24 Hour Track Race Strategy

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Having done this race exactly once, of course I’m an expert!

To be honest, I owe my success in this run in 2014 to my Coach, Andy DuBois. So without  letting go of any of his big secrets, how do you ensure your best chance in this ridiculous race?

And let’s be frank- it is VERY difficult to make this target- so, how?

  1. Consistency is key. DON’T try to put extra laps in the bank early. Stick to your plan, and those extra laps will arrive without effort- later!
  2. Run really slowly to start, and get slower. You don’t want to be behind your target, but you should not be too far in front.
  3. Plan your food and drink carefully- do you have crew? Did you write up instructions about how to prepare it?
  4. Don’t skip your walking breaks- if you feel good early on and think you can bank a few laps this will come back to bite you later.
  5. If you feel like shit, keep going. If you feel good, don’t worry- the feeling will pass.

Let’s break it down a bit, referring to my results from 2014-

Marathon:   4:39:57
50K:           5:35:42
50 mile: 9:32:44
100K: 11:55:17
150K: 18:33:40
100 mile: 20:03:46

 

If you’ve read the race report- my goal was to make 100km in the first 12 hours, and 80km in the second 12 hours. So, 11:55 seems to be right on target. The difference is this- I took a risk in the second 12 hour slot by extending my initial 12 hour plan by a couple more hours. What this means- the plan was to run 55 minutes of each hour and walk 5 minutes of each hour in the first 12 hours. Then I would switch to 45 minutes running and 15 minutes walking. However I felt so good I decided to extend the 55/5 strategy for as long as I could. This worked brilliantly, but I would only do this again if the circumstances were the same. It’s important to know that you unless you are a much better athlete than me, going faster and hanging on is a recipe for disaster!
In the few hours that I was able to extend this strategy I was able to bank a few laps and get well ahead of my target. I understand that I’ve told you not to do this, but after 12 hours you will have a good idea how you are going against your target.

 

In the end, this meant that I was able to make my 180km in 23 hours flat. I walked one more lap and collapsed in a chair. I had worn the wrong shoes (too much arch support) and literally could not walk and had to be carried off the course.

 

So what is the plan? 100km in 12 hours is 8.3333km/hr so the average pace you need to make is 7:12 min/km. On A 400m track that is 20.83 laps per hour. From the start, just keep making those 21-23 laps per hour. it’s fairly soul destroying to see your target reduce by so little each hour, but you need to ignore that and just keep moving.

 

For the second 12 hour shift you need to make 80km, which is 6.666667km/h and average pace is 9min/km or 16.667 laps per hour. Honestly you can walk 6-7km/h so this is not too hard if you just keep going- see the trend?

Again- what’s the most important thing? At the risk of repeating myself more than 15 times- KEEP GOING. If you’re using this race as a Cost to Kosci qualifier and you know you won’t make the 180km target- you must keep going. Why? Because if there are 2 equally competent athletes applying for C2K, both failed to make 180km but one gave up- which one do you think the race directors will choose? In 2014 I started the race with Jade Crim and Kurt Topper- both failed to make 180km but both had amazing guts and made huge totals despite being in a lot of pain. It’s a brutal race, but in the end your mind will determine your result perhaps more than your body…….. and Kurt now has 2x C2K finishes….he’s a very determined bloke and difficult to hate because he’s so damn nice!

 

Back to the results- first marathon was a bit too fast. 50km time was a little quick but I settled down a bit after that. The 100km was just about bang on target- a 5 minute buffer was just fantastic. 100 miles in 20 hours looks pretty good, especially when you realise that it means I had 4 hours to make those golden extra 18km to make 180km.

 

So- is it possible to make 200km? This time I don’t think so- my preparation hasn’t been great. But George Mihalakelis did 183km and Mark Emr made 185km at Coburg. Not that I’m competitive or anything……