Caine Warburton – The Road to the Stampede
The Buffalo Stampede is a race that has gnawed away in the back of my mind ever since I was silly enough to sign up for it last year. With 4500m of vertical accent and trails that vary between 10% and 45% in grade it’s one real brut! Just to make that a little more challenging the who’s who of Australian trail running (and a few jet setting internationals) will be toeing the line to make this the most competitive and full on race I have ever done.
Training wise I was struggling badly back in Jan/Feb but as it turns out the best way to break out of an injury slump is run a marathon! It would appear that the Wangaratta Marathon I ran on the 24th Feb JOLTED my body back into shape…or something like that, and since then in the last 4 weeks I have logged some of my best training yet and managed to cram (hopefully) just enough in for buffalo!
Monday 25th Feb
Rest
Tuesday 26th Feb
11.6km/35m/60min
Recovery run with family (including pram)
Wednesday 27th Feb
1:32/980m/15km
Cruizy out and back on the buffalo course to the bottom of the mystic decent. Felt pretty good today and enjoyed the fast single track coming back into bright.
49min/118m/8.7km
Recovery run with family
Thursday 28th Feb
2hrs/1335m/18km
Effort session up MT Bogong Staircase spur. 5x5min hard with 90sec walk with a easy run to the summit afterwards and a faster decent.
Friday 29th Feb
1:25/340m/17km
Run on some single track at falls creek. Surprised at how well the legs turned over after yesterday and with a bit of altitude.
Saturday 1st March
3:05/2111m/24.5km
Long run on buffalo course from bright over mystic and clear spot to the bottom of clear spot.
Very hard long run with an extra half rep of clear spot when I realised I lost my wedding ring somewhere up there….note: I never found it.
Sunday 2nd March
Rest
Weekly Stats
9:02hrs/4919m/94.8km
Monday 3rd March
2:55/2400m/23km
Long run in Blue Mountains with 2x running reps of Golden Stairs and 2x Fuber Stairs.
Tuesday 4th March
Rest
Wednesday 5th March
1:20/250m/19km
Easy flatter run on fire roads today
Thursday 6th March
60min/800m/8km
Was meant to be 3hrs but legs/body didn’t play the game so cut it short. Must be time for a rest!!
Friday 7th March
Rest
Saturday 8th March
3:25/1800m/32km
Springbrook Plateau long run with loads of stairs. Wasn’t moving too fast but then not too slow either.
Sunday 9th March
1:55/1200m/18km
Hill rep session as hike hard up and run hard down for 60min then 55min easy.
Weekly Stats
10hrs 35min/6450m/100km
Monday 10th March
Rest
Tuesday 11th March
60m/0m/11km
Track session as 3x (3x400m (hard) 20sec rest, 1200m (5kp) 2min rest) . Felt good to be back on the track after a few weeks in the hills.
60min/50m/10km
Recovery run with family
Wednesday 12th March
1:25/700m/18.5km
Easy paced run over rolling fire road, good to get the leg turnover up a bit.
Thursday 13th March
1:10/800m/12km
Hill reps as 4x7min hard up, hard down 2min rest. Felt pretty good today.
Friday 14th March
Rest
Saturday 14th March
4:15/2500m/40.5km – LA SPORTIVA RAZORBACK 38km
38km Razorback race + cool down. 1st place new course record. Check out the race report HERE
Sunday 15th March – LA SPORTIVA BON ACCORD VERT KM
1:20/1400m/10km
Warm up + Vertical K (1:07:27) was a good little hit out but my legs didn’t want to run up hill after 20min so back half was a long hike. Happy to get second on tired legs.
Weekly Stats
10hrs 10m/5400m/102km
Monday 16th March
Rest
Tuesday 17th March
60min/0m/10km
Track set as 10x 400m with a 200 float.
45min/0m/8.5km
Recovery Run with family
Wednesday 19th March
1:20/560m/16km
Easy hilly trail run along buffer track. Felt pretty average today and stiff in lots of places. Lost the light and last 4k was in dark without a light…fun times.
Thursday 20th March
Rest
Friday 21st March
60min/0m/13km
Easy roll out road run.
Saturday 22nd March
3hr/2100m/22km
Final steep hill long run before Buffalo. 9 steep hills at about 20-35% in 3hrs.
Sunday 23rd March
1:55/900m/25km – UP THE BUFF 25km
Up the Buff Trail Race. 1st place and broke my own course record from last year by 13min. Feeling pretty pumped after that as my legs where very dead after yesterdays vert!!!!
