Recovery run

I was going to get up early and meet fellow trotters at 5:30am for the morning track session but decided that I needed the extra sleep and with my adductor magnus pain it would be better to do an easy run instead. So I go up about 7:30am and by 8am I was off running around Terrigal, Wamberal to Forries beach then back to Terrigal running 15.4km all up at about 5:06km pace. My leg was fine running but could feel it through certain movements throughout the day

Mid week long run and a massage

Had to go to Newcastle to massage the knights so I got up there a little early and got a run in from Carrington towards King Edwards park and back going via the break wall. 20.08km in 1hr33min or 4:36km pace. My adductor Magnus was slightly sore throughout the day so I got a massage on it

Tuesday....2 runs and an RPM class

I got some speed work done this morning ad boy did I feel it too! Started with a 5min warmup running pretty slow and easy then did 10x2min hard with a 1min recovery between each hard effort. After 5 of them I ran 5min easy before doing another 5. Ran from my new house in Terrigal to Wamberal and back. 10km in a little over 47:58

The second run was bout 4pm where I ran a lot of the hills in Terrigal including Wilsons rd and made my way over to Wamberal. This was 10.25km in 49:40. Legs were pretty heavy.

After all that I went to the gym and did the 5:30pm cycle class and relaxed in the steam room for a bit

Sunday hangover run

Went to the Trotter awards night last night and had quite a bit to drink and didn't get to sleep until about 1am so this morning I found it hard to get up to run but got out the door at 8am and ran 23.2km in just under 2hrs
I felt pretty good running which I was amazed at

Saturday Trotters old bay to bay breakers relay

Got a call last night to see if i could fill in for a sick runner so I turned up just before 4;30am to meet all the other runners 11 male vs 11 female all doing a 1km leg with the girls having a 6min45ec start. My 1km was pretty much all down hill so I knew I would do a fast time but didn't think I would go as fast as I did. I had Donna there doing the female leg and we did a warmup together as we had almost an hr to fill in.
It ended up being Donna having about 1min lead with the change over and I just ran as hard as I could. At one stage I thought I was going to collapse! I passed Donna with about 200m to go and just kept running like my life depended on it.I passed the baton to Mark Dunlop and ran that 1km in 2min43sec!
The boys beat he girls but not by much.
After all that we ran 14.6km up kincumba mtn

Friday

Managed an easy 11km run an later a swim of 20x50m repeats finishing the 1km in 14:32

Thurs recovery

Still got a sore hamstring/adductor Magnus muscle so just ran a nice easy pace towards Kincumber and back to Bensville. 15.3km in 1hr17min

Later I went and got another massage. That's 2 massages I've got this week

Wed

Started my run at Terrigal (Duffys oval) at 6am and ran 17.3km in 1hr18min or 4:31km pace doing the old waterslide run up towards Tumbi rd. My left hamstring got tight after about 5km and at 8.5km I stopped for a sec just to stretch out a bit.

After the run I went to the gym and did a cycle class. I wanted to do a double cycle class but I was just too tired so I hit the steam room instead 

Tuesday in Bouddi

Woke up yesterday with a really sore left hamstring and went and got a massage and put the tens machine on it for most of the day and this morning it was pretty good.
Easy recovery run this morning. Just took off out the door then decided where I wanted to go. No plan except to run nice and easy. I ran around some streets and on a small trail around Bensville then made my way to Bouddi which has some great fire trails and single trails to run on.
Ran 15.3km all up in 1:22:16 so it was nice and easy.

Later I went to Mingara pool and did 10x100m intervals finishing the 1km in 16min34sec

Lake Macquarie Half

I felt pretty good this morning and thought I may as well go out at a descent pace and just see what happens. So we get racing at 8am and I go through the first km in 3:50 and the 2nd in 3:47. I'm feeling pretty good for the first 5km and manage to do most of my km's under 4min the held 4min pace until 12km when all of a sudden the legs got heavy. Now I'm doing about 4:10-4:15km pace and hold that until I finish. Finished in about 86min30sec and I was pretty rapt with that. Normally I'd be bummed at a time like that but to only been back running for a couple of weeks after 5 weeks of no running with a stress fracture I think I did a great job.

Right now I have a sore left hamstring and very sore legs in general. That's the first hard road run I've done in a long long long time and it smashes your muscles much more than a trail race. Not saying a road race is harder or easier than a trail race it's just that they are both very different

Thursday and the first moderate pace run in ages!

An 11.6km run with an average pace of 4:28 done. Felt fine in the leg but again it had slight tightness but nothing that seemed to be a worry.

Happy with the way my running is coming back

Wednesday

Ran an easy 11km in about 5:10km pace just running around the streets of Bensville and Sth Kincumber. Right peroneals still tight but doesn't bother me in the slightest running.

So that's my day training wise. Not much but it's good to be running :-)

Tuesday

Tight muscles today in the right peroneals. Now I'm just being careful with that as that's what caused the stress fracture. No pain running at all but just felt tight throughout the day. It's also down near the ankle not up near the knee where it was last time so I'm thinking it's most likely from the walk on Sunday

Anyway I got 12km in this morning at 4:52km pace

Later in the afternoon I did an hour on the bike on the indoor trainer

Monday morning DOMS

Well more than just morning DOMS...more like all day DOMS! Left hamsting took a beating yesterday but I'm happy to be sore from doms pain rather than from injury pain.

So training today was recovery day. A 2km swim and a cycle class in the afternoon

Fri, Sat and Sun

big few days since Friday. Friday I'm up really early and when I say early I mean early. I was on my way to Canberra and planned to run at Mittagong on the way down. So I'm in Mittagong by 6:30am and set off for a 10km easy run. It was cold however -4deg is COLD!

Sat I ran an easy 12km on Lake Burley Griffin

Sunday (today) I went with the Terrigal Trotters for a 42km trek on the Great North Road. I've never been on this trail before and it was another magical area that we are so lucky to have on the Central Coast.
I decided to walk most of this and was hoping to finish around 6hrs. I power walk and right near the end I get lost and add another 4km to the walk. I finished 46km in 5hrs52min. Very hard on the body! I ran one section for about 500m and ran some other sections but only about 40m or 50m each time. Basically I walked about 98% of the trail.

The great news on all of this is I had no bone pain! :-)

Thursday

As planned I took today off running and did an early morning cycle class.

Later I got out for a 5km walk around Erina doing that in about 40min then I went to the gym for some core work and of course the steamroom!

Wed another nice run done

Same as yesterday. Out the door about 5:45am for an easy 11km. Ran just a little over 5min km pace and had no pain. I could feel the leg was a little "tight" but really happy to have gotten through 2 easy 11km runs without a problem.

So tomorrow I'll back off the running and do a cycle class in the morning

Tuesday and a run done!

Happy to say I ran and had no problem. 11km easy in about 55:40.
The rest of the day was doing a couple of massages starting at 7:45am at home then off to Newcastle to massage the Knights, back home to do another massage then to Vitality (WoyWoy) to do a couple more massages. Done and dusted by 9pm.....Stuffed!

Monday and a positive word from the physio

Busy busy flat out day working today. Had a visit to see Stan and he believes I'm ok to start running but I just need to be careful and really listen to my body so that was great news!

Other than that I worked

Sunday....City to Surf massage style

Big long day! Much easier to run this event than to massage at it.
So the day starts with my alarm going off at 3:15am and 15min later I manage to get up. By 4am I'm on my way to Bondi Beach and by 5:20am I've parked the car gone and set my gear up then met with some other massage therapists and we head off for a bit of a work meeting and back to watch the leaders finish.

Pretty much started massaging at 9am and didn't stop until 2:30pm. Lot's of runners massaged in that time.

Then it was the drive home.

So that's my training day done!

walk, ride, rpm, swim...the life of an injured ultra runner!

Magic morning with the sun shining and just felt like spring without the magpies swooping!

Saturday morning and I drive down to Trotters. I haven't been there in a little while so I popped on down and while they were out running 11km I set out for a walk. I got just over 7km in the hr on a hilly course that included Charles Kay drive. I'm amazed at how quick I can walk if I put my mind to it. So much so that next week when the trotters head out on the Great north road 42km run I'm going along but will just power walk it.
After that I rode to the gym where I got a rpm class in then got on the bike again and rode around 55km from Erina to Nora Head roundabout then back to my car at Terrigal.

After all that it was then off to Mingara pool for a recovery swim. 1km in 18:08. I was going to swim 2 or 3km but my left shoulder was a tiny bit achy and the last time I pushed through the ache of a shoulder swimming I couldn't swim again for months

Again I have no pain anywhere in the stress fracture

Awesome morning of training!

Friday.......no pain running but scan says stress fracture!

So that's a bloody bugger. Bone scan shows hotspots right where I've been getting the pain which now seems to have gone. All is not lost as it could be showing activity from the bone remodeling itself as part of the healing process. I'll see Stan on Monday and see what he says. The last time I had a bone scan about 3yrs ago it showed hotspots on my pubis area which also showed up again. So with that in mind it can take a while for the hotspots to go. Anyway no pain touching the bone now or running on it which I'll stop now until I get the all clear.

Anyway I did run today. First non-stop 10km in 4 weeks and I decided that if I felt any pain at all I would stop and just walk. I got through 10km in 50min totally pain free. I stopped for a minute at 5km just to access the leg and palpate it but all was good. The only thing I noticed was tight calves.

So with that I'm happy with the way it feels.

Tomorrow I'll go to trotters and walk then get on the bike

Thursday and another pain free run/walk!

So I got up early and this time I did a 1min walk/2min run for 10km which I took just over an hour to do. Great news again I had no pain at all so things are looking up. Tomorrow I'll try a 10k very easy run without the walk and see how that goes.

