Trailwalker tips

Trailwalker Tips has moved!

2010-06-24T21:41:00.000-07:00

Blogger.com just hasn't been keeping up with the times, so the new home of Trailwalker Tips is now http://www.trailwalkertips.com.

Once there you'll find a cool new design, easier navigation and much easier ways to share good posts with your friends on Facebook, Twitter, etc. Come take a look!

The material on trailwalkingtips.blogspot.com won't go away, it just won't be added to anymore.

Cheers,

- alan

Product Review: iSeal waterproof pouches

2010-05-09T22:22:00.000-07:00

I received some waterproof mobile phone pouches from the lovely Robyn at iSeal International recently and at the end of this review you can enter to win an iSeal of your own. But first you need to know why.

Like many Trailwalker competitors, I like to carry an iPhone with me on the trail. I can text my team mates and family at home, send progress updates to Twitter and Facebook, upload photos and videos live from the trail, even log my progress on the route using my favourite iPhone trailwalking app, Walkmeter. Oh, nearly forgot to mention that I also listen to music to take my mind off the pain. So many uses for one little box!

But in the past few years, one iPhone has tumbled down a cliff and two have succumbed to moisture from various sources. I can't afford to keep doing that. There's not much I can do about saving it from a 10m fall down a cliff but there's now several solutions available to keep your mobile safe from rain, sweat and a dunk in the creek.

With that in mind, I recently purchased an Aquapac, which is a soft plastic case with a hard plastic closure. It was recommended to me by several kayaking and endurance athlete friends. Although they sell a case specifically for the iPhone I chose a slightly larger case designed for compact digital cameras, which gave me enough room to include the iPhone plus either a hard polycarbonate anti-shock case, or a Mophie Juice Pack battery extender.

And then I received a box full of review gear from the lovely Robyn at iSeal, including:

four iSeal Key Pouches (big enough for a car key and house key)
two Explorers (big enough for an iPhone and a slimline case or battery extender)
two Sportz (big enough for an iPhone, has an elastic armband)
two Sound Waves (big enough for an iPhone, comes with elastic armband, audio-out jack and waterproof in-ear headphones)

I have to admit, my first impression wasn't entirely favourable — I couldn't get my iPhone in! Both the Aquapac and the iSeal use a thin but tough clear plastic which can be slightly self-adhesive, particularly when it's humid, but the iSeal's plastic is much more sticky when you first unpack it from the box. So sticky, in fact, that at first I wasn't able to get my iPhone in at all!

I followed the instructions, and tried the Sportz and Soundwave with my iPhone 3GS, both with and without the acrylic case I usually keep it in. After blowing into the iSeal to open it, I couldn't insert the phone into either of the iSeal cases. Each time I blew it open, it collapsed on itself before I could get even a bit of the iPhone in.

The instructions suggesedt trying a business card or a silicone case, but I didn't have a silicone case handy, so I tried one business card, and then two business cards as a barrier between the iSeal plastic and the iPhone. I got the iPhone in a little further, but only a little. Then I tried two sheets of paper — still no luck. Finally I tried wrapping the iPhone in greaseproof paper (nothing sticks to greaseproof paper, right?).

At last, with the greaseproof paper covering I had the iPhone all the way into the Soundwave case, and I was able to remove the greaseproof paper by tearing it away.

New problem: with the iPhone inserted top-down to reach the audio extension plug inside the Soundwave case, the plug was on the opposite side of the Soundwave from the audio jack on the iPhone. After another ten minutes of struggling, I still couldn't get the audio plug anywhere near the audio jack on the iPhone.

Clearly, next time I used the Soundwave with my iPhone the smart thing to do would be to insert the iPhone upside-down. The iPhone would still be useable, the audio jack correctly positioned.

It had been a frustrating experience so far, but now I wanted to see if perhaps I would have more luck with the iSeal Explorer cover. All I had to do was remove my iPhone from the Soundwave...

...not so easy!

I tried to get more greaseproof paper down around the iPhone but couldn't get enough space either side. I went back to the business cards I'd tried earlier — I could get them in place but couldn't get enough traction on the iPhone to remove it.

After another thirty minutes of frustration and setback, as well as recruiting my wife and a visiting friend, I was forced to cut the iPhone out of the Soundwave with scissors.

Argh! One potentially great product down the tubes, and this was not looking like the most positive product review ever.

I spoke to Robyn at iSeal and she said they'd had similar feedback from other iPhone users and were planning on shipping them with silicone cases from now on. Would I like to receive a silicone case to complete my review? Robyn didn't just send me one case, she sent me enough for all the iSeals she'd sent earlier.

I'm pleased to report that with a silicone case on the iPhone, it slips in and out of the iSeal waterproof pouch without any drama.

Can I really use my iPhone through the case?

Both the i-Seal and the Aquapac allowed me to use all the touch screen and button functions of my iPhone through the case. Both allowed me to take (slightly misty) photos and make (slightly muffled but legible) phone calls through the case.

With both manufacturer's cases I have experienced an occasional problem with the iPhone waking from sleep or repeating actions over and over again while in the case. I think this is caused by static build-up on the surface of the case, which translates into finger motions according to the iPhone screen, which works by reading the charge on the surface of your skin. Each time it occurred was on a steamy, wet day and it occurred while the iPhone and case was inside my pack, with all my other gear. If anyone can recommend a way to earth a backpack while walking, let me know! Otherwise the solution for me has been to leave the pouch open a little bit inside my pack for a while, or to carry the iPhone inside the pouch in my pocket (which doesn't seem to build up a static charge, must be my lycra undies).

How waterproof is it?

I-Seal has a very impressive guarantee — they'll guarantee their products remain waterproof down to 70 feet (21m). I wasn't able to test that claim in a Trailwalker setting and I don't really want to take my iPhone scuba diving, but for some recreational diving, 21m would be adequate.

I tested the Explorer and Soundwave and they both remained entirely waterproof through two 30km-plus Trailwalker training days when it rained for at least part of the day. On one long walk in particular, it was rapidly getting dark, nobody had a torch and we basically navigated our way into the final stop with my iPhone acting as both torch and GPS.

Get this: i-Seal guarantee their products against defects for an enormous five years. Do Trailwalker once a year and you could keep several generations of iPhone dry in that time! They will also replace any phone, camera or other device that dies as a result of your i-Seal pouch failing.

They will also (drum roll please) replace any i-Seal pouch for half-price if it becomes damaged or worn out from general wear and tear. That seems very generous indeed.

How does it compare with the Aquapac?

I prefer the solid latched opening of the Aquapac pouch to the soft, flexible opening of the i-Seal , since it makes it easier to insert and remove my iPhone, and the slightly less tacky plastic used to make it means it's easier to get an iPhone in and out without using a silicone case.

However, I love the i-Seal Soundwave's waterproof headphones, and at $79.95 they are a bit cheaper than an Aquapac case with waterproof headphones at $85. Aquapac offer a three year guarantee, and don't offer to replace your equipment if it's damaged by a faulty pouch.

Which should you choose?

The service I received from i-Seal was excellent, came from the owners of the company and I'm genuinely impressed with their guarantee. If you think you might need to get your iPhone in and out of the waterproof case many times during a walk, then the Aquapac might be the better choice, but for most of us, the i-Seal is cheaper, comes with a better guarantee and basically does the same job.

Win an i-Seal pouch!

Now I've reviewed the i-Seal, it would be greedy for me to hang on to all the other pouches they sent me. So you can win one of the i-Seal pouches by completing this entry form. Entries close 2 July 2010.

(Fine print: winners will be judged solely on the quality of their 100 word answer to the question, "What I'd like to do with my i-Seal pouch is..." . Entries must be received on the online form. I will definitely pass your entry information on to i-Seal for their marketing purposes but won't share them with anyone else. I am a total amateur and stand to gain nothing other than a free i-Seal pouch from all of this so please don't sue my ass. My ass is bony and worth nothing, ask my wife.)

Reader mail: should I strap on a pair of Crocs?

2010-05-09T22:01:00.000-07:00

Hi Alan,

I LOVE this blog - I have found it so inspiring and useful as we begin our training for our first Trailwalker - I'm SO EXCITED and very SCARED at the same time....

Question: How much walking through water is there? Do you think it would be worthwhile strapping a pair of Crocs to our backpacks to put on while crossing the streams to save us walking in wet shoes?

Thanks for your continued and valuable advice - it helped immeasurably as I spent 2 hours buying my shoes this weekend....I was pronating all over the place!!

Cheers,
Nicki

Aww Nicki, thanks for the feedback, I'm stoked to hear from you and happy to help if I can.

There are a few creek crossings on the trail that can get wet when it's been raining, and even a few spots that can get wet on very high tides — the mangrovegrove boardwalk at Bobbin Head, around the junction between the Great North Walk and the left-turn up to Mt Kuring-gai, and a few swampy bits down towards Davidson Park. Some water hazards will be a few steps across, some may be 3-400m long.

