Dwellingup 100 Miler #2 2009
Well I started slowly with Rob until 35K at Waroona Dam as planned. We went through Nanga (16k) in 2.02 and then arrived at the dam in 4.25 where Kate made me a sanga and a had a banana. Picked up the pace for the 15k to Willowdale Rd trying to run it in 1.30 which I did almost to the minute despite this section offering some tough hills including 1 monster I took 13minutes to walk (though heaps faster than the 17 &19min times of 2007).I ran through the 2.7K single track near Willowdale hoping to make enough noise to scare any keen Tiger snakes away. (I'm sure the dugites will still be hybernating) I had a fall on some leaf litter with no damage done I ran through to Kate and Nate for some water a change into a short sleeve shirt and some more food leavin ghere about 6.20.I was now reallly looking forward to running with my daughter Hannah from 60-81k and the approaching AFL GF which I planned to listen to on the radio. This section went smoothly with the lowlight being a full bladder (Nate had given me 1.5L for 8k ) and the highlights meeting Bernadette for a few k and then Hannah bolting out to meet me at the 60K aid station.
I sat down at 60K and ate a tin of Spaghetti eventuallly leaving 15 minutes late with Hannah and the pram. Despite having a few puddles to negotiate we made good process and I listened to most of the 1st quartere of footy before being put on story duty. Hannah soon fell asleep so I left the radio off plannning to turn it back on for the 2nd half.A few rough sections necessitated slowing to a walk and I was continually looking for the best line but overall it was great to have the company. However with about 3k to go to Nanga we ran into another 4WD (bout 8 altogether) who informed us we were approaching a mud hole he didn't think we would be able to negoitiate. Well that was all the challenge I needed. We had to sidestep across a mudwall whilst Hannah held my hand and I got her across without much trouble but then I had the pram! I was able to "drive"the pram up the 6ft vetical mudwall (this was once an old railway I believe) and the climb it with the help of a tree 1 handed whilst still holding the pram. From here it was fairly straight forward bush bash with pram before "driving"it down the other side of the cliff and continuing our journey. A lot of steep (though short) climbs tested the arms in the last few k before arriving at Nanga in 10.01.
At Nanga I took 15 minutes listening to the end of the footy, eating and packing away the pram for Bel. Also had to refill the pack with food and water which Nathan did for me at all other stops. Finallly I got away at 10.16 and was feeling really good as I ran through Nanga at a reasonable clip. After about 20 minutes I ran into Rob again. I was informed he was coming up by the same guy who had doubted our ability to get through the mud puddle.We had a brief chat and told him Geelong had won.I think the next section was the key to my race. I was running quite quickly and probably would have just pushed hard until I ran out of energy. However as is often the case with these long ultras I started to chat with God and he told me to do some more walking.I was feeling guilty about long walk breaks when I was feeling good but then when I would start running I was flying (around 5min/k) and I eventually saw the point of the strategy. At Caboolture I had gone out hard (too hard) and had dropped back onto my heels rather than the midfoot running I have been doing this year. This caused my achilles problems I believe which troubled me right until the week of the 100 miler. Once I got this revelation I started running lots more and was really enjoying it. Pretty much just running until I wanted to walk and walking until I wanted to run. I passed the hut 20 mintues quicker than with Hannah but I still had the long gradual climb to Nanga rd. I began to get a sniff of 20 hours which was very motivating and when I came out at Nanga Rd I had made up about 5 minutes on the first lap despite running mainly uphill.
I arrived (103k) about 12.41 and after a brief stop to check my water and grab my headlamp I took off for the short section to Willowdale rd. My goal now was to try and negative split each section. If I could do this by a total of 16 minutes I was on for a sub 20 hour race. I arrived at Willowdale rd (111K) in 58 minutes despite another largely uphill section and eating at least 2 muesli bars. From memory this was about 3 minutes slower but I made that up by running straight past Nathan and arranging to meet at the other Willowdale rd crossing. I flew through the short single track section with my headlamp on. I felt no pain I was just steering and flicking the occasional branch out of my face. I pulled a negative split of a few seconds and sat down to drink my first caffeine.The next section was going to make or break my 20 hour push. I had run the easy direction in 1.30 and now had 2 large hills to ascend as well as a steep long descent which would slow my progress. I was also really looking forward to running with my wife, Bel, who was going to be my pacer from Waroona Dam to Nanga. I was seriously starting to doubt her ability to keep up if I continued at the current pace but also wondered if the pace felt so fast because of the K's in the legs and the darkness. She has regularly run sub 2 hours for a half marathon so 18k in 2.25 seemed very easy even with some long hills.
