Big weekend; Bigger week

Well this weekend was my take myself away weekend (or rather to the missus - a romantic weekend away in the Blue Mountains), and introduce myself to a bit of trail running. Yet again, I've not really done much in the way of trails, so I decided to throw myself in at the deep end, and have a bash a part of the Six Foot Track, and old path that runs from the edge of Katoomba through to Jenolan Caves, a distance of 45kms through the gorgeous Blue Mountains, about 2 hours outside of Sydney.

For starters, I didnt realise that Katoomba is actually around 1050m above sea level, and secondly, when I reached the start of the track, that the first 400m were down the cliff face. Not technical in anyway, but we're talking at least a 25% gradient, going down rocks and a few mountain streams thrown in for good measure also! Not really what my Asics Kayano's were developed for, but as I found out they held up pretty well I thought!

Anyways, I loaded up with 4 litres of water and various other bits and pieces to talk the OMM up to about 7kgs, so pretty heavy stuff - again my shoulders paid for this come the end of the day! The plan was to try and run 26kms one way and then back again. However the reality of the gradient and nature of the course soon put that one to pay once I'd bought a map and saw what I had let myself in for. For starters, I had 3.5kms to actually get to the start of the track, so there was 7kms gone already from the route!

So with beautiful weather I set off. I decided to walk the 3.5kms to the track as I'd been having trouble with my shins this week, and some cronic shin splint pain. I found that normal calf stretching just really didnt do it, so walking for 15-20 mins seemed to gett hem going properly. Reaching the track I had to negotiate the first part called Nellie's Head which is the 1100ft decent in literally around 3-4kms. Add a little mountain streams and rocks, and you can get the picture, pretty tough going down, but once down there, a really nice gentle 6-7km run along a dirt track road, before hitting the fields. Now this is where I went wrong, and took a slight 'off-track' detour for around 2kms, but fortunately I found my way back on track and set-off again, flowing down hill and eventually reaching 15.5kms down the track in around 2hrs 30mins. I'd reached the basin of the Blue Mountains so to speak - one of it's lowest points at around 900ft above sea level.

Here I decided that this was to be my turning back point as otherwise it would be dark by the time I got back. So add the 3.5kms to start and the 4kms getting lost and we're talking a nice 23kms run over some pretty technical terrain. However the return journey was a different kettle of fish, this is where it started to go wrong. I think maybe my preparation was not particularly great to be honest, and I was slightly dehydrated before I set-off or something, but I proceeded to plough through 2 litres of water in around 5kms on the return journey, and literally ran out of water, bar 1/2 a litre of chocolate recovery drink with 12kms to go - not good. It also became patently clear that running back was not going to be an option either. Without really realising it, I'd descended nearly 2,500ft. I now had to get back up there. So off I set, and was feeling quite low. Concentration was not great also, and after a couple of kms, I hit a stone and feel arse over tit. Nice, not... with a 7kgs backpack on. However I pulled myself together a bit more, but the lack of water wasn't helping matters. I also should have taken some salt tablets too - I was burning it up, so lesson for next time.

The next 7-8kms weren't as bad as I thought, and I alternated between running and walking, and got through them fairly quickly in comparison. The reality though is that I knew I was shot. You hit a point, and you know your body is battered, and you just have to go into auto pilot. It's a shame, as I would have liked to have run much more of the 42km route than I actually did. But I have to put things into perspective and the reality is that running up 2,500ft of ascent in 15kms is pretty tough going by anyone's standards. I mean, that's a 1:6 hill ratio, so maybe I shouldn't be so tough on myself!

However I got to the base of the cliff climb, and this is where it started to get really really tough - and I did reach a real lowpoint. No water, and a 25% gradient - life was not good. However I guess this is where the mental toughness comes in, and you remember these moments when you're having the good times. I was completely shot, but I knew that I had to keep on putting one foot in front of the other. My legs were in pieces, I felt dizzy every time I stopped, but I had to carry on, and carry on I did. By this stage it had also started to get dark, but I reached the top and just had a bit more of a hill climb to go, before I left the track and hit the raod for the final 3.5kms home... bliss!

When I got to the top I remembered I had an energy gel. I smashed that inside me and started a slow jog back the 3.5kms I had come to get to the B+B. arrived a bit of a wreck after 5hrs and 45 mins on my feet. Some good things to come out of it - it was great time on my feet and I learnt a fair bit about my body. I was annoyed at the 'slowness' but I underestimated the course somewhat and indeed, just how much elevation there was in the part of it I did on the way back.

The next day...
So after a hearty meal of pasta that night, the following day I did a nice 6 mile walk around some of the easier tracks around the Blue Mountains, although me and the missus still did a climb of 1100ft on one of the routes, which was great for lossening up the thighs. And once home in Sydney, I decided that I hadn't quite done enough, so took myself out for a 6.5 mile recovery run last night too, taking the weekend total to 38.5 miles, and a 60 mile week for the first time ever. Really pleased with the amount of miles, although 20 of them were probably walking, but still all good. This week is a lighter recovery week, which I do the last week of every month, before stepping on the gas again first week of July. Boy do I need it, my quads feel like rocks right now :)