Double Whammy

I did my usual VHBOS run today and it worked out to be a touch over 27km and included Ingrams and Reynolds roads. Ingrams didn't feel so bad, and I was really relishing the hills, probably because I took the short way to get there so my legs were pretty fresh. By the time I got to Reynolds I was ready to get down on my hands and knees and crawl. My quads were burning. It was awful. If any crossfitters are reading this, imagine the worst WOD you've ever done and put all that pain into your legs, times it by 2, and that is how it felt. I kept going though, as I refuse to be a soft arse, and my achilles hated me for it.

After I said good morning to the little Asian lady who sings opera along the Diamond Creek trail, I headed home along Allendale Road. That sucked.

My legs just felt like they were on fire. They burned so much I couldn't even tell which muscles were hurting, if I was cramping, or if it was just tiredness. During the last few kms I narrowed it down to my calves and soles of my feet. At first I thought maybe it was because I wasn't drinking much but it wasn't a cramp, and I worked out the real reason.

I wore my Adizero PRs on this run. For the past couple of years, I have worn my Nike Free 3.0s on pretty much all my long runs, and most of my ultras. My feet never feel tired in them. I tell people time and time again that they are not a "barefoot alternative" shoe and that they are really just a light weight trainer/racer. This is so apparent now as I have been using them as a way to make the long runs more comfortable. You don't have to run correctly in them and it is so easy to become lazy in your form as you fatigue. I think today my calves were so sore because I had not trained them well for so long. It was the soreness you get when you start barefooting/minimalist/Pose running. My laziness had finally come to get me.


Tomorrow there's a Sri Chinmoy race on that I plan on doing to make this a 2-long-runs-in-2-days-weekend as part of my You Yangs training. I think I'll do the half marathon. Or if my calves are still complaining I'll go the 14km option. My feet will be fine as I plan to wear my Five Fingers.

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.

RIP Nike Frees

This morning while deciding which shoes to wear, I noticed my Frees got a massive rip in them from the rogaine. I guess that's why my feet felt like they were slipping around so much. Lucky they were being held in by gaiters.


These shoes have been going for 2 years, 2377 km (1477 miles), 2 road ultras, 1 trail ultra and a 6 hour rogaine.

They'll still be good for road running until I can get some more. But now what to wear at the You Yangs 50km in July?

My ideal shoe would be the shape of the Adizero PRO, the softness of the Adizero PR, the sole durability of the Nike Frees, the under sole grip and shape of the Nike Waffles and the flatness of the Adizero PR with room to insert a heal lift for when my achilles complains. Any suggestions?

First Rogaine - We Came 2nd!

Yesterday was my first rogaine! It was a 6 hour event a couple hours drive north of Melbourne. I didn't really know what to expect, but was told we'd be walking and jogging. I can manage that for 6 hours.

My all girl team consisted of 2 other girls who are hardcore adventure racers and know how to navigate. It turns out I also know how to navigate but lack the lingo. "If we go due east to the summit then we should be able to see the saddle near the water junction and from there nav to the checkpoint up on the spur" - not something I'd normally hear in everyday conversation.

We did very little running as we were rarely on tracks. I'm pretty slow at bush bashing, unlike the adventure racers who walk through scrub, over logs, and drop 2m down into creek beds as casually as if they were just walking down the street. I tend to look where I'm going, check the tree I'm about to grab onto for spiders and take the long way down to the creek bed if it's easier. When we did get to a track and could run, this was much easier for me!

We passed through interesting land including old cottages, mines, aqueducts, bushland and many creek beds (sorry, water courses), which were fortunately all dried up. It was very hilly out there and after a couple of hours my achilles decided to complain, but since it was at an easy pace it wasn't too bad. The weather was perfect, starting off cool and foggy, but soon enough the sun came out and it was just lovely. I wore my Nike Frees which aren't that good for rough ground. I like my shoes loose with room to wiggle my toes about but in this situation my feet were sliding around in my shoes and I did get a couple of minor blisters, which I would never normally get. I can really see the value of trail shoes in this situation.

