“TIME WASTED AT THE LAKE IS TIME WELL SPENT” – UNKNOWN

Aerial view of race village and start area. Photo credit: Astrid Volzke

Having run a 24-hour track ultra just five weeks prior, and pushing myself so hard that I had to take a few days off of running, I was not sure if I would be properly recovered in time. I toyed with the idea of using it as a training run, going into it with a limit on how many laps I would run (possibly just 24). As race day neared, I ultimately decided that if I’m going to enter, I might as well do it properly. Although I was feeling pretty good, I was also aware of the fact that if I hadn’t properly recovered that it could soon catch up with me and potentially end my race prematurely.

The Birdy’s course, set at Lake Towerrinning in WA, has been slightly different each year. The original course from 2020 had to be altered in 2021 due to flooding. We lost the beautiful single track through the forest and gained a horrible, muddy track through a swamp. This year, it was closer to the original course, with the forest instead of the swamp, but it still retained some of the other smaller variations from 2021. The extended bridge was still there, although Graeme had to attend to it the previous day to make some final repairs. Last year, Event Director Shaun Kaesler had specifically asked us to make sure there were no more than 5 on the bridge at a time. It seemed everyone had a problem with counting to 5, so this year he made the instruction clearer – 1 person per segment of the bridge at a time. From what I saw (although I didn’t see everyone as I was usually towards the front of the pack each time), people were a bit more respectful of the rule this year. 

The sign just before the bridge. Photo credit: Astrid Volzke

Although we had received a bit of rain in the lead up to this event, there was nowhere near as much as we had received the previous year. The water crossings were minor and there were no waterlogged paddocks to have to navigate your way across. However, you could still see remnants of make-shift stick bridges created by runners, a stark reminder of how bad it was last year. The 2022 course, I would have to say, was my favourite iteration of the course yet.

My base for the weekend was set up pretty much the same as the previous year. I had my caravan parked alongside Chris Martin’s caravan, with a couple of marquees in the middle. I have come a long way from the first year when all I had was a tent, a chair, one bag for clothes and one bag for food. I was now super organised, with many of the comforts of home. This year, Chris and I were also joined by Aaron Young, who was running his third backyard with a previous best of 28 yards. The three of us would share the marquee space and planned on working together to reach a big total. My crew were veterans Gemma (my wife) and Wayne and Amanda (who unfortunately had to disappear early and unexpectedly), plus a newbie to Team Gore – Eve Knudson. Eve was registered for the race but wasn’t planning on going much more than one lap. She finished two, timed out on the third, and then jumped on to crewing duties.

I don’t focus on goals in backyard ultras. I focus on the journey. I have a system in place, and all I do is just follow that system and the goals look after themselves. It really can be that simple if you just break it down to one lap at a time. Coming into my sixth backyard, I had fine-tuned my system a lot, and following it felt like it was the smoothest it’s ever been – for myself and the crew. I didn’t pay attention to what lap I was on, and my crew knew not to tell me. They just told me what was required for that hour or what to expect for the next one. I have everything pre-planned, from what pace I’m going to run at, what I’m going to eat, when I’m going to sleep, and even the little things like when I need to apply sunscreen or check my watch battery. I do allow myself some flexibility with it as I don’t like to be super rigid, but it does provide a really good guide. The more I can plan beforehand, the less thinking my crew and I need to do on race day(s).

The race kicked off at 10am Friday and it looked like we were going to get pretty lucky with the weather conditions. It had been freezing overnight and was still slightly chilly in the morning. I wore my long sleeves for lap 1, but by lap 2 it had warmed up enough for short sleeves. The first day is always quite social, everyone is in good spirits and chatting away. And because no one is trying to ‘win’ each lap, it’s easy to run with mates and have a laugh together. There was a generally positive vibe amongst everyone, a contrast to the previous year when there had been a lot of negativity in relation to the course and the weather. 

With Kevin Matthews just before the start of lap 1. Photo credit: Rob Donkersloot

Just before the sun set on the first day, my wife and crew chief Gemma arrived (she had been at work all day and have driven down straight after). This was the cue for my first foot bath of the event (I wasn’t going to give Amanda or Eve the displeasure of cleaning my feet). I’ve talked about foot baths in my previous run reports and it’s something that I highly recommend. This year I included the use of Squirrel’s Nut Butter Happie Toes as a part of the foot care routine and it made a huge difference. I think by the end of the event I only had two or three blisters, and even then, they were only minor.

