6 Inch Trail Marathon 2013

2 Weeks after SCMS added to BTS100, I am still not fully recovered, having a problem recovering from heavy and lazy legs. Still, running an Ultra while in Perth for work was alluring. Again, begged for slot from Dave Kennedy the race director, since it was a last minute decision as I had to help out in funeral matters due to the passing of my Grandma 2 weeks prior to the race and I hesitated until the last moment. sigh..

Anyway, back to the race, A supposed 2.50am reveille became a heart pumping, blood-rushing jolt up from bed at 3.50am. I was late and an hour away from the start point. Luckily, I had prepared my race vest and breakfast consisting of 2 hard boiled eggs and a loaf of bread to be brought and eaten along the way.

Started alone, since I was about 20-30 minutes late and the race had already flagged off. Thankfully the race personnel were along the main road and drove me a minute to the start point.

I saw no one for the first 30-40 minutes of the race and made a right choice from 1 of 3 split roads until I finally saw the first race participant, a walker. After speaking to him and ascertained that I was on the right path and had to follow pink ribbons, I got confused and followed some orangy pinkish ribbon. After 5-10 minutes of going what seemed like a loop, the walker caught up and directed me to the right path where pink ribbons were. I was supposed to follow the pink ribbons for at least another 3-5km before I would see yellow or orange ribbons from another race that had almost the same route.

I finally caught up with 2 elderly runners in their 60s and found out that they did not sign up for the race, but were running it anyway. They also knew the trail very well since they ran there often and had participated in previous installments of the race. They gave me a map of the Munda Biddi Trail which they just found. We chatted and I ended up running with them up to 20km point of the marathon. They were amazing runners and revving up the pace even though one was injured.

We parted when they reached the 20k mark that they intended to do that day. Subsequently, I saw them at the 40km mark at a U-turn route. It was about here that I met another Singaporean called Terence that was doing this race for the first time. We chatted and run-walk the rest of the way to the finish.

This race I completed using a chillax net time of about 5.5hours and realised that the route was increased by about another 2-3km to 48km from Terence.

This was a nice easy race even though I heard that many struggled due to the warmer weather at this time of the year, but to me, the temperature was just right and much more comfortable than our Singapore weather.

Nice trail making up of mainly compact mud and some sections of chipwood. There were only 2 slopes that we about 300m in length. It was also at this race that I realised that 2 hard-boiled eggs and 1-2 slice of bread provided me enough energy to about 35km. I am quite sure I did not use any gel and probably ended up with 10 gel packs instead of the initial 3-4 that I brought.

Bromo Tengger Semeru (BTS) 100 Ultra 2013

One thing always leads to another. I never liked riding a motorbike since young, but due to boredom from not working after an 'exciting' 9 month stint at a dubious company, I got my motorbike license for fun. I wasn't thinking to get a bike, but since I got my license, why not =)

Similarly like the motorbike license experience - Why not get the points needed to complete my minimum of 7 points to ballot for a UTMB slot. And since I was gonna run, why not run in the 100 miles category and get that virgin 100miles experience done and away with. I was thinking beyond the necessary points, I was treating this race as a prelude to the UTMB if I got the slot. BTS100 as shown on the website was 165km, with 7772m cumulative gain. Seemed like a good gauge if I should spend the money required to go to Mt Blanc which is around 168 km and 9600m of positive altitude change as indicated on the website. If I DNF BTS, it meant that I save on UTMB, if I complete, I would have the pride of being the first Singaporean to complete. It's a win-win situation.

Decided on the race 3.5 weeks before the race and as I was late and after the registration period, had to plead with the race director to let me in. I was in and it was training time. Being a noob and having read somewhere that there was really no way to train for an ultra and getting used to running on fatigued legs was key, I decided on a plan like this: 

20km X 5days with 2 days rest, 25km X 4 days with 2 days rest and 33km X 3days with 2 days rest. 

I supplemented one of the rest day with 15 storey X 15 sprint and did a Pinnacles@Duxton 50 storey X 7blocks at sub 15mins up and back down with positive splits to 12 mins on the last block. I replaced one of the 33k with this as I was getting drained from relentless ECP and MR runs.

It was tough and tiring. I am sure that I wasn't 100% fit from the lack of recovery when I reached Surabaya, but mentally I had the confidence knowing that I gave all I could to training in that short span of time training. 

