Table of contents for December - January 2018-19 in Trail Run

I recall having a chat with a guy called Jimi a few years back. Jimi is the founder and leads a movement called Live More Awesome*. Jimi talked about this thing called ‘mental health’, and to be honest I didn’t really know what he meant by that term. I did, however, know the term ‘depression’, which was getting a fair bit of press at the time, and continues to do so. Jimi explained to me that mental health is a neutral term (unlike depression, which holds negative connotations) - it’s just a thing, like physical health. It’s a measurable thing, a state that something is in, at a certain point in time. It’s the place or position that our mental health, state of mind, perspective or outlook on life (or…

1. Name: Skyline Traverse Run Location: Wanaka Distance: 28km with 1480m+ elevation gain Date: January 20, 2019 About the event: Part of the Red Bull Defiance adventure racing weekend, a maximum of 300 competitors can start their new year off with this epic adventure. The Skyline Traverse is one of the highlights of the Red Bull Defiance event, and competitors have the opportunity to complete this 28km section as single stage. This spectacular trail run offers a lengthy ascent followed by a technical traverse across the ridge line of Mt Alpha and Mt Roy. The route culminates with a run off Mt Roy and around the shore of Lake Wanaka back to Edgewater Resort. Competitors will run through the breathtaking alpine landscape of Wanaka, taking them on a memorable journey…

If you are living authentically with this desire, then you will stack intentions from the day before to make the run more possible. 1: You will make sure your gear is easily accessible by taking your running gear, shoes out. 2: You will check the weather report to ensure your gear is appropriate for the session. 3: If getting up early you will work back to ensure you get to bed early enough so you are getting between 7.5-9 hours of quality sleep. This will allow absorption of the session with improved adaptation. 4: You organise to meet training buddies with a group text (we use WhatsApp and have created a training group for organising sessions, and general smack talk). 5: If it’s really early (maybe it’s a key long…

Camelbak Ultra Pro Vest RRP $199.99 Ultra-light materials and a streamlined design make this vest ideal for long-distance training and elite-level racing. Features 3D Ventilated mesh for multi-directional air flow and cushioning, two Quick Stow flasks, front storage pockets for fuel, or water, zippered pocket for a phone, back stretch pockets for extra layers or an additional reservoir, and reflective accents. Camelbak Circuit RRP $149.99 One of our most popular running vests just got an upgrade. The new version of the Circuit is 30% lighter and includes a 1.5-liter Crux reservoir that delivers 20% more water per sip. It still features front storage pockets for gels and fuel, a secure zippered pocket that fits most phones, reflectivity and two fully adjustable sternum straps for a tight fit. Camelbak Ultra 10…

On October 21, 19 record-breaking hopefuls lined up at the 2018 Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon to see if they could achieve a Guinness World Records title. Despite low temperatures and the pressure of beating the clock, 13 individuals managed to persevere to cross the Toronto marathon finish line as record breakers: ● BLAINE PENNY - Fastest marathon dressed as a battery (male), 2:59:57.6; ● PAMELA BOTTOS - Fastest half marathon dressed as a television character (female), 1:56:48; ● DANIEL JANETOS - Fastest half marathon dressed as a chef (male), 1:34:53; ● VICTOR FRÈVE - Boucher and Freüd Fortier-Chouinard- Fastest marathon with two runners handcuffed together (male), 3:15:42.5 ● MICHAEL-LUCIEN BERGERON - Fastest half marathon juggling with three objects (male), 1:17:09.4; ● BRIDGET BURNS - Fastest half marathon dressed as a…

Bikram is a bit like the ultramarathon version of yoga. You may sweat profusely, feel nauseous and frequently want to quit, while accessing just enough euphoric joy to get hooked. The studio I attend announced a 30-day challenge, where you commit to 30 classes in 30 days. Being injured, I thought, why not? There’s currently a space in my life for some experimental masochism. Bikram yoga is a series of 26 postures, mainly done twice, always in the same sequence and led by a teacher through a set dialogue that has its quirky moments (solid concrete one piece lamppost unbroken no knee). Most famously, it’s hot - about 40 degrees - and lasts for 90 minutes. Might regular practice help my stiff running body? For Alisha Chakrabarti, a teacher at…

