodge for the rest of the day, drinking wine, doing jigsaws and cranking out some tunes.

Friday 15 January

Friday was a big day for our lodge. It was the ‘veterans’ fun run, originated by Eric and sponsored by our running club, SARRC. (I say ‘veterans’ because this means women 35 and over and men 40 and over, so I qualify, but I don’t see myself as a veteran!) Our lodge provided most of the marshals and a few of us ran too.

But before that it was the ‘final assault’ on Crackenback. Six of us, Karen, Geoff, David, Sally, Mandy and me, set out in possibly minus temperatures (it was supposedly -5 at the top station) to climb that hill one last time for the trip. This time, fortunately, we were able to push straight through without needing to stop until we reached the top. Others said they thought it was getting easier but I actually found the first climb (the race on the first day) the easiest!

After a quick photo-op at the top we piled into the chairlift for the extremely chilly ride back down to the bottom.

We then got ready for Eric’s run. It was still very cold, so we were all rugged up – the marshals with layer upon layer upon layer, and the runners with running gear underneath all of the layers! The marshals all looked very fetching in their grass skirts and leis – we runners all also ‘got lei’d’.

At the very last possible minute the runners stripped off their warm clothing and assembled at the start line.

It was around 3km we were told (actually 3.4) and the first half or so was TOUGH. Much of it was uphill (good practice for the following day’s Kosciuszko Classic) but the bit that really got me was the stairs – who puts stairs in a fun run?

(It seems that in Thredbo you can’t go anywhere without encountering stairs – not even the lodge! There was one particular set of stairs, which we used several times every day, on the walk from the chairlift back up to the lodge, which I dubbed the ‘Stairway to Hell’. No matter how tough a walk we had done, that particular staircase was always the hardest part of the walk!)

One girl passed me easily on the stairs and after that I walked most of the uphills – my legs were like jelly! However, we soon came to trail and downhills, and I was back in my comfort zone. I ran as fast as possible on the narrow trails because they looked quite ‘snakey’ even though realistically it was too cold for snakes. Towards the end I saw the girl who had passed me earlier and managed to pass her with a few hundred metres to go. I never knew a 3.4km run could be so hard! I don’t think Crackenback earlier in the morning had helped!

After the barrel draw we went down to the river, to Eric’s bench (dedicated with a plaque from SARRC, to Eric and his late wife May) for the traditional bubbles and nibbles. Everyone had a glass – even teetotaller Karen got into the ‘spirit’ with the smallest of servings. Mandy and I took our shoes off and stood in the river and WOW was it cold! That made my decision to skip the aquathlon VERY easy, even though Ryan, who had helped us out with the marshalling, tried to convince us that the water in the lake would be warm!

The ladies and Eric then went up to Eagles’ Nest for a light lunch. At one stage I had planned to do either a downhill Dead Horse Gap hike with Karen or and uphill Merritt’s hike with Mandy, but after the run and lunch I decided a nap was a better idea.

Given that we only had a few nights left, and wouldn’t be able to take our fresh fruit and veg back across the border into SA, it was time to get creative and try to use as much fresh produce as possible. I decided to make a big pot of soup – all the vegies and some curry paste were donated by Karen and Elizabeth, and I just had to buy coconut milk and stock. After a failed attempt to use the ancient Magimix to blend it (I later found out that Sally had had a stick blender with her) I tried to find a potato masher as my Plan B but eventually gave up and served it ‘as is’. And it was tasty – and it just so happened to be perfect soup weather too!

Saturday 16 January

The last day of TFFW – the big one. The Kosciuszko Classic. Approximately 20km all up but the race itself was around 5km. First we had to go up to the top of the chairlift – as it was a chilly morning again, a lot of us had extra layers on. Then we walked to Rawson’s where we utilised the facilities and peeled off our extra layers. Sunscreen was even needed – by that stage it had warmed up a bit and the sun was well and truly out. It was a perfect day for the Classic!

Some runners opted to start early – as it turned out, most of the runners from our lodge. From Rawson’s, it was an easy 3km downhill to the Snowy River – I jogged that part with Travis, a previous winner (and as it turned out, this year’s winner as well!)

At 11:00 on the dot we set out, back uphill to the highest point in Australia. It was ALL uphill. No nice little flat bits to break it up! 2 girls flew past me in the first few hundred metres (one girl was already ahead) and knowing that uphill is NOT my strength, a podium finish was out of the question. So I just kept running. Travis had warned me that the first km was the hardest so I had gone conservative, or so I thought – as it turned out that was my fastest km!

I followed Speedo Man much of the way. Speedo Man is well known at Thredbo for wearing Speedos in every event. Just Speedos. Usually with shoes although sometimes he goes barefoot. At Eric’s run he wore a T-shirt but still just Speedos on the bottom half. At Kosci he was down to just the Speedos and shoes. After about 4km I got sick of looking at that arse, and he was slowing down anyway (or I was speeding up – I suspect the former) so I passed him and then went back and forth with another guy with a ponytail on the final ascent up the mountain.

I ran the whole way, except a short part near the end where there was a metal grid. I walked carefully on this bit as the metal grate can do some serious damage if you fall on it. You know that ad on TV for the Nicer Dicer Plus? Well that was what I was thinking of and I didn’t really fancy diced knees and hands. The guy with the ponytail later said he thought I lost momentum when I walked that bit, which surprised me because I didn’t think I had any momentum! He eventually passed me and finished just ahead – Speedo Man just behind. My time was 30.06 so I will definitely be aiming to break 30 minutes next year!

After some celebrations at the top of Australia we made the long walk back to the chairlift via Rawson’s where we had left our gear. We had a quick coffee stop and then went to the presentation. We learned that for the first time ever, there were more female finishers than male! Out of 32 finishers, 11 were from our lodge and 8 of those were female!

After that it was back to the lodge for a cold beverage – if running 5km up a mountain isn’t a hard-earned thirst, I don’t know what is!

The rest of the day was pretty chilled – time to reflect on the week and start packing. Most of us were leaving early on Sunday except a few who were staying on for the Blues festival. The Blues festival always overlaps TFFW by a few days, and it’s pretty easy to tell the Blues people from the runners and the mountain bikers!

Thredbo – you have been WONDERFUL. Such a great week in an amazing place with some fabulous friends, old and new. I can see this becoming a regular event on my calendar!

I’m writing this on the long drive home and I’m keen to see how a week at altitude affects my running back at sea level!

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Thredbo Fun and Fitness Week – Part 1

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This week I am in Thredbo for the Fun and Fitness Week (TFFW). It’s my first time here, and it’s such a fantastic place! Thredbo is known more as a winter ski destination but it has fantastic mountain biking and hiking/running trails which keep the people coming during the summer. It’s not a bad way to spend a week – running, hiking and various other activities by day, and drinking wine on the balcony or ‘chilling’ in the spa by night. The most difficult thing is trying to fit in all the activities and trying to choose between the different events/hikes on offer!

