Where To After One Hundred?

When I finished the Surf Coast Century back in September, 2013, there wasn't any where near much on trail and ultra running (or at least that I was aware of) as there is now. What some of you will now be familiar with is the overwhelming slump you hit after completing your long term goal. There are so many things that I think come together to cause this: not sure what to tackle next, can't face the idea of training again, built up exhaustion in both body and mind, but what I think makes this the hardest, at least for me, is the loss of such a meaningful goal to channel your energy into. All of a sudden you a floating adrift, unsure of what to do from here. You know that whatever you decide to do won't be as significant, and to everyone it will be "just another ultra" now that you've done something in their eyes at the height of insanity already. So you fumble your way through the following months trying to find some meaning in your running.

Marysville 50km

This fumbling led me to have a go at the Marysville 50km, just to have some focus back. My training essentially consisted of the short work runs and a weekend long run, usually around 30km, with one 50km on the rail trail thrown in. With the base I figured I already had I thought that should be enough to do alright and get through it fairly well. We drove up the night before the event and stayed in a cabin near the start and everything lined up fairly well. I had Perpetuem set to go and all the usual gear at the ready and headed off at the start into what I felt was "just another 50". I even forgot to start my watch until 3km in. Everything went pretty well until about 25km when I started to feel a bit over it all. The run was well organised and it was quite scenic, but I hadn't counted on so much climbing that seemed fairly runnable and on a harder surface than anticipated.

Two Bays 56km (see below)

By the time I'd done the main first climb I was pretty sure I'd overdone it somewhat. I figured I'd be okay once I hit the downhill but that was very loose and the legs fatigued to the point where even that felt tough. Hitting the bottom of the descent I started into run / walking until the finish line where the final 14km began as an out and back. I was very tempted at this stage to simply call it a day, but I'd never failed to complete a run before in any conditions and wasn't about to start now even if I'd stopped enjoying it. I struggled on up to Steavenson Falls with a group of other runners who were fairly cooked by this point as well. The falls were absolutely spectacular, and made continuing worth it, but I still had 9km to go before I would reach the finish. At the final turn around before heading back I ran into Claire, a fellow SCTR completing the half marathon and she was in a very similar state to me from all appearances. Rather than trying to salvage what was left of my run, I decided to stick with Claire until the finish - they do say misery loves company. :)


We both trudged with some occasional jogging along to the finish, completing the race but both having suffered considerably in the process. Despite all of this, on reflection I think these are important runs to have. You need to establish what doesn't work and what you need to get the most from an event in order to have better runs in the future, and setting a low makes every high that much better. I took a lot from finishing the run with a friend and decided to sign up for Two Bays 56km and run it with a friend out my way to run his first ultra on trail. While my training didn't pick up too much for it (especially narrowly missing out on a marathon a month for the year by gashing my head open on a low hanging branch at 39km in December), it was enough to keep me out there.


The event itself was quite different as we camped in Dromana the night before and for the first time I didn't have a shower before a long run (and haven't since). I just got out there with no particular plans, but using my tried and true combination of gear and fueling to get me through. We set a decent pace, but one that allowed me to take in a lot of the course, get photos and appreciate the wonderful region the course was set in. We moved along the trails well and up Arthur's seat, ringing the bell in Dromana together and trudged back up to run in the final (very long) flat-ish 15km stretch of the course. I don't know how much help I really was, but it was great to help spur my mate along and keep him moving well until the very finish, and having company for a whole ultra was fantastic and made for a much better experience than trying to smash out another course at an arbitrary pace. Having completed this run, my head was back in a much better place and I felt I could face the idea of aiming for something bigger again.