Second Quarter

As cries of “I can’t believe it’s April already” resound I am moving on from Trailwalker and looking forward to another season of Cross Country and Road racing.

After having a few days to reflect I am not going to bore you all rigid with a lengthy TW post mortem, I came, I saw, I didn’t quite conquer and I won’t be doing it again next year. Thanks to the wonderful support of friends and family we have raised over $2000 for Oxfam and in total over $1.6 million has been raised so far.

The wounds have mostly healed, I went for a short run of only about 800 metres this morning, as I took those first steps I was braced for all sorts of painful sensations and although the legs were a little heavy I felt perfectly fine. I’ll head out to training tonight, mostly to catch up; I’ll do a warm up but won’t complete a session. After a couple of bad weeks where I wasn’t able to meet my own expectations (Dandy Creek Dash and then TW) I have had a chance to toughen my resolve somewhat and realise that “failure” is not the end of the world. I have come to understand that I succeeded in covering almost 91km, I didn’t fail to reach 100km, this was how Jo saw it, she is a lot more mentally stable than I am

Needless to say though we both feel that some closure is needed and have planned to go back and cover the last stage together sometime in the next couple of weeks

I’ll be taking it easy for the next two weeks and then I will start picking up going into winter, I don’t expect to perform that well in the first couple of rounds. I want to start running six days a week again however I think I’ll err on the side of caution and only do this every second week. I thought I was being careful last year yet I still got a stress fracture, I need to be ever vigilant if I am to avoid it again.

Living with a music nerd
My younger brother was home late from uni last night as he had orchestra rehearsals after class and Stravinsky was on the agenda yesterday. I told him that his dinner was sitting in the microwave for him but sadly, it was not my best work. As he tucked in he informed me that my cooking was “like Stravinsky”.

Ummm, ok then, should I be flattered or should I be running him out of the house?

It was patiently explained to me that even when he was bad he was great and when he was good he was fantastic.

So I guess that’s a good thing.

I suppose most 19 year old boys would just grunt and keep eating.

Broken, but not beaten

Just a quick update now, more later

I literally ran myself into the ground last night, I kept going until my body simply said no more! and refused stubbornly to carry me another step.

I had to make the decision to retire at the last checkpoint, 9.5 km from the finish line, not being able to lift my legs over tussocks of grass meant I would not be able to managed the tough climb up and down hills over the last stage. My left ITB was a screaming mess and behind my right knee was no better, I did not want to risk any long term damage.

After sobbing uncontrollably when I saw my Mum and repeating “it just hurts so much” I think my Mum would have koshed me over the head rather than let me go on anyway.

Thanks so much to everyone who supported and donated, I am just so sorry I could not see it through to the end. Congrats to Jay and Michelle for pushing on to finish in just over 19 hours, very close to our goal time and commiseration’s to a very brave Jo who also had to retire with me after putting in a phenomenal effort with me for over 16 hours yesterday, not bad at all for an 800 metre runner

And for anyone who has checked the team tracker, yes, it does show us as finishing together because we checked out of the last checkpoint as a team then Jo and I went to the finish to retire, I am not sure why that wasn’t registered so I feel a bit of a fraud on top of everything else.

Just popping out for a stroll

Rest day on Monday and Mona Fartlek last night, not a bad session covering more ground than the last time I did it in early January, once Trailwalker is over I am looking forward to getting a bit more speed back in my legs. This morning I had my double dose iron injection, I was limping for a bit afterwards but am fine now and will be full on beans on Friday.

Speaking of which, It’s all over bar the uncontrollable sobbing, the hours have been put in, knees have been skinned and ankles have been turned all in the name of charity and we are ready to hit the trail, The Girls are Back in Town will be setting off at 7am on Friday 27th of March.

White rice, pasta, potatoes and sports drink, I never thought these words would ever pass my lips but I am so over carbs at the moment and am almost starting to see the attraction of the Atkins diet.

In fact my famously voracious appetite seems to have almost deserted me

It may seem daft to some to carb load for an event that will go for about 19 hours, affording me plenty of time to eat on the run, however experience has taught me that I don’t eat anywhere near enough when I am out on the trail and drink even less. My stomach can’t handle too much and I rarely find I have a real desire for sustenance and have to force the food down; therefore it pays to have a bit of extra fuel in the tank before the big day.