In training, take each 'water hazard' on its merits. Chances are at least one person in your team will be willing to try and get across without getting their feet wet at all, so you can watch that person and see where they tread and how they fare. In the case of swampy bits, they are usually identified by an optimist at the front of your party being optimistic and ending up with at least one wet foot.

In the event, the competitive pressure of the day and all the other teams on the trail will make it very hard to stop and take off shoes. See, it takes quite a bit of time (relatively speaking, in the heat of the event) to take off shoes and socks, cross a creek, dry your feet and put your shoes and socks back on. Unless the whole team wants to do that, you're going to create friction by delaying them. It may be hard to find a spot to perch while you attend to your feet and you may also be holding up other teams trying to get across.

So my recommendation would be to always wear trail-running shoes with a mesh upper, always wear running socks (not thick hiking socks) and walk with one pair of spare socks for every 15-20km of trail in training. During the event carry one spare pair in your backpack and the rest in your support crew bag. Changing your socks around every 15km is necessary to avoid blisters anyway.

Walking at a sensible pace with mesh-upper shoes on will force the water out of your socks quickly enough that they will be dry by the next checkpoint.

If your feet get really wet and muddy in a particularly bad crossing, then stop when you're certain there's no more swamp in sight, shake off the excess crud from your shoes, and change into your next pair of socks early.

One final tip: most regular endurance athletes use a product called BodyGlide to reduce chafing and give the feet a little waterproofing. My endurance athlete friends laugh at me, but to hell with them — I use a foot cream from Lush called Pied De Pepper. It smells fantastic, is antiseptic and antibacterial, keeps your feet from chafing, lets sweat out, and forms an effective barrier that keeps the skin of your feet from absorbing water from your socks. Feels great on your hands after you've put it on your feet too!

Wilderness Society WildEndurance 100km 2010

2010-05-04T17:18:00.000-07:00

Tim, Roger and Alan (we walked together in last year's Trailwalker) joined Sue, Jackie and Nadya to put in a training walk with a difference: an actual 100km event! Though we entered as a relay team — two groups of three walkers, each covering 50km of rugged Blue Mountains wilderness track.

Nadya, Sue and Jackie took the first 50km, starting at 7:30am from Duffy's Camp off the end of Narrowneck through to the grounds of the old Queen Victoria Hospital to the west of Katoomba by about 6:30pm. The lads and I picked up the second 50km stretch, back down into the wilderness before looping back around the eastern edge of Wentworth Falls, Leura and back to Katoomba.

It's quite a different event to Trailwalker; there were only 120 teams, some doing the whole 100km, some 50km relay teams like ours, some running and some walking. Compared to the 500 teams in Trailwalker it made for some lonely walking in places, and there were very few points where you'd get stuck behind a slower team — you were generally grateful to see any teams at all!

Another big difference was the level of self-sufficiency — WildEndurance has only three checkpoints in 100km and the greater isolation, higher altitude and longer distances between checkpoints mean you have to carry a lot more gear with you.

I found the going very tough because I hadn't been able to train on the course (breaking my cardinal rule of endurance events!) and had only trained to 20km distances prior to taking on the 50km relay leg. And I felt it, especially in the final leg, which zig-zagged up and down what seemed like a thousand steep steps between each and every flaming scenic waterfall between Wentworth Falls and Katoomba (don't care if I never see another waterfall ever again!)

But the rest of the team had trained well, and that, combined with good organisation skills and determination, saw us finish 10th out of the relay teams (look up team name 'Toughen The Funk Up') and 18th overall. In fact, we were even the 8th fastest team in the final leg, despite the waterfalls.

This weekend the combined Trailwalker teams come together for a good solid 29km training walk from the start to Berowra station, and those of us unable to attend will be doing the same the following weekend.

A successful Trailwalker is all about preparation — gradually increasing the mileage walked each fortnight until you're able to complete 75km with your head up. We're off to a good start this year!

UPDATE: Here's part of the route as captured by the Cyclemeter app on my iPhone. Hmm... looks like GPS coverage wasn't that great!

More on shoes than you'll ever need to remember

2010-04-15T22:40:00.000-07:00

Yes, let's talk more about shoes, since blisters are the number one enemy of trailwalkers, and the one thing more likely to cause blisters than anything else is your shoes.

I've covered trailrunning shoes versus hiking boots, and also the importance of the right socks in this past blog post.

My trailrunning shoes for this year's Trailwalker:

ASICS Gel-Trabuco 12 WR.

I'm hoping "WR" stands for "World Record"

but it could just as easily be "Wooly Rhino" for all I know.

Now let's talk about choosing the right trailrunning shoe and how to setup the shoe you've bought.

Choosing the right shoe is about a few parameters:

Are you walking or running? Runners benefit from a lighter shoe, which brings a penalty in less structure and protection. The faster you're moving, the lighter and more flexible you'll need the shoe to be, and vise versa.
How stable are you? Are you sure-footed? Are your ankles and knees reliable? If the answer to any of those is 'no' then go for a trailrunning shoe with more support, particularly in the rear of the foot and heel.
How much do you weigh? The lighter you are, the less cushioning you need in your sole, and vise versa.

Make up your mind on these parameters by observing yourself training on the sort of rugged trails you'll experience on trailwalker — a park or street won't cut it. Take your observations to a trained salesperson at a specialist running gear store and get their recommendations.

Waterproof or mesh upper?

You can spend more money to buy a pair of shoes with a waterproof lining meant to keep rain, puddles and creeks on the outside and dry feet on the inside. The only problem is, your shoes have a big hole in the top where your foot goes in, and around your feet there's these socks, made out of material specifically designed to absorb moisture and transport it.

In other words, in my experience, waterproof linings won't keep your feet dry unless you wear them with gaiters, which (a) really heat up your feet; (b) mean spending more money; and (c) look gay.

A better alternative is to buy shoes with a good mesh upper. This'll let water in as well as let water out, and you can count on the hydraulic pump action of you walking or running to squish that water out as you go.

Combine a mesh upper shoe with a towel and a fresh, dry pair of socks at each checkpoint and you should be OK in most trailwalking conditions (they usually postpone the event if it gets really rainy).

Shopping for shoes

It goes without saying that you should take a pair of your trailwalking socks with you when you're shopping for shoes. The best approach is to first buy your socks, wear them and wash them at least once, and then take them along when you shop for shoes. I know this means at least a week extra and at least two trips to the running shoe store, but it also means your socks will have lost all the extra loft and stiffness they have when they're new off the rack.

Pronation

"Pronation" is when your foot rolls a little inwards or outwards when it lands on the ground. You may have been pronating all your life and not know about it yet if you've never been tested for it. Go see the friendly folks at Athlete's Foot or a podiatrist to get screened for it before you go shopping for shoes. You only need to get it done once in your life — most people's pronation pattern won't change — and it can make a huge difference to your comfort and performance on the trail. Also, if you know your pronation profile you stand a much better chance of getting the respect of shoe salespeople and they may not try so hard to rip you off.

Shoe sizes

Keep getting blisters on your toes and black toe nails? See, feet swell when you run or walk long distances, and this vascular distension is most pronounced in the distal part of the limb (your toes swell more than your heels and ankles because they're furthest from the heart.)

When you're shopping for shoes, you want to buy a pair that is at least a half-size larger than your usual shoe size, and if you have a choice between narrow and broad makes or styles, go for a shoe that feels broader than your usual sporting shoe choice. Larger people (I'm 98kg and 2m tall) may need to go up a full size (my regular cross-trainers are a size 12 but my trailwalker shoes are a size 13).

Salespeople may try to convince you that the shoe they're trying to sell you will stretch and loosen-up with wear. But this is a trailrunning shoe, designed specifically not to stretch. So it may stretch eventually, but not until you've completed all your training and the event itself. You're going to collect a lot of blisters and black toenails between now and then.

If it feels like your heels are lifting right out of the shoe when you're walking around the store in them, you may need to go back down a half size. If your heels are lifting out of the shoe just a little bit, that probably won't happen when your feet swell a little, or if it does, you can usually rectify it by changing your lacing pattern.

Breaking-in your shoes

Don't go do a long training hike without first wearing your new shoes as much as possible around home, at work, walking the dog and anywhere else you can. If you think you look funny wearing them, remind yourself of the pain of walking 30km with a blister and decide for yourself which you'd rather experience. Why not use it as an opportunity to raise money for your team? ("You may all be wondering why I'm wearing these running shoes with my work clothes today. Well, I've entered this event called Oxfam Trailwalker and you can help me by supporting me with your generous donation...")

Remember, trailrunning shoes are more structured and heavier than your usual gym cross-trainers and while they're not exactly as unforgiving as a pair of leather hiking boots, they can bite back sometimes if you don't wear them in gradually.

Setting up your shoes and laces

People have been wearing lace-up shoes for a very long time, so there are quite literally hundreds of ways to lace your shoes. Let's skip straight to the lacing styles most relevant to trailwalking.

