This event has been a long time coming. The advantage with most people who know me is they understand that I am crazy. Therefore they may understand what made me do something as stupid as the GNW100 Miler. However, I have been talking to work colleagues today while hobbling around the office and they have asked the most obvious question - why would you even think about doing something like that? For so long now I have been surrounded by people who run faster, further or just crazier that the events I have entered don't even seem crazy anymore.
Then I got a message from a friend that reminded me in 2015 alone I have done Melbourne Ironman, TNF100k, CP Ultra 100k, had a baby (Bex did more of the work there) and now GNW100 Miler. That sounds like quite a big year. This just makes me remember a time about 5 and a half years ago when Bex and I were in New York on holiday and I was wearing a scarf in EVERY photo to hide the number of chins that I had. I reckon I weighed in at about 135kg (I stopped weighing myself after 130kg) and I couldn't have run for an ice cream or a pizza, let alone anything less food related.
What I think I am trying to say is that this race was not just a culmination of 6 or 12 months hard work, but it was actually a complete change to the life I had led back in London and it means that hopefully I can put to bed the idea that I am a fat guy who has started to run a bit and now I am one of a very small percentage of people in the world who will ever run over 100 miles. I'm not really sure what that means, but I do know that I must have a longer life expectancy now than I did all those years ago and that can't be a bad thing, right?
So the next thing was - why the GNW100 Miler? What is it? I learned the less hard way two years ago when I paced Adam for the last 71.4km in his first miler. Pacing was hard - the responsibility of looking after your runner - sleep deprived, hungry and sometimes incapable of moving forward in a straight line whilst also trying to get through some of the toughest running terrain I had ever been on. Then, I watched as Adam ran down Patonga Beach and made his way to kiss that post and see what it meant to him to finish such a gruelling event. Still, I wasn't interested.
Then 2014 - no thoughts of entering, concentrating on the Ironman training and "shorter" running events. But Adam and I took Evie up to CP6 and the finish line to get involved and support the NRGers running. Watching the end of that event made me realise that maybe this was something that I could aspire to... some day. Then I'm not really sure how, but along came 2015 and all these events were going to happen and me and Adam were doing them all - including the GNW100 Miler - Bex had signed off on my participation on the basis that I do it once, get it out of my system and hopefully move on!
The preparations began in earnest after TNF100 in May. We planned to go out on the course to train several times - all of my runs on the course would have to happen before 14 August as this was the due date of our first child. So June and July went by in a haze of hills, stairs and runs on the GNW course. I thought I knew that course really well - better than most who would be out there on the day, oh how wrong I was. Then August - Joshua Benjamin Hedges being born on Thursday 13th August and all thoughts of training (pretty much) went out of the window. Bex has been amazing, but there are only so many times when I could convince myself to go out for a run rather than stay at home and look at Joshua. The Greenwich Road hills became my best friend over the last few weeks - close to home but with enough elevation to feel like I was doing something worthwhile for training purposes.
The week before the race came quickly and Mel (my unbelievable pacer) was round for dinner and discussions on tactics - get me to the finish line, no matter what! The checkpoint bags were packed, the S-lab was full of all the mandatory gear and we were ready to get to Warners Bay on Friday. I said goodbye to Bex and Joshua and fingers crossed I wouldn't be seeing them until I hit Patonga Beach at some time on Sunday.
Friday night was relaxed - pizza and then an early night. Up at 3.55 on Saturday morning and then at the race start by just after 4.30 getting everything dropped off for relevant checkpoints and catching up with all the NRGers running in the race. Eventually, it reached 6am on Saturday 12th September and FINALLY we were off. That first 1km was the only time I would see Rocco or Geoff and one of the few times I would see anyone else.
Me and Adam had agreed - slow start and then slower finish. We had also agreed no waiting for the other one - it is a long race and you need to concentrate on yourself, not on how anyone else feels. As it went, we stuck together for the whole first checkpoint arriving in 4:06 (3 minute refuel) and then off on our way. The first section was relatively uneventful. Plenty of slow running, walking up hills and the bash through the rainforest was surrounded by enough people that none of us got lost! We also did the Heaton Gap climb which was not too bad - feeling good that early meant the climb was slow, but the recovery was quick.
The section to checkpoint 2 was also reasonably uneventful. I had a tumble coming down the single track to Congewai Road, but landed on soft ground and did a nice army roll to recover. On to Congewai Road and then 6.5km to checkpoint 2 in the midday sun. We saw Chantelle and then Tim and Doug coming out of the checkpoint all looking in good spirits. Ali T, Sarah C and Adam C were there to greet us and refill water, etc and help with the mandatory gear check. In and out inside 5 minutes and a 3:06 section had me and Adam leaving almost together with 7:20 on the race clock.
Then to the only part of the course I had not done - the climb to the Communications Tower. This was the climb that left a trail of destruction in 2013 and sounded hideous to me. The climb was ok. It was steep and tough, but mostly I was starting to feel cramps in my legs and so I was trying to manage the pain and not full on spasm! Adam left me at the top of the climb as I couldn't get going as quickly as him and that was pretty much the last time I saw him. The run to checkpoint 3 involved another really steep climb and this was hard too. It felt worse than the Communications Tower because it is not as talked about by other runners and also it comes only a few km after the first big climb. I was stopping frequently on my way up this climb before slowly getting going at the top.
The run was then relatively ok and I saw Robyn come past me - I was very upset to hear she had got lost for maybe 90 minutes and that had meant she ended up behind me. She recovered well from this for a second place finish in the end anyway! The run down to the basin was fine (slow but ok) and I saw Chantelle, Ann, Tim, Doug and Adam all leaving at various stages of this little section. Thanks again to Ali and the volunteers at checkpoint 3 - in and out in just over 10 minutes with Robyn in tow so she could vent about getting lost! We were out of the checkpoint with 12:50 on the clock.
