A year on reflection

So with all this self-criticalness, I actually took some time today in my own little world on the beach at Watson's Bay to think about what I'd achieved in my first 'proper' year of running. Admittedly my training proper for the MDS started in October of 2007, but that was merely base training. I started training for the Canberra Marathon 'proper' in January of this year and it's been a year that in all honesty has surpassed where I thought I'd be.

For starters, I'm fitter than I thought I would be. My goal was really only to do one marathon at around 3hr 45min, and then head down and train for the rest of the year. After Canberra I became a little lost and just 'trained', but focused on getting fitter without really realising it. That culminated in a 3hr 32min marathon at the Hunter Valley, which in all honesty I didn't know where it came from. Onwards and upwards as they say and I got to know a few of the 'regulars' on the running circuit via the cool running website over here and before you know it I'm doing back to back marathons. The the big move up to 100kms at Glasshouse, which whilst I was pleased I completed, I was actually very disappointed with the time. I got it all wrong in some respects and learnt a big lesson that day in how to 'run' an ultra.

I then got talked into doing the 175km GNW, which on reflection was something I was not wholly focused on, and as a result, saw me 'finish' at the 103km mark, with a few extra for getting obscenely lost in the Basin. Having been so bitterly disappointed with that I drove to Canberra and did the Deep Space marathon in bitterly cold weather and was happy to just run on the cut off time, again another good character building run. And so here we are now injured, but I need to be positive.

In just over one year of running I've gone from not having more than 12 miles (just looked at my base training from Oct-Dec 2007) in my life to the following:

- 6 marathons in 8 months (with a PB 17 minutes above what I thought I'd do)
- 2 x 100kms races
- 4 x 45km plus training runs with a 75km night run

Not all that bad for someone that started the year a 'rugby-fit' second row at 105kgs, and not having run more than 12 miles in his life. For now it's swimming and cycling until and I can confidently run on this left leg of mine. Let's wish hard that it recovers by around mid January so I can do some good training into the lead in for the MDS. Having this hot weather at the moment is killing me because all I want to do is get out and train in it!

Another 30 laps

1.5kms in the pool... big deal :) Tried to run on soft sand today as well... did about 400m and the leg was still very weak. Bone scan asap... Looks like I can't get any decent insuracne either to cover injury. Options would be:

a.) Contact BoM and try and get a deferal until 2010 and try and swap with someone for that year

b.) Lose a shit load of money and not compete if I do have a stress fracture

c.) Recover hopefully be early Feb if I have a stress fracture, get what I can in before the end of March with some seriously long walks/gentle runs

d.) Speed walk the MDS

Bollocks!

This is not how Christmas was meant to be...

So after nearly two weeks of no running, I thought I'd try and sneak in a 7km around the bay last night following a good 30 laps of the pool. I took 5 steps and instantly knew the leg was not right still. I'm at a bit of a loss right now as to what is wrong and what to do. I guess the thing I need to do is go and get a bone scan and see if I have a stress fracture. That costs money, great. And then if I do, well we're looking at 1.5 to 2 months out. Great - mid-Feb recovery for a race that I've been preparing for for 2 years to start 1st week of April, which means I wont be 100% fit.

Should I defer for a year? That will be a pain in the arse with the organisers, Best of Morocco I'm sure. The draconian rules that Darbaboud and they impose already defy logic and I'm kind of getting to the stage where I'm resenting the MDS now. It's probably due to the fact that I need this injury like a hole in the head so close to the race itself. It's prime summer training here in Sydney and all I can do is head to the pool and do my laps - great.

We'll see - I'll go and get my scan and see what the beef is me thinks, I need to get this sorted. Having taken literally steps on it last night, the leg feels so weak. I can push on through, but I'll do more damage to it. Hmmmmmmmm - bloody great!

Feeling hot hot hot...

So on Christmas Eve it was the usual 20 laps of the pool, followed by a stuffing full of food for the last two days over Xmas. Normally I'd be running, not taking a break, but this leg thing just wont clear up. One day it feels better, then today it was really aching towards the end of the day. The bone feels less tender to touch now. I'm tempted to get out and go for a run again tomorrow as it will have been 10 days of straight rest. Although i did that last time and look where that got me. I said I'd leave it to Jan 1st, so I really should, but maybe a nice easy 7kms wouldn't hurt it? We'll see... I really want to do the Narrabeen 100km, but it's looking a bit unlikely now - depends how the next week goes really. I probably shouldn't do it given the rest I've had to undertake. We'll see, I may feel fine - I'll just go on how I feel. I'll know deep down if I shouldn't.

So plans for the next 2 months are as follows. Get back into it slowly first two weeks of Jan and build back up to 50 miles a week, and then hopefully, if all is well, get on with Super February which will see me do 4 big back to backs over the 4 weekends in February - all being well of course with my new shiny one man tent to kip in overnight. Just need a decent cooker now :)

Tired now, off to bed - family stuff is hard work :)

Sights and swimming

So with the family here I've been doing the usual Sydney thing, showing them the sights etc... plus the usual dose of swimming in the absence of being able to run. I'm just doing the usual 20 laps, or 1km of breaststroke, although I go at it fairly hard and don't piss about much - although I should be upping the number of laps now - I do find it quite dull though.

On the sights side of things, I did take the family up to the Blue Mountains and climbed down the giant staircase. I remember doing this about 8 months ago and it was a killer for me (although I had done a 45km route the day before!). However this time, my brother and I sailed up in about 15-20mins I reckon. It was pish! that'll be all the training I've done then in the last 8 months!

I guess because I'm doing family stuff, I'm not missing running that much at the moment. I'm certainly resting until Jan 1st. I want to give this thing two whole weeks to rest and then I'll slowly get back into it, build up again in January, before I attack super February which will see me out on the GNW with my new lightweight single man tent for some big back-to-back runs... can't wait!

Rest and swimming

I do fear the worst with the old leg, it's still very tender to touch on the bone and walking is not the best. So I've made the decision to not do any running until Jan 1st, and then take it very easy following that - building up slowly first two weeks for what I hope will be a final onslaught in February. So as a result, I'll be swimming pretty much daily from now on. At the moment I'm only doing about 1 to 1.5kms in the pool, but will increase that to get a good work out.

On another note, my family arrived in Sydney today, so the timing is good?!?!?! Not that I want to be injured, but c'est la vie, you can't get all angry about it, you have to deal with it. I have to be sensible now and only run when I know the leg is feeling like it can. Last time, after I rested for 9 days and then went back at it like a bat out of hell again, I knew it wasn't right but carried on thinking I could just train through it when really I should have rested.

I want to try and target the Narrabeen 100k/12hr ultra as quite a few people I know are doing it and I think it would be a great laugh to do. However I won't do it if it's not right - but the plan is to work towards that again. Oh well... plenty of Sydney tourist stuff to do with family Bleakman and many a lap at the Ian Thorpe pool for the next 10 days or so! I just hope I don't lose too much fitness. To be fair though, after I had 9 days off last time, I was running quicker than I had before, on average!

Bugger it! Too much too soon...

I am a bit of an idiot and despite knowing that I probably shouldn't have gone for a run yesterday, I did and smashed out 15kms sub 5min km pace and I do myself in again. We're not back to square one, but we're pretty darn close. we also talked about a possible stress fracture today, but there's not a lot to change in terms of the recovery even if I do go and get one - so what's the point? I just go along, have a scan and they say yey or ney. Recovery is still the same, as is the treatment.

So we'll just rest up for 4-5 days now and see how we go. I am stupid though, but hey, I'm a man and that's what we do - overdo it. It's frustrating as hell as this is peak training time, but I guess I just have to make sure that I'm fit for the MDS, I really have to keep telling myself that. Getting to the start line is the priority, even if it means a month off, then so be it. I need to rest and recover. So swimming it will be for the next week or so I think, along with lots of stretching and alike to get me going again. Then it's slowly and surely to build back up again, not bat out of hell! I'm such a knob sometimes...

Bugger it...

That's the attitude I have now. So up again at 5am for a jaunt around the Bay. It's much easier when I know I have to get up and drop melody down at Yoga - if I dont have a reason, I don't get up! So a couple of Hammer electrolytes later, and 2 Nurofen I was out on the Bay Run on a beautiful morning. It is a pleasure running when the weather is so good. The leg felt 'OK' as in there's still some issues, but I could run, albeit it not properly. This carried on pretty much most of the run apart from the last couple of kms where the pain started to get worse and I was noticeably limping on one side. This is not good. Although in the last km it felt OK again. It gets no worse though, it's the bone that's hurting me. I don't know what to think. The reality is that despite taking it at what I thought was a 'steady' pace, I was still doing sub 5min kms, going around in a shade under 73 mins for 15kms, so just over 4min 50secs kms. Is this the new 5min kilometre? Who knows...

Depending how I feel for the rest of the day, I'd like to try and get out for another 15kms tomorrow morning, which would see me just about on track for this week. The parents arrive on Saturday which will see training levels dip a little as I'll be with them and doing 'Sydney stuff'. But I'll keep maintenance.

There's also a 12hr/100km allnighter at Narrabean on 10th January and I'm very tempted by it. Bogong to Hotham is the next day and I had planned to do that, but given that Narrabean is only 30mins up the road, the latter is looking favourite at the moment. Plus it's an all nighter and I need some practice at running at night.

UPDATE-------------------
Hmmmm the leg is pretty darn sore now, or rather the bone is very tender. I'm really fearing the worst, and just hope that this is the warning sign I need to rest and not try and train through an injury. It's not really really bad, but it's very painful to touch and is noticeably worse from this monring now. Physio booked for tomorrow once again - I'll now rest it until at least Monday next week, however I fear a longer lay-off now. Must get the priorities right, even if I have to rest for 2 weeks then so be it - the MDS is what it's all about, not trying to pack in the miles now.

Still not right

Hmmmm, the leg is still not right, but it's not getting any worse. Even after I've run and stopped. I did a pretty tough session last night. Living on a pretty steep hill (200m long and 33m of ascent) the challenge is to do 10 reps up and down in 30 mins. I smashed it to be honest without even trying, knocking it off in 24mins and 39secs, so maybe a re-adjustment is required here. I say without even trying, all i did was even splits. Running up the hill consistently between 53 and 57 secs which was good, and then gently coming down. It's pretty tough work because it's quite a steep ascent, so by rep 7/8, you're feeling it. But a good session, which i wasn't even sure about doing in the first place. I went for a 3km warm-up and the leg was killing me, it was a real effort to even move, but once I got warmed up things went well.

