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Fitzroy Falls

After a few easier weeks since returning from Europe I decided to enter the Fitzroy Falls Fire Trail Marathon, it's a race I won last year so I wanted to defend my title and also use it as a starting point for my build-up for Kepler. My family decided to come down for the weekend and also a few friends so we set up camp in the beautiful Kangaroo Valley, nice place but very noisy rooster so there was no problem waking up early for the race on Saturday. The conditions were amazingly similar to last year, light drizzly rain and pretty misty along the course although the water levels were nothing like last year and there were no major puddles out there.


The start was the usual relaxed affair and although I entered too late to receive a seeded entry it was pretty simple to just wander to the front which was nice. Barry Keem (race record holder) was in the race and from the start we went out to a lead. We were on our own pretty early and cruised through 5k running together and having a chat. The drizzle kept coming and it was pretty cool so it was good for running and the road surface was pretty solid. I drifted off the front at about 5k and just kept up a solid pace and I felt pretty good. My lead grew to probably about 30 secs and I wasn't sure if he was dropping off or taking it easy so just kept going on my own. It turned out that he was never that far behind and I could see at the turnaround points that he was running pretty well. I tried to up the pace a bit just after the 30k mark but didn't really have an extra gear. Barry caught me at 38k and I stayed with him until about 39k but then he took off and opened a big gap, I was still running OK but had no extra gear to go with him. Just settled in and ran strongly to finish in 2:48:59, about 40 secs behind and about a minute slower than last year.

Pretty happy with the result, ran a good time and it was good to have a race that is run a different way. I tend to start conservatively so usual have runners to chase but this time I had to think about leading the race and having a quality runner behind me and seeing if there was anything I could do about holding him off, turns out there wasn't.

Main plan now is around Kepler in early December, basically build towards that and probably do a few smaller races on the way.

Jungfrau marathon

Back home now and have had time to reflect on the Jungfrau marathon. I can confirm it's very scenic and very tough. I was in Interlaken for a week before the race and did some easy runs along the lake and through town and also spent time going to some touristy areas including the Schiltorn at 3000+ metres. It was hard to resist the temptation to walk up lots of mountains, I also thought about doing a tandem paraglide but thought I'd probably just hurt myself.

I met up with the other Aussies on the Friday and checked-in to the athletes hotel, I ended up having a room to myself because Gerard Robb was injured and didn't turn up. I was between the Russian and Polish teams, just across from Ukraine - not sure why. On Saturday I went to Lauterbrunnen to watch the Aussie women then went back home to take it easy.

No expense spared in the race hotel

Race day was sunny and pretty warm and I did a quick warm-up. Gerard Robb appeared and we had a quick chat before the race. The race is limited to 4000 people but because it was the 20th anniversary they had a Saturday and Sunday race with 4000 each with the elite woman and vet males on the Saturday and the rest on Sunday. Great atmosphere at the start but still pretty relaxed, I got away well and just sat in a big group while the leaders set a cracking pace. I think 5k was abut 17:30 then I dropped off the group and cruised through 10k in about 36:30 feeling pretty comfortable on the dead flat start to the race.

Permanent marker along the flat part of the route through Lauterbrunnen

I'd spoken to a few of the USA team the day before, good runners and a couple had run the race before and they said you had to be feeling pretty comfortable at half-way so that was the plan. The rolling hills picked up after 10k between Wilderswil and Lauterbrunnen, the course followed the river up the valley and we had a great view of the big mountains in the distance. Huge crowd at Lauterbrunnen was great, lots of noise and cheering, just like a big city marathon. Went through half-way in about 83mins so I'd slowed down more than I was planning but now I was just trying to keep it nice and steady and I could still see the guys up ahead including Galen Burrell from USA who came 5th here a few years ago so I knew I was in a decent position even though I was about 40th at this stage.

The main climb starts at about 25k and from there the course is basicall uphill to the finish with varying degrees of steepness. 25k is where the km markers disappear and are replaced by 250m markers, 25.0km then 25.25km, 25.50km...it's pretty scary especially when it's a few minutes between each one. It's about 3k of REALLY steep running, this is where I struggled and never fully recovered. I also had a steady stream of people pass me from here on, just ones and twos but there is such depth in the race you're never really on your own. I walked and ran while everyone else seemed to be running.

