Training Log Archive: Mounty

Quick evening Killarney loop. Tentative plans to make Summer Series dashed by a sick Tom, and early trip home from work.

Social MTB ride with some gym parents at Majura. Felt a bit guilty suggesting Majura, then arriving to find it has been decimated by logging. Found just enough trail for a rather enjoyable ride - although the blue blazing on the tree suggests it won't be there much longer.

Quick brekkie after at a cafe in Dickson whose name sounds familiar from AP logs - Sfoglia. Coffee disappointing but breakfast excellent. Then off to collect some exhausted but happy lads from the AIS. Walked past Lauren Jackson while there - tall!

C • Tom 2

Dug out the MTB for the first time since Geoquest for a couple of laps at Stromlo. Bewdiful day, and great track conditions. Can't have been too much rain down Canberra way lately as the trails were bone dry. Rode quite hard in the end purely because it was fun to wiggle about.

Down Pork Barrell I went past paramedics carrying out a rider to their ambulance, which reminded me that Katrin bombing that section after 24 hours of riding is rather impressive.

No excuse to miss Summer Series today with my house in the middle of the map. Fun to run around the neighbourhood.

Started at rugby training, short loop down to Olivia's place, back past Lucas, then up past the school to the supermarket. Over to the dance hall and then in to the bush via my local car guy. A little bit of Nosh track, then back in to the streets thru Tammy's backyard. In to my street for #9, and starting to get a bit tired halfway in.

Skipped #8, then back up over Killarney via softball throwing oval and the last couple of k home along the western edge and home 6 seconds late. Grr. Glenn cleared the course with 3 seconds to spare ot my 560.

Quite pleased with how I held up given the total lack of intensity for a while. Ran 9.7km to Glenn's 10.0k in same time, but his route was better. Nice to stretch out.

C • Long Run 6

Wow. First time in a while that I've 'failed' at the physio. Have been ordered to come back next week. In Gav's words - "your deep front line is toilet".

10 * 1min sprints on the ergo. It is impressive how little use lots of endurance training is for sprints. F*cked after 5.

Paddle on Lake Illawara while the MJ states were on. No wind in the morning made time for a nice spin out around some random island while the munchkins bobbed around waiting for a start.

Entertainment of the day was some Macgyver action. As a mate was pulling up to the jetty in his powerboat, 3 police suddenly jumped in next to him and told him to start driving. Turns out some kids they were chasing had attempted to avoid capture by diving in the lake and swimming for it. They hooned off and made a mid-lake arrest.

Evening cruise up the Nosh track. As it was getting dark, i cut short by running up the Carlyle hill but couldn't resist the temptation of a side track I'd never noticed before and went exploring.

In hindsight, exploring on dark was ambitious. Got through OK, but was dark for the run back on the Killarney track towards home. Funny how your feet seem to know where to go on a familiar track in the dark. Quite fun.

Pretty sure I went for a run.

Another sailing related day on the ski.

Paddled for an hour in the morning with Hugh while Annika raced with Hugh's Jamie as crew.

Then afternoon paddle while both Annika & Tom crewed F11's. Ripper paddle this one, as they raced out on the sound off Dobroyd where the sou' easter had kicked up some nice runs. Paddled quite hard as the wind was up and they were moving. Finished with beer and pizza next to the water for dinner. Bewdiful.

So 2 full days of watching kiddie actvities, and 7 hours on the ski at the same time. Getting the hang of this parenting thing.

Went paddling while Tom sailed in a regatta at Northbridge Sailing Club. Given that I spent much of my teenage years down there, it was a bit of a nostalgia trip. Astonished to see that the NJ I sailed in 1978-9 is still there in the boatshed.

Out on the water for 4 hours cruising around. I was impressed that Tom lasted for 6 hours and 8 races as crew. Tom was impressed that his skipper (16 y.o girl) could hold her own in the feisty language stakes that goes with close fleet racing.

Evening river loop. Over-estimated the effect of daylight savings, and had to run 2k of single-track from memory.

Plantar ache in left foot still hanging around. Annoying.

Urgh. Rode the bike to work on Monday. It took until Thursday until I left work early enough to ride it home.

Midday roll in to town. Ashamed to say I took a detour to avoid the Willoughby magpie.

In other sports news, young Tom won the NSW state gymnastics champs yesterday (U9). Highlight for me was the lad that came second tapping Tom on the shoulder whilst on the podium to say congrats and give a very grown up handshake. Makes the parenting thing easier when their peers are setting such a good example.

