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Post by Mark B on Sept 29, 2009 5:12:10 GMT -5
Hey All,
Well done guys oustanding efforts by you both. Dave awesome time mate you deserve the time for the training and focus you have put into the event over the years. Rob, running these runs is always a learning curve and listen to your body and coming up with the solutions is part of the Ultra running game. What works for others may not work for you but you have to try all things. Ginger was my secret, I used Blackmore travel sickness tablets and had one every hour after 6 hours to matain my stomach. Other secrets to my suspect stomach, sustagen as a easy option for calores and I use to mix some coffee in every second bottle to keep the focus and energy up. Remeber you may have just had a bad stomach day and next time with the same plan all would be ok. Dont change to much just one thing at a time. But how much fun did you have Sh#T LO$DS! Plus the special feeling only people who run that far can experience ENJOY THE MOMENT Awesome guys
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Post by bernadette on Sept 29, 2009 18:46:28 GMT -5
I was cursing myself after I got home the next day - I forgot that I'd packed candied ginger in my bag for Rob! I had suggested pre race he might want some but he said he didn't like ginger (who does?). But I took some along anyway, thinking I could make him take some if need be...and then I forgot about it!
I don't think dehy was the issue, either. Rob was consistent with good fluid intake. Gels take a lot of water, but I thought about that when I offered it up - he was drinking well and water was staying down. Nothing he ate was going down well (he had chocolate, nuts, banana, etc later in the night). The GU was just the worst it seemed, which makes sense, as gels are harder to digest.
Word from Rob now is that he's quite ill with gastro and chills - he took on untreated water at Waroona Dam after his wife didn't make it there with the support stuff. I was concerned about that when he mentioned it along the trail, but figured the symptoms wouldn't hit for at least two days. Maybe was the beginning that night.... We'll have to wait to hear from Rob with an update.
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Post by Suzy on Sept 29, 2009 23:32:03 GMT -5
Awesome effort by both Rob and Dave. I am in awe that you can run that far - much farther than most humans will ever run in one hit.
And Dave pushing Hannah in the pram - seriously legendary stuff. You will have some great stories to tell the grandkids.
Sorry to hear you had a rough trot of it Rob, but you persevered and still made a very respectable distance. You should be very proud of that. I hope you'll soon be feeling well again.
Enjoy some well earned recovery time.
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Post by dave on Sept 30, 2009 3:01:41 GMT -5
At Nanga I took 15 minutes listening to the end of the footy, eating and packing away the pram for Bel. Also had to refill the pack with food and water which Nathan did for me at all other stops. Finallly I got away at 10.16 and was feeling really good as I ran through Nanga at a reasonable clip. After about 20 minutes I ran into Rob again. I was informed he was coming up by the same guy who had doubted our ability to get through the mud puddle.
We had a brief chat and told him Geelong had won. I think the next section was the key to my race. I was running quite quickly and probably would have just pushed hard until I ran out of energy. However as is often the case with these long ultras I started to chat with God and he told me to do some more walking. (You can read more about these experiences on my blog at offroadwa.blogspot.com) I was feeling guilty about long walk breaks when I was feeling good but then when I would start running I was flying (around 5min/k) and I eventually saw the point of the strategy. At Caboolture I had gone out hard (too hard) and had dropped back onto my heels rather than the midfoot running I have been doing this year. This caused my achilles problems I believe which troubled me right until the week of the 100 miler. Once I got this revelation I started running lots more and was really enjoying it. Pretty much just running until I wanted to walk and walking until I wanted to run. I passed the hut 20 mintues quicker than with Hannah but I still had the long gradual climb to Nanga rd. I began to get a sniff of 20 hours which was very motivating and when I came out at Nanga Rd I had made up about 5 minutes on the first lap despite running mainly uphill.
I arrived (103k) about 12.41 and after a brief stop to check my water and grab my headlamp I took off for the short section to Willowdale rd. My goal now was to try and negative split each section. If I could do this by a total of 16 minutes I was on for a sub 20 hour race. I arrived at Willowdale rd (111K) in 58 minutes despite another largely uphill section and eating at least 2 muesli bars. From memory this was about 3 minutes slower but I made that up by running straight past Nathan and arranging to meet at the other Willowdale rd crossing. I flew through the short single track section with my headlamp on. I felt no pain I was just steering and flicking the occasional branch out of my face. I pulled a negative split of a few seconds and sat down to drink my first caffeine. The next section was going to make or break my 20 hour push. I had run the easy direction in 1.30 and now had 2 large hills to ascend as well as a steep long descent which would slow my progress. I was also really looking forward to running with my wife, Bel, who was going to be my pacer from Waroona Dam to Nanga. I was seriously starting to doubt her ability to keep up if I continued at the current pace but also wondered if the pace felt so fast because of the K's in the legs and the darkness. She has regularly run sub 2 hours for a half marathon so 18k in 2.25 seemed very easy even with some long hills. I put on my Ipod and took off into the night. I have a great play list that I basically just copied off Nathan and despite it's incredible difficulty this section was quite possibly the most enjoyable.
