stay puft and the wally run

i have entered the perth trail series a few times but i have never completed all five.  so this year, while it may cost me a little extra, i am only entering each race as they come up and i am only signing up for the short course.  which is smart considering my lack of running.

a week after busselton was the first race.  stay puft at yanchep.  it was relatively flat but close to 12k.  i surprised myself at this one.  i went okay until about the 9k mark when my legs really started to feel the pain from the half marathon the week before.  great course and i really did enjoy this one.

the next race was wallygrunta at the walyunga national park which just happens to be about 20 minutes from home. dont you just love the names.  i had finished this one before but it was the long course which almost killed me.  i think i was out there for over two hours and it was only 14k or so.  the short course is still around 10k.  so my bad i hadnt run since stay puft but i had been swimming and riding the road bike up the odd hill or two.  i didnt feel great and my legs didnt feel all that great once we got going either.

the start is all up hill.  unless you are a super star trail runner the trick is you walk the uphills but run the flats and the downhill. for most of the uphill i was chatting to this guy who was doing his first trail run and was a bit surprised at how hard it was.  i was feeling pretty bad so this took my mind of things.  trail running is different and it is fucking hard.  anything you assume will be the same as road running you need to forget.  you will be slower and you will hurt more.  but i love the challenge and i love being outdoors in nature.  the views are worth getting to the top of those hills and walyunga was no different.  

so what goes up must come down and your legs will feel the downhills the day after the run.  i know mine did and my toes a bit as they pushed up against my shoe.  but this made the run home easier and i was certainly feeling better at this stage.  so snakes and ladders is next and has the most elevation (whoohoo).  i havent done this one before but i am expecting to suffer.  i am getting an ultrasound on my dodgy left leg tomorrow and then back to the physio to see what is going on.  i am also going back to see budgie to check if the bike fit is causing the issue.  so stay tuned ....