Building a Base for the Surf Coast Century

After the Roller Coaster Run, I was pretty sore, but managed to get in the commute and a 15 to get 70km for the week. The next week was without a long run, but numerous mid distance got me to another 70km. I finished off March with a 34km from Drysdale to Queenscliff and back, tracking 5:16min/km average - it was getting easier to hold more reasonable paces over longer distances. I finished up March with 281km, 1km over the plan. With Roller Coaster down, it was time to start looking at some on-course training for the Surf Coast Century.

Sunrise from the car park at the corner of Eagle Rock Parade and Boundary Road.

Since I'd run a bit of the trails in the first half, I mapped out some of the second half of the course, with a 35km run from Aireys Inlet, crossing over the Great Ocean Road and up to Currawong Falls, then following the course through Distillery Creek, Moggs Creek and Fairhaven back to Aireys Inlet. I started out just after 7am on a Sunday morning just near the first drop off to the beach. I ran past the turn off a bit to try out some sand running, then came back up to the Great Ocean Road to find a way up to the fire trail. I was repeatedly met with 'Private Property' signs, so I bush bashed my way up a hill side and finally met up with the trail.

Nice view looking back while climbing through the scrub up a hill from the Great Ocean Road.

After that it was pretty smooth sailing, albeit with some navigational errors corrected by the MapMyRun app on my phone. I was amazed by the diversity of trails and scenery along this second half of the course, although it was certainly more challenging with 1200m gain (over double the first half). At least with the shorter course I'd got to skip Heartbreak Hill! I managed fairly well through the rest of the course, but was a little tired and struggled through hills more than expected, especially the climb out of Moggs Creek.

My favourite view of the course. You can see the coast and lighthouse off in the distance, but you feel so remote from everything - makes you really appreciate that you've run far enough to be out on your own and away from it all.

It ended up being 39km in 4:10 with the extra Id covered trying to cut across from the Great Ocean Road and a 6:26 min/km average. Not what I was going for, but it was certainly tougher than I expected as well - not in the main climb, but holding onto the climbs in the later stages as they kept coming. After a first week of 70km, this run with a few 6's and a 15 gave me my second 80km week.

Another great view after Moggs Creek before heading back to Aireys Inlet.

I recovered quite well, so the next weekend I set out for a marathon length run from Queenscliff to Barwon Heads. It was a beautiful course, with 7km of sand each way, but unfortunately the tides didn't align on the way back and I was forced to run a steep camber in soft sand which brought me to a walk. I finished just under 4 hours and after a half marathon and a 15km, picked up my first 90km week. The next week was a 33km from Moolap to Bunyip Pool and back, holding steady at just under 5min/km, then some more mid distance for another 90km. The nutrition was working great and I was getting through the runs without too much trouble (apart from the usual last 5/10km struggle). I took the next week as an opportunity to cut back to 70km, with no long run and all mid distance and finished up April with 323km, 3km over planned.

My new Inov8 Roclites and gaiters hard at work. Still provide good traction even with all that mud.

In early May, I picked up some Inov8 Roclite 295s to try out as I was unhappy with some of the shoes I'd picked up earlier. These seemed suitable as they had great tread, a roomy fit to prevent losing toenails and were the most cushioned in the Roclite line-up, but still fairly minimal compared to the pair of Salomon XA Pro Ultra 2 GTX (which were a great shoe, but 100g heavier). I also picked up a Salomon S-Lab Advanced Skin Set 5 hydration vest, which was a huge improvement over the Camelbak which, to be fair, was a fairly bulky model even for them. The reduced bounce, better fit and breatheability made for a much better experience overall and best of all it had two bottle holsters up front so I could drop the belt bottle combo.

The new Salomon pack out on the SCC trails. A running vest is much better in the heat and the light weight certainly helps.

I also signed up for the You Yangs 50km at the start of May, so I was going to need to incorporate more training out there, which suited my need for more hill strength after the SCC 2nd half run previously. My first full week of May was scheduled to be my first 100km, and I ran 31km through the You Yangs covering the more difficult parts of the trail, a 12, a half marathon, a 17 and a 6 (plus the usual 15km of commute). I'd had to pick up the last two on the same day to get it through, but I'd finally ticked off my goal - a solid 100km week. The training plan seemed to be working as I wasn't a complete wreck and continued on the following week with 80km (cutting back a little by dropping the long run to be safe), then running the whole first half of the Surf Coast Century course and two 15km's for another 100km week.

A 360 of an intersection of the trails around Eumerella near Anglesea on the first half of the SCC course. Definitely a case for tracking the course by GPS using the MapMyRun app on my phone.

I finished up the final week with a cut back to 70km and the inaugural Surf Coast Trail Runners social run out at the You Yangs for 20km. It was a great way to finish off my best month of training yet, putting faces to names and gaining more appreciation for everyone's own take on trail running and running in general. I finished May with slightly over 400km, clearing my stretch goal of a 400km month and 40km over the 360km I had planned. With May over, my first training plan had come to an end and I had completed just over 1500km in 5 months, with all goals met (with some shuffling required). I'd worked my way up to 100km weeks without pushing too hard too soon and got there injury free. I was in a pretty good place for the You Yangs 50km and well on my way to the 100.