aint no thang

I can sit!

2011-11-30T11:23:00.002+10:00

Have been doing this since i was a baby.
But for the last 18 months sitting has been painful getting to the point of being unable to sit without a cushion for over 12 months.
It hurts. It worsens the tendinopathy. It's inconvenient. And it's down right embarrassing.
Able to spend my first few days at work sitting without the 'cush' recently.
Finally making some good progress.
Still feels 'lumpy' but no pain.
Gee it's nice to not have pain every day.
Exercises going well.
No plans for more PRP injections thank god!
Loose plan (all going well) is to start running again mid-late Jan.
Sounds like a plan.

HHT

2011-10-24T17:06:00.002+10:00

new MRI and new ('hip guru') physio both agree i have high hamstring tendinopathy.
haven't run a step for 3 months.
funny how i managed to run 9 ultras with the pain.
though at times i could do 100km without much pain until after the finishline.
sitting here on my cushion after having 2nd PRP injection over the last 7 weeks.
showing some signs of improvement but won't be back to running anytime soon.
as always when injured have thoughts of not returning: this time the feelings even stronger than previous.
started planning a canadian holiday for next year and within an hour of picking the towns to visit had downloaded (free!) topos of the area and was figuring out the route to get up/down the mountains.
i still have the fire.
baby steps.

Toast

2011-08-08T20:39:00.003+10:00

not the vegemite kind
knee has settled down but not enough to start running again for 4 weeks; run 100km then stop again.
so have stopped now.
i am toast.
will see the hip dude again and see if he thinks more hammy prp injections will help or just no running and see what happens.
probably will be out for 3-6 months.
will stop the blog until then.

the 1-legged hobble

2011-07-25T14:40:00.003+10:00

glasshouse 50km 24.7.11 6.12.08 29th/49

basic summary is my easy training run last year in 5.50 seemed much cruisier than my 6.12 this year.
this years course was a km or 2 longer but basically i struggled with knee pain.
had some 'knee tightness' this last week, enough to wake with an ache 1.30am race morning which was somewhat disruptive!
ached the whole way but didn't get too problematic until 30km when it was painful to extend my knee which meant i was trying to lift my upper leg higher to compensate then my buggered hammy was complaining! :(

anyhoo...saw the physio today and agrees the itb is a bit inflammed which is usually terrible news but i am almost painfree today (usually bad itbfs would have me hobbling/much worse the day after) and thinks its all superficial.
still should have some extra room in the deep part from the op in 2008.
he loosened the knee/popliteus up and hopefully things will settle.
happy to run with 1 bad injury just not 2!
aim is still to do gh 100km in september but will have to back off for a week or 2.
if things don't settle quickly i will do an early shut-down.

MGTT

2011-07-15T15:36:00.002+10:00

have run 5 out of the last 6 days.
sunday - MGTT 2.03.25
monday - 14km flat
tuesday - massage
wednesday - 14km flat
thursday - 10km flat
friday - JRR 1.39

the mr g's torture test time is my 2nd quickest.
fastest was may 2010 in a 1.58.55 where i pushed hard from the word go.
this time i was simply aiming for a 2.15 or so and felt comfy all the way.
could've definitely got under 2hrs again had i wanted.
a strange combination of running well but chronically injured.
helped being a sunday lots of people around - if people are watching you're much more likely to run bits of kokoda (which i did) than slack off.

splits: (pb from may)
top hill 24.5 (22)
gate top highview 44 (41)
gap ck res 1.20 (1.16)
top kokoda 1.38 (1.36)

Plan

2011-07-09T17:33:00.003+10:00

it's sad that i checked a few days ago if it was the 3 months i had promised since last talking about my butt pain.
it's 3 months today.
and it's the same.

so 50km GH in july.
maybe MCAT in august.
then GH100km in september.
then i'm shutting down until it gets better.
yep stopping running probably 3-6 months.
nothing.
in the meantime holding faint hope the hammy loading exercises will help.
pretty convinced it's tendinopathy now.

Track?

2011-06-20T19:48:00.006+10:00

sri chinmoy 6 hour track 18.6.11 56.6km

long story short is this wasn't my best ultra.
far from it.
badly paced and the hard surface just played havoc with me in the second half.
managed 32km+ for the first 3 hrs and just basically fell apart.
got a really bad case of the walksies at 3.5hrs and went thru the mara in 4.06 (was hoping close to 3.50-55 which i did as a trot at GC last year) and felt terrible.
sore legs and nauseus.
not easy knowing kerrie and greg had just zoomed past looking fresh and 3rd was out of reach unless MUN really hit the crapper.
at one stage just felt like pulling over and stopping and having a cry.
thats what track does to me.
at least on the trail you have something to look forward to.
on the track theres nothing except another lap.

did a lot of walking in the 5th hour.
knew i wouldn't make 60km and was even looking at <55km at one stage!
i run further on hilly trail!!
just managed to keep 4th by running a bit more in the last hour.
laps: 27/28/25/24/15/21 divide those by 2.5 for km per hour.
crap!

funniest part of the day was when grant saw me there: did you bring your ipod?? he asked :)
and i did!
track sucks.

popped into TW after the race.
very very impressed with the organisation.
>100 cars at the finish at 8pm day 2.
heaps of volies around guiding walkers and crews and cars.
massage and podiatry still on hand...very impressed.
so i guess as per my comment in the previous post: with 700+ volies and >1100 runners it is kind of like organising a shuttle launch.

I don't do team. I don't do track.

2011-06-17T16:11:00.004+10:00

had to break one of my 'rules' this weekend.
don't usually let work get in the way of running but with the boss away only have one completely free weekend in june: the trailwalker/sri chinmoy track weekend.

long story short team mellum (TW brisbane) didn't eventuate: overseas, sick or just not running i was the only one left. even our crewie left us ;)
i am a terrible team organiser - put some time into finding replacements but in the end (and i know this sounds rude) i just want to turn up to a 100km race with a couple of dropbags and a bit of thought the night before.
preparing for TW has become like landing on the frigging moon: compulsory briefing nights, 2xcrewies required, huge weekly emails, race packs and rule books that have me losing concentration page 2 and without meaning to sound like a complete prick i have never been big on the 'donation events'.
events this size need all this stuff it is an extremely well run event - but it's just not me.
so basically i am selfish and lazy.
that shouldn't be news to anyone ;)

thought about slotting into another team and did have a couple of interested teams who were a member short but saw today one started with only 3 ... what the? as whippet says 'so they chose to DNF/finish incomplete rather than run with you' :)
sitting at home all day looking at photos and trail updates having a really bad case of trail envy.
tho having said this 'mr perspective' reminded me today he can't even walk up a hill without getting breathless and WAS due to fly out to hardrock today...

so...my chosen race this weekend is sri chinmoy 6 hour tomorrow.
have grandious delusions of doing 60km+ so will see how i go.
running well at the moment but 'the unspeakable injury' has been giving me some curry over the last few weeks.
have the white skins, garmin and ipod at the ready.
this will be embarrasing!

Wow

2011-05-30T16:54:00.003+10:00

felt like heading out to brissie forest park for a 4Ts run: team tam torture test.
its 27.5km 1120m A&D (hilly!) and involves 4 ascents and descents from enoggera creek via hell hole break, black soil, scrub rd and centre break.
did it in that order today mainly as i wanted to do 'the tough bit' first rather than worry about keeping feet dry for longer.
as it happened the feet got wet at all 4 crossings anyway!!
it involves 2 loops (which i have done separately a few times) with a 1.5km or so section joining them up inbetween.
did it last year for the 1st time as an 'easy run' in 3.55.
although with >1100m climb and drop i felt it by the end.

today was 3.18 (3.18.47 to be precise)
now i know i pushed harder today but thats a huge improvement.
was originally doing the 2 loops individually in 2.00/1.40 when i first started doing them (unfit).
did a 1.15.53 for the hellhole break loop (10km) last tuesday which i was pretty impressed with.
and a 1.40 for black soil 3 weeks ago.
splits today were 0.34 (top HHB), 0.47 (start BS), 1.35 (start scrub), 2.26 (end BS loop), 2.37 (HHB), 3.18 finish.
so for the loops thats 1.39/1.15 which were both pbs in their own right (and 0.24 for joining the loops up).
and i guess that's what i am most pleased with.
it helped running parts of HHB climb, and all of black soil and scrub rd climbs.

warwick results are in and came 19th/163 in 48.54.
also bagged a 3rd in the old dudes age-group.
looked like a few turned up just to run the 10km so i don't feel so nasty now ;)

next race will be on the TW weekend.
currently a secret exactly what i am doing - a secret to me also.
unfortunately have work committments all other weekends in june.
all i will say is i may be racing off trail again...

ideal taper for 10km?

2011-05-22T21:44:00.003+10:00

TOH has often said she's never seen me 'actually run'.
guess she often only sees me at the long events - walking in and out of checkpoints.
not only was i running here but i have a 'i am really trying' expression on my face.
killarney 10km ascent.

so did 30km run sunday.
then 20km hike thursday.
just general walking around++ inbewteen.
sat on a plane for 10hrs saturday.
arrived brissie midnight.
to bed just before 1am, up at 3.50am out the door 4.15am in killarney 6.50 for the 7.15am start (some roadworks, bad weather and a pit stop slowed me down).

have done a few warwick/kilarney 10km ascents before but never really tried to hammer one on 'fresh' legs.
was hoping for a sub48/top 20 (especially with noosa thinning numbers).

put on the racing flats.
hit the 1st km in 3.40 what the?? presume the marker was out.
next couple in 4.10-15 or so with the correction for the first.
was in about 18-20th i think hitting the hill at 4-5km mark.

only passed 2-3 on the way up: had gone out hard so expected this.
usually would be relatively stronger up hills than the flats but as tesso says 'the hill will stuff you anyway so you may as well head out hard' and that i did.

in turn got passed by the 2nd female at 8-9km with the lead female in a pack of 4 only 100-150m ahead and closing.
didnt quite have enough juice for the last km needed 4.15 to go sub48 but it had more uphill in it that i had remembered.
also put off a bit by being a fair way in front of the next person...
too much looking around :)

finished in 48.58 will wait for placings but close to 20th i think.
previous 'pb' was a recovery run of 55.23 in 2006 a week after 80km glasshouse.
nice to catch up with people.
hadnt seen yvette for a while!

so if i come home and have a 3 hour nap is that still a nap or if its over 2 hours should i just call that a 'sleep'.

Amazing Race Hong Kong

2011-05-22T19:50:00.009+10:00

view on the way up to tai po shan (from about 700m)

tai po shan (950m)

the way down...

view from victoria peak (start hk trail) on a clearer day.

street signage: generally pretty good.

distance markers (500m apart) for wilson and hk trails.

caught up with cr virtual: ex hk resident now beijingian (if thats a word).

am a bit of a fan of the show 'amazing race'.
unfortunate reality is that i would be terrible as a contestant.
when nav things go wrong such as finding bus stop 51 at tseun wan MTR/train station and it takes an hour i tend to get a tad pissed... but more on that later.

spent the last 8 days in HK.
of course HK is 80% bush well ok its something like that have heard a similar number in the past.
it has thousands and thousands of trails some of which comprise 'the big 4'.
hong kong (50km) runs west to east on HK island starting at 'the peak' (500m).
maclehose (100km) runs east to west on kowloon/NT side and is the route for HK trailwalker.
wilson (70km) runs south to north across HKI and kowloon to not far from the border with 'the rest of china'/shenzhen and is a bit of a patched together trail including of course one of the tunnels under victoria harbour.
and lantau trail (70km) a circular route on lantau island.

a good reference book is pete spurriers 'the serious hikers guide to HK'.
a better book on the maclehose is written by sunny leung.
trail maps with UTM gridlines are avaiable from outdoor stores eg. protrek and rc outfitters and are called 'the countryside series'.
just be aware that for some reason they have put main roads in a very indistinguishable 'white' for some reason.
which may lead to some aussies inadvertantly walking up them (albeit briefly) and off the 'trail' ;)

in short i did parts of the first 3 on 2 separate days.
1. a 30km run involving 25km/half of hk trail starting at 'the peak' and running through pok fu lam country park with wonderful views of aberdeen up to jardines lookout and back down to civilisation (tai koo MTR station) via the wilson trail.
in short although a challenging and hilly run it is certianly very 'urban' with everything they could concrete/step they could. hardly a trail shoe worthy run otehr than some slippery steps. also a bit of a foggy/smoggy/misty day so could see 50m in front of my face from jardines lookout. certainly challenging hillwise - took me 5.15 to cover the 30km with +1300/-1700 A&D.

2. a 20km hike from route twisk via tai mo shan (the highest peak on hk - 950m) and lead mine pass to shin mun reservoir and out via kwai hung MTR (train) station. TOH joined me for this. just a perfect day weatherwise.

original plan was for 2km less but the taxi caused us issues. used the hotel person and a map to show where we wanted to go. unfortuantely the 'okokok' turned into lots of map looking and asking other drivers and dropping us off at the bus stop in tsuen wan. 'you walk up there' pointing to the 10km road that the bus goes along (route twisk). no no we want you to drive us there. 'that too far' after going around in a circular argument i was really wanting the cantonese translation for 'yes we know its too far you stupid prick thats why we have hired a taxi driver to take us there - you'...but alas. in his defense we knew there are 'territorial issues' with HKI drivers heading into the new territories and he did try and find us a bus to take us there - albeit finding the wrong one.

wont describe in detail what happened from there but needless to say i will never be amazing race worthy - my other half on the other hand is much more nav tolerant than me. ended up arriving at the 'plan b' starting point via the greatly invisible bus 51 quite late and was just going to do an out and back to the peak/tai mo shan but ended up making good time and went on to lead mine pass before cutting off a bit of ground and ascent/descent coming out via wilson trail and road.
a nice day. some 'proper trail' on maclehose and certainly got the 'out there' feeling rather than just being an urban route. also cool to ghet to the high point of hong kong.

would definately lvoe to go back and tackle more of maclehose and maybe some lantau trail.

What the...a pb?!?

2011-05-12T20:16:00.000+10:00

decided to measure out a 14km outNback course on the southside the other day.
my usual northside jaunt of thornton st kangaroo point over the goodwill to regatta and back (pb 61.20) is blocked in a couple of places and will be so for a while.

figured thornton st via southbank to the brisbane roadrrunners start/finish at the sth brisbane sailing club was pretty close.
took the garmin out last week and sure enough hit 7km just past the usual roadrunners startline.
for some reason only got 6.8km on the way back in part due to taking the road rather than the riverside footpath but figured there was a mismeasure.

today went out a bit harder than usual especially since a biggish dude wearing a longsleaved jacket was fartleking in front of me.
looked a bit too much like bleakman not to chase him.
caught him after a while and before i knew it was moving reasonably fast but still comfy.
we split at 2.5km and kept moving thinking i would reach 1/4 way in 16.30 or so and looked down when nearly there only to see the watch tickover to 15...what the?

first thought other than holy crap was to decide to keep pushing for a bit before switching off for a 63-64 total.
bit unsure how accurate the measure was the other week.
got to the go between bridge and the legs started to hurt but kept speeding up and wondered what 1/2 way time i would get.
decided to add on an extra 50m or so to halfway hoping not to go under distance and got there in 30.45 and thought game on!

turned and was really feeling it a few mins later.
couldnt help notice some council trucks moving in to potentially block off some of my new route on this side of the river which i had only just gotten used to.
realised at 10km/go-between bridge that the pb would be bloody hard work.

3/4 came in 46.15 and was just gritting teeth by now.
needed to come back in the same time low 15s.
felt like i was moving fast on the flat but any slight incline was a bloody struggle.
messed up my splits at the goodwill bridge (2km to go) thinking i had a 8.30 to go for the 'pb equivalent' but i actually had a spare minute.
finished in 60.18 (splits 15.10, 15.35, 15.30, 14.03).
so i guess the splits are a tad funny and long story short with the measure (downloading the run from the other week) its probably 150m or so under the 14km!!
and it's a different course anyway so not beating an old pb but making a new one on a new course.
hmmmm still a pretty nifty time though i could crawl 150m in a minute.
and if i remeasure and it's less than that i'm not telling!

and with a couple of hilly 10kmers coming up: warwick/killarney and mt coot-tha makes me think about going to the darkside for a brief while...
EE will give mt macedon some thought tho...

Solitary run

2011-04-29T21:23:00.004+10:00

what a perfect name for the mountain.
just stuck there by itself in the middle of jamison valley.
the name says it all - mt solitary.

Monday 25.4.11 45km 2900m A&D 7.44 48th/61
arrived on the saturday to miserable weather 11 degrees drizzle and misty.
turned out every day of the long weekend except the sunday (day of the photos) would be the same.
have been looking forward to this run for a while.
for starters it was my first ultra since october's DNF.
secondly it was a good DTI weekend with TOH joining me.
and also mellum was going to be there - with both spud and andy sweeping until andy was a late dns.

looking out at mt solitary on the sunday TOH said 'holy crap you run up and over that?' 'that looks steep' and that pretty much sums up the whole race.
mt solitary is the main and pretty much the only player on the day.
a nice little trot down to kedumba river (initially 4wd then some singletrack).
a bit suprised to see spud the sweeper behind me at the river (i'm last!!) but knew i would pass a few on the climb so wasn't worried.
the climb up mt sol contains 2-3 steeper bits as steep as any climbing in any ultra in australia - reminded me a bit of the staircase spur up bogong though probably more likely to fall off and hurt yourself here and a somewhat shorter climb.
need to grab a hold of trees in some places to avoid falling backwards or sliding down.
kept it pretty easy but still managed to pass 10 or so which made me feel a bit better.

no views to be had on top and a somewhat tedious singletrack with lots of twists and turns and ups and downs.
would've been nice on a clear day but being a 4-eyes suffered from fogged and wet glasses which without wanting to sound like a woos the weather made things pretty difficult.
its hard to run the technical stuff when you cant see.
took a wrong turn at one stage and lost 2-3mins bushbashing (the bush wasn't that much worse than the actual trail) then backtracking - blame it on the poor vision ;)

the trip down was as advertised - rock scrambling with 3 large sections to arse-slide down.
despite being wet the traction was suprisingly good.
i'm sure the front runners just flew down here.

mt sol was pretty tough to be honest.
after that was all pretty straightforward.
had i known this i may have pushed a little harder earlier but despite this was pleased to get to the golden stairs turn a little early than planned at 4hrs feeling very fresh.
started then forgetting about the 9 hour splits and thinking more about a sub 8.
amjan and brian were a fair bit ahead of me ?20mins on the stairs so figured i would be unlikely to see them until after the finish ;)

nice runnable singletrack all the way to lila falls except for a small landslide area then wide 4wd track from just after the lila loop to the finish.
the drizzle had cleared a bit and with dry lenses took the opportunity to look back up at the escarpment at wentworth falls, sublime pt and kedumba where TOH and i had looked down from the day before.
didn't feel worried at all about the climb back up kedumba pass, was running stong, enjoying the downhill and looking forward the climb back up.
what a fantastic feeling!
saw the 1st people since golden stairs (cp1) just before cp2 so had a nice lonely time.
a solitary run i guess!

passed 4 people at or just after cp2 but strangely didn't see anyone after this until at the finish.
guess i was just too far behind.
the first time i felt tired was half-way up kedumba.
started feeling a little cold and hungry so had a snack and eventually got back on track time-wise.
looking at the finish times had i pushed a little harder here i may have caught a group of 3 just ahead.
nice to see g, buzz, rod at the finish.
waited for spud after.

splits were 0.52 (river) 1.38 (col) 2.39 (true peak) 3.44 (bottom stairs) 4.00 (cp1) with 4min turn 4.16 (bottom stairs) 5.25 (lila falls) 5.53 (cp2) 6.55 (split). so 4.04 (including cp1 stop)/3.40 for the 20km/25km sections.
despite the strong field was feeling a bit pissed at being so low down (48th) but reassured that a 3.40 in the 25km would have me in the top half and on fresh legs...
somewhat strangely i looked back at spuds training run splits that i based my 9hrs on (by adding bits here and there) and after the col we were within 1-2mins of one another all the way including exactly the same cp1 and finish times.
didn't mean anything but is just freaky!

a nice run.
not as hard as i thought but worth the trip.
and certainly value the experience on mt sol.