Our Oxfam Teamspace will have a live tracker on Friday, so just click on the Oxfam logo over there to the right; can you see it, over there, at the top? Apparently we will also be able to text in messages that will be displayed there as well, should be amusing for any tragics who are still up later in the evening when the swearing starts and the coherence fades

Follows is a bit of a summary of when we expect to reach each checkpoint –

CP 1 Churchill Park – 8:55 am
Start to CP 1 is 12.5km and mostly flat and on pavement from Jells Park running along the Dandenong Creek Trail towards Churchill Park where we will start to pick up the trail. Last year we had an 830am start and few teams started off running so we found ourselves very much alone and at the front until we left Churchill and started running into the back of 7am starters who were walking teams. This year as we have a 7am start I expect we might find we have a bit more company on the trail.

CP2 Lysterfield Lake – 10:27am
21.5 km down
CP1 to CP2 is 9km and undulating with just one big mother of a hill going into Lysterfield Park but we still expect to be running most of this section.

CP3 Grant’s Picnic Ground, Sherbrooke – 1:02pm
34.8km down
CP2 to CP3 13.3km mostly up, it starts to get harder here as the trail takes us into the Dandenong Rangers via Belgrave, expect quite a bit of walking though this section.

CP4 Olinda Reserve – 3:19pm
46.5km down
CP3 to CP4 is 11.7km and up, up, up with a little bit of flat and down hill towards the end, section includes the god awful Hackett’s road, so steep at the bottom even cars can’t go up, people who live there can only drive down from the top, will probably walk a fair bit of this section. All team members, with the exception of Jay have had a fall in the Ferny Creek section, so we will be nursing Jay though here.

CP5 Silvan Dam – 4:52pm
54.5km down
CP4 to CP5 is 8km and mostly flat and down down down to Silvan dam with a tiny bit of up hill, we can get some running in here again and we will also pass the halfway mark. Last year, despite there being plenty of teams milling about Olinda we spent this section completely alone, I remember Jay commenting that it felt more like a training run than an event.

CP6 Mt Evelyn – 6:24pm
63km down and time for dinner, change of clothes and a massage if anyone needs tending to
CP5 to CP6 ia 8.5km down, up, big down, a little up and then down to Mt Evelyn and on to the Warby Trail, this year we won’t miss the checkpoint, even if stupid supporters are blocking the sign and shaking their heads if we ask if that is the checkpoint, we also vow to not go the long way around the oval

CP7 Woori Yallock – 9:15pm
76km down and getting pretty tired and telling ourselves we only have 24km to go
CP6 to CP7 is 13km, mostly flat, will do our heads in if we don’t run most of it, by this point I expect we will have adopted the run 1km/walk 500 metres strategy, if we are feeling well then it will just be the gentle shuffle train, just keep moving, just keen moving etc etc. Last year a couple of us submitted to massages on the grass because we couldn’t be arsed walking to the otherside of the car park where a member of our support crew had set the table up, I think “I am not fecking walking over there” was the general sentiment. I also took a call from Stu who rather helpfully informed me that 24km is a pretty long way when you have already travelled 76, gotta love Stu, he is the go to man for a reality check

CP8 Milgrove – 11:44pm
90.5km down and delirium will have well and truly set in, what’s my name again?
CP7 to CP8 is 14.5km and all flat, I was hallucinating here last year, and we will go MENTAL if we don’t run most of it as per the previous section. There is a long straight stretch towards the end where for about 2km you can see the light above the Milgrove CFA getting brighter and brighter and I end up singing the song “Over at the Frankenstein Place” from the Rocky Horror Picture Show

Finish Wesburn Park – 1:56am
100 km down TAKE ME HOME!
CP8 to the Finish is 9.5km flat for about 1.5km, then UP, flatish on firetrail with great big horrible rocks to trip tired Trailwalkers in the dark, serious down hill, serious UP (Tanty Hill) followed by serious down then flat to the end, MUST remember to turn LEFT! Hardest section is saved for last, bastards!!!! The downhills hurt heaps more than the up and you can’t run them because it is dark and too dangerous.

