MY TARAWERA ULTRAMARATHON REVIEW (102KM)

Yo, welcome to my Tarawera Ultramarathon review (102km).

Alright, so this post turned out longer than expected.

Most of you are probably here for the race report only which is cool. I’ve created a table of contents below so you can jump straight there if you want too.

The rest of the post I’ll write about my lead up to the event, and finish off with hopefully half-decent tips I learned after running my first ultra.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. Can I do an Ultra?
2. Training
3. Buying mandatory gear
4. Race Goals
5. The day before
6. RACE REPORT (WITH VIDEO)
7. Tips for first timers

1. TO ENTER OR NOT TO ENTER 😮

“I’ll probably do the 50km.”

That’s what I was saying to my running buddies who knew I was considering the Tarawera Ultramarathon.

At the same time, my internal dialogue was more along the lines of…

“I really wanna do the 102km race. Bradley’s doing it and I haven’t done something super scary since the 10-day silent meditation in 2018. And it would be super cool to say I’ve run 100km in one go. But the 50km sounds hard enough and I’ve never done that…let alone 102km. Maybe I should do the 50km as a stepping stone? Dammit, when I think about what I learned reading Ego is the Enemy I’m pretty sure my ego is playing to big a role in this decision, but…blah.”

This was happening throughout early-mid December. A couple of months before the race.

I’d arrived back in New Zealand on November 19th and started running and hiking more consistently than I had since June. I was pretty confident I wanted to run one of the events at the Tarawera Ultra and that confidence was boosted by my half marathon effort at the Pelorus Trust event in early December.

But, after reaching out to a couple of people on Facebook about taking their 102km entry I got cold feet.

I continued to delay the decision. That’s totally me. I prefer leaving things to the last minute.

But enough was enough, I needed to make a decision at some point. A week before Christmas I decided Christmas Day would be the day I’d make the final call on what event to run…no more cold feet and avoiding decisions. I was 100% unsure if the 102km was a smart idea but it was the race I secretly wanted.

On Christmas eve I followed up with a message from Nicola who still seemed to have a 102km entry going (I’d messaged her earlier in the month). I was hoping she was busy with Christmas related activities and I wouldn’t have to make a decision on Christmas Day, but that didn’t work out when she responded right away. You can see the DM’s I had with Nicola below (it’s a short video).

So on Christmas evening, I was entering my details online to have Nicola’s ticket transferred to me.

Note:The event sells out quickly but the ability to transfer tickets is awesome (a new feature for the 2020 event – details here) and after finding a 20% discount code via Google I had paid $342.75 for my 102km entry.

My Christmas present was now locked in with my 102km entry was confirmed. Shit.

Now to just keep running…

2. MY TRAINING FOR THE TARAWERA ULTRAMARATHON

My previous race experience involves two marathons, and the Pelorus Trust half marathon mentioned earlier.

I’m really not a planner so my training plan was to:

• run least 50km every week until early February with a 100km week or two in there
• ideally start getting into the habit of running on trails and running up hills (I prefer hiking).
• Complete three 30km runs, two 40km runs, and one 45-50km run.

What actually happened?

Totals from December 2nd to February 2nd (9 weeks):

• Distance: 852.1km
• Time: 109 hours and 11 minutes
• Elevation: 19,495 metres

My Strava activity for December to January looks like this:

The total distance each week includes hikes such as the Tama Lakes Track, Kapakapanui Track, Mount Hector (and a few others) so it’s definitely not all running. But the majority is.

Overall I was happy with this volume though I expected to do a lot more hiking over this period. My longest run was 40km with 1,000 metres elevation…I really wish I did at least one more 40km+ run.

3. GETTING THE GEAR

If you’re reading this in advance of your first ultramarathon and aren’t deep into the trail running world, I wouldn’t be surprised if you’re feeling overwhelmed with the mandatory gear information.

I was.

It was mostly the idea of forking out a bunch of money for stuff I might not use often that wasn’t fun (I live out of my backpack). Fortunately, it turned out alright (as it always does).

