June 2020
This weekend it’s the annual running of the runner versus train and all are welcome. The facebook page is a good place to start if you need to find like minded runners and need company or information :- https://www.facebook.com/events/1288649481324896
The concept is simple, we are runners after all, simple folk. All participants self seed by leaving North Dandalup train station giving themselves enough time to complete the 35k trail to get to Serpentine train station by 10:21am, to get on the only train of the day, returning to the start. Miss it and you’re snookered , faced with a 18k walk of shame back to the start on the road or a 35k return run on the trails, making for a big day out !
Over the years we have never had anyone miss the train but it is to be noted on the first running a runner was discarded and ordered back to the start when the group realised they would be unable to catch the train if they continued at their current pace. Unfortunately for the aforementioned runner they was not trusted with the car keys and thus had to wait, in their running gear, for the rest of the runners to return via the train. Needless to say there were words exchanged apparently. Please note I was not part of this inaugural running and can only blame Simon Coates for what transpired. He will gladly tell the full story if requested.
Over the years the latest we have left North Dandelup is 7am and we have always finished at Serpentine in good time for a Brownes Mocha but this year there is talk of a 7:30am departure, I may be able to bring that back to 7:15am but this will leave no margin for error. Normally we complete the 35k in around three hours, with a 10-15 minute water stop.
The trail is well marked and part of the Mundi Bindi trail so keep a look out for the signs and you will not get lost, well probably not; the GPX file is available on the facebook page. It’s best to buy you train tickets online but note you cannot buy them on the Saturday apparently, no worries you can buy them on the train of course, so bring cash. The train from Serpentine to North Dandalup is a disappointingly quick, event after taking so long to run the course, but the train cheats of course by going in a straight line , as the crow flies so to speak. This is probably a good thing for the rest of the passengers as we are not the most sweet smelling people after three to four hours of trail running.
So to sum up , come along this Sunday , start whatever you want but be at Serpentine for 10:21am for the train back. Bring food and we’ll all have a picnic at North Dandalup station before returning to Perth, or Serpentine to pick up stragglers ?
I’ve attached the 2018 post on the event to get your juices flowing…
Right a quick post on the 2018 man versus train race where we leave North Dandalup train station and run the 35k to Serpentine train station and catch the only return train back to the start. Miss the train and you have a 18k run on a busy road or a 35k trail run back to North Dandalup. !!
The Serpentine train leaves North Dandalap at 10:20am so we decided this year to leave a tad earlier than previous years due to the various running injuries we were all embracing. Calf strains, Achilles issues, carrying too much weight (I’m not sure this is an injury Barts!) and good old Plantar Fasciitis to name a few. Thus at 6:40am we set off up the scarp, mainly due to Bart’s insisting we get a move on as he really wasn’t ready for a 35k sprint to the finish. He had got lost last year when he was dropped halfway up the scarp and had to run a lonely thirty or so kilometres to the finish. This year he was determined to stay the course and refused to leave a key hidden on the car so if he got lost he knew I’d have to find him and my lift home. Little did he know I had arranged alternative transport if we ‘lost’ him. In the end he made it and ran a large proportion of the run with us, complaining most of the way of course. I don’t think Bart’s like any hill in any direction, up or down, as both seem to set him off on a tirade of abuse. This from a man who loves trail running ?
The photo below shows the starting line up for 2018 taken at North Dandalup train station, funnily enough we were the only people about early on a Sunday morning in the country. I managed to persuade five ‘newbies’ to join us and supplied all of these with a GPX file of the course as I didn’t want them to suffer the same fate as Bart’s from last year, bless him.