Another huge crowd was waiting at Wengen at about 30k, it's here I realised it was only about 12k to go but I still had a long time left. The sun was up now and it was pretty hot, I'd read somewhere some marathon tips by Frank Shorter, he said never to use sunscreen in a race because it affects the ability of the body to regulate temperature. Probably shouldn't have listened to Frank today though, I could already feel the sunburn starting. That was the least of my worries though, the course is a lot better after Wengen, lots of flatter sections amongst the steep hills but no real let-up. I was drinking a lot now and from here on it was just a mental battle. I was reminded of my first 6 foot track race, similar feeling of just running on empty, I also thought how easy 6 foot seemed compared to Jungfrau. The aid stations were pretty good but I couldn't really understand what they were saying, water and energy drink were available, sometimes Coke and sometimes Bouillon, weird, not great downing some soup when you think it's water.

The view of the mountains was amazing at this stage, the whole wall of Junfrau, Monch and the Eiger was climbing directly ahead. The scenery gets better as the real killer of the race comes in the last few km, a stupidly steep rocky path heads up and up. I was talking to an American after the race who finished a few minutes in front of me and he said it took him 35min to run the last 3k, it was crazy. I was barely moving here and starting to feel a bit sick, really just trying to keep moving. There were still some guys going past but everyone was dying. I saw some footage after the race of the leaders and even they were looking pretty bad at the end. I accepted some coke off a random spectator (wouldn't normally advise this) and plodded to the highest point of the course then amazingly started running really fast on the final 1k downhill to the finish. I even sprinted past the 5th American on the line before collapsing. I was handed an energy drink and a beer straight away, tried hard but couldn't even finish the beer, that's how bad I felt.

Nice downhill finish

That was it, 62nd on the day I think, amazing race, great atmosphere, scenery, organisation, support but extremely tough. I think the flattish first half makes it hard to pace as well. One of the Welsh guys was just behind me at 25k and ended up about 12th so it shows if you can push the second half there is much time to be made up.

I had a swim in the hotel pool afterwards and had some beers with the Aussies and the US and British guys at night which was great. DJ Otzi was playing in the main tent at the after party but I wasn't in the mood for dodgy Eurotrash pop music so just had the beers then off to bed.

Towards the end of the final climb, much steeper than it looks

There are some good runners in the field, quite a few sub 2:20 marathoners up front, met several other guys who are around 2:20 for the marathon so plenty of speed going around. How could I do better in this race? Could probably start off even slower, I felt comfortable enough in the first half but even a few minutes slower might make a big difference towards the end, the women's winner on Saturday was about 87 min at half-way then finished in 3:22. Find a 15km steep hill to train on, the first steep hill is tough and there is just no chance to recover afterwards. Interestingly I had no muscle soreness at all in the days after the race, I guess it's because there is virtually no downhill running at all so the legs don't get smashed so much, I did a couple of easy runs in Hyde Park in London during the week and felt great.

Off we go

I'm writing this while looking out of my hotel room at where the snow-capped peak of Jungfrau is but is currently hidden by clouds. Sydney, Seoul, Franfurt flights then the train brought me to Interlaken yesterday and I immediately went out for a 1 hr run along the riverside and lake. Amazing scenery, huge lake surrounded by mountains, I was last here about 10 years ago so it's been good walking around seeing what bits I remember.

This week is supposed to be an easy taper week, my last session in Sydney was the HuRTS 10 by 400m at Rushcutters which I pushed hard and it was probably the best I've done. Was stuffed afterwards so that's a good sign I pushed it. Link is here 400s.
Woke early today so went out for a run even though it was still pretty dark. I was going to run easy all week but decided to do a crazy hill run instead, I blame the hotel owner for thinking disparraging thoughts about Aussies running in the mountains. He may well be proven right after next Sunday but I had to make a point. The climb is about 3.5km long and rises about 800m so it was tough, took me about 35mins and I managed about 12km all up. It was a tough descent too so I'm sure I'll feel that tomorrow.

I caught the train out to Lauterbrunnen and walked up to Trummelbach falls, spectacular. The race goes this way up the valley before the main climbing starts so it was good to see some sections. The course and start area are being setup in town, just in front of Hooters, another part of the great scenery the course is known for.

Off for a massage soon, the sign strictly says "No erotic", does that mean they don't offer it or they aren't capable?

