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where does the money go?
08 February
Kallista to Mt Evelyn
Ellen & I walked on Saturday from checkpoint 3 (Kallisata) to checkpoint 5 (Mt Evelyn), a 25 km walk though what is widely regarded as one of the more hilly sections of the trail - these two sections incorporate Hackett's Road and the Melba Track, both of which I feel should come with abseiling gear :-) This was our longest walk to date. We walked at a reasonable pace, covering the distance in 6 hours 21 minutes, including approximately 40-50 minutes of breaks, and neither of us blistered. I was, however, very stiff in my quads and ITBs the next day, as a result of the steep downhill sections. We discussed the 'team situation' - Brendan has agreed to come on board to replace Jenelle, but during the week sadly Lisa had to withdraw, so we are still looking for a replacement team member. Then we walked into CP4 at Olinda for some lunch and got chatting to Three Aussies and a Scot who were just leaving the checkpoint - and walking with them was someone who was looking for a team! We swapped phone numbers and made tentative arrangements to catch up for a training walk next week. It seemed too good to be true ... and sadly it was. He eventually decided that he wasn't in a position to do Trailwalker this year - a shame, but understandable. So we're *still* looking for another team member. Couple of feelers out there though.
07 February
http://fourfootsloggers.wordpress.com/
We keep meeting teams on the trail -- it's fabulous to stop, have a chat and share anecdotes. So if anyone would like to leave a message for us (and commiserate with Lisa and Jenelle), we are keeping a mirror blog of this one over at Wordpress, where you can leave comments. We'd love to hear from you! http://fourfootsloggers.wordpress.com/
05 February
Another one bites the dust... (Lisa)
After four months of planning, fundraising and training, training and more training, it is with great regret that I must announce that my trailwalker campaign is over - at least for this year! I have been struggling with a niggling foot injury for some time and now have sustained a stress fracture in the same foot, making training impossible for about 6 weeks. While I am very sad not to be walking I will remain part of the team, helping out our support crew, continuing to fundraise and of course cheering the mighty Footsloggers on! I would like to thank everyone who has supported me personally over the past few months and especially thank my friends and family for their generous donations. I would like to wish our remaining two walkers the best of luck. I know they will both make the whole 100km without any problems at all. Best wishes also to our (yet to be determined) replacement walkers. Go Footsloggers!!!
31 January
Sunshocked: CP1-3 (Ellen)
Today reached 37 degrees in the city, yet for some mad reason we thought it would be a good idea to keep to our training plan and tackle CP1 (Churchill NP, Endeavour Hills) to CP3 (Grant’s Picnic Ground, Kallista), a 22.3km stint that took us through Belgrave. Four of us set off (including Brendan, who took us up on our invitation) from Churchill NP towards Lysterfield Lake. It was already hot, and we ripped through our water, but fortunately Helen met us at CP2 with more and some extra sports drinks. After an early lunch, Lisa decided to call it a day, not quite being herself in the heat. The next leg, from Lysterfield Lake to Belgrave was really difficult — because it was by then blisteringly hot and very open. I could feel myself getting sunburnt despite the sunblock. Then the climb into Belgrave almost killed us, but we knew our support crew were waiting. Sure enough, as we arrived in Belgrave, Helen’s smiling face awaited us (fine for her to smile! she’d spent the last hour in a bookshop with Lisa and Allyson!). We’d walked 19km by that stage, and here Emma decided that was enough for her. I rather think Brendan would have liked to stop too, but he obligingly kept me company for the final 3km. There was a bit of a climb, but lots of shade, and we made it to Grant’s. Woo hoo! Today clearly showed that training in extreme temperatures is stupid. Not only did there turn out to be bushfires in Emerald, but if we hadn’t had our support crew available to pick us up as we dropped, we could have been in serious trouble. We did all the right things in terms of hydration: camelbaks, sports drinks, LOADS of water. But you just can’t predict how you’re going to cope with the blistering sun. Besides, we saw plenty of evidence that some of the parks were closed because of the total fire ban. We will certainly rethink next time.
