2 months of resting

I did not stop completely but apart from the occasional run on a weekend, I have not seen a gym from the inside nor put on my runners during the week for the last 2 months now. It was very nice to enjoy a rest, some good wine and food for a while.

Unfortunately it shows with the 4 kgs I put on during that time and the coming festive season won't help to shed them quickly either. Another 3 weeks of enjoying the good live and then on the 11 Jan 10 it is all back to business.

My training plan is set, my goals clear and my determination strong.

I have 8 weeks to get ready for the 100km Coast Trek from Palm Beach to Coogee Beach first weekend in May, then a week to recover before attempting the 45 km of the 6 ft Track in the Blue Mountain. Followed by some more hard training for another 8 weeks before my final test - the 50 km of Canberra.

After that it is all fine tuning for South Africa - The Comrades 2010, here we come. Having ran the best ultra in the world in 2003 I will make next year's race an extra special challenge - running 89km and guiding Francois, my blind South African buddy to the finish line.
Over the last few weeks I started to learned how to guide visualy impaired runner with the Achilles Club in Sydney.

Of course the whole next year is again used to raise as much needed fund for The Fred Hollows Foundation - helping them to reach their goal of eliminating avoidable blindness by 2020!

I very much hope you can be part of my journey again, as only with your generous support I will be able to reach my goals and help The Fred Hollows Foundation reaching theirs.

Wish you and your family a peaceful festive season and a very happy and injury free 2010!
Markus

Fit, Fun and forever Young...

After a week of recovering and getting ready for today's 1/2 marathon, Philip (my Belgium buddy), Uli (our house photographer) and myself were ready for action at 7am in front of the mighty Olympic Stadium. This time the start was staggered in age groups and I was off 2 minutes ahead of Phil....not that it made a big difference, as the first of the 50+ guys steamed pass me after 2 km into the race. It was a perfect day and a relatively flat course which was made for fast times. I was sucked into the speed of the group and powered along in just over 20min for the first 5km, which of course was way to fast and I paid the price in the last 5km which took me 27min. Overall I did not reach my goal of 100min and finished in 103min for the 21km. It was just sooooo hard to keep up with all those fit old farts. It is encouraging seeing 70 year old men running hard and leaving younger ones behind but it is just bloody hard to keep motivated if it happens to you in a race. Moral of the story is that I probably have to keep going, stay fit and have fun for another 35 years before I have a small chance of a medal....there were still a handful of 80+ runners competing but hey, being in the first 5 of a World Masters Game is not too bad after all. I liked the comments of the 99 year old and 6 gold medal winner who said that no one should ever mention the world old to her...unless it has a G in front of it!
So, 2009 is done - 2'000km, 4 pairs of shoes, a great 100km North Face race and a fun time at the World Masters Games. Now a few weeks of resting, staying fit and relaxing before starting a new adventure in 2010!
Happy Feet and stay fit
Markus

Let the Games begin - World Masters Games 2009

First weekend and race done - The Sydney 2009 World Masters Games have begun. After a miserable week with rain and cold weather at least most of Sunday stayed dry.

Uli and I stayed at Homebush overnight to be ready for the 7am start on Sunday morning. I picked-up my accreditation card and signed in for the 10 km race that afternoon.

Since the organisation of these Games are done by the government it should not surprise about the most stupid sign-up system they came up with. For each race I and all other athletes signed up for you need to show up a day prior the race to pick up your race number!?!?! This would mean for me to take off Monday and drive out to Homebush to simply sign in for my race on Tuesday morning. So of course I will give my 8 km race a miss as some of us still have to work, but even for the retiree it means they loose precious time for sightseeing by driving back and forward to sign-up for each days events.

Anyway, at 7am on Sunday morning I was ready at the start of the 10km road race of the World Masters Games. A fresh but dry morning awaited a few hundred starters. Sadly only one wheelchair athletes was competing (his gold was guaranteed). The race was 2 loops of almost 5km and then a short finish into the stadium at the end.

The race number are interesting, as they show the first two digits as your age group and I can tell you it is no fun to try and keep up with number 70456 and getting overtaken by 65346 in the last 500 m of the run....there were certainly some top runners out there and even Darwin Don (80+) finished his race in under 90 min!