Skipping holes

If you have a broad foot and the toe box area feels tight after your foot has swollen from trailwalking, re-lace the shoe in the normal way, but skip the second and maybe third sets of holes. You can use this technique on any part of your foot that is in pain — skip the holes closest to it. This reduces pressure on that area. Note that it may increase pressure above and below the skipped holes if you need to keep your laces tight, so it's not a cure-all.

Lacing for high arches

Instead of crisscrossing your laces, lace the shoes straight across the shoe. This gives a high arch more room in the shoe. It also makes many shoes easier to unlace and remove quickly.

Got lifting heels or heel blisters?

Many trailrunning shoes will include a couple of extra holes around the ankle that can be used as a loop to anchor your laces and reduce slipping in the heel area. Here's what they look like:

A shoe with loop lock lacing holes (Photo: Rockandrun.com)

If your shoes don't have lock lacing holes, you may be able to make your own holes (careful not to weaken the shoe or put a hole in your hand while doing it). If you'd rather not (or can't) make your own holes, you can always use the top two holes. First put your shoes on, then take the ends of the laces and loop them around and poke them back through the holes they came out of, like in the photo above. This lacing style gives a lot more grip around the ankle and heel.

Got weird-shaped feet?

Manufacturers design for standard-shaped feet, but who's standard? Maybe you've got corns or in-grown toenails, or lumps and bumps of other kinds. Try a diagonal lacing — lace the first hole set in the normal way, then take one side of the lace and run it through the top hole on the opposite side, making a diagonal line from the bottom to the top. Now lace the other half of the lace in the usual way. This lets you reduce pressure on your toes by pulling the end of the diagonal section of lace. You may need to try making the diagonal on the other side of the shoe to get it comfortable.

Mix and match

If you have enough lace (and you can always buy longer laces) try combining any of the lacing styles above to achieve the most comfortable fit with your shoes.

Well, I think that's absolutely everything I have to say on the topic of shoes. Oh: one more thing — I'm not a podiatrist, exercise physiologist or physiotherapist so please, keep that in mind when following my advice. I'm just a guy who has done Trailwalker five times and never had a blister. But as they say in US car commercials, "your mileage may vary!"

Finally, here's two good articles for more on pronation and lacing your shoes:

Sierra Trading Post

Rockrun.com

and if you're extremely into it, a research study on the effects of shoe lacing on comfort

Fund-raising ideas: sell your old stuff on eBay!

2010-04-15T22:18:00.000-07:00

I won the lucky door prize at a recent geek event. I don't want a platform game in my living room so this unopened, brand-new XBOX will probably sell on eBay for a lot less than the retail price, but I'll be donating the proceeds to our team fund-raising goal of $5,000.

If you've always meant to sell off your old crap on eBay but you've never got around to it because you lack the motivation, this might be all the motivation you need. And who knows? The fact it's for Oxfam might mean you sell it for more than it would be worth otherwise.

Here's my XBOX eBay auction, stay tuned for more good stuff:

eBay: New 120Gb XBOX 360 Elite, n'stuff...

Stretchy pants and tiny electrolyte pills? This must be the future

2010-03-09T20:04:00.000-08:00

I'm old enough to still believe in a future where we're all wearing shiny one-piece suits and eating meals in pill form.

We're not quite there yet but you can certainly benefit from shiny, stretchy lycra garments and drinks in pill form if you're competing in Oxfam Trailwalker.

Across the two teams we entered last year, long black stretchy tights achieved almost 100% team coverage. It's just not possible to accurately test what sort of difference they can make unless the same person walks the same route two days in a row in similar conditions, and really, who cares? The important thing is, if you think they'll reduce fatigue, they will reduce fatigue — endurance sports are a mind game.

So I think everyone who wore their stretchy tights last year would vouch for their benefit. I find the long tights too hot during the day so I've ordered a pair of short tights for this year (I'll slip into the long ones at night to stay snuggly warm when it gets cold.)

Today the latest WildEndurance email included an offer from www.shop-linebreak.com.au for 40% off their performance tights and tees. These things usually retail around $100 per top or tights, so 40% off is a big saving.

While there I noticed a cool new product: Nuun. It's a concentrated electrolyte tablet that doesn't contain any sugar. I usually dilute my Gatorade/Staminade powder to 50% because the sweet taste really gets old after a few hours and this ought to solve that problem.

As tablets they're also much more compact to squeeze in a support crew bag.

More info on Nuun here. And that 40% discount code is LY8O56UN6.

Happy shopping! ;-)

2010-03-04T18:41:00.001-08:00

When all I have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail. When all I have is nails, I say fuck it; let's go get hammered.

Time to register again, and here's a great video

2010-03-03T04:59:00.000-08:00

It's registration time again for Trailwalker Sydney 2010 and all the usual anxieties are there — am I too old? Too unit? Too busy to find the time to train? Too selfish taking time to train away from my loved ones? Too lazy to do any fund-raising?

Here's how to put a stop to all these pointless worries: register! It's amazing how easy it becomes to deal with all that other crap after you've made the commitment to do it. Believe me, you'll sort it all out, and you'll have one of the most memorable years of your life as your reward.

Need more motivation? Try this great video of our two teams competing in last year's event by team-mate Sacha Ward.

Oxfam Trailwalker Sydney 2009 from Sacha Ward on Vimeo.

Trailwalker Sydney 2009: 26hrs 52mins

2009-08-30T23:42:00.000-07:00

Well, if you weren't a believer in the Trailwalker Tips System For A Successful Trailwalker before, here's the proof: all but one of us finished our Oxfam Trailwalker Sydney event this year in 26hrs 52mins (David's knee gave out unexpectedly half-way, and I'm not taking the blame for that one!)

The System worked so well for me that I again finished without any blisters and was able to run across the finish line with my son on my shoulders. Quite happy about that as he keeps getting heavier each year!

(We had two teams this year. That's me, second from left, and my son standing in front of me, all 35kg of him.)

To all the lads of Team 158 and Team 189 I'd like to say thanks for putting your hand up, for doing all that training, for getting in trouble at home, for neglecting your work, for raising all that money, and for taking care of each other when you barely had the energy to take care of yourself.

I wish all eight of us had made it to the finish but I was privileged to walk with David up some very hard yards into his last checkpoint and I can vouch that he gave it everything he had. I couldn't tell him so at the time (I was trying to encourage him along) but I couldn't have done any more myself. I heard the physio at the CP tell him he should not continue and saw him decide to try anyway. Full credit.

Learning more about team mates and myself is what it's all about and we definitely saw each other at our worst - and our best - in the event. We hardly knew each other a few months ago, we were from all walks of life. We found things we shared in common and took it from there. We'll always have that experience between us. Nobody else will quite understand what it means (especially when we go "TFFFT!" or talk about "TTFU".)

After finishing a Trailwalker you might decide that once was enough or in a few month's time you might start wondering if you could do it quicker next time, with fewer blisters. If you start thinking about doing it again, well, I'd do it again with any of those guys. I'd be honoured.

I'm looking forward to getting together for a reunion, at which I intend to get well and truly legless, and not by walking 100km.

Trailwalker Tips will be here if you decide to give Trailwalker a try, bigger and better than ever before. Until then!

The Naremburn Walking Schoolbus wish me all the best

2009-08-24T17:43:00.001-07:00

The Naremburn Walking Schoolbus wish me all the best
Originally uploaded by thatjonesboy

Every Friday morning I take my turn walking a bunch of neighbourhood kids to school (as well Maggie the Labrador and Jemby the Golden Retriever). It's great to get out in the morning air, get some exercise, save some car miles, and observe kids in their natural element (Dads usually only get to observe them on a sporting field or at a birthday party.)

This Friday I'll be doing Oxfam Trailwalker Sydney's 100km of rough bush tracks and the kids will be walking to school with another parent.

But check this out — they sent home this card for me, complete with band-aids, and signed by every one of them.

I'm so touched! How can I not do well with this kind of support and motivation?

Thanks kids, and thanks mums too (I'm sure you had something to do with it!)

Toughen the F@ck Up

2009-08-09T18:43:00.001-07:00

IMG_0831
Originally uploaded by thatjonesboy

This year our team has been using a mental cue when our spirits are low. We talk about "popping open a can of Toughen The F@ck Up" and we make a sizzling sound (cos it's carbonated.) It seems to work really well when someone says this, as it makes you top and realise, "Oh yeah, I have been a whiny arsehole the last hour."

Team members Tim and David, being of the graphic production vocation, surprised us all on this weekend's training walk with a very special gift — our very own cans of "Trailwalker Strength Toughen The F@CK Up" — all very professionally printed and stuck on what look otherwise like 120g tins of baked beans.

Had us in stitches, it was so clever. Here's a close-up of the instructions and ingredients panels, both equally hilarious.'

Get your own TTFU now!

Tim and David are taking orders for tins. If you'd like to buy a few for the whingers in your team, contact Tim at dang_thang@mac.com.

