My Ultra355 Australia Journey
6 months on and I thought it was about time to talk about the journey as it was, which was mostly written the week after the event, with a bit of added retrospect. Some (honest) tips and info I would have loved to take on prior to embarking on my own journey. It’s long!
The leadup.
Balance is everything! Training for an ultra endurance event is tough for everyone, and requires sacrifices. My primary goal was not to let it affect family life “too” much, and to fuel and recover hard to allow my body to cope with the load.
I would absolutely recommend having a think about timing with these events, and trying not to have too many balls in the air in the lead up. That being said, I did the total opposite and still survived. I was studying 2 subjects at uni (post grad nutrition); running a very busy naturopathic clinic and trying to be my best for my patients; writing my own health program (3 of them!); and being present for my 2 kids and all of their extracurriculars, and of course save some time for my poor husband!
Your family HAVE to be in on it. You miss stuff, fall asleep early, get hangry, generally don’t want to socialize and can be a right pain in the ass, so having them on your team and knowing what to expect, allows them to cop a bit on the chin every now and then.
If you have kids, there is a 100% chance you will feel like a shit parent most days.
If you rely on others to get you out of bed and get the training done, these events are not for you. You absolutely must be self-motivated. It’s a lot of long hours solo, usually feeling less than perky. I was super lucky to have people join in some of the riding fun, but more often than not, while everyone finished up at the coffee shop, I was reloading my pockets with food and water and continuing on. Long sets in the pool are kept sane with waterproof headphones (highly recommend!), and my long runs were all done by 100% by myself usually at some stupid hour of the morning in a random QLD town to get it done before a full day of soccer carnival, or gymnastics comp, or whatever sport we were away for.
This wasn’t my first rodeo…
My first round of Ultra355 build (for the Feb 2021 race) was abruptly interrupted 3 weeks out from race day with a bike accident. I was also rehabbing an ankle reconstruction on one foot and nerve damage surgery on the other foot. It was less than ideal, I was on a run-walk schedule which was doing my head in, I wasn’t fuelling effectively, I wasn’t prioritizing sleep, and had zero trust in my ability. Mentally I knew it wasn’t the right time, and the universe unfortunately provided me with a pretty brutal outcome.
Round 2 I was going to do differently!
I started working with Taryn (Dietitian Approved) more closely to keep an eye on the day to day fueling and to try and gut train what I call an “untrainable gut”. I scheduled my work hours better to accommodate actually having time to eat during the day and fit in uni studies during work hours so I could be present for the kids outside of school. I woke up at sparrows fart every god dam day to get it done in time to make lunches and drop the kids off to school before starting in the clinic, but I made sure I was in bed by 8pm at the latest. There was no need to give up the social life, people just knew if they wanted to catch up, it was coffee or lunch 😉
There was something very different about the round 2 training build. I knew what to expect, I planned it better, and I really tuned into what my body was telling me. It was exactly 59 days out from go time that I actually started to “feel” like I was training for an ultra. When that deep heavy fatigue kinda takes the legs away, but it was good fatigue. By this point I was rolling into Netball and Soccer on the weekends in full cycling kit after many hours on the bike, waking up at 3.30am to get my long run in before managing the rep soccer team all day at an away carnival, whatever I had to do so the kids didn’t miss out.
Training Stats
I 100% trusted the boss lady in her programming and I think I did a pretty bloody good job sticking to the plan (aka I didn’t go rogue). She knows me well, knows my home life, what makes me tick, and how to challenge me (god knows she is good at this). Most training weeks sat around 14-16 hours, with the biggest being 20 hours. My longest ride was 150km, my longest run 30km and longest swim sets were 5km. If you ask me it was very doable weekly mileage. I am forever grateful to have had the support of Nikki and the whole TriActiv8 crew, who were like a team of cheerleaders!
The event…
Ultra triathlon is a true individual endurance event, and is quite unlike regular tri events. Most of the race you are by yourself. This is what drew me to the event. I am going to piss a few people off saying this but the branded long course events are such a drafting shit show, and are no longer what serves me as an athlete.
Arriving in Hervey Bay with my pre prepared meals, boxes of nutrition, spares of everything just in case, I was unusually calm!
