Race Report: Aths Vic Trail State Champs

Wow, my last race report for the year, how the year has flown! Crazy to think I’ve raced 15 times throughout the past year, and I’m so glad this is the last one.

As I mentioned in my previous post (the need for speed), my preparation for this one probably wasn’t the best, and I had a few lingering doubts. I wasn’t running in my arch supports for the first time since seeing the physio, would my foot start hurting? What about my gut? Every time I’d raced in afternoon/evening I’d had some sort of problem, would it be fine for this race?

With these worries, along with the fact I didn’t know what the course was like; I went to the start line with a conservative race plan, don’t start out too fast and try to maintain a heart rate that wasn’t through the roof, and if I was still feeling good at the 10km point, push the last 2km’s hard.

Lining up at the start line with me were two top-notch trail runners that I’d come across at 4 Peaks, Ash Bennett and Mat Dore. So another thought briefly flickered across my mind, maybe try and keep up with them? As there were so few people actually running in this race (about 60) and I wanted to do well, I seeded myself at the front, which was a mistake as I forgot one important thing. This was an Athletics Victoria race, and I should’ve known from racing in previous AV x-country races that the starts are FAST! I got caught up in the excitement and ran my first km in 3.36, 25 seconds faster than planned. The second km was more what I was hoping for at 3.57 but the damage was done, my heart rate and breathing rate were sky high, and I struggled with the gradual climb over the next 4km’s. Such a high breathing rate also made my throat really dry, and I had to stop to grab a drink at the 5.1km point, which I’m mad about as it made me have a 5.05min km for my 6^th km, which is just too slow for a race of this distance.

After 6km was the biggest downhill of the race where it lasted almost the full km, wasn’t steep and should’ve been a blast to run down, but my legs felt heavy and I only managed a 3.57 km, which is well below my standards. From 7km to 11km was a mixture of gravel and leafy understory, and was flat and was my hardest section of the race. I was pushing myself to go faster, but my heart rate still hadn’t recovered from the beginning of the race and my legs still felt flat, and I felt like I was bleeding time. I hadn’t actually seen another person in front of me or behind me from the 6km point, but from the 10km marker I was constantly looking behind me, expecting to see another runner come flying past me, but luckily that didn’t happen. However, something strange happened with about a km to go. I felt great! My pace dropped, my heart didn’t feel like it was going to beat out of my chest and I had more bounce in my stride. Unfortunately the race was over at that point, and I found out from a passer-by as I burst out from the eucaluptus scented trees (from which we'd been running in for the past 3 km's) and out onto the dam wall that I was 10^th overall. This meant as I came across the finishing line 500m later in a time of 51.51 and 2^nd in my age group, the first time I’d finished on the podium at any state champs race!

I wasn’t feeling very tired at all as I came across the line, which sucked as I felt like crap only 10 minutes earlier. I’ve got to remember that I’m not Zach Miller and I cannot do well when I start fast, I’ve proven this to myself time and time again throughout the year but I still do it. I only wonder if my time could’ve been better if I didn’t start out so fast and maintained a faster average throughout the race, instead of slowing down considerably in the last 2/3 of it. Oh well.

Thanks to Aths Vic in conjunction with Trail Love for putting on a great race, my parents for taking me down and lets just say I’m glad I’ve done my last race of the year!

The TRN

The Need For Speed

Hill Reps

 This week’s thought is about speed. It has recently entered my mind due to the fact the second biggest race; for me, of the year is next weekend. The State Trail Champs. Which as far as I’m aware, is flat, lending itself to a speedy course. It’s also short, at only 12km’s in length. This means everyone will be pushing themselves from the word go as it’ll be over in the blink of an eye.

Unfortunately the turn-over from 4 Peaks until next weekend is too short for me to lose my mountain legs and gain speed, so the thing I’ve been trying to do over the past two or so weeks is to remind myself I can run fast.

Before I got into mountain and trail running, I was a middle distance track runner and short(ish) distance road runner. I hit my peak back when I was 16.5 (the racing season is in the summer and I was born in the winter) and broke 2.15 for the 800m, 4.50 for the 1500m and 19 min for the 5000m. And I broke 40 mins for the 10km about 6 months later on the road. None of these times are that fast, mind you. Never got me to Nationals, but they are a heck of a lot faster then I’ve run all this year. And to try and get me back into the mindset of being speedy I went back to my old track coach; Denis, who helped me run those times all those years ago.

