Beautifully Brutal: Ulta-Trail Mt Fuji Report

私は4月に会ったすべての私のチャーミングで親切日本人の友人に。あなたの美しい国にゲストとして私を持っていただきありがとうございます。私は永遠に私と一緒にそこに滞在した間温かさとホスピタリティー私は感じました。私は戻って、再び一日をあなたの文化の多くを楽しむことを望む。私はそこに、短い時間でしたが、私ははるかに良い人のままにしておきます。オーストラリアへ誰かがベンチャーなら、私はブルーマウンテンズの私のコースの周りをお見せするのが大好きだとして私にメッセージしてください！

This is a long overdue race report, UTMF had a bit of an impact on me and it's taken a little time to reflect on the race and all the business that went on around and following on from it.

First and foremost thank you to everyone for your incredibly nice words and support. It was a true privilege to be part of the event. The position I was so fortunate to be in was never once forgotten.

I'm going to have to keep this brief I'm afraid, so no blow by blow recount today. I just have to get out what I want to say and get my mind back on the job at hand being TNF100 this weekend. Although nowhere near as large scale as UTMF, in my heart and mind TNF100 is the one that means the most. It's in my backyard, on trails I regularly train on with people I love. It is the chance to race the best in Australia and to challenge myself to improve from previous battles.

UTMF - The Beauty.
The race was spectacular; running anti-clockwise around the spiritual significant volcanic monster. Running in the twilight just after race start (3pm) afforded me brilliant views of the colours and shades not often seen of Fuji-san. It was similarly menancingly beautiful in the crisp, clear morning air the next day. The course traveled through a variety of environments; pine forests, mountain ranges and even quite a bit of urban scape. There was much to see and experience.

The people. The Japanese culture is built around respect for each other and the environment and nowhere more was this on show than the actions of each competitor, volunteer, marshall, media and store holder at the expo. So polite, kind, charming and helpful.

UTMF - The Race.
I ran, walked, suffered and enjoyed every second of my 20h and 38 minutes on the course. It was the toughest thing I've ever done. The climbs sapped the life out of me and the long descents finished me off. Thankfully in between the 7 or so climbs in the race there was a fair bit of flat, undulating and, heck, even road running. The race suited an all rounder as it required the full range of skills. Fast flat speed, skilful technical running, hardcore tenacious climbing ability...It was hard!

Full mens results, including leg times are here.

UTMF - The Lessons Learned
The term 'Trail Running' for me has now been forever redefined. No longer will I imagine the sport being a running event on trails as the name implies! Of course it shouldn't just be that and I'll never take that for granted again.  The European men massacred me on the steep, technical, scrambly climbs and would power walk past me, gap me and pull further away. If there is one area of my training in the lead up to this event I would change it would be that I had actually trained to walk faster and with more purpose uphill! The positive to come out of it is that I now know and will at least take a different approach with me to Europe later in the year.

The other lesson I learnt from the race is that when the going gets tough, as it did on some of the crazy, long climbs and descents, the thing that gets you through it is mental toughness. So many times I was cursing and hurting so badly but the stubborn, dogged determination to keep going was greater. I used a variety of mantras, counting strategies, and mindfulness techniques to distract myself from the pain in my legs and my mind.

UTMF - The Highlights
Spreading my wings and meeting a slice of the International Trail Running Community. It was brilliant to put names to faces and run among some of the big names of the sport but also to experience and feel how each and every entrant are appreciated by the local Japanese people.

The other highlight was just the efficient and seamless organisation of the event. I can't begin to comprehend how difficult a job it would be to put on such an event and Tsuyoshi Kaburaki and his team have created a first class event. No stone unturned, nothing unthought of.

Examples...English translators at each checkpoint, drop bag ready to go at the checkpoint as my number had been radioed ahead of time, 'light' stations at certain checkpoints in case anyone had headlamp problems, used drop bag already at finish line for pick up when I had finished, live TV/Internet stream (so many of you have given feedback online of how good that was), extensive Twitter coverage on the ground (thank you Koichi Iwasa from dogsorcaravan), marshals at every significant junction. The list goes on.