So off we went up the scarp, which is a road section and probably one of the hardest sections of the run as you’re in danger of getting collected by mad country drivers cutting corners. Thankfully this year it was very quiet and I don’t remember seeing any cars, which is unusual, they were probably all still in bed after the West Coast Eagles, a local footy team, managed to sneak into the Grand Final the day before. As you can see from the elevation below the start is a challenge but the finish is ‘to die for’. It was a this point last year we lost Bart’s (the start not the finish.) and history repeated itself with Mark, a new runner from Brisbane, dropping off the pace early and, in Choo-Choo tradition, left to fend for himself. I felt a small amount of guilt but this was quickly forgotten when I realised the task ahead and I had supplied Mark with a GPX file of the course , so he had no excuse to get lost.
The conditions this year was perfect and we had given ourselves more than enough time to finish by leaving probably half an hour earlier than the year before. This certainly made the journey less stressful than previous years and we settled into a good rhythm with enough pace to complete the task at hand but not enough we couldn’t natter away discussing a plethora of topics and generally putting the world to rights. We as a group splintered early which seemed silly truth be told as it wasn’t a race and there seemed no point running a few hundred metres infront of each other. I ran with Jon, because he had the GPX route loaded into his Garmin 310, and Liam for conversation. (with Bart’s always a few hundred metres behind us complaining about something?) The three of us eventually caught up with the two Mark’s at the ‘drinks stop‘. I say drinks stop in italics because there was no drinks. Simon had hidden a carton of water and a box of Gu’s behind a tree but it seems these country people are resourceful with good eyesight because there was no supplies to be seen. Not a problem though but it did the make the last 5k or so a challenge as we were into the ‘dead zone’ (over 32k) with little water and no nutrition, a good test of your bodies capabilities to survive on it’s won internal fat resources I suppose. Luckily the last 10k is predominantly downhill so you can sort of ‘fall‘ to the finish line. ( It is to be noted this year Trish refused to bake for us which made the return trip to Dandalap a bit of an anti-climax as the reward of Trish’s baking (which is awesome by the way) would not be there to greet us, in the end we made do with McDonalds pancakes but thrust me they ain’t the same!, anyhow I digress.)
After regrouping with the two Mark’s the group of five set off to the finish and the conversation continued to improve with numbers. The highlight of the last part of the run was most of us falling prey to the only puddle on the whole course, how does that happen ? Mark C,. attached it with gusto (he’s Scottish you know and use to large expanses of water !) and nearly went in, this made me more cautious but it was to no avail and I ended up in the same situation, soggy socks and shoes for the last 10k or so.! Once we started to descend of course it was ever man for himself and Mark C. probably set the record for the fastest kilometre with a 3:10 down the steepest part of the hill. He was very excited and reported feeling a runners high as he snowballed down the hill at speed, more probably he was just totally knackered as we had all just ran just about 35k on a few sips of water.
It’s hard to put into words the run itself as it really was just about the perfect day. A good distance, beautiful trails and great company rounded off with Brownes Mocha and a danish at the Deli. Chuck in a train ride where the guard announced to the whole train of our adventures as we boarded and departed and the day really couldn’t of got any better. Talk at the Deli (see below) centred on next years departure time as we had plenty of time to relax at the deli before the train, well most of us that is. If you remember at the start I mentioned Mark from Brisbane getting dropped at the 3k mark, you’ll see he’s not in the photo below. We all thought he was gone and I had even arranged at the Deli to let him know we’d drive back and pick him up, save him the 18k walk back to the train station. Well he made it with 3 minutes to spare, albeit the train was late as usual so he could have probably stopped at the Deli for a danish.
As you can see from the photo below taken at Serpentine train station Mark is back into the fold and happy to be there, he currently holds the record for cutting it closest to missing the train, probably beating Trailblazers record set a few years ago. I’m sure Jon can get closer with a bit of effort ? Honourable mentions must go to Allister Caird who set a course record running the route in 2hrs 27 minutes, thats a 4:11k average, sub 3 pace for a hilly trail run, Boom! He could have left nearly as hour after us and still made it. Nigel also went well considering he twisted his ankle at 15k and ‘hobbled‘ to the finish in good time, a big call as if the ankle had given way completely it would have been a long night on the trails. Of course Mark gets a mention for running the whole route by himself under the stress of a potential long walk back to the car. He looked relaxed when he finish and puts his time down to this was his first trail run back in Perth, he’s from Brisbane you know. Bart’s also went well after we dropped him just after halfway, we actually dropped him earlier but always made sure he could see us, sort off. At least this year he ran the whole course after his miracle run last year.
