16 Weeks to Glasshouse 100

Glasshoue 100milerThis has been the key focus to my training and all I have done thus far in the year. For that reason it has been pretty disappointing that I have been quite sick since moving to the Coast and an had an injury that has kept me from doing as much training as I would have liked to.Since the finish of the race last year where I pulled out a PB of nearly four hours (21hrs 52min), I have had a MASSIVE dream of cranking out a sub 20hr race in 2014. However, due to my lead up, I decided to revise my goals and aim for a sub 24hr and anything else being a bonus.Race day came around and I was healthy, and my injury at about 95%. I was ready to rumble. We had race briefing on Friday night as usual and then rolled up to the start line about 5am Saturday morning ready to go. The morning started out nice and relaxed and I got in some good conversation with a few new friends. We completed a 10k loop back to the school and then up and down Mt Beerburrum. I got an awesome surprise seeing my good friend Lori and her kids at the base, which was a top booster. After coming down the mountain we head out to Checkpoints 4 and 5 before a tough little section around 6A to 6. Even though it was early in the day, I could already feel it warming up and knew we were in for a hot one.I had my Number 1 crew on board, Tegs, Pria and Corle and it is always a blessing seeing them and hearing them cheer at every stop!After slogging through 6A and feeling a little twinge in the back of my knee, it was gone as quick as it came and I wouldn’t feel it for the rest of the day. Thank goodness. We then head to Checkpoint 6 before starting the infamous tough section through powerlines. I made sure I was prepared this year with two handhelds and fuelled up as last year I really struggled through here. I got through ok again before heading to Checkpoint 8 to the beautiful Ann Raftery and posse. After a quick gday, Happy Birthday to Ann and food, it was to my nemesis, the western and eastern loops.The western loop in particular has caused me a fair bit of drama in the past and this time would be similar, bringing on some pretty decent leg cramping. I got some salt from Geoff Tomlins (thanks mate!) stocked up on electrolytes and kept my head and neck buff wet all day. These things would be my saviours as I think I would have ended up reduced to some serious walking due to the cramping otherwise.After doing the western loop, I then did the eastern loop and still battled the cramping. I treated it as best as I could before returning to Checkpoint 8. Although I had some issues on these loops, they went pretty quick and I was off to Checkpoint 7. I knew at this stage that if I could get rid of the cramps and keep moving forward that I was miles ahead of where I was last year….GOLD!I got to Checkpoint 7 in some better shape and did the 5k loop before returning to 7 and having some beautiful minestrone soup. YUM! I was also surprised to see Coach Jeff and Deb which ALWAYS cheers me up! After a quick gday, I head off for the journey back to base, Beerburrum School, a little milestone. On the way to Checkpoint 6 things went well and then whilst travelling to Checkpoint 5 I ran into my friend Anderson. He was struggling big time with some leg issues so we ran together from there for a couple of hours.These couple of Checkpoints went standard before doing something I have never done before….I got back to the school without having to use my headlamp. 108km in 12hr 30min. SO so stoked. At the school, I had one my best mates Jason and new running buddy Jack takeover crewing duties so the girls could go home for a sleep.At the school I emptied my shoes, changed my socks and got some tucker into me. After a quick stopover, Anderson and I were off to the Eastern section of the course. This section is relatively flat and it was here, with all the runnable sections, that I began to notice the significant trashing my quads had endured. I ran as much as I could and the 10k out to Wild Horse seemed to take forever. That is probably because upon arriving I got told that it was actually 12.5km! 2.5 for free! Along this section I dropped Anderson as he stated that he was completely un-able to run. I felt terrible for it but I REALLY didn’t want to walk the rest of the course.When I got to Wildhorse Mountain, we did a quick up and back before heading out to Checkpoint 10. This was pretty un-eventful and I was able to maintain a decent pace. I was looking forward to getting to 10 as it is always a real party Checkpoint and a lot of fun. After a quick gday, it is two loops to complete here as well. The first might only be 6is km but we do a couple of k’s in SERIOUSLLY soft sand. Like I am talking up to the ankles SOFT sand! It is tedious and frustrating! After rolling through this and back to 10, I then head out to the second loop. This was going ok until I got to a pretty technical section and my headlamp was nearly dead. UGH! I could barley see and it was slow going before grabbing a new light from my mate Gavin at 10. I was lucky enough to see Dad here on his way out to the checkpoint before I started making my way back to Wildhorse.This was a little slower this time round but I made it not too bad. I didn’t muck around here and did my trek up and down Wildhorse Mountain straight way. My quads were well and truly done by this stage and coming down the mountain nearly killed me! I had a quick stopover at Checkpoint 9 before starting the 12.5km trek back home!By this time my focus was squarely on getting to the finish. All day I had been watching my times and hovered right around a 20hour finish. The problem I now faced though was my quads were DONE! I struggled along as best as I could but about 8k from home my left inside quad started to jack up and really be extremely painful! This was really putting my sub 20hour finish in doubt. I got to 5k out at Moffats Road where this year we could have one of our crew pace us in. I told the guys that I thought it was out of the question with 40 odd minutes to go after already running 156km but once I got moving I firmly decided in my mind that I was going to give it my best effort or die trying!Jack and I started ripping in. I was in the pain cave well and truly but it was business time! Beast mode! We ripped in, worked hard and did it! I came into the finish shoot in a finishing time of 19hours 51min! I was ecstatic with my over TWO HOUR PB! So so pumped!Here’s where things went to crap though. My left quad was extremely painful and I thought really injured. I saw the doctor Peter and he iced it up. I felt like absolute garbage. I couldn’t eat, drink or move. I started to get cold and we got going home. I laid on the back seat and eventually made it home. The boys helped me in and I thought I needed to go to the toilet. I sat there with my head in my hands and fell asleep, eventually dropping my phone! I was out of it! I couldn’t drink anything, even water. I knew I needed to eat but NO WAY! I somehow managed to have a shower and crawled into bed a bit before 3am. I got 3-4hours good sleep then tossed and turned for another hour or two before waking up. Surprisingly, when I got up my legs were sore but not that bad! Stoked. I am now continuing my plan I came up with at the start of the year and having one day off for every day raced in an ultra. 16days it will be, and well deserved.In hindsight, this race was one of the hardest, toughest, mindful and rewarding events I have done. I have been training as much as I could, and also building my mental focus with meditation, which I started a little while ago. I really believe this has helped. I am still in absolute awe that this result and day happened. I am so proud of myself and the beast within this hippy exterior. I believe the hills here on the Coast I have been training on have made a massive difference and whilst I will miss these with our move back to Bundy, there really is no substitute to specific training. All in all, an incredible day! Gratitude!Some details……Gear used – Ultimate Direction handheld bottles, Altra Shoes and Injinji socks provided by my sponsor Injinji Performance Products. Gu gels, Clif Bars (thanks to Unique Health Products), Ronhill Shorts, and love!Food consumed – Funnily enough, my main calorie consumption was from boiled potatoes with salt, plain potato chips, watermelon and coke. I also had banana, organic strawberries, salt tablets, Raw Balls (thanks Ann for organising these from Susanna) Gu Gels, Clif Bars, soup, soft drink, Squintra Hydration, Endura, Water….I think that’s about it!As a last point, my 16Week journey blog is now done! I will now be blogging as normal though my usual channel and you can subscribe to get email notifications of any new updates. Have an amazing week friends!--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Week 16.....Taper week...08/9 – Rest. 09/9 – 8km Taper week fun. 45min 14sec. Gain unknown, watch played up.Well, so begins taper week! I am actually really excited as the program I have been using I really don’t feel like I have tapered much. I have been eating really well and churing out a few runs to keep the legs ticking over. Monday was a rest day. I was going to run, but you know what, it aint going to make any difference now! It was a fun day with some odd jobs, work and then a SUPER fun dinner with Jason, Anna and the girls and Meagan driving up from Brisbane especially. Although our time on the Coast hasn’t bee exactly what we were hoping, meeting these guys has made it all worth while. They are all beautiful souls, caring, loving, funny, fit and vegan, which tops it all off! We know that these guys will all be friends for life and we are so so greatful for having met them. After some beautiful food and laughs, it was to bed.Tuesday saw a warmer run with a few sprinkles of rain. All went by without a glitch except my watch not recording distance. RRRRR! The day again was fun, plenty of laughs, good food and winding down my time at Kunara. It seems strange. All good though as I know we have purpose going to Bundy and that all will work out. After a relaxing night, it was to bed, ready to do it all again. I have a mind for only two things at the moment….my last day at work which is sad, and race day, which I can not wait for!10/9 – 6.1km Taper continue. 