3 marathons in 3 days

A few weeks ago I was approached by the one they call 'White Caviar', Marty Hack, about running 3 marathons in 3 consecutive days. Given that I am building my training up for my second crack at a 100 mile trail race I affirmed my intention to join him on this adventure.

Since the Flinders Tour my training has been going pretty well. The week before last I ran 136km including some good hill work up Mt Archer. Initially I was hoping to knock out 160km for the week but was feeling quite tired from work so did the sensible thing and took a couple of days off training. Due to my shift pattern I had worked 7 days straight, had 2 off and then had to work another 9 straight finishing at 10pm on the Friday night before Marathon #1.

This past week I had a pretty solid week running 60km in three days including a double summit of Mt Archer on Tuesday and a 25km med-long run on Thursday. On Tuesday I parked my car on Frenchville Road near my children’s school. As a warm up I ran the 2km incline to the base of the climb. My legs were feeling a little tired and heavy and it was my first outing in my new Hoka One One Tarmac Evo road shoes. Because I was not 'feeling' it on the day I ran up at a comfortable pace reaching the summit after 33mins 15secs for the 5km climb. This hill is a popular training ground for runners, cyclists and walkers with the summit generally considered to be the top car-park area. My summit is slightly different, there is a sharp left turn once you get to the car-park and this path leads up to a look-out amongst the various antenna's. It generally adds about 30-45 seconds onto my run and means that it is exactly 5km.

On the 5km run back down the hill I felt really strong so that when I reached the bottom for my second summit I decided to run a bit harder. I had seen some cyclists doing 1km reps and a couple of walkers heading up so I used them as bait and set about trying to catch them. My PB for the climb stood at 31mins 48secs and I had come to within 1 second of that the week before, so I was hoping that I could get a new personal best on my second summit of the day. I set about running at a strong but comfortable pace. I generally run the climb at a sub 7min/km pace but was recording very low 6's on this summit attempt. I felt so strong and was becoming increasingly confident with each step as I powered my way up the hill. I reached the summit in 30mins 34secs, a new PB by a whopping 1min 14secs. I was very pleased with myself and headed back down after my compulsory look-out loop. All up I ran 25.5km in 2hrs 05mins 32secs, a great way to spend my afternoon.

MARATHON #1
The first stop on our marathon adventure was Great Keppel Island which is situated off the Capricorn Coast near Yeppoon. Marty and I caught the first ferry across to the island and were running by about 10:20am. The sky was perfectly blue and it was already starting to get quite hot. After a little bit of sand running we began our first climb on a meandering path of loose rock and tree roots. Marty set the pace at the front and I tried to keep up. After a few kilometres we made our way to Long Beach which is one of the islands beautiful beaches, finding ourselves sinking with each step into the sand. We climbed back into the bush before a nice downhill which took us to the islands only paved (that I know about) road. We found a sign pointing in the direction of the lighthouse and set about trying to find it.

I was really enjoying the run with great trails on a superb day. It was starting to heat up quite a bit and after little bit of sand running at Butterfish Ba, Marty and I began climbing the ridgeline which would take us to the Lighthouse. I found the climb difficult with the added challenge of the loose rock and many exposed roots. I was still having fun but it was tough going and I had to walk for short periods due to the gradient. My confidence took a bit of a knock too, after having a really good week and getting a PB on my Mt Archer summit I felt annoyed that I was struggling while Marty galloped on ahead.

When we finally reached the outcrop that led down to the Lighthouse I was lost for words. It was truly a remarkable view with a worn path through the rocky outcrop down to the Lighthouse itself. Marty was also taken with the stunning vista and remarked that it felt like he was on some Greek island somewhere. We enjoyed the view, had a gel and had to leave a short time later. I would have loved nothing more than to park my butt and just soak up the view but our ferry was due to leave at 3:45pm and given our slow pace I didn't want to fall short on distance.

Once back on the technical single-track I had the misfortune of rolling my ankle as I took a drink. It hurt but thankfully I could still run on it. I have rolled my ankles many times and have found that as long as you can still put weight on it then running is actually the best thing for it, keeping the blood circulating etc. Unfortunately this was not my only issue, the heat had really gotten to me and I was suffering big time. I had gone through most of my water and was in the hurt locker from then on.

