Wisemans Ferry Run and Blue Mtns Bike

Like a good little endurance athlete I made the most of the *long* weekend with a *long* run yesterday and a *long* ride today. (My concession to Easter was baking and eating hot cross buns. Yum. And eating lots of chocolate.)

Yesterday was up to Wiseman's Ferry for a Fat Ass run. I have never been there before and it was a lovely spot for a run. After taking Monday to Friday last week completely off training (nothing!!) I figured I would either feel fast and fresh or really flat and slow. Sadly it was the latter. But it was still very enjoyable as it was all offroad, lovely and quiet in the trees and I had great company from another woman runner. We took the "short" 27k option and finished in 3 hours. I was very glad I did not take the 34k option as I would have really suffered. 61k was not an option. ;)


Today Tom and I took the train up to the Blue Mountains for a long day in the saddle. We started from Wentworth Falls and rode Anderson's firetrail to Woodfood. I have not ridden this before and I was a little disappointed. It was fine but nothing special. There was a long rocky steep descent which is just not my kind of riding - I ended up with sore hands from gripping the brakes too hard. Then there was a nasty long climb back out. I had been looking forward to this as I usually like climbing more than descending, but it was really hard! I said the f-word several times. We got to Woodford where we planned to have lunch, only to remember that there is nowhere there to eat, so instead we had a banana and a hot-cross bun and pushed on towards Glenbrook on the Oaks firetrail. This was much more fun. There's lots of downhill but mostly not steep, there's lovely open sections, a very long and fast single track section, some good technical stuff at the end and then a nice hard climb out (on bituman). All together we covered around 60k in 5 hours and we finally got our lunch at Glenbrook.

Six Foot Track 2008

This is the unedited, uncensored and loooong version of my race report...

The Six Foot Track Marathon is a bit like a trail running equivalent of Ironman. There is a lot of hype and excitement, you have to qualify by first completing other events within a cut-off time, the finish line has an incredible atmosphere with plenty of emotion and the finishers t-shirts are worn with great pride.

The trail is 45 kilometres off-road from Katoomba to Jenolan Caves in the Blue Mountains. As it’s longer than a traditional marathon (42.2k) it is technically considered an ultra marathon. But the hard part is the hills – there’s over 1500m of climbing and 1700m of descending, which is apparently more than you do going down and back up in the Grand Canyon.

An oft-cited rule of thumb is 1.5 x your marathon time, but due to the big hills and varying terrain it’s hard to predict and a lot depends on what happens on the day. I had a secret goal of finishing under 5 hours, but I wouldn’t have admitted this to anyone beforehand, and if I had, they may have thought I was being a bit optimistic.

I started in Wave 3 and had a nervous chat to friends Bruce and Brian before the gun went. I was shocked at how steep, rocky and narrow the start is. I didn’t jostle for a position, but just ran comfortably until the start of the stairs. The stairs go for about a kilometre and were wet, slippery and uneven, but fun. It was a walking pace conga line here, but I wouldn’t have felt safe going much faster.

Bruce got in front of some slower runners and he disappeared from sight but a few ks later on the firetrail Brian and I saw him again. We had a nice chat but they were running a little bit fast for me at just under 5min k pace.

My right leg started hurting very early on in the run. This had come up on an easy run Tuesday before the race and I hadn’t run since then, hoping it would settle down. It was sore but not slowing me down, and I was just worried about it getting worse.

After climbing the stile and crossing the Megalong rd (8k) I slowed down and was soon enjoying the beautiful single track descent to Cox’s River. I really loved this section, it feels like mountain biking and I enjoyed every step. There was no conga line and I had no trouble passing people when I needed to. I had a good chat to a lady in groovy red shoes and started passing some of the very senior runners from the early wave.

I reached the river (15.5k) in 1.29 which was on pace for sub-5 hours. I didn’t feel exactly fresh, but I was glad to be at the first milestone and one third through the distance. I had planned to take off my shoes to cross the river, but at the last minute I didn’t want to risk hurting my feet so I kept them on. I crossed the waist-deep river quickly using a high knees technique. I didn’t pick up too much sand and decided I could stop later, but I never needed to. (At this point I have to say thanks to my socks. They are sports wool and were brilliant for this race, my feet never felt wet despite numerous creek crossing and I got no blisters. Love em!)

