Focus

the alpine 100 is all about focus.
i have said many times before that its determination that gets you through long events.
but in this instance theres also an awareness of when to back off in bad weather.
i think spoonman said it very well in the CR thread when he said 'no way i will i try to navigate in night in whiteout - thats just dangerous'.
wont repeat what he said in the sentence after that.
blinded determination in this 'race' can cause big problems.

am leaving thursday so will spend the day down there checking out some final bits&pieces near bogong village.
doing the maps up today, have my head around the water/food pickups and approximate pacing etc...
have about 30 gps waypoints locked in.
knee feels good: getting some cortisone tomorrow to try and keep it good over the race.

as tamsin would say 'it will be an adventure'.

not sure how long this will take (being very weather dependant with potential for sit-outs and or back-offs) but I WILL FINISH!
thanks for all your support people.
sleeping well. feel calm. focused.

All or Nothing

it was an all or nothing weekend.
i had committed to doing a scenic rim 100 mile course recce this weekend before alpine had been postponed a week and before my knee was niggly.
the proposed course takes in some of the nicer parts of lamington and springbrook national parks near and on the qld/nsw border.
with a narky itb i was a bit worried about making it thru but it held up really well in extremely difficult terrain.

tamsin, tanky, greg and i started at o'reillys at 6.30am on friday.
our plan was to make it to echo point and dump tents/night gear then make it as far out west along the border as possible.
although we were hoping to make it to the stinsons wreck site or even christmas creek road (where the race would go) it was very apparent early on that that would be impossible unless we wanted to be out past midnight.
the short version is it took us 11.5hrs for the out N back from echo pt to pt lookout which was at a guess 23-24km.
yep thats 2km/hr.

lots of tree roots, slippery rocks, steep up and downhills.
very thick bush by trailrunning standards with lots to go over or under or thru.
the sign at echo pt said people should bring a machette and they werent joking.
the prickle bush was a special fav for us all and tanky and i got 'stuck' numerous times.
it made the terrain at cradle look like a fricking athletic track.
the knee started to niggle soon after we turned around so i nursed it in using poles as a crutch.
seemed to pull up well today for the 2 hr hike back to oreillys.
all up we hiked for 15hrs on the friday.
tried out some of the light weight fastpacking gear and it seemed to work well.
the other 3 carried normal hiking packs and i (according to tanky) carried a 'school bag'.
i took that as a compliment
a great training weekend.
needless to say i gather the proposed route will be changed.

photos (not very in focus!) are of scratches on my left leg and right elbow

alpine 100 in 2 weeks.
the sleepless nights continue.

No noooze

...is good noooze.

to cut a long story short i got a little needle last tuesday.
when you already do absolutely everything to prevent itb - massage, physio, stretch, strengthen, biomechanics etc... it doesnt give you a lot of room to move when things flare up.
its either put the brakes on for a while (not really an option at the mo) or ....

have done 2 runs since: 7 & 10km with no problem and a few short bike sessions.
though i would be surprised and disappointed if i couldnt run 10km with cortisone in my itb bursa!

not much else to report.
and for the record youre welcome to punch me in the tummy tesso.
my six pack will save me :)

Stoopid

so when you plan to do something a certain way.
knowing full well that it aint gonna happen.
does it make you more or less stoopid when the inevitable occurs??

planned to use 6 foot as a 'tough training run'.
not sure what that was going to mean time-wise but probably 6.10-6.20.
asked for wave 3 and sat at the back.
walked down the stairs and made it to the river in 1.54.
had to pull off the track maybe 20 times for wave 4ers.
so far so good.

saw the first hill with all these people on it.
and what would you know.
i started running didnt i?
what a bloody surprise.
ran almost all the way from mini to pluvi.

so when the itb started to fail on the way from deviation i guess i only have myself to blame.
not sure the damage yet.
but with the sekrit lamington recce in 2 weeks and alpine 100 in 4 weeks its gonna be a bit of a rollercoaster unfortunately.

for the record finished just under 5.45.
too fast.
idiot.
had a nice weekend otherwise :)
congrats to spud for breaking the team mellum pb.

Defining Moments

'the razorback track' from mt feathertop to mt hotham - victorian alps.

there are those defining moments in ones (running) life that literally make time stand still.
sitting at my computer tuesday night there was a suggestion from the alpine 100 RD that the race could be put back a week.
they had only 3 entries - with me it would be 4 the following weekend.
i hardly slept that night.
the race has since been confirmed for 5-6th april.
and i have entered.

paul asthons 2006 report via here: http://www.coolrunning.com.au/forums/index.php?showtopic=17032&st=0&p=285347&#entry285347
jan hermanns report for yahoo groups people here: http://sports.groups.yahoo.com/group/ozfatass/message/2356

i read pauls report at work on the weekend and it sent shivers down my spine.
paul and tim exhausted and in darkness took a wrong turn several kms from mt bogong and decided to shelter in an emergency hut and walk out in the morning.
jan and lawrence got lost on the ascent to mt bogong in thigh deep snow and white-out before turning around, sheltering and walking out to a road in the morning.
the furthest anyone got was 80kms!
80kms!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

of course the ultrarunner in me has spend countless hours figuring out how to overcome potential difficulties.
a compulsory race 'stop' at cleve cole hut for the night (before mt bogong ascent) will be a huge safety factor.
the commas are because i am not stopping my watch :)
i have the gps waypoints for all the major huts and summits and turns which will be a huge help.
...and i am exploring buying snowshoes and small crampons on the net.
sounds a bit extravagant but i do not want to arrive down there to find out there has been a huge snow dump and i have to hire a 2kg pair.
no-one in brissie knows what snowshoes are - even the ski stores think they are 'just big boots' :)
http://www.northernlites.com/eliteracer.php

and i am still not sleeping.