How many hills could an ultra runner run if an ultra runner could run hills?

It’s an interesting question, and one I set out to answer yesterday. Yes it was a hill day for me, so I headed off to the Tip Track to get some hill climbing in. I really wanted to see just how much of my fitness was back and how much there is left for me to do over the next three weeks to get ready for my upcoming races.

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So I headed out along the road for a bit, with the first wee climb being up to the Brooklyn shops. It’s a reasonably steep, steady climb and a good way to get the heart rate up a bit. Then there is a long flowing downhill run to the bottom of the Tip Track.

I normally just coast down this section of the run, knowing that I have a hard climb ahead of me. But yesterday I hammered it going down there, running under 5 minutes per kilometre, which is super fast for me.

I got to the bottom of the Tip Track nicely warmed up and ready to attack the hill. So I did. I went hard up the first steep bit, pushing to get it done as fast as I could. I ended up walking bits of it, because I pushed too hard. But that’s ok. That’s what training is for.

On the next section, which is a bit more runnable a passed a lady who was walking along and she turned as I passed and said “Oh, we’ve been watching your videos”. So I stopped and chatted as we walked along the track.

I turns out her husband (Steve) has signed up for the full WUU2K and was using the videos I made to research the course. They are from Napier and had come down to visit family and while they were here he was out running the Tip Track and down to Red Rocks section of the course. It was really cool to see that someone found my videos useful and were all revved up to get out and run the course.

We parted company near the top, as she turned to follow the WUU2K course for a bit while I carried on up to the top gate.

Then it was time to head back down again. I caught up to Steve’s wife again on the way down, but not before stopping and chatting with another runner to recognised me from my videos on the WUU2K. It seems a few people are watching them and finding them useful, which is very cool.

I got to the bottom and then turned around and began the long slow grind back to the top again. This time there was not stopping and chatting, and I managed to make it to the top gate in 36 minutes. I think that’s possibly the fastest I’ve done that. Not bad for the second time up.

Thing were starting to hurt a bit by the time I turned and headed once more for the bottom gate. But at least I knew I wouldn’t be coming back up again, today.

That wasn’t the hill climbing done for the day however. I still had more of the WUU2K course to run, os I headed to Tawatawa Reserve and ran my way up to the top of the hill there. I was surprised to find myself still able to run most of it.

Coming down the other side, for the first time since the race last year I took all the right turns (I had the crucial corner pointed out to me when we went and did some gorse removal last weekend)

That shaved a good distance off the run. I managed to carry on running, pushing hard-ish all the way down to Adelaide Road. Then it was time to tackle the steep soul destroying climb up Mt. Albert.

On a good day with fresh legs, this is a hard, steep climb. I didn’t have fresh legs, and I was developing a new strategy around hills. So I employed it to see if it would work.

I walked up it.

I didn’t have a lot of choice actually, really. I couldn’t have run up it if I wanted to. But I’m developing my race (and training) strategy a bit. It leaning more along the lines of –

• Run hard on the downhills and on the flat – push hard to make up as much distance and time as you can
• Attack the runnable hills – run these hills aggressively but not so hard that you are forced to walk
• Grind the steep hills – take your time and just focus on keeping moving at faster than walking pace
  What I found yesterday was, attacking the steep part of the Tip Track and really pushing hard got me to the top in 16 minutes. I had to walk a few times because I was gasping for air, which cost me some time.
  The second time I went up the steep part I just kept an even pace and didn’t go hard enough that I was forced to walk. But still I was pushing to try and get a good time. I did that section in 16 minutes.

So keeping my enthusiasm in check a little looks like a good strategy.

Now we came to the long slow climb section going up Mt. Albert. I was able to run it and even attack the hill, gently. I wasn’t going very fast at this point, but at least I was still running.

And then it was time for a bit of downhill again. The tracks are pretty runnable on this part of the course, and I tried to put in a good effort, but my legs were just a bit tired by that stage, so I was not travelling all that quickly. But at least I wasn’t shuffling along, I was still running. And that’s a big positive improvement.

I hit Crawford Road, where Mt. Albert ends and Mt Victoria (and the next hill climb) begins and decided to head home. I was out of water and knackered. I had run 29 very hard kilometres at a pace faster than I thought I’d be able to, and I was happy with the day.

It was time for beer.

So I turned left and trotted downhill into Newtown, quite happy with myself. I’m not back to my peak fitness yet, but I’m pretty close.

Check out my video of the run

Stats from Mr. Garmin

• Distance: 30.4km
• Time: 4:31
• Elevation gain: 1410 metres
• Average pace: 8:56 min/km

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