Chasing Sunrises: The Art of Listening to Your Body in Trail Running
In a perfect world we have a plan, but sometimes it's good to just get out there and fill the cup by doing something outside the box.
“Running is kind of like a coffee. The first time you drink it you might not like it. It’s bitter and leaves a bad taste in your mouth but you kind of like the way it makes you feel. However, after a few times, it starts to taste better and then all of a sudden you’re hooked and it’s the new best part of waking up.”
Amy Hastings
Chasing Sunrises and Going Off Script
The most important advice I’ve ever been given in running is ‘listen to your body’ and I’m starting to think that taper, and how we prepare for races is completely individual depending on a person, in much the same way that nutrition and the gear we use are tailored to each of us.
We’re very fortunate at Elevate to have a coach that understands this, I think if I had any other coach in the world they might’ve scolded me for going out chasing a sunrise at Mount Coree less than a week out from my A Race, but it’s clear when you understand your athletes the benefits of filling the cup far outweigh one day of lost sleep, so the response I get is a ‘Love This *blue love heart emoji*’.
As an athlete that fills you with a lot of confidence when your coach has enough belief that you listen to your body when you do go off script. Often I’ll do something like this on a Sunday, because Monday is my rest day and gives me close to 36 hours and two sleeps after the run to get back to normal.
This run at Coree came out of the blue, on Friday, Stacey approached me and said “I might be crazy, but I want to catch the sunrise at Mount Coree.” Not crazy by any stretch, but I’d already committed to a half marathon run over Ainslie and Majura, but the lure of getting one more climb in was far too tempting.
The next morning I saw Stacey at parkrun and the idea was set in stone, a 3am alarm which would allow us time to start at 4:30am and climb the 782 metres of elevation to catch both first light and eat a brekky at the peak. Along the way I picked up Nat who decided the lure of doing cool shit was simply too much and wanted to come along.
When someone comes to me with an idea it doesn’t take much to twist my arm these days. This one I’m glad I did despite having what I think was one and a half hours of proper sleep, it’s nothing 1.25 litres of Coca Cola and a Monster Energy can’t fix.
We started at maybe 4:35am and got going in the dark, the best part about Coree is the first two kilometres or so are flat or undulating on a really easy surface before Pabral Road takes a hold. There is then an average of maybe 100 metres of climbing over the next seven kilometres including a 200 metre climb over two kilometres from the road junction to the top, it’s some of the best fire trail in my opinion you’ll run in the country, as it’s covered either side with stunning forest.
As first light hit I knew I made the right choice, it’s funny despite only sleeping what I did while dot watching races, I sprung out of bed, almost as if I had some inkling of how special this run would truly be.
After taking some time including the first time in a long time that I’d been silent, we climbed the trig (photos of the sunrise never do it full justice!), took a few more snaps and then headed on the descent to the camp grounds and down Curries Road.
After enjoying the way down and having far too many laughs, we finished the run at about 8:30am, which when you consider we were running like hippies and taking it all in, for around three and a bit hours of time on feet it was perfect. I think it was a combination of right people, right location and right time.
I’m so blessed to have surrounded myself with people that I have put in the category of ‘enablers’ these are people that help you pursue your dreams, and don’t judge even if the goal you have might be out of reach at this very moment.
These people are the best and Stacey and Nat are two of them of the highest order, I’ll cherish this run for a long time to come.
Welcome to Another Race Week
A year ago I watched my coach Shiree complete an epic journey across the Victorian High Country at Mount Buller. The event was known as ‘Oscar’s Hut 2 Hut’, I was really fresh into trail running, yes I’d completely Kowen (just), but I was still incredibly naïve about how tough the sport actually is.
My brain works in a funny way, I’m a stats man, I’ve always seen numbers and I love crunching them. I compare each run, with one I’ve done recently. Mount Tennent is one of the most respected climbs in all of Canberra and its elevation profile is one I often compare to races I have when I have big climbs. My first introduction to Tennent was when I was in college people used to talk about the a bushranger John Tennant, who is said to have treasure hidden in the area.