28 January
We’ve cracked $3K (Ellen)
Despite the current uncertainty in our team make-up (it looks like Jenelle will withdraw as she recovers from surgery), we have been making steady progress on the fundraising front. In fact, in the past week we edged past $3000 raised, which is amazing. Thanks once again to all who have donated. We also had a Tupperware fundraiser last week. The amount raised is yet to be finalised, but it looks like it will be around $250, which is fantastic. Thanks very much to all who attended. On top of this, we’re having an ENJO extravaganza in two weeks (Wed 10 Feb, 7:30pm). This will be a major event, featuring at least two demonstrators with parallel indoor/outdoor demos. Let’s see how many people we can squeeze into my tiny unit! If you’re interested in coming and haven’t received an email, leave a message here or on fb. Come and help save the environment as well as raise funds for Oxfam. Our next team training walk is this Sunday, when we’ll be doing checkpoints 1-3 (~22km). As previously mentioned, if anyone would like to come walk with us as an expression of interest in becoming one of the team, please do get in contact with us! We look forward to sharing our adventure.
25 January
One footslogger down . . . (Ellen)
Oh no! One of our team members — Jenelle — has suddenly had her appendix removed! We wish her a speedy recovery. While we very much hope Jenelle will be up and footslogging again with us very soon, there’s a chance we may need someone to step into the breach. . . We have been training in small groups this week. Lisa and I enjoyed an 18km ramble along the Werribee River with Lisa’s son, Charlie, on Saturday; and Emma and I intend to tackle CP3-5 on Tuesday (Australia Day). Then it’s the whole team (minus Jenelle!) for CP1-3 on Sunday 31 Jan. Anyone who thinks they might be interested in being our reserve walker is invited to walk with us on Sunday. It will be a 22.3km walk from Churchill National Park to Grants Picnic Ground, with a little more up than down. See the Trailwalker web site here for more info on the trail and contact us if you’re interested in testing yourself out!
21 January
Thinking about food - always! (Emma)
One of the things we have been talking about recently is what we will eat at the checkpoints. It has to be easy to prepare, easy to eat, likely not to give us indigestion and full of carbohydrates and protein, but not too much fat. Perhaps we should hop over to the Iron Ladies and ask them – Flip Shelton is the nutrition guru! On Sunday morning I trialled something that I think I will be very happy to eat – home made baked beans. Easy to prepare? Check – they can be pre-made and heated up by our support crew. Easy to eat? Check – a bowl or a mug & a spoon. Easy to digest? I’d say check, they’ve really got nothing in them that should hold us up, but that’s more a personal thing, as some people don’t tolerate pulses very well. Full of carbohydrates and protein? Check! I walked for hours on this, and felt, well, full of beans (sorry). I make my baked beans like this: First soak 2 cups of dried great northern or cannelini beans (small white beans) in water for a few hours. Change the water, bring to the boil and cook for fifteen minutes. Drain and put into the slow cooker, along with one chopped onion, a couple of teaspoons of mustard, half a cup of treacle, a few teaspoons of Worcestership sauce, a dessertspoon of chutney, a bottle of passata and enough water to ensure the beans are covered. Then cook on High for four hours, stirring only occasionally. Done. I freeze these in portion sizes so they’re super easy to heat up. I think I’m going to make at least one of my meals during the event some baked beans, maybe with some bread, or in a pita.
17 January
You'd think by my age I'd actually listen to advice from those more experienced than me ... (Emma)
All the advice from various podiatrists is, once you feel a hot spot starting to develop on your foot, you stop and deal with it immediately so it doesn’t turn into a raging blister. So why do I have two twenty cent sized blisters, one on each foot? Because I failed to listen to the advice and take it seriously. I went out yesterday morning and bought the recommended (and hideously expensive) tape for preventing blisters. I have taped my feet before. I failed to tape my feet this morning before our 17.8km walk, I failed to take the tape with me, and I failed to do anything about the fact that I knew I was getting blisters on the inside of my heels. Which is why, when I stepped into the shower just now, I had blisters that made it hard to walk, and one blister that actually popped when I put my bare foot down on the ground. Just so no one else has to say it … I am an idiot. Blisters aside, we had a great walk this morning. We didn’t have a team walk planned, so Ellen and I just organised this one at the last minute. We felt we walked at a decent pace (roughly 5.2km/hr when the 11 minutes of breaks are taken out), and at the end of the walk, we genuinely felt as if we could continue. We walked along the Merri Creek Trail from Fairfield to Fawkner – a frequently pretty trail, but sometimes a bit, um, industrial along the less attractive parts of it. I commented to Ellen at one stage that I had not yet felt the need to bring out the music. We had discussed at the start of this journey that we would probably want to listen to our own stuff sometimes, but we haven’t run out of things to talk about yet. Maybe that’s because our walks have been between three and five hours long – we can keep talking that long. But somewhere between five hours and 35 hours, there will come a point where we don’t want to talk to anyone else for a while. I also feel funny bringing out my earbuds when I’m walking with someone – normally I would consider that extremely rude.