From the river its up up up up to the Mini Mini saddle, down down down to the Alum River, then up up up up up up up up to the Pluviometer. Climbing up the big hills I walked more than I had planned, but I really power walked and I was quick, passing lots of people. All but the top runners walk parts of this race and at times it felt like being on a bizarre bushwalk with a bunch of people in skimpy outfits, rather than a running race. I tried to really use my bum and thighs (my biggest assets!) and stuck my bum right out. This must have looked a bit strange but it seemed to work and I never felt like the hills were that bad. I took it pretty easy on the descents and was caught by Bruce who is a good downhill runner.

I finally arrived at the Pluviometer (26k) at 2:55 and thought okay Zoe, sub-5 is a real possibility now, so go for it. For the first 5 kilometres of the (relatively) flat Black Range firetrail I didn’t feel very good. My leg was still hurting and I was running, but not very quickly. Brian was alternating running and walking here as he was cramping so we kept passing each other and he gave me lots of encouragement. Bruce kept catching me but then stopping to empty his shoes again.

From the end of the Black Range there was 10k to go and I had X minutes to do it. It was hard and I was hurting but I was on a bit of a roll. I walked some of the nastier hills, one nicknamed Insult Hill which I actually laughed out loud in disbelief when I saw. I was starting to feel very slight twinges in my calves like I could cramp at any minute so I was running gingerly and trying to keep a steady pace. I knew it was going to very close to 5 hours but was sure if I ran too fast I would blow it. With just under 5k to go another runner asked if I thought we could get under 5. I replied loudly and firmly that Yes we could and we would.

Bruce and I were running together on and off now and encouraging each other. At one point I remember I tried a deep and meaningful spiel about how lucky we were to be able to run and in such beautiful surrounds. Bruce is usually a talkative guy, but all he said in response was “Does not compute”.

The last 2 kilometres are insane. You’ve already run 43 kilometres and its very steep, narrow and rocky straight downhill. Who’s idea was this? I kept thinking that my body was never going to forgive me. A lot of passing happened here with a mixture of walking wounded and flying desperados. At one point a lady fell sprawled onto the track right in front of us. Bruce and I both stopped to help her up but she had a severe cramp in her leg and could hardly stand. We were both torn between wanting to stay and see that she was okay and the urgent desire to get off the side of this mountain as soon as humanly possible.

The finish of the race at Jenolan Caves is amazing. The bottom of the narrow and steep valley is a natural amphitheatre and as you descend you can hear the cheering crowd coming up to greet you. Once I hit the concrete path with 500m to go I starting grinning and shouting with excitement. Just before I could see the finish I heard the announcer say over the loudspeaker “Here comes Zoe Cameron from Dulwich Hill, and she is going to break 5 hours”. From there I relaxed and enjoyed the finish line, got my medal and gave Tom a sweaty kiss.

I finished in 4:58:05, 18^th woman and 8^th in my age group. I was thrilled with this because I think its exactly what I was capable of. I also think I can improve in the future with more training. I definitely want to do this race again. I was also part of the Sydney Striders team that won the Female Teams trophy, which made me very proud. I am only new to Striders but I have already made some really good friends.

Nutrition wise it was all good. I carried my own gels (I only like Gu) and had one every 45 mins, six in total. I drank at least a cup of water or sports drink at every aid station and had Coke in the last 2 hours. I tried to eat half a lolly snake at one point but almost choked on it – I have never been able to run and chew at the same time. I needed to pee for the first 2 hours, but I never did and then I didn’t need to go until an hour after the finish, so I was probably a little dehydrated. If it had been hotter I would have needed a lot more to drink.

y recovery has been fine. I felt sore for a couple of days and just did a few gentle runs and some swimming. One week later I did a team multisport race where I paddled, biked and swum. total of about 5 hours. I felt strong but not fast. After that I decided to have a complete rest week which has been good, but I am looking forward to getting back into things now.

2 runs worth blogging

I am pretty slack with blogging and my last few posts have just been race reports. But I had 2 runs this weekend that are blog-worthy I think.