Eat when you don't feel hungry, drink when you don't feel thirsty

2009-08-09T17:10:00.001-07:00

Stepping Out, May Be Sometime...
Originally uploaded by timetops

Me and the 'Stepping Out, May Be Some Time' lads did the 40km stretch from Brooklyn to Mt Kuringgai on Saturday and once again it sorted the men from the boys — those hills sure are hilly. It also reminded me of an important nutritional aspect of Trailwalker: it's really important to remember to eat and drink, even when you don't feel like eating and drinking.

During the separation of men from boys on this walk, it was clear that those having a harder time of it really weren't eating and drinking enough along the way.

Through trial and error I've found that I can keep my mood and my energy levels high if I stick to a regime of drinking a few sucks from my hydration bladder every 15 minutes and eat a small snack every 45-60mins while I'm walking.

I maintain a 50% solution of either Gatorade or Staminade in my hydration bladder (made up with the powder concentrate you can buy cheap from the supermarket.) That way I don't get too sick of the taste and I don't take in too many salts (which can make you just as sick as too little.)

For snacks while walking, I walk with a pack with mesh side pockets, and I stuff the side pockets with food bars and snaplock bags of scroggin. That way I can reach behind me, grab something from a pocket, store the wrapper in my shorts pocket and eat without having to fiddle with my pack.

If you don't have side pockets on your pack, I don't recommend bum bags — they tend to pull your hips out of alignment worn at the back and chafe you when worn at the front. Carrying food in non-zippable shorts or shirt pockets is a great way to litter the trail with food every time you have to climb up a steep section. And putting too much food in a zippable pocket can also chafe if it's tight fitting.

Instead, practice this: make sure you have your pack's hip belt done up, then, while continuing to walk, slip one arm out of your pack and slide it around so it's on your chest. Swap your arm straps so your arms are now both through the straps in front of them. You now have both hands free and can access your pack to get food, clothing, sunscreen or a camera. And you're still walking without slowing down your team.

Just be careful to do this on level, flat sections of trail — it obscures your view of your feet, so it can cause you to stumble if you're on uneven ground or a steep ascent/descent.

If you can eat without stopping, you can save a lot of time in the event. How much will vary greatly but it could easily add up to an hour overall. An hour you could be spending in a warm bath with a beer instead of still out there on the trail.

However you get to your food and drink, you will need to get into the habit of eating when you don't feel hungry and drinking when you don't feel thirsty. Unfortunately of the ways your body will react to the stress of Trailwalker's extended exertion is to shut down your appetite and thirst, especially when all there is to eat is exactly what you've been eating the past 24 hours.

You also don't want to stagger into a checkpoint and suddenly wolf down a huge meal when your body has rested enough to realise it's hungry. That's going to cause a lot of problems when you're trying to digest that big lump of food on the next leg. Eating smaller amounts more frequently will reduce the risk of an attack of the munchies and the ensuing digestive challenge.

So don't rely on your body to tell you when it needs nutrition and hydration — set a sensible schedule including small amounts, consumed frequently. To ease digestion, do what your mum told you — take small mouthfuls, chew them for a long time, and wash them down with something.

Should your Trailwalk be a pyjama party or a death march?

2009-08-04T22:28:00.000-07:00

Look deep into my eyes, lovely ladies... you're getting verrry sleeeepppyy....

My internet dreams have come true — women I've never met emailing me asking for bedroom advice. Well, kinda. Lisa from Keep On Moving emailed to ask whether I'd recommend trying to get some sleep/rest during the event, or whether to push through to the finish without a break.

First, disclosure: I've never been in a team that stopped for a sleep, we've always pushed through. I'm a competitive lad and I think I probably attract like-minded people to my team. However the second team I pulled together last year did stop for a sleep and a shower. They were wracked with flu and injuries and they reckon it helped them a lot. What does this teach us? It's a personal thing.

However, as long as you're really doing this to finish and not to make it in a particular time then I'd recommend you do it properly: check into a checkpoint, go to someone's home nearby, have a shower and a proper sleep, then return to the checkpoint the following morning, and check out of the checkpoint.

Why? Because you're unlikely to get much good sleep at any checkpoint — they are busy, noisy places with people coming and big generators running to power lights and computers. People shout over generators to be heard and certainly nobody's trying to keep quiet so as not to disturb sleepers. You may sleep but it's not going to leave you feeling very refreshed.

Your muscles are definitely, definitely going to hurt if you stop half way without doing at least 20mins of proper warm-down exercise and stretching. You may find yourself wondering if that 20-30mins of warm-down might have been better spent finishing another few kilometres.

There are sleeping facilities — heated tents with foam mat floors — at most night checkpoints but they're really for teams who suddenly find they can't stand up anymore, not for teams who had planned to take a break there. They're pretty dreadful and not well patronised.

Don't discount the effects of competitiveness too — all these hundreds of people all with numbered bibs on that you've been overtaking all day are now going to be gaining ground on you and will cross the finish line before you do. Even the most uncompetitive people get affected that way sometimes. Will you be too?

The most important thing is to be really honest with each other about how you feel about this, make a decision, and then stick to it. If you're going to push through, then all commit to doing that. If you're going to stopover, then all commit to that — don't be one of the teams with some members wanting to keep going and some members wanting to stop — that kinda thing ends friendships. Be completely honest about how much it matters to you, and don't agree to disagree — come up with a decision that everyone agrees to.

Personally, once I've started, I've just got one thing on my mind: getting it over and done with. Sounds strange since I've done it several times before, but my ideal experience of Trailwalker is remembering it as I sit in the bath with a beer in my hand the next day.

See you out there!

Head torch etiquette

2009-07-27T21:37:00.000-07:00

"OK lads, I've changed the batteries, now help me strap it on to my head!" (Photo: AlphaGeek)

With my team mates from Stepping Out, May Be Some Time and Walk Softly, Carry A Big Stick, last Saturday at sunset we set out from Mt Kuringai and walked overnight to finish at sunrise on Balmoral Beach. It was a long walk, measured in tight smiles, exhausted frowns and muttered expletives, but boy did it feel good to get to the finish. And that's what Trailwalker's all about.

All that time on the trail at night left me with plenty of time to think about blog posts and one theme that kept raising itself was that of 'head torch etiquette'. You see, some people put a head torch on and seem to forget it's even there, whether it's a little single LED flea or the main reflector assembly from a decommissioned Russian nuclear-powered lighthouse.

Back before I was a trailwalker, I imagine it was all done by candlelight, but these days, with every second walker packing a torch beam that can burn the retinas out of hapless nocturnal mammals caught in their glare, the time has come to put some draft 'Head Torch Etiquette' guidelines up for discussion amongst the trailwalking community.

Read through and please, let me know what you think in the comments section below.

Keep it below the knees, please!

When you're facing another trailwalker, adjust the angle of your head torch beam so that it shines no higher than their knees. Adjust the angle before you look up to their face — afterwards is too late. Keeping it pointed at the knees or below allows for some room for error and for some beam spread (the darker edges of your circle of light will still be enough to blind someone who until a moment ago had been staring into the darkness.)

Follow their heels

On the trail, keep your torch beam aimed at or below the heels of the walker in front of you. Why? Because if your torch beam is as (or more) bright as theirs, if your torch beam is any higher it will be in their field of view. If your torch beam is in their field of view it does two things, both bad:

Casts a strong, dark shadow of the walker in front of you directly in their path, obscuring obstacles; and
Moves in sync with your movements, not theirs. It can make people feel queasy if they're prone to motion-sickness.

If you're right up close to the walker in front of you, it's difficult to keep your torch beam as low as their ankles. The solution is to back off a bit. So far, there have been no recorded incidences of trailwalkers being taken by vampires, zombies or alien body-snatchers so you're quite safe to increase the distance between you and the walker in front. Believe me, they will thank you. (Note: there have been no confirmed reports of drop bear attacks on the trailwalker route but there have been rumours. Still, if you're attacked by a drop bear, being close to another walker just endangers both of you. For your team's sake, keep your distance from each other.)

Don't look back

Your torch has an off switch. If there's a walker behind you (even 400m away) practice activating your off switch prior to turning around, for whatever reason. You don't even need to look directly behind you to temporarily blind someone with a bright head torch because those bulbs themselves and the reflectors around them are so bright. If you're going past 180 degrees, turn it off.

Practice responsible dog-legging

There are a few dog-legs on the current course where you'll meet walkers coming in the opposite direction. Like dipping your high-beams on a dark country road when you see the first glimpses of another car in the distance, the polite trailwalker is always first to dip his head torch when he senses another team coming towards him. You won't see anything by shining your head torch in their faces anyway, only blinding lights. So keep it aimed at the ground and push on — the bloody checkpoint can't be that far away, after all!

