For many of my years as a runner, essentially since I first got ‘race-y’, I have planned out races many weeks, months or even a year in advance. Organised, I hear you say! Indeed it is and it can lead to some well planned training blocks. It hasn’t always been without its problems though, largely because in hindsight I did too many races too close together for a body and athlete that requires a good period of recovery. Beyond just being organised though, planning events a long way out has also been more about mental preparation.
I am a bit more at home with doing less events and trying to make the most of them now and coming out of the races I did earlier in 2021 I’ve been working my way towards something new, namely my first 50K race at the Collie Trail Fest. So I was as surprised as anyone when, less than two weeks before Six Inch Trail Marathon, I was pointed at the still open entries by a friend (thanks Kelley!) and pretty much immediately decided OK, sure, I’ll have a go.
Now, I did check this with Coach Chris. While keen on the idea, I also thought it was a bit mad to jump into a 47km trail ultra marathon on less than two weeks notice but as Chris said, the Collie prep was not complete, but probably sufficient to carry me through this event and although I wouldn’t quite run 50km, it would mean getting an ultra under my belt, running for a lot longer than I have done previously and can potentially go into Collie even more prepared. So lots of potential upsides.
On that part-finished prep, I had built from 50km the week after Pemby in early October to two or three weeks in the 80-85km range with the most recent couple of long runs being 30km on a mix of surfaces. I actually had a 35km long run planned for the week I entered and rather than lowering that to taper, we reduced the running a lot during the week and stuck with the big long run. I actually did that one on the Bibbulmun Track, almost entirely on single track and it took me about 3hrs 20 with just under 800m of elevation. This was the longest run I’d ever done duration wise by over 20 minutes (my slowest marathon was 2:58) and also the highest amount of vertical gain in any run I’ve done. More than I used to do most weeks for that matter. This run was exactly one week before race day.
Speed work and sessions have been few and far between, but that seems to be one of the keys to ensuring I stay in one piece at the moment. The occasional trail fartlek with all out efforts up multi-minute (4-7min) climbs, the occasional tempo run and racing 1500m or the mile at Albany Athletics Club. Those have been going OK really given the lack of actual speed work in my training. All that is to say that the volume of hard work is lower than I would have been doing a few years ago but it seems to be working for me at the moment because I’m not busted. Yet, anyway.
Before I get to the race, a little on Six Inch itself. The race started in 2005, inspired by the famous Six Foot Track race in the Blue Mountains, of which many of my friends are familiar (and have raced even). A point to point event starting in North Dandalup, WA and finishing in Dwellingup, it predominantly runs on the Munda Biddi track with everything from single track, loose gravel, dirt road and rutted out 4 wheel drive tracks. All sorts really.
Since I entered on short notice, I travelled up solo leaving the family at home and thanks to Kelley’s generosity I had a place to sleep in the annex attached to her camper van. After watching the event Q&A and getting a feed (grilled salmon, again thanks to Kelley!) we turned in early because we had to be up at… 2am. 2am, my friends! We planned to park at the finish and get the race bus up to the start, which left at 3am to get rego’d and to the start for 4:30am. Definitely the earliest race start I’ve ever done and I was a bit bleary eyed for a while.
There are a couple of things that I will take away from this race, the first of which is: for a race that starts in the dark, wear your glasses. This might seem self-explanatory, but I prefer to run with my prescription sunglasses on during the day and figured I would start with NO glasses on, then put my sunnies on when I was ready. This was a mistake. It was darker than I expected, for longer than I expected and the mental effort I had to put into finding my footfalls and not falling over was really quite high.
It also didn’t really work, as I fell over for the first time at about 5km! It was light by this time, although I can’t remember whether I quite had my sunglasses on or not. I think I must have as I don’t remember them falling off my head. Anyway, the main reason I tripped over was the amount of talking I was doing. After chasing a small group up the long, steep climb that starts the race (a steady, near constant climb for bout 2.5km), I caught up with the then-leading female and got chatting. And chatting. Serves me right for missing a rock and going arse over tit really. Took a bit of bark off, hurt the pride a little but managed to bounce back up, get back on the small group and trot off down the track. As we got a bit further into the race she called out that she was going to try and catch a group of guys ahead of us but couldn’t make it stick, whereas I did and really found my rhythm, moving through this small pack so that by the time I ran through the start of the 3 inch event, I was out on my own, just clipping along.
