You Yangs 50km 2011

I was secretly very happy this year when the You Yangs 5050 was postponed due to flooding in July because it meant a) I had more time to train and b) It would fit in nicely as a decent long run before GOW which is 4 weeks after.

Unfortunately (what I thought was) my achilles troubles has been holding me back from specific running training. I've been hitting the trails once a week, aiming for difficult terrain with GOW in mind. I've run in ankle deep mud, through thunder, hail and snow, and climbed up hills that would have been easier with an ice pick. Although I haven't done long distances, I've done long times!

Last weekend was the You Yangs 50km and I was terribly under prepared. Since my running partner for most of this year is in hospital due to a tragic experience in a race, I did this for her. I have done some crazy runs with Kate this year, and her strength always amazes me. It doesn't matter how tiring it all is, how long and steep the hills are, she just keeps going. Running when able, walking the hills the rest of the time. So this year even though I knew I would be slow at the You Yangs, when the going got tough, I always asked myself, "What would Kate do?".

The course changed again this year, and I think for the best. I liked NOT going to the top of the hill and back multiple times, and I enjoyed the technical circuit around the hill. The first 10km went quite well for me. Although slow, I was feeling good. At 15km I was still feeling good and hopeful I was on track for under 8 hours. At the half way point, although I was starting to get even slower (how is that possible?) I was still on track for under 8 hours and I thought if I could just keep running on the flats and downhills that I would be ok.

My achilles (which now isn't that... more later) issues meant my running speed was walking pace. I had no power in my right leg and I was going so slow that I was naturally breathing through my nose much of the time. There is a section through gum plantations that is quite flat. Flat bits are a problem for me as you really need to keep up your momentum. I just couldn't do it. At 30km I was feeling ok but then at 40km I was back at the plantation area and it was a real struggle. I ran as long as I could (at walking speed), while knowing that Kate would be running there too. It was so unnaturally slow but I just did not have the power in my right leg to run at any normal running pace.

At around 45km I started walking. This run was much harder than it should've been. There were (dare I say it) too many flat runnable bits! I realised I was going to be way over 8 hours and decided my ultra career is over until I sort out this leg problem. If you can't train, you can't run at any speed. My leg strength from weight lifting enables me to complete these distances, but is not enough to actually run properly. Getting over the injury and being able to run in training is the only thing that is going to help.

I decided I would pull out of GOW this year. I couldn't get my money back on the accommodation so worked out a really nice weekend away. I even planned some nice walks and it was going to be the relaxing holiday I've been in need of all year! At this point in the race, I had reached a calm. This was it for me! The last long race of the year! Yeah!

With Kate in mind, I still kept running when able, and walking when I couldn't. I don't know what time I crossed the finish line, but I wouldn't be surprised if I came dead last! I quickly found Andy to withdraw from GOW before I changed my mind. But he told me to think about it... ugh.....

So anyway, since then I have had some acupuncture and it's been discovered that my achilles is fine. A bit thicker than usual, but functionally fine. It's the flexor hallucis longus that has been killing me. This muscle originates near the calf behind the achilles so it has been making me think the achilles is to blame. This makes perfect sense as I had problems with my big toe a long time ago, and it is still quite tight and inflexible. Now the source of the pain has revealed itself, the acupuncturist reckons it wont take long to fix. I am hopeful this time! And I am doing GOW! Even though I shuffle at a snails pace, provided I don't get lost, it will still be enough to make the cutoffs.

New training plan... again

I am changing up my training... again... hence no posts in a while. I had been so intent on getting out for my 2.5 hour run every weekend but it wasn't working for me. My working structure has changed and I'm often so tired that getting up at 6:30am on a Saturday to run is not fun. And running should be fun. I also took some time out of running to fix my achilles. It's doing so much better now (about 90%) and I can't believe I didn't think to do this earlier. Anyway, I'm not going to do any long runs leading up to the Wilson's Prom Ultra (60km). I am going to do the exact opposite of everyone else that will be there!

Over the past two years I've learnt that heavy squats and deadlifts give me the required leg strength to run an ultra. 3 sets of 3-5 reps of squats and deadlifts is the equivalent of a weekly 3-4 hour run or even more! The only difference is a much shorter recovery time, and no more sleeping on the couch for the rest of the day!

I've come to trust that my training is suitable, and even preferable to the usual running programs out there. So now my 2 or 3 runs a week are interval based. Usually I'll do 5 x 6 minutes or 20 minutes worth of hill repeats or something along those lines to keep up leg turnover and good technique. I also seem to increase my fitness better doing bodyweight circuits, burpees and kettlebell workouts. I also don't get injured doing those things!