Right that’s the Choo-Choo for another year. I’ll try and drum up some more enthusiasm next year as if you live in Perth you really need to do this run. We all agreed we’d leave later next year but the departure time is personal to your ability and general fitness and also if you want that added bonus of really ‘racing a train’ and trying to cut it closer than Mark, from Brisbane’s, valiant effort of three minutes to go. Up for the challenge ? All aboard…..
This Furloughed Friday trail time was on the Bibbulmum Track . The Bibbulmun Track is one of the world’s great long distance trails, stretching 1000km from Kalamunda in the Perth Hills, to Albany on the south coast, winding through the heart of the scenic South West of Western Australia. ( https://www.bibbulmuntrack.org.au/ ) We planned a 30km run on some challenging single track including some serious climbs, with beautiful scenery. As you can see from the image below it was a great day for a trail run.
For this adventure I was accompanied by Adam, Jeff and Rob and we happily skipped off into the wilderness, excited about the trails we had ahead of us. The plan was to get Mundaring Dam and the infamous Golden View. This was a route I had run alone three months period and it just about destroyed me. I was hoping after 10 weeks of ‘furlough Fridays’ I would better prepared and easily ‘gobble up‘ this challenge. If nothing else it wasn’t raining which was a good start and starting earlier I wouldn’t be racing the sunset, which without a head torch is always stressful.
The video below shows some of the climb after the camel farm, it was great to run down this track but in the back of our minds we always knew it would be a different story on the way back. Funnily enough it wasn’t that bad coming back, which is unusual of course. It may have been we knew we were close to the finish and you can always find something when you can ‘smell the coffee‘ so to speak. (with pancakes of course.)
The lads halfway through the last climb, still with a few kilometres ahead of us, joy. Rob was struggling but as he was the designated driver, and had the car keys, he knew we’d never leave him ! He had missed a few Friday trail runs with injury and there’s no where to hide on the trail if you’re short of fitness, especially if your running buddies have been running trails weekly. Rob certainly knew better than to give me his car keys.
Lesson to self, when you’re tired and near the end of a three hour plus run , do not try and use a Go Pro, it never ends well and this video shows why ! Please excuse the language at the end. This was my second stack of the day and something I need to wo rk on with the Irrational South ( http://irrationalsouth200miler.com.au/ ) and Delirious West ( http://deliriouswest200miler.com.au/ ) races coming up, both 200 Miler’s with plenty of opportunity to spend time ‘eating dirt’ ! The last time , and only time, I attempted a 200 miler earlier in the year I was eventually undone by too much time horizontal on the ground with quads seized solid. Rookie error really with poor hydration and nutrition choices leaving me totally empty of fuel, resulting in legs that just couldn’t run or lift high enough to avoid the roots and rocks you find running trails. There was also my lack of preparation and missing mental toughness that all culminated in a DNF. No worries, I’ve learned my lesson and will be better prepared in October this year. (Assuming I can get over the border to Western Australia after the event ?)
From a Core Running article :- ( https://www.corerunning.com/trail-running-best-exercise-for-health/ )Climbing mountains will build strength in the legs but it’s actually the downhill running that will do more for strength than uphill running. When running downhill runners can experience forces up to five times their body weight with each footstep. Running on level ground or going uphill the forces are “only” two to three times body weight.
Downhill running also involves eccentric loading of the leg muscles particularly the quads (thighs). This means the muscle is lengthening as it’s contracting. Eccentric contraction cause more muscle damage than regular contractions thus signalling the body to become stronger.
In effect, trail running provides better strength training benefits for the legs compared to road running.