Marty and I retraced our steps to the beach where we had left our bags only to discover that some arsehole had gone through our bags. Thankfully we had all our valuables on us and they only took my protein bars that I had reserved for after the race. I sat down and was debating with myself if I had the ability to finish. I had only run 27k and had another 14k to go, but I had nothing left in the tank and was reduced to a shuffle. I couldn't fail at the first hurdle so I got myself up, we re-filled our fluids and set about completing leg #1. We were worried about running out of time and/or missing the last and only ferry home so we devised a multi-lap route which included some road as well as off-road sections. Considering our time restrictions and given that I was reduced to a walk / run we kept the last 14km to the flat.

I'm not really sure how I did it, and to be honest I had to dig really really deep to summon the energy and desire to go on, but we made it. We finished about 20 minutes before the ferry was to depart so we had a quick dip in the cool clear waters of Fisherman's Beach. I finished marathon #1 in 4hrs 33mins 41secs with a total of 946m elevation gain, I was proud of myself for finishing when I had nothing left and wanted to give up but this was day one of three and I had to re-gather myself and prepare mentally for the next day.

MARATHON #2
After a relatively restless sleep Marty came over to my place and we set off towards Yeppoon. Today's run was totally on the road and was on a point to point course with a few undulations. On the Sunday the Mercure Resort was hosting the Yeppoon 70.3 Half Ironman triathlon and I had a few friends competing in the individual and teams events. I was really keen to watch the race and thankfully Marty was happy to run there as part of our marathon adventure.

Both Marty and I were quite surprised at how good we felt considering yesterday's tough effort. The first kilometre was run at about 5:24 pace but then the white horse took point and we began running 5:02 uphill. I didn't want to disappoint him again after my poor performance the day before so I ran hard to keep up. It was a cool start to the day but my legs felt strong and I found that I could stay with Marty on the flat. As each kilometre ticked on our pace increased until we were knocking out regular splits in the 4:40 region.

At about 15km we ran into Gavin who had seen us as he was driving to the race in which he was a team runner. We stopped to have a quick chat and then carried on with our fast pace. We went through the half-way point in about 1hr 41mins and I was a little worried about blowing up, however, I still felt good and decided to remain relaxed and just go with it.

We reached Yeppoon and I was tired but still feeling good, we had run about 34km or so and carried on without stopping towards the resort. A few kilometres later we came to the far turn-around point for the bike ride. It was amazing watching the seemingly never-ending stream of bike-riders. The bike course is a multi-lap course consisting of 5 laps which they complete on the two-lane eastern section of road meaning that some of the slower riders would be lapped multiple times and given the various start times it was difficult to determine who was in what position. I got a real boost and yelled out to anyone I could recognise (which was a bit of a challenge given the number of people and speed at which they were travelling).

By this stage I had finally hit the wall and had slowed quite a bit on our early torrid pace. We had run very strong and I was content to jog out the last 5km or so and call out to my friends as they went past.

We finished marathon #2 in 3hrs 22mins 17secs. The elevation gain was only 205m and we had an average pace of 4:47mins/km. I was really pleased with how my body held up and that I was able to sustain a solid pace throughout, only slowing near the end. This means that my training is on the right track and I am coming into form at the right time. After the run Marty and I hung around the resort to cheer on our friends as the continued to battle themselves and the course in the 70.3 half-ironman. Congratulations to everyone who completed the full event or took part in a relay team.

MARATHON #3
I felt really good on Sunday night but at bedtime I was asking myself, why didn't Marty stop at two marathons in two days? We had arranged to meet at my place at 6:30am. We couldn't meet any earlier because we had to be online at 6:00am to enter another race. The Great North Walk 100's opened at 6:00am and with a high demand and limited spots I figured that I needed to get in early or risk missing out. Now don't be put off by the title, the GNW100's which begin in Newcastle and head south towards Sydney are generally considered to be Australia's toughest 100km and 100mile races. From all the stories that I have read and heard about this race it is quite formidable and to be honest I am a little intimidated by it. I'm not one to turn my back on a challenge or adventure so I submitted my entry at 6:01am and hoped that I would get in. I later found out that I was successful and will be standing on the start line on the 10th November to run the 107mile (173.7km) race.