11 January
Checkpoint 4 to 5 (Lisa)
Sunday Jan 10 saw the Footsloggers back together after all the Christmas frivolities. The walk for the day was the section between CP 4 (Olinda) and CP5 (Mt Evelyn). With the day predicted to be in the mid 30s we decided to get on the track early, but with the long drive to Mt Evelyn and the inevitable car shuffle, we didn’t actually hit the trail until after 9. We set off in high spirits, enjoying the shade and the picturesque scenery. We ambled along for a while, enjoying our surrounds, although occasionally being surprised at the uphill parts – we thought this section was the down hill one! Then we hit the Melba track. Well, if downhill was what we wanted, downhill was what we got… and some. This descent is very tricky – steep and slippery. We were lamenting having left the poles at home, but managed to make do with some fallen tree branches. Jenelle ended up becoming quite attached to her “Mr Stick”! We got to the bottom without any broken limbs, although poor Emma fell and scraped her knee quite badly on one of the slippery sections. And, of course, I ended up on my bum a couple of times! It is a bit daunting to think that we will probably be walking this section in the dark – it was bad enough in daylight. It was nice to see a few other teams on the track (although some of you guys are making us look SERIOUSLY slow!!) Kudos to our WONDERFUL support crew, who met us at the 10km mark to administer First Aid to Emma and some TLC to the rest of us. After a little break we headed off for the final 4.5 km. I struggled with the ascent out of Mt Evelyn reserve. I was hot, tired and my injured foot was playing up, but soon we were on the flat of the Warburton Trail and we cruised along at a good pace until we hit CP5. The support crew had lunch all organised, whisking us off to a gorgeous French Cafe at ‘Mont de Lancey’ in Wandin. A wonderfu
03 January
Back in the saddle (Lisa)
Happy New Year everyone! Well, the silly season is officially over and it's time for the Footsloggers to get serious about training. Some of us are still on holidays at the moment, so we will be using this week to gather for not one, but two training sessions. We'll ease our poor over-indulged bodies back into it by starting with a gentle walk along the Werribee River on Wednesday and then Sunday will see us back on the trail, tackling the section between Checkpoint 4 and 5. Unfortuantely I am still struggling with a very sore foot and Jenelle is suffering knee pain, so I expect Sunday's jaunt won't be easy, but at this stage we really need to get out there and "just do it!"
23 December
Along the water's edge (Ellen)
Well, Footsloggers scraped ourselves together for a final pre-Christmas team training walk on Monday, selecting a shortish, flat route along the Maribyrnong River trail as a ‘comeback’ walk. It was a gorgeous morning for it too. We met at 7:30am and by 9:40am were done, finishing up at The Boathouse for coffee and/or second breakfast overlooking the river. My shin held up OK, and I’ve been cleared by my physio today to keep training, gradually building, so long as I keep stretching stretching stretching the muscles in my right leg. The challenge will now be to keep some walking up over Christmas, before our next team training walk on Jan 10, when we hope to hit the trail again!
14 December
Walking wounded (Ellen)
After a great start to our fundraising and training campaign, Footsloggers seems to have hit a small blip. I believe all four of us walkers have some form of niggle or other. It started off being Jenelle’s toe (which was operated on a couple of months ago) . . . then Lisa developed heel and calf issues . . . Emma suffered a short stint in hospital last week . . . and now I have developed a mysterious pain in my right leg which may be a shin splint. Hmmm. Lisa has been seeing multiple specialists for the past couple of weeks, and I have a podiatrist appointment tomorrow. I have been meaning to get myself checked out as a precaution, but this has upped the urgency. It’s very frustrating, because I’m not game to do any exercise at the moment (even a shopping trip to Chadstone this evening has made my shin sing out) and I’m worried I’ll lose all my momentum. Although this is probably the fittest I’ve ever been, I know I need to get a whole lot fitter before the big weekend. Our next team training walk is scheduled for Monday 21 December. We were going tackle one of the trail stages, but then we changed it to a flat walk along the Maribyrnong Creek, since Lisa is prohibited from hills at present! As for me, I’m not even sure if I’ll be able to do that . . . But I guess it’s better that this all happens now, when we’ve got time to rectify all the issues, rather than in our peak training period during Feb/March!
