It feels good to be back blogging!
As I said last week I promised when I kicked the blog off
that it wouldn’t be a training diary and for me, and that’s all I have been doing.
Who wants to hear about me doing 1km repeats or those 400m track
sessions....if I am bored thinking about writing it, I can guarantee you would
of been bored reading it.
A few weeks ago Australia’s hardest 100mile race “The Great
North Walk” was run. Now I know half of my blog readers would be thinking “yes
I know that race, it is insane and only for crazies” and the other half of you
would be thinking “never heard of it”. So the abridged version of the course
description is that it is a point to point 100 mile race run in NSW along the
Great North Walk track. The 100 mile race is actually about 175km, insane –
the elevation profile is ridiculous and normally the heat (over 40 degrees in
the middle of the day) makes dropping out from dehydration is near certainty.
Taking all of that into consideration two runners braved the
elements and embarked on the challenge last weekend. Marty “White Caviar” Hack
and Raelene “Rails” Bendall both had signed up for the 100 mile race, but with
different goals. Whilst Marty was focussed on the pointy end, Rails hadn’t been
training too heavily and was really just focussed on finishing.
To paraphrase Rail’s “I didn’t do anything special anyone
could do it” – this statement pretty much sums up her unassuming, self
deprecating approach to her own achievements. Raelene has completed the 100k at
The North Face and 100k at Glasshouse 100 in September and now Australia’s
toughest 100 miler, by anyone’s standard this has been an absolutely stellar
year, but as I try to load on the compliments Rail’s brushes them aside.
When it comes down to it, she is mentally stronger than any
of the crew we train with. If I am a mixed up mental mess when it comes to
racing, Rail’s is the opposite a strong willed and focussed racer, she knows
her limits and races within them.
So you haven’t been training much
due to work, uni etc – have you just been doing a long run a week to prepare?
I’ve
been doing two hours of hill intervals every Wednesday on the Mount Archer and
a long run including hills and trails on weekends. Leading into the GNW my
largest weekend was a 4.5hr run on a Saturday in the middle of the day,
followed by a 5hr run at Byfield on the Sunday. Gavin and I also used the hill
at Kemp beach in our training and also ran a loop around the Razorback Road and
Mount Morgan Range to mix it up one day.
You mentioned the cool conditions
helped this year, how much did that factor into you finishing?
It got
hot on the second day and I really started to struggle keeping enough fluid in.
I felt like I was cooking from the inside out and having to drink so much makes
it even harder to keep solid food down. The middle section of the course is
known as ‘The Basin’ and I guess it’s really a big volcanic iron kettle with a
rainforest in it. There is no airflow and two years ago they reckon it was over
46 degrees. I honestly believe that with my present fitness, as slow as I ran,
I would not have made the finish line if the temperature had been like it was
in previous years. I used this as motivation many a time to make it to the
finish line. It was obviously my lucky year.
For myself, being caught by the sweepers would mentally snap
me. How did you use being caught by the course
sweepers to your advantage?
Having
the sweepers meant that I didn’t have to navigate for the entire back end of
the course. It guaranteed me that I wouldn’t get lost and that is a huge
relief. Having to navigate takes up heaps of time reading through maps and
double checking directions, and until you saw a GNW marker, which were
sometimes quite spread out, I was always fearful that I had taken a wrong turn.
(Again) I also got to meet some really interesting people. Gary Pickering and
Rob Scoines are both running the Coast to Kosi in a couple of weeks and Matt
O’Shea broke his ankle less than 11 weeks ago. They also kept me on pace
ensuring that I made it to the next Checkpoint in time. Most people run with
their own crew and pacers to keep them moving at a descent pace, and as it
turned out I had the best local running legends.
For a runner who loves the numbers – it blows my mind that you
didn’t run with a GPS to track distance and pace. Another
great example of how different we all are. Have you considered using a GPS for
your races coming up?
I do own a
GPS but lately it has been unreliable and gives me the shits. It’s a constant
reminder that I’m too slow. I did take Gavin’s GPS with me to help track with
the directions and Navigation, but the batteries were playing up, so I turned
it off. (I probably put them in upside down) I tend not to use my GPS during
races anyway as I find them distracting. I’ve often found them telling me I’m
going too slowly, but there’s not much I can do about that. If I could be going
faster I would be. I tend to try and listen to my body and put in a certain
effort for an event. For a 36hr race I ran at about 75 per cent, but in a 5km
race I’d run at 95 per cent. (
To answer a couple of the questions that have been posted, yes you
do walk in Ultra Marathons. Walk/Running (that is transitioning from walking to
running) is a learned skill. Once you power walk a hill, it can often be the
case where it is difficult to start running again. Mentally you can use little
tricks like “I am running once we get past that tree” etc to get you going
again.
Footwear is also a personal choice. You ran most of the race
in Salomon Speedcross 3 – the racing shoe from Salomon. It is light and doesn’t
provide much cushioning, but has excellent grip which is important on the muddy
trails.
