Alps 2 Ocean - Part 1

It's hard to know where to start this blog post and difficult to know how to approach it. I'll just start at the beginning and follow where the words take me!

I can't quite remember where I first heard about the Alps 2 Ocean multi day stage race. It was probably on Facebook but wherever it was it certainly caught my attention. It is the first running-only multi-stage race to be held in New Zealand. There are several adventure races   such as Godzone but they include several disciplines other than running.

So what is a staged ultra run? Quite simply it is a very long run typically broken up into multiple days where competitors carry pretty much all gear and food required for the duration. The seven day format seems to be common among the big races. Some of you may have heard of Marathon des Sables or one of the 4 Deserts races such as the Gobi March. If not, hit up YouTube for some pretty cool videos.

The Alps 2 Ocean ultra is the brainchild of Oamaru runner Michael Sandri. Michael has completed several staged races overseas, but when someone at the Grand to Grand ultra in the U.S.A. asked him why New Zealand didn't have one, it got him thinking. Why not be the one to create the event? The logical route for him was to roughly follow the existing Alps 2 Ocean cycle trail because it finished in his home town Oamaru. Michael saw the opportunity to present a world class event that showcased a beautiful part of his country, and at the same time put something back into the community. This race is a little different in that it is not-for-profit.

So what triggered me to enter? Well, I was looking for a new challenge and had joined my friend, Jaime Stevenson, on some of her long Marathon des Sables training runs. Okay, I think I do know who to blame for me entering now, ha ha! As soon as the web site opened for registrations of interest one year ahead of the race, I was straight on to it. There were two categories: self-supported and supported. Self-supported carry everything required for the whole seven days whereas supported have most of their gear transported from camp to camp. I ticked the box at the top of the page - self-supported! Soon a deposit of 50% of the $1,999 was due and I was committed. Fun fact: this is the cheapest staged race in the world that I know of.

I wanted to give this my best shot so I vowed to focus exclusively on the event and not enter other races except as training runs. The other smart move (IKR?) was to take on a coach. I'm generally a bit disorganised with my training and, frankly, a bit lazy. Having a coach would add discipline, training structure, and, most importantly, accountability. Well, as fate would have it, Jaime is a professional running coach with multi day ultra experience. I signed up and committed to doing (mostly!) what I was told for a full year. Best decision ever!

And so began twelve months of structured training including some things out of my comfort zone - such as yoga. Downward Dog for crying out loud. I would like to point out that I did yoga in the privacy of my own home to avoid embarrassment all round. Regular sports massages followed and, best of all, training adventures with a bunch of the most amazing people.

Gear and Food

Being self-supported meant I had to carry all my food and gear for the duration. The organisers provided only a shared tent plus hot and cold water. And so began the spreadsheets. I'm a bit of a details guy so my spreadsheets were organised by day with summary tabs listing calculated total grams and calories. Good geeky fun!

Weight is everything in these events, but at the same time sufficient fuel for the body is required, along with a certain level of “comfort”. It's no good having a pack that weighs 5kg if you are starving and freezing cold for the whole race -  that’s a recipe for disaster. There is also a list of absolute minimum mandatory gear that must be included for your safety.

Calories per gram; micro weight sleeping bags; tooth cleaning strips; sleeping mats; flavour variety to avoid palate fatigue; foot care kits; soap flakes and compressed cleaning wipes; running food; salt tablets…my research into all aspects of gear and food consumed me for a year. I learnt a great deal and probably spent more money than is reasonable (don't tell my wife, Nic!). I found macadamia nuts have one of the highest calories per gram, which is pretty nice because I just love them.

I aimed to get my pack under 9kg but my initial total was 10.5kg!

Training

I can safely say that I have never trained so well in my life. The decision to concentrate solely on Alps 2 Ocean also focused my mind like never before. Early morning starts for mid week long runs were complemented with extra long weekend runs. The weekend runs were made bearable by the company of a regular band of other crazies - lifetime friendships were forged on these expeditions.

So did I train with a full pack on every run I hear you ask? Nope. Learning to run with a relatively heavy pack takes time so most runs were done without the pack. Pack runs were gradually introduced further down the track with weight starting at around 40% and only getting up to 70% later on. A couple of full load runs were made near to the event to preserve back and shoulders. This approach was good for me because when I tried the full weight runs I freaked out a bit because they were hard! How was I to get through just one day let alone seven!

The Event

Race week, starting February 25, 2018, finally came around. I say finally but really the last few weeks flew by in a whirlwind of last minute preparations and closing off tasks at work.

Pretty much every day is an ultra marathon which means preservation is the name of the game. Below are the distances for each stage. The original was 316km but this has been revised upwards to around 330km after actual GPS measurements recorded during the event:

Buses transported us from race registration in Oamaru to Mt Cook Village, location of the start line and the beginning of an epic adventure. We boarded the buses in full running gear, leaving behind every creature comfort. From then on, apart from a supplied travel lunch and “last supper”, we were reliant on whatever we loaded in our race backpacks.

Our initial camp was on the playing field of the Mt Cook Village local school and our view was a vista of Mt Cook and surrounding peaks. Recent snow dusted the high country but the air was reasonably warm.

After a sightseeing walk and final jog to iron out travel kinks, we settled down in our little tent village to make final preparations for the journey ahead. I decided to tape most of my toes and both heels as a preventative against blisters. Foot problems during a multi-day race are a leading reason for a DNF.