I had a far too fast first 5km (20.56) and suffered a bit in the second half but I was very happy to save some of my fast 1st loop all the way to the finish and crossing in 44.17 - my best ever timed 10km! No gold and glory for me but a 31st position in my age groupe and 201st overall. Looks like I have to keep running for another 30 years before I have a good chance of a medal....the 80+ group was the size of 2 runners :-)

A week of rest and recovery before I will attempt another PB with the 1/2 marathon next Sunday. The recovery is more for the hard Opening Ceremony which followed on Sunday evening. Hours after hours of waiting and catching up with fellow athletes in a waiting area before finally we marched into the ANZ (former Olympic) stadium with over 28'000 other athletes from over 95 countries. Was quite a spectacle which I will remember for ever.

Happy feet till next Sunday

16 days to go!

With the Sydney Bridge Run over it is count-down to the World Masters Games now. Last Sunday was actually harder then I thought. Hard to get up at 4.30am to reach the start by 6am, harder to run all the way out to Leichhard and turn around to finish at the Opera House. The humidity and mass of people got to me and I started to fast ending at 10km under 45min but paying the price in the second half when the heat started kicking in. Saw quite a few runners pulling out with heat and exhaustion problems. I did not have a strong finish and crossed the line 1 minute over my target - 101 min for the 21 km. Well, lessons learned and in 2 weeks time it can only get better, right?
I not only hope to improve my time but also reach my other goal of helping 21 blind people to see again by raising enough money for The Fred Hollows Foundation - please check out my fundraiser page on www.gofundraise.com.au/run4vision and dig deep - every little cent helps!
Save training and hope to see you out in Homebush on Sunday, 11 October to cheer me on at the World Masters Games
Happy Feet
Markus

South Africa - here we come

Today I finally signed up for one of the oldest and best Ultra Marathon in the world - The Comrades in South Africa. http://www.comrades.com/
In May 2003, I tasted for the first time the true magic and rewards of running an ultra marathon - hours after hours with 10'000 of other runner racing through stunning country side from Pietermaritzburg to Durban - an unforgettable adventure.

Next year will be the 85th edition of this ultimate human race and together with the Soccer World Cup make a trip to South Africa a must!

Watch this space - Run4Vision will live up to its name and make The Comrades a very special event!

Happy Feet!

Mudgee and beyond

I was waiting for a rainy day to update my way overdue blog, but it seems the sun is winning this battle, so I am bite the bullet....

After all those weeks in the gym it was a real pleasure to run in the sun again the last couple of weeks. Finally last weekend we travelled to Mudgee (3 hours west of Sydney) for the 1/2 marathon. Only problem was the destination is famous for its wines and after two days of intensive training in wine tasting and eating too much cheese, I stood, slightly hanged over and overweight, at the starting line on Sunday morning at 6.30am in my thermal running gear.
Hey, they told me it is going to be freezing cold in the outback....I was very happy that the organiser offered these great running shirts to all participants and I found a pair of shorts in the car, because the pre-start announcement of 24 degrees and sunshine for the run made me panic and change in record time to lighter gear....wise decision After a few km running in the shade and out of Mudgee the sun starting coming over those hills and sure enough it warmed up considerably. Very happy man running along in those shorts and light shirt :-) (I heard some guys overheated badly in the Marathon running in too warm gear).
The run made his way through those beautiful vineyards and the whole scenery made the getting up so early worthwhile. I tried to keep to my running plan but soon realised that the Shiraz and Pinot Noir from last night took the better of me and made me slow down a bit....since I was in no mode to talk to other runners in my state I decided to simple keep my head down and ponder on to the finish. The last 4 km were kind of hard and my proven tactic of catching one bright t'shirt after the other ahead of me failed miserably...nevertheless I made it to the finish and when I checked the clock I realised that my time was the same as for last month race - 98min.
Even so I failed in my goal to reach 95 min I was very happy with my time and glad to catch up with wife and friends at the next winery for a glass of White :-) to celebrate.

So looks like my 95 min have to be done next month at the World Masters Game then. Looking forward to that event - expecting to meet many athletes from all over the worlds and sure making new friends.

