The Weeks Are Getting Bigger

Year to date:

Distance:

1611.6 kms in 22 weeks at ave 73.25 kms ( up from 72.27 kms ave to week 21 )

Last week 93.85 kms

Altitude:

32,412 metres in 22 weeks at ave  1473 metres ( up from 1346 metres ave to week 22)

Last week 4151 metres

Another really good week of running & climbing a few hills.
Highlight by far as Ewen has mentioned in his comments on my previous post, was running up and down Stockyard Spur 6 times in the Neverest challenge.
This is a very steep climb from the end of Corin Dam up on to near the top of the Brindabella Mountain range. While only 2.1 kms of distance, there is just over 500 metres of vertical climb in those 2 kms.
The purpose of the day was to raise funds for the people of Nepal whose lives have been devastated by the recent earthquakes. The guys from the ANU Mountaineering club had been planning to climb up to Mt Everest, but their plans were disrupted by the damage from the earthquake.
They decided to start a campaign to raise some funds and delay their trip until later in the year when the infrastructure might be better able to handle an influx of tourists.
It started out as 2 people, a plan called " Neverest" and a desire to get up and down Stockyard Spur 18 times. The same height as Mt Everest. May be they could raise a few thousand dollars.
Then others decided to come on board. Relay teams plus a few more individual runners? would also attempt to get up and down. At the moment I think fund raising is over $ 30,000.
I chose 6 times up and down. That's one third of the full challenge but still 25 kms and 3000 metres of height.
I had been up Stockyard Spur twice before, I knew what to expect. It's unforgivingly difficult. I looked at my Garmin only once to get the gradient, 30% and going higher at one stage. Didn't look again.
The first 200 metres is Ok, up hill but not steep until the sign says, " steep for next 2 kms ". After that, except for about 40 metres of flat after 1 km, the rest is mostly walking, and slow at that.
Previously I had made it to a clearing up at 2.3 kms high where a helicopter could land in an emergency in around 36 mins. On Saturday, my times for the up hill were between 34 and 31 mins for the 2.1 kms. Best time up was on lap 5, not that it was a race or time challenge at all.
Down hill is scary at times, but runnable with care. Average time still around 20 mins.
Conditions were cold to start, -2 degrees, a bit colder up high. Sunny and beautiful day otherwise.
The relay teams and full distance runners started at 9 pm on Friday night. I started at 7 am on Saturday morning as I didn't want to run in the dark on a dangerous course.
The medical people in attendance surprisingly had nothing to do for the entire time.
Otherwise, the rest of the week has been straightforward, nothing too much either before of after the Neverest challenge.
I did the monthly running handicap on Sunday, the next day after Neverest. Quads were ok on the day, however energy levels were down as expected, so I just jogged around near the back of the pack making sure I didn't finish last. A couple of days & quads are fine now.