Conquering Bright 4 Peaks
I negotiate one of the races on the road to Kosci and how I've incorporated it as part of the bigger picture. It's good to be back!
To Taper Or Not? That Is The Question
I feel like when you’re in the middle of training for a race, you have your A Race that you are working towards, but along the way it’s likely you’re going to have other events say a B Race, C Race and even a D Race in my case.
In order of my preference along the way to Ultra Trail Kosciuszko with a December 15 date for my A Race I signed up for:
C) Bright 4 Peaks - 29 October to 1 November
D) Canberra Times Fun Run Half Marathon - 6 November
B) Stromlo 30 Kilometres - 19 November
The idea I had behind each event was that they would provide something different to my program, and also break up the nature of my training, they’re also not big enough either time or kilometres wise that it would limit my regular training
It’s not to say that my training is boring, but when you’re running hours a week and most of it solo it’s nice to feel the energy and the vibe of events and race days.
I’ve just completed Bright 4 Peaks and I’ll speak to that a little bit more in a moment, but the reason I’ve structured the races in terms of importance is that the Fun Run is a chance to go out for a run with my brother, Bright was a lot of hill training as you’ll find out and Stromlo is a chance to simulate similar elevation and distance to what the first third of Kosciuszko will feel like in the legs.
Each serve a different purpose, Bright was to work out my pace on the climbs and get a feel for what I can realistically do under fatigue when I’m in the Snowy Mountains in December, there is still road running to be done at Kosciuszko so the half marathon serves that purpose, but because it’s not specifically trail I’m not itching to burn through the race, while Stromlo is my last hit out to fine tune some fuelling strategies under race conditions.
The difficulty with these races along the way is whether or not you feel like you need to taper or whether you just train through the race and go from there. Some go into these races without taking any rest or recovery. They run through the race while maintaining their usual level of mileage and quality workouts. In this case, it’s highly unlikely you’ll score a personal best as you’ll be somewhat fatigued from training.
Because I really wanted to come into Bright fresh I actually took two days off in the lead up to the event and avoided hills.
Training For The Week
Monday: Stretching and resting.
Tuesday: Faster 8 kilometres on trail (for me) at about 5:40 pace, was using my new Salomon Advance Skin 12 and it felt so much better than my previous running pack.
Wednesday: Easy mile warm-up into 10 kilometres with Kirstie, legs felt really strong pulling back on the hills and just strolling around on the footpaths.
Thursday: Tune up session at Elevate with my coach Shiree, longer intervals with 4x 2 minutes (1 minute recovery), 6x 1 minute (30 seconds recovery) and 8x 30 seconds (30 seconds recovery) felt really strong and body.
Friday: 5 hour drive to Bright from Canberra, so another rest day in the lead up to Bright.
So about 27 kilometres for the week across 3 hours of training, so the load is about 2-3 hours less to Friday than it normally would be. This might not be an adequate rest for some people, but I’ve conditioned myself (I once ran at least 10 kilometres a day for 100 days) to know when my body is screaming out for rest or when it can’t go anymore.
On that basis I’d felt well rested after what I’d call a ‘mini taper’ but I’m interested as to how others negotiate this when they have races in the lead up to their A Race.
4 Peaks Recap
For those that don’t know Bright 4 Peaks was started in 1979 as a way to get walkers (yes walkers!) into the hills to enjoy the amazing scenery the area around Bright has to offer. Runners have since joined the walkers in the event.
The event and it’s history is pretty prestigious with many Olympians and incredible mountain and ultra runners using it as a conditioning event.
Paul Crake is a 4 time winner. Paul is a world mountain champion and has also won the Rialto Stair Chase and is a record holder for the Empire State Building Chase.
Hanny Allston – a world orienteering champion has also been a multiple winner.
Day 1
A group of us booked a night at the Bright Brewery for the first night in on Friday pre-race, it was a good chance to unwind after a long day of driving and get a good meal in. I opted for Tandoori Pizza and a pint of the Brewery’s light beer, it was all wrapped up pretty early and I was in bed by 9:45pm.
