2013 - It's a wrap

2013 Review

To those that are wondering why a yearly review in November, my season ended at Carcoar and I have been on a recovery fortnight the past week and a half.  I started my training for this year of racing around the end of November last year when I began working with Brendan Davies as my coach. We worked on my program, setting achievable training base goals and began working towards 6 Foot Track, TNF 50 and the Kanangra 50 Trail Ultra as my A races for the year.  Since then I have been supported and encouraged by my family and friends, both old and new, and by Kellie my amazing wife.

My training has become very serious, there is no other way of describing it, I have taken it on with my everything I have. I honestly think I have only missed one session for no reason and trained smartly throughout my first year of competitive running.  I train with purpose and direction and in the coming year my plan is heading towards my big goals for the season, this time my training program will be more specific and periodised to maximize results.  I will continue to put hours in each week while I love running, it gives me solace, security, an outlet and most importantly enjoyment.

My training goals are outlined best in my phases throughout the program;

·      Build Phase – develop aerobic endurance, get my long run longer and more comfortable.

·      Sharpening Phase – establish lactic tolerance and anaerobic condition, begin racing quicker and increasing intensity in certain session (track work!).

·      Competing/Peaking Phase – race well, perform to my ability, achieve my goals and learn.  Enjoy this time as this is what the hard work has lead to, big races.

So with that in mind my big races for next year are;

            Jan – Knapsack 6hr Solo Lap Race

            March – 6 Foot Track

            April – Buffalo Stampede Sky Ultra & Mt Solitary Ultra

            May – The North Face 100

            June – Glow Worm Tunnel Marathon & Mystery Mountain

            Oct – Kanangra 50 Trail Ultra

            Nov – Carcoar Cup

I will turn towards the road a little more in the later part of the year aiming for a 2:4X marathon.  I think a practice attempt at Mudgee and then a crack at Western Sydney is the likely scenario at this stage, although Stromlo is penciled in for October as well.

Looking back now my year has been busy, thanks to my family, mum and dad and Kel’s folks in particular, as they have supported us with the kids on our weekend trips to races.  Kel and I have done a lot together this year, more than any other year in our marriage and I have so much admiration and love for her and this time is so important to me.  I have had races with Kel and times when she has supported me, I always know she will be there for me and I hope to be able to do the same for her.

My schedule has been full and I have performed well, only having a couple of disappointing races, I have top 10 results in every race but two and finished on the podium on many occasions.  I have set a few pb times, run a 100km race and cracked the 3hr mark in the marathon, these were all goals for the year and I’m happy to have achieved them.

I have raced some of the best runners in country, guys like Tony “Fats” Fatorini, , Vlad Shatrov, Mitch Dean, Alex Matthews et al.  I have also been able to get to know Brendan, Ewan Horsbourgh, Mark Lee, Jo Brischetto and Andy Lee well through either racing or training with them.  All these runners are superb athletes and I am far better for running around them, in particular Brendan Davies, who as my coach has been monumental in my development.  He puts far more into the sport than people know and he will go down as one the best ultra runners in Australia’s history.  I’m so grateful and am looking forward to seeing him launch UP Coaching in 2014, a venture which I will be supporting and can not recommend more highly.

Not only has Brendan been a massive help but Sean Greenhill and Mel Parry at Mountain Sports have backed me all year.  I have been made an ambassador and part of the Mountain Sports Team at Buffalo in April.  They have offered advice and support and both Kel and I value their friendship greatly.  We have been lucky enough to see a new member of their family arrive with Abigail been born not to long ago, I’m sure she’ll be a great little friend to our boys Charley and Beau and a smiley little face at STS events.  I look forward to continuing to be associated with Mountain Sports in the future, hey maybe in the next year I can win a Mountain Sports event!

So where to from here, this hills I’m thinking.  I’ll be running longer and up and down more hills this Summer.  I aim to get the k’s in with the elevation this time around, perhaps an area I shied away from a bit this year.  I’ll spend time on the trails, mainly around Hassans Walls, with the trips to the mountains, both the Blue and Snowy thrown in, as well as the roads around home and up at Mt Panorama, all with the focus on becoming a strong runner and a decent mountain ultra trail runner.  A few things I know for sure, it’s going to be hard work and take loads of dedication, I’ll have Kel with me all the way, I will continue to enjoy the new community I have been embraced in and I’m going to have fun.

I am now a part of NSWIB and the beer bet for 6 Foot and the NSWIB will be my nominated club at races from now on.  It’s perfect for me, I love a beer when I get the opportunity and the institute has a ready supply at races, perfect!  Seriously though, it will be a bit of fun and good to be part of the rivalry V BMMC and add to the atmosphere at races.

So “onwards on upwards” to quote the coach.  Look out 2014 because I’m coming with clear goals and an extra 12 months under my belt.  Happy training and stay safe.  I maybe running at the STS on Sunday, depending on how I go at my mates wedding the night before, if I do it'll be the 6.5km I'm thinking.

