Vajin at the 2012 TNF100

Already a pretty good summer- you have had PR’s at Tarawera, as well as in half and full marathons- what are the expectations for Saturday?

The goal is always to try and push the envelope and see how close you can get to the edge without falling over. Having said that you want to run smart and of course you want to enjoy the experience as much as possible. So hopefully I will flirt with disaster, laughing all the way, while still managing to hold it together enough to record a result I can be proud of.

How has training been- changing it up between 100km, marathon and back to 100km? What challenges, or advantages does this offer?

I enjoy the variety it offers being able to switch it up between the trails and the road between the mountains and the flat. At the end of the day I am a runner and I enjoy the sensation and experiences I gain from running whether on the roads, the track or the trail. As ultras become increasingly competitive I feel that it’s more important than ever to keep working on my speed. It also keeps me mentally fresh and inspired and always gives me new goals to aspire towards.

Pretty stacked field- who do you expect to be leading the charge on Saturday morning?

It’s a pretty interesting line up with a few familiar faces plus some of the top Asians heading down for it. I expect a couple of people to go out hard which tends to drag the rest of the field along with them. It’s going to be a fast race and it just depends on who gets their effort right and who can close it out over the last 30km.

And your race tactics?

Run smart, stay relaxed and then when it’s time to race just relax a little bit more. Real speed comes from smoothness and relaxation.

Post TNF100- what do you have planned for the rest of the year?

Early June I will be heading off to Europe for a full season of racing with some short mountain races a few mountain Marathons and a couple of Ultras. The big one for me will be UTMB at the end of August. Last time I was there I had a couple of broken ribs so this year I am hoping for some smoother sailing. We have a good crew of New Zealanders heading over for it so it should be a fun time in Chamonix.

Becky wining the Ultra Easy 100km in January.

After a great start to the year, smoking the Ultra Easy, what have you been up to Becky?

- after the big easy ultra I had a few weeks off running and strength training and spent a bit of time back in the pool and heaps of yoga. Then pretty much just focusing on TNF.
 
How has your TNF100 prep gone? What focused work outs have you been doing?

-prep I think has gone good, had a few hiccups with a old injury but after some therapy all seems to be good. I’ve spent some time in the gym strength training, and high intensity plyometrics workouts. I have been running 2 to 3 times a week, a long mountainous run with hiking thrown in, a smaller run with stair repeats chucked in for a mini heart attack lol and then a easy recovery runs. I’v been doing good recovery spins on the bike a day after a big run heaps and heaps of yoga also.
 
This is your first TNF100? Have you been to the Blue Mountains before?

- yes I’ve been to the blue mountains before, when I lived in Sydney 7 years ago, but pretty much just went to the viewing point to see the 3 sisters, jumped back in the car and left, (wasn’t really fit back then, too much partying!).

This must be the most competitive ultra you have run? Certainly a step up from Naseby or the Ultra Easy!

-yes this will be the most competitive ultra I have done! Scary and exciting at the same time…. be good to see how I stack up against these hardouts, its gonna be inspiring to see some of these top women race!
 
What are your expectations/time goals going in?

-hmm time and goals? I have no clue what time ill be looking at, if we go by the Big Easy then I guess 14hrs… but to be honest I don’t wanna worry too much on my time I just wanna finish strong and finish feeling satisfied that I gave it everything, and enjoy it at the same time, if that’s possible? (I will probably crawl over the finishing in a world of pain lol) Goal is to stay focused, not get caught up in the fast pace at the start, be consistent and have some fun with my bloody awesome support crew! No expectations.
 
Post TNF- what do you have coming up?

- post TNF, rest recover, eat a shit load of chocolate, get that out my system…lol. then back into training for the Swiss Iron Trail in August, and my awesome mission of crewing at UTMB ;o)

DNF……

Those three letters sound haunting and look so disappointing.

Jo on her way to winning The Hillary 80km, just 2 weeks after winning the Tarwera Ultra. Photo: Kim Allen

I put big expectations on myself for this race. My training load was high, as it turned out, way too high. I had built my own homemade step that sat in the backyard and would use it daily. I would also run 194 steps on a bush track in my runs during the week. If you don’t know, TNF100 (The North Face 100km Australia) has steps throughout the course. I wanted to get sick of steps because I knew that’s what it would feel like on race day. I was hammering the training, twice a day seven days a week, with the vision of winning. I would tell myself “this is what I have to do to win; train the hardest and I will perform the best”.

Little did I know I was forgetting a major rule for peak performance: REST/RECOVERY/REPAIR.

