Coast to Coast 2022

Activity Date: 12 Feb 2022
Updated: 11 Nov 2024
People: Finn

After a successful Longest Day in 2020, I thought that I would try again! The first time around I had an excellent coach help me along. He taught me a lot about training, and how to achieve the many challenges associated with such a race. This time I was fending for myself, although I had my partner Jen helping me along with a copious amount of snacks from The Great Escape and motivation (in the form of insults about my laziness).

Training Data

The below includes race day of 2022. Comparing this to my data from my 2020 effort I can see that I halved the time that I spent cycling (-100hrs) and put about 130hrs extra into running. I thought that this was a smart move because I really wanted to save some time on the run, but in the end, I was no better off having done so. Still not sure what is a good race strategy there! I did enjoy all the running I did, though. It was nice to get out and do some different running adventures!

The Race!

For what was supposed to be summer, February had been a miserable month. We had two major rain events within 10 days, and a third occurred three days before the race. The Waimakariri Gorge, which is usually the 70km kayak leg, was in full flood and Goats Pass was full of water.

On Friday evening, mere hours before race-start, they announced that we would be going to Plan B kayak which would start at The Willows and be 30km long. They also announced that we would be cycling from Klondyke Corner to The Willows (115km and HILLY). This would in effect substitute a large amount of paddling and flat cycling for hilly cycling and unfortunately, this was not what I had trained a lot for.

Run 1: Off The Beach

This leg is 2.2km and I was doing a 4:30min/km pace up the slight incline. Unfortunately, I didn’t feel I could go faster and was dropped by Red Pod (my starting wave). I was the last to reach the transition and the last to get on my bike. Damnit.

Bike 1: To Aicken’s Corner

This leg is 55km with 500m+ of elevation gain, mostly due to undulating terrain. It is really beautiful lots of locals come and cheer you on as you cycle past in the dark.

Being last on my bike I was cycling by myself which was soul crushing. The rest of the pod would have formed into bunches and would be having a much easier time. I honestly felt like crying and giving up. Still, I cycled on (if not very fast) and after a while a bunch from the next wave caught me. They were going a bit too fast and I couldn’t hold them, though. No worries though because the middle-of-the-road bunch soon arrived (30km in) and I managed to stick with them through to the run transition.

I felt too tired, too nauseous, and too low in morale for so early in the race and was not in good spirits.

Run 2: Goats Pass

This leg is ~32km with 1000m+ of elevation gain (and loss) as it crosses a mountain pass. It took me a couple of kms for my heart rate to settle from 180+ to around 165, and boy was I thankful once it did. The track starts good but progressively gets more rough and steep as it climbs towards Goats Pass.

I had been wanting to do a much better time over Goats Pass than 2020 - something around 5hrs would have been nice. Unfortunately, the river was high which slowed me down a lot, and I was tired from 30km of solo cycling off the coast.

I also have this idealised idea of the Mingha River: that the track is much better. But in all honesty, it’s not. It’s still steep and rough and the going isn’t much faster, especially when your feet, your legs and your stride all hurt.

Bike 2: To The Willows

This leg is 114km with 1100m+ of elevation gain through Porters Pass. This is where the going got tough. I got on the bike with 4hrs to reach The Willows before the kayaking cutoff, and I knew that I couldn’t do 28.5km/hr through such hilly terrain but, I tried. It didn’t take me long to lose hope, however, but Jen still insisted that there was a point in doing it!

Jen and Dad stopped a few times to give me food/water and to encourage me onwards, which was very helpful. Around Castle Hill the rain arrived and it didn’t stop for the next 2.5hrs! More and more layers went on until I was nicely bundled up and Jen was feeding me warmed up Powerade on the side of the road. In the end, I decided to stick out the whole cycle leg, knowing I wouldn’t make it.

In the ≈end, I arrived at The Willows an hour late. I was one of only a mere handful of cyclists still on the course sticking it out. I handed in my timing chip, stripped out of my sweaty clothes in the rain, hopped (dirty) into some dry clothes and drove home with Jen.

It was very disappointing not to finish. I feel like I should have been able to. A run that was 30min faster plus a ride that was 30min faster should have been within my fitness. But, they weren’t. Writing this now I feel frustrated that I didn’t finish. Why wasn’t I faster?

Next Time?

I think I’ll try again, but not in 2023. I’d like some time to be more flexible with what I do in the outdoors. Time to do more adventures that are not race-specific. I also want to read a lot about sports physiology and how to get quicker.

Maybe see you here again in two years, Coast to Coast.

😮‍💨