Robyn and I went along for a couple of km and I reminded her that getting lost is a good learning experience and she will still do amazing and she can definitely make it to the finish - hopefully when she ran up those stairs ahead of me she had already pushed all thoughts of quitting aside. Those stairs were long. Also, two guys came up behind me and asked if we were near checkpoint 3 - I told them they had missed a turning and showed them on the map how to get back - I was feeling good about how much I was helping others at this point... I got to the top of the stairs/hill and did a quick right, left before completely missing the turn off to the single trail which would have taken me on my merry way to checkpoint 4.
Instead, I read the directions as left on a road and on I went - nobody around me to tell me I was wrong. It felt wrong after maybe 2km and then a car drove past and told me I was off course but if I carried on straight I would make it back to the track to checkpoint 4. Then I got 4.5km down the road (I thought it was really wrong now, but I was committed somwhow...) and a car drove towards me and said I was heading back on fire trail towards checkpoint 2. About the worst thing I could have heard. So I turned round and began to plod back the 4.5km to my wrong turn. I called Mel first and she basically told me to read the map, man up and get to checkpoint 4. I then called Bex... and had a good cry down the phone while worrying her more than she was already and then saying I didn't know whether to keep going or quit at checkpoint 4 or what to do. Bad times.
I saw another runner coming towards me and he said the turn was behind me by about 200m - at this point I was pretty frustrated and I said that I had been told to go back to the main intersection. He said he had run it four times and knew what he was doing. So I stopped, thought about it and turned round and followed him to the turn off. At least 90 minutes lost plus any momentum that I had from before this incident. Anyway, every step forward, like I said to Robyn it is a learning experience. Down the track, then 2.2km of technical bush - I stacked it, landed on my bum and then cramped. More bad times. Then I got out to the road to checkpoint 4. This road is 11.1km in length. I was walking so slowly and painfully, all the time thinking that I should have been 9km further down the road if I hadn't got lost... that kind of thinking is no use to anyone. Rob Mattingly caught me up - looked confused for a while and then helped me with a run/walk strategy all the way to checkpoint 4.
I have had a look at the results - I arrived here at 00:30 and my time for this leg was the slowest of anyone on the course. Not unexpected, but hard to take given how well I was going before then. I was in the checkpoint for 27 minutes - it didn't seem that long! Mel was great - she fed me a sausage sandwich and two mufins and then we headed on our way after she had sorted my mandatory gear check and filled water bottles, etc. This was a hard checkpoint - tired, feeling low after getting lost and uphill for a fair while after you leave the checkpoint. However, I now had Mel helping me along and she was so enthusiastic it would have been impossible for me to continue to feel down. We went down to Dead Horse Creek - this bit is slow and painful on the big stairs, but then out eventually onto fire trail and a decent little run until we had to climb back up towards Somersby. The climb seemed ok to me - slow but manageable and always moving forward. Then at the top the road went uphill forever! Then round a couple of corners and on the way to the school. Ali was there again to help and we were soon on our way again. Total race time of 24:56 when we left here.
The next section went well. It was hard because of being so tired, but it is the easiest section and we were through in under 3 hours, leaving only 25.1km between us and the finish line. The only things to note were that it was heating up again... we were into checkpoint 6 at about 10am and that was not a good time to head out onto the open plateaus between checkpoint 6 and the finish. Overall race time on leaving checkpoint 6 was 28:02.
This started slowly and got slower. The first couple of km is undercover on single track and then over a little bridge and straight up a lot of stairs. These stairs are the biggest on the whole of the GNW (I think... unless it is just how tired my legs were). The climbs aren't all that long, but they seem relentless and when you do get to the top it is on some exposed rock and it is very warm. Mel was great here - making sure I was eating and drinking and telling me all the distances so I knew we were ticking things off. It was great to count down the number of directions left - that seemed much easier than counting down the kms. Once we got to Dillon's Trail (about 10km to go) I forgot that we hadn't actually trained on any of this bit... the last time I had run it was with Adam in 2013. I had forgotten all the climbs and how far it was from the end! We got down to 5km to go (eventually) and saw Dave M in the background catching us. I somehow decided that I had some speed now (relative to the pace we were going) and so off we went. I am not sure how fast we went for that couple of km, but it felt very quick to me!
Then we got to the trig and over we went, down the stairs, down some more stairs, up a fire trail, further up the fire trail and I thought we must be getting close... but the water looked a long way down... Then we went along a walking track and down some steps, along some more, down some more and for anyone who has run this... you may agree that this carries on for a long time before finally getting down to the car park and across to Patonga Beach. Mel and I got on the beach and a gentle run to the finish post meant that after 33 hours and 42 minutes I had finally completed the GNW100 Miler. A total distance for me of approximately 184.3km... the longest run I have ever done (and hopefully will ever do).
This was an extremely tough challenge. I lost over 6kg throughout the race, I had no sleep and I looked a complete mess at the finish line. My feet are still in pain and I can barely walk down the stairs (two days later). I feel asleep on the bed at 7pm and woke up again at 6am on Monday morning. Was it worth it? YES. Nobody can ever take away from the enormity of this challenge and nobody in their right mind will ever try and equal it (unfortunately all of my friends are faster and equally mental).
I have to thank a lot of people - Bex and Joshua - amazing supporters at the finish line. They made it all worthwhile and at the worst points of the run it was those two who got me through. Mel - what an awesome pacer. Without Mel I may not have been able to leave checkpoint 4 either physically or mentally. She got me through a tough night and then persevered with me when I was going exceptionally slowly on Sunday morning and afternoon. Adam - for asking me to pace him two years ago. Without that, I wouldn't have even considered getting to the start line of this, my biggest challenge ever. Geoff - the time he took to share his wisdom with all of us. What a gentleman. Everyone else at NRG who ran this weekend. You are all awesome and without you the training would have been hard to take and it would not have been possible for me to enjoy the race - seeing so many friendly faces out there made everything better.
Will I be running this next year? Bex has made it clear I should never do it again... but I could improve on my time by just running the same race as this year without getting lost... what a dilemma...
All anyone who wants to consider this race needs to remember - give the race the respect it deserves - put in the training time, think about nutrition, get an amazing pacer and then when you get to that beach it will have all been worth it.
