New Years resolutions

It's been a while since my last post, but this time that doesn't mean I've been a bit slack. The week after the Big Kid/Goat race I was the runner in a team for the Rotorua Half Ironman, which involved a predominantly off road half marathon on tracks and gravel roads around Blue and Green Lakes in Rotorua. The day was warm, at times ridiculously so, and one 10km section in particular, as well as several other sections were in direct blazing sunlight, but in all it was a really fun run, with lots of support.

Since then  my training has continued. Most of my running has been near home, with a few runs a bit further afield up the Kahutarewa Valley and Mountainbike  Park, and one 21km run pushing Luke in his Mountain Buggy around the Round Palmerston North walkway.

And so on to resolutions for 2014. I'm going to try and not make an time based resolutions: as I found last year they are subject to conditions on the day often beyond my control. So:

1. I would like to complete Tarawera 100km race

2. I would like to complete one other 100km race. At the moment it is looking as though this may be the North Face 100 in Katoomba, in mid May

3. I will pass my end of year General Practice Exams

4. I would like to lose 10kg that seems to have crept on over the past few years.

My next planned race is the Kaweka Challenge mid distance race on February 1. This promises to be real mission, but hopefully an enjoyable one. The weekend after I may try and run around Mt Taranaki, depending on how the legs feel. In the meantime I'm trying to get as many hills into my training as possible.

The Big Kid, or A Sudden Realisation as to How much Fitness I have Lost

Saturday was the Goat Race. As previously mentioned, the Goat is a race from Whakapapa Skifield to Turoa Skifield on Mt Ruapehu, 21 km of Alpine terrain, undulating but with several steep climbs towards the end, which takes place on the first Saturday of December each year. This year being the 10th anniversary, the race managed to sell out in a day, meaning the organizers in an effort to please as many as possible put on an alternative race, from Horopito, at around 800m altitude, straight up to the Turoa ski field, a distance of around 16.5km, with a vertical ascent of over 1000m. And with very little downhill. Unfortunately for me, this is what I ended up entering.

I had some idea that I had lost a lot of fitness in the past year, due to work commitments, family commitments, and general lack of motivation after a few injuries after Tarawera. I had stubbornly however entered the Big Kid race, foolishly promising myself i'd try to get a bit more training in. Unfortunately, i had also neglected to remember that i had enrolled in some extramural post graduate papers, with exams not too far before the race itself, which led to a study binge and several weeks of very little running, and what running I was doing tended to be flat. So I wasn't too hopeful when 8 o clock on Saturday morning rolled around, and I found myself in the 'fast' group of runners setting off across a steady bu gradual incline towards the Horopito track.

The run started off easily enough, but having learned little from shorter races earlier in the year, I probably set off to fast. about 5km along wide 4wd tracks passed before we came across anything approaching technical running, and this was all on a slight uphill gradient. After 4-5km of this, my legs were starting to protest at too much fast running. We then crossed a stream, and on to the track proper, initially a grunt through shin deep mud, with a few face plants and one instance of coming close to losing my glasses. This part i found much less taxing, perhaps because there was intact very little tome to be lost by walking parts, such was the difficulty of keeping a steady pace going anyway.

After about 7km the run came out onto subalpine meadows of moss and low shrubs. THe mud continued here, but with the start of some significant climbs, particularly towards 9-10kmthe gradient became steeper, and the lack of hill running began to tell as my legs started to protest. After this things became a  bit more runnable, with some nice single track along a beech covered ridge line, but by 11km, i was starting to regret the decision to enter and hoping for the end to come soon.

