In Training

Alpine training has taken off recently. I have been doing some pretty long runs and feeling very strong. I continue to be a slow and steady runner. When I train with friends I am always one of the slowest on shorter runs, but generally keep up on longer runs, because I just have one pace - slow. A nice steady plod is what I need for Alpine though. Throw me in a half marathon tomorrow and I will fail miserably, probably taking well over 2 hours to pass the finish line. There is a reason I like the longer runs – make it long enough and I will eventually catch up to the middle of the pack!

In December I strung together a few weeks of good training. I was still only aiming to hit about 40km a week, with the odd week here or there where I went over 60km. I am mixing it up with lots and lots of cycling and swimming to keep me fit while avoiding the plethora injuries that have plagued me in the past. Two of my favourite sessions from mid December were:
City to Mt Coot-tha and up Powerful Owl – I packed a heavy bag and ran from work, through Milton and Bardon to Mt-Coot-tha where I met Chris and then we headed up one of my favourite trails, Powerful Owl. Chris had forgotten his headlamp, and my old Black Diamond really wasn’t going to do the job for two, so we called it a night after that. All up it was about 15km with a lot of steady ascent.
Mt Coot-tha hill repeats with my Alpine training buddies – It was one of the few days I actually managed to knock off work at 4pm whereupon Todd and I headed up to Mt Coot-tha (by car not foot) and met Tamyka. We then did hill repeats of Powerful Owl and another trail I don’t know the name of. Again it was lots of steady ascent and I think once again, I did about 15km.

My next good training session was my altered version of the Festive Fat Ass. Deciding that I didn’t want to get up at the crack of dawn, drive all the way to Payne Rd only to run on some trails alone after everybody took off at the start, I came up with my own training run instead. Susannah, Sara and Mark seemed to like my version better too, so we headed out at a much more reasonable hour from Gap Creek Reserve. It was a nice 25km run up to Mt Nebo where we stopped for some lunch before heading back down. At the top I checked my water and established I had a bit more than I had consumed on the way up, so would be fine to not refill. Bad idea. I think the run back was a lot hotter because the clouds had moved on leaving us rather exposed. 7km from the finish and I was out of water. Uh oh. Everybody else was running low and although I pestered Mark for some of his once (thanks Mark), I knew nobody else could spare any so I just decided to stop whinging and go without. I think I was quite seriously dehydrated. I felt dizzy and kept getting cold chills. I felt terrible because I really slowed everyone down for the last few kms as a result. When we finally reached Gap Creek Reserve, I guzzled down as much as I could stomach from the bubbler. We also made it back just in time, as the storm basically started as I was leaving GCR.

On New Years Day, Chris, Todd, Poh and I headed up Mount Barney. This was a hike, not a run and it was pretty slow going. Chris and I did our own thing, meeting up with Todd at different points. He was running ahead and then going back down to help Poh. We had to scramble up a lot of rock and Chris, not liking heights and a lack of stable ground, freaked out a little bit. I have now discovered how I can beat him in a race – enter us in an event that requires lots of scrambling and opportunities to fall from great hikes. Going up wasn’t too bad but on the way back down, he was really struggling. When we reached rum jungle we tried to find our way to Easy Peak, but seemed to get lost very quickly ( a result of not looking at the map, GPS or compass. I was expecting the path to be as obvious as the one going up and I am lazy. There was no clear trail, but lots of branches off trails. Being tired and hot, I decided I was over it. I promptly sat down on a rock, pulled out the map and GPS and figured out how to get back to Rum Jungle, rather than heading up. I am sure we could have found our way, but the whole thing was taking longer than I wanted it to and I was allergic to every plant and grass out there and decided I had had enough, so back down we went.

I had been considering doing Hares and Hounds on Jan 8, but decided I didn’t want to pay or get up at 3am, so again I organised my own thing. This time Todd joined me for a run from Gap Creek Reserve to Lake Manchester. This was quite a similar run to going up to Mt Nebo, but we turned off South Boundary onto Creek Rd eventually ending up at Lake Manchester and following Lake Manchester Rd South to the Picnic Area. It was a ridiculously hot day and Todd got a bit ill about 5km from the end. We had a short break before walking the rest of the way. I think he was dehydrated and over-heated. Not to worry, I think Alpine will not be anywhere near that hot! All up it was a 30km run and I was pretty happy with how I did, although I pulled up a bit sore on Monday. My right hip flexor was extremely tight and even on my run on Tuesday, I was still feeling it in my legs. I think these sessions have been pretty good and I am really happy that I don’t have any injuries. Three runs a week and lots of cross training seems to work for me. I am doing a sprint distance triathlon on Sunday. Other than the early start time, I am looking forward to it.