The day prior was all about checking in, reading over all the info, and driving the course. I said in my race report that the course description of “flat” was a little misleading… because that course ain’t flat! But I freaking loved those punchy hills, up until the last lap on Day 2. The road works had me a little irked. It’s a very busy stretch and there wasn’t a lot of shoulder to work with. The road surface is just as shit as it is here in Mackay.. no biggie… I’m used to it. Decided to change my tyres after driving the course (to something more durable), turns out I got a flat anyway :/
I went into the race relatively “injury free”. I had a wicked hip/ glute pain that had started earlier in the year and was getting cranky the month prior but I wasn’t too concerned at that point. The tunnel vision had set in and whatever it was I didn’t want to know about it… and to be honest not one other person knew about it (including my coach or husband- sorry guys).
RACE DAY 1: 5km Swim 1:17:53 // 100km Ride 3:12:24 // Total time 4:33:01
Zero sleep the night before, but sufficiently carbed up. Transition open at 4.45am which meant an early alarm to get the food in. The conditions were spectacular. Glassed out and cool. It wasn’t until I hit the beach the gravity of the situation sank in. Holy fuck, I made the start, I have done the training and now I have to conquer the beast! All these people around me look like absolute weapons and I am out of my depth.
We had breakfast at the swim start the day before, so I knew it was full sun into the eyeballs for 5km. That was fun. Chose my polarized Fiskis for the challenge. The water entry was very chill compared to regular events. Just waltz on in haha. I did want to try and leach onto some feet, but I chose the wrong ones… they were way to fast. I spent most of it by myself praying not to see a shark and planning my exit strategy if I did. Sighting was tough, and trying to find the timing buoys to go through proved my biggest challenge. Swimming under the pier and hearing Adam yelling out gave me the biggest boost, the shoulders were well and truly burning at this point.
Standing up out of the water and seeing my time I was relieved, but that run up the beach #ouch
A little sit down in transition to try get the breath back, wash the salt down, and shove some food in. Triple checking I packed my pockets correctly with all my nutrition, and spare spares and out onto the bike course. At this point I didn’t know how many women were in front, nor did I care. My only race goal was to finish. I wasn’t overly happy realizing my power meter wasn’t working, but I tend to ride by feel anyway. The main aim for 100km was to optimize my fuelling; that’s what was going to make or break me. I kept the perceived effort easy, only turning the screws if I saw a female competitor ahead, and basically treated it like a rolling smorgasbord. One magpie attack, a few idiot drivers, one random dinosaur, and 2 stops because I thought I missed the turnoff (and yes I did drive it the day before), I rolled back into town first female. Surprised, yes, but 3 days is a long time and anything can happen.
For me Day 1 was physically the hardest. I am not sure if it was how randomly awful I felt the week prior, the fact I got my period that night, or just the overwhelm of the experience. I felt like I was pushing shit up a hill all day and was actually quite concerned for my ability to get the next 2 days done.
As soon as I was off the bike, I was eating… this was the worst part. Literally forcing down nutrition. I had a very specific plan thanks to Taryn, Adam knew that plan, and his job as my support was to make sure I ate it all. I did all of my meal prep in Mackay and everything was set up ready to go. Recovery Shake straight off the bike, a quick chat to other competitors to see how their day went, then home for hot/ cold contrast while sipping on some liquid nutrition. Then straight into the Normatech boots, while again, eating. Quick wash and check over of the bike, and you guessed it, eating, then straight to bed. I tried to minimize my caffeine intake during day 1 and 2 as it drastically affects my sleep. We placed it at key times and kept it minimal.
One rookie error I made with the bike was using my Tri shoes. I didn’t even think about it. Definitely use road shoes gang!
RACE DAY 2: 200km Bike 6:47:17
5am check-in today, and being on the bike makes it easier to eat a little later so no super early alarm.
I loved the bike start for Day 2. Riders starting at 30 second intervals based on Day 1 bike splits with fastest riders at the back. Looking at the start line, I thought I would be pushing it to catch many of the females, and looking behind me it was pretty clear I was going to get caught and be right at the back with no mates within a few kilometres… those boys looked serious! But I do love carrots and I bloody loved the process of picking them off one by one. Thankfully I was feeling a lot better today and once again, made food and fuel the priority. I was absolutely stoked with the first lap of the ride, my average speed was great (still no power), I finished my nutrition, I only had one more female to catch and I had plenty left in the tank, I was relaxed.
That was all a little short-lived about 5km from transition and the back tyre went :/ And I went full rage mode.
I don’t do “changing tubes” and I immediately just gave up… fuck it: days over, this is going to take forever, throw my bike to the ground, watch it slide down the embankment… first rider comes past. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Right, I will never hear the end of this if I don’t sort my shit out, so I slide very gracefully down the embankment, drag it up to the road, and start dicking around trying to remember what to do. 5th rider comes past and isn’t the first to offer assistance but I note they are also up the pointy end of the day, nope I got this. After some arguments with multiple gas cylinders we got there. Note to self, you need to stop palming this job off to the boys.