Saturday 9 January

Karen, Daryl, Geoff and I spent Friday night in Albury after driving all day from Adelaide. Our motel just happened to be across the road from the Albury/Wodonga parkrun – the only parkrun in Australia that crosses a state border. Of course we were going to run it!

About 300 other people had the same idea as us. The course follows the mighty Murray River, crossing the NSW/Victoria border into Wodonga and then back again. Other than a somewhat comical start, where 300 people converged from all angles just in time to run across a narrow footbridge, it was a lovely, scenic run. I’m surprised my Strava map for the first kilometre didn’t resemble an ECG readout!

Following the parkrun and a trip to the adjacent farmers market, we continued on our merry way to Thredbo. We arrived at the lodge around 1:30, giving us just enough time to unload the car, get our lift passes and make our way to the bottom of the chairlift for the Crackenback Challenge. For the uninitiated, this is a 1.8km run. Nice cruisy way to kick off the week, right? Oh, did I forget to mention the 600m elevation? And starting at 1500m altitude? The only word that could accurately describe it is BRUTAL. And there was not much running going on – well at least not by me! I followed fellow South Aussie David up the hill – I kept him in sight until almost the finish. He is like a mountain goat up hills and an absolute inspiration for someone easily old enough to be my father! At one point some smart arsed kid on the chairlift offered the guy behind me some Mountain Dew and then didn’t deliver. Now Saturday was a warm day and this guy didn’t have a drink on him, so it would have been appreciated. I turned around to him and asked him if he would like some Gatorade which he gratefully accepted. Later in the event there was a pretty high step to get up (the next day a few of us observed from the chairlift that there was a MUCH easier route, just a few metres to the side) and he was right behind me, so gave me a boost up. (I probably could have got up there on my own but at that point I wasn’t going to refuse assistance!) and when we eventually got to the ‘finish line’ he graciously let me cross first. It was a typically alpine way to start the week!

Sunday 10 January

The day started with a hike up Merritt’s Nature Track, finishing at the same place as Crackenback, but instead of 1.8km this walk was around 4km. So with the same elevation, it was a much less intense climb. It was still a challenging hike though, with so many stairs! A group of us decided to take the chairlift down, so we could get back in time for the ‘fun’ run in the village. (A few people opted to skip the run and descend via Dead Horse Gap instead.)

Thd ‘fun’ run was a 6km run consisting of 2 3km loops around the village. 6km is not a familiar distance for me, and after less than 24 hours at 1500m altitude, it was surprisingly challenging! There were a lot of young, serious looking runners wearing not very much and it was nice to be able to pass a few of them on lap 2 – I think they were shorter distance specialists but I’ll take it!

Monday 11 January

Today’s running event was the River Run – a 1 hour out-and-back fun run along a relatively new trail. It was quite a challenging course and apparently it was  carnage out there, with a number of people falling. The idea was that we turned around at 30 minutes, so everyone finished in around 1 hour. I didn’t quite make it under the hour as I found I had to walk a lot of the uphills on the way back. The suspension bridges were also interesting to run – I found that falling into step with the person in front was the best way to tackle these.

After the post-run barrel draw (a TFFW staple – today I was lucky enough to win a magnum of South Australian shiraz) we headed back to the lodge for a quick refuel before heading out for a Dead Horse Gap hike. We split into 2 groups – one hiking up and then back down via the chairlift, and the other taking the lift up and run/walking down. I opted for the former, along with Sue and Mandy. It was a challenging but stunning 10km hike – more stairs! We had a bite to eat at the Eagles Nest restaurant (highest restaurant in Australia) before making our way back to the lodge. I was ready for a nap but after a coffee I was ready to go again, and at that moment Karen announced they were going for a swim in a waterfall. I thought, “why not?” and off we went, along with Daryl, Geoff, David and Elizabeth. What was described as an easy 2km walk was more like 3, but we eventually reached the waterfall and quickly made our way down to the water’s edge. Karen suggested we leave our shoes on as it was quite rocky. That turned out to be a good suggestion as the rocks were slippery and some rather pointy. The water was cold at first but once we got in it was lovely and refreshing. The waterfall was at least as good as the spa (where we knew a number of our fellow lodge guests would have been at that moment) albeit about 30 degrees colder!

After a short dip we made our way back along the trail and that’s where the excitement happened. Walking with Karen, discussing the merits of bungee jumping, I froze. In front of us, pretty much taking up the entire width of the path, was a dirty big black snake! Expletives were uttered (my exact words were “F***, it’s a snake!”) and it didn’t seem to be bothered by that, continuing to doze obliviously! Eventually Geoff woke it up and it slithered back into the bushes, no doubt cursing us for disturbing his little siesta!

Tuesday 12 January

Given that the weather was good, and potentially looking a bit iffy later in the week, a group of us decided to do the 30km Range hike, a full day walk. We took the chairlift up together and hiked up to Rawson’s Retreat (a mostly uphill 4km or so, on steel grid and more steps!) where it was decision time. There were 2 ways we could go, the ‘traditional’ way and the reverse way. 6 of us went ‘traditional’ and the other 5, myself included, went the reverse route. I had had a chat to David the previous night (a different David – there are 3 Davids staying in the lodge) and he had suggested the reverse route would be the best way to go, so when Marg, Sally, Lorraine and Julie decided to go that way, I had no hesitation in joining them. (Plus, I hadn’t been able to keep up with the other group on the hike from the chairlift to Rawson’s, and I wanted to enjoy my walk rather than spend the whole time just trying to stay with the group.)

It was a lovely day, the scenery was just magic, the company was great and we stopped several times along the way to fuel up. We ended up taking about 6.5 hours, about 1 hour longer than the other group, which was just perfect pace for me. Sally and Lorraine ended up taking a 4km detour near the end to go to Mt Kosciuszko summit (the highest point in Australia) which looked amazing but I didn’t think I had it in me. I will get there at least once this week!

I spoke to Eric, 90-something years old, TFFW royalty, fellow South Australian and guest of our lodge, tonight after dinner. He said that when he was IN HIS 60s he completed the Range walk (at that time it was a timed event rather than just an informal hike) in 3.5 hours – amazing and inspiring, not that I have ANY desire to try to do it at that pace!

Stay tuned next week for a summary of the rest of the week!

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2015 in review

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Well we’re almost at the end of 2015 (scary as that is) so it seems like an appropriate time to reflect on the year that has been!

So many highlights. A few lowlights but no need to talk about those!

I think if I had to choose one highlight for the year it would be the Yurrebilla Trail 56km ultramarathon. It was much anticipated and of all the events I ended up running this year, Yurrebilla was one of only three that had been on my radar at the start of the year. (For those playing at home, the others were Barossa Marathon and the City2Surf in Sydney which I had already entered back in December 2014)

My Yurrebilla race report: https://randomthoughtsandracereports.wordpress.com/2015/09/28/race-report-yurrebilla-56km-ultramarathon/?preview=true

Entries are open for 2016 already and I intend to enter before the end of this year. I anticipate that it will be a regular fixture on my calendar, whether it be as a runner or a volunteer.

