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Monday, October 22, 2012
Saturday, October 6, 2012
Fitzroy Falls Fire Trail Marathon
I think I must be some kind of rain magnet; it was over 30 in Sydney on Friday, but a trail to run on Saturday and what happens? Rain, or more precisely, cloud. Cue 4+ hours of running over wet clay, wet rocks and wet leaves all dimly perceived through wet glasses. I suppose, to be fair, Jabulani this year was hot, and apart from the vision, cool & wet is the ideal running environment. I didn't fall over, and I don't think I would have run any faster if it had been dry.
We stayed in Robertson overnight at a very good B&B. The race starts at the McGee family (of Olympic cycling fame) bush cabin resort, but you have to book about 3 years in advance to get a room there for the night before the marathon. Some hardy souls camp; I quite like camping but it has a stiffening effect on the body. Plus, who knows? It might rain.
Like most of the rural races, it's a fundraiser; this one for the fire service. Sadly, they don't have a sponsor. Like Nowra though, this was extremely well organised at both the start and finish.
Probably part of the minds of most of the people here are thinking the same thing. Mainly though, it's things like, is my watch working, are my shoes OK, do I have all my food/water, what pace am I planning.I was a bit worried by the number of people who had brought their own water, in case that meant that there wouldn't be much on the course, but there was in fact plenty. Of course, carrying your own means you have it when you want it, if you don't mind the sloshing.
One day my plan is to be able to take pictures during the race; I haven't really found a way to mount a camera stably (is that a word?) and I don't really feel up to carrying one in my hand. Plus, stopping is not something I enjoy doing because restarting is not easy. It's a pity, because there's a lot to see and I'm not sure that my memory and/or wordsmithery are up to all of it.
Anyway, most of the bush looks pretty much like what you see here, but there was one strikingly different section at about the 15km mark where for one reason or another the miscellaneous gave way to a section where there were three very clear layers; the undergrowth up to but not beyond a metre, just one species of eucalypt with polished white trunks visible from 1 metre to about 4-5 metres, then from 5 metres up, the crowns of the trees. It looked amazing, almost too homogeneous to be true, a little bit unreal.
I'm sure that to a trained (and less tiring) eye there were may other equally specific sub-systems. We certainly ran through a diverse range of heights (see the link for an altitude graph) and edges (see the satellite picture in the link). In fact, it might be a reasonable assumption that there were as many micro-environments as there were trail surfaces, since in a way the trail surface is produced out of the environment.
Of trail surfaces there was a plethora; what you can see in the finish picture is not at all typical, in fact. The fire trails are 4 wheel drive tracks - and in some places, extremely rough - and the surfaces included polished mud, mud with embedded small rocks like cobblestones, mud with loose rocks, mud with tree litter, mud with roots, rock face, rock face with loose stones, rock face with leaf litter (not as much rock face as it might appear in this listing of it), sand!!!!, bricks!!! (the latter two obviously added to reinforce the trail surface against water/erosion, three stream crossings (very low water). I'm really very anxious about falling - partly I'm scared of hurting myself and partly I really don't know how, after a certain point, I'm going to get up and keep going. As a result, a lot of mental energy goes on watching where my feet are going. One side effect of this is that I don't like running fast down hills, which means I have to run up the hills because the "rest up, hurry down" strategy doesn't work for me. It's very surprising to me that I can actually run up hills, particularly since my glutes have been pretty much in constant pain since the M7. In fact I was thinking yesterday as I ran up a hill - the last 10 km of this course is ALL up hill - that the only way I know I'm running up a hill is that I am passing people who are walking. It certainly doesn't feel very fast. But as in Nowra, I passed a lot of people going up hills in the last 10k, and only one of them managed to overtake me subsequently. Unlike Nowra, I didn't have a finishing burst to mow him down.
What else? It was my first run using gels, concentrated fast acting carbohydrates. They were certainly a big improvement on previous nutrition strategies, and no side-effects.
It took a long time to do the last 10k. The clock time was long, but the mental time was longer. I came 111th, out of how many I don't know. The time qualifies me for the Six Foot Track (Katoomba to Jenolan) in March, so I guess I'd better start working on my trail running. That's a serious run!