For the past two weeks, Denis (and pro Adidas runner Craig, his son) from the The Tan Track Club have had me doing interval sessions, hill repeats and hill climbs, back-to-back workout days and tempo runs to try and drill into me a 4min/km pace, which is what I’ll need to run if I want to have any chance of standing on that podium this weekend.

So far I’ve been able to hit all the times they’ve set for me but quite frankly, I’m unsure whether or not I’ll be able to do it. My preparation time for this race could’ve been better. I could’ve planned my race calendar out better; to focus on this race I shouldn’t have done the Great Alpine Road Half Marathon a couple weeks ago. And with my niggling foot injury I haven’t been able to run as much as I had wanted to (for more details on the injury check out my race report here), but I think I can chalk both of those down to bad luck and limited experience.

So as I’m reading this once I’ve finished my Exercise and Sport Science degree and hopefully many ultras later, I’m hoping I’ll be able to answer these questions. How long did I actually need to prepare for this race properly? And how important is speed for mountain trail running, the form of running I want to be good at?

Until then, lets hope my body remembers what it’s like to be quick and hopefully I’ll be able to end up on the podium for my last race of the year!

The TRN

Race Report: The Great Alpine Road Half Marathon

The Great Alpine Road, leading up to 'the Cross', I swear it's steeper in person

It’s interesting looking back on this race, as it’s a bit of an oddity. Here I am finding out about this race and a whole bunch of different distance trail races that were on the day before, and I decided to do a road race? That’s weird Daniel; you’re not called the ‘Road Running Novice’. There was a reason behind the madness though, getting a PB and finally breaking the 1.30 mark, taking me from an alright runner, to a pretty good runner, and potentially telling me I can run a sub 3-hr marathon next year. With the Great Alpine Road Half-Marathon being the inaugural race this year, details on elevation were slim but what I did know at the time of entering was this. Starts at the top of Mt Hotham, runs ‘down’ to Blowhard Hut in about 5km’s, turns around and heads back up to Mt Hotham, then runs ‘down’ to Dinner Plain. That to me sounded like the perfect event, running downhill more than uphill, this will give me the best chance possible to crack that magic barrier. Not quite…😕

3 Sale and District Runners left Sale on Saturday afternoon for this race; Mel (enthusiastic support crew), Brad and myself (both running the half). The trip up to Dinner Plain was stunning, especially the part between Bruthen and Dinner Plain. The highlight was a lookout over to Mt Kosciusko, with the visibility being amazing; we could see the snow on its peak, which was pretty cool. (haha get it?)

The iPhone camera isn't as good as the human eye unfortunately, still, it hints at view from the lookout

After we got up to Hotel High Plains and unpacked, we all went for a shakeout run around the Montane Loop, and this short 2km loop already showed how beautiful the trails were around Dinner Plain. This made me a bit jealous of Lucy Bartholomew who got to play on these trails for the entire week leading up to the weekend. One thing we all noticed at the end of the run though was how we were more out of breath then we should have been. The effects of being 1600m high were starting to show.

Shakeout complete, we set off in the car for a reccy of the course to find out what we were in for. One thing we noticed immediately is that the bit between Hotham and Dinner Plain was undulating, not straight up. Running down from Hotham was going to be harder then first expected. Once we reached the start line at the Mt Hotham main car park and started to head ‘down’ to Blowhard Hut we noticed one thing immediately, we weren’t going down, we were heading up. In fact we had to climb almost 100m over the next 2km before we finally reached the highest point of the climb, ‘the Cross’. From there though it was practically all downhill to Blowhard Hut, with one of those km’s losing about 150m. Fun to run down, not so fun to run back up again. That was when Brad and I realised the enormity of the task ahead of us, and when I knew that getting a PB was well and truly out of reach.

Snow!!

