Weather With You

The Forecast is Not Good

Many years ago, when faced with a career change, I investigated working for the Bureau of Meteorology. I've always been fascinated by weather, studying charts, watching with interest as the summer storms would roll into Brisbane with monotonous regularity etc. My dream soon bit the dust when I realised the entrance requirements for study. You might be wondering what this has to do with a running blog; be patient, I will get there.

Apart from the vaguely European look,
this was the foggy scene that greeted us at the top of
Mt. Dandenong.

Clouds Gathering

A while ago, a few of us were discussing our plans for marathon training, and Peter Mitchell, our Dandenongs Trail Runners head honcho, advised that he knew some good testing runs that were just perfect for this. 16 weeks out from Melbourne and he organised a 25k trail run that included a 5 and a half kilometre climb after the first kilometre! The gradient average of 6% meant it was going to be runnable all the way to the top. To make sure that the benefits of the run were maximised, the run was advertised as being "ideal for those who want to run a 3:00 to 3:30 for the MM". I read it twice before accepting the event invite. Long time readers of this blog will be well aware of my travails at last years Melbourne Marathon (in fact, the very reason this blog exists is to document my return), so will understand that when 3:30 is mentioned, I would be a little bit hesitant!

Storm Approaching

The last week of June in Victoria will be remembered as the week that Winter descended. Previous to this we had been having mild temperatures, good enough for running without having to rug up like Arctic explorers. It all changed in the blink of an eye. No fewer than 7 cold fronts in 6 days hit southern Victoria; high wind, power cuts, heavy rain, and copious amounts of snow in the high country. Tales of runners braving some pretty horrendous conditions to get that all important training session in were repeated with much gusto. 

It was with this week of weather almost behind us that the weekend approached for our organised, paced trail run. The forecast for Sunday was varying between awful and horrendous, with horrendous being the highly backed favourite! The day before, the banter started. Suggestions of bringing goggles, scuba gear, fur-lined knickers (seriously, get them on www.wiggle.co.uk!) were bandied around as we all joked in a slightly nervy way. With one eye on the forecast, we all went to sleep wondering what the morning would bring.

Yet another low system approaches through Bass Strait!

And now, the weather for Victoria

I woke up with a start at about 3:30, a good hour and a half before I needed to get up. The rain was bucketing down, so hard I could hear it running in the gutters and downpipes. Not a good sound when contemplating any outdoor activities. The dog had been scratching at the laundry door to get out to go and hide under the house. Not sure if that woke me up, or the distant sound of thunder. Not being able to sleep, I got up and watched the World Cup football. About 4:30 the rain stopped; "Great", I thought. Then the wind picked up, howling through the trees and under the eaves of the house. It was pretty much storm force where I was, 30 kilometres from the Bass Coast. 10 minutes after, the rain came back, this time with thunder and lightening.

I posted on the events page on Facebook a weather report that I hoped would illicit a reply that all was well in the Dandenongs, 1 and a half hours drive away. All I succeeded in doing was scaring the hell out of one of my running buddies! I was immediately messaged by Cheryl to ask what I was going to do. The worst appeared to be over here, but it was hard to tell what was happening where we were going. Considering there is elevation on our run, and running through forest, there was an element of risk attached. I said I'd head in and bail out if conditions didn't improve. She was coming in from the CBD, but decided it wasn't worth the risk. I was okay with that decision, whilst missing a run with one of my fave running friends, I would never put pressure on them to run when they considered conditions were too bad. And that, I thought, was the end of that!

Lightening would not be appreciated during a trail run.

Storm Breaks

At 5:45 I left Leongatha and headed up the highway to Melbourne. At first it was just steady, but light rain falling. That was until I was 40 minutes into the drive and the heavens opened up, and I was reduced to driving at 75 km/h. Thankfully it was brief, and the weather improved the more I drove. I stopped off on the Princess Highway for a quick break, and proceeded to read all the messages on Facebook trying to get Cheryl to reconsider; the weather, apparently, was just fine!

Arrived at The Basin Theatre just on 7:30, to a chorus of jibes, insults and recriminations! Seemed I was, once again, the butt of all jokes. The weather was indeed good. I felt like Chicken Little.... After a bit of organisation, and meeting some new runners, we took off on our run. Peter, David, Chris, Kirra, Nigel, Mike, Marc, Oliver, and myself were the speedy group. There were a couple of other groups also running different distances and pace.

Last weeks elevation profile not being enough,
this is the proposed course of next weeks run!

More Like a Zephyr

The first past of the run was fine. Climbed the Basin-Olinda Road to the top, all 5.5k's of incline, setting a reasonable pace along the way. Weather was cool, but no rain. That all changed at the top. Very soon, the rain started. The temperature plummeted and we got soaked, very quickly. Chris, who less than 24 hours before had arrived back on an international flight, succumbed to a cold he'd picked up in the last week. After a bit of weaving around, Peter directed him to a track (or several) that would get him quickly back to the car park. We all stood around listening to the increasingly detailed directions that Peter was giving him, taking bets on whether we would beat him back, ready to alert the authorities! (Disclaimer: No Poms were lost in the running of this course!)

Because of the weather conditions, the original course had been changed, and we spent a good hour zig zagging across the top of Mt. Dandenong. The pace was on. Unlike previous runs through here where we had run steadily with some long stops to re-group, this one was much faster. Small group, pretty evenly paced, we pushed along at a good clip, with short stops to re-group. Eventually we started to descend back to the car park (Looking for Chris!), and we picked up the pace even more. Consequently my total time for the run was far quicker than any other trail run (or race) I have done before. Certainly a great training session for a marathon.

A debrief over coffee in a warm cafe in The Basin was a welcome end to a great day in the hills. It was during here that it was suggested that we make this a monthly event in an effort to allow runners of all abilities to run in the appropriate paced group.

My pot of gold is a good marathon time, well it is mine!

Over The Rainbow

So, what is the wash-up?

• Trail running, and particularly where there is significant elevation gains and losses, really strengthens the legs. It will be good to run this again at a later date to chart any improvement.
• Running with others who are at your pace, or slightly faster, really pushes you along and makes you work. It took me a while after the run to really appreciate this.
• I suck as a weather forecaster/reporter! Bang goes the plum job on Sunrise!

Next race is You Yangs 30k trail. It's a week before Run Melbourne (21.1k), so I need to see how my training and recovery is going before deciding on how hard I attack the course. 

Other Matters

Marathon Training

Currently at the start of my marathon training programme. After Traralgon a few weeks back, Peter offered to 'tweak' my training programme (his words). What has resulted feels less like a tweak, and more like a Labor party 'Root and Branch' review! Chucked out more than we kept, but it was meant that I now have a plan that targets my weakness, pacing for an extended distance. It seems my 5 and 10k times don't bear relation to my 21 and 42k times. Specifically, I fade significantly the longer the distance. So now I have more tempo runs, longer runs on hills doing short intense bursts (leg strength benefits), and now targeting pace and effort on long runs and the mid-week long run. Overall plan distances haven't changed, just rearranged to be more specific.

parkrun

There are moves afoot to start up a parkrun event in Inverloch, 20 minutes from my home. parkrun is a worldwide phenomenon; a weekly, timed, free, 5 kilometre run, usually in a park or reserve area. It is a great event for everyone from rank beginners to elite athletes. Just recently the proposal was floated by another runner I train with, as much a fishing exercise to gauge support. Very quickly we found we had enough support to form a rough collective of race directors, and a meeting with the local council there has provided in principal support, and an offer of assistance for fundraising. We hope to get it up and running by September. Stay tuned.

Until next time.....