Marty arrived and we began our Tour de Rockhampton road run. We had originally planned to run off-road again in Byfield but were wary of the added travel (over an hour each way) and the later than normal start. So we headed off on tired legs for the third and final marathon.

Although my legs and body felt tired and heavy I found that I could still maintain a steady pace around 5mins/km. I started to feel quite fatigued from about 10km but pushed on. Marty as per usual was steaming away in front making it all look easy. I envied his abilities but as I have learnt, from many ultra races and hard training sessions, being an ultra runner is a very individual experience and it is important to be true to yourself and run within your own abilities. So I heeded my own advice and ran hard but not outside what I thought I could handle.

Where Saturday was hot and sunny and Sunday was cool and clear, Monday was cloudy with higher than normal humidity. Rain was threatening and we received a couple of brief showers on the run. By the 20km mark I was beginning to suffer and I knew that it was a matter of just trying to maintain good form and get to the end without too much damage.

Marty was obviously feeling good as he stretched out in the distance knocking out some 4:30min kilometres. I kept to my hydration and nutrition plan but the cumulative running was beginning to take its toll. I had done the figures in my head and worked out that once I completed marathon #3 I would have run 145km for the calendar week and 186km for the seven day period ending with this run.

If I thought I was doing it tough at 20km, by the time I reached 30km I was in the hurt locker again. Although I was not as bad as I was on Saturday I was working hard to maintain a 5:15min/km pace. I was not out to break the time from the day before but I did have an optimistic but achievable goal of running 3:45.

So when we finished Marathon #3 in 3hrs 34mins 10secs I was happy and relieved to have completed our mission to run three marathons in three days. In order to complete the distance we had to run past my house and continue down the street for another kilometre which was a peculiar but necessary form of torture. Marty, having been fleet of foot all day had run an extra kilometre or so. Bloody show-off.

Having started with a cloudy day, by the time we finished the sun had burned off all the clouds and the mercury was rising steadily. When combined with the lingering humidity I fell to the grass in my front yard having spent much of my balance in the running bank. Funnily enough it did not take me too long to recover and I was up and about feeling back to normal quite quickly. The thought of a fourth marathon disappeared almost as quickly as it entered the mass of white stuff between my ears.

So we had done it. I am very grateful to Marty for the inspiration and support to get me through this awesome adventure. I have completed a variety of races and training sessions but had never tackled anything like this before. I feel that this training will provide a huge benefit to me as I aim to finish both the Glasshouse 100mile and GNW 100mile in the coming months.

This week was the last week before I begin my taper for Glasshouse. I took the Tuesday off and rewarded myself by going to two movies (The Campaign and The Bourne Legacy) and eating ice-cream. I surprised myself and my training partners by running strong on Wednesday (12.5km in 1hr) and Thursday (25.5km in 2hrs 01min) and did not feel any lingering effects from the marathons. I had Friday off and planned to run on Saturday with the group but decided to take an extra rest day to help recover and begin the process of tapering. Today found me running 6km to meet a group of runners before running the Turkey Trail up to the summit of Mt Archer. The pace was on and after a pit-stop to clear a stone from my shoe) I was running on my own for most of the 12.5km to the top. I eventually caught the runners in front of me arriving at the top car-park about 15secs behind a very talented young Rocky runner Miles. At the top I chatted to a few of the others for about 5 minutes before heading back down the trail to home again. All up I ran 35.5km in 3hrs 46mins 10secs with 832m of elevation gain.

Tomorrow I have another day off as I begin my taper in earnest. I am very excited about the miler and am very much looking forward to my second redemption run of the year and "knocking the bastard off". Having dropped out at 127.5km last year, in order to be successful this year I need to follow my race plan, run for and within myself and get to the end for my first (of many) 100mile finishes.

Once again I would like to thank everyone for their support and am looking forward to writing a race report which regales everyone with my valiant completion of the Glasshouse 100 mile trail run.

Stay tuned and keep running.