The Home Stretch
With just 12 weeks to go until Kosciuszko it's time to find exactly what I'm made of.
“In running, it doesn’t matter whether you come in first, in the middle of the pack, or last. You can say, ‘I have finished.’ There is a lot of satisfaction in that.”
Fred Lebow, New York City Marathon co-founder
Finding A Balance
It’s been a huge week, and I got the fright of my life when I saw that there would only be 3 months before Ultra Trail Kosciuszko (UTK), which means I’m more than half way through my training preparation.
The reason this is edition is coming out later than it traditionally would has nothing to do with my training or preparation or anything like that. I actually used my writing time last night to celebrate a friend securing a job in the public service.
Too often as runners we can actually miss events with friends because we are prioritising our runs. I get it and it happens, but I also think it’s important to find the balance between the training life and social life. Where I’ve found my greatest enjoyment in recent weeks with my training has been changing up the timing of my runs so I can fit social events in my calendar. It has in theory filled my social cup, while also helping energise my training.
Take yesterday’s long run as an example. I knew I had a nice brunch planned in the morning and an event in the evening, so I used the middle of my day to go running, and I know this isn’t possible for everyone, but for those who can do it, I would highly recommend fitting it in where you can, you won’t regret it.
The Gear (so far)
One of the best things about trail running is that everyone has their own style. Shoes, buffs, shirts and packs are all different. It didn’t take me long to realise in this game you can basically wear whatever trail shoes you want, and no one is going to judge you.
Last week I started to wear in my two pairs of New Balance Hierro V7 that I’m going to be using for UTK.
I wear the 2E because I have a wider foot, and when my feet get a little bit swollen on longer runs it allows for more space. So far I’m delighted with the shoes, it’s been a bit of difference from Hoka Speedgoats where I felt like my small toe was being pinched, and actually saw me tear the upper fabric of the shoe about 500km into wearing them, which was disheartening as the tread still had a lot more to give.
This weekend provided plenty of interesting situations in training, including a few higher water crossings. I was happy with the drainage the shoes provided which I paired with some Injinji toe socks. The only thing I note is that I tape my heel for the first couple of runs, as I get some minor rubbing, but other than that I got through 48 kilometres in two different pairs so far and no blisters.
In terms of my trail pack I’m currently using a Kathmandu Zeolite 12 which has felt quite smooth. This might get upgraded to something that has a little more space, or I’ll look at investing in a vacuum seal to try and get through with all the mandatory gear. It’s a very comfortable vest, but it’s not common I’ve only seen a small number of runners going with this over say the Salomon Adv Skin 12.
Other things that I’m looking into is road testing what shirt/s and short/s I’ll be wearing. Chafe can be a killer for me in the under arms and the thigh area on long runs, I’ve been testing out different combinations including tights underneath my shorts and even Vaseline on troublesome spots to try and avoided the dreaded chafe.
Nutrition And Hydration
This is a topic that became a very hotly discussed one at all my runs this week, who knew what you could eat on a run would be so exciting! I had two longer runs this week which I’ll talk about in my training section, but thank you to everyone who chimed in this week. I think vegemite and honey sandwiches were by far the most interesting combination that was proposed this week!
In terms of hydration I’ve been focusing on having at least 500ml of water per hour I’m running, for longer runs every 500ml of water will have about 50 grams of Trail Brew in it. I find this combination closes the gap in what I’m losing while running, and as a result I’m feeling a lot better and recovering faster as a result.
My Coach Shiree actually gave me a book this week that discusses an athletes needs in terms of replacing what they lose in sweat. I found it quite an interesting read in terms of an athlete’s sweat profile i.e some athletes could have a higher percentage of sodium loss per litre of sweat than other athletes, thus it’s almost impossible based on what we can physically consume to replace a lot of what we lose on a run.
