It's a revolutionary training régime conceived by one of the rising stars of the adventure racing circuit, who just happens to be a getequipped.co.nz founding partner. The theory is you go out six weeks before your big event, do a one-off session of the same distance and intensity as your planned event, and then spend the next six weeks recovering. Our resident guru applied this faultless logic to his one and only marathon attempt, and from all accounts, it worked a treat. It's an inspired, creative and previously untried training principle… but unfortunately you wouldn't find a larger pile of shite at the bottom of a sewer. And more unfortunately, I only had three weeks to train, after I signed up on a whim to do the 2005 American International Assurance Tongariro Challenge, known more simply as The Goat. For two of those weeks, I was riddled with a cold, and the other week was a bit of a write-off anyway. But confidence is mostly derived from ignorance, and when I lined up at the bottom of the Whakapapa skifield for a 21km sub-alpine run over to Turoa, I felt pretty good. Maybe that was also due to the fact that, although I didn't have the pedigree, at least I had the kit. My shiny new getequipped.co.nz Camelpak and sharp getequipped.co.nz running shirt were packed with survival essentials and various powerbars. About an hour later, I wish I'd ditched all that and just taken a vial of nandralone instead, but that's another story. The chilly wind broke up the last piece of December morning cloud cover, the sun came streaming through, and we were off.

THE Goat is still pretty fresh on the off-road running scene. This race was just the second, but the full-field sign went up weeks before the starting gun sounded and 400 people set off at various speeds across Mt Ruapehu's flanks. It's a stunning race in every sense. Sweeping views of the Central Plateau dominate one side while an extraordinary close-up of the mountain casts an ethereal light across your left shoulder. There are beautiful mountain streams, incredible volcanic terrain and wicked downhill slalom runs to attack with your heart in your mouth. Former national middle-distance star Jason Cameron first ran this track with a couple of running buddies in the winter of 2003. They trekked through metre-deep snow in parts, quickly agreeing it should only be attempted in summer, but saw enough to know adventure runners would crawl over broken volcanic glass to get a piece of it. Cameron is a Tauranga event manager who owns Victory Promotions, with former Olympian Robbie Johnston. They knew they'd stumbled onto a winning venue and within a year, they had attracted sponsors, got the marketing sorted and thrown together a wee pearler of a race. Last year's Goat attracted around 230 athletes, subject to Department of Conservation approval. Ruapehu is a precious piece of rock, a world heritage site, and Cameron is adamant their philosophy is about exertion rather than exploitation. "One of the ideas we have is taking people into the raw fabric of the New Zealand landscape, and unlocking the door," Cameron explains. "It's taking people somewhere they've never been before."

THE going is tough from the time we leave the Bruce Rd about 1km into the race and venture off-road. The field takes a while to thin, so a few unreasonably risks are taken. Potential carnage is around every corner. It's not long before I see my first casualty - a bloke looms in front of me in a tricky downhill chute, his forehead pissing blood and a dazed look on his face. Someone else has stopped with a bandage, so the rest of us press on, taking things a bit more gingerly until the image is out of our heads. Every valley I arrive at has a thin strand of runners moving ant-like up the other side - every crest I get to has them winding along behind me. But despite all the people, it's definitely a lone battle between my body and my brain. My body is saying `OK, sod this, let's find a flat spot and wait for the helicopter' while my brain is saying `yeah, but imagine all the shit the getequipped.co.nz training guru will give you if you don't finish.' By the time I hit Mangaturuturu Hut, about 17km into the ordeal, I've got absolutely nothing left. The last few kilometres are an agonising crawl up an incredible waterfall, across another ridge, down into a valley and then up onto Mama's Mile, the final trek up Mountain Rd to the finish line. I've never known such pain. My thighs, calves and shins are all cramping. How the hell do your shins cramp? So far I've kept my feet dry but now I deliberately jump into the streams, trying to cool things down. All it does is make my feet heavier. After a good 2km of solid walking, at last I've got enough energy to break into a quick trot heading over the finish line, where I collapse in a heap. My time is heaps better than I expected - 3hrs 15mins - but I'm blown away when I hear Englishman Thomas Owen's 1:56:21 winning time. That is bloody crazy, smashing Callum Harland's race record from last year by the best part of six minutes. Owens has now won the Toi's Challenge, the Kauri Run and The Goat in succession - not a bad month's work.

The Goat, meanwhile, is going from strength to strength. In February, Cameron is taking the race to the South Island, hosting a 25km even from Lowburn to Cardrona. He's got plans to increase the Ruapehu version to a maximum of 500 competitors - subject to DOC approval - and introduce electronic transponders so the competitors can be started in waves. It's a superb event, with great entry packs, excellent support crew and wicked camaraderie along the way. All you could ask for really, along with the complete inability to walk for a week afterwards. Never mind - next year will be different. The 12-week training theory is about to make its debut. Sleep for the first month, stretch for the next, and then really start tapering down. Should be a blast.

Thanks to Victory Promotions (http://www.thegoat.co.nz), Discovery Lodge (http://www.discovery.net.nz) and McKeown Photography (http://www.mckeownphotography.co.nz) for their help, and of course, the legends from getequipped.co.nz.