A couple of laps after sunset and I was settling into my sleep routine. This is where I quicken the pace to maximise my break time and therefore get more sleep. I was averaging about 36 minutes per lap, a huge difference from the previous year, a reflection on just how much easier the course was this time around. From the time I settled into bed, until my crew woke me at 57 minutes past the hour, I was managing to get almost 20 minutes of sleep time. There were two things I introduced this year that made sleeping so much easier – meditation, and noise cancelling earphones. The meditation is something I had been working on for the previous 4 months with Rob Donkersloot at Mind Focused Running. It really helped calm my mind and help me drift off. And the noise cancelling headphones were a game changer – I can’t believe I had never considered trying them before. I wouldn’t even hear the 5-minute warning song (Surfin’ Bird by The Trashmen). Sometimes it would feel like I had rested for well over 20 minutes and I’d internally panic that my crew might have forgotten to wake me. I had to ask them to set an alarm at the 57-minute mark so I could trust they would remember.

That first night was freezing. So cold in fact that my frosty breath, illuminated by my headlamp, made it really hard to see where I was going. At one stage this caused me to trip on a rock and fall over – luckily no damage was done. By midnight I was running in trackpants, and I never run in trackpants. I’m sure glad I packed them – they were just one of those items I threw in for ‘just in case’, but didn’t think I would ever actually use. A good reminder to always be prepared for any scenario. The plus side of the cold weather was that it probably helped me get the laps done quicker. Compared to the heat at Herdy’s, where I wasn’t really getting in any quicker than 40 minutes. As the night progressed, I was definitely looking forward to that sun coming up! People talk about that surge of energy you get with sunrise, but I already had the energy – I was just looking forward to running with better lighting and visibility. It’s also a good excuse to slow the pace back down and make it more social again. About halfway around the lake on the 6:00am lap I was able to take my headlamp off – always a good feeling! A few laps later and I had a shower and felt ready to tackle another 24 hours. 

By 24 hours we were down to about 16 people. Not as many as we had at the previous few WA backyard events, but from only 90 odd starters, 16 was a pretty good percentage. There were lots of quality runners left in the field too. Kevin Matthews, who was ranked 4th in Australia and had been my assist twice. Jessica Smith who was the current female Australian record holder with 41 yards. Chris Martin, Rob Parsons and Carl Douglas who had all done a minimum of 33 yards before and I knew were determined to go further. Aaron Young was a bit of a dark horse with a previous best of 28 yards, but I knew his training in the lead up had been looking strong. 24 hours is a big milestone, and people often tend to drop out at milestones. There was a spike after 12 hours with seven people not continuing, and again after 100km with eight people. This time however, no one dropped out after completing the 24th hour – it almost seems cliché to do so (three people, however, dropped out after completing ‘one more lap’, and finishing with 25 yards).   

Lap 24, feeling fresh after a shower. Photo credit: Astrid Volzke

The second day for me is usually where the boredom sets in. It’s not physical fatigue, or tiredness, or muscle soreness that makes it challenging, it’s just the grind of doing the same thing over and over. The first milestone I aimed to tick off was my PB (51 yards), and to get to 24 hours wasn’t even halfway there. As I said to my crew at one point “I just can’t be bothered!” Although that was somewhat true, I was actually quite accustomed to the monotony of running laps. I haven’t ever done a race further than 47km that wasn’t a lapped format. And I probably had at least one training session a week that was just running laps somewhere. Consequently, this time around, the boredom didn’t quite hit me as hard. I didn’t reach the point where I was questioning why the hell I signed up for the event in the first place. I was better able to just focus on the journey and be present in the moment (thanks Rob). I continued to follow my systems – I was on track with my plan. I didn’t have any issues sticking to the pace, I didn’t have any issues with my nutrition (thanks Gaby), I was having foot baths at the required intervals, etc. Despite a bit of rain here and there, the weather wasn’t really too bad. All in all, the second day went pretty smoothly. As we reached sunset, we were down to 10 runners, and the second night would be a real test for the remaining runners.

