Afterglow Trail Run - The Race Report

On Saturday night (29th Nov 2014), I participated in my first trail run event. I had signed up for this event back in September - Afterglow. My friend Sally signed up for this event and posted on Facebook if anyone wants to also sign up for a bit of run on the trails. This event was unique in the way that the run starts around 6:30pm and the cut off was around 10:30pm. As the run is at dusk and most will finish after sunset, it was compulsory that all participants run with a head torch.

With this in mind, I bought a head torch and some minimalist trail running shoes. I practiced running with the head torch soon after receiving them but I hadn't trained  in the minimalist trail shoes other than the odd walk with the dog. I decided that as I ran with my Mizuno shoes recently, even during the Challenge Shepparton (half) and the course description mentioned that the course was not too technical and suitable for road runners too, I decided to fore-go the trail shoes and just run with my Mizunos.

After Challenge Shepp, I hadn't done any running at all.....like zero! So like all events, I was hesitant about this as I had not done a trail event before and I was not familiar with the route at all.

The weekend came too soon. I planned on arriving at my parents house as it was around 15min from Torquay. I got down to Torquay around 2pm and picked up my race bib. I tried the course fuel which was called Tailwind and I really enjoyed it. I will look at purchasing some to use for training and to use during the events.

Sally arrived at my parents place around 5pm and we quickly got ready and left the house around 5:30pm. We got on the shuttle bus which took us to Point Addis around 6:40pm. The slow wave started first around 6:50pm (the faster wave around 7:15pm).

When the announcer called the start, most people sped off. I decided to just run at my pace as I know that I have 21km left for the day. The first part of the run was on bitumen and then into the beach trail. The single track path was good but the course was congested due to the single track and the amount of people in the wave.

The group started to spread out once the course started to get slightly technical and there was the first major climb along with rocks and roots to get over. At this point, I wasn't running too much but tried to not dwell on the rocks for too long.

After the climb, there was a false flat and then the descents was a really steep one. Soon after this was another climb, oh boy!...

I started to get into a good rhythm around the 5km mark. I thought to myself how fun this trail running is. I am running at a great pace, I felt great, I am enjoying the sights and sounds and I was not in too much pain.

The aid stations were simple but they provided everything you needed - water, tailwind fuel, lollies, nuts and chocolates. I ate some red lollies and filled up my bottle with some Tailwind. Around this point was when I had my first gel for the day - around 6km mark. I didn't swallow all my gel in one go so ran with it for a while until I realised that I sprayed about a teaspoon out of the packet into my hair, face and my hands.

The rest of the run was fantastic - the course changed throughout - from sand, dirt, path, road and more. The scenery was also fantastic. You had the ocean on your right and the noise of the waves splashing along the shore just made it memorable.

There were sections of the main path which was filled with soft sand, these sections I found to be the most difficult as your energy would just be drained out trying to push off the soft surface. Every step you took, your feet would sink about 10-20cm.

The route took you past the finish line then onto the beach. Before I reached this point, I decided to run with a head torch as someone ran past me with one and I noticed the difference when the light shone on the path. The run along the beach was around 2-3km. It was actually very surreal seeing a path of light along the beach. Then the run became interesting as we literally had to "climb" onto the sand dunes to get to the path. The climb was the worse - all hands and knees onto the sand dune which resulted in sand getting everywhere!

The rest of the run was in the direction of the finish line. I knew we had about 2km to go and wanted to finish strong. I ended up running past a few people at this point which was a great feeling as I had something left in the tank. The last 500m was at a great pace and I brought everything out and finished the event with nothing left in me.

My final results for this event:

Official Time: 2:35:35
Overall: 210/250
Gender: 88/115
Category (Female 21-35): 33/42

Pretty happy with the results considering I had finished a half iron-distance triathlon 2 weeks prior, had zero run training in between and this being my first trail run event. I will definitely sign up to this event again.

My toes cramped up once through the event but I increased my intake of my hydration (Shotz solution) and that seemed to help. I chaffed around my chest with my sports bra and there are several scabs now. I don't have any blisters as I wore my 1000mile socks along with my bright orange Ten Speed Hero socks.

