'I ran just over 125km around and around a 400m track in 12hrs'
Just 10 years ago, I was a smoker, a heavy drinker and I weighed 132kg. In 2011, after a stinging assessment from my GP, I decided to make a complete life overhaul. Shedding more than 50kg, picking up far healthier nutritional habits and also...
By 2508 local Adam Keighran
Just 10 years ago, I was a smoker, a heavy drinker and I weighed 132kg.
In 2011, after a stinging assessment from my GP, I decided to make a complete life overhaul.
Shedding more than 50kg, picking up far healthier nutritional habits and also finding a passion for long-distance running, I left my job as a wine salesman and became a qualified Personal Trainer and Run Coach. I now operate here in Helensburgh with my business, Nuffs Fitness.
After years of running full marathons and 100km ultra marathons, I decided to step it up a notch last March, and I entered the 2021 Sri Chinmoy 12hr track event at the Australian Institute of Sport in Canberra.
This event involved runners completing as many 400m laps as they could physically complete in the 12 hours between 10am and 10pm.
I had the goal of running non-stop for the first three hours (35km), following it with seven hours of an 18:2 (jog:walk) approach (65-70km) (consuming nutrition on the two-minute walk) and then finishing with a two-hour non-stop run (20-25km) if I still had the energy.
Every 20 minutes along the way, I had crew members following an elaborate Excel spreadsheet of what food and what drink I would need at different stages of the day. This ended up being around 35 serves of the electrolyte drink, Tailwind, and one banana and one chocolate biscuit. The choc pretzels, Pringles, lolly snakes and grapes remained untouched.
My training plan leading up to the event involved running 100-115km every week for two to three months. It was this massive volume that shone through in the last two hours of the race, which I was really happy about!
I caught up 3km to pass 2nd place and I fell an agonising 700m short of picking up the gold. I was more than satisfied with the result!
At an average pace of 5:45/km I finished with 125.085km.
This meant that I recorded 312 laps of the track, the equivalent of running a 28:45min Parkrun back-to-back, 25 times.
The whole team was thrilled with the day.
My next event is a 24-hour track race – the Southern Sydney 24 Hour Ultra at Barden Ridge in June – with the goal of running 220km in
that time.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Adam Keighran is a personal trainer and Athletics Australia accredited running coach. Adam grew up in the Sutherland Shire, finishing his HSC at Caringbah High in 2001. After brief stints at university, Adam’s life took a change of direction as he found a passion for long distance running. His wife (Ironman & 100km ultra finisher herself) and four-year-old son moved to The Burgh in 2019 to enjoy a more relaxed lifestyle. Career highlights include completing over 25 full marathons including the Guinness World Record for fastest marathon in kilt and highland dress.