Wilson's Prom is on at the end of April. So that give's me 2 months of getting my legs stronger and increasing my cardiovascular fitness. I'm really excited about this as I've found with myself and my clients that bodyweight and kettlebell work increases fitness like nothing else. I'm really looking forward to this and seeing how my running will be affected, and how it will all go in April!

Achilles exercises

I hate to admit it, but after 5 days of these exercises my achilles is starting to feel stronger. Of course, it could also be because I'm not running.

And I guess now the exercises are getting easier I need to up the ante on them so they will no longer be easy and cause more pain. I am dying to go for a run to see how it goes... Maybe on Friday :)

My fitness has not been suffering whilst sidelined from running. I have been doing a series of killer bodyweight intervals every day developed for one of my jobs. They cause me to swear and lie in a puddle of my own sweat. So maybe I am even increasing my fitness more than if I was still hobbling down the streets.

I'm hoping to beat my achilles issue once at for all. So this week I started doing daily exercises for it. I've always believed everything comes down to form, and if your form is not 100% then you'll get injured. I've been working on my bad leg, making it do the same as my good leg, but lately I've found it hard to tell if the bad leg is doing the right thing or just running any way that will avoid pain. Since it's never relaxed, I know it's not right.

I'm not convinced my stupid achilles exercises will work but it's cheaper doing them than going back to the physio only to be told to do them again.

The result is my achilles is more sore than ever. Yesterday I went out for my long run but 3kms into it my achilles still hadn't warmed up so figured it was best to turn around and go home before it was too late. So no long run this weekend. This was so disappointing, especially since I decided to enter the Wilsons Prom Ultra. Running up hills doesn't seem to be a problem so I'll have to do more hill repeats and work more with the kettlebells to increase my fitness.

What would the experts say?

My achilles has been getting a little worse lately, and the worst of it has shifted from the right side to the left, which is really strange, because I am never injured on my left side. I don't want it to get to the point it was 2 years ago where I couldn't run as far as the end of the street. I thought I should go to either the pod or physio again. But then I thought of the cost, and how every time I pay $70 or so just to be told kind of what I already knew, but had never put into action.

So this week, I said to myself What would my last podiatrist say? He'd probably tell me off for wearing flats for long runs, he'd tell me to buy some more Nike Frees, then he'd tell me to put heel lifts in for a few weeks and to ice after each run. I'm too cheap to replace my Frees but I put the large heel lifts (that he gave me last time) in my Adizero PROs. Pain diminished A LOT! I have also taken up icing the achilles after running when I remember, which makes no difference.

I also said to myself, What would the physio say? And I took up stretching my tight muscles nightly, particularly adductors, hip flexors and hamstrings, and occasionally doing eccentric calf raises (even though a previous pod said my calves were strong as iron and don't need them). I've also added some single leg work including split Bulgarian squats for the glutes. I haven't been consistent enough to notice anything from these things yet, but I just saved myself the cost of appointments to 2 people.

In recent race photos I've also noticed some excessive shoulder rotation which was not there before, so I'm now including some Pallof Presses (and variations) a few times a week to strengthen my core. They are deceptively difficult. I recommend everyone give these a go as part of a warm up. Everyone could do with a stronger core.

Is there such thing as a Quick Fix?

On Thursday I went to the physio and begged him for a quick fix for my achilles so I'd be ok for the Tan Ultra next weekend. Well, he did his quick fix but I'm not sure it was as good as last time.

Went for a test run this morning - Intervals at the track. Right achilles fine; left so-so. Didn't do any hills apart from the warm up and cool down so really can't say for sure. Just hope the Anderson St hill at the Tan doesn't cause too many problems.

It was such a beautiful morning. Frosty and sunny. And there were lots of people out on the track walking, running, or just walking their dogs!! I was not into having to get out of the way of a stupid yappy thing charging towards me. I tried to point it to go in a different direction but it didn't understand. Never come across a dog who doesn't understand that. Who walks their dogs on a running track anyway? The running track is next to endless walking trails along the river. I looked for a No Dogs sign but there was only a No Rollerblading sign.

So now all that is left for me to do today is wait for entries to open tonight for my fav race! I've got the website open, alarm set, and ready to hit refresh at the time!

After the Tan I think I will revise my training AGAIN to come up with a plan for the next one. I am finding the whole getting-up-early thing while working long hours very tiring so it's hard to find a balance between running, weights and metabolic conditioning. Not sure how essential running much is. The weights are essential for leg strength and recovery from ultras. But now my legs outrun my lungs so need to make more time for kettlebells so I can get fit again.

You Yangs Ultra 50k (last Sunday 25th)

This was going to be an interesting ultra. The first of the year and the first in my low mileage experiment. I had not run over 30k yet this year and in the weeks leading up to it I didn't run more than twice a week. I bet this is the exact opposite to how everyone else there had been training!

