Update overdue!

Ok ok, I've had a number of emails asking for an update as it's been ages since I last posted. Fair enough.

A long time ago in a galaxy quite a lot like this one...

I went into the Christmas season training under a black cloud and the post I had thought of submitting was going to be called 'At the expense of everything else'. So let's just take a quick look back into late 2009.

I set my sights on having a crack at the 100km road champs (Feb 2010) so was on a TON of mileage. Weekend runs were 4-6 hrs and booooring. I was training around 2hrs a day through the week maintaining my unbreakable run streak. Everything was an effort and none of it felt rewarding yet I was pursuing my race goal with dogged determination. I jogged a lot last year. A LOT. So everything felt slow. All tempo, rep work and intervals were dropped in favor or yet more steady mileage. I began to wonder if I still had leg speed or if I had turned into one of those ultra distance shufflers.

Racing: It's the speed work you've been avoiding!

Concerns were put to bed when I ran a 5km PB (and Eastside course record) 15:26. A 10km* PB (9.9x km) 31:55. Followed by a 72 minute half marathon. All off tons of base work with little to no taper at all. From memory I did something like 10 races in the two weeks over New Years. All the while training for a 100km race in my not too distant future. Of course there is the satisfaction of going fast, winning, and the associated trinkets, but most of all this was an important boost to my confidence. I was certain that I had jogged myself slow. WRONG. The message I have for you all is easy mileage, and nothing else, can still make you a good runner. Even over the short stuff.

Some of the Hawks at the Tauranga Half. Helen, myself and the strategically shaven Kent (apparently body hair and road bikes are not compatible)

OK, so I put some mileage to use over the short stuff. That's great but what about the target 100km? Can I race long? That was January's question. I was feeling a little 'raced out' when I got back from the beach but keen to stay on track and keep the km's ticking over. Some time around mid-Jan I ran 25km to Cambridge and back before collapsing on my front lawn in a heap. I got through to about 40km fine but the last 10km just dragged on. What the hell? If I can't run 50km well how the hell am I going to do any justice to 100km? Oh dear, black clouds again.

So I found myself at the end of January again worried about my form. This time it wasn't speed, but my long-run aerobic engine and stamina.

55km in Mordor

I went to Whakapapa for the 'Tussock Traverse' in my biggest mileage week ever. Never a good idea to race when you've clocked more hours and miles then ever before but then when have I ever taken the easy path to something?

The orc hordes had descended once again on mordor, this time in number greater then ever before

In Jan 2009 I added 27.5km to this race by running from the finish-line to the start in time to join the race proper. An insane 3hr addition which obviously doubles the race distance. I call it the Tu55ock Reverse (t-shirts now available!). This year I was joined by Dawn Tuffery, a fellow Hawks runner with the same disfiguring mental illness to run stupid distances. It was still pretty dark when we left Whakapapa but made it to the race start with enough time to neck a couple Powerades before heading off with the fresh 300-odd strong field of runners.

Not far into the race I found myself in the top 10, and by 5km I took the lead. That was when I sped up. The conditions were good and the trail in better shape then ever before. Feeling comfortable throughout I crossed the line in 2:07. 2 minutes off the course record having run a 3:07 warm up. A good result made only better by the fact I had rounded out a training week that saw me covering 205km in around 17hrs. It was a long day after a tough week and I was smiling again. Shoo black clouds, SHOO!

With the 100km Road Champs looming there was little left to do now but taper and pray I had done enough.

A Century in the making

The 100km course was changed to remove some of the lumps which meant I faced 4x25km 'out-and-backs' on SH1 south of Taupo. Yawn.

The race started at 3:15am so much of the early hours were run under star light and headlamp. Very, very cool. Not surprisingly everyone peeled off into the distance and left me looking at my watch wondering what the hell was wrong with my math. Nothing as it turns out. Pretty much everyone was behind me by day break. I ran through to about 60km with Martin Lukes who is without a doubt the #1 ultra distance runner in the country having represented NZ the world over for the last 10 years. What an honour and a privilege it was to be talked through the majority of my 1st ever 100km road race by someone who really knew their stuff. Top guy.

A few people have said to me that they thought it was rather unfortunate that Martin had entered pretty much taking the national title off me before the race even started. To be honest I was of the same opinion for a while until I came to the realization that if I was going to be the best in the country I had to beat the best in the country. The greatest victory is the one you really had to earn. I don't want a national title to be handed to me as if it were a spot prize.

Around 55-60km into the race Martin started increasing the effort and it wasn't long before he was a long way ahead. Somehow I rallied and shook off the fatigue to run a pretty quick 10km too the 85km mark. Martin had gone from 8 minutes ahead to less than 2. I could see him clearly now as though he were only about 400m ahead, I was closing on him. The thought of winning was starting to creep in until BANG! CRAMP. As sudden and as unexpected as if I had been hit by sniper fire. My legs started to explode. Every major muscle south of my waist blew as if someone was twisting bubble wrap. I had just passed the 85km mark and my race was pretty much over. It was no longer a question of winning but a question of finishing. I ate a handful of table salt, downed almost an entire bottle of 'cramp-stop' and staggered on.

I was still running with occasionally screaming as the pain shot up and down my legs. Visions of crawling on all fours started playing in my mind. I was going to finish this or die trying. The good news (for some of you) is I didn't die. I completed the 100km in 7:45 about 26 minutes under the old course record set by legend Mark Bright. 2nd place, 15 minutes behind Martin.

I hadn't planned on going under 8 hours so I was wrapped with that result. Happy to just finish if I perfectly honest.

Dawn took out the women's title in a stellar début performance also qualifying for World champs. Her and I we're both grateful for the help we had out there. Neither of us could've done it without the super support we received from our friends and family.