At 9:45am I did a cycle class and went from there to Mingara pool and swam 2km in about 37min

Wednesday....a run/walk done!

Very happy today. Drove to the gym for a cycle class but got there early and decided to walk 1min then run 1min for 10km. Did that in 1hr5min. If I was to feel any pain whatsoever I would just walk. Good news is it was fine. No pain at all. Even better is there was no pain as the day went on. I'm not getting too excited just yet though. I'll wait until I get the bone scan done to be sure.
After the run/walk I did a cycle class

Tuesday

Up early for another cycle class. Getting lot's of these done of late.

Later in the afternoon I got to Mingara pool and swam 3km in just under 1hr

Monday in the pool

I was going to get up really early (5am) and go to the pool but after 12 beers last night I decided to sleep in until 6:15am. So still up early but had to get ready for work.

Off to the doctor to see what he recons about my xray and as I thought there was no sign of anything so I got him to refer me for a bone scan. So that's what he did and Friday I go and get that done.

I got a quick swim done at 3:30pm. 1km pretty much none stop in 17min22sec. That felt pretty easy and was much faster than I've done in a long time.

Other good news is my leg pain has no pain. I've pushed on it jumped up and down on the spot ran up the road and back and also after yesterdays walk no pain so all is looking good!

A last min random Bouddi walk!

My bike needs a service and the gears are playing up so I decided to sleep in until almost 8am which is really rare for me on a Sunday. In fact it's really rare for me to sleep in on any day!

So I decided to do the 9:15am cycle class but before that I did a 3.2km walk. Then once that was all done I got in the Sauna and steam room for about 45min. I was pretty relaxed after that.

I then took my bike down to Bike Worx to put it in for a service. Then I was thinking I might go for a walk in Bouddi. The day was magic with the sun shining so I thought it would be great to be out on the trails.
So I parked at Macmasters Beach and off I walked. Walked to Maitland Bay going up Mt Bouddi then on the Storm fire trail to the Maitland Bay car park where I got a drink from that magic water bubbler. I swear that's the best water on the Central Coast!
Then it was down the steps to Maitland bay beach and back to Macmasters Beach.
A hilly 16.8km in 2hrs48min.

The great thing about the whole walk is I had no pain at all.

So now I can sit with a smile on my dial with a nice cold beer....(and a cherry ripe!)

Happy Sunday!

Saturday....BWS has a great deal on different types of beer! Wooohoooo!

 So as the headline says I found out BWS has a deal of mixing 4x6packs for $42. So I grab a Sol, Stella Artois, Carlsberg and Miller. So I've got some sampling to do!

Ok well training today was a ride from Warners Bay to Kotatra and back. About 18km then to the gym at Kotara for a 60min rpm class.

Then I'm at Mingara pool for a 3km swim in 53:57 but did it in lots of 10 laps

Thursday and Friday

Thursday - Cycle class first thing then after having a client at work I went to Gosford pool and swam 2km in about 37min.

Friday - Got to the gym about 7:45am and rode the spin bike for 50min before I did another bloody cycle class.
That's pretty much it

hump day

Another pretty good day of training done. I'm hoping to keep all this up until I'm back running and hopefully I'll have some decent fitness still there.  Maybe not run fitness but it should be quicker to get that back.

My leg is feeling really good. I haven't tried pushing on the bone as I know that will hurt. And that's a hurt that makes me feel ill.

So today's training went like this
At 8:45am I got a double cycle class done then at 11:30am I did bodybalance.

Then after I finished work I got to WoyWoy pool which was 25m tonight and swam 2km in 35min38sec but I did ot in 8x10 laps

Tuesday

Off to the gym for 6:15am rpm class then after that did another 65min on the spin bike doing 6x 5min seated and 5min standing upping the resistance every min.
Then I made my way to Mingara pool and got 3km done. I did this in intervals starting with a 10lap warmup then I did 10x50m hard with a 50m recovery then did 5laps easy then did the 10x50m hard 50m recovery and finally finished with 5 laps easy. 3km in 52min15sec swimming time. I was in the pool for over an hour though.
So that's today's training done.  The rest of the day was spent in Newcastle messaging the knights then back to the coast to do a couple of more massages

Great day!

Monday. ..recovery and Xray and abs

So today was doing a heap of massages going to the gym for a very quick 20min ab workout then off to get my leg xray. So what showed up?  I think I can see Grey areas showing where the stressie is but hey I'm just a massage therapist so what would I know? So I guess the next step is to make another doctor appointment and go from there. I'll also book in to see my physio

Sundays long ride

Up for a very foggy ride. Rugged up and was out riding by 6:40am. Made the ride up as I went and managed to do a loop covering most of the Central Coast making my way up near the Gwandalan turn off going through the National Park then down towards Wyong, Ourimbah, West Gosford,  Umina beach and back to Bensville.  I stopped about 3 times mainly to stretch my back oyt.

All up 129.3km in about 4hr40min. 27.7km/hr

Awesome Sunday!

Saturday's training

Fantastic day of training.  Got rugged up for a chilly ride. Rode 12km to trotters where they were doing the presentations for the super7's. After about 30min of chatting to a a lot of people I made my way to the gym to do the 8:45am rpm class.  18.5km for the first ride.
After rpm I rode home via West Gosford and Umina. So another 35.5km done with an average speed of just under 29km/hr. 54km in total for the bike.

Then I went to Mingara pool and swam 1.5km in around 27min.  I was going to swim 3km but on the last few laps I swam I kept cramping in the legs when I pushed off the wall.

At 4pm I got back to the gym for yoga  

Feel good Friday!

Yep the leg feels good today. In fact it feels like its fine to run on. Hell it feels like I could jump off my balcony but hey I'm not likely to even run across the road (unless I was about to be hit by a bus)

Went to the Dr today and had a 10am appointment. Walk in patients had a 45min wait so I thought I should be seen by 10:20. Well 10:50am I got to see the Dr. Very bloody unhappy I was!

Anyway I tell him all about my injury and gave him the letter from my physio and I just want the referral for the bone scan and I can be on my merry way. But he decides im better off having an Xray first. 

So I book the Xray for Monday and take it from there.  

So today I went to the gym first up and did 1hr on the spin bike. 

At 5:30pm I made it to the cycle class

Thursday

Haven't even tried to do any impact on my leg and I'm feeling really good. No pain at all but I know if I tried to even run up and down on the spot I would feel it but doing what I've been doing and it's all good.

So today I got up about 6am and was in the pool by just after 7am. Swam 3km all up breaking it down to swimming 5x10 laps and the last 10 laps I swam 5x2 laps. Around 56min of swimming in total.

Then it was to the gym to do a cycle class. I warmed up beforehand spending 15min on the bike then did the class which I smashed myself in.

Other than that it was off to Newcastle to massage the knights then back to the coast to do more massage

Wednesday.....spin and swim

I'm feeling really fit right now and even waking up less tired. Maybe doing more training is helping?
No early morning cycle class this morning so I went to the gym and did a 90min on the spin bike doing intervals to music.

Mid morning I got an all over massage then I hit the pool. Only had 30min so swam 1km in just under 20min.

Happy with all that!

Tuesday and lot's of time in the pedals

Fantastic day of training today. Right now I'm loving all this cross training and actually feel quite fit.
I got up and went to the 6:15am cycle class smashing my legs in that. After a few clients I got on the bike and went for a 44km ride with an average speed of just over 30km/hr. Rode from Bensville going aroung the bay but also through Umina Beach.
After my afternoon clients I went back to the gym to do the 6:30pm cycle class which was great. A lot of 20sec intervals with 10sec recovery. I was totally legless at the end. Then in the steam room which I managed to do some meditation for about 20min.

So quite a bit done but I feel like I've got lot's of energy and feeling the best I've felt in yrs

Monday.....Physio says it looks like a stressie

Felt pretty good today. Pain in the leg was only sore if I pushed on it. After seeing a few clients in the morning I got to Kincumber pool and swam 2km at a pretty easy pace. It's a 25m pool so I broke it up by swimming 8x10 laps. That took around 40min

Next stop was to see Stan (physio) I got a small strength workout in on the cable machine while I waited and after a few min he pushed on my fibula and agreed with me that it looked like a stress fracture. Need to see a GP to get a referral for a bone scan so I made an appointment to see a dr as soon as I left but couldn't get one until Friday morning. Not that it really matters. I'm almost 100% sure it's a stress fracture and that means I can do anything that doesn't make it hurt and have to avoid anything that brings on the pain.

Later I went back to the gym and did the 6:45pm yoga class

Sundays long ride.

Got up and noticed it was a stunning blue sky day. Walking outside to feel how cold it was and it didn't seem too bad so I put on a skins top, arm warmers and a cycle top, long compression paints with cycle shorts over the top of them and a pair of gloves. Thing that would be enough I set out to ride from Bensville to Swansea and back. I got 600m up the road and turned around went back inside and got a cycle jacket as well. It's much friggin colder on the bike!
Rugged up I make my journey to Swansea. 63km later and I'm there and had an average speed of 27.6km at this stage. I stopped for about 15min to enjoy the view, take a couple of photos and have a good leg and back stretch.
I then made my back but going a bit more scenic through Catherine Hill Bay so some extra hills in there and around past Shelly beach. I got to Terrigal feeling tired but strong with an average speed of 27.4km and only had 12km to go from here but the hills on the way home just smashed me!
Rode 129.5km in 4hrs49min with a total of 1,245m in elevation.

After a milkshake I managed to get to the gym for a bodybalance class but my left high hamstring was sore after that and still is as I write this.