As soon as I got there I was amongst familiar faces and friendly people. Ruth, who won the women's 50k barefoot last year was volunteering this year, and introduced me to Dave, who was wearing Five Fingers for the run. The surface isn't that rough, but with some rocky sections and gravelly bits with big stones I think his feet must be super tough!

We ran together for the first bit at a nice easy pace. He was aiming for around 7 hours, which suited me as that would be just slightly faster than my pace last year. I thought if I can stick with him I'll be right. Soon Matthew from Seattle joined us. This was very interesting as I got to learn about mountain lions and his encounter with a black bear! I am just fascinated by the wilderness, trails and scary animals in the States! We were all feeling pretty good after the first loop of 15k. Then there was the climb to the top of the hill. I swear that hill was longer this year. And this is where I fell apart.

Both my achilles tendons could not handle that steep climb. I was hoping to pick up pace as I ran down the hill but the forces on the achilles while leaping down from the steep giant stairs were too much and I was hobbling down the hill saying ouch, ouch, ouch with each step.


I tried to keep up with Dave and Matthew but at 20km decided to sit back and take it easier. It's amazing how much power you lose when your achilles' are not doing their job so from then I could only run the down hills and walked even the slighted incline. I was concerned about running by myself but the course was much better marked than last year. In fact, the course marking was exceptional so I just had to pay attention.

As I got closer to the 30k return-to-base my achilles were starting to feel a bit better. But then it was time for the second trip to the top of the hill and it got worse again.

It was interesting that there seemed to be quite a few international people there. Matthew commented on the fact you don't need to do any altitude acclimatisation here and later I heard a German and someone else with an accent I couldn't pick saying how nice and flat all the races are here! And this is not a flat course at all!

After the second trip to the top of the hill, and hobbling down saying ouch, ouch, ouch again, there was some really nice single trail running on a gentle downhill which made me feel much better. I was comfortable just spending a day out in the You Yangs and happy to take it easy from there. There was plenty of encouragement from other runners coming from the opposite direction as by now the 15k and 30k field were out and about and the whole area was abuzz with friendly runners saying hello and offering general words of encouragement. I love ultra runners!

Once I got to 40ks I was pretty happy there were only 10k left to go! My leg muscles were feeling great, but my achilles' were not good, and I was ok with 1/2 walking and 1/2 shuffling the rest of the way home. I was thinking about how well marked the course is. Brett is a fantastic race director and it was great to not rely on the map to get around and to be confident seeing course markers every 100 metres or so. My mind was wandering, thinking I'd really like a nice cold beer when this is over, and which bottle shop should I stop at on the way home that sells the best ales. Once I got to 41k I was thinking how strange it was that I hadn't seen a course marker in a while. Not that it was possible to get lost, so I must be on the right track.

I got to a junction and came across some markers for the 30k and 80k runners, but nothing for the 50k-ers. Well I just followed the 80k markers because I was pretty sure we were going the same track, but opposite directions here. Unfortunately my Garmin had told me its batteries were running low and I didn't clear that warning, so missed the beep that should have happened much earlier to tell me I had gone off course! It said I was 500m out. Ugh. Nothing like going off course to get you back into gear and running again!

So I went back down the path I had come from. Or had I come from there? Where exactly was I on this map? My watch was telling me I was now 700m from the course! So I ran back to the junction. I still wasn't on course, but I wasn't as far. I found a km marker for the 80k course and worked out where I was. So I ran down some other path and managed to get back on course, after doing an extra 1.5km!

From here I picked up the pace as much as I could. I was previously on track for doing a similar time to last year but now I was ages behind! I got a bit confused at times, losing focus with fatigue, and concerned about wasting more time. At one point I nearly followed an 80k runner, thinking that was the right way despite course markers telling me otherwise. It was demoralising looking at my watch which said I had only 5k to go when it was really 6.5k due to the detour. I was even more concerned when sometimes my watch would beep saying I'm off course, but then 2 seconds later say I'm on course again. There was no way I was going to run any further than necessary!

Getting closer to the finish there was a slight uphill and my achilles' couldn't keep up with my eagerness to get to the end and not be much slower than last year. I was reduced to walking again, but fortunately managed to run to the finish line. It was a great finish with lots of cheers and friendly runners. Brett cheekily suggested I keep going and do the 80k. No thanks! Maybe if my achilles tendons worked.

So all up I did 51.5km in 7:49. Very slow. My leg muscles felt great though and I would love to know how I'd go if there were no injury issues.