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Apart from training, I spent quite abit of time hyping up this race to get people around me excited. I was gonna run this virgin 100miles, but wanted friends, friends of friends, colleagues, company, sponsors, etc to be part of it. I made people sponsor and in a short 2 weeks, got affirmation in cash and products. I mean if I spent my money on a race, not completing is easy, but to get people to believe in you and DNFing that trust, it was not an option. Smart move I thought considering I had only minimal time to train.

Now, there was no more turning back - Thanks to a friend who gave me the idea as he was looking for someone to sponsor in a separate adventure race.

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I reached Thursday night for a Friday 3pm race start. Slept and rested all I could at Lava View Hotel which was also the start point.

Lava View Hotel

Taken from my Samsung Galaxy S3. It's Real - Land of the Ice-cream cones and Candy-floss..

Next morning, I readied dropbag 1 with New Balance Minimus and dropbag 2 with Salomon Sense. Both bags had a supply of socks, gels and electrolytes and spare change. Submitted them after breakfast and more chillaxing.

This Bromo Massue just came by and dropped me some massage!

This guy will cook your egg in any way you like. Omelettes were good!

     Mt Bromo Erupted in 2012

Start and Finish point still in the midst of setup at about 1pm.

The few that dared to even tow the start line

22 Nov 2013, Fri, 2.45pm, made some friends, got some encouragement and took photos. Slightly over 3pm and we got started. I started off slow, still adjusting and naturally was at the back of the pack. Overtook a Japanese guy who was coughing alot and only after ensuring he was ok. 

I reached the first checkpoint at 7km feeling faint, unable to breathe and puky.

I mean 7k and I already feel sick and then I suddenly remembered YMT mentioned that he hates compression top coz it makes it difficult to breathe. I removed my compression and immediately felt better. I was alive again. I sped up a little, but was still feeling weird. I kept kicking roots, stones and whatever and felt my toes cringing up with each knock. This happened for the next 10km and at 17km I started motivational talking, but the other negative voice was like questioning if I had to start doing 'the talk' from 17km, what's gonna happend for the next 100+k?

Crazy! But strangely enough, the down slope to the 2nd checkpoint at Ranu Pane (18k), I overtook or caught sight of all runners except our Malaysian friend Puzi. This somehow made me feel better that I wasn't terribly slow. I rested, refilled and took off after 2 runners that reached ahead of me left.

I did the loop from checkpoint 3 to 4 and back to 3 and was ahead of everyone except Puzi. I had recovered and my mind wasn't thinking about anything except of how much tougher can UTMB or any other race for that matter be. I was 1 quarter way through and it already feels worse than the whole Vibram 100k race I did in HK in January. I finished HK100 feeling that I could run through the finishing line and top up the distance to 100miles.

At this point I was very much in a sadistic 
determination to complete this race, the whole 
time in my mind was 'bring it on' although it was 
crazy tough, I was enjoying it, knowing many would 
have stopped by now. Not me on this weekend, 
somehow. I was enjoying 'the gruel', fully absorbing and appreciating all of it.

I reached the first dropbag and reloaded gels and by this point, I was with Hendra Wijaya an Indo runner and race director. From somewhere after 40k, I wasn't sure where I was going, being ahead was risky for me being an avid 'hollander' (local terminology for someone consistently losing his way). I stuck with Hendra as he seemed to know the way. It turned out to be the wisest choice as he rearranged markers and even changed directions signs from left to right. I later found out that some were mistakes, but many were villagers messing around.

Somewhere at around 80k, Puzi came from behind!?!? I mean he was in front all the while from start till now. It seemed he went the wrong direction. Remember the left to right change of the direction arrow and did I mention the last 2 checkpoints where no water point were setup. I was dehydrated, but I'm sure Puzi was drained, however he was still eager to make back for lost time. 

Yeah, luckily there was a hut that I rested while I waited up for Hendra.. A critical decision that paid off, as here was where the left turn, became right!?

Puzi and I chatted abit and he was on his way, but shortly after Hendra, Puzi and I were running together to the second dropbag. My feet and shoes by now were wet, soggy and full of mud from an almost virgin stretch of vegetation we bashed and slide through loose soil. I got to a toilet upon reaching the 2nd dropbag and used the freezing cold water to wash my feet and socks. It was crazy. My numb feet felt cold, the first sensation for a long time and thinking that I could change into my Salomon sense ultra, I was wrong. My feet had probably expanded to 1 size bigger and the already squeezy sense which was only worn twice prior could not swallow my feet. Placed feet back into cold shoes, no socks change required as shoes were so wet, no difference. Freezing feet lasted for at least an hour until I could no longer feel them. Great! I was back on track to pain numbing, brain freezing cold.

