Melbourne Trailwalker 100km

Sometimes things go really well.

The Purple Toed Sloths were born from a desire to perform well at this year's Melbourne Trailwalker 100km event. It is an event where teams of 4 travel together over a trail through Melbourne. I had a secret desire to run the whole 100km and better a previous experience (in 2004 with Roxy's Stud Muffins). The name came to me one night as I was looking at my feet, which only had 7 healthy toenails at the time. The 3 other toenails were purple and falling off; a result of another long rogaine in hard country taking it's toll.

How well can we do? I wondered.
It's easy to fall into a trap of thinking that if we trained really, really hard, then we would do really, really well. It doesn't work that way, sometimes the hardest part is getting to the start line in one piece uninjured. I heard of other teams doing huge, long runs of up to 70km. Did they know something that I didn't? Naah, I ignored them. Time will tell, I thought, and we shall see who finishes and is still smiling at the end.

And so Alex, Aaron, Karen and I started training about 15 weeks out from the event. The first few runs were fun - we started our long runs at about 3 hours, and gradually increased from there. We managed to avoid injury, and learn how to feed and water ourselves, and find lots of good bakeries as we went.

As a warmup, we ran the Maroondah Dam 32km trail run. This was a bit of an eye opener, as Aaron, Alex and Karen with Mick struggled in the hills and heat (32oC) outside Healesville. We learnt good lessons on pacing, and how to treat the hills with respect. We then headed up to Sydney and into the Blue Mountains for the Six Foot Track marathon 45km trail run as a test of our conditioning, and did really well. Karen, Aaron, Mick and I ran good races on the hilly course, and finished strongly between 5 and six hours. We totally enjoyed this race, since the finish was so beautiful at Jenolan Caves.

Finally race day for Trailwalker came. We packed the car full of powerfood, water, gels, creamed rice, and fruit. Our support team dropped us in Jells Park, and we signed in nervously as we waited for the 7am start. We mingled with other teams, and met a few people we knew including team Muttley, who were the favorites for the event this year.

With 668 teams, we were in the first wave and set off with the faster teams. We decided to walk along for 5 minutes first to soak in the atmosphere of the event. We soon found ourselves at the end of all the teams, so we took some photos and then started to jog along.


Start - CP1 Churchill Park 12.5km total
The first leg was rather easy and flat and through the burbs on bike trails, and we plodded along with the occasional nervous washroom stop. Being careful not to go too fast too early, we soon started to reel in lots of teams, and came into the checkpoint ahead of our schedule at 1h13m.
CP1 - CP2 Lysterfield Lake 21.5km total
The trail to Lysterfield Lake started with a steep climb, and we walked this section to conserve energy for later. The views from the top of the climb were spectacular, and we ran quick quickly (for an ultra anyway) on the downhill side into Lysterfield Lake. Our race strategy included fast transitions. I felt that we would pass very few teams on the trail during the run, and we were more likely to pass teams in checkpoint areas. This turned out to be the case; we passed a few teams before CP2, then hardly any from then onwards. We met our support team, did a quick shoe change into trail shoes, put on more bodyglide on our feet, ate some yummy rice pudding (thanks Dan!), refilled Mr. Camelbak and then got told to "shove off" by Dan. Wow, we were out of there in about 5 mins flat. We bumped into a friend Ed, who was supporting his own team soon behind us, and said hello.

About this time we started getting SMS messages, and well wishes. These were well appreciated especially later.

CP2 - CP3 Grants Picnic Area 34.8km total
We ran the long forest roads towards Belgrave, traveling well but feeling a bit flat. We had been drinking gatorade or endura so far, and the muggy conditions meant that we had been taking in too many carbs. Karen soon felt sick, so we ditched all our gatorade and refilled at a tap with plain water. Bingo- problem solved and we all soon felt much better. Our running and speed improved as well, and we then hit the killer hills into Belgrave.

These hill hurt, but we had done them 3 or 4 times already in training, so they went quickly. Of course those times we had always ended up in the coffee shop for an egg-and-bacon baguette and a coffee afterwards, but not today. We laughed that the council had smoothed the dirt trail up the killer hills, probably so that we didn't sue them if we tripped over. Pity they didn't do this months ago.