After 12km, we reached Mangaturuturu hut, and the last 4.5km of the original Goat course. This was more familiar territory for me, but this didn't provide much comfort as it also meant the steepest, most draining part of the course. This was also where the weather started to pack in. At 3km to go, the Goat course climbs up a lava flow alongside some spectacular waterfalls. This is a stunning, beautiful part of the course, and on a nice day i imagine would be a delight to slog up. unfortunately, this was not a nice day: driving winds, sleet and tired legs were order of the day as heads went down and short strides were made forwards. Prior knowledge didn't seem to count for much either, as the climb seemed to go on much further than I could remember, and the weather got worse and worse. At 2.5km to go, i stopped to put on more layers of clothing, something I can't remember having done previously in a race for some time, but necessary to ward off encroaching hypothermia.

The final kilometer of the Goat course is the infamous Mamma's Mile, a steep section of asphalt road, killer on the legs having come across several kilometers of rough mountainous terrain. On Saturday this was compounded even further by head on gale force winds, and driving sleet. This must have taken most runners twice as long as it normally would, and it was a relief to see the finish line, almost deserted as it was, as we rounded the final corner into the ski field carpark. Fortunately, a cup of hot curry and a sandwich awaited all competitors, just what was needed after what was possibly the most treacherous conditions i've ever run an organized race in.

All in all, i was disappointed by my time, which saw me well down the field. I am aware I've many outside circumstances which have affected my fitness, but if I am going to be able to put in anywhere  near a respectable effort into Tarawera, a lot of work needs to be done in the meantime. As for the Big Kid route, for a training run it was nice enough, and on a nice day I imagine would be a lovely run, but I don't think I'd enter a race straight up it again.

Back again

It's been a while since I last posted and I guess the honest reason got that is my running hasn't been to flash hot recently. A one year old baby and a full time job have unfortunately conspired to keep me down a bit, and after a niggling groin injury surfaced at the t42 off-road marathon in May, keeping me out if training for a couple of weeks, I never really got going again. But summer and longer nights, as well as a new job which a) has fewer hours, b) has a shower and c) is at the end of quite a nice running route from home mean I'm keen to get right back in. 

Tarawera has also been entered for next year. After this years disappointment I'm determined to finish the 100km course next year, and hopefully this time course changes won't conspire to make things trickier again. I'm not going to make extensive time aims this year, but hopefully under 16 hours (western states qualifying time) would be nice!

In the mean time I have a few other shorter events coming up: this weekend I'm running the shorter companion race to The Hoat, the Big Kid, possibly not the best first race of the season as it includes a vertical kilometer of climb. The week after I have been co-opted into running the half marathon leg of a half ironman, which includes a bit of the Tarawera course, so promises to be scenic at least. And in late January/early February I plan to run the holdsworth race again, followed by the medium Kaweka Challenge course, 35km of mountainous grunt.  Hopefully with a programme like this I'll arrive in great condition for the stry of tarawera... Miracles can happen!

Race report: High spirits at the Moonshine Half Marathon

As often happens post race, I felt a little down after finishing the Tarawera Ultramarathon three weeks ago. I'd just finished (kind of anyway) a very long event I had been training for months for (again, kind of), and wasn't quite sure where to go from there. A few long runs later (a big loop including the Manawatu Gorge track and North Range Road on a beautiful Saturday morning, and an adventure up the Oroua River in the Ruahine Forrest Park as you're asking), and I felt ready to go again, so on a whim I entered the Moonshine Half Marathon, three weeks to the day after I had finished Tarawera.

Moonshine is an offroad half marathon in Upper Hutt. As it started at 10am, and daylight savings had finished the night prior to the event, I drove down from Palmerston North on the morning of the run, arriving with around 45 minutes to spare. As I got out of the car, I realised this had perhaps een a mistake: I had played my first 90 minutes of football in six months the day before hand, and the two hour drive had given my muscles adequate time to stiffen nicely, just in time for the start. I grabbed my race pack (a magazine and three small pieces of cheese, the first time a race official has ever apologised to me about the race pack!), and after a quick warm up to loosen my legs, took my place on the start line.

