Becoming "Hardcore"

After Buffalo Stampede I was feeling great about what I'd achieved and was wanting to find the next big thing after completing a 100km and a Skyrun ultra. It was announced that a 100 mile event would be added to the You Yangs Trail Running Festival line up (the "hardcore 100") and I was instantly sold. I signed up and received confirmation a few days later that I was in. Now that the deed was done I had to come up with a real training plan. Marysville was almost a disaster without training sufficiently. Buffalo felt like it was almost a fluke off what I had put in for it (although there were some tough long runs in there), so this needed some real commitment. I planned out just over 1000km of mileage throughout May and June and tapering back in July. This would see me ideally hit a few 120km weeks and even a 160, to prepare my body better for what was to come.

May training actually went quite well, with an 80, 100, 100, 120, then a cut back to 50km week. June started out well, but I was rapidly losing motivation to run the 15km+ of every run, especially as many were early morning or at night (as night running experience is crucial to any miler). Seeing the wheels about to fall off I went with another crazy strategy, leverage off the success I'd had for Buffalo - run mostly only long runs, but this time, make them all 42km+. Four marathons in a month. A good mate I run with in Anglesea a bit, Chris, suggested that for the SCTR Surf Coast Trail Marathon training event that we run from the finish point and rack up 70km, so I figured what better way to kick off the June long runs? That run went surprisingly well, averaging a moving pace of 6:05 min/km and feeling pretty okay afterwards. The next weekend I followed it up with 2 loops plus an extra Flinders Peak of the miler course at the You Yangs to get a feel for what I'd be running around 8 times! It felt okay, but I could already tell that the runnable would be the problem for me, not the hills. I finished up June with the second half of the Surf Coast Century course for 51km and fore running the Surf Coast Trail Marathon for 45km.

I had achieved my goal of four marathon (or longer) long runs in one month. I wasn't feeeling too terrible and all of them had been run reasonably well, so I was feeling fairly good as the final two weeks rolled around. In that time I only ran twice again for 15km (of hill repeats) and 31km with the SCTR You Yangs training run, but it kept my legs fresh and with everything else going on at the time, it seemed alright. The day finally rolled around and conveniently it was only a 30 minute drive and a "late" start of 9am. I was quite happy with my gear selection, this time opting for the lighter Salomon pack (as I would pass an aid station every 10km, and every lap of 20km I would have my own bag drop at the start / finish. Having run my previous Roclites past 1000km, I opted for the lighter and racier model, the 243s to succeed them, which had less cushioning and a 3mm drop. I adapted to these over a month or so, and loved them so I chose to run them on the day, especially as the tread was newer and they weren't so worn out. Fueling would be identical to Buffalo and I a whole pile of backup gear in a waterproof bag for any conditions, as well as a portable charger to make sure my watch went the distance.

It was quite a cold start, but fairly good conditions for running a miler. We all started off at 9am on the dot up our first of eight Flinders Peaks and then down and around the perimeter of the You Yangs to the entrance and back up along the 87 walk (via Big Rock to Turntable). The first lap ended up a little quicker than expected, clocking in at 2:05. The next three laps I held together pretty well, only dropping back 5 minutes per lap to 2:10, 2:15 and 2:20. I'd hit half way by 6pm and was feeling pretty good. I was enjoying most of the course and was sticking to a strict rule of running everything from the top of Flinders Peak to the start of the 87 climb. My heart rate was looking good, body was feeling great, and I had developed some great strategies throughout my training for zoning out by humming tunes, counting, etc. As the night settled in things got a bit tougher, particularly the 5km horse track loop which is three long stretches of very straight, very flat open trail. I was still managing the descents quite well, averaging 5 min/km or better down most of it.

On my fifth lap, I'd just struggled through the horse track section and came out to hear two guys saying they couldn't find anyone to pace. I had no plans for a pacer but joked "you can pace me if you like!" As it turned out it was two good friends from SCTR and that's what they did. It was great to finally have some company and they ran with me back to the end of the lap. At that stage one stuck with me to the entrance again, and the other headed down to the horse track to get me through the second last round of what was becoming a recurring nightmare. At turntable at the end of lap 6 a friend had mentioned that I wasn't far off the podium. This wasn't something I'd even considered as it just didn't occur to me that I would be anywhere near the pointy end of an event like this. After my third last Flinders Peak I passed the guy in 3rd place as he was coming down. I'd now moved into 3rd place and the pressure was really on.

As I came to the eastern boundary, about 6km into the last lap I could see a light moving up on me. Chris and I picked up the pace and even changed my head torch battery on the run to save time to try to keep the position. We "charged" down the eastern edge at just over 5 minute kms before I dropped it back for the new undulating mountain bike track at the southern edge. Finally I figured "well, this guy is really going for it and he deserves it" so I eased off to let him over take and have it. As it turned out it was Kathy Macmillan, who had stopped for food at the end of the last lap so I wasn't aware she was then behind me. Knowing that the pressure was back on, I ran with Kathy most of the way to the horse track where she stopped to change her head torch battery. I managed to keep a decent pace up the hill and run most of the final lap solo to meet my wife in the last few hundred metres. I managed to pick up to a decent run with her and finished my first miler in 19 hours and 2 minutes.

This run will remain a benchmark for me for a long time of what it's like to have everything come together in a run. The gear, fueling, my mind, body, even surprise support from friends all came together perfectly for me to complete 160km at a 7:11 min/km average pace, never once hitting a real low where I wanted out. It's a run that I always think back to and it is difficult to compare it to any other and gave me an experience that I didn't expect, but one that I will always be grateful for. None of these experiences would be possible without the support I've had from friends and family, particularly my wife, and the incredible running buddies I've developed through this amazing sport.

https://connect.garmin.com/activity/545209923
https://www.strava.com/activities/168241522