What a day! What a course! What a race! Loved it, loved it,
loved it. It probably helps that I didn’t cramp or get stomach upset for the
first time in three ultra races.
I had been wanting to do WUU2k since the first iteration but
found great excuses every time. This year we welcomed kid#2 to the family 3
weeks before race day. So I thought the timing was right to have a crack.
Sleep-deprived and under-trained… all the sandbagging was done for me. In all
seriousness, there is so much going on that it was great to have a few hours to
reflect and be mindful.
Race Prep
The race prep was somewhat rushed. I got a last-minute
entry, I did some of walking and running for a couple of weeks, and then I
tapered for another week. If you want to try this at home (I mean, winging a
62k race), consider having a few years of endurance training on your back. Do
not think you can wing it if you’ve been running for less than 2 years or have
no ultra race experience. You might, but you might also hurt yourself. I
adjusted my expectations to be some 45 to 60min over what I would do with a
longer training block and then I went over pretty basic plan:
· Pace strategy was to go for 3:15 for the 1st
half and then hang on till the finish, hoping to be somewhere at the 3:30 –
3:45hours mark.
· Nutrition strategy was super easy: one gel every
½ hour and a bag of salt stick chewable pills. Fruit at every aid station.
· We were told we can cut through Ziggy-zaggy
trails so prioritised less distance over less gradient when choosing my run
lines (ie. If there’s a path, I rather climb a little than run/walk an easier
gradient that’s longer)
The race - Part 1WOAGD
After a breakfast of champions (1/2 bagel & Nutella / ½
& scrambled egg) I was dropped to the start line with the promise that the
family will meet me at the end, some 7 hours later. The day was fresh but not
particularly cold, it was not too windy either. Perfect for a single layer.
The start of this race is tricky, as it goes up some 250m
over 1.5km. You have to be careful not to over-do it but one also has to be
honest not to under-do it. My measure for that is the Gradient Adjusted Pace
(GAP) function on Strava. It’s not perfect, but it is one tool to judge one
self in hindsight. I reckon I nailed this time around. With the hill out of the
way there is nothing particularly challenging until the descent into Nikau
Valley track in the MTB park. That first hour and something went rather well, I
caught a few runners through the skyline, some other runners caught me. We had
a few yarns and generally patted our own backs for being out there in what was
looking to be a terrific WOAGD.
Once Makara was crested, we enter into dangerous ankle
territory, the descent into Lepping Lizard and Possum Bait Line. They are great
trails to test and improve your downhill skills, and on a shorter race, a great
place to bomb down. Today, though, I was undercooking it to conserve some
strength for later. The aid station at the MTB park was awesome, and the first
water recharge for me. I also managed to look chilled and say Hola to a few
people.
From Makara carpark to the Windmill is mostly up, around
Wrights hill and the fence line. I live by the entrance to salvation, so this
is my back yard. That and a combination of gels and fruit put my mood and
alertness up and I had a pretty nice run through this segment. I did catch a
few more runners and only two caught me. It is a good time to stop for photos,
but I was having such a great experience of flow, that I did not bother. So we
got to half way, and I was feeling much better than I expected. Tired, though,
but not defeated.
Part 2 - Shit happens
From the Windmill to Red Rocks one of the best section of
ridge running that we have and it is all so close to the city!! We are certainly
lucky to have such a great trail network so handy. Car parts extension bubbles
through the hillside onto the Tip Track point and it is a pleasure to run. At
this stage of the race I will typically saturate with gels and start to feel
bloated or crampy or full on pukey and gag all food out of my mouth. To my
surprise, this time was not to be, so I kept enjoying the moment.
The Inov8 Trail Talon 290s I was using were proving to be a
good choice until now. But they got to the point where they were letting too
much trail feedback. To the point where I was thinking about it when I rather
not. A couple of guys ran past me in this section of trail, and I wasn’t able
to keep up or respond. One of them was the race leader for the Marathon, he was
on a mission!!. Anyway, all this thinking about other shit contributed to me
tripping on a rock and falling, just 300m from the end of car park extensions.
