Easter Sunday Training - Sunrise to Moonrise at Broken Hills

 My day started in darkness, with a 12 km slog to spot a beautiful sunrise over a foggy valley, then tramp through the swampiest ridge I've ever experienced to reach Hihi trig and hunt for a geocache.

 My day ended in darkness with Taryn and I setting ourselves a tough night bush bash through scrub, bushland, farmland and streams.  This will henceforth be known as the day when the phrase "is that ground?" was first started, as I found myself scrambling on windfall only to peer down between branches and spot my headtorch hitting the ground some distance below - realising I was suspended over a bank.  Fantastic adventure and great learning opportunities in our nav mistakes! 

Whakatane Adv Race - Coasteering and Jet Boats

Whakatane Adventure Race

This year the Whakatane Race is held in February - to highlight some of Whakatanes coastal gems in the warmer weather.  Unfortunately a storm in the days beforehand resulted in a flooded river and high seas, and a significant portion of the coasteering section had to be shortened.  Still, great fun to be had!

To start with, Rochelle had to spend 5 minutes memorising things in the Stirling Sports Store, then answer a quiz; followed by chaos as we had one of Neil Jones' favourite - find-all-the-letters-on-the-trees scrambles.  After finding only a few letters we had a good guess and were off on foot.  Early nav was good, as many teams stopped and hunted for the checkpoint hidden "under the blue slide" but at the wrong playground.  We were able to keep running and skip in front of a number of people.

We hit the coastline and settled in for the sand slog.  In hindsight, we reckon these early beach sections are really taxing - and may be best cut short.  It's risky to miss checkpoints early in the race though - if you get everything else you can't come back to pick them up.  No problems navving through the tidal islands, picking good routes we got back to the river crossing.  Due to the risk of being wiped out by a passing tree, this had been 'downgraded' from a boogie board swim to a very cool speed ride on the tiniest tin jet boat I've ever seen!  Definitely a highlight!

Back on the South side of the river, we had to wear bike helmets and life jackets for the remainder of the 14km run.  It was hot; and I've added a lightweight life vest to my list of required equipment.  Early on we hit a steep bush climb to hit the Toi's trail and my summer of no-training became apparent as I tried to keep my heart under control and chased Chelle up the cliff face.  From here we hit some fun coasteering, working our way around the cliffs, in places jumping off reefs between the surging waves.  Some of the CPs in caves and outcrops had been cut due to the high seas; they must have been brilliant as the course organisers were pretty disappointed.

Hitting the swim checkpoint, we had planned to skip this - but the buoy wasn't far off and others seemed to be swimming without their life jackets, which we had thought would be really slow to wear.  A quick check with the coastguard confirmed I could leave it on the beach, I reckoned I had a swim in me so headed off to cool down.  I hadn't carried my goggles all this way for nothing!  Another steep climb up to the transition and we needed to decide whether to carry on for the last few kms of road running up to the trig for CPs.  Tough call, I could see Chelle was keen, but her gazelle legs would carry her way faster than mine!  Our plan when racing together is to do more of the run and keep her out of trouble on the bike - but.........I felt there were more points to be gained on the bike and didn't want to be short of time to complete the 'intermediate' loop. I called it and we headed straight to the bikes.  

I'm not sure there is anything as nerve racking as being a maths teacher and having to solve a maths problem in an adventure race.  Pressure!  Solved and sorted, we headed out on bikes.  After getting off the road on to the farmland, there was a little bit of nav to be done and the maps not very detailed.  At one CP there was a crew of people searching the wrong side of a stream and I was able to sneak in and out unnoticed with an evil laugh.  That become swear words when I completely lost any advantage on the next CP, hunting way too early in the wrong stand of poplar trees.  *&^*&*

Off through the gravel roads, down a nice cut track and into the woolsheds where Aucklander Rochelle made quick work of flipping a sheep at the mystery activity.  I was desperate to get to the orienteering loop and try my skills out and Rochelle was quiet but still smiling - we made quick work of the 5 checkpoints and raked in the points.  At this point we were likely to be late into the finish; but on checking the time penalites and doing some maths I thought the final bike loop was well worth the time, as we picked up another handful of points and enjoyed a cool downhill into the school, hitting 24km in total on the bikes.  Even though everyone else was finished, we headed to the beach and waded for the final two checkpoints, again earning more points than we lost in penalties. 

