Silvan Reservoir - A series on trail love

     Today I thought I might get back to my roots and write about where I love to run.

     Running out in the bush is what makes me tick. Yes, there are other things that I love and they keep me rolling along, but getting out there in the bush is my release and my time.

     I am fortunate to live close to Mt Dandenong and her many fire trails and walking tracks with their ups and downs and twists and turns and I love running there. But Silvan Reservoir is even closer. And I’m making the call, it’s even better. Where Mt Dandenong has it’s vertical challenges and wide sweeping tracks, Silvan is a criss-cross network of trails. Each of these trails is connected by the most amazing sections of single trail. Some are long forgotten and a few hundred meters of pain can bring no rewards, others you can burst through the trees and onto an epic tale of twists and turns.

     This is my first write up of my Silvan runs. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

     When I arrive at Silvan I always park at the overflow car park, as the main gates are not often opened until later in the morning. I’d always started on the circuit track. This is an easy 3-4k loop, depending on which tracks you take. Recently I headed straight down the Silvan Road, for something different.

About 500m down the road it forks. My recent exploring had taken me to the right, down Olinda Creek road and off to a sweet little track on the right. 

I decided to continue left along Silvan Rd just for a touch and found a little trail to the right (the purple track). This just over grown track is a delightful single trail. It has just the slightest of rises and gently bends this way that that to keep it from being straight. It’s just wide enough for two, and has a number of thin trees that have fallen to add an obstacle or two. I guess it goes for 1500m or so before opening out on the road again where you simple turn around and come back. The return trip offers an excellent section for speed training.

I took the left road first, then came back to the right.

     Returning to the junction, take the gravel Olinda Creek road to the left and then there is a clearing, leading to a track to the right. Take this little gem (The orange section) keeping left, then head over the bridge over the creek.

Take the path to the left - go right to get to track 13

At the junction take the track that will via left for a more undulating track. Now that you’re warmed up, this access track, all grassed rises a little more and has a few natural obstacles. It’s only 400m long or so but it’s good fun.It looks like it may have continued around, following the road once upon a time, but now it is painfully overgrown.

When you hit the road turn right and come down the main road towards track 13, turning right at the gates. A few hundred metres in keep an eye out for the track off to the right. There’s a sign that says ‘no through road’. 
     This is another single trail, all grassed with a slightly worn trail where is has been used. This section offers some brilliant, slightly downhill trail work and would make for a very fast Strava section.

There are a few natural challenges: fallen trees (only small), overgrown bushes that close you in and wombat and wallaby reminders, but nothing too twisty rutted.

     At the end of it, you can turn right to follow the creek trail back towards the gravel road and the car park, or, turn left to come back towards track 13. This is a wider, access track for vehicles and again rises gently. There are also three massive trees that have fallen – hurdle them if you dare or simply go around the end where they have been cut. Turn right over the bridge and head up and up on track 13 (this is the main track). 

Track 18 to the right, Track 13 goes up...

For a short run, Track 18 to the right can be taken (The purple section)for a nice cruise by the creek as you head back towards the main car park. Turn right at the junction, you’ll see the gate, turn left on the road.

     If you continued all the way up 13 (Follow the yellow brick road) be prepared for a brutal climb. This track just seems to go up and up. To help keep you going, there are plenty of huge gums along the way, I used them as key markers on the way – just keep aiming to get to the next one! If you want to bail, or are short on time, take the blue track 24 for another exit point.

     Take the left onto Wallaby track and look for the single trail near the big trees on the right. It’s about 200m along the track and seems to be the peak of the climb you have just done. 

     This is single trail heaven! Is it named, no yet.  It’s a fast flowing, very technical 1.2km single track that starts you off gently, sweeping gently through the bush, asking you to leap over a few fallen trees before it steadily drops down into a series of sweeping bends, sharp switchbacks of nearly 180 degrees. The track is a dirt/clay trail and is well worn by bikes. You really have to be on your toes as there are ruts and gully’s, roots and rocks and the odd log. Just when you think its getting too steep or tight to be safe, it rises again and sweeps you up and around the corners more gently. You know you are near the end when you hit a little mountain bike jump (yes, it actually is!) and you have to then burst through some very closed off track that is covered over by native grass and shrubs before you finally hit another road.

     At this point you can turn left and run back to the main fire break/access road and take a right to head home. I prefer to turn left towards the road, then stumble on a sweet little track about 50 meters off to the right that is the best 12 minute loop I know.

     Why is it so good, well, you’ll have to read the next installment. 

A year in reflection - ThisFishCanRun turns 1!

How to start this post? Always the question I ask. This post is a reflection of the 2012/2013 season, or a wrap up of my first year of blogging.