Yearly Summary Report for WesGibson981

Count:	434 Activities
Distance:	5,087.75 km
Time:	409:27:02 h:m:s
Elevation Gain:	93,933 m
Calories:	341,881 C
Avg Speed:	12.5 km/h
Avg HR:	137 bpm
Avg Distance:	11.72 km
Avg Time:	56:36 h:m:s
Avg Elevation Gain:	219 m
Weekly Average	118km
Weekly Time	9.5hr
Weekly Elevation	2186m

Carcoar 2013

Kanangra 2012

         

Missing the Mark

 Carcoar Cup 60km Ultra

With Brendan who has been coaching me
throughout the year.

Sunday marked my last race for the season, my last ultra for the year and my second longest race ever.  I competed in the Carcoar Cup 60km Ultra with goal of running well and finishing the season off with a good performance.  I had goals in both time and positioning, unfortunately they were not met, maybe I had been a little over ambitious or perhaps nieve of the course in the lead up and I probably got found out a little at times.  Anyway I came in 6th overall in a time of 5:17:34, clocking up 59.12km @ 5.19 pace, it was an experience and I walked (painfully) away happy and better for the run.

Brendan and Nadine travelled over on the Saturday afternoon and we had a nice meal at Duggans.  It is always good to catch up with these guys and the night was enjoyable.  Brendan was toying with which race he was to run and was going to make a decision on the day.  It was an early rise at 4.30am and a short trip over to Carcoar from home, we arrived around 6.15am to get our bibs and get ready.  Brendan had decided to run the Ultra in what was a small but quite strong field.  Kel was now becoming nervous, as was I about running the 60km, a challenging distance that we both were not familiar or comfortable with running yet.

Start Line

During the final prep the time went very quickly and the start was upon us, I lined up with Kel and waited for the gun to go.  We were off on our 60km journey to Neville and back via the undulating dirt roads around Carcoar.  I won't go into a blow by blow wrap of the race in this one, I ran a bit with Ewan until I couldn't match it with him and for about 15k with Gary Mullins, from then on it was me then the half runners, then the marathon runners.   I ran well for 3hrs, then during hour 4 my performance fell away, but I was able to tough it out and got moving ok for the last 10km to the finish.  There was no miracle, just a hard slog to the end, I was fading and was using the mental strength I had gained from Canberra to get me through. Brendan ran home in 4:02:xx, a surreal performance, I can not fathom that pace on that course for that long, he is a super athlete achieving amazing results.

Off and running.

The best way to sum up the race was in positive and negative points;

Positive

• I finished around the same time as at Kanangra in 2012, only this race was 10km longer and tougher.
• I held my own and battled through tough times well.
• My nutrition was spot on.
• My use of mental strategies was effective and I got through the bad periods without negative thought or self doubt.
• I ran to plan, only hiking up the bigger hills, it was at times slower running than originally planned but I followed my strategy well.

Negative

Notice the course was marked uniquely.

• I slowly declined after 2hr45min, this ultimately lead to me not running under 5hrs.
• My legs were sore early, I noticed pain and had to use mental strategies to get through this when I should been focusing on running fast.
• I haven't trained as well as I could for this event, I've been injured and had been trying to minimise my load some what.
• I am not in form, next year around this time of year I aim to be but realistically that second peak may take a year to two to achieve.
• I got sunburnt, something I hate doing and rarely happens, I need to think harder about this factor beforehand.

Carcoar Cup

• The course was great, very enjoyable and scenic.  It was mainly on typical country dirt roads with about 35% on tar roads, mostly we were exposed and it did get hot, windy, rainy and cloudy, all seasons in a day!
• It was more undulating than I expected and I really found this aspect tough.  It had 2 climbs and a few good hills but only 950m of elevation gain so it was fairly flat and runable, I just missed the mark on the flatter sections during the second half of the run.
• A great atmosphere and well organised event.  The prizes are great, good cash up for grabs but really the pottery pieces handed out are spectacular and will become iconic (Angela Bateup is well on her way to collecting a set of 6!).

Most of all I learnt a great deal from the experience, I'm a long way from where I want to be but a long way from where I was 12 months ago.  I will be using the next couple of weeks to rest up and recharge a bit then my focus will switch to preparation for 2014 and the many goals I have set out for the year.

Kellie also lined up for the Ultra. She had only made the decision to run on Friday after being sidelined with an injury which left her unable to run in the two weeks leading up to Carcoar. She battled it out until the 42km Marathon mark where she had to call it a day. She was content with this, feeling happy just to have been able to run at all on the day when it had looked doubtful in the week leading up to the race and also to get another Marathon distance under her belt.  While I know she is disappointed with the race I'm certain 2014 will be a big year for her.  We are working on a plan to get her ready to roll in her big races at 6 Foot, Buffalo Skymarathon and TNF50km, where I'm sure she'll do great.  This time last year Kel was generally running 5km runs and her longest run was the Edgell Jog, so it's safe to say that with more time and experience her results are only going to continue to grow.

So now it is break time and time to enjoy a few weekends before the hard work starts again!