There were so many other highlights and I’m just going to touch on them briefly. And I will no doubt miss some too!

Barossa Marathon was my favourite of the 3 marathons I’ve done so far. It wasn’t my best time – that came 6 weeks later at Gold Coast – but I think it had something to do with being in front of a ‘home’ crowd with so many familiar faces cheering us on, and also so many friends running in the various events, that made it so enjoyable. I won’t be running the Barossa Marathon next year (next week I’ll explain why) but I do plan to be there either as a volunteer or maybe running one of the shorter events. Probably volunteering though. My race report: https://randomthoughtsandracereports.wordpress.com/2015/06/01/race-report-barossa-marathon-24-may-2015/

Next highlight – the Yumigo! 6 hour event, just 6 days after the Gold Coast Marathon. As challenging as the weather conditions were, I actually enjoyed (almost) every minute and was surprised and delighted to end up with a podium finish. I plan to do the event again next year if I pull up OK after Gold Coast – either the 6 or the 12 hour, but probably the 6. Not quite ready for 24! My report for the 6 hour: https://randomthoughtsandracereports.wordpress.com/2015/07/12/47/

The City2Surf was another highlight, not just because it got me back to Sydney, a city I called home for a short time! The biggest fun run in the country, of course I had to do it at least once! Despite the mishap at the start I had a great run and cannot wait to do it again! Race report: https://randomthoughtsandracereports.wordpress.com/2015/08/10/race-report-city2surf-9-august-2015-3/

Being a pacer at both the Adelaide and McLaren Vale half marathons was such a fantastic experience. Being a volunteer and still getting to run, how good is that? My Adelaide report: https://randomthoughtsandracereports.wordpress.com/2015/08/23/your-pace-or-mine-pacing-the-adelaide-half-marathon-2/

I hadn’t planned to run City-Bay this year but managed to get a free entry so of course I decided to run it! I managed to get a new PB which will be VERY tough to beat. I think I actually enjoyed it this year and I may well be back next year! My report: https://randomthoughtsandracereports.wordpress.com/2015/09/20/race-report-2015-city-bay-fun-run-7/

The Masters Games was meant to be just a bit of fun but ended up also being quite lucrative (in the bling sense) as I walked away with 3 medals. More importantly I got a long-awaited half marathon PB (by nearly 5 minutes) which like my City-Bay PB will take some beating! My HM (and McLaren Vale HM) report is here: https://randomthoughtsandracereports.wordpress.com/2015/10/11/two-halves-make-a-whole-right/

If you told me this time last year I would run a 100km ultra this year I would have told you to lay off the mind-altering substances. But it turns out that hypothetical person was not so crazy as I did complete the Heysen 105km ultra back in October (and I still have the tan lines on my legs to prove it!) Despite a few things not going to plan (which you can read about in my report below) I LOVED it! Such a great day! https://randomthoughtsandracereports.wordpress.com/2015/10/25/race-report-heysen-105/

That just about sums it up – plus on the  non-competitive side, I managed to beat my 2-year-old 5km PB and am edging ever closer to breaking the elusive 20 minute barrier.

It really has been quite a year! Next week I’ll talk about my goals for 2016!

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Race Report – Yumigo! Summer Trail Series Race 1 – Ansteys Hill

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I didn’t even know where Ansteys Hill was until last Wednesday night when I ran it with one of my semi-regular groups. I actually prefer NOT studying the course before running an event. (Except for Yurrebilla and Heysen where the training runs leave you with few or no surprises come race day!)

This was my first race since the Kuitpo Forest event in November. As regular readers (if there are any!) may recall, I had a pretty crap preparation for that event but ended up having a great run, so I joked that my pre-race prep from now on had to consist of copious quantities of wine, constant snacking and no actual dinner. Fortunately it didn’t come to that (although the aforementioned night WAS a great night), with my pre-race meal consisting of some pretty special pizzas thanks to running buddy Tory and her pizza chef extraordinaire husband Charlie.

My week had been up and down. I had been for a more successful swim on Monday (non-leaky goggles, yay!) and 2 relatively easy runs on Tuesday and Wednesday. Then on Thursday I got a bit carried away running with newcomer to our group, Peter. I blame him but it may have been me who set the pace. Either way I ran a lot faster than I have run in a long time. My left hip started complaining almost immediately the run was over. It is an occasional problem, usually in runs over 40km and when I run fast, and when I run up hills. Fortunately Sunday’s race would be ‘only’ 12.5km but it did involve hills and presumably would also involve running fast. I was a little concerned…

My Friday hill run was a struggle. Saturday’s parkrun I initially was going to ‘jog’ but after a slow first km (due to starting near the back) I quickly settled into a rhythm and ended up with a sub-25. Not as fast as recent weeks but comfortable. I then went for a good solid half hour swim and felt great after that.

Race day the niggle was still there but I wasn’t going to let it stop me. It was to be, after all, my last race for a good few weeks so there would be plenty of time to recover afterwards. Plus I could always substitute some runs for swims if I had to.

I got to the start line at 6:30am, an hour early, as car parking was limited. Despite a forecast top of 30 degrees C, it was cold when I got there! It was great to see so many people and so many familiar faces… trail running events in SA have really taken off this year!

This event was part 1 of a series of 4, one a month over the traditionally quiet summer months. It is run by Yumigo!’s Ben Hockings and once again he put on a wonderful event with a fantastic team of smiling volunteers. It was my first time running one of these events. I’d opted for the 12.5km long course because I think I tend to come good later in races, so the longer distance suits me better. Plus, both events were the same price so I’d get better value for money!

The race started with a hill. Hip not happy. Jane not happy.

But as I settled into my stride I loosened up. I didn’t feel the hip much after that. I did wish on numerous occasions that I had gone for the short course…

The short course started 5 minutes before the long course (I think because of the much larger than expected turnout!) That meant that, as we went along, we were passing short course runners. Now I am one who likes to know who my competition is, so I did ask a few people along the way, “Short or long?” This is completely acceptable in this situation but if I said it to a guy at the pub…

My biggest problem during the race, probably for the second half (I wasn’t looking at my watch) was a very sharp rock in my shoe, just under the heel. Every now and then I would manage to work it forward so it would be under my arch, but it kept finding its way back to my heel. On the downhills, which I otherwise enjoyed, I was running on my toes to take the pressure off my heel. Stopping to remove the rock was NOT an option!

Towards the end I could see a female runner in front of me. She had to be a long course runner. We had passed the finish line (which would have been my finish if I’d done the short course) and were on our additional loop. I was running with Leon and Neil at that stage and said “I can’t catch her, she looks too strong!”. They thought otherwise, and between them they expertly paced me to the point where I passed her. I managed to stay in front but was frequently looking over my shoulder to see if she was coming back at me. (I spoke to her after the race. Her name was Jenny and she finished not long after me. Turned out she wasn’t as strong as she looked – I need to stop psyching myself out!)

