Bellarine Rail Trail Run (34km) Aug 3, 2008 Options

[shortarse]

My turn now:

What a fantastic event! This was by far my furthest run yet - my previous longest run was a half marathon. I had 1 goal with a supplementary goal: to finish, and if possible finish a lot quicker than I started. I achieved both of these despite a major catastrophe from about 29k to 32k.

I started of really slowly and settled into a nice cantor with CourtlyLove, kayjay and duckgirl who were great company. Decided to pick it up a bit at about the 4-5k mark and caught up with Shuffling Lea. We chatted about injuries and so forth for a while and at about the 10k mark I decided to pick it up again. (Hope your itbs held out SL). I was running for quite a while on my own after this until I caught WOOH and Kevin. It ended up being WOOH, Cameron and I for quite a distance. Stupidly I looked at my watch and saw that 1:50 had elapsed and asked WOOH how far we had come so far. If I pushed it a bit for the next k or so I would beat my one and only half time of 1:56:38. They help push me and then we settled back into a comfortable pace again. I started to get incredibly hungry.

I now know what "the wall" is! I hit it between 29k and 30k after WOOH had pulled away. I began to slow down dramatically and when the dizziness started I thought I better walk for a bit. I was fighting to walk in a straight line and nearly fell over a couple of times. Several times I tried to begin a shuffle but they only lasted a few minutes. I was faint, in agony and absolutely starving but I knew there were only a few k left. I forced myself to run and Cameron appeared beside me - thanks mate you got me to the finish. We also helped another girl who thought she could only walk to the end (sorry I've forgotten your name). Those last few k were brilliant - the pain, the company, everyone encouraging one another. I got there in 3:16 and promptly scoffed all the teddy bear biscuits that were provided (sorry)!

Notes to self: I must eat more breakfast before long runs and investigate what those gel thingys are. Secondly never go for a sprint in the middle of a long run!

shortarse

[EatEm]

My report reads as per TigerBoys - with the exception of a pulled muscle (both thigh and heart) at about 27 kms.
From there is was a bit of an effort to get to the end but I think I ran about a 2.57 ish.

The 6+ weeks off in late May to mid July with no running has just meant that the legs need to get used to the longer distances again.
Last three long runs have been 25 / 32 / 34 so it is just a matter of conditioning. Pulled up sore yesterday but did 10 km 'recovery' run this morning in 51 mins with no pain so yesterday was 'just one of those days' ...

As we have all stated, Brett does a great job and thanks also to his large group of helpers - it is a great run....

Thanks Brett ....

This post has been edited by EatEm: Aug 4 2008, 04:40 PM

[ShufflingLea]

Such a great day!

As already mentioned it was so well organised (drinks stations, buses, supportive volunteers) I can't believe it was a fatass event! Couldn't have picked more perfect weather for the event. And a great ride there and back with fellow CR's (I really enjoyed your company guys, and thanks for driving Cameron).

As for my actual run... well.... I had hoped that I might finish in 3.5 hrs and came in a few minutes after that, so although unbelievably slow, mission pretty much accomplished! Would have like to run (read: shuffle, living up to my name) the whole way but had to have a few minute-long walk breaks, particularly up those hills at the end and to be honest some of that walking was faster than my shuffle at that point! Turns out that two weeks off prior with a hamstring and adductor strains didn't really act like the 'taper' I pretended they were

I felt pretty sluggish from the beginning and was happy with 6 minute pace. Thought I'd sit in comfortably with WOOH and KevinC until they told me they'd be picking up the pace shortly, and they definitely did. I then got to enjoy the company of shortarse for while, until he too told me he was picking up the pace and promptly disappeared (shrugged off the itb problem not long after, thanks!). Passed and got passed by KevinC a couple of times, the last time was when he told how much he was looking forward to his diet coke at the last station- he warned me that he'd take off, and wouldn't you know it! Seems like I spent the run watching people dissappear out of my life

But I didn't hit any walls, I wasn't too concerned with the times that I walked, and I thought that my overall effort was pretty good considering the prep (or lack thereof). And although today I'm walking like Frankenstein and can't sit or stand without the extensive use of my upper body, I don't think I've actually got any injuries (temporarily screaming quads and glutes don't count right?) so I'd call it all a resounding success! Bring on the Melbourne Marathon!

Oh, and totally enjoyed the breakfast afterwards with Lee... such an inspiring and down to earth guy. Thanks for all your work in putting this together Brett!

This post has been edited by ShufflingLea: Aug 4 2008, 08:47 PM

[DiscoStu]

I was treating this just as a long run for MM, it's the perfect distance for a long training run, it's just maybe a bit too early for MM. It's probably ideal for the Shep Mara though. I started out a bit slow as is customary on this run, but soon I realised it was a bit too lacsadaisical. So after a brief chinwag and absorbing the aura of running with the likes of Lee Troop, I took off in the slim hopes of actually winning the event.

