A rant, a run and a review...

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FIRSTLY A RANT...

Mining on conservation land, or the short-sighted perception of economic value being more important than natural value, has reared its ugly head again with the government last week disappointingly giving the go ahead for Australian mining company Bathurst Resources to conduct open cast mining for coal on 200 hectares of the West Coast’s Denniston Plateau. 

Supporters of the plan see the economic opportunity as being too big to be ignored, with the jobs created and economic wealth extracted being an ‘acceptable’ trade-off for the environmental impact. But what is the wisdom of sacrificing an area recognised for its intrinsic value and biodiversity for the sake of a few dollars extracted from non-renewable fossil fuel? The Environment Court itself found that the Denniston Plateau ecosystem will be "less fit, rich and diverse" after the mining, and planning commissioners believed that while jobs would be created, mining would result in the loss or rare native species.... yet the Court ultimately granted consent regardless. 

There are guarantees that Bathurst will restore the natural environment after 5 years. But there are unanswered questions about just how that can happen. We aren't talking a small hole in the ground here but a 200 hectare open cast mining operation that won't just disappear after it's economic viability fades. 

photo credit: Forest and Bird.

What will the biodiversity loss be whilst the mining is carried out and how much of this will be irreversable? The impact on surrounding waterways will extend far beyond the marked boundaries and scope of what Bathurst are obliged to restore. Is all that worth a destroying the natural character of an area, an are that we once deemed worthy of conservation protection? And these questions ignore the climate change implications of burning coal as an energy source... another big argument against this idea in its own right.  Potentially a dangerous precedent has been set that places that could open up other areas of our precious conservation estate for similar devastating exploitation.

Yay... let's rape a beautiful part of this country for a few dollars, some short term employment and a paltry $22 million bribe to fund "other" conservation projects. Fuck you "Conservation" Minister Nick Smith for encouraging this folly... fuck you very much.

SOME RUNNING...

I’ve now been running for a bit over two months and I’m still enjoying it. It’s pretty hard to describe just how surprised that statement still makes me. How could anyone enjoy running… let alone me, someone who declared running to be abhorrent and only done when required to prove to others that I could move at something other than a slow amble? But it’s true, I am enjoying it and I think that the mixing in of a good dose of trail running has helped stave off the boredom that comes with monotonous pounding of the streets.

Saturday just been saw the running of round three of this year’s Xterra Wellington trail run series, a night-time jaunt around the bush of the fantastic Wainuiomata Mountain Bike Park. In typical Wellington fashion there was a bitterly cold breeze, which made the waiting around for the race start just a tad uncomfortable. 

Awaiting the start of Xterra round three in Wainuiomata.

I toyed with the idea of the long option – about 12km but the prospect of running for a couple of hours and then not getting home till about 10pm saw me pussy out somewhat and choose the more conservative 6.2km short option. 

 

Runners doing the long course head off into the darkness.

Turns out it was a pretty good choice. I’d had a nagging thought that I had been pushing the training a bit hard over the last couple of weeks and the body had pretty much had enough. In fact after Thursday’s lunch time run around the streets of Johnsonville and Khandallah my calves were screaming at me enough to have the compression socks put back on and not removed until the next morning!! Sure enough, tonight I struggled on the steady climb over the first three kilometres with my body not wanting to settle into a rhythm and my heart rate noticeably elevated (I was really surprised to see a total vertical ascent of only 215m – it certainly felt a lot more).  I stuck it out though and the reward for what goes up was the going down again with the last two kilometres a great section of downhill twists and turns with just the round circle of white light from my headlamp illuminating the way. Great fun!!

The team at Xterra do a fantastic job of not only organising these runs but also in rewarding finishers with tasty treats. In Wainuiomata it was slices of Domino’s Pizza and the Orongorongos – raspberry and coconut rolls. My fave so far though was being welcomed at the Makara finish line in round one by yummy chocolate coated donuts! I wonder what they’ll have for us at round 4 out at West Wind Recreation Area in a couple of weeks’ time.