Things to note before the next event:
- Might look into a backpack hydration system - I will see how my arms swing along the side.
- Will buy some Tailwind to use in training and in racing
- Training (trail) in my minimalist shoes as they are light and I have to throw my Mizuno shoes away soon as they are 18months old.

Recovery Week

So it has been more than a week since my Challenge Shepparton event (1.9/90/21.1) and I think my body has finally recovered and I am about to start another build into another half-iron-distance event.

My next (triathlon) event is Challenge Melbourne (1.9/90/21.1) and it's on the 1st February 2014. I have also put my name down for the corporate triathlon on the 1st March. So far, what have I been up to?

Monday 17th - Massage
Tuesday 18th - Nothing
Wednesday 19th - Nothing
Thursday 20th - Lady bombs (Recovery) and open water swim
Friday 21st - Nothing
Saturday 22nd - 1km open water swim for corporate games. I think my time was around 24min. This is slow!
Sunday 23rd - Nothing

I have a 21-22km trail run event on Saturday evening. I am planning on doing a 50-70km ride (may not be on the TT bike) to turn the legs as I don't want to smash myself before a half marathon. On Sunday, I will see what I feel like doing...I won't get back to Melbourne in time for the Sunday ride with the crew. Might do an open water swim or something....who knows. I might even just go exploring on my CX bike...

Anyways, this week's training has not gone off with a good start. My swim session today was cancelled due to the possibility of thunderstorms (pool was closed) then I couldn't do the afternoon session as I have an appointment.

My Tuesday's training will be determined by the weather. If the weather forecast is great, I will be riding into work, early due to a 8am meeting and this will also cover off a bike session in the pm. Wednesday will be "back to pool" day with a gym session thrown in as I need to work on my strength. Thursday will be a bike session in the morning and then open water swim and run. Friday may be an endurance swim or a gym session.

As far as nutrition is concerned. Our fruit and veg orders are back so we are consuming plenty of fresh fruit and veg everyday. I am finding myself only consuming gels/supplements during my Saturday and Sunday training days. All other days are done without gels for which I am okay with. My nutrition during Challenge Shepparton was pretty much spot on so there isn't really anything I would change about it.

I am looking forward to Challenge Melbourne. I really had fun last year albeit it was a shortened race and it was a bloody warm day.

Challenge Shepparton - The "Event" Report

So my first long course event for this season was done and dusted on Sunday 16th November. Challenge Shepparton (half iron-distance) on a new course in Shepparton, VIC.

I signed up for this event early this year and used it as an incentive to get back into training from my leave. I had about 6 weeks to train for this event after an 8 week long service leave holiday and 3 more weeks of non-training due to a bike crash.

We did a short ride, run and swim on Saturday and checked in our bikes around lunch. I made my way back to the cabin to rest my legs and had a good nap. I tend to nap the day before. I find that as I don't have enough sleep the night before a race, I figured I can be "rested" if I nap the day before. It also kills the nerves too which is a bonus.

I am sure the 1300+ competitors were awake during the storms the night before the event. I was woken up at about 1am in the morning due to the loud noises the torrential rain made around the cabin. I was so grateful that we were in a cabin compared to poor souls who pitched tents in the caravan park.

I had my alarm set at 3:40 and again at 4am. First things first, put on my tri-suit, timing band on my ankles, had breakfast of a peanut butter banana sandwich (literally, cut banana in half, apply peanut butter, close banana), applied numbering tattoos on arms, legs and packed up my hydration into my bags. I left the caravan park at 4:45 and got to the lake around 4:50am. I stood around with about a dozen or so other competitors for a few minutes before they opened up transition at 5am.

I haven't set up a transition since February of this year. It felt weird having all your things lined up and ready to go instead of stuffing them into transition bags. Due to the rain, I folded my towels in a way that it covered my gear from being (too) wet. I decided to wear socks for the run as I wanted to be as comfortable as I could and I haven't been training sans socks for over 12 months. It took me about 20min to get ready and walked through the expo. Luckily one of the pop-up tri shops was opened so I purchased some arm warmers and went back into transition and had them ready.

I walked back to the TA Taj and saw that plenty of tri clubs had their tents blown over. One even had their tent into the lake. I wet-suited up around 6:15am and waited around for the start. The elites were supposed to go off at 6:30 but was delayed by 10min as they needed to clear the roads. Waiting around for the start was worse due to the freezing conditions and the non-stop rain. Once we were in the water, it was a relief as the lake was actually warm.