Checkpoints should be mostly head torch free

There are a few places on Earth more brightly lit than a typical Trailwalker checkpoint: Kwik-E-Marts, surgical theatres, U2 concert stadiums... But just as you'd think twice about trying to nail Bono with your head torch on the band's next world tour, perhaps you don't really need to walk right the way across the whole checkpoint with your head torch front-and-centre. Turn it off, give your eyes a moment to adjust, and I think you can find your way without blinding everyone you pass along the way. Even better, your support crew are more likely to recognise you and guide you to a warm blankie and a mug of hot chocolate if you don't come into the checkpoint lit up like one of the alien craft from Close Encounters Of The Third Kind.

Tell me if you think I'm being a crotchety old grump, but I'm just putting it out there!

Steve thought he was at the next checkpoint, but where did all these tiny support crew members come from? (Photo © MPTVimages and used without permission. Sorry, I'll take it down as soon as everybody's had a chuckle, honest!)

The fatigue you're feeling is a good thing

2009-07-27T21:23:00.000-07:00

A relieved training group finishes 60km overnight training last Sunday at sunrise on Balmoral Beach (photo: Tim Lumsdaine.)

I got a question from a reader today about how far they should be walking at this stage in training for the Sydney Trailwalker (about a month away) and I think the answer may be of interest to other trailwalkers, so here it is.

How long should your training walks be from here on? To some extent, what you do from here on out depends on what sort of shape you want to finish in and whether you have any time goal for finishing. If the answers to those two questions are "in pain but with head up" and "less than 30hrs" then unfortunately, you do need to do some more long walks.

Dedicate two of the three weekends between now and 17 August to a couple of hard 50km-ish walks. Here's why...

By now you'll be familiar with the particular fatigue that sets in any time you walk more than 30kms. Your body says to your mind, "What's going on here? This is not my usual duration of exertion! Can't we lie down and have a sleep now?". In my experience, for most walkers that fatigue gradually increases between the 30 and 50km mark as your body keeps being less subtle about its "Are we there yet?" question.

The interesting thing is that once you hit that maximum fatigue, it doesn't get significantly worse between 50km and 100km — it's just more of the same. (Assuming you're uninjured, adequately hydrated and have enough blood sugar.)

It's not a great feeling, but you get used to it eventually. Since you'll be walking 100km in the event, you need to be prepared to experience it for a few hours.

It's really important to get your body used to this feeling, and to get your *mind* used to the idea that you can actually keep going when you feel like this.

You might get your mind used to it by distracting it with something else. Slip on an iPod and drift off into your music, start a really controversial debate with your training buddies, start day-dreaming about lying in a hot bath, or (ahem) a very personal relationship! Whatever works best for you. But keep going past the point of maximum fatigue and hold it there for a few hours.

Meanwhile, you need to convince your body to realise this level of fatigue isn't unusual — that it will be a regular thing — and that it needs to develop the strength and endurance that it will need to do it again and again.

If you consult the Trailwalker intermediate level training guide you'll see that it recommends doing two walks of 7-8hrs — one on Saturday, one on Sunday — around this stage in your prep to get you some extended exposure to this feeling of walking while at maximum fatigue.

That's fine if you don't have a life, but if you, like me, do have a life (and a wife and family) then it is generally easier to do it as a single walk and do some of the walk after dark.

Don't over-train — I wouldn't recommend going much further than 50km in one walk since the risk of injury starts to rise. But you need to get yourself into that maximum fatigue phase and hold yourself there for a few hours, several times.

You don't need me to tell you where your best chances are to exhaust yourself in the shortest possible time. You already know the answer. Yes, those dreaded first three checkpoints! Conveniently, if you walk back to Mt K station from Apple Tree Bay you're almost at 50km.

Two other important principles about this phase of your preparation:

Train harder than you intend to walk in the event.

You're not doing 100km in training, so go harder when training than you expect to go in the event. Whether you're doing a 15km walk or 50km walk, stress yourself as much as you can.

It all builds strength, endurance and aerobic capacity that will give you a buffer of comfort for the event itself. You may experience bad weather, get injured, or need to devote additional attention to a team-mate in trouble. In any of those situations you'll need to have a buffer of additional resource to draw upon.

If all goes smoothly and you don't need that buffer for crises, you can use it at the finish to look a million bucks as you cross the finish line with your head held high and a smile on your face.

You'll have friends, family and other spectators cheering and clapping you as you cross. Finishing confidently, quickly and with a smile will make it a very memorable experience for you and for them.

Taper down.

Go hard until you're two weeks out from the event but then taper your training right back to give your body a chance to be at peak reserves of energy, strength and flexibility for the event and importantly, to minimise your risk of injury or illness prior to the event.

There's a lot of colds and flu going around at this time of year, and a tired and stressed trailwalker is susceptible. You don't want to try and do the event with even a sniffle. Doing it with a cold is possible, but it's misery.

Nor do you want to pull a hammy in a tennis match or sprain an ankle on the basketball court.

Keep your training light, and do lots of pre- and post-training stretching. Highly recommend a bit of Pilates or yoga at this stage for specific strength building without risk of injury or fatigue. And if you have lingering pain from training, now's the time to get a sports physio or sports specialist massage therapist to knead it away.

Best of luck with the rest of your training! If you see me during the event, feel free to come up and give me a friendly punch in the arm for putting you through so much pain!

What and how to pack for Trailwalker

2009-07-02T19:43:00.001-07:00

Parental advisory warning: this blog post includes some poorly-disguised offensive language and realistic portrayals of tired, muddy people at the end of their tether and is MA+ rated for mature audiences.

By packing the right items, your Trailwalker can be safe, comfortable and civilised!

The Australian Oxfam Trailwalker site publishes a great packing list for Trailwalker teams on its site, including the following items:

Team Checklist

Comfortable 15-25 litre daypack
Water containers with 2 litre capacity. Hydration systems with drinking tube are recommended as it allows for more frequent drinking
Hiking poles. These are really great when going up and down hills especially near the end
Mobile phones on different networks
Vaseline or other cream
Personal identification
Money for emergencies
Map and protective pouch
Compass or GPS
Dry bag or plastic bags (to keep clothes dry and/or put wet gear in)
Waterproof watch
High energy snacks, such as GU gels, dried fruit, nuts or chocolates
Salty snacks (peanuts, pretzels) to help prevent cramping
Sweets to suck (for dry mouth and boredom)
Small travel towel (light and dries quickly) or hand towel
Small walker's repair kit (spare shoelaces, safety pins, string)

Clothing Checklist

Quick-dry shorts or trousers to stop chaffing
Base layer clothing/underwear to pull perspiration away from your body
Comfortable socks and possibly sock liners
Good trail running shoes or boots
Thermal clothing for cold days or night time (long sleeve top and long pants)
Light wind-proof jacket and trousers or shell suit. Should carry with you if risk of wet weather or cold
Light gloves
Beanie
Sun hat with brim
Sunglasses, with cord
Sunblock
Head torch
Spare torch batteries (at least 2 sets)
Spare torch bulbs (2)

First Aid Checklist

Cloth strip sticking plaster
Paracetamol or Aspirin
Ibuprofen (anti-inflammatory)
Eucalyptus or tea tree oil (disinfectant)
Knee and ankle braces (or crepe bandages)
Folding scissors
Needle (for splinter removal)
Blister kit
Nappy rash powder

And the rest?

It's a good list, from which I'd remove:

Compass or GPS. Compass? Puh-lease! During the event there's a volunteer pointing you in the right direction almost every 100m! More signage out there than an aisle at Coles. You won't get lost during Trailwalker itself, though you might have fun plotting your progress on your GPS. Better buy enough batteries to keep your GPS going the whole way!
Spare torch bulbs. If you're using an LED torch, there's no such thing. You may die before your torch's LEDs. If you're still using an old-fashioned torch, well, hey Grandpa, don't let me stop you.

And then I'd add:

In your backpack

Digital camera and spare batteries (I can't believe they didn't include this! Here you are, hardest thing you've ever done, and you don't have any photos? It's worth the 200 grams of extra weight, believe me.)
Lip balm with SPF factor. Again, another glaring omission. It's not like Trailwalker's not hard enough without also getting dry, cracked and bleeding lips. And you don't really want to share someone else's lip balm — eeuuw! Cooties!
Emergency bivvy bag or sheet. Light-weight aluminium foil, smaller than a pack of cigarettes (remember those?) and they cost less than $10. If the weather's cold or someone's injured and in shock, one of these can really come in handy.
A pack of Band-Aid Advanced Healing Blister Block - no promises, but these might just allow you to finish the walk. Remember to clean the area first with an alco-wipe, dry it, and then warm the dressing in your hand for a while first before applying — it'll stick better when the dressing is warm.
An iPod! Again, a glaring omission from Oxfam on this one. Do you really want to keep yourself awake by trying to think of something to talk about with these same people you've just spent a thousand hours with in training? Do you have anything else to say at this point except, "Wow, the trail's still really busy", "Can you believe how cold it is?" "Sh8t, are we at the top of this bl##dy hill yet?" and the perennial favourite, "f*ck I'm tired!." None of which is going to motivate, inspire or make the miles slip by faster. Instead, when motivation flags, jack in your ear buds, spin up some rockin' choons, and boogie your way down to Checkpoint Eight. I have literally come dancing and singing and air-guitaring the last few hundred boring meters into Davidson Park on the strength of Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody" in the freezing mist of early morning. I wasn't crazy, I was in my music! (well, yes I was crazy, but we're all the same crazy, 'cos we're out there, right?)