The other highlight was of course hanging out with my wife Nadine, my friend and team mate Shona, her brother-in-law Glen and Abe and others from Descente (the licensees of Inov-8 in Japan). Glen, thank you for showing us both the charm and the underbelly of Japanese urban life and introducing us to the Robot Restaurant, the 1960s themed Pinball Alley at Nakano, the Meiji Shrine and the weird and wonderfully carefree Elvis impersonators at Shibuya! Shona, well what can I say? Such just reward for all the hard work she has put in over the last year and hearing you battle through the race and triumph was inspiring. Of course much love and gratitude to Nadine who did a wonderful job keeping me fed and watered and providing unconditional support.

Mt Fuji, I arrived curious but I left answered. Thank you.

Recovery & Bathurst Half Marathon

The inov-8 Road X-Treme 178s are my new favourite shoe!

I've been putting off writing my blog for UTMF, I don't think I have the energy yet to write about the most brutal and beautiful of experiences...but it will be soon!

In the meantime, back at home, in the Central West I ran a new half marathon PB today at the Bathurst Half. The race was pretty uneventful as road runs tend to be, but what I would like to address is the topic of recovery. It is something that I've increasingly taken more and more seriously in the last couple of years and I treat it as a crucial part of my training cycle.

I certainly race a lot. It's what I do and love. Therefore I have a responsibility to myself and my awesome sponsors to be near my best every time I race. Of  course, realistically this isn't possible. So I have my 'A', 'B' and 'C' races. There are the ones that mean more than others where I will dot every i and cross every t and then there are races that I will use for a specific purpose and goal. Today for example the goal was to put my legs through the quicker motions and get back to running tempo pace again, but certainly I wouldn't be anywhere near my best. Or would I be?

Running 100 miles one week before a half marathon isn't something you will ever find in any running book program and rightly so! That's because running books are generic and take the 'common sense' approach and so they should.

What allowed me to get out there today and do what I love somewhere near my best was not superior genetics, ideal body shape or not being 'injury prone'. I simply don't buy into this at all. Yes it plays a small part but not as huge as most people would think. What does play a part in no specific order is;

1: Conditioning - a body that has over 6 years of 100+km training weeks year after year including over 30+ races per year over a range of distances and terrain
2: A finely tuned, individualised and consistent weekly training program that works for me.
3. A sound and reasonably correct running technique that I am constantly training and fine tuning based on principles of minimalist running.
5. Effective recovery.

It is this last point I'd like to just add a bit more to. Recovery incorporates not just what happens after the race but after each training session so should be always seen as a weekly, ongoing part of the training week. Get into a good routine with recovery, monitor and adjust if needed. Do the best for your mind and your body. While the details will be different person to person, the themes remain the same; sleep, good diet, compression, injury prevention, effective recovery sessions, stretching, hydration, self massage etc.

Oh, and don't always listen to the textbook!

Now bring on TNF100!

Dogs or Caravan?

www.dogsorcaravan.com is a Japanese ultra running website directed by Koichi 'fluffy' Iwasa. It's a terrific site, a lot like ultra168.

Shona and I had the privilege of being interviewed yesterday, here is the YouTube clip

UTMF Race Kit

The essentials...

Top: inov-8 branded technical racing shirt
Bottoms: inov-8 branded body science compression shorts
Socks: injinji 2.0 Original weight performance socks, inov-8 debrigators
Shoes: inov-8 X-Talon 190s, TrailRoc 245s in half way drop bag
Pack: UltrAspire Omega
Nutrition: Hammer Perpetuem, Hammer Gels and Hammer Bars
Hydration: Hammer Enduralytes and Fatigue Caps with water in bladder
Head: inov-8 wrag
Light: Ferei HL20 Headlamp
Wet Weather: inov-8 storm shell jacket
Logistics: Garmin 310XT

Gear Comparison - Ferei HL20 vs AyUp AllRounder Headlamp

I've had a lot of people recently asking me about the Ferei HL20 headlamp that I use in ultras and in night training. I thought with TNF100 and other events coming up where there will be elements of night running, I would give a bit of a comparison post between the Ferei and the other popular runner's unit on the market, the AyUp AllRounder headlamp.

All I am going to do is compare both features of the units, from my review of the Ferei HL20 that I featured on my blog, and Shona's review of the Ay-Up All Rounder Ultra Lite that was on her site, simply by quoting each other's reviews. Any information not found on each other's reviews was sought from the products' website itself (and stated here).