During the race I drank about 1.2L water, ate 2 punnets of strawberries and a small handful of sunflower seeds and diced coconut. I forgot to take my dad's homemade boysenberry cordial and I know that would have given me a bit more energy but it wouldn't've fixed my stupid achilles. I wore my Adizero PRO flats. They were really comfortable and sturdy on the technical sections. No blisters, chafing or any of those uncomfortable things associated with long distances. At one point I popped a magnesium and electrolyte tablet when I thought my calf was going to cramp, but it never did. Not sure if it was the pills that fixed it or if I actually drank enough water for a change.


I'd like to say a huge thank you to the helpful volunteers, encouraging kids on bikes, the amazing runners and RD Brett for making this a great day! I'm looking forward to next year already!

My legs are feeling fresh, despite hitting the gym a few times already this week so this coming weekend I will be doing the Sri Chinmoy 30km, then after that I have booked into the physio for his magical quick fix on my achilles, which will be just in time for the Tan Ultra 53.5km.

Sri Chinmoy half marathon

Yesterday was the SC half at Como Landing, South Yarra. I surprised myself by thinking I got there in plenty of time. Well, maybe if there was a park right at the start but there wasn't. So as is often the case for me, by the time I parked the car I had just enough time to run to the start, sign in while they were calling the half marathoners to get to the start line, dump my bag and make my way to my place near the back of the starting line.

After 27km of intense hills the previous day, my quads were not going to cooperate. They weren't sore, they just didn't want to move. At the 5km mark I was ready to call it a day, at 7ks (this race was 3 laps of 7km) I couldn't believe I had to do it again. And again. By 10km my legs had lost any sense of what running is supposed to be and I started crawling. At 14km I wished I'd just entered the 14km option. At 16km my calves became very tense, almost cramping, and I hobbled home in around 2:16. That's my 2nd longest half ever! It was funny looking at my splits afterwards. The first km was in 5:16, a reasonable pace I should be able to hold. It got slower and slower til my last km was at 7:07 pace!

This is the first time I've done the SC Como Landing course and to be honest I didn't really like it. Too much going up bridges and down tunnels for my liking. I think I only like their Princes Park and Yarra Boulevard courses.

I wore my Five Fingers, and as usual they led to interesting conversations during the race. I spoke to some people while in the line to drop off my bag and at least 3 people during the course. Always happy to spread the minimalist word! It was good to wear them and run with better form, but 2 days of 20+km runs in a row in flats/FFs just about killed both my achilles tendons. I'm really not sure what to do about them. Maybe next year I will have to start running again from scratch. Or take up something low impact like Girevoy Sport.

With the demise of my Frees, my last lightweight trainers, I'm deciding what to do next with my choice of footwear. I saw the new Nike Free Hyper TR online, but it's too new for it to be in the factory outlet and I don't want to pay full price in the store.

I've been reading some more blogs this week and I am really out of touch with what is going in the international world of barefoot and Five Fingers runners! This trend is growing much faster than I realised! Not only is there a Barefoot Running University and Barefoot Runners Society, but it seems thousands of people are getting into it in the states and it no longer seems to be considered abnormal! It's been great seeing what these people are up to so I've updated my blog roll on the right for you to check out some more runners.

So this has all got me thinking. Currently I have 2 pairs of Adidas flats and 2 pairs of Five Fingers, which are also beginning to fall apart after a few years. The soles of my feet do tend to tire while wearing flats for long runs, but I have done an ultra in the FFs before, so maybe I should just toughen up again and do my long runs in the flats and short runs in the FFs. I'm really not bothered to toughen up enough to run trails in the FFs, especially since mine are the Sprints with poor grip. So it will be flats for the trails and FFs for the roads. My right achilles will hate it, but I'm running less than ever this year, relying on leg strength from weight lifting to get me through long distances. So just maybe I can do this.

I've got 2 trail ultras and 2 road ultras planned for this year. The road ultras will be tough in flats, but the trails should be fine. Next one is the You Yangs 50km on July 25.

22 months of achilles pain GONE

For a the past few weeks I've had some issues in one of the patella tendons in my right knee. It was painful at times and started to be felt while running. Last weekend I attended a kettlebell workshop and when I couldn't kneel on it to do TGUs, the instructors recommended a physio.

So on Thursday I went to see Andrew Lock in Hawthorn. I had high hopes since he was recommended by people I respect, so I thought I'd also mention this ongoing achillies problem in the hope he'd have some thoughts on that.

While sitting in the waiting room I browsed some of the titles on the shelves.

He did some tests on my legs and I seemed fine. So a little digging into lower back later, and my achilles was fixed!! He explained the science behind it. Stuff to do with nerves and stuff. I was in shock really.

All Friday I kept poking it, expecting it to hurt at any moment, but nothing!

Today was a lovely day for a run.


