The Hillary Trail - Second time lucky

The Waitakere Ranges are a premier regional park at a handy distance to home. The Hillary trail winds through the park in and out of the bush and coastlines of the Manukau Harbour.

Designed as a 2/3/4 days trek, the track has been run by many in the short time since it was created. There is even a website that lists the finishers, records and so on. 

In my previous attempt I cut short at just over 25km. There were races coming up and in my assessment  I found that I would be doing more harm than good by finishing. There was no unsavoury quit, just a sense of unfinished business. 

Being over 70km in length, the logistics are vital to get a good run. I was lucky enough to be in company of a bunch of crazy people who organized Midnight Madness IV (MMIV) with the August full moon. The name says it all, it was a night run, and it was a crazy one. This time I finished, and the tale of that run from Muriwai to Arataki follows:

1. The cake

I had missed MMIII last year, and thought it was a cool idea. It is usually done on the winter solstice, which gives much more night to keep running fresh. This year the date was moved to August, and my birth day to be more specific. I made sure I took cake to with me and after checking my list of NASA proportions, I left to meet the rest of the crew. It was a shocker of a week weather-wise and a number of candidates had to postpone. Seven of us started. After sharing a bit of the cake we left in a drizzle that would die within minutes. It was 6 past midnight. 

2. The cliffs

The first part of the northward run goes alon one of the most beautiful parts of the trail, the track hugs a series of cliffs and bluffs and the Tasman sea lashes its energy on the bays below. The view during the day are spectacular. On a full moon night they're even better. I was kitted with a single layer of merino and a waterproof jacket which kept me in perfect temperature for the very cautions start. We formed a group of 3 that would go 50k together. every now and then we would look back and see the headtorches spread over in the distance, among the dark cliffs.

3. The cows

The first 15km took just over 2 hours,  a bit slower than expected, but making it from A to B without falls was worth the effort. Two nice guys (Jo and Mark) took the responsibility of caring for us, and they waited in a car at several points to help us refuel, clean some blood and give us good vibes. Quick bite and drink and we were off. The next section goes inland round a lake, up a massive hill and into farmland before descending to the beach again. Running through a field of spooked cows who looked at us was quite an experience. We got to stop #2 in just under 4 hours, which was nice. There was a bit of a problem halfway through, with one of the guys falling and cramping, but nothing too serious.

4. The dunes

The next section took us through a very charged waterfalls (streams responding to the rainy week just passed), another sight to remember. Then we went inland and back onto a beach. Below 6 hours and within my secret target of under 12 hours. Lack of sleep was not showing yet, but I knew the mind is pretty good at playing tricks. I downed a Mountain Dew and a scone to keep the happy mood.  We carried on to the best part of the run, it is flat, the sun was starting to light and we were running among a dune field with our torches off. The air was fresh and I was as happy as I've ever been while on a run.  I regretted not having brought the camera with me. 

5. The hills

Stop #4 was an eventful one, we lost one guy that took a wrong turn. I went back a couple of k's and shouted to check he was OK. As I heard no answer I mentally played different scenarios for 15 minutes untill I saw he coming from the wrong part of the track. I waited for him to have a quick snack and we carried on 10 minutes in arrears. The12 hour mission was out of the picture, but the mood was happy nonetheless. From the beach we go up a bluff and carry on on a hill crest upping and downing among the rocks and the gorse. Then we carry on climbing to the highest point of the trail. On a good day is a tough climb, on a day with no sleep and 50km on the legs is a character building run. 

Maybe that's the whole reason why one does this things. Head donw and carry on... until the next stop. 

If anything, I underestimated the nutrition for this part of the run, I took note for future runs. 

6. Noon

By the end of this part it was well into the morning, I stopped for a change of socks, a new tee shirt and I ditched the waterproof jacket that was probably not helping at this stage. I also tasted a great ANZAC slice by one of the fellow starters who was now crewing with Jo. 10:32 hours and 60 km done. It was all downhill from here... NOT

There's 2 200m hills to be negotiated, and the legs ain't running uphill anymore. As I was thinking how much I missed my wife and a good eggs on toasts breakfast, I found a stick discarded by a fellow tramper at the start of a track. I adopted it for good measure, and decided it was only a matter of getting there. 

And there I got. It was just before 12:30pm and I've done it.

Reflection (or not)

The juggle of all other non-running aspects leave me as quite an anti-social type of runner. There is only one window when I can train and organise a trail run. It’s great when I can bring along people for the longer ones, but if it doesn’t happen, then it’s me on my own.

The same for the city training, there’s groups I often train with, but when the opportunity arises to start half hour earlier, then I do it. It is half hour that will go onto something else later on. Or more recovery time.

