A couple of good solid sessions this week, though the gentler recoveries were missing. The first was the club 14km loop on Wednesday. The pack got a little rush of blood at the start and we pinged off to the turnaround at well under 4min/km pace. Stupidly, I went along or the ride, forgetting all the rules of starting slowly and building form. The pace didn't feel bad at all - a good test, perhaps, but I died badly in the second half, struggling through the last 4km. Simply not enough baseline fitness. Disappointing.
The second run was today (note the gap between?) - this week has been extraordinarily hot - some sort of record for Perth - and today was no exception. I went out, however, to get a feel for a Bibbulmun run (see below). The wilds of King's Park beckoned, so an hour ramble was the plan. Thanks to my sense of direction (or the heat), it ended up being 1:15, before I found the car, and not a moment too soon. At 37 degrees C, with no shade, it was probably a little stupid, but I'm sure I didn't look as sorry as a couple of other runners I saw out there who were not carrying water (I got through 1.5L in the camelback during the run).
There's very little water in the park, and the whole place seems remarkably inhospitable for a "suburban" park, due to the huge mess of trails through it. It's possible to get thoroughly lost amongst them, with today's run having all possible terrain - ups, downs, tarmac, soft grass, hard trails, deep sand (lots of that), rough chipseal and metal grids. It was an interesting test of form in the Fingens - love to be able to try this barefoot one day....
And now the Bibbulmun. I am planning a 30km trail run in a couple of weeks, taking in the start of WA's famous trail, which runs from Perth to Albany. For simplicity, I'll take the first stages (approx 10km stages with a camper's hut at the end) which can be accessible by car, then either make it an out-and-back, or convince someone to pick us up.
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