Fraser Darcy

Following Tuesday’s km reps from last week the rest of my time in Adelaide was spent recovering and tapering in preparation for the Brisbane Trail Ultra 20km. I didn’t have that much on my plate this week so enjoyed wasting time by driving to head out for my runs on Wednesday and Thursday and just kept them pretty easy. It’s a bit annoying tapering. I like running of course, so to have to restrict that in order to respect the science of tapering and improve my performance is like I said, annoying. If you’re new here welcome, introductions always seem relatively boring to me so I’ve skipped it and gotten straight in. You’ll pick up the swing of things.

It’s not annoying looking back on the taper though, knowing it’s complete and knowing that I feel fresher because of it. I had these thoughts of course while I was getting myself to Brisbane in a much more relaxed manner than last year. It was nice feeling somewhat familiar with the airport and Airtrain, along with the Brisbane CBD. The Brisbane heat also felt familiar but wasn’t as welcome as most tourists find it. I knew I had to keep on top of my fluids on the day before the race while I collected my bib and checked into my hotel.

That was about all I had to do on the day before the race. I spent a fair bit of it relaxing in the park waiting to check-in to my hotel, so much so that the homeless man next to me asked if I was all good. Well that’s a first. I eventually did check in, went for a short run to get my bib, bumped into some running friends (and eventual winners) and then went back to relax. Having walked around Brisbane enough on the hunt for food I didn’t need to venture any further once it came to dinner time. Brisbane is full of weirdo’s in my opinion and this was rammed home further at the stand up comedy in the hotel restaurant (watch the video below pls to get an idea). It was so bad it was funny. Which is maybe their strategy?

It doesn’t matter to you what their strategy is, you’re probably wondering what my Brisbane strategy was and how I went. Well, I hoped to finish in the top 3 and have a lovely fast run in the 1hr 40 -1hr 50 time category. I was confident I could run with the pack to start with and then just keep myself in the top 3 as the race progressed. The opposite of that happened.

I started out conservatively fast, having now learnt not to speed off the start line unnecessarily. This put me at the back of the fast top ten and we were already hooting along some grass and single track. After the very tight first km, I had settled into 8th-10th and was content there knowing the top three were just twenty metres up the road. Maybe that was my first mistake to not be in the thick of it to start with but it would’ve taken some absolute 10/10 running up a slight hill to catch them. I was betting that I’d slowly reel them in instead.

After the first 3km’s I thought the gap was widening even though I felt my work rate was increasing. We were going uphill and I knew that there were some big climbs early on and late in the finish so I didn’t want to push things too hard. I’ve done that before in trail running races and not finished strong. Today I was playing the smarter, wiser runner card. Another factor in this was the heat and humidity of the day felt like a massive change compared to Quorn/Adelaide. I have a good resume of strong performances in the cold and poor performances in the heat. With that knowledge I again kept it controlled while I felt things were heating up. Don’t cook yourself early like you did at Five Peaks, Worlds and Hounslow. It was almost as if I was betting that everyone else would blow up and I’d Steven Bradbury it to the finish.

That didn’t happen. This being the Golden Trail National Series Final, half the field in front of me was either a QLD’er or NSW person so they were adjusted to the heat. The other half were from Victoria or ACT and were probably just better than me. And have smaller frames. Even though this recap sounds awfully miserable I could still see the top 6 in front of me (I was 7th at the time) going up a big climb at the 6th km. Oh, you’re not doing terrible, they’re still there, keep believing. Then they shot off downhill. Shit, I’m not as good as them at downhills.

By the time I made it up and over the second biggest climb of the course at the 9km mark I was still in 7th but also still really feeling it. At the 11km mark I thought, we’re in danger here, you have no pizzaz in your legs, you’re hot and you’re not very positive even though you’re trying very hard to be. I probably should’ve continued to try and change my attitude to be a bit more positive, but I just felt that overcooked already I was too concerned about my ability to finish. To rectify it, I went into the mode of at worst, it’s just a training run for your next race, get something out of it and just treat it as a long run.

That made me pull through the next couple of km’s to the 13km mark where I was able to re-fill a bottle of water. I had drunk 1L already and probably should’ve filled up both again but just went the one 500mL bottle. I was passed by another runner I know, who trains on these trails and I just thought this blokes wearing a shirt and some long shorts and looks like he’s not sweating that much. I’m absolutely dripping. This is messed up. I let him go and dropped into 8th.