Trail running also challenges coordination, agility and balance more so than running on roads, especially if running on technical trails full of rocks, roots and uneven terrain. Avoiding falls, negotiating steep slopes, cutting around sharp corners and landing on unstable surfaces all help build athleticism in trail runners.
This is the category where trail running really excels when compared to other forms of exercise. “Green” exercise or working out in the outdoors offers many benefits you can’t get in the gym. In our wired world full of electronic devices getting a run in nature is a great way to reduce the mental stress from being connected 24-7.
Here’s how trail running can help you beyond just physical fitness:
- Improve your mental health.
- Increase vitality, energy and positive engagement.
- Reduce tension, confusion, anger and depression.
- Provide greater enjoyment and satisfaction so you’re more likely to repeat the activity at a later date.
- Make you more creative.
Exercising in the outdoors also optimizes your circadian rhythm helping you sleep better. And getting a good night’s sleep on a consistent basis is a cornerstone of good health. Poor sleep habits can lead to a host of problems both physical and mental. (Not to mention that running up and down hills will tire you out enough to sleep well.)
Last weekend we all go together and drove to sunny Mandurah for a boys running weekend, the inaugural one funnily enough. Bart’s parents have a beautiful holiday home on the beach in Mandurah and it has become available for the family (and close running friends) recently. This opportunity was too good to miss and on Friday afternoon the seven of us traveled down from Perth to start the shenanigans. The plan was to run a night run on Friday , two runs Saturday and a single run Sunday morning (depending on the alcohol intake Saturday evening of course?) before returning to the ‘bosoms of our loved ones‘ Sunday afternoon.
The highlight of the Friday evening run was running through what looked like a tip in the middle of the trail. It seems the Mandurah locals like to get some fresh air and nice scenery while they illegal dump all their rubbish, bless ’em. We made Bart’s promise to take us through this again the next day for evidence, which you’ll see later in the post, inspiring stuff.
Saturday morning we were up early, though not as early as some of my running colleagues would have liked. They seem to have no concept of not being rushed to get in a morning run and insisting on starting in the dark, even though we had the whole weekend ahead of us. I soon put an end to this predawn start talk and I managed to hold them back until just after 7am, which was difficult. My kids are a bit older now and I seem to have more time to run, albeit I am running less being a tad older, it’s a catch-22 situation I suppose. Anyhow one of the benefits of age is older kids and the knock on effect of not being so time constrained, this equates to later start time for morning runs (virtually afternoon runs sometimes) and also more late afternoon , early evening runs. Of course this is season dependent as in Summer 4am is the best time of the day, before the sun turns up the dial to ‘microwave‘! Anyhow managed 19k Saturday morning, after a double day Friday and another run planned in the afternoon, was never interested in hitting 20k. (sorry Strava, I am better than that !)
As I mentioned before a trip to Mandurah is not complete without the ‘run through the tip trail‘ with the added bonus of used needles to make posing for photos a life or death situation. You’ll notice for this photo I was the photographer , not the subject, a lot safer in my opinion. The look on Bart’s face sums up this one, priceless.
Saturday afternoon was a pre-sport watching 10k for some scenery rather than distance or pace. We managed to cross a bridge and Jon was let loose to chase a few segments. I suppose the whole weekend was more about running with good friends rather than a ‘training camp’ as such, I mean there was no talk of intervals, thresholds, VO2Max etc. We were chasing different metrics involving laughter, tall stories and making memories, we succeeded in all three categories.
That was the point of the weekend, just getting away with good friends, doing what we all love to do without life’s timetable , albeit only for a weekend. It was the inaugural running trip, but I’m hoping the first of many because it was just good old fashioned boy’s being boy’s, with a lot of running thrown in for good measure.
Sundays run was a 10-12k amble through Dawesville and after the previous two days , and Saturday night’s entertainment, it was always going to be steady, at best ! We did manage to find a basketball hoop and try to teach Jon about ‘NBA dunking’ but I feel his career in professional basketball is probably a non-starter?