Same again this morning - having dropped the missus off at Yoga around 5:50am I decided to go for an impromptu run around the Bay. How far was again in question, but I just decided to see how I felt. I was also a bit dehydrated to be honest, so wasn't 100% on what to do. This was always going to be a recovery style run having exerted myself last night, and again the first 5kms on the leg really hurt. So much so, that I've reverted back to the old running style. I simply can't run on the balls of my feet now - it has to be heel strike, which really helps to alleviate the pain, but some more on that later. I decided to to the extended Bay Run and did add a bit to make it an even 10kms, and despite starting at around 5:15km pace, the leg eased significantly in the last 4kms to knock off a 49min 10km, which I was quite surprised at given how tough the first 6kms were.

However I'm now questioning the move to change running styles around a year ago. Has it all caught up with me and injured my left leg? I'm not sure, all I know is that when I heel strike, the pain virtually goes. However will the shin splints come back as a result. Some more trials to be had I think, but we'll see.

Weekend update

So on Friday night I managed to get out after work for a run. The weather was appalling with horizon rain and 60km/ph winds around the Bay, but still I had to get out, I was going crazy. I took what I thought was a very steady pace and in the end decided only to do the 7kms. I didn't want to overdo it too much after having 9 days off, so halfway round I made my mind up only to do the one lap. Despite some serious head winds at times, I went round in 33mins 30secs, which is 4:45km pace. It felt too easy to be true, but hey who am I to complain.

However the real test was how I felt after the run, as the pain is not present when I run, only afterwards. Admittedly I did feel twinges whilst running, and I never felt 100% confident on the leg either with my style shifting and changing quite a bit throughout. Afterwards the leg didn't feel the greatest to be honest, and so I rested it on Saturday and still it felt pretty dodgy. So last night I went off for a swim and my usual 1km of breast stroke, and I came out the pool a different man!

So I got up this morning, and the leg felt pretty good, so I thought I'd go for a longer run today to see how things went. I wasn't quite sure how long that run would be, but it needed to be at least 18kms. In the end I did two laps of the extended Bay Run, which is 9.5km laps. I went round the first one in 46mins 30secs feeling pretty easy, and then turned around and did the second one in 45mins 30secs. However I did have to work pretty hard for the last 4kms, just to keep pace. The heart rate did creep up quite a bit. Maybe I shouldn't be too hard on myself, given the conditions (hot and windy), but still, it's 1hr 32mins for 19kms, which isn't all that bad following the injury. That works out around 4min 50sec kms, which to be honest is probably too quick again, but for some reason I can't seem to help myself! Still I'm sitting here 1 hour later and the leg is feeling OK. Fingers crossed that it's subsided now and properly on the mend. So after 2 frustrating weeks of low mileage, I'm hoping that we're back on track and time to get some bigger distances in.

Tonight's the night...

Well it's pissing down with rain and cold here in Sydney, but I'm like a kid in a sweetie shop for tonight I'm getting back out onto the track and running again. OK, so I still feel a little twinge in the leg, but I need to get out having not run for 9 days now. I've rested, and I want to get back onto it, so off we go tonight. The plan is to take it easy, which I will and we'll just see how far I run, it might be 7km, it might be 27km... we'll have to see how we go. Fingers crossed I dont feel any pain or it screws me up :)

This is boring now...

So I took yesterday as a 'rest day' and awoke at 5am for either some running or swimming. The reality is I got out of bed, put some weight on the leg and it still doesn't feel right yet - so frustrating! It's definitely feeling better, but it's still tender to touch and I just don't want to risk a thing at the moment only 3 months out from the MDS! Bloody typical isn't it! My longest time out with injury in over 18 months! Anyway... rest I must I don't want to do any kind of serious damage and would rather forsake two weeks than two months with something more serious.

On a positive note, I planned the rest of my training yesterday and it's all quite exciting to look at the run in to March. I've planned some pretty big back-to-back runs in February and every weekend will be taken up with heading up to the GNW track and running Saturday, camping overnight somewhere on the track before heading back the other way on the Sunday. It will be pretty brutal, but will be awesome to just spend the weekend running and camping. I'm also going to try and do a big-ish ultra distance of around 60-70kms on one Saturday, before doing a 40km the next day. Of course I'll be taking these distances pretty easy going and not smashing myself to bits, but it's all exciting stuff!

This is why I'm not so bothered about the rest at the moment - well I say bothered, I am, but it's probably a bit of a good thing. I've done shitloads of training in the last 14 months and clocked up almost 2,100 miles. The core is done, this is just now the icing on the cake to harden by body up to some serious back-to-backs at the weekend with some lighter speed and maintenance work during the week.

Anyone for swimming?

As I can't run at the moment I've taken to doing some swimming. So was down last night at the Olympic Pool over looking Sydney Harbour for a nice easy 24 laps, then another 20 this morning.It's quite nice doing something different and I'll definitely be going to the pool once a week from now on just as a bit of cross-training. Still frustrated be the leg though. It's freeing up somewhat, but the bone is still tender. Back to the physio again tomorrow to see how we're doing - but I want to try and get out and run on Wednesday. I'll have rested it for a week then, but something still doesn't feel quite right. It's so hard not being able to run. I know I'm not really losing any fitness, but mentally I feel I am, still - at least I can plan all of these routes that I want to do for the final 3 months of training. Quite luckily the missus is off back to the UK for most of February which is perfect for me. Pretty much every weekend I'm going to spend up either on the Great North Walk course or in the Blue Mountains, doing back to back days of 40-50kms. I'll buy a nice compact tent and just head out on the Saturday morning, do a nice hard day. Pitch up the tent, cook my food, and then head out the next day for some more punishment. I'll do that 3 weekends on the trot all being well, and that will be my final run-in for the MDS. For now, I'll keep the long runs going at the weekend, and the shorter stuff during the week to be the weekly mileage at around 100kms a week, and then the last 3 weekends will see some bigger stuff as a result of the back-to-backs. Let's just get rid of this darn injury!

Still not quite right

So another visit to the physio this morning, and still, we're not there yet. I decided against doing anything at all this weekend and instead spent it with the lady chilling out. Just looking back at my training, I haven't had a weekend off like that in as long as I can remember, probably nearly August (the last time I was injured), did I have both days off. It is probably down to overuse. I have to remember that I'm still very inexperienced when it comes to running and a relative newcomer, having only been running seriously for just over a year, and in that time I have done so much.

So the plan is to rest it some more until Wednesday, but I will be swimming everyday now until I get back into the trainers. The muscles around the fibula are still pretty inflamed, so it's a case of getting that sorted out, and they gradually are getting better. The walking is much more free now and in a few days I'm hoping it will be cleared completely. I just hope that running won't mean it gets inflamed again. Hmmmm, at least it's an enforced rest,. which was what I was talking about anyway. Just want to get it sorted and back on the road again.

Non running update

This non-running thing is very strange. I can't remember a weekend where I@ve not done anything for so long. Still the missus tells me that it's good to rest - I don't believe her! Still debating whether to go swimming on not this morning. Going for a swim at the North Sydney Pool on Wednesday was quality as it's right in front of the Harbour Bridge, so tempted to head down there now and do 20 lengths to keep things moving. In fact I think I will.

Then off to the physio again tomorrow at 8am for a check-up. I think I'm on the right track with this one now. The inflammation around the fibula seems to be dying down somewhat now, although there is still some pain. I know that I could go for a run, but it's best to rest as they say. And in the grand scheme of things, it's not going to seriously affect my training anyway. I've done so much in this past year that I'm in such a great place for the MDS I feel. I want to kill this race. Not just finish, but smash it to pieces after GNW and I need to be fit and strong for that. Big call to make, but that's the expectation I have now. It will be interesting to see how things go on the first day out there. It's normally a 30km day on Day one, and they may decide to thrown the sand dunes in early like they did last year. Bring it on I say, nothing can be as severe as the GNW or that route around Mount Solitary, sand or no sand. But we'll see how we go.

Sharp twinge update

OK, so thought I'd better get my behind down to the physio and see what latest issues are keeping me on my toes. Essentially I have a problem with my fibula bone on the outer side of my lower leg, and it's gradually got to the point whereby it's not gliding correctly when I walk/run, so in effect it's staying in an upright position, which is then causing the discomfort when I walk, but bizarrely is OK when I run.

So some massaging and some taping later and the pain eased, and I'm to keep the tape on in a bid to get it moving again in the right position. So no running this weekend, which I had kind of resigned myself to not doing, but c'est la vie once more...

However I've done some big distances in the last 4 weeks, including 70 odd miles in the GNW, then two very tough 47 milers over mountains and hard terrain. This combination of runs has in effect gradually worn me down somewhat. It's funny because I was saying to Beaver during the run the last week that I was knackered and needed a rest - so this enforced rest if probably good for me. I'm not going to lose anything, bar a big run, which I'd have done this weekend, so I should rest - but it's hard to!

Anyway, plan is to sort out wedding stuff this weekend, and get ready for the imminent arrival of the Bleakman clan to Sydney for Christmas.

Sharp 6kms, sharp twinge

That twinge from my left leg is getting worse and I cant help thinking about the dreaded words - 'stress fracture'. I can't quite pinpoint if the pain is on the muscle or the bone, but it feels like the latter. It feels like my shin splints used to, but only on the outer left leg in between the knee and the ankle. Still I went out tonight after work and it was a glorious 32 degrees, that made for hard going. As did the fact that I forgot some decent socks, my stopwatch and my heart rate monitor. I'm such an idiot. As such I thought I'd run to time, and take off 15% of my maximum time around the Bay Run, which equates to around 28 mins for 6kms. I set off way too quick and against a very strong headwind, and to be honest I was going too quick - proven by the fact that I did the 6kms in just over 27mins- so 4min 30sec kms, which is way too quick for this kind of run.

The pain is weird, I can feel it when I walk, and when I start running, but after about 200metres or so it disappears. Needless to say, having gone off too quick, having the wrong socks and worried about the leg, I only ended up doing half what I wanted to do. I really should get hold of all my equipment so I can do this thing properly. Anyway, I sorted out my 3 different types of heart rate for the three different runs and they are as follows:

RECOVERY: 136 - 143
MAINTAIN: 150 - 157
HOT LAP: 164 - 171

First of all though, I need to sort out the leg... I'm going to rest it tomorrow, mainly because that's enforced. Working in PR means you get to go to lots of Christmas parties! However I may get up early and go swimming at the Olympic Pool in Milsons Point, which over looks Sydney Harbour Bridge. There really is no other better pool in the world I think!

