The North Face 100 - Race Report

It's been a year and and 9 months since i started running, only managing a meagre 8km's in the beginning.


Its been exactly 12 months since the last TNF100 event where I was over the moon to finish in 13hrs 28 minutes really off the back of very little training.


This year I went into the race fitter and faster with ambitions to break the 13hr mark and if i was lucky then possibly the 12hr mark.

My training had been fairly varied. Practically no trail running which isnt ideal but plenty of fast road running. The only specific training on the course was the Mt Solitary marathon 3 weeks earlier. It was during this race and a proceeding training session that i severely strained both calves = zero training for 3 weeks before the race.


I located my trainers on the Friday which were still stuffed with newspaper to dry them out from Mt Solitary. I was a little alarmed to see a rather large whole on the side. With no back up choices these would have to do.



I toed the line at 6.50 with my left shoe wrapped with duct tape whilst chatting to other runners Andy Bowen and NickW.



Andy beat me by a few minutes last year and he mentioned he wouldnt be going 100% this year due to his other commitments. Sandbagger....



The start was reasonably quick and i settled into a comfortable rhythm and within a few kms was running with Devon Crosby-Helms (ultra running extraordinaire and recent Olympic Trials Qualifier). Good fun chatting shop with her until around the 15km mark before i decided to push on. By this stage the duct tape was gone from my shoes so i ran then next 75kms with half my right foot hanging out the shoe. Not ideal. The shoes are now in a bin.



The Golden Stairs came and went without too much trouble and before I knew it i was at cP1 refuelling and feeling pretty good. From CP1 to CP2 I spent a lot of time chatting with Kevin and commenting on the scenery. Just after CP2 Kevin and I caught up with Pipi and we were all in good spirits. Kevin and I took turns leapfrogging each other for a while and i opened up a small gap going into ironpot ridge. This section sucked last year and it sucked again this year. My lack of trail running really slows me down on the technical stuff but i managed to remain on 2 feet and not trip up.



Passed Andy Bowen at this stage so i guessed i must have had about a 10 minute lead on him which i found worrying as he was 'taking it easy'..



Soon after this i started to feel pretty bad. My lower half was just hurting. Shins, tendons, ligaments, muscles, everything was hurting. I was entertaining thoughts of pulling out at CP3 but was hoping the boost of seeing my girlfriend and a pizza would fix things up.



Well i arrived sooner than expected and to my dismay there was no pizza van. or girlfriend. So on i trudged and just before I left the checkpoint i saw girlfriend. I screamed out that i would meet her at CP4 and told her to bring some drugs.



CP3 to CP4 was just painful. A complete battle to run and i had to walk at many points even on the flat. Pretty disheartening. Kevin and others quickly left me at this stage. Felt great to finally get to CP4. Fortunately the missus was there with some panadol and a bonus - big bag of pizza! This lifted my spirits. I had gels and all the sugary crap so to get some proper food in was great. I left CP4 with a relative spring in my step which soon left me as i came to the dreaded downhills. By far and away the worst part of the course for me. Its here when I should really be able to eat up the kms but my body is just useless at downhill running. Everything was screaming out in pain and I had to do my old trick of running downhill backwards. I got passed by a few people along here some of those being the marathon pairs runners.



Was a total relief when i started the climb up Kedumba. My legs had no trouble at all with the inclines and I was making good ground. Passed a couple of people who had passed me on the downhill and nearing the top i caught up with Andrew Lee (2 time winner and previous course record holder). Very surprised to see him but pretty obvious he was injured. Absolutely top bloke. In a world of pain himself as he mentioned he had injured his knee. Didnt sound in the slightest bit sorry for himself, he said it was one of those days and that was that. Not too many other elite athletes who would persevere until the end like that. Humbling experience and gave me the kick up the back side that i needed to get moving again.



Running up to CP5 I passed a nice a guy from Tassie and then I was in and out of CP5 pretty quickly. I could see a couple of runners up ahead and I kept them in my sight until we hit the single track. Well, this leg totally killed me. Again my lack of technical trail skills were overwhelmingly obvious and i lost a lot of time here prancing over the rocks slowly like a fairy. I wasnt overly impressed with myself but by that stage i had given up caring. It was during this leg last year that Andy Bowen came flying past out of the blue, so i was half expecting the same thing to happen again. Fortunately I didnt get passed I crossed the line in 11.32 for 15th position.Very very pleased with that. Not long after Pipi, Andy Bowen and the first female all came through. If the race had of been any longer I would have easily been passed. It will be a few years before I make a jump up to 100 milers. By body just wouldnt be able to handle it yet.

Kilian Jornet took out first place in staggering 9hrs 19 minutes looking fresh as a daisy. What an athlete!



No doubt i'll be back next year - i just hope the field will be as strong.

The North Face 100 - Early Plans

So, The North Face 100 kicks off in May and my training is well and truly under way.

My plan, unlike last year, is to hit as close to 600km per month for Feb, March and April in the lead up.

Last year my splits for the 3 month lead up were:

Feb: 198km
March: 290km
April: 226km

I still came away with a silver buckle for my 13.28 finish but i was pretty trashed after. The low level of mileage meant my body wasnt really ready and my ITB went off after 70km forcing me to hobble in.

This year will be a lot different....touch wood.

I hope to break 13hrs this year which given my increased level of fitness I think is doable. The stretch goal is to break 12 hours and ive listed some splits below.

The first column are times from previous runners which I would like to emulate. The numbers in red are my times from 2010 for each leg. The numbers in black are the differences in time between my old times and my target times.

The numbers in blue are my back up times, or my plan B.

So im going to set off with the aim of doing 11.35 and if the wheels fall off i hope to achieve 12.32. Will be interesting to see how close to these numbers i actually get.

I can see from last year that I really started to struggle towards the end and that was down to my itb and being barely able to run. Without those issues I should be ok. I just have to remember not to charge down the hills so soon into the race.

My race plan is to go out harder than last year and avoid the majority of the congestion on the single track. I'll keep pushing the pace to a safe limit whilst keeping my fingers crossed that my itb issues dont return.

Nutrition wise i plan to eat what evers on offer at the aid stations and I will be definitely getting a pizza again at CP3. That was heaven last year. This year i will have my girlfriend on hand and she'll be able to order the pizza well in advance so i wont need to hang around. Should save me a few minutes.

Seriously thinking about running with a handheld as well as my 2 litres of water in the camelbak. I'll use the handheld for my nunn tablets and electrolyte intake. See how I go nearer the time, might decide to just stick with the camelbak.

Cant wait!

No Real Training Plan

Today was a much shorter run than intended. I had planned on doing roughly 20km around the park close to my work when I realised I had forgotten my head torch. No way I was going to run the trails without seeing where I was going so I cut my run short and just ran home. Of course I could have run on the roads for 20km but I didnt fancy it. And that was fine.

The reason im saying this because I do not follow a set training plan, I never have. I just train by how I feel. I let my body dictate what I want to do. If I dont fancy doing something then I wont. I find this keeps me highly motivated and generally speaking injury free (bear in mind I only injured myself by racing).

I have a rough idea in my head of the mileage I would like to achieve each week, but if a social occassion comes along or I am just not in the mood then I went let that bug me, i'll just come back running more keen the next day.

Tonights run was the first time since The North Face 100 that I have run without knee and ITB supports. I ran a steady pace and I felt great all the way, no pain.

Distance: 8.33km
Time: 37.55 mins
Average pace: 4.33 min/km

Tomorrow I shall be watching The State of Origin so it will be another night where I wont be running long. Instead I can focus on speed and hills and make the most of the time I do have.