T42 – The after-post

Posted on May 9, 2013 by

 

 

It’s all done and dusted, well no not dusted, more like muddied, but done all the same.

 

I ran in my favourite fives- the Treksports – despite the terrain being more rock/mud/clay/sharp stone with lots of river crossings and probably more spyridon territory. I was the only person in the event running in fives, and had many people asking me how my feet are holding up. Well, after exclusively wearing fivefingers for 3-4 years, I have no idea what it would feel like to run in anything else. And of all the sore bits after the race, my feet were not amongst them.

 

For a first time full marathon, on trail I am happy with what I got right, granted that I made the rookie mistake of starting too fast – at 18km I was heading for a podium position – and then paid for it in the next 12km, which is a terribly long time to be paying for your mistakes, before I got granted the second wind needed to end in the time I had expected to finish.

 

The T42 is a strange event, in that it is a nett downhill race, with a lot of downhill at the start. Downhill is not my strongest skill, and I always worry about my knees if running downhill, I have had my fair share of patella-femoral syndrome, so I strategised to run with a higher cadence and tick off some faster kilometers to spare my knees. It did spare my knees, but I didn’t train at that cadence for that distance, and when we got to the nett uphill part of the track from 18km, I felt like the half-marathon should be nearing its end now…

 

It’s strange how much of marathon running is a brain skill, and you have to make rules for yourself and stick to them. So while I was running too fast, I knew I was running too fast, but instead of doing what I had planned to do – start out slow – I thought, will I be able to recover on the run if I continue at this pace? Sure…. You should never underestimate the effect of endorphins on over-riding good judgement.

 

I also think that slow and steady on those downhills would end up bringing on quite a few niggles, its definitely a course where cadence is king. Which means, lots more specific training and conditioning for next year. It was certainly a good experience for me to find out what I need to do more of and where I need to focus my training.

 

I don’t have any leg pains other than the expected DOMS (delayed-onset-muscle-soreness) 48 hours after the event, and can still do a full squat and sit cross legged on the floor comfortably, so all in all a good outcome after the event.

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Guest post : The Milford Track

Posted on May 4, 2013 by

milford track gabreilThanks to Gabriel Ribeiro for this guest post on his recent Milford Track experience. Gabriel is a personal trainer in Wellington – pop over to Gravity Fitness for more info. Good to have you on the Barefoot and Soul blog team Gabriel.

“Since 2007 when I lived in Queenstown before moving to Wellington, I always wanted to do the Milford track as you hear how amazing it looks by all the travelers that stay there for a night, week or season, but because I could go anytime “it’s like my backyard” I just postponed and postponed, I could go anytime if I want right!?… 6 years later…

This time me and my partner Sarah decided that we would do it, we even had to book 4 months in advance. The training part was easy, walk, run, play capoeira, Gravity fitness classes and a bit of weight training having my Five fingers shoes as second sole. I knew that my partner with a sore knees wouldn’t be able to carry all her gear, so I had to call the donkey inside of me, 20 Kg later we were ready to go for “The world finest walk” but not without calling the attention of so many people doubting if I could do all 4 days using Vibrams instead of tramping boots, for me it was a nobrainer as I had done Muller Hut at Mt Cook before, and my second sole had not disappointed me, quite the opposite, always felt in balance, I would just have to watch out for the snow at the top of McKinnon pass

First day
I was so excited to be able to walk, admire nature and not have to do anything else, no clients, no car, no internet, no mobile, no Game of Thrones, no coffee, yeah right… I took one of the travelling “brew your own coffee” but I wouldn’t drink a instant one, not even if I’m in the middle of Middle Earth. Most of the people that came from the same boat as us from Te Anau looked like were from all over the world, as we could hear from their ascents, everybody super friendly and smelling fresh, as we started on the Milford track we passed by a lodge where the “glampers” would spend their first night, “what kind of people go to the middle of nowhere to stay in luxury accommodation ” I thought, perhaps they are afraid of lousy snorers or not big fans of dehydrated chicken curry, preferring the choice of lamb shanks, eye fillet steak or blue cod for dinner, I would too, but I didn’t want to pay $2000 for my experience and then be judge by my personal trainer “G”. “What kind of fitness freak are you that can’t even carry your own food supply” I have passed on that. By the end of day 1 I was so stoked of the amazing 1h30 min of walk plus my first night to sleep in a hut and the chance to dive into glacial temperature rivers. Our night ranger that looked like one of those beardy walk trees (Ents) from “The Return of the King”with very pointy knees and at least 700 years of knowledge of the forest that he was more then happy to share