In your support crew bag

Self-inflating sleeping pad. If you're a hiker you might already have one of these puppies, if not, the insulating warmth and bouncy softness with one of these puppies under your bum at 3am is going to feel like it was worth 10x the $150-$200 you might need to spend to buy one. Label it clearly with a marker pen and brief your support crew on how to use it so they can have it inflated and ready for you when you arrive. Make sure it stays on a groundsheet though, as a punctured sleeping pad leads to sad faces.
Fleece pants. Again, a big investment if you're not going to use them again, but slipping into a pair of these at a cold checkpoint can warm you up like nothing else. Jeans or tracksuit pants? Sorry, they just don't insulate, and they won't keep you warm if your body is too tired to put out heat, which is often the case.
In my experience, Sleeping bag. Doesn't have to be a fancy, new, high-tech sleeping bag (wow, that doesn't sound like me!) in fact, it's better if it's an old sleeping bag with a dodgy zip and leaky insulation because the hidden trap in sleeping bags is getting back out of them when every fibre of your being is begging you to be allowed to stay in there just another five minutes. To avoid that scenario, zip open your sleeping back completely and use it as a blanket.
Enough additional pairs of socks and underpants to be able to change them about every two checkpoints during the event. If you're not a running team, then you can really reduce the risk of chafing and blistering just by changing into a fresh pair of socks and underpants. Make sure they've been worn in and make sure you re-apply your Body Glide or other anti-chafing remedy (which for me, believe it or not, is Lush's Pied De Pepper - it smells good, works great).
Anti-chafing cream/spray, as above.
Saline spray. If it's really dry and you're really motoring along, over the course of the event you can build up a lot of crap in your nose and sinuses that can hamper your breathing and generally make you feel yuck. Get a spray bottle of this from your local chemist for a few dollars, spray a bit in each nostril, and blow your nose.
A travel pack of tissues. Nobody likes a nose-picker.
Wet wipes. I know it sounds crazy but after a whole day of your hands being rubbed in dirt, sweat, SPF cream, sticky sports drink and energy bar residues, it can feel really good to get your hands clean. At every checkpoint there will always be a queue for the tap, it will always be on the opposite side of the checkpoint from where your team is camped, and that will always feel like a thousand miles away from where you've just sat down and never want to get up from ever again. Having clean hands may also help you avoid dropping out due to vomiting and diarrhea as I have seen happen to more than one fellow trailwalker. Don't buy the wet wipes meant for babies unless you really want to smell like baby powder for 24 hours. Exactly.
A container of sports drink powder. You can pick these up from the soft drink section of most supermarkets. They make up enough sports drink to last a Trailwalker-and-a-half. I like to walk with a 50% concentration of sports drink most of the time but alternate that with plain water for some checkpoints, just because the taste of sports drink becomes very tiresome after a while. Which is why it's a great idea to also pack breath mints — something that doesn't leave a sweet aftertaste.
Battery-operated lantern. At a busy night checkpoint there's high intensity, very focused beams of light going back and forth every which way, and as a result, there's almost impenetrateable shadow in between them. Going by someone else's head torch to work on something together, like preparing food, is only fun if you enjoy motion-sickness. A nice diffuse lantern is a great way to light up a team's rest area, doesn't need matches, doesn't run out of gas, doesn't make any noise, and once everyone's familiar with it, can make a great locator beacon to help you find your support crew when you first arrive in a busy checkpoint.

How to pack your gear

You need your walking backpack as described above in Trailwalker's packing list, and another bag, which we will call your "support crew bag" (because your support crew will kindly lug it to and from the car at each checkpoint to meet you, bless their big red hearts!).

The best kind of support crew bag is something about 50-65L capacity, that opens right out so you can access all the contents at once, but which is also quick and easy to close back up again. You don't want too many fiddly compartments to open one-by-one when you're brain-addled and can't remember where your freakin' shizzle is at, and when it's time to go, you don't want to burden your support crew with figuring out how to do it all back up again. So get something like a big duffel bag with one large zip compartment. I like them because I know if that one big zip is done up, nothing's going to fall out and leave me without mah shizzle at the next checkpoint because nobody saw it come out. I also like them because they only have one way up and they tend to land the right way up if someone throws it to me in a hurry.

If you're a hiker, consider using your large rucksack for this if you like, but personally I'm usually too tired to hold the damn thing vertical while rummaging around in those vertically-stacked items to find mah shizzle. Everything neatly packed quickly becomes untidly shemozzled in the process.

Now, take your large duffel bag and immediately deface it with graffiti. You need to put your first name (if you're in a team where you all have the same first name, use your nickname) and you need to put it LARGE on there, so that in adverse lighting conditions, support crew and team members can tell one bag from another. Don't like defacing your luggage? Then do what I do and write your name on a wide strip of athletic strapping tape and stick that on your support crew bag. Put that on the top where people can see it easily.

Now, take all of your stuff and pack it in zones — socks and underpants in one corner, cold weather gear in another corner, etc. Doesn't all fit? Resist the temptation to put the rest in a second bag — you'll just complificate your shizzle-location problem by a factor of two. Take less shizzle or go back with the receipt and get a bigger duffel bag. Keep tweaking your packing until you've got your shizzle arranged so you can find it in the dark, when you're tired, and when you just want to lie down, go to sleep and never wake-up. Ah, Trailwalker! Nothing in the world feels this good!

Have you found your 'Trailwalker pace'?

2009-06-28T00:49:00.000-07:00

One day this week, I was effortlessly powering up the steep hill from Sydney's Central Station to Crown Street, when I turned to look at my workmates struggling along behind me, and realised that I'd slipped into 'Trailwalker Pace'. That's my name for it anyway — 'Trailwalker Pace' — the habitual walking speed I find during my training leading up to each year's Oxfam Trailwalker.

You should be thinking about it too: if you haven't found your Trailwalker Pace yet, it could be a sign that you're under-prepared in your team training. You might need to look at ways of increasing your team training mileage while you still have time, whether you're a sub-14 hour running team or a 36-hr plodding team.

Let's get that average speed back up to 5.5km/hr!

You were born to walk

Humans are by evolutionary history a walking species. Since we first climbed down from the trees, stood up and walked off to find food, shelter and a mate, we've traversed the African continent, spilled into Europe, crossed the ice-age land bridges into Australasia and North America and made the long walk East from Europe to the very edge of Asia. We know how to walk.

You were born to walk in a group
We're also a social species — we do most things in groups — and when our ancestors walked, it was as a group, perhaps as gatherers, hunters, families or war parties. In short, walking together is what humans do. Deep in our bones, we know how to do it instinctively.

That's not to say the memory is easy to access! But you can often observe that instinctive walking-as-a-group behaviour in the modern world: in the way a platoon of soldiers marches at the same pace, a bunch of teens on the way to the mall, or, if you've been training together for long enough, as one of four Trailwalkers out on a training walk. Whenever you have a purpose for walking — a shared destination and a time — after you've been walking together for a while you instinctively walk at the same pace, set in a common rhythm.

Why Trailwalker Pace is important
It's an oft-repeated truism and in my experience it's true: a group of walkers travels only as fast as the slowest in the group. Yet the slowest walker in a group will walk more quickly if they're 'marching' in your group's Trailwalker Pace. How does that work?

An army trains soldiers to march together because that shared pace and rhythm gets the platoon to its destination much quicker. Up hill and down, that platoon will keep marching at the same pace until they drop (or get shot, I suppose.) When a Trailwalker team walks at its Trailwalker Pace, you are more likely to power up the hills, you'll stop to rest less often, and are less likely to be thinking about how far you're walking and how tired you are. After a while at a shared pace and rhythm, there's something trance-like that takes over and you almost forget you're walking together.

How to find your Trailwalker Pace
Because each team has different members, every team will have a different Trailwalker Pace but you can't find and lock-in your Trailwalker Pace if you only ever train individually. You have to walk together as a team and clock up some good distances together for your bodies and minds to lock into place. Repeatedly training together will allow you to develop a Trailwalker Pace that works best for your whole team and walking good mileage at that pace will start to make it second-nature. Soon you won't have to think about it — you'll set out from a checkpoint and just automatically fall into your Trailwalker Pace together.

You won't be able to maintain your Trailwalker Pace all the time, of course: Trailwalker's gentle rolling hills and sparkling streams can throw you out of the Pace from time to time, but you'll know you're doing it right when you snap back into Pace as soon as you come to the next even bit of trail.