A Shaq-out moment where my 2 running buddies lay sleeping after some 'yong-tau-foo' like food. I was wide awake when they were sleepy and weak when they were strong.. System was opposite from theirs.

The night got colder and colder and I brought out my emergency blanket and tried to get some sleep at Jemplang, since I was advised that reaching Bromo before dawn and without a clear view was dangerous. About an hour later, we were up and on our way. Still wrapped in emergency blanket, I did 2km before warming up and discarding the blanket. By now, my calf began to register a sharp pain and running on flats seemed to intensify the pain. I just continued subduing the pain, by focusing on keeping pace with Hendra. Upon reaching Bromo area, I tripped over some steel cables and a jab of pain shot up from my shin and I was really pissed with no illuminated or reflective sign being placed on this hazard. My shin got a strip of bruising each at a 45degree angle that when both legs were placed together, formed a perfect line. Enjoyed 30sec of pain and I could no longer see Hendra, due to the many folds of graveled hills at the foot of Mt Bromo. I climbed the highest one to try to locate my guide and saw him at a distance of about 500m away and caught up with him at the top of the stairs leading to the volcano.

Very similar feel to Tai Mo Shan, HK

Finally! One of the main reasons I did BTS, running the rim of a live volcano.Stood there in the awesomeness of the smoking crater for a couple of minutes, took some shots and I was on a 10km explosive joy running the rim of the volcano and its surrounding mountain range. No pain felt anymore, just joy. 

Finishing this 10k, I thought it was all the way back to end point in 5km, since Hendra said we were at 160km by now. I was wrong. I still had one more almost vertical Batok climb up and back down before heading back. Now, I was feeling my calves, they were ripe for an explosion, but who cares, I was gonna complete this regardless of the number of body parts left. I scaled the mountain quickly using all fives, including my back. I had for most part of the climb held my breath for 10-20sec of climb and turn away from the mountain to breathe. This was due to an upward draft that blew all the dust into our faces if we faced the mountain since we were climbing almost vertically up in a crevice.

Pinning the Singapore Flag on Mt Bromo from Batok

At the top of the last considerable elevation, I heaved a sign of relieve knowing it was now the home run stretch. How wrong I was! I spent some time clearing all the debris off my shoes and that was when I realised my trusty guide had taken off quite abit. He was good on the downs. Seemed like 700m off from me when I lazily got moving again. I made my way down Batok and had to go maybe 3km across a sandy plain and up back to the hotel end point. 

Asking directions on the way up I realised a right turn would lead me to the hotel, which would be just about the right distance to complete the 165km, but I saw the markers going left and decided to do whatever was the supposed right 'wrong direction'. It seemed that I would need to do one big loop and the villagers in Cemoro Lawang gave me estimated distance to the hotel ranging from 400m to 4km and it was very random. One moment I was 400m away, next 2km, then 1km, then 4km. To make matters worse, the markers disappeared at a major junction. It was the first time that I thought I could possibly DNF and all due to missing markers probably 1-2km away from the end. Did I mention I finished all water, gels and anything edible just before the left or right turn decision at the start of this paragraph.

Wristbands collected at checkpoints to remind you of what you have gone through.. I will Finish!

I took out my phone, tried to get some GPS thingy going, but it failed to pinpoint my location, hence I just guessed where I was on the map and headed to the hotel.

170km and 12km elevation later, I completed - First Singaporean ever. Haha. Guess whatever honor I could think off was good to bandage whatever pain I volunteered myself for the last, almost 2 days (44h).

Elevation shown on website was 165km and 7.7k elevation. As I don't have a GPS watch, info is from Hendra, who forgot to stop his watch until upon completion and after napping.

This race could be done in a much shorter time, probably 36h or less, but I can assure you, regardless of the finish time, the Brutality, Terror, Sadism (BTS) of this trail ultra will definitely be similar for all participants. It will increase your will, endurance and basically anything mental you will ever go through in a race.

Crazy heavy medal that equaled a crazy race..

Numbness, Doggedness, Psychotic, etc are the kind of traits needed to complete this ultra. 
Be not afraid, sign up for pain therapy now!

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After the race, my feet were numb and doing a search it seems that I have nerve compression and I have been numb for about 2 months now. It's either getting better or I am getting used to it. There is a constant tingling sensation in the front part of the feet and especially so after wearing shoes for more than 30mins.