A solid enough race - no major problems unless a major lack of fitness in the navigator counts?  Rochelle keeps gaining strength on the bike - gamely hanging on and passing people with more cycling pedigree than she has.  Crikey, she never rides a bike at all!  Pretty rapt in amongst the tough Whakatane crowd to pick up second, though I had to grin at our "run strong" race philosophy with our points card showing we were one of the highest scoring teams on the bike section............. sorry Chelle!  :) 

TUM Pacing

My friend Jade ran Tarawera Ultra Marathon 60km in 2014 during Cyclone Lusi.  The following year I did the 60km in perfect conditions.  2016 is her year for 100km - and while it's not technically a cyclone, in some ways the weather conditions are even more difficult.

Days and days of heavy rain see the trails absolutely sodden, race reports abound of the difficulty of running the boggy slippery trails.  In the days after the event we learn that it was the lowest success rate of any TUM year, and they ran out of 65km medals due to the number of people downgrading to the shorter distance after not making their goals.

Heading into TUM 'we' are feeling strong.  I feel like there is definitely a 'we' in this.  This event has focussed my run training and given me a goal - hers is to get to the finish line.  Mine is to get her there.  We've trained hard, worked out our required pace to make cut off and ran our training on race specific trails to stay within the cut off times.  We have had very clear discussions over our hours of travelling and training.  She IS to get to the finish line, through all pain and hurts and injuries.  I've checked with her husband who is also adamant that finishing is the only option.

As I wait in the persistent rain at the Tarawera Outlet, time creeps along.  Jade has been running, drenched, since before the sun came up.  She comes through with a smile, and I set off with her on my 45km adventure to her 100km finish line in Kawerau.  The trails through to Tarawera Falls are lovely, and I'm trying to gauge Jade's day so far, her energy levels, motivation and the toll the mudfest has taken on her so far.  I'm also calculating the pace we need to get to Titoki before the cut off - or we get short coursed on to the 85km.  Through all our training, we pushed to meet cut off pace, but I never thought we'd be racing for it.  I realise as we approach the Falls, that we need to race for it, and Jade and I have a frank conversation.  Having refuelled just 5km earlier, changed socks and had a brief rest, she has no plans to waste time at this aide station.  This is where the 65km runners finish, so there are lots of spectators and quite an atmosphere.  However, we ignore it all, take the chute for the 85 and 100 km runners, and with Jade leading the way and me on her tail we head straight back out onto the road. 

(Jade tells me later that as we ran through here, the announcer called her name over the loudspeaker saying that her pacer obviously had the cutoff in mind and was keeping her going.  I didn't hear a thing, as I was so focussed on pace calculations and working out how best to increase our speed when Jade had worked so hard for so long already.)

That 12kms I'll always remember as one of the hardest things I've done.  That's quite hilarious when I wasn't the one who had run through 60km of bogfest!   But in front of me was a friend, exhausted and in pain, and every time she slowed down I told her to speed up.  When she walked up a hill I made her start running again as soon as it flattened.  Every time she faltered I slapped her with that cutoff reminder and made her life hell.  I'm not sure that pacing really fits with my life philosophy, as I ran behind her with tears on my cheeks just wanting to say "You've done brilliantly, this is way too hard, in these conditions 85km would still be a great achievement." 

She chatted for a while with another runner who was really struggling on their own.  When we were separated from them for a bit, I wondered if we should encourage them to stick with us to the cut off.  "I don't need friends right now" was the gist of her reply.   Focussed!

12km later, with a few minutes to spare, we ran out of Titoki Aid Station and had our own mini celebration.  It's funny how the race can feel won with 28km still to run.  Jade is so strong, I knew there was no stopping her now. We made our way through the "Loop of Despair", we made our way along the forestry roads, we ran into the darkness and on through the darkness.  Relentless forward motion and now Jade was hunting people down.  As we saw headlights in the distance, her pace would pick up just slightly until we had caught, passed them and left them behind. 

102 km to Kawerau and as Jade ran through to the finish line with a decent amount of form, I was able to slip around the outside of the finish chute.  Standing in the dark, watching her hug her husband and greet friends, I was overwhelmed with what she had achieved in the toughest TUM yet.  My presumption had been that pacing would be a natural progression to signing up for the 102km myself the following year.  She is so strong, so balanced in her strength, so determined - it made me consider my knee pains during my 60km, and doubt the likelihood that 100km would be within my body's limits.

 

Holdsworth/Jumbo - What a way to start 2016

 

 

The sun rises on 2016. 

