Im aiming to run the iconic Coast to Kosciuszko in a race record time of less than 24 hours and 33 minutes. An average of  6:08km per hour for 240 kilometres with over 5432 metres of elevation gain in whats regarded as Australia's toughest Ultra Marathon. You will be able to follow the race on December 4th 2020 from 5:30am AEST right here. I have detailed below how I have prepared myself for this challenge.

This race is mainly run on gravel forest roads or paved bitumen roads, with the final 20km up to and returning from the summit returning to trail terrain. Its a mainly exposed course with few trees and long grinding hills. Specific adjustments to my usual trail running training have been added into my weekly sessions to help best prepare me for this challenge. 

Weekly Training 

On average I have run 170km a week since recovering from the Tarawera Ultra Marathon in February this year. Normally I would build and peak 2-3 times a year for A races with additional easier weeks after B and C races. But this year of course is different and events have been cancelled continually. So I was always preparing for a race, for it to then be cancelled.

This meant I couldn't then just reduce my training, once an event had been cancelled, as I had to potentially always be ready for that next event. I did make a very conscious decision during the year however to improve what I see as my running strength, being long climbs and hills. This should set me up well for this race.

I included 1 strength based and 1 strength/drill based session weekly.

I ran between 13-15 run sessions a week, Mondays being a recovery day. I ran twice most days

2-3 of these runs were very specific. Including an interval session on a Tuesday night and either a hard effort within a Saturday trail run followed by a longer Sunday road run OR a longer Friday effort backed up by another longer Sunday effort with a short focussed session on a Saturday. All long runs in the lead-up I carried a hydration vest with a minimum of 2kg in it. 

Run Additions

Altitude Training. 2 weekly runs have been replaced by a run session and a strength/cardio class at between 2500m-3500m altitude.

Ensuring long hills are within my weekly longer runs.

I had 3 key lead up weekends. 4 weeks out included a 50km road run on Thursday morning followed by a 50km technical trail run starting at 10pm on the Friday night.

Mental Preparation

Mental preparation included a re-focus on developing imagined imprints by "imagining I was racing key parts of the course" a powerful method of race preparation for myself. My detailed race plan was completed with 4 weeks to go and this included working through and documenting what I planned to execute and how I would feel on the day during 24 sections but also planing preventative and contingent actions if i started drifting out of my "Green Zone".

Whilst it may seem easier said than done to simply pull your self back into that green zone and be present moment focussed during an event, having practiced certain strategies including growing the self image throughout my training in the lead-up is just as important as executing to the best of my ability on race day.

The key elements of mental preparation included revisiting my "traffic Signals" and practicing my release mechanism. Completing my detailed race plan 5 weeks ahead of the event and sharing it with my crew has been key to me feeling confident and prepared, as best I can be.

Recovery

Ive got a great support network around me. At various stages in my training I have had to work with these professionals to manage any issues that flared up. However the most important aspect of my training and recovery has been sticking to these tried and tested sessions.

Remedial Sports Massage Weekly (sometimes more) I see the team at Aviano. Dave Cossettini has worked with me for over 8 years and his knowledge of keeping the body aligned has I feel been one of the most important factors in allowing me to continually train at my potential, Weekly Hip Balances in the lead up were performed twice weekly. And then the remainder of the entire Aviano crew have been so beneficial. Alyssa/Brendan/Mark and Russell have all helped me and I must really thank Russell for his excellent massages too.

Focussed Stretch session Fortnightly. The Team at the Stretch Lab in Newcastle have been awesome, thanks Hana and Nat

Chiropractic adjustment as required from James at Transitions Chiropractic

Podiatry services as required. Thanks Justin from Achieve Podiatry for helping me stay on top of my sometimes sore feet with specific adjustments to orthotic inserts and your real desire to get to the root cause of any associated issues.

And during the week my Air relax Recovery Boots from Strength-Mobility-Recovery 

Australia’s premier ultramarathon, the 240km CoastTo Kosciuszko, returns in 2020.

“Coast To Kosciuszko is renowned, revered and loved amongst the Australian Ultra Running community – and well beyond – and the 2020 event will evoke the spirit of past events”.

