FKT forum- I set up a forum a week or so ago for Fastest Known Times (FKT) in New Zealand. Its a bit of fun and hopefully people will get into it and post up their times for different tracks and peaks, summer or winter, running, hiking, ski touring- whatever. Check it out, hopefully we can all inspire each other to get after it and push a little harder - http://fktnewzealand.myfreeforum.org/

The mighty ‘Naki- if we are mates on facebook you might just have seen my name tagged in relation to a trip this coming weekend to Mt Taranaki. The trip seems to have taken on a life of its own, but the guts of it is along with MattB and Anna Frost, I will head up on Friday and have a jog around Mt Taranaki. The current Round the Mountain (RTM) FKT stands at 5hr17min by Greg Babour and is pretty much unbeatable due to track damage and the route Greg used way back in 1993 no longer exists, well at least part of it not longer does. So I will be trying to set a new, post 1993, FKT for the Taranaki RTM. Matt is going to see how many times he can summit Taranaki from North Egmont in a 24hr period and Anna will have a crack at the woman’s ascent/descent FKT. We will also be accompanied by ace picture taker Paul Petch. You can check out this blog for all kinds of Taranaki speed record goodness. How this little run will go for me I have no idea as I am in less than ideal shape right now and pretty tired with work and playing dad (which is really hard work but super fun!)

I have had a few good training runs lately, nothing crazy, but good fun.

I ran this lovely ridge this morning- Castle Hill Peak

Right, back to what I started with- I wrote an e-mail last month just after the Kepler to Greg, who I think I would be right in saying is the master mind behind Salomon Running’s total domination over the past 12+months. You would have seen Greg in the “Kilian’s Quest” and “5 Continents” films. I was amazingly lucky to be a part of this last year, getting to travel first to TNF100 and then the CDR with the Salomon team. I didn’t really feel like I pulled my weight (but how the hell can you relative to the rest of this team?!) and was ready for the cut. So I wrote a “thank you” e-mail (so long and thanks for all the shoes). I almost fell off my chair (and am pretty sure I screamed like an excited little girl getting a my little pony for her birthday….) when I got an e-mail back from Greg asking if I wanted to travel far and wide, running in tight white lycra and bright coloured shoes. I of course had to take a few days and think this over, before I reluctantly said yes- yeah no, I wrote back more or less straight away, hardly able to contain myself with excitement. I have to admit the plan this year was no plan other than play dad and focus on that. But when an opportunity like this (I will not call it a “once in a life time”, cause I am on to my 6th or 7th one of those now and it’s losing its impact) comes along one has to grab it, shake the crap out of it, make it their own and run with it! It is going to be a very fun year, returning to a few races I need some redemption at, as well as travelling somewhere new. I will get into the details in a bit, after Taranaki, but I will say I am going to be catching up with Salomon Team mates Ryan Sands and Jen Segger in Asia- it’s going to be a blast!

Nice job on lasting the distance on what has to be one of my longer, more ranting blog posts. This kind of endurance should serve you well in an ultra race! As a reward, if you’re the first person to leave a comment, correctly naming the source of  ”so long and thanks for all the shoes” (like most things you’ll read here that is cleaver and/or witty, I didn’t come up with it) I will send you out a DVD of the 2010 season of Kilian’s Quest (and maybe a Salomon Buff if I still have any new ones around). Only catch, if I have already given you a DVD (and Buff) then you can’t win- gotta share the love. And NZ post only sorry- international postage is $$

