Stromlo 12hr (well 8hrs45min)

I went into this race with a couple of plans. One of those plans was to do a PB of 131km which I made a few days before the race.
The other plan which I had decided on when I entered was to use this race as a long training run. I thought if I was leading and there were a couple of hours to go I would push on to hold the lead to the end.
If I was 1 or 2 km behind the winner with a few hrs to go I would try to catch them.
If I was coming 4th or 5th or was a long way behind I would just run on feel making sure I don't wreck my body too much.
Well at 93km or 8hrs45min I decided to pull out. I was coming 4th and about 2km behind 3rd.
My race started off good. Yes I went too fast for the first 10km (44min I think) but since this wasn't a goal race but more of a training run I thought I may as well go out hard and see what happens
10k in about 44min, 1/2 marathon in 1hr37min, Marathon in about 3hrs25min I think and still feeling quite fresh.
The first bit of fatigue occured around 45km and my km splits were now about 5:05-5:15. I got to 50km and stomach problems just started. I stopped to go to the toilet and have a quick shower to freshen up. That worked a treat and I was back feeling good until 60km when I again did the toilet and shower thing. Feeling a bit human again until 70km and I once again toilet and showered. I must've been the cleanest runner out there! Each break costing me about 10min. I wasn't too worried but decided thats enough showering I've got to keep going! 70km-80km was pretty hard and I was now running 5:45-6:00 pace. 80km I came alive! Well until 87km. I ran each 1km lap between 5:19 and 5:45 witha 5:10 thrown in there somewhere then between 87km and 91km I was again slowing down. Not too sure what happened but betwwen 92km and 93km my toes said no more. I was forced to walk a lap because the pain in the toes wouldn't let me run.
After sitting down for 10min I knew that was it for me. If it was a goal race I would've started slower and would not have stopped at 93km but sitting there shivering my ass off all I was thinking was the damage I would risk if I decided to continue.
Big thank you to Sonia (2nd in the 6hr) and my Girls for all coming out to help me and Mum to make the trip down and of course to Dad for the lend of his Camper and car

So all in all I'm happy to have done a nice good hard long run. I just wouldn't do that in training on my own so this race was perfect for it.
I'm rapt that 2 days later my body feels pretty good and got an easy 5km in today.
I'm excited about Coburg even more now and know with it being still 8weeks away I'll be in peak shape! Well that's what I'm telling myelf :-)

Taper time

It's been a steady road back and after about 8 weeks back running I'm pretty happy with the way my running is panning out. My speed isn't there by any means but I feel my endurance is.
This weekend I'm going to have a go at my 3rd 12hr. This one is in Canberra at the Stromlo running festival. I feel I'm in ok shape for this and to be honest I'd really like to do a PB. To do that I need to run at least 130.052km. Not sure if it will happen as anything can happen in 12hrs of running but I'll give it a go. Really though it's pretty much a training run for Coburg 24hr in April.

Training in the last 8 weeks has been steady.
Back in the end of December I got a 24km run in around Sydney which almost killed me. Then a few days later on New yrs day I ran the black stump 30 something km's on a really hot day and even though I finished in an ok time I was pretty smashed for the next day or so. Then on 6th Jan I ran the Trotters around the bay 37km feeling much better running that comfortable in 2hrs53min and was the 2nd runner finished. The only problem there was a blood blister and a corn in my foot.
A week after that I raced the Manly Dam race. 10.2km of very tough trails and after getting the corn cut out of my foot I had a pain free race. Only lack of speed was my problem there.
The week after that on the 20th Jan I ran with the Trotters again and this time it was a memorial run for Muzza. 21km on the infamous Wambie Woppers run. Body felt great in that and I got another 9km in after to round it off to 30km
On Aussie day I entered in a team event for Knapsack 6hr then backed it up by running Woodford to Glenbrook the next day. With all this I could feel where I have been injured but each week of running seems to have improved it.
Then a week later on the 3rd of Feb I ran Megalong Mega on the 6ft track. About 36km of very hilly running. That was my worst run since I've been back. Right near the end I bonked! No energy left and had to sit on a rock for 15min and borrow some food of some very kind fellow runners. They took pity on me! Once I got food in me I could finish the final 2.5km to the finish.
Then last week I raced the Manly Dam race again going about 1min30sec faster and had no pain at all.

So there we are.... 4 days away from a 12hr and I've done the best I can to be in the shape I am in that time. When you think it wasn't all that long ago I couldn't do any running at all I'm pretty happy with how I've gone.

This week will just be easy 10km every day until Fri when I will just run 6km.