The Ups & Downs

*Long post alert*

Six Foot Track Race Report

Well as previously documented, getting to the start of Six Foot proved to be as much a part of the fun as the race itself.

On Friday morning the leg was much improved but still dodgy - though given the rate of improvement from the previous day my spirits were bouyed and I was almost ready to give myself a green light for go.

A visit to Easy Tiger at noon (thanks Lulu for swapping appointments *waves*) only improved my disposition. Gary worked my right leg almost exclusively for an hour, really concentrating on the adductor as the most likely cause of the pain in the ITB/quad area. The massage was much more intense than you would expect the day before a race but as Gary explained - if I was to make a start it was the lesser of the 2 evils. Gary also warned me that I would feel flat the next day due to the intensity of the work done.

I should also take time out here to mention again the good work done by Andrew from Access Chiropractic in Concord on Thursday night - Andrews ability to identify the cause of the problem and not just treat the symptoms I believe was pivotal in me getting to the start line.

Friday arvo and I headed up to the Edge for registration - it was pretty obvious KT was under a bit of pressure with only Phil from S.A. and O'Runner (alias The Prez) at that stage helping out with the registrations (though others had helped earlier and probably after) so I pitched in for a couple of hours - soon after Sarge joined the team and we had a pretty well oiled system working. By 6.30pm I was getting itchy feet and I wanted to get on and have some dinner and give my leg some more attention - fortunately Bristol City FC turned up and volunteered to relieve me.

When I got to base I put the spaghetti on to boil and headed out for a walk occasionally breaking into a gentle trot for 10 or so paces - the pain was there but bearable. Back to the cabin I put the nose bag on and then started a routine that would take me through till 11pm. I played swapsies with some ice packs and a thermo-skin for a couple of hours continually warming the leg up and cooling it back down.

Last thing I did was to lay out my gear for the morning including my Gu fuel belt complete with 500ml bottle, Gu container full of Gu, a couple of Elastoplasts, toilet paper, some anti-inflammatories and vitamins (magnesium, vit B and No Dose) in a sealable sandwich bag and stuffed into the zippered section.

I woke well before the sun was up and had a 10min warm bath to get some heat into the muscles and after a bit of a stretch went for a short trot - not exactly pain free but close enough.......

Both Catalina Park and Explorers Tree were the usual smooth set-up you expect with Six Foot (KT really is a logistics master). Arriving at the start line was a bit like old home week with lots of handshakes, back slaps and the occasional hug and kiss.

All the usual suspects were there  including the CR cheer squad (Jen_Runs, Go Girl with Go Baby, Lulu & Owl) thanks guys you are legends. Like always the last minute nervous fidgeting and nervous humour were the most popular pre-race activities.

I was starting in wave 2 and I positioned myself towards the back third of the pack wanting to make sure I started conservatively. After the gun went off we headed down the hill and remarkably my leg was pretty much pain free. I looked up and found myself running next to The Hermmanator and we chattered our way down to the bottleneck at the top of the stairs.

A tree had fallen just before the stairs and this created a worse than usual delay - we literally didn't move a step for 4 or 5 minutes. The Hermmanator managed to slip a few places in the queue ahead of me but another ultra levethian Mr G was directly behind me. Eventually we cleared the obstacle and we nattered away down the stairs taking 21 minutes to get to the Nellies Glen sign *rolls eyes* and hitting the fire trail in about 23 mins.

After I tapped the lap button on the Garmin when we hit the fire trail proper I realised we were running at about a 4.30 pace - "what the"? This was waaaaay too fast for me even if we had lost a lot of time on the stairs -  fortunately one of the safety pins holding my race bib had come loose giving me an excuse to back off. Easy Tiger was right - I did feel flat and by 5k my right leg felt really heavy and at that stage all I really wanted to do was just lie down and have a nap - oh well just 40k and a few hills to go :-)

Through Megalong Valley Road in about 58mins was a bit of an anticlimax as there was no one there I knew. Having planned to go through here in about 50 mins I put the foot down a bit but elected to walk up Pinacle Hill citing my Six Foot mantra of "walk the hills early - walk the hills often".

Into the technical section down to the Cox's and I was feeling much better but to my frustration I found myself tagging onto a conga line of about 40 runners - it was particularly frustrating for me because technical downhill trail running is my only strong suit and it is one of the few places I can actually claim to have any advantage. I could have passed the next in front and so on but what was the point? I was never going to get past them all, so I just accepted the situation and settled in and concentrated on staying safe.

