Health and fitness

[greeneyed]

Very sorry to hear mate.

[Dr Zaius]

Sorry to hear that Boney.

[Coastalraider]

Oh mate -
Really sorry to hear it.

[bonehead]

not a great diagnosis on top of ligament issues and scoliosis but treatment can be a big game changer apparently

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[Coastalraider]

@Dr Zaius @Coastalraider, or other frequent travellers

We're all set to fly to Jeju Island an Wednesday night, overnighter. Race is Saturday morning. I haven't been able to sleep on planes even for long haul flights overnight for a long time. I also really hate sleeping pills so don't really want to do that. 2330 departure 0630 seoul transit then 1030 arrival at Jeju.

Any tips? I'm setting myself up to be tired for raceday whatever I do.

My training has been all over the place. First month was okay at 213k, but then crook for about 5 or 6 weeks. I racked up 67k and 165k in July and August. September was good and I think it was close to the biggest month I've ever done at 336k. From late August I had good weeks - 73, 82, 89, 92, and then taper 50, 44. So I had a decent block in there. I went a bit further than normal because of there being no elevation here to train on.

Weather looks perfect at Jeju. According to the app it's 18 to 22 degrees every day there for the week. Not too much wind. Perfect running conditions. Really excited to go through an ordeal like this with my wife though I'm not sure I'll be able to keep up (PI). She takes this **** a bit too seriously for my liking. She did the whole training program. It'll really hurt to keep up with her



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How did it go Gerg?!?

[gerg]

@Dr Zaius @Coastalraider, or other frequent travellers

We're all set to fly to Jeju Island an Wednesday night, overnighter. Race is Saturday morning. I haven't been able to sleep on planes even for long haul flights overnight for a long time. I also really hate sleeping pills so don't really want to do that. 2330 departure 0630 seoul transit then 1030 arrival at Jeju.

Any tips? I'm setting myself up to be tired for raceday whatever I do.

My training has been all over the place. First month was okay at 213k, but then crook for about 5 or 6 weeks. I racked up 67k and 165k in July and August. September was good and I think it was close to the biggest month I've ever done at 336k. From late August I had good weeks - 73, 82, 89, 92, and then taper 50, 44. So I had a decent block in there. I went a bit further than normal because of there being no elevation here to train on.

Weather looks perfect at Jeju. According to the app it's 18 to 22 degrees every day there for the week. Not too much wind. Perfect running conditions. Really excited to go through an ordeal like this with my wife though I'm not sure I'll be able to keep up (PI). She takes this **** a bit too seriously for my liking. She did the whole training program. It'll really hurt to keep up with her



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How did it go Gerg?!?

Kind of as expected. Struggled to keep up with the boss. Struggled with the climb. I was only halfway up the mountain and sucking in the big ones every 10 minutes or so and looking up at hundreds of stairs in front of me. The complete lack of stair training killed me. But then the downhill was just as bad.

There was so much slippery rock for huge sections. I was not a huge fan of the course. I went over three times, once going up - lucky it wasn't worse, just some bruised ribs and banged my head on a rock but not hard. About five k earlier we passed a bloke who had split his head open, blood everywhere - looked very bad. After reaching the top there was a nice section of wooden boards and I went over again, mainly due to fatigue. Managed to get 8 splinters across 3 fingers, which were fun to dig out yesterday. Then we hit the down section with the slippery volcanic rock and people were going down everywhere. I lightly fell a third time but managed to brace myself but it triggered leg cramps in both thighs. My wife went down twice. Thankfully it wasn't raining because it would have been absolute carnage out there. Poles weren't allowed, which seemed strange but clearly there'd be hundreds of snapped poles littering the course afterwards. One American guy we passed at about 45k commented that the course was like running on the riverbed, which was a good way to describe it.

Really tough course and I can't imagine the sadists running the 100. There's really no point having such a pretty location if you need to focus so doggedly on your next step so you don't seriously injure yourself. And there was some very pretty and fun sections.

But we struggled through in a touch over 12 hours. Both happy to finish but both unhappy with the time.

We were stunned to hear that the winner finished in 5 and a half hours. Incredible time on that course which was about 56k, not 50.

Lessons learned. Take more than 4 panadol. More elevation\stairs. Try different shoes. I hadn't 'run in' my pair of Salomons properly so ran with asics trabuco. Maybe the Salomons would have given a bit better traction and they're a bit lighter.

We might try the Doi Inthanon 50 December next year then I'm thinking the Sri Choymin 100 the year after, back in Canberra.

[Dr Zaius]

Man that sounds brutal! Well done for getting it done.

[bonehead]

holy crap Gerg that sounds mental

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[Coastalraider]

This sounds amazing! A real struggle which is half the fun. Love it!

[gerg]

Back in the real world now. @Coastalraider it felt a bit unnecessarily difficult though. Never want to see people getting hurt for a hobby and there was a bit too much of that for my liking. Maybe I need to be a bit more selective as at times it felt like the RD has tried to hit an arbitrary elevation number and difficulty level to hit some overall/unknown (to me) difficulty metric. But really, running 50k or 100k is in itself difficult. Throw in a mountain and moderately difficult terrain and it bumps up the difficult/challenging aspect.

