Tough Bloke / Chick Challenge 2012

ARE YOU TOUGH ENOUGH???

I have decided to do something different this year signed up for this event. Completing the Tough Bloke Challenge (TBC) event will prove once and for all that I am indeed, a TOUGH BLOKE!!! Ok, seriously, I just wanna have a bit of fun and this also kinda remind me of the standard obstacles course (SOC) that we do day in, day out during our national service. Feeling a bit nostalgic. This is not only a bloke's only event, chicks also can take part and go through the same course.

So here it is, race day Saturday 3-Mar-12...

The weather at its best, NOT... it was drizzling and cold. I was especially stoked when Angelena, her mum (aka Lena), and her mum's mum (aka grandma) decided to brave the elements and came along  to support the madness that I was about to go through.

We reached Wonga Park around 10am for registration. The course have waves of starting time and my start time was 11am. The last obstacle "Hell's gate" and finish line are located just in front of the registration area. We can see different faces that tackle Hell's Gate and cross the finish line.  

Registration area... Nice weather huh...

Tough Chicks, Rhona, Evette and Tough Bloke, yours truly in the making...

Challengers!!! Are you ready!!!

As we have timing chip on our shoe, it does not matter what time we start. The chip will record the start and finish time accordingly when we cross the timing mats. One by one, we were waved off into the course. In true gentleman fashion, I took to the course ahead of the 2 ladies. 

I think we did about 2km (ok, no Garmin on me, just an estimation) of trail running before hitting the first obstacle. There are then some more running between obstacles... I think the average distance is probably about 500m... 

Click on this link for details of the TBC course. 

1) Mud pit - Great way to start by getting wet and dirty... We have to crawl under barb wires in mud... I stupidly enter the pit with my head too high and got a small cut from the pointy barb wire... Yes, it can hurt you!!! Luckily, we got hose down shortly after... cannot imagine carrying the mud on my face throughout the course...   

Oh, sorry, no more pictures until the last obstacle... I think you will agree that it will be wise not to bring camera along for this course... just use your imaginations...

Managed to clear the next 4 fairly quickly... no dramas...

2) Log wall

3) Multi-vine Traverse

4) Tyre swing

5) Rope net bridge

6) Piranha pit - I thought I had this, but somehow, my grip slipped and I fell into the ditch... oh well... no penalty as long as you come out the other end... pressed on...  

7) Turbo steps - No dramas... 

8) Log balance - Sigh... In my eagerness to get over this obstacle in the shortest possible time, I mistimed my last step and fell to my left, hitting my ribs against the pole... The hit was pretty hard and it felt like I have been punched by Mike Tyson in the ribs... took me a few seconds to regain my breath... The marshal kept asking if I need to get medical assistance... As I was breathing normal now, I decided to continue... Oh, also scratched my hands and legs as I landed on the fall... I can never imagine myself having problem with the log balance... pretty disappointed... 

Once again, I breezed though these next few obstacles... 

9) Monkey bar

10) The tube

11) Swing step bridge

12) Hole-in-one

13) Chain walk

14) Tyre wall

15) Cargo net

16) Organ pipes

17) The Wall - I hit the wall, literally... I expected the wall to be lower and have a stronger rope for me to pull myself up... This wall, however, is almost about 2-3m high... The height is ok, but without a strong rope for me to pull myself up, I can see myself struggling... Lucky for me, the people inf front of me offered to provide me with a lift so that I can reach the top of the wall... I kindly accepted the offer and as a result, cleared the wall was able to clear the wall with ease...

18) Ups and downs - no dramas...

19) Hell's gate - We swam across a 10m ditch / pool before reaching this obstacle... hence the reason why my hair was wet and my clothes are clean...

Queuing up for Hell's gate... Nice hairstyle right?

more waiting... 

Go go go!!!

smashed it... I had reached the end before Lena head to the finish line... Hey, what is Nick (marshaling) doing here? 

Proud finishers... aka Tough Chicks!!!

My finisher's medal and bib... was amazed that the bib actually hold up after going through  mud and water...

Race summary...
Course: It is fun, but not as challenging as I would expect it to be... maybe because I had experienced SOC that is much intense and more technical then TBC... Not withstanding my fall at the log balance, I feel that the only obstacle that could have caused me grieve would be the wall...

Weather: Not the best, around 18-20 degrees with light drizzle... luckily no wind...