Now to consider goals for 2016 and beyond...
Monday, 14 September 2015
Tuesday, 19 May 2015
The North Face 100 - Australia - 16 May 2015
So... 8 weeks on from Melbourne Ironman and me, Adam and Chantelle (along with a LOT of other NRGers) were back out there in a completely different environment - no swimming, no bike and lots of hills and stairs. Back in the bush where we belong!
The weeks leading up to the event had involved a change in training for me and Adam. We were doing stairs twice a week, hills once a week and a long run on the weekend - generally in the Blue Mountains on the course. The build up was good, we had a great stretch goal of sub 14 hours for TNF and felt good about it after doing all the analysis and after our 6:33 at Mount Solitary 4 weeks before the race (after a full week of training).
To put the 14 hour goal in perspective... I have only ever done one 100km race and that was Oxfam Trailwalker in August 2013. I have lost a good 20kgs since then, but haven't run that distance - let alone trying to do it almost 7 hours (as in 1/3) faster! Also, Adam has done TNF twice and his improvement from 16:47 to 15:32 was awesome, but to take over 90 minutes off would be a big ask. Still, you never know if you never try. Also, as we kept telling ourselves it is no fun unless your next challenge scares you. I think this probably goes without saying - me and Adam will be back again to give 14 hours and that silver buckle another go.
The next issue with doing a 100km individual race with your best mate is what happens if you want to go at different paces? What happens if one cramps? Every man for himself or we go down as a team?! We had discussed every possible scenario except the one that happened on race day... anyway, we will get to that!
The morning looked good. We were all prepared and ready well before our 6.30 start time. The main issue was Chantelle left her two soft flasks in our dorm room... because I put them in the wrong place... oops! Clearly it didn't impact Chantelle too much as the last we saw of her was taking our empty plastic bottles and running off from the start straight to 11th placed female - amazing.
Me and Adam started more slowly with a gentle run down Furber, up the Golden staircase and off to checkpoint 1. However, all was clearly not well here with our 14 hour attempt. We were 2 minutes behind our aim and we felt like we had been running at a decent pace. Oh well, on to the next section and see what happens. We skipped ahead of a crowd of people waiting at Tarros Ladders by going round the "long cut" which brought us out ahead of those who were around us before. We later found out that our wives were worrying about us at this point because we never went through the Tarros timing point. Oh well, we were happily on our way.
This was when I met a 49 year old guy who had done Melbourne Ironman in 10:12 (90 minutes quicker than me) and was going to go back to try and qualify for Kona next year... shows how far behind some of these people we are! The climb over Mount Debert and then along and into Dunphy's Campground was great. I was probably 60-90 seconds ahead of Adam and we were both happy enough. Probably 1 minute slower to checkpoint 2, but 3 minutes overall (given the 11 minute buffer) was no problem.
Then that scenario me and Adam had not planned for... Adam manages to fall over while waving to Dave Madden and cramps in both calves. This is completely unknown to me as I am happily smashing my own legs down from Ironpot to Megalong Valley Road. I get down to the road and realise something is not right as I start cramping. I hobble my way up the road for a good 3km and then down the other side to the Six Foot Track checkpoint. I was bang on time for this section (2:03) and with a swift checkpoint (3 minutes) was off and "running" again. I quickly realised I shouldn't be feeling like this after 46km. Not good.
Soon enough, Adam came up behind me and we started to discuss our issues. We quickly realised we were both doing the dead man's shuffle up towards Nellie's Glen. In training this had been a point where we would be pushing each other to go faster before we got to the slow section that is Nellie's itself. Not today. We must have looked a sorry sight. I would guess anyone who saw or heard us would have written us off as a good old DNF. Neither of us said it out loud, but it turns out we were both worrying that the DNF may have become a reality.
I left Adam on Nellie's and was pretty ok up there. By the aquatic centre I had lost another 9 minutes and knew that 14 hours was gone. We had said that here was where the race would begin - turns out it was nearly where it ended. Fortunately, there was some great support in there included Tim and James (they had long since waved off their respective FAST ladies, but had hung around for us). Tim managed to fill my two front bottles and my bladder before I had stopped moving. So I was pushed out the other side with no time to see the state Adam was in, or to contemplate that dreaded DNF.
I hobbled along and Adam was (obviously) right behind me. We chatted away and discussed the fact that we were both ruined and couldn't believe the chance at 14 hours was gone already. I ran off ahead for a bit and then Adam caught me as I cramped badly just after Echo Point. I then waddled to Gordon Falls where I was pleased to see Doug, his daughter and Sam - nice to see some friendly faces. I particularly liked the HTFU sign they had placed about 20m beyond the water stop. They told me Tall Geoff was 3 minutes ahead and Adam was 5 minutes ahead. 5 minutes! In about 3km he had taken 5 minutes! That cramp sucked. Then I made it out the back of the Fairmont and saw Geoff's wife Jocie - again, it was lovely to see a friendly face.
I put my headphones in and listened to some songs that reminded me of Bex and my legs were not quite so heavy so I even got into a nice rhythm here. I went back past Geoff and was signing along at the top of my voice to Robbie Williams "Angels" - what better song could you get?!?! I soon caught Adam again - completely unexpected. I went rushing past at Wentworth Falls lookout and assumed I would see him again when the cramps set back in for me. This happened on the road section (bloody road) leading to checkpoint 5. Adam must have been 6 or 7 people back from me and next thing I know we are chatting again and waddling to the checkpoint.
This was an interesting stop. It took 5 minutes - disgracefully slow. Tim and James were nowhere to be seen, but miraculously the bottle of coke I had mentioned at the aquatic centre was in my CP5 drop bag... what had happened?! I came running out of the tent with a huge smile on my face screaming for Tim and James. I later found out they had gone to the finish to see Robyn come in 7th and Chantelle come in 11th - did I say those two are crazy fast?!
