When You Try Your Best And You Don't Succeed

Running doesn't get any easier (even after you've completed UTK100), I passed one year in the blue crew, and I'm still celebrating friends getting into UTMB, another week let's do it!

“Endurance races are a microcosm of life; you’re high, you’re low, in the race, out of the race, crushing it, getting crushed, managing fears, rewriting stories.”

Travis Macy

A Year In One Big Blue Family

I’ve been a nervous person in big group situations for as long as I can remember. I talk and work in radio, but put me in front of a crowd of people I don’t know and I turn to absolute nervous nanny.

That’s why one year ago when I joined Elevate I was really looking forward to having my friend Stacey to run with, she didn’t sign up for the kick starter, and suddenly I was among a group of people I’d never met before, in a sport where I still didn’t know whether I had a place in.

How wrong could I have been? Very.

I’m glad I was, and I’m glad I persisted with Elevate even after Stacey didn’t show up, because it’s been one of the best rides of my life. Part of its success is down to our coach Shiree, and the other part is due to the people themselves, I’ve never met a more wholesome group of people, and it doesn’t matter where you looked at Kowen on the weekend there was an Elevate shirt, singlet or hat.

Prior to last year I’d never run an Ultra, let along attempted 100 kilometres, I didn’t know about parkrun, or that Sunday is a long run day, and if you get up early enough there is still enough time to do absolutely everything else throughout the day.

I was trying to put together my favourite moments of my time with Elevate, partly inspired by my friend Kym’s race recap top five of 2022. So here are my favourite moments over the last year with Elevate, hopefully it inspires other nervous people like me to get out of their comfort zone and try fitness in a group setting.

So in no particular order:

1. Running Ultra Trail Kosciuszko with my Red Hill Crew

   Helena had just gone out the day before and blitzed the 50 kilometre race, so the entire team was on a high. Out of about 20 or so of us in the group four of us did the 100 kilometre at UTK and all finished. Jasmina did the miler and finished, it was an unbelievable day and to be able to share it with the crew was so good.

   

   Staying warm with Nat, Rich and Jess

2. Stromlo Both Times!

   This was a toughie because in March I ran my first Ultra and it absolutely sucked in terms of things going wrong, but it taught me so much as well, getting redemption in the 30 kilometre race later in the year was incredible.

   

   Spot the difference at Stromlo

3. The Trig Photos

   At the end of each session we do push-ups, and there is the option as well to go to the Trig at the end as well, it’s a little bit extra but a lot of the group that doesn’t have to scoot off to work will get up there. It ended in some hilarious conversations once we reached the summit, a good way to unwind after a tough session.

   

   Red Hill Group taking in that sunshine

4. Completing Bright 4 Peaks

   This was pretty special because it was a weekend that felt like we ran up Mountains and then really just got to enjoy the best that the region had to offer. Really enjoyed the four and a bit days spent down in Bright, being able to run with friends and get through something together, is what I really think Elevate is about.

5. Sri Chimnoy Relay - Elevate Walking Wounded

   This was actually a really cool social experiment that I think Shiree tried, basically she asked who would be interested in running a relay at Sri Chimnoy Canberra 100, and placed us into teams. Our team was a lot of fun, because I think at one point everyone in my team were all injured and didn’t think we were going to get to the relay, we somehow found a way, and got a pretty respectable time in the process. Was good to run with Paul, Andrew and Singhy of course!

The lads after I brought us home in the dark!

Talking Kosci With Tatjana

When I finished the Ultra Trail Kosciuszko 100, my friend from work Tatjana said she wanted to talk about it with me on her 2CC Breakfast Weekend show. Obviously Christmas happened, so I’ve had this set down in my calendar for a little while, I’m still of the belief I may not have completely come to terms with what I did, but each day the fond memories you realise aren’t dreams, but reality.

We covered a lot of ground across the 10 minutes we had during the segment which I’m stoked with, for those who missed the chat on Saturday you’ll find it below:

The Good, The Bad, The Amungula

The Kowen New Year’s Resolution Run is fast becoming my favourite way to kick off the racing calendar, and I came into this year’s race with lofty goals following last year’s debut.

The thing with Kowen is that it has so many variables, particularly when it is run during the Summer months, it’s set at an altitude a little higher than Canberra, so sometimes you get the morning fog, this year the sun came out and it absolutely scorched us.

My game plan leading into the race was to have a big carb load the day before, maybe pizza or something with plenty of potato, but we received a call from Cassandra’s mum asking if we wanted to head to Mittagong for her brother’s fiance’s birthday.

So of course we said yes, and it was a Thai restaurant, instead of ordering the Laksa I went for ribs (dumb, dumb), they were delicious but offered stuff all carbs for the race. We got home just before 11pm to an apartment that resembled a sauna and decided to sleep on the couch.

I knew it wasn’t going to be my day when I left my race belt at home in the morning, it’s funny though how these things can completely throw you out, and instead of having the bib on a belt, I spent a good five or six minutes pre-race fiddling around trying to pin it to my shirt.

It’s been a blessing these minor incidents that seem to throw me completely off haven’t occurred during the bigger races, as you can tell by the tone or my inability to hide my emotions, I initially deemed Kowen as a rotten failure, after not beating last year’s time.

When I factor in the heat (and 89 per cent humidity), I didn’t eat well the night going in, spent a bit of time in the car the day before, had a terrible sleep, to be just three minutes behind last year is not all that bad.

