Ultra-Runners workshop with Vajin Armstrong - transcipt
The following is a transcript of the Ultra-Runners workshop which took place on Friday 7 October at the Sri Chinmoy Centre in Christchurch, NZ. Primary speaker was Vajin Armstrong, winner of the 2010 Kepler Challenge and 2011 Mototapu Marathon, also NZ representative at the 2011 Commonwealth Ultra trail running Championship in Wales.
Also speaking were Susan Marshall - event organiser, Ujjwala Mettrick - ultra runner and handler to Suprabha Beckjord (women's ultra running world record holder) and Harita Davies - ultra runner and handler to Dipali Cunningham (also a world record holder in the field of women's ultra running).
Susan: Tonight’s evening is really just about giving you some information on ultra-running, which is any distance longer than a marathon (42k’s). We’ve got a few very good ultra runners here and they are going to offer you what they know about the topic so that you can go out and find what works for you. Ultimately you are the own judge of your capacities so as with any sport keep your wits about you, pay attention to your health, research where you can, get information and you will eventually succeed.
Our philosophy is self transcendence which not is competing with anyone else but competing with own capacities and ultra running is really good avenue for that because there’s no limit to the distance you can go, there’s no limit to what you can do. Our longest race is 3100 miles and Ujjwala will have quite a lot to say about that cause she’s spent a lot of time helping out there. So I hope you enjoy the evening and good luck.
Vajin: My name is Vajin Armstrong and I’m going to talk a bit now about the history of ultra running and where it comes from and then we’re going to have another couple of speakers who’re going to give some practical advice and then I’ll to talk a bit later on about training and some good race day advice
Ultra running is probably the one sport that comes most naturally to us as human beings. If we look around at humanity as a whole, we’re not generally - compared to other animals in the animal kingdom, we’re not particularly fast over short distances. We’re not particularly strong or powerful but the one great ability we have is our ability to travel over vast distances. From the first humans spreading from Ethiopia throughout the entire world humans have always shown a remarkable capacity for long distance travels. There’s a couple of reasons for this. First of all the way we’re developed and evolved from animals on four legs going up to two legs. Humans have a really amazing capacity for dissipating heat, the fact that we don’t have much hair compared to something like a monkey or even like a horse or a dog allows us to lose heat a lot more easily than any other animal, and because we’re upright as well we’re not so exposed to the sun’s rays allows us to cover vast distances. If you look at people like the Kalahari bushmen these people are really the original ultra runners. These are people who practice what’s called persistence hunting, which is where they follow an animal or chase an animal until it dies of exhaustion so you can see there’s real capacity for long distance travel. If you can see a group of people: men, women, children, old people just following and following an animal until it passes out and dies of exhaustion, this is really where the most ancient form of ultra running comes from. So it’s really a skill or capacity that allowed humanity to survive and evolve.
If we look over the centuries since then there has been many cultures who’ve really embraced long distance running and travelling as really a way of life. One group in particular who’ve become very well known is the Tara Humara Indians from the Copper Canyons in Mexico - has anyone read the book Born to Run? Yes. So a lot of people will be familiar with the stories of these people. But there’ve been many cultures throughout time, right from the Aztecs, even in times like ancient Rome and Greece as well it was very common to have long distance messengers and they would cover tremendous distances on foot. Ultra running is something that humanity has used as a tool for thousands of years. In the last 150 years though Ultra-Running has become a sport. Originally in the 1800’s there was a sport known as pedestrianism which originally evolved from aristocrats gambling on whose messenger was faster than someone elses. So you might challenge your friend and say, you know my messenger’s a really good runner, and they might say, well my messenger’s a really good runner as well. And they’ll say why don’t we get them to race from here to somewhere a long way away and we’ll see who wins, so that was really the beginning of the formalized structure of ultra running. Back in the 1800s in places like Madison Square Garden in New York you’d actually have really really popular six day races held in Madison Square Garden between 10 or 15 people and there was a lot of money and gambling involved. So it was a really big deal. You couldn’t imagine in New York City now, people going along and watching a six day race, but in the 1800’s it was a really big popular event. After that period in the 1800s ultra running went a bit underground for many years and it’s really in the last 10 or 15 years that Ultra running has become something a lot more in the public eye. The Sri Chinmoy Marathon team were some of the first people to start popularizing a lot of these distances that were popular in the 1800’s. Events like the 6 day race, began to be put on again for the first time in a really long time, and since then there’s been a huge number of 24 hour and longer races. Particularly in the last 10 or 15 years ultra races or ultra trail races have begun to really explode all over the world especially in Europe and North America where there’s a real culture of outdoors and alpine events, ultra running especially on the trails has really blossomed like anything. So a lot more people are getting involved now. I think there’s a lot of reasons for this. It’s not just that people are looking for a new challenge, but I think in a way people are looking for a return to a more natural state of being. As our world becomes more digital and more technological - more and more people are looking to go back to something that’s a lot more minimalist and a lot more natural. You can see that with the minimalist foot movement with people moving towards things like five fingers and less technical shoes. People are really looking for something a little bit more real and authentic in their lives, so ultra-running really provides something which is at the same time very ancient and primal but at the same time it can really add a new dimension to your life. It can provide you with that challenge and that stimulus that a lot of us are really lacking in our day to day lives working in the office and doing things like this.
Ultra-running is a huge growth market at the moment and we’re really happy to see so many people interested in ultra-running because we see it as a profound sport in many ways.
So tonight we’ve got a couple of talkers who’re going to talk a little bit about some practical things that can help you once you are involved with ultra-running. I’ll talk a little bit more later about some training advice and practical racing advice, especially for the trail races.
I’d like to ask Ujjwala to come forward, she’s going to talk a little about helping and some other things.
Ujjwala: My name’s Ujjwala Mettrick. Just as a little bit of background on me: I’ve done a lot of handling: helping top runners in Ultra marathons. I helped Suprabha Beckjord who ran 5000 kilometers with a best of 49 days which is a world record. I also helped Dipali Cunningham who is a world record holder in the 6 day race, with a best of 523 miles or 842 k’s. And locally I’ve helped Harita who’s going to be talking next. She’s run 380 miles which is over 100k a day. And Prasasta who’s my big sister, who’s done the six day. I did it when I was 22 and she was my helper. I’ve also done cooking for the 3100 mile race for three years so I’ve got to know a little bit about nutrition and what’s good to eat. I’m also in charge of doing our post-race breakfast: pancakes and things.
As an athlete I’m very much an amateur but I have had a bit of experience, I’ve done six 12 hour walks with a best of 88 k’s, and various other ultras.