A magazine with a view

On the way back from Blowhard Hut we stopped multiple times to grab some happy snaps and to just enjoy ourselves. Seeing the high country in Spring was something to behold, and we couldn’t resist the opportunity to take some Insta-worthy photos. Once back at Dinner Plain the stomachs were grumbling, and we went to find some food. Our first choice was the local brewery, ‘Blizzard Brewing Company’, only to find it had just closed upon our arrival. Dammit! We were told that the local pubs stocked it, so off we went, stomachs still rumbling for food and good beer. We made a pit stop at the place where we were staying for the beer, where I had Blizzard’s IPA, which was good, but not dinner as they were booked out. This meant there was only one place left that was open for dinner, where I ended up having a schnitzel and another one of Blizzard’s beers, this time the Amber Ale. Stomach’s filled with good beer and food it was off to bed early in preparation for the day ahead.

My second favourite type of beer, and a good version of it too!

The IPA, my current favourite type of beer and the only thing wrong with this one is that I couldn't drink more of it 😂 

One of the dogs at the hotel, enjoying the sunshine while we were enjoying our beers!

Going to bed early did me no favours though; I had one of the worst sleeps in my entire life! The room was hot and stuffy, and with the breeze going in the wrong direction opening the window didn’t help. I also had a case of extreme pre-race nerves. It was bizarre. I knew I wasn’t going to get a PB and I told myself to just enjoy the experience, but my heart rate was through the roof. I had no idea what was going on, and I had to use every relaxing technique I knew to try and get my HR under control, which didn’t really work. All this added up to me waking up on race day morning feeling a lot more tired than I usually am before any race. I still don't know what quite happened that night.

Anyways, the alarm went off 2 hours before the race was meant to begin, and I went through my usual race routine, which meant that by the time we jumped on bus to head up to the start line I was good to go. Except good ol’ traffic management was late, which was handy as public liability meant we couldn't run on the road until some cones and signs were set up. Just brilliant. Our 7am race start became 7.30am, and this meant that by the time we set off some of the marathoners had passed us (they did an out and back course from Dinner Plain, and were allowed to start at their normal start time due to a car driving behind them with their hazards on).

Knowing what I was in for I started out fairly conservatively, but still built a bit of a lead on the rest of runners by the ‘the Cross’ 2k’s in, and really let go on the other side clocking a 3.30 minute k for my 3^rd km, which was so much fun to run down! 

It was on this downhill that I caught the 2^nd and 3^rd placed marathoners and by the time I reached Blowhard Hut, I was feeling great. Even on the way back to the main Mt Hotham car park I was in good spirits, an amazing view out onto the Razorback and Mt Feathertop on my left and the km’s were slowly ticking away. I didn’t even have to walk up the hill at all, which I was stoked with considering it reached a gradient of 25% in some areas (according to Strava). 

By the time I reached the halfway point I couldn’t see my nearest competitor behind me and I felt as if the time and distance went by in the blink of an eye, which I think was due wholly to the scenery I was running through. And with the hardest part behind me I thought I was in for a chance of breaking 1.40, but how things can turn around so quickly. But first a bit of backstory.

1 week before this race I went for my longest run ever (4.5 hours) and my right side of my right foot started to hurt 2 hours in. I took a break from running to try and let it heal, by the Friday before the race, no pain and I thought I would be good to go for this half-marathon. Back to the race…

At 12km’s I felt a blister starting to form on the left side of my left foot, but as it was early stages I was able to run through it fairly easily. At 14km my right side of my right foot started to hurt again, and by this point the blister had well and truly formed and was seriously starting to hurt. Not to mention the fact that the sun was beating straight down onto all of us runners, with no shade whatsoever, raising the road temp to what I reckon could’ve easily been close to 30 degrees. These 3 factors had their toll on me and made it very hard for me to continue. The only things that kept me going were the constant sips on the Trail Brew, a pristine flow of water at the 15km point which I was able to have a long drink from and dip my hat into, and just seeing another human being in the form of the aid station guy at 16km, who gave me some more icy cold water. By this point I hadn’t stopped to walk, only to grab water, which I was pretty proud of. But then another thing happened, my gut troubles returned. After having a flawless ‘4 Peaks’ race I had optimistically hoped it might be gone for good, obviously not because at 17km’s it struck again. The 4 factors of the sun, my blister, my hurting right foot and my gut forced me to a short walk 3 times in the next 3km’s, which meant I was constantly looking over my shoulder to try and see 2^nd place, and not enjoying the moment of being in the mountains. It sucked, but I somehow managed to convince myself to run the entire last km and stumbled across the line with Mel cheering me on in my first ever overall win! I don’t think I’d ever been so happy to see a finish line in my entire life! As soon as I could walk again I took myself straight over to first aid and got my blister covered in Band-Aids, and unfortunately wasn’t directly at the finish line to congratulate Brad on finishing, but at least I was able to see him cross the line and I hope he was able to hear me yelling my support from across the lawn.

