The GPT100 is a few weeks away and it is starting to take over my thoughts. I’ve been training pretty much all year, so it’s always been on the back of my mind. But now, as the day fast approaches it’s moved to the forefront. I am constantly visualising and strategising. It’s exciting but the nerves are also starting to build. In this post I will discuss some of my thoughts and how my training has progressed. I may do a follow up post with more gritty details of my race plan if and when I ever work it out.

🏁GPT100 – The Long Running Obsession

I first ran the GPT100 in 2023 and have continued to be drawn back to the event and the region. Last year I ran the stage race and that inspired to have a go at running the full distance again. So this year I am returning to have another crack at the 100 miles. I’ve attended every official training camp and even arranged my own unofficial training trip to the area to run the trail.

The obsession has been fuelled by having a couple of mates equally as enthralled by the event. Ziggy and Justin have been along for much of the ride with me. Having ran the whole GPT three times plus a few extra years of training and experience I hope to return and execute a decent performance. The current dilemma is deciding how to approach goal setting and the pressure around outcome related goals.

🥅Thinking about Goals

In all my years running I have been trying to find the right balance of setting goals that inspire me to perform without imposing too much external pressure. Some of my best performances were in races where I had the least expectations. This might be a by-product of more sensible pacing and less stress from being less concerned with the outcome.

I always try to place a higher value on setting and achieving process goals rather than outcome goals. But after almost a year of training for a specific event it’s hard to let go of the desire to set time goals and chase them. This year I hope to strike the balance, by setting strongly held process goals and loosely held outcome goals. The rationale being that if I follow through with good processes diligently, then desirable results will follow.

What I really want is to have a great day out on the trails and create lasting memories. A good day out means I move well, fuel and hydrate well and feel good for as much of the race as possible. The best way to achieve this is to follow processes that place a high importance on self preservation.

I keep thinking of the saying “survival of the fittest”, but in the 100 mile event I think it’s more likely “the fittest survivor” that succeeds. The fittest person on the startline isn’t necessarily going to win, they could easily blow up and DNF. Fitness paired with experience and being smart about race strategy is the way to prevail over the distance.

Process Goals

I’m still not fully settled on my process goals, but these are a few that come to mind. I will have to consolidate them a little before the event. I think I almost have too many on this list.

• Run mindfully, be present, monitor mental state, take in the beauty, no falls
• Run by feel, keep RPE below 7 at all times, no pressure on pacing
• Keep the tank full, eat 60-90g/hr of carbs consistently
• Hydration at all costs, stay on top of this, sip, slurp all day long (keep sodium up too)
• Smile at every aid station (a goal to carry forward from my first year)
• Thank every volunteer (shows appreciation, but also makes me feel good in the tough times)
• Embrace the pain
• No racing till Griffin Fireline, if feeling good then push to the finish

I might event adopt some stage based goals like Justin did last year. In particular to “respect the monster”, in relation to the section over Mt William from Burrough huts to Jimmy creek. This is arguably the crux of the race.

Outcome Goals

As much as I’d love to forgo outcome goals, I think it helps to have achievable times to aspire to. My main outcome goal is to run the race quicker that I did on my first year. These are my outcome goals:

• Main goal: Beat myself, finish faster that my previous time of 31:22
• Finish under 30 hours
• Finish under 28 hours (replicate Luke Barrett’s 2023 splits)
• Anything better than these times is a bonus

🗓️Training Update

A few months ago I was diligently keeping the blog updated with my training and life but as the training volume increased the time available to write about the training diminished. In my last update I was recovering from a string of viral illness that hindered my training for 5 weeks. Thankfully I was able to finally recover and get stuck into a decent training block.

The extended down period did get me worried but I have now got enough training in the bank to have a decent level of confidence in my fitness levels. After my last update I moved into a steady state block. This block consists of high aerobic zone workouts. You get up to just below the aerobic threshold and hang out at this intensity for a period. I decided to use this steady state block to incorporate some race specificity.

I plan to use poles in the race but haven’t used them for a long time. My old poles are broken, so I bought myself a new pair. The first set arrived and there was only one pole in the box 😢. My single pole went back to Spain and I ordered another set of fancy Komperdell poles. Armed with my new “pair” of poles I undertook the bulk of my steady state intervals hiking uphill with poles. This way I could improve my hiking economy and pole skills whilst also getting the physiological benefits of a steady state workout.

After the steady state block I moved into an endurance focused specificity block. This is the final block before the event so all workouts are race specific. Every long run is done carrying all mandatory gear, focusing on race nutrition, hydration and finding trails that best replicate the course. This is by far the most fun but also the most full on block of training. Mostly because the training volume peaks through this block so the time commitment is large and so is the associated fatigue. I think as ultrarunners the long run is by far the favourite workout, and I’ve had some great long runs with mates culminating in a Tasman peninsula training camp with a good crew.

I’m super happy with how training is progressing. I feel about as fit as I need to be. I could always have done more but I worry about the risk of injury from higher training loads. An extra hour or two on the end of already big weeks won’t make much difference for fitness but could be the tipping point for injury.

I’ve managed to peak at a 16 hour week and might aim for another big one next week before tapering off. I snuck in a week of heat training this week and I will look to maintain that with intermitted sauna sessions in the lead up. Feeling physically well prepared is the best way for me to feel calm and collected going into the event.