Kokoda Report, part 2....

Saturday Evening – Lights on
Jono & I ran in to Efogi at halfway together at around 4pm. A busy village with a big ‘town square’ of dirt surrounded by picturesque grass huts on stilts. Chris Wight was just getting up to leave the CP as we arrived, and Jono took off after him while I stopped for a moment to do a food audit. The stomach was getting a bit grumpy, so I swapped bars for gels in the hip pockets and grabbed some local bananas for the run up over Brigade hill and descent down to Menari.

The course profile for the Kokoda Track is a bit deceptive. From Kokoda the track climbs gradually to the top of the range (2200m) for the first half and then drops back down to Owens Corner. One could be mistaken for thinking that the hard part is the first bit. Ha. Looking a bit more closely, the second half has a series of saw-tooth shaped hills which were going to make the rest of the day interesting.

The first section out of Efogi was really nice, partly because there was a bit of downhill finally, but also because sunset is the best time of day for these sorts of adventures. I trotted along by myself, taking it a bit easier to try and get the stomach going again, and rolled in to Menari on dusk – jogging up a beautiful grass airfield to the next checkpoint.

Just after leaving Menari I stopped briefly to get some mud out of my shoe – it gets easier to find excuses for stopping when you are tired. As I sat on the ground a couple of locals ran past (in their KT 26’s), and asked if I was OK. On replying I was just getting mud out, they laughed and said something along the lines of ‘soft’ and trotted off giggling. We grouped up again on the next steep climb and plodded on up as night took hold.

I dug out the map on this climb to get a feel for what was left. Hmm. 4 big climbs, and the dodgy creek we’d been warned about in the briefing. The ‘rock of death’ may have been in here too somewhere, but I couldn’t remember any more.

After a crazy steep descent, there was actually a flat bit for a little while. Still no free km though as the flat bit was a windy track through tight trees in a marshy area. I was glad to have local company to find my way through. Flat never lasts long here though, and soon enough it was plod time again up a massive, steep climb over the Maguli range.

The climb up to the top of Maguli range sucked – I can’t think of a better word. Dark, steep and long. The only respite was a Checkpoint at Nauro halfway up. As I nibbled on some local rice, I saw a run sheet that showed Jonno was 20min ahead, Chris 25 and Damon 10min ahead of Chris. I was getting a bit worried about my stomach now, as it was getting hard for food to stick. Even the gels were unappealing, and you can’t get far without petrol. At the time I figured it was the usual case of exertion, but almost a month of stomach trouble post race-suggests there were some micro jungle friends on board down there too. Campylobacter or some such giardia-like bug was the doctor’s subsequent verdict.

Grinding out the climb was eventually rewarded with a long descent and another saw tooth hill before the last checkpoint at Iriobaiwa village. I hit the sleeping village around midnight, and stopped for 10minutes because a) I hadn’t eaten successfully for a couple of hours and b) I was smashed. I sat slowly nibbling on rice, wondering if Ua-Ule creek was going to be tricky without local guidance.

Half an hour later and my question was answered – yes, it was going to be bloody hard to follow track up the creek at night without local knowledge. The track crosses a rocky creek bed about 20 times, with only small gaps betraying where it heads back in to the jungle each time. After a few of these I met Jono – heading in the opposite direction.

Jono: “G’day. Why are you going the wrong way?”
Me: “Well given that you were recently 20 minutes ahead of me, I reckon it is more likely that you’re going the wrong way”.
Jono: “Naah, I’m good. You must have found a shortcut”.
It is funny what you can rationalize when knackered.

I dug out the compass to settle the debate, and off we went together up the creek looking for bits of track. In hindsight this was quite fun as when the track disappeared I was able to stand there for a rest pretending to look at the map, while Jono headed off like a Labrador looking for signs of where to go. During one of these pauses I tried the old trick of forcing a puke to clear the gut (which normally works a treat). I was surprised to find however it was completely empty – no food, no liquid, not even tummy acid and attempts to eat a gel did not go very well. Hmm, it was going to be a long night.

After a couple of chest-deep swims we finally made it out of the creek maze to be confronted by the last big challenge – Imita Ridge – which marked the furthest point of the Japanese advance. And I understand why. Talk about steep. It was a long, hot, plod up in to the darkness here – and I enjoyed the fact that I wasn’t getting shot at, nor carrying 30kg of equipment. Massive respect to the lads from the war generation.