I don’t expect to sleep much on Saturday morning and if last year is anything to go by will spend most of the day sitting on the couch dribbling and trying to teach the cat to fetch me food from the kitchen. I also have a few mates competing in the Victorian Masters Track and Field champs this weekend, considering they are being held 5 minutes up the road from me I am sure I will drag myself out at some stage to have a look see.

Taper Time Blues

Still, here, just not doing much to blog home about.

I don’t need to tell you all what it’s like, tapering is a bit frustrating, you are primed and ready to go and then have to sit still revving the engine for a couple of weeks, waiting, waiting, waiting…….

And of course I have my traditional taper time virus but I seem to be over the worst of that now, I even had an ear ache, haven’t had one of those since I was a kid. Everything hurts too, of course, every ache and niggle is amplified to the nth degree, again, usual taper time stuff.

Still, I can start carb loading today, that’s always fun.

You may remember this from a few weeks ago, as I was wondering what the hell was wrong with me and why I was so reluctant to front up for any race over 5km.

Well I did enter a 10km run fun yesterday, though I couldn’t have picked a worse course! The most apt description is that it was “too” everything, too hot, too windy, too twisty turney, too hilly (yes, too hilly, I am not used to having to run up them quickly), too much of a big fat sooky la la bad attitude foot stampy sulky girl.

But at least it’s done now, got the crap one out of the way and I can go into the next one with my head screwed on right.

As suggested by some friends last night I ran without my watch, the idea was that I would feel under less pressure if I wasn’t watching the time, it probably stopped me walking off the course at around 6km so it was a good idea. I have never DNF’ed a race in my life and I wasn’t about to start yesterday, I could feel myself deflating and my mind was seriously not co-operating but I rode out the bad patch and just started concentrating on ticking off the Km’s.

Time? Well, at least it was under 50 minutes, but not much under sadly, I spent most of the afternoon ranting at myself for running no better than I would for a tempo training run and then I go over myself and it wasn’t bad considering I had a short walk break at the drink station at 3k and 7km because I was desperate for some water, something I would normally NEVER do in a 10ker and I was the 15th female to finish.

On the other hand two of the guys I train with won the 5km and the 10km and there was a decent contingent of us there to make sure they both got a big cheer when they went to collect their trophies

I am looking forward to Sandown now, it will be cooler (possibly even sub arctic), flatter and my attitude will be a whole lot better because as per my rule a great run always follows a crap run, so I guess I just need to make sure I don’t run a 10km race between now and then

Four days until Trailwalker, I’ll post a link later in the week that can be used to track our progress on the day.

Iron Injections – To answer your question flip, iron injections don’t hurt that much, they are a big injection and you do feel like you’ve got a bit of a corky but that wears off after about an hour. I am getting a double dose on Wednesday so I should be jumping out of my skin by Friday.

Is that a plague of locusts? No, it’s just a 19 year old boy

I have oft heard rumours of the capacity of a 19 year old male to put away super human quantities of food; in fact I was lead to believe that it would even rival my own voracious appetite. Any scepticism I may have had has certainly been laid to rest these past two weeks as I have had my younger brother staying with me 4 nights a week. Perhaps he does not eat enough during the day but the term “left overs” has most definitely become redundant in my house of late. Last night I was home later than usual owing to having to catch the train and decided to take the easy way out by picking up a pizza on the way home from the station. My brother was not due home for an hour after me so I settled in to scoff a couple of slices before having a shower. Once the LB was home I told him to help himself, after which I decided I could go a third slice, sorry, too late, all gone, I reckon it only took him 5 minutes

I suppose I should be grateful to him, 10pm is way too late to be eating a third slice of pizza.

Incidentally the train journey home was not too awful, though it was close to 5 minutes late, however in the Big Brother world that Connex exists in “late” is a pretty flexible state of being as “On time refers to trains arriving within 5 minutes of the scheduled time” – no sale, double plus ungood, unless of course they have phoned ahead to ensure the connecting bus service is also running “on time”, fortunately it was a nice night for a walk from the station.

At least we can always rely on the unwavering rigidity and ignorance of the Catholic Church to keep us warm at night. A few weeks ago we learned the shocking news that the Pill was responsible for a rise in male infertility, something to do with all the oestrogen in our (treated) water supply, still reeling from that shock I discover yesterday that condoms are responsible for an increase in the spread of the Aids Virus, not vice versa as I had always been lead to believe. Gracious, tell me that now, this news could have saved me years of listening to men whine about taking showers in raincoats.