MdS fellow Action Jackson did a great 2nd place in Mudgee (only beaten by a 18 year old) and he will be a favorite in his devision in October for sure. His 80min for the 1/2 marathon will be for ever out of my reach

The next 6 weeks will be used to somehow find ways to cut those 3 minutes off my time - 180 sec seems not much but when you have to run 10 sec faster every km for 21 km it becomes quite a project....only time will tell
Happy feet

Spring is in the air

Nice week weather wise - first time in a long while I enjoyed a run in the Botanical Garden over lunch time. Sooo much better then then to good, old treadmill at the gym. My knee is giving me trouble again - guess the running on the road has an impact as well as my visits to the chiro practor to fix my spine....seems like the running with the damaged knee made me favoring one side more then the other with the result that my spine is now twisted...so we need to untwist quickly to get me ready for the World Masters Game in October :-)
Happy feet

World Masters Games - here we come

This morning I went south for one of my first 1/2 Marathon races for ages. Sri Chinmoy Sydney (www.srichinmoyraces.org/au/events/sydneyraces organised a great event down south at Dolls Point.
A week after my marathon at the Gold Coast my legs were still a bit weary but once the start 'gun' went off, I and Denis headed off on a fast 4.20 pace...soon we got into a rhythm and we crossed the first 1okm in 46.50 min, I just hoped to be able to keep it up.
Denis went a bit ahead of me and for the second leg I again used my 'catch the next colourful t'shirt' tactic. It worked fine and soon Denis appeared again just ahead of me. Feeling that he is slowing down, I knew I am going to get him. Unfortunately I did sooner then expected because he suddenly pulled out with a calf muscle injury. So I had to focus on a new t'shirt and with 4 km to go, I suddenly 'ran' out of other runners ahead of me...so it just became a long sprint to the finish. 98min for 21.1km, good work for a Sunday morning and on track for the games. Now it is back to training for the next 6 weeks until the Mudgee 1/2 marathon in August - I feel a new PB may be coming up by then :-)
Happy feet

Running for Fred

As you know I signed up for the Sydney Bridge Run and in the process I opened a fundraising page through their website. Please help and make a difference!

Visit www.gofundraise.com.au/run4vision

Too many poor people need our help - they are needlessly blind and we can help them - remember $25 is enough to give a person the eyesight back.

Thanks for your support

Like good wine.....getting better with age....

The Gold Coast Marathon (http://www.goldcoastmarathon.com.au/) is a great race to run fast or at least try to....I was glad the start was at a decent time of 7.30am on Sunday morning. After a long night 2 nights ago, discovering Brisbane's nightlife any extra minute in bed was needed.

Under ideal conditions, cool 19 degrees maximum and slightly overcast with high clouds, over 4'000 runners lined up at the start. Trent (Marathon Man) and I decided to start with the 3.45hrs pacer and then see how we go. Going through the first 10 km in relaxed 52 min and since I was not comfortable with running in a big group of people (which kind of bulked up all around the pacer), I decided to speed up a bit and go ahead of the group.
The next 5 km split showed me a couple of minutes ahead of pace and felling good, I just kept going. Half way was done in 110 minutes. For the second half I decided on a new tactic by simply picking out a bright shirt of a runner a few hundred meters ahead of me and then chase 'it' down. That worked a treat and one colourful 'shirt' after another was left behind. After the final turn at 36 km and still feeling great, I kept this tactic up and without looking at time or distance any longer, I cruised into the finish line realising that with a bit more effort I could have easily beaten my own PB - finishing in 3hrs37min or a mere 1 min slower then my best ever - 8 years earlier. Was very happy with myself and headed back to enjoy the obligate ice bath back at the Sofitel followed by a family size pizza.
Trent was not as lucky and following his short recovery from a flu, he never took off and battled all the way to the finish - but finish he did. Maybe his worst race but remembering my worst a few years back on exactly the same course here can only mean that he can come back and do better next year.

This probably was my last marathon for the year. It seems that my new speed training was already helping to improve my race times and the next couple of months of running and training now for 1/2 marathons and 10 km race can only mean (hopefully) more fast times ahead. Next race will be the 1/2 in Mudgee (www.mudgeetriclub.hwy.com.au/marathon), followed by the Sydney Bridge run (http://www.sydneymarathon.org/) and then we should be ready for some great racing at the World Masters Games (http://www.2009worldmasters.com/)

I am also glad to have already my qualification for The Comrades 2010 (http://www.comrades.com/) in my pocket with the Gold Coast Marathon time.

Happy running everyone.