Getting shoes with rock plates, thicker soles, etc will definitely help. Also ensure that the shoes you are using are made of tougher material especially on the sides of the toe-box.

Even though it wasn't really raining, it's crazy cold and wet in the morning.. Gear up!

Lotsa climbing on fours, some, almost vertically..

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Please feel free to use the photos as long as you link back to this blog =)

TNF100 Singapore 2013

Just a sudden thought that doing this 100km race should carry 2 UTMB points, a quick call to contacts since race registration had closed and I had sponsored race entry to the race for YMT and me. Since it was a local race and this 2pts could be useful and also I had yet to do a local ultra, I ran.

3 weeks before the race and I upped as much mileage as I could to get the confidence to do the distance. Familiar route, no pressures.

Ashley Ng (Guy in yellow) always sponsor equipment

Race day came,
Race vest borrowed.
Water checked.
Gels checked.
Headache checked?!?!?!

At the start

I wasn't counting on a slight flu and headache and was hesitant to start the race, but my contact 'stirred' me asking if I could finish the race when he passed me the bibs earlier. I retorted, that I would complete even if it meant crawling back.

Started off real slow. First 8k in 1h20mins I guess. Finished all the BakKwa YMT passed me as I was concerned about it being oily. Everyone I knew was way ahead and I saw them only at the KTM stretch which was a U-turn.Throbbing headache continued and we got along pretty well. As long as I did not jerk too much, the pain was manageable.

As I saw familiar faces on the U-turn, I kept my spirits up and ran bravely, picking up a little pace and caught up with YMT at probably 24km. From here we ran together and even took about a 2 hour nap upon reaching back at the start point/halfway mark. We went into the dropbag tent and as there was a fan, found ourselves instinctively sleeping at the one of the empty shelves meant for dropbags. This was a great move as it allowed us to fall into a deep sleep due to the regulated temperature.

On the repeat

Overslept and 2 hours later, we started off with the 25k participants. It was a slow and sloshy mess due to an ongoing drizzle. Too many runners in MR's narrow stretch restricted our pace, but we were not complaining as we had just awoken and were just warming up.

Just repeat what we did last night, the same routine and we were done. All 100km of it in 16h.
After the race, I was drained. The organisers had restricted 100plus to 50k runners and somehow we did not manage to get any gels along the way. The saving grace was the 2nd loop at KTM track, where some cool volunteers provided us with beef goulash and a hard-boiled egg that I managed to find from the ground. I mean imaginary tears welled-up. I did not take my own gels as I was lazy and hence saved it for my next race =)

I can't wait to get the tag off me.. It's finished!

 

Did the first 50k in Mizuno Wave
Amulet 3 and the next 50 in Adizero which provided the necessary grip on the freshly muddied trail.

Weekly 1-2 30ks with at least 1 at MR is good for training. Visiting MR regularly for 10 - 20ks would help you understand this terrain, especially when you have to do it twice in the race. Lung bursting, ass-jellying, body-floating hill repeats of up to 5 times on the slopes of Island Club Road, gave enough confidence to walk up the slopes during the 100k race.

This race is good for noobs before they spend any money doing other overseas race. Most of the hilly overseas race, seem to be >50% more tough.

Vibram® Hong Kong 100 Ultra Trail® Race 2013

Inexperience, Kiasuism, Fun and Curiosity were the running traits I took on with me along this race. These were important traits to ensure that my mind wasn't on the 100km, but on the food, the scenery and excuses of not finishing. The goal was to eat my money's worth paid for the participation fee. The first 50k of the race was all dedicated to eating and eat, I had to try everything available. Those that were good, I went for seconds. At checkpoint 3, I even went for thirds when some of the food were replenished. I mean these were yummy and freshly cooked. I had to eat them even though I was already leaving the checkpoint. 5 more minutes and I was off.

At support point - East Dam, we waited for friends and tried to re-group. Up till here, the route was jam packed. Couldn't go fast, couldn't go slow. Just 6min+ pace.

I spent 15-20mins eating at checkpoint 1, 2, 3, 4 and at CP3 - Hoi Ha, 25min trying to sneak into and out of the female toilet without detection to shit because the men's was clogged.

At about 48k, I started to feel nauseous and with each stride, I felt the food in me coming to live. They were struggling to escape. It was mee, rice, sandwiches, soup, chocs, cookies, swiss rolls, fruits, etc from CP 1, 2, 3, 4 back for revenge.