How do I know when my Trailwalker Pace is really locked-in?
You'll know when you start slipping into Trailwalker Pace in your everyday life — dragging the dog along on morning walks, suddenly realising your friend or partner has fallen a few steps behind on the walk to the car, powering up a few flights of steps

Remember: in Trailwalker, your goal should be to finish happy and healthy. It's not a race. But not having to wait (or be waited for) and not having the miles weigh heavily on your mind will help you finish happier and healthier.

Of course, in the event itself, will all those other teams on the trail, another sort of primitive psychological trait comes into play: competitiveness. And my usual "it's not a race" becomes "it's not a race... unless there's somebody in front of me!" But having a strong Trailwalker Pace helps you sit behind another team, conserving your energy for the moment you have room and an opportunity to pass.

Go train with your team mates and find your Trailwalker Pace!

Preparing and protecting your knees for Trailwalker

2009-06-23T01:05:00.000-07:00

How do you know if your knees are up for the challenge of walking 100km? Ask yourself:

Do you have knee pain during or after your training walks?
Is it under the kneecap, on the inside of the knee or at the base?
Do you get aches in lower back or pain in the 'glutes' after training walks?
How stiff are you knees the day after? Painfully stiff or 'just worked' stiff?

If you answered 'yes' to one or more of these questions, you'll need to protect your knees by preparing them properly for Trailwalker. Anybody can walk the last few kilometers to the finish line with a sore knee, but if your knees start acting up at the 30km mark, you're going to have a most unpleasant time.

Me (centre, with knee strapped to support ITB) at the finish of Trailwalker Sydney 2006 with team-mates Roger Crawford (L) and Bride King (physiotherapist and Pilates instructor, who did the strapping. Thanks Bride!)

This subject requires professional qualifications, so for this topic I'm pleased to introduce Melissa Turnock. She's a Level 2 Professional Practitioner with the Australian Pilates Method Association and blogs to educate and inform other Pilates practitioners at www.pilatesscene.com. Her Trailwalker experience comes through preparing my team-mates and I for four previous Trailwalkers, as well as mountaineering and trekking expeditions here, in the US and the Himalayas. Also she's my wife. Over to Melissa...

Why is Trailwalker so hard on knees?

When you think about it, in our usual lives we don't do much walking on uneven surfaces. Trailwalker is all about uneven surfaces. Walking on uneven surfaces presents great challenges to the joints of the lower limb, ankles, knees and hips. Constant changes to your balance - sometimes unpredictable changes - greatly varying degrees of contraction of different hip and knee muscles and a rapidly internally and externally-rotating leg all place big demands on your knee. If your muscles connecting around and below the knee are already impaired or imbalanced in recruitment, you may develop pain during and after walking.

You and your ITB

Most commonly, excess tightness down the outer thigh can lead to the kneecap being pulled sidewards, and in a long walk this is repeated over and over and over.

Illiotibial (ITB) tightness and outer quad tightness arises from an imbalance in the strength of your outer quad and inner quad muscle (vastus medialis oblique - VMO). During the repeated motion of a long-distance walk, the more powerful outer quad (the one that gets all the attention at the gym) the repetitive movement can gradually draw the kneecap out to the side. The articular surfaces of the knee joint can be rubbed and the cartilage inflamed.

How well do you know your own bottom?

Believe it or not, ITB and associated knee pain can be exacerbated if you have lazy bottom muscles. You might think you've got a fit bottom, but I am always amazed by the number of Pilates clients with weak gluteus maximus and gluteus medius, especially the physically active clients.

Glut max is responsible for pulling your leg back behind you in the hip socket during the leg-off-ground phase of walking. If glut max doesn't work well your leg is just hinging in the socket and will be pulling on your hip flexors and lower back. Very importantly for your knee, glut med works synergistically with the VMO - the two need each other to work well. If one is weak, or not firing when needed, you are at risk of pain.

Glut med plays two roles in walking:

1. In the standing leg, it is the muscle responsible for stabilising the hips and keeping them level with each other. You don't want to sink into the hip when you are on one leg as this is straining ligaments in the sacrum/lower back area.

2. Additionally, glut med is responsible for the sidewards movement of our off-ground-leg out to the side as it moves through the swing-through phase.

Quad pain: does that mean four times the discomfort?

Another area of discomfort may be where the quadriceps tendon coming over the kneecap inserts in the pointy bone just below the kneecap. This can become sore and tender after a few checkpoints. The quadriceps needs to be stretched regularly to alleviate the pull.

Enough about the cause of my pain, how do I avoid it?

Keep your ITB and quads stretched. Use a foam roller to massage your ITB after a walk and stretch quads regularly during the walk (at checkpoints and other times you need to stop.) With each leg, hold your heel up to the glute, keep your knees together and thighs touching, maintaining a level pelvis and a straight spine. Hold it for about 30 counts each time on each leg or you are wasting your effort.

Make sure before you walk you stretch your hamstrings: a leg up on a fence will do, just be sure to keep your two hip-bones level when you do it. Calf stretches should be included, let your heel hang off the edge of a rock or other surface, and start gently - don't rip muscle from bone especially before you have warmed up a little!

When you're training, on every ascent and descent, practice keeping the centre of your knee in line with the big toe of your foot. This will help you get into the habit of using your inner quad as well as your outer quad, which may reduce the likelihood of ITB pain later if it becomes second nature. If you notice yourself (or your teammates) pushing their knees out to the sides going up or down steep hills, act early and correct to avoid pain later.

If you find yourself suffering from pain after a long training walk, don't suffer it in silence; seek help. It most likely won't just 'go away', especially with more training. Instead, it's likely to stop your Trailwalker campaign and disappoint you, your team and all your supporters. Go seek professional help from a therapist.

If you experience knee pain during Trailwalker, likewise, don't suffer it in silence or hope it'll go away. The sooner you get it seen to, the more likely you are to be able to nip it in the bud. There are a number of stretching, massaging and strapping things that can be done to make it go away, but you must get professional help for it to work. The Trailwalker organisers have arranged for volunteer massage therapists, physiotherapists, chiropractors and other manual therapists to attend many checkpoints. It's not every day you can see one of these for free, so take advantage of it! An extra 30 minutes at your next checkpoint may just salvage your Trailwalker campaign for this year.

Visit a studio based Pilates Instructor or your preferred manual therapist to have your glutes and quads assessed for the task ahead. Ask for a set of exercises and stretches customised for your needs.

Good luck!

Melissa Turnock
Level 2 Professional Practitioner
Australian Pilates Method Association
www.pilatescene.com

Trailwalker Sydney 2009 - Training report

2009-05-31T14:48:00.001-07:00

The lads put in more uphill and downhill than an Everest Expedition and battle swollen creeks, leeches, slippery rocks, mud and their own lack of fitness. Donate to support your friends walking 100km non-stop August 28th:
http://www2.oxfam.org.au/trailwalker/Sydney/team/158
http://www2.oxfam.org.au/trailwalker/Sydney/team/189

Trailwalker Sydney 2009: info pack arrived!

2009-04-22T00:09:00.000-07:00

Our two teams are registered for the 2009 event (Stepping Out, May Be Some Time and Walk Softly, Carry A Big Stick) and today the info pack arrived in the mail. This Friday we're meeting for beers and get together. It's all going to happen again!

Trailwalker Sydney 2008: we finished!

2008-08-30T04:47:00.000-07:00

Shortly after 12:30pm today, Team 183 (Glutes for Punishment) powered over the finish line of Oxfam Trailwalker Sydney 2008 on a sunny Saturday afternoon at Middle Head, Sydney. We'd covered 100km of bush tracks in 27 hours and 41 minutes, walking through the day, the night and into the following day.

With me at the start and the finish and every step of the way were close friends (now even closer friends) Tony Burrett, Roger Crawford and Sacha Ward, fed, watered and motivated at eight checkpoints through the day and night by Helen Crawford and her partner Norm, Jean and Graham Jones, Kate Brady, Sarah Burrett, Charlotte Burrett and Edward the dog.

Sacha, Tony, Roger and me, trying to make stupid faces, a few minutes before the start

The 100km Trailwalker Sydney course covers some of the biggest. roughest bushwalking ascents and descents in the Sydney basin and weaves its way from Brooklyn on the far northern edge of the Sydney metro area to Middle Head, right in the heart of Sydney. Next time you take almost an hour to drive north to Brooklyn on the F2 freeway, think about walking the entire way!

View Larger Map

I don't have very many pictures of the event because unfortunately I dropped my iPhone down a small cliff while trying to climb, shoot and moblog at the same time and it is now deceased, but I'll upload some more shots taken by the rest of the team in the next couple of days. However, you can find many great photos on the Oxfam Trailwalker Sydney 2008 photo pool on Flickr.

At 27 hrs, 41mins we were 142 of 519 teams. The winning team, Berowra Bushrunners, completed the 100km in an incredible 14hrs, 6mins, and while that's a very fast run rather than a walk, it's a couple of hours slower than the winners in previous years, perhaps indicating that we weren't the only team who had trouble with the difficulty of this year's route and some of the cold and wet experienced overnight. While many teams have yet to finish at this stage, 26 teams and 473 (one in three) walkers have retired from the event. It's not a walk in the park!