A gentle 17kms

So back on it tonight and its warming up here in Sydney. A nice 25 degrees odd when I got home from work, and the plan tonight was a good 17kms, but fairly steady and easy. I've been reading up on some training methods used by others for marathon running and there's some interesting stuff knocking about. I've decided to use some of it as part of my training as I think, certainly for my runs during the week it makes some sense to do.

So I've split my runs according to my heart rate, and I'll be running to heart rates rather than time. I had been doing this for a few months actually, but I'm just making this into a bit more of a formalised programme. So tonight was about keeping the heart rate up at about the 145 - 152 range and keep it there I did, rocking home in around 93 minutes for the 17kms. That works out at 5min 28sec kms, which for the first run back after the weekend's brutal 44kms, I was fairly happy with. Although I did find it a little bit slow. Typically the first half was fine and I actually found myself having to run a bit quicker than I was as the heart rate was too low. But in the second half I was finding myself slowing down somewhat to keep the heart rate within range. So doing nearly 5.30min kms was a little disappointing, but it's about keeping the heart rate within a certain range that's important, not the pace as I have to keep telling myself.

The good thing is that it hasn't killed me and I feel quite refreshed after it all. Normally I tend to push myself in each run I do. I imagine that my training has actually all been at around the 150-160 heart rate - well most of it anyway, and I need to stagger it a little.

Tomorrow is about pushing it higher up at the heart rate ranges of 158 - 165, and doing 14kms of that. Following that will be a lighter run where the heart rates will be between 138 and 145, roughly around 12kms. Then I'm maybe planning another 44kms at the weekend on the trails, before a 15km warm-down the week after. Things are hotting up now in the training stakes and I want to get fitter, but also stronger on the hills. So hill work will be a big part of the weekly sessions too.

Tough graft - Mount Solitary assault

This week has been a bit of an arse in terms of being able to get out and train. Mainly because I was recovering from Deep Space until Wednesday evening, Thursday I had a twinge in my left leg so thought it best not to head out, and then Friday was busy with work commitments. However I managed to get out yesterday with a few guys from CoolRunnings, for what I thought was going to be a nice gentle 40kms. Sweet Jesus, did that not turn out to be the case!

The run is know as the Mount Solitary 'run-up', and consists of a 40km loop around the Blue Mountains. The scenary is quite simply stunning when you're at the top.

I didnt start well, after only 4kms I rolled my right ankle pretty badly. One of those ones where I actually few over from it. I can normally keep my footing when I do that, but this was a pretty bad one. However I popped some painkillers and just carried on, although this morning it is pretty swollen and quite sore.

However on we go with the run, starting at around 1200m, and we decend right into the valley at around 200m I believe. What goes down must go up, and for the next couple of hours, we had an almight slog up Mount Solitary. The final 30 mins or so is literally hands and knees scrambling up the mountain face. I dont mind this, if I'm on a walk or climb, but on a run, I'm not so keen. Still the views at the top were well worth it. So along the ridge we went, before having some food, and then setting off along the ridge of the mountain some further, before decending. Boy was that an experience! Again hands and knees stuff and it was here that I managed to scrap my leg along a bush stump, opening it up quite badly too... things were not going well here!

So downt he mountain we came, before we hit the rainforest, and some beautiful running for around 10kms along the mountain ridge, just underneath it, and making our way back to Katoomba. Here we filled up on water from the fresh mountain stream, before hitting the 15kms or so back to the car at Wentworth Falls. Again soome more great runnable trail through rainforest where I picked up a few leeches for flavour too! And then at 38kms, the monster of all hills! This is not what you need having just climbed a mountain as big as Snowdoon already... however on we plodded, and again we climbed another 1000m or so I believe of just head down and grin and bear it. It was a hard slog that seemed to never end, but we got there and finished our 42kms (a slight detour earlier on added some) in a long, slow time of 8 hours 30 mins.

That was a tough one, especially off the back of last week, but it's again, good to do these long tough trails as they will increase the strength. I'm still shit at hills, but I'm getting better. I'm noticably good on the nice long flats of trail running, but I still need to work on those hills.

The ankle is pretty sore at the moment, but should be OK in a few days for some speed work and tempo training.

EDIT: Here's some stats on the run from one of the guys who had a Garmin on. I can see why these things come in handy now. I didnt wear a thing on Saturday, well clothes obviously:

Trip measured 43.99km with elevation gain of +2730 and descent of -2716. Climbing Mt Solitary, it is 3.0km from river (163m)to first level off (837m) with a gain of 671 metres. High point of Mt. Solitary is 955m. For the dreaded final climb it is +600m over 6.7km.

Nice little recovery

Despite feeling a bit achey still from the war that was the Deep Space marathon, I thought it best to get out and do an easy 4 miler just to get the legs going again. It actually felt really good, and although somewhat heavy, my legs felt strong - must have been from all that mountain climbing at the weekend. So much so that I tagged on 5 x 200m hill reps to the end of my run. I'm now going to do much more of these as I really want to increase my leg strength. The mountain marathon at the weekend taught me a good lesson - that I'm pretty shit at going up hills... (and coming down them). I really need to work the legs over and over again and make them feel the pain of hill sprints, given that I live on one of the steepest in Balmain, here in Sydney.

I also feel pretty good about the months ahead, now that I've made the decision not to try and crucify myself with really high and stupid unneccessary mileage over the next 3 months. This next stage was where I was really going to ramp it up, but I've decided not to. I want to be feeling fresh for the MDS, so manby people go into it with little niggles... I dont want that fingers crossed. I'll peak at around 70 miles a week I reckon, and the bulk of that will be made from doing back to back runs at the weekend of between 25 and 30 miles. That's what I'm going to concentrate on over the weekends over the next three months. Then I'll do my tempo and hill work during the week. I'm in a good place with all this running I feel... so much so that I totted up the miles today. Not that it matters, because it's not about how many miles you clock up, it's about the quality, but I'm now on 2,025 miles since I started training seriously last October... not a bad little total, which should probably reach just over 2,500 by the real thing me thinks!

But it's about the quality of those miles, and I dont want to be doing 'dead' miles in the coming months, it's be long slow stuff and high short intensity runs around the Bay. Although I do need to get that backpack on a bit more me thinks too... I'm fine with carrying 4kgs over 110kms odd... but need to up the weight too.

Deep Space (Snow) Marathon

Well this one had caught my eye for a few months now, purely because of the location, and also the toughness of the course too. I'm not sure it's what my body needed two weeks after GNW, but the plan was to always take it pretty steady, although halfway up Mount Tennent, I realised just how steady I would have to take it!

So upon arriving in Canberra, and then the short drive south, one thing immediately struck me... how bloody cold it was! And it was set to get worse as it started to snow. All plans of staying in a tent went out the window as I pulled the seats down in the car and snuggled up into my sleeping bag which was extremely cosy!

I awoke at 4:45am to a couple of centimetres of snow on the car... in Australia, in the summer? What was going on? The snow was really starting to bucket down as we started the race, with a nice gentle 6kms of downhill. Well I say gentle, we actually descended a couple of hundred metres, which was made worse by the fact that I knew we had to come back up here in a couple of hours time. The first climb was literally a climb, as we headed up Mount Tennent.



Trail running is all a bit new to me, and I've learnt some things in the short time I've been doing it - that I'm pretty slow. It wasn't long before I found myself at the back of the pack, and we started the long slow 5km climb up the bloody thing. As we climbed higher, the weather got worse, and I really started to question what the hell I was doing out here. Higher and higher, wetter and colder it got. I arrived at the top to find a couple of inches of snow, and glad to have that done with, however I'm equally as crap going down mountains too. I'm very slow, and this is something I need to work on.

As we hit the road to come back, I started to get very disillusioned to be honest. My knee started to hurt, and for the second time in as many races, I was going to pull the plug. To be honest I thought it was going to get pulled for me as I was seriously close to the cut off. I mst have walked a great chunk of the 6kms back up the road and found it desperately hard. However I clicked my head back into place and told myself that I wasn't going to come all this way to run 25kms. I just about made the cut off (3hrs 10mins), and pushed on, and found the second half of the course a delight. Some more tough hills, and one serious 3km climb on the journey home, but things were looking better, and the last 3kms of downhill were lovely, running at normal pace to just about make the cut off, if not a minute or so out for a 5hrs 30 mins.

Overall, an enjoyable race, well the second have, but that was after I'd stopped thinking about 'racing'... I think that's the key for me... stop thinking about racing and just go along for the ride. There were some seriously good trail runners out there including one of Australia's best, and this was one tough course. But it's all good training and practice for the real thing. I need to get out on more hills and feel that pain so I can get better at them. Hill training is so key.

More quality... calf strain!

It's always the way... I do this hard stuff and I tend to push the boat out a little and strain my soleus muscle. It's the same one each time which really should tell me something, but hey I'm a man and I'm stupid! Still I wasn't going to go out last night and I set off and it was a little tender. I then stopped and thought about what I was doing... here I was going for a 'normal' run. They bore me now. Seriously, I find it very hard to motivate myself to go and and just run at a steady pace. I need some hills to sprint up, or do a tempo run, or smash along a trail. So I turned round after 1/2 a km and ran home to do some hill reps. I live on a nice big hill (about 200m long), so I did ten reps of them at between 60-70% threshold. Jesus by number 8 the quads were starting to hurt a little, especially after last night's tempo run. However 10 x 200m of that was far better than just knocking off an easy 10kms. I know I should do these sometimes, and it's important to do them as they 'rest' my body somewhat, but I'll do that on Friday I think.

I'm resting now tonight ahead of the Deep Space marathon on Sunday. I always had my eye on this one as it looked cool. Not only because of the name, but because it looks pretty tough too. It's also a small event, which I like and is a trail run over some nice mountains. The winner last year did it in 3hr 49mins, and looking back, he's a 2hr 50min marathon runner! So it's definitely a tough one. I'll be looking for somewhere around 4hrs 30 - 5hrs, depending on how hard I push myself. Being realistic, it's only 2 weeks since GNW, so more towards the 5hrs mark I think. People have said it's very similar to 6 foot track, so it will be a nice little test, plus I'll stick the camelbac on to carry a bit of weight too. Plus we can camp at the start line, so this one will be a nice couple of days in the outback, chilling. I like that...