How did your feet cope with the
36hrs? I expected them to be worse. Unfortunately I carried some
pre-existing blisters over from my last 100km run and training that hadn’t
quite heeled, so they flared quite quickly. The pads of my feet got pretty sore
after about 30 hours and the last few hours of rock jumping were fairly
uncomfortable. I didn’t lose any toenails though. I wore two pairs of socks on
the first day because it was cold and my feet didn’t swell like they usually
do, and changed my shoes at the 85km mark. I use lanacane on my feet and wear
sockette stockings under my socks to prevent general rubbing.
You said you didn’t drink once from her hydration pack, instead
preferring to drink from two handheld water bottles. You said one contained
endura the other a really weak endura mix (personally I hate endura). How many gels/cliff shot bloks did you consume? I
thought I was taking heaps but when I got to the end I found I had only used 5
packs. I also drank 7 poppers, 15 cokes, 4 cups of tea, pretzels, chippies,
bananas, porridge and some vegie soup.
Yes to answer a question posted, you do go to the toilet
during a long trail race usually off in the bushes out of everyone’s view. Going
“number 1’s” is a good sign of hydration, not going number 1’s is a not a good
sign, a point Raelene made that she went a number of hours without needing to
go to the toilet.
Another question from a Facebook
stalker – did you get tired? And what motivates you to keep going? No I
didn’t get tired. I did have some low blood sugar problems just before sunrise
which left me a little faint and slowed me down for about 45 minutes. I guess
with all the panic of being last and barely making the cut offs with only
minutes to spare I was also busy busting my guts to get somewhere so I just
didn’t have time to be tired. I never had a problem with motivation. I wanted
the finish soooooooo bad that to deny myself the finishers medal would have
been certain heartache that I just didn’t want to contemplate. The GNW has a
lot of credit with other race organisers and a finish here, even if it is in
last place, is worth a lot on future race entries. I also had a stressed out
husband at home who I knew was following me every step of the way, and I
couldn’t come up with a single excuse for not finishing that was better than a
finishers medal.
Besides running with the sweepers at various points later in
the race, you spent time between CP 3 and CP 4 with a running buddy who she has
run with from a number of other Ultras, how did you
help each other get through the rough patch?
My friend Siev did not want
to leave CP3, but she agreed to come with me. We got lost together and it ended
up costing us an hour. Between the two of us we were able to work out exactly
where we’d gone wrong, turned around and kept going. Seiv had decided to pull
out at CP4 after running 110km, so she wasn’t too concerned about how long it
took her to get there, but as I was continuing, I needed to get there before
the 4am cutoff. Without a GPS I had no idea how far to CP4 or how fast we were
going. Seiv had it sorted and took charge of the pacing. She was determined to
get us there with at least 20 minutes of time to refuel. And she was spot on!
Two headlamps at night are certainly better than one. Seiv got another 100km
finish instead of a DNF and she gave me the chance at my 100mile finish.
When did you realise you were going
to make it?
About 4km out the sweeper had left me and run back to a guy
that was behind me on the last leg. He was positive that I’d make it if I ran
all the way but I still wasn’t sure. It wasn’t until I came around the last
lookout, turned the corner and finally saw the beach and the finish line a km
away with about 15 minutes to spare. Even then there is a really steep descent
down on to the beach and I was hoping that it was pretty much straight down,
not too much zigg zagging or it would take too long. It was my quickest descent
of the entire race.
So what’s next? You just finished
Oz’s toughest 100 miler so what else is there to run?
There’s heaps of
Australia I haven’t seen and even more to explore overseas. But I’m broke. So
the big plan is definitely the Coast to Kosi next year. It’s a 240km run from a
beach near Eden in NSW to the Summit of Kosi in the first week of December.
Gavin and I would both like to run it.
You need to submit a resume to the race director to be accepted, so the
rest of the year will be building that resume. We’ll certainly try to do the
Glasshouse trail runs, starting with the 50km Hares and Hounds in early
January. Because I like mental things we’ll do the 12hr track race in
Caboolture in Feb. We are hoping to do 6 foot track and the North Face 100
again, as well as the 100miles at Glass later in the year. The rest of the year
is needs to be flexible around injury and finances. Gavin wouldn’t miss the
Goldcoast and there are also other 12 and 24hr track races in winter.
There are a couple of gems of information in our
conversation that I needed reinforced,
we joked that I am a messed up racer – in particular when I start to get
negative thoughts I let those dominate my thinking, called negative self talk.
Raelene said she just snaps herself out of those negative thoughts, she doesn’t
let them fester or dominate her thinking for any extended period.
That is good advice for everyone, especially new runners
where the going gets tough and you just want to stop – don’t. That feeling and
moment will pass and you can push through it and come out the other side to feeling OK again.
Thank-you so much Raelene, I know you weren't too keen on the interview, but you have acheived so much and it is so great to share it with everyone. Congrats again on the finish!
As a note, Marty was up the front in the top 4 but took a wrong turn and ended up doing an extra 16km before finding the checkpoint. He then dropped from the race. White Caviar will be back to smash up a race near you soon!
Good luck to everyone racing this weekend - hope to see you at the Movember run.
Pex