The siren blew and off we went. I must have not pressed the right button on my Garmin. No swim recorded and I stuffed up my multisport-button-pressing-thing. The swim felt long and I had a few issues with direction. Turning around the buoys almost at 360 angle made it hard for me to get my bearings right. The last part of the swim where you headed towards swim exit I got a bit lost.

Swim - 41:08 (36/40).

Once I got out of my wettie and put on my usual cycling gear - helmet, shoes, I had to put on my arm warmers too. So grateful for being able to purchase those early that morning! My wheels were rubbing against my brakes which annoyed me so I had to stop and adjust them before I mounted the bike.

The bike leg was an out and back with a little detour through a small town. The direction of the bike route meant that you would hit a head wind going south but will be riding with the tail wind back into Shepp. The roads were very very bumpy. Plenty of nutrition and accessories were found along the way. Plenty of canisters on the roads from the bumps and plenty of drink cages and hydration systems were also strewn on the road. It was hard to pick a line to best place yourself as you don't want to "hog the road". My wrist, arms and back ached from the bumps and still do now 3 days after the event.

Riding into the headwind is not my favourite thing to do. I need to work on my strength more and be able to ride in the large chain ring without compromising my legs. It's a balancing act between spinning out at a high cadence, small chain ring and not going very fast versus riding in the large chain ring, slower cadence but going at a higher speed. Something I will need to work on over the next few weeks. Riding into the head wind was very demoralising. Hundreds of people rode past me. I was only able to ride past about 10. Another thing I need to work on is the sharp U turns - I had to unclip out of the pedal. Lacking bike skills big time.

Riding with the tail wind was amazing. On the second lap back into Shepp, I was riding on the hardest gear for about 20km all the way. It felt great and I was powering past people who seemed to have lost concentration/motivation/energy. I made myself concentrate on my strokes and played a little game of "left leg, right leg".

Bike - 3:25:30 (37/40)

I really enjoyed the run. Maybe because I drank coke on the course and that really changed my perception on a huge level. I actually had to stop off at the toilets on the first lap as I thought I had shat my pants. I didn't want to be that person. Luckily, what I was "feeling" was just paw-paw ointment I applied early in the morning to prevent chaffing and not poo! I timed myself to consume gel at a point on the course and that worked out well. I walked through all the aid stations and had coke and water. I had two salt tablets on course too. My feet cramped twice on the run, once around the 2km mark and once again around the 19km mark.

I walked probably around 50m in total and only through aid stations and up some of the inclines of the course (albeit very very small inclines). I felt good on the run. I would put this towards the amount of caffeine consumed.

Run - 2:14:08 (36/40)

Overall, my position was 35/40 for Females 30-34 with a total time of 6:26:51. This was my last race in this age category as I will be in 35-39 for Challenge Melbourne.

Considering the lack of training I did before this event, I am actually very happy about my results. I am happy that I have come out of it relatively injury free apart from being sore - quads, back and wrists. My nutrition was bang-on, maybe need to increase the hydration part as I only consumed about 600ml of my hydration over 90km. I am not a huge sweater and I still went to the bathroom on course.

Things to note/improve/fix:

• Secure my gel flask on my top tube better. I had it strapped over an old head band with zip ties but due to the shape of the top tube and the rain, the flask rotated around the top tube during the ride. I also chaffed along my thigh from my legs rubbing against the head-band material. I need to visit Clark Rubber to buy some neoprene.
• Work on my intensity! I found myself getting into a "relaxed" mode during the swim and need to get faster. Need to do more strength work on the bike and interval running to get some speed up. 
• Continue with Lady Bombs ride on Thursday morning - my favourite session.
• Book in more massages. I had my pre race massage on Friday and again on the Monday. I haven't had a massage since May as I feel like a bit of a hack for not doing much training. Massages help with muscle recovery and prevents injuries.

My goal is to ultimately finish a half-iron-distance race under 6 hours - this can only be done if I can increase my average speed on the bike to ride 90km under 3 hours and run 21.1km under 2 hours. As long as I keep the swim < 40min and transition < 10min in total, I should get there one day.