The first was Friday night at the CoolRunning Summer Twilight race at Silverwater. This is a very low-key casual chance for a good hitout at 7pm on a Friday night. I got lost on the way there and so didn't arrive at the start until 15 minutes after the start. But the host kindly let me head out then and said he would wait for me. There was a choice between 5k and 10k. I had planned to do the 10 but thought maybe I should do the 5 as I was late. But when I got the 5k turn-around I was feeling so good I really wanted to keep going. So I did. It was warm and very humid with a strong headwind from 1 - 2.25 and 5 - 7.5 and a good tailwind on the rest. I just concentrated on working hard and trying to go fast and it worked pretty well. I was really happy to finish in 47.38 or thereabouts. There were cold drinks and lots of friendly CRs at the finish, so it was a most enjoyable evening. And I am motivated now to try and improve my 10k time at the Striders series next year. And that leads to my other good run...

After nearly 2 years living in Sydney and no plans to leave just yet, I decided it was time to join the Striders. They have a 6ft training group that runs on Saturday mornings and so I joined them for the first time yesterday. We started at Marsfield and I think we were in Lane Cove National Park. I have no idea where we went, but there was lots of up and down, heaps of splashing through flooding creeks and it was brilliant. It was only a very short run of about 11k but that was enough for me - sore calves, and I got a great taste for what the group was like, and I loved it. So some more motivation there, hopefully enough to keep me going through the next 2 weeks of eating and lazing and holidaying.
Merry Christmas to all and Happy running. :)

Canberra Half Ironman

I had been looking forward to this race for quite a while and it would be my first big triathlon since Ironman in April. Canberra is my home town and I have worked on the aid station at the Canberra Half since I was a novice 4 years ago, and now it was my turn to be on the other side. Unfortunately overseas work commitments meant that I did not have an ideal preparation. I didn't do much swimming or riding in the 6 weeks before the race, but I did lots of running. I was confident that I would be able to finish and was feeling quite fit considering, so hoping that I would be able to have a decent race.

It was a wetsuit optional swim with the water temp at 22.1. The ladies started at 6.38 in the 3rd wave. Before the start I moved towards the front of the group, not because I wanted to lead but because it would be less far to swim. I spotted a friend nearby me at the start and I know she is a better swimmer than me but not heaps better, so I thought I would try and stay on her feet. This worked really well for the first half - I followed her and was trying hard to keep up to her pace. This meant I swam harder than I normally would but I still felt I was within myself. But after awhile I noticed she was further and further in the distance and I gave up. For the last 300 meters it was so strange, there was no one around me at all - it was like I fell off the back of the fast-ish group and there was no one behind for ages. Anyway, I got out of the water and looked at my watch and I thought it said 35 minutes. I was happy with that especially as I felt that I had swam faster and harder than I usually would. It turned out that I looked wrong and it was probably more like 32.

There was a long jog to transition and by the time I got there my feet were numb from running on the concrete. (One day when I do Escape from Alcatraz I am going to wear sneakers). I did the usual struggle out of the wetsuit, put on my usual loose bike white jersey, socks and bike shoes and headed out onto the bike. It was drizzling but not cold so I did not bother with arm warmers. The bike was 3 laps of 31k, with 1 steep hill and quite a few moderate rises on each lap. I don't have that much to say about the bike as I didn't really enjoy it. I never found a rhythm and never felt comfortable. It was like I was working harder than I should be, but going slower. A few times girls passed me and I tried to keep them in sight but never could. I wasn't having fun like I usually do on the bike, but I was a good girl and concentrated on eating and drinking according to schedule, getting down on my tri bars as much as possible and not drafting. It rained on and off, sometimes quite heavily, but this didn't really bother me. One thing about the rain is that its good for peeing on the bike. I know this is too much information, but peeing on the bike saves a lot of time, and its not very nice to do when its hot and dry. I was happy when the bike was over and looking forward to seeing how I would go on the run.