32min 06sec. 16m gain.A standard easy cruise this morning just keeping the legs turning over. Work was super buzy and I just love it when it is like that! Really loving how well I am eating at the moment and even when I have a small treat, I am keeping it at that and not over indulging like I used to. I feel like I am growing stronger and more mindful every day. Love it. Dropped into Vandies, our favourite coffee place on the coast for the last time. Our last brew was a good one….well miss that place. Sad but beautiful as always. I then picked up my new shoes for going back to work in Bundy and had a productive arvo baking, getting dinner, the kids sorted and starting to round up some stuff for the race. Oh yeah baby. A top day!11/9 – 4.1km Last hit out. 22min 3sec. 37m gain.This morning was my last hit out before the big weekend! It was a great, reflective, mentally focused run, getting ready for the big journey ahead. I am super pumped! Work was awesome and SO buzy! I got an awesome surprise when Andrew from At One Foods rocked up! He now has a packaged raw food bar product, ready for sale in stores. These taste amazing and trust me, will be in many stores very soon! I was stoked to get some testers and will be using some of them for the weekend. Ripper. These along with my Gus, Clif Bars, Squintra Hydration, fruit and whatever other goodies I can find will work well for the miler. I had a nice relaxing arvo before mum and dad arrived. We had a yummy dinner then the girls went out and Jason came over and all the boys watched Unbreakable….now my pre-race gee-up tradition. Oh yeah baby! Last day at work tomorrow which is sad but I know I have made some beautiful friends that will last a long time. Blessed.12/9 – Rest.Today was my last day at Kunara. It was super sad to say goodby to all my new friends but awesome to celebrate meeting them! What a beautiful crew. My sadness in leaving was mixed with excitement of running the 100miler tomorrow! Oh my gosh! Can not wait! After saying my goodbys at work, we had a quick break at home and then head up to the pre-race briefing at Beerburrum School. We caught up with our old friends, met a few new ones, at some good food and had the briefing. After a few more chats, it was home to an early bed before the big weekend ahead.It has been cool recording my daily adventures in this 16week lead up to the miler. I am going to post this weeks blog now and then do a separate one for the big race. Thanks to all those who have followed along and I cant wait to let you all know about the journey over 160k starting at 5:30am tomorrow! Bring it!--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Week 1501/9 – Rest. 02/9 – 10k Easy Cruise. 55min 50sec. 171m gain.Monday was frustrating in that I was struggling with a flippen head cold! Oh it was terrible. I had a shocking nights sleep as Tegs was sick with gastro and the kids were a bit restless too. I was going to have the day off but rallied and headed in. In hindsight the rest would have been good but I got it done. Ate really well and felt good in that regard at least.Tuesday brought a nice easy 10k up the hill and my head cold feeling a little better. Still not 100% but a vast improvement on yesterday. The run was great and had no leg pain which was even better. Work went well and was amusing when a work mate brought a flyer in that he got at the Sunshine Coast Marathon for the Blackall 100….not knowing that Dad was on the front of it! Classic boss style! Love it! A relaxing arvo and dinner saw out a ripper day! Oh, and I had an incredible smoothie this arvo too, one of the best I reckon I have ever had! Tasted like a banana paddle pop! Oh yeah! Check the recipe (this was only a small smoothie as it was just an afternoon snack. Yummy none the less!)300ml non-dairy mylk3-4 frozen bananasHandful of pitted datesSpoon of maca powderVanilla essence.03/9 – 13k Tempo/hill fun. 1hr 10min 54sec. 242m gain.This mornings effort was a goodun. I had scheduled a tempo run and wasn’t sure I was going to get into it, but I did! Especially the climb up Crosby Hill Road. It ended up being a good solid effort, not all out, but absolutely at a harder effort than usual. Work was great and my health is feeling better every day. The girls headed off today to Bundy so I am on my own for a couple of days. Ugh! I like it for about two seconds but then I am really missing the girls. I will battle on though, the time will go quick before I head up on Friday afternoon for the weekend and Fathers Day.04/9 – 10.1km Easy run. 54min 23sec. 36m gain.I head out this morning and it was FRESH! A little cold weather has come back again, ugh! I found it a little hard getting my gait right this morning but I got the job done. Work was standard and not as roudy as my mate Erin wasn’t there! I had a nice relaxing arvo packing and getting ready to go to Bundy so all good to go tomorrow.05/9 – 7km Felt so good. 37min 34sec. 39m gain.Today was one of those runs that just feels so so easy. The legs turned over so well and it just felt effortless. Ripper! Work was super buzy and I got some more of the super yummy vegan sushi that Kunara make. Oh it is so so good! After work I headed straight to Bundy and made it in pretty good time. We had a beautiful dinner and then just relaxed watching the footy and kicking back. Good day.06/9 – 20.3km Bundy Runners. 1hr 55min 35sec. 56m gain.A good hit out this morning with the Bundy running crew. Really weird to be back on the flatlands and my energy reflected it. I was just a bit flat during the whole run for some reason. All good though. We finished off with a bit of ‘trail’ and that was that. It was especially great cause Dad and Tegan were both running which was great! The rest of the day was fun with a trip to the new awesome café in Bundy called Nourish, some shopping and then the park in the arvo. Again at night we had some ripper food and watched some more footy. A nice day filled with good people and good times.07/9 – 10km Fathers Day fun. 58min 30sec. Unknown gain, watch played up.Today was FATHERS DAY! Awesome! I stated the day with an easy 10k with dad and I thought it would be nice to stop off at the cemetery to see grandpa (dads dad) grave. We had a nice fresh morning out together before an awesome pancake breakfast with the family to celebrate the day. We then had a nice morning at the park before heading to another new café in Bundy called Oodies. The owner (I take it, she seemed in charge) was incredibly accommodating of my vegan diet and made me this AMAZING salad. I reckon it was probably one of the best meals I have had out ever and super affordable. I REALLY enjoyed it! Full compliments to the place and their super friendly staff. We will SURLEY be back there when we move back. Yum! Any locals, go check it out! We then drove back to Buderim for our last week here and relaxed through the night watching a movie. A blessed Fathers Day to spend it with my dad and beautiful girls. Gratitude.With only five sleeps until the 100miler things are getting super exciting! I feel ready as I can be considering the lead up I have had health and injury wise and can not wait to line up on Saturday morning with the rest of the soldiers ready to rumble! Bring it on!Weeks Total – 70.4km. 6hr 32min. 542m gain.--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Week 14...25/8 – Rest Day. 26/8 – 5km Easy hit out. 27min 10sec. 10m gain.Monday this week was a rest day and pretty non-eventful. The coolest thing that happened today was Pria asked for a Bible! For a lot of you this probably seems trivial, but for us, it is super exciting. We all try and raise our children in the best way we can, be it spiritually, lifestyle, diet, attitudes, behaviours etc so for us to hear Pria ask for this was so rad! Bless her heart! Other than that, work was fun, I got the book ‘Meat is for Pussies’ finished (AMAZING read by the way) and some good relaxing done. A nice day. A little more on the book…..if you haven’t read it, particularly if you’re a guy, you need to! Apart from being super entertaining, it is a real eye opener and challenging read for all! Classic in my opinion!Tuesday I head off for a nice little short 5k run. Nothing out of the ordinary, but a beautiful morning. Work was fun, but I have been feeling a bit flat for the last couple of days. Gotta get on top of this and my diet cleanness. Again, not an overly exciting day, just a nice cruisy one. Life is good friends!27/8 – 10.8km Easy turnover and climb. 59min 7sec. 135m gain.Today was one of those runs that just feels effortless. I got some good turnover in before heading up Dixon to the top of Buderim. An easy cruise home and before long I was done. I spent much of my run thinking of my friend from Instagram, Jenn, who yesterday was bitten by a rattle snake twice! I have found out that she is in ICU and as of lunchtime today, had FIVE bags of anti-venom through her. I have been praying a lot and surprised how much it has touched me. I know it sounds silly, but I feel as though I have a strong connection to some people through Instagram, and know some of Jenn’s friends, so it is just horrible. It just goes to show we should take nothing for granted. Get better soon my friend. The rest of the day was super fun, relaxed and happy. Life is blessed and I am spending more and more time thinking of the miler as it is fast approaching. Love it. From one of my other good friends on the Gram, lets always have #gratitude!28/8 – 7km Fartlek fun! 35min 18sec. 41m gain.Started the day with a really great run this morning. Felt really good to do another ‘workout’. It has been a while since I have included these in my program so it has been a good shake up. I did 1k warm up, 10 x hard efforts with easy recovery and 1k warm down. The leg turnover was great and even with the easy sections, I still averaged 5min 2sec per k. Pretty stoked with that. Work was super buzy today and it went really quickly. After a nice afternoon relaxing and watching the footy, it was off to bed to do it all again. A really nice, rounded day. This week has been really great and the last two days, completely pain free running in the leg! RAD!29/8 – 6.1km Easy leg turn over. 32min 43sec. 53m gain.This mornings run was just a nice easy leg turnover. Really looking forward to the weekend with the old boy in the mountains. Will be super fun! Work was super cool and funny, typical Friday banter. I am really gonna miss the people there! Super fun! I had a nice relaxing arvo before Mum and Dad arrived for the weekend. We watched our beloved Dragons tonight in a do or die game to make the eight and unfortunately they just weren’t good enough. A great day (apart from the footy), ready for a beautiful morning in the mountains tomorrow.30/8 – 30.2km Beauty with Dad. 4hr 10min 42sec. 1040m gain.What a morning! The weather was glorious, the trail was gorgeous and the run was glamorous….well not quite but you get the point. Dad and I hit 30k up the hinterland including the Kondilla Falls section. We took it nice and easy only two weeks out from the miler but it was so rad! Great elevation and a top morning although I finished a little dehydrated. All good apart from that! Bliss. The rest of the day was great relaxing with Dad and then helping Jason move. A real fun day and to bed at a reasonable time ready for another fun outing tomorrow morning. Yes!31/8 – 16k Parklands Glory. 2hr 16min 25sec. 386m gain.Head out for a back up run this morning with Dad. Got a bloody head cold but powered on. Had a real nice steady run, enjoyed the beautiful weather and rad trails. Great to get some k’s in with Dad this weekend that is for sure. What was even better is that I had NO pain in my leg! So so stoked! A massive confidence and mental builder for the miler in 13sleeps! After a nice morning rest and hanging out, we went to Palmwoods to Ricks Diner/Garage for lunch. Oh man, was so awesome! A good feed and hang out time. After a nice arvo, kip and relax, the girls came home from their weekend away. A good feed for dinner then relax before bed and to do the week again. This head cold is hanging on so hopefully it goes super soon! A good week and a real positive on running wise!Weekly Total – 75.2km. 9hr 1min. 1662m gain.--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Week 1318/9 – Rest. 19/8 – 5k Easy outing. 