Date: 6 – 17 July
Distance: 168km

I am still toying with the idea of doing the Northburn 100 next year. Actually, it’s more than toying. I want to, and plan to do it. Since I’m not getting younger (or fitter for that matter) I’m going to attempt walking the whole thing. Or at least start by walking for the most part, and perhaps try jogging bits on the last lap. But realistically that might be a big ask. I just don’t want to risk starting running early on and then be buggered sooner. Maybe I will be buggered just as much from walking. Question is, how long will it take to get to that point. Will I be able to go further or longer with walking rather than jogging?

At this stage I’m just trying to make it through winter, keeping our run-walks reasonably consist; five to six times a week.

What bothers me is that we did just that all through last year, and apart from a couple of months over Xmas where our training took a bit of a knock, we kept at it. And yet, I’m not getting fitter or faster. But to be honest, at this stage I’m just glad I can still move, as that is also becoming more challenging by the day.

For the school holidays I came up with the idea to do 12km each day for two weeks straight. That amounts to a 100 miles over two weeks. This is not remotely comparable to a 100 miles in one go, but it just wanted to see how this will affect me. And even though it seemed easy enough, I have hip and knee problems which are giving me a lot of grief at the moment.

My right leg/thigh is completely on the blink. To the point where I’m limping and am often in agony. I tried to foam roll and stretch my way out of pain, but that just worsened the situation. I have done this before where I manage to release fascia in wrong places, or the right place but neglecting another spot, or who knows what, but causing the issue to be worse that before doing anything. That’s always the problem with knowing a little but not enough. Or working on one area and neglecting the big picture.

I have very shallow hip sockets, and my theory is that weakness and tightness is causing the ball of my femur to move out of place, and that causes the pinching and pain down my leg. Whether anything can be done about it, is anyone’s guess. Strengthening the joint is probably my best bet. And on hindsight, this is what I should have done the past ten years since becoming aware of my hip problem.

During a stint like this one, there’s no hiding, unless you bail out, which is not something I like to do. So from the start I wasn’t 100%. That’s when I thought some foam rolling will do the trick. It has done wonders in the past. It’s just that without strengthening the muscles at the same time, it doesn’t stick. Only this time, I managed to do more damage than good. For the bulk of our 160km over two weeks, I was in quite a bit of pain, having to walk most of the way. Especially the last few outings. Which in itself is perhaps not the worst idea, as walking fitness is where I’m hoping to make a lot of gains.

Day 1. Linton (9km jog + 3km walk)

For the first outing I put on an old pair of shoes. Altra Superior. They’re not really old in wear and tear terms, but I’ve had them for at least eight years. I’ve always seen them as short distance shoes, and wouldn’t have attempted anything further than a 21k, and even that is pushing it.

Case in point. By the end of our outing, my ‘long’ toe (Mortons foot worse on the one side than the other) felt as if the tip was bruised and battered. It looked swollen and was very sore. I tried to ignore it, hoping it will magically heal overnight.

We decided to jog all the flats and downhills and walk the uphills. Day one done. So far so good, but ended up with a number of nagging niggles, including a sore toe.
[1:37]

Day 2. Linton (9+3km)

Needless to say, I wore a different pair of Altra shoes – one that can go the distance.

The toe was very sensitive, and sore to the touch. Having the blankets pressing down on it at night was painful, so I wasn’t sure how I would cope on the run-walk.

We went for the same approach as the first day; walk the uphills and jog the rest.

Slower, but glad I could manage despite all the aches and pains.
[1:42]

Day 3. Pacific Dr/Summerhill (6+6km)

It was a cold, and wet day. We had to fit it in before work to try and avoid the worst of the rain.

Pressed for time, this meant we nearly matched our quickest time so far on day one.

We followed a 2 walk, 4 jog, 2 walk, 2 jog, 2 walk strategy.

My toe was still giving me grief, and looked very inflamed and red.

[1:38]

Day 4. Linton (12km walk)

Our fourth day looked like it might not happen. The weather took a turn for the worse, and it was miserable outside. A freezing southerly gale was blowing, coupled with a drizzle, so we decided to don a tonne of warm and wet weather gear and walk to Linton and back.

It would appear that walking is more difficult that running. My shins hurt and I have a few other body parts that are equally unhappy.

[1:59]

Day 5. Pacific + Massey (8+4km)

The cold weather hadn’t subsided, challenging us with an icy southerly and only 7 degrees Celsius. To make the outing feel like it’s ‘shorter’ than it is, it helps for me to stay near the starting point. We parked at NW Summerhill, did two kilometres down Pacific Dr before turning around, passing NW again to head down to Massey.

We walked the first and last 2k, and jogged the 8k in the middle. This was out quickest outing yet.