Anyway, me and Adam were about to head off - buoyed by our "stolen" bottle of coke when we saw Jocie again and she asked where our fleeces were. Fleece?! It was 5.30pm and we didn't need our fleece if we were out before 7.30pm. But, we thought we should check with the volunteers who had already sent us through... it turns out they forgot to tell us they had changed the plan and we needed to carry the fleece now. We had nowhere to put it, but managed to attach it to the outside of our bags.
As we started down Kedumba we used our head torches for the first time of the day. Adam said he was feeling better so he went off "fast" down Kedumba. I caught him again about 2-3km later and we decided that it had been such a miserable day that we would run the rest together and that perked us both up a bit - it turns out we actually like running with each other.
The next 12km was torture. We were overtaken by loads of people and were trudging as best as we could both manage with the debilitating cramps towards the finish line which never seemed to get any closer. When we got to Leura Forest Adam had had enough of my whinging and set off at a "rapid" pace through the single track. We were going back past all of those people who had overtaken us on the hills out from Jamison Creek! It was exciting - shuffling faster than everyone else felt good! Then we saw the sign that said 3.75km to the Furber Steps. I went crazy. I was updating us every few hundred metres to remind us we were getting close to the finish. Eventually I said it should be in 200m and we saw a lovely marshall who was at the bottom of Furber! Awesome! Antyone can do Furber after 99km right?!
I was so slow. Adam was off ahead and cheering me on up the stairs. Then he decided the only way to do it was put me in front of him - then I started moving and he was dropping back! There is something about being put in the lead that makes me want to go faster. I think I don't want to slow down anyone behind me. In particular, I didn't want to slow Adam down after we had come through all of this together.
For the second half of the stairs we took a guy called Brad with us as well - he seemed pretty happy for the company at this late stage. We sent him off to the finish line so me and Adam could finish together. It was a great moment to get there together and finish it as we had planned - together, but 37 minutes slower than we had hoped. A time of 14:37:11 is not a bad effort though. A 55 minute PB for Adam and 6 hours 6 minute PB for me from Trailwalker.
We will be back and we will smash 14 hours. I am not sure when or how, but there is time to be made up out there. It was a great experience and one I can't wait to repeat. It does remind me that I do this for fun though. That means that I want to run with my friends - that is why I enjoy trail running so much more than road running.
What next? GNW100 Miler if we both get in and that should mean a good 30 hours or more of each other's company. Maybe that will change our opinion of running together? Or maybe it will make us want to do more stupid stuff... the future is unknown, but exciting!
The weeks leading up to the event had involved a change in training for me and Adam. We were doing stairs twice a week, hills once a week and a long run on the weekend - generally in the Blue Mountains on the course. The build up was good, we had a great stretch goal of sub 14 hours for TNF and felt good about it after doing all the analysis and after our 6:33 at Mount Solitary 4 weeks before the race (after a full week of training).
To put the 14 hour goal in perspective... I have only ever done one 100km race and that was Oxfam Trailwalker in August 2013. I have lost a good 20kgs since then, but haven't run that distance - let alone trying to do it almost 7 hours (as in 1/3) faster! Also, Adam has done TNF twice and his improvement from 16:47 to 15:32 was awesome, but to take over 90 minutes off would be a big ask. Still, you never know if you never try. Also, as we kept telling ourselves it is no fun unless your next challenge scares you. I think this probably goes without saying - me and Adam will be back again to give 14 hours and that silver buckle another go.
The next issue with doing a 100km individual race with your best mate is what happens if you want to go at different paces? What happens if one cramps? Every man for himself or we go down as a team?! We had discussed every possible scenario except the one that happened on race day... anyway, we will get to that!
The morning looked good. We were all prepared and ready well before our 6.30 start time. The main issue was Chantelle left her two soft flasks in our dorm room... because I put them in the wrong place... oops! Clearly it didn't impact Chantelle too much as the last we saw of her was taking our empty plastic bottles and running off from the start straight to 11th placed female - amazing.
Me and Adam started more slowly with a gentle run down Furber, up the Golden staircase and off to checkpoint 1. However, all was clearly not well here with our 14 hour attempt. We were 2 minutes behind our aim and we felt like we had been running at a decent pace. Oh well, on to the next section and see what happens. We skipped ahead of a crowd of people waiting at Tarros Ladders by going round the "long cut" which brought us out ahead of those who were around us before. We later found out that our wives were worrying about us at this point because we never went through the Tarros timing point. Oh well, we were happily on our way.
This was when I met a 49 year old guy who had done Melbourne Ironman in 10:12 (90 minutes quicker than me) and was going to go back to try and qualify for Kona next year... shows how far behind some of these people we are! The climb over Mount Debert and then along and into Dunphy's Campground was great. I was probably 60-90 seconds ahead of Adam and we were both happy enough. Probably 1 minute slower to checkpoint 2, but 3 minutes overall (given the 11 minute buffer) was no problem.
Then that scenario me and Adam had not planned for... Adam manages to fall over while waving to Dave Madden and cramps in both calves. This is completely unknown to me as I am happily smashing my own legs down from Ironpot to Megalong Valley Road. I get down to the road and realise something is not right as I start cramping. I hobble my way up the road for a good 3km and then down the other side to the Six Foot Track checkpoint. I was bang on time for this section (2:03) and with a swift checkpoint (3 minutes) was off and "running" again. I quickly realised I shouldn't be feeling like this after 46km. Not good.
Soon enough, Adam came up behind me and we started to discuss our issues. We quickly realised we were both doing the dead man's shuffle up towards Nellie's Glen. In training this had been a point where we would be pushing each other to go faster before we got to the slow section that is Nellie's itself. Not today. We must have looked a sorry sight. I would guess anyone who saw or heard us would have written us off as a good old DNF. Neither of us said it out loud, but it turns out we were both worrying that the DNF may have become a reality.
I left Adam on Nellie's and was pretty ok up there. By the aquatic centre I had lost another 9 minutes and knew that 14 hours was gone. We had said that here was where the race would begin - turns out it was nearly where it ended. Fortunately, there was some great support in there included Tim and James (they had long since waved off their respective FAST ladies, but had hung around for us). Tim managed to fill my two front bottles and my bladder before I had stopped moving. So I was pushed out the other side with no time to see the state Adam was in, or to contemplate that dreaded DNF.