Too far south

2011-04-19T11:04:00.003+10:00

headed out to brisbane forest park on saturday.
bit of a late decision - was going to do a longish mt coot-tha run initially then i got started looking at maps friday night and a 3hr jaunt turned into 3-4 turned into... you get the idea.
figured it was too late to email/text for some company.

decided to head out to mermaid mountain from gold creek reservoir entry.
hadnt been out to that section for years - the last time was with 'team tam' in january the year bogong was cancelled due to the fires.
it was supposed to be a 4hr run that day but turned into a 6+hour effort on a very hot day.
that day we started from the top of sth boundary rd and came down augies rd so different entry point this time.

no problems getting to mermaid mt other than a face full of spiders.
and a slight deviation off the map a few kms before, at the edge of a property.
got there in about 1.35 and decided to crack on to lake manchester and finish the loop via cabbage ck trail etc... back up to sth boundary rd.
figured it would be a 4.30hr+ effort.
just beautiful views of lake manchester from the ridgeline and looked forward to the downhill run to it.

started going down the second really steep/glissadable section and seemed to be heading too far south.
the trail should be heading west at some stage and obviously there was a 'new' south-running trail on the park boundary that wasn't on the map.
in hindsight i did see the 'correct' trail on the way past but was more focussing on not losing footing down the steep bit and it was a good >100m north of where it should be via gps so didnt pay due attention to it.
and to be honest it didnt look that appealing to go down :)

went another 1-1.5km further before realising it may be a while until i reached lake manchester from that direction! and my 4hr+ run could turn into something much more especially with all the rain and some swollen creeks to cross.
on the way back up i vaguely remember us making a similar mistake a few years back - which may have led to the time blowout then :)
was thinking at the time how hard it would be to nav the narly sections of aawt with map/compass only with bugger all visibility and no discernable trail.

hauled myself back up the two 'steeper than kokoda' sections and back home.
was kind of nice getting back to the 'easy' pinnacles course section even though had done it just that morning.
at least it was spider free now.
amazing how easy that seciton feels after the steeper stuff.
did 28km in a bit over 4hrs. 1300m up and down.
a good hitout for mt sol next easter weekend.

sunday off
monday 1hr tready befoe work
tuesday 11km flat
wednesday MGTT 2.16 and massage
thursday off
friday off
saturday 4.07 BFP
sunday 9km easy

Square 1.5

2011-04-09T14:20:00.003+10:00

back to doing some reasonable training.

friday: pinnacles 18km course brissie forest park 2.10 easy (1st hills since bogong)
saturday: 13km flat
sunday: off
monday: 17km flat 5.00-10s
tuesday: 11km flat
wednesday: 11km flat
thursday: off
friday: 7km easy
saturday: pinnacles 1.59

so kept it easy today - was 13mins slower than last year on the anti-clockwise course.
felt strong all the way.
am starting to bore even myself taking about 'the arse' so refuse to for the next 3 months at least.
mt solitary in 2 weeks have booked flights etc...
looking forward to it.
hope i don't get swept by mellum :)

Square 1

2011-03-27T17:46:00.005+10:00

oops sorry mark we should've done the run-outdoor gear shopping thing!

long story short is the bum pain is the same.
PRP injection has made no difference.
back to running 14km or so (flat) - did mostly 10kmers last week.
feeling ok.
current plan is pretty much to just plug on like last year.
run some short ultras and sit on my pillow.

whippet did a 'consolation run' this weekend.
the 210km great dividing trail (ballarat to bendigo).
cool.

next 'race' hopefully will be pinnacles (18km) in 2 weeks which will just be a 'keep it together' jog really.
will be much slower than last year.
have entered the 44km at 'the prom' but looking at the news the other day this won't be happening!
had also entered mt solitary (5 days before the prom) so my mind has switched to doing this now.
sorry again mark!
will make a formal decision in a week or so when more is known about the prom i guess.
edit: the prom's off.

AAWT 2-0 Mellum

2011-03-14T21:05:00.003+10:00

although andy's main issue was gear failure/wetness he sent this to me in an email.
he didn't mind me posting it here as it very eloquently describes the battle ahead in conquering the aawt.
there are runable sections.
and there are sections that are simply jungle.
this is extremely tough physically.
and an even bigger challenge mentally.

if beau (set off a week ago north->south) and dave byrnes (set off a few days ago) are to beat karl's 28days for this beast they will need to push thru these sections.

i looked at my gps track through the black river section. bizarre. i had no trouble finding the way out of the river this time. thank god. it was further along than i remembered though. i put the tape out for dave (byrnes) as described.

then it was worse than last year. 12 months of extra vigorous growth. i actually saw 2 burnt off markers and found a couple of short sections of track but otherwise it was just find the least resistance. sometimes i was cocooned and caught in vines and branches and couldn't move at all.

when i got to the knoll where we are supposed to turn right again all i could see was a sheer drop into thick bush. so i kept going across the knoll along the right hand edge hoping to pick up the trail leaving the knoll. eventually i started dropping off the back and realised so came back onto the knoll and headed parallel to the trail based on the gps. it was terrible. sliding where it was open and strangled where it wasn't. when i bottomed out in the saddle it was impenetrable and i couldn't see a thing. i went back and forth trying to find a way through. i gave up and started angling across to where i thought the trail should be again based on the gps. out of the blue a footpad appeared coming across my path from the left. which surprised me as i thought it should be on my right still. i angled slightly to follow it, excited. it started climbing straight away. oh yes i was already climbing mt shill. then another wall of bush. i looked down at the gps to get a heading and WTF i was headed back up to the knoll! angling onto the trail had taken me back the way i had come. i couldn't believe this so checked the compass and map and sure enough i was going the wrong way. i was shattered. i turned now totally unconfident and went back again hitting a blank wall.

this time i just plowed on following the heading. it was so hard to make headway. slowly i started climbing and eventually i hit the old vehicle track and kept bashing until i saw the ribbon i had put out last week. now i was happy. i thought then that i would get to tharwa.

not a lot to update with the hammy.
now 3.5weeks post prp injection and long story short no change.
a period of worsening eased somewhat with massage, a single dose of mobic and backing off the nordic curls.
2.5 weeks to go.

spent the weekend in melbourne: groomsman at a mates wedding.
those who know me well will know that i am not a huge fan of weddings ;)
i'm not the most sociable person!
'molly' and i have known one another for 24 years and been through lots of good times and bad over this time.
it was fantastic to share the experience with him, his wife, their family and other friends.
warmest congrats to 'team donut!!'

Out

2011-02-20T20:14:00.002+10:00

officially out of alpine.
got a blood plasma/PRP injection to the left hammy on thursday and realistically doesnt leave enough time to recover.
from what i am told its 1 week completely off 1 week gentle (so no alpine training run next weekend) then nothing major for 6 weeks.
so its simply silly to commit even to the 100km.

will be interested in the ultrasound report when i see it but the PRP injection dude seemed somewhat excited about the appearance of my hammy tendon and mentioned something about fluid and said 'thats where the money is' and he wasnt looking at my wallet.
i was more focused on the big needle he was about to stick in there to pay complete attention.

regardless the PRP is something obvious to try and certainly the hip surgeon thinks its hammy tendinopathy not bursitis.

ran a fair bit the week before.
still fine running, not sitting.
ran 5 days in a row from memory including a slowish 2.24 MGTT on tired legs.
still running well, will get back into it shortly.
no long stuff though.
bro

Developments

2011-02-10T17:56:00.003+10:00

mt glorious trail run last weekend.
unfortunately due to trail (and road) damage up at northbrook parkway the planned new course was changed to a double out and back down joyners ridge rd from mt glorious.
was a 31.5km 1080A 1050D so a bit flatter than previous races but still a tad hilly!

did a training run out there wednesday doing one 15km loop in 1.43 (43 down 60 back up) so was hopefull of doing 3.30-3.40 for the 2 x 15km out and backs plus 1.5km singletrack/climb to finish.
a bit worried at the pre-race briefing standing in the sun already feeling hot but i guess when you expect the worst things are rarely quite that bad.
still pretty hot and humid for me i suck in hot weather!

had trouble coming up with a game plan but settled on the following (with times)
1. push hard 1st 7.5km downhill (always terrible on downhills) 0.38
2. solid trip back up without completely stuffing myself 0.52 (1.30)
3. relax on the way back down 0.41 (2.11)
4. go nuts 0.57 (3.08) then 13 mins to the finish 3.21 33rd/119
so thats a 8min positive split which is ok.
still feel like i am running well.

a great turnout lots of part time trailies out there which is fantastic.

saw the hip surgeon the friday before and basically he thinks i have hammy tendinopathy.
the problem is it doesnt always show up on mri or uss and he thought we should treat my butt pain as such.
the initial bursitis on uss can often co-exist with tendinopathy.
diagnostic local injection just in the hammy this time (not sloshed around the bursa) worked really well (well for 90mins anyway) so now heading for a blood plasma (PRP) injection.
still hoping i have enough recovery time to head down for a similar pre-alpine training weekend i did last year.
not as bad as i thought basically a week off running then pretty quickly back into it.
need to sort out the 'hammy rehab' too.
here's hoping.

Playing Hookie

2011-01-26T14:12:00.002+10:00

felt like i was playing hookie today.
gee i hope mick or digger dont read this.
had entered the victoria pt HM but just couldn't face 21km of hot concrete.
forecast was for 29 degrees and 60% humidity for 9am (race started 7.15am).
due to a busy week at work had pieced together some rather crappy training mostly on concrete bike paths.
yesterday ran for an hour along minnippi parklands which was nice as i hadnt been there much before but just coudlnt face the same again today and felt an urge to hit the trail.
the other thing putting me off was the drop back from a 10km circuit to a 5km circuit of which we would do 4 loops.

so i asked mellum last night.
what should i pick?
trail or friends?
and it was unanimous.

...so did a nice JRR at coot-tha.
heaps of people enjoying the mountain today.
including about 40 from galeforce running.
relatively cool early.
was almost finished by the time i would've started at vic point.
home by 8am.
gold.

trail is my mistress.
and i visit her as often as i can.

saturday: off
sunday: 45mins local park morningside
monday: 30mins hill walk tready
tuesday: minnippi 13km approx and massage
wednesday: JRR 14km coot-tha 93.30
off tomorrow

Solid

2011-01-21T16:50:00.002+10:00

some solid runs this last week.

thurs: 14km flat
fri: off
sat: 14km flat
sun: JRR coot-tha 14km 1.34
mon: off
tues: MGTT coot-tha 19km 2.22
wed: off
thurs: 14km flat
fri: 13km flat

my usual flat runs are now all over the place because all the bike paths in brissie are still closed.
but thats the least of anyones problems.
often run from home to kangaroo point and back.
MGTT on tuesday was in apparent temp of 37 degrees gee i hate the heat.
suffered all the way.
will probably trot the vic point HM on wednesday.

floods

2011-01-16T17:36:00.006+10:00

thornton st ferry kangaroo point thursday 6am

same place looking east. this is where i start my usual 14km run.

same place saturday 8am. the drinking fountain is no longer >1m under water.

hard not to comment on whats been happening this last week.
returned from bogong monday night.
just horrified by the footage of the 'inland tsunami' in toowoomba and lockyer valley.
this was the middle of the toowoomba cbd.
on top of the frigging 'range'.
there is no river/creek there it was just flash flooding.

all hell broke loose in brissie tuesday.
i was supposed to work 8.30am to 11pm (had some teaching work in the morning then an evening shift) but things were delayed so went in later (10) and just before heading in heard two things on the tv from the premier that i preferred not to...
1. the brissie river has just broken its bank
2. modelling shows the floods will be worse than 1974
things seemed to go from defcon 1 to 10 in about a minute from then on.
did what i had to at work initially.
headed home at 2pm to check on the dogs (it was pissing down) and the cbd (and other large sections of brissie and ipswich) had been evacuated so it was like peakhour x 3 fold.
headed back in a little late as i didnt know if the nightshift could come in and i would have to work all night.

got home ok that evening and realised as i had been away we had bugger all food in the house!
joined the masses for the panic shopping wednesday 8am and predictably got called into work as 4/5 docs had called in unavailable that day.
work was 'interesting', patients tended to stay at home but just as well as trying to contact people when phone and paging systems were down was problematic. lots of staff had trouble getting in so a lot of usual services were running very slowly.
we had power 'issues' that evening as icing on the cake (slow service was better than none).
the power had gone out at home at 1pm but TOH had arranged a generator from her brother.

in the end we knew we would be high and dry by a long way and pleasingly the peak at 4am thursday was less than predicted.
didnt get called into work that day which was good and we only lost power for a little over a day.
so we werent 'affected' at all really but its good for me to type this and remember an important time in history that will unfortunately be the present for a lot of people for a while.
condamine flooded for the second time yesterday.

...and there is still more rain coming this week.

mojo

2011-01-16T17:26:00.002+10:00

felt like i got my mojo back at bogong.
just did the 'egg and spoon race' (35km to langfords).
admittedly the weather was 'porefucked' as spud would say and the track as cleared as it gets but was surprised i could manage a 6.24 with such ease.
previously did a 6.18 to langfords the year i finished the thing but i was much much more shagged when i got there.
was a hotter year though.

really had only planned to do an easy 7.00-7.30 and miss the 6.30 cut.
got to mt bogong in 1.56 a minute off pb (couldnt help myself chasing people could i?).
'swicthed off' and got to the river in 3.35 (left at 3.39) and could only remember getting there last time in 3.10 or thereabouts so figured i would go 7hrs or so but rocketted up the hill.
figure my splits were a bit off for the river to ropers section too.
trotted most of the ropers to langfords section and felt strong all the way.

splits: biv hut 1.12 bogong 1.56 cleve 2.31 madd hut turn 2.49 big river 3.35-3.39 ropers 4.46 warby 5.14 track intersection 5.50 langfords 6.24
nice to catch up with the usual suspects.
whippy did a great job as RD too.
have pulled up well.

mojo is back.

40

2011-01-06T16:48:00.003+10:00

view from main island lookout hamilton is.

spent a week in the whitsundays for my 40th.
some nice trail on hamilton and hayman islands.
got back into some regular 'training' with lots of time on feet.
couldnt resist having a crack at a fastish 'passage peak' time whilst on hamilton and got up there in 23.10.
most of my runs were over 9min/km which says a bit about how hilly these are and hot/humid the conditions.
blue pearl bay on hayman is just wonderful.
a few yachts off shore but the first day we were the only ones on the whole beach.

friday: (hamilton) 1.07 run plus 2.5hr walk
saturday: off
sunday: 1.07 run
monday: (hayman) 2hr walk
tuesday: 1.25 run and 2hr walk
wednesday: off

will head down to mt beauty/tawonga for B2H this weekend: though will only do the 35km (B2L).

Happy Festivus

2010-12-28T21:36:00.002+10:00

...its from seinfeld.

the bum was better with the local anaesthetic but 2nd cortisone did nothing.
sports med guy quite convinced its ischial bursitis.
3 weeks off running similarly did nothing so started back last week.
may as well have a little bit more pain but be happy because i am running.
seeing a hip surgeon in early feb but very mindful that i am unlikely to want anything done.
no doubt will just suck it up for a few more months before getting frustrated again then repeat the cycle over again.
hopefully not too many more times!

knee bursitis has been fine touch wood.
the upper tibial pain (also touch wood) seems to be non stress-injury as it flared up a few days ago but settled quickly with a popliteus loosen and mobic.
but i have said that before ;)
will keep an eye on it.

ran a JRR at coot-tha in 1.40 or so and a few 10km flats over the last week.
then fats fatass today.
a little longer than i remembered at 24.1km
A&D was 850/500.
the year i was first up the top (thanks to greg and hube stopping short mind you) i got to the far cafe (+500m) in 2.32 (2007).
this year was a 2.40 on the slightly shorter course.
i did push harder than had planned to (hard to resist chasing deb, warren, mandy and chris when u see them up ahead - even if they are doing the return trip as well).
but my 2007 effort was a gritting teeth effort in a 'pre-bogong form' year so a 2.40 at this stage is pretty pleasing.
seemed to be speeding up along the way and teh gps thingy said so also.
main thing of course is that i pull up ok.

giving serious thought to the trip down to mt beauty/tawonga south in 12 days for B2L (rather than B2H) L being lanfords gap of course.

oh yeah and turning 40 in a few days.
fuck.

The Saga continues...

2010-12-06T15:04:00.004+10:00

got sick of the continual bum pain and decided to see a sports med person.
its been over 6 months now!!
got an MRI beforehand to look for hammy tendinopathy, but (of course!) it suggested a stress injury +- fracture to the lesser trochanter (hip) as well as a few other bits and pieces.
the ischial bursa looked normal.
in view of this got a bone scan which showed a few bits glowing including the left hip but no worse than the right and i have never had groin pain.

long story short the sports med and original radiologist think the MRI is ok and think the pain is still from the ischial bursa and had an USS guided local anaesthetic injection in there today.
if this works (seems to as i type) i will have another cortisone.
if not he wants me to have an SI joint injection +- MRI of my back.
havent run for the last 5 days, no rush i guess.
DNSed razorback, havent pulled out of B2H yet.

over the last 2 weeks incidentally i broke my jen_runs run (13.7km mt coot-tha) pb by 4mins without really trying to: 89.10
so between the bum and left prepatellar bursa i am feeling a bit broken at the moment but still putting in good times and feeling good when/while i run.
if only i could sit!...

Taking Stock

2010-11-16T19:21:00.002+10:00

3 weeks ago i sat back and looked at where i was.
sore butt, sore knee, 2 sore achilles.
an absolute frigging mess.
could hardly walk properly, likely run.
not so bad now the achilles are fine and the knee is settling.
not going to talk about the butt :(

running alternate days either 14km flat or 1 hour hilly.
at least once a week at coot-tha.
razorback is in 3 weeks.
i have often said that a week is a long time in ultras.
3 weeks is forever but having said this i am pretty sure i will be a dns at razor.
pity, its a cracker of a run.
but i really should use the time to slowly build for b2h.