Training for Speed

It is nice to have weeks with just 50km in the legs, especially as the weather is not at all inviting to go out and run. Today I covered just under 20km in 105min and got miserably wet in the process. The Nike shoes are holding up fine - one small pressure point on the right foot but I am sure I can sort that one out too. I am doing 5km runs now in 4'20" pace, so next step is to get the distance up over the next few weeks.
It is great to not spend hours after hours out running for once and spend some more time at home. Tomorrow, if the weather holds up I try to join up with some runners in the Botanical Garden for a round or two.
Have also signed up for another 1/2 marathon in August - Mudgee Running Festival. Seems like a nice race through wine yards. Just hope it is not going to be too cold then.
Happy running and save training.

Mini-Mos - 10km Race

First test completed. I was getting some new shoes yesterday, Gary at Kenso recommended Nike Air Zoom Triax 11 over my usual Asics DT2130 and they felt great on my feet, so I went along with it and got myself 2 new pairs.
Went for a short speed session that same day to test them out and I have to say they feel great and offer some bounce on the road.
Anyway - Marathon Man and Susie picked me up early today and we drove north over that bridge to Mosman to run the MiniMos Marathon - a 10km race through the neighbour hood of that suburb.
A fair number of keen runners of all ages waited at the starting line and for once the weather was friendly and not too cold. We met some old faces from Morocco as well as 'famous' ones (Tony Abbott). The course was fairly hilly and it was good that I had no clue where the course went. I just put down my head and off I went. I had to find my benchmark for the 10 km - a distance I probably raced 12 years ago the last time.
The first 5 km where hilly and I went through that first leg in 22 min - left Marathon Man behind and attacked the second half of the race. There were a few out and back section, so you got a good glance of who was ahead and who behind you. With an average of 4.33 per km I found enough to sprint the last few 100 meters and managed to finish just a bit over 45 min for the distance. So I know it will be a hard uphill battle if I say that 40 min is the goal for the World Masters Games, but if that course is a flat one and on a good day you never know.

A few minutes later Marathon Man sprinted down Tony A. and finished in less than 50 min - well done! Congratulations to Susie too, who is on track to become MarathonGirl - a mere minute over the hour mark, means that mark can be broken at the Gold Coast in a couple of weeks. We all have signed up for the Gold Coast Marathon. A Marathon des Sables reunion for Josh, Keith, Trent and myself for the big one and another go for Suzie to beat the 60 min for the 10km race.

3 weeks to the Marathon plus another 7 days for the next race - a ½ marathon test – it is all happening. 17 weeks to the Games….

Following the steps of Dean Karnazes...

It is fitting that this is my 100th post on my blog - as it is about my 100 km race in the Blue Mountains last Saturday!

Arriving in Katoomba on Friday around lunch time with Ann from Queensland, we used the free time to drive to the various look-out along the cliffs, so Ann (her first visit) could get a feel of what lays ahead of us the next day.
It was a gorgeous day and the view was magnificent - only those cliffs looked daunting and almost unsurmountable! Where and how the hell are we going to get up and down those cliffs?!

At 5 pm we arrived at the infamous Fairmount Resort in Leura to register for the race and have all our mandatory gear checked. During the registration Ann and I pumped into DK - the one and only Ultra Marathon Man! http://www.ultramarathonman.com/flash/

Dean Karnazes is the host of the race - The North Face 100. He flew in this morning having raced and finished a 345 km race the previous weekend. Looks like a 100 km here will be a walk in the park for him.

He is such a great guy - we had a short chat, took some photos and he was more then happy to sign his books at the same time. Looks like he was in for a long night as more and more runners lined up behind us to see him too.

After the obligate pasta dinner, I went back to the hostel to arrange my final pack and get some sleep. Even so I prepared drop bags for Checkpoint 3, 4 and 5, I made the decision in the morning to try and spend as little time as possible on each CP and not waste time changing shoes or gear. I also did not carry any extra food for the first 3 legs and relied on the provided food on CP 1 and 2 (which were excellent and plenty full). So my final pack was as light as possible.

Saturday morning 5 am breakfast and final gear check - we (Ann, Denis and I) drove to the Resort for a last cup of tea, before we had to line-up in the start area for the final safety and race briefing and then finally the gun went off shortly after 7am.