I heard about the Jumbo/Holdsworth race while hunting for Wairarapa runs - so out I went.  Stunning to watch the sun come up on the new year, while working hard and exploring somewhere new.  In the actual race, entrants can choose which way around they run the loop.  I'd run it the OPPOSITE way of what I did today! 

Jumbo Holdsworth - 24km - and I've somehow deleted the Garmin file so no data!!

Wellington Coast and the Cattery

A road trip with the girls from Tauranga to Wellington.
Wellington City Christmas with the Hambrooks.
And a few days on Somes Island -  less than 4 square kilometres.

I needed to run.  Far and Farther.  To feel a bit wild.  So, after scouring a map and coming up with a basic plan, Tom dropped me at Owhiro Bay.  I had spied an access which I reckoned I could hit by running around the beach; and would then take me up to the Makara Mountain Bike park, where I could run into town back to Sarah's place.  Plan B was a far more sensible shorter run around the beach and up through the wind turbines.

Tom:  "It's nearly 5pm - I think you'd better take the sensible option."

Really - we've been together for 18 years and he thought I'd hear anything other than "be a girls blouse, go the easy road".  Challenge laid - hell or high water I was not cutting this short.

It took me over an hour of beach running to regret that decision.  Beach running on shin deep soft sand filling my shoes.  Scenery was stunning though.  As per usual with navigation - it's tricky to work out quite where you are.  Funny that.  So when I hit a couple of houses and a big "No Trespassers" sign, I kept running.  But not much further and I stopped to talk to a 'local' who told me all I could get to if I kept going north was Taranaki.  So I turned around and followed some divers - figuring they must have driven in somehow.  After jumping the fence not far from the "No Trespassers" sign (can I pretend I didn't see that?) they got in their ramshackle car and I hit them up for information.  "Do I go this way to Newtown?".  Four big blokes in wetsuits and swannies looked at me and their jaws dropped in unison to hit their chests.

"In the city?" 
"Yes"
"It's a long way"
"That's OK".
"Yeah, it's that way."

And off I went.  Cell phone flat.  Late.  Knowing Tom would start getting grouchy VERY soon.  A long painful run where I was too stressed to be able to rest.  Eventually I arrived in Makara, and knocked on the door at the cattery.  It takes a special person to live with so many cats.  The stench of stale cigarette smoke and urine hit me as soon as the door was opened, but I was able to borrow the phone to ring for my rescuers.

Tarawera Trail Marathon

It's probably not a good idea enter a marathon (in your non-running year) just because you have a discount coupon......  luckily for me, this marathon was enough of an adventure to barely count as a run event.

I like that the Tarawera Marathon is a retracing of history's footsteps, a retracing of the route the locals of Mount Tarawera took to flee the eruption which destroyed the famous pink and white terraces.  It's an event which has attracted a lot of local Maori, running and walking to retrace ancestral paths.  It's a variety of terrain, forest, bush, lakes, trails, paths, climbs and descents. 

Race report:  The only thing I need to put into words is the fact that I was flying down the Tarawera Trail over the last 15km.  I was hauling people in, on the nicest part of the track, having a great time.  With only 2km to go, I hit the last hill.  And then I remembered that the last hill was 4km from the finish line.  My Garmin was wrong and my world imploded - those final 4km were a killer.  My saving grace was passing a young bloke running his first marathon, and goading him into running with me - we kept each other going right to the soft sand of Lake Tarawera.


Other than that - a picture paints a thousand words.  One happy camper.  

Broken Hills 24 hour

24 hours of...................

Mud
Blackberries
Toil
Challenges
Adventure
Rivers
Caves
Impenetrable bush

Wow - it was definitely 24 hours of adventure.  And we didn't even go for the full 24 hours! 

Pre-race philosophy: Finish in one piece, still married, finish happy. 

Tom and I don't get to race together much at all - in my first 24 hour adventure race I was feeling pretty nervous.  Too nervous to feel responsible for taking my usual female teammates into wild bush, in the dark, and possibly getting them lost.  Tom was the safety net option. 

Leg 1:  MTB Broken Hills to State highway and SUP leg.  Managed to cling on to breakaway group on this, and grabbed ourselves a Stand Up Paddleboard.  Tom stood and paddled while I kneeled on the front and tried not to get too wet and cold.

