The first run of the North Face Trail Series is now less than one week away.

Managing a smudge under 40KM total distance last week and the local hills becoming easier to run, I am excited for the trail run this coming weekend.

Highlights from last week

On Wednesday I ran my Fourth Hill circuit. The run takes me along Gold Memorial Road then up the back side of Fourth Hill, along Wildcat Track then up the hill towards Webb Street, I then follow the track through another gulley until I pop out opposite Pig Track on Webb Street.

The first time I ran this course some months ago, I struggled to get up the first of these hills, last week, I managed to power up the first 3KM of hills before having to walk, not only that, the total run distance was 7KM and despite the walk out of the second gully, my splits averaged out at 5:51, all this by headlamp too!

These management vehicle tracks can be tricky during the day, let alone when on a speedy mission in the dark.

On Sunday, I took my long run on an adventure and explored the linear tracks around East Doncaster, the last three kilometres were on easy trail but basically going up and I found myself pushing hard up a 15-20% gradient in the last 300 meters to get my 10K time sub 60mins – something which I achieved, it’s been a while since I ran a sub-60 10K, I am confident I will be able to translate this into a speedy time next Sunday when I tackle the 11K course around Westerfolds, a course that has a more forgiving gradient.

The Week Ahead

With, essentially a race every 4 weeks from Sunday and the training window for Marysville beginning on the 26th, I am feeling good about my running at the moment.

Easy runs this week – between 5K and 10K to keep me in good form for Sunday.