NOTE -I posted this on Monday, October 20, 2008 on my old blogspot blog

It has been a goal of mine for a while now to do a speed climb up the Otira Slide to Mt Rolleston’s Low Peak and yesterday things finaly fell into place. During the week, after Martin returned to Switzerland, Lukas and I had been at Cheeseman, getting some good skiing in, with a nice 2000m vert day and some great spring snow, skiing down to 1300m elevation a few times. The weather was looking good for Sunday and Lukas got pretty pumped when I told him about the trip. The whole “speed climb” thing its pretty European and I got pretty inspired for this trip after talking with Pierre Gignoux, who withStéphane Brosse climbed from Chamonix to Mt Blanc and skied back down in 5hrs15mins! Now, climbing Low Peak isn’t quite on that same level (not even close really!), but I’m working with what I’ve got (and I aren’t talking about the mountains- my fitness level). Preparation went well, as we carbo loaded while Lukas watched his first game of rugby in the Pub in Arthur’s Pass. We arrived at the car park on Hwy73 just before 7am and we were away running just after. Good progress was made over the rough track and after 35 mins we took skis off our packs and slipped into our ski boots. The low angled apron leading towards the Slide was firm and made for fast skinning until the pitch steepened and we donned crampons. At this point I was thinking we would be lucky to summit within 2hrs (Graeme Kate’s fastest time) as we had been going for around 1hr and still had over 500m vert of the steeper terrain left to go.

2 tiny dots racing up to Low Peak

Lukas, as always, set a fast pace booting up and I scurried to stay close and was surprised how fast we ate up the vert. As we reached the summit my watch read 8:46am- 1hr40min! Stoked!

We were in full race mode, skis, boots, even the silly race suits (like I said this is very Euro, so the suit is a must), so we spent just a minute or 2 on the summit, I don’t even think I looked at the view, and we we off.

On skinny race skis, and with tired legs the pitch felt steeper than I remembered. It was firm and littered with golf ball sized chunks of hard snow. The power slide was in full effect in the upper sections, before finding smoother snow and opening it up a little.

The start of the run back down the Otira Valley

We were back at our running shoes in less than 10 mins where I had stashed some watered down coke. We changed back to running shoes, chugged the coke and were away running again. The down hill run felt good and we made good time, arriving back at the Cheapa Campa at 9:23am.

2hr17min round trip, so pretty happy.

Myself and Lukas back at the parking lot

By Popular Demand-

One of the home viewers has asked to get a run down on the gear used (sorry no photo this time Tim).

-Dynafit SR8.0 skis w/ TLT Low Tech, Coltex mohair skins, XP carbon boots, helmet (w/goggles), Buffx2, fleece gloves, Salomon XT Wings running shoes, 20l race pack carrying- light weight shell jacket and pants, Simond Caiman alloy crampons, Simond Ocelot Hyperlight axe, light weight soft shell jacket, first aid kit, steel shove, probe, 700ml water, 1 Peak Fuel, shell mitts. And yes, that ridicules race suit!

My trip to the Canadian Death Race ultra-marathon seemed to have it all- temperature extremes, a mixed future of luck, good friends, big wild life, even bigger country and most importantly 125km of suffering.

photo-PV

Getting out of Christchurch proved to be by far the hardest part of the whole trip. With what I could consider a small amount of snow on the runway, all Monday flights were canned and with all the people re-booking and available flights running out I had all but given up hope of making it to Canada, however, I managed to talk with the right person at the right time and got a flight on Tuesday. A day late and super tired I made it to Canmore, Alberta. Here I was a guest of Phil Villeneuve, the Salomon brand ambassador for Canada. I parked up on Phil’s couch watching dvds for a day trying to recover from the hellish flight. I did venture out a few times, once for some good Mexican food and another for a great trail run on some local trails. We had an awesome drive up to Grande Cache the next day via Banff, Lake Louise and Jasper. Huge terrain and wild life (black bears, big horn sheep and Elk) were the highlights.

Once in Grande Cache we met up with US mountain runner, and fellow Salomon Running Team member, Rickey Gates who was going to be making his ultra running debut at the CDR. Hot dogs and beer for dinner, then off to bed- I was trashed still from all the travel. The next day was filled with all the usual pre race stuff- check in, race number pick up, sorting (and re-sorting) gear and a little reccon of the course’s aid stations.

