General day to day ramblings
Recently we had the 6th running of the ‘runner versus train‘ Choo-Choo race. The concept is simple, you leave North Dandalup station then run 33k (35k?) over mostly trails to Serpentine station to catch the 10:21am train back to the start. The game is deciding how late you leave North Dandelup. Over the years the record for the latest departure time was around 7am but this year, due to part of the course being shut and thus 2k shorter, we decided to try and break the sub 3 hours and leave at 7:22am. It was Mark’s idea and although I was onboard Jeff was none the wiser to our plan having never ran the Choo-Choo before. So we let the last few runners start their journey and held firm, waiting for 7:22am to come around.
Jeff was a tad confused when the last group left just after 7am and myself and Mark continued to pontificate and make no effort to move away from the station. Eventually we let him in on our plan but he was less than excited, expecting a relaxed amble from one station to the next , stopping for selfies and rose smelling. He knew if we left at 7:22am it would be on for young and old and if you stopped there would be a good chance the train would be well gone when you eventually arrived at Serpentine Station. Of course he was in a catch 22 situation as the last group had left and he had no idea where he was going , so would need us for directions. There was much head shaking and grumbling but all this served to do was to gee up myself and Mark , who then took great pleasure in talking up the challenge ahead. We can be a cruel lot us runners !
So at 7:22am precisely we set off for Serpentine Station, giving ourselves 2 hours and 59 minutes, assuming the train was on time. From past experience I knew we could make the 35k version of the course in 3 hours, including a 5 minute drink stop. Having a nasty 2k loop taken out due to storm damage would probably give us 10 minutes , so we should have 10-20 minutes to play with. As I said earlier Jeff had not ran the Choo-Choo before , where as myself and Mark were old hands and knew what to expect. As you can see from the graphic below the run starts with about 8k of serious hill, as you rise onto the scarp. It then undulates, mostly uphill , until the 25k mark at which time it’s all guns blazing to the best finish ever !! Knowing this is coming it allows you to do the numbers in your head factoring in the fast finish. Jeff did not have this prior knowledge and at every kilometre got more and more discouraged as our pace dropped due to the terrain ahead of us. Again Mark and I did nothing to alleviate his angst and just kept on, knowing we were on track but not divulging this to Jeffrey.
The run itself was pretty uneventful as we had the GPX of the route on Mark’s Garmin (what did we do before GPS watches ?) so the couple of time we wondered of course we were made aware by the watch and we turned around and continued on the right track. Not having this would prove to be the undoing of a few runners because although the course is predominately on the Mundi Bindi bike trail ( https://www.mundabiddi.org.au/ ) eventually you have to leave the trail and return to the road and ultimately the train station. Some runners missed that turn and ended up in Jarrahdale , luckily the two runners in question where able to blag a lift to Serpentine and still made the train in time, after running over 40 kilometres, outstanding job ladies. Some runners thought were less fortunate and my mate Adam was unable to make the train in time, missing it by nearly 10 minutes. He was given a left back to the start and had to endure a slow clap as he arrived , rightly so of course. He was eventually allowed to take food from the tukka table but there was grumblings of discontent from the runners who had completed the course, these was talk of banishing him to a separate part of the park, as I said earlier we are a cruel lot us runners .
You’ll notice in the image above no sign of Jeff, we had left him to his own devices about 5k from the finish as it was every man for himself at that stage and me and Mark fancied a Mocha before the train. Jeff did make the Serpentine Train station show below (far right) but was still smarting over the whole affair and will probably leave a lot earlier next year, a lesson learned.
The train ride itself is a bit of an anti-climax due to a number of factors. One, it takes an ‘as the crow flies ‘ approach to travel between the two stations, funnily enough, and two, it is a lot quicker than us runners ! The journey itself takes about 12 minutes for the 18km or so distance. Thus you just about sit down , get comfy, before it time to get up again and leave the train, not even time for a cup of tea from the buffet (which was actually shut this year anyhow?) No worries, we had organised for everyone to bring tukka for a post run debriefing because we all know that runners love talking about running as much as running.
I need to give a big shout out to Irwin Swinny who kick started the Choo-Choo this year after a leave of absence in 2019. He set up the Facebook page and, with his influence, we had a record turn out. With Irwin’s help I feel this event can go from strength to strength with more and more people experiencing the stress of racing a train. He has an excellent podcast, Stimulate Run, that is well worth a visit ( https://anchor.fm/irwin-swinny ) ,you’ll be surprised who you can listen to.