My injured shin felt great on the ride and have to pain since I finished

All in all though a great day of training

Friday and Saturday

Friday was up just before 4am to drive the girls back to Canberra.
After I dropped them off I got to the gym and had enough time to do 40min on the spin bike. Did 5min seated hard then 5min standing and just repeated that for 40min

Saturday I only had enough time to do 30min on the spin bike. Would've had more time if the gym was open before 7am on a Saturday.
Just did 1min hard efforts with a 1min recovery x 15 on the spin bike

Thursday

Shin is good walking around again but not as far as jumping.
Up for a 6:15am cycle class then some strength work after that.
Later in the arvo I went back to the gym and got on the spin bike and did intervals. 20x1min hard with a 1min recovery then a 5min easy to finish off. Felt pretty smashed after that.
Made a booking with Stan the physio for Monday

Wednesday.....staying away from that thing called running!

Yep no running today and I don't plan on running this week. Moderate pain when I got up but got better as the day went on. Still hurts to jump on it.
So I got up early and made my way to Kotara Gym to do a cycle class then some strength work.
Later at work I had an hour break so I got to the gym for the 2nd time today and did a quick workout of 10x1min hard on the spin bikes with a 1min recovery

Tuesday....maybe a run to soon?

Got up and no pain. Jumped up and down on my leg no pain, ran up and down on the spot and no pain a small jog down the driveway and no pain but tightness so I'm thinking that's all a great thing!

So later I'm up in Newcastle staying at my mum's and I decide to have a jog and test the leg out. I get to 1k and all good. 1.5km and tightness in calf, 2km and it starts to hurt slightly. 3km and it's a discomfort but not too bad. 5km and I stop turn around and start to run back but at a slower 5:10 km pace. By 8km the pain is now in the calf and in the shin. 10km later and I get back in 49:xx and think I'm not ready to resume running.

I'll wait until tomorrow and decide if I'll attempt another run or rest

Monday day 5 of no running. What a difference 24hrs can make!

Again no running and shin was sore when I got up but felt a lot better than yesterday and by tonight it feels fine walking on. No pain whatsoever! If I jump up and down no pain but if I push off on the foot barefoot a slight pain. So After the past 5 days of having this thing ache like it was a stress fracture, tonight it feels almost normal. The past 6 or 7 weeks it's been sore at all times but sometimes just a small ache but right now no pain at all! That's something that put a big smile on my face and I may be back running again soon....yay!!!!

Sunday....day 4 of no running

Woke up and as soon as I put my foot on the ground pain went up my lower leg. I'm thinking now it could very well be a fibula stress fracture. If it is the positive is it's only 6-8wks. If it's not then most soft tissue injuries heals within 2-6 wks so I guess a bit of a break and I should be back feeling nice and fresh! I was planning on taking August off anyway so it's just a bit earlier.

Today was spent taking Skyla and Tiff down to Sydney with Mum and Gavin. A lot of walking and a trip to Manly made for quite a big day!

Thurs, Friday and Saturday

No running since Wednesday and I don't think I'l be running anytime soon but that's the way the cookie crumbles!

Thursday I woke up with sore calf/shin and was painful to walk on let alone attempt to run so instead I went to the gym and did 1hr on the bike.

Friday again leg was sore and I spent the day driving to Canberra to pick up my girls and drive them home. I timed it so I got to Canberra in time to do a cycle class.

Today (Saturday) I again had a sore lower leg but felt better as the day went on. Did a double cycle class and it got better as the day went on. Still very sore to run up and down on the spot and I won't attempt to run on it again until I can run up and down on the spot without pain

Injuries come and go and that's the runners life!

I managed to do my planned run of 21.4km in 1hr38min so a nice pace. Ran from Bensville to Davistown and back. Shin was again causing discomfort at the start but quite manageable but felt quite sore on some of the downhills then it would feel ok again.
I've decided enough's enough and it's time to give in to this injury and REST!
The frustrating thing was it got quite achy as the day went on and was more painful on certain movments than normal. I'm pretty certain it's soft tissue not a stress fracture as the tibia bone has no pain on touching and even though it's hard to feel the fibula through the calf muscles what I can touch is all pain free. The only bit where I can tell that's causing this problem is the soleus up near the knee and my peroneus longus around the same area. It's not too bad to massage, slightly painful on the foam roller but as soon as I land with my forefoot to the ground that's when I get the pain.

I don't really mind having a break from running when an injury strikes as I'm not a fan of running with pain. It's not enjoyable one bit. The annoying thing is having to stop when a race you had planned to do is not too far away.

With me I was planning on doing a sub 3hr at Hunter Valley marathon in 2 weeks but it's not looking too good of even making the start line. I have the M7 marathon the following week so I may have a chance for that one it just maybe over 3hrs. Other than that I've got nothing planned until October when I want to do the 24hr race in Auckland then in Nov GNW100 then in December Coast to Kosi.

So if I miss out on Hunter Valley or the M7 it's not really a big deal as they were something I decided to do not that long ago. The main focus is getting to the start line in October, November and December

Tuesdays tempo and a second run thrown in there and a swim!

How's the calf/shin is the first thing I think of when I wake up nowadays and this morning it felt the same as usual...achy with slight discomfort on the first few steps then after a little while it's fine to walk on so I then do a quick run up and down on the spot to test it out a bit more and this morning was the same as every other morning, a slight pain that's about a 3/10 on the pain scale.

Anyway as it's not getting worse I kept up with this mornings planned session. A 2km warmup then a 5km tempo and a 4km warmdown.

I managed to do the 5km in a little over 19min30sec so I was happy with that. I was even more happy that my shin had no pain doing the tempo but on the last 4km running easy it got to a 4-5/10. Came good after I stopped though. 11.4km done in total

I then headed off to the pool and got 2km in there. I almost stopped after 1km because I was finding it bloody boring swimming along the black line but then thought I paid $6.20 to do this bloody swim so 1km wasn't enough.

Later on I got a 10.1km done in 47:05. Shin/calf was good until the last 3km when it bacame slightly achy

Monday.another active recovery day

No running and that's a good thing as my calf and shin were a bit achy. I got to a bodybalance class and am finding these getting easier now.
It was then in the steamroom for a while then off to get a massage

Sunday....Orchard BBQ and Beer run

Got to Palmdale just before 6:45am and there was Mick Miles, Mark Lee, Jess Mitchell and Ian Temblett. Jess went for a ride on the road to do some hill repeats, Mick was on his MTN bike riding with us for part of the run and Mark, Ian and myself headed off on a nice easy pace. My shin was ok but I could feel it but pretty much stayed good for me until the last couple of km's and then felt tight.

We ran together until about the the intersection which is a little over 10km then I just picked up the pace slightly while Mark and Ian kept the easy pace. I got to the tar road in around 1hr20min and waited about 1min for the others then we made our way back. I pushed a little harder on the way back and all was good until the last 5km and that's when my calf/shin felt tight mainly on the uneven downhill. Mick came flying past me on his mtn bike around this time and about 3km from the finish Mark caught up to me. We ran a pretty hard pace (for my standards) for the last 2km and finished in 2hrs30min46sec for 31.8km.

We finished with some snags on a bbq and a couple of beers

Sat Lake Ginninderra Park run 5km and freezing bloody hands!!!

First time for me doing a park run and what a great run it is! The Canberra one is held on Lake Ginninderra in Belconnen. This lake use to be my home training ground and I have run many km's around the lake. It's where all my running began back in 1999.

The race started at 8am and all rugged up I went for a lap of the lake for a warm up around 7am. The lake is 7.1km and I did that around 33:30ish. It wasn't too cold at 6deg but the wind was really blowy which made it feel more like -2deg.
At 8am I lined up with 116 other runners braving the windy cold conditions. I wore Compression shorts,a running t-shirt and for some stupid reason I didn't think I'd need my gloves. (what a stupid mistake that was!)

After about 2min I started to feel the cold air hitting my lungs and by 2km I had to use my puffer twice. I thought I was running much faster than I was and by 3.5km my lungs were burning and I had snot and all sorts of shit all over my face! Pretty hey! I finished in 19:03 11th pace and 3rd in my age absolutely feeling like shit! I got my barcode scanned then I thought my hands feel a bit cold. The next thing I think my hand are freezing cold. Next thing I can't feel anything except intense pain in the fingers. I rushed to the car and in agony I sat there trying to get them warm on the heater. 10min it took before they came good. I thought I was going to get frostbite and they will have to cut my fingers off!

My calf/shin was great and in the race I couldn't feel it at all! However I could feel it as the day went on

Anyway 15min later the pain was gone and I was off for a 1km warmdown then coffee then a heap of massages then a 4hr30min drive to Newcastle to visit mum

Friday's Mittagong run

On my way to Canberra stopping at Mittagong for a 10k run in 48:10, I like to stop, get out of the car and stretch the legs when I go to Canberra. I just normally run this out and back run thats got some slight hills but nothing major. The shin and calf was great. I could feel it in the last couple of km's but the best it's felt yet!

At 5pm I did a 90min yoga class and have been feeling my high hamstring on the left again after that. It seems ok but just a little achy

Thursday back at the track

Got to Terrigal around 5am and met up with Jenny and Ian and we got about a 5km warmup done bumping into Mark Lee mid way though. Shin was quite achy for most of this session which made me feel pretty down.  Made our way over to the haven and we did 12 laps running the straights hard and easy on the bends. I did an extra one so 13 all up then about a 5km warmdown. I'm thinking about 14km in this session.

Later I got some KT tape and taped my shin up went to the gym hopped on the treadmill and ran another 8km feeling not much pain at all. Could that tape be a major key?

Easy Wed and shin was pretty gooooood!

Early morning run getting out running at 5:40am. 16.3km in 1:17:27 (4:45 km pace) from home to just over the rip bridge and back.
Just ran an easy to moderate pace and was really happy with my shin. It was about a 2/10 pain wise for most of the run except for some of the downhill on the way back when it became about 4/10 and was more in the calf.