Quarry Rd TT

Quarry Rd, popular training route for anyone attempting a hilly trail race like six foot track. It's basically a fire-trail with steep downhill then steep uphill then flattish to the end then return, about 12.5km all up. This has become a regular testing track for me to see how I'm going, the start is less than 2km from my house so it's nice and easy to go for a hit-out once in a while.

With Jungfrau marathon 3 weeks away I figured it was time to try it again, my C2S race wasn't as good as I'd hoped so I was looking for a confidence boost. Quarry Rd is a tough run to get right, having run it so many times I know you have to go hard the whole way to get a fast time. That means going hard on the descents and also on the steep climbs while managing to keep the pace up on the flat section on the Dural side. The hardest thing is probably mental, every time I go for a fast time I know it's going to be a painful run so it's difficult to be in the mood to go hard.

I started fast down the hill and pushed hard to the bridge, on the climb i felt like I was slowing a bit so made sure I ran hard on the flat section to the other gate. Turned and started on the return leg but I felt like I'd lost too much time, tried to pick it up on the descent to the bridge but was struggling a bit on the last climb then pushed it to the end. I reached the gate in 50:43, scraping a few seconds off my previous best of 50:50 so really happy with that and a little bit surprised because I thought I'd lost too much time. Some of the time improvement can be attributed to the recent work they've down re-grading the surface, it's definitely a bit smoother and probably a bit faster, but to get even close to my best time means I'm going reasonably well.

Garmin connect

Start of the pain

 

Bridge at the bottom

City 2 Surf

Officially finished 41st in 47:15. Was really hoping to get about 46:30 or better so not entirely happy with the time, also got chicked by Lara Tamsett but it's fair to say that I'm getting used to that. Pretty windy conditions out there especially over the last 4 kms. Went through 10k in 34:00, 6 secs ahead of last year's time but finished 15 secs slower overall.

It was a good hit-out, not great conditions at Bondi so ran back to the city with Richard, and the Truscotts before continuing on to St Leonards for the train home. 28km all up for the day then had an afternoon nap...nice. It was interesting to see the last group still lined up on the starting line when we got back to Hyde Park, makes you realise just how many people do this race.

The Training Camp



Apparently Kenyans have training camps and they seem to go pretty well so I thought I would copy that approach. The chosen campsite was the cox's river campsite on the six foot track, the first challenge was to see if the Subaru could handle the drive in via Coxs river road, I was a bit concerned about the difficulty of the road but it was pretty straightforward. We arrived at the site and the only other guests were a bunch of middle-aged ute driving VB drinking campers who we were to find out had a passion for the musical talents of Jimmy Barnes. I was there to run some big long hills while my mates were going to head downstream to catch some trout in the freezing waters of the Coxs river.

  

Training camp



I was in two minds as to how I approached the run, I wanted to do 2 reps of pluvi but I knew that would be tough mentally, I was thinking of heading down Moorara Boss fire trail but wasn't sure about that and didn't want to carry extra water so in the end I did 1 lap of pluvi  then back to camp for some refreshments then back to the cattle yards and up the road we drove in on, here it is Pluviometer run

I was surprised to see the track had been graded (the day before apparently) from just after Alum Creek all the way to pluviometer, pretty good surface now and will definitely make for some faster times come six foot track race next year.

The clear waters of the river enticed me in for a post-run ice-bath, this was a big mistake. I walked into the river up to my knees and I was in pain after a few seconds, the water was freezing. My feet and legs began to ache so I scrambled out and put on lots of layers to warm up and prepare for the cold night ahead. That night around the campfire was freezing and even a few sausages and beers couldn't warm me up so I went to bed early just to keep warm and dozed off to the sounds of some early 80's Cold Chisel...could be worse.

In the morning we went downstream looking for trout, didn't find any so we packed up then I ran back to the explorer's tree while the guys drove the long way around to pick me up. I felt pretty good running up Nellie's Glen, I'm usually in a terrible state when I run this section Explorer's tree

Familiar sight



Should be trout in there somewhere



All up it was a good training weekend, I feel like these long hill runs are getting me ready for Jungfrau. My speed is improving too and I can see that with the recent HuRTS sessions, here are a few of them

4 by 2km

1 min on 30 sec off

Looking forward to the city 2 surf now, it should give a good idea of how I'm going then it will be a few more weeks until Switzerland.



Seeded entry, trying to hang onto one these



Into the mountains

On Sunday I travelled to current hot training location of Kedumba Pass to get some serious climbing in. The plan was to park near the hospital and run to Mt Solitary and back to soften up the legs a bit then do a full lap of Kedumba Pass and try to run all of the way back up. It was a cool clear morning and nice running weather although there was a strong breeze on the exposed sections which was pretty cold. I took it pretty easy on the way out and walked most of the Mt Solitary climb but it's still a tough run. After a brief rest to take in the view I started the return leg to the car, the steep descent tested the quads a bit more and then the long climb out of the valley had me working pretty hard but I can safely say the legs were nicely softened.

After some refreshments I started the big downhill back into the valley, again I took it at an easy pace and went as far as the sign for the slab hut before turning and starting the long climb. It was getting pretty warm in the sun out of the wind and I just tried to keep a steady pace and run the whole climb, it was mostly OK but I did walk a couple of short steep sections, especially near the overhang. Nice to get to the end for about 37km all up.

Looking across to Mt Solitary

View from Mt Solitary

My apologies to the young lady I passed on the way up Kedumba, she was walking and I was running (slowly) and I said hello as I went by but she had headphones on so hadn't heard me approaching. It's fair to say she completely freaked out and screamed pretty loudly, she actually freaked me out a bit with her scream.

On the wildlife front I saw a wallaby, two lyre birds and a wombat, much better than the snakes I usually see in summer.

Here is a link to the Garmin file of the run

Tuesday was supposed to be a 45min tempo with the HuRT squad but my legs were still pretty shattered so started off pretty easily and picked up a bit towards the end for about a 3:50min/km average.

Starting again

I had plans to start some big training after the city mile but a decent week was followed by a viral chest infection that kept me out for about a week then another easy week coming back from that. Last weekend I managed to do the Athletics NSW road relays for Striders, I ran the first leg of 35+ and the last leg of the open team. It's a good event, always nice to be running for a team rather than alone and the Striders team of Tuckey, Fattorini, High and Highnam won the gold which made it even better. The time wasn't great but not too bad and some more speed work and consistent training will help with that. Sunday saw me do my first long run since the North Face 100, 35kms along the M7 cycle path on a warm winter's afternoon and it was run at around  4:10min/km pace so that's a good sign.

All plans now are around the world long distance mountain running championships in Switzerland on 9th September, they are being held in conjunction with the Jungfrau marathon which is a race I've wanted to do since walking parts of the course with my wife many years ago. Race details can be found here http://www.jungfrau-marathon.ch/en/ but it's basically an uphill marathon with most of the climbing coming in the last 15k. Looks pretty tough and there should be some crazy fast times by the top runners.

My in-laws arrived from Wales a few days ago so they can help with the kids while I'll be aiming to get some consistent big weeks of training in and I'll also head to the blue mountains a few times to bash away at some big climbs. Speed is also something I'll be looking at and I started today with a bit of a test at the ANSW short course cross country championships. 3 loops of the course for 7.5km and I came 21st overall in 26:07 and 3rd place in the 35+ category (can't believe I'm officially racing in the old-boys category now). Happy with that although I ran 24:51 in 2009 on the same course so not quite where I want to be. Another team gold medal for Striders 35+ though with Fats, Tongey and Macca so Captain Tom will be happy. 4 weeks now to C2S which will be another test.

Gwlad

Friday saw the second running of the city mile along a flat Barangaroo out-and-back course. Last year the course was definitely short and this had been addressed with a little loopy bit at the turnaround and was also reflected in the slower times. I was a bit scared about my speed going into this one and although I was trying to beat the boys the main goal was to defend the team title we won last year for the HuRTS trophy cabinet.

The start was fast but not crazy and I was feeling pretty good early up near the leaders but by half way a couple of younger guys took off and I started to fall of the back of Tom. Tom went on to narrowly miss 3rd place and finish 4th, Bartlett ran hard early and hung on for 5th, I staggered home in 6th just ahead of Aussie mile record holder Lisa Corrigan and 4th HuRTS man Binfield. My time was 4:43, pretty average but we won the team event and celebrated with too many beers. It's amazing how painful a short event like that is, I even had "lactic forearms" at the end which is weird, not sure what that's about but I guess the pain has to go somewhere.

Saturday saw trip to Melbourne to watch the Aus v Wales rugby match and Meinir sing the Welsh national anthem. Big moment for her, bit of a dream job really so she was a bit nervous. A group of us went down to watch, great singing, great game.

Full game here, singing starts at 8:00

Meinir in action

Had a short run when I got home from Melbourne but  need to really start getting back into serious training again.

100 km to 1 mile

Has anyone seen my fast twitch muscle fibres? I'm sure I used to have some but I seem to have misplaced them while training for the 100k race. I did nothing much running wise the week after tnf then did a few easy runs the following week and have just started to get back into it this week. Completed a couple of sessions with the squad, 45min tempo on Tues where I managed about 12.3k at 3:37 pace without destroying myself and yesterday was the 10 by 400m off a rolling 2min. Eased into them running behind  Bartlett with Timmy also going pretty well. Times were 74, 72, 72, 72, 71, 71, 71, 69, 69, 69 so happy enough with my first fast sessions for a while. I guess there are a few fast twitch fibres left which have been surviving off a few sprints to the train station over recent months.

Next race up is the City Mile (probably closer to 1500m in reality) on the 15th where the HuRTS team will try and defend our title, probably not in great mile shape to be honest but should be fun, I'll just try and beat Tom, that's all that matters really.

the North Face 100

My first 100k race is over and it went amazingly well. I thought I'd start this blog so I can record my thoughts on the race and make some notes for next time about what worked and what didn't.

Lead-up
Earlier in the year I was thinking about aiming high for this race and even dreaming of a 10 hour finish which I thought was possible if everything went well. By the middle of Feb I was down with a mystery virus which was to affect me for about 6 weeks, I managed to get out running a lot but couldn't handle any long runs of faster sessions. Still managed a lot of shorter runs during this period but my confidence for the north face was down a bit and I was starting to think about just getting through the race rather than have any time plans.

The come-back started with a 50k out-and-back run on 6 foot track at Easter, I struggled over the last 10k but was glad to get through it. A few more long runs including a 40k run on the course (on the day Mt Solitary was cancelled) with a group including Rob Costello started to get a bit of confidence back although I remember finishing the run thinking I would never be able to run another 60k after that. This training run would prove to be even more important come race day. We then had a week in Fiji 2 weeks before the race, I managed to squeeze in some short beach runs while there and also avoided destroying myself on the buffet and beer which was my biggest fear.

Planning
Originally I wasn't sure about having a crew and had almost decided on using drop bags when my mate Phil said he was available to help. We had a chat about what to do and that's when I realised I had no idea what the plan was. Decided on a pretty simple strategy in the end, staminade (cheap and easily bought at the supermarket), gels by the flask and a few energy bars would be the nutrition plan. Also decided to have a lot of coke on stand-by, I don't drink it a lot but whenever I see it on a table in a race I go straight for it. The race plan was just to try and find a sustainable pace and stick to it, then work things out as I went along. I honestly thought 10 hours was a bit out of reach and 10.5 hours would be a great time but was prepared for 11-12 hours if it came to that.

The race

Great excitement at the pre-race gear check and bumped into a lot of people I know then back the next morning for the race start. It was a lovely cool morning in Leura, I was handed my GPS unit for the athlete tracking and basically the race started after that. Settled into a good pace and let the early leaders go. I was surprised by the running to CP1, lots more stairs and technical stuff than I was expecting which was draining the legs. Ran along narrowneck chatting with Grant Guise, Mick and Brendan ahead and a few others not too far away. After the ladder I ran with Grant and Matt Cooper for a while, there were no markers on the turning for CP2 but luckily I remembered the route from the training run - others weren't so lucky. We kept looking closely at the ground for foot prints to make sure it was the right way until we came out at Dunphy's for CP2. I took ages here, had no idea what I was trying to do, tried to eat some watermelon then got some endura and a gel and took off in chase of the others who were way ahead by now.

Ironpot ridge was a struggle, really steep climb and descent but at least I saw the leaders coming back the other way (other than Ryan). Managed to get clear of Grant and Matt and was on my own running though the paddocks and farms back towards Megalong Rd. Caught up to Andrew Lee on the road section and we had a good chat about how the race was going. Felt good that I was running with a top runner who knew the course so well, we were comparing our time with his sub-10 hour splits from 2010 and figured we were about the same pace. I still didn't think I could keep the pace up, just felt like my legs were too drained, felt slow even on the flat sections of Megalong and we weren't even half-way yet.

Got a slight lead on Andrew and came into CP3 alone. Great feeling here, first site of the crews and all were supportive and it was like a little festival. The gels were fine but the hammer bars seemed to be affecting my stomach so I spent a few minutes in the toilet while Phil went to work swapping drinks and gels. Drank a heap of coke before leaving, then back on the trail to Nellie's, surprisingly still holding onto 6th place.