🧘‍♂️Reducing Stress

I am dead set on being as chill as possible this year in the lead up to the event and during. It’s easier said than done. My plan is to be as prepared as possible so I have nothing to worry about. But the more I think about preparations the more things I think of to do and plan.

In 2023 I made all of the spreadsheets and poured hours into the preparation, mostly as a way to channel my nervous energy. I thought I had wasted my time putting so much effort into my spreadsheet but Mum who supported me said afterwards that it was invaluable. This time around I am able to use my old spreadsheet and just update it to the new start time and tweak a few values and reuse it. I have Mum and Dad back as support crew and they have requested an up to date spreadsheet.

Having done the event before and ran many more ultras since, I am becoming more experienced at managing the mental side. Knowing I have done the training and am physically prepared for the undertaking prevents me from to much worry. This year my main problem is containing my excitement!

I feel like many adults don’t get to experience this much excitement unless they bet big at the casino or go bungee jumping. It feels like the lead up to Christmas and the announcement that Caleb Olson is coming to race is next level! It may have killed the small part inside that hoped to get anywhere near the podium but it comes with the privilege of getting to race one of the best trail runners in the world.

🍴Nutrition and Hydration Philosophy

My greatest downfall as an ultrarunner is nausea, once it takes hold I struggle to keep it at bay. I know I am not alone with this affliction. GI distress is one of the most common causes of DNFs and poor performance. Thankfully my gut usually holds up ok but it’s the nausea that gets me. Once the nausea sets in I lose my ability to push or move well and drinking and eating becomes a challenge. Which further exacerbates the nausea.

If the nausea can be kept at bay and the nutrition continually rolling in then I should be able to keep chugging away all day long till muscular fatigue becomes the limiting factor.

The difficulty with the nausea dilemma is pinpointing the cause. It could be from overhydration, underhydration, over fuelling, under fuelling, sodium imbalance, overheating, overexerting amongst other things. I am certain that my nausea is caused by a combination of hydration problems and overexertion. To tackle this I have become intently focused on hydration on my training runs. I bought a 2L bladder to increase my carrying capacity to 3L and I’ve been trying to get my fluid intake up. I have been filling the bladder and aiming to diligently hydrate. I try to keep tabs on how much I am drinking per hour and ensure I don’t fall behind. It’s not perfect but I am improving my hydration game.

This year I have been focusing on my homebrew nutrition options. In training I have been getting 85g/hr of carb intake from my drink mix and homemade gel quite easily. But I know I will reach a point where I cannot stomach these anymore. So I am aiming to incorporate variety into my race day diet.

I believe that each of the following food groups need to be incorporated into a successful nutrition strategy:

• Sweet
• Salty
• Savoury
• Real foods
• Engineered sports nutrition products (gels and drink mixes)

My current go to options are:

• Homemade gel (90g carb)
• Homemade drink mix (80g carb)
• Koda caffeine gels (30g carb)
• Moor gels (25g carb)
• Moor drink mix (40g carb)
• SiS Go gels (22g carb)
• Homemade date scones (50g carb)
• Vegemite sandwiches
• Pizza shapes
• Boiled potatoes at aid stations
• Pure gels and drink mix from aid stations

At each aid station I will empty out my pack entirely and take on all new food. This way my crew can keep tabs on how much I am eating. There will be set packs of nutrition to take on at each aid station. Then I will supplement these packs with whatever solid foods I feel like at the time. I know from experience that sometimes vegemite sandwiches hit the spot then a few hours later they are repulsive.

I love my homemade gels but I am looking to branch out for the race for some variety. Rob from Moor energy has generously hooked Justin and I up with a heap of his product to train with and use in the race. It’s a brand I can get around because they are local, genuinely uniquely flavoured (this helps so much with palette fatigue), use locally sourced fruit and the Ultra product is actually one of the more affordable gels around at $2 a serve.

The flavours are growing on me. The first time I tried the blackcurrant flavour it was full on and I was uncertain of it. Now it’s one of my favourite gels and it seems to taste better the later into a long run I eat them, which is a good sign. Once I have fully tested them in the race scenario I will publish a detailed review.

💭Visualisation

As I mentioned earlier, I cannot get this race out of my mind. I know the whole GPT reasonably well so on my long runs I spend so much time visualising myself running certain sections of the course. When I a moving well at the later end of a long run I like to think of myself running strong at the tail end of the race.

I’m not sure if it actually helps with the performance but it feels beneficial. I’m sure there are studies on this which I should look into but it seems like a fairly common strategy among runners. Each time a section is visualised it feels kind of like mentally practicing moving through that section without actually having to be there. Hopefully all of the brain training helps provide some mental fortitude on race day.

Wrapping Up

It’s funny how an event like this can take up so much space in your head and heart. The GPT100 has a way of pulling me back in every time. There’s something about the challenge, the landscape, and the people that keeps me coming back for more. This year feels different though. More grounded, more prepared, and somehow more meaningful. It feels like the culmination of three years of preparation. The hours of training, the planning, and the quiet moments of visualising all feel like they’re leading to something special.

Whatever unfolds, I know I’ll come away with new stories, lessons, and hopefully a belt buckle. For now, it’s about staying healthy, keeping calm, and holding onto that excitement that makes this sport so addictive.

If you’re following along on this journey, keep an eye out for maybe another pre GPT post, and of course, a full race report once the dust has settled.