11 July - Backing Up with 30km More

With the 50km from last weekend under our belts it was time to see if we could back it up with 30km more.  After week in which we all seemed to be hobbling to varying degrees we decided that we we had recovered enough and should hit the trail again.  As usual it was an early meeting at Berowra Station to travel to Brooklyn in one vehicle.  We arrived at Parsley Bay and got underway at 0551.

After meeting some fellow Oxfamers at the start of the trail we set off up the concrete "Hill of Death".  It didn't take too long for us to realise that there was still some significant residual stiffness and fatigue in our muscles, and perhaps Fred had the right idea in giving his feet another week to recover!  None-the-less it was slow and steady and we all got to the top without stopping and powered on through the first part of the leg in the darkness.  It is easy to tell the days are getting longer again as the sun came up and lights went off much earlier in the leg than previous weeks.  So off we tramped at what we thought was a reasonable pace.  Even allowing for the 2-3 minute delay as we waited for a train to clear the crossing at Cowan Station (was bound to happen at some stage) we were a little surprised that we reached Checkpoint 1 in 3:13hrs.  Still, the whole purpose of training is to build up stamina and we proved we can maintain a reasonable pace even when starting out a little fatigued.


After a short break and refuel it was off towards Berowra Waters and on to Checkpoint 2.  It was on this leg we came across about 8 other groups of Oxfam Walkers.  It was obvious they were all at different stages of their regime, with one team yet to resolve who was actually supposed to be reading the trail directions.  It was great to see so many people out getting fit and supporting such a worthy cause - good luck to you all for the event and your fundraising.

It was amazing how much groundwater there was still around and in a few spots it was still quite wet.  Not that this worried us because we very soon went into the "pie trance" as we imagine what tasty morsels await us at the "Top of the Ridge" pie shop in Berowra.  It must have worked a treat because despite our weariness we ended up at Checkpoint 2 in 2:49hrs, just 2 minutes slower than last week.  We felt we had well and truly earned our pie (or was that two?)

Due to some other commitments we have a couple of weeks break from the trail now, but you can be assured that we will be pounding the stairs in 157 Walker Street over the next few weeks in preparation for another 50km effort in late July.  We also forgot to take any pictures on the trail so you will have to make do with pictures of the two Tonys in the car on the way back to Brooklyn.

THE WALKERS:  AJ, Tony P, Tony R

THE STATS

Start – Cp1
Start Time: 5:51am
Duration: 3:13:53
Finish Time: 9:05am
Distance: 15.10km
Average Pace: 12.51 min/km
Average Speed: 4.7 km/h

Cp1 - Cp2
Start Time: 9:13am
Duration: 2:48:51
Finish Time: 12:02pm
Distance: 11.75km
Average Pace: 14.22min/km
Average Speed: 4.2 km/h

Total Time: 6.02:44
Total Distance: 26.85km