Day 2
What amazing bird life, we saw Tomtit, Fantail, Kereru, Rifflemen bird, South island robin… by the end of the day and an infinite of sighs, good and old glacial bath that lasted 10 second max, but all worth it for faster recovery for our next day. This time our ranger was a lady and had just arrived at the hut as I was explaining for my 3 comrades from Israel, why I was using Five fingers instead of boots, so more and more people started asking questions around the fire, like “why do you use this shoes?” because it doesn’t restrict my movements, strengthen my muscle of my feet and calves, giving me better balance “Is it comfortable?”…” I feel so comfortable as if I’m bare feet” , “Does it protects you from the pebbles?” It does protect because you can adjust the way you step being less prone to land heavily like an elephant, As I finished answering the questions, I noticed that the ranger was also wearing the five fingers shoes, so I just blinked at the Israelis and they smiled back, before going to bed we all went to a Kiwi hunt as our ranger had mentioned that 2 couples live close to the hut, after imitating their “skweekis”, after 1 hour out and a few gloworms and 3 possums we headed back for sleeping with no luck in seen the kiwi

Day 3
WWWoooowww how amazing was that! We left the bank room early and got to the top of McKinnon’s pass around 10am, had a cup of tea and looked down on our last hut, so amazing to see the vegetation changing, the glaciers at the top, the cold breeze and the stillness of it all, it made me think how we are so small and that everything is temporary, nothing is really a problem looking at those mountains surrounding the whole place, and I knew it wasn’t over, apparently was all down hill from there as a friend from Belgium reminded us. So now it was the real challenge for the five fingers shoes, walk into rocks with all sorts of different shapes and sizes for over 3 hours, now, that’s an eccentric training workout! By the end of it the quadriceps were shaking looking forward to more glacial baths, and ready to eat those “delicious” dehydrated package meals, yum. Our ranger of the night was friendly and very helpful with the questions about our last day journey, this night I was so looking forward for a nice sleep, really need that deep rest you know a bit of a kick from the gama waves, until someone started snoring very loud, not just loud but very loud, so I tried to ignore and not move much otherwise I could wake up the others, but my mind ‘G” as I call started playing with me and saying ” look this is not fare, he/she is waking you up plus the others and there is plenty of room upstairs where the kitchen and fire place is”, my other side answered “look It’s just this night, try to go back to sleep and try to find your ear plugs, GO TO SLEEP!” so I obey “ok, I’ll try to find the other one that’s not in my ear”, the endless mind battle with “G” wining, so I stood up and went at direction of the snore, pitch black as the space without stars, I had to wait and listen very close because I didn’t want to wake up the wrong person as each bed has a bunker but then I definitely knew that was the bottom bed, so I said very whispery” Mind your snoring”, the person rolled sideways and stopped snoring, just like that but then someone else decided to take the lead, by then I had found my missing ear plug and could go back to sleep sound

Day 4

18km full of waterfalls and mostly flat, it took us 6h and the backpack weighed around 12Kg by then, walk in the park, by the end of the walk at Sandfly point, 2 Australians congratulated everybody that arrived with a sip of whiskey and a hug, it was so good to have shared that experience of four days with so many new friends, definitely a New Zealand must do.”

Gabriel Ribeiro

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Carl’s Spartan Experience

Posted on April 22, 2013 by

Other than a less than ideal lead into the Australian trip we did what we could leading up until the race day. We had loads of places to experience and people to meet which was amazing, but it also meant a lot of travel and organization. I met some inspiring people that are made from the same mould as myself – people passionate about health, nature and real food! We visited some great food places that had many or all of these elements:  Organic, educational, whole-food, grain free, fermented food, grass fed happy animals, super food, seasonal and local food.

Lamb shoulder that one of our amazing hosts cooked for us. Coupled with a beautiful organic salad.

Lamb shoulder that one of our amazing hosts cooked for us. Coupled with a beautiful organic salad.

My sort of butcher! Grub - Organic, grass fed happy animals. We got a full tour of the place :)

My sort of butcher! Grub – Organic, grass fed happy animals. We got a full tour of the place :)

We had the privilege of staying at Appin Homestay the night before the race and got to know the lovely couple that owned the place Kevin and Sue.  It was a (nearly) self sustainable farmlette with a great veggie garden, herb garden, orchard, geese, chickens and some happy grass fed cows (that gave us raw milk!!). When I was informed they also made fermented veggies and made their own raw milk cheese I almost needed time out to calm myself down!