After Xterra finishes in a couple of weeks, my focus moves to half marathons. First up is the Harbour Capital half marathon here in Wellington. The one and only time I’ve done this before, 4 years ago, I did on virtually no training (although I probably had some lingering bike fitness still back then). So I reckon I should be able to at least knock out a much better time this year. Then two weeks after that it’s a road trip to Taupo and the Tauhara Trail Run. This is the first leg in Taupo’s 63.3 – three halves in three months challenge. If I can get through this series, I should be in pretty good shape to head over to Europe a week later for a nice rewarding holiday! At the moment I’m tracking pretty well towards my goal of losing 25 kg before then. Three months in and with three and a half to go I’ve already gone past 21kg so hopefully I can knock that 25kg target for six!!

 

Xterra Round 3 – Wainuiomata MTB Park.

Total distance: 6.2km

VAM: 215m

Speaking of holidays… A friend of mine is heading off in a couple of weeks on not so much of a holiday as an adventure. His ambitious plan is to complete his own Tour de France solo and self-supported. He’s thoroughly researched and created a course that recreates some of the great stages of years gone by, plus adds in a few detours along the way to ensure he notches up as many of the Tour’s legendary climbs as possible. All up it’s looking like well in excess of 4,000km in the saddle over about 5 weeks You can read all about it on his blog here. This is the kind of adventure that most people just dream about. John is taking those dreams and making it a reality. Awesome stuff! 

FINALLY A REVIEW...

Ok, I know my first, and only (so far) gear review was shoes but I’m not making any excuses for my second being more shoes! This time it’s Salomon’s XA Pro 3D Ultra 2 adventure trail shoes. 

Summed up by Salomon as “light, durable and stable on the most demanding trails”, I don’t disagree. As a race oriented shoe they are noticeably lighter than my door-to-trail training shoes (XR Crossmax 2) even with the obvious additional ruggedisation features befitting a dedicated “adventure trail” shoe. 

They are quite possibly the most comfortable, out of the box shoe that I’ve ever worn with superb cushioning and stability. The stability and grip was much appreciated given that their first outing was a night trail run, giving added confidence to push a little harder on singletrack lit only by headlamp and still slippery in places from the week’s rain.

The abundance of grip was a little surprising. The Contagrip sole isn’t particularly aggressive but held still gripped well on the muddy switchbacks of the downhill sections. This was great, as I could hear the runner behind me lamented on more than one occasion not having dedicated trail running shoes whereas only one slippery tree root that I’d missed seeing in the dark did anything to disrupt my stride. I’m not going to fault the shoes for that. I’d never intentionally seek out a wet tree root for a grip test in any shoe!

The real test will be the Tauhara TrailRun, a half marathon that’s predominantly on forestry roads and farm tracks, but I think these will be my go to shoe for most off road courses with the aggressively cleated soles of the Speedcross 3s kept in reserve for particularly demanding or wet and muddy courses.

I’ll try and review a couple of other gear items before turning my attention to the Speedcrosses though!!

Price wise, the XA Pro 3 have an RRP of NZD$279. But at the moment are going for a bargain $139.50 at Bivouac.  This is not too far off online giants Wiggle who currently have them for $121.50.

Footnote... my little helper as I was doing the shoe photos also wanted her own photo taken so I have to include it here!

Pepper - poser, photographer's assistant and stealer of socks.

Beautiful but brutal

Yesterday was round 2 of the Xterra Wellington trail run series, this time in the beautiful Catchpool Valley area of Rimutaka Forest Park. I was feeling pretty good coming in to this one. After a good 12km training run last weekend along the Skyline Track I was confident that I could handle the medium distance course of a similar length.

After a very wet and at times freezing cold week it was a relief to wake up to a crisp, clear and calm morning, especially after the soaking wet mud fest that was round one!  On the drive over to the start, Wainuiomata was shrouded in a thin veil of fog that broke to a glorious sunshine and a forecast of a barmy (for this time of year) 17 degrees.

The calm before the storm on a glorious Wellington morning.

 The thought of piking out from the step up in distance crossed my mind at registration when asked if I was doing the short course (the distance I'd nominated when registering for the whole series), but I managed to force out "I think I'll do medium today thanks". It would have been a shame to drive out here on such a magnificent day and have the run over in well under an hour (although 10km in I was regretting the decision!).

The pre-race briefing described the course as a demanding climb that could be walked in half an hour, a few kilometres of fantastic bush running along the ridge before a technical "slip and you won't stop till you get to the bottom" descent back to the main tracks of the valley where you could finally push hard if you still had the energy.