Just what I needed

2010-11-08T14:06:00.006+10:00

na pali coastline, kauai

view from room, kanapali beach maui

haleakala crater, maui

...2 weeks in hawaii.
the (wilderness medicine) conference/holiday double.
conference is in maui - kanapali beach (west coast) to be exact.
a very nice place indeed.
added 'the big island' to the trip 2 years ago.
have been to oahu before.
added kauai ('the garden island') to the trip this time.

did a total of an hour running the whole time.
just didnt really feel like it.
also had inflammed left ischial/glute, left patella (both for months now) and both achilles (from gow) so needed a rest.
did some walking around the infamous napali coast (kauai), the waimea canyon (kauai) and haleakala (10,000ft on maui).
paul every recently described the na pali coast as the most scenic hike he had ever done.
unfortunately most of the trail was closed but we did have a sneak peek.
at one stage TOH said to me: but i thought we were just going to look at the trailhead not go on a 2 hour walk.
too funny!

dont get quite the full blown wacky american experience in hawaii but close enough i guess.
never know why they have to drive you 100m to the rental car place at the airport.
but its just over there dude i can see it.
i can walk over you know!

it was nice having an even exchange rate.
not as bad as europe in terms of the 'screw you over tactics'.
eg. they dont bring out bread and water without asking then bill you for it like the italians.
they do tax everything though and prices dont include this.
also big on charging extra for the wifi and no you cant park your own damn car it is valet only - wtf?

kauai has a mountain on it about 5400ft which has 430inches of rain a year.
that sounds like a lot.
as the crow flies this was only 30km or so away from the hotel so lots of cloud nearby and some not infrequent showers.
maui was a lot more sunny.
we also got the free hotel upgrade to the suite...gold!!
nice to visit haleakala again decided not to do the dawn drive to see sunrise this year just drove up later and did some walking around the crater.
reminds me a lot of hardrock.

when will the americans go metric?
silly bunch arent they ;)

Year of the bro...

2010-10-22T07:33:00.003+10:00

has ended.

officially pulled out of GNW yesterday.
of course i would like to see the course but now that the slam attempt is over there is less of a point.
...and i need to fix some sore bits.
have had a great year: 7 finished ultras (including a fatass or 2) including 2 x 100 milers.
highlight undoubtedly was alpine in march.
even did a marathon!
a big year for me.
AAWT seems like a lifetime ago.

january: glasshouse 55km 6.12
march: apline 100 mile 46.07
may: glasshouse 82km 10.28
june: reverse 6FT 45km 6.23
july: glasshouse 50km 5.49
august: 12FT 90km 14.52
september: glasshouse 100 mile 28.57
and the DNF at GOW

will enter razorback soon.

A wise man once said...

2010-10-22T07:14:00.003+10:00

that if you never DNF then you have never explored your limits.

GOW 100+mile (191km) 16.10.10 DNF at 117km (22.06hrs)

long story short is i was just too slow.
it wasnt the weather.
it wasnt the knee: that was great btw!
it wasnt anything else.
it was just me.

was 2mins behind my splits at blankey bay then 5mins, then 8mins, then 10mins, then 20mins (left 12 apostles at 17.17) then finally 45mins...
with my race ending at moonlight head on the way back.
and these werent the stroll into apollo bay smiling splits these were the gritting the teeth and holding on for a 37.59 splits.
kept pushing and pushing and its not the most pleasant experience getting further and further behind despite this.

a lot of talk on CR about the weather.
have to admit the 45km/hr winds forecast for the day didnt excite me and when i woke saturday morning and saw weatherzone had 70km/hr+ wind gusts at cape otway i thought 'here we go'.
it was hard to get into a rhythm early: can't remember the last time i had to put my overpants on so early in a race - rain, wind and even a little bit of hail early on.
and the wind coming over the headland at princetown nearing halfway played with my head a bit.
but it didnt slow me down that much - i would have missed the 38hrs by some hours regardless.

still a beautiful course - the mental pictures i have of aire river inlet and johanna beach are fantastic.
remembered the crossing at johanna river (went in knee deep) but forgot the 'washout' just as you exit the beach (its a 3m high bank).
mistimed and a rogue wave got me up over my waist and even wet the bottom of my pack.
apparently someone else got swept off their feet here.

had lots of trouble with ankle/achilles and i think in part due to the hypafix i put in that area.
it was just so wet it came off and had to do some repairs on the right side early and had a 'hole' on the left side when i finished.

somewhat surprised to see hermie walking back along old coach road towards me at 3am.
i knew one of us was going the wrong way ;)
had spent some hours realising i was going to dnf but figuring out how it wouldnt look so bad!
figured i would make it to at least johanna but by the time i got to moonlight hermie and i were 1.5hrs behind the fast moving susannah.
although i was looking forward to the challenge of the next section (it was majorly slippery in the morning) it seemed pointless going on only to dnf later.
i was just moving so slowly and losing more and more time.
we sat and waited for jan, bunny and chris to come in and join us in whippets dnf bus :)
the fact i could hardly move after 10mins reitertaed the fact i hadnt held back.

still had a nice weekened.my nicest DNF weekend ever!
its a fantastic course with fantastic people associated with it.
only down side was my inability to just sit at the pub at on the sunday and chat for hours.
the ischial bursa is still inflammed and i cant exactly bring the 'arse pillow' into the pub can i!
so just stood there and chatted for a bit then left...

8/19 starters finished.
will be back next year in the egg and spoon.
nice to meet all the whippets and see chilli, EE&DG, pasty, mal, kevC, brett and many others again.

Pain

2010-10-05T10:24:00.002+10:00

long story short is the left prepatellar bursitis is not behaving.
had a good 1st week post GH100.
almost too good.
had covered 70km in the 2nd week and felt great early but by saturday pulled up sore and missed sundays run.
there are 'gratey' bits over the inner half the kneecap that rub and get sore when i run.
decided to pop some cortisone in it the other day and pleased to say thats its settling but no doubt will cause me some trouble at GOW.
and yes i did it myself.

as whippetman says 'our ability to withstand pain is what separates ultra-runners from runners'.
i will once again put this theory to the test in 11 days time.

So are you doing the slam?

2010-09-13T17:06:00.004+10:00

in february 2008 paul monks started a thread (and poll) on CR entitled 'australian ultra grand slam plebisite'.

here is part of what he wrote by way of introducing the idea:
As a background, the USA Ultra Grand Slam model involves four 100 mile trail runs in separate states that occur over a 12 week period. A seperate entry fee is required to attain the Grand Slam and a sculpted eagle head trophy is awarded. The USA also has several other 'slams' that vary from this format but they are less formal.

the problem of course is that australia does not have 4 x 100mile trail runs over 12 weeks.
we have 4 sanctioned 100 mile trail runs (3 by aura, 1 by traq) in march (alpine), september (GH), october (GOW), november (GNW).
and then of course C2K (150 miles) is nicely positioned 4 weeks after GNW in december.
i have never run C2K but from what i am told it is about 50% road.

4 people who i have the utmost respect for completed GH, GOW, GNW and C2K in 2009.
this is a fucking huge achievement.
they are all legends.

the problem is not everyone will agree with what events should be included in a slam.
there are many arguments for/against each event being included which have been argued on the thread.
i won't repeat them all here.
and the lack of sanctioning doesnt help.
AURA is unlikely to ever sanction a slam that includes a non-AURA event (GH).

in the end i guess the idea of a slam is to encourage people to do crazy things which is what ultrarunning is all about.
we just need to respect other peoples choices, the work they put into training and competing and the motivations that drive them towards this.
and try and limit that 'pissed off feeling' we get when like-minded people have a different opinion and different goals.
it doesn't make yours any less worthy.
and this works both ways.

so am i attempting the slam?
well yes i am.
not sure how far i will get but i am half-way at the moment.
and thats a good start.
the next time someone asks me i will refer them to my blog.

100 milers are never easy

2010-09-13T16:27:00.003+10:00

GH100 report 11.9.2010 31st/42 28.57.17

i think whippet said this once.
he is right.
its just a bloody long way.

had splits set for 28-29.5hrs.
crept over the longer splits at the 110km mark (cp2/base) but was just pleased that i had never felt so good at such this stage of a 100 miler.
minimal nausea, was eating well and felt strong.
the feet (and a small chafing matter) were crap but bearable.
was well ahead of bill - always a good indicator ;)
wasnt worried at that stage.

an extra 2km (each way) in the eastern section played with my head a bit to be honest.
ian subsequently gave us another 30mins grace but i didnt know this at the time.
when you are 10 mins behind your 29.30 split and you now have an extra (unplanned) 4kms you better hope you dont sit and vomit for an hour or take a wrong turn!
in the end i had enough split buffer picking up 10mins on WH and 30mins on the loops at 10 without a problem; mainly through zipping in and out of CPs rather than any running as such... and soft splits of course :)

hardly ran at all in the eastern loop.
no need for it really.
have to admit i did regret the late finish coming back along the steve irwin way at 10am - some long unshaded sections had me just cooking.
presumed i looked a bit hot and bothered at the finish.
just hate the heat.

overall had things in control about 90% of the time which is all you can expect really.
the 8a loop and the last 5km the only real bad points.
pretty pleased to feel so good overnight i guess a reflection of the slow pace.
in 5 weeks i will see how chipper i feel at 2am when i have been pushing hard all day :)

the pre-race niggles behaved strangely.
the butt wasnt really a problem: the glute would fire randomly at times and give me some sharp pain but this didnt happen often. and the GH course isnt hilly enough for the glute/hammy to struggle it felt worse at 12FT to be honest.
the knee/prepatellar bursitis started playing up at 2.5hrs on downhills and i thought i was in for a loooooong day but by the 10hr mark for some reason the pain had almost gone and even when i got to the beerwah loop and wildhorse it behaved so it wasnt just that the hills had disappeared.

a few quick gear things.
i feel soft saying this but i really need to get some (running) gaiters.
i have said before i would rather wear a v-neck jumper and drink a soy latte but i had to remove my left shoe maybe 10 times to get a bucket of sand/gravel out.
my feet were pretty crap after the 50km mark and hopefully this explains most of this.
i have no buffer at gow i need to be fit/healthy and problem free and i still may not come within cooee of the cutoff.
and feet were a big problem this race.
the ayup headlamp worked well but will go back to the medium/diffusing beam. the intermediate is just too narrow and powerful and literally fried my retinas.
food was good, ate well.

it was really nice to catch up with mellum again.
also pleased to say i did all 3 x long GH races this year (80km, 50km, 160km) as well as hares and hounds.
never done that before!

Great Walk!

2010-08-28T20:29:00.003+10:00

did the sunshine coast hinterland great walk last weekend.
TOH had a work meeting/weekend up at montville.
got a lift up to the mapleton forest drive entry and did the scenic 'loop' first then headed down south to baroon pocket dam near where we were staying.
all up 53km and 1800/2000 A&D.
took 8.18 which seemed a bit long but it wasnt exactly a flat/nontechnical course.
mostly singletrack, some sections reminded me a little of lamington but not quite as rainforesty or tree-rooted.
some road sections near the end... very nearly popped into a cafe or 2.
only downside was the brown tankwater i drank.
not sick yet so presumably sterilisation was successful (touch wood).

some more of the glute/butt pain mystery has been solved.
the pain locaised to my ischial tuberosity over the last 2 weeks.
you know the bit that hurts after sitting on a bike seat too long.
long story short got an ultrasound and cortisone injection there yesterday.
after talking to the physio i initially decided not to go down that path - i am running fine and didnt want to risk making things worse.
but the problem is i just can bloody well sit down!!!!!!!!!!!
ran 8hrs last saturday just fine but when i got back to the unit i couldnt bear to sit :(
as mellum said it adds new meaning to the saying 'beware the chair' in ultras and may be an advantage as its too painful to sit and rest :)
the scan confirmed no hammy or glute tendinosis which is good and just a very inflammed butt bursa.
pretty sore today post injection but was fine running this morning.
hopefully things will settle fully in 2-3 more days.
i assume this is what has been narking the area up these last few months.

yes mark i am going to gow: look forward to seeing you and DG there.
haven't mentioned this until now but i have entered GH, GOW and GNW 100 milers.
simple plan really: try and keep going until i either finish them all or fall apart trying.
plan is to take it easy at GH (28-29hrs) in 2 weeks.
wont do much between now and then just de-niggle myself.

Are you human?

2010-08-09T12:36:00.003+10:00

12 Foot Track 7th August 14.52 90km 3400 A&D

are you human?
seemed an appropriate question at the time.
was just approaching pluvi on the way back.
trotting along using my poles.
2 hikers had seen a few runners come through by then and had sussed out that we were all loonies.
i replied that some of the people ahead of me may not be though i certainly was!

its quite a quick trip really.
hour and a bit on the plane.
1.30-2hrs int he car from the airport.
duct-tape the etag to the windscreen and youre all good.
too easy.
stayed at leura for the weekend.
fly in friday - run saturday - fly back sunday home in time to walk the dogs.

overall impression of this race is how damn slow i am.
way too many people (innes, horrie, brick to name a few) passed me going up a hill with great ease.
that sucks.
was aiming for 14hrs and decided pre-race to push this one hard unlike GCM and GH50km in recent weeks.
wanted a 6.20 first half to give me a chance at a sub14 but had to push to even get there in 6.43 and a 15hr plus was then on the cards.

got back up the hill ok and could run/trot down to pluvi but struggled a bit down to the creek and then really struggled descending from mini to the river.
just couldnt get up any speed downhill at all and used it as an excuse to have a snack and much needed look at the beautiful view of the escarpment.

always thought i could do a sub 3 back from the river but walked almost every step so a 3.15 wasnt too bad considering
went over the swingbridge both ways which was probably a good thing consering the water temperature.
tried to break into a run a few times along the road section after megalong valley rd but found i was slowing down by doing this!

nellies is just a brute to get up.
swearing, sweating and heartrate at the max.
never had the feeling of it 'going on forever' though: however steep it is its not like climbing mt feathertop on the second morning.
kept thinking this to myself.

splits were 6.43 and 8.09 for a 14.52
it really puts into perspective how quick spud can go: sub 5 down then a sub 6 back.
that is really quick.
how the frig can anyone get back sub 6?
takes me over 3hrs even from the river!
maybe spud is superhuman!

glad i brought the poles, and the new headlamp (ayup) worked well.
sub freezing at the start (-3 apparent temp) and +1.2/-1.7 at the finish.
lots of support out there but had planned for a self-supported day so just carried everything (the usual alpine kit minus epirb) and filled up from the tanks.
didn't stop at caves house just tapped the green fence with a pole and turned around.

great to see keiron and jan again: brings back fond memories of thos early 2000s glasshouse years.
met dutchie and karl (of aawt fame) and quite a few other CRs.
a nice course - the unfortunate thing about pushing hard all day is you dont get to enjoy it as much as you should.

Roadie

2010-08-09T12:09:00.004+10:00

became a roadie temporarily at brissie HM last weekend.
paced the 1.50 bus (5.10/kms) after blair pulled out due to injury.

i pictured a group of 10-15 running with me the whole way.
and that i would be shit scared at the start and gradually get used to it.
but it was the opposite.

felt very relaxed before and at the start.
even had a 2 second thought about tessos offer to pace the 4hr mara instead!
slight hiccup when one of my balloons popped before the start.
is that a bad omen or what!

a handful announced that they were keen for a sub 1.50.
planned on crossing the start at 40secs and did this with a few spare seconds.
had to watch out for some power cables just above head height at the startline - quite a hazard for the balloons/pacers!
saw an old workmate in the first few kms: you expect to see running friends out there but not workmates so it was a clashing of worlds.

was comfy to the gardens (13km) when i noticed one or two dropping off the back.
it is hard to keep an eye on things when whenever you turn around you see these bouncing blue balloons obstructing your view!
relaxed/slowed up over the bridge as we had a good 30secs to spare on gun time.
a few asked how on target we were at this stage.
started to leak a bit of time here planning on as close to a 1.50 as possible.
there were a few who had been huffing and puffing the whole way and i didnt want to loose them on the kangaroo point loop.

got to the 15km marker and (apparently) had done a 4.40 for the last km.
bullshit!
looked around and had strung them out a bit.
bugger maybe i did?!?
couldn't believe i had gone that quick and thought it was the single-file/narrowness along there.
was pretty nervous until the 16km marker and quickly realised how hard this job can be.
you cut things pretty fine to the gun time and if a marker is out by 50-60m or so which they often can be it can certainly stuff things up.

back on track at the 16km, (15km was indeed out) most had caught back up on the wider path and still had some time to spare.
a few pushed ahead in the last 2-3km, whilst i leaked a few secs here and there and had a nice 5.50 (20km marker) for the last 1.1km to drag some people home.
obviously did a little too much encouraging and coming around the last corner to see the clock tick over to 1.50.00
bugger! crossed 7secs later thinking i had stuffed the timing up but no-one missed out on a sub 1.50 net because of it indeed hopefully i encouraged a few to hold on for a sub 1.50.
pleased to see a few other pacers being a bit over gun time.
amazing how 'the group' changed over the race.
probably only 3-4 people with me from the 3km mark right through to the finish.

not sacked just yet ;)

Undercover Pacer

2010-07-28T21:35:00.002+10:00

ran glasshouse 50km on the weekend.
things went pretty much to plan except some arse ache when sitting down over the following 2 days or so.
including a 0.25 for beerburrum ran a slight neg split (2nd loop 2mins quicker) and felt very comfy until the last hour or so.
finished just uner 5.50.
felt as good at the 5 hour mark of this as the 3.5hour mark of the 80km a few months back which is reassuring.
did get some needles in the butt yesterday and seeing the physio again this week.
it's ok to just stumble on i guess but if i plan to continue to build over the next month or so i don't want to come to grief.

blair had to pull out of pacing the 1.50 brissie HM bus so i will be doing my first ever pacing duties on sunday.
have always prided myself at how i can keep pace on road stuff without much effort and no gps help so we'll see what a little bit of pressure does :)
i'm not really an encouraging/cheerleader kind of personality though better bring my happy face that day!

booked flights etc... for 12 foot.

and tam we should run the 4Ts before glasshouse hey!

Adaptation

2010-07-18T19:17:00.004+10:00

ultra running is all about adaptation.
you need to adapt to doing stuff that is completely unnatural well in the 21st century anyway.
initially its mostly physical.
the body needs to get used to the punishment.
i think a lot of what happens later is mental.
finding new challenges and how to overcome them.

you still need the physical side though.
did 120km this week.
havent done that for ages.
glute is still probably only 90% at the moment.
did 2 long runs in brissie forest park.
did a 'double loop': black soil/scrub and the centre rd/hell hole (aka whippets whinge).
did the loops last year in 2.00 and 1.40 so with 0.25 it takes to join the loops up (4.05 total) a gentle trot in 3.55 shows how much fitter i am this year.
will need to come up with a name for this run.
its a nice hard run.
i am thinking the team tam torture test (4T) maybe.
all the flat runs this week were 1.09-1.11 so 5.10s or thereabouts.

monday: 13.7km flat
tuesday: 3.55 bris forest park 4T run and massage
wednesday: pilates
thursday: 13.7km flat
friday: 3.00 bris forest park- went for a bit of an explore augies rd down towards the mermaid mt turnoff
saturday and sunday both 13.7km flat

will settle down a bit this week until GH 50km saturday anyway.
will do it slowly probably add 30-40mins to usual time.