But I gotta give a shout out to Bradley and Brooke for helping with my gazillion questions, particularly regarding the pack/vest!

For the 102km the complete mandatory gear checklist for 2020 included:

• Headlamp
• Base layer long sleeve thermal top
• Thermal hat (Buff accepted)
• Waterproof jacket (seam-sealed + hooded)
• Mobile Phone
• Power Bank

The tricky part was not knowing if I’d actually need to buy the mandatory gear as they’d be making an announcement on the Wednesday before the race what the final mandatory requirements would be for race day. We only needed the thermal top, hat, and jacket in the end and didn’t have to carry them with us for the whole race.

What I ended up buying:

• 12L run pack from Kathmandu – this doubles as my new day pack while travelling as it fits my laptop which was integral. As was the clearance price (this one).
• Head buff things from MacPac (this one).
• Thermal top from Kathmandu – which I haven’t used yet (this one).
• Socks – I bought a couple of nice pairs from MacPac…normally I just use cheap sports socks.
• Shoes – I bought a pair of New Balance runners from the New Balance Outlet store in Tawa for $50. Thankfully the trails were dry, otherwise I would have been struggling for grip on parts of the track.

And I borrowed Brooke’s jacket (chur) as she didn’t need one for the 50km.

There’s not much to say about buying gear as budgets vary heaps, and what I like you probably won’t like etc. But I’m happy to answer any questions you’ve got about it.

4. MY GOALS FOR THE RACE

Primary goals: Don’t die, don’t fall asleep midrace, and don’t get the cramps if I have to squat poop midrace. If I succeeded in not doing these I be highly likely to at least get my C goal.

I know you might be thinking don’t, don’t, don’t isn’t exactly positive, but it’s a strategy I learned reading The Power Of Negative Thinking by basketball coach Bob Knight. At least, this is how I apply what I learned from the book.

And I like the A/B/C goal method.

A goal: Beat Bradley (it’s a usually friendly rivalry), which I figured was about a 10% chance of doing. I’d need to have a great day (ideally beating him when he ran a good race too).

B goal: Finish under 15 hours. I’d need to be having a good race for this to happen, and I’d be stoked with anything under this.

C goal: Finish under 17 hours. I figured this would be what I should be able to beat ‘at worst’, I’d be happy enough with this result. I figured somewhere between 15 and 17 hours would be the most likely result.

If I ran over 17 hours? Well, I’ll have either injured myself or severely underestimated my ability.

5. THE DAY BEFORE THE RACE

I headed to Rotorua on Thursday (race day is Saturday), catching a ride from Bradley’s parents (thanks heaps).

Fortunately, no injuries occurred while throwing gumboots in Taihape!

After a short run on Thursday evening, I was getting pretty excited. On Friday morning I went down to the expo as soon as it was open as Ultimate Direction had some great specials on, which included soft flasks which we couldn’t find in stock anywhere in Wellington.

The special available was a free vest if you bought two flasks (for $60 it was great value).

I purchased a vest for me (and one for Brad), but that gave me another decision to make. Should I wear the vest that’s designed to hold these flasks rather than the 12L pack that I’ve been training with? The 12L is a lot larger and I don’t really need it for the race…but at least I know it’s unlikely to hurt me?

I decided to start with the new vest and leave my 12L bag at the 58km drop bag to switch if my shoulders/back were getting owned. The soft flasks didn’t really fit easily into the 12L bag, and I figured that with easy access to water I’ll be better off hydration wise throughout the race.

After getting registered, Brad and I wandered the expo and nearby streets for the day. We had a drink or two (non-alcoholic), watched the expert Q&A, found some food, and just took it easy. I’d done three 5km runs during the week so I was feeling fresh.

Of course, despite registering early in the day, I didn’t organise my drop bags until 8 pm that evening after I scoffed down a foot-long veggie delite from Subway. You could drop them off up to 9 pm so there was no major rush.

I’m not sure if it was my body clock being surprised I was trying to fall asleep at 9 pm, pre-race nerves (I don’t think I was feeling nervous), or the built-up energy from the taper but falling asleep wasn’t easy.