We got back to the Hash House with 9 minutes to spare and feasted on their amazing food! They had on offer toasties on the bbq, vegie burgers, soup, potato, rice, curry, stew and for dessert there was apple crumble and custard! Unfortunately after a million servings of the best vegie soup ever, the apple crumble had all disappeared. Next time I will have a strategy for getting all the food I want.

Not having any expectations for my first event, and going at such a casual pace, I had no idea what was considered an average score or something reasonable to aim for. It turns out we placed second! Only beaten by a team of 70 year olds!

My team mates being much faster at bush bashing than me:

Living Barefoot Podcast

A while ago I had a chat with Al and Tina from Living Barefoot. They've got a podcast with some interviews of very interesting people who are high up in the barefoot and minimalist footwear world. Then they interviewed me. Check it out here.

New shoes! Adizero PR

I was so excited today I got to try out my new Adizero PRs. I have been wanting these for sooooo long and they are now discontinued but I managed to find them online. (They still crop up on eBay if you're interested). When they arrived, the box felt so light, it felt empty! They even felt lighter than my Five Fingers but I couldn't believe that was possible. So I weighed them on the bathroom scales but they were too light to register! So I got out the kitchen scales and weighed all my shoes. From lightest to heaviest, this is what I have:


Overall I find the fit of the PRs pretty good. I like the fit of the PROs better as they are slightly wider around the ball of the foot. But the PRs are not too narrow and I had no blisters.






I took the PRs out for 14km - a mix of road, trail, hills, rocks and a water crossing. They are really stable on rough ground and being such open mesh, they dry quickly after being soaked. After the run I checked the sole and saw signs of wear already after 1 use! So I'm a bit concerned how long they will last, especially as they are to be my main shoe of choice (FFs still for track and short races). We'll see over time.

Bruny Island Ultra 64km

Last weekend was the Bruny Island Ultra. I knew I would be slower this year than last but my legs are much stronger now so was expecting less pain overall. I wasn't expecting to be over an hour slower this time round but now that means I have to get even with this course next year.

Mum and I stayed at the Explorers Cottages in Lunawanna. I highly recommend them to anyone in the area. Very comfortable, the kitchen has everything, there's a bbq out the back, they even have books, board games, CDs and DVDs and it's the perfect place to relax.

We left the cottage at 4:30am to get to the start at Dennes Point at 5:30. I had scheduled a 5:30am start (you nominate your start time in this race to time your finish between 12:30 and 2:30pm) but ended up starting about 15mins later.

I really like the first 10km of this run. Maybe even the first 18km. The first 2km are all up hill but I don't find it treacherous. The scenery is rolling hills and water down below and it is very peaceful at that time of day. After around 18km it starts to flatten out and the scenery is less interesting so I find it a struggle til around 40km. From there you get more rolling hills, nicer scenery and the thought of the finish, but the hills get worse and I'm pretty sure the kilometres get longer too.

At around 20km I started to get twinges in my right ITB. I could tell this is because after the GOW100s I got a massage. The massage therapist really dug into my ITB and I think he loosened it up too much because I have had the odd twinge ever since. I tried to focus on my form but nothing seemed to help. At 25km it was really sore so I took some paracetamol, which did nothing. The camber of the road irritated it more, but of course, being a country road, there were few sections that were even so there was not much proper running I could do. This meant the remaining 40km I was mostly limping up the hills and hobbling the rest. It was a real shame because my left leg was feeling great. Infact, it could've happily done another 64km! I was thinking, if only I could hop the course!

Mum was meeting me every 8km at first, then every 6, then every 4 and at the end I left my camelbak with her for a few 2km intervals before battling my way to the lighthouse for a 8:43hr finish. I ate lots of watermelon and strawberries. I cannot express enough how refreshing these foods are on a long run! If you have not yet eaten fresh watermelon during an ultra, make it your plan next time! I also popped a few magnesium and Saltstick caps, drank nearly 2L of water and of course my secret weapon for all runs - homemade boysenberry cordial. I wore my Nike Frees which was a great choice because my feet did not tire at all.



Apart from my stupid right ITB, the race was great! It had the biggest field yet with 19 solo entrants and about 50 teams. As usual, the support from everyone was fantastic. The teams were fabulous later in the day as they all caught up to us solos. My friend Jade was in a team and it was great to get some extra cheering along the way. Got to see a few people from last year, and chat to lots of lovely people. A special shout out and congrats on a super effort to SorryICan'tRememberYourNameInTheBlueSingletWhoReadMyBlog! And to the girl (Jess?) in the yellow singlet! Awesome achievements for your first ultras! Hope to see you back next year!