I hobbled along and Adam was (obviously) right behind me. We chatted away and discussed the fact that we were both ruined and couldn't believe the chance at 14 hours was gone already. I ran off ahead for a bit and then Adam caught me as I cramped badly just after Echo Point. I then waddled to Gordon Falls where I was pleased to see Doug, his daughter and Sam - nice to see some friendly faces. I particularly liked the HTFU sign they had placed about 20m beyond the water stop. They told me Tall Geoff was 3 minutes ahead and Adam was 5 minutes ahead. 5 minutes! In about 3km he had taken 5 minutes! That cramp sucked. Then I made it out the back of the Fairmont and saw Geoff's wife Jocie - again, it was lovely to see a friendly face.
I put my headphones in and listened to some songs that reminded me of Bex and my legs were not quite so heavy so I even got into a nice rhythm here. I went back past Geoff and was signing along at the top of my voice to Robbie Williams "Angels" - what better song could you get?!?! I soon caught Adam again - completely unexpected. I went rushing past at Wentworth Falls lookout and assumed I would see him again when the cramps set back in for me. This happened on the road section (bloody road) leading to checkpoint 5. Adam must have been 6 or 7 people back from me and next thing I know we are chatting again and waddling to the checkpoint.
This was an interesting stop. It took 5 minutes - disgracefully slow. Tim and James were nowhere to be seen, but miraculously the bottle of coke I had mentioned at the aquatic centre was in my CP5 drop bag... what had happened?! I came running out of the tent with a huge smile on my face screaming for Tim and James. I later found out they had gone to the finish to see Robyn come in 7th and Chantelle come in 11th - did I say those two are crazy fast?!
Anyway, me and Adam were about to head off - buoyed by our "stolen" bottle of coke when we saw Jocie again and she asked where our fleeces were. Fleece?! It was 5.30pm and we didn't need our fleece if we were out before 7.30pm. But, we thought we should check with the volunteers who had already sent us through... it turns out they forgot to tell us they had changed the plan and we needed to carry the fleece now. We had nowhere to put it, but managed to attach it to the outside of our bags.
As we started down Kedumba we used our head torches for the first time of the day. Adam said he was feeling better so he went off "fast" down Kedumba. I caught him again about 2-3km later and we decided that it had been such a miserable day that we would run the rest together and that perked us both up a bit - it turns out we actually like running with each other.
The next 12km was torture. We were overtaken by loads of people and were trudging as best as we could both manage with the debilitating cramps towards the finish line which never seemed to get any closer. When we got to Leura Forest Adam had had enough of my whinging and set off at a "rapid" pace through the single track. We were going back past all of those people who had overtaken us on the hills out from Jamison Creek! It was exciting - shuffling faster than everyone else felt good! Then we saw the sign that said 3.75km to the Furber Steps. I went crazy. I was updating us every few hundred metres to remind us we were getting close to the finish. Eventually I said it should be in 200m and we saw a lovely marshall who was at the bottom of Furber! Awesome! Antyone can do Furber after 99km right?!
I was so slow. Adam was off ahead and cheering me on up the stairs. Then he decided the only way to do it was put me in front of him - then I started moving and he was dropping back! There is something about being put in the lead that makes me want to go faster. I think I don't want to slow down anyone behind me. In particular, I didn't want to slow Adam down after we had come through all of this together.
For the second half of the stairs we took a guy called Brad with us as well - he seemed pretty happy for the company at this late stage. We sent him off to the finish line so me and Adam could finish together. It was a great moment to get there together and finish it as we had planned - together, but 37 minutes slower than we had hoped. A time of 14:37:11 is not a bad effort though. A 55 minute PB for Adam and 6 hours 6 minute PB for me from Trailwalker.
We will be back and we will smash 14 hours. I am not sure when or how, but there is time to be made up out there. It was a great experience and one I can't wait to repeat. It does remind me that I do this for fun though. That means that I want to run with my friends - that is why I enjoy trail running so much more than road running.
What next? GNW100 Miler if we both get in and that should mean a good 30 hours or more of each other's company. Maybe that will change our opinion of running together? Or maybe it will make us want to do more stupid stuff... the future is unknown, but exciting!
Tuesday, 24 March 2015
Melbourne Ironman - 22 March 2015
Right, so two days later I am back in Sydney and ready to write all about the latest chapter of my change from fat to some form of athlete. I have to put a disclaimer for this one...
I am writing this mostly for fun, but also for my future use when I do the next Ironman (of course there will be another one). This means there will be some analysis, lots of pointless commentary and also some complaints. I don't like excuses. There are none. When you do a race like this you have to be prepared for anything. But there are some issues which I think impacted my peak performance. Anyway, disclaimer over... either close the webpage now, or read on at your peril.
Training... there was lots. Compared to Cairns it was much better. I did twice as much swimming (about 80km), an extra 1,000km on the bike (about 3,500km) and only 2/3 of the running (about 800km). Not much more to say... things went well. Western Sydney 70.3 in November was good (5:09:41) and Husky Long Course in February was successful too (4:51:29). I couldn't have asked for more.
Drive to Melbourne - me and Adam drove down on Thursday night and Friday morning (stopping at the wonderful town of Gundagai for the night). We had a few beers with the locals and then made it the rest of the way on Friday. We checked in to the apartment (before the girls arrived on their flight) and headed to Ironman check in. The good news continued... I had my weigh in and it was my lowest weight as an adult... 92.1kg. Check in done we went for food and chilling out.
Saturday was good. We (Chantelle, Adam and I) went down to Frankston (where the swim was - about 40km south of St Kilda). We went for a little cycle to check the bikes were all ok and then had a practice swim on the course - the water was calm and all was looking good. The only worry was the wind which was expected to be a northerly on race day. Given the run was one way from south to north this would cause problems for everyone! I heard a lot of people suggesting they would like to be shielded from the wind by a bigger bloke like me... After the practice we went back to St Kilda and chilled out for the afternoon and evening. Gary joined me and Adam for my usual pre race dinner of chicken pasta bake. After dinner and some ice cream (thanks Gary) it was an early night for all in preparation for the morning's events.