Elevation and pace profile of the Half Marathon race

I ended up running 1.49.25 which I’m not all that happy with, but I am super happy with finishing what I think is Australia’s toughest road Half-Marathon. Everyone who ran this race (and those crazies that ran the full) should be super proud of their efforts on just completing it. However; huge kudos to those select few who ran a trail race on the Saturday and then backed it up with running a road race on the Sunday. That is something that I certainly look up to, and something I will hopefully be doing in the next few years.

Thanks to Running Wild and Dinner Plain Management for an awesome event, it will be something that I’ll definitely have to run in again in the near future.

The TRN

P.S Saw the physio and have figured what’s going on with my foot. The trail I did my 4.5 hour run on was slightly off centred, probably allowing water to more easily flow off it. Anyway, my right arch is slightly higher then my left arch and when running on this trail I was rolling in on my right foot more than usual to help me stay balanced, this collapses the right arch causing pain in the right side of my right foot. When running on it for short periods of time it causes no pain, but when running on it for longer the niggle becomes more exemplified. My body must’ve over compensated with my left foot during the race. Causing the blister that I never would’ve thought I would get, with shoes I have never had issues with before. The solution? Arch support for when I go for those longer runs. 

blister covered in band-aids, probably better then a photo of my blister itself hahah

Race Report: 4 Peaks (Bright Alpine Climb)

 

The view from the Mt Buffalo Chalet lookout

Mystic Hill (Day 1)

For my first ever Skyrunning race and racing with the big boys (and girls) I slept surprisingly well the night before.  I will admit I was ridiculously tired when I got to bed, as we got into Bright about 10.30pm.  But the nerves are usually huge before any race, let alone the hardest one in my life! Hell I got barely any sleep at all before pacing the Melbourne Half Marathon & that wasn’t even a race! That meant though that by the time morning came around I felt good to go. Waking up meant following my sports dietician to a tee.  Toast with honey straight away then an hour before the race, a banana.

Me being me, I got to the start line with a ton of time to spare, so went for a nice warmup run with Matt then mucked around trying to kill time before the race began.  It was a beautiful morning for it too, warm and sunny and with 15 mins to go, I went to go grab my hydration pack out of the car, only to find it wasn’t there! I left it back at where we were staying.  What followed was a mad rush to go back and get it before the race started.  And made it I did, though lets just say that my trip to & from the race start was a lot faster than legally allowed.

Looking at previous times from this race I figured the ‘elite’ guys were actually slow.  Average 5mins/km pace for 9ish kms. Easy right?  This meant I seeded myself towards the front and when the race started I was able to stay in the top 3 for about 200m where I got passed, and passed again.  The race course went straight up Mystic, no time to warm up per se and it was incredible just seeing the faster guys power up.  Their power hiking was so fast, and by the time I got to the top of Mystic my HR and RR was through the roof and I had probably slipped back to 20^th overall. Due to me racing I didn’t have time to stop and take a picture but it was absolutely stunning up there.  Bursting from the trees, into a clearing and seeing the entire valley layed out in front of me.  Wow, just wow! But what comes up must come down and the trip down Mystic on the other side was almost as hard as going up.  Loose rock and gravel and a 37% gradient (according to Strava), fun! I actually did quite well I think. I was able to make good time going down picking up a couple of positions and without seriously falling over.  I almost crashed into, whom I think was, Lucy Bartholomew though she returned me the favour by accidentally kicking a huge boulder that narrowly missed me (or it could have been the guy close behind me).  After that horrendous descent was a climb up Mystic Heights and that was the bit that almost broke me.  It wasn’t as steep as Mystic but it was longer and there were too many false summits.  It was a struggle mentally going up.  Am I there yet, am I there yet? On this climb was the 5km point, which took me 1 hr to reach.  Normally it only takes me about 20 mins, so I’m doing well.