Even after 25km of hills - something that would normally aggravate the achilles - I was not limping. No problems at all. Unbelievable!

I've still got 2 weeks til I next see him, so that's 2 weeks to see if I can stuff it up again. Not that I want to, I just can't believe it was fixed so quickly.

Long run after last night's intervals

I have come to the conclusion that it probably wasn't very smart doing some high intensity training last night because today's long run was so unbelievably slow and my achillies was screaming at me the whole time.

I ran the Yarra Trail and back along the streets. I really like the Yarra Bend Park bit where you can run some single trail. On some parts of the trail on the other side of the river you can see into people's back yards and be jealous of those who have their own jetties into the Yarra.

After some Yarra enjoyment I hit the streets to head back home. The outside of my right foot started to hurt and I noticed I had been supinating on that foot the whole time. I couldn't seem to get it to pronate normally. I was wearing the Frees and I don't think I get this problem in the Five Fingers.

After 25km I slowed down dramatically. It was unbelievable. Now looking at the stats I can see that is where the horrible uphill slog home starts. Not to mention I was hungry and my achillies was limiting the capabilities of my right leg. When I got home I felt really nauseous, stuffed my face with fruit, popped a saltstick cap, ate my normal breaky of oats with raspberries and coffee and now I am waiting for the last of the nausea to pass. I really feel knocked out though and I blame it on the high intesity workout last night.

Sri Chinmoy 1/2 Marathon @ Williamstown

On Sunday I ran the Sri Chinmoy half at Williamstown. This is their main event of the year so we were not just treated to pancakes, but soup and apple crumble too.

Last weekend was the start of some real training to run an ultra in July. Saturday I did 22km of hills - which really killed my right achillies. Then Sunday I had already entered the half. I thought it would be a good training run and I wanted to really tire myself out. But then for some reason (even after the 22km on Sat) I thought it would be a good opportunity for a new half PB so decided to go for it.

When I woke up Sunday morning my right achillies still really hurt from Saturday. I went through Sarah's MTM warm up sequence which made the pain go away completely. I had already decided to do the race in my Five Fingers so I was glad there were no achillies problems.

I started at 5min/k pace but for some reason my achillies was giving me a hard time. I was trying so hard to concentrate on getting my bad leg to mimic my good leg but I am not very good at focusing on these things. At the 5km mark I struggled and slowed down. It was ok though because I thought as long as I didn't get slower than 5:30/k then once I got closer to the finish I would pick it up and still make a PB. I don't know what happened after that 5km but I just couldn't hold on.

I'm in the skirt looking like I'm crying at the 5km mark because I can't hold the pace:

At 12km I was reduced to a shuffle. I had no energy. It was strange. I did not feel any pain. My achillies no longer hurt. Infact, it felt good in the FFs. My legs were not sore. I was not out of breath. My body just would not move any faster. Maybe this is what it's like to hit The Wall? I have never met the Wall, and that is one thing that intrigues me about ultras. I want to hit the Wall and see what happens to me. It felt really strange running this race. I gave up completely at 12k and just took it as a training run. I was shuffling along in slow motion. It felt weird, like running in an ultra, except I wasn't sore.

This course is a terribly mean course. There are several turn around points and as you get closer you still can't see the turn around and you think you are nearly there but then you go around a corner and you still have to keep going to get to the turnaround. Then of course, you have to go past the finish where the smell of the pancakes tell you there's not far to go, but you still have to get to another turnaround before making your way to the finish for good.

(No 174) I even started running like a girl with my elbows bent like a chicken wing and flapping all over the place:

Towards the end I was plodding around at 7:00/k. I stumbled across the finish line at 2:02. When I stopped I felt really light headed and dizzy. And for the first time ever I craved a sports drink. Maybe I really had run out of glycogen.

After a few cups of Endura I went to get my soup and apple crumble and chatted to a few Cool Runners. As you can tell by the pics it was a chilly foggy morning and that soup hit the spot. As usual, the SC crowd was so unbelievably supportive and friendly. A couple of people asked me about the Five Fingers. Everyone thinks they look fantastic and comfortable. Now I know that they are available in Melbourne, I told people where they could find them. Actually I don't know the names of the shops but all the outdoorsy shops in the city are around Hardware Lane/Little Bourke St so I just told people to have a look around there.