26min 57sec. 10m gain.Well yesterday was a rest day and today was just a short run out. I have been doing a lot of maintance on my leg which has been good however my belly is still jacked up! I was pretty worried about it last night and this morning so I booked in and saw the doctor this arvo. I have to do a sample for him to make sure I don’t have any bacteria, however it seems like it is just a nasty bug. I am so over being sick! Anyway, I think it comes with having kids and I think the physical location of where I work dosent help. I am regularly on concrete floors and there is a decent draft that blows through where I stand. Whilst I do my best to stay warm and healthy, it is hard sometimes. Anyway, I hope and pray I am on the road to recovery.This mornings run was just an easy one out and I took it steady because of my stomach. I am going to swap up tomorrow and Thursdays runs due to me going and meeting with a lady from the tattoo sunscreen business. It should be interesting and I look forward to reporting on that tomorrow.Overall, apart from feeling like crap with really bad stomach cramps, the last couple of days have been pretty relaxing and non-eventful. Hopefully I am on the mend and there is some good fun coming in the back of this week. Bring it!20/8 – 10.1k Cogill quest workout. 55min 16sec. 148m gain.I was a little anxious about taking on this climb. We have driven Cogill Street a few times and in sections it is STEEP! I decided to give it a crack though and got it done! It is about 1.5km long (the climb proper) and around 18-20% grade so it is decent! Really proud of the effort I put in today. I also did some experimenting and think I have figured out why my leg has been hurting…..I believe I have been overstriding, particularly on downhills. Today, especially on the steepest of downhill sections, I made sure I focused on keeping my steps short and quick and I finished the run with no pain at all! Success! Things are looking up that is for sure! The rest of the day was good, with still a small amount of stomach cramps, but overall not too bad. I met with the owner of Original Sin, Protect Your Story Sunscreen this arvo. We went over a heap of stuff, including how they might like to help me out going forward, so very exciting! If you haven’t checked out their product, have a look at the attached link as it is awesome, particularly if you have tattoos! Super positive about this relationship going forward! After a relaxing night, today was overall very satisfying! Stoked!21/8 - 13k Dixon cruise. 1hr 10min 47sec. 204m gain.This mornings run was great and the leg was about 90% which I was happy with! The legs were a little heavy after yesterdays workout but still managed a solid run and got some good gain in. The day was ridiculiouslly fun at work, so so many laughs and good times! We had a top afternoon at Vandies having coffee with one of my sisters friends from Melbourne, Leonie and her friend Mike. Overall, today was pretty standard but I just had so much fun the whole day! Im looking forward to a nice easy run tomorrow before my big adventures on Saturday and Sunday. Love it!22/8 – 7km Easy rainy run. 37min 42sec. 56m gain.Had a nice easy cruise out this morning, even though it was rainy, cold and miserable! It was a nice turn over of the legs before my biggest weekend before dropping back in the coming weeks, leading into the miler. I am looking forward to the weekends outings and hope my leg will hold up well. See how we go! Work today was hilarious and I got SO many nice things given to me to eat! So many yummys and in quantity! So good! It was a nice relaxing arvo and night before an early bed ready for tomorrow! Gonna be epic!23/8 – 42.5k Pouring, sideways wind and hard yards! 4hr 10min 12sec. 708m gain.Well I was up at 3:10am this morning to head out in the pouring rain, the WHOLE run with sideways rain, the WHOLE run and hard yards! I managed three summits of Buderim and whilst I was stoked to battle out a marathon, I didn’t quite do the distance I wanted to. In saying that, I am very conscious of getting my leg right and it was smart to only do as far as I did. Overall a top run. We had our usual Saturday pancakes and then head out to a nice morning out of the rain at Kawana Shopping Centre. We had a nice brew, relaxed and enjoyed. A nice cruisy arvo was spent at home before Meagan and Chris came over for some awesome Indian dinner, yummy desert and plenty of laughs. What a great day! I really enjoyed it that is for sure!24/8 – 24.4k Kondalila Falls beauty! 3hr 4min 26sec. 975m gain.Had such a blessed morning out with Jason, Chris and Meagan. Nice running in an amazingly beautiful location! The rain stopped and we got some good elevation in too which made it even better! Took a stack so everything was complete! The leg was a little sore but funnily enough, loosened up as the run went on. Happy with my weekends runs. This training is a fair bit different to my normal, but given wanting to get my leg right, it seems to be working well. Trusting the training and getting super pumped for the miler now!Had a nice morning at church after then a relaxing arvo at home. The awesome weekend was topped off with a win by my beloved Dragons, so all was tops! One of the best overall weekends Ive had in a while I reckon. Super stoked!Weeks total – 102km. 10hr 25min. 2097m gain.--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Week 1211/8 – 15k Bike commute to work.Had a nice morning relaxing and taking it easy before heading to work on my single speed. I am going to try and ride when I can as it is some good cross training, good for the environment and just good in general! Work was nice and I am getting organised and excited for my blender demo on Saturday. It should be a fair bit of fun and I am looking forward to it. Good times. I have eaten really good today and feel primed ready for a run back tomorrow. Hope my knee/leg keeps improving as it has been. Overall, a fun day.12/8 – 10k Up the old hill. 53min 44sec. 162m gain.Went for a nice run out today. Made sure I concentrated on nice short gait and went pretty good accept my leg was a bit jacked up going down hill. That’s the main concern. See how things pan out……I did book in to the physio but just gonna see how the leg goes. I had a super fun day at work and did some cool promo for my blender promo on Saturday. Mum also arrived this arvo and stayed the night so that was nice to catch up with her and kick back and relax. Overall a good day, good food and good fun! Keen to hit some trails tomorrow….13/8 – 10.1k Beautiful Parklands jaunt. 1hr 3min 14sec. 219m gain.Such a beautiful afternoon out at Parklands. That seriously is my favourite place to train! The weather was great, I got some decent climbing and decending in and the leg was great apart from about the last 500m, I didn’t even feel it. Hopefully this is a sign that the rolling and self treatment is working. Appart from a stella run in the arvo, work was great and we had a super awesome night dinner with Jacob and Lorae….with Jason and Amy dropping in also. We had some good laughs, great food and hang outs. It has been a real blessing to meet these guys here. Beautiful, fun, adventurous souls. Ripper!14/8 – 7.1k Fartleks. 36min 5sec. 57m gain.Was fun to get some speed in the wheels today. Started and ended with 1k easy then got into it! Didn’t really stick to a ridged schedule of time on/time off during my fartleks, just was pretty organic with it and let it happen. Was a good morning out! The back of my knee was a little sore but not too bad. I think this might have just been because of the extra speed. Well Im hoping so anyway!I felt pretty flat at work through the day but battled on and still had a fun day. It was a rainy, snuggly arvo so there was plenty of relaxing and some TV series being watched. A pretty cool day!15/8 – 5.1k Easy outing. 27min 51sec. 37m gain.Oh man, today was dusty! My guts was churning all day and there were many trips to the loo! Ugh! I got some ginger into me early in the day and kombucha into me in the arvo which I hope will help….. Hopefully I wake up in the morning feeling better ready for my long run. I took it nice and easy on my run today and was nice to do an easy outing before my first long run back tomorrow in a while. I am so so over getting sick. Up until a couple of months ago I hadn’t really been sick in ages so I don’t know what is going on? Perseverance is the key!16/8 – 40.1k Tour of Buderim, Marrochydore and Mooloolabah. 3hr46min 27sec. 536m gain.Well I woke up at 3:10am today to get my long run in before heading into work to do a demo of the Froothie Blenders that I sell. I was scheduled to do 48k however it was always going to be a ‘head out and see what happens’ affair due to my leg issues and my stomach issues from yesterday. I got a few k’s in and didn’t think my belly was going to cooperate but funnily enough, once I had a Gu gel and a Clif Bar a bit further on, it come ok. I had a really enjoyable outing and did a rad tour of the area around us (see my Strava account linked on my site if your interested.) I got some good climbing in, pretty easy pace and surprised I still averaged 5min 39sec per k with the climbing and mellow feel. My leg started to play up a little around 30k but I just took it easy and decided to try and knock out 40k and see how it went. I finished a little tired due to not doing any long runs for a while, and the leg was a little fluidy but apart from that, I am really happy with the run. After some breaky and time with the crew, I headed down to work to do the demo for the Froothie Blenders that I distribute/sell. It was a really fun couple of hours and I enjoyed chatting to people and hanging out. The afternoon was pretty relaxed before I head to Taps Bar for a little work get together. Oh man, I felt so out of place! This is SO not my scene and hasn’t been for a long time. Whilst it was good to kick back for a bit with the crew, I don’t think Ill be hanging out at the pub again for a while! HA! A top day.17/8 – 15k Parklands fun. 1hr 39min 35sec. 330m gain.This morning I head out to Parklands and had organised to meet Jason, Rod who crewed me for Coast 2 Kosci and new friend, 15year old running feign Jack. It was a bit drizzly when we started but cleared up for a nice morning on the trails. Although I didn’t do my scheduled run again (24k) I was really happy with how it went and my weekends adventures. My leg has been a concern and was a little sore after yesterdays long run but today it got no worse as the run went on and I was glad I had the sense to stop when I did and not push it. Providing I can get to the start of the miler un-injured, anything can happen. Overall, this weekend has been a really great mental builder and one that I really needed for the positivity! Good times!The rest of the day was great, going to church, havin a relax and then heading to the beach for a chill out. I also got word that an interview I did go posted today, so if your keen to check it out go to http://afairwithlife.com.au/the-tattoo-runner/So, overall this week has been a little challenging with a crook belly and this niggling leg injury but the back half of the week has been super positive and encouraging. Although my milage hasn’t been near what I would like to be doing it is just good to be back running and following a new fun program. Here’s to another fun week ahead!Weeks Total – 87.4km. 8hr 26min. 1336m gain.