I’m going to talk to you about the benefits of having a helper, and tips for eating before, during and after a big event. If you can have a helper for a race like a 100k: for one it’s such a time saver- you don’t have to stop and get food, someone’s got it ready. When I would help Suprabha I’d have little things in cups on a tray and they could just grab them, and I’d go alongside her every lap. Also, the thing is with having a helper is it really keeps you honest. It’s hard for you want to go sneak away for a wee rest if you know there’s someone there that you’re accountable to, looking after you. And it’s great to have encouragement and support on the sideline. And then just to have someone looking after what you’re eating and drinking and keeping that in mind.
Before a big race like a 100k, practice eating when you’re training. That’s a big thing, otherwise your stomach will get a real shock. And when you are training try to eat a really well balanced diet. If you don’t have a proper base then taking supplements and things - they’re not going to be able to do their proper job. But as far as supplements go - Harita is good friends with Emily Miazga, who is a sports nutritionist and when she’s in the height of her training for the coast to coast, she doesn’t take any supplements - but she obviously eats really well. For someone like myself, who can get busy and eat not as well, I take: Iron which is really good for female athletes, B vitamins, magnesium. Maybe you guys have other ideas of things that are good to take but really eating well is one of the best things you can do.
Getting closer to the race, one to two days prior: really eat up; carbo-load. And then for the kind of foods that work for you, I think the best method is trial and error. We’re all so unique. Someone can say bananas are wonderful but if that’s going to work for you… But the thing is as well we’re all different speeds, Vajin is going to run a 100k in half the time it would take me so he can probably get away with eating quite lightly, just fruits and gels and things but for me I’d need to. .. Something that works quite well for me is dates - high in glucose, or honey sandwiches - that’s something I really like. Over the years I’ve watched a lot of the top runners in the 3100 which I’ve been quite involved with. Dharbasana who is the only New Zealander to have run that race did it mostly on green smoothies. He’s a real raw foodie - vegan diet and superfoods. That’s something you can try, it really works for him. Last year there were a couple of Ukrainians that did the race and they were crazy about buckwheat. That’s a really good thing to have. Dipali, when she was running, because she didn’t want to stop and chew she would blend all her food into high calorie shakes.
During a race, I don’t recommend trying new drinks or foods on race day - it can be trouble. At our 100k’s we serve Replace, so see if that works. Otherwise there’s a lot of natural (alternatives,) you can just do lemon, honey and salt for example, that’s a really great electrolyte. It’s good not to use thirst as a gauge, otherwise it’s usually too late. They say 250mls for every 15 minutes. But that’s depending on the conditions. Christchurch is often windy and a little bit cold so you don’t realize you need to be drinking water. Drink plenty of electrolytes. If you find you’re losing concentration it means you haven’t had enough. Try not to drink too much water or you’ll actually flush out your electrolytes. Eat simply – high carb, little bit of protein based snacks. Don’t sit down and have lunch in the middle of a 100k, you just want t to eat little bits, or your body’s going to be exhausted trying to process all the food, and sleepy. And do try do eat enough. Sometimes I forget, I’ve had the experience where I haven’t quite eaten enough and suddenly it’s really hard to run. After the race you really want to replenish your stores and eat a high protein carb meal. Hydrate well. Rest well. I find massage really good. I had really sore Achilles after some big races I did in August, but it was just becausemy muscles, my calves were really tight.
In conclusion, don’t get fixated on what you’re eating. When you look back on the eighties’ when all the really awesome runners were doing it, they were doing it so simply without high tech foods and shoes and everything. So just experiment. We’re all so unique so see what works for you. Good luck, if you can get a helper it’s really valuable.
Harita: My name’s Harita and I’ll be talking to you about the philosophy of running and ultra-running, the inner running and the outer running, and also the concept of self-transcendence. I’ve been really lucky to have the opportunity to run the 6 day race three times and I have also helped Dipali Cunningham who is the world record holder for the 6 day race. I’ve been her helper three years in a row. As well as that I’ve been running now for about 15 years, so I’ve had a lot of experience with my own running, and then seeing other people as well. My personal best for the 6 day race is 380 miles. Dipali’s personal best for the six day- which is a world record for women is 523 miles. She actually broke her own record, which she held before that, when she was 50 years old, so that was really inspiring for everyone to see how much capacity we have. Several years before that when she set the record with 510 miles she broke Sandy Barwick’s record who held it before that. If any of you don’t know Sandy Barkwick- she’s a very famous New Zealand ultra-runner and she’s run quite a lot of the Sri Chinmoy races over the years.
I first became interested in running when I learnt to meditate which was when I was about 19 years old. I started doing meditation with the Sri Chinmoy Centre and learnt pretty quickly that a bit part of Sri Chinmoy’s philosophy is fitness and he talks a lot about running. He really encourages people to be fit on a practical level because when you’re fit then naturally you’re a lot more healthy and when you’re healthy you’re a lot happier. This will help you in your general life but also in your practice of meditation. It’s really hard to sit down and meditate if you’re not feeling well. Just in your day to day life, if you’re fit you’ll have more energy, a clearer mind, all those kinds of things. So he really recommended that and he also spoke about the inner running and the other running. This was a really interesting and inspiriting concept for me. So before I came along to meditate I had not been a runner but I was always so grateful to the place that sport played in my life as a teenager. I was a rebellious teenager but I did a lot of water polo and surf lifesaving and I always remembered that if I hadn’t had my water polo and my surf lifesaving I think my teenage years would have been a lot worse. I’ve seen that for many other friends and many people how sport can really help you. It’s more than the physical fitness. It’s really helping your to calm and clear your mind and help you let go of depression or anger or frustration or any problems. Because all of you here today and interested in ultra running I’m sure many of you have experienced that in your own lives. That’s really nice when you get to have that feeling inside yourself that you really love your practice of running or whatever exercise you do much more than because it makes you fit and healthy, but because it’s really actually connecting you to a deeper part of yourself. This brings us to self-transcendence. As you know the races are called self-transcendence races and Sri Chinmoy talked a lot about self-transcendence and that’s why the races are called self-transcendence races because they’re about competing with yourself. Although being in the environment of a race, you often find yourself competing with other people, he really felt that this was so helpful not because of trying to beat other people but because when you are in an environment with other people who are doing the same thing as you it really helps you to strive to fulfill your own potential more. You will obviously do a much faster marathon if you’re running it with a few hundred other people than if you’re running it by yourself. This is where races and doing things can really help us to develop our own capacity to really surpass our previous capacities. And I was going to read you a little bit that Sri Chinmoy wrote about self-transcendence. He said “I am a student of peace and I feel that this is one of the ways to offer peace to the world at large. I am a man of prayer and meditation and from my prayer and meditation I got this inspiration to be of service mankind.” He is talking about the multiday races. “I feel that while running we are able to offer our very best to establish a world of peace. Athletes derive tremendous benefit from these races. They go beyond their capacities. In order to make one’s self happy one always has to go always beyond and beyond and beyond one’s capacities. So here, while running, each runner is getting a very special opportunity to go beyond his or her capacities. Self-transcendence is the only thing a human being needs in order to be truly happy so these races help the runners tremendously. Although outwardly they go through such hardship, eventually, when the race is over, they feel they have accomplished something most significant.”