Nowhere to hide

2010-07-05T09:56:00.002+10:00

gold coast marathon 3.51.23

was thinking the same thing about the camelbak and gaiters jen :)

i think mr bleakman described it well.
the thing about marathons is there is nowhere to hide.
you can't just walk up the hill or hide and sit under a tree inbetween checkpoints.
'nowhere to hide' describes my first mara in 2001 perfectly.
ran the first 30km too fast and walked the last 12 along a long long very exposed busway in brisbane on a very warm day finishing in 4.16.

yestreday was much more cruisy.
kept pretty much perfectly to plan.
ran 5.20s to the turnaround (15.5km).
slowed a tad for a 1.53 halfway.
not so quick toilet stop (had to line up) and a gentle slowdown for a 3.51 finish.
dont wear an hrm but from a heart/lungs point of view it was very comfy.
the legs felt the last 6km which was just perfect.
saw a few people cramping in the last few kms and thought i was going to join them for a while.
great training run.

for the record 5km splits were 26.41, 26.35, 26.53, 27.13, 28.21 (dunny), 27.16, 27.34, 28.25, (12.22)

amazing how warm it gets on that exposed section from 30-34km.
wouldn't want to be out there on a hotter day.
the crowds pissed me off a bit especially the lady who was elbowing people 2mins after the start trying to get her ipod in order.
and those darting in/out at different stages especially at drink stations.
nice to run with a few CRs at different stages: puggie, seris.
racing a couple of HMs in the past the turnarounds have pissed me off: hard to concentrate seeing people coming the other way but was entertaining yesterday.
saw heaps of friends out there racing and pacing.
and a dude in a black sepultura tshirt just behind the 3hr group too.
now thats one hard rocker.

was thinking in the car on the way home how fast i could do one of these things.
then 0.1 seconds later was thinking about trail.
glasshouse 50km in 3 weeks.
12 foot 2 weeks after that.

Comfort Zone

2010-06-29T17:40:00.003+10:00

stepping out of my comfort zone this weekend.
haven't done a mara for almost 10 years and will make my return at the gold coast.
the first one was (as is often the case) a bit of a disaster and walked the last 12kms :)
it sucked.
that was 2001.
have only run ultras since.
almost all off road.

i havent tapered.
i have done only one long run >25km on road in the last few months.
and that ended with some tendon issues and an unplanned day off.
still have not recovered 100% from the arse/sciatic nerve thingy.
and basically i have no idea what i am doing :)

in my favour (with 2 ultras in the upcoming 5 weeks) i am just planning to trot.
and i am pretty fit at the moment.
hoping for a 3.50 or thereabouts and if the butt stays good should be no problem.
if not the car will be parked at the 32km mark!

friday: 33km flat road 3hrs
saturday: off
sunday : 7km race 9th/56 lake manchester and easy 10km 52.00 afternoon
monday: off
tuesday: 13.7km 69.00
wednesday: 13.7km 71ish
thursday: off
friday: 23km 2.05 easy
weekend off
easy week this week.

Mellum up

2010-06-15T19:51:00.005+10:00

with andy and spud heading to hardrock in a week or two it was time for one last mellum hitout.
a bit of discussion about where they wanted to go an in the end spud chose his favourite pre-OS jaunt training run : 12 foot.
andy was a tad too busy to come unfortunately.
tim and sonia did the first half (starting a little after spud) whilst i drove tim's car to the caves and ran back with spud.

the 'reverse 6 foot' makes so much sense.
for starters there is more up than down which suits me.
also the downs are much more runable in the reverse direction.
running across meg valley heading towards the escarpment at dusk is just fantastic.
and you get to finish with hauling your butt up those stairs in the dark in 4 degrees! :)

overall a really nice training run for me.
even ran in my new glasshouse 1000km shirt (thanks to mr g).
to be honest was a little worried about my arse muscle and had mentioned to the other half (and tim) about a possible meg rd bailout if things werent going well but spud looked after me well.
also brought a bit more gear than usual - enough to keep me happy in near freezing.
spud got down to the turnaround in 5hrs on the dot and it took us 6.23 to get back.
a good 12ft training run time for spud and a run for me that always felt reasonably comfy.
well until spud disappeared up those stairs at the end anyway ;)
had this funny sensation in my body half way up nellies which was my heart pounding at 200/min.
havent felt that for a while!!
as it happened ran in tshirt and shorts (plus beanie/gloves) almost all day until about 10mins from the stairs when i put a thermal on.
then sweated profusely in it.
gee it was cold at the finish: 3mins after stopping i popped 2 thermals and a downjacket on and was still cold.

the only bad part of the day was the hot food only being available from 11.30 onwards so missed out on my planned fish and chips :(
niggles have all pulled up well and did about 3hrs of walking with TOH the following day before a day off monday and the usual 13.5-14km today.

GCM in 3 weeks: have had varying thoughts about what to do there. last week was keen to do the mara (havent done one for nearly 10 years!). yesterday i didnt feel like doing anything and today was thinking of the 10km (race)/HM (training run) double.
so who knows?!?
glasshoue 50km 3 weeks after that.

good luck at hardrock boys.

WTF?

2010-06-07T11:25:00.003+10:00

wtf is wrong with people these days?
hello i have just run 5km for the first time.
can i run a marathon in 2 months?
or can i run a 2 hour marathon in a couple of years.
what the fuck?
its hard to know what are the pisstake threads and which ones are real.
please please tell me some of them are pisstakes.
can someone please remind me never to read beginner threads on CR ever again.
i just keep getting older and crankier every day :)
end of rant.

oh and while i remember probably a poor choice of words last post... i meant long time friends :)

butt ache is settling.
got some needles last week (ouch) and saw the physio who agreed that its not a piri syndrome per se.
just a narky glute med mainly and inflammed ?sacrospinous ligament.
it didnt like a MGTT last monday so have stuck to the flat/road this week and run alternate days.
btw my usual 14km running route has been changed because of cycling path works so now run through the gardens and its probably knocked a bit off.
i will henceforth refer to it as 13.5kms :)

monday: MGTT 2.18
tuesday: 13.5km flat 1.09ish and butt needles
wednesday: off
thursdau: 13.5km flat and physio
friday: off
saturday: 13.5km flat 1.09ish
sunday: off, gentle walk/run with the husky
monday: 23-24km flat just over 5's

Tightarse

2010-05-25T17:09:00.002+10:00

or should that be tight arse?
ok so its not just the hammy.
found out quite clearly after a few runs since last week that the left butt cheek is none too happy.
have similar feelings to the upset piri of 2 years ago: burning ache, tight feeling like sitting on a golf ball and some mild sciatic nerve type stuff.
according to the massage dude today its more glute med than piri but similar area.
had the most painful fucking massage in a while today.
he did offer me dry needling instead...

was a good boy and took it easy at warwick on the weekend.
nice to catch up with old friends.
did the killarney hill climb in 58.30 or so in a more comfy fashion than i remember before.
most of the punters getting off the bus looked much more sore/less fresh than me which made me feel a bit soft.
would love to put on the racing flats and give sub 48 a go on fresh legs one year.
would be a hard race to 'time' properly when giving it a real crack.

nothing planned until a possible 'training weekend' on the june long weekend.
will sit on the muscle mate and ramp things up again when settled.

Longevity

2010-05-19T17:42:00.003+10:00

talking about running here not the fact that i look so young ;)

Glasshouse 80km 16.5.10 10.28 14th/24
it's taken me 8 years to run 1000kms at glasshouse (50km may 2002).
the 9th person to do it.
currently kerrie morris (hall) is top of the table with 2378km.
her and 'hermie' are the only two >2000kms.
amazing.

i would like to think it underlines the fact that although i have missed a lot of races through injury i have actually been around a while.
...and hope to be around a while longer.

not a lot to talk about regarding the race itself.
3am starts are just terrible: not much sleep before.
get home late in the arvo so hard to have a quick nap before bedtime.
didn't run my best race at all.

it's been a while since i have been passed in the 2nd half of an ultra and (although admittedly just after the halfway mark) on this occasion it was by 3 people.
had some left hammy pain/stiffness from about 4hrs and struggled a bit to be honest.
couldn't seem to place my left foot down properly then couldn't 'power-down' especially on ups.
initially i thought it was a piri problem (hence my comment to cp6 that i needed to sit down and stretch my 'arse muscle') but its quite clear now the medial hammy +- adductor is just as tight as hell.
probably the MGTT pb a week before had an effect as well as some pilates the friday before.
and yeah ok maybe i needed to actually do a run over 2hrs in training in the preceeding 2 months ;)

limped around work monday/tuesday the hammy just pulls up/stops the left foot from landing in its usual forward position but its settling down now and went for a 7km trot today.
so the plan of trotting merrily to a sub-10hr 80km then backing up for a fast (sub 50min) killarney 10km hill climb was never going to happen!
still plan on going to warwick but will just need to take it easy.
think i have jogged a 55min there before post ultra.
60 sounds good.

Anti-Italian

2010-05-12T10:29:00.008+10:00

positano: amalfi coast

lunch on the trail - isle of capri

valley of watermills

view of 'marina grande' (capri) from up on the escarpment

one of these in every hotel room!

i am the anti-italian.
i don't drink coffee.
i don't drink alcohol.
i don't shout and carry on.
i see my family maybe twice a year.
although admittedly sometimes i don't mind a nap during the day :)
at morning breakfast they ask you if you want a coffee and when you say no thanks they look at you like you're a freeking alien.

italy is a funny place.
our guide tried to 'sell' naples to us.
couldn't get out of the place quickly enough.
sure we didn't see the crime that it's famous for (apparently unwarranted).
was even somewhat disappointed that my 'dummy' wallet didn't get nicked the day we walked through the 'bad streets'.
but there is rubbish and graffitti everywhere.
and random screaming all hours of the night.
i don't think anyone is being murdered i think they are just saying hello and having a conversation.
hard to tell with the italians if they are cross with one another or happy.
just a chaotic place.

went at a more quiet time of year than last time and made it much more relaxing.
last time we were in rome it was hot, overcrowded and it was the end of the trip: had just had enough.
enjoyed ourselves much more this time.

the traffic isn't quite beijing but it's close.
took me a while to figure out the italians have absolutely no consideration for one another but they are extremely tolerant.
sort of the opposite to here.
saw quite a few pedestrians crossing at the lights in front of several lanes of traffic whilst the cars were on green.
not a single toot or swearword.
not that that would ever happen here but if it did someone would get out of their car and beat you up with a wheellock.
tiny tiny streets out at amalfi coast: hardly enough room for 2 cars likely 2 buses trying to pass one another with people walking 3 abreast on the side of the road.
the islands were even worse: gazetted roads that were more footpath.
everyone owns these little 3 wheeled trolley carts there.

italian men wear funny clothes.
lots of brightly coloured synthetic puffy vests being worn.
lots of hair products used.
even sore a labourer wearing pink jeans and a white tshirt.
would get beaten up here.
or find themselves a manfriend.

all very entertaining.

back to earth now and have glasshouse 80km on this weekend.
then plan is to run killarney 10km hill run the sunday following.

broke the MGTT pb by quite a significant margin (8mins) on saturday.
for the record did a 1.58.55 with splits of 22!! (road) 41 (end highwood rd) 1.16 (gcr) 1.36 (top kokoda).
1st time i have really attacked the course.
not suprisingly was completely shagged at the end.
well was completely shagged at the bottom of kokoda to be honest.
MGTT (18.7km 630A&D) can hurt you.

De-cheese

2010-05-07T22:05:00.009+10:00

i need to de-cheese.
just spent 3 weeks away in italy (with a KL stopover).
about night 8 TOH looked at me and said: so do you want to eat italian or italian?
i need to de-cheese.

view of positano: walk of the gods

stairs in atrani!!

looking down valley of watermills to amalfi

escaprment isle of capri - how the hell did i get up/down there? ;)

prickle-bush!

the centre-piece of the holiday was an 8 day walking tour of amalfi coast.
its sort of on the 'dorsum' of the foot for people with any anatomical knowledge of italy ('the boot').
exercise wise there were really only 3 true 'walking' days.
never really considered the exercise aspect pre-tour to be honest.
just made sure we had a waterproof top and some food/water each day.
the standard equipment for most in our group was water bottle, handbag and a $2 plastic poncho.
none of this was 'serious' walking.
having said this day 2 did involve going down 2000 steps and stuffed a lot of legs in the group - TOH had much more muscle soreness than the overland track mainly due i think to the hard terrain: steps/rocky paths and little true 'trail'.

day 1: met in naples
day 2: walk around naples/pompeii a longish day but not too much distance covered
day 3: 1st proper walk day from san lazzaro (agerola) down 1000 steps to furore.
1st half was basically past peoples back yards: past vines and lemontrees.
some liked the cultural aspect i felt like we were intruding :)
somewhat labyrynthine, in the last half some nicer dirt trail. notes said people could head back up and was somewhat suprised when the guide said no-one had ever done this in his 10 years there!
unfortunately it means missing lunch (they took a bus there then back to the hotel) which is probably why! ran back up in 50 mins (3.5 to walk down with the group) with some minor detours :) the guide asked TOH at one stage when i would get back. he texted me an hour ago was the reply.
he had no idea.

day 4: 'walk of the gods' from bomerano to positano via nocelle.
just a lovely walking day.
subalpine terrain somewhat unfortunately a foggy day but i think it added more atmosphere.
at a guess 6-7km of mostly easy trail.
we took 'the high road' which was more rocky and had less people on it. would've just loved to have come back and done an out and back at the crack of dawn all alone.
lunch was in nocelle and after the group got stuck into the wine and some 30%+ alcohol stuff and the singing started it was the bus down to positano (rather than the 600 steps).
though i guess both were potentially problematic!
i think from early on the guide picked the group as an eating/drinking/strolling/busing group rather than committed walkers ;)

day 5: isle of capri tour. nice easy day. lovely place we were to return there after the tour so got some maps :) lunch on 'the trail' looking out over amalfi, the ?bay of naples and the meditteranean.

day 6: rest day in amalfi - went exploring the route to ravelo in the morning so i could potentially run there the following day.
the 'trailhead' (more concrete path really) starts from the town adjacent to amalfi called atriani - was warned to just run along the road to get here then try and find the way up as the town was 'labyrynthine'.
my nav-prep consisted of me pointing to ravello from the ferry and the guide saying yep thats where it is. i had no idea which side of the valley to head up and didnt have a map. long story short i spent 30mins getting completely lost in a place i can only describe as the 'stairmaster of pergatory'.
you know that famous picture of the place with the steep steps going up and down an eventually meeting back at the same place? this was it.
found out later even the atrani locals get completely lost there.
long story short made it up to ravello in 55mins and headed back down.
got some maps later and strolled back to atrani for lunch with TOH and explored some more of the labyrynth!!

day 7: probably the nicest day of all. even nicer than pathway of the gods. the group had a quick look around atrani then bused it up to ravello. i ran it in 29mins. beat them up. once again the guide thought he might see me on the bus on the way up: nope had been there an hour.
had to laugh that i got to the 'right-side' of atrani in about 4mins, instead of 34 the previous day.
walk this day was pretty full-on until 5pm or so.
went via scala, minuta then to some pristine trail to the northwest of amalfi (valley fo the watermills) eventually descending past the old paper mill sites. just a lovely day. had i known of this area i would have loved to explore it earlier.

day 8: left amalfi

went to the isle of capri (anacapri) after the tour ended and was keen to do some exploring.
walked up mt solaro the 1st afternoon and went for a 2hr run up/down the escarpment the next morning.
to be honest got a little excited and was keen to do both the escarpment plus another 6-7kms at least.
got down the escarpment ok ('the passitiello'): was 50m visibility on a foggy day, decided to go exploring a more northerly route of coming back up which was supposed to be easier but was a rock/chain scramble :)
got up it fine (some scattered red dot markings) even though slow and faced a myriad of trails up the top. long story short they got smaller and smaller and i went briefly off trail thinking i could see a major trail nearby only to get a tad stuck in pricklebush (photo attached).
i was pretty stuck!
hmmmmmmm calm blue ocean calm blue ocean.
thought briefly about retracing my steps all the way back down/up the escarpment again!! although difficult and didn't fancy the chain back down but sure enough used the compass to find a major trail in another 5-10mins or so.
the next time i decided to head up the escarpment (from capri to anacapri) we took the 600 stairs and down we took a car :)

otherwise...some tready sessions in rome and KL.
did get out for 10km in the KL humidity (holy crap and i think brissie is bad!)
so even though i havent run for more than 2 hours since alpine i still feel pretty fit.
lots of time on feet even if standing/walking.

the group dynamics were funny (12 of us).
tour guide was a 60-something quite fit american-italian 'francesco' who was divorced and liked the ladies and the whole tour guide thing.
funnily enough we had a copious divorced ladies in the group. for the first 2 days there were only 2 blokes in the group! (1 couple arrived late).
one team member was a tad 'odd' at the initial meeting (well she was from adelaide).
the next day we noticed she could hardly get up an down the stairs in the hotel - to be honest she was morbidly obese and really struggled on day 1 - was suprised she even managed that.
needless to say she didn't do any of the proper walking days.
didn't make sense until frank mentioned that some people come on the tour with no intention of walking - its a cheapish tour and there are very few non-walking tours in the area.

more on the culture/food next post.
and more photos.

Tight Hammies

2010-04-11T08:40:00.008+10:00

been doing too many short runs this week ;)

ran a (10.7km) loop at wildhorse last weekend in 50.51
then walked the 'official' event straight after with the other half.
some rutted/muddy sections early and some sand near the end make it a little un-flat in places.
must've been doing 4.20s or so on the flat sections which was a nice feeling.
its a nice course and will be back.
my unofficial time would've had me 9th/52.

yesterday ran pinnacles 18km for the first time.
well other than when i ran the course on wednesday :)
just love brisbane forest park and remember being put off by the qld water 'do not enter signs' at the trailhead (its near the gold creek resevoir) a few years back and have simply done other trails since.
there are much more welcoming signs there these days.
a little overgrown near the start but nothing like hellhole break or blacksoil track after some rain.
all of the serious hills are in the first half in the clockwise direction then its the 'relative highway' of south boundary road on the way home.
did 2.03 in training on wednesday (42.00 gate, 1.12.00 half) - pulled back 10mins to the drinkstation (9km) so didn't have much work to do to get under the planned 1.50.
splits were 35.30 (gate), 1.02.00/1.02.30 (half), 1.46.57 finish.
only mandy (1st F) passed me in the second half and she's a much better downhiller than me.
so pleased that i could hold everyone else off.
next year is anticlockwise which wont suit me nearly as well - lots of steep downhills in the second half.
came 12th/55.

someone asked me yesterday what my plans are for the rest of the year.
guess its always pre-empted by my ability to injure myself for prolonged periods :)
first and foremost looking forward to doing my 1000th kilometer at glasshouse (80km) in may.
would also plan to pop into warwick the week later even if its just for the 10km.

later in the year i am not so sure.
i am mindful that gnw is a huge 'gap in my cv' but was keen to do the gow 100 miler this year.
hmmmmmmmm maybe 100km glasshouse/100 mile gow/100km gnw?!?
or should i just complete the 100 mile slam i started 3 weeks ago :p
need to keep fit and healthy though!