Initially I was disappointed in my time (I was aiming for <1:55) but then I realised I achieved what I originally set out to do - exhaust myself with 2 back to back runs over 20km. Until Sunday I had not run further than 10km in the Five Fingers this year. Since the ultra in them last year I have just worn them once a week at a speed session at the track. Today my calves feel like they have rocks in them!! This is exactly what it feels like for people when they start to run this way! I am finding it very amusing in a strange sort of way. My achillies feels fine. I think this is telling me something. I should be running in the FFs more. Even though I have been running in the FFs weekly, my legs seem to have forgotten how to run properly! The Nike Frees have nothing on 'barefoot shoes' and they could be mucking up my lop sided gait more. I am not sure what to do with these thoughts. I want to do the You Yangs 50/50 in July and I will not be up to it in the FFs. It will be an interesting time between now and then while I mix up my footwear.

22km Blue Lake and Plenty River

I suppose I shouldn't be surprised as this keeps happening this year, but again my race plans have fallen in a heap with the Tan Ultra changing dates. So now I'm going to train for the You Yangs Ultra but still tossing up between 50km or 50mi. I already entered the Sri Chinmoy 1/2 marathon tomorrow so today as the start of some real training I did 22km of trails.

I decided to explore some more of the trails in the Plenty Gorge Park. But since the Blue Lake area used to be a quarry, a lot of the trails are dead ends as they all used to be the roads the trucks would take. Came across a few other runners and a million or so kangaroos.





My achillies killed the whole time. I hate my achillies. I wore the Nike Frees, although I don't think that had any affect on it. Tomorrow I'll be wearing my Five Fingers in the half so I will need to watch my form, but it's a flat course so hopefully it wont hurt so much. I haven't run that far in the FFs since the Tan Ultra in August last year.

Excuses

As much as I enjoy all my running, sometimes laziness gets the better of me.

Friday night I had some time to kill in between work and going to the pub so I went to the gym for the first time in a month or so. I only ever work upper body because I don't like my legs to be too fatigued for running. So after my upper body was done, I still had some time so I hit the leg press machine with some descending sets and then did ascending sets of stiff legged deadlifts. No, I don't know what I was thinking.

Saturday is long run day. There's a new ultra on the calendar that I want to do so I figured I better do some regular 30km runs in preparation. Strangely enough, I woke up on Saturday with sore hamstrings. So I decided I'd do 25km instead. As I was running, my hamstrings were just so fatigued and tight. And I was also annoyed because I just remembered I have to work ALL next weekend so I would not get a long run in then. But 25km would have to do. Anyway, my legs were getting pretty tired so I decided to cut the run shorter to 20km. Heading home, up the terribly steep hill along Plenty River, I had the pleasure of icy cold horizontal rain to battle. I cut the run short at 18km. My hamstrings were killing. Oh well, I could do 18-20km on Sunday and with the fatigued legs that would be similar to a 30km run all in one go.

So today I slept in. My achillies hurt as usual. Perhaps I would just do a workout down at the track. I decided to warm up with Sarah's MTM warm up and my achillies felt great so maybe I could do a real run. I thought it would be good to go running around the trails near Blue Lake. So I stepped outside and it was raining. I was wearing my Five Fingers. I was not going to run in the mud in Five Fingers because they are too slippery. So I went down to the track and this is what eventuated:

Warm up jog to track.

Prized Lane 3 was being used!!! So I went in Lane 7.

400m hard
pushups x 15 (full pushups only, I refuse to do girly pushups)
400m hard
squats x 40
400m hard
assisted pull ups x 15
400m hard
crunches x 40
400m hard
pushups x 15

jog home.

Each 400m got slower and slower. I swear my legs were moving as fast as possible but my legs were fatigued. It was a good workout. I kinda wish I had bothered to go for a real run though because I have clocked up less than 50km this week.

Allendale Rd + 1 Mile Nation

This weekend turned out to be rather grueling. Yesterday we had the Allendale Rd race. Basically the winner is the person who goes the furthest before taking a walk break. If you take a walk break, you have to yell out Soft Arse so everyone can hear who the soft arses are. Unfortunately 1 guy thought it was on Sunday and a couple of others were no shows, so it was just me and Tony. To give you an idea, here is the elevation profile:



It was really tough. Tony is naturally much faster than I, and he was obviously slowing so he wasn't too far ahead, and I was going much faster than usual trying to keep up. He jogged in circles at the top of the hills while I caught up and I am please to say we both won, we are not soft arses, we ran the whole way. I didn't wear my HR monitor but I didn't need it to tell me my HR was at the max most of the way. Some of the down hills were so steep I am not sure if it was harder to go up or down. After all that my legs were so trashed, they have not felt like this in a long time. It is a beautiful scenic run and hopefully we can get some more people together and do it again.

Then this weekend is the 1 Mile Nation virtual race. Yesterday my legs were in no shape to be doing anything else so that left today to head down to the track. My legs were (make that are) still sore so I knew it would be tough to crank out any speed.

