Saturday's Bibbulmun & Munda Biddi Combo

I don't normally like to disrupt my weekend routine of catching up on beauty sleep but today called for a long training run as part of my next race prep. I managed to convince a good mate James that it would be a good idea for him to join me and that we should leave the cars by 6.30am! He kindly obliged so all was planned for a good weekend training run.

We arrived at Kalamunda before first light and contemplated whether we would opt to take the head torches. I decided not to as I had run the first part of today's run numerous times of late so was confident despite the slight lack of light. The first half hour of the run takes you down some relatively steep technical terrain which is both good and bad. Good in the fact you get some quality downhill in so early in the run, but bad in the sense you get to run for the next 4.5 hours knowing that you are going to have to tackle this on fatigued legs later on.

After about 45mins today the body was kindly letting me know that the legs weren't feeling too flash. I was pretty tempted to suggest that we turn at 1.5hrs and return for a 3hr run. Thankfully things picked up from here and gradually as I went on I was feeling better and better, at about the 2hr mark I was back to 'normal' Scotty and running how I should be, smiling and ticking the legs over well.

At approx 1.5hr we changed onto a different track and ventured off onto the Munda Biddi Trail. This trail opens up a bit and is pretty easy going non-technical rolling terrain. Then came the rain, and geez did it bucket down. No waterproof jacket was going to keep me dry in that weather! Reminded me of a few days earlier running out there when I felt like I was playing hot potato with my rain jacket. I think I must have put it on and off about a dozen times during the four hours running!! We carried along to the 2hr45min mark which was the turn-around point which took us to Pickering Brook and some bitumen for a k' or so.

On the return we stopped briefly to give the poor calf muscles a well deserved stretch and shake out. After a minute we were off again and heading back to the Dell. Continuing on for a few k' we then came to the Calamunda Camel Farm which is about 45mins from the car and the comfort of a Coke on ice in the chilly bin and a warm jacket. By this stage James was feeling a tad rough so I offered him a spare Roctane Gu which he downed quickly and within minutes had bounced back to normal.

The last few k' heading back up the valley to Kalamunda and the car were absolutely awesome! I ran the whole morning thinking about how I wanted to be in good condition to be able to really run up the last few hills and the not so kind steps towards the end. The first part of the ascent are some pretty rocky 'natural' steps followed with a bit of undulation and then some more steps. I ran the whole way up, being careful not to get the heart rate too far out of control and got to the top super satisfied how the run had gone and how my body felt after the week of training I had.

All in all a great run, great company and good to get a solid session under the belt in preparation for the next race.

James coming down some classic Bibbulmun Trail

One of the creeks crossed at the bottom of the valley, end product of a week of rain. The week before this was bone dry!

The end of the decent into the valley.

James was trying to catch a shot of me coming down the downhill, I think he missed me as the Hoka's were making me go too fast!