The Mousdash

What could be seen as being any crazier that doing your first triathlon when about 9 weeks pregnant? I've got a great answer - doing The Mousdash when you're almost 12 weeks pregnant!

So what's Mousdash I hear you ask.  The Mousdash is a run held by Nova in Brisbane during Movember to help in the fight against men's health issues, with the main targets being prostate cancer and depression. Two events are held. The 5.5km stroll or walk and the 10.5km stride or run. The 5.5km event is a walk from the planetarium to the Mt Coot-Tha Summit restaurant roundabout and return. While the 10.5km event is a run up and around the whole summit road of Mt Coot-Tha.

My DH and I signed up for this race before becoming pregnant and even at that time I knew it was going to be a very hard run.  All you have to do is look at the long section of the run by clicking on the view elevation button in the picture below to get an idea of the hell it puts you though.



I set my HR monitor to beep at me on this one each time I hit 165. The plan, which I did stick to, was to walk until my heart rate dropped below 155 before starting running again so as you could imagine there was A LOT of walking involved during the run.  I actually found this run physically tougher than the half marathon. Maybe its because I have a great distaste for hills.

The first couple of kilometers from the planetarium to the Summit Restaurant Roundabout were just plain nasty.  There may have been a short section that was relatively gradient free but in all honest I can't remember where it was as things just seemed to keep going up and up and up. I've driven up that road numerous times before but I've never realised just how steep it is. According to my map there was an average grade of 5% for 4km. All I can say is that the first kilometre was a lot harder and steeper than the gateway bridge!

After passing the roundabout there were a few undulating sections of road but they were never enough to really suck in some decent air before the climb started again. Then you were also taunted by the distance markers with their little comments on then. I could have yelled at the 5km one telling me I was half way there, if only I had enough lung capacity left!  Not long after passing the 5km marker I spotted the St John's ambulance and thought what a mind game play by setting up and halfway. Unfortunately it wasn't set up for that reason - it was treating some poor guy that had been beaten by the mountain outside of the gates to Channel 9.

After rounding Channel 9 the next kilometre wasn't too bad and then I got to hit my stride on the downhill chaser! 3km of downhill running and I loved every step. I actually felt like my form was good. I wasn't over striding but I wasn't breaking too much either.  To top it all off I was running averaging about 12kph for that section and flying past a whole heap of people. The at 9km someone decided to add it a section of up hill again - where the hell did that come from? It was absolute torture for about 500m before the downhill decent started again. Then some sadist of a person decided that the finishing shoot had to be uphill too - bastards! At least it wasn't too long.

All in all I conquered the mountain in 1:18:24.4  I was aiming at under 1:20:00 so I was rather happy with the effort. I was even happier to see that the fastest female took 42:16.5 which going by my previous results in relation to the fastest female made my day.  What was even more surprising is there was over a 10 percent DNF rate!

To top it all off I finally had a look at some of the pictures that were taken on the day and I can say that I think I finally look like a runner!

Read more...

What's on the horizon?

I've been asked by a couple of people what my next event or challenge is going to be. Between now and Christmas I've got a few things planned and hopefully along the way I might fit in a couple more.

The next 12wbt related challenge is the first Mini Milestone for the round. I've set up a walk/run through Toohey Forest Park for next Sunday. At the moment it looks like the majority of those coming will be walking but I'm hoping to get someone to come who wants to run with me. The route of mapped out is around 8km return but if I can find someone else crazy enough to join me I've got about another 2.5 - 3km I can add onto it.  I have also decided on a back up plan if I can't get someone else to run with me.

The plan is that I run for about 500m or so and then either back track until I find the walkers and turn around and repeat until the end.  Alternatively I do a similar thing by running a distance or for a set time and then do some strength exercises on the side of the path until the walkers catch up to me and then take off again. Whatever happens it will be something different from my usually weekend long runs.

After I've recovered from the Mini Milestone challenge I'll then be competing in my very first triathlon on the 23 October.  The Triathlon Pink helps raise funds for The National Breast Cancer Foundation and is a female only event.  I'll be doing the long course which is a 300m swim, 9km ride and 3km run.  The swim and run don't worry me at all.  The bike has me a little bit concerned but I know I'll make it, I just may be a little slow on the old rusty bike.  That reminds me, I should take it out for a spin soon and make sure its road worthy still!




What I believe will be my biggest challenge since the half marathon will be The Mousdash. The Mousdash is a 10km run on the road up and around Mt Coo-tha. Definitely not for the faint hearted - feel free to have a look at the elevation profile if you clink on the route! This event will be run on the 13th of November as part of fundraising for "Movember". For those that don't already know Movember's aim is to raise funds and awareness for Men's Health and in particular prostate cancer and depression.  On the first of November men are clean shaven and throughout the month groom themselves' to form the perfect moustache.

At the end of November come another event that I may partake in. At the moment this one is still up in the air as it looks like we will have our work Christmas party the afternoon/evening before. The Variety Santa Fun Run is a 5km run which will be done just for fun.  What could be better than running along first thing in the morning in a Santa suit while raising funds for Variety and then spending the rest of the morning with the kids in the park enjoying Christmas activities?

Guess what - I'm not finished yet! The 10th December will mark the official end of Round 3 party for the 12WBT. I'm planning on heading down to Sydney to celebrate with some of the other participant but more importantly I'll be going to do the end of season work out to show myself how far I've come in such a short period of time.  I've also got my fingers crossed that I'll be able to partake in an unofficial 12WBT fun run down there too.

So as you can see I've got a fairly busy couple of months ahead of me and I'm sure there will be a couple of other 12WBT events to pop up in the very near future.

Read more...