Seventy30zero

I have to apologise for the lateness of this post. It had been hard to even open my Word.Press site since my mother’s death. It is clear how our lives and priorities suddenly shift when we are dealing with loss of a loved one. I feel ready now to start sharing again and hope I can deliver what I promised now.

This year was going to be the one. The one where I do better than I have done on the previous 2 races and the one where I can finally see where my Carnivore journey has taken me up to this point. Finally a race where I can make some sort of comparison to get some insurance that I am going in the right direction in my health and fitness journey.

• Event Name: TransLantau UTMB 2024
• Date: 9 November 2024
• Location: Lantau Island, Hong Kong
• Distance: 96 km
• Total Elevation gain: 4,500 m+

RACE DAY PREP

So important to my actual race day is of course the preparations the day before. I managed really well this year despite having to recover very quickly from my Nepal 3 stage event the weekend before.

In the morning I woke up and weighed in and was back to pre-Nepal weight plus, according to my semi accurate body composition scale, with a bit more body fat back in reserve.  I had a moderate breakfast, probably my carnivore toast and butter. I took my potassium supplement which seems to help me to with my heart pounding, which is a common occurrence in some people at the start of the carnivore way of eating due to an electrolyte imbalance.

I decided to defrost a whole Tomahawk Steak and prepped it for my early afternoon dinner.

I had a good foam rolling session to make sure all the muscles were relaxed. I prepped my food for race day, starting with making the chicken wing bone broth on the slow cooker. I made my emergency carbohydrate food, Japanese rice ball or onigiri with a carnivore spin. Japanese rice mixed with cooked mince beef and butter. I formed 6 of them into small few mouthful size and packed 2 each in 3 small boxes. One box I wrapped each onigiri in wax paper so they were ready to take away at the check points. I was really hoping not to use them till last couple of check points. I cut the oranges which seemed to work during my earlier races and had them ready in a box. I cut the salted butter sticks into long strips and wrapped each, approximately 60 grams in wax paper. This was my energy ‘gel’. A whopping 430 calories in one stick, just for reference if you count calories, most carnivore people do not. Fried my pork belly and cut them into strips and put them in a box as well.

I ate my Tomahawk steak at around 4 pm and surprisingly managed to eat it all. It just slipped down. Trying to avoid any cream so I skipped my normal treat of carnivore ice cream. It’s not as crazy as it sounds, just simple whipping cream with a couple of egg yolks mixed and frozen. This is also how I have been trying to put the weight back on. In the end, I caved in and had a couple of ice cube size blocks. I also did have an black tea, which is also not carnivore,but I trying to keep my body from dumping oxalate since I was so paranoid about having any inflammatory issues during the race. I was already having weird nerve pains during the day so I was worried that something was coming on. It was probably just pre-race nerves.

I had a light dinner and was pretty sleepy early so I just went to bed. Fell asleep after a while and the next thing I knew it was 4 am. Garmin says I fell into a deep sleep at around 9:02 and I was up near 4 am so I had a good solid 6 hours of sleep so I was very pleased with that. I stayed in bed till about 5:30 and then got up and started to get ready.

RACE DAY

Section 1 – Mui Wo to Pui O (6.5 km)

Showered and glided up and dressed. Decided on my gear for the day. Felt strong! Usual red racing cap and brooks shorts and light blue Solomon racing vest. I sat for a while debating whether to carry hiking poles or not. For the UTMB races, it is strict on hiking poles. If you need them you have to carry them for the whole duration. In the end I decided against having them. I didn’t need them last year so I won’t need them this year.

Went downstairs to the kitchen to get the day started. Still a few hours till the start so I decided to do breakfast which was my homemade carnivore bread (ingredients are a ton of eggs, cottage cheese, pork rind panko and butter). Ate that with a pile of salted French butter.

I managed to completed all my pre-race faffing at home so was able to literally arrive at the start line ready to go. The race start was less than a 10 minute ride in the car from my front door which is a huge advantage for me, I know.

Had one butter coffee with my breakfast and topped up on my mineral supplements. My stomach felt calm but had a couple more visits to the loo before finally heading out the door. Everything packed and ready for my support team (hubby and son). So we jumped in the car and set off for the start. Got to the square where the start line was at around 8:40 am. I found the start line and noticed the first wave was already positioning so I just went in. My faithful cheering squad consisting mostly of the ladies in my Nepal racing group, found me shortly after. So grateful that they came to see me off. Took the usual selfies with them at the start line and they all wished me luck and they went to get a good viewing spot for the start. I only just remembered to set my Garmin and put it to battery save mode. It would never last 24 hours otherwise.