--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Week 1028/7 – 3/8Well this week was meant to be five rest days, recovery and prep to start block training again for the miler. That all went to the dogs when my flu turned into a chest infection and I ended up on antibiotics (still am) and I have been unable to train all week. Ugh! I got terrible sleep and had a really bad cough that has just lingered on. I hope the medicine I am on will knock it on the head and I will be back to 100% ASAP. I also got tattooed on Tuesday and my ankle and leg swelled up like CRAZY! Lucky I was having a rest week cause the swelling was like nothing else! Far out! Has been a tough week that is for sure!Apart from the physical side of things, I have been able to reflect on my race and although I didn’t quite achieve my time goals I am happy with how I went. It was a fun day out and they all can’t be perfect so I have to take the good with the bad. I will live to fight another day.As a family, over the last little while we have also been making some big decisions. This week we have put in place some big life moves again so watch this space for more to come! Just to keep yall in suspense!So, yeah! Going forward, I am planning on four weeks of 100miles plus in training with a two week taper before Glasshouse 100. I have some work to do and want to focus on my mental strength before the big dance. It is gonna be super rad and a great process over the next month and a bit.I hope this blog finds yall well and loving life in your own way! Keep smiling, ripping in and Ill commence daily blogs again tomorrow so Ill write ya then!Week 114/8 – 6km Ease Back. 33min 36sec. 41m gain.This morning was my first run back after last weeks saga. I wanted to take it nice and easy to make sure the body was ok getting back to things. My knee was still a little sore, I still felt the affects of my chest infection and my ankle/leg was still a little noticeable, but apart from all that rott, all good! Ha! Felt good to be back out running and in the mix. I want to get things motoring along again and smash out some good training in the next couple weeks.Work was nice and buzy today and I had some good conversations with the Clif Bar rep and also the owner of The Original Sin tattoo sunscreen about some potential sponsorship. Both of these are quality products in their own rights and I am super excited about these potentials! I am meeting with The Original Sin owner next week to talk about how we might be able to go forward. GOLD! Overall, an exciting, super cool day! Always fun when things are happening!5/8 – AM – 10.2k Easy jaunt up the hill. 56min 17sec. 162m gainPM – 7km Parklands solo. 44min 54sec. 148m gainToday was a really fun day! Everyone was a bit silly at work, which always makes for a top day. I got two runs in today which was also good. I am still feeling some tightness and soreness in the bottom of my knee though. After some research, it seems like it is the insertion point of three different muscles giving me some grief. I have been doing some self massage which is helping and need to stay on top of it as I do not want an injury to side track me at this point of my 100mile training. My eating was great today, I stayed fuelled, positive and overall had a super day! I love days like today!6/8 – AM – 15.1k Easy does it. 1hr 23min 21sec. 157m gainPM – 7.1k Beautiful arvo bush dash. 39min 59sec. 90m gain.I started out today with a run as usual and I was a little concerned as my knee was quite sore. It didn’t get any worse though so I was able to finish my run. Today at work was very similar to yesterday with lots of fun and laughs. We are a mad bunch. I then head to Ewan Maddock Dam for a short PM jaunt in the bush. It was super nice and the sun was shining so I was super happy! My knee felt a fair bit better too which was good. We had Jason, Anna and the girls over for dinner tonight which was great! So many good laughs and good times with those guys. Had a beautiful dinner and then a super desert. Blessed to have met those guys.7/8 – 5k Jacked up. 29min 4sec.Well I planned on doing 15k this morning but my leg was jacked up. This really got me down today and just made the day drag on! I just get so disappointed and upset when I have injuries. I probably could have kept running but want to make sure that I go into the miler injury free and under trained than trained and injured. Still super disappointing though. I am going to rest tomorrow and re-assess on Saturday how my leg is. I hope it comes good super quick with some self treatment and love and care. The rest of the day sort of seemed a bit non-eventful when I am injured but ok. Gotta try and stay focused and positive.8/8 – Rest day9/8 – 5km Easy. 27min 22sec. 11m gain.10/8 – 5.5k Mooloolah National Park. 28min 22sec. 21m gain.The last couple of days have been pretty testing. I didn’t run Friday as my knee/leg has been completlly jacked up. I am not 100% sure what it is but it seems to be stemming from the insertion of three muscles on the inside lower section of my knee. This is then causing problems in the back of my knee and calf. I think this could also be a hip problem. Friday I was pretty down and out because of it but I have been nailing it with the foam and hand roller. This seems to really be helping.I went out for two short runs and really concentrated on taking it easy, turning the legs over and staying off the bitumen and concrete……I think this may be another of the contributing problems! The runs went ok and I just need to manage this the best I can and I know it will go away.Saturday night Tegs went out and did Wild Horse at Night. Whilst it is always nice to see a heap of the regular crew, it is tough being at an event and not running. The girls and I hung round for a while and then took off after a couple of hours due to it sprinkling rain and the kids getting tired/rowdy. It was a nice night out though and Tegs did so well as usual! I am so proud of how her running is going and it is so special that it is something that our family is a part of. I am so blessed to have a supportive and participating family!I got Hal Koerners new book in the post late last week too. I have been having a read of it and it is super good. Due to my leg issue and wanting to keep things fresh, I am going to try something completely different for the next five weeks before Glasshouse. I am going to do the last chunk of his hundo program detailed in the book. This is a fair bit different to how I normally train, keeping runs through the week relatively short and then long hauls on the weekends. I really think this is going to be good as I need to look after my body through the week with lower k’s but still get some good distance out on the weekends. I reckon this will be fun and good!So, basically, tomorrow marks 33days until the miler. I plan on putting 100%focus and determination into the next month and making sure I get to the start line healthy mentally, physically and spiritually. Can not wait! Gotta stay positive and get my head in the game for this fun day out!Weeks Total – 61km. 5hr 42min. 666m gain.--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Week 9…21/7 – 10k Up and down. 55min 16sec. 184m gain.This morning I head out and enjoyed my run….the first of taper week. I don’t know why but yesterday my medial left knee started to hurt a bit and it continued this morning. I don’t know why, weather it is just a taper phantom pain but who knows! I hope that improves this week! Today was a nice day at work and the girls arrived home early too which was great! We all hung out a bit outside, finally got the internet connected (YES!!!) and relaxed tonight sending some emails and watching YouTube….my favourites! So far so good with the taper. I loaded up on good food too which will surely contribute to a good race performance this Sunday!22/7 – 8k Beautiful morning. 43min 31sec. 143m gain.I started today with a nice, peppy 8k outing. The stars and moon whilst running up Buderim mountain were so so beautiful! Loved it! Work was also super fun and everyone was in a crazy mood! I think I have taper madness as I was all loopy! Loved it! Again stoked up on some great food and feel like my diet is really improving and I am being more and more present every day. The arvo was spent catching up with some of my mates on the phone, watching YouTube, relaxing and generally having a nice time. Today was super nice and a real enjoyable day.23/7 – 6k Little hill fun. 32min 49sec. 40m gain.This mornings run was nice and cruisy and I kept it nice and flat. The weather has been much nicer but still not warm enough to get the shirt off! Ugh! The day dragged a bit at work but got through. Tegs and I finally got to check out the new café on Buderim called The Shak. It was super nice and relaxing. We also had our good friend Katie over for dinner which was super nice. She has always been such a special friend to us and we treasure her in our lives. I did eat far too much at dinner and Tegs healthy yummy desert. I learnt from that though and feel like, although I make mistakes at times with my diet now, I am learning from them, aiming to come back stronger and leaving those ‘not so good decisions’ in the past. This is awesome and really helping me progress my health and eating choices. Onward and upward!24/7 – 4k Leg turnover. 21min 28sec. 0m gain.This mornings run was just about having a nicer morning out and turning the legs over nice and quickly. It was fun however as the day went on I have started to feel a fair bit fluey. Ugh! Always happens in taper week! Over it! I am praying I heal quickly and it wont affect my health and energy levels going into the weekend. The rest of the day was fun and tonight I am aiming to just take it easy and try and recover.25/7 – Rest.Well, after yesterdays worry, I woke up feeling like crap this morning. I dragged myself out of bed and decided to go to work. Whilst there, I got fed all sorts of concoctions, some of which I have no idea what they were but they tasted TERRIBLE…..trust the naturopaths! All that being said, by the end of the day, whilst I was still feeling pretty dusty, I was feeling a little better. I spent the arvo relaxing, getting good food into me and hoping/praying I am good by Sunday. I have trained hard for this race, one of my goal races for the year and I really hope having the flu doesn’t ruin my goals! Time will tell.26/7 – 3k Pre-Race sick cruise. 