A testing time on the WUU2K course

Yesterday I decided it was time to test my fitness and to try and gauge how I might perform for the upcoming WUU2K ultra marathon.

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The key section for the course, I think, is the first half. That’s the bit that sets up the whole race. So I decided to run the first two sections (23km) from the start at Khandalla park to the carpark at the Makara Peak Mountain Bike park. I would run these two sections at race pace, pushing hard where I could, to see just how fast I could get this done, and see how I felt about running uphill at the end of it. (the next section n after the aid station is a long uphill grind)

I arrived a bit later than I had planned, and took my time sorting myself out. Then I left my car at the carpark i.e. the finish and started my warmup by running to start line – 15kms away. Things were going quite well, I wasn’t running hard or fast, just taking my time, daydreaming my way to the start of the course. It was lovely weather, quite good for running. And after all the rain we’ve had, it was nice to see the sun out.

I was running down a nice ling downhill section, and enjoying it, but thinking I wouldn’t enjoy running back up it, when I noticed a shed and a couple of gates in front of me. There are no sheds on the course. Somewhere I had taken a wrong turn and now I was… geographically embarrassed.

I whipped out my phone to try and figure out where I was. My phone said, “I don’t know guv”.

Bugger.

So I found a very steep and very muddy track that lead pretty much straight uphill and followed it until it hooked up with a track that lead eventually to the track that I was supped to be running on, hence the 15kms to the start line.

I was just heading into the quite lumpy bit before ascending Mt. Kaukau when I bumped into my brother-in-law again. He was out running almost the same section of track as me (but probably not taking the scenic route) in preparation for race day. We chatted briefly before going our separate ways, laughing about where we would meet up again in about an hour’s time.

By the time I got to the park my legs were feeling quite abused and were ready for a bit of a lie down. So I gave then ten minutes off while I had some food, went to the loo and generally tried to gather the strength to run all the way back to my car. I was starting to think this was not the most sensible thing I’ve ever done.

But procrastinating about it was not getting the job done, so I lined up, hit the Go button on my watch, and then started running. I wanted to simulate race day as much as possible, so I walked up the stairs heading to the summit, which is what I’ll do on race day.

At each stage I compared my time with the time it had taken my in the race last year. I had gone out really hard at the start last year and it burned me out before we even got started. By the time I hit the first aid station I was flagging, and dead last. What followed was 50kms of me gasping for air and dragging my aching body around the course, fearful of not making the deadline and being cut.

Yesterday I hit the top of Mt. Kaukau 1 minute faster than during the race, and headed off along the course without even pausing, without even being out of breath. This was a good start.

I ran hard on the downhills, and flatter sections where I could. The track was very greasy and slippery, and this first park is quite rocky and broken, so going fast has an element of risk to it. I knew that the second half of this section was a lot more runnable, so I bided my time a bit, knowing that the easier running was coming up.

I also wanted to push hard to meet my brother-in-law closer to his end of the run than mine.

Things we again going quite well. I power up a small hill and rounded a corner onto green rolling fields. Finally a fast section to really open up the pace. I stopped and swore quite loudly. I had run these fields before – they were the wrong fields. I had taken a wrong turn again!

Luckily the turn I had missed was only about 100 metres back, and I knew where to go, having messed this up before. So I backtracked and then carried on, pushing hard to make up for my mistake.

I stopped and chatted with another runner, who had seen my videos on YouTube. He was out training for the WUU2K 42km event. Then it was back into it as I finally got onto some good running surfaces.

It was on this section that I passed my brother-in-law again, looking pretty fresh as he headed back to the start line. His pace was much faster than mine (because he has much longer legs and is younger and fitter than me) and he looks to be well set up for race day.

I carried on to the first aid station location and bounded into it past some walkers just on 1:30. That’s 15 minutes faster than my WUU2K time. I was off to a good start.

My legs were starting to hurt as I crossed the road and headed up Makara Peak. I wanted to run this section as much as possible, but I did end up walking bits of it. I will probably end up walking bits of it in the race as well, so this is a good simulation of that.

I hit the top of Makara Peak at 1:55 and walked up the last section to a waiting horde of mountain bikers making the most of a day without rain. I’m not sure what I looked like when I arrived, but the all got out of my way as I staggered up the last few steps. By now I was 13 minutes faster than my race time.

So I must have been pushing really hard in the race, even though I was already knackered.

The Makara Bike Park was where I was hoping to make up some time on last year. I remember walking lots of it, and I was hoping that if I could run it well, that I would be able to make up some time. so I took off downhill towards the Leaping Lizard track and focused on trying to move as fast as possible, without falling over.

I hit the start of the Leaping lizard track as 2:03 – now back up to 15 minutes ahead of time. The track was treacherous and slippery (which it will probably be on race day) so running it hard was not as easy as I would have liked. But I carried on, sometimes only managing to keep my footing by sheer luck.

I ran most of the track up until it connected with Possum Bait Line, which is an uphill section. The plan was to just toil away at this section and keep moving as fast as possible. But my legs were toast at this point, so I walked most of it.

It then kicks into Nikau Valley track, which is downhill, so I ran most of that, and even the Missing Link track that heads back uphill again.

By now, I was nearly out of water and praying for the track to top out and then it would be all downhill to the carpark. Eventually it did and I was on a four wheel drive track that led steeply downhill. Time to punish some quads!

This section is actually quite a bit longer than I remembered. I was hunting for the top of the lazy Fern track – the final track that leads to the carpark. I arrived there to see a pile of mountain bikers stacked up at the top of the track waiting to go down it.

My time was not terrible – I was there at 3:04 compared with 3:30 for the WUU2K. 26 minutes faster. So even though I had walked more than I wanted to, I had still managed to make up some time.

Now there was just the fast run down to the carpark and the finish. The mountain bikers were fussing about, so I just passed them and hit the track running hard. I think only one of them passed me on the way down.

Then last part of this track seems to take forever. It promises a finish, but then turns a corner and you have more running to do. But it can only play that trick so many times, and finally I hit a section that I knew was right near the end. A last burst of speed, and I bounded in to the carpark and hit the stop button on my watch as I lurched sideways to avoid braining myself on a bikerack.

Job done. Now to see how it compared with the WUU2K. I hit the carpark at 3:18 – a bit slower than I had hoped, but still an ok time. in the WUU2K I hit the aid station here at 3:44. So that’s about 26 minutes faster this time.

There are some important points to note about the times.

This time I was not starting the race fresh – I already had 15 kms or trail running on my legs before I started.

How I felt at the end of this run was just as important. My legs were sore, but given the opportunity to run i.e. a runnable track, I was still running at a good pace, not shuffling along. So that’s hugely encouraging.

At 37kms into the race (the first 15km I ran to the start line + the 22kms from the start line to the carpark) the track is trending downhill towards Red Rocks. If I’m feeling this good at that point in the race, I think I’ll be having a good day out.

If you combine the times for both of yesterday’s runs – 3:18 + 1:58 = 5:16 and compare that with the WUU2k, I would be about 7 - 8 kilometres ahead based on yesterday’s pace.

So, I’m happy with yesterday’s effort. It shows that my fitness and running have improved, and I think I’m in a good state to attack the course in July. At this pace I should be able to hit the halfway mark in around 4 hours, and get to the finish line in 9-9.5 hours. That would be a big improvement on the nearly 12 hours it took me last year.

There is still a lot more work to do to get ready for this race, but I feel that everything is coming together nicely now and I really do think I have a chance of finishing well this year. We’ll just have to wait and see how things turn out on the day.

Here is a wee video of the session

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