We soon popped into Belgrave, to the cheers of about 20 people waiting for other teams. We had heard that we were in equal 14th place at this stage. The last 3km in this leg involved a very steep climb in the forest up the Grants Picnic Area. We passed another team with a team member in trouble, the first team we had seen for about an hour. Our excellent support team had snuck into Grants to support us (they weren't suppose to), and after a refill of Mr. Camelbak we set of into the forest trails.

CP3 - CP4 Olinda 46.6km total
After about 4 hours of running, things start to get blurry. I still felt well, and was plodding along with my team mates giving them words of encouragement as best I could. But somewhere along here the first small wall came, and I felt things get a bit harder. My legs felt fine, my stomach and feet felt fine, but I felt a bit sleepy. I put it down to the jetlag, had some more food, and soon picked up.

Somewhere in here we climbed up Hartnett Rd, a beast of a climb for about a kilometre that was so steep we resorted to walking backwards up it for a while to save our calves.

We met our wonderful crew again in Olinda, who were all set up and waiting for us. We ate as much food as we could stomach, looked around at all the waiting support crews waiting for their teams to arrive, then left while still eating. I was nervous that we were burning time that wasn't really helping us recover - it was better to keep moving.

Cp4 - CP5 Silvan Dam 54.5km total
Soon out of Olinda, we passed a team with 3 runners who were sadly farewelling their fourth team member. There race was over, as they had to finish with 4 team members to register an official result. They would continue unofficialaly. We soon passed another team of 3 runners, with one of the remaining members cramping. We had been taking salt tablets so far and had no issues with cramps. Karen rolled her ankle on a steep downhill soon after, and we stopped and saw the previous team plod past us.

This was a problem. Only Karen could tell us how serious it was. I saw some fear in her face, and her fighting back tears. Why now? Why here? We hadn't had any issues in the hundreds and hundreds of training kilometres we had run in this area so far.

Had Alex and Aaron had summed up the situation? They were certainly quiet. Karen was quiet and unsure, and in the end I gave her two Ibuprofen pain killers, and we continued on. We moved off again reasonably quickly. At first hobbling, then running reasonably smoothly, her ankle returned to normal. There would be bruising the next day, but from that point onwards Karen ran better than the rest of the team. Focussed on continuing, her running improved from this point forward.

Eerily we entered the empty Silvan Dam checkpoint. Tents, official food and water was at the ready, but no teams to be seen. We had improved to 11th overall. Arriving early left us feeling spooked. Food and water quickly saw us out onto the trail again with another team. We let them go ahead - why race now when there is still 45km to go?

Cp5 - CP6 Graham Colling Reserve 63km total
We ran some favorite trails here, with rolling hills and nice open trail.
Crossing the Warburton Hwy at Mt Evelyn, kids leaving school awaited us on the far side, and they were happy and inquisitive. "Are you racing" they asked. Well yes, we were racing. "Where are you racing to". Well Warburton, I bent the truth so that they could understand, as I doubt they would have heard of Wesburn Park. "Where did you start from?" That would be Melbourne.

Aaron couldn't understand how they knew we were racing, but I supposed the big numbers on our chest could have been a clue. Running 60km by now had slowly dulled his senses, and mine as well. Assuming that we had any sense in signing up for this race in the first place.

They wished us well and hoped that we would win.

So we started the long haul along the Warburton Trail. This is an old Rail Trail, and is both beautiful and mindnumbingly boring at the same time. The trail is uniformly wide and flat for the next 32km, always a steady gradient, and a challenge for the senses. People have gone insane walking this section before, and at night the tedium will be high.

On track for a good result, I strategised a run/walk routine to break the monotony and also conserve endurance. I had arranged help from next checkpoint to ride along with us in the dark and talk to us. We needed everything to help us continue running.

CP6 - CP7 Woori Yallock (Warburton Trail) 76km

Heading off after another longish stop for food, we managed a fast pace. 6min kms during our 5min run sections were very achievable, and our walking pace was fast in the minute recovery.

Did we see any other teams? Do I actually remember seeing any other teams? My mind wandered as I continued plodding along, quickly arriving at the next checkpoint.

CP7 - CP8 Millgrove (Warburton Trail) 90.5km
Somewhere in the previous leg, the going got tough. Not the kind of "harden the fuck up" toughness you need running hills like at Moroondah Dam or Six Foot track marathon. It was more the kind of wobble, wobble, ooooh a pink elephant just floated by on a unicycle wearing a tutu and being chased by a nude midget in a clown suit toughness. I had better chase him. We had hit the second wall.