With the concept of the inner running and the outer running, when we’re fit and we do things like physical fitness it really helps us to calm and clear the mind and in turn when you practice meditation or some form of concentration, or when you develop the capacity to calm the mind or to access this deeper part of ourselves then that also can really help us with our running and with whatever we’re doing in our outer life so that’s how the inner running and the outer running really go together. Over the years Sri Chinmoy met with many many great athletes and great runners. Especially in the 1980’s anyone who was a good marathon runner he met. He’s got books of questions from all of the greatest runners and many of them he spoke to about their running. Outwardly they would know all of the kinds of things they could do in their training , but a lot of them were really interested in the more spiritual aspect of things that they could do inwardly that would help them do better with their running so he would often give advice to people on those kinds of things. I’ve read lots of the things that he said and through my own practice of doing multiday races and marathons I’ve been able to try out different things and see how using inner techniques can help you with your running.
The first one that I really feel is important is self-transcendence and putting the philosophy of self transcendence in to practice on race day, or in the case of the six day race, for the six days that you’re running. Set a goal for yourself and then stick to your goal. I know for myself it’s really easy, especially in the marathon, so many times I’ve had a goal of how many minutes it’s going to take me to do each mile and had it all ready and then on the day of there’s someone who’s just running a bit faster and you feel really excited and you feel good and so easily you completely forget about all of your plans and go out too hard and then you really suffer at the end of the race. So I think through your training know your own capacity and then have your own goals, and stick to those. When I was doing the six day race so many times I would have the experience where I was feeling really good and then you could easily see someone who was just 10 miles ahead of you and think oh, I could just go a bit faster. And then your mind gets so caught on that other person that you lose all your peace of mind and all the joy that you get just from doing it. If you can just stick to your goal of how many miles you’re going to do or how many kilometers you’re going to do each hour and what pace you’re going to do, then you’ll do much better because you’re not thinking about someone else. You’re just really focusing on what you can do. Of course in the last few hours or few miles you can let go of all of that and just kill yourself and do your best. Have a plan a but also have a plan b and I as well if plan a doesn’t work out cause you never know how you’re going to feel on race day. If you’re not feeling so good then have a plan b so that you’ll stay happy and that you’ll still feel good and still have joy, even if you’re not achieving ultimately what you wanted to, what your first goal was.
One other thing that’s really helpful is to really stay in the moment. Sri Chinmoy talked a lot about not thinking of the future, not thinking of the past, really trying to calm and still your mind, and really trying to keep your thoughts positive. Even if you’ve got a really sore leg just try to keep a positive thought in mind. He talked a lot about the power of imagination. He said that so often in our lives we use our imagination in a negative way, we imagine all the worst things that can happen, with something like the earthquake - now you can imagine that there could be another one, always really worrying about things that can happen in your life. But he encouraged us to use our imagination in a positive way. If you’re running a marathon don’t think that you’re running 26 miles, just think you’re running 13 miles, or if you’re running a 100k race, break it down, don’t think of the whole 100 kilometers cause that is daunting for your mind, and that creates stress and worry and makes it difficult. Instead just think you’re just running a 10kilometere race, or if that becomes hard just think you’re running 1kilometere. So break it down in your mind to make it something achievable.
One other thing that he recommended is thinking of yourself not as an adult, but as a five or six year old child. If you think of a child and you can really imagine you’re a child; children have boundless energy and boundless enthusiasm, they’re just out running for the love of running and for the fun of it. You let them out of the car at the park and they just run because they love it.
When I have done the 6 day race I’ve always broken it down into 10mile lots, so I would just focus on that 10miles, I wouldn’t think of anything else and then after that you can focus on another 10 miles. You can have a treat, a nice drink at the end of that, so you’ve got something to look forward to.
A lot of you probably have experience with using affirmations or mantras. If you haven’t then I would really recommend doing that because it’s really helpful. You might think of something yourself or you might read of something. You can use anything. But the most important thing is to use something that’s really positive and also something that’s meaningful to you. Or else you can just repeat energy, or happiness, or simple words like that. Affirmations are a really good way to focus your mind on something positive. Because the real goal of using mental techniques or using spiritual techniques is to have peace of mind so that we can feel happy and when we feel happy we feel strong and I’ve got a quote on that. Sri Chinmoy said “In sports we need energy, strength and dynamism. When we meditate we make our mind calm and quiet. If inside us there is peace then we will derive tremendous strength from our inner life. That is to say that if I have a peaceful moment even for one second that peace will come to me as solid strength in my sports whether I am running or jumping or throwing. That strength is almost indomitable strength, whereas if we are restless we do not have strength like that. Look at an elephant: an elephant has tremendous strength it is not restless like a monkey that is moving here and there, it is exactly the same for us. In our inner life if we have the strength of an elephant than only in our outer life can we be peaceful. A lion is very peaceful then when something happens he starts roaring. But it’s strength is in the peace that it has. It has confidence. But a monkey and other animals that are very very restless, what kind of strength do they have?” Then it says: “Meditation gives us inner strength. Once we have inner strength we are bound to be successful in our outer life.” I would recommend the practice of meditation. But even if you’re not interested in learning to meditate, running and walking and any kind of exercise can be meditative in itself if you take the opportunity to focus on your breath - that’s something that you can do when you’re racing as well. A very simple way to calm and still your mind is by focusing on your breath - just breathing in and out. Another really simple meditation technique using the breath is breathing in energy and breathing out tiredness. You can breathe in peace, and breathe out any stress or worries, or feel that when you’re breathing, you’re breathing in energy from the universe or from your surroundings.