Another highlight was meeting a local runner, Jim from Singapore, at the turn around point and his insistence on joining us. It turns out he had just started his run and was looking for company. We’re a inclusive lot and he was welcomed aboard although the jogging pants are an acquired taste, he hung on for the last 4-5 kilometres before he was cut loose as we turned for home.
Finally a photo of the inlet on Sunday morning, as always my photography does not do it justice, stunning views. Not a breath of wind and perfect temperatures to end the weekend before we all packed up and returned to life as we know it. As I said earlier the training weekend will be remembered for many years and there will be much laughter and back slapping as we recount stories which will probably last a lifetime, and that’s the real point of the weekend isn’t it? For instance after knowing Jeff for nearly 20 years we found out his Chinese name , we also found out Jon’s BMW has an oil leak after it deposited a large amount of oil on the driveway, after we spent hours cleaning the house. Jon loves playing Texas Poker , and we didn’t or don’t, Mike K. cannot play Poker after announcing to the table he had four of a kind and was that a good hand (needless to say we all folded instantly!) and on a Friday night watching the TV , after a meal at the local pub, there was more massage guns out than you’ll find at most physiotherapy practices.
I had planned a longer run this Friday and decided on a trail I had not ran before, an out and back over a 40k or so distance. I had been gradually adding distance to my Friday runs over the last few weeks and this one was going to be my longest for some time. As I mentioned before one of the few benefits of this COVID19 crisis has been my company I work for insisting I take 10 days leave before the end of June. Perfect, I took 10 Fridays in a row and dedicated these days to finding new trail runs around Perth. Over the last 6-8 weeks I have found some epic trails and with my ever increasing posse of unemployed or furloughed running buddies. On the downside I only have two more Friday off but I’m secretly hoping my employer forces me to take another 10 days furloughed, I’m not sure I can go back to a five day working week !
Anyhow I had to go for my morning coffee and croissant at my favourite cafe, Georges in City Beach, served by the best Father and Son barista combination probably globally, Georges and Ben. As you will know from previous posts I persuaded Georges to run Delirious with me in February and he completed the course while I DNF’d at 112k. He was also probably the only person to complete the epic four day event in the same clothes , most people changed daily. He is a character ! So after our normal morning social running banter I dropped my Wife and the boys (my two Golden Retrievers Sydney and Spencer) at home and off I drove the 50k to Chidlow to begin my adventure.
The plan was a simple one, run down the trail 20k, turn around and run back. This way I couldn’t ‘pike out’ and go shorter , assuming I got to 20k of course. I had a backpack full of food and enough water to get me to half way where I could refill , I hoped? By the time I started it was early afternoon and knowing I wasn’t gong to set any world records I packed a head torch, just in case. The day itself was another glorious one for running, slightly overcast and maybe a touch of humidity but just about perfect conditions.
I decided to get to 10k before I had my first banana stop and hit this target relatively unscathed and in good spirits as the video below shows.
I noticed on the various signs along the path there was a town called Wundowie at around the 21k mark so this seemed like a perfect opportunity to up the ante a bit and run a trail marathon, I mean what’s an extra couple of kilometres when you’ve already run forty ? From 10k to the halfway point things started to get harder and I’m sure it was all uphill, albeit more a gradual gradient compared to the monster hills I’d been tacking recently. I try to settle into a 5min/k pace but rarely hit the goal and found myself 30 seconds a kilometre slower. I wasn’t that worried about pace , this was a ‘time on feet‘ run and I knew in an out and back run you don’t want to get to halfway goosed, it makes the return trip unpleasant at best.
I eventually found Wundowie after a nasty 1-2k on the main road as the track disappears with no signage. I just kept running in the same direction hoping the town would be close and luckily for me it was. After reaching the halfway point the Garmin was paused and I scuttled off into the town looking for an open IGA supermarket for some tukka and hydration. After a mars bar and some electrolytes , and the last water from the water tap (?) I was back on my way, albeit probably half an hour later. By this time my legs were well and truly seized, one of the many benefits of being old! and the temperature had dropped enough for me to put on my running jacket. Undeterred I survived the 2k road section (people in the country all drive like they are being chased by the police! I suppose it’s good practice for when they are eventually chased by the police , I assume that’s the logic? They are a funny bunch these country dwellers?) and hit the trail back to Chidlow, a mere 21k away, joy !
