I took part as one of the "core walkers" in the inaugural autismwalk charity fundraiser last June. This walk is a 24 hour event that takes place in a local park around a walking track, and as a core walker, I was expected to be out on the track for the majority of the time. I logged 16 hours out of the 24, and covered 81 km, which is among the top contenders for the longest walk I've ever done in 24 hours. However, one or two rogaines in years gone by are in a similar ballpark for distance, though I didn't have access to the same level of technology to log those accurately back then.
After the walk, it was back to basic fitness training in the gym for the rest of the winter and early spring, into October. I also did some outdoor fitness work with some of my teammates once a week during this period. As regular training ramped up during October, my self directed work tapered off.
In late October, I was awarded "Runner of the Year" in my team for the 2013 - 2014 season at the fire brigade's annual awards presentation dinner, which capped off a good season.
The fire brigade competition season started on the last week of November, through to early March. This year, we ran quite well, managing to take out the season aggregate in our class. I had a fairly good season, though some hamstring trouble took the shine off it. The first time was in late January, but fortunately, I was taking the next competition off to participate in the Pride March for the CFA's first official involvement, and the following weekend had no competitions, which gave me plenty of time to rest. The second time the issue came back was in my first home and reel event at the state championships in March. Somehow, despite my injury, and that of one of my teammates in the same run, we kept up with the opposing side and even won the heat! Being the first day of competition, this had a significant impact for all of us, as it meant we were a couple of people down, and I was not available for the usual heavy workload.
Initially, it looked like I was out for the weekend, but I was able to run my usual position on the ladder in the pumper and ladder event, because the only physically stressful part was the vertical climb, which wasn't affected. I also managed to run the Y8, but in a different position, again where I could avoid some of the stresses. Turned out I still had quite a bit of useful power, despite the injury. Finally, on the last day, probably the riskiest event being the hose and ladder 5 event, I had to sprint the entire length of the run, before climbing the ladder. Despite some soreness, the sprint went well. Unfortunately an unrelated slip on the ladder cost us a place. In the end, we came up with a couple of minor placings for the 3 days, which was good, given that the team was severely disrupted, missing one key runner altogether (the other injured person was out for the weekend), and myself being limited in what I could do.
In the end, I identified a couple of key issues to address for next season. Firstly, it looks like I have to pay more attention to hamstring strength during the summer months, especially over the Christmas break and the weekends where there's no competition. Secondly, I'm not happy with my speed. With the power I have, and other traits, I feel I should be able to go faster in a sprint. I also need to pick up a second or two for the hose and ladder event, to ensure I can get to the top in sufficient time to win the state championships. Something isn't coordinating quite right, and my running form is a little unusual at higher speeds. A couple of weeks later, during a Street parade march, I did notice that while my legs were in perfect time to the band, I had trouble with sensing where my arms were. Past history suggests I can find ways to compensate, if I find the right way to train. This is still under investigation, stay tuned! - Tony
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