Appin

Appin

Food I gathered in the garden and orchard at Appin Homestay - as Helen was getting the tour of the kitchen. We fell a bit in love with this place and the couple that ran it!

Food I gathered in the garden and orchard at Appin Homestay – as Helen was getting the tour of the kitchen. We fell a bit in love with this place and the couple that ran it!

Gathering dessert - Raspberries :)

Gathering dessert – Raspberries :)

 

We also had to take advantage of their pool and do some recovery training ;)

Recovery training

Recovery training

Raw milk - provided by the cows out the back!

Raw milk – provided by the cows out the back!

Needless to stay we were well nourished going into the race!

On race day we woke up had our Good Green Stuff and 20-30 minutes later backed it up with some yummy eggs, veggies and fruit (mostly from their back yard) washed down with a freshly squeezed orange juice.

When we arrived at the race it was already 30 degrees and felt as if it was getting hotter. We were surrounded by muddy bodies and lots of enthusiastic energy, we were excited but both expressed how we were feeling a bit lethargic – perhaps the travel catching up, the heat, the time of day (midday) or a combination of all.

Sparta!

Sparta!

We took off in excitement and didn’t look back! There were 15 obstacles along the 7km distance and lots of water and boggy mud to tramp through as well as some decent hill and mixed terrain. The obstacles I remember best are:

 

  • Muddy mounds to scramble up and slide down in between deep water trenches.
  • Barbed wire to roll or crawl under
  • A large wall to jump up and climb over
  • Some walls to climb under and through
  • Balance course
  • Monkey bars
  • Wet rope climb
  • Netting tower
  • Sandbag hill carry
  • Lateral wall climb
  • Spear throw
  • Fire jump
  • Spartan gauntlet

Our main objective of the race was to get though it injury and pain free, that was achieved! My main objective was to enjoy the race and be a good team buddy – I think I achieved that also!

We had trained for nearly all of the obstacles other than the spear throw so I felt well prepared and managed to pass them all the only one that really troubled me was the barbed wire – where they recommended rolling, but my shoulders kept snagging the wire and had to adapt fast so I took on more of a front crawl that allowed me to sneak under the wire.

We displayed great teamwork on the balance course where you have to walk along a 10+m zig zagging four by two balance beam without falling off. We adapted a technique where I would lead and get to a corner/join (this was the most stable part) and hold out my hand, then we would both hold hands until both Helen had made it to where I was and I got half way through to the next plank. As far as I saw we were the only ones who successfully made this one, so I feel very proud of us J

Helen was great! She showed great physical and mental strength and the four she didn’t succeed at were close calls!

  1. Monkey bars – she slipped off as they were wet. Not many people at all passed this one!
  2. Spear throw – she missed by one foot in distance (line was good!)
  3. Rope climb – she got to half way slipped once, carried on and had a big second slip and was unable to recover. The rope was very wet and muddy so was even challenging for most of the guys! But here she showed great determination that she should be proud of! I certainly was proud of her!
  4. Lateral wall scale – Helen got to the last block and slipped! I felt gutted for her as she made the rest of it look easy!

The punishment burpees weren’t well monitored and people would either not try the obstacle and run straight through without doing the burpees or fail the obstacle and carry on without doing the burpees. We made a deal that we would complete the 30 burpees together if either one of us failed any of the obstacles. That’s what we did and we did this four times (total of 120 burpees) with little or no rest. I think we found this quite easy because of our physical preparation training plan and our 50 consecutive burpees per day challenge. Again I felt proud of us for doing this as we had the attitude that we were only competing with ourselves and the place number held little value to us.

The final task was to get through the Spartan gauntlet and we had a plan for this also – Helen would follow me, I would either throw a deceiving sidestep (at least attempt to!) or tackle him and clear the path for Helen. The sidestep worked and we crossed the line unscathed!

Me post race

Me post race

Helen post race

Helen post race

 

As we slowly made our way back towards the car Helen noticed a WOD (workout of the day) challenge. If you completed the exercise in under 5 minutes you received a free T-shirt and if you got the fastest time of the day you won around $600 worth of Iron Edge gear. So I was convinced to enter. I had a couple of concerns with this challenge though.

