FIRST STEPS TO A SOLO 6 DAY ULTRA

DAY 1 (140KM): THE ‘GETTING STARTED’ DAY

The first day was quite interesting, as there was the excitement of starting a massive challenge. But one thing I found when 5am hit was how to start. It took a couple of hours to really settle in and not look at it as just a normal track session. This included dropping the pace from the word go, but finding out with only being on the track for 16 hours total, that still ended up being quite a quick pace for a 6 day. The 100km came up in 10h40m, which sounds great but so much different as the days went on. Overall I was really happy with the day’s total and went home feeling quite good and not too sore or fatigued. I did cop all weather conditions today for day 1 with the start being very cold, to about 8 hours of strong gusty winds and finishing off with the last 2 hours in rain.

DAY 2 (120KM): THE ‘SETTLING IN’ DAY

After an okay night sleep I managed to wake up at the set 4am alarm feeling good, a little heavy in the legs, but feet felt good ready for another 16 hours on the track. A little more overcast today which was nice but the gusty winds were still going and stayed with me until 6pm when it finally died away after 23 straight hours. But what an amazing evening of running it made. I was happy with the day’s total for the 16hrs, knowing it was about being smart and looking at the longer bigger picture.

DAY 3 (110KM): THE ‘IT’S GETTING REAL’ DAY

Not much sleep last night, only really getting about 1hr of proper sleep before the 4am alarm went off. The legs and feet took a bit to settle down during the night but it was made up with it being an absolutely perfect morning for running and best of all no wind to run with. What made the day even better was seeing the community come out to support me and encourage me along by joining me on the track for their runs and training as well. I finished with another good consistent total with now 3 days of 16hrs of running and no breaks during the day

DAY 4 (100KM): THE ‘MENTALLY FATIGUING’ DAY

Even though I had managed an extra hour sleep last night, getting about 2 hours over the previous night’s 1 hour, it was all catching up as going into day 4 was only about a total of 6 hours of sleeping, which just became unsustainable. This was the day I found to be slightly fatiguing, which made for some hard running and trying to keep some good nutrition in the body. We changed up the plan today to include smaller portions of food intake but more often. Despite this I still managed to run the whole day without any breaks and finished with triple figures, but by 9pm I was definitely tired with the last few laps including perhaps a little sleep walking…? Hopefully will help for a better night’s sleep.

DAY 5 (100KM): THE ‘REWARDING AND ENJOYABLE’ DAY

Slept so much better last night, getting about 3 good solid hours sleep and waking up feeling a new person ready for the day’s running. This became my favourite day of the entire six, where everything just fell nicely into place, including the legs and feet feeling strong, no fatigue today and nutrition was working well, giving me heaps of energy. With this I was able to pull out another triple figure day, going home feeling great. But that was about where it stopped.

DAY 6 (85KM): THE ‘FINISH-LINE-IN-SIGHT-DOESN’T-MAKE-FOR-AN-EASY’ DAY

Not a good last night, made it back feeling tired quickly, not prepping for this day and breaking routine. Along with the legs a little heavy now, I basically didn’t get much sleep at all, still awake when the alarm went off at 4am. I knew this was going to be a hard day, especially when I dropped my one and only piece of peanut butter toast that I wanted to eat on the drive out face down on the garage floor. I was starting the last day behind the 8-ball from the word go with being massively sleep deprived and it was to show as the day went on. The morning 4 hour session still went well with managing to break the 600km barrier when I wanted at 9am, but then it started to fall apart a little and the next 4 hour session I managed to only clock up an extra 10km. So for the first time in the whole 6 days, we changed strategy and at lunch time I went down for a half hour sleep, getting up and feeling like a new person, running a really good next block. Then we decided at dinner time to do it again and go down for a second half hour sleep before the last final 4 hour push to the end. This allowed for a really enjoyable finish pulling off some good kilometres to give me a respectable total in the time that I had available. If not for the track closures, I felt I could have kept going for longer.

The journey was amazing, and I found that the discovery has left me with so many positive memories. I remember messaging someone who I respect very much in the 6 day running community at the end of day 5 and simple said, ‘I have discovered the why.’ Something I really wanted to be able to do. The whole discovery of the 6 day is about working through all the moments and being able to piece it all together to come out with such a complete experience, that the journey ends up becoming the reward. And what a reward it has been.

For the 6 days of running the body held up really well. The legs, whilst feeling a little heavy as each day went on, became stronger the further I ran and were more free at the end of day 5 and 6 than they were at the end of day 1. I was really lucky with my feet management, to the point where I had not one single issue on them for the whole time and they required no maintenance or taping at all throughout. I put this down to being really smart in how I ran at the track and never dragging my legs or feet at all for the entire time.

I cycled between two pairs of shoes. For the morning half I wore a pair of Hoka Clifton 8’s (wide) and for the afternoon half changed into a pair of Hoka Bondi 7’s. This I found to be just perfect.

For my clothing, I had a set to change into ready for each day, and apart from changing the top according to the weather conditions throughout the day, I pretty much kept the same on from start to finish. Figured if it was working don’t change it.

Nutrition was definitely interesting, and what we really discovered running in my first 6 day race, was having to adapt to each day with what worked for the body, fatigue and energy levels. Whilst I could sustain a fairly normal running plan over the 1st 3 days, from day 4 I found it was more about the consistency of taking in smaller lots but way more often. Easier to digest and burn. Overall I was really happy with the plan and never found to be lacking too much. This I feel showed with after losing about 3kg over the first 3 days I was able to maintain the same weight to the end.

Lastly this compete journey would not have been what it was for me with the memories I managed to take away, without all the amazing support that I received. Even though it was still a solo run and journey for myself, the encouragement and support from all my friends never made me feel lonely out on the track, and with this at no point did I ever find the time running around the track repetitive.

Firstly the biggest thank you goes out to my beautiful wife Penny Redfern, who without her selfless support for the whole 6 days that started at 4am with me and often went past when I was done each evening, would not have made this whole journey possible for me.

To Stuart Wallace who came out each morning to help Penny with set-up and get me going on the track, to Daniel Tyce who chose to leave the comfort of his couch each evening to keep me company for the last hour and half, in all the conditions and moods. To Simone Hayes, who knew when to turn up just at that right time when I was needing a boost and lifting my spirits out on the track, and bringing me home on that last night, making me run my quickest lap of the whole 6 days on my last lap. Then there was the crowd of 20 or so runners and community who were there on the last night to cheer me to the finish out on a dark track at 9pm at night.

Thank you to everyone from the community for the great support and memories.

I’ll be ready to run the 240km Coast 2 Kosci race in November to finish off the year. After this I can now also concentrate looking towards 2022 and planning for my next big adventure in the wings.