I continued running along in 8th for a while, doing my best, trying to get something out of it and punish myself for doing not as I hoped by running as fast as I could manage. I found it hard to get into a rhythm as there were so many turns and junctions to stay aware of. But everyone has to deal with that so why can’t you just suck it up and deal with it too? Yeah good point, but maybe I’m just scared of making a wrong turn (which did happen to the leader of the race who I eventually beat after he overheated and blew up). Anyway, I was in 8th for a while before I got passed at the 16/17km mark by a random runner which was a real blow to the ego. Everyone else in front of me was someone who was ‘elite’ in some form so to be passed by a local was a bit humbling for someone who had travelled to this race. I kept him in sight for a few km’s hoping to hang on to him.

When we crested the final climb at the 21km mark I knew there was 4-5km’s of singletrack that was mostly downhill to go until the finish. I let loose here and took off all the brakes in an effort to remain in the top ten, if not catch 8th. There were some small uphills along this stretch that really tested me but I kept getting glimpses of old mate in front so I kept the foot down. At the 23km mark I again felt I was in real danger of not making it to the finish but kept working believing that it might be all downhill (there were some minor uphills) and it might finish, if I was lucky, at 25.0km not 25.5km as advertised. I passed 9th around the 24km mark and knew I had 1km to hold on to so I kept running at what felt like the hardest effort level I’ve pushed myself to this year. I felt depleted and absolutely cooked with some small cramps coming on but was trying to get the most out of myself. When we still hadn’t finished at the 25.5km mark I was getting worried I’d estimated my finish all wrong but luckily it was just around the corner at 25.8km.

So I finished in the end, in 8th position 19 minutes behind 1st place. The last few km’s showed to me that I did give it my best and got everything out of myself as a correctly paced race for my ability and adjustment to the conditions. What frustrates me is that I felt the result doesn’t reflect the effort level/ability I have and that I was limited because my inability to run in the heat. I should not have been so naive as I have been in the past about the effect heat has on me and should prepare accordingly next time. OR JUST NOT CHOOSE RACES THAT START AT 9:FORTY-FUCKING-FIVE AM in Brisbane in mid 20’s degree heat with 70%+humidity.

A result like mine provides a lot of learnings and raises a few questions. These are all best summarised below:

Pro’s	Con’s	Things to learn from and do better
Gave it a shot at least. Won’t die wondering about what my result would’ve been.	Didn’t win or come top 3. I don’t like losing.	Take heat acclimation more seriously.
Further evidence I might not be as good as I hope at trail running on longer courses.	Lost time on the downhills even though I felt pretty strong.	Have more mental cues mid-race when things aren’t going well to adjust my attitude
Made it to the end despite feeling cooked.	Didn’t really find it that fun but maybe that’s because I was unhappy with my result.	Keep putting myself in challenging races
Travelled pretty stress free

On top of this table (or below it as it seems) this result makes me wonder if I’m actually better off pursuing more road races in the short term future and shorter trail races. I enjoy trail races in SA but maybe that’s because I am on my own and win them a lot. I probably wouldn’t enjoy them any different to how I enjoyed Brisbane if the same field of athletes rocked up to a TRSA event. I think I can enjoy road races irrespective of the competition because of the focus on times you can enjoy in a road race. I am also progressing with my speed and road running ability more so than on the trails. An example is in the twelve months between races in Brisbane have I actually improved much on the trails? The answer is maybe not but I have improved my speed, which hasn’t translated to success on the trails.

It is perhaps still too close to Brisbane to make any concrete decisions but I am at least inclined to focus on road races for the next few months if not the rest of the year and adjust my trail running goals to shorter, faster races at the moment. With that in mind, I got straight to work on getting a successful road race back under my belt by having a crack at the Pichi Richi Half Marathon Course Record the very next day after Brisbane.