As a disclaimer, I am sponsored by Ferei, and Shona is likewise by AyUp

Full In Depth Reviews

My Ferei HL20 Review
Shona's Ay-Up All Rounder Ultra Lite Review

Weight

Ferei

• Standard headlight unit (without standard 18650 battery): 150 grams 
• Standard 18650 battery: 50 grams 
• BP28 small external battery: 120 grams 
• BP4836 large external battery pack: 240 grams 

AyUp

"The new Ay-Up that I weighed on my kitchen scales weighted only 198 grams with the 1/2 epic battery and 254 grams with the Epic battery."
"The 1/2 Epic weighs 87 grams on my kitchen scales."
"The Epic weighs 146 grams on my kitchen scales."
"The new head strap weighs 57 grams"

Settings

Ferei

There are three light settings on the unit, a high (100%) and a changeable secondary setting. There is also SOS/Strobe.

AyUp

"There is three settings on your Ay-Up, High, Low, Flashing. These settings are all controlled by the visible yellow button on the battery pack."

There is one important difference here between the Ferei and the AyUp, that I feel needs explaining a little more. The Ferei, unlike the AyUp, has an adjustable 'second' brightness (power) setting. In other words, this can be changed at any point while running, so you can set this level to how low or as high as you want. This is very beneficial in headlamp power management, as on firetrails etc you actually will want to lower the beam right down. The AyUp does not have this feature, only an unadjustable 'low' setting.

Power output (brightness)

Ferei

"The product specifics state that on high it outputs 10 watts of power delivering over 600 lumens of light."

AyUp

From website...
"Each lightset outputs over 500 Lumen in the standard package"

Battery Life

Ferei

• Light time of standard 18650 battery on high: 90 minutes. 
• Light time of standard 18650 battery on lowest setting: over 43 hours 
• Light time of BP28 external battery on high: Up to 3 hours. 
• Light time of BP28 external battery on lowest setting: Up to 100 hours 
• Light time of BP4836 external battery on high: Up to 6 hours. 
• Light time of BP4836 external battery on lowest setting: several hundred hours on lowest setting 

Other than high mode (100%) it is hard to give precise run times due to the variability of the secondary brightness setting. Roughly half full brightness will give at least double the runtime of high mode and the run time goes up exponentially with anything less than 50%

AyUp

"The 1/2 Epic Battery will give you 3-6 hours of battery life. I’ve tested the 1/2 Epic on high for 3 hours on a trail training run running and it was still going strong. It will give you 6 hours on low, and 12 hours plus on flashing."
"The Epic Battery last for 6 hours on high, 12 hours on low and days on flashing."

LED Lifespan

Ferei

"With burn time of the high intensity LED light around 50 000 hours"

AyUp

From website...
LED life - over 50,000 hours

Cost

Ferei

• The standard HL20 package: $129.00
• External batteries: BP28 is $39.00 and BP4826 is $79.00
• Extension lead comes with purchase of either external battery.

Discount code: 20% off the Ferei HL20 using the RUNNERSCHOICE discount code.

AyUp

$242 for standard unit with half epic battery
$88 for epic battery
$7.70 for extension lead (for when using epic battery)

Function, Comfort etc

As this is totally a subjective thing, I think you have to read our reviews in entirety to get a feel of how the units perform out on the trails. We have both since used the units extensively as successfully. Myself in the GNW100 miler last year and also on many training runs and also Shona recently wore hers overnight at the Northburn100 miler and in many other race successes!

One important difference is that neither external Ferei battery can be worn on the head. These have to be used with the extension lead running to the battery in pack etc. On the AyUp it is possible to wear the larger Epic battery on the headset, although the website does state that :

"We recommend you purchase an Extension Lead with this battery as it is double the weight of the 72 gram Half Epic Battery and you do notice this on your head when running. All batteries have a flashing mode plus a fuel gauge so you can easily check how much power you have left."

The Ferei does not have a fuel gauge but it does 'blink' when it is running low as a warning signal.

Warranty, water resistance etc

Very similar to eachother but please do your own research about this to be sure from the manufacturers websites.

Available from

Ferei: http://www.ferei.com.au/ferei-hl20-rechargeable-led-headlamp.html
AyUp: http://www.ayup-lights.com/systems/lighting-systems/run-specific/

The Ferei HL20 with standard on board battery (in cylinder casing), recharger,
and the two different external batteries with extension lead.