It was a relief to start running since the temperature and wind chill made it a very cold morning in the mountains…we had to do a loop around the hotels golf course, which allowed the field to spread out a bit and after a short stretch through Leura’s road we soon settled into a conga line along the cliff walk towards the famous 3 Sisters.

The first 17 km to Checkpoint 1 were uneventful apart from the steep decent into the valley and an even steeper climb out on the other side up to Narrow Neck.

The line of runners along this first leg made it almost impossible to overtake and I kind of settled into a slow jog through the cool and damp forest. It was a good thing as it allowed me to keep some strength for later in the day.

Arriving at CP1 after 2hrs28min and 28min behind my schedule I did not have to convince myself to quickly fill-up my bottles, grab some food and head out straight away – the next bit was quite exposed to the freezing cold wind along the top of the cliff and running was a good way of keeping warm and making up some time. The section on Narrow Neck Road allowed for great view over the Blue Mountains and smooth running until the end of the cliff – where we had only one option to get down – using the famous Tarros Ladders.
The ladders proved to be a bigger obstacle then thought and unfortunately we runners started piling up waiting to get down as only on runner at the time was allowed on the ladder. Very quickly the ice cold wind cooled us down even with wearing the rain jackets and hat. At least I used the 35min waiting time to take in some needed food and fluid.

After I finally climbed down the ladders I forced myself to walk first for a km or so to simply warm up all muscle again…a good move as I soon after overtook two runners who pulled their hamstrings and had to give up soon after….the organisers seemed to be overwhelmed by the strong increase of runners this year and clearly did not expect the field to be so evened out in quality, causing this kind of delays and they promised to look into the issue to improve it for next year.

This second delay put me back over an hour on my schedule and I submitted to the fact that 15 hour finish is now out of reach. Nevertheless I kept going hard and after an interesting out and back section on the course – meeting the runners who were roughly 20-30 min ahead of me, I arrived at CP 3 and grabed my first drop-bag. After a random gear check by the organisers, I quickly took my own gels and drink powder, refill the bottles and eat some nuts before heading out within 15 minutes.

The next section was well known to me - Denis and I spent a weekend with family and friends in the Megalong Valley training on the 6 ft track section a few months earlier. This time however we ran the other direction back to Katoomba and for me it was the hard part of the race, felling sluggish and tired, I had a very hard time to even run along the flat part and struggled even more up the steep and endless steps up Nellies Glen.

My goal was reached, when I arrived at CP 4 with the last daylight! 67km into the race I enjoyed a warm soup and some raisin buns before setting myself up for the reminder of the race in the dark. Rain Jacket on, Headlight and a hand held backup light plus the reflective jacket on top.

Off I went again only 15 min after arriving at this CP.

The final section of the course I trained on twice on, so it was well known to me and with the help of one ‘No Doz’ my feet and brain were awake again and I enjoyed a real great first 15 km of the section – mostly downhill across two rivers and then steep up to Queen Victoria Hospital on the other side of Jamison Valley – the good thing about the dark night was that one could not really see too far ahead and therefore the very steep climb was actually reduced to a few meters of trail in front of ones feet and it was half as bad as during daylight.

At CP 5 again I grabbed my gels, drinks and another soup and was out of there as quick as possible. I just wanted to get this done now and finish before midnight. Looking at my splits and times between CP's, it seems that I made up 20 position between CP 4 and the finish – but I would have only overtaken a handful of runners on the trail, so it was my short pit stops where I left the other runners behind.

The last 11 km were a very long 11 km and the 2hrs+ are prove of it. It was demoralising on the last few km, where we all had to climb down into the valley only to crawl out of it on the other side, a mere 1 km from the finish line.

Once I could see the end I managed to get my last 'second wind' and sprinted down 2 runners in the last 500m. I was very happy to get into the warms of the Fairmount Resort, but did not linger too long and after checking how far behind Denis and Ann were, I hopped into the car and drove to the hostel.

After a nice, long hot shower and a shocking cold ice bath for my leg, I drifted into a restless sleep till 6am when the sun and birds woke me up. Off I went back to the finish line – I missed Denis by 2 ½ hours but Ann was due to come in anytime. I enjoyed some nice café and buns waiting for her and finally after just over 24 long hours she arrived, still ahead of 11 other battlers.