Leg 2:  Trek up towards pinnacles to the Dam, then the course setters favourite trick of having us boulder hop down a stream bed for hours.  From the bottom of the stream bed we had to head bush up to the mouth of Collins Tunnel - knowing that if we headed East too early we'd go right over the tunnel with nothing to stop us till we got to the top of the hill in an extreme overshoot.  Guess what..... yes, we overshot!!  Hence a fairly stressful 40 minutes or so - unsure which direction to head in, until we heard some voices and managed to bust back down right at the tunnel mouth.  In hindsight our bush nav is not strong enough, we should have remained in the stream bed and continued climbing right to the trail, rather than gambling on navigating to the tunnel directly. 

Leg 3:  MTB:  Heading through transition we crossed paths with a number of friends on the 3 and 6 hour event - was heartening to get a few cheers as we headed out on bikes but this quickly faded into silence broken only by the sound of my own swearing.  Firstly we spent 45 minutes trying to find our way around the river without having to swim down it with our bikes.  SURELY the course setter didn't mean us to do that, there must be a better way.  It turns out..... no.... we did need to drag/float our bikes down the thigh high river.  This was the first of many non-cycling hurdles on the bike leg.  After a quick cliff jump, we headed off onto the knee-deep mud and dragged our bikes around for an hour or so.  Literally.  I couldn't even wheel my bike, let alone ride it.  Every 10 seconds or so, a rugby ball sized clump of mud collected in frame blocking the back wheel and I had to claw it out.  I was a very unhappy bunny!  Further challenges on this leg were having to bush bash through thick scrub and blackberry vs risk drowning trying to swim a river with our bikes...... Tom having to literally throw our bikes up big banks........ before we finally hit the farmland.  By this stage I was in survival mode and settled in to follow, as he took all the nav through the tricky farmland with very few features to work from.  It was a bit frustrating to constantly be passed by a team of men, all riding faster than me... only to catch them at the next checkpoint where they watched where Tom went then rode past to beat us there again.  ^%&%&%&**  We were rapt to push hard and get through all the CPs by dark, with only the simpler return trip to do under lights.  Teams after us really struggled to navigate to CPs without the benefit of daylight, so this was a bit of a key achievement really. 

Leg 4:  Trek:  Heading into a trek, at 10pm, after 15 hours of slog, in the dark and cold.... was quite exciting really!  It was a relief to be off the bike, which was more of a drag than a bike.  The night was calm and still - no one had lost their toys, their mind, or their bowels - quite a positive feeling pervailed really.  Of course an hour or two of absolutely dense bush bashing with no depth perception in the dark is a good way to re-introduce the adventure to the adventure race.  Tom was like Thomas the Tank Engine, forcing his way brutally through the bush, flattening it down to make an easier path for me..... and the two teams of school kids who knew they were on to a good thing and just sat in the carriages letting him do all the work.  Again, his nav was spot on, and near the top we quietly lost the others and popped out onto easy walking under powerlines and zoomed ahead.  We picked up the next few CPS before a distance misjudgement saw us in circles for nearly an hour under the stars.  Eventually we backtracked to our last known point, and finally I was able to contribute some worth and nav us to the next CP while Tom took a break.  At this stage, we decided to veto the final loop of 4 checkpoints across farmland, knowing we still had a decent hike back to the finish.  Our plan had always been to finish early, knowing that 24 hours was a big jump for us.  We spent what seemed like hours walking, climbing, clambering down a steep stream bed.  By this stage my body was on autopilot, early hours of the morning, trying not to fall asleep, so I wasn't exactly spritely.  Each step I had to crouch down, put my hands on the rocks and carefully lower myself down.  Tom told me the next day there were loads of eels in the ponds which he scared away and just didn't mention at the time!


Summary:
This slightly boring recap can't really reflect the race.  The 24 hour race largely happened away from the bulk of the other events, so no photos of us, and I'm writing this 6 months later.  We signed up for a challenge and we bloody well got one.  It was a reality check for me, wanting to move into longer events, that I'm not physically strong enough.  I would have had to start digging holes under fences, if Tom hadn't have been there to lift my bike over it.  I would have panicked to have had responsibility for losing our way in tough thick bush navigation.  I would have not trusted to push on even when the terrain seemed ridiculous.  A huge challenge.   Probably the best thing of all, was the success of racing with Tom.  The reminder of what a good team we are.  Who would have thought that all the challenges of parenting together through sleep deprivation and adverse challenges, without enough time to cook a proper meal, would be such specific training to an actual event???   There were times when we were tired, tense and frustrated.  But not with each other.  I was reminded what a rock he is for me when the going gets tough, and I was in awe of (and dependant on) his physical strength. 

Two Halves - 2nd in the adult mixed duathlon.  We were well off the times of the gun teams in the mixed kayaking division, but still pretty pleased!