So where to from here?

Well, with an almost certain 100km race on the cards for IAAF Worlds in November, all efforts must now be diverted to recovering and training to improve on my 7:45. The months ahead will be my most focused ever.

Tarawera Ultra lays in the way of a good recovery but I can't resist this awesome event. As defending men's champ I will be in attendance if only to hand the title over to a worthy winner. The 100km on trail will be a nice break from the road miles I have laid down in the last few months. A good opportunity to further condition myself both physically and mentally to the rigours of the distance.

Streaker!

I have passed 900 days of consecutive running but the future of this streak is uncertain. It is almost certain that the relentless abuse I dish out to my legs is not conducive to training and performing at my absolute best and the focus is now on World Champs. It'll be a VERY sad day if I have to break my streak for any reason less then a serious injury. So hard is this decision that there have been days when I have hoped for serious injury. The hardest thing I may ever do in my running career is to not run. Oh no, black clouds again!

Until next time, keep training, stay positive, and never think you don't have what it takes to be great.

- epo

Junk Male

Ever heard the phrase 'Junk Miles'? People often refer to 'Junk Miles' as the slow plodding jogs you do when you're tired, sore, fatigued. The assumption is that jogging slowly serves little purpose. I can't stress how wrong this assumption is.

I run every day and have done for almost 800 days in a row. Many days I run twice. I'll sooner do another 50 minute jog than the stride-outs or the short reps my program recommends (though I really should!).  I'm no great runner (yet) but I believe almost everything I have achieved thus far has been through the constant gradual aerobic work I do while out jogging. I have no special talent or genetic variance that makes me better then anyone else. The truth is that I've just done the work, and the work is seldom hard.

These are rookie numbers, you gotta pump these numbers up!

Time on your legs at any speed is beneficial in some way. I figure if you're jogging tired you're training your legs endurance. I have found my ability to run long is far greater then my true speed. Earlier this year I surprised myself by running almost 90km in a little over 7 hours. If someone told me a few years back that such a feat was possible I would've laughed into my pint glass..

Running at any speed elevates your heart rate and regardless of your fitness even a slow jog will have you operating in an aerobic manor. Aerobic work is the core basis for anyone that races any distance greater then 800m, so lets just assume that's everyone. Except for the 1st few hundred meters and last dash to the line all racing is pretty much done aerobically.

I guess what I'm trying to say is, provided you can avoid injury, run as much as you can for as long as you can as often as you can. Even eroded to a slow jog you are getting better. The advice I give to people who are first starting out is, choose how far you want to run that day and find the pace you can maintain to cover that distance and don't worry about going fast. The next bit of advice I have for new runners is, do a huge stack of really boring but consistent jogging and call me again in 8 months. Greatness awaits only those who pursuit it.

Why do it?

This last month I have heard of 3 runners getting 'moon-boots' for their training efforts and I don't mean the fancy Tecnica ones from the early 70's. As a child I must've fallen out of a thousand trees and not broken a thing, so you have to wonder as to what force is applied to our bodies when running that would split bone in two?

I run with pretty constant pain in my Achillies and know of plenty that suffer the same if not worse. Most runs one of us will ask 'how are the niggles today?'. It seems where ever you look, whom ever you talk to, running is a painful and dangerous sport. A fall a couple of weekends ago saw a mate badly roll his ankle on the same stretch of trail that a year earlier had a fellow club runner on her face with nasty grazes to more then 1 part of her body.

If the pain of injury isn't enough how hard is it to train hour after hour, week in week out? To run a meager 160km I put in a little less then 2 hours a day. And it hurts. It pretty much always hurts. I train in the rain, I run when it's cold, I run when I'm tired, when I'm short on time, when all my mates are into their 5th beer, I run. For what? The accolades? The money? The women? No, running gives you none of these. No one knows who I am and nor will they ever know regardless of how good I ever get. I'll never get rich, in fact, I'd have to be one of the best runners in the country to generate enough race winnings to cover my shoe costs. To my knowledge there isn't a single person in this country that can say they are a true 'professional' runner drawing 100% of their earnings directly from the sport. I doubt there are many in the world that do.

The most obvious reason for training is so you can race well. But what is racing but 'suffering at speed'? When I was a chubby little IT worker I did brief forays into the sport and got sufficiently slammed by every event to realize I should've done much more training beforehand. I can safely say now I have done more training but what difference will it make? I'll stop the clock a little earlier then last time but I don't doubt it will hurt just as much. An unfit person running a 50 minute 10km at maximum effort feels the same pain as I do after covering the same distance in 32 minutes. Perhaps the only differences are I hurt for less time though years of training have taught me to hurt in a much more advanced way over the same distance.

So why do I do it? You could argue about all the tiny and near insignificant reasons for running like weight control, stress relief and general wellbeing but at this level and with the deadly 'moon-boot' pandemic you could just as easily argue that the health risks far outweigh the benefits.

Perhaps you can argue that you run to be faster. Just maybe I'll buy that, but I wont pay much. I used to run 10km in 40 minutes, I can now do it in a tad over 32 (wohoo! /sarcasm). So there's 8 minutes right there. 8 minutes more I can add on to the end of my life. If we apply this in a 'Sliding Doors' universe then an alternate Kerry will gasp his final breaths and fade into his hospital bed a full 8 minutes before I do. Take that fat Kerry! But then I've trained 50-bajillion hours to get that 8 minutes. 50-bajillion hours I could've spent knee deep in a bowl of chocolate ice-cream.

What a stupid, stupid sport running is. And yet, I will continue to do it until my body tells me I can't anymore. Without reason and beyond comprehension, I run.

Soon!

I'll put something in a bit. Promise.