RACE DAY
4.30am - the alarm goes off and we get ready. All the usual stuff and then we went and met Chantelle at the bus stop at just after 5. I had forgotten the pump (left it locked in the apartment) but we all found it funny knowing there would be the Shimano guys at transition. There were 10 buses and not many people... so off we went. Transition was easy - tyres pumped, bottles filled, bags dropped off and then into the wetsuit and ready for the swim. We headed to the beach and tried to relax before the race start. We joined Gary on the beach and then before we knew it off went the pros!
7.40am - race start... kind of. This year it was a rolling start. 6 athletes were released every few seconds to try and ease congestion for the bike leg after the swim. Chantelle, Gary, Adam and I all moved forward slowly and by about 8am we were off on the swim. I started badly as usual. We ran about the first 50m and then I started swimming and I panicked straight away. What an idiot. By about 200m I had managed to calm my breathing down and got into a bit of a rhythm. I started drafting off other people and I went along nicely until about 2km. Then my first issue of the day - cramp. I had woken at 2am with a bit of cramp in my right calf, but didn't think anything of it... until now. I kept swimming and just eased off with the kicking. It was ok, slow and steady but still moving forward. Then second issue - coming round one of the buoy turns I accidentally hit someone and they didn't take it well... I think he was trying to fight with me in the water, but I laughed it off and kept going - he wasn't going to ruin my race right now (bearing in mind I had already been hit, by accident I am sure, a few times). Anyway, at some point I could see the end of the swim and in an official time of 1:14:01 I was out of the water. Right there I could see Bex, Nic, Evie and Tilly - what a great sight after my least favourite leg of the race. Time was almost 12 minutes quicker than Cairns. Very happy at this point.
Transition 1 - nothing to report. Easy run up to the change tent and then into bike shoes and helmet and straight out to my lovely bike:-) 4:12 for transition. Quick enough, but of no real difference in the grand scheme of things!
Bike leg - off I went and happy as I could be. I was expecting fun - everyone said the course was flat and a great road surface. Overall opinion - not particularly flat and the road surface was fine, but nothing to write home about. Plus the wind had much more of an impact than any of us expected. The first out and back was 32.71kph on the way out and 37.51kph on the way back in. Average of 35.11kph. Very happy at this point. Section 3 - the wind had really picked up by now. The way out was at an average of 28.15kph - this compared favourably to those around me who all seemed to be really slowing down - I was working my way up through the field. Then the fourth section was wind behind again and my average was 34.17kph. Pretty happy with this, but with 30km to go my back gears decided to stop working. It was stuck in top gear! So I was working harder than I should have done, but the course was more downhill on the way back so it was not too bad. I managed to move down gears if I held the gears in place, but this was hard work on the hands. Anyway, I made it back and total ride time of 5:29:27 (average speed of 32.78kph). This was the slower end of what I was hoping for, but given the wind I was pretty happy really.
Transition 2 - this was 2:00. Bike goes to a volunteer "catcher" and then straight in for running shoes, sunnies, visor, race belt and fuel belt and off out again into the afternoon sun. Sun cream slapped on by another wonderful volunteer and on the run in a total time of 6:49:40. I could not have hoped for much more (maybe a quicker bike...) but all in all very happy at this point.
Run leg - things started so well. I knew the goal and so off I went. No news on anyone else so far, but I had seen Adam and Chantelle on the bike and they both seemed to be going well. Hopefully I couldn't see them on the run (being one way) but I had faith they were going well.
I split this run into three sections. Good, bad and ugly. Let's start with the good...
There was a short out and back on the boardwalk and then off on a bit of bush track until about 5km before the road running started. 28:28 for this section and all looking good. Next 10km was on the road and took me 1:02:39. Slightly slower, but still on target for a decent run. In this section I saw Bex and Nic at the side of the road with their awesome signs - great to see the cheer squad and this was a real pick me up in the heat (I understand it topped out at 31 degrees on the run...) Then I carried on and they drove past me... only for me to catch them when they got stuck in traffic. This section was immense and I loved the support and energy they gave me.
Bad... something then changed for me and this is where excuses are no good and I need to train harder and better next time. But I will explain what I mean. It was 31 degrees (but the same for Adam and Chantelle and they ran AMAZING times for the marathon). I had a sore throat developing throughout the week. No excuse, but I think I might not have felt 100%. Also, on the bike I think there was a point when I wanted to have a little nap. I have never felt this before, but I wonder if i should have known I wasn't feeling great when I wanted to nap on the bike. Interesting anyway. Too fast on the bike into the wind - not sure, but maybe I should have slowed it down more into the wind (although it felt fine at the time). Anyway, excuses are not for me. Or so I thought. At 15km you realise there are 27km to go. That is a lot when you feel awful. The next 5km were at 6:59/km - bad but liveable. The following 5km were at 8:28/km. Not good. Lots of walking and shuffling. Each km was painful and I was just waiting for Adam and Chantelle to come past. Crowd was trying to help, but hard to do when you are quite as miserable as I was. Plus the hills started. Who knew there were hills on the Ironman run course?! This was sold to me as flat... The next 5km was at 7:57/km. A toilet break gave me a little more confidence in myself... but not much.
This was a dark point. One of those moments I think some people must have had in an event - what the hell am I doing here?! How on earth am I going to get to the finish line? How long will 12km take if I keep feeling like this (I do maths in my head so I knew a LONG time).
At this point came the ugly. It was not pretty, but it was better and I sucked it up and something happened. I credit it mostly to Bex and our unborn baby (always a good source of motivation when feeling rubbish) and also to Adam. Unknown to him I had fallen apart. I decided I couldn't have him catch me before the finish. The motivation of seeing Bex and not seeing Adam worked to get me to pull myself together, at least a bit. My pace increased for the next 10km to 6:53/km. This may seem slow, but to me it was so fast. I started catching people again and I had something to give. All of a sudden 37km were done (and then 38, 39 and 40) - anyone can finish a 5km run right?! Forget the last 221km... only 5 left. I got to 40km and was watching the sunset over the bay at St Kilda. Lovely stuff. I try and enjoy myself even at these depths of rubbishness (this sounds like it should be a word).