Atmosphere: All types of participants, ranging from elites (yes, there are elites for this event...) to your everyday people (aka me) who just wanna enjoy a day outdoor doing something different... this event can easily become a team building exercise... in fact there are groups of people doing this together and helping each others along the way... Go team work!!!

Finally, I really enjoyed the company of Angelena, Lena and her mum. I thought that they would pulled out because of the weather. They didn't... So they are though also chicks after all... Also, it was nice to do the challenge with Evette and Rhona...

Will I do it again? Depends, but most likely not... What did you say? What about Tough mudder next year? Hmmm...

VTRC - Maroondah Dam 30km... Yet another PB!!!

What a race!!! Another personal best time for me (errr first time running this course mah :p) even though I came in 199th place out of 125 runners with a time of 4:36:18... Follow this link for the results...

Here's the ins and outs and ups and downs on race day, Sunday 19-Feb-2012...

Woke up at  5:15am and tip toed around the bedroom so as to not wake the ladies (Angel, Lena & Angelena)...

Zzz... Zzz... Zzz...

Angel, sharp as usual, woke up and followed me around to supervise my pre-race routine... Fed Angel so that she do not get grumpy and kissed goodbye to all the ladies and headed out at 6:15am... The journey, according to my trusty GPS, will take approximately 1.5hrs...

Reached the gate around 7:40am and saw 2 buses with the 50km runners making their way to the start line... They start at 8am while we the 30km starts at 10am... Parked the car, geared up and head towards the registration tent...

Registration...

Received my bib and also a map of the course... Come on, who needs a map, the course is well marked and there should be runners in front anyway isn't it? Hmmm...

yeh... race bib and race map...

It was not until 9:40am that our bus leaves for the 30km start line... That explains why the registration was supposed to be until 8:30am and I still see people registering at 9am... Next year I will know... if there's a next year for me...

All set to go go go!!!

Brett, the Race Director, started his RD briefing at 9:50am... Before our 10am start, there were already 5 or 6 males and 1 female from the 50km race that have passed us... meaning, these people have done their first 20km in under 2 hrs!!! Respect...

RD, Brett Saxon providing the briefing... Notice that he is standing on a slope? 

I vaguely remembered he mentioning something like: "when you reach the tower, just look up a bit during the descent to keep a lookout for the exit marking... it's pretty obvious and you should not have any issue... otherwise, you will reach the bottom and see fellow runners running towards you.... you would have gone 1km too far..." I thought to myself, how hard can it be... hmmm...

fellow30km starters...

I felt really  good, especially after last week's tapering and last 2 days' carb loading... All set for my first trail race!!! RD waved the start off at 10am and off we go...

No easy start here, it is up, up, and up...

Go go go...

Open trail becomes single file around the 1km mark... 

Looking back at the bottle neck behind the first obstacle... 

Finally... Run free!!!

Almost the entire first 20km is ascent...  

Slowly, the field spreads out... And dark clouds starts to form...

I think this is just after the 10km mark... some trail riders having their Sunday morning fix...

Devastation from the 2009 bush fire... As a result, the 2009 race was cancelled...

Burnt, but still standing tall...

Around the 18km mark... Steepest climb of all... after that, mostly downhill for the last 10km...

This is where my race fell apart... I came to this point after a water station about 200m behind me... The marker points to the right, meaning we have to start our climb on grass... No problem, I can still see and follow runners in front of me... Notice the couple in white and blue top in front? I actually closed the gap to less than 20m during the climb... The climb was, TOUGH... Especially after 19km of running already... There are loose rock, branches, twigs, leaves... The elevation was about 500m... 

There they were... Almost caught up to them...

The tower at the end of the climb... 

Before reaching the top, I saw the 2 runners in front of me turned right... Hence I followed after I reached the top... It was then a gradual downhill curve to the left... My natural instinct was to keep to the left inner trail... I was concentrating on my footings and honestly, did not look out for markers as it I assumed the trail just continues... I was going downhill pretty fast and was surprised that I did not caught up with the couple in front... I thought, maybe they are really good downhill runners...

After about 5mins of downhill, I suddenly saw runners, all 50km runners (they have blue bib) coming towards me but to my left... I was like "what the f@#*? what the hell is happening?" As I approached nearer, I realised that I was back at the 18km mark before my climb!!! "what the f@#*" x 2!!!