Quality training

Tonight was the speed session, and it was 14kms of hard graft, but some really good quality training. So two laps of the Bay Run it was. The first was a hard tempo run, running at around 80-90% max rate, knocking that off in 25mins 50secs. Felt good actually, but there was some seriously stiff breeze knocking about also! The second lap was a slightly easier one, alternating between 1km slow and 1km quick, knocking that off in bang on 28 mins.

All in some good quality and pretty pleased given we're still only just over one week since the big one last week.

The joy of a new pair of trainers...

Weird... I was weary and my knee hurt yesterday. The today I go and smack out a pretty quick 10kms. All very strange. I wasn't even going to go out today as my right knee is giving me a little jip. Probably just a slight ligament strain, as it feels very similar to how the left knee felt a few months back. But I thought I'd head out even if only for a nice easy 7kms. However I was feeling so good I extended it to just under 11km and it was a great little run. I wouldn't have thought that only a week ago I was on trail doing 100km+. Anyhow, a nice bounce back week, totally 50kms and a good back to back yesterday and today.

I feel my training is in a very good place right now as we lead into the last 3-4 months ahead of what I've been working towards for the last 18 months. Training will really ramp up now in the summer, and I have some fantastic places to go out and train now that I have the car. I've decided that in February I'm going to attempt 4 weekends of 50kms each Saturday and Sunday on some of the toughest terrain on the GNW. That will be awesome preparation for the MDS. It will mean 100kms at the weekends, and then I can keep things ticking over during the week. To be honest thinking about the training more and more, I don't quite understand those people that try and knock off big distances during the week. I personally think that at my peak at the end of February I'll be doing two 50kms at the weekend, and then 3 x 20km during the week - 160kms peak for two weeks is more than enough. I don't see the point in making up distances during the week. This race is about 6 x 40kms (approx). so training should be geared towards that. However just my opinion I suppose... each to their own! Quite excited now about all of this training ahead. Fingers crossed I'll remain injury free over the next 3 months and I can gradually ramp up the mileage slowly and peak at the end of Feb. Jesus, that's only 3.5 months away!

Back on the trail...

In hindsight a good decision not to carry on last week. Up at 5:30am today and off for a 25km trail run back on the Great North walk, however a little nearer to Sydney on the 'Beyond the black stump' route. This is a nice and fairly easy little run and it was good to get that distance under the belt, only a week after the 113kms last week. Admittedly I was a little weary, but it was pretty good to be honest, and whilst there were some hills, to be quite frank they were nothing compared to some of the stuff we had to do last week! I went along with a guy called Keith (one of Andrew's friend's) and we had a nice little jaunt. One of the stretches is a tough 2kms uphill also, which we decided to run, and the quads were certainly feeling it in that last 500m! But again, all good, and some great training. I think I'll make this one of my regular routes.

I'm also looking forward to getting back onto the GNW proper and doing some of the serious hill stretches ahead of the MDS. The 3rd stage between Congewai and the basin, as well as adding in a bit more towards Yaramlong is simply fantastic training for next March. Anyway, back to the grind now, one or two more races lined up, but for now the focus is on big mileage at the weekends. Consecutive runs of 40-50kms is what's required now. Really does make me think what the during the week runs are all about now, more a case of keeping things ticking over I think. The benefit is in the big long stuff at weekends.

In the cold light of day...

It's really hard reading all of the race reports and seeing how happy everyone is after the GNW at the weekend. What hurts is not being part of that club and not finishing. But it's OK, I'm OK with the decision I made as I have to keep the long term goals in mind. I don't know what kind of a state I would have been in had I done the lot, but that's done with now and I can only focus on what's ahead, and that is to try for a top 150 place at the MDS. This is my goal and I need to focus on it - rather than trying to do too much all at once. Once that is done (hopefully!), I have some serious goals set aside for 2009, namely three very big ones. I'm a bit superstitious, so I don't like to broadcast what they are, but they involve three of the biggest ultras in Australia, and I want to do them. There is a lifetime of opportunity ahead for me and running, and I'm so glad that I found this wonderful sport early. I look at some of the veteran generation and the guys doing this and you look at them in awe and what they do. So much respect for them. At the weekend, I learnt about respect for this and certainly the GNW race, and I thank my lucky stars that hopefully, I'll have many many more years to run this wonderful race.

Anyway's enough of GNW - that book is now closed for this year, and I now have three and a half more months of some serious high mileage training to do. So, back on the wagon I got last night with a gentle 4 miler. At some stages I was running pretty quickly, given that I'd run about 113kms on Saturday - I think it was retribution for my mind and letting myself slip. I'll be out again tonight, and my focus is now unrelenting for the MDS - I'm going to smash it and smash my body for this one, really putting it on the line.

It's also exciting to see what races I'll do in 2009 after the MDS. The Canberra marathon is a must, not only because it will be my first year anniversary of running, but because one of the guys who I see week in week out and is quite frankly an amazing person to look up to, will be running his 100th marathon - simply awesome and inspiring in my book. Although he thinks what he does is everyday, I know a lot of people look up to him as a role model and as an inspiration. Certainly, I've been following his blog and he's inspired me to push myself even further beyond my limits than I probably would have done, I need that kick up the arse sometimes. He's also given up his free time to talk to me and run me through his thoughts, and in some respects I let him and myself down at GNW, but that's done (as I said!)...

So, full steam ahead now for the MDS and some serious training. Next up I'm going to be pacer/crew for some people up at the C2K, as that will be a good chance to get some big distances under my belt also!

Mental Demons...

Well, it was always a possibility and this weekend it happened - the dreaded DNF. What happened? Well loads of things were wrong, I felt sick, my feet hurt, my achilles was killing, but hey, all things that could have been sorted out - I just let the race get to me. I think also I wasn't in the right head space for this one either - I really questioned my own desire to finish. I wasn't gearing up the this like a lot of other people - this was their big goal. For me, this wasn't a big goal or even a race I'd considered doing until 2 months beforehand. So really, I don't think my heart was 100% in it, and as a result it showed in my decision to not go past 103kms.

It didn't helped getting lost for around 2 1/2hours. I missed a right turn at around 65kms and shot about 2.5kms downhill on a road, only to realise that I was fooked, so had a nice slog back uphill. Then the cardinal sin, getting lost at the basin. I told myself time and time again to be careful coming in here. The reality is though that having "lost 5kms", I was really flying to make up time. I did a 5.5kms section in 30 mins, which in hindsight was stupid. I blew myself out a bit. I then made the mistake of following a marking, not a sign to the Basin campsite and then proceeded to wander round for over an hour. In total I lost 2 1/2 hours. I was devastated and moral was massively low.

I then left the basin feeling like absolute crap, sickness, dizzyness, delusional... so much so that I actually started to run off-course into the bush until I saw some lights about 50 metres uphill and realise that I'd buggered up. The next leg of 20kms was relatively easy downhill and road and I pretty much got through in just over 4 hours, walking a lot of the way. That made my feet hurt like crazy, and by then I'd chucked in the towel.

I keep thinking about why I did this, and I really think it came down to the desire to finish this race. My ultimate goal is the MDS next year, so this was in the back of my mind too. I wondered if I had carried on, would it have wrecked me physically? Certainly the thought of another 70kms did make me think I would take myself out of training for 2-3 weeks, which at this stage I didn't want. My feet were a bit of a mess, I didn't want to have those few weeks recovering, when really I need to get back on the training wagon in the next 3-4 days.

However it all came down to desire - I simply didn't want this race bad enough, and I think that if I had my time again, I would have probably made the same decision. Will I go back? More than likely, but with a real focus on this race. It seems strange to say it but I have to really be in the right head space for these things and totally focused on it all. For this I wasn't. At Glasshouse I was, I'd targeted it as something I really wanted to do. For this one I wasn't even nervous, which is wrong in my opinion - that tells me that I wasn't that bothered. I'm bothered by my lack of mental focus though, but I'd rather this happened now than in the MDS. They say you always learn from these things too, and I will. I remember Steve Waugh once saying you always learn more from your defeats than your victories and I will on this occasion. I learnt loads from Glasshouse and put that into practice at GNW. Here though, I learnt about desire (or rather lack of it). Looking back I know that I should have entered the 100kms, I entered the 100 miler because other people were doing it, not because I wanted to do it - and that is about desire.

However you must draw positives - it was another ultra under the belt (well 113kms-ish), and 19 hours on my feet. Maybe I'm trying to do too much in preparation for the MDS. The GNW is a massive race, and personally I think that it will be harder than the MDS. Doing 175kms straight through is a huge ask with all that elevation too, and I have the upmost respect for those that do. One of the guys I run with, Andrew put in a huge effort, coming in 6th at 29 hours. He put in what was quite simply an amazing effort and beat some extremely good runners in the process - I have massive respect for him and his desire to do this. Maybe next year I can repeat what he did, but for now I know my place and what I want to achieve. I'm OK with the decision I made. Of course it would have been great to finish the race, but I can't change it now and I will remain focused on my goal of the MDS. Next year my priorities will be different and my goals too. So one to learn from, not dwell on and get on with it.

Getting ready

So yesterday was an easy 9 miler. I've actually decided to do more taper than planned. The idea was to make the last mile of the GNW 175km the 2,000th mile of my training. However I realised that doing nearly 35 miles the week before a 108 mile race is probably a little stupid. To that end, I only did 9 miler on Saturday, which was 4kms warm-up, 6kms fairly hard at 4:40km pace and then 4kms gentle coming home. Today I did nothing, despite having a 5 miler planned, but thought better of it. Instead I went for a lovely massage, and will probably head out tomorrow for a casual 4 miles easy to break in some new trainers, followed by one more very slow run Tuesday/Wednesday to keep the legs ticking over me thinks.

Most of this week will be spent getting ready, sorting out the maps and the food and generally pooing myself about spending the whole of the coming weekend running in the bush... awesome. Can't wait.

Sharp to sluggish

Urghhh, last night was the same route in reverse and Jesus was it tough. all week it's been sticky and humid and muggy over here. As a guide it's 36 degrees today and 80% humidity, not even any sun. I'm about to go for lunch and fear I'm going to walk straight into an oven when I go outside!