Was not feeling too good after having run a 8km tan time trial and 3.5 hrs of skiing the previous day but felt reasonably okay. Took off and found I was slowly gaining on the people in front of me, passed one guy and then two guys at about the 7km mark. Then kept going and decided I was actually running pretty easy, so at about 10km took off and decided to 'sprint for home', pretty stupid considering there was 24k to go!

Kept going through 15k at 1:03, 30k at 2:03, so I was slightly speeding up and then I hit the wall and was absolutely stuffed, but grinded the last few k's out to the finish and stopped the clock at 2:16.

Not too bad for my MM training, I reckon you have to run a fast training run and this is ideal, thanks Brett and all your helpers for a fantastic day out, you are a living legend! Good luck to Troopy in his upcoming marathon too!

[KevinCassidy]

“Taking Leave of One’s Senses” is the most poignant saying that I can find. Given that training these days consists of a weekly jog around the block [sometimes fortnightly!], the impulse to attempt a 34km journey doesn’t rate amongst my more intelligent decisions. Regardless, I’d never journeyed over the complete length of the BRT and was keen to change that fact.

Knowing full well that a tragically slow poked 6 min per km pace was as high as I could realistically aim, I set off amongst the 100 plus runners to tackle the trek to historic Queenscliff.

The vast array of yellow and blue CR caps strongly resembled a religious cult. All the usual underworld suspects were amongst them including Tiger Boy, Old Knees, Eat Em, Courtly Love, Pbig, Digger, brettsrun and a host of other weird and wonderful beings As for myself, I was clad in black hoping to remain inconspicuous as I held up the rear of the field.

For the first 8km, I clipped along with WOOH enjoying some deep discussion on all things running. WOOH then surged ahead as shortarse and shufflinglea came past effectively leaving me alone to plod on slowly.

Barely hanging on to my snail like pace, I had to keep checking behind me. After all, I couldn’t have the pink skirted duo of duckgirl and jaykay sneaking up on me.

Continuing my plod, I engaged in several exchanges of places with shufflinglea before a godsend descended from the sky above…….well, not exactly….it actually arrived via bicycle! The incomparable Maureen Wilson pedalled up and presented me with a bottle of Diet Coke…..two four letter words that win me over every time. Honoured I was, to be assisted by an athlete whose 2008 achievements include wins at both Frankston to Portsea and Walhalla 50km as well as first Aussie woman at Comrades. "I'll leave the rest of the coke at the next aid station", she enthused as she pedalled off over yonder!

Gulping down my fizzy hit of caffeine just short of 24km, I actually reeled in 6 or 7 runners over the last 10km and clambered my way to the finish in my predicted time of 3:30. Any slower and I’d have needed to replace the stop watch with a calendar! I’m sure I saw a turtle go past me at one point. Regardless, it was a pleasure to have enjoyed this unique trail on such a superb day.

By this stage, most runners had departed the finish area. Undoubtedly, they had headed to the breakfast with Lee Troop. Sadly, if I’d have turned up it would have been more like a midnight snack!

Once again, the incomparable Maureen proved her worth by producing [much to my surprise] a picnic basket laden with goodies…..and more Diet Coke! What an agreeable way to finish the day.

When you next see Maureen, ask her about her job as an assistant coach with Saint Kilda in the AFL !!!!

Heading back home up the Geelong Road, radio station VegaFM featured a collection of Peter Garrett’s protest songs. As our current day federal minister for plastic bags and glasshouse emissions [or is it greenhouse?], he may need to rewrite his lyrics!

[BDC]

...I took off in the slim hopes of actually winning the event.

Stu, Stu, Stu - what can I say... Hopefully you know what I'm getting at!

Well done to everyone who took part. 126 participants is my best guess with 118 finishing the full 34kms. Well done to Brett Saxon & Peter Grey who decided that the shuttle bus wasn't for them and opted to undertake the trail in both directions! Sadly I had to pull the pin at 12km with a knee injury sustained 1 week earlier. Fortunately I knew a few of the marshals who could give me a lift to the finish! I can now say with certainty that it's less stressful when I'm running than when I'm trying to help out!

I have posted the run times on the webpage and there are also 179 photos that my brother took. The report will follow soon.

Congratulations to Simon Senior & David Elliott who won the SKINS vouchers and and a big thank you to SKINS for supporting the event.

Thanks to everyone who has provided feedback. It is much appreciated and all of my volunteers read and enjoy it as well.