In T2 I peeled off my soaking wet jersey and grabbed my soaking wet hat and shoes. I didn't have a second pair of socks and was a bit worried about my very wet feet, but they turned out to be fine. I started running and was feeling good. I had planned to try and "push it" on the run but instead I just ran "comfortable" and was happy with that. The first lap went by quickly. I some nice chats to fellow runners, got cheered by lots of friends spectating, said hi to other friends racing - yep, this is why we do it. :) After about 14k my legs started to reeeaaally hurt, and after about 18k I felt like I was very borderline crampy and not running very well any more. But I was still moving faster than plenty of other people and passed 1 or 2 girls in my age group. I finished in 5.36 and felt sore but still really good. I would have loved to finish in under 5.30 and it was my bike split of 3.14 that let me down. But I was happy to finish 7th in my age group out of 28. The 6th placed female was 10 minutes ahead of me so I figure I beat everyone I was going to beat. I was also lucky not to get any flats as there were plenty of them with the wet conditions.

I am happy and proud to be a Canberra Half Ironman finisher and feel that I had another good solid race. At the moment I am feeling like I want a break from triathlon for awhile, but I will wait and see how I go after Christmas.

Nowra Olympic Distance Triathlon

Another great weekend away racing. This time it was down at Nowra for the opening of the National Series. I did this race last year and enjoyed it and knew it would be good fun again. I was also keen to have a bit of race before heading overseas for work for 4 weeks. I have been training fairly consistently, but not doing very much running. My plan was to have a strong swim and bike and not worry too much about the run.

The swim is in the Nowra river, and is a straight 750m upstream, turn and 750m back. I concentrated on not slacking, long reach with my arms and good kick. After about 500m I got on the feet of someone. I tried to pass her a few times but it did not happen so I figured it must be a good pace and I stayed there. I came out of the water in 23.XX and I was happy with that ( it was prob a bit short).

The bike course was an out and back, steady gradual climb to 20k, then mostly down again n the way back. I got down on my bars and concentrated on pushing fairly hard. After a few kilometres I hooked up with another woman, no 44. We then played cat-and-mouse for the whole bike. This could have been annoying but it was actually really good as it made me work harder and reminded me that it was a race.

Before the race the TA officials had demonstrated how to pass correctly and emphasised that you must stay in the draft of the bike in front as you approach and only move out to pass when you are just behind them, so you are not blocking. I have never done this before, tending instead to sit out to the right when I pass, so I make sure I don't look as though I am drafting. But this time I followed the rules exactly and realised the benefits of doing this - you get a slingshot effect that is quite awesome.

I got off the bike in about 1.15 and I was pleased with that. I felt that I had pushed fairly hard and done my best. I was "curious" to see how the run would go. No 44 was just ahead of me going out of transition and I reached her as we crossed the bridge over the river a the start of the run. We said hello and she said she was trying to qualify for Vancouver Worlds next year. I passed her fairly easily, but then about 500 m later on the biggest hill on the course, she passed me. I thought "maybe I should try and stay with her", but the truth is, mentally I can be weak sometimes and this was one time when I was. I let myself just keep plodding along. My aim from there was to keep a positive attitude, concentrate on my form and not go too slow. The run course has two loops out and back where can see other runners and so I tried to hold or decrease the gap to other runners. When there are only 2k to go its all downhill, so from there I tried to really pick it up and finish strong. In the end my run split was 48:XX which is not great, but not terrible. But I think the run course might be a little short. (I was not wearing my GPS).

I crossed the line in 2:28:XX and was happy with that. Its a minute slower than my Olympic distance PB, but 4 minutes faster than I did this race last year (although the bike course was different). I was lucky to get 3rd in my new age-group of 30-34. If I had still been in 25-29 I would have been about 9th I think.

It was really great to get the tri season started with a race, and a good idea of where I am up to with my training (still lots of room for improvment). Now I go overseas for 4 weeks so the plan is work on my running and hope that magically I don't lose too much on the bike.

Scott 24hr Mtb race - Stromlo Forest Park

This was my 4th year in the Scott (the race formally known as the Mont). The first 2 years I was in a mixed 6, last year an all-female 4 and this year an all-female 3. The previous years have been held at Kowen forest and this year was the first time at Stromlo using all the new trails built by CORC. I have enjoyed every year but this year surpassed the others by miles, I absolutely loved it. I really enjoyed the new course and 3 was a perfect size team, offering plenty of riding but not enough to be punishing. Plus my 2 team mates were awesome.