The first 9km or so of the race are along the Hutt River Trail, largely a long strip of four wheel drive track along the Hutt River. Having spent most of the past few months running mainly on single track, technical trails (and my previous long run being half down a rocky river bed!) I wasn't quite prepared for this, but in the small field, set off determined to try and stay in touch with the top ten for as long as I could, in the hope that on getting to the technical, hilly section, some would tire and let me past. As such, I was probably pushing at a speed and effort I wasn't quite accustomed to.

After heading upstream, and then across the river at Harcourt Park, the race headed along a few bush tracks, over a small swing bridge, then up a small stream valley to the Birchville Dam on the Cannon Point Walkway. Passing the dam, a steep uphill for around 10-15 minute followed. Despite the good quality of the track, and the amount of hill running I had been doing, I found the gradient tough going: fortunately, as I ground to walking pace, I noted those in front of me had as well, and noone was catching me so I figured those close behind me weren't catching up much time either. At the top of the climb, a few kilometres of undulating 4WD track, some sharp climbs followed by sweet downhills, and I found myself trading places with the top woman at the time continually, before she managed to get away from me at the water stop at Cannon Point trig. 

Following the trig was my personal favourite stretch, the Cannon Point zig-zag, 1.69km of switchbacks down all the elevation gain: I flew down here, passing several other runners on the way, and would estimate I was about 10th with about 6km to go. Unfortunately the last 6km were back along the flat river trail, and this is where I realised my legs had very little left: whether it was insufficient time to recover properly post-Tarawera, the 90 minutes of football the day before, or something else, all I could do was jog in the last stretch as six or seven people went past. In the end I finished 22mins back in an hour 53, 17th place, given the shortness of the race compared to what I've been training for a result I'm reasonably happy with.

Of course, the fun and games didn't stop at the finish line though: as I finished I became aware of a man lying on the ground, with defibrillator pads attached: an 81 year old walker had had a cardiac arrest. Fortunately, given my condition, the paramedics and other competitors had administered CPR and one shock via difbrillator, shocking him back into a more regular rhythm, and he was carted off to hospital soon after.

My next event is in a month, another trail event mostly on 4WD tracks, this time the 42 traverse marathon. I don't really have any firm goals, though I'm aware it will likely be much slower than my best marathon time. My training in the meantime will most likely be relatively low intensity, though with some long runs mixed in at the weekends. Of course with work and family mixed in, nothing is going to be straight forwards in terms of training, but I'll see how things go. 

Tarawera Ultramarathon race report: Thwarted this time

Saturday was Tarawera Ultramarathon, the race I had been building up to since last year. In my first post I had described some quite lofty goals: to finish 100km, and to do so in under 12 hours. Since then, it had become apparent to me that training, working a full time job, and spending the first three months of my son's life actively involved in his upbringing was going to be a massive task, and as the race came closer and closer the 12 hour time looked less and less likely, though still achievable if I had a good day.

Unfortunately, a bit over a week out from race day, the killer blow was delivered. The whole of the North Island of New Zealand has seen very little rain so far this year, and has now been declared a drought zone. With this came an increasing number of bush fires (mostly unfortunately deliberately lit), and increasing fire risk in commercial forests  Because of this, the Kawerau Forest n which the last forty kilometres of the race were due to take place were closed to organisers. The last 40km of the race, instead of being on wide, even forestry roads, would return over the windy, undulating, rooted single track they had just come out on. And significantly, the race climb increased from 2,600m over the 100km, to an estimated 4,500m. 

The race was also notable for the international quality field it had attracted, amongst others US 100km champion Sage Canaday, current Western States champion and course record holder Timothy Olson, last year's chamoion Mick Donges, runner up last year Vajin Armstrong, and several other top Americans, Australians, Europeans and Kiwis. The advantage of the out and back course was being able to see some of these top guys, especially Sage and Tim up close, and it was great that a lot of them had words of encouragement for us as we slogged past them going the other way. It was crazy to see Sage bounding his way past through 75km whilst I had barely got to 45! It was a pity more mainstream media coverage wasn't forthcoming despite some of these superstars of ultratrail making their way to New Zealand: an analogy would be if the US Open Champion and the Wimbledon Champion came out to complete in the Heineken Tennis Open. 

