Bretz’s qualifying race was the Adelaide 6/12/24-hour in Adelaide, SA on July 13-14, 2019 where he claimed a distance of 240.341km and took 2nd Male – he was aiming for an A Qualifier, which meant he needed 240.000km.
“I really felt the pressure in my qualification race, but then when I rocked up in France for the World Championships, I was just so proud to be wearing green and gold,” he said.
“For me, at that point, it was all about the mindset. There was no difference in fitness between qualifying in Adelaide three months beforehand and doing Worlds, and in the end it was a close to 20km increase in my performance.”
With only three months between races, Bretz knew it was crucial to not overdo his physical training in preparation for France, so the first four weeks were filled with disciplined rest followed by a six week block of intense training.
“I was meditating a lot every day and that is what I would attribute my results at Worlds to,” he revealed.
“What helped me was just not having massive expectations because in the end, especially in these long races, will power only gets you so far. You can want to do something, but then your ego may hold you back. So keeping that in mind, my goal was to allow and surrender to the race, see what happens and enjoy it.”
Bretz said whilst being honoured with the title of 2019 Ultra Performance of the Year, he has never regarded himself as an elite athlete or somebody who has run at that level before, and explained that the achievement would give hope to other people to see what is possible when you just do what you love.
“I love the idea of sharing information, and that’s probably what makes ultra running so rich – it’s the community, and the sharing,” he said.
“There are so many other sports where it’s way more competitive in terms of winning versus losing, and that is definitely not how I perceive ultra running to be.
“We don’t know what we don’t know, and lots of Australian ultra runners have helped me get to where I’m at, something I am so grateful for.”
Born in Germany, the 41-year-old’s running career spans more than 20 years, with his first marathon in 1998. He moved to Australia in 2011, but it wasn’t until 2015 that Bretz signed up for his first ultra (Two Bay 56km Trail Run). His third ultra, the Big Red Run, with a total of 250km, he secured 1st Overall in a cumulative time of 21:37:48.
He said he was done with the 42.2km distance after 17 years of what seemed like simply chasing one PB after another.
“With marathons, I was losing some of my own inspiration, and the all important ‘why’ was no longer there for me,” he explained.
“Ultra is just so different, with so many more reasons to run and explore what is possible; it’s not all about numbers on the spreadsheet at the very end.”
Next on the cards for Bretz’s training regime is the Coburg 100km event (April 18) in Vic with hopes of qualifying for the 100km World Championships due to be held in the Netherlands on September 12. He will be focusing more on speed this time around with the aim of making his 2021 24-hour qualifier faster than his 2019.