Funnily enough the first thing I did after hitting the trail was get totally disorientated and get lost. Now what you need when you know you’re 20k+ away from your car and the sunset is closing in rapidly. I took the next video at around the 23k mark…
There was actually quite a bit of downhill running in the second half but not enough to save me from the inevitable punshment I knew was coming, but that’s the point of these runs. It’s not about pace, it’s more time on feet and distance. Mental toughness rather than racing toughness. Over the next few months I signed up for some serious races and need more of these testing runs to make me a mentally stronger runner, well that’s the logic, I do enjoy them, honest. Next video is a few kilometres down the track, and I’m starting to realise what I have in front of me.
Eventually I hot the small town half way between Chidlow and Windowie, called Wooroloo. As you can see from the image below, it is a small town? By this time the sun was setting and I still had around 6-7k to go. (Although I convinced myself at this point I still had 13k to go ? ) I was never going to beat the sunset.
The last 10k or so was a struggle but I didn’t expect it to be anything but. As I have said before this run was about mental toughness and all I needed to do was finish strong to make the effort worthwhile, pace was a secondary factor albeit I was keen to see the finish. I did continue along at a similar pace for the remaining few kilometres but could have probably done with some more water and a carbo-shot or two, no worries, running hungry allows your body to learn to use the next source of fuel available to it, your own body fat. Rather than fast burning carbohydrates your body fat can last you many , many hours, albeit at a slightly reduced cruising pace but these type of runs teach your body to learn to use readily available fat rather than looking for cardohydrates and sugar, which burn quickly. So the sunset, it did come and was magnificent as always.
Managed to reach 40k before I had to reach into my backpack for the head torch. Lucky I did as in Oz there’s no dusk as such, one minute it’s light, the next it’s dark, like a light switch. Anyhow I managed to struggle to the car and even ran around the oval to get the 42.2 distance because we’re all Strava addicted and whenever to run over 40k you might as well hit the magic marathon distance, be rude not to really ? The image below shows the last kilometre or two with the head torch on, what a difference to the glorious sunshine I started off in, that can happen when you run a trail marathon, with a lot of stopping for photos and video, as well as food at half way. I think I had over an hour of non moving time (thankyou Strava) but that’s ok, these type of runs are more an adventure and half the fun is running to places you’ve never been before and just enjoying being ‘out there’ , alone with just your thoughts and a Go Pro.
So mission accomplished, I had ran a trail marathon, been to places I had never visited before and even got to watch a magnificent sunset while running alone in the bush, soaking up the ambiance. It really was a prefect end to the run watching the day turn into early evening and eventually night. All that was left to do was a quick go on the massage gun before I started to drive the 50k or so home for some serious dinner as I was starving, running a marathon can do that to a person I’m told.
Well after only one post in a month I do two in two days. My running pod cast guru friend Irwin Swinny has resurrected the Choo-Choo run, man versus train for July 5th. I have written two posts on this run before and attached links below. The run itself is simple enough, you leave your car at North Dandelup train station and then run to Serpentine train station via a 35k trail. The only train of the day leaves Serpentine at 10:21am returning to North Dandelup, so you leave North Dandelup at whatever time you want, just as long as you finish at Serpentine before 10:21am. Simple really. The last few years we’ve left at 7am giving us just over three hours to amble back to Serpentine, noting the route is a challenging one and we allow probably 30 minutes for mishaps or general laziness. (Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/events/561857761192536)
So if you’re in Perth first week in July and you want to race a train feel free to meet us at North Dandelup train station around 7am and join us on one of the funniest and most enjoyable runs of the year. As I mentioned earlier if you want to leave earlier that’s fine, leave at 6am and you have over 4 hours to enjoy the trails , 5am five hours etc.. you get the picture. Of course you could push the envelope and leave at 8am, if you don’t make the station in time I’ll come back and pick you up… promise. ! ??