We all were happy with our result – as usual in such long races – it is not the ranking at the end which counts but the voyage to the startline and the journey to the finish, which marks each and every one of us.

Dean Karanzes confirm to us at the ceremony, that this was indeed his hardest 100 km race he has done (and he has certainly done some in his life). He told us, that we should be very proud of ourselves to not only have made it to the start but finished this great race! We are now part of an elite group of people, which call themselves Ultra Marathoner - having followed in the steps of DK!

Happy and save running

Off to the mountains

In case you bored and sit on the computer on Saturday, you can follow my progress on the website - look for the 'Live Site' link on www.thenorthface.com.au/100

Can't wait now to get up to Katoomba after all those weeks of hard training. Fingers cross the weather holds and then I am sure I will enjoy the race.

Happy running for the guys down in Sydney for the Halfmarathon on Sunday morning...I will have a nice massage by then and recover from my 100km :-)

1 week to go

After a few 100+ km weeks including last weeks night run, it was nice to temper down. I survived a 'heavy' bucks weekend in the middle of all these and today, after a very long night into the early morning hours (on light beer and water), I still managed to head out for a 10km jog this morning.
Looking all good for next weekend - hopefully the weather stays as it was this Saturday. It would be great to run in sunshine and enjoy the stunning scenery up in the mountains.

Since January I put down a good 1'200km in training runs, lost 6 kg and feel almost as fit as prior Morocco. So bring it on - The North Face 100 - we are ready! Finalised the last gear for the race this week and sorted out my 3 drop bags - since I am without a support crew (Uli very sensibly decided to stay at home rather then spend a freezing night waiting for me in the mountains) so I had to organise 3 bags with change of clothes, food, drinks - to make my race as smooth as possible. Of course the organiser have the check points filled with food, drinks and other goodies but I prefer to have my own with me - just in case I don't like what's on offer.

Can't wait now - 6 sleeps and off we go!

Night Training

Last night - after the heavy rain, Denis and I went for a 15 km night run along the cliffs on the Golf Courses and then into Botany Bay NP. It was good to be out there and test the torches and the equipment at night. This will help for the big run in 2 weeks time. For Denis it was a first and he enjoyed it quite a lot - so much that he started heading off on the last 5 km so fast that I never saw him again. One thing is sure - he won't be able to keep up that speed in the Blue Mountains for long.
All the gear is now tested and ready and after this weekend I will start tempering down. Weekend before the race I am organising a bucks night - it is going to be a tough one - light beer and water for me, I guess.
Save and happy running

Back to the mountains once more...

After an uneventful week running wise - sore legs on Monday and Tuesday, days I covered with cycling and stepper sessions in the gym followed by a great massage on Wednesday, then a rest on Thursday. Friday a short 10km on the treadmill. Today I was lucky to get a lift with Steph and Lena back to the mountains. We did once more CP4 to the Finish and back to the car at parked at the Oval. Just short of 40km and 6hrs later, we were glad the kiosk was open and able to serve us a nice, warm soup. It was cooler then last week and I can only imagine the temperature we will have in another 3 weeks time up there. The wind was freezing at some places and if one stopped, the legs started seizing up immediately...guess, that means to simply keep going on race day :-)
Lead our small group of 5 onto a little de-tour on the way to Wentworth Falls - it was a nice track to start with leading to a great look-out, but soon it kind of turned into a jungle track were one needed a big knife to cut ones way trough - we almost decided to turn around (after 1 km into the Underwood) only to thanksfully discover a mere 10 m later, that we are back on the main track! It was also much softer and wet with the rain we had last week. Fingers crossed it will be dry on 16 May - would hate to run 100km in rain and cold wind....bring back the Sahara and sand dunes, I would say.
Glad that I did this last section of the race once more - it just will help to move a bit easier at night during the race, knowing what's ahead of you.
Two more weeks of hard training ahead and then we will temper down to get ready for the big day. Safe training and happy running