One of the competitors yesterday was on his 214th marathon. Rest assured, that is one record I'll not be pursuing. Apart from anything else, 214 ice baths is not happening.
Big vote of thanks to Liz for logistics and moral support. How people drive themselves home after one of these things I can't imagine. I doubt I sat in one position for more than 1 minute on the 200 km trip home.
Sunday, September 16, 2012
Molonglo River
Running: was out running 7.85 km in 57m:53s
I was down in Queanbeyan this weekend so I asked the friends I was staying with what a good run would be: they started me off along the Molonglo River. I was a bit nervous about getting lost, but I didn't have a running pouch for the mobile phone so I had to run nervous - that's why the run was a bit short. Actually I'm quite pleased to have found my way back; in general I have no sense of direction. It's true that with a river around you always have a fair chance of disentangling yourself, and with practice I suppose I could use the sun.
It was a very nice little run and potentially a great run. You can see (best in the satellite view, rather than the map view) where I ran up the hill away from the river; I met three kangaroos (grey) loping along through the grass at the edge of the bush and the road. As it turns out, I could have run down the hill and got back to the main road but the thing with bush running without a map is that you don't actually know that in advance, and sometimes you have to be back for tea! It looks like there's a salt mine down there, or a white coal mine, or something. Plus, access to some more remnant scrub.
You can see at one point that I was moving very slowly - that's because the track ran out and I didn't realise I needed to backtrack. Well, needed was a bit strong because I did manage to scramble across the rocks (and flood debris), noting (ever the naturalist) several kangaroo prints. Having looked at the map now I can see I needed to run directly behind the fence(s), but at the point that I went down to the water's edge the trail seemed very clear and promising. Once you're down at river level, you don't have any idea what's above you (the bank is about 8-10 metres). I mean, I could guess that there was a fence line, but there wasn't any particular guarantee that it was navigable. I've run into that problem in Richmond, Vic. along the Yarra banks.
But it all worked out nicely, and really, a run/walk/scramble is more fun than just a run along a known path.
About halfway up the hill was a false crest with a tent neatly tucked away; great spot for a kids camp because civilisation is invisible despite being less than 400 metres away.
Next time I'm down I'll arm myself with a water bottle and some food and explore a bit more.
I was down in Queanbeyan this weekend so I asked the friends I was staying with what a good run would be: they started me off along the Molonglo River. I was a bit nervous about getting lost, but I didn't have a running pouch for the mobile phone so I had to run nervous - that's why the run was a bit short. Actually I'm quite pleased to have found my way back; in general I have no sense of direction. It's true that with a river around you always have a fair chance of disentangling yourself, and with practice I suppose I could use the sun.
It was a very nice little run and potentially a great run. You can see (best in the satellite view, rather than the map view) where I ran up the hill away from the river; I met three kangaroos (grey) loping along through the grass at the edge of the bush and the road. As it turns out, I could have run down the hill and got back to the main road but the thing with bush running without a map is that you don't actually know that in advance, and sometimes you have to be back for tea! It looks like there's a salt mine down there, or a white coal mine, or something. Plus, access to some more remnant scrub.
You can see at one point that I was moving very slowly - that's because the track ran out and I didn't realise I needed to backtrack. Well, needed was a bit strong because I did manage to scramble across the rocks (and flood debris), noting (ever the naturalist) several kangaroo prints. Having looked at the map now I can see I needed to run directly behind the fence(s), but at the point that I went down to the water's edge the trail seemed very clear and promising. Once you're down at river level, you don't have any idea what's above you (the bank is about 8-10 metres). I mean, I could guess that there was a fence line, but there wasn't any particular guarantee that it was navigable. I've run into that problem in Richmond, Vic. along the Yarra banks.
But it all worked out nicely, and really, a run/walk/scramble is more fun than just a run along a known path.
About halfway up the hill was a false crest with a tent neatly tucked away; great spot for a kids camp because civilisation is invisible despite being less than 400 metres away.
Next time I'm down I'll arm myself with a water bottle and some food and explore a bit more.