I checked my heart rate and it was about 78 bpm. Wow, so calm right up at the start line, am I even warmed up yet?

Soon, it was the count down and then we were off. It had been drizzling on and off all morning and raining as we started. It didn’t really matter though, it was all very exciting and very hard to slow down. I wasn’t running fast or so I had thought but my heart rate was suddenly now quite high and I knew I would need to reign it in. I thought once we hit the first steps at the trail head, I can get in my zone and bring my heart rate down.

Well, that didn’t happen. I felt so good that I just carried on. I had a Japanese flag patch on my cap and this young guy started to talk to me in Japanese. He had just flown in from Tokyo. I asked him what the temperature was there and he said in the lower teens. I warned him that when we hit the big hills, the sun would be out and it will get hot, worrying that he may find the Hong Kong heat a bit of a shock. We chatted more and that kept me up pace so I couldn’t get into any zone.  We got to the first check point pretty fast and I just topped up my water and kept going. At this point my son told me later, I was 25 minutes ahead of my fairly well laid out Excel spread sheet time schedule which I had left for my support team.

Off through a small village cemetery and quietly with prayer hands apologizing to the inhabitants for intruding on their peaceful rest. Then we were on our way up the first hill, the top of which is a helipad with a radio dish so the expat locals call it Radio Hill. It is a small hill compared to the others on Lantau Island so a nice warm up to the many more climbs ahead.

We descended from Radio Hill to Nam Shan which is the start of either the climb up Sunset Peak or the contour route around it. Sunset Peak is the second highest peak on Lantau Island and No. 3 highest in Hong Kong. This will be our final climb in this race so we thankfully ran around it along a contour route to the other side. I was concerned about my water running low as it was starting to get a lot warmer by this point. I reassured myself that I would see my team at Pak Kung Au (check point 2) and they would have all my things ready for me.

The contour run was good, still a bit fast and my heart rate still high. Felt pretty good though so did not stress. The young Japanese guy was doing a back and forth with me but I think I got to CP 2 before him. 

Section 2 – Pui O to Pak Kung Au (10.7 km)

The CP 2 stop was simple and fast. I was 2 minutes faster than my predicted time for that section so was still almost half an hour early. I drank my broth in the flask and ate one stick of butter, refilled the bottles and then had a toilet break and set off again. 

The next bit was straight off up some rocky steps that would take us up the highest peak on Lantau Island. Lantau Peak is also the second highest peak in Hong Kong.

I headed up nice and slow determined to get into steadier pace but as I went on I found it was feeling quite easy compared to the same climbs on other races. I was trying to keep the heart rate down and was still feeling strong up all the way up despite the heat and humidity being quite high now thanks to the rain in the morning.

The young Japanese guy passed me at the start of the ascent but by 2/3 of the way up I found him slightly off the path looking pretty hot. He was only then taking out his hat and sun gear. I told him to take care with a wave and carried on with a private ‘told you so’ smile as I passed. I guess now he knows not to ignore the considerate advice from even just ‘some old lady’.

Got to the top feeling pretty good and went straight down. My legs were starting to feel a bit wonky but not too sore. I knew some food at Ngong Ping CP would be good. I don’t even remember the descent which is very steep and full of high steps made of stone, it was pretty quick and since I was luckily put in the first wave of racers this year, I didn’t have to pass slower hikers with hiking poles. I was careful not throw myself down the steep steps too fast this time but still managed a PR for the descent. I got to the check point and my guys were there all set up an ready. I had more broth, butter and some of my pork belly bits. Filled up my water bottles and set off again pretty quick.

Section 3 – Pak Kung Au to Ngong Ping 1 (5.5 km)

There is just under 4 km downhill road winding down to the next trail head. I did an easy jog down and arrived at the trail head feeling good.

Heading up Keung Shan, I was passed by a couple of older gentlemen who greeted me in Japanese. “Yuko san!” they said, “Gambatte!” which means “good luck, do your best” in Japanese. I nodded and said the same back. Then the younger of the two asked me if I was in the 60+category and I said “No! Not yet!!”, slightly insulted wondering if I looked that old. But then the guy informed me that the older gentleman was in the 60-65 category. I said something to the effect of, “Wow! Good job! Keep going”. Then they asked again what category I was in and I said 55-59. The older guy said, “Oh! No problem. Podium.” Haha, I laughed politely and thanked them but knew it was too early to call. My running coach son also hadn’t said anything at the last CP so I thought it was not a done deal by far.