16min 43sec. 0m gain.Well, I am still sick. I went out for a run to turn the legs over before tomorrow but it was a bit ordinary. We then had a nice brecky together and went to the Kawana Markets and got some seedlings to plant. Nice vibe and times with the girls. We then grabed a brew at The Velo Project….a super nice café in Mooloolabah We had a relaxing arvo with a visit from one of the guys I coach Jody and his family and then Andy Dower and a new friend Luke from Victoria came to stay the night before the race. We had a nice dinner then sat down and watched Unbreakable. Super nice time, good laughs and fun times. The boys are a hoot. Whilst I am worried about being sick for the race (it feels like it has moved to my chest….I used to get a heap of bronchitis when I was a kid) I am still looking forward to going out for a jaunt at the Glasshouse Mountains. Good times.27/7 – 52.9km Flinders Tour. 4hr 53min 38sec. 749m gain.Well after a bit of a broken sleep and going into a race with a chesty flu, I got up and was ready for a fun day out! The boys and I had some breakfast then head down to the start. This was a goal race for me and I made it well known that I wanted to go under 4hrs 30min…..quick on trails!So, I started out the morning running strongly, feeling the flu but putting it to the back of my mind. There was a group of five guys about 100m ahead of me (which would have made up 4th-8th) and they were running only slightly than I wanted to. I decided to settle into my own routine and trust that I would real the boys in later. The first lap of two went well, running within myself and trying to keep positive in my mind. The morning was magic and the course changes were great, especially the pass through a couple of the Glasshouse mountains. Technical and decent steepness. I continued on the first loop, holding my position and keeping the boys ahead in sight. They started to break up a little and I was making a little ground on them.I reached the end of the first loop, back at Beerburrum School, at 27k and change in 2hr 15min ish. Super super stoked with that! Fast, but I still felt good! After a quick change of bottles, I was off again and saw a bit of the competition behind me, coming in for their first lap. I ran a distance back on the loop and for some reason thought I saw some chalk markings on the ground pointing me down a forestry road. I followed this and after running about a kilometre and not seing any markings I knew I was on the wrong track! Frustrated at myself, I tried to stay positive and ran back to the correct course, adding about 2k onto my run. I know guys passed me while down this road which was pretty annoying but what are you gonna do?!I kept on down the correct path and started to feel the pinch. I don’t know if it was from the heat or flu but I started to bonk hard. I did it pretty tough for probably 45min ish. Really having no energy. I usually love the heat but felt like that was getting to me too. I started regularly dousing my head to keep cool but it dried so so quick! On the pretty loop,my tired foot caught something and I stacked pretty hard, taking skin off my right knee and bashing my left knee cap on a rock. OW! I sat there for a bit and eventually composed myself and kept on.I kept going in a bonked state, knowing that I would eventually work my way out of it but realising my goal time was now unlikely. Eventually I came a little better but by then it was a bit too late. I worked as hard as I could to the end and ended up finishing in 4hr 50min ish. Whilst I am still pretty darn stoked with that time, it is always disappointing when you don’t achieve your goal. The other thing that happened is the inside of my left knee was bloody sore the majority of the race. This started about a week ago and I’m not sure what it is. It is pretty painful so I am looking forward to some time off to let it heal.Overall, regardless of the mishaps, the day was magic, I had some great laughs with some old friends and generally just have so much love for our ultra trail family! Im looking forward to a couple of days off now, focusing on my diet and resting up before a block of big ks in prep for the miler in September. Good times!A couple of extras……Gear used – Altra Lone Peak Zero Drop Shoes with Injinji socks. Head over to the link on my main page to see the awesome gear Injinji Performance Products stock. Garmin GPS watch, Ronhill shorts, a Buff, Ultimate Direction Handheld bottles (also found at the above link), five Gu Gels, two Clif Bars (thanks Kunara Organic Marketplace who also sponsor me), coke and a crap load of water.Shoutouts – Tegan and my beautiful girls for their crewing and support. Andy for making the trip and providing lots of laughs. Jody Fisher, one of my coaching clients who did his first ultra in uber style! Amazing job mate, you should be so proud! New friend Luke who also smoked his first ultra. Dion and Lee for the laughs, Sammy for making the hike in the van I want, Scott and Maddy for being an awesome father/daughter team, Anderson for toughing it out, Meagan for being awesome and persevering when things didn’t go to plan, Deb and Katie for being inspirational ladies. Coach Jeff for being a general clown and good fun! Anyone I forgot, sorry but thanks for being amazing!Weekly total – 84.3k. 7hr 39min. 1115m gain.--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Week 8...14/7 – 10k Cruise and enjoy. 55min 5sec. 162m gain.This mornings run was the first of my drop backs for my two week ‘taper’. I will still do a decent amount of k’s this week but feels nice not to have to be logging big k’s for a couple of weeks and focus on my race. As much as I love bulk k’s, it is nice to take it easy every now and then to let the body recover. The rest of the day was super and nice and steady at work. I did some groceries this arvo and then relaxed tonight. All in all a top, easy go lucky day.15/7 – 13k Uni loop cruise. 1hr 9min 52sec. 62m gain.Had a nice cruise around the Uni loop this morning. I started listening to the Rich Roll Podcast with John Joseph, the author of Meat is for Pussies. Oh man, he is wild as they come but SUPER entertaining and intelligent! I love listening to that mad man go at it! Work was good and pretty non-eventful. I picked up a movie on the way home tonight and look forward to relaxing with Tegs watching it. All in all a nice cruisy day.16/7 – Rest Day.Today I had the day off due to feeling a little fluey (Corle has had it terribly!) and wanting to knock it on the head before it got too bad. It was a pretty non-eventful day and funnily enough, I am starting to get pretty nervous about Flinders Tour. I am really looking forward to running hard at that race and its gonna be tough and fun! Apart from that, all is good and I should be good to hit another run tomorrow.17/7 – 12k Flat Turnover. 1hr 3min 7sec. 131m gain.Well, I woke up this morning with a flippen sore throat! I thought I would get over it yesterday but it was worse this morning. I really hope it gets better soon! Flippen taper sickness! The day at work was super fun and then I had a nice arvo with the girls hangin out riding and waltzing around. K’s are dropping fast and I don’t like it! Tapers always kill me! Whilst I know it is a necessary evil, I really don’t like limiting my k’s. Flinders is always on the mind now!18/7 – 10k Dixon climb. 55min 44sec. 150m gain approx.19/7 – 10k Parklands fun. 1hr 10min approx. Gain ??I only realised half way through today that I didn’t blog for yesterday! I think the madness of making my announcement about my new potential adventure stole my attention. Before that…the reason my runs aren’t accurate is that my Garmin played up the last two days. I tell ya, I have had just about jack of Garmin. If I had the $$ I would just go and buy a Suunto! Anyway, enough whinging and ranting! I know I did my distance though.SO, my news…. I emailed and facebooked out last night that I am trying to raise funds to get to America. I have been offered the chance to take part in a fundraising run along the Pacific Coast Highway (1000k) in conjunction with Miles 2 Give, a fundraiser/awareness event for Sarcoma cancer. If I can establish enough money before the end of July, I will be heading over late August! Super exciting opportunity and if it is meant to be it will be! If you, or know anyone who might be interested in helping me get there, drop me an email at grills_1@hotmaill.comApart from that, all is going well. It was a beautiful day today and particularly good starting off with a fun outing at Parklands with Jacob. A sweet, relaxed time crusin the trails. The rest of the day was buzy and had a nice easg night in. Tapering isn’t going too bad so far, and looking forward to a cool 20k run in the morning with Wade. Good times ahead!20/7 – 20k Ewan Maddok Dam. 1hr 53min 50sec. 278m gain.Started the day with a beautiful run at Ewan Maddok Dam with Wade. Only the second time I have been there and it was really nice. Had a nice cruise but still ran home in a decent time. Really nice to catch up with Wade that’s for sure. We head to church in the morning and then bought a new couch! Our old one went fully mouldy in storage whilst house sitting at the last place which sucked so we had to get a newbie! It wont be arriving for about two months though! Still stoked. The rest of the day was nice and relaxing and so completes a drop back/taper week. Happy with how the legs are feeling that’s for sure. Ready to race! Now to just get through this week of REALLY cutting back the k’s!Weeks total – 75.4km. 7hr 7min. Gain?? Around 1000m??--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Week 7…..7/7 – 17km Dixon Road Success. 1hr 33min 26sec. 242m gain.Today was another little victory. I summited Dixon Road, another one of the Buderim roads up. It was surprisingly easy with a nice grinding lead up to the top. It was reasonably long, but I was able to churn the legs over at a decent pace and get to the top fairly easy. IT was flippen cold this morning but I caught a beautiful view of the Glasshouse Mountains coming back down Dixon….beautiful. Work was great but flippen freezing (I just can not handle the cold anymore that’s for sure!) and I had a good arvo. All over a decent day with some big pending decisions…..life is a journey that’s for sure!8/7 – NOTHING!Shock and horror, I did not running today! This was for a number of reasons. I woke up early and had a nice morning reading, watching YouTube and generally takin it easy. I then worked all day, and for some reason I always find it hard to run in the arvo after I have been eating through the day and working on my feet. I always find it easier to back up if I had run in the morning but yeah, weird. I also had a big day with a lot on my mind yesterday so that was kind of weighing me down too. All that said, I did have a nice arvo and got a heap of cleaning and stuff done at home. So, I have decided that I am now going to get myself back in a better routine….wake up at 4am, run in the mornings (even though its cold and dark!) and then some days do backups. I am able to, with my work schedule run long Friday through to Monday and then shorter through the week. I look forward to this schedule and racking up some real big k’s before Glasshouse.9/7 – AM – 16k Double Buderim. 1hr 30min 53sec. 340m gain.PM – 6k Mt Ninderry and surrounds. 56min 6sec. 284m gain. Today was rad! This morning I went up Bellinger, through town and then down Mons. On the turnaround, the same track was taken. A nice morning run and I ran the whole thing which shows I am getting even stronger. It was a buzy day at work and then Tegs and I head out to Ninderry to run the mountain and surrounding areas. Had an awesome time! The track is steep, technical and gnarly! I reckon Ill be heading out there a bit for some hill repeats in the future! Tonight is Origin night too so there probably wont be a lot of sleep before a training run in the morning and then our trip down to Yamba for Ma’s 80th birthday celebrations! Good times this weekend!10/7 – 12k Up Dixon nice and easy. 1hr 7min 25sec. 184m gain.Nice easy cruise up Dixon and back down. Pretty uneventful run and it is nice to get some vert in and not struggle. I then went to work for like three hours, got into it before heading home and then starting our drive to Yamba. It was a nice trip and we spent the afternoon with Ma, Mum and Debbie before a nice dinner and relaxing. An enjoyable day!11/7 – 20k Full Moon Hairy Trott!. 1hr 47min 35sec. 0m gain?!I ran out from town on the main road in and out of Yamba this morning. I thought early on it wouldn’t be buzy….oh man, I was so wrong! It was pretty darn buzy, with a lot of trucks and at one point I nearly got cleaned up from behind due to a car overtaking. It was hairy, but I got there in the end! We had a nice day with the family, heading to a really nice coffee shop in Mclean and then taking it easy in the arvo before heading to Mas. We just relaxed there and had a great time together. It is always a blessed, fun time there with the crew!12/7 – 36.7k Town and Angourie Trail Glory. 