The AyUp AllRounder Kit, with epic (black) on board the unit. The two
smaller half epic batteries are shown as is the Orange charger

Canberra Ultra Marathon 50k 2013

I love racing on the road. There is something about the rhythm, the consistency and the smoothness of the road that makes me feel at home. It is like coming home and getting into a warm bed. If feels very natural for me to run to a rhythm and tune out.

But it is probably a good thing I don't train or race on the road very often. I know too well that these things can soon become the very things that can turn you off road running and overuse injuries can occur if you do all your training on the road. Not can...will. But I still like flirting with the road; sometimes I pick up and sometimes I get rejected. Today I picked up!

On Friday night I cruised down after work and got to my brother-in-law and sister's place on the outskirts of Canberra. They are both starting to get a liking for running and we agreed to go to the Ginninderra parkrun the next morning to run the beautiful 5km course there. I was also meeting up with Paul, a client I coach who was attempting to run his maiden sub 3 marathon on Sunday...(BTW...he nailed it, and so did Stevo and mys sister who picked up big PB's!)

With my brother-in-law Stevo at Ginninderra parkrun

Although my plan was to just go for a jog to stretch the legs before the big run the next day, like always, I got caught up in the moment and raced it. I ended up winning and setting a new 5km road PB. There were lots of Canberran runners there I knew and I love the parkrun concept. Brad Hatheria and his team do a wonderful job hosting this parkrun.

I was invited down to the Australian Running Festival by Keith 'Buzz' Hong as an ambassador for the Ultra Marathon event. Unfortunately the pasta party/seminar where I was to be a panelist was canned but I still would have gone down anyhow, I really like this marathon and it's always a great opportunity for me to catch up with many relatives who live in Canberra, and of course all my running buddies.

I've raced the Canberra marathon itself 3 times previously, and each time I've thought I would do the Ultra add on. Every time I've gone into the race saying to myself 'I'm going to run a fast marathon then hang on and do the extra 8km' for the ultra. A couple of times I've even tricked myself into thinking the 'extra 8 is just a marathon cool down'...Well let me tell you were that kind of thinking got me in the past...

Year	Marthon Time	Ultra Headspace	Ultra Time	Ultra Pain
2008	2:49:49	"I'll just keep going after the marathon"	DNS	DNS, Not one step more!
2009	2:51:14	As above..."No repeat of last year"	3:30:41	Struggle Street, hurt like hell, pride got me home!
2011	2:43:22	I want the best of both worlds"	DNF	Pulled out 1km into Ultra
2012	2:33:51	"I'm here to run the 50K"	3:05:01	Felt great the whole way

"Come to me all barefooters!"

So, I think the moral of this little story is that for me to run a good 50K time, I had to go into it with the headspace that I was racing the 50k only. Believe me this is hard! Watching the marathoners sail off into the distance was no easy thing early on. I was being careful with my pace and had to rein it in constantly.

In the end though, and it just goes to show, that even with this conservative pacing strategy, it was probably not far off the best pacing strategy I could have done for the marathon! In fact, when I passed under the marathon finish line, I was only 7 seconds outside my marathon PB! But I'm not disappointed by this at all. I was there to race the 50k and I'm glad I didn't break my marathon PB...I want to save this for a stand alone marathon and then I hopefully won't be breaking it by seconds but by minutes and achieving a life goal of going sub 2:30. I know I have it in me, I just have to pick a race and schedule a block of training around it.

These shoes are freaking fast!

The runs of the day belong to Rowan Walker for winning the marathon; allowing Vlad to take a massive lead in the marathon and trusting himself to finish over the top of him, and also Alex Matthews's run in the marathon/50k was superb...he almost did get the best of both world's...pulling in many of the faster bunnies in the marathon to finish 3rd and then almost pulling in Vlad on the Ultra. Vlad also had a great day; although he may be a little disappointed about the marathon result, he showed he is a force to be reckoned with in the ultra scene with a victory in the 50k. Watch out for Vlad to set the TNF50 course alight this year.

My race was pretty damn consistent and I have to be happy with how the day panned out. Although I was holding myself back, this is the way to race distance events, and was pleased to pass a few marathoners before the 35km mark and also gaining one spot on the ultra leg to put myself on the podium. It was a great day for barefootinc, with a trifecta of their athletes on the mens 50k podium.

