Tag Archives: sydneytrailseries

My epic weekend

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Despite going back to work after 4 weeks off I have had a great week and have some of cool stuff to share with you all.

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Last Saturday I started my training with Sydney Striders again for the 6ft track trail (ultra) marathon which takes place in march 2015 in the Blue Mountains. Last year this was my first trail marathon and it was a most memorable experience. I loved every part of training for this race too, the people, the trails, and the challenges I conquered out there each week. If you would like to read about the 2014 race see here > https://haileyruns.wordpress.com/2014/03/10/2014-six-foot-track-marathon/

And now for last Sunday where I headed up to Narrabeen for the Sydney Trail Series (STS) with a few of my buddies from Sydney Harbour Runners (SHR). STS were hosting 7km, 10km & 15km events and normally I would always go for the long option, but seen as I had run the day before I chose the 7km short course. When I arrived the 15km race had just started and I got to say hello to a few friends I recognised out there and wished them well. I picked up my bib and ran into the lovely Kristy Dearinger, a friend and Iron(wo)man who is also a great person. She was running the 10km event with her friend Andrew.

I got to the start line with my SHR buddies and we all wished each other well. We had all signed up for the short course and those 3 are super speedy so I doubted that I would see them again until after the race. The gun went off and we all got moving up the first of several hills that would make up the first half of the race. It was steady going on fire trail and then got more and more technical as the course went along. I love technical so I was really feeling great and enjoying the playtime out in this new neck of woods. The first half of the course was pretty tough but the views at the top were amazing as promised, however I did not stop to take photos like I normally do, instead I carried on and tried to catch up to those in front of me.

I kept a very steady pace the whole run and the second half played to my strength, downhill. I overtook people as I worked my way down the trails and rocks and caught up with some of the 15km & 10km runners too. I saw Troy from my RunLab Cronulla crew who was doing the 15km event and it was also his first trail run. I felt great, my calves were a little tight but overall I felt I was in good shape. I kept moving down the hills and gained a lot of speed on the final descent, even though Troy went flying past me (ha ha). I looked up at one point and I could see my friend Kate about 200m ahead which was strange because she is very fast, but I just kept moving and made my way around the athletics track which was the final lap and finished the course in just under 43 minutes. I had been hoping for 45mins so i was very happy with my time. I saw the girls and we chatted about the course and how much we loved it.

And here’s the best bit, I came 4th!! 4th female outright!! That has never happened before in my life (well perhaps in primary school, over 20 yrs ago) and I actually did not even realise until I got home that night and checked the results online. Apparently they called my name out as I won my age group too, how awesome is that!! I was very, very proud 🙂

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Happy Running 😀

 

Fantastic Friday

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And this was worthy of it’s own post….

As I was leaving the physio this morning he agreed to let me race on Sunday AND he also told me to go hard. I nearly fell over! But he said it will be a good test and of course if there’s any pain I should back off. This was GREAT news! I guess all those hours of exercises and icing & heat packs must be working.

I’ve been seeing Luke at Shire Sports Physio (Miranda) since my injury during TNF, first it was 3 times a week, then twice a week, and next week I only see him once. Luke really knows his stuff and although the session can be painful (dry needling is not very nice!) I know he’s helping get me back on my feet as fast as possible.

So i’m thrilled to be heading back onto the trails this weekend for the Sydney trail Series at St Ives, and many of my fellow SHR crew will be there too. I don’t care if it rains, I just want to get out there and have some fun!

Happy Running 😀

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Sydney Trail Series – Manly Dam

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I think I’m still in shock! I looked up the results from this Sundays trail run around Manly Dam and I came 4th in my age group! I can’t even remember the last time I came anything, maybe it was back in primary school when I used to win medals for athletics and netball. As an adult it’s quite humbling, especially for someone as slow as me.

Last Sunday I met up with some friends from the Sydney Harbour Runners group and we chose our start groups for the 10km course option. I decided to hang at the back with Todd, Pras and a few others as I planned to take it easy. After all, I had done 32km the day before and was running on tired legs.

As our group set off I tried to get to the front and stick with Todd and Pras, they are usually much faster than me on the road but I’ve had a lot more trail experience than they have which I thought might work in my favour. So I sat behind Todd for the first few ams, but then the groups in front of us got slow and were walking some of the sections. And because it was so narrow it was really holding us back.

So I took a chance and sped past Todd when I saw a break appear. I wanted to stay in good pace but nothing too uncomfortable. And I wanted to catch Pat. He had started in an earlier group and I really wanted to see if i could catch him.

What happened to my ‘taking it easy’ plan? Good question. And I don’t have an answer for that except that my competitive side won.

And I caught him. When I got to him I stayed on his tail for a while and we chatted. I had thought at that point I might stick it out the rest of the way with him. But that competitive voice in my head won over again and after a km or so I overtook him.

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This race was totally different to the long runs that I have been doing lately and it was great to try and get some speed up on the course. I felt like I was flying down some of the hills and I heard people behind me commenting on how fast I was going past them. I felt really confident and comfortable on the trail. Maybe I will have to stop saying that i’m a beginner trail runner now. Or maybe that will come after 6 foot track in a few weeks….?

So there I was puffing and pushing towards the finish line.

We got to the bridge at the end of the Dam and I felt fantastic. I knew it meant there were only a few more ams to go and only 1 steep, rocky, single-tracked hill.

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I had run this course back in December and loved it, but I had lots more experience now and have learnt that knowing the trails is sometimes half the battle.

The last hill came and I went past many people here. They had either stopped to rest or walk and I just kept moving. Forward, upward, past them. I felt like nothing could stop me. A huge difference to how horrible I had felt on my trail run the day before. I was very grateful.

We rounded the last bend and I heard the crowd so I gunned it. I sprinted to the finish and ended up with a time almost 4 minutes fast than my run back in December. And I now know that I came 4th. How exciting is that!!

I am so grateful for the good running days when everything works and you feel unstoppable. Let’s hope in just over 3 weeks time I feel the same on race day. Fingers crossed.

Happy Running.