runforclarity: 2017 Victorian 24hr Track Championships/Coburg 24hr

April 22-23, 2017

It’s been a while since my last blog (thanks Adam C for the reminder and perhaps the kick up the backside I deserve for not updating). I have a large void to fill since the GNW 2015 and will get back to that very soon, but sorry Rocco that 2014 Six Foot Track race report has been erased from memory ;)

I chose this event for a select reason, to potentially qualify for the C2K (Coast to Kosci) 240km Ultra marathon held in December each year. I was fortunate enough to be selected into that race in 2015 but an injury cut that dream short with about 4-5 weeks to go which was very disappointing to be honest but I was thankful to be selected and also very thankful that the race directors had enough time to find a replacement runner when I told them the sad news.

I say potentially qualify for a couple of reasons. I won’t go into the full qualifying criteria, but you need to have run either (a) - both a 100 mile and 100km trail event in the most recent two years, or (b) – both a 100km trail event and competed in a 24 hour track event where you must complete 180km in that 24 hours. Whether it is (a) or (b), you need to run one of the events in the year of selection. But even then you are not guaranteed of being picked, but you can say you have at least qualified.

As last year was basically written off by injuries for me or by a massive continuous cramping episode at UTA last year (something that I never want to experience ever again), it means I needed to cram two qualifiers in the one year. I still need a 100km trail event under my belt by late September – so I use that term potentially qualify seriously.

Why Coburg, Victoria when there is a Sydney event held in June each year ? Well, I actually gave this 24hour track running caper a go in 2015 at a Sri Chinmoy event held out at a chilly Leumeah in winter that year. Looking back at my Strava account I did minimal training for that and I made the major mistake of sitting down for a rest in the freezing cold when my good NRG friends came out to support that Saturday night. I felt I let those guys down in a big way and it taught me a few lessons. Bottom line was I lasted only 12 hours, got to 108km which was great but I was done mentally and physically. Getting back to Coburg…..I chose that as there was no chance of letting down any of my supporters this time as it was too far away for them to travel and cheer on and also because I kept the event under wraps to most !

Coburg has a great history of holding the 24 hour track running Championships for both the Australian titles and Victorian titles. AURA held the 24hr event there for a quite a few years but this year Coburg was known as the Coburg 24hour but also doubled as the 2017 Victorian Championships. Well known legends in the ultra running track community such as Yiannis Kouros and Cliff Young have raced at Coburg which is about 8km north of the Melbourne CBD. As I was self supporting this race, I took the NRG Gazebo and along with all my other gear, flying was not an option so I hopped in the car Thursday evening, drove some 4 and half hours to Gundagai, stayed overnight then the other 5 hours was driving to Coburg (well Preston actually – as I was staying the Friday night which is about 8 mins to the track via the car).

I had a standard uncooked breakfast of cereal and toast on Saturday morning and arrived at the 400m standard synthetic athletics track at about 8am, two hours before the start. I set up the gazebo in the main straight but near the home bend as space was at a premium it seemed as many Victorian runners and their crews were setting up. A bit of early state rivalry but was all good fun as I met a few of the fellow runners. There were two other events to begin at 10am, the 24hr Walk and the 100km elite run. Only 3 runners entered or qualified for that elite event. The runners and elite event were in lanes 1 and 2 for the events and the walkers were in lane 3 with the exception of one experienced and fast USA walker who joined us in lane 1 and pulled off a massive walk of 160km.

Onto explaining training and strategy for this event.

I competed in the Tassie Trails Festival some 6 weeks ago and had clocked up good kms leading into that event. I was increasing 10%-15% each week and maxing out at 95km. I did some (not excessive) trail running and a few hill sessions for that event. I was happy with my efforts during those grueling multi day events in Derby, TAS but always in the back of my mind was Coburg. I stupidly ran a hilly tempo run some 4 days after that running festival and felt my left hamstring strain. Having it torn previously I knew it was probably a minor grade 1 strain but enough to put me off running for a good 7-10 days with good RICE (rest ice compress and elevate) techniques and I avoided any physio and let it rest. It meant my time for Coburg was getting closer and I wanted to get some track running in to get my head in a prepared space for what was ahead of me. Track running to me always involves fast intervals of 8x800ms, 6x1kms or a mix of different distances that a few NRG crew have taken part in with some delight on a chilly Wednesday winter morning. I love track running, never did little athletics as a kid or competed in any way other than basic school cross country carnivals but strapping up the spikes and going hard around that 400m marked laneway is good hard fun. This event at Coburg though meant no intervals for the time being and coupled with the hamstring scare, I ditched the hill work (down and up).