Tues..Morning intervals, swim arvo run and oh yeah with that shin pain

Got a nice sleep in and didn't get my butt out of bed until 8am.
Shin felt about the same as it does in the morning a slight pain of about 2/10.

Got out the door and did the planned morning session of intervals running a 5min warm up then 10x3min hard with a 1min recovery. The shin pain got to about a 4-5/10 but was also mild for a lot of the run. It doesn't matter the pace I run or the distance as it either stays the same or if anything gets slightly better the further I run. Or that could just be me getting use to it. I had some kinesiology tape on it late last week and I honestly think that made a big difference so I found some this afternoon and applied it to my shin again.
Anyway back to this mornings run. Other than some mild shin pain the rest of the run was great. Ran 11km in total in 48:18.

Late morning I got a 2km swim in

At 2pm I got out for my second run. 10.2km in 47:07 running time. This time the shin pain was between 3-6/10 so slightly more painful than this mornings run. I stopped a couple of times to give it a quick massage. Still happy to be feeling good other than the shin.

21.2km in total today

Monday....recovery day

No running. Shin was ok but I could still notice it as I got up. Maybe that's part life once you age past 40.

Got to a body balance class in and other than work that's about it

Sunday at Ourimbah 32km

Shin wasn't the best today. No problem running on it but I could feel it that's for sure. Much different compared to yesterday.

I met up with Ian Temblett at 6:30 and we ran pretty easy the whole way. That's something I think may have made the shin ache a bit more. Sometimes running a bit faster seems to help it. The human body sure is some complex piece of engineering that's for sure!

The weather was perfect. Cool with a little drizzle and the trails were in pretty good condition. I was expecting the hill near the start to be quite slippery with clay but wasn't too bad.

We got to the intersection in about 58min, the green sign in 1hr6min and to the turn around in 1hr27min so nice and cruizy. On the way back we ran slightly faster as you do on this course. Just past the intersection I start to feel bloody hungry and start thinking of the Chocolate thickshake and donuts I'm going to have shortly!

Get to the road and it's here I put a bit of effort in mainly because I just wanted to finish.
We get back in 1hr17min so 2hr44min all up.

I then made my way to the gym to do some stretches and to use the steamroom then it was off to grab that thickshake!

Kerry Anderson handicap 10km

Since I haven't ran a trotters 10k flat tt in over a yr that meant I didn't have a handicap for this race so last night I msg Mark and get myself a handicap going off 39:30. That's about right I guess. I thought I'd be about 40min or just under fitness wise.
So I line up in the rain and am the only runner to go at that time. I ran bat out of hell knowing Kevin Byrne and Ian Temblette are only 15sec behind me. It doesn't take long and I start to pass a couple of runners then I'm on my own again for what seemed to be like a very long time. Just pass 3km Kevin Byrne catches me and we run together for a little while but he eventually drifts off into the distance.
On the turn around I can't see Ian and think that's a great sign and just try to push on. A little further I see Mark Lee powering along and decide I need to keep him behind me. By now I'm catching a lot of other runners an I'm hurting...hurting real bad. I see who I thought was Kevin just ahead but am seeing triple now and when I get a bit closer I notice It's not Kevin but Jame Moran wearing a bright green singlet similar to Kevin.
At 8km I start thinking I'd much rather be running GNW100 miler then think I should have under 8min to go.  Shit my legs are lactic and I'm trying to find an injury to justify slowing down but can't find one. My muscles decided to feel all good as far as niggles go then my inner voice kicks in and say's you're on the last hill...keep moving. I start to pass other runners and can see Kevin not too far ahead but know it's too late to catch him. WIth about 200m to go I'm on the home straight and my muscles are fucking burning. Finally cross the line in 22nd spot which wasn't too bad considering I was one of the last to get going and finished in 38:46 by my watch. About 30sec behind Kevin. It took about 3 or 4min before I could talk.

After all that was over I made my way to the gym for a cycle class. Great day!

Easy Friday

10km in 49:57 doing the first 5km in 25:47 so a bit faster on the way back. Ran down at Umina beach for a nice flat run. Shin was pretty good. A bit sore at the start but soon settled down. Felt low on energy as I didn't eat beforehand.
Went straight from that to a swim. 1.5km done in the pool. Would've done more but I had to get to work and I needed FOOD!!!!

Thursday...Intervals and I need a toilet!!!!!

A bit of fartlex this morning and my shin felt the best it's felt in ages. I could still feel it but it was all good. Pretty much ran from Bensville to Kincumber and back. 16.5km doing 5min warmup then 1min hard, 2min hard, 3min hard, 4min hard, 5min hard, 4min hard, 3min hard, 2min hard, 1min hard all with a 1min recovery jog between sets. Finished by running 38min back easy. On the first 3min hard interval I needed a toilet quick! Lucky I was near maccas!
All up it took just over 1hr15min.

At 10:30am I did a yoga class

Windy Wednesday

Shin wasn't too happy this morning. Felt fine until I ran then it was just achy. Sort of a mixture between pain and ache.
Ran an easy 10k in 47:23 stopping a few times in the first 5km too massage the shin and calf out. Always feels better for a while after a quick massage.

Then I went for a 1km swim then had the most painful calf massage I think I've ever had!

Finished my morning with bodybalance

Tempo Tuesday

Again the normal soreness in the shin when I got up. Laced my shoes up and headed out the door. Did a 1km warmup stopping a couple of times to stretch and massage my shin. Then off I went running to Empire Bay and back home. 10.2km in total in 40:36. That's just under 4min km pace so I was happy with that. Shin was ok doing the tempo run but could feel it the whole way. More of a slight ache.
I found the run hard at first with my asthma playing up.
After the tempo I did a 2km warmdown so 13.2km done today

Monday...active recovery day

Hard to get out of bed this morning. Those flannelette sheets really hold you hostage. Anyway I had no choice but to escape as I had clients to see.

Later I had physio on my shin and Stan said to see how it goes over the next 4 weeks and if no better come back otherwise he will see me again next time I'm broken.

Got a strength workout before I saw Stan then tonight I got a yoga class in.

Sydney trail running...Wildflower gardens 10km

After a few more beers than I should have consumed yesterday...(12 in total) I got up just before 5am. A couple pieces of toast, a shower and a big drink of water I'm off to the Hope's residence to meet Kerry and Charlie. We then then pick up Therese and Alyssa and make our way to St Ives. Finding a great parking spot which no one else managed to find we trudge through wet grass trying to keep my socks dry.

Finding a nice spot near the heater we huddle around until it was removed and located in a new location. 

With 30min before the hooter sounded Charlie and myself run some of the course for a warmup. Testing my shin and other than a slight ache  it's not too bad. 

Not long later we are lined up and ready to go. A great course of lots of technical single trails, lots of wet rocks, lots of puddles, lots of ferns, some nice steep downhill fire trails, a few stairs and we get to run the course twice.

I'm feeling great for most of the first lap but about 4km in my legs got heavy. First lap in 26min but have no idea of the seconds and I'm on my way in the second lap thinking I may do 2min slower so a finish time of 54min would be about right That second lap took just under 4min and I finished n about 56:30ish. 

All in all a great course and nice wet conditions

Saturday...trotters and spinning

This morning felt absolutely friggin freezing! Off to trotters for a run to Avoca. Got about 11.5km done by going the wrong way. Shin was good but felt tight as with the calf. Ran pretty easy as I'm doing the Sydney trail race tomorrow.

After trotters I went a done a double cycle class the some strength work. Then it was a relaxing arvo sipping on a few beers :-)

Shortest day of the yr......does that mean it's almost Summer?? (I wish!)

After working until 9:30pm last night I was happy to have a sleep in and get my butt out of bed a little after 8am.
Got an easy 47min 10km down in Umina. Shin was pretty good. Slightly sore and uncomfortable at the start then just felt tight.
Then time for a 2km swim then later made my way to the gym for some strength work.

Thursday 15k

15.2km to be exact. 1hr11min10sec or 4:40/km pace. Bensville to rip bridge and back.
Started off pretty slow then just picked it up because I felt ok. Once again my right shin was painful at the start but after 5-10min was fine. Tight but fine.

Wednesday...cycle class, run, balance...is that a triathlon?

Like the headline say's......I started with a cycle class then a 10km run on the treadmill then straight to bodybalance. For the first time in about 6 weeks my shin felt good :-)

Tuesday.....swimming....sneezing....active recovery

No running today. Just feel like I need a few days rest. Right butt and left peroneals haven't quite been the same since glowworm and the trouble I've been having with the right one is about the same as it's been for the last 6 or 7 weeks.

So today I head to the pool and swim 3km. Taking my time and enjoying it. Took around 70min. Then for the next 20min I sneeze. Then later out of the blue I go through another 15min of sneezing. Sneezing is something that while you are trying to drive is quite dangerous. Maybe worse than drink driving. On that note I need to find a tissue

TOUGH = Glow Worm Marathon weekend.......

I'm not too sure how to put this race weekend into words. It's a race I think you are best living the whole atmosphere and camping with everyone else the night before. I think those who choose to stay elsewhere missed out on what makes this event so great.

If you love running hills you will love this race, if you love climbing cliffs you will love this race, if you love amazing views you will love this race, if you love running down hills you will love this race, if you love running down cliffs you will love this race, if you love technical uphill and downhill then you will love this race, if you love running fire trails, single trails, glow worm tunnels you will love this race!

So for me it started getting to Newnes about 4pm. I was hoping to get there about 2ish but got away a bit later than I hoped for. Straight away I put up my tent then have a look around. It wasn't long before the sun went down and the cold came up. I was ready for this cold and had layers of clothes ready to keep me warm.
The rest of the night was chatting to some people I haven't seen for a while, chatting to a couple of other trotters who made the journey, drinking a few beers, eating some food and listening to the band they had playing. Went to bed all rugged up and by 10pm I was crashed out.