Finally reached the top and it was straight into a downhill and this is an area where I’ll want to improve my running in the future.  The transition from uphill to downhill as I just couldn't find my rhythm.  I felt flat footed and slow.  And by the time I got to a ‘flat’ section, at 7km I was struggling to maintain a 5min/km pace.  The track was smooth and slightly downhill yet I was wrecked.  This was evident as I got passed by a person on this section, so I was glad to see the finish line 2km later.  The race was only 9.5km yet took me 1.23.13. This meant I crossed the line 7^th in my age group & 18^th overall.  Happy with that, but it tells me I’ve got some work to do if I want to be at the front of the pack in the future.

When we finished, though, something mad happened. I saw lots of people walk over to the nearby creek, fed by snow melt, and sit in it. A make-shift ice bath. I was pressured in to going into it and it was like ice, it was freezing. I was glad I did it though, it possibly helped my muscles be less sore for the next day (and it was something I did again on day 2 after climbing Feathertop).

 

Elevation and pace of my Mystic race

Wayyy up there is the top of Mystic

The top of Mystic, taken by SAD runner Matt Griffith

Mt Feathertop (Day 2)

After speaking to a couple of guys who have done this run before, all said it was runnable up to Federation Hut, which this year was the finishing point due to ice cornices at the summit.  Which gave me my goal today, run up most of it (why not all of it you ask? Well the people who told me it was runnable included Tom Brazier and Matt Murphy, their runnable isn’t my runnable, yet… ) so when I rocked up to the start line I was mentally prepared for what was in store, whereas yesterday I had no clue. My muscles weren’t as sore as I thought they would be which was awesome and put me in a good mood for the race ahead.  And even better, I recognised another runner lining up beside me who had raced me in the Rapid Ascent night race earlier in the year.  I was beating him up to the point of my stomach cramp where my race ended.  Which added another goal, beat him.

Like yesterday that weather down the bottom was pleasant, warm but not sunny, however it was a little different down there then it was at the top. And learning from yesterday that I’m not actually as fast as I think I am, I started off super conservatively not worrying about my position just thinking about trying to make it to the top.  We started off in a park in a huge grassy area; which reminded me of the start of a cross country race at Bundoora Park, went onto a road and reached the trail head about 1km later, where it sharply went uphill on about a 10% gradient.  I went down a gear with the idea of trying to hold the pace for the rest of the race.  This pace meant I got passed by a few people at the 3km mark, but I was able to claw my way back at about the 7km mark where those that passed me got tired.  That runner who I was trying to beat was still that bit in front of me though, I just couldn’t seem to pass him! The one thing that I really enjoyed was the trail itself, single track that was soft under foot, with a steep drop off on 1 side that made sure that I was paying attention. There were also a few big branches over the track that was fun to climb over.  The toughest section was between the 8.5km-9km point where it got steeper & rocky & was the only section that I had to walk, ahem, ‘power hike’. It flattened out in the last 500m and where I finally passed the person I was trying to beat, yes!!  I crossed the line in 16th and in a time of 1.18.53; which isn’t bad for my biggest climb yet, 11 mins behind the race leader, so I guess I’m improving??  The weather at the top was completely different at the bottom, cold, wet & windy.  The cloud cover was ridiculous, I couldn’t see past 5m, this meant I left the top fairly quickly, and ran back down with 2 other friendly runners in a slow pace that I guess I could call a recovery run, though usually my recoveries don’t last 9.6km but that’s alright. I’m just glad I achieved both goals, lets see how I go tomorrow.