As usual at the local track, lanes 1 + 2 were blocked off so that meant lane 3 was the shortest lane I could run in. I did a warm up walk, some high knees, butt kicks and slow jog before a couple of 400m to test my pace, then I went for it. Laps 1 and 2 were ok but on lap 3 my quads felt like blubber and I struggled on til lap 4 when I managed to push on to the finish. I did 1 mile in 7:33.

Although I am more interested in long distances, I think 1 mile is a good distance to test leg speed and heart rate. Leg speed particularly is something that I have been working on over the past 6 months and I can already see great improvement. It helps pick up your long distance speed, and running at that pace improves your form, which of course you can carry over to any distance. When I run at that pace and feel myself tiring, I just make minor corrections to my form and suddenly my pace picks up again. It's great. It just feels so natural.

I was considering wearing my waffles but my feet would have been uncomfortable. I wore the Five Fingers and had NO ACHILLIES pain AT ALL...not until after, that is, which is to be expected.

My quads are still trashed from Allendale Rd and that 1 mile did not do anything to ease out the sore muscles. I just took my grandma's dog for a brisk walk and did a weights workout and a good stretch session, but it has not made a difference. A recovery run is needed tomorrow for sure.

Exploring unmapped trails and 2 river crossings - great start to the weekend!

I had a great run this morning. I love exploring new places and love discovering new trails especially when they are close to home.

A CR member said it was possible to cross the Plenty River at the old pipeline and follow some trails and end up at Blue Lake. So I was now on a mission - to locate these trails and river crossings and have a good run! This is not marked on any map and I knew it would be hard to find but decided if I made it to Blue Lake via the roads, then I could look for the trails there and head towards the main Plenty River trail. I have seen mountain bikers there in the past so I knew there would be some good places to go.

Blue Lake is an old quarry site and on a nice day it is a lovely turquoise blue colour and you can swim in it. Today it was cloudy and the lake was green.

I saw some families of kangaroos, including a mum with a baby in her pouch. I also saw a few black wallabies. These creatures are strange. I think they are quite rare. I have never seen one hanging out with other wallabies and I think they look a little strange. They scare me. But fortunately I scare them more because they always hop away at lightning speed.

I ran part way around Blue Lake thinking there would be a trail and a river crossing on the other side of the lake. I have seen mountain bikers on the other side there in the past. There was nothing there except another scarey black wallaby so I ran back and followed another trail. I bumped into a couple of mountain bikers there so I knew I must be going the right way.

There were some short steep hills, some nice open grassland, and some scrubby areas too. It is great knowing this place is so close to my house and I don't have to drive to get there.

After a steep downhill I got to the river and the first river crossing. It was great - I knew I made it!

On the other side of the river there were so many trails going in all directions. It was fantastic. Of course, I knew I was only a few kms away from a housing estate so I kept to the trails that did not lead in that direction. I ended up near the old pipeline and there is a river crossing there which leads to the main Plenty River trail (and home). I have wanted to cross there from the main trail because I could see the trails on the other side but I had never got a close look until today. It really is a genuine crossing with steps leading down to the river. I can't believe I have run past there so many times and never looked closer until now.

So now I have future missions to explore all those trails between the pipeline and Blue Lake. I will have to see how long I can run in the trails without ending up in the housing estate.

Incidentally I had NO achillies pain AT ALL for the whole length of the run today even though I didn't even bother warming up. This is the first run since maybe June last year that I have had a whole run pain free. Although I feel it now afterwards, I am optimistic that I am finally getting over this pain.

I wore Nike Frees minus the insole today. They are sturdy on the trails but they are a pain because they collect a lot of rocks and get heavy in the mud and after getting wet. Once I am confident I am injury free, I will reward myself with some flats for the trails. The Adidas PR looks good to me. I am also looking forward to being able to increase frequecy of running in the Five Fingers again. I will be doing a 5k race in them tomorrow.

Stretch - it works!

Day after Tabata - my abs hurt from the sit ups! I did over 150 in total and didn't really notice it at the time. Now I notice it. I should have stretched after.

While out running this morning I think I figured out why my achillies is feeling better. I haven't done aerobics in a few weeks. Damn. I love aerobics. It's bad for me though.

Achillies and Tabata

My right achillies seems to be mysteriously getting a little better. I'm not sure if it's because I've taken out the insoles of the Nike Frees, or maybe I am stretching more than I think I am, or maybe my biomechanics are falling into place with weekly intervals in the Five Fingers. It has its sore moments, especially up hills, but it has felt about 50% better this week.

Yesterday I had to be somewhere at mid day and did not want to eat all the food was there so instead of my planned 30k I did 15k in the hope I wouldn't be so hungry during the day, and also with the plan of doing another 15k today. It didn't work. First morning in a week that I had a chance for a sleep in so I took it!