An epic way to wake up - getting out to run this trail!

During the week I was looking back through the blog and some of my earlier contacts with barefootinc.com.au to see where I have come from as a runner and where I hope to go in the future.

This is what I found:

12 months ago I started writing as thisfish and I set myself some goals that I hoped to achieve:

·        To finish in the top 10% of each of the races I entered.

·        To hopefully place in the top 10 of a race.

·        To work towards bringing my 5k time down to break the 20 minute barrier.

·        To work towards bringing my 10k time down to break the 40 minute barrier and

·        Run a sub 1:30 – 90 minute ½ marathon.

So, how successful was I in meeting my goals?

In the races I entered this year, I was successful in achieving a top 10% finish in all of them except for three. In the 2013 Two Bays run I finished 180^th, a massive effort in my first real trail run. In April I entered the Geelong Half Marathon after a week of illness and finished in the top 50% and a month later I took 8 minutes off my 2011 Puffing Billy ‘The Great Train Race’ time and finished in the top 13%.

It looks like thisfish is flying...

Was I able to obtain a top 10 finish? Yes,in the Marysville 10km race in November I finished 5^th, my first taste of success. Throughout the Rapid Ascent Salomon series I went from strength to strength and managed two top 20 finishes, one that saw me place 9^th in my division and another that placed me 12^th. To then finish the series in 7^th place  overall was an amazing feeling, and I’m already thinking about how I can push for a top 5, if not a podium placing in next year’s series. I was a little behind the leaders who ran some incredible times, but with a little luck and the right determination I might just be able to take that next step.

Did I break the 20 minute barrier over 5kms? Yes, in training I have achieved that three times, but it’s only official on my phone (and mapmyrun account) and on the Garmin watch. Perhaps I might have to find a nice local 5km event and see what I can do on the right day.

Breaking the 40 minute 10km? No not yet but I can feel it happening soon.

One thing I will take away this year is learning to run faster through my initial experimentation with breathing techniques and timing, and then taking it to another level with my Pose coaching experience with Sally.

I can now say that I do know how to run fast. In my weekly training I can regularly hit 3:25-3:35 minute/km during my interval sessions. Yes, it takes considerable effort and focus on technique to get to that speed, but I can do it in a fairly relaxed and comfortable form with just a little in reserve, rather than the all-out exertion it required in the past. What I am now learning to do and training my body to do is to push these out to 1.1k, then 1.2 k to build my endurance with less recovery running or rest in between, with the ideal outcome stretching these out to a 5k streak. I also love my regular track work sessions.

Time to follow this advice!

My goals for 2014 are to again finish in the top 10% of each of my races, and I’m going to really push the desire to look for a few genuine top 10 finishes in the trail racing scene, hopefully finding a podium finish somewhere along the line. I’ve re-entered the Two Bays 28km run in January and will rerun the Salomon Series in 2014, as well as looking to enter the Rollercoaster run and a few of the Trails+ 10k events.

I've also put in my application for 'Team inov-8'

So, thanks for reading over the past year and I’m really looking forward to seeing what next year brings and hearing about how all of you guys are going as well. 

Would you mind sharing your goals with our running community? Comment here on the Thisfishcanrun Facebook thread. 

Cheers and happy goal meeting for 2013/14!

Lachie

Be like thisfish and get your gear from Wiggle! Yes, it supports this blog :)

Running in the Dandenong Ranges 3 - Puffing Billy Training

This mornings (Monday) run was pitched as 15kms of moderate to fast tempo with some hills to ascend and some others to stride out at pace. A perfect session to check my speed and stamina for the up and coming Geelong Half, The great train race - Puffing Billy on the first Sunday in May and also a reminder of how damn tough the hills will be next week when I tackle the quad burning, lung busting, calves demolishing 21km Roller Coaster Run next Saturday the 16th of March. 

So you've got your entries in and your scouting for tips on Puffing Billy or the Roller Coaster run... To save you the drama, here's this posts Puffing Billy training tip:

Get to know your local hills :) Learn to run them correctly - keeping a regular tempo and stride all the way to the top. It's a training run, do them harder and faster than you think you should. 

Value your rest at the peak. It's a training run so you need to condition yourself for race day. Gradually run at your race pace for a little longer each time - you have to know that you can do it come race day, but remember that you're not racing anyone during your training so build in adequate recovery. 

You wont be running quite as hard on race day (well, maybe you will...)  so you'll know that you can conquer the peaks. 