06 December
Garage sale done! (Emma)
Well, we had our garage sale yesterday, and apart from anything else, I'm happy to have my lounge back. I don't yet have my garage back, really, but that will happen over the next few days. We raised $645 towards our fundraising target, bringing our current fundraising to somewhere in the order of $2,400. So we're nearly halfway there with just over four months still to go. Thank you to everyone who donated cash or goods, we very much appreciate your efforts! By the time we got to Friday evening I could barely get in my front door, so I was well ready for the sale to happen. Lisa, Helen & Ellen joined me in sorting and organising (and drinking wine) on the Friday night. When I rolled out of bed on Saturday morning at 5.30am, I was a bit groggy, because even for me that's stupid o'clock these days. But that was nothing to how Ellen and Lisa must have been feeling ... apparently they stayed up drinking wine and talking until 3.30am - I do not know how they made it through the day! Jenelle, Helen and Allyson joined us through the early part of the morning. Allyson turned up a little later with (also extremely welcome) coffees from the local chocolate cafe, which incidentally hands out tasty little chocolate treats with each coffee purchased (yay Hahndorf's!), and a chocolate kugelhopf. Astrid and her 6 month old baby Carly came along for a few hours, arriving at 6.30am, providing conversation, entertainment (in the form of Carly with her beautiful big smile) and an extra pair of eyes. So now it's the day after the sale, I have had a good night's sleep, and I am systematically working my way around the house, trying to turn it back into my calm and uncluttered space. I rarely have a calm and uncluttered space so it's more a pipe dream than the norm!
04 December
Monster Garage Sale TOMORROW, Sat Dec 5 (Lisa)
Just a small reminder about our fantastic garage sale which will be held TOMORROW! WHEN: Saturday December 5 from 7am (until midday or thereabouts) WHERE: Quarry Road, Mitcham (Melways 48 K6) WHAT: We have tons of stuff to sell. You name it, we’ve got it! *Loads of books - paperbacks, hard cover, fiction, non-fiction, children’s books, romance novels (some personally signed by the author!) *Toys – brand name stuff including Tonka, Dora the Explorer, Little People and lots of other stuff. Most toys still in very good condition (some never used!) *Baby items – including a bassinette and stroller *Brand new golf bag, never used *Clothes – ladies and kids (including some professional women’s suits in excellent condition) *Furniture – including a dining setting * Bikes *Heaps of other treasures EVERYTHING MUST GO. We are selling at bargain prices!!! Come and grab yourself a bargain and support a great cause at the same time. Thank you to everyone who has donated items to this sale, and also to those people who have advertised the event through blogs, facebook etc. Footsloggers greatly appreciate all your help.
30 November
Footsloggers finally find the trail – CP3-4 (Ellen)
After two months of frenzied planning and walking and getting excited, the Footsloggers hit the actual trail yesterday. For our first team training exercise on the trail itself, we decided to do the section between checkpoints 3 and 4. This is 10.4km, and although not our longest walk to-date, was certain to be our hilliest. In fact, we hadn’t done much in the way of hills, so it was to be our first real test. So, armed with trusty Oxfam Trailwalker map, we hit the trail — stopping after about 2 mins for a photo . . . and then after another 2 mins to chat with the lovely Linak Legs (Team 278) whom we met travelling in the opposite direction (see picture). CP3 to 4 certainly proved to be more of a challenge than our other walks to-date — the Phillip Island walk was long and dusty and HOT, but this one had HILLS. (The ambient temperature, it must however be said, was very pleasant for walking, although the rain not so much.) Best of all, we encountered the infamous Hacketts Road, a torturous climb up a steep, muddy, slippery road — it took the slowest of us a mere 25 mins, which is a mere blip on the overall scale of the total 100km walk. We conquered! Eventually we arrived in Olinda at CP4 after around 3h and 15m. Waiting for us were Helen and Allyson, our wonderful support crew, who had spent the morning driving between the early checkpoints — starting at Jells Park, then investigating CP2 and 3 along the way to CP4.They had also sussed out places for lunch and, more importantly, COFFEE, so bore us off for refuelling. We had a lovely lunch at a very nice restaurant in Olinda called Immerse. Today, we have all pulled up well, with only a few aching muscles and I haven’t heard of any blisters. I am still amazed at how well my blister-prone feet are handling all this walking. Must be the expensive Thorlo socks and podiatrist-fitted trailrunners!