Gearman

2010-04-02T14:47:00.003+10:00

thought i should document some of the things that i used from the other weekend.

pack: salomon 10+3 (340g) worked really well. just just just able to fit everything in! made it easy as cp's were at night/day changeover so when i needed more clothes i was generally wearing them. brought the salomon 20 (490g) but didnt use it which is good because its nowhere near as comfy.
water: 3 litre bladder plus a camelbak 'podium' 600ml bottle for sterilization/purification. had a fair bit of water left using 500mls/hr as a guide.
water purification: steripen (100g) (hence the need for the bottle) plus katadyn micropur forte tablets (and didnt drink for 30mins after)
food: the usual during the day biscuits, twisties, sandwiches, bbq shapes didnt feel much like chips, trailmix or le snack. ate very well at night: dried backcountry food the thai chicken was the best. some soups. chocolate!!
waterproof top: outdoor research zealot (gtx) (210g)
waterproof pants: montane atomic (150g) - no need for the heavier golite gtx ones (230g)
thermals top/bottom: polypro
down jacket: montbell ultralight down jacket (800 loft) (200g)
day gloves: manzella (50g) some waterresistance definately not -proof ok for daytime
night gloves: (ruths skigloves) 'kaos' gtx (180g)
beanie: polypro balaclava plus another beanie at night
poles: fizan compact ultralite (315g)
gps: garmin vista colour fixed onto left arm strap easy to see.
epirb: GME410G (250g)
phone: nokia next g (120g)
headlamp: led lenser h7 (110g) either PT zipka 2 (60g) or scout (30g) as backup.
the usual other safety gear: except firelighter (metal) plus vaseline/cotton-balls rather than matches which are useless. salomon has the tinniest little whistle on their packs. '1st aid kit' is leukoplast tape and little scissors :) usual other bitsNpieces: sunscreen in tiny containers, lube, toilet paper...

absolute keepers were the down jacket and gtx gloves at night.
the down jacket only weighs 50g or so more than a single polypro top and is much much warmer caveat is of course to keep it dry.
it was absolutely fantastic on the 2nd night.
also have a 340g one for even colder stuff.
day clothes were basially tshirt/shorts +- jacket if windy also 1xthermal on feathertop
night clothes were 1/2 thermal top, gtx top +- down jacket (needed it 2nd night!!) 1 thermal bottom +- wproof pants plus gloves and the 2 beanies/balaclava.
shoes were montrail HRs. taped my feet, cotton socks :)

and now to nav....
cut up the usual maps with contact over the top...
garmin vista with complete course loaded on using memory map: coloured purple.
absolute gold this software a worthwhile investment $300 per state for topos and software to create the necessary files: http://memory-map.com.au/
'tracker' left on coloured red very very easy to see at night ie. red line following purple line.
micro-sd chip from garmin inserted with all tracks/side-trails: http://www.ja-gps.com.au/Garmin/garmin-topo-australia-sd/ ie. so you can see when turns are coming up.
this stuff is so good it should be banned.
maybe one day it will.

Unfinished Business?

2010-03-24T09:00:00.004+10:00

Mind Alpine Challenge 100 miles 20-22 Mar 2010 =10/18 (last place finishers) 46.07

2 years ago i fronted the startline with cortisone in my left itb realising full well i may injure myself for many many months as a result.
no-one had finished the course and it was my chance at history.
even an hour into the event i knew it wasn't my day and pulled the pin at the first opportunity: 28km at 7hrs.

you would think i would consider this event unfinished business and feel a lot of pressure to finish but the feeing was quite the contrary.
i saw this event as a huge adventure, felt well prepared and felt the most relaxed pre-race i have in a long long while.
and watching mellum fuss over logistical details the night before and develop pack envy made me feel even better prepared and feel even calmer :)

i hate endless blow by blow reports but the course is so huge it is probably worthwhile breaking it up into bits...

bogong village to warby corner 15.5km
nice steady climb up the spion kopje FT.
a creek crossing early on: had to laugh at a big group taking their shoes off for the crossing WTF?
steve met us at (hiked into) warby corner which was great: meant hauling up less food/water from the start and i could take the small/13 litre salomon pack for the first 60kms.

warby to warby then langfords 46km (61.5 total)
just a huge tough loop down to big river up mt bogong (reverse of b2h) down qaurtz ridge the other side to big river and up the long long wide open/warm timms spur FT.
tam was keen to go a bit faster here and leave us more time to down some food at langfords which is usually the opposite of what i do but my stomach enjoyed the plan.
arrived at langfords ahead of the 15hr (depart) schedule in 13.50 or so and had 25mins to repack and down some food. the thai chicken meal was just sooooooooo nice even if a tad spicy!! changed to night gear and left 45mins ahead of schedule.

langfords to mt loch 28.5km (90km)
follows the bogong-hotham course except at night! was not looking forward to swindlers spur :)
made steady time early - remembered not to take 'bluedogs detour'.
was somewhat eerie crossing the road and following the endless pole line across the highplains.
we both started to get a little sleepy before P333 and were pleased to see some shelter there and had a little sitdown.
swindlers wasn't that bad just a real trudge.
arrived at a very windy mt loch (steve looked like he was dressed for a k2 ascent!) with some repairs to do: feet etc... and ended up leaving a little late just after 3am i think.

mt loch to harrietville 16km (106km)
put the 'full night kit' on here to go up over mt hotham summit so 2 thermal tops plus small down jacket and gtx top plus thermal and montane on bottom.
official windgusts were low 60s and although no fog on mt hotham it created a big duststorm that reduced visibility at times.
little trouble finding the way to the top the way back down to the road was the first nav challenge in that as expected i didnt find the 'trailhead' down to diamantina hut (don't think it exists) so just basically followed the gps line (albeit an s-shaped course we followed) down to the hut.
was actually warm here and need to unzip some top layers.
razorback was not as exposed as i expected and the trail was easy to find.
then began the long long descent down bon accord.
this was always going to be the telling part of the race for me: concerned about a pre-dawn 'bonk' as i had experienced in my 2 previous 100 milers.
tam was starting to feel some shin and feet soreness here and we were both pretty sleepy though only one of us actually fell asleep whilst walking ;)
got through the long night and started to pick up spirits in the final hour or so.
got to the bottom (just out of town) just after 9am and tam had to stop and rest and take some panadol.
she was doing a funny shuffle/limp here and to be honest i was a bit concerned about her finishing in her current state; we had a long 55km to go.
a long but neccessary stop at harrietville to regroup: somewhat ominous that we had only just taked our headlamps off and we would need to repack them again as we may need them before meeting the crew again at tawonga huts!!
left around 10am after doing some gear reshuffling.

harrietville to tawonga 31km (137km)
a long section up to feathertop (1400m climb) down the infamous diamantina spur (which was even more diabolical than normal) back up to P333 via westons hut and onto tawonga huts 20mins away.
it was here i was starting to see the event as a 'mission'.
all we had to do was to feathertop/westons then fainters and we were finished.
it seemed so easy...until we were walking uphill for about an hour and tiredness and reality hit again.
started seeing glimpses of a few teams here and team mountain goats caught us just at federation hut (water fill-up) and followed us to the very windy summit.
i think the windgusts must have been 70km/hr+ here.
had to laugh at one daytripper with tshirt/shorts/hat and a camera.
bloody goose.
saw the mens singaporean team heading up on our way back: even with all their faces half covered i could tell they were pretty 'weathered' by the course already.
got the impression team MG was happy to follow us down diamantina (somewhat wisely as between us tam and i had been down there maybe 5 times before).
decided to give them a brief description incase they wanted to run ahead: follow the ridgeline down until a knoll at 1400m head off 'the edge of a cliff' to the right and follow the yellow tape down to the road.
its a bit of a scramble at first but then gets easier after that.
....whats a knoll was the response.
oh dear.
at least they asked i guess :)
at the bottom of diamantina spur some people were marking off names; they hadnt seen anyone for 6 hours!!
made the long climb back up to the pole line.
amazing how quickly it got cold in that 10mins from the road to tawonga and trotted downhill so we could put more clothes on at the cp

tawonga to finish 21km (158km)
just getting on dark for the 2nd night here.
was ready to go pretty quickly so had a few moments to think about what we had already achieved and what was to come.
neither of us had done the next section mt hotham forecast was for 3 degrees that night and we hadn't slept for 40 hours.
i was really really looking forward to the challenge/adventure.
the trail was easy to follow early althought littered with boggy areas.
after an hour or so it became more indistinct and night nav became a real potential problem.
it was around here we saw the last relay runners from team MG who had passed us whilst we were refuelling at tawonga huts.
they didnt seem to have a lot of clothes on and looked a bit lost.
at that time hotham was 3.2degrees (apparent -1.7) so i had my full kit on.
steve said later they were on the phone to other team memebers a few times after leaving.
they seemed pretty happy to see us and followed us for the next hour or so until i think they were getting a bit cold whenever we slowed to have a quick snack or break and went ahead though by that stage we were almost back onto the wide FT.
every 5mins or so i would stop for a second and check the gps to make sure we were following the course.
a very very useful piece of equipment.
a long downhill section to finish was almost like the course trying to have 'the final say' at tam's shins but around 2.40am we made our way back into bogong village and the finish.

steve was there and wrote down the times and took a photo.
quick handshake and a hug and left to the shelter of the cabin which was only a hundred metres or so away.
had a quiet moment there at the front door before pottering around inside.
spud had left his door ajar and sure enough he came out with a big smile on his face and a hand presented for my shaking.
spud is a nice guy!
we briefly swapped stories before i hit the hay.
wasn't planning on going to the presentation only 5hrs or so later but was awake and couldn't resist.
seeing the look on the placegetters faces was priceless.
beaver turned to darrel and said 'oh here he is' and gave me a little 'we are not worthy' bow of respect. pipi the winner stood and smiled and shook my hand.
the last finishers at ultras get a lot of respect.

i learnt a hell of a lot about myself that weekend.
i simply didn't know how i would cope with the first dawn and running through the second day (and night!).
people who i have seen go through this before have amazed me and not wanting to sound arrogant or weird but to be honest i amazed myself.
i guess its something inherent in all of us that with the right training and planning we can push through in double and multi-day events, ward off pain and the sleepmonsters to finish.
and i am no different.
i learnt a lot about navigation, keeping warm in alpine environments, the course itself, nutrition and the mental side of things.
a lot of the learning was from things we did right and not wrong.
which is a good way to learn in this environment!

we had a mission to complete and we completed it.

Still here!

2010-03-17T06:00:00.001+10:00

mind alpine challenge 100 miler on saturday.
training going to plan did 3.5hrs around coot-tha on thursday.
looking forward to it.

Pushing Limits

2010-02-26T18:28:00.007+10:00

decending down duanes spur

view north west from quartz ridge.
hard to see but ?mt beauty in distance upper right.

a tad blurry but rather ominous view from warby corner from where i had come: mt bogong

so i was trying to explain to one of my colleagues at albury emergency on monday that 14 hours was really just a training run.
and yes it probably isn't ideal to be running in the bush alone.
yes i am a doctor and have wilderness medicine qualifications.
yes i own a steripen (well 2 actually) yet decided not to carry it and drink untreated water from big river.
and yes predictably i ended up with an 'upset tummy' afterwards requiring a quick intravenous top-up and some antibiotics.
but didn't really feel silly to be honest.
just keen to get better as quickly as possible.
guess it makes it an easy decision for 3 weeks time: yep carry the steripen ;)
i was more dirty i missed my flight, missed my shift the next day and an uncomfortable trip away for some medical teaching work the following day.

did a slight variation of the initial 60km loop except starting and finishing from the YMCA at howmans gap about 10km up the road from bogong village (the alpine 100 mile startline).
was quite a little adventure in the dark getting up to the spion kopje (SK) fire trail.
for starters the trailhead from the YMCA isn't that obvious and i spent sometime fossicking arround in what i presume is the managers back yard (trampoline, kids toys...) before finding it up the back left of the complex (seems to be back right on the maps).
easy trip down to rocky valley creek which was only at knee high at worst but looking across at 5am all i could see on the other side was cliff high rock walls with no trailhead, bugger!
of course shimmied to the left rather than right and spent 10mins climbing over logs and generally splashing around before in the end it was just a few metres to the right of where i came out on the other side originally :)
bloody steep trail ie. hands and knees stuff and was a very sweaty first 40mins (for about 1.5kms!!) to the wider but overgrown SK trail.

then climbed up SK to warby corner and did 'the loop' down duanes spur (to big river) up tspur to mt bogong and then down quartz ridge (to big river again) up timms spur and back to warby corner.

initially a drizzly morning before a beautiful sunrise.
made it to a cloud covered mt bogong at 11.45am.
had decided due to a forecast storm at 3-6pm and poor visibility (20m) that i would head down staircase spur if i hadn't reached the summit by midday so was pleased to carry on.

have long wanted to do quartz ridge after reading lawrence and jan's account of the original alpine 100 miler the year they did the loop clockwise.
it was very cold with deep snow that year and although the ridge line is quite safe in the dry/daytime it sends a chill down my spine looking at how easy it would be to literally fall off quartz ridge in more difficult conditions ie. snow.

arriving back at warby corner i could look back at the awesome site of mt bogong and adjacent ridgelines that i had just traversed as well as the darkness of the impending storm.
had brief thoughts about heading back via the road and in hidsight should've at least checked the radar on my phone.
felt a little uneasy on the 1880m highplains with thunder around walking with my aluminium poles!! got of the ridgeline as quickly as i could.
only 2 flashes of lightning though and well in the distance.

rocky creek is described as 'impassable at times of high flow' and realised i would not only be heading down howmans gap down a slippery slope but with no guarantee of getting across the creek at the bottom.
did a fair bit of bum sliding to get to the creek which was as predicted a fair bit higher than before (hip/waist) but very slow flowing where i crossed so quite safe albeit causing a chilly last 10mins of the run.

have recovered from my little tummy upset which i am sure was bacterial in nature.
missed a few runs (no pun intended) but went out for a quick trot this morning.
i am sure next time whippet sees me there will be some payback for all the lectures i gave him on avoiding all this sort of thing at aawt!

final stats 59km and 3400 ascent and descent.
apart from the stuff around howmans gap and the storm at the end never got out of 1st/2nd gear.
was to do another hour or 2 exploring around bogong village on the monday but obviously had to can that.
a nice adventure.

Don't tell Mellum (I ran a track event)

2010-02-15T15:26:00.004+10:00

Caboolture 3x2hr relay: Team "Snap, Crackle and Pop" 1st mixed 65.8km or so

last time i ran a track event was gold coast 2003.
turned up on the wrong day (teams event day - oops) and ran 12hrs on a damn hard track around and around in bloody circles in the sun.
hardly entertaining.
good training run for a newbie ultra runner though.
and gave me respect for those who do these regularly - much much harder than the trail stuff mentally.

caboolture isn't a typical track run.
for starters its a soft 'dirt' track of 500m.
there are a few little bits where you actually have to lift your feet.
(watch the grill cover on the blind/dark turn).
there is a few metre elevation gain/drop each lap.

teamed up with CRs julz and chelle in a mixed relay team.
sounds like all of us were keen to just have nice training runs with no real goals/expectations but when the running buddies team (2x3hr including julz' BF) started lapping us early it was game on! :)
both girls ran really even splits and each did a HM in their 2hr slots.

suprising how entertaining it was: never really bored in the 4 hours of watching/lapscoring before my turn.
and didn't seem funny running the 10pm-midnight shift at all.
wasn't sure whether or not to start at 5.00s and see if i could hold it comfortably or start at 5.10s and speed up.
chose the former but didnt seem very comfy after only 20mins so slowed down a few seconds.
its amazing how comfy 5.03s feel compared to 5.00s ;)

got in a good rhythm 0.40-1.20 hitting 2.30 lap splits without a problem.
had a delusion at 1.40 that i could do a few 2.20s.
lasted about 1 lap!

have done a few HMs as training runs at 5.00/pace and this seemed a little less relaxing.
guess the late night start, humidity and 15mins extra time in glycogen depletion made it somewhat harder.
did a bit of teeth grtting in the last 15mins or so.

in the end just missed 5.00s average by about 30 seconds.
ie. ran for just under 2hrs and was a bit short of 24km on the final lap.

think we won the mixed by about 6 laps in the end - not that we were aiming to compete as such but it was still nice!
was a great mix of club teams and the usual ultra nutters on the track.
can't see myself returning to track ultras particularly at this time of the year but i definately will be back to caboolture.
oh yeah and we beat 'team buddies'.
all good fun :)

Glorious?!?

2010-02-11T15:33:00.004+10:00

Mt Glorious trail run 7.2.10 32km 1500mA&D 4.05.44 =25th/55

i really like this run.
yeah i know i say that about every run ;)
it's just so damn hilly.
km for km one of the hilliest in asutralia.
1500m up/down in 31-32km.
hillier than bogong and probably razorback too just not as 'technical'.

woke at 1.30am thanks to a storm coming across brissie.
never got back to sleep - tried to settle the dogs, checked the radar and headed off early thinking the drive would be 'interesting'.
got there ok and stood in the rain for 30mins directing parking.

we went off in groups of 4 which is always a bit of a pain - part of the permit.
started with tanky who i was running with as training for alpine 100 miler.
not a bad day all up.
rained most of it but not too heavily.
the rain made most of the terrain less rather than more slippery which was good.
a nice negative split for us 2.10/1.55 with the -500m downhill second half.
felt much more comfortable than last time (2008).
a slightly longer course than before probably 2km - so considering this pretty much the same finish time (4.05 v 3.50 for 2km more) - absolutely smashed myself uphill last time in 1.52 and paid for it later ;)

starting to feel fit in a cardiovascular sense.
legs need more work.

caboolture saturday.
have the maps out for alpine.

friday: 9km easy
saturday: off
sunday: mt glorious 32km 4.05
monday: 30mins easy bike
tuesday: 14km flat 72.50
wednesday: 14km flat 72.50 and massage
thursday: MGTT with alpine pack/poles 2.42

Tready and bush-bashing

2010-02-04T18:18:00.005+10:00

a few photos from castle crag lamington national park

headed back to lamington national park on the weekend.
did a loop involving lyrebird lookout and 'the crags'.
we were thinking LL would involve a fair bit more bush-bashing than it did.
overall it wasnt that bad - reasonable trail to hike on would be much crappier to run on.
enough tape to find the way especially with someone else leading :)
last time i went out to castle crag was a morning 'run' a few years back (more direct route) and remember returning thinking 'hmmmmm a little hairy by ones-self in parts'.
hasn't changed especially in slippery/wet weather.
a few spots where it's best not to look down.
reminded me a little of diamantina spur in roughness.
nice views though.

did my first bike-tready this morning in a long while.
standard session is 140-150watts at low rpm (80) for half an hour then pop the treadmill on maximal upslope and walk at 6km/hr +- hop on the bike for the same again.
a good session.

friday: 2.20 MGTT mt coot-tha
saturday: 14km 73.00
sunday: 5hr hike lamington national park
monday: 14km 72.10
tuesday: off
wednesday: 14km 71.00
thursday: bike-tready and massage

Things are heating up

2010-01-27T15:56:00.002+10:00

warmish week up here.
not as bad as down south but 33-34 every day.
no cloud cover.
60+% humidity.
hard work when its 30 degrees at the end of a morning run.
not that much cooler at coot-tha.
i hate the heat.

thursday: 14km flat 72.00
friday: 14km flat 72.20
saturday: off
sunday: 14km flat 71.30
monday: JRR coot-tha 1.44
tuesday: 30mins easy bike
wednesday: 14km flat 69.00 and massage

Mileage

2010-01-20T07:28:00.002+10:00

was thinking this week i need to get back to doing some 'decent' mileage.
or perhaps that should be kilometerage.
years ago i wouldn't have even thought of doing even a 'short' ultra without a few 100km+ weeks and before my first 100 miler i had regular weeks of 120-140km.
not necessarily wanting to go back to those days but i have been running off damn low milegae (50-60km) for a while now.
running ultras once a month is often the best training (and fun) but i wonder if more is needed for the 100mile stuff.
1 of which i have coming up in march - alpine.
so people might see me out and about around the river a bit more over the next month or 2.
you never known maybe one of these days i will do as much mileage as bellthorpe ;)

assuming hiking counts i 'ran' 3 days in a row on the weekend: first time in a long while i have done this.
also need to add one bike session a week.
so thats 5-6 days a week of 'something'.

wednesday: 14km flat ?time
thursday: off
friday: 14km flat 68.00
saturday: 6hr hike o'reillys (lamington NP). toloona creek circuit then some 'narlier track' exploring around lyrebird lookout on the way back.
sunday: 1hr gentle run o'reillys
monday: off
tuesday: 14km flat 72.00

mt glorious (32km 1500A&D) is the next race feb 7th.
i like the way kato describes this race: "you start by running a few hundred metres along a road then suddenly you are running up an (expletive) cliff" :)
cool.