I never gave myself a day off. I barely stretched and I was always limping, sore, tired, grumpy and stressed out about the smallest things. The expectation of the race blindsided me into ignoring symptoms of over training and ignoring my body screaming at me to rest. I ignored the advice from friends, family and other runners telling me to slow down, telling me that I was doing enough and that my body needed to rest and repair, otherwise training is wasted.

I wish now that I had listened, hindsight is a great thing!

In the days leading up to the race, I decided to get a deep tissue massage for the first time. I do wonder if this was a smart idea, releasing toxins after all the hard training then flying on a plane.

I was feeling exhausted and done with running. I gave myself three days to taper probably, not a smart idea again. I had no idea really to taper I just go with what has worked for me in the past. Going into the Tarawera I took two days off from running but my mileage was a little less. The day before the race I felt unwell and was experiencing back pain and headaches that won’t go away. Exhausted, fatigued and I was not happy or excited about the race.

Driving from Sydney to Katoomba, was amazing to watch the landscape change so quickly. From bustling city to, what looked like to me, a grand canyon of native Australian bush, tall gum trees, massive cliffs, and a beautiful sun setting clear night. You knew you were in a different country, it was unreal. Katoomba was thriving with people and traffic, and the accommodation was sold out. I thought the Tarawera registration expo was big but TNF was outstanding.

I attend the athletes Q&A forum, meeting the other runners and we were all buzzing. Roger Hanny took the forum, and he reminded me of Kerry Suter in the way he ran Q&A at Tarawera, very funny and energetic. I register for the race, got the mandatory gear checked off and headed off for an early night.

Jo on stage at the TNF100 pre race panel.

Waking up race morning  I felt good and ready but as I walked up to the start line I got sharp pain in my lower back. It gets my attention but goes away eventually. I move to the front of the start line, my plan is to find Nuria Picas and stay with her. She looks psyched and confident and I’m excited to be in the same race as her.

The race starts and everyone takes off and I find a position to get comfortable in. I position myself right behind Nuria, focusing on her form and speed and feeling comfortable with it.

I’m thinking to myself that this is going to be a great race. I get 4.5km in, heading down from the outback onto furber steps. I feel tightening in my legs. It gets stronger and stronger and it stops me completely on the steps. I can’t move, my legs have totally seized, locked up and not bending at all. I have no idea what’s happening to me, it couldn’t be cramp, I never have cramp. I’ve just had a salt pill and it’s only the start of the race. I think to myself, what the hell is going on? I’m pretty upset and angry at this point. I accept I can’t be up the front anymore, but I want to finish this race.

The pain is excruciating and each step hurts, but I try to keep going. I can only manage a couple of steps before I need to stop. Tim Day passes me and reassures me that I will come right and I will try to walk whatever this is out. All I kept saying to myself was “keep walking, keep walking it will come right, it has to”.

Massaging and trying to stretch did nothing, my muscles wouldn’t give. I had so many runners stopping and trying to help me. Thanks to all those people who stopped out of their way to help me. I arrive at checkpoint one in two and half hours (10.5k). I go to the toilet to discover I’m peeing blood and I know my race is over.

If I hadn’t gone to the toilet, I would have continued the race as I was convinced I would improve if I kept moving.  I didn’t know what was going on with my body. All sorts of feelings entered my mind realising it was the end of the race for me. I felt ashamed, like a failure, and like I had let myself and others who have supported me to get to this race, down.

At the checkpoint I am seen by a medic and then transported to Katoomba Hospital. Once there, I am asked many questions by doctors who seem unsure about what could be going on.  Electrolyte imbalance, dehydration and some sort of extreme cramping.

It is my brother who informs them that I never rest and have been over training, and that I had been in A & E with dehydration back in December. I get hooked up to an IV drip and heart monitor and blood tests are taken. An hour later the results are in and the doctor tells me I am really sick. He diagnoses me with Rhabdomyolosis. A diagnosis of Rhabdo as they call it, is made when creatine phosphokinase (CPK) levels rise above 10,000 u/l, well above the upper limit of 200 u/l of normal range. CPK is an enzyme found inside muscle cells, so when muscles are damaged, this enzyme is released into the bloodstream. CPK is not harmful but used as a surrogate marker of myoglobin release. Myoglobin is a big red protein that can block or crystallize within the kidneys. This can lead to acute kidney injury and renal failure if severe. So the red I was seeing at checkpoint one wasn’t actually blood but myoglobin. Rhabdo literally means “dissolution of skeletal muscle” and is common and well-known consequence of strenuous physical activity. Ultra running and racing in particular requires heavy skeletal muscle recruitment and places huge demands on the body. These demands are well above and beyond what is typical of normal daily training. There are a number of factors that can increase your risk of getting Rhabdo: extremes of hydration, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) and analgesic use, heat stress and recent viral/bacterial infection. Rhabdo is also found in crushing situations, when people get stuck of pinned under buildings or anything massive in weight. With me, the fact I was training seven days a week, twice a day for months and months with no rest or recovery and I was dehydrated, caused my muscles to breakdown.