The 10 remaining runners heading into lap 32 (5:00pm). L to R: Carl Douglas, Chris Martin, Aaron Young, myself, Jen Millum, Jessica Smith, Charles Bosveld, Michael Bellmon, Rob Parsons and Kevin Matthews. Photo credit: Gemma Gore

The next big milestone was 36 yards, also known as the 150 mile club, which six runners made it to. However, only four continued after that. Kev and Carl rang the DNF bell, leaving myself, Jess, Rob and Aaron. I was still feeling relatively good at that point, but I wanted to know where everyone else was at. I wanted to go far in this event, and I’d need their help to do it. As much as it is a competitive event, it’s also about working together. I sacrificed my sleep break on the next lap to run at a slower pace and give myself a chance to chat with the other runners. I wanted to help motivate them and let them know I was there to help if they needed anything. Not surprisingly, they all seemed pretty determined and self motivated – I think that’s a quality you have to have to get that far in a backyard. My crew was also all over it, talking to the other crews and seeing if there was anything they could do to help. I remember after one of the laps, it would have been around midnight, I was half asleep and Aaron came back complaining about sore feet. Gemma, who was trying to get to sleep herself, heard this and jumped up to help. She taped up his feet using my special blister stuff and kept him moving.

It had been slightly warmer the second night, thanks to the cloud cover – but this also came with an increased chance of rain. It had been light and sporadic for the first part of the night, picked up around 11pm, and at 2am it really bucketed down. This deterioration in weather coincided with the ‘witching hours’ which would make it a really challenging night for everyone. The runners who had dropped out before this point were probably snuggled up in their warm, dry beds, thankful that they weren’t still out there.

As it turned out, I didn’t mind the rain. I embraced it. I might even go as far to say that I enjoyed it. Sure, the course became flooded in parts and avoiding puddles became impossible. The rain was so heavy it was hard to see past the droplets falling in front of my face. There was definitely more work for my crew, trying to stay on top of getting me dry during the breaks. But you can’t control the weather. You can only prepare for it. And this is exactly what I prepared for when I ran the 24-hour track ultra in Canberra five weeks previously. As it turned out, we ended up with reasonably good weather then, but the preparation wasn’t wasted and now I had the chance to put it all to good use. I didn’t let the rain slow me down, I still had a plan and a pace I needed to stick to. I ran straight through puddles and didn’t care about getting shoes and socks wet – I had packed enough spares. Gemma cleaned and dried my feet while I slept. I was thankful for my UGLOW rain jacket that I had only just picked up a few weeks earlier. It did an awesome job of keeping me warm and dry – honestly the best rain jacket I’ve ever owned. Although I wasn’t letting the rain affect me, my biggest concern was how it might be affecting the others – I didn’t want the race to end prematurely. I was thankful each time I saw all of them at the starting line. They seemed to be handling it well.

The remaining four heading out on lap 45 (6:00am), after surviving the worst of the rain. Sunrise is imminent. Photo credit: Shaun Kaesler

A couple of laps before sunrise, the rain died down (although the course was still flooded). There was light at the end of the tunnel. The remaining four of us had survived the worst of it. It would only be easier from here, right? But no sooner had the rain stopped that we had our next casualty. Rob was a DNF after 44 yards, a massive improvement on his only other backyard performance of 36 yards. One lap later, just as the sun had come up, we lost Jess. She had persevered through the night, waiting for that surge of energy that normally comes with daylight, but it never came. She had a phenomenal performance though, breaking her own female Australian Backyard record of 41 yards, raising the benchmark to 45 yards. By 7:00 am, it was down to just two runners – myself and the dark horse, Aaron Young.

It was at this point that I changed my process. I dropped my pace back so I could run with Aaron. He had no goals, but just wanted to push on as far as possible. He knew I wanted to beat my current PB and Australian record of 51 yards, and he told me he would at least be able to get to there. In fact, he was talking about getting to the third night. I had to ask my crew to put on a load of washing, as the wet weather had accelerated the rate at which I had gone through my socks, tops and buffs. My watch said I had about 10 hours left, and feeling optimistic, I put it on charge for a little bit during a couple of the breaks. That gave it about an extra 10 hours, good enough to get through to about 65 yards. That would do for now, and I could charge it again later if need be.