The next 1km - massive pace increase. 6:03/km. Boom! What a pace. Oh... but I cramped and struggled. Then there was 1km to go. This was the bit I kind of regret from Cairns - I rushed it and didn't really soak up the atmosphere, which is amazing. I took my time to get down the finish chute (I was also looking for Bex and Nic). I was walking and high-fiving everyone:-) Then I saw Bex and Nic. I had to confirm where Adam was - if he had been close to me then I would have waited to cross the line with him, but I got told 15-20 mins was the gap, so off I went. I managed to run the last 20m and it was done! Another wonderful volunteer gave me my medal, wrapped a towel round me and sent me off to the recovery area. Time for the run was 4:51:23 giving a total time for the Ironman of 11:41:03. This was a PB of 1:14:40. Happy enough, but I have more to give.
Overall conclusions - happy with the overall performance. Over the coming weeks (before Mount Solitary and possibly TNF100) I will overanalyse my failure on the run, but for now I should accept that it was a great PB and I should be happy (and I am really).
This last bit is mostly a note to myself. My wife is amazing. It is so great to have the support of friends and family throughout the build up to a big event like this and having Adam and Chantelle (as well as Raki, Gary and pretty much the whole of NRG) supporting the build up makes things easier. My wife is amazing. There are so many other people - my family on the other side of the world who I know are spending a sleepless night refreshing the website to find out how I am going. My wife is amazing. Then there is the family in Australia. Nic, Evie and Tilly have supported me and Adam the whole way through - you are all awesome Darwins!
I think there is one more person... Bex is crazy. She married me knowing I had issues with these stupid events. She lives through everything that I do and she listens to me go on about this stuff the whole time. Then at 5 months pregnant she comes to Melbourne for 4 days to watch me do this event. She worries while I struggle through the run and then hugs me when I stink after nearly 12 hours of exercise. So... if she makes it this far through the blog - thanks Bex - you are the greatest supporter and wife I could ever have hoped for.
I am writing this mostly for fun, but also for my future use when I do the next Ironman (of course there will be another one). This means there will be some analysis, lots of pointless commentary and also some complaints. I don't like excuses. There are none. When you do a race like this you have to be prepared for anything. But there are some issues which I think impacted my peak performance. Anyway, disclaimer over... either close the webpage now, or read on at your peril.
Training... there was lots. Compared to Cairns it was much better. I did twice as much swimming (about 80km), an extra 1,000km on the bike (about 3,500km) and only 2/3 of the running (about 800km). Not much more to say... things went well. Western Sydney 70.3 in November was good (5:09:41) and Husky Long Course in February was successful too (4:51:29). I couldn't have asked for more.
Drive to Melbourne - me and Adam drove down on Thursday night and Friday morning (stopping at the wonderful town of Gundagai for the night). We had a few beers with the locals and then made it the rest of the way on Friday. We checked in to the apartment (before the girls arrived on their flight) and headed to Ironman check in. The good news continued... I had my weigh in and it was my lowest weight as an adult... 92.1kg. Check in done we went for food and chilling out.
Saturday was good. We (Chantelle, Adam and I) went down to Frankston (where the swim was - about 40km south of St Kilda). We went for a little cycle to check the bikes were all ok and then had a practice swim on the course - the water was calm and all was looking good. The only worry was the wind which was expected to be a northerly on race day. Given the run was one way from south to north this would cause problems for everyone! I heard a lot of people suggesting they would like to be shielded from the wind by a bigger bloke like me... After the practice we went back to St Kilda and chilled out for the afternoon and evening. Gary joined me and Adam for my usual pre race dinner of chicken pasta bake. After dinner and some ice cream (thanks Gary) it was an early night for all in preparation for the morning's events.
RACE DAY
4.30am - the alarm goes off and we get ready. All the usual stuff and then we went and met Chantelle at the bus stop at just after 5. I had forgotten the pump (left it locked in the apartment) but we all found it funny knowing there would be the Shimano guys at transition. There were 10 buses and not many people... so off we went. Transition was easy - tyres pumped, bottles filled, bags dropped off and then into the wetsuit and ready for the swim. We headed to the beach and tried to relax before the race start. We joined Gary on the beach and then before we knew it off went the pros!
7.40am - race start... kind of. This year it was a rolling start. 6 athletes were released every few seconds to try and ease congestion for the bike leg after the swim. Chantelle, Gary, Adam and I all moved forward slowly and by about 8am we were off on the swim. I started badly as usual. We ran about the first 50m and then I started swimming and I panicked straight away. What an idiot. By about 200m I had managed to calm my breathing down and got into a bit of a rhythm. I started drafting off other people and I went along nicely until about 2km. Then my first issue of the day - cramp. I had woken at 2am with a bit of cramp in my right calf, but didn't think anything of it... until now. I kept swimming and just eased off with the kicking. It was ok, slow and steady but still moving forward. Then second issue - coming round one of the buoy turns I accidentally hit someone and they didn't take it well... I think he was trying to fight with me in the water, but I laughed it off and kept going - he wasn't going to ruin my race right now (bearing in mind I had already been hit, by accident I am sure, a few times). Anyway, at some point I could see the end of the swim and in an official time of 1:14:01 I was out of the water. Right there I could see Bex, Nic, Evie and Tilly - what a great sight after my least favourite leg of the race. Time was almost 12 minutes quicker than Cairns. Very happy at this point.
Transition 1 - nothing to report. Easy run up to the change tent and then into bike shoes and helmet and straight out to my lovely bike:-) 4:12 for transition. Quick enough, but of no real difference in the grand scheme of things!