It was 10:30 pm when I took a quick glimpse at my phone, but it can’t have been too long before I nodded off with the alarm set for 4.30 am.

Note: I stayed at the Rotorua Downtown Backpackers. Four out of six in my dorm were in the event, as were a bunch of others in the hostel. The hostel wasn’t a party atmosphere at all, luckily.

I wouldn’t change anything about this day!

6. RACE DAY

I’ll pop the video below before getting into the verbal vomit of the race report. It’s a compilation of the Instagram stories I posted documenting my 102km run.

4.29 am: Boom! I wake up a minute before the first of six alarms was due to go off. It’s game day! The next 20 minutes flew by as I put my running costume on, squeaked out a poop, and scoffed down a banana.

~4.50 am: I’m out the door to see that it’s raining. Oops…I don’t have a jacket. I meet Brad and we board the bus right around 5 am for the hour or so drive to Kawerau. Our bus was in silence the whole way, many trying to get a few more winks. Other than the driver having a minor navigational issue when we got to Kawerau. It was no massive drama though, and we were at the start point, Firmin Field, about 45 minutes until we begin.

Firmin Field is massive, and the coffee truck man was working like a boss as people went through their routines. For me that meant making sure all my things were in the right pocket, eating another banana, giving my authority stuff and spare gear to my friend Stu who turned up to watch us start.

I also put two plasters on my right hand, one with the word Mamba, the other Mentality. Kobe Bryant tragically died a couple of weeks earlier, and after hearing of the news I read his book, The Mamba Mentality: How I Play in the 48 hours following the news.

To quote the book what the Mamba Mentality is:

“The mindset isn’t about seeking a result—it’s more about the process of getting to that result. It’s about the journey and the approach. It’s a way of life. I do think that it’s important, in all endeavors, to have that mentality.”

This would my inspirational message to keep myself going (when I remembered to use it), or as Nicole Bitter (elite ultrarunner) put it at the QA, would be my mantra.

Oh, and I had a sneaky nervous pee.

When everyone started hovering toward around the start line we made our way over and found ourselves towards the back so we could only hear the haka that was performed upfront.

Before you know it, the hooter goes. Well, here goes nothing.

The first kilometre or so is cruisey with lots of people chatting with ample space to run. We then come across a bottleneck with people squeezing onto a short section of singletrack. That’s okay though, it probably keeps a lot of us under control pace-wise. We head across a golf course before another bottleneck forms as we transition to a single track for what seemed like an age. This was interesting as it’s literally just a matter of keeping up with whoever is in front of you. Once this section opened up, you could tell some people were going faster than they planned and started walking, and others took off now that there was space again.

Me? I kept running at a pace that felt reasonably easy (for me). I was running with Bradley and while that wasn’t the plan (A goal!) we were going at a pace that was good for both of us. We were now on foresty/fire roads with trees towering above us.

We were cruising, and I was happily sipping my water and snacking on bliss balls as we zeroed in on the first aid station.

I wasn’t sure how the aid stations would work, but there were signs letting you know when you were 200 metres out from them which is cool.

I think I had these grandiose ideas about aid stations, but as soon as I saw them I realised my ideas were way to exotic. I was thinking of 5-star hotel buffet layouts…

But the aid stations are great as they are. Volunteers would let us know where the water and Tailwind was, and all the fruit, sandwiches, and other snacks were laid out with labels. After a quick fill-up of the flasks, we were back on track.

As mentioned I didn’t plan to run with Bradley (I assumed his pace would be faster than mine), but we were in a good rhythm together so we didn’t agree on anything but kept running together. The first peanut butter sandwich I had didn’t go down as well as I liked, but with so many bliss balls I wasn’t going to be overly hungry or anything.

After the 30km mark, the track started to go through a technical stretch. Passing the Tarawera Falls at ~34km was cool! I’d heard they were impressive, and they certainly were…I’d loved to have appreciated them more but we had to keep on keeping on. Ah, the conflict.

