Maroondah Dam Trail Run 30k

Beautiful medal eh??

What can I say... I'm glad I signed up for just 30k because I would've perished if it was any further! While Maroondah Dam is a beautiful location, this event is absolutely brutal of a course with all the uphill & downhill cramped into one big ascent & descent. If you're searching for hurt, this is the one!

Anyway I've been taking it easier with events for the past months as I come full-circle in a way in terms of realising that my body can't keep getting hammered without sufficient time to recover!.. and I feel fortunate to have realise this now before any irreversible injury might have occurred, a few twisted ankles & niggling knee pains are enough reminders..

I will actually be taking a looong vacation soon from running (and that's for another higher reason altogether).. I nominated Maroondah to be the 'last' event and I feel it has been a good choice not just because I've always wanted to do this course, but I felt it would be challenging enough to allow me to push & leave it all out there on the trails.. as such it would be nice to pick up from there again once its time to do so.... :)

This year's course is in fact a brand new one, and having run the old course before as part of my preparation my preference is actually this new course.. straight up & down with all the best bits!

Check out beard-guy's huaraches! Courtesy of Piffles Inc

It's all about hill-training if you're thinking of doing this event, for me what I lacked in preparation was knowing how well my legs would hold up after more than 5k of steep downhill.. and how fast/slow I should be going to enable a more consistent 15k finishing. The race-mentality I brought with me was 'the first 15k is the one you need to worry about, after that it should be easier!'

I was clearly wrong about the last part.

I definitely had insufficient sustained downhill training & whilst I had a great time going fast on the steep downhill from Mt St Leonards, it left my legs with very little once I was back on the flatter sections.. sips of gel + heed kept me going but my legs felt absolutely wrecked. I know better now! Needless to say the last 3 hills near the finishing, small as they are, felt like 3 mountains..

Here are some fun insight notes I have put together regarding the course!

The small creek crossing in the last 5k was god-sent. The battered legs needed some refreshing & it couldn't have come at a better time. It did give me blisters but that was mainly because I got lazy with taping my toes properly. It would've been nice to have a few more creek-crossings along the way! 

Here's how my last 5k went:

Last 5k.. in a world of hurt! Courtesy of Trailsplus

I did do a more inspiring jumping shot across the finish! Courtesy of Trailsplus

All in all, I would highly recommend this event to anyone searching for a challenging course.. we were fortunate to have beautiful weather this year, the course would be a different beast if there was rain! Should think about poles if it ever does rain..

Hey its a brief entry but thanks for reading folks, its been a blast! happy running! See you on the trails soon.