Training Weekend in the mountains

Last weekend Denis and I went up to Katoomba to train on the race course - the plan was to cover the last 35 km of the race - the stretch most likely to be run late afternoon and at night.
We started at noon from Katoomba and to start with we had to 'battle' hordes of tourist coming up the 900+ steps of the Giant Stairways! I am looking forward to these steps after 70km into the race - it is going to be fun 'running' down those stairs....I only hope there won't be any tourists! Once we turned off the main track and onto the race course down Jamison Valley it was great - all alone in this big area of bush - beautiful. The course was perfect, so was the weather. Denis struggled since he tried out a new sports drink which he could not keep down and the result was dehydration and slowing down for him. Another proof that it is important to test all your gear and nutrition well before a big run and race. Once we crossed Jamison Creek it started to get uphill and somehow we had to get up those cliffs again on the other side of the valley. Boy oh boy were those hills steep....considering that we were fresh and on the race day this would be into the 80's these hills sure will be a test of strength and willpower. Once on the top of the cliff it was a breeze to head to Checkpoint 5 and on back to Leura. Another good test was the temperature..as soon as the soon went down low it cooled down and in May it will be cold so warm clothes for the race are a must. Sunday morning we went for a quick 20km run along the first 10km or so of the race just to loosen our sore legs up a bit. We just made it back before the fog and rain came in. I only hope that on 17 May the sun will be with us - would be a real pain in the bum to cover 100 km in rain, fog and high humidity.
Well, what can I say - another test well done, now a few more weeks of strong training on hills and endurance and then we should be ready for The North Face 100
Happy running

Easter Bunny

I took the few days off to clock up some extra km's and I am glad I went out Friday and Saturday to get a good 70km in - Sunday was Easter Bunny visit so today I simply had to brave the torrent and run off some of the chocolate eggs in the rain. I hope this weather is not a sign of things to come as I am not really looking forward to the Blue Mountains in the wet next weekend. Plan is to run the first 15km and the last 35km of the North Face course next Saturday to give us an idea of the section we most likely are going to run in the late evening and night. Save training

MdS 2009

This years Marathon des Sables certainly was a special one - first the rain and flooding prevented the race to start and the first stage had to be cancelled, then the weather made the road book (race schedule) irrelevant as organisers had to check every day where they could go running across the desert and where they could put up the camp every night. So competitors had a hard race for different reasons - temperature were kind with 30 degrees but the humidity, mud and heavy sand certainly made it a tough one. The 10 times winner had to pull out during the longest every stage - 91km in one go! Most of the Aussies survived and finished! It just shows that mother nature can be the real winner in such circumstances. The last week I was sick with flu and not much running done. Started again with slow jogging during the weekend and hopefully will be ready for some good, long runs over Easter and then for the second Blue Mountain training camp the weekend after. 5 weeks till The North Face 100.
Save training all
Markus

One year ago

It is already one year since we stood in the middle of the Sahara desert in Morocco at the starting line of the Marathon des Sables 2008. Well, I am glad I did it last year - this year the organiser had a hell of a job on hand with all the rain and flooding. The first stage got cancelled and since the race is on the way, they improvise every day. The runners do not know where they will go next day and for how long as it all depends where there is no water and flooding! Apparently it is also very cold out there, especially at night and the runners struggle to keep warm. Looks like a hell of a challenge for this years run as well. More info you can find and follow the race at http://www.darbaroud.com/index_uk.php

I am on track for the big race in May - lost a few kilos, which is good and knees are holding up with all the hill training I am doing. Last week I did a 3 hour walk with the backpack and finished the week on 70km. Hope the weather will improve again as I am not yet ready to run in the rain

Cheers
Markus

6ft - done and dusted

I am glad I got this one out of the way - a good run in excellent conditions and as usual with brilliant support from all the volunteers. Arrived very happy after 6 hours at the caves. The first section down from Katoomba was wet and slippery and as a result everyone took it slow. Unfortunately Trent (Marathon Man) twisted his ankle (twice) in the first 2 km and struggled for 7 hours all the way to the finish - his foot looked more like a ball then anything else by that time.

The way down to Cox River was as usually crowed with a single line of runners and it was almost impossible to overtake - in hindsight this was a good thing, as I saved energy during that section which I used as soon as I finished the climb up to Pulivometer - once that monster hill was out of the way, it was all downhill (kind of) to the caves.

As a training run for the coming TNF100 in May it was an ideal test - I managed the final 10 km in great shape and good legs - all that hill training is paying off. Had a hard time to eat and even get the gels down after a while this time and I lost 2.5% of body weight during the race. This needs to be addressed until May as for the 100 km race I can not allow to drop that much weight after less then half the distance.