Felt a big sluggish running last night, 8km before run leading and then spot on 5km at the training session, normally I sneak in a bit extra and make them do 6km but I was a good for nothing lazy arsed run leader last night. I guess I better concede to a proper taper and freshen up for Trailwalker in 8 days, it’s just that when one has only been running about 60 to 65km a week there isn’t much to taper down to, especially when last week was a rest week. I hear tell there was another earth tremor yesterday afternoon, around the time I was about to head up Anderson Street, I guess I was gliding over the ground with smooth and perfect form because I didn’t feel a thing.

Here are some pics from the wedding I went to on the weekend.

The beautiful bride, it took three of us to get her into the dress!

Jay and myself, I haven’t worn high heels since my sisters wedding last year, unfortunately my Nike Frees didn’t look as good with the outfit.

Champers for breakfast anyone? Note in background infinitely more comfortable Nike Frees on top of my suitcase, I need a formal pair

The strorm we just managed to outrun on Saturday, though I did get caught in it when I ran out to the supermarket to get our gatorade, lots of cool thunder and lightening.

Spoiled Brat

Yes, ok, so I drive to work everyday, I admit that I am a total brat about public transport and avoid it at all costs. A daily ticket from where I live is $10.60, it cost me $12 a day to park, or about $6 if I park on the tan and walk in.

Alright, I have to add in petrol costs and wear and tear on the car, however consider also the wear and tear on my mental state and driving into work is by far the preferable option. I also have so much on both before and after work each day that it just isn’t practical to PT around the place, especially as it all goes to hell if a leaf falls on the track or someone looks at the train funny.

Anyway, long story short I am an idiot and scraped the rear right wheel rim of my car around a pole a couple of Monday’s ago. I found a mobile panel beater who fixes minor dings and messed up paint work, he is popping over today to put it all right for me, for $275!!! Probably a good $500 cheaper than taking it to a conventional panel beater and I am only car less for one day.

Connex where uncharacteristically efficient this morning and the train arrived on time, I almost contacted the Vatican! Though I did sit opposite someone who decided to spread himself around a little bit, too early in the morning for me to be polite so I kicked his bag under his seat, lucky for him he didn’t complain.

Of course this means a return trip home by train this evening after run leading, by then it will be about 730pm and with timetables in this city being nothing more than a quaint anachronism it’s anyone’s guess as to what time I will make it home, where’s Mussolini when you need him?

Tomorrow I get to go back to being a car driving brat with a carbon footprint the size of a small country.

Running brat

Monday was an easy 8km, just a couple of lazy laps of the tan.

Tuesday was a not so easy Fartlek session around Jells Park, 2 minutes on with 1 minute floating recovery; I did 8 reps for 16 minutes of hard running. Not feeling 100% yesterday, I had a doze in the car for about 30 minutes before training and couldn’t fire properly for the session.

I got my blood test results back on Monday, need two iron injections before Trailwalker and apparently I am fighting off a viral infection, at least this explains my general blahness of the last week or so and why my sinuses have been giving me grief. Being low in iron combined with training does tend to leave me more vulnerable to infection. It’s giving me the shits and I am tempted to eat red meat again (in fact I often crave it) but A) don’t know where to start, wouldn’t even know how to prepare it and B) it would probably make me vomit. Alternatively I could be a little less lazy about my diet and get more iron in naturally but who the hell has the time for all that food combining carry on, it’s all I can do to boil a pot of pasta most nights.

see more Lolcats and funny pictures

Bleughhhhhhhh

I can no longer spend the day eating, drinking and making merry and then front up for work the next day all sweetness and light, I am not hung over, I am just not right. Unfortunately if I tie one on I have a tendency to experience a nasty come down, so am feeling tad blue and listless, should really know better by now

However I did have a fab weekend up in Sydney for my troubles.

Jay and I had a nice easy 15km run together on Saturday afternoon; this included a rather long climb up a hilly road that seemed to go on forever followed by a very pleasant spin around Centennial Park.

Sunday was just stunning, a very chilled out wedding, great company and a long boozy and very relaxed lunch over looking Rose Bay before hopping on a plane to head back home last night.