Sunday, September 9, 2012
Jabulani 2012
Running: 23.69 km in 3h:05m:15s
This was hard, in my opinion much harder than last year, although there were people at the finish to disagree with that. For me, last year was steep but not very technical, and although I didn't enjoy the steep part of it at the time, I've done a lot of training since then and I'm a lot stronger. King of the Mountain was steeper.
But this year was much less steep - in fact a net downhill run as you can see in the link. To make up for that, it was a LOT more technical - virtually no roads. Altogether, maybe 4(?) km of road. The rest was track, and various parts of it were rocky/steep/slippery and/or worn down between tree roots. I'm a bit of a shuffler, and 95% of my training is on grass or road (this year I think apart from NOSH, I've done no trail running at all!), so not falling over is a big problem for me. Possibly a mental problem to some extent (I'm not confident on poor surfaces, plus I'm not convinced the multifocals are optimal for it), but I lost my footing completely once and tripped/stumbled 5 or 6 times. Garigal National Park rang to the sound of a runner shouting "Concentrate, you bloody idiot". It's not easy when your glutes seem to have metamorphosed into a block of aching wood, to:
This was hard, in my opinion much harder than last year, although there were people at the finish to disagree with that. For me, last year was steep but not very technical, and although I didn't enjoy the steep part of it at the time, I've done a lot of training since then and I'm a lot stronger. King of the Mountain was steeper.
But this year was much less steep - in fact a net downhill run as you can see in the link. To make up for that, it was a LOT more technical - virtually no roads. Altogether, maybe 4(?) km of road. The rest was track, and various parts of it were rocky/steep/slippery and/or worn down between tree roots. I'm a bit of a shuffler, and 95% of my training is on grass or road (this year I think apart from NOSH, I've done no trail running at all!), so not falling over is a big problem for me. Possibly a mental problem to some extent (I'm not confident on poor surfaces, plus I'm not convinced the multifocals are optimal for it), but I lost my footing completely once and tripped/stumbled 5 or 6 times. Garigal National Park rang to the sound of a runner shouting "Concentrate, you bloody idiot". It's not easy when your glutes seem to have metamorphosed into a block of aching wood, to:
- Look at the ground
- Look at the path ahead
- Breathe properly
- Remind your motor system to lift the feet OFF the ground, despite the fact that all available feedback from the legs says it can't be done.
Having said all that, I finished without serious damage.
Trail running really is a different sport. Different form, different muscles. The guy who won the marathon looked like the quintessential skinny marathon guy but with the thighs & quadriceps of a 100 meter sprinter. Having said all that, it's easy to understand why, on the basis of today's course, why people love it. It really was a superb course, absolutely beautiful, starting in Mt Kuring Gai National Park and finishing in Garigal National Park. There was a fair bit of rubbish on the trail (like broken branches) from the winds, but today the sun was shining through a slight breeze. Magnificent.
I've got two more for these coming up! To be honest, I hope they're a bit easier, because the next one is 42K in October. There's not a lot of training I can do between now and then to stop a lifetime (well, two years) of shuffling)
Saturday, August 11, 2012
Weather
I've probably written about this before, but never mind. I love running in storms. I read once about (illustrating the madness of the colonial Britons) a group of harriers who only ran during Hong Kong typhoons. It may have been fiction (was it Le Carre?) but it ought not to be. Had the me of now been there then, I would have been out there
Extraordinary weather the last couple of days in Sydney. Apart from the roofing iron blowing around the back garden on Friday, which was perhaps a bit too scary - if you were hit by one of those you'd be dead and there'd be no way to avoid it even if you saw it coming - Saturday AM was perfect running weather.
In the wind, every lap of the oval is different. There was a women's football match in progress: scoring only occurred at one end. Tarpaulins snapped and cracked at apparent random. The air turned grey; then clear again.
I can never really feel that the wind is behind me. My watch tells me I'm going faster than expected, and I can know it's easier, but there's no reversed equivalent to the running through water sensation of a good headwind. Running into a headwind is an excuse to run harder; when I'm running at a fixed pace designated less than race pace there can be a feeling of frustration but the need for the extra work to maintain the pace into the headwind is satisfying. It feels like the the kind of effort training should be. Although if it went on too long the virtue would be quickly replaced by exhaustion.
