Bipolar in Transition

“Affliction is a good man's shining time.”  - Edward Young Put a fork in me, I'm done with 2019. For the last month, I've been struggling with intermittent achilles pain, mostly in my right leg. Some time with Bevie at Sustainable Motion had us, what we thought, finally isolating the issue to a specific quad, and she developed a program to strengthen and improve motion through the left leg and reduce load on the right. Weakness here leads to problems there. Makes sense right? While out on a short hilly run during the week gone, I felt something "pop" in my right soleus muscle at roughly the point of issue we'd been dealing with. I tried stretching it out and finished the run, but throughout the day and in to the next it was incredibly painful. I tried icing and resting as much as I could, but for a nurse who walks approximately 8-10k per shift it's not especially easy task. Stretching and rolling eased it off briefly, only for it to be biting me ag...

Post-event depression. It's an elephant in the room. We all know it's there but no-one really wants to be the one to talk about it. Almost everyone I know who runs longer distance events suffers from a mental drop after an event. I dunno what brings it about, something about cortisol levels after major adrenaline release, situational depressive episodes or "arrival fallacy", where the journey is more important than the outcome. Trail Runner magazine covered it a bit , but ultimately the over-riding opinion is it's just this thing that gets around. What I do know is that it sucks balls. I had it bad after Delirious earlier this year and I didn't even run! To stave off what I knew was going to come (perhaps in a self fulfilling prophecy), I took on the challenge of an ultra marathon a month from August to December. Can't come crashing down if you never come down *taps head*. Me post event News flash: it didn't help. In fact, it's probably be...

Alice: “How long is forever?” White Rabbit: “Sometimes, just one second.” - Lewis Carroll; Alice in Wonderland It's sometime after 2am. I'm in what I have not-so lovingly christened "the rabbit warren", I'm cold, and I'm unhappy. I hate this section of the course the most. The rest of the course I can deal with, but this part really gets my goat. I don't know why. But at this point right now I just want to get warm. I'm starting to lose the feeling in my fingers and really wish I had spent more time searching for a pair of gloves in the city before the drive out. I start walking with my hands in my pockets, and when I do break out in to a slow run and have to take the hands out no amount of flexing and blowing on them helps. I can see lights flicker in and out, but I'm not sure if they're headlamps from the other runners in front on the switchback or the reflective course marking tape. All I can do is keep moving and know that it would all b...

aaaaaaaaaaaaaaa (note deliberate racey angle on bib) It was finally here. The first of five - time to face the Truth, my first 50k. It wasn't without some drama before hand though. A quick recap... I mentioned I had rolled my ankle roughly two weeks out before the event. Which, combined with two falls had given my confidence a hit. I thought that I would get over it, just have a couple of slow runs and put it to the back of my mind. So 10 days out from ToC I set off with the Bobbsey twins Trish and Kelly, who were also running the 50k, on a couple of loops of a 12k trail I have mapped out around Mt Clarence in Albany. The elevation gain is roughly the same as Truth, 30m (give or take) per km. A nice morning out I thought, and in many ways it was. These two are a laugh and a half to spend time with, never take themselves especially seriously and it was nice to spend a few hours not listening to the increasingly nagging voice in my head.  PEW PEW PEW That was ...

"You cannot plough a field by turning it over in your mind" - Unknown The sun rising over Goode Beach on my last long training run. 42km/1300m Well, I'm not going to get any more prepared than this. 16 weeks, 900km, 22000m+ of elevation. I've done parkrun, laps around Lake Seppings, Bibb track, Light Horse, the Porongorups and Stirling ranges, Bald Head... I've gone short, long and everything in between. Drove the Elleker half marathon two hour bus to a centimetre perfect 1:59:59 dressed as Thor. Run with Steve, and Anna, and Sam, and Jez, and Wayne, and Ben, and so many more. Stepped back in to the Altras , got a new pack, tested nutrition so I know what works. Spent time with a movement and recovery team to help me do iron out some tightness so I can do it again and again. I've PB'd segments and distance. I've even gone and mapped out and planned my own event for later in the year (October 13 - save the date). Yeah, I think I'm good to go...

I n the time since the Delirious WEST finished in February to now, a whole lot of shit has gone down. USWA has launched a second 200mi event in South Australia that I've accepted the Race Director role for, which is an undoubted high point and something I am freaking excited for. But I also suffered a manic episode post DW so bad I nearly walked out on everything I hold dear. Since then it's been the slow process of rebuilding trust with family and friends; medication changes; job interviews ... it's been tough and a battle. During this time however, I've managed to get my running back on track, with a slow build towards a couple of challenging events.  Truth or Consequences 50k  - run by the Perth Trail Series, arguably the hardest 50k in WA with over a vert mile of elevation. I got talked in to it by a few friends. IT's going to be a test bed event, because if that goes well; Feral Pig 50mi  - the goal was always to get a 50mi in this year if I could get the bo...