The thing I find was that I tossed and turned in my sleep, just couldn’t get comfortable at all and my mind was racing about the event and what was to come. I may have slept a couple of hours of broken sleep, but it wasn’t consistent before the 6am alarm.
I showered, had some cereal and double checked all my gear for the day at Mount Buffalo. The course started at the Eurobin Creek Picnic Area, before heading up ‘The Big Walk’ which winds its way up Mount Buffalo and finishes at the Old Buffalo Chalet.
They were not wrong about any of that at all this course just completely smacks you in the face with 440m of elevation over the first three kilometres, the track itself is graded just over 10 per cent for 1,043 metres of elevation over 10 kilometres.
My legs felt fresh early, and I just settled in with the group, ended up running a good stretch for a while with Danielle from Elevate, we were having a lot of fun and not taking it too seriously, which I feel is right at the core of what trail running is about.
In some areas particularly near the waterfall, you have to jump a few rocks, the recent rain made it difficult to get going, there are another 3 kilometres of nasty climbing after the waterfall, before finishing with some nice downhill single track sections and a short climb to the chalet.
Finished just over 2 hours which was well clear of my 2 hours and 30 minutes I set for this track, was really pumped with how I went on day 1
Day 2
This course started at the Tavare Park in Harrietville then you have to make your way up via Bungalow Spur Track to The Summit of Mount Feathertop passing Federation Hut on the way. However, due to snow (yes snow) in late October it finished just past Federation Hut with no trek to the summit.
1 kilometre of mercy shown by race director Rob Preston, and once we got to the hut we could see why, there was snow on Feathertop!
In preparation, I spent the afternoon after Mount Buffalo in the spa with some magnesium and that certainly helped the legs, I tried to keep the same morning routine, but again struggled to sleep due to thinking about the race.
I’d had a parma, chips and salad the night before, and tried to get as much fluid back into the body.
This day was brutal, the Bungalow Spur Track is graded at 13.5 per cent and it’s just 9 kilometres where you are climbing more than 100 metres a kilometre. It’s relentless and there is no respite to try and find any flat to try and push out on. I set the goal for 2 and a half again and found myself just over 2 hours and 6 minutes.
The joy with this day was that once you reached the end of the race you had to get back down, so essentially turning the day into a half marathon, but the second half isn’t timed.
Hamstrings and calves were feeling it on this day, particularly in the last part of the timed section where Jasmina and Danielle just cruised past me before the hut, but happy I pushed through, the views were worth it.
Recovery was pretty similar to Day 1 except I went and bought a roast chook and some bread rolls and had about three rolls and half of the chook, splitting the rest for the next day.
To put in perspective my calorie intake/deficit, my Garmin estimated I burned close to 3,850 calories during the run up and down. That’s a lot to replace!
Got straight into the spa and soaked before we went to another pub (trail runners party in the mountains!) I had a burger and chips, it was stunning.
Day 3
This day I ran pretty much solo, the crew had decided they were going to go out early, and I just kept a pretty similar routine which had worked in the last two days.
This day was shortened again due to the snow on Mount Hotham which is just absolutely amazing at this time of year, but it’s a lesson that the Alpine climate is a lot different to what we experience in Canberra.
It also meant we had to get our way back down, a lesson was to be learned here in checking the kit, but I’ll get to that in a moment.
This day left Tavare Park heading on some unbelievably lush single track, 6 kilometres of it I was in absolute heaven just soaking it all in as the rain was pouring and it was just a complete swamp.
Once we crossed the river we continued along the Bon Accord Track up to the Bon Accord Spur to the Bon Accord Hut Ruins. The climb up the Spur just absolutely sucked the life out of me, three lots of 180 metre plus climbs just zapped the juices.
My entire legs were stiff and sore, but I just decided the best course of action was to keep as much momentum as I could, so taking deep breaths, just hiked much of this course.
Finished just on 2 hours and 14 minutes, again well ahead of my 2 and a half hour time goal.
