WEEK 2

A days rest after the Waiheke ordeal, we were back in training early Monday morning with a quick jaunt up Mt Albert, easing out those screaming muscles and trying to remind them just who is the boss of these bodies!! Tuesday followed with a longer trail - 15km up to Great Nth Road, on to the summit of Mt Eden and back home via Pt Chev shops for a well deserved coffee (not sure if this is part of the recommended nutritional guidelines for this training ... but hey?!). Wednesday was another light day, back up Mt Albert and by this time the bodies were finally starting to feel almost normal again. Thursday brought its own interesting challenges - we had decided to start painting the outside of our house, but the weather had turned somewhat changeable, so we spent most of the day up and down scaffolding and ladders, dodging showers. Being very aware of our leg muscles by this time, it became extremely obvious just how many leg muscles are used to balance atop said scaffolds and ladders. Then at 5pm we headed off to Huia to join the 'Huia Bush Runners' for our first outing with them into the Waitakeres. The run started with a gruelling uphill on Exhibition drive, leaving me questioning my own sanity, never mind Brent's. Then it was up and over the fence and into the bush, over roots and trees, through the mud and finally out into a clearing. From here the track took us along the old train tracks, through a tunnel then onto the Hillary track. The upper part of this track had been recently upgraded and was nicely gravelled, however this soon petered out to become aptly named 'the Slip'. Running totally out of control down steep, muddy, uneven tracks certainly gets the adrenalin going, but did nothing for my beautiful new pink and black trail shoes which came out the other end looking more like bumper boats than high end sports shoes!! - edged in at least 5cm of mud all round, The rest of the run/walk was on gravel roads, past awesome scenery, up and down for what Stuart informed us was approx 5km round trip. All in all a rather pleasant hour in the bush. Friday morning we were back to Mt Albert summit and home via the coffee shop (if this coffee thing isn't part of the training diet, I strongly suggest that it should be!). Our local coffe shop is 'Trinity of Silver' in Mt Albert, and the lovely owners Prabhakar and Estella, have kindly agreed to be our first sponsors on our Trailwalk - Thank you! Awesome stuff!
Saturday dawned and it was time for a bit more distance. I had been checking out a few destinations and mapping them on 'MapMyRun' (an quick, easy to use tool if you are training for something or just to see how far you are moving - check out the link in our favourites). We finally decided on a warmup walk/run to Onehunga Basin (Beachcroft Ave) - which was just over 9km, follwed by the Coast to Coast Walkway from the Manukau to the Waitemata - another 15km, making a total of 24kms. The weather to start was somewhat cool, with intermittent showers, however we were setting such a scorching pace that the rain dried off instantly - yeah right! (You can check out the walkway on the Auckland City Website - see the coast2coast link in our favourites.) This time we were prepared with more 'on-the go'-type snacks and of course plenty of water. Things on the leg front went suprisingly well, however this time I was plagued with stomach issues, which ensued in regular and somewhat hasty 'pit-stops' at various public facilities! So, if you ever need to know where to locate a public toilet in Auckland - just ask me!!! Today is a rest day - aaaaaaaaagh! Time for much needed R & R, and to reflect on where to from here. As far as fund raising goes, Brent & I, are planning to do some busking - at the very least we figure people will pay us to stop playing if they don't like it OR alternatively, offer up their donations to hear more and support Oxfam.
Our team 'Loose Coverz' is to be made up of 4 people. At present we are being joined by our good friend Ramesh, and are still looking for our 4th team member. Any takers??? If you feel that this is you, please contact us asap by email or text or phone. We need to confirm our team by Wednesday 27th January, so ..... rattle your daggs!

THE PREPARATION BEGINS

As is our way......we jumped into our preparation at the deep end, going from a 5km morning walk to a 25km hike across Waiheke - the Wharf2Wharf (16.01.10). We caught the ferry from downtown Auckland at 6:45 to Orapiu, and by 8:30am we were off on our way to Matiatia wharf 'a pied'. The first 13km to Palm Beach were reasonably pleasant with the excitement of a beautiful day, some interesting company and great scenery making the up hill and down dale terrain quite bearable. From this point on however certain parts of our anatomy were reminding us of thier existence and demonstrating their dislike of this prolonged exertion. We kept up a steady 6km/hr pace however right to the end, despite the last 5km being the longest that I have ever travelled. From Matiatia wharf we hobbled onto a ferry home 3hrs55mins after leaving Orapiu. By the time we arrived in Downtown Auckland we were both almost seized up in our seats and very aware of the fact that we had some SERIOUS training to do before we would be able to complete 100km!! For the next few days we 'winced' about the house, even something as ordinary as getting on and off a chair became an event of epic proportions.
What we have learnt from this:
1. Preparation is everything!
2. Having a spa helps soothe aching muscles
3. Make sure you take snacks that you can eat while you walk. (We had scroggin, muesli bars, and lots of water which were great energy boosters along the way but we could have done with some more as by the time we got back to Auckland we were ravenous!)
4. We need to put some serious mileage behind us before we will be ready - Oxfam suggests about 75km a week at this stage going up to 100km before the big day - APRIL 10th!!!

SMALL BEGINNINGS

Once we moved to our new house in Mt Albert, Brent and I started a daily tradition, walking to the top of Mt Albert and back. I don't know how it came about but from this small beginning, and our desire to 'pay it forward' we found ourselves registered to complete the Oxfam Trailwalk - 100km in 36hrs. (for more info see the Oxfam Trailwalker Link on our list of favourite sites). This blog will be a record of our training, trials and tribulations and eventual completion of said task. As well as the physical side of this endeavour, each team is required to fundraise for Oxfam to the tune of at least $2500, however the more money we are able to raise the better. Oxfam are very visible wherever there is help required after a major tragedy such as the recent Tsunami in Samoa and the Earthquake in Haiti. So... this is a majorly good cause to be supporting; a chance for us to test ourselves, physically and mentally and for you all to share vicariously through our blog and hopefully this will inspire you to become involved yourselves or just get moving!