Mud, they say, is the bane of a trail runner’s life. I didn’t know that until now. If you think that makes me sound like a beginner on the trails, you’d be right. I have a heap of road events under my belt, but I’ve run just three trail events in the past four years. In the first I snapped a tendon halfway through the second half and was piggybacked one kilometre to a waiting ambulance. In the third I broke an ankle. Same trail, same ankle. My husband, sick of nursing me through injury, quite reasonably tried to ban me from any further attempts. I nearly let him. But then a friend broached the idea of the 11km leg of the Waitomo Trail Run, held last April. I couldn’t…

Western Australia February 2 The Leaning Tuart Ultra, Preston Beach, 50k, 25k, 12.5k, off-road 11 SunSmart Busselton Half Marathon and Fun Run, Geographe Bay Rd, 21k, 10k, 5k, road 17 Sunshine Beach Run, City Beach, Perth, 5k, 3k, 1k, beach 20 Delirious W.E.S.T., Northcliffe to Albany, 200m, off-road March 2 Lark Hill Dusk to Dawn Ultramarathon, Port Kennedy, 100k, 50k, 25k, off-road 17 Bloated Goat, Fat Little Lamb and Bleating Kid Trail Run, Wungong Dam, 31k, 21k, 11k, off-road 23-24 Trails and Ales Ultra, Wellington Dam, Worseley, 100k, 50k, 25k, off-road New South Wales / ACT December 1 Westies Joggers 10km Fun Run, Georges Hall, 10k, road 16 Misty Mountain Trail Run, Mt Warning / Wollumbin, 50k, 30k, 20k, 11k, 5k, off-road January 5-6 Narrabeen All Nighter, Narrabeen Lakes Sailing…

Where: Sefton Ridge Track is one of a series of trails in the Kaitake Range in Oakura, Taranaki. Kaitake Range is remarkably different from the rest of Egmont National Park, with its variety of warmth-loving, semi-coastal forest, and when up high, sweeping views of farmland and the Tasman Sea in the distance. Distance: 4.3km (2hrs-3hrs) Degree of difficulty: The short but Challenging Sefton Track can be linked with the Waimoku Track to make a loop that returns to Lucy’s Gully. There is a stream crossing to navigate and the trail is slippery in parts after rain, and the climb up can seem never-ending. Access: The Sefton Track begins in Lucy’s Gully. From New Plymouth, follow Devon Street West south, continuing on coastal SH45, 5km past Oakura. Turn off at the…

I ran the Kepler challenge in December 2007 in 7 hours 55 minutes. I couldn’t have been more satisfied with the time. The hardest part of that run for me wasn’t the grunt getting up Luxmore or the trickiness of the switchbacks on the way down to Iris Burn Hut. It wasn’t even the emotional challenge of facing the final basically flat last 30km. It was one comment, made by a passing tramper around the 50km mark. I was pretty brittle at that stage, it was the longest I’d run and I was doing it hard. This guy took one look at me and said: “Look at you, I didn’t expect to see a big fella like you out here.” A simple, innocent comment. I was about 94kg when I…

Most people know that eating a predominantly whole food plant-based diet that is high in micro nutrition per kcal, fibre, and appropriate macro nutrients for your personal activity levels and performance goals is going to enhance you. It will help make you feel better, create a healthier gut and enhance energy levels. 1 : Planning your weekly shop so you buy food to fill your home environment with the right components to create meals that align with your overall nutrition goals. 2 : The night before a busy day or a travel day organise a nutritious lunch and snacks so you can eliminate temptation from overly processed poor nutrition food choices (leaving it for the morning can be a slow form of self-sabotage). 3 : Cleaning your teeth after your…