I knew a placing was out of the question – the top 3 were Lauren who is just a machine, Kazu who finished second at Yurrebilla and Bronwyn who finished third at Heysen and first at Kuitpo. In the end I was 5th female which I was pleased with. 4th in my age group though, ouch! Talk about being born at the wrong time!

At the end I saw Andy who I’d met at Kuitpo after following him for a long time on Instagram. He is about to move to the UK so it was great to run one last race with him before he leaves! I look forward to following his UK adventures via social media!

All in all it was another wonderful trail event – well done to Ben and his team – a perfect day!

I can highly recommend the Trail Series for runners of all abilities. I will definitely be doing more events in the series in the new year!

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Race report – Kuitpo Forest 21k

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TERRIBLE preparation. FANTASTIC day!

2 weeks ago I was recovering from the Heysen 105k ultra. Yesterday I was back in Kuitpo Forest, where Heysen ended. The last section of Heysen 105, through Kuitpo, is technically the easiest part, so naturally I was anticipating a relatively easy run. How wrong I was…

The Kuitpo event was run by Trail Running SA which is a new organisation, having split from SARRC a little under 12 months ago. TRSA had already put on several successful events, with the low cost and beautiful locations being some of the selling points.

Last weekend I was in Goolwa, chilling with a group of girlfriends. Other than a bit of shopping at the markets and some funky local stores, we spent a hell of a lot of time eating ALL OF THE FOOD and drinking ALL OF THE WINE! 

Saturday morning I snuck out to Victor Harbor for a sneaky parkrun but other than that there was very little physical activity done that day apart from moving my hand to my mouth, alternately containing food and a wine glass. We had planned to go to the local restaurant for dinner (walking distance, so we didn’t have to ‘rock/paper/scissors’ for who had to drive) but after grazing on the deck all afternoon and into the evening with dips, crackers, bread, olive oil and dukkah, wine and chocolate, it became apparent at around 8:00 that we weren’t going to make it to dinner. I had certainly eaten plenty but it wasn’t the ideal pre-race ‘meal’. Not to mention the fact that I had drunk practically NO water all day… all I’d had to drink other than wine was a can of Coke with lunch. Another less than ideal piece of preparation. I said to my friends that if I had a good race, then I’d have to have the same preparation for every race from now on!

I got to bed around 12:15 and my alarm went off at 5:50. Second night in a row of less than 6 hours sleep. Not enough for this little black duck!

Staying away from home before a race you have to be prepared in advance. Well on Friday from the time I left work at 4 to the time I hit the road just after 6, I was running around like a chook with its head cut off. As it turned out I forgot a couple of things. I forgot to bring sports tape to strap my feet to prevent blisters, and I also forgot to bring my trusty XS Energy drink. I guess that’s not so bad. I could have bought tape in Goolwa but I decided to wing it. With proper socks, and no threat of rain to cause wet socks and subsequently possible blisters, I would be fine without tape. The energy drink… I’d just have to see how I went without it!

I decided to try a new piece of kit on race day. My Yurrebilla singlet. I thought a trail event was an appropriate place to debut it. Hasn’t anyone ever told you NEVER try something new in a race? I was trying a lot of new things as it turned out!

I made it to the start line with an hour and a bit to spare. As always I didn’t time my portaloo visit too well… as race time approached I needed to go again but by then the queue was ridiculous so I decided I could hold on. I’d done it before and could do it again.

There were a LOT of familiar faces out there! Around 700 people had registered for the 2 events, the 21k and the 10k, and it seemed like I knew at least half of them! One person that I felt like I knew but had never actually met, was Andy, a friend from Instagram, who is very inspirational, having lost an amazing amount of weight and chronicling his journey via social media. It was great to finally get to meet him as we both did our first trail half marathon!

Time-wise I didn’t know what to expect. Other than when I have paced 2 hours, all my official halves have been sub-1:50. No way was I expecting to do anything like that in this event, given that it was a trail run! I was anticipating somewhere between 2:00 and 2:30, probably closer to 2:00.

Just slightly behind schedule (as Race Director and Chef Extraordinaire Maurice said was standard for trail events) we set off for the 21k just after 8am. It was a chilly start to the day – I had opted not to wear my traditional stripy sleeves, mostly I admit because they clashed with my singlet, but was wearing gloves up until the start, as my hands were numb from the cold! It was going to be a warm day though, and despite the fact that we were running in the morning, and the temperature in the forest was generally going to be cooler, many people would be affected by the heat.

I started slowly, although to be fair the first few km were uphill! I quickly caught up with Justin who first of all asked me what I was doing so far back, and then when we were discussing a recovery beach session for later in the day, said to me ‘But now you have to piss off and start racing!’ or words to that effect! (This is the guy who told me after Yurrebilla 56k that I’d had my fun and now it was time to start taking it seriously!) So I did. After a while I thought to myself, if it all goes pear-shaped later on, I’ll know who to blame! Previously I have always started half marathons quite conservatively. Not any more, it would seem!

It was a great course – it had a bit of everything. Not too technical, mostly wide track and a bit of gravel road. Some uphills, but all runnable. Some quite steep downhills. Some nice flat bits. There were two out and back sections which I really liked. You got to see all the other runners and encourage them along. I saw Andy both times and gave him a high five the second time – he really seemed to be enjoying himself!

There were drink stations but the trail running events are trying to go ‘cupless’ for environmental reasons. Hence a drink stop would literally be a stop – no ‘grab and run’ like in road events. I didn’t want to stop, and being a warm day (and me being already pre-dehydrated) I wouldn’t be able to get by without drinking. So I had made the decision to carry my small hydration vest with 500mL Gatorade in bottles and just over 500mL water in the bladder – any more would have been uncomfortably heavy to carry. Probably about half the runners were wearing either vests or bottle belts.

I settled into a rhythm. I flew down the hills and slowly plodded up. I managed to avoid walking, other than a couple of minutes with Jim, who had started 2 and a half minutes late but still flew effortlessly past me and stayed ahead of me for the rest of the race! Not bad for a guy who’s 60 and a relative newbie to running, putting people half and even a third of his age to shame!

On the second out and back section, at around 14km, I passed Beck who told me that I was 4th female. Oh no, why did she tell me that? Now the mind games would begin! I had seen the first two girls, one was Bronwyn who had finished about 40 minutes ahead of me at Heysen, and the other girl I didn’t know. They were pretty close together! The girl in 3rd place was also looking strong and I did not think I had it in me to catch her. I was happy at that stage to try to hold 4th place but I also knew there were a few girls not far behind me. No sooner had I had that thought, than I started to gain on the 3rd placed girl. Before I knew it, I was only a few metres behind and quite happy to stay there for the time being. This is where I started to get tactical. Up until that point I had been calling out encouragement to everyone passing the other way (this was still the out and back section), whether I knew them or not. Now, I went quiet. I didn’t know if she knew I was there but I thought if she didn’t know, I would try to keep it that way! I did notice that she wasn’t carrying any hydration and couldn’t help wondering if she might need to stop for a drink.

