Paul Petch

My first ultra marathon distance of 49KM

After a nice weekend on the mountain bike where I rode a solo to Godley Head, this weeks training has felt much better than the last with a little more juice in the batteries.  Tuesday’s “lunchtime” run was a good one and I hit the road to Hagley Park and after several laps I was on  my way back having clocked up my usual mid week 20km. To be honest- the best part was the return on road as I had forgot just how much speed you can generate on the grey stuff! WOW it was like I could fly. Having a bit of a fast “here and there” along with slow and long is the name of the game at present- and in the training world they call it “mixed running”. I like the mixed stuff :) With another Porthills mountain bike ride on Thursday after work (that turned out to be a tad longer than I had planned…) the weekend was upon me….and the plan was to clock up another 4hr run….and next weekend I should peak on a 5+ hr run.

Anyway, come Saturday morning and over breakfast with my motivation wavering between cups of coffee I thought that I’d fill out the run reports on my training plan. Hmmmmmm. This weekend was infact the PEAK run…..what a cock up! Oh well- “what’s the worst that can happen?” I chuckled as I filled up the bladder and headed into the city to grab some more Em’s Power Cookies. I’ve become a bit of an expert at this whole “ride to the hills and chain the bike up thing”….but on Saturday I found that I was in no hurry to get there at all….funny that! Before I knew it, I was heading up the Rapaki Track once more and I knew that this run was going to hurt…lots.

Route wise, I planned Rapaki, Mount Vernon, Traverse, Kiwi, onto Kennedy’s track and then back up it. Once at the Kiwi I’d jump onto the lava Flow Track and head back to where it drops back down onto the Traverse and then after re-tracing my steps across and down Mount Vernon I’d then head on to the John Britten Track and back to Rapaki and the start. With a good mix of technical, up, down, flat, and everything else it was a great route.

I’ll not bore you with specific details but the infamous “wall” that everyone talks about decided to be nice to me on Saturday and gave me a wide birth. I did hit a patch at 30ish KM though where my mental state rapidly plummeted and by the 42KM mark I was so emotional that tears were in my eyes…….but I’m sure it had more to do with running my first ever marathon distance and knowing that after this run it was taper time to the 5th of December. The 12KM or so to marathon distance seemed to take forever too!! haha. But finally at the 42KM mark I had run my first ever marathon with no screaming crowd- flashy sponsor banners or words of encouragement…..just me climbing up a hill alone with a cool change and icy wind as my friend. You know what? I would not have had it any other way and I’ll never forget this experience :)

From the 42KM mark my Glutes and hamstrings were a bit sore with every foot step feeling like time was slowing down….and it was a really weird experience…..kind of dream like. Looking at my cadence though- things were still on track……it was quite strange. To end off the run I had  to finish on the hard surface of the Rapaki track and I was not looking forward to it at all. With a quick quad stretch I ran down with some commitment which paid off….as I was near the bottom before I knew it…..and was feeling a tad tender like I had just  ran 49KM. And then it was over…and what an awesome feeling it was to have carried myself all that (49KM in just over over 5.5 hrs) way 4 months of training. YES I’m proud as hell.

Anyway, today it was business as usual and at lunch time I ran for an hour on the playing field at the University….and the legs and body feel ok considering the distance on the weekend. I’ve learnt that after the long days in the hills the Tuesday’s run should be on the flat and I did my best to not overcook things which worked out pretty well. Mentally and physically I feel pretty good to be honest, and I’ll be riding Thursday night & possibly on the weekend too- just to mix it up a bit and help my body recover. I’ll wait until the weekend though and see what happens.

To run 49KM has really put my mind at ease with regards to what I can do and If I can stay injury free and not do anything stupid- I reckon that this noob might have a chance at finishing the Kepler! I did learn a few things on the weekend though and they were:

1. I love a coke at the 30KM mark and I’ll be taking one with me on the day :)

2. I eat lots. 4 leppin shots and 3 power cookies + 250ml of Leppin energy drink. I’ll take more food though as I nearly ran out and having a bit more is better than running out!

3. I like to make deals with my legs. The deal we made was take out when we got home. This works for me and my legs :) (esp after buring close to 4000 calories!!)

4. If I’m thirsty…I drink. Things were damn hot before a cold change and I consumed about 7 litres and that worked out well. I also get on with Leppin energy drink too….very nice!

5. Currently I’m running 25KM without any sport insoles/ support before things get a bit tender and I throw the sports insoles in. I should throw in the insoles a bit earlier I think.

6. I must sort out my iPod selection. I struggled with some average tunes on Saturday that required my attention and is very distracting/ dangerous. It also slows me down!

7. SKINS are amazing things- and seem to be stopping a heap of upper leg aches and pains. Highly reccomended!

8. The Brooks runners and Salomon trail pack are a sweet combo. and work really well for me. Being able to eat on the fly is fantastic and the runners give heaps of grip/ support. I’ll write some reviews of these shortly for folk who are interested.

9. I’m proud as hell!!

Related posts:

1. Half marathon to ultra trail in 6 months
2. Nearly 50% of my target distance DONE
3. Kepler Challenge – some ultra marathon training tips
4. Copper Canyon Ultra Marathon
5. Port Hills Crater Rim 30KM trail run

This entry was posted on Tuesday, November 10th, 2009 at 1:56 pm and is filed under Featured, Runs & Walks and tagged with kepler challenge, marathon, port hills, the wall, trail running, Training, ultra trail. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.