Just picking things up from where we left off...

.

The trail to Comrades 2005 has littered, in its wake, a number of milestone races that will, hopefully, prepare me for the 89km that is the Comrades Marathon on the 16th June.

After my formal training began on the 1st January there was about 7 weeks of base training then a relaxed schedule of races. The last one being Brisbane Marathon on the 24th April. I am very happy with the results at Brisbane where my time was 3hrs 57min and only 4 mins slower than the first 42km at Canberra.

Main difference being that I was sick with a cold in Brisbane but decided to run and take it easy. So I was very happy with that performance.

Here is the race scoreboard.

20-Feb-05 Maroondah Dam Ultra 50km Done
13-Mar-05 6 Foot Track Marathon 46km Done
10-Apr-05 Canberra Ultra 50km Done
24-Apr-05 Brisbane Marathon 42km Done

Here are the kilometres run so far this year…

2005 MILEAGE
JAN - 279km
FEB - 309km
MAR - 271km
APR - 310km

TOTAL – 1,169km

All I need to do is complete my 65km long training run this Sunday at Walhalla and I’ll almost be set. The Walhalla Wound Up race is situated two and a half hours drive from Melbourne near Mt Baw Baw. If you know this race you’ll know that it is only 50km long. So what I intend to do is start running 90min before the gun goes off at 8am to add 15km to the total. Nutty huh!

Here are the target races still to be done…..

8-May-05 Walhalla Wound Up 65km
22-May-05 Williamstown Marathon 42km
16-June-05 COMRADES MARATHON 89km

For those who want to follow my progress on the night of the 17th June here in Australia. You can do it by logging onto http://www.comrades.com and entering my race number: 54878 apparently it will tell you where I am in the race. I guess they use the information provided by the little transponder that all competitors wear on their shoelaces.

Here are my race objectives for the 2005 Comrades Marathon:

1. Finish
2. Finish in 9hrs something. 9hrs 59min would be good

All that is left to tell you is the fantastic run that I did last Sunday. 39km was a bit far after running a marathon on the previous Sunday but it was a great run all the same. And a great opportunity to test my Camelbak lobo hydration system.. Here is my run report..

Two Bays Trail Run 39km – May 1, 2005

The Two Bays Trail starts in Dromana, on Melbourne’s Mornington Peninsular and cuts across to Cape Schanck on the ocean side of the Peninsular. The trail is 30km long but I did 39km for reasons that you will soon find out…..

I decided to leave from the information centre in Dromana. Which adds a little bit on to the total. And got lost trying to find the Latrobe bridge over the Hwy (The only bit of the whole run I didn't research). But after this it was smooth sailing.

The steep incline up Arthurs Seat seemed manageable give it is at the beginning of the run while I'm still fresh.This is a brilliant trail. Even the boring suburbia (Rosebud Heights?) bit is quaint.

But, wow, coming through Boneo. I looked up to see four adult wedge tailed eagles circling and riding the currents. I never really appreciated how big these creatures are.

I must have done 20km until I saw my first sign of human life, a mountain biker who was lost.To add to the Fauna aspect of the run five largeish (grey with black tails) kangaroos bounded out in front of me with 7km to go, which almost made me choke on the tube of my camelbak hydration system.

3km prior to arriving in Cape Schanck the views into Bushrangers Bay were equal to anything the Great Ocean Rd can dish up. At the lighthouse Garmin said the distance was 31km.My wife was running a bit late and it was cold. With nothing warm to wear I elected to run on the road until she came the other way which added 8km, all up 39km for the morning.

I look forward to telling you all how my 65km run goes next weekend.