What I’ve never understood is why it’s Tennent instead of Tennant if it’s named after John, but that’s a story for another day. My friends used to tell of the legendary stories from yesteryear including a number from Queanbeyan Age founder John Gale.
As Tim The Yowie Man writes as he also searched for the gold a couple of years ago, Gale recounts in his book Canberra: Its History and Legends about the perilous adventure he undertook in pursuit of Tennant's hideout. While searching for the treasure, Gale fell into a secret cave only to find ''that past decrepit and worn-out wallabies had made this their sepulchre''. The adventurous newspaperman only found his way out of the secret cave via a death-defying crawl along a precipice. No treasure was found.
Gale is often regarded as romanticising stories about Tennant, and many believe that perhaps Tennant didn’t actually roam Mount Tennent at all. That would be disappointing if it’s the case because I’d like to think one day someone will come across it, but alas it’s yet to happen.
Without getting too side tracked I use Tennent as my most used form of elevation measurement. For example it’s around 780-800 metres from the Namadgi Vistitor Centre in elevation, perhaps Mount Coree at 789 metres for a road trip is a better measurement because it’s more runnable (these are arguments for another day).
I first noticed my Tennent pattern happening at Four Peaks when I was talking about each day. I’d say ‘today is one and a half Tennents’ ridiculous in theory, and to some like my friend Danielle K it meant absolutely nothing. Anyway, when I saw Shiree had done Hut2Hut, I knew then and there that wasn’t for me at the time, but it had a ‘little brother race’ called 'The Archie’.
The beautiful thing about this race itself is that Oscar and Archie are kids actual people, the kids of the race organisers, who have both been diagnosed with either autism or being on the spectrum.
Oscar after being diagnosed was enrolled in speech and occupational therapy, bills costing the family thousands. His parents realised that not every family that has a kid that is on the spectrum can afford this cost, and in some cases it can take up to 18 months to receive financial assistance from the government.
The beautiful thing about this race Oscar’s Hut2Hut and The Archie raises funds to supply state of the art technology used to help deliver early intervention programs. This includes items such as iPads, Tablets, PCs, Interactive Whiteboards and smart TVs.
Since its creation in 2013 Oscars100 has provided over $50,000 in donations to organisations such as Amaze (Autism Victoria) and Irabina.
The Archie Race Itself
The Archie seeks to replicate the wild, remote, toughness of Hut 2 Hut while also providing a ‘stepping-stone’ experience for those seeking a taste of what Hut 2 Hut is all about, and potentially qualifying for the solo 100 category in the following year. Therefore, the course has been chosen to be arduous and potentially uncomfortable in parts, to replicate the longer course conditions.
It gives introduction to Four Mile – which is also the first technical challenge in the Hut 2 Hut course. There is a significant ratio of ascent to distance (2,600 metres vertical metres both up and down to 54 kilometres) which for those measuring in Tennents it’s close to three and a quarter both up and down, which replicates Hut 2 Hut in a shorter distance but no less tough a measure. The terrain the organisers say is technically difficult in sections but ‘watch your feet and you’ll be fine’.
Did I also mention it’s incredibly beautiful?
I have 15 hours to complete, I’m hoping to get through it at an average of five kilometres and hour and finish around mid-afternoon, I’ve felt good in the lead up and played around with my taper again.
I felt at Ultra Trail Kosciuszko being on the breakfast shift I didn’t get any proper sleep heading into the race, and I think I went far too hard with the taper in terms of kilometres, which ironically probably saved me because the lack of sleep meant I wasn’t getting the full recovery benefits.
I’ve been getting an average of seven and a half hours in the lead up to The Archie, about three hours on average more than UTK, and I’ve averaged 60 kilometres a week with one big climbing day each week over the past fortnight, which I’ve felt has allowed me to take in the benefits I had from my huge week not too long ago.
It’s strange when you throw things into perspective, after my first half marathon I couldn’t walk for a week, now I’m sometimes doing multiple half marathons a week in training, for an event I could only have dreamed of running even at the start of last year.
I’ve been so lucky to have the support of my coach, my Elevate Family and the Lazy Glutes to come into this full of confidence and ready to have my best go at it, come what may.