On the steep (clear) hill just before the river crossing I just went left off the track onto the grass and passed about 25 people in one fell swoop - then got in front of the rest as the wimps almost exclusively went for the rocks. Now a word on the river crossing - I have read that some people whinged they got sand and grit in their socks and regreted it..... The trick is to WALK and put your feet down deliberately outside heel of the shoe first and then roll the rest of the foot down - no grit or sand and you still beat the rock hoppers AND you get to be on the video :-)

I went across the Cox's timing mats in 1.46 about 5mins slower than last year and 10 mins behind my race plan. A quick resup of High 5 and I was on my way. In training I had run up here but my legs were flat from Wednesdays and Fridays massages so again I just accepted it and walked the majority of the way to Mini Mini - just before the cattle yards (roughly 18k's) the Ugly Step Sister made her presence known and my ITB/Quad started to ache - on a pain scale of 1 to 10 - I would rate it as a 5 and I was a bit apprehensive that it would only get worse so I took the decision to pop my anti-inflammatories (1 x Voltaren Rapid and 1 x Nurofen Plus) and my vitamins here - no point leaving it too late. Whilst the pain stayed with me for the rest of the race at the same level it never got any worse and was quite bearable.

Getting to the top of Mini Mini in one piece I felt like I had got over the first hurdle and I really flogged it down the other side - reverting to the walk thing up to Pluvio - I suck at walking more than I suck at running - my short stumpy legs just can't cut it - so in frustration of seeing other walkers pull away from me I did run a bit more of the up toward Pluvi than I had up to Mini Mini. I had a bit of a duel with Professor (which I eventually lost) from the Cox's but it was great to have some CR support.

Crossing the Pluvi mat in 3.30 (2 mins slower than last year and still 10mins behind my race plan) I stated aloud for anyone who cared to listen that this is what I had trained for - to run up Blacks Range! Well I ran up a fair bit of it (albeit slowly) but I reverted to walking some of the steeper ups too - being a stronger down runner I commenced playing a game of leap frog with a group of people who were stronger on the ups. I could start to feel the adductor on my right leg fatiguing and chose not to push it - though when one spectator (rather uncharitably) said "I'm not sure if you call that running or walking" towards the end of Blacks Range I self-consciously picked up the pace a bit.

I felt confident running down into the Deviation but by this stage I knew I was too far behind on my 5.45 race plan and re-focussed on a sub 6. Shortly afterwards Horrie (who had started in wave 3 and was therefore actually 15 mins in front of me) yelled out and before long he was beside me and then in front.

Unfortunately Horrie started to cramp a bit and after a while I caught and then pulled away from him - but then my fatigued adductor on my right leg threatened to cramp on the steepest part of the course - the dreaded middle hill of the Deviation at around the 36k mark - bugger - fortunately I had the enough brain cells still functioning to stop immediately and give it a bit of a rub (I wasn't brave enough to try a stretch) and the crisis passed.

So that was me off again and on the next downhill I again pulled away from Horrie - it had been nice to have a bit of a chat to someone I knew and who unreservedly offered me encouragement despite his own predicament (ta Horrie). NB though I beat Horrie across the line he beat me well and truly on corrected times.

Out of the Deviation and I left the leap frog group behind as I got a wriggle on downhill on the first part of the single file Mt George Track. For a while I was blissfully alone with no one in sight either ahead or behind. Eventually I caught up to the next pack (this group contained the guy dressed in the cow suit - yeah great for my confidence being beaten by a guy dressed as Clarabelle) and played the familiar game of leap frog with the pack back markers including another CR (Stacey??).

It doesn't matter how many times you run this part of the course you always forget how many little ups there are to go - mongrel things! Eventually I got to the second last aid station and I had 28 minutes to run 4.4kms to get in under 6 hours - sounds easy huh?

Anyway I chased that bloody cow up hill and down dale to the last aid station - I really wanted to get past him - 2 very steep k's to go and only 10 mins to do it I was doubly motivated and I hit the afterburners - I was really regretting not cutting my big toe nails (not a word Jen or Nat!) knowing that they were already lost I just tried to tuck them in a bit to ease the pain.

I passed numerous runners over the last 2k (15? 20?) who all without exception made way as I thundered through (thanks guys 'n gals) and I only got passed once (and that was only after I hit the paved track and it got a bit flatter) but I never got closer than one runner away from that bloody cow!

Hitting the bottom of the stairs I could see the cheer squad and other CR's who had already finished lined up - I put on a spurt and charged towards the finish with a show-boating high-5 along the way - 10 meters from the finish I found the face in the crowd I most wanted to see - Mrs 2P - gave a wave and did my best interpretation of a sprint finish to the line I could muster.

Finished in 6.03.00 gun time and 6.02.12 nett. Mildly disappointed not to go under 6 hours nor best my previous PB from 1998 of 5.53 - but I took some consolation that I bettered last years time by some 18mins and that despite the hiccups over the last 3 weeks I had actually finished more or less in 1 piece.

I received my medallion from the lovely Belinda - how gutsy is that? Having trained for this race as a major goal for months and making the decision only 24 hours earlier to pull out due to a calf injury sustained the week before - there she was graciously handing out medals and offering congratulations to smelly, sweaty runners - now that's class!

Great runs for lots of folk and some bitter disappointments for others but hey - that's the unpredictable world of Six Foot for you - well done to all who had a go! If ever there was a race where there are never any losers - to my mind it is the Six Foot Track.

And finally a huuuuuuuuuge thankyou to the Firies who man the aid stations - you deserve every cent raised - not only for manning the aid stations but for doing a great job 365 days of the year.