Anyway, coverage of the elite race can be found at iRunFar, with links to interviews with the race winners, and ultra168.com. What follows is my take on the race!

My day started at 5am with the early alarm, after an all-too-brief sleep. Up, cup of coffee, toast, and it was off to the start with my support crew of Rachel, her Mum, and of course Luke, wearing his newly purchased Dad's Number 1 Fan shirt. Starting in the dark at the Rotorua Redwood Forest, the race started gently uphill over well established tracks, before encountering the first bottleneck at some steps up one of the bushwalks at the centre. The rest of the first 13km or so until the first aid station was mostly alond wide forest tracks until we reached Blue Lake, then around some more well established, gently undulating bush tracks. At this time I was feeling pretty good, pacing myself well, enjoying the company of fellow runners: one guy doing the 60km distance told me in the four months leading in to the race he had completed four marathons, a half ironman and the Keppler Challenge, making me feel even more underprepared! My strategy in these races is right from the start to walk any even slightly strenuous uphill, and I was glad to see many of thise around me had the same idea, making me feel less of a lemon. 

Through the first aid station, the course continued to follow the banks of Blue Lake. This was where it first became apparent what a different race this was going to be from last year: places where we had to wade through knee deep water were replaced with hard dry mud! Up a short road section, and through a few majestic stands of native bush, and we were at the second aid station at Lake Okareka, still feeling good on my legs.

From here the course headed up (once again at walking pace) to the start of the fearful Western Okataina Walkway, through the Miller Road aid station. This walkway would form the last 18km of the out and back section of the 100km course, and I remembered it from last year to be gently undulating, with a steep downhill at either end. Here came my first doubts as to whether I could complete the 100km race, as the track turned out to have a LOT more downhill (translation uphill after 90km of running) than I could remember. The running continued to be gentle on the legs, but as I rolled into the Lake Okataina aid station at 37km, I knew it was going to be a huge ask to get back over the hill, with about 500-600m of vertical ascent, on legs that had already travelled 85km. And although Rachel had offered to pace me for this section, I had serious concerns as to how she would take it after a full day of coping with a potentially fractious  3 month old! I headed into the aid station, a change of socks, half a bottle of Gatorade, and my fifth Hammergel of the day to the sounds of Gangnam Style, and let Rachel know my thoughts... her words were more or less 'You're getting back over that hill no matter what you say!'

From Lake Okataina came the part of the course I was most worried about mentally. Scenically, I think the 25km from this aid station are the most spectacular of the course, mostly along the shores of Lakes Okataina and Tarawera on single tracks, through beautiful forest. There are three aid stations in this stretch, Humphry's Bay on Lake Tarawera, normally only accessible to boat, and Tarawera Outlet and Tarawera Falls carpark, accessible normally by runners' crews and supporters. Unfortuantely, due to the risk of fire, these were all now closed to anyone without a boat, and the Outlet and Humphrey's Bay stations were having to cope with the full field of runners twice. This was going to be a long section of the race where I wasn't going to see Rachel, Rosie or Luke, and given how I had coped over 15km without personal moral support last year, I was worried. I had prepared drop bags for the two stations I would be passing through twice, with extra Gatorade and Endurolyte Fizz, extra gels, and chocolate coated coffee beans (an absolute God-send at this point in the race!), as well as a change of socks and clean shirts. Thankfully, what I hadn't counted on was the number of runners coming back towards me... from the elite guys down, they were never short of a word of encouragement. Special thanks to Timmy Olson for the wide grin he gave me (or he could have just really been enjoying himself on some sweet single track downhill from the saddle between the lakes), and to the Aussie runners Brendan Davies and Shona Stephenson for the motivation they gave me... they were all racing hard in a tough race (to the point of ending up in hospital in Shona's case) but still had a few words for a guy who was obviously struggling a little more than them! 

