Staged Race training program for the 8-day, 400km Cape Wrath Ultra

I've been thinking hard about what to do for my training over the next 4 months to get ready for the CWU in May 2018. With 10 years of ultra running under my belt, I've done my fair share of training and racing, here is a list of what I've done to date:

• Three Marathons in Three Days Ultra (126.6km, Cairns Tablelands, 2012-2017), 
• UTA100 (100km, Blue Mountains, 2016), 
• Blackall 100 (100km, Sunshine Coast Hinterland, 2015), 
• Kokoda Challenge (96km, PNG, 2007) - my first ultra race
• Comrades Marathon (89km, South Africa, 2013, 2014, 2017), 
• Kuranda to Port Douglas Ultra (64km, 2011-2017), 
• Australia Running Festival Ultra (50km, Canberra, 2017), 
• Surfcoast Century (50km, Anglesea, 2015), 
• Inca Trail (45km, Peru, 2008), 
• Great Ocean Road Marathon (45km, 2015), 
• Melbourne Marathon (2012-2014), 
• Gold Coast Marathon (2006, 2007, 2009, 2017), 
• Townsville Marathon (2012, 2016, 2017), 
• Sydney Marathon (2014), 
• Hobart Marathon (2009), 
• Xiamen Marathon (2015) - although you'll not find my name on the results for this race as I ran using someone else's bib!
• and numerous half marathons and other shorter races over the past 11 years.

For the CWU, I'm changing my focus a bit from pure endurance training to the following:

1. run on the trails as frequently possible 
2. run hills - up and down
3. do two 'Shock weeks', including back to back runs, gear check & nutrition check
4. do strength training, mobility training and balance training
5. know how to look after my own feet
6. know how to do some basic maintenance on my own body

To this end, I've put the following in place:

Run on the trails as frequently possible.

Fortunately for me, we have a network of trails that start about 2km from my front door! It's called the Arrows, and there are endless combinations to choose from. I'll be doing an Arrows run at least once a week, probably during the week, after work.

We also have wonderful trails all around us, in the tropical rainforest and in the more open Sclerophyll (Eucalypt) forests on the Tablelands. At this stage I'm looking at doing the following:

Wks to go	Saturday		Sunday
17	26/01/2018	WEIPA	27/01/2018	WEIPA
16	3/02/2018	Smithfield Trails, map	4/02/2018	Misty Mountains, map
15	10/02/2018	Goldfield Trail, Babinda, map	11/02/2018	Mt Bartle Frere PM, map (Clifton Beach Race am)
14	17/02/2018	Smithfield Trails, map	18/02/2018	To be decided
13	24/02/2018	Glacier Rock, map	25/02/2018	Saddle Mountain & Red Peak, map
12	3/03/2018	3M3D, map	4/03/2018	3M3D, map
11	10/03/2018	Trail RACE: Motatapu Ultra, NZ 51km TBC, map	11/03/2018	To be decided
10	17/03/2018	Clohesy River, map	18/03/2018	Mt Baldy x2 PM (Paws on the Path am), map
9	24/03/2018	Thorsborne Trail, map	25/03/2018	Thorsborne Trail, map
8	31/03/2018	EASTER	1/04/2018	EASTER
7	7/04/2018	Mt Haig, map	8/04/2018	To be decided PM (Dynamic in a Dress am)
6	14/04/2018	To be decided	15/04/2018	Road RACE: Canberra Ulta, map
5	21/04/2018	To be decided	22/04/2018	64km K2PD, map

Most of the trails I know like the back of my hand as I've been running and hiking on them for the past 17 years. The distances are not yet decided, but I have ball park figures in mind for my weekly mileage. I'm going to approach a running coach to have a look at that to see if I'm on the right track. The 4-week training blocks are not quite working out for the last 9 weeks due to racing and travel. I'm off to Tasmania and the Mornington Peninsula for the next couple of weeks, so that's not included here.