Consolation prize

2010-01-13T15:30:00.004+10:00

Glasshouse Hares&Hounds 55km 10.1.10 6.12 16th/33

so only an hour or 2 after returning with the boys on day 6/the final day of AAWT i am doing some stretching.
whippet looks at me and says... youre going to do bogong on the weekend aren't you? :)
well derrrrrrrrrrrrrr.
to be honest with the weather and lack of zip in the legs i would've been skirting the langford cutoff big time (only had 20mins grace in 2008).
i absoltuely hate running in the heat and decided a 4th trip to the vic alps in 2 months was a little too much so headed back home instead .... to glasshouse.

nice event this one.
has taken me a while to fully understand the concept.
basically the 55kmers (hares) start at 3.30am and the relayers (hounds) start chasing us down an hour later at dawn.
yeah i understand that bit but i mean how it works in a running and social setting.
i think the good thing is the amount of people mixing together in the team atmosphere.
in the second half of the race a lot of the teams are at the cp's waiting for their runners and cheering everyone on which is great.

did a 6.03 a few years back and due to 2 x 50kmers in the last 5 weeks planned to do a 6.20 this time.
long story short passed a group of 7 running together just after the lookout which tailed me for a while so i couldn't relax until a km or so until the end.
hermie told me before the start his 1 goal was to beat me ended up getting passed by the group after the last cp (where i caught him) and was a whole 12mins and 8 places (!) back at the finish.
serves him right i guess ;)
didn't quite get the nice easy training run i was hoping for but it was nice to run an 'ultra' again rather than the really hilly/bushy 5km/hr stuff i have been doing lately.
nice splits - 2.53/3.19 or thereabouts (26.7km/28.5km 'halves').
the pool was fantastic at the end for cooling down which i really needed.
warm day but not as bad as b2h would've been.
guess i better start thinking about alpine 100 at some stage :)

We are runners not bushwalkers

2010-01-06T13:57:00.007+10:00

AAWT 29.12.09 - 4.1.10 670km+ walhalla to tharwa. team mellum = dnf

i am sitting in my tent at the end of the first day (50km).
firstly i am wondering why i didnt take gaiters that day - what had i not read in karl's track notes (karl finished in 21-22 days in feb-march 2009): "good singletrack up, across and over the baw baws - in northern sections vegetation across the track and pulling at the legs".
hardly describes what was essentially trees completely covering 'trail' and a case of 'looking up and seeing the guys 20m ahead and not knowing how they got there'.
several hours of 2-3km/hr really plays with your mind and scratches on leg scratches is just really frustrating.
i guess shows what growth can occur over a 10 month period.
my stupid error.
you would think having had experience of this before would make me more likely to push through it: http://undercuvabrother.blogspot.com/2008/03/all-or-nothing.html
quite the contrary, i found it simply made me fearful of what was to come.

so what has day 2 in store for me?
55.6km (well probably closer to 60km as we had done 4km over the book estimate day 1) with 2800m A&D.
description (a little edited) from karl ('mr dutchy') : the 'overgrown firetrail' north then NE up to mt shillinglaw from black river - GOOD LUCK!! this is what i wrote that night for this section as i travelled it south. followed overgrown FT to saddle then basically bushbashed completely unmarked ridge to river. covered 5km in 3hrs thought i would spend the night on the ridge. like i say 'GOOD LUCK'!!

hmmmmmmmmmm and if i crack on and do days 3 and 4 (the overnighter) i need to cover ...
day 3: 41.3km (book distance) 2330A 2020D not including an hour or more bushbash to find water and haul it (4-5 litres) up over mt mcdonald (1620m) for use at camp that night and first 10km the next day.
and day 4: 51.3km with 3480A and 3620D!!

NOT GOING TO HAPPEN.

funny thing was i felt fine physically.
it was mental.
ultrarunners are used to the mental side pushing the body along.
not the other way around.
i was broken and i wan't even sore.

i did pack my bag that night but after a sleepless night realised once again that there wasn't any point and wished andy and spud well on morning 2.

so i guess the brief version is i pulled out after day 1 (50km) :)

after bushbashing up from the river that night (arrived 9.30pm) 'the boys' looked as bad i did after day 1.
they now call it the 'dave look': pale, lifeless, an element of impending doom.

to their credit they headed out on morning 3 for the overnighter me presuming that days 3&4 would turn into 3,4 and 5.
long story short they came into camp 4 lunchtime on day 6.
by the sounds of things they had 'had it' mentally sometime during day 3.
they have quite cool descriptions of the 2 hour bushbash to find water at the creek :)
vicious thunderstorms nights 3 and 4 certianly hammered it home but by the sounds of things the die had already been cast.

there was a huge amount of prep done by many people for this.
you know who you are.
just mind boggling how much there is to do.
planning the days, maps, car/'mothership', camp gear/setup, cooking, gps...
a great effort over many years.
having said this we probably needed to do three times as much.
for no guarantee of improved performance.
such is life.

"We are runners not bushwalkers": whippetman (reminds me of this quote form a few years back: (near the bottom) http://undercuvabrother.blogspot.com/2008/02/bugger.html

"I knew this was going to be hard, just not (poignant pause) THIS hard" : WM with a steely look in his eyes end of day 2.

"You made a wiiiiiiiiiiiise decision (pulling out)": heard this many times from WM

"I would not send anyone down that trail, its not advisable to go down that trail at all, there IS no trail, just NO TRAIL AT ALL!" Spud (discussing ascent from black river) day 2

"You're wanting to take a camera? Do you want a camera or food? You're going to spend 2 nights out there yunno": UCB the day 3 morning pack

karl is a legend.

Bring it!

2009-12-27T08:18:00.000+10:00

leave tomorrow.
http://www.alpineultra.blogspot.com/

persistence.
patience.
determination.

Men can't do 2 things at once but at least they can read maps ;)

2009-12-10T15:15:00.006+10:00

Razorback Run 5.12.09 58km 11.34 3rd/4.

more accurately called the mt feathertop skyrun as i only go over a bit of the razorback (inbetween feathertop/hotham) unlike the 64km version.

so i am heading down the diamantina spur with CR dianeE.
hard to describe this spur.
starts inoccuously enough but basically just keeps getting narlier and narlier.
even early on the track is very narrow and rocky and steep in parts.
lower down below the tree-line there are lots of loose twigs and long bits of bark to loop your foot in and trip over.
anyway...the point is relatively few had previously taken the 'correct' path down this spur before and it had me a little nervous.
approaching 1400m basically you 'fall' off the edge of the ridgeline to the ENE down a 'side-spur'.
of course i had used my new software to mark the trail and inbetween looking at my feet was attentively looking at the turning point with my 3rd half eye on my altimeter watch looking for the 1400m mark.
i had so many gadgets on this thing i couldn't possibly miss the turn.

suddenly dianeE says 'hey i see some yellow tape' yep right in front of us ... too busy looking at gadgets.
'and hey i see some more tape hey there's tape all the way down the side-spur'.
oh well i guess i could have just opened my eyes but of course men can't do 2 things at once!

and for the record i do realise that girls can read maps too - they just have to turn them the 'right' way around :p

seemed to struggle with this one.
just lacked 'zip' up the hills.
got up feathertop in 2.05 (1.48 5 weeks ago at the feathertop race) so maybe a bit quick early on with the pack and 46km further to go?
really struggled up the other 2 climbs to pole 333 and especially swindlers: having to actually stop and sit a couple of times!!

other problem was a couple of minor detours.
the memory map trail i had marked told me to take a right at a fork when it should've been a left.
hmmmmm or maybe i can't read a map either ;)
can't help it if the topo's are wrong i guess: they differed from the 'spatial vision' map.

in the end finish time slower than b2h (64km) 2 years ago but am encouraged by the fact i pulled things together from the top of swindlers on.
was very concerned about the descents down diamantina and bon accord (from hotham) and even though it took a long time to do both (60mins for 3.5km diamantina) i got the feeling my downhill skills are improving.
mile for mile i think this is harder than b2h.
just narlier terrain/harder to run on, less support, less flat bits.
twas fun though :)

bro yoga

2009-11-20T18:40:00.005+10:00

?broga.

been a bit of talk lately about yoga and stretching and core on CR.
not exactly yoga but i have my own little series of bits and pieces i do at home on a daily basis give or take (core maybe every 2 days)...

muscle mate: left itb and glute and left popliteus/calf; and whatever else is narky so sometimes quad and at the moment adductor.
maybe tennis ball to hammy if narky.
rolling pin to left itb if keen.
stretching: quads, calves, itb sometimes gentle hammy never adductors.
core/strengthening: glute work x few exercises some leg abduction on side, squats with ball and some funny one-legged thing simulating running with normal stance on 1 leg with progressive hip flexion on the other!?!
also some TA/lower abs work (lying with knees alternatively bending to 90 degrees/'table top').
some eccentric calf work on step (have been getting tight/narky left calf at times for 2.5 years now!!)

i think i needed to provide photos so it makes sense :)
professionally speaking i get proper massage once a week and pilates every 2-4 weeks.
physio as needed.

just plugging on the last few weeks a few bits that needed loosening and settling down.
built back up again this week.
was in melbourne for a conference mon-wed: spent more time running and more time shopping than i did attending ;)

saturday: off
sunday: JRR coot-tha 1.43
monday: off
tuesday: 12-13km to/from/around tan track melbourne
wednesday: 10-11km to/from/around albert park lake
thursday: off
friday: MGTT easy 2.27 hot/humid day

congrats to the boys at gnw especially whippet who made his much anticipated return off bugger all training.

Speedwork?

2009-11-03T11:59:00.012+10:00

Bright 4 Peaks 31.10.09 - 3.11.09

view from mt feathertop false summit

'runners' walking up to the false FT summit

federation hut, mt feathertop

from diamantina hut (near mt hotham) great alpine road along 'the razorback' mt feathertop (snow capped) in distance approx 10km away.

probably a bit harsh to call it speedwork but the most anaerobic thing i have done in a while :)
missed the 1st (mystic) and last (buffalo) events prefering to just do the tough ones and keep the work/DTI/running balance in check.

did a 1.33 to federation hut in 2007 (after mystic) where the feathertop race was stopped due to bad weather so wanted to get there more quickly this year.
this run is a nice 'gentle'/runable uphill until the last 3-4km or so when it gets progressively steeper towards the old hut site and especially near the false summitt.
had a narky calf in 2007 but didnt hold back much after day 1 from memory and remember running more of feathertop so must've had a better walk/run balance this year getting tot he hut in 1.28 and to the summit in 1.48.
pretty happy with that.

hotham doesnt suit me as well being a mixture of flat sections with much steeper (kokoda track) sections.
its 1.5km flat then 10-15mins of uphill then flat/downhill untill the 40min mark (where spoonman passed me!).
40-1.10 is the first steep bit up on the toes goes on and on the sort of stuff i like.
1.10-1.45 is a 'rest' some flatish bits some a bit techincal could have a nasty fall off the edge if not careful but not too bad.
1.45 is when 'the wall' starts: another 30min section of even steeper uphill leading to the treeline where it levels out a tad hit the turn and head for home a km or 2 away at diamantina hut.
the above tree line section was basically a blizzard in 2007. 80km/hr winds poor visibility ice into your face stop and prop untilt he wind gust stops then move on a bit.
did 2.29 that year so keen to go sub 2.20 with improved conditions but happy with a 2.22. t shirt and shorts and 18 degrees at the hut. amazing :)

friday: 93.40 jen_runs run (a pb after saying i would take it easy!!)
saturday: 10km flat at mooloolaba
sunday: off
monday: MGTT 19km slow 2.26
tuesday: off
wednesday: 14km flat 72 something
thursday: 14km flat slow ?74ish
friday/saturday off
sunday: mt feathertop (bungalow spur) 1.48 42nd/238
monday: mt hotham (bon accord spur) 2.22 34th/185

razorback (5 weeks) is next: have to head DOWN bon accord spur! :)

Alpine Summer

2009-10-22T09:50:00.002+10:00

wednesday: 7km 38ish and pilates and massage
thursday: off
friday: 14km flat 75ish
saturday: mt coot-tha trail loop 10km 64.00 (and had a little fall!)
sunday: off
monday: off
tuesday: 14km flat 70.20
wednesday: 14km flat 69.40

cruising 5min/kms now - probably can even back off a little.
need to just tick over some cruisy miles for the next week or so.
will have a nice gentle trot around coot-tha/gap creek tomorrow.

unfortunately am bailing on lamington this year.
its supposed to be o'reillys-binna burra 22km on the saturday then return sunday.
2 years ago i did it as a nice out and back which does seem a little better for the DTI.
just not good timing this year - too close to GOW recovery.

so its going to be an alpine summer.

Ultrarunners run a fucking long way

2009-10-13T16:21:00.009+10:00

Great Ocean Walk 100km 10.10.09 16.21

this thought occured to me going up a steep hill in the 'tough' section from milanesia beach to moonlight head.
it was about 11hrs into the run and i was with CR hermie.
we paused to look back at the coastline, and take a little breather ;)
he said 'hey look over there thats the cape otway lighthouse'.
and fuck me it was.
i was going to take a photo but it would have never done it justice.
it was so so so fucking far away.
i had been there at the 5hr mark it was now 6hrs later and i had another 5-6hrs to go.
fuck...

just a fantastically scenic run.
brutal yet beautiful coastline.
plush green grazing land.
endless soft sand - nice to see crap to 'run' on (maybe 8-9km of it) ;)

arrived a day early to scope out the course.
splits (17-18hrs) were based on a 18hr+ finish at the prom 2 years back - i was told this was tougher and had a 19 hour cut-off! bugger! hoped i could run faster.
kept ahead of my splits all day to finish in 16.21.

shelley beach 1.10
blanket bay 3.26
cape otway (lighthouse) 5.00 then lots++ of sand
aire river 6.36
(caught a few of the 100milers here after doing the extra 5km loop)
johanna beach 8.45
milanesia ?10.45
moonlight head 12.45

started eyeing off a sub 16hr finish when i ran into dog along old coach rd and he said i had 10.4km to go.
even thought about a sub glasshouse (15.53) finish.
just couldnt quite run enough and lost a valuable 10mins or so missing the 'clifton beach' turn!?!
by my own admission i am a very good walker (and shit runner) just get too comfy walking the business end of these ultras.

did see a light behind me on old coach rd and hoped it wasnt greenhill (didnt want to lose that dollar back).
though thought he would be struggling with the backend of his first ultra in 3 years.
still not sure who it was but they wouldve finished in front of me due to a nav error with about 5km to go.
saw a clifton beach sign and admittedly did see a 'GOW stepover' and just didnt think and went straight instead.
quick phonecall to whippet and it was all sorted.
funny how i can get lost with a mapping gps and 180 lumen headlamp!
first time 'lost' since 2004 - tired brain.

felt like i have got back some of my 'zip' on the hills.
few problems except a chuck or 2 just after moonlight head - mustve been the sight of spoonie in mals car.
and a bit of gagging on a dry throat/something stuck up the back which started things off.
and i was pretty buggered after that hard section.
settled reasonably quickly.
did have a baddish patch 7.30-8.15 approx much better after a few mins at johanna.

note for next year: little fork ?1km after aire river the right path is correct.
dont make the same mistake after princetown again.

very pleased to see sean at the finish a few hrs later.
big big effort to finish a tough 100kmer as his first in 3 years.
onya mate.

not convinced its tougher than the prom.
dunno maybe i am just faster now.
will be back next year.
'2 peaks' (feathertop & hotham) in 3 weeks.
giddyup.

Planning & Building

2009-10-02T17:28:00.004+10:00

have done a bit more earlier than planned because of a busy end of work week.
will take it easy from now until GOW race day in 8 days time.
have done most of the usual prep - maps are a bit of an issue but have some coming up from victoria and not too worried anyway.
lots of freaking out about maps and creek crossings and nav etc.. etc... on the CR thread admittedly and understandably by those doing 'the big one'.
less of a worry for us 100kmers.
looking forward to the adventure.

went quicker than 5min/kms for the first time in a while this week - felt good.
and managed a sub 2.15 mr g's torture test at coot-tha on a coolish day.

thursday: off
friday: 14km flat 68.50 massage
saturday: off
sunday: 2.13 MGTT
monday: pilates/core
tuesday: 14km flat 74.40
wednesday: off
thursday: 30mins easy bike, massage and impromptu trip to dentist!
friday: 14km flat 74.10

Recover-E

2009-09-23T20:42:00.003+10:00

mellum got married on the weekend.
congrats veg and darren!

friday: 30mins easy bike
saturday: 7km 36 something
sunday: off
monday: coot-tha trail loop 61.30
tuesday: flat 14km 74.10
wednesday: off

recovery going well.
some rather persistent 'hamburger' foot on the left - i was worried for a while was something more but its finally settled down with some nsaids/ice.
physio quite happy with the 'famous knee'.
official answer is we are still not sure if its was the itb that was narked up or not a few months back.
still some potential problems medial knee compartment ?meniscus but almost back to pre-100km race in looseness which is good.
blisters almost healed.
flights booked for gow 100km.
bring it on.

I'm Back Baby!