photo-PV

Race day! Rickey’s mum, Trish, whipped up some eggs, while Phil brewed the coffee- these 2 pretty much kept up this service for Rickey and I for the next 16+hrs- catering to our needs at the 5 aid stations and even post race! We lined up, were marched out and the Canadian Death Race was started with the firing of a howitzer canon courtesy of the Canadian Army. With the firing of that hugh piece of artillery, my race mojo seemed to have been shot into the cool Alberta summer air. The race started with 5km running through Grande Cache (the town is totally taken over by the CDR, so it’s appropriate) and this was easily the most road running I had had done  in months. For some reason this put me into a funk of sorts. It was quickly forgotten as we passed a sign reading “only 120km to go”, which is where we hit the muddy quad bike track. This was great fun, lots of little ups and downs and a ton of mud. I could spy Rickey not too far ahead and found myself running with past winner Jack Cook and another past “Death Racer”, also named Ricky. Ricky had run 15hr30 last year and we chatted a little. More road and then some single track before rolling into the first aid station. It was super noisy as Phil waved me into our tent. I swapped out my water bottle and grabbed more Clif shots and I was gone, but so were Jack and Ricky. I did manage to get away before Rickey who was changing shoes, but he quickly passed me on the climb up to the races first summit- Flood. On that first 19km the feelings were very so so and 125km is pretty long, add in the over 4500m of climbing and it feels even longer, so I was not too worried at this stage and was happy to let Rickey go and look after myself. I was still able to stomach food and water at this stage, so despite not feeling great I was still happy the way things were going. I passed Jack and this boosted my spirits, as did getting a glimpse of Ricky near the top of Flood. From here we descended the famed “Slug Feast” a super steep, single track descent. If you ever see video of the CDR and see people bum sliding down- this is Slug Feast. It was great fun! I had decided to use poles on this 2nd leg and they ended up getting in the way on this section, but apart from that it was good to be off the access road and in the trees. We quickly climbed again, this time summiting Grande and then descending via a power line access road. This was again a steep descent and I could feel some hot spots and pain in my feet. By the time I made it back in to Grande Cache and the end of leg 2 I was really starting to feel like things might not being going my way- I was now a good 30mins behind Rickey, this after only 46km. I changed shoes and socks here, which revealed a couple of nasty blisters- not to worry, Phil and Trish were on hand with some tape, as well as more vital supplies. I was cheered up a little knowing that the 19km leg 3 was the easiest of the CDR and I was ready to turn this around. Besides, I was in 3rd place and still had a lot to race for. Not long after leaving town I came across a Black Bear on the trail, which was both exciting and pretty blood scary….. This is also where Rickey “found the course fascinating for reasons entirely different than what is advertised – running through the city dump, through a coal processing plant facility” and I have to agree, it was oddly a highlight, but not something one normally would associate with a trail run. Like the profile of leg 3, my overall feeling and performance was down hill during this section. I showered under a road side water fall, but still arrived at the base of 6986ft Mt Hamel spent. I had been throwing up water and sweet food was no longer sitting well, so I left the aid station with new socks, shoes and a bag of salty crackers.

about to start the climb up Mt Hamel-photo-PV

I was quickly passed by Steve Russel and fell into 4th place. I had been on the go for about 7hrs and had felt like crap for almost that whole time, so losing a place didn’t seem to bother me. The climb up to Hamels summit was pretty nice, at least the views were, I was shuffling deeper and deeper into a hole. Add some wind and rain on the summit and I was feeling very sorry for myself, but I had kept up with the food and water this whole time, often forcing things down. Somewhere, deep down, in my sub consciousness I guess, I still had a little fight. I had finished strong in the Tarawera Ultra and TNF 100km races earlier in the year and you always read stories of comebacks right?