Sunday morning I wake early and get out of the tent. I look up in the sky and see so many stars. It was quite magical. It looked so different than the Central Coast. Not sure why but it was pretty amazing!
Soon the sun is up and the next thing we are getting ready to race this thing.

At 8am we head off. a couple of km's in and I notice the cold air is making it hard for me to breathe. Next thing we run up some stairs and make our way up the first hill. I try to keep with the people I'm running with but am just having too much trouble breathing so I slow down.
Next thing we hit our next hill/mtn/cliff. Not too sure but I think "cliff" would be best to describe this thing. I mean there is a rope there to help you climb up part of it. This cliff just keeps going and going and going and going. I'm also able to get my breathing back under control as we climb as the pace is now really slow. I have no idea how long or how far we climbed that cliff for but it seemed like eternity!
Ok so once at the top we get to do an out back section of about 100m over a few rocks. The view from here was just outstanding! It was enough to make me stop running and take it in for about 10seconds and in a race that's a long time. Next thing we start to make our way down another hill for quite a few km's. There are about 4 of us running this section together and soon I see the front runners heading back.
Once down the bottom we turn around and start to make our way back up to the place with the amazing views. I manage to run quite a bit of those hills then it's down, down, down the cliff.

2hrs15min I'm back at the start and that means i'm half way there. Cool I'm now thinking I may finish this thing in about 4hrs15min but that soon changed.

We make our way across a river that's about ankle deep but cold enough to numb my feet for the rest of the run.

A few more km's later still feeling ok but heavy in the legs we go up some stairs. This was the point that wrecked me! Calves, hamstrings and adductors all cramped up and left my legs so lactic I had trouble moving them. I somehow manage to shuffle/walk to the Glow worm tunnel getting passed now by the half marathon runners with Mark Lee flying past me to the other elite runners to the larger types. grrrrrr c'mon legs work!!!!!!

Get to the tunnel which we have to walk through then it wasn't long and we were heading down hill for the rest of the race. This is where I came back to life and was now passing quite a few runners that got me earlier.

After 4hrs35min I finally finish walk over to my tent, change out of my running clothes, grab beer, walk back to the finish, lie down on a towel and think what an amazing event this is!

Sat...trotters Enzo's run

Not much to say here but we ran every hill in Terrigal/Wamberal and must have covered about 15km I reckon. I ran with Gary Pickering for most of it.
Ran about 2km beforehand to warm up my leg

Friday.. a recovery day

No running today. Decided to give my leg a bit of rest and sleep in. Pretty much worked then went and got myself a massage. It wasn't as painful as I thought it would be so I guess that's a good sign.

Thursday

14km this morning. I head out the door with compression (well long compression tights) on my lower leg and can still feel pain there. More of an ache than anything. Kinda travels from midway along my leg and sometimes I feel it more near the knee and other times down lower. After about 2km I stop and move my tights off my lower leg by pulling them up to my knee. Fells better so I run about another 1km to test it out and notice the ache is slightly better but that could be because it's been warmed up so I pull my tights back down and carry on and this time notice the ache has come back slowly. GOD ALL I WANT TO DO IS FUCKING RUN AND NOT PLAY AOUND WITH MY FUCKING CLOTHING.....I'm thinking in my head!  Hip/glute nerve pain all good so that put a smile on my face.

Anyway I continue with my run and as normal I notice it gets better the longer I go and doesn't seem to get any worse. I notice it stays achy all day though
So I'll keep on going get this Glow Worm marathon out of the way this Sunday then may take a week off to recover.

Tomorrow might be a rest day (maybe)

Wednesday easy run

Up in Newcastle this morning and ran a comfortable  57min 12km from Carrington to Nobby's beach and back. Back/glute was sore for the first min then came good and calf was pretty good on the first half but on the way back my calf felt mega tight! Felt like I had a small cork in it. Could still run ok and was fine when I finished.
Tonight I spent quite a bit of time on the foam roller

Tues...speed run, easy run rehab and swimming

So it seems I do have peroneus longus pain on the right leg. Always seems to be something.
Not stopping me from training though...well not yet anyway. I'm hoping it will be like a lot of injuries I get where I can manage it and keep my training up.

So today I got up and 15min later at 5:30am I'm out the door and off running. After the first few steps I notice pain straight away so I stop access the situation then get back into it. Only quite sore for the first few steps then feels ok. I do know it's there through the whole run but seems to be manageable.

So this mornings run I do 8 or 9 4min hard with 1min recovery on a 11km circuit. Stopped a couple of times just to stretch out my hip and quickly massage my peroneus and calf.

A little bit later I have physio but do my second run just before. 10km in 47min. I then explain where I'm feeling the discomfort.

Next stop after physio is off to get acupuncture done. 10-15 needles stuck in my peroneals, butt and back. I notice the difference straight away.

Next stop I'm off for a 2km swim then its off for food and now here I am :-)  

Sunday 43km of around the Bay

Had a nice sleep in and didn't wake up until 7am. I was pretty tired from yesterday.
My peroneus longus pain was only there slightly so I wore my compression socks.

Decided to run from home and do around the bay plus a bit extra to make it over the marathon distance. The more I got into the run the less pain I was getting. I just ran a moderate pace after the first 3km. The concrete from East Gosford to WoyWoy wasn't pleasant.

Anyway I pulled up pretty good. Took a water bottle with me and 2 gels

After the run I went and got a massage. Felt great after that

So 43km in 3hrs21min. About 4:41/km pace

Saturday....Frosty Canberra

Up and out running at 5:30am. It was about -3deg and the one thing I didn't bring because I couldn't find them were my gloves! So I grab some socks and decide to use them.

Even though the weather was cold there was a magic feeling in the air. Crisp and icy. Great weather for running.

Just did the 15.5km loop around Lake Burley Griffin.

Rest of the day was massaging from 8:45am to 7pm then driving home. Got home just after 11pm

Friday. Driving, working and running

It's crazy how much you can fit into a few days. Friday started off with me getting up at about 3am and was out driving on my way to Canberra by 3:25am. I get to Mittagong and I stop to do a 10k run at about 5:30am. Back about 48min later and continue to drive to Canberra. I get there and get straight to work and finish about 2pm so I then go for another 5k easy. Leg was pretty good. I can feel the side of the calf but seems to get better the more I run

Rest of the day was spending it with my girls at the Movies

Thurs 6th June....nerve pain coming and going...ohh and I can't breathe

Off for an early morning 17.5km run from Terrigal to Forries and back. Pretty much doing the Waterslide run. First few steps into it and glute painful from the nerve pain but soon settles. About 2km in I find I'm struggling to get any oxygen in. I really struggled. Wasn't wheezy but couldn't breathe properly.
Anyway so what do I do? I decide after 24min to do intervals. 3min hard with a 1min recovery and 5 of them. Hard was an understatement. Funny thing is as soon as I put in hard efforts all my nerve pain totally vanished.
Once I got the intervals done my pain came back but only slightly.

1hr24min or 4:48/km pace.

 

Wednesday 5/6 run and cycle

Wake up to my alarm at 6am and decide to reset the silly thing for 6:15am. 15min later it goes off again. Damn. Ok I can lie in bed and stay nice and warm or get my butt up and start my day. I choose the latter and get up.
By 7am i'm at Terrigal and off for a 10k. 48min45sec later I'm back Nerve pain there but much better running back.
Next stop was the gym where I got a double cycle class in.

So thats it for today

Tuesday a run and a swim

Up feeling really tired for a 6am 11km run done in just over 55min. Nerve pain was showing me it's still there but was fine to run on. It was radiating down to my calf but mostly came on after about 4km in.

Work was next then off to the pool to do a 30min swim. Lost count of how many laps because midway through they decided to change the 50m pool to a 25m pool so I just kept on swimming along in my own world for 30min. Back, leg, butt and all the other signs of nerve pain was settled slightly after the swim. It was then home for more work then a letric soda crystal bath where I feel asleep for about 45min.

it's cool it's only nerve pain

So off to physio and it looks like the pain on my right butt/hamstring is nerve related from my L5/S1 disc bulge. So with 5 stretches to focus on here's hoping it speeds up the recovery. In the mean time I'll keep running at this stage as it doesn't seem to bother me too much as long as I don't run too fast.

No running today just a recovery from the run yesterday. Woke up tired and some discomfort in my leg. Got better as the day went on

A very wet playground...Wakefield to Congewai with the Trotters!

Have to be at West Gosford by 6am to get the Trotters bus. Ok...no big deal....alarm goes off just after 4am and I spring out of bed....ok I set the alarm to go off 20min later then I slowly get my creaking muscles out of bed. After a shower I kinda feel pretty good for 4:30am on a Sunday morning.

On my way to West Gosford and a stop at Maccas for coffee I'm ready and standing in some light rain with a few others.

About 7 of us got off to do the 40km section and the rest were off to do the 30km section. I have no idea what time we set off running but off we go. I'm running with Ian for 20 or 30min and we are discussing how great the run will be if the weather stays how it is (light drizzle) then somewhere I lost him behind me in the fog. The first 10km has quite a lot of hills and with the rain lots and lots and lots of slippery clay where I think I spent more time sliding than running.

The next section was where the 30k runners started and I got there in 54min and up the hill to the communication tower I head. I ran most of this except for the almost vertical bits then I'm on the stairs where I see some walkers heading towards me and one wanted to chat to me about TNF race 2 weeks ago. So we are chatting away for a bit over 5min and I tell him I might get going again. He tells me the 30k runners were about 20min ahead. Cool I might catch them. Once up the top I find it easy going to Heatons Gap. No use looking at the lookout because of the fog so I head down to the jungle section. I love this part and after a while I catch up to Les, Deirde, Lynne and Wayne then just ahead a new guy (forgot his name) the up to the Hugging pole. Thats a nasty steep climb which I manage to walk run it. I hug the pole and off I go again. Into the real jungle I loose track of the course. I can see the pink dots on the trees then they just vanish so I decide after 10min scratching my head I'll just run back until I see another runner. Then I see Ian and together we find our way through. Well it was Ian that found the way. We then run together until we get to checkpoint 1 where Robyn is waiting with all sorts of goodies. She tells us she has only seen Jo, Detta and Denise and they missed the jungle section and were about 15min ahead, so off we go again.