I couldn’t hide how disappointed I was when I finished, my belief is that I’m a more complete runner than I was a year ago, and that should make me run faster. It doesn’t always work like that, the variables that I’ve mentioned above certainly all played their part.

Not to mention I tried a different method in this race to really attack the down hills, however due to the undulating nature of the course, I was quickly burning both ends of the candle and come the infamous ‘rollercoaster’, which is five kilometres of undulations I was almost completely spent.

I’m a very balanced runner usually, hit the downs at a pace that allows my heart rate to recover, it dawned on me about half way through the race that I wasn’t giving myself this opportunity and I sat in almost a complete tempo heart rate from about 500 metres in, with it only dropping as low as 158 beats per minute.

Not to mention that Kowen has anywhere between 712 metres to 900 metres of elevation depending on what watch you use, and Mount Amungula which includes steep climb that averages around 26 per cent over 400 metres, with a nasty spot that can get up to 35-36 per cent.

One of the toughest sections is the ‘The Rollercoaster’ which includes five kilometres of undulations, which you’re trying to make the most of before Amungula.

In hindsight I’m now annoyed at myself for feeling that way directly after the race, because I had such a good time in it. Particularly being able to run with Danielle D for long stretches, I admire her so much as a runner, and just the general atmosphere across the race day is pretty special.

Leading my small pack down a stretch on ‘The Rollercoaster’

Kowen is such an imposing pine forest, and I want to spend more time out here this year, particularly heading into the winter trail marathon (yes it’s now on the radar) getting better, and crafting my skills.

Chamonix Dreaming

Ultra Trail Mont-Blanc is what I deem to be the absolute pinnacle of trail running. I will admit that I shed a few tears (of joy) this week when I found out that four of our runners from Elevate will be making the trip, including Jasmina who is going to be doing the miler.

I’m excited because I deem it to be the absolute bucket list event, it’s as brutal as it is beautiful.

I’ve been following the Jim Walmsley three part-series that follows the American as he attempted to become the first from the United States to win the race spoiler alert Jim doesn’t win the race, and if you’re like me and watched last year’s race it was like watching heart break in real time.

If you want to skip the first two videos in the series and watch race day, this is the vid for you:

Spain’s Kilian Jornet produced yet another masterwork performance, overcoming Jim’s breakaway lead in Champex and outdueling Frenchman Mathieu Blanchard over the final climb to win the men’s race for a record-tying fourth time in a course-record 19 hours, 49 minutes.

Jim finished fourth. Hardly a failure, but when you spend your entire year geared towards winning a race it could only feel like utter helplessness. Watching the elite runners puts things into perspective for me, what I deem to be pressure is absolutely nothing, and not one person said anything about me finishing more than 16 hours after Hayden Hawks at UTK.

Training For The Week

Monday: Chest workout, felt really strong with my exercises, which are already feeling a lot better than they were a couple of weeks ago.

Tuesday: A nice little nine and a half kilometre loop with a small contingent of the Lazy Glutes, finished with a nice sub four minute kilometre surge over the last 800 metres down hill.

Wednesday: Went out for two hours in Mulligans Flat, this was a really good session with a couple of climbs and just getting back into the groove of the trails.

Thursday: Just like that we are back at Elevate! Hill session and Coach Shiree was actually quite merciful this week giving us an extended break between reps due to the heat and also it being the first week back.

Always trying to catch Jillian and Jas

Friday: I took some time away from Running 4 Resilience, because over the Boxing Day period it was 10 years since our college friend Tessa took her life. I’ve always found it a difficult time to be mourning someone at a time when we should be celebrating, and as the years ago by it’s still never been any easier. 5:20 pace I was really happy with over the 6 kilometres.

I mean it when I say this I’d much rather lose sleep, than lose a friend, I’ll chat with anyone about anything at anytime.

It goes big on Friday!

Saturday: Fast becoming a parkrun day, this was my fifth parkrun and I headed to Mount Ainslie to try out the course. Pretty happy with 27:38, haven’t really been doing too much tempo stuff, so to run that pace felt good, although I did tell my friend Jenni I felt like I was dying with about a kilometre to go. Also met Scully the Wonder Dog, so it was a great day out!

parkrun means lots of doggos and pats

Sunday: The Kowen Half Marathon, followed by 10 kilometres of time on feet on a bush bashing trail with Jess P up in Bywong where the single track resembled more of a snake’s haven than a place you’d enjoy running. It was a good couple of hours in the heat (over 30 degrees) and a much needed debrief post Kowen.

Because our Elevate bucket hats are so cool

Totals: 75.32 Kilometres, 2,032 Metres of Elevation, 9 Hours and 52 Minutes

31 minutes in the gym on Monday for Chest Day

Another pretty solid week! A bit smaller just due to the fact I was racing Kowen, expect this to ramp up a little bit more now I’m just a month out from The Archie.

My 2023 Calendar So Far

The Archie - 18th February

Gumbaby - 23rd April

Potential Radar:

Bright 4 Peaks

Stromlo 50

Bondi2Manly

Great Southern Endurance Run

Sri Chimnoy Canberra 100

Ultra Trail Kosciuszko 100

Poutinerest - my own Neverest Challenge

Completed

Kowen New Year’s Resolution Run - 2:49:30