Race recap: 2022 You Yangs 30k

With a long run on the calendar, it seemed like the logical thing to sign up for a run at the You Yangs Trail Festival and treat it as a practice run for Cairns to Port Douglas in only a month or so.

The You Yangs are my local trails so paying money (to a race organisation I don’t like I might add) to run on them and not use the aid stations seemed kinda silly, but I know me and I would have struggled to finish the distance if not for a “race” (yes I hate long runs!)

Cairns to Port Douglas is going to be warm and sticky and has long sections without aid, so I had to practice looking after myself.

Rather than going through the course details and race perks (summary: there aren’t any), I thought I’d do this race recap a bit differently and focus on the gear, nutrition etc

I’ve been collecting gear for “hot weather races” since summer and intermittently testing them out. I wasn’t about to wear my super light white tee and hat to a freezing cold race in the middle of July so I’m glad I tested those out in the warmer months.

I’ve never ran with a bladder in the back before so I was keen to test that out this weekend. Not going to lie, working out how it went into my pack was a bit of a challenge. I ended up following a video on YouTube.

I spilled it twice trying to squeeze the air out which everyone says you need to do so it doesn’t make so much noise.

So in the back of my back I had 2L of water, my seem sealed jacket and basic trail first aid kit.

In the front, I had two 500ml bottles both with tail wind in them as well as two sleeves of Clif Blocks, a full bag of Natural confectionary lollies and my usual little bag containing my phone, emergency headphones and paw paw. Safe to say the bag was blood heavy.

I only have to carry a thermal top and a high vis vest in cairns (in addition to all the water and what I already had) which hopefully won’t add too much weight to my already ridiculously heavy pack, but it doesn’t encourage you to drink more to lighten the load!

Anyways, being a local race I didn’t have to get up super early and also had the benefit of not having to queue for a porta loo or anything.

I had my usual Berocca sport, 2 black coffees and porridge before my long run. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it I guess!

I made it to the start line early enough to hear that the course had changed from before lockdown and there was now a lot more climbing. I wasn’t too stressed because I was never “racing“ something I had to keep reminding myself every time someone passed me or I saw someone up ahead to chase.

I just kept trying to maintain my easy pace and remember to eat and drink. The drinking I think I did pretty well at and the bladder hose thing actually made it a lot easier, even if the noise was annoying.

Food though, I came home with a whole sleeve of blocks and way too many lollies. Definitely need to improve for my long run this weekend.

I wore my new Altra Mont Blanc shoes which I actually quite liked but my tights let me down with a bit of chafing around the waist. But other than that there were no gear issues at all so that’s a win going into the next few weeks of training and practice racing.

I refuelled as soon as I got home and pretty much stayed on the couch all afternoon. Probably not the best idea because I was pretty stiff in the calves and quads the next day but still managed to shuffle through 8km with the puppies.

More of a training run than a race recap for sure but if you are interested in the You Yangs, I’ve done a few posts on the trails out there. I wouldn’t run a trails plus event unless you really needed the company for a long run and don’t mind paying for not very much. I didn’t use the aid stations and I knew the course so I paid $100+ for a medal but it’s always fun to run with old friends and see some new ones.