Then, at around 16km, she did! As much as I would have preferred to stay behind her, I had to make a move.

Having passed her and moved into 3rd, I needed to put a bit of distance between us. My next 2 kilometre splits were 4:14 and 4:32. I was reasonably confident that I had her, and if she was going to get back in front of me, well she was damn well going to have to earn it!

I kept the pace up until the 20th kilometre which was uphill. I did walk a bit there. I had a few sneaky peeks behind me and couldn’t see any other girls near me. I didn’t want to give anyone the opportunity to pass me and I didn’t want them to know I was struggling by letting them see me walk. I saw that Jim up ahead was walking so I figured it was OK!

Once I got over the hill we were into the home stretch. I kept looking over my shoulder but there was no sign of the girl I’d passed.

I crossed the line in 3rd place in 1:48.46, and the 4th placed girl was only a bit over a minute behind me – it was a near thing!

After going back to my car for a protein drink and then grabbing a coffee, I went back to the finish line to see other friends finish including Andy, still smiling! I was so happy for him!

The last order of business for the day was the presentation of the medals for the placegetters, followed by the random prize draw. The medals were something special, handmade ceramic medals by SA trail running legends Stirling and Jen Greeneklee. I didn’t win any of the random prizes but I did manage to position myself right next to the tray of vegan brownies made by our esteemed Race Director… I may have indulged in one or two… or five!

All in all it was a fantastic day – personally, a great race for me but just a wonderful event (so many happy smiling faces!) and great to see the SA trail running scene looking so healthy. Thanks must go to every single one of the fabulous volunteers who made the event happen!

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Race report – Heysen 105

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For those who are unfamiliar with this event, it is a 105km (ish) ultramarathon along South Australia’s Heysen Trail, from Newland Hill to Kuitpo Forest near Meadows. It is the brainchild of Yumigo!’s Ben Hockings and has been going for some years. This year for the first time there was a ‘half’ distance, 57km, which proved popular with over 100 entrants across the two distances.

My day started at 3.30am after having as much of my gear sorted as possible the night before. I stayed at my parents’ place for the Friday and Saturday night as it is slightly closer than my place to the start of the race.

The day before, I had seen an article on the Ultra168 website which mentioned my name as a possible podium contender – I was shocked (and flattered of course!) I think that did mess with my head a bit because before seeing that I was just focusing on going out and doing the best I could. All of a sudden I was now thinking potential placing!

We had to be at the finish line by 5am to get a bus back to the start. It was somewhat chilly down there compared to when we left town! Breakfast for me was a shake of cereal, rice milk, chia and cacao.

The start line was a hive of activity. There hadn’t been many 105km runners on the bus (most of the passengers were 57km runners) but there were a lot more at the start who had managed to get a ride to the start, negating the need for such an early start! Last minute gear checks and bib collection done, it was time for the race briefing. Beck had lent me a buff which I had planned to use as an ear warmer if it got cold later, but it came in very handy at the start!

The forecast maximum temperature was 31 degrees (Celsius) which was going to make the exposed sections of the course very trying!

Before we knew it the clock had ticked over to 7:00 and we were off! It was going to be a long, hard day.

START TO CHECKPOINT 1 – 17km
The first section was relatively easy, more so of course because I was still fresh! I may have erred by having an energy drink at the start – that possibly made me go out too fast. The other effect of having the energy drink was that very early on in the race, despite the bus making a toilet stop on the way to the start line, I needed another! Maybe that made me run faster too – I knew there were toilets at CP1 (real ones, not portaloos!)

I ran the first section in good time and 1 hour 43 was on the clock when I left the  checkpoint post toilet stop and application of sunscreen – average pace 5:59 per km . I seemed to waste a fair bit of time there despite trying to streamline my pit stop procedure after Yurrebilla! As I left the checkpoint I saw Jo Kruk, red hot favourite to win the women’s event, approaching the checkpoint. I was surprised to see her behind me – I would have expected to see her ahead in the distance.

CHECKPOINT 1 TO CHECKPOINT 2 – 18km
From the training runs this was the hardest section I’d seen (bearing in mind that I had missed the CP2 – CP3 training run). Lots of elevation, STEPS, narrow trails, ducking under trees. I also grew to hate the stiles we had to climb over to go through paddocks – there were so many of them! I ran with SA running legend Barry McBride for a little while which was great, and found out that Jo is a slow starter and fast finisher. He wasn’t kidding! As most of the runners slowed to a walk going up one of the early hills in this section, Jo kept running, relentless! I couldn’t see any way that she wasn’t going to win the women’s event!

After a particularly brutal section of the course my pace had dropped when I reached the checkpoint but still respectable at 6:34/km, the time clock showed 3 hours 51 and I’d covered 35km.
Once again I tried to be as efficient as possible at the checkpoint – reapplying my sunscreen, filling up my drink bottles (water and Gatorade) and guzzling some amazingly delicious Coke!

This was also the first point where we could have drop bags – I had put boiled, salted potatoes in each bag so eagerly hoed into those but they didn’t taste very nice (maybe not enough salt… who knows?) so that was the last I had of them! I had planned to supply most of my own nutrition so I was carrying nut bars, almonds, Lifesavers, sandwiches and my new favourite, salted mashed sweet potato in a gel flask. Like baby food. Nom nom nom! I should have put a nut bar in each drop bag but had gone with alternate ones – I REALLY felt like a nut bar at CP2 but didn’t have one. Another lesson for next time!

I got out of the checkpoint quickly but soon realised I’d forgotten to grab a brownie or two – DEVASTATED! Those brownies are legendary! Oh well, too late now – no turning back!

CHECKPOINT 2 TO CHECKPOINT 3 – 22km
This was a hard slog. The temperature was really starting to heat up and there wasn’t a whole lot of shade in this section. Plus it was LONG – 22km between checkpoints – whose idea was that? It was also the only part of the course I hadn’t seen, having missed that particular training run. I had been warned though!

To make matters worse I managed to have a stack at around 38km (still nearly 20km from the next checkpoint) and grazed my knee. It happened in slow motion – as a result I managed to land relatively softly and saved my hands from damage but still when I looked down, there was blood. Oh well, can’t stop now, just gotta keep moving and we’ll deal with that at the next checkpoint! There was a fair bit of running through sand in this section – something I knew I would experience again near the finish! We also encountered a few curious cows – I greeted them and kept moving, trying not to startle them. I didn’t think any of them were bulls but I didn’t want to take any chances!