Anyway's I sweated like a Beaver last night and was only going slowly. The legs were totally drained and it was tough, but hey all in a day's work really.

There's some interesting comments going up now on the Cool Running forum over here in oz about the race next weekend, I thought this one was hilarious so thought I'd post it up:

i have run about 50 ultras.

4 of them being 100 mile and one being 246km.

The Great North Walk 100 is the only race that I have lost consciousness in when i suffer heat stroke between check point 2 and 3.

It is the only race where my shoe has been full of blood from leeches.

it is the only race where I found laying on the middle of the road a relief.

it is the only race where I felt like I was lost 50% of the time.

When people like David Waugh, Rachel Waugh, Ian Wright, Jonathan Worswick and Jan Herrmann DNF you know it is going to be tough!

Hmmm, also, here's the course profile just for a bit of fun too:



People are getting slightly worried now, it really is a bitch this one and the more I think about it, the more just to finish is going to be an achievement!

A sharp 10km

It's amazing what two whole days of rest can do for you. I decided not to train Tuesday night, partially because I needed the rest, and also to time my 2,000th mile as the last mile of the GNW 108 miler next week.

so last night I headed out for a quick-ish 10kms, covering it in a nice 47mins. not pushing it really hard, but enough to get the heart rate pumping, and taking the hills quicker than I normally would. It also helped get one pair of trainers back into shape after washing them. Something you shouldn't really do, but they needed it. I'm also deliberating which trainers to take. I have two pairs of kayano's that I'm planning on using, but wouldn't mind another pair also. I have another pair of light asics, which I may use for the final stretch as they're very comfortable, but the tread is wearing thin, so don't know if that would be a good option of not. The reality is that I need to buy another pair, so may head down the shop and get spanked for $225... plus all of the extra socks and stuff I need to buy for this race!

Some more thoughts...

God I'm in a philosophical mood of late - I think this GNW 100 is really getting to me. Not in a bad way, but really making me think. I totalled up my mileage since I started running last night, and I'm around 1,850 miles in the last year - pretty much where I wanted to be. So when I hit the GNW next week, I'll move through 2000, very fitting! In fact I may look to time it smack on so that my last mile in the GNW is my 2,000th so far. That would mean a 30 mile week this week, which is probably a bit more than I would want to do, but still OK, as I can get proper rest next week.

But lots to think about for this one - it's such a huge challenge and needs the proper care and respect to make it a success. Food is going to be critical on this, and I'm already drawing up a wish list which includes:

- Pizza
- Coke
- Sausage rolls
- Chocolate milkshake
- Ham and Cheese sandwiches

Need to think of some other things as well, but more thoughts over the coming week I'm sure.

A nice tough week

So after a bit of rest following the overnighter 9 days ago, last week was a ramp up again with 84kms covered in 4 days. Thursday and Friday were gentle 16km and 12km respectively and then the bigger stuff at the weekend. So on Saturday I buggered off at 5am with training partner Beaver for a meandering 30kms, partly in the bush and partly on the road. By the end of the run, my feet with in a lot of pain, as the difference of running on the road to starting in the bush was amazing. We both found it a bit tougher than we first thought I guess. But we took it very easy on the way back and finished off with a look at one of the hardest checkpoints, The Basin as it's known.

Then yesterday Melody and I took off for the 7 Bridges walk, a 25km harbourside walk over the 7 bridges of Sydney harbour, funnily enough. I donned a full backpack of around 7kgs and off we went. It was very pleasant actually to be walking and taking it (relatively) easy, and before we knew it 5 1/2 hours later we were back in Rozelle for a well-deserved ice cream.

So a nice 55 miles for the week, and these have been very much the norm for the last 4-5 weeks now. Things have been going well since Glasshouse, where 2 weeks before the race I was doubting if I could do it with the injuries I kept on picking up. However it appears that doing that 100kms really sorted me out somewhat and I'm feeling good. The plan now is to taper slightly for the GNW 175kms, and then it's full steam ahead to around 65 miles a week in December, then peaking at around 90-100 in late February. Yikes!

Getting on with it...

So after the toenail episode, it's calmed down somewhat and seems OK, so it's been a hard couple of days with a 16km on Thursday night, 12kms on Friday night and then 30kms out on the GNW track today. It was a tough one today as my running partner Andrew and I did an out and back on the road section, which really did the feet in come the final couple of kms, such as we're now so used to running on the trail.

It's amazing how much difference it makes. I can't stand running on road now - I really need to buy a car to get out on the trails now for the next 6 months. Anyway, another 25km walk planned tomorrow, which will take the total for this week up to 90kms, a nice show, before 2 weeks or taper ahead of the race.

I met up with a seasoned professional today for a little bit of advice on what to expect at GNW. No matter where you are in the world, the advice in any ultra remains true... start slowly and finish slower. The reality is that this course is such a toughie and if the weather gets hot, then all times go out of the window, it really is a case of survival of the fittest. There's a very low success rate in this race and it's known for being one of the toughest. The race started 4 years ago with 12 people entered. The current entry list will probably hit 85 this year - an outstanding recognition of just how tough and well-spoken about this race is. However it's almost not a race, it's about getting through it, and everyone knows just how bloody hard it is. I can only hope that I have the toughness to get through it.

Hmmmm

So I got 100 yards down the road last night and decided that it was a no go. The toenail is properly buggered. Seems such a silly and simple thing that can affect your running, but hey ho. Instead of pushing it I decided to not risk it. It's a bugger though, the toenail is dead and needs to come off, but its in that in between stage. Going to try another run tonight in my softer pair of trainers and see how we go with that. Then a trip to doc trotters me thinks on Saturday to whip it off maybe. Nice... can't wait.

Back onto the grind...

So after the highs of trail running, it's back to the concrete of Sydney. It really is such a bind running on the roads now that I'm running serious mileage in the bush now. However last night was a gentle 4 mile run into the CBD from my delightful office in St.Leonards, or slough as we English like to nickname it... if you ever come here you'd know why. Oh how I long for Darling Harbour again :)

Anyway's 4 miles of dull concrete along the Pacific Highway. Tonight will be a 15km run, oh and I have two black toenails.. I might put a bet on which one comes off first, bloody Melbourne marathon that was, busting a gut! Anyway, here's a picture of a leech to brighten this post up, something I'll become very familiar with in three weeks time:



Bastards!

Some running thoughts...

I thoguht I'd pen some thoughts together about running, as it seems to be the thing that most occupies my life at the moment. I entered this whole MDS lark around 2 years ago with one thing in mind - to complete the MDS, but since moving to Australia, I've come across a whole different community and one I feel very at home in. It's funny to think that I never really regarded myself as a runner of sorts. When signing up for the MDS I went into it very blind indeed, not really knowing what I was doing or why - but as you read and research more, the more you realise what is out there.

My training programme was all very much geared towards Canberra, and completing one marathon only as part of the preparation for the MDS, and then get my head down and train like a bastard for the next 12 months. However I did Canberra, and surpassed my expectations with a 3hrs 35mins. However on I went and just got on with my training. But then I became a bit lost. I trained, but not effectively and I knew that I needed to be tested further. I did Canberra quite conservatively to be honest, and knew I had more in me, and more I did have at Hunter Valley. And so on... I met some of the regulars on the circuit and did more marathons. The I found out about ultras and did one of those up at Glasshouse. Boy was that a rude awakening. I did that, but i know that in my heart, although completed, I did it poorly. I prepared badly and the time is a fair reflection of that.

I honestly thought that was it, and now here I write 3 weeks away from doing the GNW 175kms. A year ago I would have told myself I was a nutter for doing this, but all of a sudden, 175kms doesn;t seem that bad. I can only marvel at some of the legends on the ultra and marathon circuit. I've met these guys, run with them, and have the greatest respect for what they can achieve. I feel quite humble when I see them running, yet they are ordinary guys doing extra-ordinary things.

I'm extremelyt proud of where I've come in 12 months. 12 months ago I embarked on serious training. I'd done a few months prior to that, but a stress fracture in my left foot took me out for over a month, so the initial running that I had done was now worthless. I remember when it all started properly, I wa son holiday with Melody in the south of France, and I went for a 10km run - I can still remember how hard it felt now. It was humid and my legs were shot after it. It was also a just over a month before I was due to leave for Australia and I remember thinking, how the hell can I even string a marathon together of I'm struggling to pull together 10km in 22 degrees? I knew I had a tough road ahead, but with some serious application, here I am a year later feeling great, with a marathon PB of under 3hrs 30mins, and a few weeks away from atckling the single biggest challlenge I've ever undertaken.

We did a 75km night run on Friday, and again I was pretty blase about it all. It came and went, only 4 days after having done a PB in Melbourne. Physically it was pretty easy I thought, mentally I lost my way a bit. so much so that I deliberately ran on my own for about 30 mins. I needed to be alone and work out what I was doing here in the middle of the night, in the middle of nowhere running. I worked it out though, I felt at home, it felt good and I wanetd to do more of it.

If you asked me a year ago if I could be doing this level and kind of training I'd have said no way - but it is the desire to obtain some of the levels that i see some of the guys doing over here that drives me on. In wa way, the MDS is just another race in the grand scheme of things. It's part of the journey and to be honest, this website needs re-naming. It's not about the MDS anymore, it's about this journey, although i dont know where it's going to go or end.

I have some pretty serious goals now for next year. The MDS though is going to screw things up a little I think. I want to try and get my marathon time down into the 3hrs and teens... however i also want to have a crack at a 24 hour track race and see what I can do there too. There's also the Coast to Kozi... a 240km race, which I think is very suited to me. I enjoy the roads to an extent and think I could do a respectable time there... but time will tell... so many things to do over here and plenty of time to do them.

For now, it's all about the GNW 175km. It scares me a little, it's an enormous task and one that i wonder if mentally I have the ability to do. Physically I know it;s within me. At the Glasshouse 100km I was physcially capably of carrying on... mentally I'd shut off come the last checkpoint at 88kms. I need to focus on this and treat it with respect, it's tough as old boots this one, and I dont want a DNF. I never want a DNF :)

The night train to Patonga...

Since signing up for the GNW100, I've now met up with and been on a few training runs with a few of the guys doing it. And so it was suggested that we do the last 75kms of the course overnight, in preparation for the overnight running that we would have to endure during this race. I must say I was quite excited by the prospect of doing this, and at the very least it would be an extremely good training run for me to do. However it was only 4 full rest days after the Melbourne marathon where I really did bust a bit of a gut. However I had pulled up well, so I thought bugger it, let's get onboard this night train and see how we go!

