Adizero PROs on the trails

For quite some time I have wanted some flats to run on the trails. The Vibram Five Fingers do not have enough grip and my Nike Frees are too far away from the ground which causes instability. The other day I noticed there was some slight wear on the soles of my Frees (after over 1600km) so I went to the Adidas factory outlet and bought the PROs. I wanted the PR model which has slightly less cushioning and also the part surrounding the heal is less stiff which is better for my achillies problems, but they didn't have them in my size. The Adizero PROs are still very flat, with next to no cushioning. They are flatter than the Nike Frees and allow for better running form. They are light but not very flexible. I don't think this is a problem though because generally you are only going to bend at your toes and that is the only part these shoes bend. The Adizero PROs are almost the same as the Nike Waffles but they are wider so your feet have more room to breathe.

Today was the first time I got to take them on the trails. It was wet, muddy and quite slippery at times. I slid around a bit on the sandy soil. I'm not sure how to compare the grip to the Nike Waffles as I haven't worn those in the mud but it was adequate on the rocks. They don't pick up much dirt (like the lugs on the Frees do) and they dry quite fast after river crossings.



Had fun on the trails. I wanted to try to get from the southern end to the northern end of Plenty George Park by trail but I never even made it as far as Blue Lake. I found a new trail, ended up in a dead end, found another new trail with mtb tyre marks so I followed it. It was steep, it was fun, there were kangaroos & noisey cockatoos, found some dirt jumps built in a paddock, realised I was on someone's property, followed some more trails and did a bit of bush bashing to find my way back to the main trail. By that time I was a little tired and decided to head home to get some breakfast instead of continue the way I originally planned.

Gold Coast

This past weekend was the Tan Ultra. Last year I was 1st female in the 53k event and really wanted to do it again. Unfortunately I had to work all weekend. I was working up at the Gold Coast so I managed to get a 25km run from Broadbeach to The Spit and back. The weather was just perfect - much better than the wind and horizontal rain that the Tan Ultra runners had to battle through. Good on them for toughing it out!

Rocbloc gaiters

This morning I tested out my new zebra print Rocbloc gaiters on the trails. They are really cool. Especially coz the Nike Frees let so many rocks in on every run so it was great to run on the trails without having rocks in my shoes. I was going to take before and after shots, but even after several river crossings and some rather muddy sections they didn't end up that dirty. That will be fixed over time.

I discovered a cool new single trail at Blue Lake. After finding myself in a lot of dead ends there I told myself there was no point exploring new trails there but I just can't help it. If I notice somewhere new I have to go there. There were bike tyre marks on the trail and it's a fact that mtb riders know all the cool places. I had to pay attention though. One wrong step and I'd be falling a long way into the river. I also saw another cool trail that crossed the river and went up the other side of the gully. That could be the key to making it by trail to the northern Plenty George Park.

You Yangs 5050

Last weekend was the You Yangs 5050. I had entered the 50mile event, but like a lot of people who had never run in the You Yangs before, I seriously underestimated the toughness of those hills. There was no way I was going to finish in the 10 hrs so I ended up pulling out at 50km. As the sole female 50mile entrant, it was a little disappointing to miss out on my trophy! But I had a great day, it was perfectly organised with great support and as usual the friendly runners made it for me.

There were so many steep hills. It was like running the length of Allendale Rd 10 times. Oh, and the stairs. We had to run up to the summit twice and I tell you it was very long the second time. Those stupid stairs to the top were only suitable for people who are 3m tall. Who put those there? The map was also quite confusing. Because the You Yangs is such a small area, we did about 50 different loops of various fire trails and single trails. I couldn't be bothered looking at the map properly because I didn't wear any clothes with pockets and I couldn't be bothered getting it out of my pack. Fortunately I was running with others most of the way so I trusted their judgement when the course markers were unclear.

I spent the first 3rd just trying to get into a rhythm. My feet felt like they were landing really hard in my shoes (Nike Frees) and it took at least 10k to start to feel normal. There was a bit of tag going on between me and David, Michelle + Mark, who were running together. They were too cheerful and chatty for me on such a long run so I was always either a bit ahead or a bit behind them. The hills were draining and I was still tossing up between distances at that point so I wasn't that chirpy about having to maintain a certain pace to make the cutoff time. After a while I knew I couldn't keep up so just relaxed in my slow pace.

From somewhere around the 15-20k mark I started running with Kate. Somehow we just kind of ended up at the same pace and it was good having someone to chat to and someone to keep me going so I didn't walk the few flat bits. Somewhere after 30k David decided he was not going to keep up with Michelle + Mark, and Kate + I caught up to him. Together we pulled each other up the hills, kept each other moving, complained about the stairs and took a wrong turn and ended up in some strange area with no course markers for a few km. I don't know what happened exactly as I couldn't be bothered with the confusing map of a million loops. We did end up doing 50k all up though so it worked out ok in the end.

We were walking up this steep hill but when we saw the aid station we had to run and look like we were having fun for the photo:

Once we'd eaten our food we didn't think there'd be more photos so settled back into our walk:

The last couple of km were the hardest. We had to make our way around some technical trail up a hill then with the finish in sight we had to turn around and make the treacherous climb to the top of the hill up all those steps AGAIN. It was hard. Kate was good on the down hill and skipped ahead but waited for us just before the finish so we all finished 50km together in 7:22.

Last downhill to the finish:

I popped a magnesium and Saltcap tab before the run. During the run I drank 1L of water, a couple of punnets of fresh strawberries, a mix of dried fruit (pineapple, papaya, mango & coconut) and some fruit juice. Food wise I did really well but I didn't drink enough water because my left gastroc and right hamstrings started to cramp towards the end. As soon as I finished the run I had another magnesium and Saltcap tab downed with a bottle of dad's homemade boysenberry cordial. Pizza was dinner.

Incidentally the female 50k winner did it barefoot! She looked so light and graceful on her feet like she was just skipping along. Hopefully one day my achillies will at least let me do such a race in the Five Fingers.

This is now the shortest ultra I've done, and because of the soft trails and the steep hills, my legs pulled up really well. My quads were a little sore the next day but I have managed a couple of runs since and my legs are now ready to get back into their regular training again. Fastest recovery ever!! Now looking for the next ultra to do but logistically I think that will have to be the Bruny Island Ultra in December.