A Toast to a True Warrior
Over the last couple of years I’ve really enjoyed watching or dot watching races where people run for 24 to 48 hours on a track. I don’t know what it is about the race, but there is something about the comfort of the track that I think seduces me some what, but also how incredible it is to watch runners be able to push their absolute limits in the best possible environment.
One runner I absolutely love following is Allicia Heron, she seems to push the limit and envelope of even her own capabilities. This past weekend Allicia and Matt Griggs headed over to Taipei to take part in the 48-hour event.
Based on information provided by the Legendary Martin Fryer, The course was a 668 metre loop on pavement/path at the Xinsheng Park, right next to Taipei's second smallest airport, it means that across the weekend they would have planes flying low overhead regularly and having to endure plenty of their favourite tunes sung in Chinese over loudspeakers as part of the extra bonuses.
Sounds like an absolute treat!
It’s also the venue where Martin, Mick Francis, Paul Every, and Simon Phillips fielded Australia's first full 24 Hour team at the World 24 Hour Championships in 2006. Sadly, Matt succumbed to illness after three kilometres, not giving him a chance to replicate his incredible work at last year’s 48 Hour event in Canberra.
Between following Allicia throughout the weekend, and my good friend Jess Peil who finished the Tarawera Miler, I didn’t get much sleep, but my goodness was it worth it. With the support of Justin Hiatt, who himself is another accomplished Ultra Runner, Allicia is now the now the toast of Australia's women's ultra running. She is the new Australian Women's 48 Hour record holder of almost 17 kilometres - 360.587km. She finished 5th overall and third female at Taipei's 48 Hour event.
First place was Joasia Zakrzewski who set a new World Record by about 6 kilometres 410.843km. An incredible weekend for women in the sport, and absolutely amazing to think the depth of talent we have in our own Canberra running scene. Thank you Martin for the regular updates, yourself, Allicia and Justin as well as Matt should be absolutely stoked, what a weekend!
Training for the Week
Monday: Rest Day, normally take Duke for a walk and get my stretches up for the week. Got out for an easy five kilometres of active recovery with my friend Liam who is running the 12 hour.
Tuesday: A bit of mindset training, ran an 800 metre loop around the block for an hour straight, just to see how my brain went with dealing with the same stimuli.
Wednesday: An hour out on the trails with a long short climb, i.e only about 40 metres, but on one side it goes for one and a half kilometres and on the other it’s about 800 metres, just get used to being consistent going up and down.
Thursday: Hill session with elevate, Coach Shiree really worked us in this one, we found I was hunching as I was getting tired, so on different intervals I kept trying to focus on keeping my chest up, a critical thing to fix given how often I could get slumped at The Archie.
Friday: Nice tempo at Running For Resilience, I’m utilising a couple of days a week to do tempo stuff, not to get confused with the really fast interval stuff, this is just working above my Zone2, but I’ve found since I’ve introduced it my running is showing a good uptick in the right direction.
Saturday: Point Hut Pond parkrun, first time it was introduced, incredible course of natural beauty, but reminded me of my school cross country, it’s a good challenging course that’s relatively flat that people can enjoy.
Sunday: If you read the start of the blog you know what I did :)
Totals: 63 kilometres, 7 hours and 52 and 1,338 metres of elevation
My 2023 Calendar So Far
The Archie - 18th February
Gumbaby - 23rd April
Sri Chimnoy 12-Hour - 25 March
Kowen Winter Trails Marathon - 18 June
Sri Chimnoy Canberra Trail 100 - 10 September
Potential Radar:
Grampians 100 Miler or 4 Day Event
Stromlo 50
Ultra Trail Kosciuszko 100
Poutinerest - my own Neverest Challenge
Completed
Kowen New Year’s Resolution Run - 2:49:30
Thanks everyone I’ll see you all on the other side of The Archie!
You don't have a.. I don't like running option in your poll hahaha! I don't like coffee, so explains why I don't like running :p.
Training and taper is very individual and a good coach understands this :D
Congratulations Allicia! (We met when I went to support a friend doing the 48 hr run event at the AIS a few years ago)
Can't wait to read about your Archie wrap up! Have a blast Brent!
Go Brent!! Loved it.