A small group of 4 met at the car park for our 7:00am departure and we set of at a brisk pace. The first 2 kms were at 5:10 pace and the 3rd was a sneaky 4:48. From here we hit a gradual incline and traversed from the tracks to road then tracks again. The pace was quick and I was working hard - 155-165 BPM, much harder than a usual run. Ah, but this was a power and endurance session so we would be taking adequate rest breaks to allow for recovery. Those were some words that I was happy to hear. 

At about 5km in we hit the first real incline - I think it was Glascow Road and it seemed to climb on and on. Each time you thought you had rounded the last bend another climb to the next bend was waiting. We reached the end point and took to the tracks again - this one about 400m of steady climbing. The terrain was quite a mix of rock and gravel: a bit of a gutter if you like so it was quite eroded. This was a part of the run I enjoyed. To come was the hill training part - What, I've just been running up hills for the last 3kms! 

The main hill in Puffing Billy is a section of gravel road that is about 2km long. I'm not sure of the degree of difficulty but do remember it being a killer. The next section of road that Peter had planned for us was at least 1.6km long and 12% incline - the road signs were there to prove it! Welcome to Old coach Road!

The same sign scares the living daylights out of me at the bottom! Had to prove I made it to the top...

This was going to be tough. The other 3 took off and I hit the road as well. They pulled away from me quite quickly, about 200m ahead for the length of this section. At 12% it's not the steepest hill I've done - cue Boundary and Darling roads near my house but at 1.6km or the imperial mile, it was certainly the longest. 

The final figures: 1 passing garbage truck (an insane driver on a gravel road), 13:24 minutes and an average HR of 171 BPM maxed at 177 BPM. I mastered the hill! The view at the top was worth the effort as was knowing that that was the toughest part of the run done.

Not a bad place to take a breather...

We had a further gradual incline for another 800m or so before we at the top of the mountain and ready for the return home. At Kalorama we hit the water taps and the conversation turned to running form. Is it stride length that matters? Is it the cadence of your legs? Is it both? From here it was to be a speed session, averaging a faster cadence and striding out on the down hill as we returned to the carpark via some really scenic trails. 

I really enjoyed this session. Although I let the others pull ahead, I was never too far behind. The GPS showed a good pace of about 4:15-4:30kms with a km section of 3:48 - that must have been the down hill. I focused on my form and felt really good. I found a great rhythm and was able to focus on my up lift and keeping the arms moving but keeping them straight up and down, not getting any body cross. Once again Peter gave some brilliant training tips - I'm leaning to training harder and faster but at the right distance. I need to call on this training on race day. 

The final 2km down Doongalla RD was to be a time trial, time to stride out and finish strongly. If' I'm going to beat that train it'll happen in the last 2kms. With watches checked we took off. How fast was I? The last 2km were about 3:55-4:00 min kms. Considering what I'd just been through I was really happy with that. 

End result of this weeks training - 14.8km in 1:29. My Max HR was 178 and averaged 156 over the course. It was certainly way up there during the hill climbs and faster sections, but as we had built in the recovery sessions it dropped back to 130ish at each break. 

So, The roller coaster run.... Goal time is a 2:20-2:30 over the 21kms. Fingers crossed....

Till next time, Lachie

Ah, the Roller coster course!

Running in the Dandenong Ranges - trail running

Today I was lucky enough to be able to run through Melbourne’s majestic Dandenong Ranges with the Dandy Runners. The touted runs were 16, 21 or 28kms. For me what distance, I was aiming for the 21km as I am commencing my training for the 21km Roller Coaster Run through the Dandenong’s and then the Geelong Half Marathon in April.

At about 6:50am on a mild Saturday morning – 14C I arrived at the Basin Theatre ready for the 7:00am run off. Not knowing a sole (yup, a poor attempt at humour) I gathered round as Peter gave us our last minute instructions and we set off. I settled into an easy pace and soon picked up Patricia (hey, someone else with the trailroc235s) and Ben – finally some other runners who were in some Inov-8s. My search was over! 

We got chatting as we headed up Doongalla Road and into the National Park. The conversation flowed easily and we took a left hand turn onto my first Mt Danedenong trail run. The first ascent began and the group soon spread out as everyone found their comfort zone. Not long into the run we hit the first and only drink/toilet stop and everyone regrouped before we took off into the unknown down what I think was the zig zag track. I could be completely wrong here J Well; the unknown for us newbs but Peter and the more experienced group members knew exactly where we were going. A short climb and a gentle descent and we came to our first junction. Again we regrouped and headed left – into the first of many climbs. At this time I was feeling really comfortable and enjoying the run with Ben – not far behind the front runners but for me a great pace that had the HR at around 155bpm.