 

Elevation and pace of my Feathertop race

Views along the Bungalow Spur track

Views along the Bungalow Spur track 

Views along the Bungalow Spur track

Views along the Bungalow Spur track

Views along the Bungalow Spur track

At the Federation Hut, the finish line for today and didn't make it to summit. A bit cloudy

Mt Hotham (Day 3)

When I rocked up to the start line this morning I was exhausted, not physically I mean, sure my muscles were sore, but mentally I wasn’t feeling quite there.  It doesn’t help that the weather was miserable, freezing cold and cloudy, and it was only going to get colder as I climbed up the mountain. After I went for my warm up I just wanted to sit down and go to sleep, luckily I didn’t because the start was fast! This run was slightly different to the other 2 as it didn’t head straight up a mountain, the first 6km were fairly flat and usually that would suit me well; but I haven’t ever done so much climbing in my life so the fast start was tough.  At the 6km point was something I wasn’t expecting, a creek crossing.  Brrrr was it cold! And running with wet feet isn’t ever pleasant, I didn’t have to worry about my core temperature dropping though as we then hit a hill. Mt Feathertop was constant-up sure, but at least it wasn’t on a stupid gradient like this one.  It went up and up and up for the next 3.5km and on already tired legs, it was brutal but it must have been worse for some of the other runners as I was able to pass 3 people.  I wasn’t expecting that! It was also during this 1^st climb that I also saw snow! Patches at first but started to become more consistent when we popped out onto a ridge at about 4km. Which took my breath away, 2 valleys with a light dusting of snow dropped either side of me and these huge mountain tops lingered in the distance. Not to mention that the terrain got flatter which was more enjoyable to run along.  The only downer was due to the track being overgrown by the waist high shrubs. This meant I found it hard to find my stride and increase my speed, though I’m sure everybody else was the same. One unexpected consequence of those shrubs was the knocking off of my race bib.  These races are one of the 1^st times I’ve worn my hydration pack with a bib and I couldn’t fit my bib on my shirt so I copied some of the elites and put it on my shorts. I attached it to my shorts with the use of ‘Bibbits’, which are strong magnets. The shrubs knocked off one side of them; a pair got caught in the shorts whilst the other pair is lost to the Bon Accord trail. If anybody finds 2 white magnetic rectangles, please return to myself haha. This meant I had to quickly stop, rip the now dangling race bib off my shorts and stuff it into my pack which lost me about 30 sec (which is important later on down the track).

Bibbits

After my nice little reprieve along the ridge was ‘the wall’ (apparently what its called) the final climb for this run and covered in snow. It was steep, short and I was slow making my way up it. Every time I glanced behind me I saw my competitors getting closer and closer to me. I made it to the highest point before they caught me; however, and ran downhill to the finish at the Great Alpine Road along the Razorback Ridge which was stunning. I crossed the line in 14^th in a time of 2.00.36 only about 30 secs short of breaking 2 hrs. So close..

This run again broke my record of the most climbing I’ve done in one go (1867 according to the race website) and my favourite run ever, easily. It was amazing!

 

Elevation and pace of my Hotham race

Top of Razorback Ridge

Top of Razorback Ridge

Top of Razorback Ridge

Still lots of snow at the top of Mt Hotham

Razoraback Ridge with Mt Feathertop touching the clouds in the distance

Mt Buffalo (Day 4)

The final run, what a relief! When I started on my warm up run, my muscles were screaming at me, the soreness was just intensified from previous days but, hey, at least the start line wasn’t as cold as yesterday. The fatigue showed at the start when there was a short run across an open bit of grass and I was towards the back of the leading pack. I usually try to be towards the front but not today, today I had two goals; maintain my overall position in the 4 races, and not die. I had a two-minute buffer on my nearest rival so I was fairly confident of achieving my first goal, but not sure how well I’d do on my second. This course, like the others, was brutal. But at least I was told what to expect. The first 3.5km’s are steep and flattens out a little bit after that, and the fatigue showed on this climb.

As I left the open grass bit I was already back in 15^th (ish), and to think I used to be a track runner! The trail itself for the first climb was single track and loose gravel/dirt, so not technical in the slightest and should’ve been easy to run up. And it kind of was, I was able to pass a few people in the first km who started out quicker than me, but in the 2^nd and 3^rd k I was passed twice, by 2 old guys! I mean c’mon, surely I’m not slow but those two lads were beasts and quickly powered away from me. And just to rub salt into the wound, you remember that person who I wanted to beat back at race 2? He passed me as well, at roughly the 3.5km mark. For the next 2km I was pretty much by myself, enjoying the views and loving nature, making sure I wasn’t pushing myself too hard as I knew what was up next. Technical, rock hopping, ankle rolling, slippery trail. And when I reached it at the 5.5km point, I saw there was another runner breathing down the back of my neck. It’s hard to explain what the trail was like without photos, but it pretty much crisscrossed, back and forth across a rock face that had multiple streams of water running down it at different points along the trail. And to top it off if running up a large rock face wasn’t enough, there were multiple little rocks to navigate across it as well. Oh man, it was so much fun to play along it though! It appealed to my agility while testing my thought processing. I had to think so quickly as to where to put my feet next so that I didn’t roll my ankle accidently. That is why I like trail running more than road or track stuff, playing with nature and learning how to move quickly across it, and was a high note to finish on.