Sometimes the joy of running is the rhythm that lets me forget that my body has to work to make the movement happen. Today, though, is a day to relish the work.
Extraordinary weather the last couple of days in Sydney. Apart from the roofing iron blowing around the back garden on Friday, which was perhaps a bit too scary - if you were hit by one of those you'd be dead and there'd be no way to avoid it even if you saw it coming - Saturday AM was perfect running weather.
In the wind, every lap of the oval is different. There was a women's football match in progress: scoring only occurred at one end. Tarpaulins snapped and cracked at apparent random. The air turned grey; then clear again.
I can never really feel that the wind is behind me. My watch tells me I'm going faster than expected, and I can know it's easier, but there's no reversed equivalent to the running through water sensation of a good headwind. Running into a headwind is an excuse to run harder; when I'm running at a fixed pace designated less than race pace there can be a feeling of frustration but the need for the extra work to maintain the pace into the headwind is satisfying. It feels like the the kind of effort training should be. Although if it went on too long the virtue would be quickly replaced by exhaustion.
Sometimes the joy of running is the rhythm that lets me forget that my body has to work to make the movement happen. Today, though, is a day to relish the work.
Sunday, July 29, 2012
Westlink M7
Endomondo Running Workout: was out running 42.47 km in 3h:53m:29s
I'm a little disappointed, but under 4 hours is always my 3rd goal, so 1 and 3 isn't bad. (1 is finishing, 2 is the target time). It was surprisingly hilly, as you can see from the elevation profile. Curiously though it wasn't the big hill in the 1st half, it was all the small undulations in the second half. Well, nothing in the 2nd half is easy. Also, you can see from the GPS that I ran an extra .275 km - and GPS usually understates the distance - so I need to concentrate harder on running straight lines through the curves.
Another very well organised run. It starts in the middle of nowhere (sorry, residents of Prestons) and uses the bike tracks along the M7. Much of the time you're running through remnant bushland, admittedly with a freeway in view, but it's not the least pleasant run I've done. It's nicer than both Canberra and Sydney; better managed as well. We finished at the Blacktown International Sports Centre, which is kind of a good venue, although the track has seen better days. Poor suburbs don't get money for that kind of facility upgrade. Apart from the athletics oval, there's baseball, football, soccer grounds, a pretty large complex. I hadn't realised - since I normally only drive through it - how much development is still to take place out there. There will (certainly) be another half-a-million people over the next period of time. Assuming the economy is still functioning.
Anyway, the weather was also perfect. Cold, admittedly at 7am, but after a kilometre it's only your hands that feel it and after 5 they don't feel it either. By the time I got to the finish it was a sunny winter's day, probably around 18. I didn't see anyone I knew, but after the race someone came up and thanked me for my advice (I told him as I passed him at 29km that it doesn't get any worse after 31km. It was his first marathon, and that's how I felt at Canberra, which was mine). I guess I must be improving, because I didn't feel any worse until after 39km. Man, that final 3km was really, really hard. There's an uphill bit at 40-41 that was murder, and other than relief I didn't enjoy the concomitant final 1.2km downhill at all. Although, I did pass someone I hadn't seen since the 500 meter mark when he strolled past taking one smooth stride to my two stumpy ones. I wanted to sprint the final 300 metres around the track (I train for those fast finishes), but want was not will. I think I maintained a 100% steady shuffle.
Hats off to Liz who provided valuable cheering at many viewing points on the way. A capering supporter is the best kind!
I'm pleased to say that in one of them I appear to be running, as opposed to the usual shuffle! Mind you, in the picture of me crossing the line (not shown due to technical difficulties), I appear to have developed a serious list to starboard.
Thursday today and I took my classes (AM and PM) on the Spit Bridge to Manly walk, so that was a gentle workout on a glorious day for one of may favourite walks.
I'm a little disappointed, but under 4 hours is always my 3rd goal, so 1 and 3 isn't bad. (1 is finishing, 2 is the target time). It was surprisingly hilly, as you can see from the elevation profile. Curiously though it wasn't the big hill in the 1st half, it was all the small undulations in the second half. Well, nothing in the 2nd half is easy. Also, you can see from the GPS that I ran an extra .275 km - and GPS usually understates the distance - so I need to concentrate harder on running straight lines through the curves.