I put on my Ipod and took off into the night. I have a great play list that I basically just copied off Nathan and despite it's incredible difficulty this section was quite possibly the most enjoyable.I arrived at Waterous picnic site determined to run as much as posssible up the approaching 5K ascent. Nothing seems as steep in the dark and this helped as I was able to make good progess. Down the steep descent I was amazed the quads were pain free but I had the serious face on as tried to take the best line and avoid any hazards. The hill up the other side is shorter but steeper with some soft sand sections just to add some variety. I don't know where I lost all the time but when I came out at the Waroona Dam trailhead I was already late with about 2k still to run to the aid station. I dropped my pack with Nathan along with instruction on how to fill it and ran the road section with just a small bottle of endura.Consequently it was a very short pit-stop at Waroona Dam. Bel hopped out of the car and asked for a 1 minute warning which I gave her straight away. She was freezing and had to be persuaded to remove her jumper. We started off walking as my legs were feeling the effects of the bitumen rd but before too long we were running slowly again and Bel soon warmed up. I had warn my skins all day and had changed back into my long sleeve shirt after dark.After about 2k of slow running my legs were feeling better and I put my foot down (both repeatedly in quick succession). I told Bel we had a long climb coming so we should try and make up some time. Unfortunately when we hit the climb I didnt feel like stopping and powered up putting a big gap on Bel. I waited for her to catch up and then just tried to run as fast as she could. This section was only supposed to be 6K. Bel thought we were running around about her 10k pb pace (48.50) but still it took nearly an hour. By the time we hit the road where Nathan was meeting us she was finished. I suggested she have a rest in the car and meet me at the top of the 4K bitumen hill. When I reached the top she wasn't keen but I'd slowed significantly and was able to talk her into it.We had another 4k down a slight hill that I thought she could comfortably run with me. I was pretty shattered and would run until the pain kicked in then have a short walk break, still trying to keep perpetual forward motion. Finally we finished this section and I grabbed some more energy drink and waited while Nathan tried to find my gloves.
Eventually I could wait no more and with a sense of urgency took off down the trail. I had the Ipod back on and the second song was Shannon Nolls classic "Lift". By this stage I had basically given up on 20 hours and was thinking either a negative split (20.17) or 20.30 being more appropriate goals. But the music did it's magic and before long I was flying down the track with the lyric "let them know that you took a good shot and you missed" going through my head, thinking that I should at least give the 20 hour beast a shot. I flew through the 4.5K in 20-22minutes and meeting Nathan I yelled out for a drink of NRG before contiuning running through Nanga and into the finish straight of 16K (mainly uphill). The equation was simple 16k -1.40. I just had to run 6 minutes K's and I even had 4 minutes up my sleeve to walk the 2 steepest hills.History was repeating itself as I trashed myself on the long slow climb out of the campsite. I was running with very little walking but it seemed an eternity before I finally came out onto Murray Valley rd which is majestic in daylight. I flashed my light through the trees trying to see the river below. I could take it easier now 20 hours was dead and buried, unless I could run 5 minute K's uphill on trails in the dark. I mentally switched off a little but doing the maths I still somehow needed to do about 8k in the last hour to break 20.30. It wasn't going to be a picnic yet. There was also the matter of 3 tough hills, the least steep one of 1.7K I was going to have to run. I set myself with the goal that if I could run it's whole length 20.30 should be a shoe-in.Mentally all I had to do for the last 6 or so K was run. It seemed easy but physically this is one tough section. I finally made it to 157K with no more scary hill climbs to negotiate. Nate's dog jumped out the window and ran with me for awhile. I asked Nate to drive alongside and I turned my headlamp off. I was enjoying this once more as my speed picked up again. Halfway up the last hill with 1500m to go Nathan left to go and meet me at the Caravan park finishline. I negoiated my way through town proud I was nearly there. But as I ran the last 300 metres through the caravan park it felt anti-climatic. There was no doubt I felt too good.I arrived at the back of the chalet where we had started but Nathan was out the front. The was one advantage of having heaps left. I was able to recreate the finish for Nathan 4 times as he tried to get a good shot.