Instead I did a Tabata workout. The idea is you pick an exercise and do 20 sec HARD, 10 sec off x 8 (total = 4 mins). A Crossfit twist is you can count the number of reps or distance (depending on exercise) and the lowest number you get in a 20sec round is your score.

I chose to do situps, squats and pushups with 1 min rest between tabatas. For situps I scored 18, squats 13 and pushups - let's just say after round 4 I maxed out - and they were girly pushups too!

It was a great QUICK workout - 12 mins in total. My legs were shaking after the squats and my arms were shaking after the terrible pushup attempt. I will do some db arm exercises to build strength so I can work up to 8 rounds of pushups!

This form of exercise is great because you can apply the method to almost anything - sprints, cycle, row, lunges, plyometric lunges(!), db exercises, deadlifts, burpees - anything you can measure. This means your workout is limited only by your imagination and you can track your progress. It's a complete workout - you can do cardio and resistance at the same time - great if you favour one over the other so you can find something to enjoy about it. It's the ultimate fat burner. You feel great afterwards because although it is an intense burst of pain, it is over quickly but you still feel that great feeling of a good workout afterwards. Those 10 seconds rest are really short!

I will keep up Tabata workouts. I run in the mornings and no longer have any evenings free for an hour workout so to fit in something in under 20 mins is perfect.

I haven't been running very much lately. Three days in a row last week saw temperatures at 43-45 degrees. I did try 1 or 2 runs in the morning when it was a 'cool' 35 but really there is no point. I am taking this as an opportunity to rest my achillies (not that resting makes any difference) and do core workouts infront of the air con.

I did go for an unbelievably slow run this morning. I've now taken out the heal lift and the insole in the Nike Frees. After 2km my achillies warmed up and I felt almost no pain. The Frees are much better without anything inside them, and I think trails will be better with my feet closer to the ground. I still dream of finding the perfect pair of flats for trails and long runs, but I think I only think about shoes so much when I am in some kind of pain. Stretch and ice, stretch and ice. That's what I'm doing lots of.

It is interesting over these past few days with little or no running, my weight has actually dropped 2kg. Sure, I'm eating slightly less, but I am also eating gelato and vegan ice cream, and on Friday my boss handed out beers to everyone coz it was so hot. So less running + icecream + beer = -2kg. I think when I run regularly that maybe my body holds onto water more. I don't know if there's anything scientific to back that up, but that's just the feeling I get.

37.3k re-exploring Yarra Bend Park

Today I set out to do 35k as my last long run before tapering for the Bruny Island Ultra. Unlike last weekend, I had a set course in mind so I knew the distance would be correct. Straight out with this mindset, I wasn't having as much fun as I should. I was thinking maybe I'm not cut out for racing? By that I mean, training for racing. But then I thought, what if all my long runs contained impromptu sections and it just so happened that they were good distances to maintain a decent base for races? I think that is the way to go.

The plan was to head down the streets to Johnson St, Collingwood (or thereabouts), then hop on the Main Yarra Trail for the uphill slog home. What actually happened was I went down the streets to Fairfield, hopped on the trails to the Kew Boathouse, and found this trail in Yarra Bend Park that my partner and I once walked years ago. It's a great trail and I highly recommend exploring it. Basically, once you are at the Kew Boathouse, head east/upstream along a path that says it's an 850m loop. Yes, I know, boring! But after a couple of 100 metres, you find that there is a single trail path that you can take straight ahead, while the boring path loops around. There is a sign saying no mtbs which I thought was rather funny, as I would expect that most people using the trail to be mtb riders. I did not see a single soul on the trail. Some of it was quite rough and some careful walking was required. Excuse the crap quality phone camera.

I checked the map and the trails isn't all in the Melways. You can follow the river the whole way, rather than go up to Yarra Blvd like the map suggests. You can't miss where the Botanical Gardens bats were relocated. There is one point where they are just everywhere.

I headed home along the usual Main Yarra Trail, up Banyule River (or is that Banyule drain?), and finished with the dreaded Greensborough Hwy hill. I do feel like I am regaining some fitness even though I was so exhausted by the end. I really haven't felt that drained in a while, although it could also be due to having trouble getting out of bed. Once I got home I stuffed my face with fruit, had some gastrolyte, a coffee, then went back to sleep.

Today I wore the Nike Frees but took out the large heel lifts and replaced them with the medium ones. Not a bright idea for a long run, but runners with injuries are not known for doing bright things. I could feel my achillies almost the whole way, although as my feet were closer to the ground I did feel much more stable on the uneven trail sections. Unfortunately I think I will have to use the large heel lifts at Bruny. Bruny is not technical, but it would be nice to be closer to the ground.