So leaving work on Friday night at 5pm, I headed up the coast with a guy called Andrew who's also doing the 175km, and we met up with 9 others, all doing the same race or at least the 100km. It was almost a mini-race in itself, so much so that we decided to make it a fatass race. This is a series of unorganised, pitch up and run races that people over here decide to put on. There's no entry fee, no prizes, no crew, just run - very much the purest's ultra-distance race so to speak.

So at 9pm we kicked off, and I must admit, I'd kind of lost my excitement for doing the run at this point. I think it dawned on me that for the next 9 hours at least we'd be running in the dark, and clambering up and down hills, whilst also trying to avoid the dreaded leaches. God damn I hate those things. I actually prefer to have a standoff with a snake than run through a hoard of leaches to be honest.

Anyway, I kept to myself somewhat in the first few hours as I wasn't feeling in a massively sociable mood, and just wanted to get the first few hours under my belt and done. I don't know why I suddenly felt like this, but hey ho, through the first few hours we got, and into the leach zone. Looking back it wasn't overly bad but there were a few patches where the floor was crawling a little, and despite keeping a good pace, these little buggers are very adept at sticking to your shoes. I used a bit of Bushman's and whilst they don't stop them getting onto your shoe, they do stop them going much further than your shoe and having a crack at your blood!

However running through the bush was quite enjoyable, and when you get down into the dungeon so to speak, it really is quite pretty. So across the streams we went, up the steep hills, past the leach zones, and within 4 and a half hours, we'd completed our first section, which was CP4 to CP5 in the race. It's 28.5kms long, and a nice section to run actually. 4 1/2 hours was also a very good time in the dark too, we were banking on around 5 hours, but I think the fresh legs at the start help us push through quite quickly.

CP5 is at a place called Somersby, and there we stopped for 30 mins, filled up the camelbaks (3 litres), and stocked up on a bit of food. For me it was rice pudding and a Mule bar, sent over from Likeys. They were OK, but I think I overdid it on the sweet stuff. Normally I'm a savoury person, and I just didn't have enough savoury food, something that would screw me over a bit towards the end.

The next section (CP5 to CP6), is a relatively short one, and quick one at that too. It's 18kms, and in daylight you can knock this one off in just under 2 hours. we again surprised ourselves and a lead group of myself, Darrel and Terry polished this one off in 2hrs 15mins. Again, quite quick, and we walked the last kilometre too! At this point I was feeling a little crap, not physically, but I just couldn't eat. I forced some nuts and a can of coke down me, but I knew it wasn't enough, and sure enough about an hour and a half into the next section I felt a bit crap.

Still, we were on the home straight with 25kms to go and the opportunity to be running whilst dawn broke. The last section is a bit of a bugger with quite a few uphills, but all very worth it as we reached the top of one of the hills as dawn broke, and were graced with magnificent views of the Hawksbury River region. A stunning sight to see first thing in the morning. I then managed to get some potato wedges down me for the final slog home, and race through the last 12kms or so we did, rocking up at Patonga, our finish at just past 9am in the morning. Twelve hours for that section is very respectable, especially during the night as well. However this will be nowhere near our times in the real thing as we'll have already done 100kms before that. 14 hours is much more realistic to expect on race day I think, taking into account fatigue etc...

However a great run, and very enjoyable. It was great to meet a few of the guys who'll also be running in the race too, and once again a good learning curve in terms of what my body can and can't cope with during the night - definitely much more savoury stuff for me during the race!

It can't be this easy?

I don't know why, but I have had no real aches and pains from running the marathon at the weekend. Normally by about Sunday night I'm reduced to a cripple, but this time round I've been walking very freely without so much of a hint of pain. And this considering I busted a gut to do a PB as well!?!?!? I'm still waiting for a delayed onset or something, but its very bizarre. So much so that I went out last night for a nice gentle jog, and I was full of energy! I had to slow myself down as I didn't want to risk any injury. I have to be sensible though - I have a 75km night run to do tomorrow night and I can't wait!

So it seems as if my body is really getting used to the rigours of marathon running now, but we'll see what happens post the run this weekend. I'm sure I'll be a cripple come Sunday after a gentle 45 mile meander through the bush. This will be the last big training run before the bug 175km which I can't wait for - it will be an awesome, tiring, mental battle, but one I really want to complete. And the aim here really is to just complete it. Only a third of people who start actually finish, so it's a toughie. Preparation will be key for this, starting today for the run tomorrow night.

I love it when a plan comes together

So I made a promise to myself that I wasn't going to be leaving Melbourne until I'd ran a sub 3hr 30mins yesterday... and run a sub 3:30 I did. Personally I think most of it is mental... I knew I had the ability, but it's whether you want that bad enough that counts I reckon.

Anyways... so the start wasn't that great for me, but I actually think it became a benefit in the end. I was desperate for the loo, so stood waiting my turn at the start line as the gun grew ever nearer. I was going to start with the 3:30 pace group, however the gun literally went off as I came out of the loo. Not to worry, with 3,700 runners, it would take a couple of minutes before the start line was cleared. So I joined in right at the back. I actually quite liked this as it meant I could set off nice and steady, no rushing, and within a few kms, I was clear of the traffic and running nice and freely. The plan was to try and catch up with the 3:30 group at some point. Within a few kms I'd gone past 3:45, and set myself into a nice rhythm, crossing 10.5kms in 48 mins. It was soon after that I caught up with the 3:30 group and settled in a nice easy pace with those guys. The pace was good and I was surprised at how easy it felt to be honest. The sun which was predicted to be beating down on us was covered by cloud at this point, another saving grace and life was good. The next 20kms or so was pretty uneventful as we moved across halfway in 1hr 42mins 40 secs. For me I felt this was slightly too quick again and I was worried that I might pay for it a bit later on, but the good thing was that I had a minute and a half in the bank over the 3:30 group, something which I initially forgot about. We made our way down the coastal road along by the sea and life was good, however the turn back up the road brought us smack on into a head wind.

It was at 25kms I had a bit of a rough patch as I let the mental side kick in a little and told myself that I wasnt feeling great. The reality was that I was just pissed off about running into a head wind, and quite a strong one at that! However I soon kicked out of this as the sun came out and the temperature started to hot up somewhat. I hit 34kms and then things started to hurt... not in my head, but my heart rate was creeping up. I'd kept a very steady 155 bpm all the way through and now it was going up as I was having to work harder for the kms. The 3:30 group was also starting to split up slightly and at about 36kms I started to fall behind the pacer a little. I was getting annoyed as I wanted to stay with him until the end, knowing I had a 90 buffer on him from the start. However the legs started to turn into lead, the heart rate was up over 170bpm and it was becoming a struggle.

My goal was to have hit 36.5kms on 3 hours. I hit 37kms in 3hrs 2mins, and I knew that a 3:30 there was there for the taking if I wanted it. The next 5kms were about sheer mental toughness and just keeping a 5min 15sec km pace up. People were starting to drop by the wayside on the road as the temperature rose, but push on I did, just about keeping the 3:30 pacer in sight. We entered the MCG (Melbourne Cricket Ground) for a lap around the pitch to finish (the main reason I wanted to do this marathon), and I passed the finish line on 3hrs 28mins... bonza, mission accomplished. I was well happy, and I'd blown for th 3:30 barrier out the water. The missus also had a great day too finishing her first half marathon in 2hrs 18mins, a great result for her too.

Now it's a few days of recovery before a 75km night run on Friday night!

Fast fast slow...

So as I gently ease it down towards Melbourne, I wasn't going to head out last night, but I thought better to get one more decent session in ahead of Sunday, so it was just a casual 7kms with 4 x 90 second sprints in them, including a couple of them uphills. All very casual, nothing too dramatic. Today is a rest day, before an easy 7km on Thursday and then two full days of rest (oh joy).

The plan is to not flog myself, but then again who am I kidding, I know I will... I don;t know any other way :) Really getting excited about the GNW 175km now. It's going to be an amazing adventure. Even more so by the fact that only a third of the field actually finish the damn thing. I didn't realise the stats were that low. The key to this one will be survival, and just looking to finish I think. I've read some of the reports from previous years, and even some of the really experienced ultra runners from around the world put this race up there as one of the toughest around. Just some background info for those who don;t know about it:

The Great North Walk is a 250 km walking track that runs between Sydney and Newcastle in New South Wales, Australia. It was opened in the Australian Bicentennial year of 1988 and passes through some of Australia's most outstanding scenery.

The Great North Walk 100s (GNW100s), organized by the Terrigal Trotters running club for the first time in 2005, are two simultaneous trail races, a 100 Mile and a 100 Kilometre, along The Great North Walk south from Teralba on Lake Macquarie. The 100 Kilometre race will finish at Yarramalong in the scenic Yarramalong Valley and the 100 Mile at Patonga on spectacular Broken Bay. Although the route is primarily on foot tracks and fire-trails, it does include some minor back roads. There is more than 6,200 metres (20,000ft) of ascent (and descent) in the 100 Mile and 3,800 metres (12,500ft) of ascent in the 100 Kilometre.

I can't wait for it, but I'm going to really need to study the maps hard and know where I'm going. This one is as much about navigation as it is running, and there are some tight cut off times too. Awesome... can't wait!

The windy city

Well not quite the city, but Jesus was it blowing a gale last night as I went for a run. It all started off beautifully at around 1pm, when the missus and I headed down to The Royal National Park to Bundeena to have a nice little bush walk along the coast. It is truly beautiful along there and will be the scene of many of future run as well. However around 5-6kms in the heavens took a turn for the worse, so we turned around and headed back. However we still got caught in the storm and got very wet. However within 30 minutes, the skies cleared as we headed back to Balmain, and it was again a beautiful afternoon.

Well all that was until I decided to head out for a run, and must have timed it to perfection as I hit a really bad wind storm. Shit was blowing into my eyes, running into the wind nearly brought me to s standstill, so I called short the proposed 8 miles, and did a nice little 5 miler followed by some hill sprints at the end, all four of them.

This week will consist of a couple more 7km runs before Melbourne at the weekend. Really have to break 3hr 30mins... this will be etched onto my head!

