Journey to 100 miles - GSER PART THREE

So, it’s been a while since the last GSER training blog – it was back in July 2021.

Although the race went ahead, due to COVID quarantine rules at the time, it was only viable for Victorian residents who didn’t have to travel interstate.

Like many people I rolled my entry over to 2022, which means I’ll be running in November this year.

Since my last blog a lot has happened! If you want to catch up on the previous two blogs which tie in to this one, click here for part one and here for part two.

I left the digital imaging industry after 33 years, and I’m now working 100% in the Run Vault business, along with my business partner Jamie.

We have the coaching side of the business www.runvaultperformance.com.au, as well as recently launching Australia’s first mobile run shop https://www.runvault.com.au/pages/run-vault-mobile-shop!

What's GSER?

The Great Southern Endurance Run (GSER) 100 Miler takes on the rugged and picturesque mountains and trails throughout the Victorian Alps. With a distance of 161.8km's & 10,680m's elevation gain, it's considered one of the toughest ultramarathons in the Southern Hemisphere. It's scheduled to start at 6:00am on the 11th of November from Harrietville.

The plan:

I had another ankle roll back in February but was able to rehab it pretty quickly & have run the Noosa Ultra Trail 100K & TRAQ Brisbane Trail Marathon since then.

Like last year, I plan to run the Cairns to Port Douglas 120K race in September (also held over from 2021) & then GSER 100 Mile in November.

My training weeks look like this:

Monday: Recovery run or rest

Tuesday: Easy social trails with Running Buddies Southside https://www.facebook.com/groups/328477122219504

Wednesday: Hard trail hills, tempo & intervals with the Toohey Trail Runners https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100057583594152

Thursday: Rest

Friday: Road tempo with Club KT www.clubkt.com.au

Saturday: Social river run or River City Runners https://www.facebook.com/River-City-Runners-Inc-109514651489649

Sunday: Long hilly trails 20K+ from Mt Coot-Tha, Enoggera or Gold Creek.

Mixed in during the week is specific exercises for Achilles, calf & high-hamstring protection, as well as some basic body weight exercises.

I’ll be increasing the distance of my Sunday runs until reaching around 50K around 2-3 weeks before Cairns to Port Douglas, as well doing some longer Saturday runs to pre-fatigue my legs prior to Sunday. (Back-to-backs).

Along the way I’ll be dialling in my gear & nutrition choices, so I’ll be sharing what I plan to use for both the races, along with updating any changes to the training plan.

As before, feel free to hit me up with any specific questions at rob@runvault.com.au

Until the next update, happy running!