Yes, it was the big one this week as we embarked on our most ambitious training session to date - the first half of the Trailwalker course. This was always going to be an interesting day - a test to see if our expectations were realistic and also if we had it in us to actually pull this off. Saturday was also the first time that we'd trained together as a team since our first training session back in March and it also featured guest appearances from Steve (our team trainer) and Kerri (of Team KRAK fame).
We had so many questions - could we go the distance? Could we improve on previous performances? Would we hit our time targets? Would we still be talking to each other by the end of it? More importantly, would we be able to walk / move by the end of it?
Date: Saturday, 21 July
Walkers: David, Kerrie, Ruth and Ian
Track: Start: Chowder Bay to CP5: Ku-ring-gai Creative Arts High
Distance: 51km
David's Estimated Time: 12 hours (?!)
Everyone Else's Estimated Time: 10 hrs 50 mins (excluding breaks)
Actual Completion Time: 10 hrs 45 mins (excluding breaks)
Start - CP1
It was another cold morning as we arrived at Chowder Bay for our 7am start. David - the team optimist - decided from the outset that there was no way we'd make it back to Chowder Bay by the time the gates closed at 8pm and insisted we park outside the gates to ensure we'd actually have vehicles available to get us home at the end of the day. So outside the gates we parked and then took up residence in the car park waiting for Ian who seemed to be running on Indian time even though he was back in the country!
As we were waiting, we waved at many teams who were passing us by and found out that many of them had similar goals to ours for the day - to complete the first 51kms. There was even one team who recognised us from our blog (hello!!) and another team who were doing the hard yards by tackling 70kms - hope you guys made it! As time ticked over and still no Ian, we decided to make a start and meet him at Balmoral. On with the clock and off we went on the first leg.
This is the second time around for us on this section and some of the hard bits first time around suddenly didn't seem so hard after all. We actually passed a few teams for a change and made it to the top of the Gallipoli Stairs before we knew it. As we passed Seaforth Oval, we were making great time and had already incorporated a lot of running into this section which was a real bonus. Then came the ascent to Ararat Reserve which was never-ending the first time around but sooooo much easier this time. Seems that after experiencing the hard yakka of CP7-8, everything else now pales in comparison and the next thing we knew, we hit the first checkpoint in 2 hours and 27 minutes for 13.5km.
Ruth, Kerrie and David near Checkpoint 1
CP1 - CP2
This section of track is only 7.5km long but it took SO long last time (2 hrs 20 mins) with all the mud and felled trees to negotiate. Many thanks go to our friends at the NPWS who'd been through and cleaned the track up to the point that we were able to scoot through to the next checkpoint in 1 hour and 38 minutes. This put us ahead of target having completed a total of 20.5km in 4 hours and 5 minutes. Not bad going!
CP2 - CP3
On leaving Davidson Park with a few Tim Tams under our belt (thanks Ian!) and bottles of Perpetuem in hand, we set off for Acron Oval. We found during this leg that our pace slowed a lot and building speed along this type of track is something we need to practice in the next few weeks. This section is only 10km but it feels like forever as it tracks along the creek. Finally we crossed the Cascades and headed up Acron Hill to land at Checkpoint 3 in 2 hours and 25 minutes for smack bang on 6 hours 30 minutes all up. Right on target!
CP3 - CP4
At Acron Oval we met up with the experts - Steve and Kerri - who were all fired up and ready to push us hard through this next 11km section. Off we went at a cracking pace and no mistakes this time in finding Quarry Track. On reaching the top of the fire trail, our taskmasters then decided we could run and sure enough, even though we'd covered 34kms at this point, we ended up running! Who would have thunk it? At this point, we were also marvelling at Ian's superb fitness which saw him running up hills. We are in awe! Oh, and you will also notice that there are no more photos after this point because we were working so hard there wasn't a bloody chance to take one!
Steve and Kerri were fantastic to have on this section as apart from driving the pace, they imparted a lot of knowledge on how we need to work together and motivate each other as a team during the Trailwalker as well as how we should tackle the course on the day in order to achieve our goals. So far, we've found it is very easy to slip into habits when walking so when people challenge those habits, it can only be a good thing as you can up the ante and exceed your expectations. With Steve and Kerri riding us the whole way for this section, it did us the world of good and we lobbed into St Ives Showground in 2 hours and 2 minutes - putting us at a very credible 5.4km/h pace for that section.
CP4 - CP5
After a quick break and watching Steve and Kerri run off into the sunset, we set off on the last 9.5km of the day to Ku-ring-gai Creative Arts High School with Steve's directive of 2 hours max ringing in our ears. All was going well as we hit the 5km mark within 59 minutes but with the last of the daylight having fizzled out in the sky, we had to make a quick stop at the start of the Warrimoo Fire Trail to switch into our beanies and strap on our fabulous Petzl headtorches. This was our first real experience at night-walking and off into the darkness we went...
The descent down Warrimoo Track was treacherous in daylight but it was a completely different experience at night - still slow but slightly easier given you can't see how far you could fall if you put one foot wrong! Working out where the track went and navigating the creeks slowed us down and we held the lessened pace along the fairly flat walking track until Ruth fired us up and pushed us to pick up the pace for the final ascent up the Sphinx Track. This track seemed a lot longer in the dark but that was all forgotten on reaching the top, it was amazing to think that this was the culmination of 51kms. We pulled into Ku-ring-gai Creative Arts High School at 2 hours 13 minutes for this section of track and suddnely, it was all over for the day!
Summary
Start - CP1: 13.5km - 2 hours and 27 minutes (2 hr 27 mins)
CP1 - CP2: 20.5km - 4 hours and 5 minutes (1 hr 38 mins)
CP2 - CP3: 30.5km - 6 hours and 30 minutes (2 hr 25 mins)
CP3 - CP4: 41.5km - 8 hours and 32 minutes (2 hr 2 mins)
CP4 - CP5: 51km - 10 hours and 45 minutes (2 hr 13 mins)
N.B. We didn't include break times (which totalled around 35 minutes when we had to stop and fill up our CamelBaks etc) as this is not indicative of what they will be on the day given our support crew. The time of 10 hours and 45 minutes was 5 minutes faster than our estimated completion time for the walking components and knowing where there's room for improvement, we should definitely get this down even faster on Trailwalker day. This then holds us in good stead to complete the last 49km of the course in around 13-14 hours to hit our 24 hour goal.
Next Week..
It's all hard and fast! From here on in, it's shorter sessions but more intense, power sessions. Even if we aren't running those sections of trail, we'll be running where we can and setting ambitious time goals as we power up hills and fly down the descents. Well, we'll be trying anyway! As we've now pushed ourselves to the 50km+ mark, the goal is to maintain the endurance but build stamina, speed and power which will help get us to the 100km mark. Three things we need to do - more hills on the trail to condition the legs and to improve the speed of our ascents, more trail work to cover this type of terrain faster and more night walking on the sections we'll be doing in the dark.
From here, we'll leave you with our Oxfam page so you can donate to us: http://www2.oxfam.org.au/trailwalker/Sydney/team/280 and a few random photos. What else would this blog be if it weren't for the references to sausage sizzles?!
David's homage to the Sausage Sizzles he saw along the way.It's a case of you can look but don't touch David until 25 August!!
At Dalwood Homes...
Seaforth Oval.. 
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