This appears as quite a strange thing, why would you bother? Did you really push yourself at Brisbane if you think you’re capable of a solid half the next day? What is there to gain? Firstly, I wanted to bother because running the Pichi Richi marathon two years ago actually got me back into taking running quite seriously. Plus, I coached a few people entered in the event and it’s easier if I can talk to them first-hand about their races rather than over text. Secondly, yes I pushed myself at Brisbane having felt out of my comfort zone in the final few km’s. I raced Brisbane with the mindset of not bothering with Pichi Richi. When I finished I didn’t even do a warm-down I was that sore and tired. I re-fuelled over the course of the afternoon and evening with; hot chips, a beer, strawberry milk, a chicken wrap, a pie, a sausage roll, pringles, another beer, a cevapcici in bread and finally roast potatoes and pumpkin. Not exactly ‘carb-loading’ for a marathon but all items were chosen to reward myself for Brisbane and not worrying about the next thing. Thirdly, I could gain the confidence of knowing I can back up between events, extra strength conditioning for my legs, motivating other runners to give things a crack even though it might not be ‘the done thing’, performing in front of local Quorn people and having a crack at the course record. As I went to bed on Saturday night I was still unsure of what I’d do in the morning, if I woke up at 4:30am and felt fresh I’d go, if I slept in till 6am then I wouldn’t.

4:30am came around on Sunday morning and I woke up without an alarm (but I have been waking up at this hour occasionally over the last few weeks). Well, it’s now or never, I may as well try at least and see if I can get there. So I got up and started getting organised knowing I was under a little bit of time pressure when I then checked my phone and realised it was only 4am. My watch hadn’t changed over to Adelaide time yet as it hadn’t synced with my Suunto app. I had gained half an hour and felt like luck was on my side.

I had some porridge and honey with a coffee, packed my bag and got out by 4:20am. Plenty of time to stop and re-fuel at Port Wakefield and continue to further debrief my Brisbane race in my head while listening to a Wimbledon preview podcast. I again, still wasn’t sure if I’d go for the course record but just continued along with my attitude of well, I may as well try and see what happens.

I arrived at the start line an hour and a bit before the start and was able to relax and get some life into my legs after the 4hr drive. If I was back in Adelaide I’d probably be going for a 10km jog in the morning plus a 6km jog at night so worst case scenario I’ll just jog 10-15kms in the race and get a lift into town. Of course, I don’t think I’d ever be happy with a scenario like that but it was still an option. I met Georgia at the start line who’d been up since Friday and we warmed up together. There was a good chance she could win or at least podium as well which would’ve been cool to see.

In the warm up I felt a bit sore in my quads and glutes but otherwise good. I knew I wasn’t that tired because I hadn’t felt like drifting off to sleep on the drive up which happens to me when I’m in a really big training load. The taper leading into Brisbane had freshened me right up. When I put my super shoes on for the race my muscles felt even better with a bit more cushioning beneath my feet.

I chatted with some other runners whom I knew from other SA road running events and was still a bit sheepish about my ability to go for the course record. When asked about the possibility of it being broken I said ‘well, I raced in Brisbane yesterday so I’m not sure how it’ll go but I think I might try and just see what happens’. I felt like I was already building an excuse in my head which isn’t something I’d suggest to people as it usually means they are not whole-hearted about their intentions. Maybe I was fortunate in that the course record, 1:14:04 set in the 1980’s by local MP Eddie Hughes, was just ‘slow’ enough for me to bit a little bit off my mental and physical game that it didn’t matter.

Anyway, off the start I went out at my normal half marathon/tempo effort. Course record pace was 3:30/km but with the course being uphill for the first 13.5km’s I had estimated that as long as I got to the top of the hill averaging 3:35/km I’d be able to make up enough time on the downhill to chase down the record. The extra difficulty was that there was a very gusty headwind in the first 3-4km’s that really tested my motivation. I felt good in the first km but my speed was probably a bit slower than I hoped. It wasn’t the 3:35/km average at all and I was getting a bit negative about the headwind which was actually forecast to be a tailwind. Fuck this, I’ve raced poorly at Brisbane, get all the way up here and it’s swirling around in my face. Give me a break Mother Nature. With that negative attitude I decided to try and run harder up the hills If Mother Nature won’t give me a break, I’ll try and break myself. It’s not something that’s probably condoned in modern day schools, getting mad and trying to punish yourself with exercise and negative self-talk but it’s a strategy that’s worked in the past for me and is my version of white line fever.

Into the 4th km I started to get a cramp in my abs that wasn’t a stitch. Here we go, you’re already breaking down you idiot. As if you thought this was possible. Well I’ll show you internal monologue. I pushed a bit harder and started to find the rhythm I missed in Brisbane and enjoyed running on the closed beautiful road that is the Flinders Ranges Way.