1. I had just completed an hour and a half of exercise

2. The temperature was exceeding 30 degrees and I was dehydrated and probably hypoglycemic

3. It was a cross-fit style workout with a couple of slightly unfamiliar movements including Kip-ups – which Im not a huge fan of form wise – but when your doing chin ups for time it’s a good way to dramatically decrease your time.

Extra challenge!

Extra challenge!

I completed the workout in just over 3 minutes and I think the top time was around 2:25 so happy with the time and that I earned a free T-shirt but would like to give it another go ;)

I left the event feeling spent – which I like. I also felt a sense of achievement for us both and as a unit, and excited about the next challenge and what turned out to be one of the greatest experiences of my life – The Castle ‘walk’.

What a team!! :)

What a team!! :)

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Training for 42nd Traverse

Posted on April 20, 2013 by

road to horopito

Getting prepared for the next one.

 

I decided I have some unfinished business with trail marathons, so elected to take on the 42nd Traverse on the 4th of May as soon as my knees healed up from Tarawera.

 

Its a trail marathon, not especially technical over 42.2km, so I feel a good manageable progression from the 38 I have just completed.

 

Training has been going along smoothly, and I have been experimenting with the optimal racing fueling.

 

As I eat a largely Paleo diet- all whole foods, animal fats and proteins, seeds and nuts, and then supplement it with some whole grains – for me its oats, rice and quinoa, it takes a bit of working out what is the best race fuel.

 

I don’t make any changes to my diet or nutrition for exercise sessions up to 2 hours, I don’t feel I need to. I drink enough water before the run – a 400ml glass and will take another 300-800ml water/hr with me depending on the temperature, have a normal breakfast of eggs, fruit and salad or home made muesli rich in oats, nuts, chia and seeds or left over last night’s curry, swallow a table spoon of chia in some water as an insurance policy and head out.

 

But more than 2 hours is an issue, you just have to get in more calories. Gluconeogenesis is the process where your body makes glucose and effectively glycogen – the energy fuel that muscles burn- from fat stores available in the body. For this process to occur readily during running you need to: train – yes this is why the fitter you are the less likely you are to “bonk” have a drop in energy fuel – and drink enough water (drink when you are thirsty and until you aren’t thirsty anymore which is calculated to be 300-800ml/ hour). That’s it really. Even super skinny runners still have plenty of fat stores they can use for fuel, they just have to replace them afterwards. Now this starts to happen at roughly 90min- 120min for most people, the more you train, particularly without sugar supplementation the sooner it will occur. And something strange happens, the appeal for sweet tasting things rapidly deminishes. So it has to be a savoury feed on the run, especially after 3 hours of running. This is true for a large number of the elite athletes I work with too, those that use normal food as fuel keep sweet foods to a minimum after the 3hour mark.

 

I though I would try some coconut water at first – its great, it tastes great, you don’t tire of it, BUT my kidneys behave strangely for a few days after drinking it- which isn’t a good thing. This is more than likely due to the high potassium content – an important salt to get in, but one that is also formed inside the body while running. My advice would be to keep it for a drink on a hot tropical beach day, and not to run with it as a fuel.

 

I can’t suddenly consume sugar rich gels and bars, because they make me feel queasy since I never eat sugar in any notable volume. So I made myself some home made “gu”. A tablespoon of chia steeped into very strong green tea, a touch of honey and some sea salt. And took it on a long-slow-distance trail run of 33km in winter conditions for a training run. Energy wise, it worked fantastically, I put it into little sachets and glugged it down with some water every 40-60minutes. Until 2.5 hours, when that was too sweet. I had some almonds and raisins which I chewed a few of for the rest of the run, which was fine.

 I think I will take some oats crackers with marmite and butter on with for the marathon for after the 2.5 hour mark for variety, but I was happy with my energy levels.

 

For recovery?

A glass of green juice (juiced cavalo nero, lemon, bok choy) and chicken liver pate on oats crackers, followed with biltong and an orange. And a big dinner of steak, salad and vegies.

 

As overall energy recovery went, I was ready to run again the next day, though the legs needed a rest. So I think I am beginning to get the balance right for the higher energy requirements of the distance events without eating junk for fuel.

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The Sparta Experience – Helen’s View.

