Embracing The Suck
This week was a comeback for the ages, I talk a little bit about what's happening after Ultra Trail Kosciuszko and may have finally settled on a nutrition plan!
Sometimes, life is unfair, and you have to suck it up and move on and not use it as an excuse.
Robert Kraft
Grit The Teeth And Get On With It
It’s 3:45am on Tuesday, my alarm goes off. I groggily slap my Garmin to turn it off. Everyone has indulged in a public holiday, but I’m doing the short turnaround at work, as a journalist we get two extra weeks leave for working every public holiday.
I did my regular journalist job and then got the call in to do a shift for breakfast for Tuesday. Truth being I don’t mind the actual shift, but my body just simply can’t fall asleep knowing an alarm is coming at ‘stupid o’clock”.
I finish the shift and find out I’m doing the same shift again tomorrow, straight away I’m in a negative headspace, knowing a lack of sleep impacts my body. I end up getting out of work about 10:30am and try to head to the foreshore to run. It’s going to be wet later in the week and all I can think about is getting some kilometres in.
When I get to my destination I set out on my run and everything feels heavy, my lower back has been giving me some grief since the end of football season, yet has felt fine on runs, wasn’t playing the game.
500 metres in I’m calling it.
“Fuck this, honestly,” I said.
But then a little voice in my head says “something is better than nothing” so I scroll through my watch and see a fartlek session. I dial it in and get through the 25 minutes unscathed and get back to my car and when I get into the driver’s seat I just burst into tears.
I could probably put it down to less than five hours sleep, and also probably to my body just not feeling 100 per cent, and that putting a major dent in my confidence levels. But the reality check comes from my consistency, 51 hours of training in the past five weeks prior to Tuesday made me realise that hills are being climbed and despite all the obstacles I’m putting in a very solid body of work.
So what did I do? I wiped those tears and got some Korean Fried Chicken and from that moment the week was completely different which I’ll expand on in my weekly training section.
What’s Next After Kosci?
Lately I’ve been seeing a lot of people selling their tickets to Ultra Trail Kosciuszko, some for family reasons, most of them are because training simply isn’t going to plan. For some I imagine this can be incredibly heart breaking, when I see this though I get a little thought in the back of my head that goes “don’t you dare” because it would be far too easy to pack it in right now and call it a day.
It’s not how I’m built though, I’m too stubborn to give in. It’s why I love the sport of trail running and why it’s made life after football seem so appealing, because there is always a new challenge whether it’s a distance or elevation to climb the possibilities are just about endless.
I got a question throughout the week asking me what my fitness goals were for after this Ultra Trail Race at Kosciuszko.
I admit I hadn’t really given it too much thought if I’m being honest, but I know that after this race I will probably take a good month off and then rip straight back in with a half marathon race at Kowen for the New Year’s Resolution.
I’m also signed up for The Archie which was a race started to raise awareness about Autism and is essentially the little brother race for Oscars100, which is a stunning yet brutal race in the Victorian High Country. Since its creation in 2013 Oscars100 has provided over $50,000 in donations to organisations such as Amaze (Autism Victoria) and Irabina.
Irabina is a not-for-profit organisation dedicated to helping families adapt to the challenges of living with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). I have seen this race and it was one of the first that literally took my breath away with how brutal, yet stunning it is.
About a month later in April I’m signed up for Gumbaby, which is my first introduction into the backyard format through 8 x 6.71km laps out at Blue Range Hut just outside of Canberra. This format really intrigues me because you don’t have to be the fastest in a traditional backyard event, you just have to be the one willing to go the longest.
Why was that distance chosen per lap? The concept would see you run 100 miles in 24 hours. The other thing I like about the concept is how accessible it is. Most people would be able to finish 6.71km in an hour, but it’s when you start to really build up the hours you learn what you’re truly made of.
My big goal however is to climb Everest (in a virtual sense) I was always intrigued by the ‘Neverest Challenge’ where people run the height of Everest during a run anywhere in the world. About a fortnight or so ago I threw a friend under the bus by saying she was going to do it, in reality I was projecting my goals, but wanted someone to do it with.
Slowly the wheels are turning on it and I might have something exciting to announce in the coming weeks about doing this challenge somewhere in Canberra. Aside from that I’d like to find a road marathon and beat my Canberra time, I would also like to get below 100kg again and strip this heavyweight title.
Training For The Week
Monday: Rest day after the brutal Kowen 30 kilometres that Lizzy and I did.
Tuesday: MONA Fartlek two x 90 seconds, four x 60 seconds, four x 30 seconds with a 1:1 rest and walking as the rest. 3.70 kilometres.
Wednesday: Three hour long run done as three separate paces for a backyard ultra. A really fun way to break up my time on the trails, it rained the entire time so it was also a good way to work on my resilience and really pull myself out of the slump I’d found myself in due to lack of sleep. 20.80 kilometres including the warm-down.
