Strategies to Complete My Craze Ultra 101km (2015)

“It’s psychologically comforting to know that you haven’t skimped on your preparation. Anything less than total commitment won’t cut it.”

Karnazes, Dean

"Ultramarathon Man: Confessions of an All-Night Runner.” 

INTRODUCTION

My Craze Ultra (101km) 2015's strategies are very much derived from my past participating experience in the Craze Ultra (78km) 2014 and Gold Coast Marathon 2014. 

My  edge, I must admit, would be my familiarity with the running route and I should theoratically waste lesser time in navigating myself through the journey. Hence, I shall focus on pacing, refuelling and logistics support planning for this event. 

Penning down my strategies is also a form of mental preparation for myself in this event.

PACING STRATEGY

142 runners signed up for last year's 101km category and only 108 participants completed the race. 

11 participants did not start (DNS). 21 participants did not finish (DNF). 2 participants were disqualified (DQ). 

Statistics of 2014 Craze Ultra 101km Participation

The performance of participants who completed the 101km race (in 2014) can be summarised in few 25% blocks :

• Top 25% - completed in less than 18 hours 59 mins
• 25 -  50% -  completed in less than 21 hours 41 mins
• 50 -  75% -  completed in less than 23 hours 37 mins
• 75% onwards - completed in less than 31 hour 56 mins

I am working out the strategies for my 101 challenge by assuming the 50th percentile as my 'ideal' finishing time.

In short, I am targeting a 10min/km pace for the first 50km and 11 min/km pace for the return leg. To regulate my endurance for the whole run, I need to exercise discipline to control the pace set for the upper and lower limits. 

REST MANAGEMENT

As for rest management, I am planning to take a 20 minutes break at CP 1, 2 and 4 respectively. I also intend for a 30 minutes lunch break at CP 3. I am hoping that I can take some bites to sustain my energy there (I ate very little last year due to the extreme heat).

For the return leg, I plan to take a 30 minutes rest at all CPs. By taking such measures, I hope I can complete the event despite my lack of training/conditioning.

My 101km Pacing Strategy for Craze Ultra 2015

REFUELLING STRATEGY

Besides carrying natural fuels (prunes, chia seeds and water) on my backpack, I will rely heavily on the food aids at all checkpoints for my refuelling (all checkpoints should be supplying fruits/sandwiches except for CP 5, which will supply instant noodles for runners). I will also count on the numerous coffee shops/petrol kiosks along the route for 'contingency' refuelling.

For moral boosting, my wife (Mrs Run the Town) will meet me at CP3 (Sembawang) to feed me a yummy lunch prepared by her.

LOGISTICS SUPPORT

I am still in the midst of planning my logistics support. At this moment, I would most likely need the following items:

• Hydration backpack (to carry my water bag and stuff).
• Blinker lights and torchlights (for running in the dark).
• Camera handphone (for communications and photo taking).
• Additional of 1 shirt, 1 pair of socks and 1 pair of shoes (for change over to prevent blisters).
• GPS Watch.
• External Battery Pack (for charging at every checkpoint).
• Running Map (just in case I get lost).
• Running Hat and Sunglasses (protection against sunny weather).
• Road ID (for easy identification in the event of accident).
• Toilet Papers (for you-know-why).
• Adhesive Bandage (lest tripping, falling and cutting myself).
• Cash (just in case I need to buy food stuffs, or to take a taxi if I DNF).

My triumph card will still be my wife (Mrs Run the Town). She will be driving me to and fro (start/finishing points).  She will also standby at home to deliver me any sudden logistics requirements that I may call for under unforeseen circumstances. This is essential as I am reluctant to carry additional loads on my back during the long run. It also help that our home is strategically located in the middle of a few check points.

CONCLUSION

I seriously feel that it is important to be mentally and physically prepared for this event. I am lacking in physical training this time due to my injury. Hence, adequate mental preparation becomes vital. I hope that my self-derived strategies, coupled with my limited walk-jog trainings would allow me to complete my first 101km run on 5 September. 

To the seasoned and experienced ultra-runners, your pointers and advices are important to help me refine my running plan. Please share if you can. Allow me to thank you in advance!

Simon Prepares for His Maiden 101km Run!

Swollen left ankle just after the basketball session.

Sidetrack....

I have been missing my running sidekick since November 2014. Rachel (aka Mrs. RunTheTown) was going through a long and worrisome period - being closely monitored for suspected metastasis of cancer to her bones. We were lucky. Her cancer did not spread as suspected. My dear wife fought it through once more. She, however, has been ordered for complete halt on running due to a fractured knee (bad enough to look like cancer and failing her bone scans and blood tests every month). She was feeling the pain in sleep and walk. It left me with lesser time and motivation to do my own running for a while.

Back to my own running....

On the last day of 2014, I injured myself by severely spraining my left ankle during a casual basketball game. The injury forced me to take a long term break from all load bearing exercises. In fact, the pain disallowed me to participate in any form of exercises. It was disheartening as my stamina was badly compromised. Even though time is said to be a vital factor for healing, this totally uncalled for injury has been taking me more than half a year to recover...and sadly slowly....

By May 2015, I decided to register myself for the Craze Ultra 101km. It is to be held from Saturday, 5 September till Sunday, 6 September 2015. I did the 78km last year. I would not want to miss this year's event! Despite my injury, I set my mind to complete this awesome distance, hoping for no further aggravations to my ankle. At that juncture, I believed that my ankle could heal by June and I would still have sufficient time to train for the event.

I thought I was feeling good by June. My ankle was healing sufficiently for some sort of trainings. I started running shorter distances to gauge my stamina and strength. Alas! Never in my dreams would I expect myself to be panting profusely and struggling to complete a fairly slow pace 5km run! I even fell sick after every back-to-back training session - a sign of overexertion due to my poor physique. 

I realised that I had to tweak my trainings to accommodate my injury plus deterioration in fitness. I knew I had to strictly adhere to a walk-run approach (from trainings to actual race) so that it would not trigger further injuries to my body. I needed to be disciplined!

The idea was to clock sufficient mileages so that I would have the capacity to complete the event within a gracious cut off timing of 32hr. 2015 is just not my year to talk about performance! To be able to finish the 101km would already be my greatest achievement of the year.

2.5 months on, the longest training distance that I accomplished was on Sunday, 9 August. I did a D.I.Y. SG50 Walk-A-Jog (in the wee hours of our country's 50th birthday) with one short 20-minute break due to heavy downpour. The registered GPS distance was 50km. My gut feel told me that I had probably clocked 45km instead. Perhaps my GARMIN FENIX 2 was not quite accurate (assuming the accuracy to be +/-10%). 

DIY SG50 Walk-A-Jog

Now that I have less than 3 weeks before the actual race, I shall not stretch myself unwittingly. I intend to focus on my core strengthening and maintenance walks/runs. Irregardless, I will not give up! I have every intention to turn up for the event on 5 September. 

Stay tune to my next post....I will share my strategy to finishing the Craze Ultra 101km on actual race day.

My training log for June 2015.

My training log for July 2015.

My training log for August 2015.