As I moved further along the course I continued to bring my average down closer and closer to 3:35/km. So much so that by the 10km mark it was below 3:35/km. Shit. I am giving this a good go. When I passed the 10.5km start I got a real boost from some familiar faces. I carried this on for a couple of km’s before I caught sight of the 2nd placed marathoner who I know from previous Pichi Richi’s. I passed him just as I crested the final hill and still had 3:34/km average on my watch. The CR was on. I opened my legs on the downhill and started knocking out some sub 3:10/km’s. At the 5 km to go mark I got another boost from the crowd doing the 5km run. With about 3km’s to go I passed the 1st placed marathoner whom I also knew. I was chasing him for a few km’s and as I went past him I was now 95% confident I’d break the record as long as I didn’t monumentally lose all my energy. The loss of having someone to chase though made the last 3km’s really difficult and my 95% confidence went to 80% at one point and then to 50%. With 1km to go I knew I had an extra minute and a bit to get in under 1:14:04 and enjoyed running the final stretch of the North Quorn Parklands loop (as referenced in many blogs on this website) and into the oval. I did it. A new CR of 1:12:32 or about 3:25/km. If I was 100% fresh maybe I could do sub 70 but to still run a time that would come top 5 on many flat marathons in Adelaide on such a hilly course after my Brisbane race is impressive. I’ll be proud of that race for a while.

What I am also proud of is how in the 12 months between Pichi Richi events I have continued to build my connections within Quorn and running (as a result of being a Coach) giving me plenty of people to talk to post event. It’s a fair difference between this Pichi Richi and the first one I did two years ago as well when Steve Moneghetti was the ambassador. Another interesting point to make is that I wonder which of the two events impacted people more; my 8th place finish in one of the most competitive trail running races in Australia in Brisbane? Or a CR in a small town half marathon? In my immediate community I think the Pichi Richi success means more which has always been a bit of a bugbear of mine about trail running and athletes competing overseas for that matter. If people can’t directly see and interact with sport then they are far more likely to gloss over it. The Australian Cricket team’s performance in the T20 world cup in the Carribean compared to a home T20 world cup is another example of how differently things are treated when they are right under our noses.

In terms of my ability and decision in the end to do two hard things in a row on a weekend I would like to point out that I was able to do both events because in my view, they are far easier than backing up days of skiing or sea kayaking or climbing where you are camping and cooking food and staying dry and warm. I stayed in a bed on Saturday night, food was either purchased or made from the fridge at Mum and Dad’s and I had a comfortable time before, during and after the race essentially. I channeled the spirit of a climbing gun in the 70’s, Henry Barber, who used to do things like this a lot when it wasn’t the done thing. There are reports of Henry climbing in the UK on one day and then doing a very hard climb in the US the very next day. I was at least sticking to the same country. The point is though with this, I rank a lot more days in my outdoor ed career as far tougher than doing two running races back to back, hence, while it wasn’t easy to finish off at Pichi Richi, it was still easier than a number of other adventures I’ve done.

In addition to that point, I am also fortunate that I can do these things because my life is pretty simple. What else after Brisbane would I have done? Slept in probably, gone for a jog like I said and then sat on the couch. All that was different was that instead of sleeping in I sat in the car for 4 hrs, and instead of jogging I ran a bit faster and longer than usual and then I sat on the couch for the rest of the afternoon. I don’t have that much work to do or a family or a pet or massive house jobs to take care of so it allows me to relax very well and reload for the next training session (I have engineered my life to be that way though, it’s not without some sacrifices).

Which is obviously sometime this week! At the time of writing on Monday afternoon I’m about to head back to Adelaide for some climbing work with Port Augusta (on their annual climbing trip in Adelaide) and will be back training with RunAsOne on Tuesday morning. I am likely to just jog as I’m a bit sore from the weekend but not as bad as I thought. I would like to get two quality sessions in this week and a long run so that my training for the next few races I have my eye on can continue. This weekend will be a failure if I can’t get back into normal training this week. So, I’ll be doing my best recovering to make sure that happens and in the meantime, hunting down pictures to add to this blog! An event like Brisbane will usually hold onto their pictures for a few days while they set-up their payment system to charge for photos while the Pichi Richi ones will continue to get uploaded at some stage. That’s enough talking for one blog though, thanks for reading to the end!

*If you’re wondering how Georgia went, she eventually ran 1:29 and finished second only a minute or so behind first and a few minutes off the very respectable female course record of 1:26.