Well they weren't joking about the climb up the quite aptly named Butchers Track. I can attest to it being able to be walked in half an hour... a little under even. The lack of passing opportunities meant I had to accept the slow pace for much of it. In hindsight though I'm not complaining. My heart rate was umm... elevated. And the muscles burning by the time the top was finally reached.

Heavy breathing was the order of the day on the Butchers Track climb.

The view back down the valley and out over the harbour was amazing though. What little glimpses I could take in anyways! I would have loved at this moment to sit down for a few minutes and just soak in the glorious sunshine and panoramic vista. But there was still the small matter of another 9km of running to get out of the way.

Wellington off in the distance from atop Cattle Ridge.

 The track along Cattle Ridge was fantastic. The trail twisted and turned through the native forest and I found myself slowing often just to get my bearings and ensure that I hadn't strayed off the barely defined track. But it was great fun... dodging and ducking around trees and vines and ensuring that none of the constant tree roots punished a lazy foot fall with a face plant into the leaf litter (as happened to one poor person ahead of me). So much fun that I felt I could have enjoyed it all day long... but it came to an end all to soon.

The end of the flattish ridge came with a highly technical, slippery descent down to the Orongorongo Track. Whilst only a few hundred metres long, it was slow going. One little slip onto my arse was enough motivation to not push too hard, like the faster, more experienced long course runners now coming past me, and possibly invite more serious disaster.

At the bottom a track sign promising 4.5km back to the carpark indicated the start of the homeward stretch and the opportunity to push hard on what was now a well formed trail.  The first couple of ks of this went ok but then any thought I had of pushing to the end disappeared in a sudden fog of "I've had enough of this now" as the dreaded food knock caught up to me.

I had been going  for about an hour and a half and should have ingested something more substantial than sips of water from my hydration pack. I was carrying a couple of gels so have no one to blame but myself for the rapid slip into survival mode. I had no doubt that I would finish though... I wasn't exactly going to turn around and go back the way I'd came!! But for those last couple of kilometres I was well and truly in the hurt zone. Any slope upwards had me walking and when it flattened or tilted back downwards I had to fight my mind and body to get my legs back to a jog.

The thinning of the trees was a welcome sight, the light at the end of a very dark tunnel signalling the last few hundred metres to the finish line. Pride and adrenalin took over at this point and I managed to muster enough energy to not be seen walking by the good crowd of spectators and finished fellow runners.

Never has a finish line been a more welcome sight than this one.

This run destroyed me. I'm not ashamed to admit it. Those last couple of kilometres put me in a pretty bad place psychologically and physically. But after getting home and soaking away some of my aches and pains in the spa I could reflect back and see that it was the failure to ingest some calories that was the root cause of the problems. We learn from our mistakes and move on. Or at least we should do. I remember from my cycling days food knocking badly and telling myself the same thing. I must be definitely am a slow learner! 

Xterra round 2 by the numbers...

11.79km long
599m of vertical ascent
2,119 calories burned.

Would I do this one again... Hell yes!!

Logan Ackers, aka. Buffman has put together a cool little video of the day that pretty much sums up the awesome vibe of Xterra events.

Mad props to the guy who biked 58km out to the start, ran the 20km long course and then biked home.

The pain has passed and I'm looking forward to round 3 in the dark at Wainuiomata mountain bike park in a couple of weeks time.

A jaunt along Skyline and a shoe review

The training is going pretty well. I'm starting to settle into a regular routine of running, mixing it up between lunchtime runs around the streets of Johnsonville and Khandallah and early morning runs from home up on the trails of Mt Victoria.

I had planned to do an 11km trail run this weekend up in Owhango (part of the T42 Central Plateau event) but other commitments ruled this out. So with this in mind, and a week out from the second round of the Xterra Wellington series, I set out on Saturday morning to do at least 11km of trail running.

The destination was the Skyline Track along the hills to the west of the city. Starting at the Makara Road end, I planned to set out for a target 6km before turning around and heading back again. The conditions were perfect for running with it being a cool but not cold morning and with little to no wind. The views in the colourful dawn light were spectacular.

Dawn over Karori

 

 

 

This run also gave me the opportunity to test out a couple of new items of gear. Firstly my new Craft Elite Run Light jacket was ideal for keeping the chill off until I had warmed up properly. My Salomon Advanced Skin S-Lab 5 was providing me with hydration and storage for my keys, iPhone, camera and jacket (when it came off). Lastly my new shoes... Salomon XR Crossmax 2s, were providing a more trail specific solution to the road shoes I've been running in to date. Keep reading as the XR Crossmaxs are the subject of my first gear review!