The climb seemed to go on and on but eventually we hit the peak and again regrouped – a quick head count and off again. At this stage a big Kudos to Peter who was cool, calm and confident and really kept things moving. It was a privilege to be able to run with someone who has experience in these hills.  We were continuing the climb towards Kalorama and I was able to sneak a look out to my left and admire the views that Mt Dandenong is known for – you can see most of Melbourne’s Eastern Suburbs. An incredible way to start a Saturday morning and why I am starting to love trail running. Before we knew it the climb was starting to take its toll and my HR was hitting 173 BPM. Fortunately we hit a crest and after allowing the rest of the runners to catch up we again continued the climb. I must say I appreciated the chance to take a breather and hit the energy gel. A check of the watch and the HR had recovered to 140 BPM.

The trails at this stage were well marked (though I don’t remember their names – love to know what they are guys, hit me with the comments) and wide enough for vehicle access and for runners two or three abreast. The Inov-8 Trailrocs (hit the link for a great Aussie retailer) again served me well as I could pick my path among the stones, roots and car ruts and ran with confidence. I made the mental note to catch up with Patricia too see how she was finding her pair. Ben was wearing his Terrflys and we found both shoes really suited to the terrain. Finally the climb was over and we hit Kalorama – we’d actually came up and out behind Mt Dandenong Tourist Rd and started the mountain trail to Sky High – the pinnacle of the mountain. A short burst up the road and we took a right hand turn into a side street and quickly found the trails again. At this stage I allowed myself a smile as I recognised this track section, I’d run it during my Sky High run a month or so ago. This was probably the steepest section of the trail so far and quite technical. The terrain was very exposed – dry and dusty roots, ruts, rock and clumps of grass – and single file or just wider.

I dubbed it ‘heart break hill’ and found it was part of the Roller Coaster Run. I managed to successfully run this section, really enjoying springing from rock to rock, from dust to rock to grass clump to rock as we navigated our way to the top.  A well-earned rest awaited us at the top as we regrouped before heading down a fast section of track – with mud! I smashed through the puddles (apologies to the girls so close to that section) and continued the gentle but steady climb to the top. From here I think we turned down the channel 10 track which was a wider track that still required you to really place your feet but was a nice come down and recovery section after the climb.

When we reached the next junction Peter mentioned that we could tackle a 500m section of hill or go a little further and sort of circumnavigate it. Do the hill I said.

Well, it certainly was a hill. A straight and tight track with a continual incline, again the rocks and obstacles required to test your metal. It was a challenge but I really enjoyed it.  I think I managed to get about  2/3 of the way up the hill before I pulled the pin and walked a little before another short burst of running, a short walk, a little more running/ rock hopping before running the last 200m or so. A very tough hill but so rewarding. As a point of reference we were almost at the transmission towers visible at the top of the ranges.

A head check and off we went, and off I nearly went was we commenced our descent of the mountain. Was it a rock, a root, an unseen hole? Something caught me off balance and I almost came a cropper. Was it the grip of the Inov-8 trailroc 235 or amazing core strength or just pure luck? Somehow I managed to avoid going horizontal and kept my momentum and recovered to continue running. I had given my ankle a tweak and I hit the soft grass, then the track, as I tried to control my momentum for a while before gaining my rhythm again. This part of the run lead us down to another track which was nice and wide and I enjoyed the conversation with Ben and Patricia.

This section was a flatter section with some gentle ups and downs and we soon hit a road that would lead us back towards the Basin. We were about a km or so down the road before I felt my right calf go wobbly, then twinge and I had to pull up and stretch it out – thanks Runners World for the tit bits on handling cramps. I tried to push a tree over for a minute or so then the old push back on the single leg stretch and it seemed to calm the calf down and I could catch the rest of the runners. It did take a little tweaking of my stride and finding the flattest section of road camber to keep it at bay, but after 500m or so I found a rhythm that was comfortable and I caught the group again.

All to soon Peter had pulled us up and the option to continue on for the 21km loop was offered or we could take the track back to the car park to keep it at about 18km. Brave and foolish Lachie so wanted to continue on – it had been one of the best runs I’ve ever done and was really enjoying it but sensible Lachie with the tweaked ankle and calf said this is where I say goodbye and I’ll catch you next time. A couple of other guys were heading back as well so we followed Peters directions – a lovely long downhill section that was not too technical was the perfect way to cool down and practice my hill descents was all that was needed to get back to the car.

All in all everyone I ran with today was warm and welcoming. I loved the trail running. The pace was perfect – those who wanted to run on could and we always waited for those who needed a little more time to get up the hills. For someone wanting to do the Roller Coaster run it is the perfect way to learn the tracks and learn about trail running. My thanks to everyone – looking forward to the next time I can run the Dandenong ranges trails, the best of Melbournes running trails!

Cheers, Lachie