At the 50km mark I rewarded myself with a couple of energy pills (all legit I might add!) and certainly noticed that they gave me a boost when they kicked in about half an hour later. I approached the checkpoint strongly and reached 57km in 6 hours 58, average pace 7:14, slower again but still within my goal pace (I was aiming for 14-15 hours) and faster than my 56km Yurrebilla time. So all in all, things were going well!

It was a bit weird seeing the 57km runners finish… why did I enter the 105 and not the 57??? I had some fantastic help at this checkpoint from volunteer Annie (who was at every checkpoint from then on) and supporter Shannon who reapplied my sunscreen while I tried to text my buddy runner Kirsten to let her know I was ahead of schedule and suggested that instead of meeting me ar CP4 at 5:00, she could meet me at CP5 at around 5:30/6. There were some technical issues with the phone and there MAY have been some swearing.

I also had the first aid girl take a look at my knee, I said I didn’t want a dressing on it as that would restrict my movement. She put some Vaseline on it to keep the flies out (they were all over it before then – ewww!) I marked the halfway point with a fresh top and I was good to go!

CHECKPOINT 3 TO CHECKPOINT 4 – 17km
This was when it all went a bit pear-shaped. At around 60km (coincidentally also the longest distance I’d ever run up to that point) I got myself a bit lost. Up until that point I had had no trouble following the Heysen Trail markers and the extra markers that the fantastic volunteers had put out, but I came to a field where I was supposed to go ‘diagonally across’. Unfortunately I went the wrong diagonal! No markers, no nothing! CRAP. I walked around the perimeter of the field for what seemed like ages, still nothing! I tried using navigation on my phone but that was useless. I did have brief thoughts of quitting at that point but told myself to HTFU and get on with it. I even contemplated getting out my map and compass (the latter item I had very little idea how to use) and then I saw a figure running diagonally across the field in what turned out to be the correct direction. I chased him down and ran with him for a while, his name was Brenton and he was very familiar with that particular section of the course, having marked it previously. I was back on track!

That little detour made that section probably the least enjoyable for me. There was one other point in this section where I wasn’t sure of directions – at a point where a group of guys were sitting having a few beers. How rude of them not to offer me one, I thought… a hard earned thirst needs a big cold beer, right? I continued straight ahead, up a hill, and couldn’t see any markers, so I thought to be sure I’d go back and ask the guys where the runners had been going. They told me, up the hill. Of course it was up. Barry had told me earlier, when in doubt, it’s always UP hill. I said to them “You’re not messing with me are you?” (I may not have said ‘messing’) and they said of course not, they wouldn’t mess with someone who runs 100+ km for fun! Right. Fun. That was why we were here!

My pace really dropped in this section so I was texting Kirsten back and forth revising my ETA at CP5. First it was 5.30, then 6, then it became apparent I wasn’t going to make it by 6. In the end I should have stuck with the original plan!

Throughout the day I’d been regularly encountering people who were crewing for competitors in the race. Two in particular were Bev, Barry’s wife, who would always offer me something as I ran past her, and Michael, husband of Anna, who I had met on a trail run at the beginning of the year and I seemed to keep running into at events ever since! Michael had offered me an Icy-Pole during this section and I had declined, but on the approach to CP4 there he was again with the Icy-Poles. As I was going to be stopping briefly there anyway, I gratefully accepted – the Icy-Poles were a winner at Yurrebilla and I really needed one now!

I reached CP4 (74km) in just under 10 hours, average pace 7:52 min/km – a significant drop in pace, not really surprising! Again Annie was there with the other fantastic volunteers and helped me get my hydration and nutrition sorted as well as my night running gear which would soon be required. I took my head torch and hi-viz vest out of my drop bag (both mandatory items) and threw in the gloves and hand warmers (just in case – nothing worse than cold numb hands!). I did one last sunscreen reapplication and ditched the sunscreen in my drop bag. Thankfully the temperature was starting to drop and it was looking like being a beautiful evening.

CHECKPOINT 4 TO CHECKPOINT 5 – 12km
It was about 4:50 when I left the checkpoint, trying to text Kirsten with an update but frustrated to find that even with the supposedly superior Telstra network I had no reception. It didn’t matter though because a car drove past me and I quickly realised it was her! Dropped off by her husband, she joined me and my mood elevated immediately!

This was a short and relatively easy section, but I have no doubt that Kirsten’s arrival improved my run from that point. They say ultra running is mostly mental and there’s nothing like having someone fresh to run with, to take your mind off all the crap that goes through your head when you run on your own for long stretches! The 4-and-a-bit hours we ran together seemed to go so quickly, the conversation just kept flowing and I didn’t even have to resort to singing!

We reached the final checkpoint (86.5km by my watch) in 11 hours 35 – average pace 8:03 min/km. We hadn’t lost much pace at all in that section! We definitely ran more than I had in the previous section – I think I had walked more than half of that one. Again it was having a fresh set of legs with me that encouraged me to run/walk when I would otherwise have been inclined to walk/walk!

The fabulous Mal and Merrilyn were at CP5 with their usual spread of food (the pumpkin soup sounded very appealing but I didn’t really want to eat ‘proper’ food at that point – I would have preferred that at the finish! I opted not to have a toilet break here because I thought if I sat down I might not get up again. Besides, I didn’t really need to go. I could make it to the finish – only 18km to go! We had to don our hi-viz vests and we had our head torches ready to go for when darkness fell.

CHECKPOINT 5 TO FINISH – 18km
This section was just magical. The course was beautifully marked with glow-in-the-dark signs that made it impossible to get lost (a good thing given that I am somewhat navigationally-challenged, not to mention the fact that by now I was a wee bit tired!) The weather was ideal – balmy and still.

It was quiet, and we saw very few other runners other than a few behind us at times. Whenever we saw someone getting closer we’d pick up the pace – there was NO WAY I was letting anyone pass me now! We walked/ran (amazingly I still had some ‘run’ left in my legs) and made sure we kept some distance between us amd the people behind. They may not have even been part of the race but we weren’t taking any chances!

I was re-acquainted with one of my least favourite running surfaces – sand! MAN that was tough after 90+ km!

Running through Kuitpo Forest was wonderful. We saw a bunch of roos bounding across the track. The trail was relatively easy, a good thing given that it was dark by this stage and we were navigating by torchlight!

I guess the fact that we were almost at the finish helped make this section my favourite! The last little bit did seem to go forever though… the course was measured to be 102.4km so I had based my time estimate on that, but I knew my little navigation mishap in the field would have added on distance – I just didn’t know how much. When we hit 100km I was still confident we’d get under 14 hours. It wasn’t to be – but it would be close!