This technical trail came at a pretty good time for me as there were sections where we really had to slow down, even to a walk-in some spots without risking too much. That enabled me to catch my breathe and chill for a bit while following a few runners in a train. This was when I first felt a little fatigue coming on.

We started ticking off aid stations and I was starting to be more confident about everything. I was feeling solid despite going out much faster than I’d planned, and the decision to wear the new vest wasn’t coming back to bite me (only light scratching), with the soft flasks making the sippy sip life so much easier.

I honestly can’t recall what much about what happened between the 40km and 58km mark too much. I was aiming to get there by my stretch goal which was seven hours having started off quickly.

It was at about this time where I realised if I could get to 58km in seven hours, I’ve got 44km left and numbers were running through my head. I could be well on track to smashing my B goal, and possibly achieving the coveted A goal.

Assuming I get to the 58km in seven hours, that means at absolute worst, if my body started breaking down big time, I should be able to complete the last 44km in 440 minutes (10 minutes per kilometre) which would mean I finish inside 17 hours (C goal). And I was also thinking if I could complete the next 44km in another seven hours, I’ll be stoked as with 14 hours.

The next 44km would involve the largest hill, but I back my hiking to not put me too much behind schedule!

Oh, I’d lost Bradley at around the 51km mark as he managed to get away from me on a hill. I made a mistake here as there were three of us running together, and the other guy had dropped off a few minutes earlier, but I knew he was a strong runner so I figured he’d be back with us shortly. My plan was to try and carry on with him when he caught up and hopefully catch back up to Bradley. But that failed as he never eventuated and I found myself alone for the first time in the race.

There were no noises from people in front, or behind me and I couldn’t see anyone either. It was really weird. Thankfully the team running the event were great with marking the trail so as long as I kept seeing markers I knew everything would be sweet. It was tough to keep the forward momentum going through this stretch though. I had ditched the Mamba Mentality plasters at the first station but was still thinking of the mantra every now and then.

Arriving into Okataina aid station (58km) was amazing. A couple of hundred metres before the aid station a volunteer was asking for our names and where we’re from. She then relayed this information to someone at the aid station who would then blast your name and location out over the megaphone where the crowd was applauding. It was pretty darn awesome!

There were lots of people here as it was the first aid station people could access so lots were waiting for friends and family to arrive.

And I made it in 7 hours and 2 minutes, pretty close to the seven hours I was thinking! Right on track to smashing my B goal.

It was the first time I was getting to see Joel and Elle, who were awesome crewing for me. They had my drop bag ready, and I’d put a tonne of stuff in this one thinking it’d be the point where I would be absolutely hammered. But alas, I didn’t need to change my shoes, socks, undies, shirt or nothing. I didn’t want to risk changing things that were working. But I did guzzle some coconut water here and put more bliss balls in my vest. I crossed paths with Bradley as he was leaving the aid station too.

I spent a couple of minutes too long here in hindsight, but it was a bit of a milestone aid station, and the biggest climb of the day was coming right up. As I exited, I made the mistake of walking as I thought the incline was going to be happening right away. Turns out it was about 2km until it kicked in, and so I spent way too long on those two kilometres.

And I wasn’t feeling the urge to need the portaloo at the aid station which was annoying. I hate squatting so this was a nervous time. My legs were showing small signs of cramp…would I get a cramp while squatting up a storm?

Anyway, the rules for pooping and peeing on the trail were clearly outlined on the official website. I did as instructed just before the climb began, and other than peeing on the back of my shoe a little bit, we came out unscathed. Though it was awkward hearing people passing me in the distance!

Back running, the Okataina climb began and I got my power hike on with my mental note to ‘lift my legs’ up the hill seeming to work pretty well. I passed a few people up the hectic climb that had just a few spots that I found runnable. Thankfully the organisers were super onto it and had made a sign to let us know when we were at the top! Yay.

