Week 51 - Easing Down

Running:  Year to Date.

Distance: 3,926.95 kms in 51 weeks at ave   77.0 kms  ( down from 77.9 kms in week 50)

Last week:  58.25 kms

Altitude:  102,211 metres in 51 weeks at ave  2,004 metres ( down from 2,010 metres in week 50)

Last week: 1,712 metres

With mission accomplished last week for vertical for the year, distance is the next challenge.
At this stage, it shouldn't be much of a task providing there are no mishaps over the next 9 days.
That really will be 8 days as I'm unlikely to run on Christmas Day.
Highlight of this past week was finally getting to the top of Mt Wellington after a real challenge on the rocky trail through an area known as the Lost World.
It's basically a large rocky area underneath a big rock ledge where the track disappears and you follow some red markings that seem to vanish. So, rightly, we missed a turn & got " lost".
A very slow section where we managed to cover 4 kms in an hour. Good fun up here, great views & well worth the effort.
The top of the mountain was cold & windy as the clouds closed in. Later in the day, those clouds turned to rain, then snow fell ( as usual at almost 1300 metres above sea level) and the Pinnacle Road was closed to traffic.
All good as the year comes to a close. Final weekly update and end of year report is all that is left of 2016. Next year ?  Who knows !!

Week 50 - Made the Target

Running:  Year to Date

Distance:  3868.7 kms in 50 weeks at ave  77.4 kms ( down from 77.9 km in week 49)

Last week:  53.35 kms

Altitude:  100,499 metres in 50 weeks at ave  2,010 metres ( up from 1,992 metres in week 49)

Last week:  2,886 metres

Finally cracked that magical 100,000 metres of vertical for the year. The distance has suffered from all that climbing. If you add that on to distance, then getting close to 5000 kms would be nicely acceptable.
Only ran 4 times this past 7 days with one of them a slow walk around the streets of Launceston on a one day visit. Weather here has been dry but very windy. Not much sunshine & certainly still cool enough to wonder when summer will arrive.
The inaccuracy of Garmin to record altitude gain & loss means I won't be happy to advertise this achievement in other forums until I can get well past the 100. I'll keep going but cut back a little for the remainder of the year in vertical and concentrate on getting over the 4000 kms for the year.
Otherwise all good on the running front.

Week 49 - On the Up

Running:  Year to Date

Distance:  3,815.35 kms in 49 weeks at ave  77.9 kms ( down from 78.0 kms in week 48)

Last week:  72.1 kms

Altitude:  97,613 metres in 49 weeks at ave  1,992 metres ( up from 1,976 metres in week 48)

Last week:  2,758 metres

The vert is again going up and a yearly average over 2,000 metres per week is on the cards.
Two rest days this week. Both no real excuses, just lack of motivation when other distractions are the easy option.
A weather change with very strong winds following overnight rain was the easy opt out today.
Last weekend a hilly long run of 30 kms with 1200 metres of climbing to a mountain top with wonderful views made up most of the week's figures.
Add on a mid week double over Goat Hill of 19 kms with 990 metres of vert and the week's work is almost done. Good for running, but not very enticing, the weather has remained stuck in early spring. It's still cloudy, we don't see much sunshine, and cool with sometimes very strong westerly winds.
There is a chance, according to the forecast, of snow on the very higher peaks this week. Probably won't see any, but you never know.
I won't be doing too much intense running for the remained of the year. Just enough to get over the 4 in distance & over the 100 in vertical metres.
The first part of next year has almost been settled into the plan. But after March, no idea at all.
Hopefully, living the life of a " grey nomad " will be the go for a few months to escape the cold of winter.

Week 48 - Getting Close to Targets

Running:  Year to Date

Distance:  3,743.25 kms in 48 weeks at ave 78.0 kms ( down from 78.05 km at week 47)

Last week:  74.85 kms

Altitude:  94,855 metres in 48 weeks at ave  1,976 metres ( up from 1,953 metres at week 47)

Last week:  3,050 metres

November:  7,223 metres in 24 run days at ave 300 metres per run.

With year drawing to a close, there are two challenges to be met with only December to go.
Getting past 4000 kms would seem to be attainable if altitude challenge of 100,000 metres is achieved.
A couple of good vert training runs this week helped reduce the target nicely. One run last Saturday up to Collins Bonnet ( height aboe sea level 1,260 metres) yielded 1,000 metres and another run up to Mt Nelson Signal Station gave 888 metres.
Add on a couple of 230 metres days and a good week considering a rest day on Tuesday.
Ewen, I have considered putting my data on Strava, but I've checked the mountain running athletes on Skyrunning Strava and they put me to shame.
Leading Aussie ladies are at almost 160,000 metres for the year with a month to go with 4500 kms of running all at 5' 30" km pace. I think I'll just keep my figures secret, just the few who read this post will know.