Another very well organised run. It starts in the middle of nowhere (sorry, residents of Prestons) and uses the bike tracks along the M7. Much of the time you're running through remnant bushland, admittedly with a freeway in view, but it's not the least pleasant run I've done. It's nicer than both Canberra and Sydney; better managed as well. We finished at the Blacktown International Sports Centre, which is kind of a good venue, although the track has seen better days. Poor suburbs don't get money for that kind of facility upgrade. Apart from the athletics oval, there's baseball, football, soccer grounds, a pretty large complex. I hadn't realised - since I normally only drive through it - how much development is still to take place out there. There will (certainly) be another half-a-million people over the next period of time. Assuming the economy is still functioning.
Anyway, the weather was also perfect. Cold, admittedly at 7am, but after a kilometre it's only your hands that feel it and after 5 they don't feel it either. By the time I got to the finish it was a sunny winter's day, probably around 18. I didn't see anyone I knew, but after the race someone came up and thanked me for my advice (I told him as I passed him at 29km that it doesn't get any worse after 31km. It was his first marathon, and that's how I felt at Canberra, which was mine). I guess I must be improving, because I didn't feel any worse until after 39km. Man, that final 3km was really, really hard. There's an uphill bit at 40-41 that was murder, and other than relief I didn't enjoy the concomitant final 1.2km downhill at all. Although, I did pass someone I hadn't seen since the 500 meter mark when he strolled past taking one smooth stride to my two stumpy ones. I wanted to sprint the final 300 metres around the track (I train for those fast finishes), but want was not will. I think I maintained a 100% steady shuffle.
Hats off to Liz who provided valuable cheering at many viewing points on the way. A capering supporter is the best kind!
 |
| Look - running, not shuffling at 41km |
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| I didn't know I was knock-kneed |
Thursday today and I took my classes (AM and PM) on the Spit Bridge to Manly walk, so that was a gentle workout on a glorious day for one of may favourite walks.
Sunday, July 8, 2012
Dolls Point 2012
Endomondo Running Workout: 21.02 km in 1h:55m:03s
Undeniably my worst ever half marathon, but arguably my best ever training run (since I usually train at 5:30 pace). Boy, was I stiff - still recovering from last week's run at Kangaroo Valley, I think. An absolutely stunning day, clear, just a touch of breeze - last year we ran in a howling gale. It's fantastic to run next to the sea, listening to the shoosh of breaking wavelets. Plus, there were boats, people fishing, walking, cycling, doing headstands and generally entertaining themselves.
Afterwards, some stretching, pancakes and oranges, then home for gardening, shopping at the local market and carpentry (still plodding away on that staircase, but progress is progress - the next timber pieces to be bent are much more fragile than the last lot, and I don't want any breakages.) Ran into two colleagues at the market, including the one who had a tumour removed from his brain last Monday! No, seriously. And he looked pretty well and sounded coherent. Fingers crossed. Of course, he's still waiting for the tissue biopsy results, so has no idea what the future holds, but whatever, nice to see him up and about.
That's about it.
Undeniably my worst ever half marathon, but arguably my best ever training run (since I usually train at 5:30 pace). Boy, was I stiff - still recovering from last week's run at Kangaroo Valley, I think. An absolutely stunning day, clear, just a touch of breeze - last year we ran in a howling gale. It's fantastic to run next to the sea, listening to the shoosh of breaking wavelets. Plus, there were boats, people fishing, walking, cycling, doing headstands and generally entertaining themselves.
Afterwards, some stretching, pancakes and oranges, then home for gardening, shopping at the local market and carpentry (still plodding away on that staircase, but progress is progress - the next timber pieces to be bent are much more fragile than the last lot, and I don't want any breakages.) Ran into two colleagues at the market, including the one who had a tumour removed from his brain last Monday! No, seriously. And he looked pretty well and sounded coherent. Fingers crossed. Of course, he's still waiting for the tissue biopsy results, so has no idea what the future holds, but whatever, nice to see him up and about.
That's about it.
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