Since then I have been resting. My ITB is still not 100% (can't sleep on that side) but my muscles are fine. I have a plan of attack for next year. And I wont let anyone massage my ITB again.

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.

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.

Barefoot curious?

Anyone interested in walking or running barefoot should check out the Living Barefoot website.

Not just about pure barefooting, they take a look at the many shoes out there that aim to imitate the barefoot experience.

They've also started a podcast with various guests, including myself later on, which so far provides a good insight into why people choose barefoot or minimalist footware. Check it out!

Run Melbourne half

Last weekend I ran the Run Melbourne half marathon. I was aiming for a PB of sub 1:55 and when I am determined and confident I know I will get what I want.

As I was about to put on my Vibram Five Fingers, I had a sudden change of heart and wore the Nike Frees instead. It is not a flat course and I just had a feeling my achillies would not be happy and the Frees might mask the pain.

It was really cold and dark when I got into town but so glad it wasn't raining like last year.

There was a little fire set up in Fed Square which was a nice touch, although it was not that warm!

I thought it would be interesting to not only reach my goal of <1:55 but to aim for that as gun time.

Heading to the start line at sunrise:

I started off at a good speed and spent most of my time focusing on pace, not dropping back and reminding myself to KEEP GOING! This year they cut out one of the 'hills' and added a few loops of the MCG. This was terribly demoralising running around the dreary concrete when you know you could be heading for the 2nd lap and then later towards the finish.

At the 15km mark I started to struggle holding the pace. I was constantly checking my Garmin, working hard with the positive talk, reminding myself only 6k to go... 5k.... 4k Keep Up The Pace! DO NOT SLOW DOWN!! but I did slow a lot from there.

I wore my red skirt with racing stripes and I think that pulled me through to a finish time of 1:54:14. My gun time was slower than last year but with the wave starts there was no way I could catch up.

Even without the Garmin graphs you can see from the split times I slowed a lot at the end:

5km: 26:01
10km: 52:53
Half way: 55:42
15km: 1:22:41
20km: 1:48:21
Finish: 1:54:14

It was a good time considering I haven't done much speed work, no medium distance runs, and am focusing more on the You Yangs Ultra next month. Although it is a really well organised run with a great atmosphere (great stalls, bands playing at various points in the course, no congestion), I don't think I'll do this event again next year - running around the MCG 4 times was not nice and I am not very good at this distance anyway. 5ks and ultras from now.

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.

Great Train Race!

Last Sunday was the Great Train Race. My time was 1:09 and I beat the train by a long shot. The train this year was held up either due to faulty breaks or a driver who slept in, depending on where you read about it. Even if the train ran its usual time I still would have just beat it so I am very happy with that.

It was really cold up in Belgrave, but the sun was out and it was a perfect day for running. I started about 20m from the front and even still there was a lot of overtaking people, I was also being overtaken a lot. Due to the narrow road quite a few people fell over. I was surprised at the number of casualties near the end that needed medical treatment - there were quite a few unconcious people on the side of the path in the last 200m. I don't know why this is. The conditions were perfect. Maybe they all live closer to town where it's flat and they just pushed too hard on the hills. Maybe even though they looked fit, they weren't.

I wore the Nike Frees because the hills in the Five Fingers tend to make my achillies worse but I think I could've done ok in the FFs. Maybe next year.

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.

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.

Trail run - Kinglake National Park

I have a week or so off work over Christmas/new year so I thought it would be a good opportunity to get some trail experience down as part of preparation for the Maroondah Dam Ultra in February (although I will probably do the kiddies option of 30k rather than the full 50k). Today's run was also a chance to test out my new Cambelbak that Santa brought me! (Verdict = so unbelievably awesome I can't believe I have done without for so long!)

This morning I did the Everard Circuit in Kinglake NP. It was mostly fire trail, some single trail and a little bit of road. The route is clearly signposted although the signs say it is 22km, my Garmin said it was 20.02k including an extra bit at the end and MapMyRun reckons it's 19.8k. I'm inclined to believe it is under 20k (even including the extra mini bit at the end I added).