Solid 16kms

So a week ahead of the Melbourne marathon, yesterday was a nice 16kms around Balmain and the Bay Run. After feeling pretty weary during the midweek, a rest of nearly 2 days did me some good and I was pleased with the run.

It consisted of a 6km warm-up run in 31mins 30 secs, then 6kms at tempo in 25 mins 14 secs, followed by a nice 4km warm-down in 22mins and something seconds :)

All in, really pleased with the 6kms at tempo as that works out at 4min 12 sec kms, which is fairly good ahead of the Melbourne marathon. It's a good little session to get done, and should help with the speedwork. Really want to try for sub 3hr 30mins in Melbourne, but also don't want to burn myself up too much. The real focus has to be on the GNW 175km on November 8th. I'm planning a 75km night run with a few guys as a training run for it which should be cool.

Rest day today, not because it was scheduled, but I guess you have to get the balance. Off for a walk in the National Park tomorrow as well.

Heavy legs... beautiful morning!

So a couple of close back-to-back sessions on Wednesday and then again this morning. I think I underestimated how I felt after the 45kms on Saturday. I really felt good once it was complete, and felt like I could have carried on no problem, which I could have done. I also found the 45kms very OK. It will be interesting to see how we get on with the 75kms at night on the same route, but with the added 30 odd thrown in for the finish at Pattonga Beach.

Anyway's last night I really was feeling quite tired, but I dragged myself out and did a nice 3km warm-up to Woolworths and back to get the dinner, and then did 6 x 200m hill sprints outside my house on Darling Street. I'm lucky in that I live on the steep slope going down to the ferry at Balmain East, so doing hill reps is very convenient for me. They're tough work, but good. The first 150m is OK, but the last 50m is where it really gets you, and it's hard graft maintaining the same pace. Anyway, I did them relatively easy, not pushing too hard, but they're good work and get the heart rate pumping!

Then not more than 10 hours later I was back out at 6:30am this morning for a short sharp 7kms around Balmain. I was going to go down to the Bay in Rozelle, but decided not to in the end as I was still feeling weary. Indeed the last 1km caught up with me as the shins started to hurt somewhat. The concrete is becoming so much of an issue now, and soon I'll have my car to get out of the roads and onto the trails more, which I really enjoy running. I'll take a break now until this weekend where I'll do a couple of 16-18km runs, before bringing down next week ahead of Melbourne. Still also need to make the decision on which GNW race to run... the 'safe' 100km, or the darker 175km... I'm 60:40 in favour of the 175km at the moment... mental :)

Tough work

Last night was the dreaded 7.5 miles along the pavements and concrete back home from work. I only really do this once a week, even though I'd love to do it more as it would help fit things in better, but running on the concrete is horrible. I question sometimes just how much good the run is doing me. I have to stop and start a lot in the city because of the traffic lights and last night it was all too much like hard work. The only real benefit I feel I get out of the run is that I do hill sprints when there are hills, apart from that I think I'll call these a day and wait til I get home. Which is a pain as it takes up so much of my time. I really need to get my arse into gear in the mornings, get up at 6am, and get out running.

That said I still had the 45kms in my legs from Saturday, and with the wind in the city, I found the going tough last night. I rocked home in a very steady 66 minutes for 12kms, so 5min 30secs kms. OK I suppose, but it felt tough. However the legs feel better today, so it's off for a nice easy 7km, followed by some hill work afterwards. I'm wondering just how much use the Melbourne marathon is going to be now. I'm not really tapering for it at all, and as a result, I don't think I'll be running much quicker than 3hr 35min. A shame as I want to try and put a PB in for this one, however I also dont want to cut too much back on the weekly milage. Maybe I'll just do some shorter fast sessions next week, and rest properly before it... who knows...

Breaking those mental barriers

This week has been a good one, totalling 54 miles. After all the injuries and niggles over the last couple of months, it's finally great to get a good 50-odd miler training week under the belt again, and it felt comfortable too.

On Saturday I met up with some of the guys (and gal) from the Cool Runnings website over here in Oz, and we went for a 45km trail run on the Great North Walk course. In reality this was to be the second furthest distance I'd ever run, but my head is in such a good space at the moment that I didnt really give it much of a second thought in terms of distance in the slightest. In fact I looked at it 'merely as a simple 45kms'. And that's not trying to sound arrogant in any way in the slightest. I think having done the 100km, anything else looks very manageable. even the thought of doing 'just' the 100km in the Great North Walk seems OK, and I'm now seriously considering doing the 175km instead. Crazy man!

Anyway's up at 5am and we eventually got to the start point at 7:45am, and took off for the first section, which was a casual 27.5kms through the bush. Terrain was quite similar to the Glasshouse course, with plenty of trail tracks and up and down into the bush, however this was a slightly prettier course I think, with some dives straight down into the creeks and quite dense bush. The section we were to cover was from the 103kms to 148kms part of the course.

We took the first 28kms relatively steady, and knocked them off in 4 hours, a nice and steady time. It started off at a very comfortable temperature, however it soon warmed up and hit a peak of around 27 degrees I think. what was noticeable was that even thought the temperatures yesterday and in Brisbane were very similar, the humidity levels were a million miles apart and running was very comfortable. I'll add as well that I was carrying around a 3-4kg backpack and was trying out the OMM this time round.

The second section was a pretty quick 18kms, which was predominantly downhill, along some loose rocky area, but mainly following the creek, all the way back to where the cars where parked. However where there is creek and hot sunshine, there are also snakes. We came up against 3-4 of the red belly snakes that look a little like this:



The closest we came was about 3kms from our finish as Innes and I were merrily running along at quite a quick pace. Suddenly he stopped me and there he was rearing his head at us. Fortunately these guys whilst venomous, are not overly dangerous! However it took a few stamps of the feet to get rid of him into the bush!

It is however a real thing to consider when we are running in the bush. I tend to only look at my feet when running and not really that far in front of me, so I really need to be on my toes!

Anyway, after that, we hit the road for the final kilometre back to the cars and knocked off a very speedy 18kms in just under 2 hours, t leave us at just under 6 hours for the total 45kms. It was a great run and also felt very comfortable too, so much so that I've been out for a nice 2.5 mile recovery as well today. It's great that I can run these distances (albeit at low intensity), but bounce back really well from them. I think in January and February I'm pretty much going to run one of those marathon plus distances a week. They're good fun to do and are great training.

This week will be slightly shorter in distance as I have the Melbourne marathon the weekend after and I was to try and break 3hrs 30mins for the first time. I wont taper too much this week, but still do 40 miles, and then a few 5 milers early next week, still taking that total above 40 miles too with the marathon. I don't however want to bugger myself over too much!

Nice and easy

I shortened my run last night from a whopping 6 miles to 4.5 :) in truth I didn't want to push myself too hard ahead of this weekend's longer run where I'm heading out for a cool 45kms... nice! So last night was nice and easy and I also taped up my knee and it didn't hurt at all, so there's something to be said for the taping I think. The calf wasn't too bad either, so all in a very steady and nice evening run. Looking forward to the run tomorrow. Another good chance to spend some serious time on my feet and get an ultra length in so to speak. The guys I'm running with are pretty good, so will have to keep my pace up!

A solid 17kms

So Wednesday is now my designated 'longer run in the week' day. So a nice little 11 miles, or 17kms was order of the dya last night. It's meant to be slow and steady, but I can't resist throwing in a few quicker kms just to get the old heart rate up as I really want to focus on building up some fitness ahead of the Melbourne marathon. So after a nice 7kms steady build up, I got to the Bay, and thrashed out the first 1.5kms, probably a bit quick as my knee started to hurt a little. A gentle 500m jog was then followed with another 1km thrash, before 1km jog and 500m thrash again. I think I may have strained my knee ligament slightly again. It's funny, I can get round a 100km race with no aches and pains, but as soon as I ramp it up for 1500m, the pain comes back. Maybe it just doesnt like going quickly... tough bloody luck to be honest!

So all in a nice 17kms in a gentle 1hr 25min... Still probably too quick, but it didnt feel quick at all, in fact I positively slowed down loads in teh last 3-4kms to a very gentle jogging pace.

Am planning a 40-45km run with Innes at the weekend, one of the guys I met up at the Glasshouse 100 as part of the training for GNW

Bloody concrete

Unusual title for a blog post, but I really hate the stuff! Since moving North of the city for work, I thought it would provide me with a great opportunity to get the longer distances running to and from work. However it's all on pavements and really solid concrete, which plays havoc on my calfs. Plus the endless stopping and starting at traffic lights makes this a bit of a no-goer, which is disappointing really. Last night I ran home, a nice 13km jog, but the left calf is still slightly sore. It doesn't stop me running, but it always feels like its going to pull, so I am wary of it. This means I'll have to carry on running when I get home from work as around Balmain, I can get onto the roads where its much softer believe it or not!

Last night I carried around 4kgs in the backpack, and will gradually increase this and the amount of runs with it over the coming months. The next 5 months are pretty critical now, and I have to stay injury free as I'll be doing some serious work load on the running front, gradually getting to around 160kms a week for a few weeks in February before bringing it down for some well-earned taper.

Tonight will be a slightly longer and slower 16km run with a slightly heavier backpack, before a faster lighter run on Thursday. Pretty much the par do course now for the next 3 months. I've felt that I've lost a slight bit of fitness over the last couple of months. I'm still around a 3hr 35 marathon I think, but I want that down by 10 minutes, so doing that at Melbourne will be the focus. So some nice fast runs between now and then I think! Following that it will be head down for the slow heavy stuff.

Hot weekend

So Saturday was a 'take the missus on her longest training run' day, so we did a very steady 16kms, clocking in around 1hr 55mins, as she prepares for her first half marathon. She did really well given how hot it was on Saturday and it was nice for me to use that as a bit of warm-down from last weekend's epic race. However I felt so tired on Sunday and still a little achey for some reason. So all I did on Sunday was a gentle 2 mile recovery run. I was going to go out and do another 10 miler, but to be honest I would have just tired myself out even more, so rest up I thought and chill ahead of a nice longer training run at the weekend, where I'm planning on heading out with Innes from the Cool Running website, and doing around 40kms of the Great North Walk track.

I'm planning on doing another 100km event, so this will be good training for that. Although from what I hear this one is a bit harder, so it will be good prep. It was also the Sydney marathon this weekend, and it seems a little strange not doing it, but sensible head took over and I thought best not to do it. Plus I think it's a bit of a rip-off to pay $150 to run around the same routes I do for free. Maybe next year hey?