The new course is based on a "hourglass" with two separate laps = red lap and blue lap. Each team or solo rider must ride 1 lap of each in order for the 24hrs. Its up to you whether you do single laps, double laps, or any other combination as long as go redblueredblueredblue etc.

The red lap was about 11k and notable for the fact that it climbs basically to the top of Mt Stromlo through a series of switchbacks, then does a really fun, fast and flowing traverse of the mountainside then returns to transition down a moderately steep section. The blue lap was about 14k, is more rolling, with more firetrail and slightly more technical sections.

Red was my favourite but I also enjoyed the blue. But mostly I loved the fact that there was two different laps, it made it much more interesting. Also because each lap was shorter than at Kowen you could go harder, and not worry too much about food, drinks and lights. So the course was fantastic.


I was riding the first lap which is done Le-Mans style - ie. you run to your bike and then jump on. The run was very short this year, only about 300m. I started at the very back, which in hindsight was not ideal because it meant I got stuck behind almost every rider on the course. Next year I would go for closer to the middle of the pack. Anyway, the first lap (red) was very slow and congested until the top of the climb, then spaced out a bit. Although there is very little firetrail, its easy to pass as the singletrack is quite wide. The first lap seemed to be over too quickly as I was having so much fun.

We had decided to ride mostly single laps and each do a double lap at night to give some opportunity for a longer sleep or rest. This worked out perfect for us, being a team of 3 meant each person got to ride alternate red-blue laps each time. The 3 of us were similar in times for each lap, averaging around 50-55 minutes in the day.

With less than 2 hours between each lap, my routine was to finish a lap, eat and drink something, change into normal clothes, get my bike ready for the next lap, each and drink some more, relax and chat to everyone in camp for about an hour, get changed back into bike gear and go down to transition for the next lap.

My first night lap was a disaster. Well, it was going great for the first 10k but then my batteries failed and I had no lights. This has always been my worst fear in this race but its never happened before. (I think my batteries are just getting old and crapped-out, and I had not realised that they no longer last more than half an hour because that is the longest I usually ride in the dark when I am commuting.) Anyway, I limped home, trying to follow other riders and generally just being lucky that I didn't stack. I was very glad to make it back into camp.


My second night lap was scheduled to be the double and go from about 11 pm-1 am. Unfortunately it became apparent that none of my batteries, including all the spares I had borrowed from a friend, were up to the task, so I had to rely on a headtorch for most of the time and save my highbeam helmet light for the tricky sections when I really needed it. I had a few small falls and my confidence was not great, but I managed to get through red and most of the blue, but then I got a flat tyre. To cut a very long story short it took me more than 30 minutes to change - cold, tired, dark and my brand new spare had not one but two holes in it that had to be repaired. This time I was really really glad to get back to transition.

After that the other two girls did their double laps so I had enough time to have a faaaantastic hot shower, get into my sleeping bag and sleep for about 1 hour. And by the time I had to ride again it was light!! I have never appreciated the simple fact of being able to see quite as much as I did on that lap.

By time 11am rolled around, we had done 24 laps total, 8 laps (4 red and 4 blue) each. After carefully checking in the results tent that we had a large margin on the only other team in our category, I decided not to go out again for a final lap - the symmetry was too perfect to disturb and yes, I was tired.

We got some really good prizes, a plaque, 2 jerseys, shorts, a light and sport drink mix. All in all it surpassed my expectations of a wonderful weekend. I love mountain biking, its so much fun. One day I hope I get a bit better at it. This year my fitness is definitely better, but my skills are still lacking, especially on the descents. Next year I think a team of 3 again, it was perfect for me. And I have to get much much better lights.




PS. The amazing photos are from sportograf. I can't get over how good how they. Their business model is one flat fee for digital copies of all the photos of you. For this event the cost was $35 and there were over 20 pictures of me. This is SOOO much better value than stupid Triathlon Photos who charge $30 for 1 photo print and won't give you digital versions unless you pay more than $150. I love sportograf!!!!!

Race Report - The Angry Doctor 100k mountain bike

[This post has taken me ages because I have been trying to get on top of the technology to put in lovely graphs and maps and photos ... I am learning]

I had been planning to do this event for months, but I didn't manage to do much specific training for it. I was not too worried as I knew I could do it, but I was not sure how to pace myself or how much exactly it would hurt.

