Training Log Archive: Dolf

Event: WTF 100 miler
 

WTF 100 miler

Quite a bit to read here so for those that are already thinking TLDR here is the short version...

Saturday 6:00am start, all goes pretty much as planned until around 120 km's. I break down & struggle to get through to the next aid station certain that I won't finish. I get wrapped in blankets & put on more clothes, take some pain killers & anti nausea tabs & snooze on & off for almost an hour. Slam a couple of Red Bulls. Finish Sunday 9:55am.


Some photos from the day can be found here thanks to Ron

https://plus.google.com/app/basic/photos/104426653...

Long version...

Wow... What a day (& a bit more)
2:30 wake up, drive to meet Joel my support crew then down to Dwellingup by about 5:20 with 40 mins to register, get my bib & do any last minute prep for the race.
Standing around at the entrance to the Dwellingup Caravan Park I was actually debating whether to take my sunnies or not, I made the right choice to leave them behind, a mask & snorkel would have been a better choice. I was feelng pretty good as far as how prepared I was & I felt I had a pretty good plan of how to go about the race, with Joel well in control of support duties & Ian to join in for pacing duties form the 116km mark. 
A quick countdown over a mobile phone with a synchronized start with the 50 milers starting at Jarrahdale & we were off. We quickly formed a few groups with 2 runners, Hunter & Phil out in front. I was in a group of 4 just behind with Simon, Ben, & Martin. After what felt like a pretty cruisy couple of km's I decided to take off my lightweight rain jacket as I was feeling a bit warm & I dropped behind the other 3 & almost as soon as I got my jacket off it started bucketing down. Back on with the jacket & I could just see the others up ahead but there was no need to try & catch up at all & felt it would be best to slow down a little & run at my own pace. At the 5 km mark I was at the bottom of the powerlines for the first climb of the day & I noticed the other three slowly running up the hill. My plan was to walk this hill & all but the smallest hills for the rest of the race. A few more km's in and I had Phil run up behind me, he had taken a wrong turn but luckily hadn't gone too far but I was quite surprised how quickly he ran past, it looked like he wanted to get back to the front as quickly as possible. 
During the next run along the powerlines track I had to duck into the bushes for one of many toilet breaks as I had some stomach problems for the first 50 km's. With no one coming up behind me (smart starters) I was on my own as I couldn't see anyone up ahead anymore. Luckily with the course being an out & back, plus having a couple of extra out & backs there would be a few opportunities to see those in front & behind. 
At the top of the hill leading down to the first aid station at Oakley Dam I passed Hunter who had just come back up the hill. He was looking fresh (as you would hope to 17km into a 100 miler). The amazing thing is he looked just as fresh the next 2 times I passed him at around 45 & 93 km's.  Ben, Phil, Simon & Martin followed not far behind after just leaving the aid station. I was in & out of the aid station pretty quickly, making sure I thanked them as I was probably more inspired by all the volunteers helping out than they were with the runners, to hang around in almost constant torrential rain,sometimes with hours between runners later in the race & always willing to help they really made the race  a much nicer experience. 
Out of the aid station the hills were quite steep so it was walking up & carefully cruising down being careful not to blow up the quads with hard downhills. I passed the remaining runners heading towards the aid station all looking soaked but happy. 
Over the conveyor belt & up & down the hills towards North Spur rd it was still pouring down & I felt I was starting to settle into the race. I passed an elderly lady out for a walk near the 6inch aid station & she asked me how far I was going. I told her and she yelled out "yay" & kept walking with her head down to block the rain, I remember thinking what kind of crazy person goes for a walk in this weather. The singletrack section heading into Dell Park aid station was a series of long puddles or like a flowing creek. Throughout the race I tried not to step into the deeper parts of puddles to reduce the chance of debris getting into my shoes. This meant running mostly on the camber part of the trails and hardly ever on the flat section, unfortunately doing this for the majority of 100 miles was the main cause of my post race pain with all the stabilizer muscles of my lower legs working overtime n
At Dell Park rd Joel had my spare 2x500ml soft flask bottles and 1.5L bladder ready to swap over. I had decided to use almost entirely a fluid based nutrition using Tailwind powder as it worked very well in training. Unfortunately with the rain & cold I was having some difficulty drinking that much but had to to get all my calories in. Later in the race I asked Joel to increase the powder in the bottles to get a couple of hundred more calories & substitute with more food eaten at aid stations. 
More rain, wind, running, walking & it wasn't long before I was thinking the 50 milers would be coming past soon. I was trying to calculate about where I would first see them based on my pace & knowing that there was a very strong group of runners who would be battlng for the front of the 50. In my head I could see a train of 5-7 runners screaming past me all together. I picked the downhill section towards Torrens rd as the most likely place but with the changes in the course I was a little off. The first came past on the short section of Torrens rd, then about 1:30 to the next runner & another couple of minutes to Dave the RD in 3rd, all looking to be running very well. 