It felt very sudden, but I knew what it was straight away cause it was the first time I had the sensation in over 9hrs of racing- I was ready to race! As I started on the long down hill from Mt Hamel something clicked and I was ready to go. I knew Rickey was way way out in front, that wasn’t going to happen. I had no idea where the other Ricky was, my guess, to0 far. But Steve, yes, Steve and 3rd place, how far had he gotten away from me on that painfully slow ascent of Hamel? I didn’t give that much thought, I just wanted to run. The last check point at 102km Phil and Trish were peaking. Rickey had come a 1hr15min earlier, with a 30min lead and a good 20min up on the course record. Phil forced me out of the aid station quick smart- I was only 10mins down on Steve. I did the math- all I had to do was run 30sec a km faster and I would pass Steve just before we got back into Grande Cache and nab 3rd place! Easy, as I was feeling amazingly good at this late stage. This was also where the nicest bit of single track of the whole race was. I reached the last aid station, grabbing a bag of Cheetos to munch on and jumped on the jet boat for the ride across Smoky River. I had been latching onto relay racers all afternoon and by this stage was starting to pass them, each time asking if they had seen a guy in red shorts? “About 5mins ahead” was my closest update as I closed in and I caught Steve in about half that. I went past Steve as hard as I could, too scared to look back in case he was chasing, I hammered it for a few minutes, only then looking back, nothing but trail. As the trail gave way to the streets of Grande Cache on the return to the start/finish line, people sat on deck chairs in front of their house, some with bbq’s and beers, cheering in racers with “GO DEATH RACER”. On the final road into the finish I was greeted with high fives and then by Rickey. Having finished 90mins earlier, he was still in his race kit, drinking a beer and chatting. I stopped and congratulated him on his impressive race and breaking the course record. Then just a short run in to the finish where Phil and Trish were waiting, more high fives, hugs, someone gave me a blanket, someone else handed me a beer and I hobbled over to the showers.

I finished in 13hr48, in 3rd place and I was pretty happy. Who knows how much slower I was on track to running before I pulled myself out of the funk I had been in for the first 9hrs.

Huge thanks to Salomon Running and Greg Vollet for making the CDR happen for me, and to Phil, Rickey and Trish for making my time in Canada so much fun.

My build up was pretty mellow and I guess not really ideal. I would have liked to get a few more final long runs of around 3hrs in the final weeks of training, but that was not to be, instead I ended up working in my weekends around home, mostly digging holes and building a fence. I think I worked pretty much every day building the 3 weeks before the Kepler, except the Thursday and Friday right before. But while the running was minimal, what running I did was of really good quality as I was doing some climbs as fast as I ever have. I was very relaxed pre race also, unlike last year when I was probably wound a little tight.

I arrived in Te Anua on Thursday, set up camp at Queen’s Reach and then met Vajin for a run from Rainboe Reach to the Control Gates. This was a super super easy 52min run. That night I had a feast, I cooked on an open fire, cut a few Celtic’s and started out sleeping under the stars- before the bugs sent me into my tent. On Friday I ran easy, did the gear check and moved camp into town next to the Bixleys. I had a very restless night’s sleep, but woke up ready to go!

The morning started like any race should- getting paid out by the race announcer and having 500+ people laughing at your race day clothing choice…..

crazy eyed at Luxmore Hut- Photo- www.MMPro.co.nz

It was a nice cruisy pace along to Broad Bay, with everyone you’d expect to be there, there about. Once we hit the hill I quickly passed DanC and was in 2nd behind Vajin. Marty finally caught up and went after Vajin, while Dan caught and past me and we arrived more or less together at Luxmore, in about 71mins. Ahead Marty had run Vajin down for KOM title and $500. As we ran under Mt Luxmore just before the snow, the 4 of us were all on this bit of trail at the same time, maybe 2mins from 1st-4th. It was really exciting to see Marty and Vajin swapping the lead along here and I suddenly found myself in 3rd at Forest Burn, when Dan made a pit stop. At Hanging Valley I was still in 3rd, just behind Marty and I quickly caught him here and even spotted Vajin on the first few switch backs down to Iris Burn.