I carried on and seemed to be around a few people I seemed to have fallen into a similar sort of pace with. A couple of younger, fitter looking guys passed us and said something like take it easy, still have 32 hours to finish. Sounded a bit self assured but I let it slide and they went on steadily ahead. I felt pretty good up all those hills. It was getting super hot so I was not pushing it but did not feel it was too much effort. I began to wonder if my Nepal training was paying back.

Thankfully we got to the junction on the turn to my previously most dreaded section before the next check point at Kau Ling Chung but it had clearly been completely trimmed recently so it was no problem. Less technical since we could see our footing and super smooth. I had to watch crossing the 2 or more waterfalls but otherwise it was very runnable. I caught up with those 2 confident younger guys and paced with them for a while then passed them somewhere before the decent down to the catch water. I hopped down the stone steps and started to see some pained expressions on other racers coming up from the next CP. Yes, this is where the sugar fatigue is visible on everyone’s faces.

Section 4 – Ngong Ping 1 to Kau Ling Chung (9.4 km)

I got down and filled water and curiously checked out the organisers support offerings. Not much to see at all, they had almost no food and the sports drink they offered was a pea green soupy concoction which smelled so sweet and sickly and looked like a horrible Halloween slurpee. It smelled so horribly sweet to my carnivore sensitive sense of smell. Totally not surprised that they had nothing else here at all (the previous year was the same) so I turned, had a toilet break and then carried on up the hill. Felt okay, going up, just got on with it. I then heard a familiar voice saying “Yuko san!” It was the 60 year old guy again. I said hello and he went ahead of me but then back at the top junction, we met again as he was having a breather with his younger companion. I carried on up past them pretty sure to see them again soon. I didn’t feel as energetic as I did last year on this next section, probably because I was able to move faster on the freshly cleared path this time.

I carried on as best as I could along this undulating section and knew I would need a good solid dinner soon. I did take a Panadol, heading up from the last CP since I started to have a bit of neck ache again, not wanting it to flare up like it did the year before going up the ‘360 Rescue Trail’ in the next section.

Heading down to the next check point in Tai O felt good. I’ve practiced this horrible concrete downhill many times so ran it easily passing a few people.

Ran down the steep hill to Tai O and then easy jogged it all the way to the CP at Tai O School.

Section 5 – Kau Ling Chung to Tai O (8.7 km)

My husband was waiting with his camera at the entrance and my son was inside the school gates ready to hand me everything I needed.

I got my night stuff ready and put the headlight on my to head on into the night. I ate my food here, my emergency carbohydrate. I did feel I needed it. I didn’t let it bother me since I was a bit nervous about crashing on the climb up the ‘360 Rescue Trail’. I was also having some hot broth at this point and as I was repacking my stuff, the zipper on the main compartment of my racing bag broke right off!

What are we going to do!? I took two safety pins off my bib and pinned the bag where it was open praying the other bit won’t unzip. But how will I get stuff my stuff out! I tried not to panic but it was hard.

My super calm son worked on the bag and managed to put the zip back in backwards so it at least it could open and close to the middle safety pin. This will have to do. I gave instructions for them to get my other bag at home and bring it to our next meeting place at CP 7. I crossed my fingers that I wouldn’t need to go into my bag for any reason till then and headed off out the gates of the school. A lady there high fived me and shouted out my name saying I was looking strong. I was sure that I must know who that was and although I didn’t recognize her at the time, it was a super nice boost for my slightly unhinged mood setting off into the long night.

Section 6 – Tai O to Sham Wat (6.9 km)

I carried on through the sleepy Tai O Village and got through mostly with no problems. Although at one point some locals did have to help me find the right turning. I crossed the small bridge to the little island just off the main village and I got to the start of the ‘Dolphin Trail’ as it grew darker.

This trail climbs out of the village onto a crest path that has great views of the ocean where tourist come to see if they can spot the famous pink dolphins that inhabit these waters.

I decided to turn my head light on at this point and stopped to click it on in the semi dark but was horrified that it wouldn’t turn on to light my way! “What?!?”  I tried and tried again and decided that it must have been accidentally turned on in the bag during the day and drained the battery. Why did I not check before I set off?! I was so upset with myself at this point for such an amateur mistake.

I started trying to get into my broken back pack careful not to open it too much because of the broken zip. It painfully took forever to locate the bag with the extra batteries and torch in the dark. I finally got it out and replaced the one from my head and managed to put it all back with the zip intact!

Thankfully with the second head light working well I headed down the slippy, man-made, faux wooden steps. I got to the flat and was heading for another bridge to take me across back to the mainland when suddenly I realised that I wasn’t seeing markers anymore. I panicked and went back to the last one and then realised there was no other way to go so I went on back the same way at the same time feeling sure I got it wrong somewhere. Slight panic seeped in and anger at myself for getting confused on a route I practiced so many times. Finally, I saw a marker again! I was on the right path. If only I just kept going just a few hundred meters more, I would have been okay. What a waste of time and energy! The night had not started off well.