So my training was very much based on flat runs – flat as I can find which is hard to find around the lower north shore of Sydney. I hunted out proper athletic tracks in Sydney with tartan/synthetic to train on, so trips to Narrabeen Sports Academy and Kensington were a regular thing. 15km, 20km, 30km sessions on various nights, keeping the pace constant (faster than what I would run in a 24hour event). The idea was to get in a good head space and get used to doing….well…laps and laps of a 400m track. I also introduced a strategy of running 2 laps and fast walking every third lap (the 2-1 strategy). Rocco and I have discussed various strategies in the past and he recently completed a mammoth effort in Canberra some weeks ago with his own strategy that differed somewhat. I worked out numbers on paper many times of what was required to achieve this 180km goal of mine to work.

The strategy was in place for the day – run at least 42.2km at a comfortable rate (preferably 50km if feeling super comfortable) and then insert the 2-1 strategy. I factored in time for a small sleep and time at the trackside gazebo to get supplies.

The gun literally went off at 10am and we were off….Lap 1 – well it went like this…..just kidding, this report is going to be far too long as it is ! I got to my marathon point in 4hrs 8 mins (a Six Foot Track qualifier – who knew !!) and felt very comfortable all during this time. The field was obviously spread right around the track by this stage (in fact by about 4-5km) and I noticed people had their music on so saying g’day for a friendly chat was sometimes hard.

It was partly cloudy day on Saturday but the sun was warm when it did shine and I was in a dark coloured running t-shirt so I was feeling a little warm. My food and drink plans were crucial in this race and it has been drummed into me only recently in ultras that you need to eat, drink, be positive and move forward – a few of us NRGers who attended Tassie Trails know about this mantra. So my food was to be consumed every 30 mins, 40-45 if I considered my last intake was excessive. Intake of perhaps 200-250 calories per hour if possible was the aim. Gels have approx 100-110 calories to give you a guide. I only used a few gels during the event and never actually opened any of my 10 Cliff shot block bars as I had other things such as bananas, noodles in a cup (just add boiling water supplied at the track), muffins, lollies, cliff bars (they are 260 calories and a good intake) and chocolate. That is not much you might think, but there was one secret intake I introduced and it was cooked haloumi on chia wraps. Yes, I cooked up some haloumi cheese the night before and wrapped them in a chia based thin wrap and cut into small pieces then wrapped in foil for the esky to keep fresh enough. I would munch on one of these at feeding time and washed it down with drinks (the only thing the event supplied was cold water, boiling water, tea and coffee and the Gatorade – the canteen was open for buying other items). I packed coke and sparkling mineral water in my esky to change the drink tastes up a bit. I actually avoided tea and coffee but I did have a few electrolyte tablets to dissolve in my water. I ended up making far too many toilet breaks during the event particular during the night, but it certainly meant I was drinking plenty !

During the late afternoon around 5pm, suddenly there was a downpour of rain that lasted 30-40 minutes. It was belting down. I put on my rain jacket immediately and then decided to duck into the gazebo again shortly to avoid the heavy rain. A river was forming at the front of the entrance to the tent and water was coming in through the side and the roof (yes there has been a small hole in the NRG gazebo roof for quite some time I have been reliable told). My backpack of dry clothes and change of running gear was getting wet and my chair was soaked and even some food and lollies got wet. I shared the tent with Annabel Hepworth and Cassie Smith as they only had suitcases with them and no shelter – much needed during that downpour that is for sure. During that brief break in the tent I tried to sort out what was dry and what wasn’t and organize my stuff a bit before heading back out. I sat down in the wet chair for a minute or two at the most as I wanted to keep moving and busy.

The rain started to ease to a sprinkle – eventually and the track was still very much saturated with puddles for a good hour or two. Organisers used shovels to clear the trackside drains and that helped. It was getting dark now and the track lights had taken over. My 2-1 strategy in full swing. What I was noticing though were the self supported runners compared to the full crew supported runners. Having crew support would have been awesome, saving time the obvious advantage. I would have to go into my tent every time I needed something and hunt around for things – not ideal. Supported runners simply gave instructions each lap or two to have something ready and bang it was in their hands the very next lap. Again, think about the time saved by all that.

Running track at night was good, I was used to it with all my training at Narrabeen and Kensington and I managed to withhold any headphones with my little iPod shuffle until 14 hours into the race can you believe (which was the witching hour at midnight!). What do you think about in that time then? I can’t really recall now – thoughts go in and out your mind, you eventually chat to some fellow runners because they are sick of their music already. My play list was 9hrs 35mins duration so the 14 hour mark seemed like a good time to let the music enter my mind. I mentioned that I was going to the loo a lot with all the fluid intake and at least there was a trackside port-a-loo to save some time so that was filling up time but also costing me running time. I didn’t really factor in all that time with my calculations – loo time and going into the tent all the time for electrolytes, food, etc, etc. All this regular brief stoppages were infact impacting the strategy, and I was underestimating all of it.

