Tuesday, May 17, 2011

Tahoe Rim

Tahoe Rim 100 Mile Run

Hullo To You All

Thought it time that I made an update to Running With Ultradanz.Next big adventure for me is competing in the Tahoe Rim 100 mile run in Nevada. It is run over the Sierra Nevada Mountains on the 16th-17th of July. Needless to say my training is starting to build for the run. At the moment I am training between 13 and 14 hours a week and on a Sunday which is always the day I do my long run I am running for 6hrs plus. I have been running at this distances for most of this year. I am planning to do a couple of 10hour plus training sessions out in the Waitakere's. I have for the first time, some comfortable cold weather and wet weather protection . Running  in the Waitakere's you get used to the sticky clay and slippery roots and rocks out in the middle of the bush.
Easter Saturday I was out ay the Riverhead Forest helping Gary Ragtein with his 50km and 30km run. What a great event it is Gary is so very organized and the course is scenic and reasonably challenging.It is the perfect course for your first trail ultra. I was running the 10,20,30,40,km aid station .This was a great place to be positioned.There was plenty to do with the athletes out on the course it was a lot of fun to be able to contribute to an event. Put the Riverhead Forest 50km in your dairies for next April.

Will give more updates on how the training is progressing.Till the next post  enjoy the trails and the pursuit of happiness .

Ultradanz

Tuesday, April 5, 2011

Northburn 100

Just back from taking part in the Northburn 100 in Cromwell or Cromhell as some of the locals call it. Firstly I would like to say thank you to race director Terry Davis and his team for the great job they did in putting the run together, huge task in keeping people safe out on the course.Also would like to thank Tom for letting us onto his Station and sharing the amazing environment that is the Northburn Station.New Zealand's driest place, and the furtherest point from the ocean. A harsh and brutal environment that pushes you to the edge. Congratulations to all who took part in the event and the competitors that completed the 100 miles and of course to Martin Lukes for a great job in winning the run.









I only managed to complete 110kms(70mls) of the course in just over 18hrs stopping at sometime after 2.00 am. I made the mistake of falling asleep in my support vehicle and waking three hours later. Couldn't get my head around going back up to the top of Mt Dunstan again a long slow slog up 1700 meters.I am intending to come back next year and complete the course.Will have a different strategy for the run, although I don't think it is a run but more of an adventure race. I found a lot of the course very difficult to actually run on, but no excuses for not completing the 100 miles.
I am back training getting myself prepared for the Tahoe Rim 100 mile run on July 15th and 16th in Nevada.Take a look at the course online, check out the altitude.Will give more info on my build as time goes on and a few more photos of my training ground out here in the Waitakere Ranges.Lots of mud to come as the cooler weather sets in.Till then keep up with the pursuit of happiness.

Dan