I had been down this road a few times. My body hadn't quite exhausted itself. I knew I could keep running a lot more, but needed sugar. Red Yeti AR had taught me that rest doesn't help at this point. You can't rest enough to feel better to go faster. Mountaineering has taught me that it's all about moving forward, regardless of speed. Alex couldn't eat, and mumbled more about the clown and the pink elephant. Aaron had sort of disappeared for a while, but was back and soon trying to eat chicken and pasta. Karen looked fine but intense. Probably the sore foot. Support crew looked very worried.

So, I lit the afterburners. Coke, now, and lots please. The whole bottle.

I made Alex drink as much as I did. Which was lots. Four months before, I had given up caffeine. I had felt so much better for it, and it had improved my recovery amazingly after long runs. And now the sugar and caffeine was hitting my body like a java redbull vodka glucose smoothie. Woohoo!

We left the checkpoint heading out the wrong way incorrectly following an exit sign intended for cars. We let the marshals know about it, probably rudely, but I was upset at being led the wrong way.

About here, we bumped into Justin and his team of Angels. I had met him earlier at the start, and online on www.coolrunning.com.au. He seemed a nice enough guy. Justin was struggling as we were - depleted and feeling flat, we walked out and continued on. Bruce, my friend on the mountain bike soon joined us, and the Purple Toed Sloths began their running again as darkness had set. We soon jostled back and forth with Justin, as we ran 4min and walked 2min, and Justin ran some other pattern and walked in between. Bruce was a great assistance, as he continually chatted away with us on stories of past races and Trailwalker04.

Pulling away from Justin's team, unable to see their lights behind us, we continued for the next 15km in the dark.

Run, walk. Run, walk. Repeat.

Cp8 - Finish 100km
By running this last leg the week beforehand, we had a strong understanding of what lay ahead. After 32km of flat wide easy trail, we now faced steep narrow singletrack and some hard climbs.

Bruce soon left us, unable to follow but his job done and our gratitude earned. We started the first climb, and were called by Bruce to let us know that 2 teams were only a few hundred meters behind us. We were in no mood to have to run and resorted to power walking as we slowly climbed.

Somewhere along here I burnt out. There was nothing left. Minimal sleep during the week (two overnight flights), jetlag, and long hours working in Hong Kong took their toll. The others pulled away as my heart rate climbed. They waited for me at the top, and we were soon together again and still walking. We continued to hear the other teams gaining. We had though we were still in 11th place. We started to run the flats. Run, run run. It was working fine until I crashed to the ground.

As I lay there, I cramped as well. Shit. Ouch. Fuckkkkkk. Blood. Ripped running gear. Dust. Can't I lie here for a while? So much for the hand bottle which usually lessens the impact of a fall. I had fallen on my side. After a while, I rose, and walked. The other team will soon catch us. Who cares? I certainly didn't.

But funny things happen during a race. I started to care.
Why should Justin's team beat us?
We increased our power walking pace. Justin and one angel passed us, and were soon far ahead. But the other two angels were still behind us, as we started a steep descent.

I started to trot along. Aaron probably skipped. He liked skipping. For me it hurt too much.
Karen was soon running with me. And Alex. We caught Justin and Angel 1 who had stopped for his two angels behind us. I kept running. We pulled away.

I am not sure when I realised that we were pulling far away. I reached the last steep climb of the race, about 900m up. I worked the climb as hard as I could, but this still involved a few stops to catch my breath, hands on knees, head down.

At the top of this last climb, I knew we had them. No lights behind. And we could run from there. And we did. A slow trot, but that is all you can do at the end of 100km. My Garmin305 said 101km already. Bummer. But there was still a kilometer to go and we could see the finish lights. A slow trot down a steep power line, then through the bush to the finish. I called Dan to tell them know to expect us in a few minutes.















Finish 9th Place overall, 2nd mixed team, 14 hours and 47minutes.
Crossing the finish line was a great feeling. We held hands and skipped across the line. Our friends were there and congratulated us, taking photos. Dan and Max, of course, were first to congratulate us. They had helped us achieve a great result. Mick, and Craig and Cath came out also and saw us finish. It was great to have friends there at the end.

End Result
Race done, 100km run. 9th place overall out of 668 teams in 14hours 47mins.
Very, very good day out.