34 for thirty-four

June 30, 2025

Introduction

Welcome to the post race recap!

I went to the track yesterday and ran 34km. Which is 85 laps of a standard 400m track. And I can confirm it was a dumb idea (as is the tradition). I am exceptionally sore. It took four hours and 13 minutes to finish. Which is a lot of running.

I’ll elaborate here on the practicalities of how to go about running for 4 hours.

Dump

First and foremost, before you go on any kind of long run, you have to take a dump.

You have to take a dump. It is non-negotiable. You take the dump before you go for the run, or you take it mid-run (and that’s much worse).

Running is an early morning activity. More so in summer, when you need to dodge the sweltering heat of the sun. Still true in the cold of winter. You want to be finished and relaxing through the afternoon and evening. Basking in the glow of your accomplishment. Rather than fretting and stressing and wasting energy thinking about the race to come.

We run in the morning. And whatever we ate the day before is gradually being passed through the digestive system. Gotta lighten the load. Takes a coupla hours.

Coffee

And for these reasons, I am a huge advocate for my favourite drug:

Coffee!

Coffee will solve all of your problems. Alertness in the pre-dawn darkness. Assistance with the regularity of your bowel movements. To be clear. Black coffee. Milk before running is a trap best avoided.

I was up at 04,30 so that I could start running before sunrise (~07,00).

Hence, coffee.

Company

This year I recruited some friends to come and celebrate my birthday.

A massive thank you to Aayush and Kiyomi for the company on the track!

Kiyo ran 10km from the start. Overlapped me three times. She was zooming!

Aayush went the first 17km to halfway.

I am supremely very grateful to them. Because as much as I love running - running against my favourite thing to do! And I will gladly do it on my own. When you embark on a quest that is as repetitively monotonous as running 85 laps of a 400m track. Any lap in which I can run with someone. I don’t have to think about pacing or speed.

Any lap in which I can chat with someone about:

Is infinitely superior to the laps where I was just plodding away. Step, step, step…

A huge improvement on last year. Last year I ran around the block 33 times. No one came with me. The tradies pouring concrete looked up when I went past. Still passed on the opportunity to join in.

Preparation

I checked my training logs for last year. I did a grand total of 2 training runs. I was in a bad way afterwards.

This year, yes, I am sore - but I’m upright, I’m walking. I went and coached my class at the gym this morning. The parts of me that are sore includes: everything.

Especially everything concentrated in the tendons that connect my calves to my feet.

Reflection

If you do any kind of running: distance sprinting jumping plyometrics

Then your feet and the achilles tendon are taking the load as you land. And then generating force as you take off.

I ran the race the old school way: with a stopwatch and a clicker for the lap count. So I didn’t actually take a step count. Back of the envelope maths then:

When I’m running my stride length is about 1m. The race was 34,000m. So I estimate 34,000 steps from start to finish (at a minimum).

My calves and feet are so fried right now. Essentially biltong. Dried meat that’s been hanging from a hook and left in the sun for too long.

Mileage

This year I did way more running in the lead up.

A massive shoutout to the Jungle Botany Run Club. Every Saturday morning from 06,00. Getting after it, together. Appreciate you and the camaraderie. A regular 5km deposit into the odometer for the 2 months leading up.

I ran 21km two weeks before the race was scheduled. Just to check the systems. It took 2.5 hours and it was fine afterwards. Sore, but fine. And if I’m fine after 21, I should be fine after 34.

I feel an order of magnitude more tired from yesterday’s run than I did after the half. I feel tied in the same way, though. As in, nothing feels out of place or out of alignment.

Advice

My tip for training to run without specifically training for running:

Travel stairs backwards.

Take care not to fall. Use the handrails if you need. Or hold onto the walls for support.

Stairs in reverse loads more through the glutes and calves. The main drivers of running for distance.

Regular stairs are better for the hip flexors and quads. More suited to sprinting.