Ian dropped off pretty much straight away and it wasn't long before I catch up to them then I'm on my own for the rest of the run. I get to the bus in 4hrs40min and Graham Steele is there. He says he finished in 3hrs10min and I'm thinking thats a pretty time then I ask if he went through the jungle section but he missed it too.
17min later Ian and Denise came in and over the next few hours the rest made it.

Long day but an awesome day

How did my hip go? hmmm well I couldn't take off on any down hills and after about 3hrs my hamstring was getting quite achy so I just ran within myself

Tomorrow I'm off for physio and I'll see what Stan reckons

Sat a run and help move a house

Got up all ready for trotters. Leg butt hamstring all felt good. Go to trotters a bit early and go for a bit of a warm up to the haven did 6 laps then ran back. Did a few stretches while I was running those laps so I guess about 5km then the run was Woody's run. 13.8km to Erina through Erina fair to the base of Kincumber mountain then back to Terrigal. My leg started off great but if I tried to put any pace on the hamstring would get tight so I setteled for an easy running pace. Lot's of hills, road and trails. I did do an extra km because I couldn't remember a turn so went a way that I knew.

Then my next workout of the day was driving up to mum's and with my brothers help we moved pretty much the whole house.

So a good workout for a Saturday

Tomorrow it's a GNW run with the trotters doing about 40km in whats meant to be RAIN! Fun fun fun!!!

Friday. Last day of Autumn with a run & a swim...yes a SWIM!

Got up just after 5am and the first thing I did was shake my leg around and see if my butt/hamstring would hurt. I tend to do weird things when I've got some niggle like do some random 5m jog in some car park after getting out of my car or do a quick run on the spot jog to see if I have any pain. People must look at me thinking if I'm some kind of crazy man who has some problem with some standing leg syndrome!

So I get up shake rattle and roll my leg and it feels ok. Then I drive to Umina Beach and head off for a nice easy 10k run. I get running and expect my hip to be sore. Nope all good there Phew! But the right hamstring is pretty tight. I think it may be from the stretch and strength session I did on it yesterday. I stop a couple of times on the run. Stretched it out after 6min. Could've kept on running but thought it may be a good idea to stretch it. Stopped a few min later to use the toilet and just as I sit down I see they have run out of toilet paper...ohhhhhh lucky I looked! I run again for about another 10min and find another toilet with toilet paper :-) then I stopped one last time about 26min into the run to do another stretch. It all felt pretty good but was better after a 2min stretch.
I got back in 49min30sec running time so I was happy with that.

Then it was off to the pool. I haven't been for a swim in months and showing my lap times it proves it! Wow I was slow....super slow! But hey I was cool with that. Only did 1km and normally I'd swim 1km in about 17-18min but today was done in 22min.

So a nice Friday training wise. I managed to get to the steamroom to relax a bit as well

Thursday 30/05

I had most of today off work so I decided to take advantage of that and sleep in. I've been so tired the last couple of weeks and when I woke up at 5am this morning I had to have a stern word with my brain and explain to it that I NEED TO SLEEP IN! So with that said the next thing I know it's 8:45am and I got out of bed. The only thing somehow I woke up with pain in my shoulder blades that made turning my neck friggin painful!

So after getting some extra sleep I put on my shoes and headed out the door. Butt tight at first and like yesterday I stopped to stretch it after 7min then again 23min into the run and one last time 55min into it. After the last stretch it felt 100% and was running along nicely.
The run was a 21.7km loop from home in Bensville to Davidstown Via Yattalunga. It's a road run with a few good hills. Did that in 1hr43min10sec and was running about 4:10 pace in the last couple of km's

About 2hrs later I got to the gym and did a strength and core workout and again got in the steamroom.

Now as I write this my butt is ok but a bit achy and my right hamstring is what I would say "mega tight!"

All in all I'm happy with todays training :-)

Wednesday 29/05 - easy runs x 2 :-)

2 runs and my butt was able to get through both. Not game to run fast but it's a good feeling to be running.
First up I went for an early morning run at from Umina beach doing a 10km that's nice a flat. Ran past Adam Jordan and it must've been cold as he had a top on and was wearing gloves!
I stopped a few times to stretch my butt out. The first was 6min into it. The second was 20min later and after that stretch it felt normal again. About 10min later I gave it one last stretch. Finished the run in a few seconds under 50min.

Run number 2 wasn't planned and I did it at the gym on the treadmill. I went to the gym to do some strength work and was going to warm up on the bike but decided instead to try the treadmill. Was feeling ok on that so kept going until I got another 10k done. This time in 48:40.

It was then time to do some glute strength work and use the steamroom

Tuesday - 28/05

Spent last night with letric soda crystals on my calf and when I woke up there was no pain! WOW that stuff is good!.

10km completed this morning. Did it on the treadmill in case my hip got too sore. I could feel it through the whole run but it didn't get worse and it didn't get better so I just plodded along. Took 52min so nice and easy.

The good news is the hip felt better as the day went on

So after last night success with the soda crystals on my calf, tonight I'm wrapping the stuff on my hip

just a niggle

So after running that 10k last Wednesday I decided to run again Thursday and again did another 10km but this time 10x3min at about 3:45-3:55 pace with a 2min recovery jog in between. Again the right glute has that niggle and I can also feel it down on the side of my right calf and a little in the back. It was ok to run with though and was fine straight after but as the day went on it got worse. I could feel my right hamstring being sore as well. It was like it was missing out on the action and wanted to join in the niggle party!

Friday I decided to rest and the same with Saturday. Well Saturday I had a first aid course and if I was going to run it would've been the 10km trotters time trial and I just felt like I needed to get some extra sleep so I decided to stay in the warmth of my doona. Plus being a time trial would mean I'd run pretty hard even if I was running easy.

Sunday I got up to run and only did about 5km. Wasn't too sure if I should keep running or just stop and go do a cycle class. The pain didn't get any worse out running and in some parts was feeling ok then it would hurt again so I made my way home and cycle classed it instead.

Today being a Monday I don't run but tomorrow I've decided to go to the gym and run on the treadmill at an easy pace, not 44-45min 10km pace but more like 52-57min 10km pace and see how that makes that hip feel

Post TNF100 - Wednesday

3 days rest from running and I felt it was time to put the running shorts and shoes back on and head out the door. First thing I notice is I still have discomfort on the right glute area. It became sore last week after racing Bobbin Head and even though I could feel it dong TNF it was quite runnable. I think because the pace was easy.

Anyway today I get out the door and within 100m I decide to do a 10k. Starting off easy I pushed the pace slightly every now and then to see if the niggle got better or worse. It seemed to stay the same if not slightly better. So for the first 5km I ran a moderate pace and turned around in 24:30. On the way back I pushed it a lot harder and in the last km I reckon I was doing about 3:50 pace. Back in 21:15.
So 45:45.

Lets see how my body pulls up after that

TNF100 2013....the biggest last minute race of my life!

How do you plan for a race you haven't planned for? Just go "what the hell, lets do it!"
So it started like this. Thursday I'm having a look on facebook and Graham Fowler puts a post on saying "all the 100km runners from Terrigal Trotters are over 50" so I say "I'm almost tempted to break that statistic" and Sharon Byrnes says Andy Hewitt has a free entry he's giving away so after about a 15second think I give Andy a msg asking if he still has that entry. He tells me he gave it away earlier that morning. So I decided to leave it at that.
Then just as I'm about to go to bed I have a look at the Northface page and someone has put on she has an entry she is giving away...first in can have it. Without even thinking I send her a msg saying I would love the entry if it's still available. She say's yep and next thing I know I have a 100km in just over a days time......ohhhh dear what have I done?

Now this isn't a race you can just turn up to and race. This is a race where you need a whole shop load of gear to run with and it has to be very precise in the materials you need to take. So at 10:45pm I set out the task of finding my

• polypropylene long sleeve thermal top
• polypropylene log leg thermal pants
• Waterproof hooded jacket
• Waterproof long legged pants
• Buff
• polypropylene thermal gloves
• headlamp and my backup light
• my space blanket
• my very precise compression bandage
• my waterproof map case
• my 100-weight long sleeve synthetic fleece top plus a few other bits and pieces

So by the time I find all this stuff it's about 12:30am and I still need to print off a few things to transfer the entry into my name. So about 1:30am I go to bed with my head spinning on what I've just done! I tried to sleep but every time I almost nod off I remember something else I need to organize. By the time I think everything is good I have to get up to go to work. arrrrgghhhh!!!!!!! So without any sleep I manage to move a client to another day and get other clients in earlier so I finish work at 12pm. Still have to get a visible vest, print stuff off, pack my bags, workout where I'm going to sleep etc...etc...etc...
I pack my tent and drive to Katoomba caravan park put up my tent then head to the registration to get my gear checked and transfer the entry into my name with about 1000 other people. 90min later I'm all done!
I catch up with Graham Fowler and Greg Brown and we head off to dinner then after a trip to Coles to get some last minute food for breakfast we retreat back to the caravan park where I use their cabin to work out how I'm going to put all that gear in my pack. All rugged up and actually really warm I head off to my tent to sleep. Now did I sleep? No. I toss and turn thinking "f**k I'm racing 100km in a few hours!" Next thing it's 4am and I have to get up. So 2 days of no sleep I'm ready to race 100km.
I use their cabin again to get ready then 10min before we leave I can't find my bib. Christ! I panic running back to my tent, back to the cabin, back to my tent then I find it! Phewww. Ok off we go to get the bus to the start line...all good I'm ready to go. Then I think "where's my phone" Shit! Race back to the cabin find it...I wouldn't have bothered but its an item you must take.