At around 2am I finally reached the top, and co-incidentally met up with Jono again. We both stopped for a little break at the top. Or more accurately, he needed to spew and I would take any excuse for a break. We sat for a few minutes reflecting on where we were, what a crazy day it had been, and (bizarrely) whether child birth would be harder than the last climb – not sure where that came from, but it made sense at the time.

It was a steep descent off the other side, and I rolled off ahead with the smell of the finish in the air. After a few minutes I came to a track junction, umm’ed and ahhe’d, and gambled on right. A bit more descending down a very rooty track and I noticed there was no one behind me. Sure enough, a yell confirmed my suspicion that Jono had gone down the other (wrong) path. Buggered if I was going to climb back up, so we played a fairly amusing game of jungle ‘hotter/colder’ yelled through the trees until I was sure he was back on track.

I ran solo for the rest of the last descent - very steep, muddy and rooty – reflecting on the day that was. I was knackered. I’d done last few hours on no food and a tummy bug. Legs were tired, making the root dance tricky. A toenail had drilled itself back through my toe. It was 2am and still hot and humid. And strangely, I was having the time of my life.

More running until I reached Goldie Creek for a chest deep crossing, and the last climb of the day up to Owen’s Corner. I trudged on up the hill and arrived at the finish some time before 5am to be met by Gail and her crew, Damon and Chris, some local boys – and most importantly an Esky with cold Coke. The medical lads must have been bored, as they had a great time removing a massive leech from my ankle and then watched on with interest as I finished the days proceedings with a big dry retching session. Urgh

Jono turned up not too long after, teary eyed to have made it, and the 4 of us lay on the grass watching the sun come up, listening to local tunes and reflecting on the day that was.….

The wrap-up
Memories of Sunday are a bit hazy. I recall driving back to a nearby hotel where we drank SP lager and told stories to scare the girls who were about to head out on their hike across the track, and Jono ate a beetlenut.

The memory kicks back in again on Sunday night. At the finish we heard that our other Chris (Bull) had a tough day, and was only somewhere near Efogi on Sunday morning. Knowing how tough he is, I figured he would show up eventually but still no sign when we went to bed on Sunday night. At about 3am on Monday morning I got out of bed to go to the bathroom, just as Bull walked in to the hotel foyer looking somewhat the worse for wear. Ashamed to admit that I briefly considered ‘not noticing’ so I could go back to bed, thoughts soon turned to concern as it was clear he was in rather bad shape.

The last few races I’ve done have ended with a team-mate in hospital. Damon with his iron spike infection at Geoquest. Hugh with broken shoulder in NZ. Detached ankle ligaments at Oxfam, grass seed infections in Cairns, etc. etc. Somewhat of a concern, but I was worried this time ‘cause Bull looked completely smashed. He was pale to the point of green, had a dry raspy voice and was carrying a doggy bag of stomach acid in to which he wretched regularly.

As we waited to sort transport to hospital I got an update of his day. Food and drink stopped going in on the first morning, and got worse from there. Won’t go in to detail, but suffice to say that Bull is one tough bastard. At one point in the story telling, I thought I heard him say ‘And then Andy wrestled a 5m snake’. I dismissed it as the ramblings of a very tired lad. Wasn’t I surprised then the next day to be shown a photo of Andy (another aussie runner) wrestling with a 5m snake. I look forward to reading his race report.

As always, a sunrise fixes most things (combined with a trip to hospital for a drip in Bull’s case), and come Monday we were all back at Gail’s place in Port Moresby for a presentation to celebrate the local lads showing us how it is done, for Chris Wight cracking Damon’s ‘fastest white man’ time, and to pass on a huge thanks to Gail for the effort and passion that went in to organizing a run of a life time.

C • Amazing effort!! 11

C • Thanks Mounty that was your... 1

Afternoon Killarney loop. Probably shouldn't have with the plantar ache in the left foot still not fully gone, but felt like a trot.

Last run a couple of weeks ago felt like the last 10k of a 100k-er. Today felt like 50-60k, so gradually improving.

Met an echidna, and used him as an excuse for a little rest.

Worked at home for the morning, then rode in at lunchtime. A rather peaceful time of day to ride - until I inadvertantly hit the Swans victory parade.

Bloody hot.

Last non-daylight savings ride for a while. Yay.

First time in a month that I've felt strong enough to ride to work. My bike must have been a bit shocked as it broke a spoke.

Nice welcome back from the Malborough Rd magpie.

Nice to not feel smashed for the first time in yonks.