The Pinnacles Classic is a trails race starting at the Gold Creek Dam in Brookfield. I did this race a couple of years ago as my first trail event and really enjoyed it. Back in 2016, I felt like I really overachieved having never raced on trails before. My finishing time then was 1 hour 58 minutes, which for an 18km trail race with over 800 metres of elevation was pretty good in my books. I was aiming for around the 2 hour mark and was very surprised to cross the finish line in under 2 hours.
This year however was very different. After my challenging outing at the Mt Glorious Trails race back in February, I didn't have many expectations going into The Pinnacles. In fact, I was seriously considering not turning up at all given that I hadn't really planned or trained properly for it. I had actually entered the race last year, but postponed to this year due to injury.
I had also just started training for the Gold Coast Marathon, which has been lots of running on flat concrete. No hills or trails since Mt Glorious. I had also had a Crohn's flare up the week preceding and had just got back from a few days away with my family.
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| http://www.mowfoto.com/traq/2018pinnacles |
I woke early and made sure I had a good breakfast and went through my usual toilet routine. I set off with plenty of time in hand and got parked at the Dam with an hour to spare, plenty of time. I took my Imodium, got myself registered and joined the queue for the loo. With 30 minutes to go I was feeling great and there was no sign of the troubling arthritis I had suffered during the Mt Glorious race.
The Pinnacles Classic is divided into 2 waves, with the slower wave starting first. This is odd, as normally with other TRAQ races the faster waves go first. I'm not sure the reasoning for this but there you go. The first wave leaves at 6:40am, 20 minutes before the second wave. I had decided on starting with the 2nd wave as most of the participants were starting at that time as well.
It was cool to see the first wave start and to cheer them on as they began their trek up towards the Dam and on upwards through the forest. It was an awesome sight seeing them run across the Dam wall a good 50 metres above where we were waiting, and where we would be running shortly as well.
With the first wave well and truly on their way it as our turn. There were a record number of participants this year (144 in total), still not crowded but there were well over a hundred starting in our wave at 7am. We all lined up at the start and shortly after we were off!
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| http://www.mowfoto.com/traq/2018pinnacles |
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| http://www.mowfoto.com/traq/2018pinnacles |
The Pinnacles Classic is marketed as "18 hills in 18km" and there is no doubt it is tough. However, although the hills are steep they are short and nowhere near as brutal as the Mt Glorious trails race. The other factor is that it is a loop, with the highest point of the race being halfway and this year was run in a clockwise fashion. So, in a way it is a race of two halves. The first being mostly uphill, but with a few sections of flat and downhill to recover. This means that pacing is usually a lot slower in this half. The back half is mostly downhill, there are some uphill sections but not as steep as the first 9km. This section is where you can really pull back some time, which proved true for me.
My race strategy was pretty straightforward. I had decided that the best approach would be to walk up the hills and go hard downhill. Although that is easier said than done. Seeing people cruise by me on the uphills while I was walking was difficult to do at first, but I knew it would pay off. I soon caught up the same people going downhill.
It was a good test for me, as I find it hard to stick to strategies when people are passing me so early in a race and I am full of energy. My daughter even wrote me a note, which she had laminated! It said "Walk up the Hills, Don't run!". Oddly enough this really helped keep my pace in check during the first half of the race, which paid off during the second half.
I had calculated from the last time I ran this race that my first half pace was 7:02min/km and my second half pace 6:06min/km. As you can see the pace increases dramatically for the second half. These paces were going to guide me for today. If I could keep roughly around those times, I would be in a good place to keep close to my previous time.
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| http://www.mowfoto.com/traq/2018pinnacles |
The weather was slightly warmer this time around. This meant that I couldn't really go at the same pace I had done last time. By the half way mark I was moving considerably slower than last time at 7:24min/km, I knew that there was no way I could better my time. I was happy to keep going though and do my best. And, it was mostly downhill from here on in.
There is a checkpoint just after the halfway mark, where there was some water provided along with fruit and sweets for anyone who needed them. I called out my number as I ran through and kept moving well, there was no need to stop. My nutrition was sorted; I was using Tailwind and water and felt great. I had a couple of gels as back up too.
The second half went really well. There were a number of other runners in a small pack in front and behind me. We all mostly stuck together and I think that it really pushed us all along. There were some long downhill sections where I could really stretch out my legs and really increase my pace. I was beginning to pick up a lot of time. I still made sure I walked any hills though, this really helped my mental state as I didn't push too hard. I also kept thinking about my daughter's note!
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| http://www.mowfoto.com/traq/2018pinnacles |
I got to the 15km mark and realised that I was moving faster in this half of the race than last time I raced here, that really amazed me and spurred me on. At this point of the race, it begins to really push downhill towards the finish, with a couple of little climbs right near the finish line. I went for it hard and managed a sub 5min km! On trails for me, this is really moving. Although my legs were really starting to burn. Smashing myself downhills was taking a toll on my quads and I really didn't want to injure myself, so I held back just a little.
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| http://www.mowfoto.com/traq/2018pinnacles |
At the bottom of the big downhill section with less than 1km to go, there was one final little climb. I still walked up it! Once at the top I went for it again and could hear the cheering at the finish line. I ran past the car park directed by the stewards towards the finish line and crossed in 2hrs 1min and 36secs. Just over 3 minutes slower than last time, but the second half was 6:03min/km 3secs per km faster. Even so, I was so pleased to finish well and strongly. Most importantly, I didn't have any of the issues that plagued me at Mt Glorious and was able to enjoy the moment.
The wonderful volunteers at TRAQ and others had put on a sausage sizzle, so I fuelled up on a snag on bread with some watermelon and a banana and sat down for a few minutes to stuff myself! It felt so good!
The Gold Coast Marathon is next, which I am really looking forward to. I have just signed up for the Blackall100 50km in October, my first Ultra. Let's see how that goes...
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