The tents were to hold up to seven athletes of mixed sex. Tent mates were allocated by the organisers and changes were not possible. Our tent, named Otematata, was lucky to have only six assigned and one person was a no-show. The tents divided nicely into three compartments and I was delighted to find good friend Ange was to share with me. We were both Jaime’s clients and had taken part in a training weekend a couple of months previously - and apparently I didn't snore :-).

Day 1
Mt Cook Village to south end of Lake Pukaki. 56km

Day 1 - Stage 1

Day 1 - Stage 2

The first day started a little earlier than we would have liked due to the wind rising in the middle of the night necessitating tent reinforcement in the wee hours. I think I managed about four hours of sleep in total. I wasn't aware at the time that would be the best night's sleep I would have for the week!

The first day is broken into two stages. A small 6km leg to Mt Cook airport followed by 50 odd kilometres to the first official camp. The 6km first stage is a lovely route across river flats on a mostly well groomed trail. Early nerves settled down and my pack didn't feel so heavy after all.

At the end of the first stage we had our first surprise. The only way to the start of stage 2 was a helicopter ride across a river! I love helicopters and it was a thrilling ride up and over in blustery conditions. Little did we know that the pilots were on the verge of shutting down operations due to high winds. Unbeknownst to us, Michael was having conniptions behind the scenes as he didn't have a Plan B!

Photo credit - Eemon Marstella

Once everyone was safely over the river, we were sent on our way at 9am for stage 2. The elevation profile for stage 2 indicated a mostly flat run although Michael warned us the final 8km would be along the boulder-strewn lake front. I had already decided to take things very easy in the early days so settled into a happy jog.

Given heavy rain earlier in the week from ex-tropical cyclone Gita, we were worried about water crossings. As it turned out there was only one stream crossing where a decision was required to wade through or remove shoes. Most decided to take their shoes off and put them back on again on the other side to keep feet as dry as possible. Wet feet can lead to maceration and extremely painful blisters. Think of your feet when you spend too much time in the bath, then rub the softened and swollen skin on the inside of your shoes for hours on end. Yeah, that. I took a novel approach to that stream crossing and whipped out two large black plastic rubbish sacks, pulled them up over my legs, and waded through. End result: dry shoes and on my way again while about twenty others were still putting their shoes on :-).

For the rest of the morning and into the afternoon the route followed a gravel road with minor rises and falls. The views over Lake Pukaki were lovely and, glancing back, I could occasionally see Mt Cook through a sheet of light rain that was failing in its attempt to catch us, despite being pushed along by the strong northerly on our backs.

Photo credit - Eemon Marstella

This stage had three checkpoints along the way where our “passport” had to be hole punched. If a checkpoint was missed then you had to return to it  or be disqualified. Needless to say I was very careful to get this punched!

Runners were soon well spread out with small bunches of one or two sticking together for companionship. I pottered along not really knowing how to fully approach the running so erred on the slow side. The strong tail wind pushed me along and sometimes from side to side. There was really only one short stretch where I ran directly into the wind and was very grateful not to have to do that for the whole day!

Soon after checkpoint three, at about the marathon mark, the course went off road into some scrubby wilding pines. There were places where I had to get on hands and knees to get under low branches but at least it was a change from the long gravel road.

Soon I was wishing for the road again as the route popped down to the rocky lake shore and running became difficult.

Photo credit - Eemon Marstella

It was about here I started to feel a bit rubbish. On later reflection, I decided the extra slow pace combined with no walking breaks over a very runnable road meant I had not run my usual style. The strong wind may have contributed to the feeling as it whipped away moisture without you realising it. Perhaps I got a little dehydrated.

Anyway, that last 8km stretched out to maybe 10km or more. The end just didn’t seem to come. I recalled seeing a lakeshore power station from studying Google Maps the week before but where was it?! By now a few of us were suffering together and bemoaning the extra distance that seemed to have been added.

Finally the power station appeared but I couldn’t recall how far the finish was after that. It turned out to be eleventy billion miles later. Someone pointed to what they thought was the camp in the distance so I started running in the hope they were right. If wrong I was going to sit down at that point anyway and have a wee cry!

Fortunately it was the camp and so the end of day 1. I found my tent, dumped my pack on the floor, and expressed my displeasure at how the day went with tent mate Brendan who had finished some time before. There were swears. I was a bit disappointed and also worried. If that was day 1 how would I cope with six more of the same, including Long Day!

I mechanically went through my end of day routine of washing, pulling on warm clothes, mixing and drinking Ultragen, and preparing dinner. Day 1 dinner was a double serve of Backcountry Cuisine venison risotto with a side of mashed potato. Not too bad. I had a snack of three minute noodles later in the evening to up my calorie intake.

Other runners were trickling into camp also feeling crap so at least it wasn’t just me. Ange came in feeling reasonably good as I recall, although she had a couple of blisters.

Before long it started getting dark so, without the usual modern distractions of Facebook and YouTube, it was time to hit the sack. Fortunately the camp was better sheltered than the previous night so the wind wasn’t an issue. That’s not to say I slept well. I tossed and turned a lot and there were a few snorers around. One of the luxuries I took with me was my mobile phone and a power bank. The phone was essentially just a camera and music provider because it had to be in flight mode. I popped my headphones in and cranked up some heavy rock music to drown out other sounds and managed to get some sleep.

Day 1 stats: 56.85km 7h51m

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Read Part 2 of Simon's epic story here.