Surf Coast Century - Getting to the Start Line

All my training up until the end of May had gone really well, with all my goals reached or exceeded. A solid 20 weeks of training had put me to a point where I was pretty sure I could run the event and finish, but I wanted to see how much further I could take it to not only finish it, but feel comfortable and enjoy the event. That has really always been my goal in training for an event - to exceed the ability required to finish so I wouldn't have to struggle so much that it would take away from the event. Ultimately my reason for running a lot of these events is to see new places and experience things, so I don't want suffering to get in the way of that.


Heading into June things started off really well with 51km over the second half of the SCC course. Our new addition to the family, Alexis, was nearly due, which is why I'd planned to get most of my training done before June, so I was back to very cautious dribs and drabs, but feeling very fresh. I knocked out a half marathon PB of 1:27:59 (4:10min/km average), 36km in 2:53:07 and a marathon PB of 3:22:27 (4:48min/km average). The training had definitely panned out well and now it was time to "rest" up with the new baby arriving on the 18th.

Apart from the 1.5km runs to and from work and a decent 34km at the start of July I didn't get any decent runs in prior the the You Yangs 50km, but the day went really well. It was an awesome event, and very different from Rollercoaster. I had picked up a new Salomon S-Lab Advanced Skin Set 5 pack and used that and now Perpetuem for that run. Prior to the race my lovely wife knocked up a little alien (of my eldest daughter's choosing) with "Go Daddy" on the front. It has accompanied me on almost every event since and is a great source of strength when it gets tough out there. The run was less ascent than Rollercoaster with 1500m but the extra distance and rougher terrain in parts did make up for it. The first 30km (which also makes up the 30km course) was pretty good but I probably put too much into that as by the final 15km I was starting to struggle. 12km of that was a seemingly endless progression of mountain bike trails in a plantation which seemed to all blend together. I made a deal that I would run until the end of "track 16" before walking, but that ended up going for over 6km! I was hoping to finish sub 6min/km, but was very happy to finish in 5:04:53 with a 6:04min/km average.

After the race I didn't have much motivation for training, so I booked in to the Ultra Training Australia SCC training camp to run the first and second half of the course each day of a weekend in August. The first day was pretty cruisy, knocking over the first half in 7 minute kms, and I felt surprisingly good backing up the next morning for the second, tougher, half in 6:09 min/km. Running with Shona Stephenson was a great experience and gave me a lot of insight into my nutrition, running form and strategies for surviving and pacing correctly over an ultra. Was great to run with someone who also loved smashing downhill technical trail and a thoroughly enjoyable weekend.

After that weekend I started smashing out some hills and plyometrics and tempted fate by running a 34km in a new pair of shoes straight out. This resulted in some pretty painful foot issues in my left foot from 17km which I ran through and put me almost completely off running for the next 3 weeks. Not training wasn't an option, so I jumped onto the bike and started riding the 13.5km to and from work as often as I could and hit a 50km out to Queenscliff along the Bellarine Rail Trail. By early September I managed an easy 30km out on the first half of the course with some other SCTRs and a final 20km the weekend before the event. Not how I'd planned to lead up to the event, but it was all I was game to throw at it to make sure I wasn't injured on the day. Feeling good, but nervous about my shaky last 3 months of training, it was time to put it all into action.