Lots of muddy sections leading up to the rd to Whittakers mill & I almost took a tumble into a very large puddle. Just short of the turn off the road I had a quick chat to Alexis who was in good spirits & running well. I always find a quick chat, "hi" or even a wave with the other runners gives a little bit of a lift & if the timing is right it can really help your running. 
It wasn't long before I saw Hunter again on the out & back of Goldmine hill, then Ben & Phil.
I had another quick duck into the bushes along this section before starting the actual downhill. On the way down I saw Martin with Simon a little way behind who seemed to be struggling a little but after roughly a marathon on trails in almost constant rain Goldmine hill isn't exactly on the top of everyone's to do list, & all I could see was myself in about 25 mins time looking exactly the same. The turn around at the bottom was a pile of mud & very, very slippery. A volunteer sitting in a 4WD told me that almost everyone had been close to taking a tumble when hitting the mud. 
Next up was a loooong walk up Goldmine hill. I think Dave had gone to James Dyson to redesign Goldmine hill because it seemed to suck soooo much more than ever before. I was really spent at the top and I had walked all the way. 
Only about 5 km's now to the North Dandlup Dam aid station. I was starting to feel the cold a bit more now & after coming out of the singletrack & running across the Dam wall rd the winds were a lot stronger & really cutting through me. I decided to change my shirt & put on my sturdier Jacket here, Joel had everything covered & made a nice warm drink for me. Then it was back out into the rain for about 17 km's to the next aid station. The first few km's were nice singletrack but after that this section has some of the steepest, slipperiest & rutted trails on the course. With the rain still pouring down a lot of these sections were like walking up or down small waterfalls. 
I was still feeling pretty good through this section with only an occasional sharp pain in my right knee when running down steeper hills and a slight pain in my right lower leg that would eventually get worse later in the race. Coming into the Kingsbury Rd aid station the rain started to clear and it looked like we may have seen the last of it. Joel informed me at the aid station that I was only a few minutes behind Simon & Martin who were still together. I was running well after the aid station & I enjoy this section but with so many puddles that were difficult to go around the edges my feet got very wet just as the rest of me was starting to dry off a bit. Not long into the downhill towards Serpintine River I passed Hunter again, hands on knees powering up the hill. He went on to win in 19:23:24, an amazing run in the conditions and well deserved after the dedication he had shown in his training. Coming back up the other side of the valley I passed Ben who still seemed to be traveling well, then Phil and not long after I could see that I was slowly catching someone up ahead. It was Simon & when I caught him not far from the Jarrahdale aid station & turn around point he mentioned that he had gone out too hard and was struggling. He was intending to pull out at pretty much each aid station from Nth Dandalup dam onwards but kept going until eventually stopping at the Dam on the return trip. 116 km's after struggling for so long is still a mighty effort. Martin had just left the aid station when we got there, he continued to run strongly & went on to claim second place in 22:45:35. At this stage I was feeling pretty strong & although I wasn't focused too much on time I felt a sub 24hr finish was possible considering how I was feeling.
On the way down the hill I passed the 2 girls running together, then Mick coming up the hill, he had just run a bit extra after missing a turn on the way up the hill. Over the river again and back up the steep long hill. Having this river crossing with steep hills on either side within about 10 km's at this stage of the race was a bit of a struggle but once up the other side & onto the flattish section to Kingsbury rd at 99 km's I was feeling pretty good again. I put on my Ayups and kept up a good run/walk to the aid station. At the aid station I grabbed some gels, had some chips & a few heaped spoons of Nutella... mmm Nutella. Joel again had a warm drink waiting for me and my bottles ready to swap over. Pretty much all the aid station stops went smoothly and quicker than expected thanks to Joel being on top of things & often knowing what I wanted before I did. 
Out of Kingsbury rd & I hit the 100km mark pretty much on the 13hr mark. I would actually think this was a better 100 km's than the 11:50 I did for the Kep last year when the extra elevation more technical trail and weather conditions are taken into consideration. 
This section is not my favorite one to run, especially in the dark. The short steep slippery sections really take a toll at this stage of the race. Add to this that the rain had started again although not constant, at times it was still quite heavy. Once I was a few km's short of the aid station it was back to some nice singletrack for a while & when some of the volunteers came out in a 4WD, Frank jumped out, asked who I was & ran behind me for a while. I felt like I was running quite well for this stage of the race & everything seemed to be going along smoothly. 