Thursday: About 70 minutes out on the footpaths with Kirstie, so much to catch up on that I barely noticed how wet everything was, my rain jacket kept all my sweat in so felt pretty dehydrated after this session. Really enjoyed it though 10.54 kilometres done.
Friday: Decided to mix my training up after it was revealed the path I wanted to go on had closed due to the rain, went for a tempo session on undulating hills, got some awesome confidence on a really wet trail. 10.51 kilometres.
Saturday: The weather just didn’t ease up all weekend, it actually snowed on the hilltops of Canberra, which is crazy when you consider that it’s spring here, set out for two and a half hours easy and was really stoked to get through a half marathon. Trails were absolutely smashed with rain, so spent the majority of the run absolutely soaked, but enjoyed it so much, found lots of local wildlife as well.
Sunday: Another half marathon in the books, this time just 15 minutes slower with an additional 180 metres of climbing throughout. Really happy to be able to back it up on tired legs and in horrendous conditions on the trails. This week despite starting off completely confidence zapping, ended up being one of the best weeks of training. The rollercoaster continues!
Totals: 88.3 kilometres, 10 hours and 52 minutes, 1,214 metres of elevation
Quick Nutrition Update
I have been using an old scoop on my Trail Brew and this week had the realisation I was putting nowhere near the 50g of TB per hour thus falling well short of the 45 grams of carbs I thought I was having.
This week on long runs, paired it with a Maurten Gel 100 to give me 70 grams of carbs each hour and that seemed to have alleviated any stomach issues I was having, as well as keeping me strong.
In the next few weeks I’m going to attempt to squeeze this up to 90 grams and hopefully get the maximum amount of carbohydrates each hour that I possibly can. I know going with this strategy is risky, but I know having less processed stuff or a banana could also form part of the nutrition strategy. My goal is to just have my stomach be as at ease for as long as possible.
Monday Motivation Heroes
These women are both such incredible athletes and runners. While I draw some inspiration from incredible world class runners, I draw most of my inspiration from people that I’ve met in my Trail Running Group Elevate.
A few weeks ago (yes I know my timing is off) Danielle Donegan and Kym Russell both smashed the Sri Chimnoy 100 kilometre race here in Canberra. I did the last leg of it as part of a relay and I couldn’t believe that after running around 77 kilometres that is what they went through on the final 23 kilometres.
I’m one of those people that loves watching people’s training for races, it gives me ideas on how I can best prepare myself for Ultra Trail Kosciuszko, one post from Danielle really caught my eye about 10 days out from the race.
She had caught Covid-19 less than a month before the race, and each day after the week in isolation was watching a battle with the mind, then came the post “Trust” it was like a little message to herself that she was going to be okay.
“You got this. Trust you’ll make the right decision. Trust in the process.”
I firmly believe the mind has such a big part to play in running, and this was the post that made me believe despite all that was going on Danielle was going to make it. She had an incredible training run giving me so many ideas on how to structure my week, in particular my hill work and what sort of elevation I should be running.
It’s also been great to be able to pick her brain and get ideas for my nutrition plan and how to work that into my long runs. It’s been a complete blessing!
As for Kym I’m lucky I get to run with her on Thursdays at Elevate, she’s so strong on the hills and just such a consistent runner. Her preparation heading into Sri Chimnoy included an incredible technical run on the Jabulani Challenge, which had some really nasty technical hills and even creek crossings.
Most importantly Kym has taught me the importance of time on feet and that incorporating hilly hiking into your program can be so beneficial for your overall success in long events. Like Dan she’s also been an awesome source of information and has been good to learn off.
Kym is also currently doing ‘Frocktober’ where she’ll wear a different dress each day and even be running in different skirts to raise funds for Ovarian Cancer.
5 Quick Facts:
1. Ovarian cancer is the most lethal gynaecological cancer
2. There is no early detection test available
3. One Australian dies every 8 hours from ovarian cancer
4. Worldwide, over 300,000 people are diagnosed with ovarian cancer each year
5. The average 5-year survival rate for ovarian cancer is just 48 per cent
If you see either of these two out on the trails or at a race say g’day. They’ve inspired me to go further than I ever have before.
Eat. Sleep. Rave. Repeat.
Not sure why so many people skip the first 2 steps in the process.
Nice Read Brent, You have induced my mind to plan or commit to the events for myself next year. Thanks for sharing the Gumby and Gumbaby 2022 video. I can see the Gumby winner Ben Grimshaw who lives nearby and great runner and Michael as well from R4R. I will check my possibility to sign up for that Gumbaby event 2023.
Just thought of giving you a note on Mt.Everest Challenge , I have seen few people doing the Mt. Everest Challenge in Canberra in the very steepest stairs hike in Canberra from Corin dam to Mt.Gingera (Pryors hut). It is REALLY steep, about 580 metres in the first 2 km. If you do 16 times claim up that stairs = Mt. Everest Elevation. Trust me, my knees cried when I did two times, just consider it for your challenge. Happy week of running Friend.