little mt cootha

yesterday we went for a short "4hr" hike at mt cootha, we have done this loop three times, and this time we found 3 kokoda teams out training, they had all done it before and was great to chat and hear about their experiences and remember the same difficulties we all went through. brad used my new wearable video camera and took lots of shots, this is practice for the event, as this time we want to capture our experiences for ourselves to remember and to give some idea of what its like for others to see. at the moment i am on a no sugar diet, which is working well (3kg in 2 wks) but the down side is when training i have hit the wall, really suffered today going up the "kokoda track" felt like my feet were like cement and just no energy. so my plan is during the week when training under 2hrs, no sugar but for long training hike i need some extra engergy!!!. next weekend we are doing the "mini kokoda" section which is about 29km and will take about 7hrs, so need the extra to get back over the mountain. have made a little training dvd, and getting used to all the options for editing, so we should end up with some great films of the event. going tomorrow to a massage therapist that uses a product "sensar" which is ultrasound to help with pain and inflammation, if it works i may buy one, most is covered by NIB and will use it to try and get through the long hikes (as my feet are still a big problem) will let you know how i go

hell and back

Last weekend we did hell fire pass from syd duncan park and back, this section is hard in the event as you have gone 24hrs without sleep and are at the 70km mark and it is about 1.5hrs of straight down which just kills the knees and hips. it was very hot but we did the track in fantastic time, even with a rest at the bottom, we took 4hrs and were back by 10.30am. the return trip back up took some effort but we were cutting an amazing pace on the flat section back (i had disco playing in my ipod and i took off at great speed). was home by 12md and in bed by 1pm for a nanna nap (it sapped my strenght abit). it was a great day and really enjoyed it.

tough day!!

today we did "black shoot gully" which is about 17km all up. the main difficulties today was the 33 degree temp with 90% humidity. i have never sweated so much it was dripping off the brim of my cap. my sunscreen sweated off and now i have a great burn mark on the back of my neck and arms. this track is 500m of elevation to the highest point of the challenge at syd duncan park, where we had our break, i was tired but felt quite good until the journey home. the track has two gullies with very rocky and rugged trails (constantly having to stablilise feet) and this sent my feet into overdrive. the ups were good but the downs incredibly painful. i remember last year i felt exactly the same and even shed some tears, so i knew it would be tough. this section is the one we do during the night with our headlamps and is the most exhaustive section, so good to do it during the day and in the next few months when cooler we will walk it through the night. i have attached a little video clip, it shows where your head is at when feeling exhausted, hopefully tomorrow i will feel more confident and will continue to talk myself into finishing kokoda 2011.