Trailwalker 2008 - Team Muttley #485

I know its been a long time since I was here, but I've been a little busy and the results are now realised.

Team Muttley - Melbourne Trailwalker Winners 2008 - New Australian Trailwalker Record.

Details of the event - blow by blow are here.

Obviously a TW attempt which is based on getting through as quickly as possible takes a lot of time and preparation so I won’t go into any more detail other than to say the idea was over 12 months old and the specific training almost 6 months. For me this is by far the longest I’ve had any plans for any race. It also meant the greatest volume of training I’ve ever done. Basically double of my marathon preparations.

It would have to be one of the smoothest mornings before an event ever, awake with the alarm then straight up, everything ready to go, shower – eat – dress – final checklist then drive. I love 5am traffic!! Our team met away from the start, which I think was a great idea as a lot of the early nerves were settled once everyone was together and in good spirits. It helped take away the concern I had for the cold that had threatened to bring me down.

Pre-event: lots of people, the hussle bussle, nervousness, excitement, laughs, gear checks, meeting people, photos, well wishes, final plans, clock checks, registration, final prep then line up and wait….. all very exciting and not dissimilar to many other events except for the unknown of what was going to happen in the 100km ahead.

Having several familiar faces at the start line was excellent, so I appreciated them making the effort to come and find me.
We got a little bit cheeky by jumping the fence and taking a position close to the front as we wanted to be comfortable early and not having to dodge too many people in the first km or so.

The gun and then…..nothing….it was almost like no-one wanted to move. Not quite, but the early pace was much slower than expected. So we settled in the first 4 or 5 teams at a pace slower than we planned. Our original thoughts were that 10-15 teams would go off quickly, then we could chase. When this didn’t happen we had to re-plan so deliberately let the others set the pace about 50m ahead.

Through CP1 - Churchill NP - we were in 2nd place by only seconds due to the 1st team "How Good is this?" taking a long time to move through. Immediately we knew our plans for very quick checkpoints would save us heaps of time throughout the day. Then within half a km we were in the lead. At about this point we were asking each other if we were OK with this and how did we feel. It was almost unanimous that this was not the plan and we did not like being in front. We then asked if our pace was OK – were we overcooking it. On this front we all agreed that the pace was within our range and only marginally ahead of schedule. So we just kept moving.

CP2 - Lysterfield Lake - and our Super Crew showed us exactly how they were going to save us more time at every CP. Our individual feed bags were handed over, we sorted through and grabbed what we needed then handed them back and kept running all before we even reached the check in. With 2 CP’s done we had lost less than 60sec!!!

CP2-3 - Grants Picnic Ground Kallista. We had the company of some marshals who decided to do some running before the teams came through so that was a good distraction. Our walk the big uphills strategy was in place and we seemed to just float up them without effort and so our pace off the hills was consistent and comfortable. Another friendly face at Belgrave – thanks EE. Then our mobile cheer squad found us near the Belgrave Station, Mrs C, little C, MIL and Aunty. Who were very excited to see us in first place, and I hear they were sledging the 2nd team when they came through….gotta love family. On the hills leading to the CP we had lebusq join us for a jog and a chat. Again at CP3 we were basically in and out, only slowing to allow water refill and also a bit of ‘cheese’.

CP3-4 - Olinda. With more uphills we just had heads down and churning along without pushing the limits. Even the fact that the course appeared to have been marked incorrectly didn’t phase us. More cheer squad visits which the team were really enjoying and appreciating, since there had not been any pre-planning on this. This was meant to be a tough section, but somehow it just disappeared and we covered it only 2min slower than in training.
Again lebusq found us for more chat and some updates etc. Again our Super Crew were seemless, only a slow down without stopping. 4 CP done and less than 3min time lost.

CP4-5 - Silvan Reservior. Down down down – a great section we could have really pushed this section but decided to just roll along. This suited me so I took this section as my meal section. At this point we had only heard that we were 4min ahead so figured that was basically nothing. We were surprised to learn at the CP that we had about 15mins lead at CP4 – I was surprised to have grown the lead by 11min in 1 section. Lebusq had passed on the message that Best Boys were not looking great. This gave us some confidence. Our longest stop of the event so far occurred here – a whole 2min.