When you do these kinds of races, more than anything else you are bound to have all kinds of challenges, you’re going to suffer physically. You just are. You might have the odd race where you don’t, but pretty much everyone is going to either start feeling really nauseous or you’re going to get exhausted or you’re going to get a pain in your muscles. There’s all kinds of things that can happen, but try to take these as things as inevitable - they’re part of it. They’re also real opportunities. Instead of thinking of them as obstacles, think of them as opportunities to draw on your inner strength and to grow as a person, because life is not easy and there’s always going to be challenges in life. I’m sure many of you, because you’ve already run marathons or done lots of running have already seen how your sport and going through the challenges that you’ve been through really helps you in the rest of your life. When you face challenges you know that you’ve already done something that mentally you thought you would not be able to achieve but you did it anyway. That gives you so much confidence in other areas of your life when you come across things in your relationships or in your work or in your day to day life, things that are unpredictable, you’ll have much more strength and peace to draw on that your mind would ever allow you to believe. These kinds of races are a real opportunity for us to get in touch with our strength and peace and light that we all have inside us. If you have the inspiration to do them then you have to know that this inspiration is because you already have the capacity within you. So if anyone’s inspired to do a 100k race or a 6day race or the 3100 mile race then I would really encourage you to go for it.
Vajin
Just following on from what Harita said, when you look at modern sports psychology, the goal of sports psychology is to get you into the state which they call the flow, or the zone and that space is very similar to the space you reach through meditation, when your mind is very still and very calm and you’re very aware of your surroundings and everything going on, but you’re not attached and you’re not being distracted by it. I’ve been practicing meditation for over 10 years now and I’ve found it really useful especially when I’m racing. Many times my best performances, you’re running but at the same time you’re so aware there’s this stillness and clarity all around you. Although you’re moving very quickly you’re very much aware of everything that’s happening around you. It really does lead to super excellent performances so I can definately recommend what Harita was saying.
My main passion with running at the moment is ultra trail races. Over the last year I’ve been lucky to have a lot of success. I won the Kepler Challenge, the Motutapu Marathon, and I got 2nd over 100k at the Tarawera Ultra and that got me selected for the New Zealand team for the Commonwealth championships which were just a few weeks ago. I was there with Bryan McCorkindale(audience member) as well. He ran in the 24 hour race. In my race, the trail race I came 8th. I went over there with the goal of getting in the top 10, but I really had no idea, in a race like that which is really international, you really have no idea who you’re racing with, but that was sort of a benchmark. But at the end of the day, the thing I was most happy with was I really felt I gave absolutely everything. It was a very satisfying experience so I was really happy with that.
Trail races are probably the biggest growing sport in the world at the moment. Trail running is growing at 30% per year participation wise, which is really phenomenal when you look at it. All the big 100 mile races, 100k races, 50mile trail races are selling out like anything, so it really is a huge growth sport. In Europe, there’s a lot of really big races like the Ultra Trail Mt Blanc, which is a 100miler all the way around Mt Blanc, and gets huge television coverage and really big fields - 2000 competitors and they turn that many people away as well who wanted to enter. As I was saying earlier one of the big draw cards especially for me is in my own life I’m really looking for a more pure experience of existence and for me trail running and especially the long trail races really provide that. It really strips away all of the modern world. If you’re out there for six, seven, eight, nine, ten, up to 20 hours out in nature, it really allows you to go beyond your everyday existence, beyond your mind beyond all your worries at work, all of those things, it allows you to leave them all behind and get in touch with the part of yourself which is much deeper and much more fulfilling and also much more ancient. It’s like, when you’re out there running on the trails you really feel this connection with life as it’s been going on for thousands of years, you’re no longer just this person living this short finite existence, when you’re out there running through nature, especially in the mountains for me, you really feel this connection with the infinite. For me I love trail races especially races like the Kepler Challenge that have a really pure aesthetically beautiful line. So for anyone who’s ever done the Kepler track before, it’s a very beautiful trail. Starts one point and finishes there so it’s a big loop course, beautiful single track all the way. And when you’re out there running all day, it’s very different form racing a marathon on the road or racing a 5k, a 10k. Normally when you’re racing those shorter races you’ve got a set goal. You’re hoping to do 3 hours for the marathon or whatever your goal is and by the end of the day you achieve it or not and a lot of your satisfaction is based on the result. The experience when you get out there and run 5 or 6 hours on the trails is completely different because it’s such a beautiful and pure experience in and of itself at the end of the day if you’ve had an absolute shocker of a race of if you have a great race, it really doesn’t matter, cause the simple experience of being out there with like minded people running through some of the most beautiful country in the world is just such a satisfying experience that there’s this beautiful feeling. Each person when they finish you can see on their face there’s a real sense of satisfaction and joy that’s completely based just on that experience of being out there and experiencing the beauty of nature.
So I’ll talk a little bit about training. For those of you who already run marathons, training for an ultra is really not that much different from running a marathon, you want to get yourself in the best possible shape you can, you want to get yourself aerobically as fit as possible and when it comes to trail running there’s a few particular skills you might want to work on so I always like to look at training as there’s three aspects really. There’s the engine which is your cardiovascular system. So you want to get that working at the highest level possible. The good thing with training is that there’s so many different ways to reach the same goal, You can look at the programmes of those running really fast marathons and everyone’s doing very different workouts but they’re all aiming for the same goal. Someone might like doing shorter intervals, someone might like doing long tempo runs, someone might do more hills. So at the end of the day it’s really nice to try and find what sort of workouts you enjoy. For me personally that was one of the biggest things that’s really allowed my running to improve a lot is actually really thinking and knowing what workouts I enjoy. There’s certain workouts that you really don’t like doing, you’re not inspired, you know if you have to do this workout, you have to go to the track and do 400m reps or something like that and if you don’t enjoy that you’re not going to be inspired and you’re not going to get the best possible workout out of yourself whereas if you really enjoy running in the park and just doing everything on your watch, running hard for two minutes, then going easy for a minute, you’re getting the same physiological stimulus but you’re doing it in a setting that’s more conducive to your nature. Some people love going to the track and doing workouts while some people would much prefer to be at the beach or on the hills. It’s something for each person to look at in their own nature and find out what sort of workouts they enjoy doing and then trying to get the most out of those as possible.
As I said – I’ll get back to the three parts of training. The engine – that’ s your cardiovascular system, your lungs and your heart. The next part is your physical structure, so that’s your muscles, your connective tissues, your bones. And so you want to strengthen those up as much as possible, especially for ultra-running there’s nothing better than getting out and getting in the long runs. Getting in the long miles on your legs is the thing that’s going to slowly callous your system and strengthen your muscles and your connective tissues. And especially if you are trying to increase your mileage that’s one thing to watch out for that your cardiovascular system will actually improve much faster than your muscular system. Especially your connective tissue will take some time to develop the extra strength whereas your heart and lungs will start cranking up and improving really quickly. But there’s a delay effect as your muscles, connective tissues adjust and adapt. When increasing your mileage it’s always good to be aware of that.