My tip for training to run:

Calf raises.

As the old saying goes: 100 calf raises a day keeps the physio away.

I went back and checked my training logs from the last marathon I ran. About 3 years ago now. At one point I was trying to run 3km every day. Because it was covid. You needed things to do to keep you insane.

My achilles tendons were so inflamed that I had to back right off. Stop running altogether for a bit. Turns out, the rehab was to do 100 calf raises every day. On an incline. A slope, or a step, or a ledge. Anything that allows the ankle to move into full dorsiflexion (toes to the knee). Otherwise, you’re not working the muscle through the full range of motion. The way you would when you’re running.

When I say 100 calf raises a day, I actually mean 100 calf raises on each leg each day. So 200 calf raises a day. Sure, you can load calf raises up with weight. Wear a backpack or hold a dumbbell. The main weight you’re shifting on a run is yourself though. 34,000 steps in the race. Best to load them up with volume.

Friends

I made friends during the run too! That was good. There were people at the track. The people were invested in the story (once they worked out what the story was).

After each lap, I would shout out the tally:

They twigged that I was keeping a count. Asked how far? And for why?

85, for my 34th birthday!

Shoutout to Kerry and Anna! The beauty of running, the shared connection of a common passion.

Kerry was running repeat 5kms. Battling for fitness and consistency around work. Pulled out of the Gold Coast marathon next week to focus on a better time in Sydney.

Anna was getting back into running after a multi-year hiatus. Struggling with the headspace. Comparing her speed now to her speed at her best. The daunting space in between.

Thanks to the crew I learned that I was cheating myself. The first two lanes of the track were dummies. Not quite up to the distance requirements. To compensate, I ran the last third of the race in the outermost lane.

Replay

I broke the race up into fifths. Chunks of 17 laps.

It’s much easier to count in laps than it is counting kilometres. Hard to multiply or divide by 2.5 while maintaining a continuous pace.

17, 34, 51, 68, 85.

I ran the first fifth deliberately slow. AJ and Kiyo zoomed off into the distance. I was playing the long game. Keep a steady pace. Maintain a strong brace through the trunk. Efficient strides. Light and soft on the landing.

I took a break to water a tree.

The sun came out around lap 6. Then there was a brief window of sunlight on the track. It expanded as I ran. Glorious solar warmth.

It was frosty to start. The clicker was a little ice cube in my hand.

Ran in shorts and shoes (to start). Bare chested. Left the legs unshaved, to avoid ingrowns. Smoothed the scar on the chest though.

Coulda been dead at 25 to the cancer.

Out here instead.

Celebrating life.

Fuel

I stopped every fifth to recharge. Take a sip of water. Coffee, if needed. Nibble on a snack.

My choices:

People use the gels too. I’m wary of the gels. Often they have caffeine added. I don’t need external sources of caffeine in my life. Coffee only, please and thank you.

I introduced the others to the Clinker game. Take a guess before you take a bite: pink, green, or yellow. Get a streak of as many as you can.

Basically, I want little treats to nibble on. You don’t want a whole meal. It’ll just sit in your stomach and bounce. Slow you down too much.

I practice mandatory hydration. If you’re dehydrated in a race, it’s already far too late. The approach I prefer is to take on fluid regularly. Every 5-10km, depending. If it’s hot. If you’re going full send. Every 30min, to be safe. That way, if you get to being thirsty you’re already in the habit of hydrating. You might not want to. But for a race that’s going for multiple hours. You gotta.

Challenge

Between lap 50 and the end of the race, everything started to feel sore. No specific moment or incident. Gradually it became more and more uncomfortable.

The hardest part is starting again after a hydration station. Once you’re moving all you need to do is hold on. To not stop.

But you need to stop to keep on keeping on.

The slow walk back to the track. The first shuffling steps to regain momentum. Then I’m back at it again.

85 laps down.

Coda

Until next year: Happy Birthday!

all my love, ande