Saturday, August 24, 2013

Dancing On Mountain Tops

With all of my running on the flat, I have been yearning to run in the mountains.  The peaks have been calling me, tantalisingly close.  So on Friday, I heeded their call, and made my second attempt to run up Little Mount Peel. 

I woke up earlier than normal, and headed west.  I tentatively began my climb, the first section up a steep little section of road.  My poor legs started to burn after the first few meters, and I quailed, thinking that I had lost all of my uphill fitness.  Breaking on to the trail, and along a gentle undulating section, my legs began to warm up, and the leg-screaming subsided.

Then the climbing began in earnest.

The last time I embarked on the Mt Peel climb, I quickly reached deep snow, and so although the views and I rose were familiar, I was seeing the trail for the first time.  Areas of snow obscured trail that I slithered and fallen on, were revealed to comprise of knee and waist height steps, no wonder I struggled the first time!
The weather was calm and warm, the sun injecting warm fingers of heat into the crisp alpine air.  I quickly passed the point that I had reached on my last expedition.  The views were just stunning – the vast plains stretching out to the ocean, ever further below.



The higher I progressed up the ridge, the more technical the terrain became, with steep sections interspersed with flat and gloriously muddy bits.  I was feeling pretty chuffed with myself for managing to run so much of this very-up-hill trail (well I was running up a mountain!), and the bits I couldn't run I was scrambling on my hands-near to rock climbing through the tussock, and up lichen crusted rock.



About two thirds of the way to the summit, I still had a really steep section of ridge to ascend, but as I climbed, my progress felt more manageable than I had imagined.  Some tenacious soul(s) had carefully laid hundreds of meters of board walk to protect the delicate alpine eco system from the tread of exploring feet.  I marveled at the enormity and logistics of such an enterprise – and felt simultaneously proud of and sad for our beloved Department of Conservation, the under-appreciated and politically sidelined guardian of our most precious native assets.

Excited to be so close to the top - the shelter and trig station in the background

Cresting the last major climb before the summit, I was almost overcome by the beauty of my surroundings (I think that my senses and emotions are heightened exertion), and felt so pleased to have nearly achieved my goal.  I could see the Tristram Harper Shelter in the distance, and the trig station and the peak.  Behind me the mountain dropped sharply away.  In front, Middle and Big Mount Peel blended into the ranks of snow capped peaks marching forward from the Southern Alps.  All around me, in the rustic golds and greens of the quintessential New Zealand alpine environment, Little Mount Peel was beautiful and splendid.  Now I was running through the brilliant blue sky.

Middle Mt Peel and Big Mt Peel
I pushed forward with renewed vigour, my spirits soaring high, buoyed on by being so close to the top.  The track the led to the shelter dropped away extremely steeply, and sidled along, dodging treacherous patches of snow that would send the callously-footed climber over the edge.  Behind the hut, the last few meters of track wound up to the very peak itself.

Trig Station on the peak of Little Mt Peel
And then there I was, standing on the top of the world.  The view was amazing, but the tranquillity and sense of achievement was breathtaking.   I literally danced on the top of the mountain top with joy.
After drinking in the view, I sat on the shelter steps drenched in sunlight, and gobbled up a couple of muesli bars – chocolate and apricot never tastes as good as it does on a mountain top.  I stayed for ages, and didn’t want to leave (except that I was looking forward to more running).

View Glorious View
I explored the shelter interior, which was delightful, before plunging back down the mountain.  The run back down was so much fun (and a little hair rising in sections).  I relish knowing that even a few months ago I would have struggled much more with the terrain than I did.  I flew back down the board walks, and took great bounding leaps down the steps.  I splashed though the mud, and am not ashamed to admit that I even turned around and ran back through some of the muddiest sections, just for the joy of splashing through the thick of it.

Tristram Harper Shelter
The sun had really warmed up the day, and I was boiling as I ran back down, grateful for the shade as I reached the bush line.  It seems that the core strengthening exercises I have been doing are also helping with my running form, and I felt strong and stable as I descended.

Its always a good day on the trails when you are covered in mud 
This amazing and beautiful run has to be one of the best that I have ever had – confirming that running in the mountains is definitely my favourite.  I can’t wait to practice this route more in the future, and improve my speed and footwork over steep and technical terrain.  I also can’t wait to discover more beautiful peaks.

Less than a week to go until my next race, the much anticipated 50km, it is going to be great (although I do hear mutterings about snow).  EEEEK! 

Saturday, August 17, 2013

Is it crazy...

That I will run my first official ultra marathon before I run my first official marathon?  Well anyway, that I my plan.  I have entered the Great Naseby Water Race and the Cadbury Dunedin Marathon.  The Great Naseby Water Race is a ultra-marathon fest with distances from 50km right up to 160km (or 100 miles).  I am excited and nervous about completing this distance.  But I have run 50km before, so I know that I can cover the distance, and I was thinking today, that it doesn't matter how I finish, as long as I finish.

The Dunedin Marathon is a little more nerve wracking.  There is a time limit on the distance, and although I have been doing quite a bit of speed work, and tempo training over distance, I know that at the end of the day I am not fast (but built to last).  However, nerves over completing the course in the designated time are somewhat cajoled by my excitement of getting to run around the beautiful Dunedin harbor, on what promises to be a rather spectacular course.