At 50k, I had no choice but to stop and lie on a huge rock beside the path. Every 20th person that passed, there was a question of concern and an irritable reply from me. Imagine the number of times I had to say OK, even though I was like 'not ok, but please don't ask anymore... aaarrrgghhh'. After 20minutes, I knew I had to reach the midpoint to really get a good rest. I did a 'hold my puke' wobble for 2k to CP5 - Kei Ling Ha (52k) in 09:37:38.

Reaching the midpoint, I puked whatever I could out. It was pleasant! It was now time to rest and it was enough reason to DNF. I puked, so I was sick, so I could quit. Nope, not alone though. I was gonna wait for a much faster friend who happened to be injured but still insisted on doing the race, walking. If quitting, I was gonna quit with him, it was more excuse that way.

Wait, I waited and waited. All 6h plus of it. Wrong move. It was getting colder and I couldn't sleep anymore. Out came the emergency blanket and I moved to the stone steps coming into CP5, just in case I missed YMT. YMT came, mentioned that I was crazy to quit and if he wasn't injured, why come all the way here to DNF. I wasn't physically exhausted so, carrying on or not was just a simple decision and I was walking my way with YMT and a new known friend called WJ. After maybe 20-30 mins of walking, I just couldn't be slow any more. It was freezing you know and I quietly took off from YMT and WJ.

It was awesome the moment I warmed up. I am not sure where, but I had to run on the ridge of some mountain and it was open and crazy windy, awesome city lights.

After this, I reached ShaTin pass and went down the hill to climb back up all the way again as I had missed a turn, wasting 25min. Another giving up point, but I told myself that I should have given up at 52k instead. After CP5, it was discipline. Eat cup noodles at all CP and leave within 10mins. I maintained a good pace and very quickly I was at my last checkpoint. I took a look at the time which I hadn't done for quite some time and remembered a friend that took part last year mentioned a silver medal for 18h and gold for below 16. She got bronze for her 22h and I guess that bronze was for sub 24h.

For the first time in the race, I had a goal. I was gonna devour Tai Mo Shan. Jogged the ups and even sprinted down the last stretch doing a 4min or even below pace for the last 3-4k, with limited vision due to the fog.

Like a lot of ultra-running experiences being shared, I will count myself as an ultra runner, because of my conscious and continuous effort during runs to push negativity all the way to the back of my mind and just focusing on completing my race. All these can only be said due to a confidence of a race finish.

23:48:48                  Chip Time
01:36:32   Support Point/East Dam (11k)
04:11:07   CP2 - Wong Shek (28k)
05:33:22   CP3 - Hoi Ha (36k)      
09:37:38   CP5 - Kei Ling Ha (52k)
16:56:51   CP6 - Gilwell Camp (65k)
19:15:27   CP7 - Beacon Hill (73k)
20:46:05   CP8 - Shing Mun Dam (83k)
22:18:31   CP9 - Lead Mine Pass (90k)

Ran the first 52k in Mizuno Wave Amulet 3. Not a trail shoe, but was a pacy right choice for this race. Did the 2nd half in Asics 'Blue Army Shoe', which was a good comfortable run. With the cold weather a relaxed pace, I guess there was not much feet swell and hence I did not feel any discomfort throughout.

I use all my shoes without insoles until when they are 3/4 way through their lifespan, when the soles are quite worn, cushion flatens and the toebox gets roomier.

Brought along trekking poles, which I kept with the halfway point dropbag just in case, but decided not to use them since I was ok. Anyway did not train with em.

For this race, gels weren't necessary as there is more than enough food at checkpoints which were not too far apart. I brought them along, but didn't use.

I was running quite alot till SCMS 2012 and the rest of December was a NZ trip with only one 10k Lake Hayes Race in NZ. In January before the Ultra, I continued on my training schedule before my NZ trip:

Mon: 30k ECP
Tue: 10k steady
Wed: CBD Mizuno Circuits and occasional 2h Futsal thereafter
Thu: 20 X 10 storey sprints. (43s-53s/set, 2 steps a time up. Walk down at 2 steps a time)
Fri: Usually rest, but with the occasianal 2h Futsal games
Sat: 30k MR
Sun: 8-10 chillax soccer followed by a field game in the afternoon or evenings

Tapered on last week with probably one 10k tempo and 2 lung bursting 5ks from Mon-Wed. 3 days before race, sedentary.


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Training to climb stairs 2-3steps at a time both up and down alot will definitely aid you especially at the end where it was a real pain and strain to just leap off the very high steps when going down.

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