Now that's the lead up to the race
Now for the race

How am I going to do this? Easy I'll just run until I get to the finish line. So that's what I set out to do. Since it's a last minute race I just take it easy. Get to the first checkpoint 2hrs and feel good, get 3km before the second checkpoint and I feel a bit dizzy so I slow down, relax get to the checkpoint where they want to see both lights and my waterproof matches. Headlights I find, matches I search and search and search. About 7min later I find them 2min later I get all the stuff back into my pack grab lot's of food and about 11-12min (10min too long) I'm gone. Feeling good again I just keep moving along in my own happy world. Get to the 50km sign in 5:48 thinking I'm doing ok. Get to the 54km checkpoint and 3min later I'm off. Passing a few runners feeling good I manage to run to the base of Nellies Glen. Now Nellies Glen is a never ending set of mixed terrain steps that just doesn't seem to end and must go for about 1km and after running over 60km it knocks the shit out of you! Once I get to the top it takes about 5min before I could turn a walk into a run. A few km later I'm at the 65km checkpoint where I need to use the 1 toilet they have which someone just had to be using it. 9min later (again way too long) I get going again. Cool only 35km to go.....I feel good and at this rate I reckon I've got a sub12hr in the bag...that is until Kedumba. Now Kedumba is a hill that goes about 8 or 9km down hill then about 1km uphill then about 1km or 2km down hill then you see a sign saying you have done 80km. I see that sign and know I have a 8km-9km climb of up, up, up and up. So without further ado I get into a walk/run mode. Within 500m I feel funny in the stomach, 100m later I can only manage a walk as any faster makes me feel sick. Another 100m and I have to throw up. Next thing I know I can hardly walk feel like I'm falling to sleep and getting really cold. The sun has decided to go to bed and the moon has decided to wake up. I get out my visible vest and headlamp and Marc Pearson catches up to me who was pretty much running the same as me earlier but was now also reduced to a walk. He tries to encourage me to walk with him but I'm just too slow and after another vomit he makes his way off and I put one foot in front of the other, have every runner who passes me ask if I'm ok and when this lady runs by and gives me a hug I know I couldn't be looking too good! I get to the 84km gear check but instead of getting my gear check the first aid checks me out.
With 5km to the next checkpoint which is all up hill then another 11km of terrain that takes most runners 1hr30min-2hrs30min to complete I decide to call it quits!
10min later I'm in the first aid car with a knee injured victim and we get a lift to the last checkpoint. I get my blood pressure checked, blood sugar checked and all this other stuff done and told all is good and they get some random folks from Sydney who were on their way back to the finish to give me a lift.
Back at the finish I have a hot shower, order some chips have a coke and I feel all good again! WOW!
So all in all I'm happy to get to 84km off no mental training and no sleep for over 2days.
I go back to the caravan park and sleep in the warmth of the cabin and spend Sunday having a massive breakfast, massive lunch not long later with a bunch of friends and after all that has happened since Thursday night at about 10:45pm I'm sitting back with a beer relaxing thinking........WHAT A FUCKING AWESOME WEEKEND! :-)

being lazy!

It's time....time for me to jot down my running again. I've got out of the habit of it since mid a
last year. One of the reasons I like to write about my running is so I can look back and see what I have done at the push of a couple of buttons. If an injury pops up I can see how I tackled that injury should it arise again. It's also good to see what I was doing in the past and I can also see how my times have slowed up as age slowly hits me.

So I think I'll start with this week so far. CRAP! but that's life. Well it's not too crap but I have a pain in my right butt and low back and it's since I did the trail race at Bobbin Head on Sunday. All that jumping, climbing stairs, falling over and those hills took the toll on my body. In quite a bit of pain Sunday night I was happy to have Monday as a rest day. Tues I did 11km from Bensville to Empire Bay and back in the morning and my hips, glute, arm was very sore. Later I did a second run but did it on the treadmill and after 8km I had enough. Pain again so didn't want to push through it.
Wednesday I got 2.5km then turned around so only 5km done and today I've just come back from an 11km easy run stopping a couple of times to stretch out my hip which makes it feel instantly better.

Lets see what tomorrow shall bring

Coming back to planet Earth

Well how does the body pull up after running 210km? It's been 2 weeks now and other than a very sore butt muscle from driving to Canberra and back yesterday for 9hrs it's feeling pretty good.
The first week after the race however was a different story.
I remember after the race being sick for the rest of the day. I did manage to eat a chicken burger that night for dinner but that was it. I had some visualization of having this massive feed and downing the beers to celebrate but nooooooo it was a 3hrs nap then just in some sort of zombie land for the next couple of days.
The next morning we started to make our way back home stopping at Maccas for breakfast. I did feel hungry so orded all this food and did manage to get though it but was me done pretty much for the day.
Now I have no idea how much weight I lost running for 24hrs but I know I did look pretty awful and not being able to eat was kinda stressing me out.
I think it was Friday food tasted normal to me again. That's 5 days of not really eating.

So after 5 days of being in some other unknown world I start to return to the land of the living.
The next day which was a Sat I had my first run in a week with the trotters. The run was Kincumber mtn. Well I start off ok but by 2km my hip flexors reduced me to a shuffle but hey not that I was bothered as it was good to be able to run. The next day being a Sunday I head off to Bobbin Head to do the Sydney trail running race. 12km. To my surprise I'm only about 1min slower than last month but last month I suffered with my asthma so that was a pretty slow run anyhow.
Then all last week I just got back into a few 11km runs a 22km run a trotters 10km race which I managed to come 6th on the hilly time trial then today I head off at 5:30am and meet up with other like minded souls for a 47.5km turned into 50km bush run.
So I'm pretty happy with my recovery I did drive to Canberra and back yesterday after the 10k yesterday and like I said my glute is pretty damn sore right now.

So hear I sit drinking a beer and listening to Gun's n Roses relaxing :-)

Coburg 24hr

Finally got that magic 210km that I tried to get last year. This race has been my main focus for the last 4 months. I came with a goal of reaching 210km and nothing less. Anything over would be a bonus.
The race started at 10am Sat which meant we wouldn’t be finished until 10am Sun. Holy heck that’s a long time to be running around a 400m athletic track.
Now the first thing most people say when I tell them is “oh how boring” But when you actually do these events there is nothing boring about them. Yes you are running in circles but you are never never alone. With so many people cheering you on from people you know to total strangers. I can’t explain in words how good these events are. It’s also very challenging physically and mentally. I mean there is no finish line. You are running to see how far you can go in a given time

So at 10am we are off and running. My plan was to run very very comfortable from the start and noticed I was running about 2:00-2:05 each lap. I also decided to walk one lap every 30min but after about 3hrs I found it easier on the body to just jog slowly each 30min

The hour splits that I could find were

1hr – 27 laps, 10.8km 8^th place
2hrs – 54 laps, 21.6km, 7^th place
4hrs - 111 laps, 44.4km 5^th place
5hrs – 139 laps, 55.6km, 4^th place
6hrs – 166 laps, 66.8km, 4^th place
7hrs – 192 laps, 76.8km, 4^th place
8hrs – 217 laps, 86.8km, 3^rd place
12hrs – no info but got told I did 124km
14hrs – 353 laps, 141.2km, 3^rd place
15hrs – 373 laps, 149.2km, 3^rd place
16hrs – 388 laps, 155.2km, 3^rd place
17hrs – 408 laps, 163.2km, 3^rd place
18hrs – 425 laps, 170km, 4^th place
19hrs – 438 laps, 175.2km, 4^th place
20hrs – 457 laps, 182.8km, 4^th place
21hrs – 479 laps, 191.6km, 4^th place
22hrs – 500 laps, 200km, 4h place
23hrs – 514 laps, 205.6km, 4^th place
24hrs – 527 laps, 210.836km, 4^th place

I started to feel  the effects of fatigue, pain etc etc about 15hrs in.

At 12hrs I had a change of shoes. 14hrs in and I had trouble eating and at about 17hrs I sat down and had a 5min sleep. It was also around 17hrs I had my first vomit and really struggled for the next 3hrs. At 20hrs I decided to run 9 laps then walk 1 lap and noticed I was feeling good again. I had another 5min to rest my eyes at 20hrs in and had 2hrs to reach my goal of 210km. That last 2hrs all I could manage was run 1lap walk 1lap. The last 30min was pretty much walking. 7laps to get 210km I had to pull off the track and spend about 5-6min just vomiting. No way was I going to fall short got back up got back on the track and walked the rest of the way. With 2 laps to my goal and 12min to do it in I knew I had it. Once I finally got my laps completed I had 3min left on the clock. Managed another 36m then just collapsed on the ground and waited for the hooter to sound.
Totally spent from all energy I lied on the ground and felt amazing in what I had just done

 Later I found out I done 2 more laps than my goal so that last 836m was my bonus :-) 

 

81km....Quite a big training run :-)

With 6 weeks until Coburg I wanted to get one more extra long run done somewhere. Finding the right time to do it was hard though. I would've liked to have done it in about 2 weeks time but it didn't fit into my calander and this weekend was the only chance I had.
So 81km from Bensville on the Central Coast to Mt Hutton near Newcastle to visit my mum through lots of rain and lots of wind!
The plan was to go out at about what I plan to do at Coburg. The difference with this run is the hills. I had hills at the start then slight rises until the last 7km when the hills started again.
I think I went too fast for the first 30km but after that I think I found the pace that I think I'll try to stick to. I also stopped and walked every hour for 2-4min each time.
The first feeling of fatigue came about 60km in and by the time I finished my legs were aching and aching and aching. I felt I could've kept on going but did I want to? NO! I also ran in my New Balance which are a very minimal shoe without any support. So with the shoes and the hills I was pretty happy with how it all went.
Every hour I walked and ate solid food mainly being museli bars etc but also had gels and hammer perpetuem which was the first time I've tried it. I think I'll be using that in the race as it digested quite well.