Wks to go	Week starting Monday	Intensity	Weekly total	Training block total
17	22/01/2018	Medium	93
16	29/01/2018	Hard	103
15	5/02/2018	Harder	100
14	12/02/2018	Recovery	105	401
13	19/02/2018	Medium	107
12	26/02/2018	Hard	115
11	5/03/2018	Harder	127
10	12/03/2018	Recovery	73	422
9	19/03/2018	Hard	132
8	26/03/2018	Recovery	65
7	2/04/2018	Medium	99	296
6	9/04/2018	Medium	102
5	16/04/2018	Medium	108
4	23/04/2018	Recovery	26	236

Do two 'Shock weeks', including

• back to back runs
• gear check
• nutrition check

Back to back runs

'Shock week' is an extension of the term from the book 'How to succeed at UTMB' by Guillaume Millet and Francois Nicot (2017) where they talk about 'Weekend Shocks'. For me the 'shock weeks' are going to be training blocks of 5-6 days where I'll imitate what I plan to do at the race aka get some time on my feet by doing back to back runs, test my gear and test my nutrition, including the food I'll be eating at camp and for breakfast each day. Due to work commitments I don't have much choice in the terrain I run on and I am mostly limited to training in the tropics while my race is in the Scottish Highlands.

I'll do three shock weeks, although for the first there will be less mileage and I'll probably spend some time in Hobart (I've not decided exactly what I'll do while in Tasmania yet).

Shock 1, 20 weeks out from race week: 3 January to 15 January - hoping for some cold weather to try out my gear for the race (GPS, jacket, gloves, etc).

Shock 2, 15 weeks out from race week: Babinda area

Shock 3, 9 weeks out from race week: Thorsborne Trail, Hinchinbrook Island

Gear check

I have most of the gear I need for my race. But I've not tried some of it. The only chance I'm getting to do this is over the next couple of weeks while I'm in Tasmania. And then again the three weeks prior to the race once I arrive in the UK. I'm doing the GL3D ultra from 5-7 May, and the aim is to test my gear there and buy or replace anything I need after that race.

Here is a list of my gear. This is a bit of a headache as I'm travelling to the race and don't have a base. I'm spending some time and energy trying to ensure that my packing lists are done well. For the GL3D ultra I need a tent and cooking gear too. And I'm going to South Africa after my trip to the UK, so I will have some presents for family. I promised my sister a quilt. At this stage I'm thinking it's going to be easier to just make the quilt cover without the batting and then finish it off when I'm in South Africa!

Nutrition check

I've not done much about this yet. I'm using Tailwind Nutrition and will try the Bertrand meals when they arrive. I did visit local dietitian, Mitch Smith, at Health Management and he is helping me to get something sorted. I need to loose about 5kg too.

In my next post I'll elaborate on my preparation with regards to the following:

• do strength training, mobility training and balance training
• know how to look after my own feet
• know how to do some basic maintenance on my own body

Use the Ultra Code: Just get to the next checkpoint

One of the first things you learn when you run ultra marathons is that thinking of the whole race quickly becomes overwhelming. So the trick is (and I figured this one out all on my own pretty early in my ultra running career) to just think about how far it is to the next checkpoint and aim for that. Of course, if things are going bad, you are just aiming to get to the next tree! Once there, you reset the goal to the next checkpoint/marker and off you go again.

Photo by Chris O'Brien, 3 Marathons in 3 Days, July 2012

With the advent of parkrun, many runners these days count their distances as 'just another parkrun'. In 2016 I had a good chuckle imagining the shirt I wanted to get made up for the UTA100 with the slogan 'I did 20 parkruns in one day'. Maybe I'll get organised and get one for CWU that will read 'I did 80 parkruns in 8 days'. That sound do-able, right?

I'm still trying to get my head around the training. Just can't find any good stuff out there (for FREE) to help me. So I'm figuring it out on my own. Off to Tasmania in January to try out my gear and run on some rougher terrain. March will be my biggest training month, but I may not be able to sort out time off work, so I have to try and fit all the running in around that. Not too bad, as my workday is from 8.30am to 2.30pm. I'll post my training program in the near future. I've got something, but it's time to adjust it a bit based on some of the reading I've been doing.