Posted on March 26, 2013 by

So we did it!  We completed the Spartan Race!  5 weeks of build up all got tested in what turned out to be 1hour and 30 minutes (officially, though our time keeping says 1 hour 20 mins) of fun.

image-16

It was a cloudy morning and a nice slow start at Appin Homestay B&B where Sue cooked us up a breakfast of eggs, tomato, spinach and bacon along with freshly squeezed orange juice. Our start time had been moved to 12 noon so we had plenty of time to digest.  By 11 the skies cleared and the sun blazed a beautiful 30 degrees.  Great for going to the beach.  Perhaps not so great for running a race!  As we were starting so late and it was so warm my energy felt quite heavy.  Next time I’ll be sure to register for an early start (they were all booked out by the time we registered for this race).

Rope climb (far right) and net crawling

Rope climb (far right) and net crawling

The race covered 7km and 15 obstacles ranging from crawling under barbed wire for 100m (x2), climbing over really slippery muddy mounds and down the other side into deep trenches of water, balance beams, monkey bars, a rope climb, crawling over netting, throwing spears, going over, under and through things, carrying sand bags up and over a hill, swimming through rivers and dams and running along (through) a stream for a good while (maybe a km?).  For each obstacle you couldn’t pass, you had to do 30 burpees – well that’s what you’re meant to do anyway.  The obstacles weren’t very well policed so we saw lots of people not trying or failing an obstacle but not doing the burpees.  Carl of course could get through it all.  I had to do three lots of burpees – so Carl joined me just because he could and in doing so provided me with great support!   I was going totally fine on the climbing wall until the second last foot hold where I slipped and came off the wall.  30 burpees.  I also failed the monkey bars.  30 burpees.  I managed to get half way up the rope which was soaked wet with slippery muddy water, but then I slipped, and after having done 60 burpees my arms were too fatigued to get me back up again.  So we did another 30 burpees!  I’m happy to say I attempted every obstacle and did all my burpees!  I was disappointed in slipping off the wall and the rope climb as these are things I have been doing successfully in training at Ferg’s kayaks indoor climbing (though it’s all been dry surfaces at Ferg’s!).  I was however 99% certain that I wouldn’t be able to do the monkey bars – I’m going to need to do a lot more training for that – so wasn’t so disappointed about that.

So that’s the first Spartan Race for me!  It was awesome having Carl run it with me.  He supported me the whole way, we had good team work and he gave me the confidence to trust in my biomechanics and I managed to get through it injury and pain free (apart from a little sacral / pelvic pain near the start – probably a result of the postural imbalances from travelling).   Getting through it pain free was the main goal – everything else was just a bonus.  I can now look forward to racing again in future and improving on my time.

image-14

Next up it’s our adventure climbing the magical Castle!  Stay tuned!

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Final weeks preparation!

Posted on March 25, 2013 by

This is our plan for the final week in preparation for the race on Saturday

Final week:

Day Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday
Am Push pattern circuit – C- Fast fit H Pull pattern circuit – C Arrive in aus Active recovery Active recoveryTriggers and pres Releases and switch ons
Pm Spartan simulation Arrive in aus Triggers & prep Massage Triggers and prep Preparation workRace 12pm

This is how it actually went:

On Monday I had a push pattern resistance training routine in the morning and I felt strong and ready for this session. It was still circuit based with a combination of weight training and good body weight functional movement patterns. Here is the workout so you get a taste of what we do.

Exercise Setsxreps Tempo Rest Notes

Circuit 1
Suspension cable flyes 3×8 1.1.1 0 Alternate foot lift
Suspension cable press ups 3×8 1.1.1 0 Alternate foot lift
Press up block walk overs 3×8 1.1.1 0
Press up arm raises 3×8 1.1.1 60s

Circuit 2
SB DB chest press 3×8 1.1.1 0 Single each arm then double
Alternating arm DB shoulder press 3×8 1.1.1 0 Standing
Lizard crawls 3x20m 1.1.1 60s With press ups

Heading towards the end of our high intensity training week we were both feeling a little over reached and a tad inflammatory, although we had both broken some barriers – Helen especially with our 4-5km hill run ending in undulating hill climb. This had a physical and emotional reaction as she had pushed herself harder than she had before and it was truly inspiring for me to be a part of.

Helen after the bush run breakthrough

Helen after the bush run breakthrough

Leading into the Spartan simulation session we were a little overcooked and a little jaded but we both wanted to complete it as it was a measure of our progress as well as our last high intensity training session before we leave.