In the end, my legs started to cramp up pretty severely at around the 60km mark, where a flight of steps up over a bluff near the Tarawera Falls proved to be the last straw in my hopes of getting to 100km. From there it was more a matter of surviving... slogging up the hills, jogging the downs and the flats where possible, trying to keep down electrolyte capsules, fruit and fluid as often as I could. With a bit of distance, and the major hills behind me, my legs started to feel a bit freer back along the eastern shore of Lake Okataina, and I was able to  jog a little bit more. At this point, it had obviously become apparent to the organisers and Race Director how much tougher the alternate course actually was, and the decision was made to move the cut-off time back at Lake Okataina for those wanting to complete the full 100km distance forward by an hour. Over the last 5km, a large number of pacers passed me in the opposite direction, out looking for runners who were taking a lot longer than expected: and with 2.5km to go I was delighted to see my beautiful wife, who had obviously begun to wonder where I was! I made the Lake Okataina aid station with 11 minutes to spare before the cutoff, but realistically was never in a condition to carry on back over the Western Okataina Walkway, and was more than happy to finish under the 85km finish banner.

Looking back, there is a little bit of disappointment as to what could have been, having to finish at 85km, 18 km short of my goal (the full distance actually being 102.9km). However, results show that such was the increased difficulty of the race, of the 222 entrants in the 100km race, only 96 made it to the finish at Lake Okareka, ranging in time from an obscenely quick 8 hours 53 (Sage Canaday), up to 17 and a half hours to the last finisher. Mick Donges, who finished fifth this year, was an hour slower than his winning time on the original course in 2012. 85km under these coniditions I feel is still something to be proud of, and I'll no doubt be back, stronger and fitter next year, when hopefully the race returns to its original course! Thanks of course must go to race director Paul Charteris, not least for the kind words of encouragement he gave me on two occassions, and the volunteers along the course, most especially at the Humphry's Bay and Tarawera Outlet aid stations, you guys were life savers! To my fellow runners, especially Kelly from Colorado (who wasn't going to let me drop from the 100km race, but then was too fast for me to keep up with so didn't have the chance to stop me, and ended up third in the women's 100km), and Mead from California and the guy in the white shirt with mud up the back, who I ran a lot of the out-and-back with, thanks for the companionship out there! 

And most especially, thanks to my brilliant support crew: Rachel, Rosie, and of course Luke, who had no idea what I was doing, and gave me several glares as if to say that. I'll be back next year for another go!

Jumbo Holdsworth Trail Run review

Yesterday was my first event since my last Ulltra around the Isle of Wight. Coming six weeks after Luke's birth, and with an unpredictable sleep pattern over this time, to say the least, I knew it was going to be tough. The Holdsworth-Jumbo circuit is usually a three day hike in the Tararua range, rising from 300m at the start up to 1470m at the Holdsworth trig. For several years, there has been a trail race around the circuit, and this year, for the first time, the option to run the trail in either direction was offered.

I'd decided around a week earlier to put in a last minute entry to run the trail in the Jumbo-Holdsworth direction (the opposite direction to the original route), which turned out to be the most popular directionm and the dirction with the quicker times. My little sister Lizzie, who has recently had some of the best orienteering results of her career, including a third place in a World Cup sprint event, entered in the opposite direction. Due to the early start of the race, and the distance from Palmerston North and Wellington, we decided to camp out at the Holdsworth road end, near the start the night before.

We woke up after an uncomfortable and all-to-brief sleep, we woke to a beatutiful but initially cool day. We registered, went through gear check (due to typically unpredictable Tararua weather, every competitor needed to carry a raincoat, thermal top and bottoms, hat and gloves and a survival blanket, and a map due to the potential to come down the wrong ridge in the mist if it were to descend).