Some athletes for example that have a higher sodium loss will struggle in warmer climates where you are more likely to sweat a higher amount. Because of this the challenge is to replace what you can, but being mindful that other athletes will simply be able to go for longer because the amount of sodium they are losing in their sweat is less. It’s a fine science and one that can be worked out through a sweat test, I’m interested in doing one now, because I am of the belief that while I sweat a lot once I hit zone 3/4 I actually don’t lose a lot of sodium.
My challenge is getting food in on a run and making sure that I’m hitting my calories, which is the biggest challenge knowing that if I finish the 100km at Kosciuszko I’ll likely burn upwards of 10,000 calories. It’s daunting.
Training For The Week
Monday: Makes sense to continue having a rest day on a Monday, I was feeling not to bad after my relay leg last week. But giving myself that extra day has been golden.
Tuesday: Knowing I had a session at night I went for 10x 1 minute on a hill out the back of Taylor, was good to knock out a bit of pace. Second run was a night session with Lizzy, and we just absolutely burned through this, some great tempo off the hills and finished the 9.6km course in under an hour. A 1 minute night personal best for me, and 5 minutes for Lizzy.
Wednesday: 5 and a half kilometre at very easy pace as a recovery for Wednesday. Body didn’t really recover from Tuesday night.
Thursday: Longer interval session with Coach Shiree at Elevate. Found some higher level of speed on my 30 second intervals at the end which perhaps shows that I had more to give in the longer intervals.
Friday: Easy run at Running For Resilience, 6 kilometres at 6 minute pace with James from Elevate.
Saturday: A nice 2 and a half hour run on trails, this felt absolutely amazing. Clocked in some good kilometres with Lizzy, the course had absolutely everything, some climbs and perhaps the most testing ice cold water that soaked our legs.
Sunday: 5 hour long run clocked in just before the 5 hour mark for 30km. This was brutal, I was battling a wind all day and at times could’ve easily just called it a day, tried a zone 2 pacing strategy which worked a treat. Got through feeling as fresh as I have after a five hour run. Had 2 and a half litres of water with 250g of Trail Brew, certainly going to assess this for this week’s long run.
Totals: 82.8km, 11 hours and 3 minutes and 1,980 elevation gained
Monday Motivation Hero
I don’t exactly remember the circumstances in which Emily Murphy and I started talking. I do remember the first time she came to Running For Resilience and I was in the middle of my 10 kilometre a day challenge. She’d seen the people running on social media and wanted to be a part of it. I was sort of her ‘running buddy’ for the first couple of weeks. We’d run the Wednesday nights and Friday mornings.
Murph then helped me outside of R4R in training for Stromlo, by doing some longer runs, then when she had the goal of running a half marathon we would get up early and go running before most people had even woken up. Then it came the day she wanted to run a marathon, an admirable goal considering most people will never run one or ever think of doing it.
Truth be told through all the running and everything else going on in life we became quite close friends, often we’d call each other for advice in certain life situations. I was supposed to run the Sydney Marathon with Murph, but in an ultimate stitch up I just never signed up.
But, it didn’t stop her spirit, she knew she was going to do it solo, so we worked out a program, a rough draft if you like of what she would have to do to complete the marathon. Murph followed it to the letter. She calls me her coach, but truth be told I’m just a good friend who wants to see another friend succeed, and succeed she did.
Despite an ankle injury weeks out from the race and a terrible flu which lasted 48 hours before the run, Murph smashed the marathon and I had an overwhelming sense of pride in seeing her achieve the goal of not only finishing, but doing so in under 4 and a half hours.
Why? Because I saw everything that went into it. The things going on behind the scenes, the hard work and training that goes into finishing a marathon. So, in some way I felt stoked seeing Murph send me a picture with the medal.
She moves to Sydney at the end of the week and to be honest I’m gutted about it. When you find a good friend and training partner it can be hard to see them go, and I know I’m going to miss Murph as I ramp up my training or UTK.
“I just didn’t sign up!” The ultimate stitch up indeed hahaha! Good honest Fordy!
For chafe, try runners glide. My mate who got me into running swears by it