We had an ambitious goal of completing the simulation in under one hour (our previous time was 1:16). I did think to myself we may be asking too much after only 3 weeks of training but was a good driving force to take it up a notch and push a bit harder.

The simulation went well, completing it in 57 minutes!! Fitness wise we both felt great but unfortunately we were both in a bit of pain and inflammation – Helen with her right leg and myself with my ankle. We both knew we probably needed a low intensity day but wanted to complete this for many reasons – perhaps to our own detriment.

One thing I always do with my clients from session to session is do a quick profile of all of the stressors in their life. I ask how are you feeling today? How has your sleep been? How are you feeling physically? What exercise have you done this week? How stressed are you feeling and how are you doing emotionally? All of these questions give me an insight into the state of the Autonomic nervous system and the readiness of the client for any given training session. This helps me make a decision on whether to prescribe a working out (energy expending) or working in (energy building) session or even a hybrid of both. I think if I had addressed this we would have been doing a ‘working in’ session.

Pool recovery session :)

Pool recovery session :)

A working out session can contain some of the following elements:

  • High load intense lifting session
  • Circuit training
  • Interval training
This was a work-out! (more on this in the next blog)

This was a work-out! (more on this in the next blog)

A working in session may contain some of these elements:

  • Belly breathing exercises
  • Slow breathing – if you can slow your breathing to 6 breaths per minute you illicit an anti-inflammatory and anabolic response (tissue repair)
  • Body awareness, massage
  • SMR, stretching – prescribed by Willis Street Physiotherapy and myself
  • Meditation

So as we were a little inflammatory and over worked we will be employing many of the working in elements and other recovery techniques.

The issues with our recovery days are:

a)    Disrupted sleep – circadian rythym

b)   Travel – on the move the whole trip

c)    Postural stress from the travel and sitting

d)   Unpredictable environment – food, stress etc

e)    Working as we travel

f)     Climate change – thermal stress

What we will need to do is control the controllables.

a)    Eating – this will be Helens domain

  1. Healthy travel snacks
  2. Healthy dining options
  3. Keep hydrated
  4. Recovery superfoods and supplements
  5. Keep organic, grain free, sugar free, alcohol free, caffeine free
  6. Making sure we are eating enough and also not too much
Recover fuel - Fresh figs at Appin Homestay

Recover fuel – Fresh figs at Appin Homestay

b)   Follow the recovery plan

  1. Daily stretches & switch on’s
  2. Massage for each other
  3. Breathing exercise – working in

c)    Control the sleep patterns best we can

Employing all of this should have us on the right track for the Spartan race on Saturday!

For more on stress and ANS balancing please read this article.

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Tarawera the Unclaimed

Posted on March 25, 2013 by

Gayle Tarawera 2
Aah Tarawera. It’s just the most awesome pile of sweet single track for an ultra-endurance running event. Loved it!

We had a full team of elites that went along, with our relay team and Ruby Muir being the most likely to win their events. And they did in grand style. It’s just so inspirational to spend time with people who spend so much time doing what they are truly passinate about, add a good measure of natural talent to all the hard work and we have a winning combination. The number of FiveFingers and BarefootInc/ Inov8 elite athletes dominating ultradistance trail running in Au/NZ is absolutely astounding.

I decided I would try and tackle the 60km event, knowing that I was well prepared for a halfmarathon… I took it easy, ran with the mid field on the day and had sooo much fun. It’s just something so fantastic to be part of.

For nutrition for the day I had some raisins and coconut water in my bag, along with a feew doses of chia seeds at 0km and 18km points, and some watermelon (yum) and chippies for salt at the aid stations. The night before I had salad with avo and 4 eggs. Breakfast was some home-made chia and sprouted oats muesli with blueberries and nuts. I probably should have drunk more water the day before, but was too busy and forgot…
I was too busy having a good time and not concentrating on the tree roots at around the 30km point where I went flying off the trails, doing a bit of injury to my knees, and kidneys. Which meant calling it a stop at the next check point (38km mark).
which was rather a pity since I felt more than capable of doing the 60km – thanks to Wellington’s horrendously hilly terrain for training and the careful slow start, there was still plenty fuel in the tank. I woke up on Sunday morning with sore knees and a big smile on my face, I love running, Tarawera I will be back next year for more :)

posted by Gayle Willis Street Physiotherapy and Freedom Feet

Posted in Tarawera, The Barefoot Runner, Trails, Ultra-distance running | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment