Here is LARISSA TICHON’S race report of the recent Christchurch 100km ultra, where she rana qualifying time for the world 100km championships:
It was definitely a long journey to this.
Most people knew this race as ‘the mystery race.’ I’ve
found over the past few months the races I’ve done best in
are those that are kept low key. It was a weekend warrior
trip – a 7:30pm flight out on Friday from Sydney to
Christchurch and arriving back in Sydney at 7:15am on
Monday. NZ has a special sweet spot for me, having lived
there for two years growing up as a child. It evokes a
number of wonderful memories for me from rolling in dirty
clothes baskets down our three flights of stairs with my
brother to learning the emergency earthquake drill at crèche
to my watching my dad catch a flying fox to work (I think
this was my imagination as a two year old playing tricks on
me!).
After a proper taper week rekindling my childhood passion of
rollerblading to replace running, I arrive at the race start
with my fundraising buddy Vajira who is attempting his first
100km. The race organisers warmly greet us in the cool crisp
air of Christchurch. Before no time the gun goes off and
we’re off! I love the freedom of running and not looking
down at my watch so do the same for this race, trying to go
‘to feel’ and settle into a comfortable pace.
Q1 – ‘Therefore since we are surrounded by so great a
cloud of witnesses, let us cast aside every sin which doth
so easily beset us and let us run with patience the race set
before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of
our faith’ (Hebrews 12:1-2)
There are a couple of team runners and 50km runners so I try
and not take notice of the other runners around me. I’m
tuning out, listening to a selection of German techno and
hymns feeling pretty bouncy! I’m eating natural
confectionary snakes (4 per hour) and a selection of
alkaline foods from the cheering volunteer table (chia
pudding, mashed sweet potato and, my favourite, watermelon –
apparently a scarcity in NZ bro!). Every lap I sip on some
water as I run along in the sub 10 degree temperature
drizzle in all but a singlet top, shorts and a pair of
gloves.
Q2
I pass the marathon at 3h24min and am feeling pretty strong.
As I pass Vajira, I adopt the persona of a
‘crew-that-you-talks-the-needed-facts-and-you-thank-greatly-for-after.’
Vajira is stretching and walking feeling the impact of his
recent stint of weekly work travels and consequent halted
training.
‘Remember every second counts! I know you’re in pain,
I don’t want to hear your excuses. If you are going to walk
you’d better walk with purpose!’ I tell him as I ran past
him walking.
Q3
I pass the 50km mark at your second best time of 4h10. A bit
faster than I would have liked but that gives me a buffer
for your sub 9 hour target. I treat myself to a quick
stretch and bathroom break and continue on feeling much
heavier in the legs…
This quarter of your race is where all the complications
arise. Think of the worse thing that could happen to a
female when running, think of that feeling when you have
built up lactic acid in your legs and your body just doesn’t
want to co-operate, think of a cold wet singlet top with no
spare change of clothes and you run through sub 10 degree
temperatures. It is very rare for an ultra to not have some
form of complication. I know the most important thing is to
keep moving, even if a bit of walking, it’s walking with
purpose. As I run I just keep wanting to walk. I’m looking
around for differing means to get my energy back from using
my speed-eating-sauerkraut skills to quickly ingest some
custard and stewed apple to taking my wet singlet top off to
run in my crop top to cheering on other very strong girls
running loops with me.
Q4 – “those who hope upon the Lord shall renew their
strength; they shall soar on wings like eagles; they shall
run and not grow weary and they shall walk and not be
faint”
As you pass through 75km, the announcer yells out:
“Here’s Larissa who at her current pace is scheduled to
finish the race in 9 hours. Hopefully she can finish in less
than 9 hours.”
You sure didn’t come to Christchurch to do anything other
than that. Changing your music to your home stretch ‘Keep on
ravin’ baby’ happy hardcore tune, you pick up the cadence
and charge off into afternoon. Vajira has decided to stop at
the marathon and is now handing you food and water as you
pass by each lap. You are very thankful for this but also
make a note to have a debrief with Vajira afterwards on
lessons learnt and how to better prepare for upcoming
races.
It is just a whoosh of focused running in your Zen, utterly
grateful for the volunteers and your now-support crew.
You cross the finish in well under your 9 hour target at
8h54min27sec and notice your watch is showing 99.6km so run
an extra 400m to cater your maths persona, even though you
know the course is accurately measured and GPS signals are
sometimes slightly off in loop races. Super cold in just
your crop top and shorts, you hug the winner, snap a few
photos and get multiple layers and blankets over you,
gleefully getting in touch with Jerel straight away to share
your excitement.
Thanks Sean and Warren for all your speed training – it
helped immensely in bouncing back from the Q3 lull!