[1:34]

Day 6. River upstream (4+8km)

For some change of scenery, we opted to go upstream from Firzherbeet Bridge. It was still very cold, turning an already difficult outing into a challenge. We went for a walk-two-jog-one approach. Sort of … (2 walk, 1 jog, 2 walk, 1 jog, 2 walk, 2 jog, 2 walk to be precise). With a totally buggered leg, and a throbbing toe, the walking started to gain prominence.

Later that evening I noticed that a red line was forming next to the nail of the long toe. It was still sore, and the nail had a blueish tint.

[1:45]

Day 7. Summerhill trails (4+8km)

Being a weekend day (Sunday), we decided to do the new highway, as that was up the hill – the opposite of what we’ve been doing so far. It was very cold, but at least there was no wind at home. But on arrival in the carpark an icy wind was blowing a gale, and despite multiple layers we were not dressed for it. So we turned back and did the Summerhill trails instead. To get the distance, we went through the Massey science centres, over the foot bridge and back to Summerhill shopping centre where we started.

My long toe was still sore and swollen. That night I tried to inspect it to see what was going on. Apart from being very sore, the red was bugging me. I trimmed the nail again extra sort and accidentally cut into the skin. That’s when some bloody water came out from the blister underneath the nail which I hadn’t noticed before. With the whole thing so swollen I wasn’t expecting a blister underneath the nail. Hooray, finally progress can be made. I put some antiseptic ointment and a plaster on and went to bed.

[1:50]

Day 8. Pacific Dr nooks and crannies. (12km walk)

From an altered walking gait due to a sore hip and knee, plus a toe problem on the other side, I developed a new blister. Never a dull moment. An no better way to lure out all niggles than a bit of mileage.

The chilly weekend weather stayed with us, and it was only 5 degrees C for our walk.

My long toe was still sore. It’s hard to believe that one little toe can cause so much drama. It’s like it just doesn’t want to get better. And maybe it’s because of the hammering every day. Only six more outings to go.

[1:59]

Day 9. Pacific Dr nooks and crannies (12km walk)

Despite a sore and buggered hip, thigh and knee (things are seriously out of alignment me thinks) we walked again after work in the dark.

I was surprised by the fact that no-one was outside. It was a lovely evening – not super cold and no wind. Yet, the flickering light of TVs is the only sign of life.

Day 10. Linton (12km walk-jog)

Another lunchtime run where we walked for the most part, but with the occasional jog to try and finish in a quicker time. It didn’t really make a difference, as an extended stop to give a little girl some attention (she came off her bike on one of the corners) took a minute or two.

[1:49]

Day 11. Pacific Dr nooks and crannies (12km walk)

By now I’ve almost given up on running altogether. My leg wasn’t getting any better, and the compensation caused my foot to become sore. The little bones felt bruised every time I tried to run. So walking it was.

Due to other commitments, we had a super early chilly start (in the dark just after 6am) watching the sky get lighter was pleasant. Unfortunately it was overcast, so no glorious sunrise. Not much in the line of wind made it a pleasant walk until people started driving to work.

We miscalculated the distance and ended up going a bit too far, taking ten minutes longer.

[2:09]

Day 12. Pacific Dr nooks and crannies (12km walk)

This outing had to happen after work, so we saw another sunset. All our after workday outings, where we couldn’t go over lunchtime, happened after or before work.

[2:00]

Day 13. Pacific Dr and Massey (12km walk)

It was a Saturday where we had a lot of things to do. Moving studio, collecting artworks and materials to go into storage, and the list goes on.

Exhausted we could finally do our walk, again just as it was getting dark. As it was the penultimate, and again with another commitment the Sunday night, we opted to have bubbly prematurely to celebrate.

[1:58]

Day 14. Pacific Dr nooks and crannies (12km walk)

We started the day trying to finalise a retaining wall we’ve been working of for a couple of months. We started good, things were going well, and then came the rain. This caused some slipping behind the wall and into the holes before we could fill it up with concrete, which meant we had to undo everything and start over. It set us back considerably, and a week-long project took months.

Lots of digging and shoveling mud, clay and stone. Sore and exhausted, we had lunch and went for our walk. Luckily with walking, one can have whatever you like for lunch without too many ill effects.

[1:53]

And just like that, we covered 100 miles. It’s unfathomable to think we have to do that in one go, over super hilly terrain. But it’s a start. And as I say, as long as we can get through winter okay, we can start training a bit more specific with regards to hills. Not that there’s anything remotely hilly enough near us, but an hour or two’s drive would help.

What bothers me is my leg situation. Although I struggled through the past two weeks, the pain is now non-stop, sore with every step. That is not the way to train. I have to get my hip dysplasia sorted. As long as the ball moves around in the socket, there will be pinching and pain. Foam rolling just aggravated it, stretching doesn’t help either. I am at my wits end.

Going forward, I might just try to keep walking at least. It won’t really help with fitness, but it feels better than doing nothing. Or giving up altogether. Will have to wait and see how things progress before making the final call about Northburn.