Mr Bump Doesn't Stay Home Hidding

The recent catch phrase in Health Education has been resilience, that is to teach resilience as applied to the context of areas of priority for the students within the social constructs of their school and wider community. Resilience is an interesting thing to discuss with people who choose to spend their time engaging with the natural environment and it was in discussing such matters as they applied to our students and our common interests of the Blue Mts national park, that the Gnome in charge of all things Science directed me to the following video:




It created a chain of thought for me starting with how to use this video with my students but then moved on to thoughts of how what I was watching related to my own desires to enter the world of trail ultras. It amazed me the strain that was occurring with every attempt, the persistence to keep going back, the realisation that the climb was bigger than that moment and the return, realigned to take it on again, more prepared.

The other aspect that real;y stood out for me was the contrast in strain on the failed attempts to the smoothness and control in the successful climb. All aspects I feel I need to concentrate on in my own running. Resilience defined but then broken down and applied.

Monday 16th Movember
The variable that would lead to overload today was clearly the weather. Predicted tops of 39 degrees in the Low Lands of Gnomeville High had students and teachers clambering for shade all day. With this in mind I decided the heat of the afternoon was enough to push me out of my comfort today and removed the variable of extra hill climbs. Sticking to the upper trails of Knapsack Reserve a lap around Espresso run followed by a lap of Son of Espresso: The 12hr Course was pursued. With Kings of Leon for company, a constantly warming bottle of water and the plagiarised uniform of Wollongong's 'Shirts Off Runners" all was accomplished in 54mins 18secs. Mr Bump would have been proud today.

Tuesday 17th Movember
AM woke to the general feeling of fatigue that comes following a night of minimal sleep in hot stuffy conditions. This along with the heat of yesterdays run bought me the closest I have come on this stint of training to not heading out. Mr Bump don't stay home hiding though, so off to Sleep Trains round house it was (I think I can, I think I can) for a lap of the Standard Sleep Trains Circuit. 1hr 2mins 2secs a little slower than recent weeks I think. So lets put it down to spending a little longer stretching on course. Tough day for me up the 2 main hills.

PM what to do when you have had a tough morning on the hills, hit more on fatigued legs I say. Ran solo from Knapsack round Inner Circle Quarry Link. Felt better on the climb than I had on the morning hills, however this could be explained by the simple fact I was not watching Animal and Sleep Train cruise away from me the whole way up. Pete Murray on the ipod for this one and as with the final climb on W2B earlier this year found it the perfect tempo to keep calm but strong on the major climbs. 47mins 33secs and thankful for the significant drop in temp after yesterday all run.

Wednesday 18th Movember
Kicked off the day from the Lucasville Resort running with Wholie from 5.45am. A pleasant run around the same circuit as last Wednesday, largely based in the Knapsack Reserve accessing primary trails. Was much cooler than the last couple of days and enjoyed the reprieve in temperature. Have hit round 40km already this week and hope to be over 100km by the time Sunday comes around. 55min 3sec.

Thursday 19th Movember
Two late nights (in runner talk that is) had me wiped out this morning when I woke. The training had a a part but it was more just not enough sleep kind of tired. Got to Animals for the 6am start and headed off with Animal and Sleep Train for the standard Basic Hill Circuit. Heading up Hilda were nearly skittled by an erratic (and late) Welsh Exchange student. Fortunately for said Shit Kick a touch of stretching was required early on and he was lucky to join the pack. Really struggled down Wholies fear and back up the gully track, but happy to have clocked in another run. 1hr 4mins 16secs.