There’s many different rules of thumb. People talk about a 10% rule, there’s no actual factual basis saying the 10% rule is a magic number but for most people it brings that sense of moderation into increasing your training. For me personally, after I have a break after a race, I follow the 100 or 200% rule, where each week i’ll do 100% more than the week before, and very quickly get back to full training. For me personally, racing at high level on the trails I’d prefer to do 200-250 k’s a week. But at the end of the day your whole training and everything to do with - the idea of self-transcendence has to pervade there as well. I’m lucky with my lifestyle that I can manage to fit in enough time to do that running, which for some people with families and full time jobs makes it difficult to get that sort of mileage in. At the end of the day though where there is a will there is a way. There’s many people who work full time jobs and manage to train for iron mans and do many great things. If you’re inspired about something it really does help you to get out of the door early in the morning or late at night after work and all of those things.
When you’re trying to build up for an ultra I would keep my mileage relatively similar as I would for a marathon. For those of you who have done marathons before most of you know what level your body can handle. The specific things for running ultras is just getting used to being on your feet for a long period of time. If I was building up for a 100k race or something like that what I’d try and do is try and split - do two big days on Saturday and Sunday. If I was thinking I was going to be running for 12 hours I might get and run for four hours on Saturday and five hours on Sunday. Getting out and getting used to being on your feet and running on tired legs, doing those back to back long sessions. You don’t want to be doing that every week. You need to provide adequate recovery after you do something like that. But at least do that a few times in your build up for the race just to get your body and your mind used to the feeling you’re going to be experiencing during the race.
My coach Bruce Milne always recommended for the Kepler Challenger for example, where there’s a big hill in the first half, then a downhill and the second half flat. He’d always recommend on Saturday afternoon going out and do three hours including a big hill and a big downhill and then Sunday do three hours on the flat so that really replicates the sort of experience that you’re going to be facing when you’re doing a race like Kepler.
With my training I always try and focus on the specifics on the race and that’s really the third part of the training. With the trail racing you’ve got all the training, getting yourself as fit as possible, getting your muscles strong. But then there’s always the particular demands of whatever event you’re doing. For the trails that’s getting used to running fast over uneven ground. Especially for a race like Kepler Challenge, getting used to climbing hills and descending them as well. If you’re doing something like a 24 hours race, or a 100k race on the flat, getting used to eating on the go is one of the specific skills you need to work on for that event, so when you have a goal or event, if you can work out what specific skills you might not already have that you need to develop, that’s something you can start working on from 10 or 15 weeks before the race.
I always feel that trail running is a very natural thing, the less you think about it the better you do. Especially when you’re trying to run fast, especially if you’re going to bomb a really steep, technical descent, the less your mind gets involved the better. Your mind has an amazingly complex and innate ability to figure out where to put your feet so you can actually learn to stop freaking out and still and calm your mind and you’ll actually run a lot better on more technical terrain. That also comes with confidence as well, so the more time you can spend running on the trails, the better you’ll be on the more technical stuff.
I find Christchurch is a fantastic base for training for trail races. For those of you who haven’t got out into some of the less utilized areas for trail running. Over in the foothills of the Alps we’ve got some really great places. Oxford forest is a fantastic place for trail running, Mt Richardson and Mt Grey provide fantastic climbs. For those of you who are doing some good trail running those are really great places. Another absolutely overlooked gem in Christchurch running facilities is the Banks Peninsula track starting in Akaroa. If anyone’s ever done that track it’s absolutely fantastic. It took me just under five hours running so for most people it might take six or seven hours.
The great thing about trail running as well is the sense of exploration, it’s so fantastic getting out, into untouched places you’ve never been too before, getting out there all day. There’s many epic adventures to be had on the trails.
Does anyone have any questions now? Harita and Ujjwala do you want to come up now in case anyone has any particular questions for you?
Question: What do you feel is adequate recovery after a long training run?
Vajin: For me when I’m writing programmes for someone I’ll always talk about easy days, but an easy day for me is probably different to an easy day for you or someone else. For you an easy day might be half an hour for me on an easy day I’ll still do two hours or two and a quarter hours so, for many people that would be quite a lot. It’s just a matter of knowing what an easy day is for you. I always try and feel especially when you’re getting more into the longer races, the most important thing to do is really develop a connection with your body and be able to know how you’re feeling. I never use a heart rate monitor or GPS or anything, I always try and really be aware of how I’m feeling so I know when I get in a race when I’m feeling like this I know I can hold that pace and I can keep pushing like that or I can push a bit harder. So you really want to start to get a gauge of your own limitations. And that’s the same for recovery as well. If you go out for an easy day and you’re feeling really shattered, have another easy day after that, and then keep going until you feel your legs coming back to you. It’s really easy to write a programme, say okay do this work out and then have two easy days, and then at the end of two easy days if you’re still feeling written off there’s no point in going out and doing another hard work out then Because each of us is really an experiment unto ourself, so it’s important to feel what works for you If I did two really big days in a row, Saturday Sunday then I’d probably have two easy days. It depends how old you are as well, as we start getting older you recover a little bit slower so it’s always good to bear that in mind especially if we’ve been running for twenty years, it’s easy to remember what it was like twenty years ago, you could do a race and the next day go for a long run and everything felt fine, whereas if you’re in your 50s or 60s or 70s after you did a race it might be a little bit harder to get out and do two or three hours.
Question: Just interested to know what your experience is with injuries.
Harita: From what I was talking about, from the inner reality, it’s really amazing when people are doing 6 day races or the really longer distance races you get all kinds of injuries, shin splints and things, and you just keep running and they go away. It’s really incredible.
Vajin: I wouldn’t recommend following this in your day to day life
Harita: Not in your day to day life but in those kind of races you just really become aware that we have so much more capacity and the body has so much more capacity to heal than you can really conceive of. A lot of injuries can be caused by the mind as well, by the fears and worries of the mind. You really see that in the 6 and 10 day races. After about day three, three days is the point where the mind kind of begins to break cause it’s like, what am I doing, I’ve been running for three days, so a lot of people after three days you’ll see them crying, sitting down and wanting to give up and then people develop all these injuries and then you have to go beyond the mind, and the mind kind of just says okay, whatever I don’t know what you’re doing and so you kind of go more in and use your inner capacity more, more into the heart, so a lot of people get injuries around that point and then they just gradually go away.
Ujjwala: I do running but I do race walking as well, so I cross train a bit.