getting my flow on in 3rd place at Hanging Valley! Photo- www.MMPro.co.nz

It started to feel like an SRC (Sumner Running Club) Sunday long run as Marty and I chatted away. I had found the flow I was looking for and felt like I was racing, something I never felt like I did last year. We really cruised down and Dan flew past us, we arrived in around 2hr36 at Iris Burn, about 2mins behind Vajin and Dan. Marty reassured me we were running well and to just cruise to Rocky Point, even if he did drop me here! I reached RP in 39mins and left with Marty, were we still only 3mins down on first here! This was the last I saw of Marty and things turned to shit very quickly for me here. I think at this stage I had only had 2 Clif Shot Bloks and a Clif Shot Gel, with less than 1L of water. I had a full stomach right from the start, so the lack of calories more than likely contributed to me crashing hard around this point. I struggled in to Moturau Hut, apparently only 2mins down on who I am guessing was Dan. I was walking and in a lot of hurt. I looked back to see Tony Fats- a former 3rd place getter in around 5hr02- he looked to be moving very slowly but he past me and was gone very quickly. That’s when it really struck me just how bad things had gotten. I waited for the train of people to flow past me. I was stoked to not lose any other places by Rainboe Reach, where my folks and nephew were waiting. My dad later told me that I looked wasted, totally vacant as I stopped and just stared at the drinks table, not really moving until my mum, who ran the first Kepler Challenge, told me to get moving and ran out of Rainboe Reach with me for about 20 meters- she could have easily kept up the whole way to the control gates! At 5km to go I tripped, fell on my face and yelled and rolled around on the trail in pain as my hamstring cramped. Amazingly no one had past me yet. I got up and shuffled on. I somehow managed to hang on to 5th place, finishing in 5hr29, about 1min faster than last year. The final 9.4km was in 52mins, the same pace that Vajin and I jogged on Thursday evening.

Vajin went on to win in just over 5hrs, with Marty 2nd in his 10th Kepler and Dan 3rd. Tony finished 4th about 6mins ahead of me.

I wasn’t sure what to make of the race, but I think I am pretty happy with it. I raced this year, I was in the mix a little and left everything out on that track, sadly most of what I left was all before Iris Burn,, but no regrets.

Was a great weekend away in Te Anau and got to catch up with a heap of good mates as well as make some new ones. I think there are way too many memories and people to note, so I will not even try, but one thing that has me well excited was my 11yr old nephew saying he wants to run the Kepler Challenge! I told him in 5 years, when he is 16 I’d run the Grunt with him- now that is a “race” I am really excited about, we even did a little 20min run on some trails down in Riverton on Sunday- his first day of training for the Grunt.

Oh yeah, I have to also say sorry to the volunteers at Luxmore. I was well in the zone- look again at the photo above- and flew through the gear check without saying a word other than naming the items in my bag that needed checked. No hi or thanks. Without folk like those at Luxmore and everywhere else on the Kepler the race would not happen, the least they can get is a smile and and a thank you- so- Thank You to all those who make the Kepler happen, especially the nice lady that checked my gear at Luxmore, who, I am embarrassed to say, I was a total ass too. Sorry about that.

This time last week I feeling very “flat” running wise. I looked like I was gonna lose my 9th or so toe nail since March (thankfully did not!) and the three 100+km races I done from March-July really felt like they had caught up with me. Certainly the last thing I felt like doing was heading down to Te Anau for another race in 4 weeks time. I was over racing, burn out even? I felt this in the final hour or so of the Taraura Mt Race, as I kind of checked out and cruised in from Field Hut. That really annoyed me, missing a sub 5hr finish cause I settled on running easy. But I was over it and even considered not going down to Te Anau.So I had Sunday off and that was nice. I had planned on running after work Monday (cause I was still gonna run Kepler and a easy 45 would be good for me). But we had anti natal class and had to take off as soon as I finished work. Then Tuesday we got rained off the building site- so I ran. Just easy, a cruiser on the Hogs Back, in the pissing rain. I am not sure what it was, but I came home feeling 100 times better than when I left. Some how things seemed to snow ball and I ended the training week doing  over 13hrs, 5000m vert, 5 days of doubles. The numbers are not huge, I don’t think for a moment they are. What was huge for me was a shift on mind set. I got some really good trail time in, cleared the head a little. I am so much further ahead than I was this time last year in my Kepler prep and I managed to remind my self that. No longer is 60km and scary distance to race, I don’t have a messed up hip (or any of the other painful niggles that I did have over the last 12 months) and I have even been doing some speed work, getting the legs turning a little faster.