Finally on the coast trail to Sham Wat, moving away from confusing Tai O village I finally fell into a relaxed pace and tried to shake off the stress of the last hour off and just move on.  The coastal dirt trail I was on was super dusty and I could see the dust disturbed by the runners in front floating in my light beam. I tried to keep my mouth closed and breathe with my nose. At this point it was very dry and I felt more confident that the climb on the ‘360 Resue Trail’ would be a lot better this time around. The dirt trail changed to concrete and I knew the Sham Wat check point was near.

Section 7 – Sham Wat to Ngong Ping 2 (14.9 km)

At the CP I filled up my front bladders and carelessly didn’t get more for the spare flasks in the back pack, but then again my bag was not easily accessible with the broken zip. I set off, closing the bottle as I jogged away when it suddenly just exploded! Yikes another thing gone wrong! I took a deep breath and told myself it was okay, the tube just slipped off. I put it back but realised the bottle was half empty so I had to jog back to the CP to refill it again still not remembering I needed more water on this section.

I kept on going not knowing at that point that I had just passed the one lady in my category who was in front of me. Just as well since that would have added to my all my stress.

I jogged along steadily keeping my heart rate nice and low knowing I still had to do that horrible rescue trail.  I was also finally aware that I would not have enough water. Kicking myself and trying to now conserving the water I had left, which was not a lot. The night was still warm but thankfully it was still early and a weekend so I prayed that there would be one shop still open in the tiny village before the dreaded ‘360 Rescue Trail’ climb. 

Sure enough the shop was open! The shop keepers were happily playing Mah Jong in the back of the shop and a young lady came straight out to serve me. Thank the heavens!! I was so happy and I got a 700 ml bottle of cold water. I drank my fill and although I had to carry it in my hand till Ngong Ping it was worth it. If only they knew ,at that point anyway, I felt they saved my life that night with just that one cold bottle of water! All the earlier trials just disappeared and suddenly I felt lucky again.

The trail head came a lot quicker than I expected and I headed straight up the climb without a break at the trail head. I imagined before that I would need some food here but in the end I felt good to go without it.

I climbed and it was tough but okay. It was no where near as tough as it had been the last 2 times. Although it had drizzled for a while along the coast, it had stopped now and the trail was not wet at all so it was so much easier than previous years where I was slipping so badly on the same type of faux wood stairs that the government likes to put on some trails here as part of their spending budget. Clearly the people in charge of these trails are not avid trail runners themselves otherwise they would know how lethally slippery they got in the wet humid summers of Hong Kong.

I was feeling pretty strong up this section and that was a huge boost for my slightly dampened morale going into the night.

The ‘360 Rescue Trail’ was built beneath the cable car system that takes tourists from Tung Chung in North Lantau directly up to the Ngong Ping Village and Monastery. The many visitors travel on the Ngong Ping 360 cable car to see Hong Kong’s famous Big Buddha aka Tian Tan Buddha. The rescue trail which follows mostly directly below the cable car was built for workers and rescue operations and now is a public trail that takes you on quite a challenging hike from North side of Lantau finishing at Ngong Ping Village.

Finishing my final accent of the Rescue trail I thankfully saw the light of the last pylon, the highest point, before the cable cars descend into Ngong Ping Village. Once again, unlike the previous races, I felt amazingly strong that I didn’t have to stop at all. I think I did grab a couple of mouthfuls of onigiri on the run but on hindsight probably didn’t need it. I had another 6 km trail run which was not too hilly before the next CP. This 6 km section felt slightly longer but I pushed along and eventually arrived at the Ngong Ping(2) check point. This year we were routed a slightly longer way around the 360 village. I guess the late route changes made it necessary to add a few more kilometers here. Slightly annoying but was not big deal.

I got to the main pass pretty easily and did a quick toilet detour before the CP to meet my patient team. I had lost some time at this point but because of my faster earlier section times, I was still 9 minutes ahead of my original schedule.

I jogged to the CP and my son was waiting for me. It was so nice to see him and this time he greeted me with the news that I had indeed moved into 1st place in my category. He was careful not to say anything before since it was so close and he didn’t want to distract me. I really appreciated this from him and as usual, his timing was perfect. The weariness of the night was getting to me and I was ready to have some hot food and a bit of rest, so a bit of good news was so welcoming.

Part Two Coming Soon!