Despite the constant drizzle, there were hundreds of butterflies out! They were everywhere! They kept running into my arms or legs, one even ran into my face and nearly went into my mouth! I only saw one kangaroo, and he was quite big. Lots of the usual birds such as kookaburras, rosellas etc and I even saw two brown owls! I thought that was quite unusual considering it was clearly daylight hours. But I think I was the only one in that section of Kinglake NP so they probably thought I was an even odder sight. (Yes that really is an owl in the pic - click to enlarge)

Some sections of the run were very steep, especially going up Mt Beggary and Mt Everard. I prefer its former name of Mt Misery - that better describes how slow I was going. I was so slow up some of those hills that my Garmin even thought I had come to a complete stop!

At the top of Mt Misery (which was less than 500m ASL) it became quite misty and visibility was poor for a while. In this picture you can see 4 trails in 4 directions. Only 2 of them are on the map so it looks like I have some exploring to do in the future! Not to mention my Melways vs gmaps vs street-directory.com.au are slightly different so there are more secret trails to explore further south.

My right achillies was really hurting after the steep hills and I found it difficult to maintain good running form from then on. I was wearing my Nike Frees and I really find with my feet so far away from the ground I am much more susceptible to displacing my feet and tripping when I lose concentration. I think flats are ideal for trail running. My Waffles have excellent grip and being close to the ground they would be very stable. I wish they were not so narrow though! No way could I handle such narrow shoes and blisters for any decent distance. But maybe I will look into some men's waffles or similar for Maroondah.

So overall it was a pleasant run. No views of interest to report, but it was just general trail running training for me and I would like to explore some of the unmapped trails later on. It was very easy technically speaking but I don't know if there are many technical trails within close range of home

Bruny Island Ultra

So last Saturday was the Bruny Island Ultra. A and I flew down to Hobart on Wednesday, did some walking around, relaxing, sauna-ing, lunch with mum where I actually met someone (Mick) who trained with Percy Cerutty and Herb Elliot et al.

On Thursday we went shopping and bought heaps of food. It's hard to know what you want to eat on the run but I knew I wanted watermelon and juice and water. We also got chocolates (mostly for the crew), muesli bars, and I also got some chocolate coated coffee beans for after to stop the headache later on from lack of caffeine.

I realised I left my running cap in Melbourne. Normally I don't like caps, but they are good to keep the rain out of your eyes, so I had to buy a cap in Hobart. It is a really good Brooks cap, best I've got, 1st I've paid for, $40 so it should be good.

We all went down to Bruny on Friday morning and stayed at the Finish shack. There is really nothing at Bruny. A small pub and a general store, a cheese shop that we stopped at, there is a winery or 2 and a chocolate fudge factory. There are lots of sheep, fish farms, penguins and we even saw a sea eagle and a hawk of some sort. There were hundreds of sea anenomes at the beach. I haven't seen any of those since I was a kid!

We drove from the start of the run at Dennes Point to where we were staying in Lunawanna, which was about 3/4s of the way through the run. After some lunch, we rested for a while then took a walk up Mount Bruny. We weren't exactly sure where we were going but we walked up the "mountain" (hill) which was through lovely rainforest. We tasted some leaves of the sassafras plant thinking it might be used in sarsparella?? It made your tongue a bit numb. After heading up for a while, and not being sure where the trail was going, we turned around and went back for a sauna, which turned out to be uncomfortable and not very clean. We went to the pub for dinner and I had a side salad, side of steamed vege and some chips. It was sooooo good.

I had originally decided on a 5:30am starting time but wasn't sure if 5 would be better. So we just aimed to get there around 5:15am. This meant dad and I were up at 4am (J and A could sleep in), quick put on clothes, down a Gastrolyte, take a piece of bread with vegemite and water in the car. There were lots of paddymelons and even a spotted quoll running across the road. We saw what looked like a baby mutton bird sitting in the middle of the road so we shooed him over to the side so he wouldn't get run over. As we got closer to the start we saw one guy, Dick Crotty, had already started his race. He was walking the event (and DNF'd). In the car we decided dad would meet me at 18k, 36k, 46k + 56k.