I arrived at Waterous picnic site determined to run as much as posssible up the approaching 5K ascent. Nothing seems as steep in the dark and this helped as I was able to make good progess. Down the steep descent I was amazed the quads were pain free but I had the serious face on as tried to take the best line and avoid any hazards. The hill up the other side is shorter but steeper with some soft sand sections just to add some variety. I don't know where I lost all the time but when I came out at the Waroona Dam trailhead I was already late with about 2k still to run to the aid station. I dropped my pack with Nathan along with instruction on how to fill it and ran the road section with just a small bottle of endura.
Consequently it was a very short pit-stop at Waroona Dam. Bel hopped out of the car and asked for a 1 minute warning which I gave her straight away. She was freezing and had to be persuaded to remove her jumper. We started off walking as my legs were feeling the effects of the bitumen rd but before too long we were running slowly again and Bel soon warmed up. I had warn my skins all day and had changed back into my long sleeve shirt after dark.
After about 2k of slow running my legs were feeling better and I put my foot down (both repeatedly in quick succession). I told Bel we had a long climb coming so we should try and make up some time. Unfortunately when we hit the climb I didnt feel like stopping and powered up putting a big gap on Bel. I waited for her to catch up and then just tried to run as fast as she could. This section was only supposed to be 6K. Bel thought we were running around about her 10k pb pace (48.50) but still it took nearly an hour. By the time we hit the road where Nathan was meeting us she was finished. I suggested she have a rest in the car and meet me at the top of the 4K bitumen hill. When I reached the top she wasn't keen but I'd slowed significantly and was able to talk her into it.
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Post by dave on Sept 30, 2009 3:28:28 GMT -5
We had another 4k down a slight hill that I thought she could comfortably run with me. I was pretty shattered and would run until the pain kicked in then have a short walk break, still trying to keep perpetual forward motion. Finally we finished this section and I grabbed some more energy drink and waited while Nathan tried to find my gloves. Eventually I could wait no more and with a sense of urgency took off down the trail. I had the Ipod back on and the second song was Shannon Nolls classic "Lift". By this stage I had basically given up on 20 hours and was thinking either a negative split (20.17) or 20.30 being more appropriate goals. But the music did it's magic and before long I was flying down the track with the lyric "let them know that you took a good shot and you missed" going through my head, thinking that I should at least give the 20 hour beast a shot. I flew through the 4.5K in 20-22minutes and meeting Nathan I yelled out for a drink of NRG before contiuning running through Nanga and into the finish straight of 16K (mainly uphill). The equation was simple 16k -1.40. I just had to run 6 minutes K's and I even had 4 minutes up my sleeve to walk the 2 steepest hills. History was repeating itself as I trashed myself on the long slow climb out of the campsite. I was running with very little walking but it seemed an eternity before I finally came out onto Murray Valley rd which is majestic in daylight. I flashed my light through the trees trying to see the river below. I could take it easier now 20 hours was dead and buried, unless I could run 5 minute K's uphill on trails in the dark. I mentally switched off a little but doing the maths I still somehow needed to do about 8k in the last hour to break 20.30. It wasn't going to be a picnic yet. There was also the matter of 3 tough hills, the least steep one of 1.7K I was going to have to run. I set myself with the goal that if I could run it's whole length 20.30 should be a shoe-in. Mentally all I had to do for the last 6 or so K was run. It seemed easy but physically this is one tough section. I finally made it to 157K with no more scary hill climbs to negotiate. Nate's dog jumped out the window and ran with me for awhile. I asked Nate to drive alongside and I turned my headlamp off. I was enjoying this once more as my speed picked up again. Halfway up the last hill with 1500m to go Nathan left to go and meet me at the Caravan park finishline. I negoiated my way through town proud I was nearly there. But as I ran the last 300 metres through the caravan park it felt anti-climatic. There was no doubt I felt too good. I arrived at the back of the chalet where we had started but Nathan was out the front. The was one advantage of having heaps left. I was able to recreate the finish for Nathan 4 times as he tried to get a good shot.
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Post by Nathan on Sept 30, 2009 19:05:38 GMT -5
Nice report
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