Didn’t sleep too well though and then this morning I was woken rather rudely when my kitten took a swipe at my face and opened up a bit of a gash over my right eye, ouch!! Have no idea what possessed her but at 5am today she was bloody close to making a one way trip back to the RSPCA

Crepes for lunch with my best mate went a long way to soothing my jangled nerves as I am sure a gentle 8km run this afternoon will as well.

Running for the rest of last week not much to write home about, was a rest week but I wagged Friday and only clocked up 36km, naughty Em. Despite my delicate mood I am feeling full of beans and am looking forward to getting stuck in again after dutifully stepping back for the rest week.

Is it 4pm yet?

Could someone please fetch me a cup of tea, just with a teaspoon of condensed milk thanks.

Don’t Panic

It was off to the house of pain, AKA the sports doc for my regular appointment (every 2 months, booked in my diary for the rest of the year). After a quick chat where I shared my new found joy at no longer experiencing DOMS after hilly long runs it was off with the shoes and socks, roll up the pant legs (never wear skinny leg jeans to my appointments unless I want to be laying there in my undies) and up on the table for the requisite digging about the shins and calves.

After having a massage last night I was smugly laying there expecting to be free and clear, but no, to my horror that familiar rustle of acupuncture needles being removed from their packet was soon filling the room. “Everything feels pretty good in there, but just some tightness in the left leg………” followed by a rather painful bout of dry needling in the left leg and just a little in the right to even things up.

OUCH!!!!

I’d almost rather start my day with a dentist’s appointment.

And while I was sweating, clenching my teeth and trying not to sob the doc figured she may as well take advantage of the situation and jabbed a needle in my arm to remove a few vials of blood as well.

No doubt my iron will be low again and I’ll be back in again being jabbed mercilessly over the coming weeks.

One consolation of course is that if any deranged serial killers decide to kill me and make a suit of my skin to wear about the place they will find that to their dismay I don’t really hold water very well.

Just a routine visit to the doc really, nothing to worry about in the legs, just a little tight in the left leg so need to be more diligent with icing and self massage after running, nothing to fret about.

Then strolling to the office after purchasing my morning heart starter I was typically off with my mates, the fairies, when I notice two sporty runner types heading in the opposite direction. Hmmmm, I think to myself, lucky buggers look like they have just finished a run, which seems like a far more agreeable way to start the day than being treated like a life size voodoo doll. Then I hear my name being called and realise that I was completely oblivious to the fact that I know one of aforementioned runners, heck, he’s even been in my car and been allowed to mess with my radio stations! Isn’t it funny how you can see someone without actually noticing that you know them (or does this only happen to me?). Anyway, no offence mate, I am pretty much in my own world most of the time, except when I am driving of course, and in my defence was dazzled by the fetching blue shirt. Thanks also for having the good grace to look genuinely concerned when I mentioned my doctor’s visit.

Rest day yesterday and a 10km fartlek run this afternoon, then off to Sydney with Jay tomorrow for a friends wedding where we are planning on squeezing in a 15km run before the fun starts.

Last night’s session

2 by 3 minutes (2 minute recovery)
2 by 2 minutes (1 minute recovery between 1st and 2nd)
3 minutes recovery
4 by 1 minute (1 minute recovery)

I last did this session around mid November but didn’t take splits; I was feeling pretty crappy that night and wrote in my training log that I nearly threw up half way though and that I felt light headed. This is not unusual when I am low in iron as I was at the time.

Last night was heaps better and although I worked hard I felt more comfortable and my pacing was pretty good.

Results

3 minutes – 741 metres @ 4:06 avg
3 minutes – 751 metres @ 4:03 avg
2 minutes – 507 metres @ 3:59 avg
2 minutes – 504 metres @ 4:02 avg
1 minute – 270 metres @ 3:46 avg
1 minute – 286 metres @ 3:36 avg
1 minute – 280 metres @ 3:41 avg
1 minute – 270 metres @ 3:46 avg

The lack of consistency over the 4 by 1 minute reps has more to do with the fact that the path was narrow and I was trying to keep left and not the clip the heels in front of me than it does with a lack of discipline.

3609 metres covered for the reps and about 8.3km covered for the day with warm up and cool down.