Cruising into transition the original plan was a quick pee, fresh bottles and food. Nice and calm you know. It turned into me racing across the carpark to get my pump to refill the tyre with air (with 100km to go it was worth the time) and having Adam heckle me about having to change said tyre myself and filming me getting the shits at him. In hindsight it was hilarious and lightened my mood, but I wanted to strangle him at the time. Thankfully I packed 6 gas cylinders just in case and lucky I did because I had a slow leak for Lap 2.
Lap 2 was a lot more lonely with everyone really spread out, but I was on a mission to make back some time, and put the hammer down. Thankfully I had plenty in the tank as I fuelled well and took the first lap very conservatively. In retrospect, it would be interesting to see how much harder I could have pushed on Lap 1. By the end of the 200km I was ready to get off that bike though. The headwind back into town was brutal by that point, my lower back was aching (not used to being on the TT bike for that long), and the last hike up Maggs Hill Road nearly had me listing the Shiv on triathlon market place right then and there.
As soon as I unclipped, my number one supporter was there with my recovery nutrition, the amazing volunteers took the bike and got me anything else I needed, and I sat there so satisfied I had made another day. Could not wipe the smile off my face.
First female back in again, and some more time gained (I think it was about a 45minute lead at this point). Still not enough to make me feel at ease with the run though, my bloody kryptonite.
In regards to my nutrition on the bike: it was a mix of liquid nutrition (Maurten); sandwiches; lollies and gels. My gut started to go awol by about 120km and this continued for the next 24 hours. That afternoon and night I struggled to get the food in.
RACE DAY 3: 50km Run 4:39:19
I can confirm, very little sleep was had! The thought of running 50km, with laps of the esplanade did not excite me. My legs were feeling really good, my hip and glute were pretty bad, but Voltaren and Panadol got me through the day. My gut wasn’t great from the day prior and I knew that was going to be my biggest battle.
It is a 4 lap course up and down the esplanade. Plenty of water stops and toilets along the way so I didn’t use a hydration pack, I just used the water on course and used special needs to top up my nutrition. The first 2 laps were spent chatting and meeting people (not even joking!). I carried enough fuel for 2 laps and restocked halfway through the run. It was part way through the 3rd lap my gut started rebelling. It doesn’t just make me feel unwell, it causes debilitating discomfort. Running the last 20km with no nutrition made it super fun but I got there without vomiting which is a win for me. It’s hard knowing you physically have the capability to go faster and your limitation is your gut but Taryn and I worked really hard on the gut training and I came a LONG way with it.
The feeling of crossing that finish line was like nothing else. Sure I won, but I was so happy with every aspect of my race, and if you know me, that seldom happens 😉 I did at this point realize though that I had some damage in my hip that I needed to get sorted.
It wasn’t until the presentation that I was told I had broken the course record. I can’t help but think how much more time I could have carved out without that flat tyre hissy fit!
The people I met at Ultra355 who I have also stayed in touch with and have seen at other events are probably my favourite part. Everyone was so lovely across the 3 days, with other athletes cheer squads acting as my own.
Huge kudos to Adam, my support crew, who not only got me through the race and was at my every beckon call, but told me to get over myself more than once when I voiced my concerns in the lead up about being “good enough” to do an event like that!
About the hip…
My next race after Ultra355 was Hervey Bay about 10 weeks later. After continuing to ignore the red flags my body was throwing at me I had some scans done the week prior to Hundy and was given a laundry list of injuries. Torn muscles; major tendinopathies of the hip the glute; bursitis; and a labral tear. I raced Hundy against all recommendations, which in hindsight was stupid, and of course it was a terrible race, with a lot of walking. By this point I was in 10/10 pain to sit, stand, sleep and move but it was difficult for the physio and ortho to figure where exactly the “pain” was coming from because it was such a huge area of discomfort.
All the physical testing and retrospective look at how the pain started pointed toward the labral tear (not all tears are symptomatic), so we chose the non surgical route to start and experimented with a cortisone shot straight into the joint capsule via CT. This was after a few months off running which rendered no relief.
Fast forward to now, the cortisone did in fact take away a good chunk of the pain, leaving me able to actually feel the tears and tendinopathies and manage those better. Unfortunately surgery is the only fix for the tear but it’s now about testing the body to see what I can do safely without having to go that route. That may make my Ultraman goal unachievable which I am slowly starting to accept, but I will keep putting in the work to get stronger again.