My time was a massive 9 minute 50k PB, and I pretty much held sub 3:40 pace for all the marathon and sub 3:50 pace for most of the ultra (see splits below in Garmin data). I released the pedal in the last 2km. Not every weekend you can go away with a 5k and a 50k PB from different races too!

The Men's 50K Podium, with Alex 2nd (far left) and Vlad.

Gear Choice
Top: Hammer Nutrition branded RaceReady technical running singlet
Shorts: Team inov-8 branded Body Science Compression Shorts
Shoes: inov-8 Road X-Treme 178s
Socks: injinji Performance 2.0 Lightweight Ultra-Thin toesocks
Visor: Team injinji branded Headsweat visor
Race Nutrition: Pre race gel, then gel every 40 minutes
Hydration: Water at every table, sponged face and head at every sponge station

Ultra Trail Mt Fuji

Ultra Trail Mt Fuji is a 100 mile ultra trail race which sends runners orbiting around the spiritually significant and Japan’s highest peak, Mt Fuji on the 26th of April. It is the sister race to Ultra Trail Mt Blanc, and as such the race attempts to replicate as many of the features of UTMB. Tough and torturous, majestic yet merciless to the underprepared!

Training hard in the beautiful Blueys!

It is very significant in my own ultra trail running career. It will be my first foray into the world of international 100 milers and indeed even my first true 100 mile ultramarathon. My only other 100 mile race was the Great North Walk in Australia last year, which was actually 108 miles!

UTMF will also be my greatest challenge to date. 161km with over 9000m of elevation gain on unfamiliar trail in a foreign land poses some intimidating challenges. But it is a challenge I am ready for. This year is all about testing myself on the worldrai stage and UTMF is not short of great athletes with some of the biggest names in the business toeing the line; Seb Chaigneau, Julien Chorier and Gary Robbins to name a few. Then we all know how good the Japanese runners are too!

With Wes, climbing Furber steps on UTMF
replication long weekend

In preparation I have been putting in consistent 100 mile plus weeks, finding trails with the most elevation as possible (not as easy as it sounds living on the flattest continent on Earth!) and trying to be as race specific as possible. For example, the recent Easter holidays gave me an opportunity that I don’t usually have while working the 9 to 5 job…back to back to back to back long runs! 180km in 4 days with over 7000 of total elevation gain with the objective of conditioning my body for the race distance and terrain and also to test my nutrition/hydration plan using Hammer Nutrition products.

Other challenges aside from the physical aspects are equally just as pertinent! Some interesting race information that has left this naive Australian scratching his head…”Noodles will be served at aid stations and as such runners must bring their own fork”…”all runners must carry a bear bell”…”if a runner has to relieve themselves on the course you must use a disposable portable toilet”…!

With Shona, Matty and Ewan after hills at Woodford

I feel fast and strong, fit and healthy. I feel that all the training and racing I’ve done so far this year is leading up to this day and it is up to me to execute on the day my own race, not to get too carried away in the moment and trust that my fitness and training will bring me home stronger than anyone else. I’ll also take great inspiration into the race from my fellow Australian and Inov-8 team mate Shona Stephenson who will be joining me at the start line. One week after significant challenges at Tarawera she scorched the field at the Northburn 100 miler in NZ. When the going gets tough, it’s things like this that will help me get through them.

One thing is for sure, I’m 100% #committed to this race!

I will race in my inov-8 TrailRoc 245 shoes.

I’m really looking forward to t having a ball on Japanese soil!

Tarawera Ultramarathon 2013

Away we go in the morning!
Image courtesy Marceau Photography

The Tarawera Ultramarathon is a 100km trail race, running through some of New Zealand’s most beautiful fern forests, pass tranquil lakes and roaring waterfalls. This year the races attracted some of the cream of International ultra trail runners including Western States course record holder Timothy Olson, young gun Sage Canaday, Jason Schlarb, Mick Donges and Vajin Armstrong to name a few. Other world class athletes  would also end up lining up in the shorter events. Paul Charteris, the race director did a sterling job pulling in some of the biggest names in trail running.

Press conference!
Image courtesy Graeme Murray

Team Inov-8 consisted of myself and my fellow Aussie Shona Stephenson and we were here to race. We simply could not miss this opportunity to race against the World’s best. We were both keen to use this race as a launchpad for more international races later in the year, including UTMF and various Skyrunning races. Did I mention this was a race?