When we got to the Dennes Point jetty no one was there! So my thoughts of starting even 10 mins earlier weren't going to happen. Soon enough Paul, the race director, arrived and a couple of other 5:30 starters arrived too. Of course, I forgot my new cap, it was sitting back in Hobart, so Paul kindly lent me his. Fortunately the weather held up and was an overcast 12 degrees, but the cap was a good one like my new Brooks so it wasn't too hot and surprisingly comfortable and a perfect fit unlike all my other caps. Davo and John were also starting at 5:30 so we set off together. The first 2k are quite steep uphill and they were both smart ultra runners walking the steep bit while I took off running, expecting them to catch up to me at around 30k when I would start to tire and slow down.

Here is a map of the course. You can click on elevation to view the profile:



Davo's crew member, Paul, was meeting him every 2k and I knew he was not far behind me because Paul was passing me frequently and offered me warm clothes, drink and encouragement. Of course, I didn't need any of this, but this is just the typical generosity of ultra folk. John's crew/wife, Olga, seemed to be stopping less frequently and took photos of me for my dad (who forgot to take the camera to the start line) and encouraged me all the way. As usual, I was blown away by the support of these people. Another crew member who I caught up to me later on even asked if I had a crew! I really wouldn't want to be stopping and starting every 2k, drinking and eating so often etc especially since I quite happily complete a 3.5hr training run with nothing but a 600ml bottle of water.

The scenery was really nice. There were lots of sheep farms at the start. Most of the sheep stared at me like they had never seen a girl in a bright blue singlet running past them at that hour. One paddock of sheep started baa-ing and ran away from me!

Dad met me at 18k and I filled my bottle, but it was too full and my arms got sore carrying it. I tipped 1/2 of it out since we would be meeting soon enough anyway. There was continuous support from other runners' crews if I ever needed anything desperately anyway.

Dad met me again sooner than planned and I had a V8 juice. It was good but I was quite full and didn't drink much after that. After around 20k I started to tire. I think it was because the road had flattened out and I really struggle on the flat. I never reached the point of not caring or being in a mental black hole because there were just so many friendly runners and crew offering support it is just impossible to be anything other than happy.

At the next meeting spot dad had collected Jackie and Anth and their cameras. They were having so much fun they ended up meeting me more often than planned. Toward the end, they were stopping ever 4k.

A couple of runners ran past me suggesting I get a camelbak instead of using a handheld bottle. RB caught up to me at one point. He had just done the 6hr track at Moe and 80/100k of the GNW. He wasn't feeling too fit at this point in time but still hoping to do the C2K 2 weeks later! It is quite comical when you hear ultra runners saying "I'm not fit, I'm just treating this as a 64k training run"... and then "I hope to run 246k in 2 weeks" hehe but I understand.

At various points I had some more juice, but mostly watermelon. The watermelon was sooo good. Best ultra food ever I'd say. Perfect mix of simple sugars and water. So refreshing. Easy to digest. At one point I even had 3 slices in a row and was still fine to run! I wanted to pass the marathon distance before I took a walk break since I still have never run a marathon. So I took my first walk break at 43k. Really from about 35k onwards the terrain was more undulating so it was good to take a walk break up a hill. I was able to keep a reasonable walking pace which means I have gotten more fit since the Tan Ultra where I just stumbled around.

My legs were tired of course, but there was no "injury" pain as such. I did feel a little achillies strain at the beginning of the hills but I warmed up soon enough and although there was some muscle fatigue, it wasn't that bad at all. I wore the Nike Frees and had absolutely no foot pain or blisters or anything with my feet! My feet were very happy! I was able to keep up a good run/walk throughout the rest of the race. Toward the end the hills got much steeper and I had to walk slower up them. They were quite tiring. Later as the day went on all the relay teams were out, cheering their own members and us solo people! Towards the end I got a great view of the lighthouse right on the top of a hill. It was steep! I was able to run the last little bit to the top and touch the lighthouse door to finish in 7hrs 37mins! It was a really great run! The winner was there and she (yes, SHE) did it in 5hrs 24mins! Amazing! And a girl! Won outright!