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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…..
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.
In isolation times fly’s by so quickly (and no one hears you scream, or is that Alien?) though I have never seen so many people running when in lock down, that one hour of exercise a day (or there about?) is the one thing keeping a lot of people sane right now. After toilet roll, hand sanitisers and baking products the next thing to sell out in our stores was exercise equipment. Who’d have thought it, lockdown is the one thing that may save the human race by forcing people to actually look at themselves in the mirror and realise they may have ‘let themselves go‘ the last few decades and now is the time to put this right.
Personally I have been tying to establish a routine while locked down in sunny City Beach (Perth is experiencing a bit of a heatwave at the moment, aiming to break a record for April of continuous days above 30c. The record is six days , I think , we should break it tomorrow (forecasting 38c !) before reverting back to normal Autumn temperatures after that. Just what the Government wanted, a perfect Easter to tempt out everybody to the beach, albeit 1.5m’s apart at all times and no large groups !! For me my savior has been my bionic bike which I use every lunchtime to escape the home office. It gives you the workout you’d expect from a run without the pounding and impact, perfect for a second cardio session or recovery from injury.
For me , over the last few weeks, I have used it as a way to get a good 60-90 minute cardio workout in the middle of the day before my running session, on grass with the dogs watching, in the late afternoon. The grass running has helped me recover from a nasty bakers cyst I picked up after the Delirious West ultra. I must also thank my Wife’s prescription anti-inflammatories, saved me getting a cortisone injection while still allowing me to run, albeit slowly on grass. Some benefits of the Bionic are explained in the image below. Unfortunately the company went under a few years ago due to Chinese suppliers letting them down and being unable to pursue these suppliers in the Chinese courts. The product itself is awesome and I love my time on the Bionic, it’s a real pity they were let down but ,when you swim with sharks, you sometimes get eaten. (I’m not sure if that is an actual ‘thing’ but it sounds good?)
Right , a Bakers Cyst, see the image below. A fluid-filled cyst behind the knee. A Baker’s cyst is usually the result of knee-joint conditions, such as arthritis or torn cartilage, that cause the knee to produce too much lubricating fluid. Symptoms, when they occur, may include a bulge and tight feeling behind the knee. Treatment, if required, involves treating the underlying condition. Other options include a cortisone injection, fluid drainage with a needle or physiotherapy. Luckily I think rest and anti-inflam’s has done the trick for me and after 4-6 weeks I’m back running again. Fingers crossed it’s not an under lying issue with the knee but the ultrasound showed nothing more than the cyst, so should be good to go now. Another injury to add to the numerous calf tears and Plantar Fasciitis, the joys of running ?
On the running front some of the Big Kev running crew have been pushing the envelope of the current lock down laws and escaping to destinations far and wide albeit, in their defence, in separate cars and within all local boundaries, just! Personally I have been keeping to my local oval for running and my bionic loop is mainly on the cycle path with little traffic, if any. In Perth , as of today, we have been in lock down for 3-4 weeks and have little community virus spread so I feel safe enough, at the moment. Of course this can change on a daily basis, we are always one cruise ship or mass gathering away from a pandemic, apparently? Facebook has been buzzing with images of runners completing marathons and ultra-marathons in isolation, either running around their gardens or even flats for hours on hours to make the distances. To me this is very dangerous as you are usually running in a very small circle, hundreds of times, built for a good old fashioned repetitive strain injury. Not heard of any injuries on Facebook but maybe a few months down the line we’ll start to see runners paying the price for their 15 minutes of fame ?
Below is the route I mainly take, daily, to keep myself sane in these mad times. It’s more about getting away from the dual screens in my study that are always enticing me in. I find one of the drawbacks of working from home is work is always there, calling you and sometimes that break in the middle of the day is what you need to reset the mental clock and also it’s just plain fun ! Funnily enough I had joined a gym a few weeks before lock down and I was also enjoying my time on the cardio machines, especially the stair-stepper. All these non-running activities are about building cardio fitness, without the impact of running, albeit the gym may be a little more about building up my guns again, I do miss my guns but as I keep telling these muscle bound gym junkies , upper body muscles are a runners enemy, not they friend.
