Coburg 2014

I found this year's race probably harder than any of the other 8 races of 100 miles or more I have done. The first hour I managed to get 28 laps on the board which was the plan but I'd worked a bit harder than I expected. The weather was fine for the 1st 4 hours but the next 4 hours it got progressively more arduous as the sun came out from behind the clouds and the body heated up. The 2nd hour I put a full 30 laps in which was probably my biggest ever hour in a 24. I felt fine but by 4 hours my calves were in quite a bit of pain. I stopped briefly for a self-massage which didn't seem to do much. I was running well and generally enjoying the day but I seemed to be wasting quite a bit of time with regular toilet stops and slow walk breaks every 30 minutes. Throughout the race I made up a lot of my wasted time during the last 15-30min of the hour as I cranked my lap times down to sub 2min to try and achieve a minimum of 25 laps or 10K every hour. By 4 hours I had 44K but from here on it was a matter of just trying to keep my 4K lead on the 240K target. As usual it was a tremendous relief when the sun went down. I don't much enjoy running in direct sunlight but whilst the temperature wasn't hot by WA standards it probably took a greater toll than I expected and perhaps I should've taken it easier especially during the 4-8 hour period when the sun was out. I switched to my Hokas at 6 hours which felt better but I had hoped I would last longer in my lighter shoes and save the change until I put my tights on to save time. Between 8 and 12 hours was a great time to run as this was one short period where it wasn't hot or cold. Approaching halfway the temperature began to get uncomfortably cool so I switched into long compression tights and felt slightly better. I hit halfway with 124K. This was a mental boost as my previous best halfway effort was 118K. I knew now at least I didn't have to run a negative split to get to 240. Each hour continued much as the last. I would have my walk break on the hour and stumble around taking on a gel then gradually get running quite painfully until the 30 minute mark where I would repeat the process with some solid food usually chips or muesli bar. Whilst these foods have worked well in the past they didn't go down well on the day. I had a 4 meal fibre fast to try and avoid the toilet on race day and I felt low in nutrients. My body seems no longer happy to run on empty calories and I remember chatting to someone during this time and mentioning how well my regular smoothie would go down. Once the 2nd walk break was over I would start focussing on getting in some fast laps to get as close as possible to 25 laps for the hour. This was usually when I felt the best. The calves would stop screaming and I would enjoy running for a few laps whilst I tried to keep my race on track. This was working relatively well but each hour I felt more tired and more tempted to go and have a sleep. At 14 hours I couldn't believe there was still 10 hours to go. Around this time Rick my Aussie team mate of the last 3 years mentioned retiring from 24 hour races. It sounded like an amazing idea. Why hadn't I thought of that? I retired almost instantly. All I wanted now was to get my 240 so I could go out on a high. I realised I now only needed 24 laps an hour to get to 240K. This should be doable. I had done it before and I was still running relatively fast when I got going. The 15th hour went to plan but the 16th hour I seemed to lose my way. As I came around to pass 100 miles in 15:51 I had run a 35 minute PB. However I knew I didn't have it in me to keep going. I walked/ran for a few laps before stopping for a massage. I have never had a massage during a 24 before but I had to try something as I was feeling awful. Whilst losing a bit of time on the massage table I re-assessed my goal and decided that I would be happy with a 5th 220K effort in a row. This required a mere 8K an hour but after a couple of hours of this I decided I didn't care anymore I needed a sleep. I would walk through to 200K and then go and sleep. At 19:11 I called it quits and didnt run another step. After an hour of walking I decided I would have my sleep first before walking through to 200. I asked Cheryl to wake me after an hour and went and lay in the beautiful warm club rooms under a table. After 15 minutes I woke up and Cheryl told me I had 45 minutes left. I lay back down for 15 minutes but was feeling really uncomfortable and nauseaous. It was time to get back out on the track. It was very cold but I managed to warm up enough to get to 200K just after 23 hours. I had my promised sit and and enjoyed spectating for about 40 minutes before getting out and walking the last 20 minutes. It was an enjoyable way to finish. I wasn't going to vomit as I usually do and I got to congratulate all those who had done well which was 14 other people over 200K. Probably 13 of those happy with their efforts. What went wrong? I know I went in a little under-done but at no stage did I really feel that I had run out of fitness. My calves were my biggest issue. I was in a lot of pain from about 3 hours. There were a few other niggles including my quads which rarely hurt during races these days. I suspect changing my running style to deal with the calves caused problems. Both my wife and ultra guru Martin Fryer mentioned that my technique wasn't as it normally is. With the calves screaming out in pain I was much more tired than normal. Caffeine and panadol didnt seem to do their normal magic. I also made the mistake of not wearing sunscreen. Although I didn't get badly burnt often sun burn leaves you feeling quite tired that evening. With the tiredness and calf pain I didn't care enough to put in the effort needed to run 220K + but I know I could've if I had the motivation. I don't often have calf issues and in hindsight I attribute this to not being able to do my usual barefoot training this year due to a foot issue. Anyway it's quite a relief to now find myself run out of the 24 hour team. There are plenty of other options in ultra running and whilst I'm sure I'll do another 24 at some stage, now it's great to recharge the batteries and run some trails, road and hopefully Coast to Kosi.