At 8, we were off. After about 200m, the field ground to a sudden halt, as we were forced to queue to cross the bridge to the start of the trail. Though a few hardy souls felt a quicker route straight through the icy cold Atiwhakitu Stream, the fear of blisters to come from wet socks kept me in line. Then it was initially onto a well maintained gravel track through mature beech forest, slightly uphill in gradient. After a kilometer or so, the field spliy, the few tackling the old route, and Mt Holdsworth first turning left up the slight gradient of th Gentle Annie track, and myself and around three quarters of the rest of the field continuing along the valley floor for another 7 kilometres.

Initially I found the going quite tough: I'd started quite near the back of the field, and felt the need to try and keep up the pace, but struggled. Perhaps it was the early hour, not being into morning running so much, maybe it was my lingering cold: either way, it was a welcome break when I caught up with a line for the suspension bridge over Holdsworth Creek. After a few minutes of waiting, it was over the bridge and away again, and fir some reason, despite the track becoming more rooted, narrow and winding, I started feeling much stronger. After 50 minutes I reached Atiwhakitu Hut, an old tramping hut on the valley floor and the first check-point. Despite only being about 7.6km in, I had hoped to reach here by an hour, so was happy with my progress, though also realized this was the start of the hard work.

The only cut off point on the race is at Jumbo Hut, which is three kilmoteres past Atiwhakitu. Unfortunately, this short distance also includes around a kilometre of vertical ascent. The going was tough, for the most part it was a hands-on-knees slog uphill, and this was wheret he lack of sleep over the past month and a half really hit me. Getting above the tree-line, and seeing the hut and the ridgeline beyond though, all the hard work paid off. I had aimed at two hours to get to Jumbo Trig point, about a kilomtre beyond the hut, at 1405m, and hit it just on the dot.

Running along an alpine ridge on a beautifully clear day is one of my favourite experiences in trail running, and we were lucky to hit the jackpot yesterday! I met Lizzie just beyond Jumbo, at about 2 hours 5. At that opint she was just behind the first girl going the opposite way, and making good time, but as we passed admitted she wasn;t feeling well at all: unfortunately this was an omen for things to come. After Jumbo, the track drops down, over a smaller peak to a low point of around 1100m, before rising again to Holdswort Trig around 3km on at 1470m. The views over the Wairarapa planes were  amazing, it's a shame I didn't have time to stop and take some photos for the blog! I reached Holdsworth trig after a bit of bashing through mud and high tussock at around two hours 45, with the knowledge that it was mostly downhill to the finish, and left with the aim of smashing through the final 10km or so. THe next 2km were the most fun of the course: still above the bushline, but with the tusssock thinner, loose rocks, arms out, and letting fly down to Powell Hut at 1200m. I hit the hut at 2 hours forty.

The final leg unfortunately didn't turn out quite as planned.  I initially negotiated the steep downhill through mountain beech forest well, and picked up a few places. With about 7km to go, I hit Pig Flat, a short rise follwoed by some meandering board walk, then the Gentle Annie track from about 5km. Unfortunately, the gentler gradient played tricks, and I took a few spills down this section (this actually turned out to be a common theme: sitting with Lizzie at the first aid area at the end, a succession of runners who had impressive gashes and cuts came past, all who had fallen where the track supposedly became easier!). Unfortunately, though, my legs also started to give in on me at this point, and I was unable to pick up the pace I had hoped for. In the end, I finished in 3 hours 47, well inside the four hours I had aimed for, but a fair way outside the 3 hours thirty I had hoped for. Lizzie unfortunately suffered from several dizzy spells along the bottom track, to the point of having to sit down for prolonged periods, and was a couple of minutes behind me. She still managed to claim a prize as the first girl to the top of Mt Holdsworth though, a nice little trophy to add to her collection! As for me, inner satisfaction ahd to make do, as well as sore legs today. Hopefully next year I'll be back, with more sleep in the lead-up, and a one year old at the finish to welcome me home!