On the running front I’ve been hitting the local oval with the dogs. I run around in circles while the boys watch me and join me briefly for a little jog somewhere on the loop, before retreating back to the middle of the oval. This is part of a building process. It’s not about building big numbers just building consistency. I’ve ran 9 out of the last 10 days and used the bionic on a similar number of occasions, slowly adding time on legs each week. Luckily there is no upcoming races so I have plenty of time to build the cardio engine , one slow run and ride at a time, no rush. The most important thing for my training right now is to avoid re-injuring the knee while also adding distance, and time, each week. I have a long way to go but if the Irrational South in October is my first race this year I’ll be ready. ( http://irrationalsouth200miler.com.au/ ) My local barista Georges has even persuaded his son Ben to join us and it looks like Amy could be back in the mix. Anybody ultra runner in Australia, in October, needs to look at this race, assuming it goes ahead of course? I’d say we’re 50-50 at the moment, a lot will depend on the call of the beach this Easter long weekend of course. Personally I’ll be riding my bionic isolation loop and running around in circles with my dogs, the story of my life really.
Due to that nasty Coronavirus restricting race entries I have had more time to buy running stuff online. Being injured also helps , so it’s a double whammy. This is now beginning to become a problem. In the last few weeks I’ve brought two pairs of shoes (which I needed) , two head torches , a pair of poles (is that the right term? ) a running waterproof jacket and a new GPS watch (all for the Irrational South , which is now postponed until October ( http://irrationalsouth200miler.com.au/ ) Truth be told I’ve probably brought more than that but just in case No1 Wife reads this post (which is highly unlikely, luckily?) I need to be careful, also Mum and No1 Wife are close so they talk and I know Mum reads all my posts.
Anyhow reason behind this post is I have become am Amazon Affiliate which means if I recommend stuff to my reader(s) and they go and buy it from Amazon I get some coin. Unfortunately my readership currently consists of my 80 year old Mum who funnily enough doesn’t run but in the off chance someone else comes across this post, probably by mistake, then I can recommend the items I brought. It’ll be a win-win for all as I do make an effort and try to buy the best products, at the best price, albeit on Amazon.
Right, here’s the items I’ve purchased recently that I can recommend for quality and price, at time of posting of course. There’s no price promise from the BK Running blog , I ain’t Bunnings Warehouse people ! If you do find any of these items cheaper let me know and I’ll update the post. This really is a tester to see if you guys are interested in the same items I am and if I can get a small back-hander from Amazon to help towards running costs for the blog ?
The first product is a real bargain because for some reason the product on www.amazon.com is over $370 AUD but on www.amazon.com.au it’s $236.41 AUD. (See the link below)
https://www.amazon.com.au/gp/product/B00MN96JT2/ref=ppx_od_dt_b_asin_title_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Good news for you , bad news for me as the link I get is for the Amazon.com listing , which is over $140 AUD more expensive? This really is a bargain and if you want an awesome GPS watch for around half price use the link above. The reason I brought it was for the incredible battery life , easily more than enough for the 4 day (or quicker?) Irrational South race in October. In fact I have had my one for nearly two weeks and it still has over 70% batter life, albeit I have only used once in that period. (Being injured)
I have attached a review below but do your own research, the watch has been around for a few years and now represents great value for money.
https://andrewskurka.com/long-term-review-suunto-ambit3-peak-gps-sport-watch/
Next is my watch of choice and the one I am currently wearing and have been for the last 4 years, the GARMIN 235. Again this watch has been around for a long time but if something works why change it. ! Before this watch Garmin’s were to be used only when you ran, they were not your everyday watch. This all changed with the 235. It was bye-bye Rolex Submariner and hello sports watch. This watch is light , has an inbuilt wrist heart rate monitor which I feel is very accurate (Don’t listen to Mike Kowal!) and provides clear and accurate data as well as having the ability to download maps via apps. It may be looking a tad old in the tooth but for this price you’re getting a whole lot of watch. My Suunto is really for ultra races, where as the Garmin is my ‘use everyday’ watch.
Garmin Forerunner 235, GPS Running Watch, Black/Gray
Head torches, I hear you ask ? According to the link below this bad boy of a head torch is just under $40AUD. Unfortunately it looks like this is out of stock at the moment but keep trying, this is the headlamp of choice for quality and price.