The terrain was a mix of single-track and 4WD farm track. In general a pretty easy surface for running on although the single track was a bit slippery in places due to a decent dose of rain earlier in the week. Nothing to throw me off my feet though.

Looking north. Mt Kaukau in the distance.

The outward leg was nothing fast. I was trying to keep within my limits knowing that 11 - 12km was a significant step up in distance from my previous longest run (7.9km at Xterra round 1) in this journey back to getting fit. I was also slowed by the distraction of running with a camera, the photographer in me having to stop every few minutes to snap yet another vista.

On cameras... the point and shoot that I was carrying is a waterproof Samsung WP10. The briefest of reviews of this is that it is largely a disappointment. Results in all but the most consistent of light are erratic at best. I'm looking at other options for a waterproof point and shoot.

As I approached the 6km mark I was approaching a fence line atop one of the numerous hills I'd navigated. This provide the ideal demarcation point to turn around and head back to the car. It was also a point that provided an awesome panorama of a waking Wellington.

 On the return leg, I paid far less attention to the scenery and concentrated more on the running. The only hiccup along the way was a bout of stitch passing through the 10km mark, but this passed fairly quickly and didn't slow me much. Emerging from the trees to the Makara Rd carpark I had notched up an incredibly satisfying 12.1km with plenty of energy still in the tank.

Skyline Track - out and back run. Saturday, 4 May 2013.

Roll on Cattle Ridge in the Rimutakas next Sunday!!


GEAR REVIEW: Salomon XR Crossmax 2

Road shoes just aren't cut out for any decent amount of trail running. This was no more evident than in the mud at Makara during the first round of the Xterra series. A dedicated trail-running option was called for and in dedicated gearhead fashion I immediately ordered three pairs to cover both training and racing. 

The first of these to arrive were the Salomon XR Crossmax 2 - described by Salomon as "the ideal training shoe for running from your door to any trail, anytime". They come from Salomon's door to trail range and are in all effect a hybrid road and trail shoe that utilizes a multi-compound sole to provide grip on a number of surfaces. 

Salomon XR Crossmax 2

 
The real test of comfort was the fact that I took these out of the box, ripped the tags off and then put them on for what was the longest run that I've done for a number of years. Initially I thought they might be a tad narrow but once my feetwere in I was surprised at how deceivingly accommodating they are in the toe box. After 12kms I had no comfort issues at all and had completely forgotten that I was wearing a brand new, straight out of the box pair of shoes.

Salomon XR Crossmax 2

 Salomon's Quicklace system is fantastic. Give it a pull, slide the tab down to secure and then tuck away into the lace pocket in the tongue. Fast to put on and take off but importantly no worrying about laces coming undone at inopportune moments (like on the descent, less than a kilometre to the finish of Xterra 1!)

The light weight of the shoes is impressive, and they certainly look to be well constructed. The multi-compound Contragrip sole is nowhere near as aggressive as dedicated trail shoes such as the Speedcross 3 (of which I'm awaiting a pair) but provided adequate grip for the predominantly 4WD farm track, and forest single track that I tested them upon. A completely different league to road shoes on this terrain which would have really struggled on some of the wet, steeper sections of trail.

Salomon XR Crossmax 2

The only issue that I could identify was a distinct feeling of less than perfect stability on rocky terrain. This corresponds with the feelings of other reviewers, but still they provide an infinitely better platform offroad than the road shoes I had come from.

The reason I picked Salomon shoes was because they engineer trail shoes from the ground up rather than adapt existing other use designs for trail use like a lot of the other big name athletic shoe brands.  And I must say that my first impression of their product is very positive. I think I've found the ideal training shoe and I look forward to experiencing the Speedcross 3 and XA Pro 3D Ultra 2 that I have on the way.

As far as price goes. They have a RRP of $279 here in New Zealand but are available for significantly less online. As I write this, R&R Sports have them on sale for $195.30 and UK sites Wiggle and Chain Reaction have them for about $130 to $150 depending on discounts and exchange rate. I picked up mine from Chain Reaction.

If you're looking for a training shoe for trail-running then I can highly recommend these.