We arrived on Thursday and immediately became part of the Tarawera circus; interviews and photo shoots and that kind of thing.  Shona and I looked the part in our spanking new Inov-8 gear; at times resembling twins. On Friday we were fortunate to sit on a panel for an ultra running seminar with a large audience at race HQ presented by Marcus Warner from Ultra168 who were here covering the race. It was a great way to learn a few new things ourselves from our fellow panelists and spread the Inov-8 message. Shona did a wonderful job demonstrating how light and flexible the Inov-8s are as she scrunched her shoe in her hand. It was a real mixed bag of shoe companies on stage across the whole spectrum; TNF, Salomon, Inov-8, Scott and Hoka all represented. Some classic one liners were delivered 'Do you use a GPS watch in a race'. Olson - 'I wear a watch only to tell what time it is'. 'What do you do for recovery'. Canaday - 'Beer'. It was great to get honest answers! Even Marcus was getting in on the act...audience member 'I've been experimenting with putting salt in my water bottle...,', Marcus, 'ooh .experimenting with salt...that will lead to harder drugs in no time'! Hilarious stuff.

The seminar was good fun!
Image courtesy Lloyd Belcher Visuals

1

With Shona, pre race. What a team!
Image coutesy Marcus Warner, Ultra 168

Race morning came, and it was time put in place the fruits of a lot of training and conditioning. I've trained my ring off for this event and I was keen to mix it up with the elite company. I was not here for a picnic, I was here to race! With the original race course being changed owing to bushfire threats, it was clear in my mind at least that the course had become both tougher and one that would suit runners with a love of technical and tricky trail. Gone was a gradually descending last 40km on smooth firetrail which was replaced with a simple ‘out and back’ on the trickiest part of the course. For this reason I swapped my shoe choice from the TrailRoc 245s to my trusty X-Talon 212’s. The extra grip on the trails was sure to give me no problems with my footing. The NZ trails are so different to the trails in the Blue Mountains. They are soft and leaf littered, piney and well groomed. No sandstone to be seen. Heaven.

The first 20km was probably the easiest part of the course, free flowing and open on well groomed trail, and I was sure I had to use this section to my advantage. I led out the pack of Sage, Vajin and Mick; breezing through stunning lush fern forests and past still, blue lakes. On the first climb of the day I passed Salomon’s Greg Vollet who was running the 60K option and wondered if my early pace was going to come back to trouble me later in the race. Out of Checkpoint 1 and on the small section of road running I opened up the lead to a minute. I was running under threshold and felt fine, being careful to drink regularly and refuel myself with Hammer Perpetuem and Gels. I was the only runner in the top group who went with the hydration pack option; it’s what I’m used to and secretly was hoping that the day would heat up and those just carrying a 500mL bottle would come undone somewhat later in the day. I was fortunate enough to have enough awesome UltrAspire packs on standby thanks to barefootinc NZ, that I could implement the 'pack swap' strategy at checkpoints. There is no way I was going to muck around in transitions; it was a grab and go time. Not until I saw some photos of the aid stations later did I get Checkpoint envy! The food on the tables was gourmet and I regret not stopping to grab a couple of things to eat after the race!

With Vajin and Mick early on in the race
Image coutesy Marcus Warner, Ultra 168

On a small gravel road climb, Sage put in a surge and glided past effortlessly. It was a scary how he was attacking the hill and there was no way I was going to race him here. Entering the forest and then starting the first major climb of the day, the trail was turning to narrow , rocky, singletrack. Varjin joined me half way up the ascent and trotted a little off in the distance. I was keen to stick with Vajin. We have raced each other a couple of times and are closely matched. So far we were one a piece in the head to heads and I was keen to push him today and take the lead in the leaderboard.

Running through gorgeous forests
Image courtesy Graeme Murray

The long descent to CP2 at Lake Okataina was no problem for the 212s and I was able to scoot down the descent and a good clip and hold my place to the bottom. Entering the forest once again, the heavy breathing of Timothy Olsen was progressively getting louder with each stride and it wasn't long before this superstar of the sport cruised by. From here the trail is a real mixed bag of lumpy up and downs, exposed tree roots, rocky outcrops and small rock ledges. It was very difficult to get into any type of rhythm and the leg between Humphries Bay and the Outlet was a real low patch for me.