Keeping with my injury prevention plan every fifth week is an easier week, therefore only 4 days running for me this week, it works out well as I will be in Sydney for a wedding this weekend so will miss my long run. The plan I have mapped out for this week will reach about 46km, which based on what I have been doing so far this year is about 30% lighter than normal, seems reasonable for an easy week.

Run leading tonight which is perfect for a recovery run.

My MacBook will be fixed today, but unfortunately they are not able to recover anything, ‘tis all gone. Therefore I have decided to treat myself and have upgraded to the brand spanking new aluminium MacBook, have ordered it though work, hope it doesn’t take too long, I feel like I have lost a limb! My younger brother started uni this year and his wonderfully generous older sister will be passing on the old one to him for the cost of the new hard drive. I had to hand write all my essay’s when I was at uni, a crappy second hand desktop would have made me happy, a lap top would have been too good to be true (never mind that back in ’92 that were giant clunky pieces of crap and you needed a sherpa to carry it for you)

And yes, I have learned my lesson; stuff will be backed up an external hard drive this time.

Once more with feeling

I had my last mountain run before Trailwalker on Sunday. As planned I ran a big loop from Mum’s house, up the mountain, down the mountain and back home again, just a little bit under 26km.

Saturday evening was lovely and quiet, just me, a small pack of dogs and some trashy television for company. Though I didn’t sleep too well that night and when my alarm went off I had to give myself a very stern talking to before I got up and moving.

I was eventually out the door just before 8am, only about 30 minutes later than I had planned. It was a toughie to get into because I knew that it was going to be pretty much vertical for the first 7km at least. I took different trails up the hill to the ones I followed down a few weeks ago, it was pretty though going but the morning was gorgeous and I was very much at peace out there on my own. After some hard climbing I came up to a flat section where the landscape and flora changed somewhat, I came around a corner to the most beautiful sight, I took a picture but I’ll have to wait until the hard drive in my lap top has been replaced before I can upload it for you. When I was little Mum used to take us on walks though the trails in the Dandenongs (you know, before Playstations and stuff when kids were happy to do these things), I had an extremely active imagination which Mum used to play up to. She would tell me that if I was very still and quiet that I might be able to see the fairies that lived in the trees and down amongst the ferns (in hindsight probably just her way of getting me to shut the f#*k up for 5 minutes and stop asking questions, most of my sentences used to begin with “Mummy why does……?”). So on Sunday I rather fancied that if I was lucky enough I might be able to spot the fairy folk scampering though the undergrowth or flitting though the trees, or possibly I should have just had a little less red wine the night before.

Laugh if you will but sometimes, like the White Queen, I like to imagine a few impossible things before breakfast, now what do you suppose were my most favourite books as a child

Now, where was I?

Yes, once at Olinda I had a quick loo break, took a gel and some water and was back on familiar territory as I picked up the Trailwalker course, from here on it my aim was to just keep moving, that meant no stopping for breathers or to eat. Turning onto the trail at Olinda I was running downhill again, very carefully as recent high winds had left more than the usual debris on the track and quite a bit of leaf litter too which made the rocks harder to spot. About 2km in I could hear voices in the distance behind me (real ones, not fairies) and I suspected that some Trailwalker mates who I knew were out training as well were on my tail. Unbeknownst to the Mutts a game of cat and mouse started in earnest as I valiantly tried to keep ahead, every now and then I’d hear the voices again and I’d push forward a little harder. By the time I made it to Silvan Dam my legs were getting a little wobbly, not a good thing on the trails when you need to be sure footed, so I decided it was time for a quick walk and some food (but I kept moving!). As I was busily cramming jelly lollies into my gob and power walking I looked over my shoulder and finally the Muttley Boys had caught up with me, despite being content out on my own it was rather nice to see some friendly faces and to briefly enjoy some company. We had a quick chat before I politely declined an offer to tack onto the back, declaring that I needed to finish my snack, if I ran and ate I’d probably chew my tongue off, of course the reality is that I wouldn’t have been able to keep up.

The rest of the run passed pretty uneventfully, just one very quick stop to tie a shoe lace and before I knew it I was facing the last 400 metres UPHILL to get back home, at this stage I was pretty much done with hills and opted to walk it out, in all I covered just under 26km in about 3 hours 13 minutes.

So that’s it now, the big day is only 3 week away.