This is the 2016 post..
The 2017 running..
The 2018 version..
There has been some surprising benefits of this COVID19 epidemic , one of which is Schlumberger asking all its employee’s, i.e. me, to take 10 days off , furloughed, by the end of June. This translated to me as every Friday off for three months, which further translated as ‘Trail time‘ either alone or with the boys (many of which had been laid off and where now full time athletes or furloughed for a few weeks.) Another benefit was my daughter not really taking to her GoPro Silver7 and forgetting she had it, well truth be told she hadn’t, I had ! Winning… This has allowed me to take some rather amateur footage, I hope to get better, of some of these trail runs so you can experience life on the trails in WA.
Bells Rapids #1 with Rhys, Rob and Jeff. Just over 24k and 2 two and a half hours. Great running conditions, 15c , 83% humidity (Thanks Strava). I’ve atatched a couple of videos of the run albeit there seems to be a lot of walking but in my defence the hills are bigger real time than shown on the video, promise.
Highlight of this run was spotting a carpet python on the way back, a good size one at that, if I’d known it wasn’t venomous it’d be in my garden right now chasing my daughters Guinea Pig.
For this post I’ll let the videos do the talking rather than me rambling on typing…..
Next we took on some of the trails around Lesmurdie Falls and the Kurong National Park. A beautiful park of Perth only 30-40 minutes drive. We’ve had 4 or 5 runs there recently , using my furloughed days, and the odd weekend run thrown in for good measure. I’ve attached various videos of those runs for your viewing pleasure. They certainly serve to give you a feel for the beauty of the scenery, if you can excuse the shoddy video work and the narrative, please take into account I’m normally ‘cream crackered’ as trail running is hard work.
The next four videos are from a run with Jon, Adam and Jeff. Started out at around the 25k distance but soon morphed to nearer 30k, trail running has a funny way of doing that to you, unlike road running where you’re normally accurate to a kilometre or two, on the trail you can often be 10k or more out, an added bonus I suppose. (Once you finish!)
First video is the start of the run and we always start slow with some serious walking while we warm up to cruising speed. Always better to start slow and finish fast, albeit sometimes I think we are finished pretty fast, it’s all in the grammar. In our defence, I seem to type that a lot on this post, this was a 30k run, well over 4 hours taking into account photos and video stops.
Next we have a downhill section so we can stretch the legs…albeit briefly.
Then some serious single trail..
before the Quad Cruncher !
I went back to this route alone, in the week, as the boys were either not interested or working. I managed to add another couple of kilometres and got thoroughly soaked. Overall though it was a great day out and sometimes some solitude on the trails is just what you need, albeit I wouldn’t recommend too many of these type of runs, running is meant to be a sociable past time, apparently. Again over four hours on the trail including stopping to take all the scenary in, taking photos and just stopping because I could and , towards the end, enjoyed it ! I also managed to get over 1,000m of vert on this run (Vertical elevation gain) , which translates to a hard run.
In between the Lesmurdie trail adventures I managed to grab some time on the Eagle trail which is another great part of the Perth hills, on the John Forrest National Park. Highlight of this run was Mike turning up with no water as we said it’d be 15k, turned out to be nearer 30k. (Remember what I said earlier about trails, always end up longer than planned!) Jon probably saved his life , sharing his water.
Finally a run a few weeks ago when Bart’s took us on a magical mystery tour around Lesmurdie Falls where we ended up in Kalamunda ! We did get back to the falls after 16k later !
Right that about sums up the last few weeks in isolation , well on the trails in isolation which is the same thing right? Please note at no point did we break any self isolation rules and always observed numbers with regard what was allowed at the time. We are very lucky , at the moment, to have avoided the nasty COVID19 virus and have nearly no cases left in WA and very few in Australia as a whole.