At the race checkin we found out the race was 58, not 52. Yeah ok. But at kilometre 52 when you hit another staircase, while not huge, at that stage of the race is punishing. And then at the top of the staircase is a trail that heads pretty much straight back down to where the staircase began ? My wife and I were both asking each other "why would they do this". My ribs are still no good. I don't think I broke them but I felt every step of the last 35k in the ribs.

Maybe a race like Tarawera is more what I'm after. Its 100k has a similar elevation as the Jeju 50k. So it looks like a predominantly fun run through beautiful nature ... as its feature/trademark, rather than a 'pain cave' course.

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[Coastalraider]

Yeah that does sound a bit silly. Nit sure what’s gone on there.

One thing I’m slowly getting my head around as the sport grows in that every region has done things differently up until now, and now that things are being centralised more and people are traveling for races more that more differences to approach are being seen. Acceptable level of technical terrain, course markings, course accuracy etc will all slowly merge a bit, with the main differences being environment and culture, but we obviously don’t want to lose the uniqueness of each event or region either and create Maccas tail running. It’s a real growing pain I think there were a heap of suprises in Europe for example - the technicality of some of the terrain was phenomenal. There’s a section of another race I’m looking at that has ropes up a screw slope! These races have been around for decades and are considered the pinnacle, but wouldn’t pass muster in aus for example.

It does sound like yours was bizzarre though, not sure how long that would race has been run like that.

[Dr Zaius]

After 18 weeks, I'm finally packing the crutches away!

Two numb fingers, two niggling shoulders and a painful Achilles later, I'm not going to miss them

[Coastalraider]

That’s a huge step mate, congratulations!

[gerg]

Off the crutches and back onto the trekking poles? I imagine it's going to take quite a few months to get back to where you were, particularly after 18 weeks of relative inactivity?

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[Dr Zaius]

Yeah a while off doing anything too exciting. Got some weight bearing exercises for now.

[Coastalraider]

Had my first race since utmb yesterday - 21k shake out to see how the body reacted before committing to a 100k at Kosci in a couple of weeks.

Went down on a rock 3k in and fractured my fibula - had to hike 2k on it to get out to help.

Season over.

[Dr Zaius]

Had my first race since utmb yesterday - 21k shake out to see how the body reacted before committing to a 100k at Kosci in a couple of weeks.

Went down on a rock 3k in and fractured my fibula - had to hike 2k on it to get out to help.

Season over.

Oh mate, that's terrible. I'm sorry to hear that.

Can I interest you in a pair of used crutches?

[gerg]

Bugger, that sucks coastal. I haven't done much lately and these injury stories encourage me to continue to bludge.

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[bonehead]

Had my first race since utmb yesterday - 21k shake out to see how the body reacted before committing to a 100k at Kosci in a couple of weeks.

Went down on a rock 3k in and fractured my fibula - had to hike 2k on it to get out to help.

Season over.

ouch, get that sorted!

I'm in somewhat of a quandary, it's cricket season so running more and riding less which is good but my endurance at crikey is poor, if I bat 15 overs I'm absolutely done - myself and the other fella put on 80 for the first wicket last week but only 5 boundaries so plenty of 2s and a few 3s.
Boneyjr has his Ankylosing spondylitis diagnosis and starts his biologic treatment next week, it will destroy his endurance so he's looking into ebikes which is a whole new world of money pit

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[gerg]

Any of you guys leaping into the UTA miler next year? Imagine those furber stairs after 99.5 miles?

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[Dr Zaius]

Any of you guys leaping into the UTA miler next year? Imagine those furber stairs after 99.5 miles?

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Epic. Not for me though, not next year. Still allowed to run, so no way I'd be ready for a race like that by May.

[gerg]

I'm assuming you meant ... still not allowed to run?

I'm not running much. Struggled with upper right leg issues, thigh and hammy, for a year now so I am resting until at least the new year. I've got plenty of time as I'm thinking next race will be Doi Inthanon 50 in December next year. I guess I'll have to be extra festive this Christmas.

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[Dr Zaius]

I'm assuming you meant ... still not allowed to run?

I'm not running much. Struggled with upper right leg issues, thigh and hammy, for a year now so I am resting until at least the new year. I've got plenty of time as I'm thinking next race will be Doi Inthanon 50 in December next year. I guess I'll have to be extra festive this Christmas.

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Sounds like a plan. Carb load at Xmas slow return to form.

[Coastalraider]

I'm assuming you meant ... still not allowed to run?

I'm not running much. Struggled with upper right leg issues, thigh and hammy, for a year now so I am resting until at least the new year. I've got plenty of time as I'm thinking next race will be Doi Inthanon 50 in December next year. I guess I'll have to be extra festive this Christmas.

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Sounds like a plan. Carb load at Xmas slow return to form.

Chrissy carb load is an institution!

[bonehead]

I was thinking a light xmas then go hard from Aust day to be ready for convict in may but now Bottas thinks he can just waltz around my backyard so looks like a short sharp prep into wollombi gravel

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[gerg]

Just found a Salomon Adv skin 12 for 188 plus postage if anyone is on the lookout

https://findyourfeet.com.au/products/sa ... 8996201701

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