Black Diamond Storm Headlamp, Dark Olive
My backup torch, because you need two at all time on the Delirious and Irrational 200 milers and there’s no point buying the same one ?, is the Petzl Tactikka 300. Petzl are a great brand and always good to have the best as a backup just in case. Not as many lumens as the Black Diamond but for me it’s a good product as a second torch. The link below is for the 200 Lumens, where as I brought the 300 and you can go higher of course, right upto 750 Lumens; which apparently you can see from space.
PETZL – TIKKA Headlamp, 200 Lumens, Standard Lighting, Black
Socks are next on the BK recommendation list and nothing beats the Injinji brand with the unique design giving each toe their personal sock thus stopping blisters, apparently. (The 5 Toe Fit System, funnily enough ) I used a pair on the Delirious recently and after nearly 18 hours of running my feet still felt great, unfortunately my quads were goosed but my feet , no problem. Each toe is cocooned in their own personal cotton sock thus , in theory, eliminating blisters.
Injinji Men’s Trail Midweight Mini Crew Toesocks
Ok, that enough for today. If you have any bargains you see on Amazon you think would benefit other readers of this blog, other than my Mum, please feel free to leave a link or email me and once a in a while I’ll write a post and advertise to the greater good of the readership, and some extra coin for me to keep the site going and/or retire early.
The last year has been tough for me, it’s been the first year that I have never pb’d (or PR’d for the American’s amongst us) . Although I realise the reasons for this it still hurts and watching my pace and endurance desert me has been a sobering experience. I always knew it was inevitable, at my age, that Father Time would come calling but it doesn’t soften the blow when the he arrives. Funnily enough after two years of bad injuries torpedoing my season it’s an injury free year which has destroyed me. 2019 will be remembered for all the wrong reasons, many visits to the Doctors convinced I had either heart issues, blood problems or just plain good old fashioned ‘killer’ man-flu , although the man-flu was confirmed twice during the year my blood and heart all tested ok. Maybe it’s a case of ‘eating some concrete‘ to harden up or some ‘suck it up pills‘ as recommended by David Goggins. ( https://davidgoggins.com/ ) Whatever the reason the year descended, monthly , with times I had not run for many years becoming the norm.
2019 started badly with a 1:22 at Darlington half. This was the first time I had run over 80 minutes for 6-7 years and although it was good for a top 10 finish (just) it was a disappointing result. I did manage to run sub 80 minutes at the Joondalup half and , with hindsight, this was probably the run of the year for me, again a top 10 finish and a reasonable paced race. I raced five 10k’s over the year , starting with a 36 minute finish before dipping just under 36 minutes on the next two, albeit just under, before two disappointing 37 minute finishes. Not somewhere I thought I’d be so quickly after running 34 minutes regularly a few years ago? Marathon season was another mixed bag. At Rottnest I managed to sneak under three hours with a 2:58 and 7th place finish, which was a fair result but at the City to Surf a few months later I only improved my time a few minutes to 2:55. Again this was the slowest I’d ran this event for many years ,albeit it was a controlled race and a good split between the first and second half so maybe I’m being hard on myself ?
To cap off a bad year my favourite race of the year , the 6 inch trail ultramarathon , was cancelled due to the extreme heat in Perth over December and the risk of a fire. ( http://www.6inchtrailmarathon.com/ ) I’d managed to put together a few good weeks of training (relatively) and was hoping to break 4 hours for the 9th on the course, this will have to wait until later in the year now ?
So was has 2020 got to offer in the way of challenges ? The first one is in February , a small matter of a 200miler called the Delirious West ( http://deliriouswest200miler.com.au/) I entered this event when entries first opened in March 2019, I think? I was the first to enter and managed to enter before entries had even opened by finding a link on the interweb , when searching for the race details, much to the angst of the race director! Anyhow here we are now 10 months later and the race is weeks away and I’m probably at my lowest ebb for many months, not a good combination. On the bright side a 200 mile race is mainly mental , apparently , which is lucky as physically I’m nowhere near where I need to be, albeit I have a few weeks to prepare. I did lash out on a nice running vest at the Kathmandhu sales so I’ll at least look the part. I probably need to think about other ‘stuff’ for the event as it’ll probably take 3-4 days to finish, vaseline comes to mind by the bucket load !!