When these things happen, I’ve learnt the best thing to do is to get back to basics and it may sound silly but take it ‘one step at a time’. On the positive, my hydration and nutrition was on track and I felt with a bit of time I’d be back into this race. Half way through the last leg before the turnaround, Sage and I ran past eachother. I estimated he had opened up at least a 30 minute gap in 60km. Phenomenal running on this tricky trail, although I did wonder if he was going to face a big battle on the tough way back or begin to dehydrate due to his minimalist approach (just carrying a small bottle on the run and filling up at aid stations).

It was hard going out there!
Image courtesy Mead Norton

Approaching the turn we passed the magnificent, rumbling, thundering Tarawera Falls. The energy release from the water was contagious and I instantly felt rejuvenated. I’m so thankful that running has taken me to some of the most beautiful places in the world and this was just another breathtaking memory that I will remember forever. It was very tempting to just stop there and then, go for a swim under the falls and chill out for the rest of the day. But I still had under half the race to run! At the turn I was about 12 minutes behind Vajin and 15 minutes behind Timothy and with a renewed spirit I was determined to do anything I could to make some ground on them on the return home.

The last few legs consisted of me pretty much going over many mental strategies and keeping my positive thoughts up…visualising Vajin just around the next corner and really concentrating on my form. I was aware of Mick Donges and Jason Schlarb and others behind too that would only be too happy to pounce if I was to falter. Entering the last leg, I gulped down some Coke and knew the trickiest parts of the course were over and only one big climb to go before a few kilometres of downhill to the finish line. I wanted to finish strong and pull in the minutes I’d let slip by earlier in the race.

James's girlfriend Anna helping me get the new
UltrAspire Alpha on...I was pretty tired!

For this last leg I had elite kiwi multisporter James Kuegler keeping me company as my pacer. He really did a great job encouraging me and making sure I didn't slack off. I was happy how I climbed, on tired legs I only walked a couple of the longer, steeper sections and James made sure I ran 'through' the smaller pinches, setting little targets on the trail to aim for, breaking the sections into smaller bits. James also introduced me to pureed baby food, and I gulped it down. At first I was a bit dubious but I really think he is onto a winner here. On the descent towards the last 2km of road, we pushed over the 100km mark and high fived each other and raised the bat! A ton is a ton after all  On the road, we pulled out a couple of sub 4 minute kms between the 100 and 102.5km (the actual distance) section to the finish. As I crossed the line it was a mixture of joy and relief.

Although I just missed the podium, it was a tremendously rewarding race for me for a number of reasons. Now I know why Sage and Timothy sit at the pinnacle of the sport. I’m determined to reach another level in my racing and seeing these guys produce that has inspired me a great deal. Seeing Ruby also totally dominate the womens field was also a privilege  So young and so much talent, look out for this girl on the world stage in the years to come. Shona unfortunately had a few gut issues and had to pull out at 85km, but I'm glad to say is recovering well now. You were awesome company all weekend mate and I know you will be back stronger than ever.

Vajn took out the battle of the Tasman and a well deserved 3rd place.
Next round TNF100!

I want to thank my Australian supporters barefootinc, as well as Dylan and the gang at barefootinc NZ who were great supporters 'on the ground'. Of course, also a big thank you to Inov-8, Injinji and Hammer Nutrition. It was great fun helping out at their various stalls at the race registration (I even sold a few UltrAspire packs, Injinji socks and Hammer gels!) It was awesome to meet all my new NZ and Hong Kong trail running friends and I think I offered accommodation to just about all of you when you visit the Blue Mts some day! Now I better start looking into that house extension! 

Lastly, thanks to my wife Nadine who spent the weekend working on her thesis without me there to help ;-) and her wonderful, ongoing love and support.

Gear
Top: Team Inov-8 Performance Technical Shirt
Shorts: Team Inov-8 branded Body Science Compression Shorts
Shoes: Inov-8 X-Talon 212s
Socks: Injinji Ultra Thin Performance Toesocks
Hydration Pack: Alternated between UltrAspire Surge and Alpha Racing Vest (swap strategy)
Nutrition: Hammer Cafe Latte Perpetuem in 250mL UltrAspire bottle at each checkpoint, Hammer Gel every 40 minutes kept in Hammer Flask
Hydration: Water, Hammer Enduralyte capsule every 30 minutes.
Watch: Garmin 310XT

Image courtesy Graeme Murray