Well this is the first full week up at Falls Creek, and the running is awesome. Beautiful trails, varied routes, and always a group of guys to run with. This gives it a good mix of social and competitive and also really helps distract you from the tough training! I’m really enjoying the extra recovery and the 9.30am leisurely starts and this is definitely helping me get some extra miles in. With this in mind, I’ve added in a few extra easy runs I wouldn’t normally do, to boost the mileage a bit.

Undoubtedly the running is pretty tough too. I’ve done 2 runs this week with ridiculously steep hills in and the terrain is always a little bit cross-country which works your core and feet as well as slowing you down on the faster sessions.

**If you want to read a non-runner’s perspective on Falls Creek, then you can read my wife’s blog here!**

Add in 1,500m of altitude and you have some tough training!

Monday – AM – 67 mins steady out and back at 6.39/mile. Felt pretty good (10)

PM – 37 mins easy along Baby Aqueduct at 7.18/mile (5)

Tuesday – AM – Mona fartlek. 3.9 miles at 5.07/mile. Behind Nipper and Josh but felt ok. Then did 1 mile of 50m hard/50m float. Sort of a baby Mona. (11)

PM – 36mins easy along Baby aqueduct at 7.05/mile (5)

Wednesday – AM – 90 mins at 6.44/mile. Really this was 7k hard up a mountain that got gradually steeper and steeper. I don’t think I’ve breathed this hard for ages as there is a bit of competition about getting to the top first and I really felt the altitude! I got to the top first though after 29.25 of pure uphill. Then we cruised back down. (13.5)

PM – 37 mins along BabAq at 7.06/mile (5)

Thursday – AM – Quarters session/race. I thought this would be chaos along a dual trail where you turn back every 600m but it worked out ok. There were a few casualties from New Years Eve which probably aided my finishing position of 4th – Nipper, Dave McNeill, Ben St Lawrence, then me. 15.37 for the 4.8km which apparently is solid. Nipper ran 15.03. (9)

Quarters – trying not to fall down the ravine

PM – 37 mins along BabAq at 7.12/mile (5)

Friday – AM – Water hut run. This was a really pretty run and felt pretty good. Kept it relaxed at 6.47/mile (10)

Saturday – AM – Fitzy’s Hut. Jesus, this was hard. We ran steady for 30mins, then smacked it up a mile long hill (100m elevation in a mile), then you just carry on running hard along a rocky plateau, with wind in your face and uneven terrain. Then you fly down a hill and finish back along the road. We lost Kelly and Dave who went wrong immediate and

Fitzy’s Hut. We run around it.

added 5km down a HUGE hill before they realised what was going on. Again I was breathing like a suffocating trout at the top of the hill and had blurry vision. Ben St Lawrence took off and Brett and Yugi went past me also. I rallied a bit later on but was 1 min behind Ben and 20secs behind Brett and Yugi. 61.05 for the full 10.5 miles. The strava route is here. My feet were so tired from just trying to stay upright on the bumpy ground. (10.5)

PM – You guessed it – 37 mins along BabAq at 7.08/mile (5)

Sunday – Long run. Really ramped up the 2nd half as I felt quite good and wanted to catch Nipper who had got 1-2mins ahead, due to another ill-timed toilet stop (must underhydrate next time). Yugi then caught us both and I picked up the final 20mins a bit more as I thought I may as well make it a big effort while I was feeling good. Strava link here but last 10km was 35.30 ish. 6.14/mile (21.5)

111 miles.