After the caffeine and sugar rush of the coke had worn off (it's great for about 500m) I was slogging my way along the road towards the dreaded steps, I knew I was a few minutes behind Mick, Brendan and Vajin so was running completely on my own. At this stage I was even walking some of the lesser hills so tried to just remember to eat the the gels and drink enough. I was a bit dehydrated coming into CP3 so I went through the drink I had pretty quickly on this section. The climb up Nellie's was tough but I just kept going with burning quads, didn't even think of trying to run any of it. Came out into the sunshine and started running again, was shuffling a bit so kept reminding myself to try and run a bit faster when the track allowed. This seemed to help, I think it's important to avoid getting used to the slow shuffle. Before long I was on the roads of Katoomba and into CP4 running pretty well. Bit slow swapping the bladder over in the pack but this is where I realised it's useful having a crew, I kind of spaced out a bit here while Phil sorted things out with the pack. I picked up an extra water bottle because of the long stage to come then set off in chase of Mick who had only just left and was clearly struggling a bit.

Passed Mick with a thumbs-up at about 70k then ran through the Katoomba back-streets and towards the tourist hub of Echo Point. After so long on my own it was a shock running through the crowds near the three sisters. I had to weave my way through people and at the stairs I was stopped dead, the whole staircase to the three sisters was blocked by tourists going down and coming up. I asked them to move politely then lifted my bag over my head and pushed my way through the middle until I could move again and eventually reached the trail in the valley. This next section was probably the best of the race for me, I felt fast along the single-track through the trees and then onto the big downhill on the dirt road. My garmin battery died at about 75k but I knew I was still under 10 hour pace and I started to think it might be possible to catch Brendan and Vajin. This was the point when I was pretty confident of getting through the race in decent shape, I realised that even though I was having slow patches and doing some walking my overall speed was pretty good and I guess that feeling is part of the experience. I also knew Kedumba pass was coming and this could have a big impact on my time. What I didn't expect was the tough section before Kedumba, it seemed to be a few k's of tough climbing and I was walking a lot with a few short runs thrown in. Even worse was the kids songs that started going through my head at the time, it seems when things get tough terrible High-5 songs appear to make things worse. I eventually reached the Kedumba climb and started the walk/run. I actually ran a lot more of this than I expected and it was over pretty quickly.

Had a good run into CP5 for the final push. I dumped the watch and unworn sunglasses and uneaten bars and stocked up on coke. I was about 1:40 behind Brendan going into the CP and went off in pursuit pretty quickly, again the coke rush lasting a short time before I came back to reality. Was pushing the pace along the road but I thought I'd have to settle for 4th when the track became more technical, it's not my strongest point and the legs were heavy. I was back to my just keep going phase, looking forward to getting to the end. Out of nowhere I saw Brendan at about 95k mark, didn't know he was that close. He seemed to be moving well but I managed to get past him and after a few words I pushed on towards the finish.

A seemingly endless trail of twists and turns and steps eventually led to the golf course then up the grass slope to the finish. Great atmosphere at the end, high-five by support man Phil who was great all day and across the line. I didn't even see the finish time, was talking to some people for a while before I noticed the finish clock just tick over 10 hours so just managed the sub 10.

Conclusion
Great weekend, we went back on Sunday for the presentation and saw the last finishers at about 11am. Met some more great people and sitting here now am keen to try it again, I may not have said that if asked during the race. Great runs also by HuRTS members Rob and Jonathan and thanks for their advice pre-race.

- Shoes were great, Roclite 285's (thanks Barefoot Inc.)
- Very glad I had the 1 man support crew, drop bags would be OK but to have someone to have a quick chat to and handle the re-fuelling when your brain is not working properly is great. it was also good to know I had a change of shoes and socks available although I didn't use them.
- Definitely ditch the bladder in the pack, just takes too long to change over. Stick with 2 bottles on the front next time for speedier check points.
- I seemed to have lots of short slumps rather than the expected big slump. Most of these were cured with drinking and having a gel and by the end of the race I was taking more gels more often which helped.
- I ended up using just gels most of the way and it seemed to work well with the staminade.
- Coke, instant performance boost.
- Stay at the Fairmont, nice place and would've been good to hang around after the race a bit longer.