8 more weeks of hard training ahead and then we are back in Katoomba for the 100km race. Will start running to work again once or twice a week and do some more steps and hills - those Blue Mountains sure looked hilly yesterday....

6ft Track

I can not believe it is almost a year since the Marathon des Sables - Saturday I will be on the start for my 3rd 6ft track marathon from Katoomba to the Jenolan Caves in the Blue Mountains. http://www.sixfoot.com/course.php It is a pretty full-on course and I will be happy to finish within the given timelimit of 7 hours for the 45km. Last year I could not finish the race due to my knee problems but hopefully on Saturday afternoon I will be having a cool beer at the Cave House! This race is all done in preparation for the big on in May, so I will carry my good old MdS backpack along. A shame my buddy Michael had to drop out due to injury last week but I am sure to meet some old faces on Saturday during the run.
More (good) news on Sunday - Save running and happy training
Markus

2 months down and 500 km done

Well, after 2 months, 1 training weekend in the Blue Mountain and 500 km on the road I can say that I am back on track for a great running year to come. Bring it on!

The last couple of weekends were hard. Getting up at 5.30am is no fun, nor is running the first 10km in the dark - I normally only take one pair of glasses with me and those are the sun glasses, so I look like Ray Charles hopping along Anzac Parade at 6am on a Sunday morning looking not to fall over. But by 9am I was finished and could spend the rest of the days with my parents visiting from Switzerland.

In two weeks the famous 6ft Track is on the program and I will run this race for the 3 time together with a friend from work - Michael, will attempt this race as his first marathon and the goal for both of us is to finish and use the race a preparation test for the 100km North Face in May.

Someone suggested that we should come back on Sunday morning after the 6ft Track and race in the Sydney Half Marathon - I don't think so...

Happy running

Hot Weekend

Whooo - 35 degrees and rising. A couple of buddies and I spent a weekend in the Blue Mountains preparing for the 100km North Face. What a hot weekend it was - on Saturday we decided to pre-run the Megalong Mega, a 36km race which is a part of the hard 6ft track. We started at 6 am with 4.5 l per person from our house and cruised comfortably to Cox river crossing - by 7 o'clock we reached the very low river where we left a few bottles of water in the water for the way back. The sun was already getting high and my estimate of 2 hours to the top of Pulviometer was spot on as we arrived exhausted at 9am at the turn-around point. A good sip out of the bottle, a few gels and off we went speeding downhill. By the time we were back at the river crossing - with shaking legs - I kind of had it. The heat was pounding down and I knew that it was now another 10km mostly uphill to get back to the lodge. The last 6 km I walked and it took me a full 6.5 hrs to finish 40km - happy I did it and very glad I just had enough water to make it all the way home. First thing I did was to start up the car's air-condition and then I went back to the road intersection to wait for my buddies - I knew they were short of water and would love a short drive back. However it took them for ever to come so I went home for my shower and sent my friend Denis to pick them up. Marathon Man and Michael arrived exhausted and on their knees after 7.5 hrs in the heat. It seemed worse then in the desert in Morocco. Too humid in those forests. We enjoyed a great, long shower and a healthy meal that night. Sunday morning it was up again at 6am for another leg of the race - this time going East towards Katoomba. It was a killer with the pain in the legs and going up those 100's of steps up the cliffs towards the Explorer Tree (start of the 6ft track). We made it and then turned around for a sprint downhill and home - 15km and 2 hours more in the bag.
I feel good and on track with my training and look forward this time to an exciting 6ft track race mid-March. Not sure yet if I can convince my friends to join me - probably have to give them a few days to recover before pushing the subject again :-)
Save training
Markus

On track

Happy New Year and save running for 2009!
Sorry, have been slack updating the blog but certainly not slack getting back into training. After a short Christmas break I got straight back on track 1st January and now I am well into my routine of getting back to Marathon des Sable fitness. Got a couple of new pairs of runners and with the next 5 months pretty much set-up with training weekends and races, I only have to keep my knees happy and stay on my two legs until the big 100km race in May.
End of this month I am off to the Blue Mountains with friends and family to train on one or two stages of the race, just to get an idea of what to expect. It will be good to have that sandy backpack on again....wish it would be for more then just 100km, quite jealous of all the guys heading to Morocco in a couple of month.
Happy training and racing