I haven't blogged much of late because all of my running has been on flat, open country roads, and I can't find it within myself to wax lyrical about gravel roads, paddocks and irrigators too often.  But the important thing is that I have been doing a lot of running, and covering a lot of kilometers (to the extent where I think I just about need a new pair of shoes).  A short run for me at the moment is 15km, and there are many and varied routes around my house that make up quite even distances (21km, 30km, 42km etc.).  I run mostly on the grass verges where I can, as the softer surface is kinder on my joints, but I also like running in the thick gravel, as this fulfills some aspect of my trail running desires.



Today through, for the first time in ages, it had rained a lot over night, and the grass verges were ankle deep in mud.  The route that I chose today, took me past some earth works, so I relished running up and down the piles of mud and stone as I slithered through the mud.  Large puddles, and well trodden drive ways contributed to the muddiest run that I have had in a while, and it was great fun.

In other news, Malcolm Law has launched is latest charity running event: The High Five-0 Challenge - which a 50 day, 50 marathon event, run over 50 different peaks around NZ to raise money (at least $250,000) for the Mental Health Foundation of New Zealand.  For those unfamiliar with Malcolm Law's running feats, he has completed numerous fundraising endurance events for New Zealand charaties, and he is one of New Zealands best known and accomplished ultra runners.  I am excited about hopefully being involved in this event as it is rolled out over the next months...watch this space.

Finally, I have been reading Dean Karnazas's 50 Marathons in 50 days.  It is an interesting read, notably because he seems to find the logistical aspects of the event more challenging than the running itself.  I particularly liked his musings about the suitability of ultra running for introverts (like me!) who enjoy their own company and appreciate the long hours of running with just their mind and the wilderness for company.  I can definetly relate to that sentiment.

Thursday, August 1, 2013

Ultra

On the same that that Ruby Muir came third at the Speedgoat 50k, I decided that it was high time that I had a good crack at my own 50km challenge. I am planning to run my first official ultra marathon at the end of this month, and I always find a distance easier  ( less daunting ) the more I do it. I was also curious to see if I could actually run fifty kilometers.  It's funny to think that just under a year ago the idea of completing a half marathon seemed impossible.

Go KIWI! Ruby Muir running into 3rd place at Speedgoat 50k.

I knew that  the distance was only eight or ten extra kms on top of my longest distance run, and I figured that I just had to get out there and start running and just keep going until I completed the distance.  I worked out a route that would take in some familiar running territory as well as some new terrain.  With a full Camelbak, some food, and my trusty, newly discovered Dextrose tablets, I set out.  I kept my pace purposefully slow (somewhere around the 7:30min/km), and plodded along quite comfortably for the first 10.  My strategy, was to run as much as possible on the grass verge to provide a softer running surface, and less impact for my joints.  I also kept the magnitude of my task right at the back of my mind, and tried not to calculate distance covered, or distance still to go.

My knee and consequently hip started to get twingy around kilometer 18, and I tried to ignore this for a while, but decided to get out my kinestesiology tape, and wound it around my knee, in a fashion that I hoped was close to the sort of technique that I have seen other athletes use.  The relief was instant, and the remainder of my run, my knee was pretty comfortable.  At km 20 I stopped to buy some Powerade and some Coke (to flatten) (which I have heard is magical go-go juice for endurance sports).  I periodically shook the Coke and opened the lid to release the gas, sticky syrup pouring over my fingers and clothes.

The day warmed up as I headed towards Lake Hood, the cloud cover dispersing, and the sun beginning to beat down.  I knew that I just had to cover another 5km before I could turn around and head for home.  I think that I found this part of the run the hardest, I still had the longest distance to run looming ahead of me, and I was hungry and tired.  I sat down for a few minutes at the turn around to further secure the strapping tape on my knee (sweat and movement were making it loose it's stick).

Back in town, I bought an enormous bag of lollies, and with only 20km to go, I felt that I didn't really have much running left.  As the sun shone down, my new self motivational strategy was to stuff my face with lollies whenever I felt like slowing to a walk, eating boosted my sugar levels and distracted me from feeling tired.  I just kept on keeping on: left - right - repeat, and somewhere around km 35 it got easier, all discomfort (sore soles, rubbed toes, achy legs) seemed to evaporate.  I wasn't running very fast but I was travelling along quite comfortably.

As I ran through the 40km mark,  I felt elated, every step I took now, I was running further that I had ever run before, plus I only had 10km to go, hardly any distance at all compared to what I had already run.

The sun was starting to set as I headed up the home straight.  I had been running for over 7 hours, but by god, I was going to make it, I was going to have run 50km!  I pulled out my by now, very flat Coke, and swigged away as I covered the last few km.  I don't know if the Coke had the desired go-go juice effect, but the caffeine hit was welcome.  As I reached the house, my GPS watch read 49.90km, so I did a couple of loops around the house (victory laps!) to boost the mileage to the desired distance.

I had done it.  I ran 50km.  It seems a bit surreal, and weirdly I found it easier than running 40km.  I had my own little 50km victory, and I know that I wasn't 'killing it' over the mountains, but I was only about an hour behind Ruby's time...not too shabby for a first crack at the distance!

My joints have been feeling a bit "used" since I ran, so I have been taking it reasonably easy and not doing too much.  I have been walking a lot, and have done a couple of short, slow runs.  The worst after effect for me was a bit of rotten chafing!  I should have listened to Vaseline preachers, and may have to investigate some good anti-chafing "runderwear".

Now that I have done my first 50, I feel more confident for the race at the end of the month.  Bring it on....and maybe some new running shoes too!