A walk with the dog

No sekrit about this training run as I was joined by Blue Dog for a recon run of part of the Great North Walk course, opting to tackle the section between CP#2 and CP#4. Last year this was the area where most people became navigationally challenged and also I will be doing at least part of this in fading light or complete darkness.

Thanks to my brother in law who dropped us off at Congewai so we could avoid prolonged car shuffling after the run. Straight away we were into it with a significant climb out of the valley up to the ridgeline, just under a 400m ascent!

From here it was some quite level running along the ridge, although a potentially
serious problem was averted when my camelbak sprouted a leak. Remembering what happened in January at the Black Stump I very quickly pulled the back pack off and held it upside down while extracting the bladder. Sure enough the hose had come undone, after a quick reattachment and the loss of thankfully only about half a litre all was fixed and we were off again. (note to self, secure hose with cable tie)

Eventually we got back to some singletrack for the winding descent down to Watagan Creek and said hello to a few cows as we crossed the creek and farmlands before tackling the climb back out of the valley. This one was more technical with very steep bits and serious ruts. As we contoured around the mountain we hit some more singletrack which was very scenic. Through here we saw our first goanna, eventually seeing seven, but thankfully none of their reptilian cousins that slither :)

One feature I noticed along a lot of these tracks was how soft underfoot they were, with a lot of leaf litter and sandy soil the impact on the legs was certainly diminished. The descent down towards the basin was certainly a bit trickier and the trail was hard to identify in places, certainly I would want to be through here before the light got too bad. Also identified the track intersection that a lot of people had problems with last year and you could see why, another great reason for the recon.

A joint decision between Blue Dog and myself to not do the in and out section to The Basin and so we started the climb out, again the trail was hard to follow in places. A short refueling stop at the top at the road junction before running along another ridgeline and then descending into Yarramalong Valley. This was more technical than I expected and than the map showed. Our final goanna spotting also through here and finally we popped out at the trail head with the cars waiting for us.

Stats
Distance 32.5km
Time 5:34
Total Climb 1300m

For interest here is the google earth view of the run



And here is the elevation profile



Thoughts
Very pleased to have done this run, it was a great way to get a good feel for the type of terrain that we will be racing across as well as the nature of at least 3 of the major climbs, which had a bit of mystique associated with them after last year. Also mentally tucked away a few areas for focus required in navigation. The legs have pulled up quite well which is pleasing since I really only did about a third of the course, however I calculate that around another 30 odd km will be run on flatter dirt roads etc, the unknown is the steeper stuff in the first 2 stages.....

Weekly Summary
Distance 95km
Time 10:33
Avg Pace 6:40 (was 4:48 before today!)