I sat down at 60K and ate a tin of Spaghetti eventuallly leaving 15 minutes late with Hannah and the pram. Despite having a few puddles to negotiate we made good process and I listened to most of the 1st quartere of footy before being put on story duty. Hannah soon fell asleep so I left the radio off plannning to turn it back on for the 2nd half.A few rough sections necessitated slowing to a walk and I was continually looking for the best line but overall it was great to have the company. However with about 3k to go to Nanga we ran into another 4WD (bout 8 altogether) who informed us we were approaching a mud hole he didn't think we would be able to negoitiate. Well that was all the challenge I needed. We had to sidestep across a mudwall whilst Hannah held my hand and I got her across without much trouble but then I had the pram! I was able to "drive"the pram up the 6ft vetical mudwall (this was once an old railway I believe) and the climb it with the help of a tree 1 handed whilst still holding the pram. From here it was fairly straight forward bush bash with pram before "driving"it down the other side of the cliff and continuing our journey. A lot of steep (though short) climbs tested the arms in the last few k before arriving at Nanga in 10.01.
At Nanga I took 15 minutes listening to the end of the footy, eating and packing away the pram for Bel. Also had to refill the pack with food and water which Nathan did for me at all other stops. Finallly I got away at 10.16 and was feeling really good as I ran through Nanga at a reasonable clip. After about 20 minutes I ran into Rob again. I was informed he was coming up by the same guy who had doubted our ability to get through the mud puddle.We had a brief chat and told him Geelong had won.I think the next section was the key to my race. I was running quite quickly and probably would have just pushed hard until I ran out of energy. However as is often the case with these long ultras I started to chat with God and he told me to do some more walking.I was feeling guilty about long walk breaks when I was feeling good but then when I would start running I was flying (around 5min/k) and I eventually saw the point of the strategy. At Caboolture I had gone out hard (too hard) and had dropped back onto my heels rather than the midfoot running I have been doing this year. This caused my achilles problems I believe which troubled me right until the week of the 100 miler. Once I got this revelation I started running lots more and was really enjoying it. Pretty much just running until I wanted to walk and walking until I wanted to run. I passed the hut 20 mintues quicker than with Hannah but I still had the long gradual climb to Nanga rd. I began to get a sniff of 20 hours which was very motivating and when I came out at Nanga Rd I had made up about 5 minutes on the first lap despite running mainly uphill.
I arrived (103k) about 12.41 and after a brief stop to check my water and grab my headlamp I took off for the short section to Willowdale rd. My goal now was to try and negative split each section. If I could do this by a total of 16 minutes I was on for a sub 20 hour race. I arrived at Willowdale rd (111K) in 58 minutes despite another largely uphill section and eating at least 2 muesli bars. From memory this was about 3 minutes slower but I made that up by running straight past Nathan and arranging to meet at the other Willowdale rd crossing. I flew through the short single track section with my headlamp on. I felt no pain I was just steering and flicking the occasional branch out of my face. I pulled a negative split of a few seconds and sat down to drink my first caffeine.The next section was going to make or break my 20 hour push. I had run the easy direction in 1.30 and now had 2 large hills to ascend as well as a steep long descent which would slow my progress. I was also really looking forward to running with my wife, Bel, who was going to be my pacer from Waroona Dam to Nanga. I was seriously starting to doubt her ability to keep up if I continued at the current pace but also wondered if the pace felt so fast because of the K's in the legs and the darkness. She has regularly run sub 2 hours for a half marathon so 18k in 2.25 seemed very easy even with some long hills.