For now, it's a few days rest. I have a trail run on the 29th Nov and the next event is on the 1st Feb (Challenge Melbourne).

1 more sleep!

I won't lie, the nerves are starting to set in with the "event" this weekend. I can't believe that on Sunday, I will be doing a 1.9km swim, 90km ride and a half marathon....

What I find funny is that I have done probably more training within the last few days than I have since I returned from holidays! My swims are coming along fine. I know that I can get through the 1.9km swim. The ride will be something which I just have to "mentally"get through - try not to get bored and lose momentum and motivation. The run will be the most challenging. Running is in no way looking like where it should be leading up to a half marathon. My longest run since Ironman Melbourne is a 15km. I have no idea how I am going to handle my nutrition and hydration on the day. I have been training with a hydration belt and because this is just an "event" for me, I don't know if I should be wearing it on the day or just rely on the course availability.

I arrived in Shepparton on Friday afternoon. I actually left the house around 3pm which is late for the usual. I guess as we don't have a familiarisation swim anymore on the Friday, I decided to take my time. I started to pack for the weekend after my morning massage. I haven't done a triathlon in a while so I stumbled around the house trying to figure out what I actually need on the day.

Once I got all my sh#t together, I drove up to Shepparon and got to my caravan park cabin around 6pm. Challenge Shepparton had their registration opened from 4-7pm but I was too tired once I got all organised.

This morning, we did a small ride, a small run followed by a small swim. The event is very different from the Shepparton races of previous years. The race is no longer around Kialla. It is around Victoria Lake Park. The swim is in Victoria Lake, the water is nice and warm, much clearer than Kialla and doesn't taste as "muddy". The ride is around the back past the town of Toolamba. Depending on the direction of the wind, it may be a long day in the office. The ride this morning was not easy for me. I couldn't keep up with the main group - they were riding 30-35km/hr into the head wind and I didn't want to push myself too much before an event. The ride back into Shepparton was much better. No head wind and we were able to do a few TT efforts.

Did a lap of the lake after the ride. It was a nice run and I am hoping that I will be able to pace myself well to get through 21km.

I am not doing this event for a "time" but I am hoping to stick with my plan of getting through this day so I can recover well enough for my training for the trail run on the 29th and training leading up to Challenge Melbourne.

See you on the other side.

I am in love....

.....with open water swimming.

I have never hesitated with swimming, other than waking up early to join a squad swim (50km drive from my house). I love how my body glides through the water. I love that my joints don't hurt like they do when I run or ride. I love how I am always hungry after a good swim set.

Before I arrived to Australia in the early 90s, I feared the water. This may have been attributed to the fact that I nearly drowned at the age of 7. The image of "seeing the light" and choking on water is still vivid in my mind.

I finally learnt how to "not drown" at the age of 12 during school PE classes but I never really "understood" how to swim until the age of 29 when I joined a squad. It's not just about waving your arms through the water and kicking as fast and hard as you can, it is all about creating as much "resistance" so you push your way through.

I am comfortable about doing my own swim sets. This may be because I have started to enjoy training on my own without the pressure of a "group". Sometimes the competitiveness of others really ruins my day, how they have to be in front, always the fastest, strongest and best when at the end of the day, triathlon is an individual sport, your only competitor is yourself. Don't get me wrong, I love coming to sessions when I can, the squad is almost a second family but sometimes, I just don't want to use my energy on anything/anyone else but myself.

Now that the weather is getting warmer (bearable to be swimming in the ocean), I have been getting out and swimming at Mentone beach a few times a week. I love this beach so much better than Elwood.
- It is so much cleaner - you can see the sandbed below and sometimes when the sun is out, you can also see your shadow
- Pole to pole distance is approx 500m
- There are hot showers available to the public
- Its about 1km from my house

The last few times I have gone swimming at Mentone, I have encountered some jellies. Very unpleasant indeed and I am trying to overcome the anxiety of seeing them in their habitat.




Mentone Beach - Tuesday 5th Nov 2014



 



In recent times, I have been using my swims as a means of tuning out and de-stressing. Unlike running or riding where you actually have to pay attention to where you are going unless you want to fall flat on your face, swimming, even if it is laps of the pool allows me to just do something with little thought.

 

I know that my pace is not quite there for a "race" but it doesn't bother me. It's about doing what makes me happy.