One other learning I will take from this race is that Camelbaks/bladders are pretty annoying. I ran with two flasks mounted on either side of my chest in a Salomon trail running vest, but all the people I ran past with bladders made a very annoying slosh-slosh-slosh sound as they ran. Just a small pet peeve I think I’m going to develop.
Being a longer race than I’d done before, I had to actually think about hydration and nutrition. In road running and marathons I would usually have a couple of sips at each drink station, but not take on a lot of water. A handful of gels would be enough to carry me through too. In preparation for the Collie 50k (which I had been anticipating could take me 5 hours maybe?) I had been deliberately drinking water on recent long runs. Outside of having to stop for a pee during each run, it had gone well enough. I’d also integrated some nutrition into this, trialling Maurten drink mix which seems to be very easy to get down, as advertised. I trialled a couple of Maurten gels in the long run a week prior to Six Inch too and when it came to race day set off from the start line with a 500ml soft flask of Maurten 320, a 500ml flask of plain water and 4x Maurten gels (2 with caffeine and 2 without). The plan was to drink around 200ml of drink mix on the half an hour and take a gel on the hour and top up with extra water or nutrition if I needed to at the 34km aid station. As it happens, I found myself fall into a routine of using the nutrition about 10-15min prior of the schedule. I finished having used it all (including the 500ml of plain water) but didn’t particularly feel like I needed more.
Back to the running, after the 3 Inch start area at about half-way of the race, was quite a fast section. The splits between 21km and 35km were all below 5 minute pace, some of them much closer to 4min. At about 34km we veered off the Munda Biddi track heading out to what is ominously called ‘the Escalator’. Before we even got there this became a harder uphill climb before dipping down, at which point I stacked it again (I forgot to mention I fell over at 16km too!). This time, going downhill and I hit the deck pretty hard. A nice guy behind me who I’d overtaken not long before checked I was OK as I got up off the floor, then he took advantage and ran off into the distance while I picked up my pride and headed off after him.
The escalator itself is a steep uphill climb on a section of track with huge, foot deep ruts and a loose, slippery layer of dust. It’s also an out and back, so you have to get your way up and then pick your way back down. The mountain goats at the front of the race were running down here but I ended up pretty much walking up and back down. It was steep enough that there wasn’t much point red-lining my heart rate to run up it and I had no confidence at all that I could run down it without hurting myself. So I was pretty relieved when I got to the bottom and could get running again and back out onto the Munda Biddi.
Of course, as a road marathon runner, heading through kilometre 40 and into uncharted territory, I had my mind on what time I would go through marathon distance in. It turned out to be 3:26, not too bad I thought out in the bush having fallen over three times and at that point the longest run by duration I had ever done. And then it started to get much harder. Kilometre 42 was 4:40, 43 was 5:05 and 44 was 5:37. These splits (and right through to the finish really) were quite flat and really runnable, but my legs had decided they’d had enough. Quads tired and tightened up, stride length shortened and heart rate actually dropped because the legs couldn’t carry me fast enough to rev the engine up. I THINK this was a muscular strength issue rather than a lack of sufficient fuelling, but something to work on either way.
Coming into the last couple of kilometres I was aware that I would probably still get into the finish in under 4 hours, which I had gathered was a milestone mark for many runners at this race. That was definitely the case crossing the line, with lots of cheering and support for having crossed under that mark from spectators and fellow runners alike. The finish area was really good, with the Dwellingup Trails & Visitors Centre providing toilets, showers and a café (banana bread and coffee!) and the race organisers providing a supply of water, soft drinks, fruit and Subway sandwiches. I ended up having some of everything and a very sore shower (ouch, all that bark taken off) before returning to spectate and watch Kelley finish. She ran a 9 or 10 minute PB, surprising herself. Always a nice feeling. I certainly chose a good year to do the race as conditions were near perfect. About 8 or 9 degrees on the start line and low 20s at the finish, whereas some years it can be deathly hot. The race attracts a mix of fast trail runners and road runners alike, with the conditions this year producing a new course record (run by a 2:25 road marathoner and world ranked duathlete) with my time of 3hr 56 coming in 15th. Not too bad for my first trail ultra and I enjoyed it enough to both want to go back next year with a full prep behind me and also excited to do my first 50km race in Collie.
The official course details aren’t out yet but I’m led to believe that Collie should have less elevation over a slightly longer course so I’m left wondering if I can run that 50km also under 4 hours? Time will tell.
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