I’d written off the Australia Day Ultra ( http://australiadayultra.com/ ) at this stage as I’m still recovering from a head cold shared by no3 Daughter a few weeks ago. Again , just as I was getting up a full head of steam , I’ve been derailed and have not put on the trainers for a few days, with little chance of that changing this week. Of course if I can conjure up a Lazarus like recovery it could be on the cards but confidence is low, unless I can get some of those ‘suck it up’ pills from Mr. Goggins? This was how I started 2019, a DNS at the ADU, albeit I had paid for that one, this year I’ve kept my entry money in my pocket for the time being, maybe you can teach an old runner new tricks?
Goals for 2020, well the first one is to survive the Delirious West of course. Then we’ll be back into the racing season, Darlington half in March, a few 10k’s between then and the Rottnest Marathon in June, Chevron City to Surf Marathon in August and the Perth Running Festival (for the fist time, finally?) in October. Maybe a half or two somewhere in there and finally the 6 inch ultra in December. I may go back and revisit the UWA Light horse in April and try and finish the 12 hour race, my only ever DNF (so far?), we’ll see ? All that was easy to type but first thing first I need to find my running mojo. It has eluded me many times over the last few years and, combined with injuries, left me questioning why I do what I do. All runners must eventually reach a point in their career when it all just becomes too hard, motivation can certainly wane when you know you’ll only ever be running slower each time you race. For me running has always been about racing your old self, the best you could do , and beating that time. Racing has always been my main reason for running and now , as I move back to the pack, that goal is disappearing. Of course I can always set season targets like continuing a long sub 3 marathon streak or trying to run sub 37 minutes for 10k or 80 mins for a half, but ultimately these are all times I would have scoffed at a few years ago. It does make the early mornings and double days seem that little bit harder, nigh impossible lately truth be told. This has the double whammy of hastening your retreat to the pack because you’re not putting in the time on legs, gotta’ love paying the piper ?
As I have said many times in 2019 this is quite a depressing post but , until I can get back in the game mentally , this does seem to have become the norm of late which is why I have been posting less than usual. It’s hard enough writing these posts I can only imagine reading them must be as challenging. No worries, I’ll make a promise to my readers (reader ? , Mum?) to try and be more positive in the future and maybe even start to rekindle my love of running which got me started on this blog in 2016. Looking back at those early posts I miss that ‘youthful (I’m not sure a 50 year old can be described as youthful??) enthusiasm , trying to hold myself back from running three times a day and gleefully describing PB adventures in all distances. Those days are gone and I need to reset my goals to make them at least achievable. I think the first one at the moment is to just start running again after three days off. Now is not a good time to start looking for my mojo again because in less than 6 weeks I’ll have over 200 miles to look for it and that may be a very painful experience. On the bright side it will make one hell of a post. Right, where did I put those ‘suck it up pills’ ………
This post was going to be about my 11th 6 Inch Ultra Trail marathon ( http://www.6inchtrailmarathon.com/ ) and another sub4 finish, unfortunately due to the extreme heat wave we have been suffering though this summer it was deemed too dangerous to run the event. The conditions in sunny Perth have been very sunny and the last few weeks has been a chore to continue to train for the 6 inch ultra. Many lunch time runs I have ‘showered‘ under a tap and staggered, rather than skipped, back to work where I soak in my own sweat in air conditioned heaven (must to my work colleagues disgust!) Unpleasant is an under statement and the heat is unrelenting , with three 40 degree days in a row before the Saturday when the race director, Dave Kennedy, made the right decision to cancel the event.
Unfortunately , or fortunately, my accomodation was brought and paid for, with no refunds, so as a group we decided to go to Dwellingup anyway and just run the Sunday morning, conditions permitting. Thus on Saturday afternoon Barts picked me and No2 Daughter, Hannah, up from City Beach and off we went , via a small detour at Como to pick up another friend of mine Amy. We arrived just in time for a Question and Answer with three elite ultra runners, who had obviously double booked because Dave let me and Jon on the top table with Barbara Fieberg, a previous winner of the event and an Australian representative at 12 and 24 hours. All me and Jon could offer was an AURA age group record (mine) and his unratified 5th longest distance at a 12 hour event earlier in the year. In our defence we are still very keen runners and can at least offer some advice, using experience as our guide.