Booked a couple of nights on the Thorsborne Trail on Hinchinbrook Island to run there on Saturday 24 March and Sunday 25 March. I would love to do the Motatapu Ultra Marathon (51km) in New Zealand on 10 March, but I have to first beg for time off work, so that may not be possible. I'm in for the Canberra Ultra (50km) on 15 April. I ran it this year and really enjoyed it - mostly because every other runner was there in training for Comrades and the roads are closed for you to race. But in 2018 the Canberra Ultra is a bit close to the CWU which starts on 20 May, and being on the road is not the best terrain for what I'm doing.

We all know the golden race rule: Stick with what you know

I've figured out a few things about my own personality over the years. One is that I'm a stickler for the rules. So when I read and hear from other runners that you NEVER change something on race day, I'm all over it.

That is causing me a bit of grief at the moment, because my CWU race is so different from what I normally do. The terrain, the weather, the food...

The mandatory equipment list actually states that you must have fell or mountain running shoes (road trainers are NOT acceptable). I'm a minimalist when it comes to shoes and run all my events, including my ultras (trail and road) in ALTRA Delilahs, and in the past I also used Merrill Trail Gloves! So I've had to go out of my way to find another shoe to do the race in: The ALTRA Lone Peak 3.5. I'm very happy with it and I'm getting used to the more spongy feel and I'm not tripping over things as much anymore. Ha, ha. But it still doesn't help with me getting used to the terrain! I live and train in the tropical rainforests of Far North Queensland in Australia. There are some open Sclerophyll forests (aka Eucalypt/gum trees) up on the Tablelands (about 1 1/2 hour drive from home), but the terrain is sill nothing like what I'll experience in the Scottish Highlands. I'm going to Tasmania in January to do some running there and will arrive in the UK a couple of weeks before the CWU, so will go for a few hikes to see what it's like.


Not sure if you will be able to view this video as it's on my Facebook page. I'll add it to YouTube and update this link later. It shows the type of terrain I'm training in.

The trip to Tassie is also to test my gear out in colder weather. Although it is in the peak of summer in the southern hemisphere, Tasmania can get cold even then. It's only a stone's throw from Antarctica. No chance of testing any of my gear here in Cairns, as the average temperature is about 22-32 degrees Celsius during our 'wet season'. We only have two seasons: Wet and Dry. During our dry season we may have the odd day where the temperature drops to about 16 degrees and we all get our jumpers out and turn off the fans.

But what this post is about today (just took a while to get to it!) is the clothes I'm doing to wear on the run. Yes, I'll be carrying a waterproof jacket and pants, and some cold weather gear like gloves and beanie, but what I'll run in day in and day out will be gear I already use. For our Tailwind Nutrition 3 Marathons in 3 Days we get 'ultra shirts' made for the race (I just coined the term as there is no a term for this type of shirt). It has a full zip at the front and pockets at the back. It's really a cycling shirt, but without the elastic around the bottom of the shirt. The plan is to get two short sleeve and two long sleeve ultra shirts. I wear these shirts on long runs despite the fact that they are a bit hot for our climate. But the back pockets are very handy for Tailwind, ziplock bags with snacks and compression (snake) bandages.

Furthermore I'm going to stick to my Skirt Sports too. I've been wearing this for the past 10 years or so, and I'm very comfortable with it. I may also add in some tights that I can take off if it gets hot, or put on when it gets cold. Narelle Ash from Skirt Sports has been generous and is sponsoring me a few items to use during the event. That is fantastic! I'm going to try the Lotta Breeze Capri skirt, but I'll mostly stick to what I'm used to: the Gym Girl Ultras. I love the Skirt Sports. The pockets on the sides of the thighs come in very handy for small items like lip balm and toilet paper. On my training runs during the week, that's where I keep my car key.

Go now and have a look at Skirt Sports and treat yourself to something comfy, flattering and long-lasting.
Website: www.skirtsports.com.au

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