Aaron and I running together through the “Caravan Graveyard”, shortly after sunrise on the third day. Photo Credit: Astrid Volzke

I hung back with Aaron, and we walked and jogged the course together. Thankfully the rain had stopped, but there was still a bit of flooding on the course. However, now that the sun was out, we could navigate through it a bit better and found a way to get through the whole lap without getting our shoes and socks wet. I quite enjoyed these laps Aaron and I did together, just talking and getting to know each other better. As much as I had dropped my pace back to help him get through, he was helping me a lot too by keeping me motivated and giving me something to focus on.

As we kept ticking off the laps, I was feeling much the same, but I could tell that Aaron was beginning to deteriorate. At no point, however, did I let myself think that I had it in the bag. I had been caught out with that mindset before. At Herdy’s in 2021, when it was down to myself and Kev, I had starting thinking around the 36th yard that he was going to drop out soon. That wasn’t good for my mental state – my mind was telling my body it was almost over. I was continually thinking I only had one or two more laps left, and each lap became increasingly difficult to keep going. I learned from that experience and now every time I do a backyard I continually tell myself “It ain’t over ‘til it’s over”. I have witnessed other events where runners have been circling the drain for several laps, coming in just under cut-off each time, only to pick up again later in the race and be back in the game. I knew that by working with Aaron to get further, I was potentially allowing more time for him to get better and/or for me to get worse, and there was still every chance he could beat me. Such is the nature of a backyard. But my primary goal wasn’t to win. I wanted both Aaron and I to go as far as we possibly could.

We were coming in consistently around 53 minutes per lap. This messed with my routine a little bit as I prefer to do the laps under 50 minutes to allow for more rest. Coming in past 53 minutes meant by the time I got to the marquee and sat down there was probably only a little over a minute before “Surfin’ Bird” started playing. Even though I didn’t need to get up at the start of that song, it triggered an automatic response to start mentally preparing for the next lap. It didn’t matter too much though, I was happy to keep going at that pace if that’s what it took to keep Aaron in the game.

Refueling whilst Gemma tends to my feet; Aaron in the background being tended to by his crew. Photo credit: Astrid Volzke

We got to the end of 51 yards together, which for me, was the minimum I had hoped for us to get to. If Aaron had dropped out at that point I would have done 1 more yard to make it 52 – a new PB and Australian record. Aaron said to me he would hold on for as many more laps as possible, but truthfully, it didn’t sound like it would be a lot. I figured he had at least a couple more in him and I would continue to work with him to get the laps done. By lap 53, we were cutting it fine to get in within cut-off. With about 1km to go, after a quick discussion with Aaron, I ran ahead to allow myself a bit of extra time for the break, as I had some things I needed to do. I came in just under 54 minutes (my slowest lap for the event so far). I let everyone know that Aaron was still coming, but he was cutting it close. He came in just as the 2 minute siren was sounded, his crew quickly attended to him and then we both got to the start line for lap 54.

We walked/shuffled the first km together. Aaron couldn’t move at the required pace and it took us over 10 minutes to get to the 1km mark. We were a couple of minutes slower than we needed to be. I asked Aaron if he thought he might be able to pick up the pace. He looked wrecked, and I kind of felt bad for asking him. He made the decision that he wasn’t going to be able to finish the lap in time and gave me the ok to run ahead. I put my arm around him and shook his hand. I told him how inspiring his effort was and that he should be really proud of himself. And then I left him. I was on my own to finish off the last lap. Despite the state I had left Aaron in, I tried not to tell myself that it was the last lap. I ran the rest of the lap conservatively. I wasn’t going to rule Aaron out until the hour ticked over and he hadn’t reached the finish line. As I said before, “It ain’t over ‘til it’s over”, and thinking you are almost finished is a bad mindset to get into. As it turned out, he had headed back after going through the caravan section returned to the finish area, arriving just a few minutes before I got there. The race was over. I had completed 54 yards (362.34km), a new Australian record (which got to hold for another week until the bar was raised to 59 yards).

All smiles after finishing lap 54 – the final lap. Photo credit: Astrid Volzke

Although I was already on the at-large list, by winning this event I earned myself a ‘silver ticket’, which guaranteed me entry into the Backyard Satellite Championships, which will be held in October. This is chance to go up against 14 of the best backyard runners in the country, as well as to see how Australia fares against the rest of the world. 50 different events in 50 different countries compete simultaneously to see which team can get the furthest.

For all of Phil’s service and product requirements used during the event, head here to his original blogpost to get all the details.