Some calls to Tim, Robyn and Rocco kept the spirits up and I kept circling the track. By about 1am the fog was certainly rolling in and it felt eerie in some sections of the track. Music was kicking in though for me and I kept that 2-1 strategy going but the brief stoppages continued and was suddenly throwing my times and goals out after recalculating in my head. I was under the assumption a 4 minute walking lap was possible all the time but it isn’t by this stage of the race. A 4 minute lap is good when you are fresh and achievable but those 4 mins were now longer so I had to run the 2 laps thereafter. By about 3am (17 hours in) the tiredness was setting in, my eyes getting glazy (I ran in the same contact lense all race and never changed into glasses as the rain drizzled in again during the night). I kept the food and drink up regularly though and kept moving forward and had to be positive. Short of 180km was a failure in my thoughts now.

I think it was just after 3am when my left foot around the top of the ankle became very sore and I could not run on it. It felt very sore to touch the bone and didn’t have positive thoughts at that moment. I replaced the run laps with walk laps for the time being thinking I still had some comfort zone here to make it work out by giving my feet a rest from running. Then my right hamstring felt tight so I was copping it from all sides! I went into the tent and changed shoes and took off a pair of socks (as I was wearing two pairs – Injinji toe socks as a first layer and a thinnish layer of running socks over the top). Maybe the extra thickness and pressure of the socks and the shoes being tied a little tight might have caused the soreness – I don’t know I was simply trying to search for an answer. But it seemed to help just a little but the task of 180km was getting very tight now and I was getting worried. The continuous walking laps had to stop and I had to push again on the 2-1 strategy. Getting started on the run after the walk lap was so physically hard but it had to be done and the pain had to be sucked up. I did this and by about 160km in (the 100 mile mark) I started feeling more positive especially as day was breaking and the light was re-appearing. I recall putting some hot laps of low 2mins for about 6 laps in a row without stopping to get ahead of schedule and ahead of the game. Looking back on it now, perhaps I could have kept it going with the faster running for a tiny bit more at that stage, but I decided to be safe and put the 2-1 strategy back in place and ease off the run pace. Probably a wise move as there was still 2 hours to go and anything could go wrong and I might need the energy for a last minute dash for the finish line.

By about 9am I comfortably knew that I could slow the walking down to 5-6min laps and have enough time to conquer the goal. I still threw in some slow running laps at around 3min 30 seconds in the next half hour and bang on 9:30am the magical lap number 450 was reached for my 180km. I sort of wanted to yell out with joy under the timing arch but Donna Urquhart (she won the ladies event) had just completed 500 laps literally a few strides in front of me so I left the cheers for her and I began slowly walking the next lap and calling some friends to break the awesome news of goal accomplished. It was a very slow lap, like a formula one driver doing a victory lap – except I wasn’t waiving to anyone in the crowd ;( . I then sat down in my chair and put my feet up but realised I should perhaps try and walk another lap or two to make it a touch over 180km. Getting up was so hard and sore on my legs and feet and I think I completed the next 439 metres in the slowest time ever recorded.

I was fortunate enough to grab 3^rd place in the Men’s event and a massive congrats to John Yoon 564 laps and Justin Scholtz 507 laps for taking 1^st and 2^nd respectively. John was amazing to watch in the last 8 hours, it appeared he was getting faster each hour and was kind giving out encouragement. I finished about 21 laps ahead of the next male runner but the placing didn’t bother me during the event, it was simply about the 180km. The presentation was a nice casual ceremony and I must thank some Coburg Harriers Athletics volunteers for help packing up the gazebo when I was in no condition to do so.

So mission completed and a very chuffed person. Oh and I did not cramp – maybe the haloumi helped ;)

Post race it felt as though I had completed a GNW trail miler and lots of extras to be honest. Perhaps the mental side of things of running around laps 452 times in 24 hours can play with your mind.

A quick summary of what did and didn’t work for me and do’s and dont’s perhaps:

Did/Do’s

· When driving, break the journey up by an overnight stay, especially a 850km trip like Melbourne.

· Have a crew. The winning male and female had teams of 2-3 helping all the time. The 2^nd male had a full time crew member. The time it saves you is immense.

· Have an enclosed tent or gazebo – keeps you dry (drier) and warmer.

· Tape your toes and/or use foot balm. I taped my big toes using Second Skin and a medical fabric tape and also taped my middle toes. Then lathered the whole feet including the taped toes with Striderm foot balm. No real blisters.

· Eat, Drink, Move Forward and be Positive

· Get your food options varied as possible – something unique worked for me

· Chat to the runners and introduce yourself either on course or just before a track race, you will see them many times during the event so best to strike up a good accord.

· Have a plan and strategy for these types of events and stick to it as close as possible

Didn’t/Dont’s

· Attempt this self supported. See second point of Do’s above.

· Attempt to drive soon after the event. My 8 minute journey to my accommodation Sunday post event was cosmic.

· Attempt to drive back 850km the next day (alone). I am not sure whether the 24hr event or the drive back was tougher.

· Sleep. That is a didn’t not really a don’t. Time got caught short for napping and to be honest if I stayed still for that long, I seriously doubt that I would have got back out there.