From here there was a steady decline, and this was the first time I really struggled in the race. I really couldn’t get good momentum going down the hill and I found myself walking which was pretty demoralising. A few people started to pass me, so I decided to lock onto one of the next people who came past. This worked a treat! I can’t recall the name of the fella who I locked onto, but we chatted a bit and he was the perfect person to run with as he was running downhill and om most of the flat sections, but as soon as there was an incline he’d walk.

I always knew I was better at following people than setting my own pace, the ~7km I hike/ran with him was great. Before reaching Miller Point at 74km (the longest break between aid stations) there was one more incline which seemed to take forever! There were so many false peaks. That sucked.

Seeing a volunteer dressed up as Spider-Man at the Miller Road aid station was satisfying, and he was super useful in telling me what we had waiting for us during the next phase of the course. I fart-assed around here for a little too long again. There were three people who left the aid station about 90 seconds before me, and it would have been great to start the leg with them as it was a downhill section to start. I was still struggling downhill flying solo.

It should be so easy but I guess my quads were simply smashed. I was trying to think about the Mamba Mentality from time to time, but now that I think back, I was more into calculating what times I could finish. I’d sent a text to Joel who I’d see at the Blue Lake aid station that I’d take between 1.5 and 2.5 hours to get there (12km). I knew there was a hill at some point in this section, but other than when I saw people going about their leisurely Saturday activities it was a struggle to run on the flat/downhill. I was trying to impress them I guess.

I did actually handle the climb up to Blue Lake alright, my speed uphills was good as gold throughout the race. Blue Lake was a struggle motivation wise but I put in one good running stint to the Blue Lake beach but was quickly stuffed when I came to the stairs, they were brutal!

This was also when the leader of the 100-mile race cruised past me, looking like he’d just started his run for the day. Impressive.

At the top of the stairs I talked myself into walking the next 500 metres. This managed to turn into a 1200 metres walk. In hindsight, this was somewhere I wish I pushed a bit harder. I was getting a bit demoralized by now, the numbers on my Strava weren’t quite equating to the distance to the aid station so I wasn’t quite sure how far away the Blue Lake aid station was. But I got a slow jog on, then suddenly the dreamy red 200-metre sign appeared like a wild pokemon.

I heard friends yelling my name and that was epic. It was the first time I felt like I’d benefitted from someone supporting me. Normally people watching me doesn’t bother me

performance-wise, but this time the support was epic helping me power into the aid station.

This aid station sponsored by Domino’s but there wasn’t any vegan pizza 🙁

Anyway, Joel had me covered with my drop bag and other than the Red Bull I’d left in there I wasn’t lacking anything. But it was the place where I got to have a coveted coke. I’d stopped drinking any a week or so in advance to get this preplanned boost late in the race. Best idea ever.

I also learned that Bradley was just 10 minutes ahead of me at this stage. I’d forgotten about him thinking he could be an hour or so ahead of me by now. That inspired me and I seemed to be in pretty high spirits which was ideal.

It was time to leave the aid station some new determination (or just on a high from the coke) to track Bradley down.

After a strong couple of km’s leaving the aid station, my pace slowed again and started walking a bunch. In my attempt to know if I was catching him at all, I was asking volunteers how long had it been since the ginger bearded guy came past. This gave me an array of answers, so I had no idea what the story really was. I probably could have referred to some Mamba Mentality here, but ah well. I did alright up the hill before the plunge into the Redwoods but crikey as soon as I got back onto the flat section before the aid station again, I was on struggle street. There was a slight fall I had on the downhill, thankfully it was nothing crazy.

Nevertheless, the final aid station soon approached and I kept plodding along slowly to be greeted by zombies. I was in high spirits and spent little time at the aid station before trudging on for the last few kilometres as the sun was starting to set. I was stoked not to need my headtorch at all…at the start of the day, I gave myself about a 5% chance of beating sunset, which officially was 8:23 pm, 13 hours and 23 minutes in. This wasn’t going to happen, but the fact I didn’t need the headtorch was remarkable to me…though I still had 7km to go in which anything could happen.