I put on my Ipod and took off into the night. I have a great play list that I basically just copied off Nathan and despite it's incredible difficulty this section was quite possibly the most enjoyable.I arrived at Waterous picnic site determined to run as much as posssible up the approaching 5K ascent. Nothing seems as steep in the dark and this helped as I was able to make good progess. Down the steep descent I was amazed the quads were pain free but I had the serious face on as tried to take the best line and avoid any hazards. The hill up the other side is shorter but steeper with some soft sand sections just to add some variety. I don't know where I lost all the time but when I came out at the Waroona Dam trailhead I was already late with about 2k still to run to the aid station. I dropped my pack with Nathan along with instruction on how to fill it and ran the road section with just a small bottle of endura.Consequently it was a very short pit-stop at Waroona Dam. Bel hopped out of the car and asked for a 1 minute warning which I gave her straight away. She was freezing and had to be persuaded to remove her jumper. We started off walking as my legs were feeling the effects of the bitumen rd but before too long we were running slowly again and Bel soon warmed up. I had warn my skins all day and had changed back into my long sleeve shirt after dark.After about 2k of slow running my legs were feeling better and I put my foot down (both repeatedly in quick succession). I told Bel we had a long climb coming so we should try and make up some time. Unfortunately when we hit the climb I didnt feel like stopping and powered up putting a big gap on Bel. I waited for her to catch up and then just tried to run as fast as she could. This section was only supposed to be 6K. Bel thought we were running around about her 10k pb pace (48.50) but still it took nearly an hour. By the time we hit the road where Nathan was meeting us she was finished. I suggested she have a rest in the car and meet me at the top of the 4K bitumen hill. When I reached the top she wasn't keen but I'd slowed significantly and was able to talk her into it.We had another 4k down a slight hill that I thought she could comfortably run with me. I was pretty shattered and would run until the pain kicked in then have a short walk break, still trying to keep perpetual forward motion. Finally we finished this section and I grabbed some more energy drink and waited while Nathan tried to find my gloves.
Eventually I could wait no more and with a sense of urgency took off down the trail. I had the Ipod back on and the second song was Shannon Nolls classic "Lift". By this stage I had basically given up on 20 hours and was thinking either a negative split (20.17) or 20.30 being more appropriate goals. But the music did it's magic and before long I was flying down the track with the lyric "let them know that you took a good shot and you missed" going through my head, thinking that I should at least give the 20 hour beast a shot. I flew through the 4.5K in 20-22minutes and meeting Nathan I yelled out for a drink of NRG before contiuning running through Nanga and into the finish straight of 16K (mainly uphill). The equation was simple 16k -1.40. I just had to run 6 minutes K's and I even had 4 minutes up my sleeve to walk the 2 steepest hills.History was repeating itself as I trashed myself on the long slow climb out of the campsite. I was running with very little walking but it seemed an eternity before I finally came out onto Murray Valley rd which is majestic in daylight. I flashed my light through the trees trying to see the river below. I could take it easier now 20 hours was dead and buried, unless I could run 5 minute K's uphill on trails in the dark. I mentally switched off a little but doing the maths I still somehow needed to do about 8k in the last hour to break 20.30. It wasn't going to be a picnic yet. There was also the matter of 3 tough hills, the least steep one of 1.7K I was going to have to run. I set myself with the goal that if I could run it's whole length 20.30 should be a shoe-in.Mentally all I had to do for the last 6 or so K was run. It seemed easy but physically this is one tough section. I finally made it to 157K with no more scary hill climbs to negotiate. Nate's dog jumped out the window and ran with me for awhile. I asked Nate to drive alongside and I turned my headlamp off. I was enjoying this once more as my speed picked up again. Halfway up the last hill with 1500m to go Nathan left to go and meet me at the Caravan park finishline. I negoiated my way through town proud I was nearly there. But as I ran the last 300 metres through the caravan park it felt anti-climatic. There was no doubt I felt too good.I arrived at the back of the chalet where we had started but Nathan was out the front. The was one advantage of having heaps left. I was able to recreate the finish for Nathan 4 times as he tried to get a good shot.
posted by dave at 4:09 PM
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