As I write this, my friends in Team 43 (Final Legs) including Greg Todd, Judy Evans and Hugh Wakelin-King are still walking the final leg (32hrs, 25mins and counting). Fourth team member Meshlin Khouri retired at CP1 as she was suffering badly from the flu, and the rest of the team have suffered flu symptoms as well as the usual blisters, hurty knee, and other common Trailwalker ailments. They're showing tremendous determination to have even made it this far.

Neither are the Glutes for Punishment entirely unscathed. Blisters, cuts, abrasions, chafing and bruises are all part of negotiating your way over irregular and steep sections of muddy sandstone trail, crossing swollen creeks, and dodging branches and even sandstone overhangs. I have two blisters, a lump on my head the size of my thumb from a sandstone overhang in the dark, as well as two grazed knees, a grazed forearm and a big cut and bruise underneath my chin from falling into a gap between two big boulders, where I stopped myself mostly with my chin. Ouch.

The injuries will pass but the memories will remain. I'm proud of the courage, humour and determination I saw in my team mates and the reserves of strength I rediscover in myself every time I do Trailwalker. I'm still on a high from the incredible positive vibes given by all the friends and Trailwalker volunteers who cheered, clapped and encouraged us along the way. And I know from past experience that the fitness I've built up through months of training will see me running easily up the stairs for many months to come. But the most important benefits are mental: I highly recommend trying Trailwalker as a way to get to know yourself better.

Hydration bladders: exterminate all life forms!

2008-06-18T06:25:00.001-07:00

Update: in 2007 I trialled this Widepac hydration bladder instead of the traditional screw-top and I must recommend it as about the only decent bit of kit Kathmandu sells. That orange bit at the top slides off sideways leaving the whole neck open for filling. It's much easier to fill than a screw-top bag so you're much less likely to cover yourself and your backpack in sticky drink. However, Kathmandu's packs still suck - it's impossible to squeeze the bite nozzle of the Widepac through the provided hole in a Kathmandu pack without lengthening the hole with a penknife. Tsk!

Now back to our original story....

Hydration bladders are a trailwalker's best friend. They keep us hydrated without having to reach into a backpack for a bottle. They can deliver essential nutrients lost during exercise of the Gator- and Stami- variety. They give us something to chew on while we walk, and walk, and walk some more.

But when we finish walking, the warm, moist, slightly sugary/salty interior of our hydration bladders become the perfect growth medium for a variety of life forms that quickly multiply, until drinking from our hydration bladder is not unlike drinking straight from a stagnant pond - icky. How to stop these rich new growths of flora and fauna from colonising our bladders?

Here's a couple of tips.

#1 Bleachbaby, bleachbaby gimme a sign

Many sources recommend using bleach to clean the innards of bladders. I say "yuck!". It doesn't seem to matter how few drops of bleach I use - it still takes litres and litres of rinsing to make the taste go away. It's bad enough that I have to endure 100km of sports-drink-aftertaste-mouth as it is, without adding bleach-aftertaste to the mix. Don't bleach the bag.

If you're a greenie or a cheapskate, a few tablespoons of bicarbonate of soda powder (baking ingredients section of the supermarket, fellas) will do a pretty good job. Mix it with a little water and swoosh it around, then leave it for a couple of hours and rinse, drain and dry it. It still has an after-taste but not as offensive as bleach. For extra fun, try adding in about the same amount of vinegar or lemon juice after you add the bicarbonate of soda, but make sure you pinch open the bite valve or leave the cap open, as these two ingredients can react spectacularly and create a lot of carbon dioxide gas.

#2 Steal some tablets from your grandma

Not her sleeping pills either; you want her denture cleaning tablets. The kind you drop in a glass of hot water with the dentures. Alternatively they're very cheap to buy from the supermarket. Advantages: there's no mixing, no fuss, no unpleasant aftertaste (you can get minty ones!) and your hydration bladder won't explode from rogue gas events.

#3 Empty it out as soon as you get home

The less time the new mould civilisation has to develop and the fewer salty/sugary resources it can use to begin erecting a temple in your honour, the better. Make sure you empty out your bladder and dry it as soon as you get home (well, at least as soon as you've completed my recommended post-trailwalk anti-stiffness routine: a hot bath, a beer, a big glass of water and 2x ibuprofen, taken all together.)

As far as I know there's no good way to speed evaporation. I've tried a hair dryer but getting hydration bladder plastic too hot is not a good idea and it doesn't really seem to move things along very much. Camelbak sell a hydration bladder cleaning kit but if you ask me it's a bit of a rip-off. Instead, get two coat hangers: bend one into a zig-zag shape so that it'll hold out the sides of your bladder when you put the hanger inside the bag to improve air circulation; use the other hanger to fashion a hook so that your bag can hang from a door or hook. Gravity and circulation are the key.

To slow (but not stop) the growth of bacterial civilisations, once mostly dry, store your hydration bladder in the freezer. All bacteria grows more slowly at cold temperatures. But beware: when they evolve, they won't like you very much.

Here's an unintentionally hilarious YouTube video from a guy with way too much time and not enough money to heat his home who has come up with what he claims is the final solution for drying bladders: a fish tank air pump. All I can say is, better to use one that hasn't been used to aerate a fish tank before!

Here's another idea: turn your old hydration bladder into a convenient and attractive fish tank... only kidding... kinda...

As long as you're dry on the inside!

2008-06-11T04:08:00.001-07:00

Am I going to need my raincoat today?

With another wet weekend forecast and Trailwalker training to do, reader Sacha asks what "the word" is on keeping dry on rainy trailwalks.

Mate, there is no one word on how to survive a rainy Trailwalker, merely a mass of variables, any one of which can change your ideal approach to staying dry/warm on the trail.

First variable: temperature. This is not Patagonia, and even when it's raining during the day, when trailwalking in Sydney, it's usually not that cold. Last weekend I put in a quick 24km to Thornleigh and back and although there were quite a few showers, I were motoring along without a rain jacket on and it didn't really matter that I was a bit wet - it was a 50/50 sweat/rain mix anyway. With one or two layers of wicking poly fibre on, it's possible to be quite warm while wet to the skin.

It can get cold at night and in the early morning, and if it's raining at the same time, that can chill you quickly. But it's most necessary when you're not walking - standing or sitting in a cold, dark checkpoint is a great time to have a raincoat on over several layers of light clothing. Otherwise, when you're walking, your first priority should be temperature control, and rain jackets can make that hard because they keep the heat and moisture in.

Second variable: sweat makes a mockery of even the highest-tech jacket. Full credit to the Goretex scientists, but there isn't a jacket on the market that can keep you dry if you're hot and sweaty climbing up a big Trailwalker hill. You just can't vent the moist air quickly enough, especially with a pack on your back limiting circulation. There's no point beavering away overheated and wetter inside your jacket than outside.

If you're going to wear a rain jacket on the trail, aim for something with the most options to vent and control circulation before anything else. Go for something in a short jogging or cycling style rather than a long thigh-length hiking jacket, which will definitely be too hot. Remember that you might need to take it on and off several times and pack it away quickly while walking so get something light and fast to get on and off.

When it comes to footwear, shoe scientists have made enormous progress in bringing us truly waterproof shoes but there's nothing they can do about the big hole in the top of your shoe that your foot needs to get in and out of. A foot wearing a sock that will inevitably transfer rain from your leg to the inner of your shoe.

So when considering wet weather shoes, I'd ask yourself this question: would you rather be wearing a waterproof shoe full of rainwater that's trickled down your socks with nowhere to drain out, or a light-weight breathable shoe that will quickly drain the water trickling down your socks?

Welcome Trailwalker E-News readers!

2008-06-05T04:51:00.001-07:00

The aftermath from dinner is cleaned up, the kid is in bed, I've checked my email, and waaah!! The Trailwalker E-News has mentioned my blog as a source of training advice... panic!

Greetings, fellow Trailwalkers, and I hope in the weeks to come you'll find one or two things in Trailwalker Tips that might make your Trailwalker experience easier, more fun, quicker, or all of the above.

In the same E-News I read that Peter Worgan of The Ministry of Silly Bushwalks is about to do his tenth Trailwalker Sydney this year. Ten!?! It's a wonder he has any knee cartilage left.

This year will be my third Trailwalker - I'm not worthy. In fact, I'm sure Peter and many other Trailwalker veterans have a lot of knowledge that might help other trailwalkers make it to the finish line with a smile this year. If any of you reading this have any tips you'd like to pass on, or you just want to disagree with some of my wilder assertions, please leave them in the comments area of this blog post, or email them to me. I'll republish any and all good tips here on the blog for all to see.

If you'd like to receive new Trailwalker Tips as they are published, use the "get this via email" form on the right of this page.

Thanks for stopping by, and I look forward to seeing you on the trail!

- alan