Then I remembered what the RD had said in his briefing, "look up after you reach the top"... sign... Honestly, the thought of me climbing the hill again nearly kills me... I was so angry and agitated that I was about to give up... But seeing the 50km runners passing me and tackling the hill motivated me to carry on... My thoughts were: "suck it up man... with the wrong turn, you are still doing less than the 50km runners... so just dig in and carry on..." And I am glad that I did... 

On hindsight, I should have backtracked and it would be an easier climb... However, I decided not to and just follow the other runners to climb the hill again since I was now only aiming for completion...

Maroondah Reservoir less than 3km to finish...

I think the mountain at the background was where we started...

Finish!!! 4:36:18

I reckon the wrong turn I took added 1.6km and cost me half an hour... Stats don't lie... here's my garmin recording...

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/150667905#.T0G0gpcR7ik.mailto

Race Summary

Course - Very very very challenging... especially the first 20km... respect for the 50km runners... after their first 20km, they still need to go through the next 20km with massive ascent...

Weather - Perfect... low 20s and we did get some drizzle but it was only for a short while, hence no problem...

Water Stations - Every 5km... Water, sports drink, lollies and cakes!!! some water station has GU gels too... Big thank you for the hard working volunteers... 

Atmosphere - unlike road races where you can hear crowds cheering you on, all you get is the serenity of the forest... It was really nice... 

My final thoughts...

• First trail race, and loved every moment of it... yes, I loved the fact that I can bounce back from the mistake and finish the race...
• I was targeting 4hrs, but nonetheless, still a PB...
• I would have use my water belt instead of my Deuter bag if I would have known that the water stations are so well organised...
• MT10 works like magic... I get good grips all the way and did not have a fall... However, a little more cushion is preferable as I can really feel the rocks and it no longer becomes fun when my feet got a bit sore...
• No issues with the Forerunner 610 and heart rate monitor... they worked perfectly... 
• Start slower with low heart rate and work it up as the race progress...
• Need more hills training, both uphill and downhill...

Finisher's medal - Front & Back

Very much looking forward to Race 2 - Macedon Ranges... Bring it on!!! 

Huh, February already ah... 發 ah!!!

恭禧發財!!! Happy Chinese New Year!!! Wishing everyone all the very best in the year of the dragon!!! 

Angelena: "Happy Chinese New Year everyone!!! I am wearing red!!!"

Cannot believe it, we are already in February... My lifelong marathon is already over 3 months old... And my oh my, she is growing and getting heavier... Not that I am complaining, I am happy that she is growing... In fact, she is helping Lena and me to be leaner (Lena becoming leaner... get it? hehehe...), toning up those arm muscles (biceps and triceps etc) with all the carrying her around we do... Think our abs also got stronger with all the "rocking her to sleep" exercises... Maybe I should write a training manual on "How to tone your body with your baby"... hmmm...

Now for the boring stuff... January has been, well, slack... My company was closed for the Xmas/New Year holiday period and I was only back to work on 9-Jan... So I should have done a lot of running during these 9 days right? errr... not really... Let's take a look...

Here is my supposed training plan for January... This is to prepare me for my ultra trail 50km race in June later this year... 

Training Plan for January 2012

The training requires me to clock 206km in January alone... Sounds crazy... yeh, hence why I said "supposed" training plan... So how are my actuals tracking against this plan? 

January progress... 

Total Jan-12 mileage, 67.3km... far from the supposed 206km... At this rate, I may not even lock 1,000km this year... So what happened? Priority has been given to my lifelong marathon, hence more core training than just the silly road pounding... We just have to make the best out of what we can or have...

Quick preview to my signed up races for this year... Note that I am not racing to be on the podium, just wanna be a low key finisher...

Victorian Trail Running Championship, consist of 4 races as follows:

19-Feb-12 Maroondah Dam (30km this will be my first proper trail race...) 

3-Jun-12 Macedon Ranges (50km hopefully I can make it to this race injury free...)

22-Jul-12 You Yangs Regional Park (30km closer to home as it is located west of Melbourne) 

12-Aug-12 The Tan (30km this will drive me nuts because it is doing laps around the Tan, each lap ~3.8km)

Will also be picking a marathon to do after the championship, maybe Sydney marathon? hmmm... 發ah!!!