2009-09-16T07:33:00.009+10:00

me and tim arriving at cp7 (tim had run 10.8km further than me)

'feeling it' by cp6 (80km) just wanting to get my night gear and be on my way!

glasshouse 100km 12.9.09 15.52 6th/14

well what can i say.
hadn't done an ultra for 18 months.
tacked together some solid time on my feet recently though admittedly a lot of this was walking or on skiis!
the physio just shook his head and many of my friends/relies didnt think i would make it.
both the physio and massage dudes said 'well if things hurt just pull out'.
and no, neither are ultrarunners ;)

i was pushing the limit a bit to attempt 100km but was going to rely on experience developed over 26 previous ultras over 8 years to get me through.
set a conservative plan for 15-16 hrs (thinking more 16hrs) and things pretty much went to plan.
had trouble settling into a 'rhythm' early it all seemed too fast or too slow but felt good at the 3-4hr mark.
comfy on the narly goat tracky bits and 'cruising' on the flat fire-trail.

was waiting for the brief 'what the hell are you doing' body reaction at about 5-6hrs (hadnt done anything over 4hrs in 18months) but it occured later at 55km (8hrs)and for longer than hoped (for about 2hrs).
during this time the quicker/potential sub24hr 100milers were heading back from cp8 so i just walked along and as taff and dom and then tim passed i hung with them and chatted for a bit before letting them go again.
basically i just felt sick and disinterested in pushing the pace.
was struggling with food even from this 'early' point but actually managed to survive on coke and jellybeans for much longer than planned - the last 40km or so!!

realised later it was probably also the heat to a large degree.
25 degrees on the powerlines with no cloud cover is quite warm really.
i am not a good heat runner at all - much prefer the cooler stuff.
my last stop at cp8 had me struggle to go a bit so decided that i would not stop at cp's after that! :)
on the way to cp6 (80km) things were cooler/darker and i seemed more relaxed and could run again.
felt happy once i had changed into my night stuff and ran parts of the beerwah loop.
its just so nice running at night.
caught tim again just before cp6 and unfortunately he was close to pulling out there :(
quick light change at cp5 (90km) - the led lenser h7 kicked arse power-wise but was flapping about ?need to just superglue it?!? and headed home.
felt strong over the last section.
just sore feet++ and the understandable urge not to hurt something in the last 12km holding me back.

it was a funny glasshouse weekend.
like most i am busy with one thing or the other beforehand: 'le tour' or getting filming/video stuff ready etc...
this year in honour of the 20 year anniversary of ghouse i made up 16 posters with results/photos/newspaper articles etc... which took me half the week.
but once the pre race tour was over this weekend was all about me.
was staying away from the usual runners throng.
ran my 100km completely uncaring about anyone elses race.
well ok i did wonder where bernie was just once ;)
finished, ate some pizza (thanks whippy) went back and had a sleep.
didnt go back to the school until the presentation when i only knew a few results by checking CR from the room on the phone!

usually wouldn't bother with crew for only 100km but very pleased that TOH crewed me this year.
we had our own checkpoint at 8 (cars werent allowed to cp8 this year - gets too busy up there) which was nice as i could just relax without other runners problems entering my headspace.
i could see the look on susannah and whippets face evertime i saw them during the day.
gee i hope bro pulls through.
well i did.
this weekend was all about me.
and i'm back.

Reverse Taper

2009-09-06T19:44:00.002+10:00

monday: 14km flat 74.10 pilates and massage
tuesday: mt coot-tha trail loop 10km 62ish
wednesday: nothing
thursday: 3.45hrs glasshouse: goat track-hennesys hill-beerwah loop then powerlines loop.
friday: off
saturday: off
sunday: 14km flat 75.10

thursday felt good. like i was back ultrarunning again.
good hard walking on the hills shuffle on the flats tackled all of the nasty glasshouse bits without a problem.
running the powerlines was a bit sad: lots of 4wd damage since last time, the same at hennesys where they have logged.
a lot of singletrack turning into freeway :(

Nothing exciting here

2009-08-30T16:48:00.002+10:00

sort of a normal 'training' week this week.
returned to the mr g's torture test at mt coot-tha.
on a bit of a warm morning: 30 degrees by the time i finished.
bit of a 'lazy' weekend: working both days.

monday: off
tuesday: MGTT 19km 2.20 and massage
wednesday: 14km flat 75.10
thursday: off
friday: 14km flat 74.10
saturday: off
sunday: off

Cunninghams gap

2009-08-23T20:54:00.004+10:00

looking east from mt cordeaux.
me inadvertently playing with gps.

spent the weekend near cunninghams gap.
(the other half had a work 'thing')
its a (757m) 'pass' in the great dividing range between mt mitchell (1175) and mt cordeaux (1144) found by allan cunningham a long long time ago.
the cunningham highway passes through there (brissie-> warwick) and its about 40mins from warwick.
some nice hikes aorund there.

monday: massage/needles
tuesday: black soil-scrub rd brissie forest park circuit 14km 1.50
wednesday: core
thursday: 14km flat 74.10
friday: 2hr walk
saturday: 2.5hr walk mt cordeaux and a bit further
sunday: 1hr easy bike 130watts

Bro hits the slopes

2009-08-16T20:57:00.008+10:00

yes i went skiing this week at mt hotham.
had been there a few times during the warmer months (once in minus 9!) and decided it was a good place to have a crack at a new skill.

people who know me well may be laughing by now.
because as i child i broke my leg and my right foot is twisted out about 20 degrees from normal.
makes skiing somewhat difficult.
of course the first thing you learn is to 'snowplough' which is creating a reverse 'V' to slow yourself down.
its pretty hard to twist that right leg in when the foot is twisted out so far!

we flew up on monday picked up some gear and settled in and then had a lesson tuesday morning.
had visions of getting some nordic downhill medallist as the instructor but instead got brad the rastafarian from adelaide.
adelaide!!
was a nice guy though and figured me out pretty quickly by simply taking away my poles.
that way i had to learn how to stop/balance using my legs.
no other choice really.

to my suprise we managed to learn the basics and do our first 'run' down from mt hotham summit by the end of what seemed like a very long lesson.
was amazed at how energy sapping and glute/TFL cramping learning was.
was absolutely knackered by the end of it.
its hard mentally to learn the fact that in order to slow down you actually need to lean forward!
had another lesson the next morning : the summit was closed to to bad weather so went to 'the big D' - the kiddies slope.

only fell twice in the 2 days but have to admit to 2 little incidents.
the first was smashing into the safety barrier on the beginners slope day 1: which led to brad taking my poles off me.
day 2 as we were on the kiddies slope the chairlift is set quite low and i mistimed my 'push off' sat too far back and came off the chair somewhat out of control towards a group of small kids screaming 'shit' and madly trying to turn out of their way.

i got the impression skiing is not too difficult to get started but takes years to improve.
sort of like golf except much more likely to break stuff.

spent some time snowshoeing as well and generally mucking around with gear in freezing conditions.
very very impressed with how good the down jackets are.
had a little look at XC skiing but from what i heard will need to spend more time on the slopes before giving this a crack.
which would be a long term aim.

dont have many 'action' shots as the weather on the lesson days was not the best and we were more concentrating on not dying than taking photos.
TOH did take a couple of me using her phone.

view from the room on wednesday: raining with poor visibility.

mt hotham 'summit run' on a clear day

just finished coming down the big D.
i am in the middle brad easily identified by his hair in the red jacket nearby.

snowshoeing!

monday-thursday: skiing, snowshoeing...
friday: 30min easy bike
saturday: 14km flat 75.10
sunday: jacksonia/kokoda trail walk with dogs/TOH

Return to MCAT ?2011

2009-08-09T21:15:00.005+10:00

deb, susannah and stintsy (obscured) climbing up the lookout trail

mt coot-tha all trails was on saturday.
looking back at the CR thread last year i had just had my itb operation and make the joke that maybe i would be back by 2011.
hmmmmmmm may be closer to the truth than i had hoped.
did go for a bit of a trot though: 1:15 of hills.
had a nice day.
'backed up' (hahahaha) for a flat 7km today.

foot feels much better after some cortisone on tuesday.
and yes i did inject myself.
pretty damn hard to concentrate on location when its your own foot!
now 5 days post injection some discomfort is returning but nowhere near bad as before.
itb behaving.

monday: 7km flat
tuesday: off
wednesday: 50min coot-tha
thursday: off
friday: massage
saturday: 1.15 at gap creek reserve
sunday: 7km flat

You Win!

2009-07-25T17:49:00.002+10:00

you win mr g!
hoped to do the 50km at glasshouse today but was a looooong way from even starting.
pulled up sore from doing just a 24km loop last week.
cant put full weight on the right foot well not for 2+ hours anyway.
as a result the left itb started to niggle: i kid you not!
had thoughts of foot injections etc... etc... but just best to bide my time.
a bit uncertain about whats going to happen but have another week off.
then will do some 7km flat runs and see what happens.
hopefully everything will settle down.
no way i will do coot-tha all trails in 2 weeks.
need to build up again.

Sucking it up

2009-07-16T09:47:00.003+10:00

it can be a fine line with injuries sometimes.
decided when my foot bruise turned yellow last week that i would run on it.
wasnt comfortable at all but a week later could quite comfortably run with the pain.
always wonder how this changes biomechanics and no doubt is why the left side of my back was sore earlier in the week :)
keeping up some fitness despite the problems and will head out tomorrow for a 20km+ run.

mellum on tour continues. whippet returns from colorado/hardrock this week after becoming the only aussie to do the course in both directions.
spud left yesterday for an irish sojourn before tackling mt blanc!

alaska is recoveing well, scar all but healed. no sign of infection.
a much happier dog :)

thursday: 1hr stat bike
friday: same
saturday: rest
sunday: 1.5hr mt coot-tha run
monday-tuesday-wednesday rest and massage
thursday: easy 30min bike

Poor puppy

2009-07-02T09:18:00.005+10:00

a difficult week.
more detail here: http://www.coolrunning.com.au/forums/index.php?s=&showtopic=24054&view=findpost&p=475387
but basically alaska (my 5yo siberian husky) was attacked by another dog on sunday.
she was on lead and the dog (very large/50kg or so) ran out from its yard (normally behind an 8ft high fence but the driveway gate was left open).
it went straight for her throat/upper chest had her pinned to the ground and shook her violently.
i thought alaska was going to be killed.
this wasnt a brief puppy park scuffle it was a prolonged vicious attack.
short version is i did everything i could to try and get this dog off: mainly kicking it several times in the chest/stomach and shouting the word 'fuck' a lot.
not sure if it had any positive effect - didnt even flinch the first time.

stupid owner could not only get her dog off but after they had separated didnt hold his dog back so it attacked twice again.
3 wounds to her neck/upper chest with the soft tissue all loosened/torn between the lower 2 requiring a 15-20cm incision and washout.
still a bit worried about her getting infection but seeems to be ok at the moment.
things are progressing with the council and looks like the other dog will be declared dangerous.
have quite a bruised swollen foot: cant remember how many times i kicked this thing but i didnt hold back but can walk almost normally now so will probably need only 1-1.5 weeks off.
poor puppy.

Nude up G!

2009-06-21T22:03:00.003+10:00

so i have a bet with mister G.
1st person to do a comeback ultra wins.
i was actually joking when i made that comment on his blog.
but now its too late, so as spud would say: giddyup!
not sure what we win.
lets say its one dollar.
i plan on doing mine 1 day before his.
whenever that is.

did lake manchester 21km today.
nice overcast day with some drizzle.
just love those creek crossings.
most enjoyable.
had to laugh at all the people tiptoeing around the first few then taking their shoes off for the 'big' one.
its a trail run people!

finished in 2.12.56 by my watch.
manged to do 6min/kms the last 7 over rolling hills.
had to walk bits though :)
i think 7km spilts were 41/50/42 approx (a little hill in the middle!).
went a bit quicker downhill than planned but saw lindsay phillips up ahead and just had to pass him!
overall a bit slower pace wise than my 3.24 in the 33km 2 years back.
but quicker than what i had planned from my 2.15 18.5km training run on the course on monday.

sunday: nothing
monday: 2.15hr lake manchester training run and massage
tuesday: nothing
wednesday: 1.30hr mt coot-tha (yes most trails back open now)
thursday: 30min bike at 140watts
friday: nothing
saturday: nothing
sunday: lake manchester 21km 2.12

whippy left for colorado on the weekend: hardrock 3 weekends away
spud leaves for OS soon too: mt blanc in august.
mellum is in travel mode :)

Still here

2009-06-13T18:09:00.003+10:00

still here: just plugging away!
busy work week this week.
working 6 days in a row: now how did that happen?
will head to lake manchester/brissie forest park for a trot monday (day off) after a rest day tomorrow.
did do some hard surface runs this week and the knee still doesnt like it much but continues to improve.
probably didnt need to quite do sub 5's couldve just gone more slowly i guess :)
have more time this week so easier to stay off road.
giddyup!

friday: 30min stat bike
satiurday: nothing
sunday: 7km 34.30
monday: 5hr hike mt barney national park
tuesday: pilates, massage
wednesday: 30min stat bike
thursday: 7km 35.00
friday: nothing
saturday: 30min easy soft surface run

Old Man

2009-06-04T20:41:00.005+10:00

whippet crossing creek on hell hole break
(no the title doesnt refer to him!!)

ok well its not the first time i have felt like an old man.
http://undercuvabrother.blogspot.com/2008/09/old-man.html
but this week whippet told me i had developed a little tummy (which i already knew thanks andy) and the ortho surgeon stared at my head the other day which seemed a little strange until he explained he was looking for grey hair.

so basically the ongoing knee narkiness he thinks was from the meniscus on the same side as the stress reaction (hence the grey hair/old man comment).
definately no tear or articular cartilage problem.
just an old meniscus.
in an old man :)

felt a little bad initially picturing me as a future hermannator style walking-ultrarunner with bad knees or maybe just give up and become a quilter like doggie.
then i had a look at my scan from 2003 and it looks exactly the bloody same.
so the fuck it programme continues!!

whippet was up from swine flu central this week so took him to brissie forest park (BFP) and did the hell hole - south boundary rd (SBR) - centre road loop.
had to laugh when he asked me what running wear he should bring: simple answer really tshirt and shorts.
had another laugh when he whinged at the start that he was cold.
never know if whippys joking or not but regardless this loop shall now be forever known as whippets whinge :p
shouldnt have challenged him to a hill race at the end tho: he is in pre hardrock form and me basically not run for 9 months..... gave him a good laugh tho.
i actually thought i could win!!
for the first 50 metres anyway.

friday: 20mins easy bike
saturday: nothing
sunday: easy 30mins soft track UQ
monday: whippets whinge 1.40
tuesday: nothing
wednesday: 40min bike 140watts
thursday: 2hrs BFP black soil - SBR - scrub rd. a nice little adventure.

will stick to trail for a little while longer.
nice being out there again.
kind of good mt coot-tha being closed, enjoying exploring BFP.
eventually will need to return to the hard surfaces.

Fuck it!

2009-05-28T20:06:00.003+10:00

so the other half was wanting to plan our virgin skiing trip later this year ?hotham in august.
discussion ensued about (as whippet calls it) 'the famous knee'.
my response was i didnt know what was wrong with it or when it would be better.
i really dont.
and the physio isnt sure either.

an update...
itb operation mid 2008
good recovery: back running 'normally' oct 2008.
hit by dog with 'incidental' stress reaction/fracture on the mri scane of left knee which then started to actually hurt ;)
6 weeks off: walk/runs failed (early)
6 more weeks off.
re scan feb 2008: stress reaction gone maybe something funny with the medial meniscus maybe not.
8 weeks bike.
stop/start running since.

not making the progress that i had hoped so the physio and i decided to make an appointment to see the ortho surgeon again which is happening next week.
some ongoing knee pain (and clicking) near the stressie but not at the same site.
not sure if its patello-femoral pain or meniscus.

so this last week i said 'fuck it!'.
lets just push through the discomfort (again) and see what happens.
just grit the teeth and run!
if something is wrong that needs another scope then it will declare itself.
if not then even better!

headed to brissie forest park today (mt coot-tha closed due to recent floods).
was going to do an hour outNback along the wide firetrail.
got to the start of the aptly named 'hell hole break' and decided to explore.
hadnt been down there for a year or so: with team tam and remember thinking to myself at the time that it would be a narly place to roll an ankle by yourself.
got a ways along and thought 'fuck it' may as well keep going and do the full circuit via mcafees lookout/centre road.

now i knew this would take over 2 hours, i didnt have much water with me, hadnt put any sunscreen on and had no idea on the condition of the trails post flood.
also BFP isnt a great place to get lost: have been lost in there before and didnt have a compass with me either.
and had only 'run' (and i use that term loosely) to a max of 1 hour in the previous weeks.

well had a great time didnt i!
hadnt had that much fun in months.
knee seemed to like the ups and downs after 15mins of gritting teeth initially.
no major wrong turns.

so i guess i have fullfilled my definition of 'returning to running' from 2 posts ago: well BFP instead of coot-tha but even better.

not sure what will happen from here.
but at least i am making some temporary progress.

I will return...

2009-02-23T09:19:00.002+10:00

not sure what took me so long to realise this...

this is a running blog.
and i am not running.
i shall return to blogland when i am.
see ya! :)

the 'R' word

2009-02-17T14:54:00.003+10:00

i must not mention 'the R word'.
well at least not until i am 'Ring' anyway.
the definition of which is when i put my pack on, wave to the other half and duly inform her i am off to coot-tha and will be back 'some hours later'.

4 sessions on the bike this week.
another 4 to follow with some more 'load'.
then i can do some walk/Rs ... if no pain ;)

Australia's worst natural disaster

2009-02-11T17:04:00.011+10:00

before last weekend i had visions of bushfires as people standing on their houses with a hose trying to save their posessions.
i have now heard stories and seen photos and footage of 'tsunami like fire waves' 50 metres high rapidly decimating anything in their path.
photos above of what can only been described as the aftermath of a 'nuclear strike'.

a workmates' brother heard a roar in the distance to see a massive firewall rapidly approaching.
luckily he just had time to get him and his family in the car and out of harms way.
many others weren't so fortunate.
the death toll is currently 181 with many others missing presumed dead.
my thoughts are with those victims, their families and the people with the grim responsibility of fighting the fires and dealing with the aftermath.
www.redcross.org.au
needless to say for many reasons the AAWT has been postponed.

AAWT

2009-02-04T19:26:00.003+10:00

for a few years now people have been doing 'expedition running' in the US.
the pacific crest and appalachian trails come to mind.
on the 14th february a new era will begin in australian ultrarunning.
my bestest buddies tim (he likes to be mentioned first), spud and whippet will be attempting to run/hike the entire australian alpine walking track (675km approx) in 14 days.
no-one has done it this fast before.
i will be joining chief-crewie kath in the supporting role.
no matter what happens these guys have started a trend that will change australian ultrarunning forever.

blog is here: http://www.alpineultra.blogspot.com/
and there is a CR thread somewhere...

Exqueeze me?

2009-01-13T06:56:00.004+10:00

saw the physio yesterday.
thought i would be out for another week or 2.
try 4 weeks.
then bike 2 weeks.
then more walking.
exqueeze me?
then i dont wanna know after that...
basically another 3 months until i get to do something 'decent'
bugger.

not too sure what a triathlong is jen.
it may well just be a spelling mistake.
but hearing it gave me visions of me on the bike in a thong.
and then i thought about that picture miners had on his blog a couple of years back.
for those who dont remember - think borat.
then i really started laughing.

have a case of the lazies at the moment.
my 2 hour kayaks are turning into 1 hour.
my 1.5km swims are turning into 1km or a no show.
couch sounds good :)

My biggest fear

2009-01-08T16:10:00.003+10:00

is becoming a triathlete.
this thought occured to me in the pool the other day.