The race was part of a lovely weekend down at the South Coast. I rented a house at Broulee on the headland and it was so nice. Tom and I stayed there on Friday night and Bronwyn, Lina and John joined us on Saturday. We had a fantastic feast for dinner and after packing ridiculous amounts of food and fiddling with our bikes we had a pretty early night.

The start was at 7AM in Mogo and we 4 started together right at the back of the bunch. It was a cold morning and I had on arm warmers and full leggings over my knicks. The first 5 or so k were on bitumen and it was really fun whizzing along on the road in a big peloton of mtbs. Soon we got to the dirt and the comical sight of people walking on the first hill! I had some "mechanical" problems to start with, which turned out to be just the noise of my very solid home-made powerbars rattling against my bike in my bento box. Once I figured out this mystery problem I had been separated from the others and settled in to ride my own steady pace for the day.

I felt really good in the first 30 kilometres. The hills were easy and my newly fitted disc brakes felt great. There was some really lovely singletrack and fun bits. At about 35k I met up with Libby and we rode together chatting which was nice. Libby was putting in a good pace on the fire-trail and could go much faster than me especially on the descents, and then I took the lead on the single track. We reached the 50k half way point back in Mogo in about 3hours 10 mins and I was pleased with that. We both stopped and had a quick toilet and food break. I had not drunk much of the water in my CamelBak which I had should have worried about and I also did not bother to fill it up - stupid!

As we rode away I said to Libby that it was really nice to ride together but she should not wait for me, and so that was the last I saw of her. Shortly after that I stopped to make a phone call and also to SMS Tom. This either amused or concerned those around me.

At about 60k one of the marshalls said: "You are the 7th girl." For a moment I wished she had not said that because I felt pressure to keep up my pace. But then I figured that was stupid - for all I knew there were only 7 girls in the race and I was last, so it hardly mattered.

Shortly after passing the 75k aid station and not stopping I ran out of water (stupid!) and started feeling pretty flat. I told myself I would be okay with the half bidon of sports drink I had left, but that was delusional - I would have been cactus. Very fortunately I remembered there was another aid station at 8ok. I got there at 1pm (6 hours riding) and I filled up my CamelBak and guzzled a Lucosade, fruitbread and some lollies. After that I felt heaps better and sent Tom another SMS saying I was feeling good and would probably be another 1.5 hours to the finish.

Just past the 85k marker I suddenly got a painful cramp along the inside of my right thigh. A few seconds later my left leg cramped up too. Uh-oh. Riding with cramping legs was pretty tricky. Specifically pedalling was a problem. At one point I fell off my bike and could not get up and another time I went to throw my leg over and it seized up and I kicked a tree. Fortunately at 89k there was a really sweet single track section that flowed downhill so I did not have to pedal and it put a big smile on my face. It was so fun I was almost tempted to ride it again.

Once I was inside of 10k to go I didn't worry too much about the pain and just rode as fast as I could without cramping, which was extremely slow. It was a good feeling to return to the Mogo oval and cruise across the finish line. I finished in 7 hours 20 mins. The Garmin said it was 96k which was slightly disappointing, but close enough. I was 7th women out of about 20. The fastest guy finished in 4 hours 20 mins - just amazing.

Bronwyn and Lina finished with big smiles - yay! And Libby got 2nd in the Open women category and 4th overall - nice. I scored a lucky prize of a new Netti jersey which I earned by having worn no less than 5 separate items of Netti gear on the day (knicks, longs, jersey, armwarmers and headband) - not on purpose either. Afterwards Bronwyn drove me back to Canberra and I was so tired and hungry I got takeaway for dinner and just crashed into bed. I was pretty tired and sore for most of the week after.

I really enjoyed this event and can't wait to do another 100k mtb. I think next time I could go faster. My main limiter is my skills rather than fitness. I am embarrassingly slow on the descents. I was also STUPID about my hydration and probably did not have enough salt either, hence the cramping. I am not sure why I thought I did not really have to worry about it, as its a long event. Next time I will pay more attention to that.