I am still planing on having a good break post Kepler, but I am now excited to get to Te Anau and run hard. The race up front is gonna be a good one, maybe do a little post on that later.

me, Dan and RD MikeS

I knew I was going to be in for a real battle (well if I held up my end) with Dan. He has represented NZ at the World Mt Running Champs, won the race last year and being a local trains over the course- a 5hr30 training run with in the last month for example.

Dan and I at the start

I happily slotted in behind Dan and we run together for about 30mins, before I lost touch with him for about 30mins, before catching him again and the quickly dropping off the back again. I got to Alpha Hut in about 2hr30, as Dan was putting his storm great on- it was cold and windy (and crazy muddy- logs and bogs check!). I left the hut just after Dan and more or less stuck right behind him all along the ridge just before the summit of Hector, the races high point. This rigde section was crazy, really cool, but with bogs, and mud all along the ridge- wtf, it should be draining up there right?? Weird, but very cool. Both Dan and I slipped and slid our way along here as we past racers that started earlier in the day. Just before the summit I stuffed around with my water bottle and lost touch with Dan, I then had to stop just after the summit again, this time to pee. The gap really grew here. Dan bombed a sneeky line to Kime Hut and I flowed suit and we were in this check point together- still in the hunt! Around the “Table Top” I got 2 time checks- around 75sec both times. I kind of just fell of the boil here for what ever reason? I am not sure why but I started thinking that I was gonna run pretty slow, around 5hr20 or something. I really felt like there was no way I was gonna real in Dan- he was cranking and running very strong, so I just buttoned off. The descent was steep and rough, normally the kind of stuff I just go crazy over and really enjoy, but not on Saturday? Suddenly I turned a corner and seen the finish area way below and Heather and Andrew where there- less than 2km to go- shit I am at 4hr55- ahh, why did I cruise the last 20-30mins!?

about 2km to go

I made a bit of a effort, but to little to late- 5hr02min. I am pretty happy with that really. Frustrated not to break 5hrs, or give Dan a bit more of a race in the final 1hr down from Kime. But getting some new terrain was pretty sweet. I would like to think on a dry course sub 5 would be a breeze- the mud was just crazy, I seen Dan get swallowed up to his knees at one point! Dan ran a very good race, finishing in 4hr55 for a solid win in tough conditions- nice one Dan!

Over all the Tararua Southern Crossing is a great race and event and I highly recommend it! The on course support from SAR and the likes was amazing- I think it worked out to be at least one race official per 1km of trail- that’s pretty impressive. The pre race updates from Mike, to Mick on the mic post race and the super relaxing finish area next to the river – it all added up to a very good event.

Next race is the Kepler Challenge! Is gonna be a crazy race up front, so will be cool to see how that plays out- MattB will keep us updated on this and looking forward to his pre race post. Will be good to see Dan again as he is also racing the Kepler.

Beyond the Kepler I am very excited about the arrival of Monkey Tail around new years and having some time off racing. I am over racing I think? In saying that Adrian has been hassling me about the Mountain Marathon he is putting on in QT. What has me most excited about racing right now is this list

http://hardrock100.com/12HRHAppls5nov11.pdf

Currently 430 names on that list, likely to be over 500 by the end of the month- only 140 can race- but dreams are free!

My HR100 training ground- if I make it that is

At the pointy end the field was pretty solid. James Coubrough, who biked from Chch to Akaroa and back on Friday before seeing a flyer for the Bell Hill turned up and crushed the field. He run about 1hr23. 2010 Kepler winner Vajin Armstrong was around 1hr31, in 3rd, around 1hr32 was a Euro guy living in Chch. I am really sorry I missed his name… I came in 4th about 1hr33, with Graeme Bee 5th in about 1hr35.

Fleur Pawsey took out the woman’s race.

It was a great little course- super steep rough climb up to Bell Hill and then forestry roads for about 15-16km. This road section was pretty fast running- not so much my style, but it was really good to get the legs turning over. Defiantly got out of the race what I wanted.

Next week is the Southern Crossing Race, or the Taraura Mt Race- 35 very slow and rough kms, much more my style I think- we will see. Here is a taste of the course 

October has been pretty good- about 49hrs and 17000m vert.