Unfortunately the other runner, (as I found out later he’s represented Australia at the World Orienteering Champs so kind of makes sense) was also very good at moving along the technical terrain, and when we got to a downhill bit at about 6km’s, he passed me. But much to my surprise, he didn't increase his lead on me when we started climbing again a couple hundred metres later. And within a kay and a half I had passed him again, and by the time we reached about the 8^th km I was in front of him by a reasonable way. That 8^th km was probably my favourite part of this race, it was still technical but we had climbed high enough to fully see out into the valley below us and was breath taking bursting out into an area where there wasn’t any tree or shrubs to fully see this sight. Unfortunately though, there was a mainly downhill section (with some very short climbs) for the next 2kms before there was one last uphill stairs bit for the last 500m and the runner I had been battling with passed me, I tried to keep up, but couldn’t. My quads were smashed and couldn’t demand anything more out of them. This meant I crossed the line 16^th, in a time of 1.17.37. Interestingly though, one of the older guys who passed early in the race only finished about a minute in front of me, so I caught up a little bit. And to finish it off my parents were there to cheer me over the finish line, and that was it my first Skyrunning race was over. After four days of running I climbed 5072m and ran 53.6km (according to Strava), in a total time of 6.02.20. This placed me in 5^th in the 18-29 category and 10^th overall. Which I’m really happy with.

Elevation and pace of my Buffalo race

Finishing off my final 4 Peaks run

As this is my biggest race of the year I feel like this is the perfect time for a few acknowledgements and thank-you’s.

Thanks to my sports dietician Katherine Shone who took me from knowing nothing about sports nutrition to getting me through umpteen number of races throughout the year without incident, including this one.

I’ve only recently come across Trail Brew but I get the feeling that this endurance drink will only continue to grow due to it’s amazing taste and great sport benefits and I’ll be glad to continue using it and (hopefully) be a part of its growth in the future. Trail Brew

This is the same for Vfuel gels, at the start of the year when Katherine told me I’d need to consume gels during my longer runs/races I was apprehensive as I’d had bad experiences with them in the past, until I stumbled upon due to the Hoka One One Trail Series where they were a sponsor. No issues with these guys and I would love to work with them into the future. Vfuel

Thanks must go to Sale and District runners, I’ve written a post of this group and it’s in the archives somewhere, where they’ve helped me transition from high school track and x-country running to running further than ever before. They’ve been supportive and encouraging, and have everyone in it has knowledge that I’m able to draw upon if needed.

At the beginning of the 4 Races

At the end of the 4 Races

And last but not least, my biggest thank-you must go to my parents who have been encouraging and supportive of all my endeavours. Allowing me to use their car (#nocarlife) to travel to and from races, from actually driving me to and from races if I’m too tired to (like 4 Peaks) and just being there. So thanks Mum and Dad!

Footnote:

I should probably briefly mention my time in Bright. As it’s my first time there that I can remember, I was impressed with the amount of boutique shops there were (reminds me of Whistler in Canada actually), how pretty it is and well laid out it is, with everything being in a central location. The Spring Festival was fantastic, with Oktoberfest being on and fireworks and mum told me there were some great floral displays. There are also tons of bike trails that are around Bright, which you could run along as well I suppose, and the few that I rode along were great.

Standouts for me were Oktoberfest, the Bright Brewery (can you tell I like beer?) and the chocolate factory. Bright is definitely a must visit part of Victoria and I can’t believe it took me so long to get there.

Found this suspension bridge on the Canyon Trail

Tambo River

Tambo RIver 

The leaning Tower of Pisa, on a street pole

Mmmm beer

And chocolate

Damn

A creek I found whilst cycling around

The TRN