3hr 37min 48sec. 240m gain.I started early this morning and did an hour around the town of Yamba and then met up with Dad after him arriving late last night. We then head out to a coastal surf town called Angourie. We then decided to take a side road just out of town and was lead to some National Park…….we then got lead on about 8-9k of single track, coastal BEAUTIFUL trail! Some of the best I have ever run on! The sun coming up, the single track, up and down, technical, easy and everything in between was so good. We then head home, smiling ear to ear to enjoy the rest of the day. Tegs, my sister and I then head to town to enjoy the morning and check out the shops. We had a top time before again catching up with the rest of the family and relaxing for the arvo before heading to the club for dinner to celebrate Mas 80th Birthday. We had a rad time, lots of laughs and enjoyed an amazing ladies 80years on this earth. A ripper night, love you Ma!13/7 – 23.5k Round and about town and the burbs. 2hr 8min 6sec. 39m gain.Had a good reasonably steady round the burbs and town of Yamba today. It went well and felt good to just go nice and steady before dropping back some k’s to taper for Flinders. Pria and I went out to Turners Beach at Yamba and climbed the headland a couple of times before heading back to the van park for a play, lunch, pack and then start our journey home. It was a nice trip but poor little Corle is pretty sick with the flu. We got unpacked, the kids to bed, then caught up with jobs before starting the week tomorrow. A great week and even with a day off, logged some ripper k’s! Stoked and ready to sharpen up before Flinders!Week Total – 131.3km. 12hrs 41min. 1326m gain.----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Week 6…..30/6 – 13k Parklands cruise. 1hr 20min 9sec. 249m gain.It was weird waking up this morning and not running! Kinda nice though to be able to relax and kick back with a book and a coffee though. Work was ridiculously buzy and it is getting a little stressful but I am just trying to take one moment at a time! I was hankering for my run in the arvo, excited it was my last run for Run for the Sun and I was going to achieve my goal! I always feel a little lethargic running in the afternoons but it was a really nice arvo hit out at Parklands, all be it with a super cold wind! So so proud of my efforts for Run for the Sun…..hopefully I will have won it but not 100% sure yet? 500km in a month might just take it! Gold!1/7 – 12k Speedy Legs. 59min 30sec. 48m gain.Had another hectic day at work after a nice morning relaxing, trying to hide from the cold! Work is just so buzy at the moment, I am doing what I can to get through everything and to tell you the truth, I just hang out for my arvo run to clear my head. I went out at a steady pace and was kinda surprised when I turned around in 31min and change. I then decided to try and negative split my run and started knocking off some decent k’s. Then, half way home, I realised that if I really got into it, that a sub 60min 12k was on the books. Hook in son! The legs turned over nicely and I finished with plenty of time to spare! Got home, relaxed, cooked two dinners and kicked back for the night. A good day, and enjoying being able to run in some sunshine…..even if the breeze is still cold!2/7 – 9.2k First attempt Tibrigagen. 1hr 6min 44sec. 326m gain.I had another nice morning relaxing getting ready for the day. Work was buzy and all I could think about all day was my arvo run and exploration of Tibrigagen! I head out there after knocking off and got into it. I got about half way up to the slabs and then started the scrumbling. I started climbing (yes CLIMBING) the near vertical slabs and got to a crux I wasn’t sure what way to go. I started heading sideways and again came to a spot I wasn’t sure where to go. I all honesty I was pretty scared but I kept on for a while, scraping myself up fairly well and sketchin out at times. I came to a standstill and vertical up and down and decided I needed to head back the way I came. I ass dragged down the near vertical face and ended up bush wackin down some super technical scree before finding my way back to the trail. I then ran a loop of Tibro and then head out another track. I ended up on some of the Glasshouse run course which was super fun. I found my way to a beautiful lookout but had no battery left in my phone to take a pic. I kept on, before turning around and heading back. All in all it was a crazy exciting, scary day! I drove home with a smirk on my face at what I had just done. Lessons learnt….don’t go to a full on hectic summit on your own without someone who has done it before and keep the phone charged, just in case! Lessons learnt before my next attempt! Great day out!3/7 – 12km Bellinger goal achieved. 1hr 7min 31sec. 252m gain.After a bit of a hard day at the office yesterday (or rather on the rock!) my legs were a little weary today. That being said, I was pretty darn stoked that I was able to grind away and achieve of my goals of running the whole way up another summit being Bellinger Road. I set myself a challenge of building my fitness and climbing to a level that I am able to run all the summits up Buderim. Even though they are on road, they are still a reasonably long grind and at times steep. One at a time, good times ahead! The rest of the day was good and buzy and had a fun arvo with the girls. I took Pria for a ride and she loved it! Cant wait for more of these days ahead with the girls…..too cute for their own good! A nice day out!4/7 – 17km Crosby Hill Road summit and loop. 1hr 33min 44sec. 313m gain.Went out for an early jaunt this morning and wanted to have a crack at the little loop I made up. Was super stoked to run the whole of Crosby Hill Road, another one of the Buderim summits. I felt a bit crook toward the top (had nothing to do with me sucking wind!) but powered on and got there. The rest of the run was nice too. A good outing. The rest of the day was fun, especially in the arvo. I bought Pria the Croons movie and we all watched it together (Corle, Pria and I) and Corle was hilarious! She was SO hypo and copying the movie! Just was the funniest I have seen her in a long time! The rest of the night was good and Tegs was out running trails with Jason and Anna, so nice and cruisy. Looking forward to a fun weekend!5/7 – 15k Flat University Road. 1hr 22min 34sec. 51m gain.This morning I head out for a quick scoot and decided to stick to a little flatter ground due to some heavy legs and knowing I was going for a good trail hit out in the morning. Was a nice cruisy run and was nice to take it a little easy on the flatter ground. Afterward, we head down to the Goldy for the Marathon Expo. I was there to help out with Run Queensland promote the Blackall 100 run. It was a great day and I got to catch up with a heap of old friends, new ones and hand out some of my new business cards. I was also stoked to get hooked up with my sponsor Injinji Performance Products with some new Injinji socks and new Ultimate Direction Handheld bottles. So stoked! Check them out for your run gear! A fun day and a good adventure. Looking forward to a good run tomorrow with Jason.6/7 – 17km Amazing Kondilla Falls Route. 2hr 15min 59sec. 731m gain.What an amazing morning! I went to the wrong carpark….AGAIN when meeting Jason and Anna but we eventually met up. The route was incredible! I LOVED it and know from this little snippit that the Blackall course is going to be something awesome! We did a nice cruisy 17k before I had to get home for church. We had a great time there and then a beautiful lunch with Dave and Eve at a new café at Caloundra called The Green House. Beautiful lunch. We had a buzy arvo getting some more unpacking done and then a nice night relaxing. A good day (minus some testing moments with the kid this arvo) but a good weekend overall! Has been a good drop back week with some great variation and some new routes explored……lookin forward to bumping things up again next week before starting a taper for Flinders. YES!As a side note, tomorrow marks 10weeks out from Glasshouse 100! I am planning to really clean up my diet and step things up in that regard. Training has been going great and most other things, I just really want to clean up my heath even more, lean up and be 100% in the right place, health wise, physically, mentally and emotionally for Glasshouse! Will be tough but looking forward to the challenge.Week Total – 95.6km. 9hr 47min. 1966m gain.----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------23/6 – 22k Easy cruise. 2hr 26sec. 222m gain. Today was a super buzy day at work with new processes going in place and a heap of work ahead of us. It was great and made the day pass quickly. This mornings run was a good hit out and pretty stock standard these days. I was pretty stoked considering my big week last week. My left butt cheek was pretty sore though due to my stack efforts yesterday! Classic! I also ran this morning in Altra Superiors 2014 model and SOCKS! Shock horror! I still have a little soreness in my foot so just want to be sure that my foot isn’t injured. Better to be safe than sorry!24/6 – AM - 20k Standard pretty run out to Palmwoods. 1hr 49min 19sec. 296m gain.PM – 3k Check out some trail. 18min 4sec. 119m gain.This mornings run was a pretty stock standard effort with no real problems. It is so pretty running the back way to Palmwoods, nice and quite with hardly any traffic. Today at work it was full on all day and it really drained me so I headed out for a little afternoon shake out. I felt pretty weary, but didn’t realise the elevation I got over such a short distance. Pretty happy with that. I am well and truly on track this week for my Run for the Sun goals and I just need to keep chipping away through the week as I want to have the base of my k’s done before the weekend and when we move. Exciting times!25/6 – 21k Easy backup. 1hr 57min 42sec. 297m gain.I took it nice and easy this morning on my run due to running twice yesterday. All went well and pretty uneventful outing, which was nice. Cruised along. Today was also a beautiful day and I enjoyed it a lot. Everything is happening with the big move pending which is exciting but apart from that, business as usual. Blessed day.26/6 – 21k COLD cruise. 1hr 57min 39sec. 332m elevation.This morning was COLD! SNAP! So so cold! I got a real nice run in though and am actually really enjoying the new Altra Superiors on the road with some socks! Thanks again to Injinji Performance Products for hooking a brother up! Awesome online store yall should check out. The rest of the day was good however I am getting pretty drained at work due to these new procedures. Looking forward to the end of the week and getting settled into our new place. I had a super productive arvo too getting the house sorted before we ship out. Should be a super fun weekend ahead. Love it!27/6 – 20k Quick leg turnover. 1hr 47min 56min. 218m elevation.Todays run was fun and a little tough too! I head out pretty easy as it was COLD again! I focused on my leg turnover on the uphills, ensuring I maintained the same cadence as the flats and downs. I turned around and head for home and slowly picked up the pace. With 5k to go, I really tried to keep a good solid pace which I was really happy with three quarters of the way through a decent run and at the back of a reasonably big week. I clicked over some good k’s and finished strong. Happy with the run. I was pretty drained at work and it has been a big week. I am pretty darn stoked to see the back of it and enjoy the weekend. I just relaxed at home this arvo and tonight ready for some more running on the weekend and our move. Can not wait!!!28/6 – 15km Last loop of Kiel Mountain. 