The 240km race is invitation only and is limited to 50 of the best ultra-marathon runners in the country. The race starts on the beach at Eden, NSW and finishes 240km later at Charlotte Pass after the runners have summitted Mount Kosciuszko, Australia’s highest peak.

Coast To Kosciuszko will be held in it's traditional timeslot of the first weekend in December, commencing 5:30am Friday 4 December, with the cut-off time of 3:30am Sunday 6 December. It will be the 12th time the iconic ultramarathon has been held.

Personally for myself, this race holds even more significance in that the race route runs less than 6 kilometres from my family farm at the 120km mark. Growing up on the Monaro, who would have imagined that one day I would challenge myself to take on such an epic goal? Considering that at the age of 10, I had joint coalition surgery on both ankles (whilst this was relieving me of daily pain whenever I stood/walked), it was supposed to mean that running wasn't really part of the future plans for this young country boy.

The course is definitely challenging for a number of reasons. The weather will play a big part, firstly it's not uncommon to receive snow in December up in the mountains. And on top of that there are some seriously long hill climbs on a course that is very much totally exposed to the elements with little to no shade.

Life wasn't easy growing up either, when we lost our first farm due to mounting debts as a teenager, that really hit the entire family hard, thankfully though we were able to stay in the area and although there were so many hardships and challenges, we were able to re-establish in Bungarby.

But through all this I still ran, often in my steel capped working boots, it came naturally and felt right and if it wasn't the sheep I was rounding up, it was the solo runs on the dirt roads that would help me to become the runner I am today.

Whilst there are so many good memories of my teenage years on the farm, too many painful ones have remained which to this day make it difficult for me to visit. I believe this run will allow me to put a lot of that aside.

This event is unlike your normal race in that there are no aid stations set up along the course. All runners must have their own organised support vehicle and crew. As a team we have decided to operate two crews allowing 1 pair to support me running whilst the other takes a break. With the target time in mind, there wont be much time for the team to rest.

The crew will operate by setting up about every 10 kilometres to refuel me as I reach them, before leap frogging me to head up the road another 10 kilometres. However it gets more fun when it gets dark, from this point - runners must be followed by their support vehicle! At any point from when its dark, crews can also run with me, it's mandatory that at least 1 crew runs with me for the last 20km including the summit! 

My dream team includes my wonderful wife aka Chezzie, and some very special mates Tim, Benn and Tom. 

On top of the crew we are also documenting the journey to be able to share with you all via protrailrunner to help you achieve your own future adventures. Stephen - Kaiya and Noah will be out on course doing their thing.

I've been fortunate enough to have worked with Compeat Nutrition for the last couple of years. During this time I've been guided by their expertise for pre and during event nutrition. Specifically for this event Alicia Edge has worked with me to incorporate some additional additions to my race day fuelling strategy.

Completed 6 weeks before the event, I have a plan which is specific to the various stages of this race, as I spend more time running, specific nutritional additions are made. This customised fuelling plan has been communicated to my team and they all have access to it as its incorporated into my overall race plan. This is going to help them crew me on the day and allow me to focus on running!

The staple nutritional intake i'll use throughout this entire run is Tailwind. Thank you to Tailwind Australia for your support in the lead-up to race day and during the event.

I'll start adding Caffeine from 6 hours and BCAA's from 160 kilometres, we anticipate that where the fatigue will really start to set in, as darkness falls. Of course this must be adaptive and trialled in the lead-up.

I am grateful to these individuals and organisations that have sponsored and/or directly supported me over my career and in particular in preparation for this challenge. Performing and training at your peak really is a team effort!

• GEAR: Salomon | Suunto
• MENTAL  STRENGTH PREP: Associate Professor Andrew J. Gardner Ph.D., D.Psy (ClinNeuro)
• NUTRITION: Compeat Nutrition | Tailwind Australia
• TRAINING: Runlab | Air Locker Training Newcastle | The Concept Sports & Development Centre
• MAINTENANCE: Achieve Podiatry | Aviano Remedial Therapies | Australian Remedial Massage Therapy | The Stretch Lab Newcastle
• RECOVERY: Air Relax Australia | Strength Mobility Recovery