Question: When you’re trying to practice eating do you mean like have a proper feed while you’re running
Vajin: No no just have whatever you’re going to use in the race. So in the race if you decide you’re going to use gels, or use shot blocs or use bananas of whatever you’re going to use, just get used to taking that on board during your training runs. One big thing is that I don’t ever use gels unless I’m maybe going out for maybe seven or eight hours then I might take a couple. But it’s actually good on your normal training runs to keep your body used to working without taking carbohydrates in all the time so you develop your fat burning metabolism, and make that as efficient as possible, but you do want to spend some time getting used to taking the food on board so when race day comes you don’t feel uncomfortable. It can be as simple as having a loop that goes past your car, and every time you go past you can grab a banana or grab a gel, or if you’re running up in the hills take a couple of gels with you, just make sure your body can handle that fuel, get used to taking it on board.
Question: What are your thoughts on running techniques? Are there any particular styles that you’d recommend for ultras?
There’s the famous ultra-shuffle that a lot of people, especially doing the longer stuff on the road get quite into the shuffling along, not lifting their feet very much. At the end of the day, especially with the long road stuff, people kind of tend to go to the what is the most economical thing, so that’s why that ultra-shuffle becomes really popular. I really think it’s such a positive thing that’s happening these days with more and more people actually with the whole natural running movement and the barefoot running and people like the chi running guys and pose and all of these different things, just getting people to think about how they’re actually running, because I’m not sure if most people are aware, but the whole idea with having the big built up running shoes really only started in the 1980’s. It’s not that we’ve been predestined to always run with really big built up shoes, it’s something that Nike invented as they thought it might reduce injuries and kind of bought on, that’ s been the status quo. If you look back to the 1960s, Peter Snell, all those guys, were wearing flat canvas, very minimalist shoes and Arthur Lydiard would just glue some black rubber on the bottom so they’d last a bit longer. So those guys were pounding out 100 miles a week wearing that. I find that for me personally I wear very minimalist shoes either racing flats or trail running shoes, and for me they feel much more natural and they feel much more efficient. Changing to those type of shoes does take some adaptation if you’ve been used to wearing something like the Asics Keyano’s or any of those quite built up shoes, if you try and go to a low profile shoe, it really really loads your calves and your Achilles, so you’ll really know about it. So it’s something that you need to adapt to if you’re interested in doing that. But it’s something that naturally causes you to run a lot more efficiently as well.
Question: What do you eat?
Vajin: For me, cause I’m pushing hard the whole way I might just alternate between Gels and shot blocs,
Question: Even on a long race like that?
Vajin: Yeah even on a long race like that, I mean, maybe, I mean, I haven’t run 100 miles on the trails yet, hopefully next year, I’m going to get into some of the big North American runs, that’s my goal. I might have a banana or something like that, but for me the good things about gels and shot blocs is that they’re very convenient and very portable. If you’re going out and you’re wanting to take your fuel with you, carrying 6 bananas is very difficult whereas you can have six gels very conveniently packaged.
Question: You wouldn’t have any pizza or anything like that?
Vajin: No, no definitely not, but each to their own , if you’re running a bit slower you can actually take a lot more food on board and if you’re running slow you need to take a lot more energy on board. I always try and take two gels an hour so that’s providing 50 grams of carbohydrates so that’s good amount for me and keeps me going. If you’re running slower and you’re going to be out there longer you might want to eat more solid food. If you’re going to be out there for twelve or fourteen hours normally your body will start craving something a little more solid. Gels are fine up to like six, seven, eight, nine, ten hours maybe then after that they do get very sickly. I know on the Ultra Trail Mt Blanc a lot of the gel companies came out with a new flavor of gels which was tomato soup flavor. And they’ve also got sports drinks with tomato soup flavor so most of the elite guys were really keen on that and were alternating between the sweet and the savory. So they were having tomato soup gel and then next gel, banana, so swapping back like that , so especially if you’re going to be racing 20 hours 24 hours your body does become very sensitive to too much sugar and you can become quite nauseous from that. With all of the big ultras as well they’ll have at the aid station a salty section and a sweet section of foods. So if you’re really craving something salty and savory you can get that or you can get something sweet.
Question: At what stage of the training do you carry all your compulsory gear? Do you do it right from the very start or come into it so many weeks before hand.
Vajin: Especially in NZ races for those of you who don’t know we love taking endless amounts of gear with us. It’s this great fascination, especially Kepler Challenge which has by far the most compulsory gear of any race around. I only run with my compulsory gear a couple of times just to make sure it’s all firmly in place. I am very much of the minimalist approach as well, trying to pack down everything absolutely small as possible and get everything to the smallest possible size. I see a lot of people lining up at races like Keple,r or even the Kauri Run or the Dunn run, any of the races that require compulsory gear, with huge backpacks full of all this stuff and I really feel like oh man you’d feel a lot better if you weren’t lugging so much stuff around. I try and keep things very light. I actually have my compulsory gear here, so for me, with a race like Kepler, that’s the size of my backpack there and I just use bungy cords to attatch on the jacket and the waterproof trousers, and then manage to fit nearly everything else in there. For those of you who haven’t used these so much, in NZ they aren’t quite as popular, in North American everyone uses them for ultras is the hand held bottles, so instead of a camel back you’ll have one or two of these depending on how far apart the aid stations are. So I really love hand held bottles and they actually do cause you to drink a lot more. When you actually have the bottle in your hand, it’s a lot easier and a lot more enticing to have a drink on a regular basis. So I definitely recommend the hand held bottles. If you come to the aid station you can just open that up and they can just refill that really really quickly so you can get in and out through the aid stations as well. At the end of the day there’s so many people doing ultras for so many different reasons. So there’s people out there who’re just loving the experience just want to get to the finish line, that’s the whole point of the day, and that’s completely awesome. If you see someone who’s just finished a 100k, even if it took them 24 hours, and especially for the people who take 24 hours, it’s a fantastic achievement and the experience that they have is as completely valid as the people at the front of the field who are racing each other and trying to go faster and transcend themselves.
Question: So when you say you take the smallest of everything, does that mean the smallest possible sizes?
Vajin: Ahh, no, I haven’t got into that – like, your compulsory layers are all like children’s size? No, I do make sure that I can actually fit into them if I needed to.
Question: Vajin, could you just briefly describe the race you’ve just run.
So it was over in Wales, it was the Commonwealth Championships. So it’s really great that the English athletics bodies are really keen on trying to get ultra-running into the Commonwealth Games and from there into the Olympic Games, so to actually achieve that they need to have a commonwealth championship, so these Commonwealth Championships of ultra-running this was the second championship. The first was two years ago. It involves three events, there was a mountain running race which is basically straight up to the top of the mountain and down again, there was a 24 hour race and there was a long trail race which was about 55k. 55k is relatively short for a big trail race, more often it would be more like 60, 70, 80, up to 100ks. It was an extremely challenging race because it was very very sandy, the place they chose was a place called Werborough forest which is very near the coast, so you had some sections running out through very soft sand and then back again.