Cheers,
Brett Coleman

[Shuffleupagus]

What a brilliant day for a long run - nice to see the wind drop and heavy showers of Saturday ease.. couldn't have ordered it better. Wasn't the best preparation for me, having picked up a chest cold on Monday. Fortunately it moved out of my chest and reduced to a mild head cold the day before, so the dreaded DNS didn't eventuate. Apologies to anybody running close behind though, as there were unmentionable substances being coughed up at various points... my head is much clearer today though

Ran the whole way with Paul from the Geelong Cross Country Club... he wanted to test his pacing in advance of the MM, so I figured I'd hang on as long as I could. Was pretty cruisy for the first 20k, chatting to a number of folks along the way - started to pinch a little from there, but held solid pace. Fell in a bit of a hole at around 30k, and had to let Paul go... eased the pace and took a gel, and a km later I was feeling 200% better. Managed to catch Paul again and finish strongly, although tired, in 2:26'ish - somewhere around 4:20/k.

Whilst not the easiest of long runs, gives me a great benchmark from which to do some pacing estimates for MM. The quick k's in the middle will serve me well for Yeppoon HIM in a couple of weeks too.... all good.

Big thanks to Brett, and his merry band of friendly volunteers/marshals - I agree with Whippet - there should at least be a nominal donation next year.. hard to believe such a well organised event is free!

[brettsrun]

Brettsrun I see you are running both ways again. Do you plan to start from Queenscliff in the dark like last year or from Geelong? If you are doing the latter I will join you on the return journey.

Hi Whippet, this post slipped by me, Yes I did start from QC, planned to run with old knees but he wasnt feeling to good when I tapped on his car window at 3:45am.
After a bit of messing around I hit the trail about 4:20am hoping to make the start in time, fortuneately I got there with a few minutes to spare this year, approx 3:35min one way
Missed you around the start and wondered if you were there. Anyway slogged my way back at the back of the field, had great company from Jill who was happy to go at my pace.
fiinshed with a time of 7:57 which i was pretty happy with considering a poor preperation and lack of sleep in the back of the car.

To BDC, thanks again for a great run, you do a fantastic job organising the event, thanks also to all your helpers who give their time to keep us all safe

[DiscoStu]

[quote name='BDC' date='Aug 4 2008, 07:06 AM' post='362195']
Stu, Stu, Stu - what can I say... Hopefully you know what I'm getting at!

I know, I know, I'm too competitive, but seriously I was just treating this as a training run for MM so I was just trying to run that pace. It's actually not much quicker than my training runs, okay just a bit quicker, but that's all I promise!

[wombatoutofhell]

A couple of efforts I feel are worthy of mention, mainly for the guts and determination.
Shortarse. As mentioned his previous long run was 1/2 marathon distance, so 34km was a pretty big ask. He started sensibly and slow and picked up during the run and beat his 1/2 PB. He then stayed with me until about 28km where He dropped back a bit and I went on. I only found out later how far gone he was. But he toughed it out (with some help from Cameron) and finished respectably. I think he's had a valuable lesson about pacing and possibly fueling. Shorty, next time you're running with me and I have my fuelbelt feel free to ask for a drink or a gel if you need too-I had plenty.
DiJ. Di was being paced by SimonS and was really pushing the envelope. I'm not sure where it was that I passed them, but they were travelling at a good speed (about 5:30 I'd guess) and, although she looked a little tired then, Di was putting in a gutsy effort. When I saw her at the finish, she was bathed in sweat, obviously exhausted and looked ready to collapse. Now I know Simon was pushing her, but being pushed can only take you so far-the last bit is you. Say what you like Di-that was a fantastic effort and you should be proud.

I find this sort of thing inspirational-when an athlete gives their all and pushes themselves way out of their comfort zone. It's something I think we should all do at times-I never do and it's time I started.

[Jaykay]

Barely hanging on to my snail like pace, I had to keep checking behind me. After all, I couldn’t have the pink skirted duo of duckgirl and jaykay sneaking up on me.

Kevin,

No fear of us overtaking you. We were just out there enjoying the weather, the view and the company

A huge thankyou to all of the organisers and volunteers. This really is a fantastic run.

I would add a couple of photos, but unfortunately I seem to be having a blonde moment and can't figure out how to upload them

[Digger]

I would add a couple of photos, but unfortunately I seem to be having a blonde moment and can't figure out how to upload them

If you email them to me, I'll add them to the slide show I am preparing.

extra@ausgeo.net

And if anybody else has photos, I'll add them as well.

Just use the following subject heading:

"BRT Photo's"

[frankie]

“Taking Leave of One’s Senses” is the most poignant saying that I can find. Given that training these days consists of a weekly jog around the block [sometimes fortnightly!], the impulse to attempt a 34km journey doesn’t rate amongst my more intelligent decisions. Regardless, I’d never journeyed over the complete length of the BRT and was keen to change that fact.

Knowing full well that a tragically slow poked 6 min per km pace was as high as I could realistically aim, I set off amongst the 100 plus runners to tackle the trek to historic Queenscliff.