The fall took several steps of me trip-running until I hit the ground proper,
with my face and all. I woke up and assessed the damage. Huge dent to my ego, a
bruised and cut left knee… no cramps, not a lot of gorse…. She’ll be right.
From then on followed 40min of painful downhill running past
Tip Track point and the descent to the beach.
I had planned to attack this section, but I was in no shape to do that,
and in no mood either. It hurt, and it hurt some more. And then it got better. Somehow
I caught with other runners that were going even slower. That’s common on the
last 1/3 of races, and I guess I was lucky that the pain subsided after that
time. The run through the bay was my worst bit, a combination of tiredness,
energy depletion, pain and too many worries getting into my head. Getting out
of the beach was mentally going through the gateway to the end. Yes, there’s a
big hill coming, Yes, it will be hard, Yes it’s still two more hours and
anything can happen in 2 hours… but somehow I felt the worst was over.
At the aid station I shared some of my salt sticks with a
cramped competitor, and then set of at a happy pace to meet the Tippy up close.
Halfway through I came across Nick and his pacer, we would be running together
for the next 2 hours, but at slightly different paces depending on the surface
and the gradient. I had one gear at this stage, shuffle gear. Nic appeared to
have two or three at his disposal.
Part 3 - It is not over until the fat lady sings
The Tip track is an ass of a trail. The first 800m are relentless,
then it gets a bit better, then you get a breather and then hit at it again for
the last km. even for a fresh day you get the extra burden of being sunbaked
all the way up. You get rewarded with great views. And on race day, we got to
be cheered by every marathon and 60k runner that was coming down the hill. It
was quite a social affair, and even thought I walked more than I thought I
would, I got to the top in good shape and even managed to chat a little bit
with (Mr Grim Ripper) Brad and Stu. Turn around and run I did, and kept
cheering all the uphill and downhill runners that I came across. I love the
social part of this leg of the race. One time we got to experience this at
Tarawera ultra, and it’s pretty special, you get to see all those other runner
friends give their best cheers to you. It’s special, and I loved this race for
this.
The Tip Track score was 1 for Nic and Pacer (on the up) and
1 for me (on the down), I stopped on the downhill to share some more salt
sticks. Then carried on to Tawa Tawa. The score here was 1-0 for Nic. I took up
the uphill session of Mt Albert. As we were going down the downhill track, the
pacer took a dive on the cliff(y) side of track. Quite spectacular to watch, as
they were probably doing 3min/km. Surprisingly, she popped out of the ditch in
one piece and kept running well. For a moment, I thought I had imagined the
whole thing, but alas, I hadn’t.
I had ran the last 3km in a recce trip earlier in the week, and
I happen to work at the base of Mt Vic, so these tracks are super familiar. So
once we went past Melrose road, there was no stopping me. As I ran through Mt
Vic I started doing the maths in my head, and I was 15min ahead of the time of
I’ve asked Nat (and the toddler and the newborn) to come over. I had the choice
of slowing down to let them see me finish and run down the finish line with
Lorenzo… yeah right.
I got on with the job and got to the last 100m looking for
them but fearing they won’t be there. They weren’t and I put this face.
And then I finished, I sat down and waited 5min. Turns out,
we were arriving together, but our little daughter needed a feed. Anyway, it
was great to be together and eat cupcakes, and we even mocke-up a finish line
shoot.
Coda - the nuts of it
If you're looking for a low-cost, high value race, this is it. The WUU2K has nothing to envy to most trail ultras in NZ and it comes a pretty attractive price tag. More importantly, you are buying local and not contributing to the big corporate trademarks.
On a good day, Wellington is unbeatable, and this races comes with a good day guarantee. I loved it.
Athletically, I had a great day out there where I tested my endurance and strength and they both delivered.
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