As I reached the peak I went to get my food for the trek down and found out it must’ve fallen in the car (it had), I was shattered, I burned again close to 4,000 calories this day through the up and down and fuelled the entire thing on 100 grams of Trail Brew or 360 calories.
The bakery treats from Harrietville and the apples post race might’ve been the best I’ve ever had.
We spent the afternoon at the Ringer Reef Winery, which was a nice way to celebrate what I thought was the three hardest days we’d face, little did I know what Mystic Hill had in store!
Recovery this day was a little bit later due to the afternoon winery drinks, I added a chocolate milk to the recovery plans and fell asleep watching television, had a much better sleep, maybe that was the trick all along?
Day 4
You’ve made it, Day 4 and here we are! The shortest of the lot, a hill ha! I’ve done hills before, I set a goal of sub 2 hours here and made sure that I had all my nutrition and it was zipped up.
We got an early jump on the run starting just after 7am, leaving Alpine Park and heading up the Pine Plantation toward the approach of the summit of Mystic Hill from the East.
Two tough climbs eased out onto this beautiful fire trail and I let loose before almost missing the turn and winding up to the Summit of Mystic Hill, it was brutal a 172 metre climb over the next kilometre which had a lot of us hunched over, at one point there was even a rope it was that steep.
Then there was a nice 100 metre undulating ‘rollercoaster’ style fire trail over the next 2 kilometres, before a 200 metre drop over the next kilometre. I tried to remember all the strategies to go down hill, but I just went into survival mode, I crab walked a bit of it to save face, and then it was just an unreal 4 kilometre section of fire trail after the ‘launch pad’.
I came in just over 1 hour and 57 so again hitting my goal. The sense of accomplishment that came over me after finishing this was just overwhelming. Sometimes there is a little voice in my head that creeps in with self doubt, but each time I do something like this it gets a little quieter.
I’m so proud of what I was able to achieve, and got a good idea of what realistic pace goals I can set myself for Kosciuszko in December, knowing that none of the climbs are going to be anywhere close to what I just achieved over the last four days.
In total if you include the climbs back down, we got through 64.35 kilometres and 4,627 metres of elevation, just incredible.
To everyone who through their support behind me from my Elevate Family who looked after ‘Bubba Cheds’ throughout the weekend, to my incredible girlfriend Cassandra who supported from a far, to all those who messaged and supported throughout it meant so much more to me than you’ll ever know.
Hump Day Hero
I think it’s fitting that this edition of Peak2Soon is coming out on a Wednesday ‘Hump Day’ as some know it, which fits in with the theme of this week’s blog which has basically been all about climbing and elevation!
No one in my life probably knows it better than my coach Shiree Kofod, who just completed 15 and a half kilometres of climbing in October.
If you run on trails in Canberra it’s probably 100 per cent likely you have seen the Elevate Running and Fitness shirts, before this year I’d seen them, but I didn’t really understand what they meant.
What I learnt pretty quickly when I joined the group in January is that you become part of a family, and this weekend showed why with runners in Bright and a heap of runners in the Blue Mountains.
Why is it like family? I believe it’s starts with Shiree.
I think it’s important if you seek a coach in whatever you’re doing, while being realistic they don’t diminish your goals. Shiree has only ever encouraged me when I’ve told her about events I’ve signed up, when talking about Bright the response was “you’ll love it.”
When I told her about signing up for Kosciuszko in December it was “how can I help you get there?”
A great runner in her own right, she’s completed some incredible races from UTA100, 6 Foot Track, The Hut2Hut and the Larapinta 137.5 kilometre stage race. I’m so grateful to have her in my corner and know I wouldn’t be half the trail runner I am without her great guidance.
Well done Brent. You've definitely inspired me to sign up for this event next year.
We are so lucky to have Coach Shiree. Her love of trails and running is so contagious, it's easy to catch the bug!
Congratulations Friend.. when I first saw you I wondered that how he is running with this body, but this 4 peaks in consecutive days, I feel that you are really strong mentally and physically. What a dedication and determination that you have shown in your triainings.. Great efforts Mate... All the very best for big one in December.