1hr 22min 54sec. 335m elevation.29/6 – 22km Up Buderim, down to Mooloolabah and back. 2hr 1min 8sec. 345m elevation.The last two days have been ridiculously hectic! We moved house on Saturday and started unpacking……and continued into Sunday, and the rest of the week no doubt! It has been tiring and pretty stressful and I am pretty over it but it has to be done. On a running front, I got a good easy 15k in Saturday morning around my little Kiel Mountain loop. Beautiful morning out. This morning, I went from our new house and did a great run up Buderim and down to Mooloolabah. I then returned my same journey. This was a nice run and might become one of my favourites! It has been another big week of running and I only have to make up a short run tomorrow to make my goal of 500k for June! So so stoked with that! Apart from not having gas on at our new house yet (AH!) it is super nice and should be a lot of fun living here! Great week, good times ahead in Buderim!Weeks Total – 144.1km. 13hr 14min. 2162m elevation gain.----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------16/6 – 15k Still dusty but not Dirty! 1hr 22min 11sec. 186m gain.I was still feeling pretty ordinary during todays run. I think it was just residual sickness from the weekends wipe out! I trudged through my run though and got 15 done pretty well. During the morning I still felt pretty darn ordinary but as the day went on I slowly felt better. In the afternoon at work I had a photo shoot for the back page of a magazine which was kinda funny, cool and embarrassing all at once! It is weird, I feel fine running shirtless as it is so liberating and non-restricting, however when standing around near people I know half naked, it is not so comfortable! All that said, I got it done and hopefully the end result is good. The rest of the day was great! Good times!17/6 – 20k New exploring to Palmwoods. 1hr 50min 10sec. 297m gain.This mornings run was so nice….cold but nice! Beautiful, rolling hills down to Palmwoods. Had a nice day as well and ate well to re-fuel. I can always tell my fitness is starting to improve when I knock out 20k training runs through the week and they don’t beat me down too much. Unfortunately we didn’t get our house we applied for so back to the drawing board! We are praying we get something soon cause time is running short! Ugh!18/6 – 20k Good outing with a nice pinch up Buderim. 1hr 51min 13sec. 348m gain.State of Origin day! Love it! Kicked it off with a good solid 20k up Buderim with a little elevation. It is a good climb up there and will be promising if we move a little closer getting to hit it often. Was a bit weary at the end of the day at work for some reason but got some food in me when I got home and felt a little better. Listened to an interesting podcast this morning about Diet Cults. Very interesting. I didn’t agree with a lot of it but they had some good points. I am in a constant tug-of-war…..wanting to eat super clean and then wanting to relax and not be so hard on myself. It is a bit of a juggling act at times but time will tell what side will win! Ha! Might not get a lot of sleep tonight after the footy either before cranking out my run in the morning! So it goes!19/6 – 20k Triple combo! 1hr 46min 32sec. 361m gain.Well, after a late night, terrible sleep and early morning, I got out for my run and ended up averaging a decent pace which was good. For the last two mornings I have had a little pain in my foot again which I am conscious of…..I need to keep on top of this but at the moment it is ok. The day at work was fun and went quickly. Had some good laughs after Origin and us losing….boo! All in all it was a top day, an enjoyable arvo and night with the family, ready for a reasonably early night and some good sleep! As a side point, I listened to another good Podcast this morning….on the Rich Roll Podcast with the makers of Cowspiricy. WOW! It was SO so interesting! The impact the livestock industry has on the world and EVERYTHING as a whole is mindblowing! People’s ignorance and denial is crazy! One simple change in individuals lives (going vegan) could change the WHOLE world……LITERALLY! Check out the Podcast and the Doco…..compelling!20/6 – 16k Rain, Fog, Cold and Fun! 1hr 27min 33sec. 257m gain.Man, this mornings run was pretty rough conditions, but fun in the same way! I was trudging along with my little old headlamp through the full on fog and solid rain! Epic! I swear people think I am mental! Ha! This is the kind of commitment I am willing to offer to my training and preparation for my up coming races. Bring it! The rest of the day went well and hopefully I have helped gain sponsorship of the Blackall 100 by work (Kunara). More on this coming up after the meeting on Monday. I got some ripper cheap bananas, free bread and bagels and then enjoyed the arvo/night with the girls. All up it was a fun day leading into the weekend!21/6 – 30k Double Kiel Mountain. 2hr 48min 41sec. 615m gain.It was a rad day today. Had a beautiful breakfast then a top time with the girls at the plaza, getting coffee at a cool shop in Marcoola called Little Boat Espresso then playing in the park. After a lunchtime rest, we then headed out for some fun with the dads and kids from church at the Bli Bli Skatepark whilst Tegs went for her run. We had a super yummy dinner and then relaxed! Oh yeah, and I started the day with a rad 30k, double summit of Kiel Mountain! Such a fun, blessed day, the only concern is that my foot has been a tad sore again….still being cautious! Loved today and hope tomorrow is just as fun! Go team!22/6 – 18.3k Parklands tromp. 2hr 7min 28sec. 420m gain. 1.7k Tready. 10min 30sec.This mornings run was at the end of the longest week I have done in quite a while. The body felt it a little too I think cause I stacked it THREE times! Embarrassing! I climbed quite strong though and given the amount of k’s I’ve tromped out this week and the elevation I have got I am pretty stoked. I tacked on a little run on the tready in the arvo too to make up my weekly goal for run for the sun so all was a success! We had a nice morning at church, lunch with Meagan and her friend Chris and then hung out at home and saw the Dragons win the footy. Win! The end of a big week was a success. Pretty happy with it all that’s for sure!Week Total – 141.2km. 13hr 24min. 2483m gain.----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Week 3…9/6 – 12k Quick legs. 1hr 3min 12sec. 186m elevationI have felt awesome today! This mornings run I felt a little tired still from the weekend but seemed like my legs turned over pretty good, I was pleasantly surprised when I got home to see my average pace was 5:16 with a few good hills in there. I had a really awesome day too being a public holiday. We went to the park and caught up with Mandy and Josh. Pria and I then watched Despicable Me 2. It has been really cute hanging out and snuggling with her on the couch the last couple of days watching movies. This arvo we went to the park again and just hung out with Jason and Anna. All in all, it was a great day and I was so stoked! Keep this goin boy!10/6 – 20k Feelin’ terrible! 1hr 47min 32sec. 403m gain.Well, often people ask me how I stay motivated, do I ever feel like not training, do I ever struggle etc. Well today, all day, apart from a little in the morning, I felt TERRIBLE! No motivation, didn’t want to run, just felt blah! For no real reason….just felt that way! I had the morning off and read and enjoyed myself but as the day went on, I felt stink! I didn’t NOT want to train and the thought of the route I had planned (quite hilly) did not appeal to me. I was considering bailing on my run all together however didn’t want to get behind on my Run For The Sun goals (or the bigger picture of GH100). So, when I knocked off work, I forced myself to do my run and see how I went. I was kilometre watching, which I never do, but as the run went on, and after about 13-14k I started to feel a fair bit better and the pep came back in my legs. Throughout the run I didn’t my best to be thankful I was able to be out there when others couldn’t or wouldn’t. I finished quite strong and even though it was not a crowning glory, still happy I got the k’s in. It will be interesting to see how things back up in the morning! Sometimes it is a matter of making ourselves do the things we know we should, even when everything around and in us doesn’t want to! This one will be remembered!11/6 – 17k Bounce Back! 1hr 31min 59sec. 162m gain.What a difference 10hours can make! Ha! After yesterdays run, I felt so terrible, I was worried about how this mornings efforts might go. Well, I kept it a little flatter but felt awesome! The legs were peppy, finished strong and had no real drama. The rest of the day I also felt really on top of things. I didn’t really struggle, I kept buzy and enjoyed the day. Tegs has been pretty unwell today so I was kept extra buzy with the girls. All in all, a really fun, exciting day.12/6 – 20k Easy Outing. 1hr 48min 47sec. 230m gain.This mornings run was cold with sideways rain about half way through for the rest of the run! Hectic! It was cold, but I stuck true to my 13deg rule regarding my shirt! May have regretted that today! Ha! Todays run was so easy. I really feel like my fitness is improving day after day and I am loving racking up the k’s again! Today was the first day in a while that I ate too much though. I have been making some really good decisions lately with my food intake and not putting myself under any pressure. I have learnt from today and getting right back on track tomorrow. I need to continue to make conscious decisions every moment that contribute toward my goal of running fast and being as lean as I can. I want to keep eliminating the processed food from my diet (although its not a lot) and constantly improving what I eat day after day. Today was a good learning experience and I really feel like I am making some good steps forward in my health.13/6 – 10k Sick. 55min 41sec. 150m gain.Todays run was terrible. I felt sick as soon as I woke up and shouldn’t have even gone……but I did and had to take it so easy as I thought I was gonna be sick the whole way through. Went to work and only lasted two and a half hours before having to come home being super sick. Slept for four hours and just took it super easy the rest of the day. We had our good friends Matt and Kristy and Brett and Jess come visit and we had a good night but still felt completely off. This is going to throw a spanner in the works for my Run for the Sun goals….14/6 – 2k Tready. 19min 30sec. (1k ‘run’ 1k walk)Today I was basically wiped out all day! It took every ounce of energy just to get off the couch to do anything! My belly has been so so bad! I had to get my effort in for Run for the Sun though and as horrible as I felt, I did 1k run and 1k walk on the treadmill. I hope today is the worst of it cause I am still feeling super dusty and need to get back running! I hate being sick nearly as much as I hate injury. It made it especially hard as our friends are here and they have all been out having fun while Ive been home resting. Shame.15/6 – 2k Tready. 13min.I had a general recovery day today. Although I was feeling a fair bit better, I had barely eaten in the last two days so needed some time to recover and re-fuel. It sure was nice to start feeling a little better though after the last two days! My k’s have suffered over the weekend but I am firing and ready to go for next week though. I am still aiming to run 500k for the month of June so I got to get a wriggle on! Heres to some super running for the next couple of weeks.Week Total – 83.1km. 7hr 39min. 1130m gain.