It was quite different. With trail races I really love the pure lines of running from here to here through a route as scenic as possible whereas this was a loop course so we ran the same loop 5 times which makes it very challenging because you constantly can see the other runners when it’s an out and back section so it was a very very intense race. I mean I was really happy with how I did, there was some really good African runners, there was all of the home nations: the English, the Scots and the Welsh all had really strong teams, the South Africans were there. So it was a really good quality field. And the next championship for Ultra Running is 2013 in South Africa, and they’re hoping at some point, maybe 2014 in Glasgow again, either a 100 race, or a 24 hour race, or some form of ultra-running in to the Commonwealth Games and from there into the Olympics at some point. I think for the Olympics they were thinking that the 100k would be a good fit for the Olympics so we’ll see how that goes.
Bryan would you like to say anything? For those of you who don’t know Bryan, Bran McCorkindale has done quite a few of our races here in Christchurch, he was in the 24 hour team. And he was the oldest competitor at the entire championships and he ended up coming 4th in the 24 hour race, it was his first 24 race as well, so it was a really incredible achievement, and he actually set a couple of world records for his age group. You got the 100 mile and the 12 hour records did you? What was the 24 hour record for your age group?
Bryan: For the 24 hours I had to do quite a bit more miles.
Vajin: Oh, but you’ll be in the next age group quite soon will you? That will make it a bit easier for you. Do you want to saying anything?
Bryan: Ultra running is a great leveler. Age and gender don’t matter anywhere near as much as the shorter events, so it doesn’t matter what age, I didn’t start running till I was 45. I’m faster now at 59 than I was then by a long shot. It is a tremendous experience. Well, I’ve probably broken every rule that I’ve learnt tonight. I don’t eat very much at all in 24 hours, just drink. I don’t take a backpack training. My maximum probably is 150k a week, I don’t go over 200. Despite all that it can work and it is extremely rewarding.
Question: Are you doing Kepler again out of interest?
Vajin: Yes I am.
Question : Tell us a little story about what happened with Martin Lukes, he’d won two or three years n a row, and then there was a little story about what happened with you at the aid station.
Vajin: Yes so at the Kepler challenge I take a small camelback with about 700mls in there for when I’m taking gels in between the aid stations so I’ve got enough liquid to take the gels. For me I’ll get to the aid station, cause I don’t want to carry too much water with me, as soon as I hit the aid station I’ll take my gel or my shot bloc just before I get there and I’ll grab a drink at the aid station and just keep going straight through. Martin Lukes who’s my good friend who he’s a fantastic ultra-runner, he’s won Kepler twice, two years in a row before me and he’s got 2nd five or six times. He’s fantastic over 100k and any ultra distance. He goes even more minimalist than me, he won’t take any water or anything to drink, he doesn’t even take any food with him so when he gets to the aid stations he has to quickly stop and eat as many bananas as he can, quickly get as much water as he can, so each time we hit the aid station I could basically grab my water and go straight through and so when it was like 20k’s to go, maybe 25, one of the last aid stations there I just went straight through and I got a gap of a couple of minutes on him, and he worked really hard to catch me, so I thought if I’m going to get away from him I need to do it, I was keen on doing it sooner rather than later. So the next aid station he stopped I went straight through and really pushed hard as I could over the next3 k’s to get a good gap on him. I was thinking I couldn’t see him anywhere, you know, this is going great, it’s coming up to 10k’s to go, so I thought I’ll take my last gel and the thing is, when you’re pushing really hard, the harder your pushing the harder it is to take in any food, so I took this gel and I immediately go the worst stich, and so it’s like 15 k to go, I’d worked so hard to get away, to get a gap, so for the next like 2k I was totally battling with the stich. But that’s the great thing that ultras teach you, definitely in every ultra you’re going to have a bad patch. You might get the stitch, you might feel sick, you might feel like you’ve got some injury that’s going to come up or something, and so you always go through a couple of bad patches, but at the end of the day ultras aren’t about avoiding the bad patches, it really is how you deal with them that’s important at the end of the race. So I just tried to keep really really positive, just keep breathing, just keep relaxed, don’t even think about the stitch, just keep on trying to run as fast as I could, which is kind of like a slow shuffle at that point, and you know 2k’s later it’s gone and I’m back running full speed again . So it really does teach you that you’re going to have problems but you can deal with whatever gets thrown at your, so it’s a really nice feeling, you feel really confident.
Question: Do you find you take more gels at the beginning of the race than at the end?
Vajin: Yeah, I try and get as many gels in as early as possible, so in the first few hours it’s much easier to take gels in so I might try and take an extra gel in. I always take a gel right before the start as well. I’m not sure if many other people do that, but it’s definitely, whether you’re racing a marathon or an ultra, it’s a really good idea to actually take a gel 5 minutes before the start. I always stop drinking one hour before the start of the race, then wait till ten minutes before the start and then I’ll take a agel and take 500mls of water. The problem is if you’re drinking drinking drinking till the start of the race and then the race starts and then you really need to go to the bathroom in the first few k’s which is just infuriating. So if you actually stop drinking an hour before all that excess water is able to pass through before the race starts. Your body actually absorbs carbohydrates a lot better if you have already some in your stomach. So if you already put a gel in and some water then when you take the first gel after 20 minutes half an hour it will actually be absorbed a lot quicker and a lot more efficiently. It’s like priming the system, getting everything up and running. So that I always feel because I took one before the start I’m one ahead. So if I miss one at some point or something like that I’ve still got this one in my pocket saved up from earlier on.
Question: Do you have breakfast before the Kepler?
Vajin: I have probably a more sensitive digestion than some people. Some people will get up two hours before or an hour before and eat something. I make sure I get up 3 ½, 4 hours before the race and eat something, eat my breakfast then so, before Kepler that means getting up really early and I’ll have something very simple like usually bananas on toast with some jam, at least 3 ½ hours before the race. For me that works well.
Question: Are you a great believer in split runs? You know a morning shift and then a night shift
Vajin: I feel people should maximize their single runs first before they start going into two runs. So if you’ve only got so much time in your day, you’re better off going for one run that’s say an hour or an hour and a quarter than you are going for a half hour run and then a 45 minute run. The more time you spend on your feet the more benefits. Once you’ve been out there for an hour or an hour and a half you’re getting a lot more benefits than you are if you do two 45 minute runs. So I always recommend, if you don’t have the time to do two runs in a day, try and maximise all the time you’re getting out of that single run, I always find I do one recovery run per day, which means 45 minutes easy. For me they’re like a moving massage. Sometimes I’ll get out the door and I’m running so slowly, especially if I’ve had a hard day before, I’ll just run very very slowly until the body warms up. And you’ll tend to see, if you ever meet any African runners, the Africans are absolutely great at that, they’ll go out the door and they’ll just be running eight minute miles. You’ll be like, I thought these guys are like pros and they’re running so slow, but then by the end of the run they’re running sub 5 minute miles, and it’s just a matter of how your body naturally warms up. There’s no prizes for running the fastest first k of your training run. So it’s better to get out and let your body warm up naturally and get into a good rhythm.