...yes back in the pool.
and in/on the kayak.

did 4 run/walks on a soft surface and basically a no niggle turned into a small niggle after running then a niggle whilst running then a niggle whilst running and for the next day and you get the idea.
the physio has been away for a bit so will have a chat when he gets back.
looks like i need more time off running/bike maybe ?2-4 weeks.
who knows? :)
have stopped telling people i have bony oedema cos they just go WTF is that?
stress fracture sounds much better and may be closer to the truth anyway?

4 x runs over a week then...
thursday: easy bike 30mins
friday/sat/sun: nada
monday: 1km easy swim and massage
tuesday: kayak 1hr and pilates
wednesday: nothing

good luck to those at b2h and glasshouse this weekend.

2008 the year that sucked

2009-01-03T21:06:00.003+10:00

well it did!
started off with a bang at bogong.
had a lovely time at cradle/overland track with the other half.
unfortunately it all went to crap after that.
managed to inflame the itb at 6 foot.
turned up to alpine 100 with some cortisone in it and 9 months later i am still struggling.
guess it was just one of those years.
funny thing is i have done less ultras some years so i have had worse ones :)

bring on 2009!
thanks for all the support this year peoples.
has made a huge difference.

bro

Ebb Tide

2008-12-21T21:14:00.002+10:00

the last kayak-related post i promise (well for a while anyway).
so i learnt what an ebb tide was the other day.
i decided to paddle along the brissie river under the gateway bridge to the bulimba creek and back.
so i get back to near the bridge and suddenly i am not moving other than going up and down and a bit sideways.
i paddle harder and harder and move maybe a foot.
i knew i would have the tide with me one way and against the other but this is ridiculous!
kept cracking (no other choice really) then got to the really tough bit.
they are building a duplicate gateway bridge and there are a few massive foot pods in the river which greatly reduce the width available for flow.
it was really cracking now and i am sure i provided great enterainment for the bridge workers sweating and toilng against the tide.

finally made it the other side of the bridge and into much calmer water and back to the car.
met another kayak dude when i got there and he seem somewhat impressed by my effort and yet mystified by my extreme stupidity.
'hey yeah look at the white water out there' was his comment.
in the end it only took about 25mins longer to get back than go out so i dont know what i was worried about.
apart from the few brief thoughts of ditching the 'craft' and walking back to the car :)

when TOH got home that night i tested her mariners knowledge (she has her boating licence) by asking her about tides and when they are the worst.
she asked me when high and low tide was and basically the worst time to go against it is midway between high and low which i of course had.
after she stopped laughing she then asked me when full moon was as this is the bad time as well.
oh dear.
more laughter ensued.
wont make that mistake again.
at least it felt like i had 'an adventure'.
later that week went from the other end of bulimba creek and had a much nicer time with the tides.

tuesday: 2.5hr paddle
wednesday: nothing
thursday: golf
friday: massage
saturday: away
sunday: away gentle swim
monday: nothing
tuesday: 2.5hr paddle and 15min gentle bike
wednesday: nothing
thursday: 30min gentle bike, pilates and massage
friday: nothing
saturday: 30min gentle bike
sunday: nothing

3 more sleeps until i can run :)

14 days

2008-12-09T16:00:00.005+10:00

geeeeeee i am keen to get back running.
my other layoffs this year havent been so hard.
guess its the alpine running season and i am damn keen to get going again.
was commenting the other night at cr drinks that all the kayaking and swimming was nearly keeping me sane .... nearly.
have done some nice exploring down norman creek though and will have a look at bulimba creek tomorrow.
got TOH her kayak last week so we have 2 singles.
and have finally 'solved' the roofrack thing: going with the kayak cradle/roofrack holding 1 then the second in the boot.
just cant fit TOH and 2 kayaks in the one car without risking seeing one kayak fly off down the road.
we have quite a few river/creek access points close by so TOH can follow in her car.
we did discuss simply buying a new car to fit the two $700 kayaks in ;)
or maybe we should just buy a house on the riverfront? :)

tuesday: 1.5km swim
wednesday: nothing
thursday: 1km swim (couldnt be assed)
friday: 2hr kayak and pilates and massage and cr drinks!
saturday: 1.5hr kayak (easy)
sunday: nothing
monday: 1.5km swim

nice to catch up with the gang on friday.

Paddle

2008-12-01T21:19:00.003+10:00

1st photo is for tesso: inside of my car is 2.85m long. kayak is 2.82m long.
2nd photo according to vegie is me running away for the circus. and yes yvette i am happy to drop you off to cirque in my new kayak!

tuesday: 1000m swim (a bit buggered!)
wednesday: off
thursday: pilates, massage and 2hr paddle (a bit rainy!)
friday: off
saturday: 1500m swim
sunday: gentle paddle with TOH and the dogs. the bichon got a little scared when i started heading towards a flock of pelicans with her in the boat!
monday: golf. scored under 50 for 9 holes for first time in a while. playing 3 times a year has finally caught up with me :)

Bony Oedema!

2008-11-24T16:35:00.005+10:00

1 is an MR image of my leg, the other the 128km BOM radar for brissie from 2am thursday.
i will let you guess which is which.

so for people who havent seen an MRI piccie before its the side-on view of my left leg.
the lightish grey bits are my muscles: up the top - quads in the front and hammies the back.
the femur is the darker grey (almost black) looking thing below and in the middle of these with my tibia below.
the tibia should be the same color as the femur ie. almost black.
the white stuff is the fluid/bony oedema and shouldnt be there.

so the physio says i need 6 weeks completely off.
well actually its 4 weeks and 2 days now :)
allowed to swim and kayak.
no bike - maybe start that when i have 1 week to go.
then build up 'slowly' over 4-6 weeks.
at least it doesnt hurt to walk now.

wednesday: nothing
thursday: massage, pilates and physio. 1200m swim
friday: nothing
saturday: nothing
sunday: 1500m swim
monday: 1hr kayak in my own kayak.

yep i finally bought myself a kayak.
photos to come :)

multi-sport man

2008-11-19T08:24:00.004+10:00

i like spud.
when i am running he makes up names for me like mountain man and quad man.
and when i am injured he makes up new ones.

shouldn't have jinxed myself poopooing the MRI scan report from a few weeks back.
my upper tibia/shinbone is now sore.
really sore.
its a bit of a worry because i basically had 2-3 weeks off post husky incident and after a few runs back its much more painful that it was ever before.
i presume this is the bony oedema or maybe a little crack but i dont want to think about that.
i will need some time off running somewhere between 4-8 weeks and will get some advice this week regarding a graduated return.
may need to go back and see the ortho dude.
so kepler is out and even though i only entered gobong this week that'll be out too.

basically i have cleared the calendar again with the next foreseeable run at alpine 100 miler next march: what a way to get back into it!!
karma?!?
the positive thing is that i feel really fit and healthy and the few runs i did do were suprisingly quick and effortless.
the 2:15 mr g's torture test was a real eye-opener and its a good sign for when i do get back into it fully.
TOH says i have never looked so buff which in a non kinky way is kind of frustrating.
was looking forward to tearing bogong apart this year.
and i can say that now as i will have a whole 14 months before bogong 2010 for people to forget this comment.

in the meantime i have switched to swimming and kayak.
hence the name change above.
its probably a good thing heading to the pool as i will be able to do some water running in future weeks.
TOH is also enjoying going to chandler with me.
of course when i do something i dont take it easy so my first swim was 800m then 1km the next day plus a paddle.
makes me think about grant hacketts comment (admittedly a few years ago before the 10km swim was an olympic event) about the 1500m being the 'marathon of swimming'.
so when some gump can just jump in and do a km on their second swim (admittedly a tad slower) this makes a mockery of this.
would like to see hacky have a couple of training runs then hit a road 30kmer.
kayaked maybe 8-9km yesterday.
better be careful as i have 2 rogered shoulders from previous 'incidents'.
have calmed down a bit now ;)

today i challenged whippet man to a kayak race and reved things up by calling him mr skinny arms.
considering he lives in geelong i have some time to train before kicking his arse.
bring it on!

monday: coot-tha trail loop 58.00 plus massage
tuesday: pilates
wesdnesday: 14km flat 68.00 painful++
thursday: off
friday: off
saturday: swim 800m
sunday: swim 1km and kayak
monday: nothing
tuesday: kayak 8-9km

multisport-man overNout

VOG?

2008-11-13T17:57:00.009+10:00

haleakala 10,000ft maui, hawaii. does the landscape remind you of anything whippet man??

running trail on hawaii. how scenic!! the tiny bit of green on the left is the $400/round golf course.

volcano rock graffiti

got back on the weekend from 10 days in lovely hawaii.
7 days on maui then 3 on hawaii ('the big island').
(all ATO people please note) official visiting reason was 'work conference'.
glad a friend of mine got me into this wilderness medicine thing: conferences in colorado (week after hardrock), hawaii/mexico (dive) and utah for those who like skiing (not me).

highlights...
* watched sunrise at haleakala (10,000ft) on maui. though at 7 degC i knew i shouldve brought more than 1 jumper with me to hawaii. this dampened the romanticism of it a tad.
* arriving at the big island in 'VOG': volcanic smog. driving to the hotel from the airport i got the impression that the whole island was a series of roads on volcanic rock. didnt see a single shrub or tree until the next day when we drove around the whole 'big island' and there is plenty of greenery elsewhere.
* the place we stayed at in TBI. absolutely fantastic. the 'hayman island' of the US. unbelievably had a pool with eagle rays (sounds like ray james) and heaps and heaps of fish in it. never snorkled at a hotel before! and turtles swam just outside the front. glad we paid for this place months ago before the dollar hit 65 US cents tho!!
* hearing the medical guy from hawaii ironman speak. he asked how many in the audience were endurance athletes - 20% put there hands up. then asked how many have done an ironman (of course he had!) - noone. then asked how many wanted to - noone. then rather cheekily started calling us pussies. i was thiiiiiiiiiiis close to putting my hand up and quoting my friend tim 'triathlon is for people who cant run the distance' but thought better of it ;)
* incidentally i was thinking what a great place the big island would be for an ultra or big AR and then found out about this: http://ultramanlive.com/
hawaii is just too nice a place to not go 'off road' on. ironman? what where they thinking?? :)
* was interesting to be there during the election. never knew that they held all elections on the one day: 1st tuesday on november. this includes state and local/council.
* also have 'referendum' type questions in most states: gay marriage, gay adoption and abortion were a few things up for voting. anna bligh should take note if this with repect to daylight savings in queensland. ...but then again maybe its too controversial ;)
* although we didnt see any 'obvious sign' of a recession hotel occupancy rates were apparently down 15-20% as are local sales (from last year). US unemployment is 6.5% as it tipped to top 10%. general motors is going broke. when the US stop buying fricking huge cars you know the economy is in trouble. strap yourselves in people if you havent already.
* it still amazes me how insular americans are: they were gobsmaked when they found out australia has been metric since 'before i was born'. they playfully suggested that only the US and liberia werent metric. my response: i think liberia went metric last year. youre the only ones. wasnt in a playful mood ;) the world news in the paper has the first 2 stories on something happening in the US and the 3rd in mexico.
and yes, africa is a continent (sorry - sarah palin joke, couldnt help it).

and why do i find lying on a beach for 10 days so damn tiring? :D

Drama King

2008-10-28T17:54:00.002+10:00

much prefer that term to drama queen.
sounds less camp ;)

havent made much progress over the last week.
hopped on the bike a couple of times and that just had me limping the following day so i have just backed right off again.
will wait until things feel completely normal again before even thinking about running.
hopefully no more than 1-2 weeks.
still have heaps of time for kepler.
could run it tomorrow if the knee wasnt narky and swollen.
which of course pisses me off no end.

drama king overNout.
have i said yet that i like attention? :)

Bony Oedema?

2008-10-22T08:13:00.005+10:00

the official word is ... i have a swollen knee :)

saw the surgeon last night.
he agrees that the itb surgery/site should be fine from that type of (side) impact.
agrees with me and spud and whippet that i havent been running enough to have a stressie! : he has told me before that no-one knows what bony oedema/bruising means on MR scans and just reflects i was uping the mileage.
having said this my shin pain probably was from this oedema/bruising.
the 'fracture lines' are just where the oedema has decided to stop at the old growth plate site.
i dont have a fracture and he didnt want a bone scan.
its nice to know my tibia isnt in 3 pieces.
i have had 4 MRI scans now over the years and all but one has shown bony oedema.
as far as i am concerned if you dont have a bruised/swollen bone youre not running hard enough ;)

agrees that the ligaments are all fine and basically my knee is just 'swollen' from the husky attack.
presumes i must have squashed one of the menisci or something when the knee buckled.

so as tim said: the rest of us wouldve just iced it and seen how it went :)

not sure when i will be back - still limping around on it.
hoping to be back in a couple of weeks that way i wont lose much in the way of fitness or muscle tone.
still hoping to get to kepler but wont book anything until a few weeks before.
thanks for all the supportive comments :)

stupid dog!
still love her though.
might give her a cuddle now.

MRI - Magnetic Resonance Imagination

2008-10-19T19:52:00.004+10:00

the short version is my upper shin pain may be a stress fracture.
well at least the MRI says so.

things were going really well.
progressing towards lamington (43km) next weekend.
did 19km (mr g's torture test) at coot-tha on saturday fine.
and had physio permission for lamington.

saturday arvo i was playing with the dogs at the brother in laws.
the (slightly overweight) husky turned suddenly to chase one of the other dogs and basically hit me in the side of the shin right below my itb operation site.
unfortunately my pre-hit response was to plant the foot and present my itb knob to the 30kg dog which despite being on a diet still seems to get to 40km/hr in about 3 strides.

anyhoo...... after some girl like screaming and a quick roll on the ground clutching my knee everything seemed ok until i woke up this morning and have been limping all day.
the itb site seems ok its just the ligaments i was worried about.
felt a bit sorry for myself at work and decided to pop myself through the mri scanner.
mistake!
well it looks like the husky hasnt done any damage: ligaments all fine.
but the shin pain i had last week which has now settled looks like is bony oedema (swelling) and a big stress fracture with the fracture line extending right into where one of the cruciates attach.

seeing the ortho dude on tuesday for a post-op itb checkup.
he may get a bit of a shock when i present him with some scans.
hopeful that he wont be that fussed about the mri scan to be honest.
everytime i have a scan i seem to have bony oedema (swelling) and i have been told i have had a stressie before without much pain to show for it.
just not convinced that what theyre seeing is actually a fracture.
at least i am pleased the husky hasnt ruptured a bloody ligament in my knee!

looks like lamingtons out! :)

monday: 14km coot-tha jen_runs run (JRR) 1.42
tuesday: nothing
wednesday: 14km coot-tha JRR 1.36 and massage
thursday: 30min gentle bike
friday: nothing
saturday: 19km coot-tha MGTT 2.15 and husky incident
sunday: limping

Trail only please

2008-10-14T07:29:00.003+10:00

decided to have the 'weekend off' after 2 back to back runs this week have my upper left shin a bit sore again (same problem as 3 weeks ago).
not sure whats going on but i managed a longer coot-tha run on it yesterday.
will stick to the trail this week: the hard surfaces seem to upset me.

spent the weekend at springbrook NP which is basically 'next door' to lamnigton NP (binna burra/oreillys) not far from the the Qld-NSW border.
nice weekend to spend down there: drizzly and cold.
perfect weather to try out some gear :)
i think TOH has snaffled herself one of my puffy jackets.
just did the one walk on the saturday: about 6km purling brook falls and warringa pool.
then a quick trip to natural bridge.
after 2 trips we are all springbrooked out now - nothing left to walk there until the warrie circuit re-opens.
always nice to pop into mt tamborine on the way home.
the DTI loves the markets and the 'gallery walk' at north tambo.

monday: coot-tha trail loop 62.00
tuesday: off
wednesday: 14km flat 71.50
thursday: 14km flat 72.00 and massage and pilates
friday: off
saturday: walk springbrook
sunday: off

Back Running

2008-10-05T21:32:00.006+10:00

felt like i was 'back running' this week.
spent a loooooot of time loosening the quads and my patellar/knee pain has really settled well.
also decided to stay off the road early in the week and made a couple of trips (via the green bridge) to the track at UQ.
went for my first coot-tha on friday though very very slow: 69 for the trail loop (pb 48-49) walked a lot of the steeper ups/downs just to be careful.
and asked for permission from the physio to do hills later that arvo :)

ran the BRRC 10km today - a few CRs meeting up there.
finished with sunset in just under 50mins.
feel like i have reasonable cardiovascular fitness so i am hoping the kick in the legs will return.

doubt i will be able to run 44km in 3 weeks (lamington) so trying not to be worried about it and thinking about alternate plans: ?run in from binna burra end and take some photos.
must focus on kepler/gobong in the longer term.

monday: 1hr stat bike
tuesday: nothing
wednesday: 45min fartlek run UQ
thursday: 30min stat bike easy
friday: mt coot-tha trail loop 69.00 and pilates and physio!
saturday: nothing
sunday: 10km 49.50

and im not that old BT!

An old man

2008-09-28T21:38:00.003+10:00

felt like an old man this week.
ran one of my 4km runs a bit quick for me at the mo (18.15).
sometimes when coming back from injury i tend to run a bit angry grrrrrrrr.

have just been generally sore since.
struggled through my 2 x 30min runs.
both knees just really struggling on the hard surface.
tight quads not helping.

took friday and saturday off.
ran today on soft walking track at the uni and felt a million times better.
also putting a lot of work into loosening things up.
have 4 days off work this week and will do more of the same.

monday: off
tuesday: 30min run
wednesday: 1hr bike
thursday: 30min run
friday: pilates and massage
saturday: off
sunday: 40min run

also felt old this week when i found out the hawthorn coach alistair clarkson was younger than me.
...which reminds me - well done hawks!!!!!!!!!!!! :D

The definiton of being injured

2008-09-18T14:32:00.004+10:00

is when you spend more time warming up and cooling down than running.
soon (i hope) i wont be injured.
40 min walk/run on tuesday and my first 'just run' day today for 20mins (well 4km in 18.55).
no problems with the itb at all.
felt good.

plan now is to do 20mins, 20, 30, 30, 40, 40 etc...
need to do 1 fartlek a week as a part of this.
whatever the fck that is ;)
alternate with exercise bike as i have been doing.
even got a bit cocky and asked the physio about doing the lamington run in 6 weeks (as a 44km outNback of course).
he thought for a while and said maybe.
and i think he actually meant maybe.
so at least i have something to look forward to now.
not sure if i'll make it tho from what the surgeon said a few weeks back that would be pushing things a bit.

had a fantastic weekend at glasshouse.
a bit tiring tho - 3 hours sleep in 3 days.
slept through the post race 'party' on the front deck of the unit.
well done to mellum who came 2nd and 5th.
crewing for spud was fun.

So what's the plan, Stan?

2008-09-09T21:42:00.002+10:00

plan is alternating bike/run&walk days so 3 each per week with 1 day off.
bike is going well even loaded up a bit more than my usual training session today.
actually starting to feel a tad fitter too.
got a bit competitive with someone running the same track around the morningside footy club the other morning: pleased when my walk/run beat her run.
i am indeed clutching at anything representing progress :)
next week will be spent buidling up to 40min walk/runs then yes you guessed it ... i can actually run non stop for 20mins.
how cool will that be.

...oh yeah and its glasshouse this weekend!