So, here I am running (biking too) on my own most of the time. With no music device hanging, I am left to thing. Or the complete opposite, to get all thinking and organizing mechanisms out of my head for some time. I was trying to pencil down what I thought on a 2hr city run last week. Result: I could not remember a thing.

It is funny how one has dedicated time to reflect on things yet nothing much happens. The usual routine goes as follow: start run, feel good, check form, think of the run nutritional needs, think of the post-run schedule, chill and enjoy the views, check form, think of future running plans, think of the current programme, assess how they are going, get tired, start thinking how to overcome tiredeness (or how to increase it), check pace, check average pace. Chill.

Then there’s the deadspots, things that I don’t remember and never will. At points I would try to think of a post to keep this log alive, and a plan would materialize. Then I forget.

Running is cleansing the scheduling machine

The race switch

Tend not to race often. But when I do I don’t seem to be able not to fully commit to the race and ‘race’ it. Even in a ‘training’ race I’d go a bit faster than I should have.


Last weekend I got to visit one of New Zealand’s premier multisport locations for a ½ marathon trail run. It was the usual NZ bush run in a great super-scenic setting .

I didn’t have any ambitions, as it was at the end of a busy week. We travelled 200 odd kilometers on the day, which meant a 4:30am start. We didn’t have a lot of time for stretching or warming up. But it didn’t matter, it was good to be out in the trail ready for a bit of action. I’ve been unable to go out of the city for over a month and was keen to get back in the soft surface.

A bit underdone by lack of hill-specific training, I thought I still had a chance to do well. All of a sudden it was less than 2min to go. I placed in, and for the next minute and a half I enjoyed the effects of turning the race switch on:

The heart rate slowly raising, the muscles tensed and alert. The breathing getting lighter and the head thinking on the past weeks training and how every session was clinically placed to produce what would be today’s outcome. The eyes scan for the competition, look for familiar faces and the ones that look to make the front pack. The chest broadens and the arms get into swing.

And then we’re off.

A shot of adrenaline shoots through the muscles, we all go hard for 100/200 metres and then harder, sorting the field as we advance. The mind gets focused on the road ahead, any obstacles and a check of form, of the self and the people around. The eyes move 5 to 7 metres ahead and start looking at clean paths that the body will follow.

It is not aggression, is the alertness, determination and synch of it all that makes the turning of the race switch an exhilarating experience.

The fun continues for a few minutes and then is back to business, another check of the form, tactics, banter and the other more mundane aspects of racing.

As for the race itself it was a great result, 3rd overall. I paid for my lack of climbing, but I was proud to hang on to the two tough guys that beat me. I was even prouder of my downhill running.

It is good to be reminded of another reason why I race. I race to turn the race switch. And what a great feeling that is.


Stay safe out there, and get muddy.

Two weeks and two races

Yeah… time flies when you’re having fun. It was some time since the last post, in that time I managed to get myself into a run and a cycle race. Both of them were fun and I will report both of them from the point of view of the questions the race throws at me.


Stride for success running race (5x2km loops up and down):

Pre race: How are you feeling? Those calves ready? Will it start as fast as last year?

Start: Why is it not going that far this time around? Shall you stay with the front pack? Shall you hurry the front pack up? Will you hang on to the this front pack for the rest of the 5 loops?
Lap 2.5: Ooops, eat a gel or hang on to front pack? Catch the pack or wait in no-man’s land?
Lap 4: catch the guy in the front up the hill or run him down the hill? Pass him or stay?
Lap 5: long drag or sit and wait for the sprint?

Cycle for life cyle race (1x107km lap)
Pre race: have you done enough hill training? Have you done enough interval training? You sure you want to race in the elite group?

Start: can you hang on to this fast pace and the upcoming hill? Can you catch the peloton 200m ahead down the hill? Are you able to time trial your way back to the bunch or will you wait for the next bunch?
Middle: do you really want to risk a fall in this rain and wind? Are you able to sustain this rate of exertion for another couple of hours? Have you eaten enough? Do you have enough water till the end?
End: do you want to sit and wait for the sprint or make this peloton work hard? Will you let those guys go or catch them up the next hill?

Races keep throwing us questions and the answers open a series of paths that one can’t return from. If the front pack is gone… it’s gone, there’s no way back. Similarly, if one commits to a hill 100%, then it’s useless to stop ¾ of the way there because the damage is already done, the ticker will be at a high work rate already. Interestingly, though , the mental answers to the questions and the ability to physically back up the replies with action depends a lot on the way we prepared for the race, how we rested, what we ate, what we drunk et cetera.

Another race to go in a bit over a week and then into hibernation, exams and who knows… maybe a bit of mountain action.

Euclid, pizza toppings and Sabina

What do a greek mathematician, a Spanish songwriter and a lot of veggies and cheese have to do with anything?