A steady 10km

So after the trials and tribulations of last weekend, it was back down to business tonight with a nice easy 10km. I must say, running up the hills of my normal route in Balmain seemed a million times easier tonight having gone up the hills of the Glasshouse Mountains last week. I was positively flying up them, and again had to slow myself down to prevent me over doing it. So this weekend will be two days of around 17kms each day to take the total up to 50kms for the week. Not too bad following the 100km at the weekend. Tomorrow will be the Bay Run with the missus and taking her on her longest run yet ahead of the Melbourne half-marathon.

And so we return...

After a bit of soreness on Monday and Tuesday, I felt a million times better yesterday and was walking freely and easily. So much so that I went for very easy 5kms last night to shake out the old legs. I actually had to force myself to go slower as I really didnt want to risk any kind of injury. The next 6 months now are where the proper training starts. Over the last 10-11 months I've built up a solid base, and now the heavy stuff starts.

I've got the Melbourne marathon on Oct 12th, but I'm not really tapering for this, can't be bothered. If I run a PB great, if I don't it's not important. The next big one, which I have to do now is the Great North Walk, and then the Deep Space marathon down in Canberra which looks like a great little hike.

From December onwards I'll be gradually increasing the mileage, and peaking at around 150kms a week in February, before a 3 week taper in March ahead of the MDS. This is where it really starts now, no injuries please... and nice run-in to March is required!

Welcome to the dark side... The Glasshouse 100km trail run

Ok, so this is a bit long, but enjoy!

This was it. My first foray into the side of running that is known as the ‘dark side’. I’ve never been above 42kms in my life in a race, and like most people venturing into the 100kms for the first time, I wondered if it was a step too far? However my mindset for these things is that you really just have to get your head down, grin and bear it. I knew it would be painful and that it would test my mental resolve, but this was exactly the kind of challenge I needed ahead of the marathon des sables next year. If I could get through 100kms here, then the long day in the MDS would be a piece of piss!

So off to Brisbane I flew on the Friday night, picked up my accommodation in the form of a tent from some very generous cool runners, and arrived at Beerberrum School at 6pm, barely knowing a soul, and the reason why some English lad had rocked up in the middle of nowhere.

I soon started chatting to people and it was great to see Ray, whom I’ve met in a few races now down in NSW. The plan was to sleep in the tent at the school, and recreate what I’d be doing in the desert, but minus the sand bit! However even the weather couldn’t get it right as it started to hammer it down before I’d even put the tent up! So after a very jovial briefing and some pasta, I got my head down at around 9pm, eagerly waiting for the 4:30am alarm call.

I actually slept pretty well and got a good 6 hours in, got kitted up and stood nervously at the start line, not really knowing what Id let myself in for. I didn’t know the course in terms of terrain, all I knew was that I just had to run (as best I could).

The first 30kms…
Straight in we were issued with a curve ball, and lovely short sharp climb up Mount Beerberrum, which had everyone walking in the first 2kms! From there I ended up running with a great chap, Glen from Brisbane, and we pretty much stayed together for 30kms. The trail was OK, and despite getting hotter, I actually felt pretty good and the legs were holding up well. There were another few short sharp hills thrown in, but nothing too awful. We reached CP5, with another quick break, refueled up with more water, and I was looking forward to the section called ‘Powerlines’, which on the grapevine I’d heard was one of the hardest sections. When we reached there I knew why. Glen knew these trails like the back of his hand and had run most of the sections. The first 50 metres or so were a sheer rock face drop down. Not more than 10 metres into the climb down did I skid, fall over and cut myself. That kind of knocked my confidence a little, and over the next 4kms of up and down, I started to struggle. It was really starting to warm-up too and we were exposed. It was at this point that Glen started to pull away a couple of hundred metres or so, and it was a long, slow jog up to CP8, where we would begin the two loops.









The next 30kms…
At CP8, I knew things were going downhill. It was hot and I was feeling dehydrated somewhat too. The pack was also taking it’s toll, and although I only had around 4kgs in there, my back was really starting to hurt. With two loops that both finished back at CP8, I made the decision to dump the pack for the next 18kms of the two loops and focus on getting round.

The first loop was 10kms, and it was tough! I didn’t take enough water with me, and coupled with the dehydration already, I suffered badly on this section (8a), but the highlight was definitely seeing a 3 metre long python crawl along our running track! In the end however, I was just pleased to have made it back to CP 8 after that section, although at this point, I started to lose it somewhat. I’d never been above 42kms, and I’d just done 47kms and was feeling like utter shite. I’ll admit it became a little emotional, so I gave Melody (the missus a call), and I was as on the verge of losing it. She calmed me down though, in only the way she could, and made things seem much clear (God I love that girl ).

I needed to sort myself out though, so I stayed here for about 30 minutes, the longest stop of the lot. I needed to get the fluid back in me, and I must have guzzled nearly 2 litres of water and some Sustagen to get some energy back in me.

I said to myself that I’d see how the next section went, and if I was still feeling crap, then 54kms was a pretty good show in my book So off I set for the next 8km loop, and again, more difficult decent and the heat taking it’s toll. It was about 3kms in where I met up with what was to be my running partner for the next 25kms or so, Kelly. He was suffering like me in a big way, but his mental resolve was amazing. I’ll say it now, but this fella is responsible for getting me through this race. So many times I wanted to chuck it in, but he refused to let me do it, and made me promise that I wouldn’t DNF.

So on we trundled through the 8b loop, which was made a lot better by having someone to run with, something I don’t normally do. A very quick pit stop at 8 again meant that any thoughts of chucking it in where quickly quashed by Kelly who was keen to move onto CP7, and what would be the start of the trip home. This next 9kms or so was relatively flat, and both Kelly and I tried to run what we could, but both of us suffered from very sore feet, again neither of us very experienced over this distance at all.

It was a long hard slog to 7, and about 2kms from the CP, my feet started to hurt badly. I was having trouble walking and the thought of doing another 35kms then just seems like utter craziness to be honest. This is where for the second time I made my mind up to stop and finish here. 65kms was a great result I thought, almost the longest day distance in the MDS, and a good show I thought. Kelly however saw this in my eyes and again made me promise that we would be crossing that finish line later tonight. It was gut wrenching, but I couldn’t say no, so I promised that I would carry on. However I had to rest up at CP7, the feet were in so much pain and I needed to get painkillers down me fast.





The final 35kms
CP 7 saved my race to be honest. 4 painkillers and 2 cheese sandwiches later and I was like a new man. With dark approaching, I made the decision to dump the ruck sack entirely. OK, so on the MDS I can’t do this, but if I wanted to finish this race respectably then the ruck sack had to go. So I pulled out bare essentials: water bottle, head torch, fleece, phone and hat and off I went. I caught up with Kelly in no time who was hurting at this point and could barely muster a run. I don’t know what happened to me, but I was now flying and I ran the next 4.5kms at pretty much normal pace, I was bouncing here!

Back at CP 7, I had another quick rest and another cheese sandwich and went off to catch Kelly again who was about 1km up the road. He couldn’t run, so he told me to carry on. I felt bad, the guy was in pain, but I knew he’d finish up. I promised to wait at the finish for him (if I made it!). So off I ran, and for the next 10kms kept a good 5:1 run/walk strategy going. However it then got dark quick, and in the bush with the dense trees, it was very dark. This is where I found out that my small and lightweight head torch was actually pretty shit. It made running impossible because the ground was so undulating, and it wasn’t bright enough to give me the light that I needed. Plus the fact that my eyesight is also pretty shite!

So after a long 4kms or so of walking, I made it to CP6 where some beautiful veggie and pasta soup was on offer, along with a rissole. The food at each of the CPs was amazing and I was surprised at just how much I could eat along the way. Makes me realize that the MDS will be so much harder without hot soup! Anyways, another little rest and I was off again into the night along. The next 20kms or so varied between open trail and dense bush. I was pleased that I was able to run most of it, but had to walk where I couldn’t see properly, which really slowed me down. At 85kms I saw the most beautiful sight of the whole race. On the open trail, the full moon shone through brilliantly on the backdrop of a few of the Glasshouse Mountains, and it was such a sight. I remember standing at the top of one of the hills and thought that the last 85kms were worth getting to this point for – it was so beautiful.

However with 15kms to go this was thrown back out of the window, and another final curve ball was thrown our way with 5kms of really tough goat track, and with my shite light, this slowed me down so much. It was here that I was caught by another Cool runner, Brick and with his powerful torch, we got through to the last CP at 5, refueled again and went off with just 12kms to go. This is where I knew it was done. 12kms to go was easy and texts from Melody and my mate Nathan came in, which again lifted me immensely.

Again I ran about 7kms of the last 12, but again was slowed down by the dense bush. In the end, Brick caught me again with about 3-4kms to go, and we walked in together. He however had another 53ksm to go as he was doing the 160km race – nutter!

As we came out onto the road, I knew it was done, so I broke into a jog and ran through the finish line in 16hrs and 56 mins. At the start of the race I really wanted to finish somewhere between 12-14 hours. That was in hindsight a stupid call to make. I have no trail running experience, and have only ever done one trail marathon in my life. Doing this kind of event has made me learn so much respect for the guys who’ve been doing this for years. No wonder they call it the dark side, you really find out about yourself and what you’re made of. Overall, the time was fine, and I don’t care. I learnt so much from this race, and it proves that a bit of mental resolve and ‘can do’ means you can get through it, even if you’ve never really trained for an event like this before. In fact, how do you train for an event like this? I know come the long day of the MDS, I’ll be so much better prepared for what it throws at me.

I’m annoyed at myself for getting dehydrated at the start, that was stupid. I wouldn’t do it at a marathon, but in hindsight, I didn’t drink nearly enough water on the Friday, which is why things went wrong after 47kms. Silly boy! I also spent too long at CP’s I think, but during the race reaching each one as like a saving grace, so I can’t complain. I just need a better strategy next time.

Overall, I feel immensely proud to have completed that course and take that journey. I met some fantastic people along the way and I guess the reason you relate to them so much is that you see each other at your worst. Glen and Kelly were rocks for me, what would I be like if I did it on my own? It’s also great that the last 35kms were probably the best of the race. That’s encouraging for me and proves to myself that I have the inner strength and physical strength to get through that 100kms. The body is still an aching wreck, but already I’m thinking about returning next year and stepping up to the big one – 160kms!