Bike leg - off I went and happy as I could be. I was expecting fun - everyone said the course was flat and a great road surface. Overall opinion - not particularly flat and the road surface was fine, but nothing to write home about. Plus the wind had much more of an impact than any of us expected. The first out and back was 32.71kph on the way out and 37.51kph on the way back in. Average of 35.11kph. Very happy at this point. Section 3 - the wind had really picked up by now. The way out was at an average of 28.15kph - this compared favourably to those around me who all seemed to be really slowing down - I was working my way up through the field. Then the fourth section was wind behind again and my average was 34.17kph. Pretty happy with this, but with 30km to go my back gears decided to stop working. It was stuck in top gear! So I was working harder than I should have done, but the course was more downhill on the way back so it was not too bad. I managed to move down gears if I held the gears in place, but this was hard work on the hands. Anyway, I made it back and total ride time of 5:29:27 (average speed of 32.78kph). This was the slower end of what I was hoping for, but given the wind I was pretty happy really.
Transition 2 - this was 2:00. Bike goes to a volunteer "catcher" and then straight in for running shoes, sunnies, visor, race belt and fuel belt and off out again into the afternoon sun. Sun cream slapped on by another wonderful volunteer and on the run in a total time of 6:49:40. I could not have hoped for much more (maybe a quicker bike...) but all in all very happy at this point.
Run leg - things started so well. I knew the goal and so off I went. No news on anyone else so far, but I had seen Adam and Chantelle on the bike and they both seemed to be going well. Hopefully I couldn't see them on the run (being one way) but I had faith they were going well.
I split this run into three sections. Good, bad and ugly. Let's start with the good...
There was a short out and back on the boardwalk and then off on a bit of bush track until about 5km before the road running started. 28:28 for this section and all looking good. Next 10km was on the road and took me 1:02:39. Slightly slower, but still on target for a decent run. In this section I saw Bex and Nic at the side of the road with their awesome signs - great to see the cheer squad and this was a real pick me up in the heat (I understand it topped out at 31 degrees on the run...) Then I carried on and they drove past me... only for me to catch them when they got stuck in traffic. This section was immense and I loved the support and energy they gave me.
Bad... something then changed for me and this is where excuses are no good and I need to train harder and better next time. But I will explain what I mean. It was 31 degrees (but the same for Adam and Chantelle and they ran AMAZING times for the marathon). I had a sore throat developing throughout the week. No excuse, but I think I might not have felt 100%. Also, on the bike I think there was a point when I wanted to have a little nap. I have never felt this before, but I wonder if i should have known I wasn't feeling great when I wanted to nap on the bike. Interesting anyway. Too fast on the bike into the wind - not sure, but maybe I should have slowed it down more into the wind (although it felt fine at the time). Anyway, excuses are not for me. Or so I thought. At 15km you realise there are 27km to go. That is a lot when you feel awful. The next 5km were at 6:59/km - bad but liveable. The following 5km were at 8:28/km. Not good. Lots of walking and shuffling. Each km was painful and I was just waiting for Adam and Chantelle to come past. Crowd was trying to help, but hard to do when you are quite as miserable as I was. Plus the hills started. Who knew there were hills on the Ironman run course?! This was sold to me as flat... The next 5km was at 7:57/km. A toilet break gave me a little more confidence in myself... but not much.
This was a dark point. One of those moments I think some people must have had in an event - what the hell am I doing here?! How on earth am I going to get to the finish line? How long will 12km take if I keep feeling like this (I do maths in my head so I knew a LONG time).
At this point came the ugly. It was not pretty, but it was better and I sucked it up and something happened. I credit it mostly to Bex and our unborn baby (always a good source of motivation when feeling rubbish) and also to Adam. Unknown to him I had fallen apart. I decided I couldn't have him catch me before the finish. The motivation of seeing Bex and not seeing Adam worked to get me to pull myself together, at least a bit. My pace increased for the next 10km to 6:53/km. This may seem slow, but to me it was so fast. I started catching people again and I had something to give. All of a sudden 37km were done (and then 38, 39 and 40) - anyone can finish a 5km run right?! Forget the last 221km... only 5 left. I got to 40km and was watching the sunset over the bay at St Kilda. Lovely stuff. I try and enjoy myself even at these depths of rubbishness (this sounds like it should be a word).
The next 1km - massive pace increase. 6:03/km. Boom! What a pace. Oh... but I cramped and struggled. Then there was 1km to go. This was the bit I kind of regret from Cairns - I rushed it and didn't really soak up the atmosphere, which is amazing. I took my time to get down the finish chute (I was also looking for Bex and Nic). I was walking and high-fiving everyone:-) Then I saw Bex and Nic. I had to confirm where Adam was - if he had been close to me then I would have waited to cross the line with him, but I got told 15-20 mins was the gap, so off I went. I managed to run the last 20m and it was done! Another wonderful volunteer gave me my medal, wrapped a towel round me and sent me off to the recovery area. Time for the run was 4:51:23 giving a total time for the Ironman of 11:41:03. This was a PB of 1:14:40. Happy enough, but I have more to give.
Overall conclusions - happy with the overall performance. Over the coming weeks (before Mount Solitary and possibly TNF100) I will overanalyse my failure on the run, but for now I should accept that it was a great PB and I should be happy (and I am really).
This last bit is mostly a note to myself. My wife is amazing. It is so great to have the support of friends and family throughout the build up to a big event like this and having Adam and Chantelle (as well as Raki, Gary and pretty much the whole of NRG) supporting the build up makes things easier. My wife is amazing. There are so many other people - my family on the other side of the world who I know are spending a sleepless night refreshing the website to find out how I am going. My wife is amazing. Then there is the family in Australia. Nic, Evie and Tilly have supported me and Adam the whole way through - you are all awesome Darwins!
I think there is one more person... Bex is crazy. She married me knowing I had issues with these stupid events. She lives through everything that I do and she listens to me go on about this stuff the whole time. Then at 5 months pregnant she comes to Melbourne for 4 days to watch me do this event. She worries while I struggle through the run and then hugs me when I stink after nearly 12 hours of exercise. So... if she makes it this far through the blog - thanks Bex - you are the greatest supporter and wife I could ever have hoped for.
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