But they occupied my ‘eadspace over the last workouts. Not in sequence, more like three recurring themes over and over during a long run or a long ride. Thankfully it doesn’t happen in the swim. We’ve got a beeping machine put in our heads for our swim workouts (true, annoying little beepers).

Reading a book about Euclid’s “Elements…” got me back into filling my day with abstract thought of the purest quality: Points, lines and polygons. So much that I found myself revisiting theorems and formulae learnt 15 years ago.

The Spanish songs are always there, this was a good classic that I haven’t listened for a while and filtered into my head via some random electric pulse.

And every Saturday is pizza day @ my place, so there is always the worry to keep innovating on the toppings front. This weekend was prosciutto and rocket for pizza 1 and potato and teriyaki infused red onion for pizza 2. Both were outstanding successes.

I purposely put the pizza last because the reason of this post was to raise awareness of the importance of mind drifting, it helps dealing with the chaos of everyday life and training. It also helps to think of scenarios for a given race, or training goal or the day ahead.

Some people call it visualizing, I call it mind drifting, it’s that process of having a movie played in your head, and, on certain great occasions, getting that movie to play in real life. Exactly the same movie. Some people call that success. I call it bliss.

I value mind drifting as one of my best allies to succeed in a race. Playing up falls, dehydration, food stops, flat tyres, rain, heat, GI distress and all sort of scenarios in my head helps me find a way out of them. Sometimes it even works in real life too!, The latest example was during the Tarawera ultra, when I had to switch to fruits and coke diet. I’ve done in my head a few times. Doing it in real life was not the end of the world?!, was it?

The pizza scenario and the fruit and coke scenario are not too distant.

Keep dreaming everyone

To "see the point"

A very good friend of mine has been pestering me for years to get into mountain biking. For some reason or other I can’t seem to find the time for a new hobby and I’ve kept passing from the invites. Last weekend I said yes, as I thought it was good to have the chance and, as I said, he’s a good mate and the MTB is just an opportunity to catch-up and have a good time.


The experience was fun, great views, nice scenery and good climbs. It all came down pronto when I had to go into a singletrack grade 2 hill and lost any ability to coordinate the descend. I overshoot one corner, slipped and hit my privates with the bike’s seat. Then I got too tense to even try and keep a good balance. Hated it for some time.
I went a bit more comfortable on round 2, but still not OK.

Then it was time for me to park the bike, and follow my make while he went for a couple of more shots. I could run the same speed up and down the technical descents, so overall it was still very good training.
But not my thing.

What’s different?
I just couldn’t see the point on purposely putting myself in danger of falling over trees or roots to go down a hill and not even going fast or going point to point. I’m unsure about the fitness or bike-specific gains for me.

It felt a bit of a pointless exercise.

But hang on a minute?
What about bike or running hill reps?
Or swimming up and down a 25m pool 150 times three times a week?
Or running like a madman for 5km down a hill to a point where stopping is not guaranteed?
Or waking up and going to work every day to have money to pay the bills to continue to live to go to work everyday to have money to pay the bills

It is another case of “a matter of perspective”.

This is how I felt

This is what I wouldn't mind

Moral of the story for me?
Always try something new, but don’t stick to it if you don’t like it.
And moral number 2:
Close the ‘new hobbies’ account for a few months and get great marks at Uni.

A few days on the mountain should come handy. Stay dry out there

One year un-coached

It was about 1 year ago that I moved from being a coached triathlete. I realized that the old “crap in/crap out” saying was catching up on me. I wasn’t able to get all the bang I wanted from my buck, basically because I didnt have the time to fit in the workouts. The result was that I still had a swim squad which I go and a run squad that I aim to go as much as I can. I play around in the middle filling spaces here and there according to what events are up and coming.

After a year, there’s a few pro’s and cons that I’d like to share:

The half empty version:

There’s a perception of loss. May be top-end run speed, or race ability or something. I guess this is caused by the big void of not having a programme that comes to you. You are the programme and have to keep on your toes otherwise there’s plenty of room for distraction.

There’s the less social-more business side of training too. But that’s easily overcome.

The half full view:

There’s a bit of extra money for doing other stuff. Like buying kit, or going to the gym or doing more events or coffee.

There’s a lot of learning to be done. Finding out what and how and when different stages of a periodised training should be fitting in my world.

There’s the satisfaction of a good outcome. Each race finish takes a new meaning. I am as proud as an athlete as I am as a coach. Double brownie points!.

 

Results so far have been good. two PBs and a smooth switch to ultra running, all injury free.

 

The bummer of it all is that this is soooooooooo particular to each individual that I would not advise anyone to do it or not to do it because I know for sure that it would come and haunt me. But if you’re out thinking you might give it a try, all I can say is go for it. There’s plenty of pride to be had by being your own master.

 

Happy training for the wet week coming!