Kirsten saw a red light up ahead and said ‘Is that a clock?’ I quickly realised that was the time clock and THAT WAS THE FINISH LINE! I was so excited! We had done it! I picked up the pace and crossed the line to the cheers of the crowd. There is no better feeling! According to the Garmin I had borrowed from Simon for its longer battery life (unfortunately software compatibility issues mean I haven’t yet been able to upload the run to Strava, which technically means it didn’t happen), my time was 14 hours 5 minutes. Just outside my goal of sub 14 hours but I ran 104.87km rather than 102.4km so I’ll call that a sub-14! Average pace was 8:03 min/km – we had maintained our overall average pace from the previous section! I was over the moon!

It was time to celebrate and eat All. Of. The. Food. Spuds with salt. Coke. BROWNIES. I was very excited to open my finish line drop bag and find a pair of ugg boots in there. I was initially scared to take off my shoes and socks but surprisingly my feet were relatively intact and slipping into those ugg boots was HEAVEN!

The only thing that marred my enjoyment of the finish line was the fact that I couldn’t find my car and house keys, which I was SURE I’d put in my finish line drop bag! I checked ALL my drop bags and other people were only too willing to help, Paul very kindly even went back to CP5 and got my last 2 remaining drop bags (they weren’t in there either!) I called the RAA to break into my car (which was parked MILES away from the finish line) so I could get everything out that I needed. While waiting for them, Michael found some tape that would allow Vince to try to get into my car. We made the long trek to the car. Not only had I left it UNLOCKED but I had left my interior light on! A girl called Kate had left a nice note on my steering wheel to tell me she’d turned it off! Luckily I had left it unlocked otherwise I would have had a flat battery as well as no keys! Thanks Kate!

Vince and fellow 105k finisher Arwen very kindly gave us a lift back to my parents’ place, getting there around 2:15am. Mum was there waiting to let me in, as I’d told her about the key situation! After a long awaited shower I finally hit the hay around 3:30, 24 hours after I got up! What a day!

THINGS TO NOTE FOR NEXT TIME
-No energy drink at the start – save that for CP3 or 4. And on a related note DON’T GO OUT TOO FAST!
-More nut bars!
-Buddy runner – ESSENTIAL!
-Learn how to run in a diagonal.

Overall I was really happy with how it went. It was a tough day… many people didn’t make it to the finish. I don’t know if I’ll run this event next year but if not I’ll definitely be involved somehow! It was a great first 100km experience and I would certainly recommend it to anyone who is keen to give this distance a crack!

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Heysen 105km pre-race diary

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MONDAY

The enormity of the task ahead is beginning to sink in. What have I gotten myself into? After a chat with the very experienced ultrarunner Karen last night I am going to try to increase my carb intake this week without going silly on the calories and without strictly ‘carb-loading’. Karen suggested to replace protein with carbs. This is going to be tricky because I already know I struggle to get enough protein in. I’m thinking I’m going to be eating a lot of potatoes and bread in the next week.

On Saturday night I taped my feet to prevent blisters. I was a little overzealous when removing the tape and took some skin off the bottom of my foot, near the pinky toe. I can feel it with every step. I need to find some way of padding it so it doesn’t affect me on Saturday. 105km is a LOT OF STEPS! Tomorrow morning will be my last run before the big day – my last opportunity to try out whatever remedy I manage to come up with!

TUESDAY

Went for my last run this morning – 10km in 1 hour. Felt OK – a bit flat, just tired I think! Will be good to have a few days off leading up to Saturday. I put some gauze over the open area under my foot and secured it with strapping tape – seemed to work OK. I noticed it when I thought about it, but it didn’t really bother me too much. It should be better by Saturday anyway. Caught up with Kirsten this morning – her husband was a buddy runner for someone last year so she knows what to expect.

Finally got around to reading the event handbook. Good thing I did too because I found out there is no gear drop at Checkpoint 1 which means I will just have to carry a little bit more food in my pack – glad I found that out now and not on the day!

WEDNESDAY

Shit’s getting real now.

Just saw on Facebook that CP2-3 is very wet and possibly won’t dry out by Saturday. This is also the section I haven’t seen, having done City-Bay instead of that particular training run. Also heard it’s gonna be WARM – I still think I’d prefer warm to freezing cold. Will need to throw an extra pair of socks into my pack!

I’m halfway between ridiculously excited and shitting bricks!

On a positive note I took the tape and padding off my foot this morning, seems to be healed and it’s felt OK all day today. Must be more careful next time I take tape off!

I’ve decided to carry 2 phones on the day – a small basic phone with a Telstra SIM card (better reception and battery life) and my usual smartphone (let’s face it, mainly for photos/videos and Facebook updates!)

THURSDAY

OK so I’m sort of organised now. I’ve started packing food and gear into my drop bags. I can’t leave the drop bags out because my cats will destroy them! I’ve put spare shoes and socks into the bags for CP2 and CP3 (apparently CP1 – CP2 is also wet) and I think I’ll just end up putting spare socks into all the drop bags. I don’t have enough spare shoes!

I went for a walk this morning with my regular Thursday morning group. There were a few of us walking this morning! My fellow 105k competitor Arwen was RUNNING – crazy woman!

Tonight I’m going to cook some potatoes to put in my drop bags. I found the salted potatoes at Yurrebilla THE BEST!

FRIDAY

A nice sleep in (6:00am alarm) and coffee with my running group was the perfect way to start race eve. Last night I got all my food ready and ticked a few more items off my list. I’ve got a short day at work today (finishing at lunchtime) to allow for any last minute prep so I can get to bed at a reasonable hour! (I haven’t quite worked out what ‘reasonable’ is but it’s gonna be pretty damn early considering I have to be up at 3:30ish tomorrow – eek!)

FUCK! Less than 24 hours and this is actually happening! Whose idea was this?

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100km – a whole new ball game!

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This week I entered the Ultra-Trails Australia 100km event in the Blue Mountains in May. You may know it as The North Face 100. It is an iconic event, Australia’s biggest ultra (I think!) and this year there were 1300 places allocated to the 100km event. At just under $400 to enter (let alone all the costs for gear, travel and accommodation) it’s not cheap but still it sold out in under 2 days, so I got in early. I’m in!

I decided to enter the event after crewing there this year. Much like my Yurrebilla volunteering experience in 2014, attending the event as a non-participant made me determined to enter as a competitor the following year!

Yurrebilla was my first ultra. Although that was a challenging course, UTA100 is a different kettle of fish. For a start, it’s pretty much double the distance. And instead of being in the Adelaide Hills, this is in the Blue Mountains. Extremes of temperature are common, and there is 4200m of elevation. On top of this is the added challenge of running through the night which most (other than the super elites who are finished before sunset) have to contend with.

As part of my long-term preparation for this event I entered the Heysen 105k ultra which takes place this coming Saturday. I thought it would be good to have a 100km event under my belt before tackling UTA100, and being close to home (less than an hour from town) the travel and accommodation costs would be minimised. I would also have the opportunity to train on the course, and it is a much gentler course than the UTA100.