----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Week 22/6 – 12k Leg Turnover. 1hr 5min 59sec. 200m gain.Todays run was solid. Legs are feeling strong and my focusing on keeping the legs moving on the uphills is going well. Even though I went a little later, I still should have taken a headlamp! It was so flippen dark! Over the darkness and cold already, bring back summer! All good though, I will push on! Felt good at work today and been doing a fair bit of thinking….see below. As a complete side point, I also bought a spiralizer! Super keen to give this bad boy a go and start making some vege spaghetti!3/6 – 17k to the Red Light and back! 1hr 32min 46sec. 264m gain.Todays run was solid with some good turnover and I knocked out some good paced k’s! I went to a new area and plodded along at about 4:30am and ended up in an industrial area in Kunda Park where there were a number of brothels and a Rebels Club house! Ahhhh, what the heck! I was outta there quick smart! I was just praying I wouldn’t get knocked off by some meat head in the process! It was an enjoyable day and a buzy afternoon at the docs and looking at houses….praying we can find somewhere to look asap! Gonna be rad! Tegs and the girls went away tonight too which is good for them but sucks for me. I really miss them when they go away! Three nights of batchin…..booho!4/6 – 20k Kiel Mountain Loop. 1hr 50min 50sec. 403m gain.Today I did the tough Kiel Mountain Loop plus the 5k out and back past the graveyard. Flippen Kiel is a angry little monster! Love it! I only hiked about 200m of it today which I was stoked in! Two mornings of 3:30am wake ups and I am still feeling pretty peppy. The day at work was fun and enjoyable. My diet was pretty solid today and it doesn’t seem like I have eaten all that much but feel full enough. I did start my day with my biggest smoothie though….1.6L!!! I only just got through that bad boy! So good!5/6 – 15km Ewan Maddock Dam. 1hr 33min 54sec. 156m gain.Had a nice morning off this morning relaxing, blogging and preparing for the day. Work was enjoyable and found out that the announcement of my sponsorship on the Kunara page had got 2500 views! Holy smokes! So awesome! Things are continuing to be exciting! I also got a chance to speak with the Australia Clif Bar rep and there may also be an opportunity to hook something up with them! Ripper! This afternoon’s run was with Katie and some of the crew from the Sunny Coast Distance Runners group. We did a lovely 15k around Ewan Maddock Dam…what a beautiful afternoon! The pace was slow but super enjoyable! The k’s are stacking up this week and I am loving every moment! Thank you God to be running injury free again! I am also super pumped that tomorrow marks 100days until GH100! Holy smokes! That means it is time to step things up!6/6 – 10k Sandie fun. 57min 16sec. 132m gain.Pretty stock standard today, the only difference being that I ran in sandals. This confirmed what I kinda already knew… that I can not run as fast in this footware. Whilst I love them and they are so liberating, I can run so much quicker and so much more confident in shoes. Ill keep using them from time to time, but continually focus on getting quicker and stronger shod. Tegs and the girls get home tonight too which I am super excited about! I have missed them a lot while they have been away so it will be tops to have them home. I’m looking forward to some fun running on the weekend hopefully with Jody and maybe Jason. Good times with the boys. I am also super excited about a new little journey I am going to be embarking on from Monday. I have decided I am going to go ALL in! !00% commitment to doing the whole foods, plant based plan for 40days. I will explain more in the next day or two, but going to use the weekend to prepare mentally for the adventure within the adventure! Gonna be epic!7/6 – 16k arvo with Jody. 1hr 43min 30sec. 371m gain.After a really nice morning of breakfast with the family and a trip to Eumundi Markets, in the afternoon I headed out to Parklands with Jody, a guy I am coaching. We hit 16k on some sweet single track and brought him up to 100k for the week. It was a really nice arvo out and found some great new trails which was tops. We also had some super conversation and it was really nice to get to know him a bit in person.8/6 – 24k with Andrew and Jason. 2hr 51min 33sec. 633m gain.We head out to Parklands again this morning and cranked out an hour in the dark. This was enough for Andrew so he finished up. Jason and I kept on keeping on and although my legs were a little weary from uping the k’s this week, it was good to get this solid effort in. I have felt pretty tired today but super satisfied that I managed 114k this week. Looking forward to recovering and kicking off again next week…..with a public holiday! Also starting a new little challenge within a challenge will be super! Bring on anther big week. So so good to be back running proper again!Week totals – 114.1km, 11hr 35min and 2158m elevation gain.----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------The night before…..Well, to be perfectly honest, I am excited, nervous, keen and a variety of other emotions all at once. I am super keen to get back into logging some long weeks, getting myself in some badass condition and really cleaning out my diet so I am burning optimal fuel to run fast and strong! I am stoked to be doing this journal and want it to be 100% honest so I am held accountable for all I am doing in my build up to the miler and also so hopefully you will be encouraged by my journey to create your own. I am committing 100% to the above goals with a big concentration on getting enough plant-based calories in. I truly believe this is the BEST way to eat. I KNOW it will get me in the best position for my assault on the 100mile race come September. Thanks for reading, enjoy and get running! Bring it on!26/5 – 10km – East on Diddillibah RoadFirst day! I started with a good little hit out, however through the day felt pretty tired. I think I might have been a bit low on carbs and am well aware that I need to keep these up. I didn’t have any coffee until the afternoon too so this may have contributed to my tiredness. Apart from this and a little dull ache in my foot all is good.27/5 – 15k – Parklands Bliss!I started today with a ripper smoothie…see below! Apart from that it was a really fun day at work, hilarious! I ate super well today and had heaps of energy. The highlight of the day was my run after work! A tough and fun hit out at Parklands on my own! Oh it is so so good! Makes me realise how much work I have to do too….good rocky climbs and descents, technical single track, rainforest, switchbacks. BE-AU-TI-FUL!!!Todays smoothie – Blend up – Four frozen bananas, 500ml of water, six medjool dates, a tablespoon of cacao and tablespoon 100% peanut butter.28/5 – 17km Hills, Flats, HillsHad a tired leg, but still solid run this morning. Backing up after yesterdays tough outing at Parklands was a little slugger on my ‘not used to big k’s at the moment’ legs. Super super early but I churned out the k’s in the dark. Really happy with my food intake today however could be running at a slight deficit. Work was really fun too as it is Origin day. All in all, a top, fun, positive day.29/5 – 13k ChaserI was pretty tired today. A combination of not much sleep and ramping up the k’s again caught up with me I think. In saying that though, I have no lacked any energy and still functioning strong. My run this morning went well however I felt queezy in the belly for some reason? A little odd. I kept plugging through though and finished with a decent run. I am really looking forward to the weekends outings at the Pinnicals and Cootha, gonna be epic fun! Overall a good day.30/5 – 10k Easy Leg TurnoverI don’t know why but today I felt flat. Just really drained all day. I think it was a combination of upping my k’s this week and not getting enough sleep over the last few days. Has been a tough day. Due to this fact I probably over ate a bit tonight….not anything super bad, just ate a bit too much. Super keen for tomorrows adventure and also Sunday being the start of Run For the Sun! For those of you who don’t know what this is, it is a fun thing my mate Coach Jeff Smith puts on where he encourages people to run every day in June. I am aiming to break the record this year and run 500km in June! Gonna be a challenge and a super fun month that’s for sure!31/5 – 35k Pinnicals and Mt CoothaHad a super nice morning with the girls while tegs went out and hit the trails with our good friend Katie. I then head to Brisbane and went for a big adventure with Jason, Meagan, Lori and Nat. We started with a loop of the Pinnicals which turned out to be about 18k. What a beautiful area. We then had some tucker and Lori, Nat and I went to Cootha. Another beautiful part of Brisbane I have never run! It was such a blessed, lovely day getting to know some new friends a little better, laughing and getting some good k’s in along the way. We finished by having a great little picnic at the lookout at Cootha with some beautiful food and relaxing! After my drive home and some food, all is gold! An amazing Saturday that is for sure!1/6 – 5k TreadmillWell today was an easy effort as I’m still fairly conscious of making sure my foot is all good. That being said, this week has still totalled 105km which I am wrapped with! Feels so good to be building the base again, feeling really fit already and enjoying my running. I am super keen to be ripping in for Run for the Sun and getting my fitness to a really high level for Flinders in 8 weeks! Bring it on! New week tomorrow with new focus. Building k’s even more and a real concentration on nutrition and getting some wholesome, clean fuel in my system. Exciting times ahead!----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------16 Week Journey to Glasshouse 100milerI want to think again of dangerous and noble things. I want to be frolicsome. I want to be improbable and beautiful and afraid of nothing as though I had wings. Mary OliverGOALS- Glasshouse 100miler under 20hours- Train hard, smart and committed.- Develop and maintain healthy eating/drinking habits for life- Clean, healthy, plant based diet. Consume as many wholegrains, fruit and veg, nuts, seeds and legumes as I want! Avoid processed foods and over eating.- Mindful, authentic and example setting existence.- Journal every dayRely and lean on God in ALL I do. Pray always. He is my strength and will enable me to achieve all my goals and dreams.The night before…..Well, to be perfectly honest, I am excited, nervous, keen and a variety of other emotions all at once. I am super keen to get back into logging some long weeks, getting myself in some badass condition and really cleaning out my diet so I am burning optimal fuel to run fast and strong! I am stoked to be doing this journal and want it to be 100% honest so I am held accountable for all I am doing in my build up to the miler and also so hopefully you will be encouraged by my journey to create your own. I am committing 100% to the above goals with a big concentration on getting enough plant-based calories in. I truly believe this is the BEST way to eat. I KNOW it will get me in the best position for my assault on the 100mile race come September. Thanks for reading, enjoy and get running! Bring it on!