I was informed as I came in that both Ben & Phil had withdrawn, Phil was already gone & Ben was sitting down wrapped in a space blanket & drinking something warm. I said a quick hi & wished him a speedy recovery then headed over to were Joel had set up the gear to reboot. Joel & I had planned for this aid station to be a bit longer, with me having a quick wipe down with warm water, getting changed into fresh clothes & changing my shoes & socks. The volunteers again were very helpful, bringing me coffee & a nice Vegemite sandwich. This was also were Ian, my pacer joined me so I felt refreshed and looking forward to tackle roughly one more marathon in length. 
All was good in Ultramarathon land, no major pains (although my right lower leg was still gradually getting worse it wasn't constant) no cramps, no really low points, I had my pacer with me & enjoying the run. Surely I was having a good day & things would continue as they had... Bah Bow!!!
Fast forward roughly 7 km's, my Ayups had just go off & we stopped to change the battery. As Ian was getting the spare out of my pack I bent over & started dry reaching, this was followed by sudden uncontrollable shivering & nausea. Basically I lost all motivation to move & just curl up on the side of the trail. Luckily there were no dry patches or I may have tried to. Eventually we started moving again but a lot slower, the pace was officially somewhere between plod and crawl. 
After turning onto Torrens rd I could see some lights coming from behind me, early on going up the next hill Mick passed me & I thought he was running he went passed so quick but he was just walking strongly. He went on to finish in 3rd place in 25:26:28, a very well paced race. 
Somewhere coming up this hill I saw a good size herring flapping around in the middle of the trail. Ian didn't see it & it was gone when I looked back but it must have just gone off the track because the other explanation was that I was losing my mind. 
On the next downhill I was still shivering & Ian gave me his jacket, beanie, & gloves. He also found a couple of sticks I could use as trekking poles as I was struggling to keep walking in a straight line. The next hill was probably the lowest point of the race for me. If you've ever seen footage of someone climbing Mt Everest, placing the poles in front, taking a couple of steps, then resting that's pretty much what I was doing.bi was also struggling to take in any nutrition, luckily Ian was reminding me to have little bits when I could. I wasn't sure I would be able to reach the next aid station and was 100% sure I wouldn't finish the race. I didn't want to say this to Ian but I have a feeling he was thinking the same. 
At this stage it was taking me just short of 20 mins to do each km. There was no way I could continue if things didn't change so I decided that I would take as long I needed at the next aid station & wouldn't leave until I felt I could finish. I knew I could sleep 6 hours if needed & still make the cut off time but I would have completely seized up by then. I got into the aid station & put on some thermals, had some pain killers & anti nausea tablets, got wrappd in blankets & shut my eyes, basically it was just like swtichng a computer off & on again to fix a problem but I took quite a while to reboot. I snoozed on & off for almost an hour then decided it was time to get moving again. Some coffee, a couple of red bulls & some chips helped me feel better. 
Once going again I was quite surprised how different I felt. Suddenly I knew I would finish & even though I was walking I was going twice as fast as before. Ian commented on the change & I think he would have been happy to be moving a bit more quickly as well. The rain was still on & off & the trail was just as soggy & full of puddles but everything seemed a lot easier once I was sure I would finish. Unfortunately due to losing so much time Ian had to finish up when we reached North Spur rd as he had to be home in the morning for his sons birthday party. If I hadn't fallen 3-4 hours behind during the last section he would have been able to stay to the finish. 
As I was climbing the track parallel to the conveyor belt it began pouring down pretty hard again but it never lasted more than a few minutes at a time from here on. I got to Oakley Dam aid station & enjoyed a nice pumpkin soup, sandwich, laming ton & other delicacies. This would have to be the best aid station ever although if they were at the top of the hill instead of down the bottom it would be better. It was daylight now & Joel was going back to the finish to get changed into his running gear to head out & meet me for the final push to the finish. My right lower leg by this stage was a constant pain and the only thing that stopped me from taking very short running stints. I met Joel not far from the powerlines, probably about 7 km's to go & we walked it in from there. It was good that he was able to finish with me as he had spent the whole time driving around only to have me in & out of aid stations in a few minutes before another long wait. I think I said to him about half a dozen times that I couldn't see the caravan park through the trees before we actually got there. 
Finally in 27:55 I crossed the line (with a little jog for about 5 meters). 
I was so glad to finish after being so sure that I wouldn't. I think the difficult conditions (Dwellingup had 43mm of rain) made me want to finish even more so as I'm not sure if I'll be tested like that again. 
Great to catch up with the runners & volunteers after the race. No way I could have finished without their enthusiasm & help.
Big thanks to Joel who did an awesome job as support crew & Ian for pacing me though a very low patch, I don't think I would have finished if I didn't have him for that section. 
Overall I think I got more things right than wrong but there are certainly some good lessons learnt for... dare I say it... Next time!!
Good times. 

C • Well done! 2

Short run, although looking at the forecast for Saturday a swim may have been better prep.