Because I had won past events, training the way I always had, I thought I must be doing something right. So I just kept running with what I was doing with no down time. As it turns out my way was not the right way. You live and learn. So now I’m getting out of the mindset that more is better when actually less and rest is best.

It is easy to get lost in expectations and pressure, and I need to remember why I actually love to run.

The North Face 100 Australia

Leading the way for the kiwis was of course Vajin Armstrong, placing 2nd again and running an impressive 10min improvement from last year- 9hr42min22sec. We had a few folks get pretty close to this time in our UltrAspire Give-away, but no one guessed the exact time/place. Closest was Duncan Darroch.

While Vajin is a seasoned ultra runner, TNF athlete Whitney Dagg was taking on her first 100km race. Anyone that has lined up in their first 100km race will know what a learning curve this is, but Whitney took it all in her stride, finishing in 12hr47 and 11th woman! Talking with her the next day Whitney was all smiles and already talking about her next race and running 100km again! In our The North Face give-away Emma Inglis was the closest.

Other kiwis at The North Face- Running Wild’s Mal Law ran a big PB to get his silver buckel, as did Kieron Berry, running a 2hr PB. Frenchman now based in NZ (and 2012 NB 100km winner) Damien Sellier went sub 13hr, while Robert Jarvis was just over. Despite getting well on in age now Bernard Robinson cracked out a solid 12hr22. Recently crowned woman’s NZ 100km winner Shannon Leigh Litt had to drop due to injury. Very very sorry if I missed you- I am sure we had a bunch more kiwis racing this year’s TNF100! Please leave a comment below on how you did.

I had a pretty mixed day. Taking it easy for 55-60km and feeling good before throwing up for a while. I then had the pleasure to run with woman’s winner Beth Cardelli for the last 20+km. 11hr01 and 12th place was well off my best, but was a (mostly) very fun day out.

A big thank you to Vajin’s sponsor UltrAspire and to Whitney’s  sponsor The North Face for supplying prizes. Duncan and Emma you can e-mail at run@backcountryrunner.co.nz with your address and we will get away asap.

We will also start to have a few more give-aways on BCR! We now have a photo gallery on the right hand side bar, all I will say for now is if you have a BCR hat- start getting some good photos of yourself rocking it and if you don’t have one, you should!

Vajin- what’s been happening since your last big race- Tarawera in March?

Since Tarawera I have been really focused on TNF, managing to get in some great specific workouts and some big mileage weeks. I have been working on my hill climbing, doing up to 70mins of hard climbing in a work out. I have also done some good quality long runs including a 50km progressive run where I ran the final marathon of the run in 2.41. In the last few weeks I have had some good races and runs that are leading me in nicely to TNF. Over the last three weeks I have raced 37km at Cape Brett, ran the Hillary trail, then raced 21km at  Hamner and last Saturday I had a good hit out over 15km at Greenpark. I feel this has all set me up to have a great performance over in Australia.

I am feeling excited and grateful to have the opportunity to be back racing here again. It is definitely a big advantage for me having done this race before, I know know exactly what to expect. It has also allowed me to train much more specifically for this race. So mentally I feel in a much stronger position coming back and I now have clear goals about how fast I want to run specific sections of the course. I always like to come into a race with my own personal performance goals so having some splits to chase out on the course will be great.

Who do you see as the top players in this year’s race? And How do you think the race might play out?

Ryan of course has to be the favourite, but in races of this distance anything can happen so you don’t want to count yourself out. I am sure there will be plenty of people happy to get themselves in over their heads in the first 20km so I will be looking to get into a nice sustainable pace that I can hold all the way to the finish. The 2nd half of this course is really where this race will be decided, the climb up Kedumba Pass is a real key to this race. I really hope to be able to run this whole section which should make a big difference to my time.

Shoe choice  and pack choice for TNF100??

I will be rocking the Saucony Peregrines (available at all Macpac stores) and the new  Ultraspire Titan. Big thanks to my sponsors Macpac, Saucony, Ultraspire, Buff and Injinji

As we said above, BCR and Vajin’s sponsor UltrAspire have teamed up to offer a little prize pack- we have an UltrAspire Transition bag and a Isomeric Pocket bottle.  To win this all you need to do is leave a comment at the bottom of this post, with what time and place you think Vajin will finish The North Face 100km in. One guess per person and comments must be in by 7am NZ time, 18th May.