As Joel started to run with me he let me know Bradley was 7 minutes ahead. We were allowed to have a pacer for the last section, and I knew Bradley’s pacer Josh knew I was trying to chase him down. I figured 7 minutes was going to be too much for me to chase down as Josh wouldn’t let Bradley slow down coming home. So I walked the first few hundred metres before we hit a rhythm to the finish.

Not since the 74km mark had I run with anyone for any stretch of time so it was great to have Joel there. I don’t think I was sassy to him at all and we eventually found a pace I could handle (6.30-minute km’s).

The sun had set, but there was more than enough light for easy running and the finish line popped up out of know where even though I’d been asking how long to go like a nagging kid saying ‘are we there yet?’

Suddenly I was cruising through the finishing chute trying to look as cool as a cucumber. I was feeling alright! It was all over.

Official time: 13 hours, 36 minutes and 12 seconds! B goal Smashed! And 9 minutes 58 seconds behind the A goal.

I was presented with my medal, another fun New Zealand souvenir, before being directed to the tent where my weight was checked.

64.8kg pre-race.
62.6kg post-race.
All good.

I found the crew who had gathered around a table which was sweet. I was mostly interested in congratulating Bradley to start but was distracted by the hot chips on the table! Woo. Chips and coke, basically my dream finish line feast. Turns out Bradley was getting a quick check-up with the medics but would go on to survive. After some chit chat (Brooke smashed her 50km race too) it was time to head off for the night, for me that was in the car to Tauranga.

One of my prerace worries was getting way too tired while running to continue. Turns out I was full of energy and while I was in quite a lot of pain (swollen ankle and niggly knee were the main worries) I stayed awake for hours and didn’t get too sleep until 3 am.

And that was my race day!

7. A FEW TIPS I FOUND WERE IMPORTANT IN HINDSIGHT

If you’ve been reading about ultra marathons in advance of your first one coming up, then you’ll probably have come across the tips below. But these are what I found useful, and will take with me going forward.

• Wear your pack: While the pack didn’t bug me too badly, there were definitely some wear and tear on my shoulders which I noticed prerace.
• Screenshot the elevation map: And save it as your home screen and lock screen on your phone. I found this helpful and easy to refer to during the race.
• Practice your nutrition: I’d never tried eating peanut butter sandwiches while running really, and they didn’t really go down well on the course. Bliss balls, fruit, and coconut water, however…tried tested and went good. I got lucky Tailwind went down alright for me too.
• Write what’s in each drop bag: You could leave a piece of paper in the bag, but I used my notes app on the phone. It was handy to know what I would be looking for before arriving at each station.
• Watch an elite video in the morning: This might intimidate you, but I like visualising what pros do before I go do something…it works for me. Maybe for you!
• Get soft flasks: I’d never used them until the race, but wow do they make life easier compared to lugging around a regular drink bottle! They come in different shapes and sizes, so make sure you get one that’s going to be suitable for your running vest/pack.
• Hike a bunch: I feel like the time on feet theory helped me a lot for the race.
• Study the elevation: I knew the track pretty well in terms of where the big hills were, but I definitely could have studied this more as the more you zoom in on the elevation maps, the more you notice tiny kinks and I wouldn’t have made the mistake leaving Okataina.
• Have a mantra: You’ll be in pain, but having the ‘Mamba Mentality’ in my mind to reflect on from time to time was super helpful.
• Goal setting: There are so many goal setting methods out there, but I like the idea of setting an A, B, C goal with the B goal the most likely event, and the C goal being the worst-case scenario.
• Get a crew/supporters: This surprised me a lot. Having people you know cheering you on is amazing, and someone to pace you home is massive when you’re running on tired legs. Even the elite athletes aren’t afraid to have pacers with them!

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Thanks for reading! Happy to answer any questions if you’ve got any you think I can help with 😀

Will you run another ultra? This is a question that comes up after you run your first one. Right after the race, it was a no but now that it has been a couple of weeks, I think its a yes now.

Chur.

What to read next:

• Walking on Mount Tarawera
• The Hemi Matenga walk was part of my long training runs
• The Mount is a great training ground for the Tarawera Ultra
• Heaps of fun things to do in New Zealand