The vast array of yellow and blue CR caps strongly resembled a religious cult. All the usual underworld suspects were amongst them including Tiger Boy, Old Knees, Eat Em, Courtly Love, Pbig, Digger, brettsrun and a host of other weird and wonderful beings As for myself, I was clad in black hoping to remain inconspicuous as I held up the rear of the field.

For the first 8km, I clipped along with WOOH enjoying some deep discussion on all things running. WOOH then surged ahead as shortarse and shufflinglea came past effectively leaving me alone to plod on slowly.

Barely hanging on to my snail like pace, I had to keep checking behind me. After all, I couldn’t have the pink skirted duo of duckgirl and jaykay sneaking up on me.

Continuing my plod, I engaged in several exchanges of places with shufflinglea before a godsend descended from the sky above…….well, not exactly….it actually arrived via bicycle! The incomparable Maureen Wilson pedalled up and presented me with a bottle of Diet Coke…..two four letter words that win me over every time. Honoured I was, to be assisted by an athlete whose 2008 achievements include wins at both Frankston to Portsea and Walhalla 50km as well as first Aussie woman at Comrades. "I'll leave the rest of the coke at the next aid station", she enthused as she pedalled off over yonder!

Gulping down my fizzy hit of caffeine just short of 24km, I actually reeled in 6 or 7 runners over the last 10km and clambered my way to the finish in my predicted time of 3:30. Any slower and I’d have needed to replace the stop watch with a calendar! I’m sure I saw a turtle go past me at one point. Regardless, it was a pleasure to have enjoyed this unique trail on such a superb day.

By this stage, most runners had departed the finish area. Undoubtedly, they had headed to the breakfast with Lee Troop. Sadly, if I’d have turned up it would have been more like a midnight snack!

Once again, the incomparable Maureen proved her worth by producing [much to my surprise] a picnic basket laden with goodies…..and more Diet Coke! What an agreeable way to finish the day.

When you next see Maureen, ask her about her job as an assistant coach with Saint Kilda in the AFL !!!!

Heading back home up the Geelong Road, radio station VegaFM featured a collection of Peter Garrett’s protest songs. As our current day federal minister for plastic bags and glasshouse emissions [or is it greenhouse?], he may need to rewrite his lyrics!

Well done mate on finishing, which is the main thing

[DiJ]

What an excellent day for a run it turned out to be and thanks for keeping me company the whole way Sime. Even though you could have achieved so much better I appreciated you keeping me company, despite the fact I was huffing and puffing so much most of the time I couldn't talk to you!

Brett you do a superb job, thank you so, so much for your brillant organisation and fantastic volunteers, its a beautiful run indeed. Troopy's talk was fantastic I could have listened to him for hours, he's awesome. All the best for the Olympics Troopy, you're an inspiration, thanks.

Was really great to catch up with lots of Coolrunners again especially WOOH, TB and EE. Couldn't believe that some of you ran the double, you guy's are amazing.

Thanks for you kind words WOOH, I certainly was done in when I got to the finish line. Someone asked me how I enjoyed it, to which I replied "I hated it" which I didn't of course, just at that moment. This was the longest run I've done since 2003 and after having a dodgy year with my snapped achilles last year the come back has been harder than I expected. I really wanted to try to do 5.15m/k if I could but I just don't seem to be able to sustain anything near 5m/k which is really annoying me.

I was so sore yesterday I could hardly get out of my chair, sometimes having a desk job is just not good. I will be back next year though and am looking forward to MM and then some solid base building before 6ft Track next March.

[maryclaire]

I nearly missed the finish. I didn't see we had to turn and was quite happily crossing the road to keep going when Marieclaire called to me and I realised where I had to go.

I was tempted to let you continue into the distance as you looked way too comfortable for a runner at the end of 34kms.

[dylannickelson]

Thanks for organising this wonderful run, Brett.

Good on Troopy for letting us entertain the idea that we can keep up with him. And good luck in Beijing!

Great track too. The view coming in to Queenscliff was a great distraction from burning calves. And it was nice to have some downhill after 20-odd ks of flats and climbs.

I'll definitely be participating again next year.

Now, onto MM.

Dylan.

[SimonS]

What a fantastic event! Not only does it not cost anything to enter but I managed to win a pair Skins in the raffle and I hardly ever win anything in raffles! And the weather was fantastic. What more can you ask for?

As WOOH and DiJ mentioned I ran with Di. After struggling running on my own last year I was happy to run with Di the whole way. This was despite her protests that I should run off and do my own thing.

This was the first since MM last year that I have run for over 3 hours - it's amazing what a year of training can do. I'm really feeling that my training is on track. Although it was a much easier run this year - it was probably the company. Thanks Di.

Thanks to Brett and his merry band of helpers. I would have to say that this has been my favourite event so far this year.

Simon.

[Digger]

Here are my photos etc:

Click Here