Whitney at the Wanaka River Run Series

Whitney the TNF100 will be your first 100km race- how are you feeling, what are your expectations? Well I’m feeling pretty excited but a tad scared at the same time. Because it’s my first 100km I don’t really know how my body is going to feel after 80ish km. I’m not expecting to do a super fast time, and will be happy with a finish, but would like to make the top ten women. Most of all I want to make sure that I still have fun, despite the pain that I will most likely experience at the same time.

In the last 12months you set the Routeburn and Naseby 50km course records, but also have had a few niggles- how is the body feeling with the training you have done for a 100km race? I have had a few niggles come and go during my training, so fingers crossed the body can hold up for the distance. I felt good during the Routeburn return trip that I did a few weeks ago, but my hip has been a bit tender since then. It’s just an inflammation overuse thing that I’m sure most runners are aware of. I have also struggled with ITB friction syndrome for a few years now, so hoping they don’t give me any trouble.

You ran the Routeburn Classic a few weeks ago and then ran back to the start at the divide- how was the training run? How was it to be racing this, knowing you had to run back to the start- did you give the race 100%? The Routeburn return trip had to be done as it was my last chance at a long training run and at the same time I didn’t want to miss out on the race. I ran hard during the start of the race and managed to catch Victoria Beck, however had to tone it down a bit in the second half of the race, knowing that I had a long day ahead of me. She did the opposite of course and got faster rather than slowing down. So, no I didn’t give it 100%, but still had heaps of fun. Check out Whitney’s Routeburn return “move” here.

One of the biggest things with ultra distance is being able to fuel and take food in, have you been training for this during long runs? Yip I have been eating and drinking during my long training runs and have a selection of foods/gels that I know work for me. I am a Sports Nutritionist and studying to be a Dietitian currently, so have a bit of knowledge that I can put into practice.

You’re a The North Face sponsored runner- what will you have on your feet and back? Shoes – Women’s Single Track II, Pack – Women’s Enduro plus pack.

As we said above, BCR and Whitney’s sponsor The North Face have teamed up to offer a little prize pack- we have a TNF day pack (not a running pack, but great for a drop/gear bag, or for small day hikes), a TNF beanie and TNF cap. To win this all you need to do is leave a comment at the bottom of this post, with what time and place you think Whitney will finish The North Face 100km in. One guess per person and comments must be in by 7am NZ time, 18th May.

To keep up with all the action at TNF100 this weekend keep an eye on the Australian based Ultra 168 Facebook page and the Ultra168 blog for full race preview.

We will have an interview with Vajin Armstrong this week also and your chance to win some UltAspire gear!

We now have “100 Reasons” available in the BCR Trail Shop- just in-time for you to watch before the 2013 race on May 19th (which will see Ryan, Vajin and a host of others line up again). We also have this excellent review on 100 Reasons by Rob Mattingly who raced the 2012 TNF100.

A lot of people who run, me included, find it hard to explain exactly why we do it or what we get out of it.

To call a film about a running race ’100 Reasons…’ is therefore quite a brave call. It’s even braver when the race in question is The North Face 100!

This is a tough race! 100 kilometers is a long way, particularly when it is up and down some big hills. Whatever level of runner you are, when you stand on the start line, you know it’s going to hurt. As you’re climbing Nellie’s Glen or slogging up Kedumba in the dark, you know it is hurting. If you stay unbroken and get to the end, you know it did hurt.

Does the DVD get this across? Absolutely! You see the excited anticipation at the start; the pain on competitors’ faces during the race and the tears and joy at the finish.

In terms of giving a feel for the race, the film does a lot more than that.

In 44 minutes it obviously can’t show all of a course which takes some people over 24 hours to complete. However, as with the actual race, there is a flavour of everything – roads, trails, meadows, stairs, rocks…

There are also great views of the stunning scenery. The Blue Mountains are not a World Heritage site for nothing!

The interviews with runners at all levels highlight the humility of the elites, the determination of everyone to achieve their goals and the emotion involved. (They also give some of the 100 reasons!)

So what are the reasons to watch this DVD?

If you’re a trail runner looking for a new challenge, will it inspire you? I think so – it made me regret not signing up again for this year.

If you run already, but are looking to step away from road running, it shows what trail running is all about.

If, like some of the people interviewed, you are just after a whole new challenge, then it may be that 100 REASONS THE NORTH FACE 100 helps you find it.

Whoever you are, check out the DVD, get out running and come and join a bunch of people on a great day out in the country. Like everyone featured in the film, you will get what you came for!

Buy 100 Reasons DVD HERE