Question: Are all the gels the same?
Vajin: No, espeicially now, there’s so many different gels and there’s so many different mixtures of carbohydrates that people are using - different mixtures of fructose, maltodextrin. Clif shot was using brown rice syrup, there’s a lot of different consistencies, and that’s something that you really need to find out in your training by trying a few different gels and finding one that sits well with you. For me I like Clif shot because it’s 95% organic, it’s using really good natural stuff, but I’m not averse to using Gu’s or a few other sorts of gels. But it’s just a matter of trying. It’s not a good idea in the middle of a race to try an espresso gel if you’ve never tried one. It’s a really good idea to try and find a few flavors that you like and alternate between them while you’re running. Especially in a race it’s good to have a few options in case you’re not feeling like Vanilla Bean at that moment.
Question: Just briefly, you talked about 100k races and six days races, and not getting too far ahead of ourselves, there’s been one race mentioned: the 3100 mile race I think was mentioned two or three times.
Vajin: Yeah, so in New York, in the 1980s the Sri Chinmoy Marathon Team started to bring back some of these longer races like the six day race, we started doing a ten day race, there was a 13 day race, or did they stop at ten?
Harita: 700, 1000, and 1300.
Vajin: Yeah, so earlier in the year they’d have a 6 and 10 day race and then later in the year they’d have a 700 mile race, 1000 mile race and a 1300 mile race and so from there, Sri Chinmoy was always a great one for pushing peoples limits, so he said, well why don’t we have a 2700 mile race and so people were like woah, that’s really intense. But no progress gets made unless you have someone pushing things along and so they started doing that and I think they did that for one year. And then Sri Chinmoy said, okay next year we’ll make it a bit longer, we’ll make it 3,100 miles which is 5000 kilometeres. So everyone was like, okay, and so came back the next year and did it. Especially this year the race popped up with media coverage it went really massive. It got a big article in The Wall Street journal which lead to all of these other news stories around the world. Basically it’s a race, you’ve got 52 days to cover 3,100 miles which means you have to average basically 100k a day. And if that isn’t difficult enough it’s around a one kilometre loop in New York City. I mean it’s nice, it’s a nice block. At the six and ten day race you’ve got 24 hours a day you can do what you want, sleep for two hours and then run for ten hours, whatever system’s going to work for you. At the 3100 mile race you’ve got 18 hours a day so you’re allowed to run from six am till midnight and then come back the next day at 6am and keep going again. It’s a phenomenal thing to see cause if you’re down there while the race is going on you see these guys in the morning and then you go to work and then you go and do this and do that and then drive past and they’re still there running, it’s just like an endless experience. And for the people who do it, it’s really not just a race, it really is a real spiritual experience, because when you’re out there, when you’re dealing with that sort of distance, it’s something that’s completely beyond the mind, and you see the consciousness of the people after the race and it’s just unbelievable, it’s like they’ve stripped away all of those layers of the ego, and all of those things and they’re in a very sweet, very childlike consciousness because they’ve made their life so simple and so focused it’s just about going out running, eating, going to sleep and doing it all again. So it’s a very very… I mean, in the first few weeks, a couple of my good friends who’ve done it, they were saying, especially the first week, as yours body adapting to it is the most intense experience of your life. My friend he just wanted to run away at times. But he was committed to getting to the finish. It’s one of those things where it’s taken the experience to really a different level. So it’s a really interesting race. The funny thing is that the people who do it come back the next year. Once people do it once they have this great love of it, because it’s such a transformative experience. The lady that Ujjwala helped with, she did it for about 13 years in a row, so every summer that’s what she was doing. And the thing is as well it’s hot and unbearable, the weather can be so unbelievable. This year they had two days in a row where it was 40 degrees. And it’s massive humidity. If you’ve ever been to the East Coast of North America in August, late July and August, it’s like an absolute inferno over there it’s so it’s got a lot of really dififcult things about it but that’s what makes it so challenging and very rewarding
Question: What’s the longest trail race?
Vajin: I think is about 270 miles. I think it’s called the tour of the giants. It goes through a lot of the big peaks, the Italian alps, through the French alps as well. So at 270 miles, it’s a pretty epic trail race. In New Zealand we had our first 100 miler last year which was down in Northburn, central Otago. Lisa Tamati was the lady behind that and hopefully next year the Tarawera Ultra’s going to add a 100 mile option. The longest race they have at the moment is 100k’s. So 100 miles is 160 kilometers. On a fast course you might do it in 13, 14, 15 hours on the trails, on a difficult course, hard rock you’d struggle to race 24 hours, so it’s a really challenging distance doing it off road. A lot of trail races have really insane profiles, a lot of vertical gain. My biggest trail running adventure, earlier this year I was over in Nepal, I had four days in the Himalayas around Annapurna base camp I ran for four days and then probably was running for 24 hours over the four days. I had one big day which was 9 hours running up to the base camp 4,400 meters.
Question: By yourself?
Vajin: Yes by myself. There’s a lot of great places in this world. Trail running’s a great way to see it. Most people don’t’ have time to take a week from their life to go and do the Kepler track or go and do the Milford track or any of these great walks. If you get yourself in really good shape you can go there and run the whole thing in one day. It compacts all the experiences you’d have over the week into this really small intense experience. For me the Kepler, people say oh it’s such a shame you go through so fast you don’t see all the beautiful scenery, but somehow because it’s such an intense experience you’re having, you’re really pushing yourself, I’ve got a few memories of particular views, looking out and seeing the view and because it’s such an intense experience you’re having it’s burnt into your memory , so although you didn’t spend hours relaxing and enjoying the scenery at some level you’re very receptive to it and the experiences are a little bit stronger and more lasting. So it is a great way to see the great scenery around New Zealand. If you go to Abel Tasman or somewhere like that if you’re walking around the park it would take a week but you can run and see so much of it in a day.
For those of you who are looking for some ultra running events we do have the 100k, 50k, 25k race coming up on December 11, that’s our big ultra for the year here in Christchurch. Otherwise if you are looking for some ultras around New Zealand please come talk to me I can give you any advice.
Thanks a lot for coming everyone for coming and good luck with your summer of running.