Again thank you Sonia for being my taxi for the trip home the next day :-)

Ok my splits are....and see if you can guess where I walked and where there was a big hill (not hard to work out)
6:01
5:46
5:54
5:59
5:42
6:14
6:09
5:44
6:11
5:57
6:34
5:32
5:39
5:54
5:53
6:05
5:45
6:01
6:05
5:45
7:10
5:39
5:38
5:56
5:48
5:49
5:47
5:52
6:01
5:52
6:01
5:52
7:51
6:04
5:52
6:02
6:30
6:13
6:20
6:26
6:08
7:23
6:32
6:11
5:59
6:22
6:06
5:55
5:56
6:20
6:06
8:00
6:40
6:25
6:21
5:59
6:24
6:27
5:54
6:29
7:45
6:42
6:08
5:40
5:51
6:10
6:09
6:17
6:24
7:11
8:24
6:25
6:12
6:27
6:22
6:38
8:07
7:11
6:10
6:16
6:18
6:43
6:30

Then I collapsed on the floor!!!

Stromlo 12hr (well 8hrs45min)

I went into this race with a couple of plans. One of those plans was to do a PB of 131km which I made a few days before the race.
The other plan which I had decided on when I entered was to use this race as a long training run. I thought if I was leading and there were a couple of hours to go I would push on to hold the lead to the end.
If I was 1 or 2 km behind the winner with a few hrs to go I would try to catch them.
If I was coming 4th or 5th or was a long way behind I would just run on feel making sure I don't wreck my body too much.
Well at 93km or 8hrs45min I decided to pull out. I was coming 4th and about 2km behind 3rd.
My race started off good. Yes I went too fast for the first 10km (44min I think) but since this wasn't a goal race but more of a training run I thought I may as well go out hard and see what happens
10k in about 44min, 1/2 marathon in 1hr37min, Marathon in about 3hrs25min I think and still feeling quite fresh.
The first bit of fatigue occured around 45km and my km splits were now about 5:05-5:15. I got to 50km and stomach problems just started. I stopped to go to the toilet and have a quick shower to freshen up. That worked a treat and I was back feeling good until 60km when I again did the toilet and shower thing. Feeling a bit human again until 70km and I once again toilet and showered. I must've been the cleanest runner out there! Each break costing me about 10min. I wasn't too worried but decided thats enough showering I've got to keep going! 70km-80km was pretty hard and I was now running 5:45-6:00 pace. 80km I came alive! Well until 87km. I ran each 1km lap between 5:19 and 5:45 witha 5:10 thrown in there somewhere then between 87km and 91km I was again slowing down. Not too sure what happened but betwwen 92km and 93km my toes said no more. I was forced to walk a lap because the pain in the toes wouldn't let me run.
After sitting down for 10min I knew that was it for me. If it was a goal race I would've started slower and would not have stopped at 93km but sitting there shivering my ass off all I was thinking was the damage I would risk if I decided to continue.
Big thank you to Sonia (2nd in the 6hr) and my Girls for all coming out to help me and Mum to make the trip down and of course to Dad for the lend of his Camper and car

So all in all I'm happy to have done a nice good hard long run. I just wouldn't do that in training on my own so this race was perfect for it.
I'm rapt that 2 days later my body feels pretty good and got an easy 5km in today.
I'm excited about Coburg even more now and know with it being still 8weeks away I'll be in peak shape! Well that's what I'm telling myelf :-)

Taper time

It's been a steady road back and after about 8 weeks back running I'm pretty happy with the way my running is panning out. My speed isn't there by any means but I feel my endurance is.
This weekend I'm going to have a go at my 3rd 12hr. This one is in Canberra at the Stromlo running festival. I feel I'm in ok shape for this and to be honest I'd really like to do a PB. To do that I need to run at least 130.052km. Not sure if it will happen as anything can happen in 12hrs of running but I'll give it a go. Really though it's pretty much a training run for Coburg 24hr in April.

Training in the last 8 weeks has been steady.
Back in the end of December I got a 24km run in around Sydney which almost killed me. Then a few days later on New yrs day I ran the black stump 30 something km's on a really hot day and even though I finished in an ok time I was pretty smashed for the next day or so. Then on 6th Jan I ran the Trotters around the bay 37km feeling much better running that comfortable in 2hrs53min and was the 2nd runner finished. The only problem there was a blood blister and a corn in my foot.
A week after that I raced the Manly Dam race. 10.2km of very tough trails and after getting the corn cut out of my foot I had a pain free race. Only lack of speed was my problem there.
The week after that on the 20th Jan I ran with the Trotters again and this time it was a memorial run for Muzza. 21km on the infamous Wambie Woppers run. Body felt great in that and I got another 9km in after to round it off to 30km
On Aussie day I entered in a team event for Knapsack 6hr then backed it up by running Woodford to Glenbrook the next day. With all this I could feel where I have been injured but each week of running seems to have improved it.
Then a week later on the 3rd of Feb I ran Megalong Mega on the 6ft track. About 36km of very hilly running. That was my worst run since I've been back. Right near the end I bonked! No energy left and had to sit on a rock for 15min and borrow some food of some very kind fellow runners. They took pity on me! Once I got food in me I could finish the final 2.5km to the finish.
Then last week I raced the Manly Dam race again going about 1min30sec faster and had no pain at all.

So there we are.... 4 days away from a 12hr and I've done the best I can to be in the shape I am in that time. When you think it wasn't all that long ago I couldn't do any running at all I'm pretty happy with how I've gone.

This week will just be easy 10km every day until Fri when I will just run 6km.

From ouch to slow running!

It's been a while since I've bothered with this thing and that's because I've been to hell and back with my running. One thing about this sport as you get older is your mind just thinks your body can do what it has always done but your body dosen't always agree with your mind.

For me it started back in May last yr when just as I was thinking I was back to my best my hamstring decided it needed a rest. My mind on the other hand had some races planned and I wasn't going to let my hamstring overrule my stubbon mind. The mind is quite a powerful thing!
So I completed a few mega long races and went well in one but shit in others. So after having a shit second attempt at a 24hr race and only being able to run 6min km pace in training because the hamstring hurt so much if I went any faster I decided to have a rest from running. 8 weeks I thought and I'd be back out there ready to go again.....well 8 weeks came and I still couldn't run. Ok I thought 10weeks....10 weeks and I'll be back out there.....10 weeks came and I still couldn't run....ok 12 weeks...it has to be good to run in 12 weeks after all 12 weeks is 3months and in 3months I've got to be healed. Well when your 40 I guess things don't quite repair as quick as they did when you are 30. 12 weeks went and I'm still in pain....arrrrggggghhhhhh!!!!!!!. Ok off I go and see my physio mate Stan and together we slowly get on top of this thing.

Just before Christmas and finally I'm doing some slow running. By new yrs I'm getting some long runs in and in Jan I'm entering some races again. Not fast races but just to be out there running with a number on my singlet felt outstanding!

I still have the injury and have to keep up my physio exercises but each week I've improved.

Let's hope 2013 will be a yr will be my ultra yr!

Caboolture 24hr

Well I did it. I finished running/walking around a dirt 500m track for 24hrs. These kinds of events are pretty crazy but also very social in a competitive kind of way.

I decided to enter this event after bombing out of the Sydney 24hr 5weeks earlier. This time I planned to run slower from the start then just make sure I feel comfortable running on feel rather than on time.

A 48hr event had started 24hrs earlier so those guys and girls were only 1/2 way done as I got started!
8am we get started and around and around we go. In my corner for the first 12hrs I had Denise there helping me out with all my needs doing an amazing job. More amazing was she was racing the 12hr at 8pm so that meant she was really doing a 24hr event as well. First 12hrs she was helping me while watching all these fresh people turn into a blizering mess.
I also went into this witha hamstring injury that has held me back for the last 3 months and I decided once I finish this I'll take a few month off to let it heal.

I was running really well just cruzing along for the first 13hrs. I went through 100km in 10hrs27min and felt amazing!
14hrs in and I'd covered 125km so was really starting to sloooowww down.
15hrs in and I'd done 129km. Thats 4km in 1hr! Hows that for turtle pace!
17hrs13min 138.5km covered. WOW! 9.5km in 2hrs13min Rocking!
18hrs11min 141km. Bloody hell I needed a sleep! I borrow a blanket and I sleep until just after the 20hr mark. In this time I was also freezing.
20hrs15min I cross the line in 141.5km and attempt some kind of pathetic shuffle
21hrs and 147.5km
22hrs 152km
23hrs 158km
The last hr I just tried to keep moving. I managed to run a bit walk a bit then rest a bit then run a bit then walk a bit then rest abit then somehow I found some strength to run about 5 laps in a row.
24hrs and I'd covered 163.217km.

The thing with a race like this is it takes so much more effort than a 100mile trail race. In fact I believe any trail runner or any ultra road runner that just sticks to distance races have only experienced one side to ultra running. If they really want to test themselves out then they should have a go at something really tough. This will test their mental toughness at the limits.

In all this time Denise was out there in her own world of pain battling out the 12hr event!
I must say a massive thank you to Mark & Sara who not only gave us a place to stay while we were up there but they also sacrificed taking their tent so we could fit in the car

I will definitely be back for another 24hr. Most likely Coburg but we will see