Ultra Trail Australia 50km triumph in 12hrs, Darlington Half marathon, and Perth Trail Series Lamb
I started 2023 with some endurance strength from my 6 inch attempt in December, other efforts like the Fremantle Half Marathon and many hours in Wungong working on the Wild Gorge course...
On January 3rd I was 98.7kg with a RHR of 47 bpm , the following day I was 99.1kg...
Struggling with car issues, trying to keep my job going and my continued tricky house situation (living in a room at the house of my elderly relatives) training was not really happening much....
Then my car broke down and my friend and I went to Melbourne to watch the Australian Open tennis in late January 2023....
In Melbourne did some running at Brimbank trails and with a friend. Also some great hiking in the Macedon Ranges... Was a great holiday in the end!!
On February 2nd my weight had dropped to 97.3kg and RHR 43bpm
I was determined to drop my weight and try and get training and racing , move towards a better 2023.
Sadly was still stuck in a rut not making much progress and on the buses and trains to work...
On February 24th I was blessed to get a new car. this was a gamechanger and a big step forward.
On March 6th I directed the first edition of the Wild Gorge Skyrunning series trails race I designed last year for 2023.... My runner set a course record of 4.26.17 for the VK 24km course....
My first race for the year was the Darlington half marathon on 12th March... Hard hilly trails course, and I struggled with it taking lots of drinks with me and taking 2hrs 46minutes to get through it...
My hopes of running the Bunbury half marathon didn't happen but i did do some good running around the Lake Monger 3.5km circuit a few times....Intermittent fasting and dietary changes helping to bring weight down.... Very busy trying to upskill at work with many weeks of intense work training..... Managed to do a econ of my V2K course extension for the Wild Gorge skyrunning series...
On April 2nd my weight was 95.7kg and RHR 40bpm...
On April 23rd I directed the Wild Gorge Skyrunning series again and this time had two amazing entrants in the V2K 35km course.... Both highly accomplished runners one with a Swiss race in the UTMB World Series to aim for and the other aiming for UTA 100km....(which I did in 2018)...
Sadly they couldn't find a crucial course marker but it was still a great day of trail running in many ways.... In April I did a little bit of trail running and got on the rowing machine at the work gym ...I managed to do a good Kokoda and Jacobs Ladder stairs session at Kings Park with some hopes of going to Ultra Trail Australia in the 22km or 50km....
.Also made my Yelo training run debut with a group of excellent outstanding road runners , some of whom race trails too (one lady in this picture did the Marathon des Sables multiday ultra in the Sahara desert).... Kevin who is in this picture has done a lot of 200km+ ultras including the delirious west 200milers...
On May 2nd my weight was 95kg and my RHR 40bpm... I decided to book flights to Sydney and go to Katoomba for Ultra Trail Australia ....was very tricky costwise but put an entry in the 22km did Afterpay , frequent flyer points and MYpaynow borrowed from a friend and got there ....just....
On 9th May I rowed 5km in 22.36... In Katoomba I made the wise decision to upgrade to the 50km and ON 14TH MAY ran well for about 8 hrs including about 7000steps before a bit of a struggle to get through the last of the hills at night up the Furber steps and a TRIUMPHANT FINISH IN 12HRS....
Came back from Sydney tired but happy and completely out of money and with several big debts, but onMAY 22nd I was 91.3kg RHR 37bpm.....
Could not afford to enter 3valleys trails race or Transcend or Rottnest marathon....although I did run 32km in the Run For The Ages RFTAA bitumen concrete race at Sorrento/Hillarys on June 3rd...
However money hassles and other issues plus getting slack on diet resulted in me
getting to 11th June at weight of 94.3kg RHR 45bpm ...............