One of the biggest challenges of the 100km event as opposed to the shorter ultras, is running through the night, mostly on trails. I have done a bit of night trail running before but never in a race. The night trail runs I have done have been around Cleland and Belair in the Adelaide Hills, always in a group, and always social, so we tend to stick together (or at least regroup at regular intervals). A race is totally different, especially an event with around 100 participants, where the night section of the race will come quite late and therefore the field will be more spread out – it is highly unlikely that I will be in a group by that stage.

Last weekend I did 2 night trail runs. The first one was around Cleland, which is relatively familiar territory for me (although with my somewhat limited navigational skills, I could probably easily get lost if I ended up on my own). It was an abbreviated, 12km run, thankfully cutting out the climb up Mount Lofty, and we saw a couple of koalas, lots of kangaroos, a few deer, and even a frog!

The second night run for the weekend was along the last section of the Heysen 105 course – around 18km. We started just before 7:30pm in fading light, and it wasn’t long before the mandatory head torches came into action. This run was different to any of the night runs I’d done before. Whereas the Belair and Cleland ones are more technical, this one was mostly wide tracks, quite a bit of dirt road, and some sand (which I’m sure will be a whole lot tougher next week when I will have already run 90km!)! I ran pretty much the whole run with a guy called Adam who had run this section in daylight the week before, so was familiar with the course – very handy! Running through Kuitpo Forest was interesting, I couldn’t imagine running that section on my own – well I could imagine it but it was a scary proposition!

Luckily in the Heysen 105, runners are allowed/encouraged to have buddy runners to run the last part of the course. Buddy runners are allowed from Checkpoint 3 which is also the finish of the new 57km event. The idea of the buddy runner is to run through the night. The cut-off time is 7am Sunday, and runners have the option of starting at either 6am or 7am. As someone who values her sleep, and has no intention of being out there for even close to 24 hours, I opted for the 7am start.

Beck, with whom I ran most of Yurrebilla, was originally going to be my buddy runner and then, after making sure I had an alternative, she decided to enter the 57km event. That worked out well, because now I potentially have someone to run with for the first 57km! Theoretically I can then have my buddy runner (Kirsten) with me from that point, but I thought I’d be nice to her considering she has just run the Melbourne Marathon!

I needed to work out what time I would estimate getting to the checkpoints so I could then work out when I would be likely running at night. The plan is to have Kirsten with me just for the night section and based on my training runs there was no way it was going to be dark by the time I got to 57km! I had done all but one of the training runs and cumulatively covered around 80km in 7.5 hours, averaging just over 10km/hour. It is a less physically challenging course than Yurrebilla which I did at around 8-ish km/hour, but realistically I knew I wasn’t going to be able to run 105km at 10km/hour – I’d LOVE it if I could, but fatigue will be a factor.

Double Yurrebilla time seems to be a pretty good rule of thumb for those who have done both events. For me that would be around 14 hours – add an hour to be safe. So I’m hoping to be finished between 9 and 10pm. Therefore realistically I might only be running from Checkpoint 5 to the finish in the dark. To be safe though I decided to ask Kirsten to run with me from Checkpoint 4 which would mean she would be doing the last 28km with me. Just a nice walk in the park for her after Melbourne Marathon! It wasn’t going to be fast running either, let’s face it (and probably a lot of walking). I did the last 18km section in 1 hour 40 on the weekend but I’d be dreaming if I thought I could do that in the race! Based on the average pace of 7-7.5km/hour I estimate I will reach Checkpoint 4 between 5:15 and 6pm.

One major difference between the 56km Yurrebilla ultra and this event is that the checkpoints are fewer and further between. This means that I need to carry a lot more gear and food. For a start there is a mandatory gear list including head torch, hi-viz vest, beanie and gloves – all of these for the simple fact that night running is part of the event. I’ll also need to carry more water – at Yurrebilla I only carried a maximum of 250mL water and 250mL sports drink whereas at Heysen I will need to carry not only bottles but also some water in a bladder, given that there will be around 20km between checkpoints. I needed to buy a bigger pack – the pack I have been using all year for my long runs and also for Yurrebilla just won’t cut it for the longer distance. I went with an Ultimate Direction PB Adventure Vest which I ordered online and fortunately arrived on the Friday before the second last Heysen training run. So I have had 2 opportunities to practise with it before the event – so far so good! The only minor hiccup was, the first time I used it, I couldn’t figure out how to operate the drink bottles – I got to the point where I would unscrew the top and drink like I was drinking out of a glass – I knew that there had to be some easier way to get the drink out!

At Yurrebilla I relied mostly on the food provided at the checkpoints, but at Heysen I am going to have to supply a lot of my own nutrition. To avoid weighing myself down, I plan to use drop bags – one for each of the 5 checkpoints and one for the finish line. For this I bought 6 supermarket cooler bags and labelled each with my name and the checkpoint I want it left at. Without having a support person to follow me around, this is the best way to ensure I have what I need, when I need it. In the bags will be mainly nutrition but also other gear that isn’t going to be needed throughout the entire race (eg cold weather gear and hi-viz vest).

Nutrition-wise I’m keeping it simple and keeping with the tried and tested. My sports drink of choice is lemon-lime Gatorade, having not had too much success accessing the Nippys True Grit which was supplied at Yurrebilla – that stuff was GOOOOD! I use the powder, so will put 500mL worth of powder in each of my drop bags, so I can mix up some more at each checkpoint. I’ll also have a few pre-mixed protein shakes if I need them along the way.

For food I am going to carry a cut-up nut bar (with a couple more spread between a few of the drop bags for later), a portion of Lifesavers and almonds (again, some more of these will be in drop bags), and half a white bread sandwich (each drop bag will have half a sandwich in it – alternating between 2 different nut spreads, for a bit of variety!). I plan to have some salted, boiled baby potatoes in each drop bag as these were a godsend at Yurrebilla – I’m not normally one who craves salty food but it’s amazing how much you need (and appreciate) it after running for a long time!

My new ‘thing’, and something I tried for the first time at that last night run (not wanting to try something new on race day – NEVER EVER do that!) is mashed sweet potato with salt, in a gel tube. The tube I used was actually designed for toiletries, easy squeeze with a leakproof valve, but is certified food-safe. I used that during the night run and MAN did it taste good! I plan to carry one of these and put more in later drop bags. Very easy to eat, no chewing required, tasty, salty and a good hit of carbs – ticks all the boxes!

I booked a room at the St Francis Winery Resort, about 17km from the finish. I did not fancy driving back to Adelaide, potentially very late at night, after running 105km. Camping at the finish line was an option but I thought a bed sounded a lot more appealing.

Normally I run 5 times a week. My plan for race week is to have an easy run (call it a ‘jogette’) on Tuesday, and a walk with my Thursday morning group. I will skip Friday altogether (although knowing me I will probably go and meet the group for coffee afterwards!). I need to be fresh for Saturday and I certainly don’t want to risk injury by doing anything silly!

My next blog post will be a report of the Heysen 105 – wish me luck!