THREE-TIME OLYMPIAN, FOUR-TIME ITU WORLD CHAMPION (IN TRIATHLON AND DUATHLON), ITU WORLD CUP VICTOR AND IRONMAN-DISTANCE WORLD RECORD HOLDER TIM DON, AKA THE DON, SETTLES FOR NOTHING LESS THAN REACHING HIS GREATEST POTENTIAL. WHEN DON WAS HIT BY A CAR WHILE CYCLING ALONG QUEEN KA’AHUMANU HIGHWAY TWO DAYS BEFORE 2017 IRONMAN WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS IN KAILUA-KONA, HAWAII, HE WAS IN PEAK FORM AND A CONTENDER FOR THE PODIUM. DON SUFFERED A HANGMAN’S FRACTURE TO HIS NECK AND SPENT THREE MONTHS RECOVERING IN A HALO BRACE, YET HIS SHEER DETERMINATION AND DESIRE TO BE AT THE TOP OF HIS SPORT SAW HIM RETURN TO COMPETE IN THE 2018 BOSTON MARATHON AND RUN A 2:49:42, AND GO ON TO QUALIFY FOR THE 2018 IRONMAN WORLDS. TRAIL RUNNER MAGAZINE’S MICHELLE CURRAN FINDS OUT WHAT…

It was over a coffee in a Taupo café between two long-standing friends which formed the catalyst for the creation of The Ring of Fire Volcanic Ultra. Victory Events owner Jason Cameron and his fellow event organiser Nick Reader of Element Events had met at the appropriately named Eruption Café for a chat about future projects back in late-2015. When both put forward the same proposal for an iconic race that would circumnavigate Mt Ruapehu - it was green for go on the ambitious project. “Many of the Ultra offerings are about going further and longer but we saw the 72km distance around the mountain as a challenging yet achievable goal,” explains co-creator Cameron, who since 2004 has organised the annual The Goat and Tussock Traverse races in Tongariro National…

Day 1 Took a day off work to celebrate the first day of the yoga challenge. There’s a bit of a carnival atmosphere. And star charts. Day 2 Blah. 5.30am? This challenge was a bad BAD idea. Day 3 This is okay. I hit both toe stands for the first time in ages. Start to get optimistic about speedy rate of improvement. Day 4 Feeling stiff from yesterday. No toe stands. Feel pessimistic about slow rate of improvement. Day 5 Tired. Hot. Amuse myself by counting the number of rolls my tummy makes when I sit down and put my forehead on one knee. Day 6 Muse on the fact that I find it really comforting to surrender to someone else’s orders for 90 minutes and not think, even when…

The memory came flooding back to me, and again stopped me in my tracks. It was 12 months ago, yet the impression of the scene remains fresh. Memories of perfection will do that; linger far beyond their time and just beyond the reach of the words to describe them. I will try, however. It was like watching the most extraordinary ballerina in full flight, her stage the Andean mountains, back-dropped with the white snow caps of the Cordillera Blanca, Peru. I was first struck by the energy that emitted from her, the perfect union of strength and gracefulness. She moved across the landscape with a freedom that suggested these massive peaks had been created purely for this moment. There was knowledge, confidence and rightness in the way she moved. Centuries…

Last year’s Tauranga International Marathon was a great chance to design myself an 18-week training plan while planting some new habits to shift my progression towards a higher trajectory. My two new enhancing habits I wanted to experiment with was my Tuesday intermittent fast (not eating for around 20 hours-22 hours from Monday dinner to Tuesday dinner), and a weekly Thursday yoga class with two-to-three periods during the week where I would go over yoga movement flows working on great hip mobility and standing balance control. For the last two or three years my week has been consistent. For me routine brings comfort, and allows macro-flow (rather than flow from moment to moment tasks – flow on a more expansive level: week to week, and month to month) Monday: Beach…

There are 26 bones in the foot and a web on muscles, tendons and ligaments. The foot is divided into three sections: the forefoot, midfoot and rear foot. There are many evolving theories of the best and the most effective gait pattern when running. As far as the job of the foot when walking…the rear foot should absorb the initial shock and control the foot in relation to the leg, the mid foot is supported by the arch structure and distributes most weight to the outside of the foot and the forefoot is used to push off the ground and move you forward. I believe a similar pattern should occur when running although there may be slightly less rear foot strike and more push off through your toes. A lot…