I had an apple and walked down to the bottom of the hill. The car was parked about 200m away and my body wasn't going to make it. I had finished, my body knew it, and it wasn't going to move any more! So dad got the car and picked me up. It was pretty hard moving the rest of the day! We went back to the pub for the presentations. I had some pumpkin soup and a beer, won a spot prize (a Boags cap!), returned Paul's cap, stood around for photos and received my Bruny Island Ultra patch. I don't know where I would sew it.

It was such an unbelievably good day, I was feeling great and ready to do the next ultra! When we got home we were all exhausted and opted for pizza for dinner. A was asleep by 7:30pm, I went to bed at 8 and dad and J shortly after! We were all so tired after a long day.

Davo is organising the Launceston 6hr in Feb and I would really like to do it, but it is just a week after Maroondah Dam, which I would also like to do, and clearly I am not fit enough yet to run many ultras, although I will probably only do the 30k and Maroondah. We'll have to see closer to the date.

I felt like I pulled up really well this time and have enforced a week off running. As of 2 days ago my metatarsals have felt sore and bruised and today my right foot looks a little swollen :( I have been limping a bit today. I have been walking most mornings in the Five Fingers, but maybe even walking is too much. I cut my walk short today. I did actually add a couple of short runs (50m or so) and they felt good, but the walking didn't. The plan was to be able to run again tomorrow but now I'm not so sure. The Sri Chinmoy Williamstown is on next weekend and I really wanted to do the 10k and meet Melbourne's other 2 FF wearers. I guess I will still be there because I want to meet them, and may have to do the 5k.

Bruny pics/results etc are up at brunyislandultra.blogspot.com. Of course my name is spelt wrong again. Maybe my goal next year should be to have my name spelt correctly in ultra results!

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.

Running round in circles on the mtb tracks

This morning I had a great run. I decided to go with the flow and just wanted to do an easy 30k. Since I had no specific pace I was trying to do, and also since I had no set plans for the day, for the first time in a while I took some impromptu trails and explored new territory.

I did a common route of mine down Plenty River and onto the Yarra towards the city. Once I got to Heidelberg I took as many mountain bike trails as possible. Lots of new ones that I had never done before. The trails in Ivanhoe are great and very quiet. I only came across one mountain biker and we exchanged surprised "hello"s as neither of us were expecting to actually see anyone on these trails. Most of these single trails make you feel really alone in the wilderness with overgrown trees and branches, tree roots to navigate and uneven ground. At one point I had a sense of deja vu and she with impeccable sense of direction had just run in a complete circle without realising! This circle was in between Eaglemont and Ivanhoe and was actually a really nice track with lots of other tracks branching off it. I wish I had a credit card sized camera to take on these runs. Maybe I will ask Santa. But since I don't, I have included a MapMyRun thingy. Check out km 10-14. I recommend exploring around here.




Last week I got my new Five Fingers. They are a size up from my old ones but they still feel like the most luxurious and comfortable slippers in the world! As my achillies is still healing, I can't run in them all the time but I did take them for a test run last week. I did an easy 10k and they actually felt more cushioned than my Nike Frees. Why is that? I think because the Frees are a normal shoe, my feet seem to expect some cushioning so perhaps they are not running correctly and I really notice a hard landing in them. In the FFs, I think my legs and feet instantly know to run softly and I don't feel like I am landing on a hard surface with them even though most of my running is on concrete. The legs just know that you have to be soft and supple otherwise you will do some damage.

Unfortunately I was a bit enthusiastic and headed straight for the monster hills of Lower Plenty Road followed by the Greensborough Hwy hill which I love to hate. Although I put a small heal lift in the FFs, I could feel my achillies strain from the first hill onwards. It was great to feel the incredible lightness of being with the Five Fingers. There was no effort. Everything felt free.

An interesting thing I experienced today while running trails in the Frees is that the further your feet are from the ground, the less stable you are. There were a few times today when I had to watch my balance on the uneven ground. If my ankles were weak, I could have easily rolled or sprained and ankle. I know that if I was running in the Five Fingers on those trails, I would have been much more stable. The feet need the direct contact with the ground. Think about it. When was the last time you rolled an ankle when you weren't wearing shoes?