CP5-6 - Mt Evelyn. We had a slow start along here, basically walking / trotting to allow Bryan time to slowly eat. Then back on rhythm. It had been completely uneventful to this point. The niggles that threatened had not caused problems, my cold symptoms had cleared completely. I knew the team were in good spirits when we again passed the mobile cheer squad and the guys happily stopped for a re-take of a missed photo!!! Once on the Warby Trail the first signs of potential trouble surfaced. Rohan had begun to feel heavy in the legs. At this point I was not concerned, I knew there was a CP coming with a chance to re-charge and re-start. Then he indicated the need for some blister treatment, so a radio call ahead to alert the Super Crew and medical help. TB found us along here and provided some good distraction. The entry / exit of this CP allowed for a slower walk in to give Rohan a chance to get some help while we did the feedbag routine. Despite the ‘off trail’ part of this CP being 900m we only took 10min ‘off trail’. Another quick CP despite the required tasks. Here we learned that we had over 30min advantage at CP5, we knew our CP strategy was a big part of this.

CP6-7 - Woori Yallock. Warby Trail. Flat smooth boring mind numbing. Maybe for some, but not for me. I was still feeling really good. Heavy in the legs but no signs of cramp or fatigue. Along here I basically ran with the back runner, either Rohan or Bryan depending on who was having a flat spot. Chris was just a machine and barely seemed like he was doing any work. Rohan was feeling slow but just found a consistent pace at about 6min/k – he did not stop. Somewhere along here Bryan started to feel the effects of his food intake, its had been a problem in other events so not entirely unexpected. Our radio call to Super Crew revealled that the CP was not ready for us as school was still in….sorry for being too quick…. By the time we got there everything was OK – just. Super Crew had to guide us in because the signs were not up yet. 500m ‘off trail’ and only 6min lost.

CP7-8 - Millgrove. The toughest section of the day for me. Not because I was suffering, but because those around me were doing it tough. Rohan just kept trying to find a ‘do not stop’ pace. Bryan was reduced to lots of walking breaks as his body did not allow him to settle or to purge. Here we fell behind the pre-planned section time and reduced to over 7min/k. It was along here that the courage and determination of Bryan was tested – and he passed. In terrible pain he kept finding a way to run just a little bit more to get to the CP. A little slower through this CP but not horribly. The latest update from CP 6 was a 44min advantage. I made an error in judgement and only packed my small hand held torch – perhaps it was foolish optimism….

CP8 to Finish - Wesburn. Bryan had given everything to get to CP8, so was only able to walk from here. I asked him a couple of times if a shuffle was possible, he tried but was physically unable. This section had me ‘running scared’, I’d plotted all the worst case scenarios and convinced myself they were going to happen. I believed the 2nd team was still flying and from 44min back had gained 10-15min in CP7-8 which had them only 30min behind, we were walking at about 10min/k so they only had to go at 7m/k to catch us on the last downhill. I didn’t speak any of this to Bryan, but I did get him to imagine the feeling of being a TW winner. Fortunately the uphills meant no-one would gain crazy time on us there. Then Bryan dug to his deepest resources to run / shuffle / trot down the hills. This made me feel a little better, but still fearful of being passed at the death. Just before the last big downhill to the finish Bryan told me he’d forgotten his torch & his night vision was no good. I could still just see so I held my torch behind me and kept moving. Back in the bush and we had to share my small handheld torch. Dicey at best… Just before we broke through the trees we heard from Chris and Rohan (just ahead) that we had about 2 ½ minutes to finish to break the Australian TW record. So with all other thoughts / aches / pains / troubles gone, we just ran. Bryan held his breathe, I ran with him. When he started to slow I grabbed his pack and pushed him along to keep the speed up. Across the line – confirmation of the record – then elation!!!