Where: Falls Creek is a resort town in northeastern Victoria, Australia. It is a 4.5 hour drive from Melbourne, an easy day’s drive from Sydney and less than two hours in the car from Albury. Most access to Falls Creek is via the nearby township of Mount Beauty and the beautiful Kiewa Valley, while visitors to Ovens Valley also have excellent access and Falls Creek is just over an hour’s drive from Bright. While widely known for its alpine and cross-country ski centre and spectacular skiing, Falls Creek also has three dedicated running trails of varying difficulty and length – the Green, Blue and Black Trail Runs. Distance/degree of difficulty: The beauty of running at Falls Creek is you can choose how long you want to run, and also the…

1 BUILD UP SLOWLY Even if you think you are someone that relishes the heat and doesn’t mind, it still makes good strategic sense to be cautious with your training as summer sets in. No matter your level of fitness or schedule for the summer, it is best to not overdo it as the heat begins to bite. So as the temperatures start to become warmer be conscious that your body won’t thank you if you thrash it immediately. Best to scale back both in terms of the number of times a week you run and the intensity of your sessions. Spend the first three weeks breaking yourself in gently to acclimatise and build back up to your usual routine once your body has had a chance to get accustomed…

Stacking intentions moves you towards what you need to do on a daily scale to become who you want to be over a life time. Stacking allows alignment of meaningful micro action with true macro purpose. Start small within your capacity to create big changes over time. Please take note that nothing worthwhile happens overnight. Switch from reactivity to pro-activity in your day with stacking together intentional moments. Once your intentional moments outweigh your reactive moments you will begin to move in the direction you want rather than be pulled in the wrong direction, or just continue your stagnated journey in the rat race. I am a big believer that the sum of the whole is far greater than the parts - the same can be said for stacking intentions.…

Within the last 12 months there have been some significant challenges to the environment that we as trail runners and people who enjoy other active pursuits have long considered our playground. Large swathes of the Waitakere Ranges have been closed by the Auckland Council after the mana whenua placed a rahui on the area in an attempt to combat Kauri Dieback. The Taupo IRONMAN 70.3 swim was cancelled in December 2017 due to water pollution, which in itself is shocking. As we head into another summer of spending a lot of time outdoors in wild spaces I’ve been thinking how athletes need to get active on conserving the spaces we play in. We need to be the Kaitiaki, or guardians, of our wild spaces, if we are to have any…

At the conclusion of the 30 days I have a full star chart and receive a small trophy. It feels satisfying, an achievement of time management as much as anything else - finding two hours a day to drip profusely while gazing at myself in a mirror isn’t easy, let alone the postures. I like the community and how I feel after class. Am I transformed though? It’s complicated. In a physical sense, not overtly, which is a little anticlimactic. I thought I’d improve flexibility more, and the injury is still niggly. What I have gained is a solid base and better understanding of the postures. Yoga proficiency is a long game. I do feel stronger in the core, quads, and glutes, which has got to be useful. It’s also…

As a coach, I value all my athlete interactions, as they are all meaningful. It is edifying to engage with people who are trying to create a new normal and put themselves through something that, regardless of the outcome, will be ultimately transformative. Taking that view, all my athletes’ successes are meaningful to me, however I feel comfortable saying that sometimes a performance will stick. One such performance is Hobart resident and former orienteering world champion Hanny Allston’s 3:34:50 course record run at the 2015 Six Foot Track Marathon. The Six Foot Track Marathon is one of the oldest and most storied races in the Australian trail running calendar. Taking place every year in Katoomba in New South Wales. The 45 kilometre event, which some consider the toughest trail marathon…

Most of us as runners have had the moment when we are out on the trails and suddenly, unavoidably you need to go to the toilet. It’s fairly common and slightly annoying if on a training run but if it happens and keeps happening during a race it can really make or break your pace, place, PB or even if you can finish the run. We all know the sage advice of never trying anything new on race day, but what if you adhere to all that and it keeps happening? It could be that the liquids or gels you are using to keep your glycogen stores up are actually wreaking havoc on your digestion and causing your symptoms. This is because gels and sports drinks can actually obstruct movement…