After the Q&A Barts insisted we hot foot it to the pub, to beat the rush, and get some decent good old fashioned Australian county tukka at the local tavern. If you read my blog you’ll understand last year this same tavern scuppered the event for Jon, Bart’s, Mike and Mark as they indulged in the pub’s enormous portions. I did giggle to myself as I ate my small portion of pasta later in the evening without the 5-10kg weight gain all the lads put on due to their evening meals. Needless to say the next day the lads struggled up the numerous hills with the extra weight , while I skipped off into the distance, still giggling like a 10 year old boy after his first encounter with his Father’s Mayfair magazine. This year we could all enjoy our meal , bar Jon , who had decided that even though the event was cancelled, unofficially, he would run the course backwards in the dark and then return the next morning. Yep, you guessed it, the infamous 12 inch. ! Only attempted by a few mad ultra runners who would leave at 10pm the night before the event, they’d turn up at the start around 4am the next morning and then register for the main event, kicking off at 4:30am. This would give them 94km and some serious kudos of course. Jon decided to ignore the ban due to possible fire risk and off into the night he went while myself, Amy, Mark and Bart’s settled down for the 4th showing of Run Fat Boy Run armed with a good bottle of red.
So while we finished off the film, but not the bottle of red , we were running at 4:30am the next morning, Jon set off into the dark on his quest to obtain the 12 inches he had always wanted ( or that was what Bart’s had said , not sure what we meant ?) The next morning we did get up at 4:30am, much to my Daughters disgust!, and set off on to the trails and headed towards the escalator for a cheeky 24k out and back. Conditions were glorious , albeit it did start to heat up quite quickly and we all agreed it was still the right decision to cancel. The picture below doesn’t do justice to the conditions, as I have said many times before trial running , when the light is right, is magical.
Once we returned to the accomodation, we freshened up and then scuttled off to the Blue Wren Cafe for a good old fashioned large Cappuccino and bacon and egg toasted sandwich. While me and the boys tucked into our freshly made toasted sandwich’s Amy had a Strava segment to attend to (you do have Strava right ? http://www.strava.com ) She had stalked this segment from Perth and was determined to leave her mark in Dwellingup with a CR (Coarse Record). There was a double incentive as the current holder had initially followed Amy on Strava but then unfollowed her. This is unacceptable , apparently , and punishable by a good old fashioned Strava segment beating, bless her. Once Amy achieved her CR we regrouped and waited for Jon , who eventually turned up after running for well over 11 hours. He , along with one other , had become a member of a very select club of men who can say they have a 12 inch under their belt. (Please note, at the time of writing, no woman has got her hands on a 12 inch, although I suspect in the near future one may get her hands on Jon’s 12 inch , if they speak nicely to him or whisper sweet nothings in his ear, he likes that apparently?) I digress , as always.
All in all a great weekend , spent with friends (and no2 Daughter) with many happy memories added to the trail running database to be retrieved at random times over the next few years , with much laughter , and some obvious innuendos.
Well it looks liker my old mate Jon Pendse is keen to give back to the running community and has offered free coaching, mentoring to all and sundry. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity to learn from one of Perth’s best known, and loved, local running legend. I have had the honour of running with Jon since 2008 when I first encountered him at the Bunbury marathon and then realised we both worked in the same building in Perth. After introducing ourselves in the mens changing rooms (?) we started a relationship that is going as strong today as when we first started on our journey over ten years ago. Rereading that please note that was a running relationship , I’m happily married (according to my current Wife!) and Jon was happily married but is now even happier single. (and running a lot quicker, go figure?)
Back in the day Jon was the target for all us St. Georges Terrace Running Club runners to aim for. He was the quickest runner at all distances and I spent 4-5 years admiring his form as he strutted off into the distance on many occasions, it was around 2011 I think the first time I pipped him to the finish line at the City to Surf. We had run together for the first 41k and then it was on for young and old for the final 1k sprint. I think my long legs gave me the edge as we both sprinted for the finish. Happy days.. I’ve managed to keep Jon in check up until this year when he has once again found the fire ( and got divorced, coincidence I don’t think so !) and just maxed out his running distance. The payback has been instant as he has won numerous marathons , ultra marathons and even set a top 10 Australian record distance in timed races over 12 hours.
So for any runner in the Perth area if you want to be coached by a running legend get in touch , his email is :jpendse@tpg.com.au He may even share his running spreadsheet which has to be seen to be believed ! (He is an accountant by trade funnily enough!)