22 November
Collecting for the garage sale ... coming along apace (Emma)
I've been trucking around Melbourne this week in my ute, picking up goods that family & friends have kindly donated for our garage sale. And more friends have dropped stuff of to me. Thank you! We need heaps of stuff to make this a successful garage sale, so if you have anything you can contribute to the sale, please let us know.
17 November
Morning Tea (Lisa)
Yesterday's morning tea was a great success. Thank you to all my lovely guests for your company and your generous donations. We raised $200 for Oxfam over a quiet (OK, not so quiet!) cuppa and there are still donations coming in from those who were unable to make it. Special thanks to Kristin and Evelyn for the delicious goodies they brought along for us to share. Thanks also to Kerrie McVicker who kindly donated $50 for a virtual cuppa and cake.
15 November
Girls' Night In (Lisa)
On Friday night a group of my friends got together for dinner and drinks. This group of women meets for dinner two or three times a year. Instead of going OUT for dinner this time, I suggested that we meet at my place and have a night IN, with the guests contributing what they would normally spend on an evening out to our Trailwalker fundraising. The night was a great success, with $190 being added to Footsloggers total. Thank you to Ligia, Seval, Tracey, and Wendy for a fun night and most especially for your very generous donations. xxx REMINDER: Morning tea is tomorrow, November 16 from 10-30am. Hope to see you there!
15 November
Thousand steps ... twice! (emma)
Ellen & I (Footsloggers East) tackled the Thousand Steps, or the Kokoda Memorial Track, at Ferntree Gully yesterday, while Lisa & Jenelle (Footsloggers West) went for a walk closer to home. In fact, Ellen & I did the climb twice, something I hadn't done before. We met at the car park at 7.30 a.m. - seemed a bit rude for a Saturday morning, but it was going to be hot, and I had a meeting with a client later in the morning. So 7.30 it was, to get it done early. I have been incredibly busy with work in the last few months, and my exercise regime has been flagging, rather than ramping up as it should have been. I used to challenge my heart rate several times a week, but I can't remember the last time my heart rate was above 150bpm. Until yesterday, that is, when it spent a fairly sold 2 x 15 minutes above 170bpm, and I only stopped when it got to 180bpm. Not wanting to cark it on the hill and all. Ellen, on the other hand, seemd to be skipping up the steps. Super fit much, Ellen? What was harder, really, were the descents. First time, we chose the Lyrebird Track, which is 700m longer than the 1000 steps, and a constant descent, but avoids people trying to pass in different directions on the steps, which can be narrow in places. Ellen was not keen on the Lyrebird track the second time, though, as her knees complained loudly about the constant pressure. The second descent we went down the steps, the same way we came up. I struggled on that one, with a slightly dodgy knee that doesn't really like steps, particularly down steps. Turning around and going up the steps again was, well, not a breeze, but not dreadful either. There is something intensely satisfying about seriously challenging one's cardiovascular system, and all this walking we've been doing on flat terrain hasn't even registered a blip. Today? I thought my glutes would complain long & loud, but it turns out it's my calves that are whinging. Not much though. Wonder how Ellen is?
14 November
Meet the team... Jenelle
Jenelle here, under sufferance. As the most reluctant bio writer I have succumbed to peer pressure, and the other Footsloggers have held me down and dragged this out of me. In fact, I am dictating this to Emma. I'm a primary school teacher from Ascot Vale, and Lisa has conned me into completing this walk with her. I initially agreed because I thought this may help me lose a few kilos, but I hadn't counted on the Aftermath Eating Frenzy. The Footsloggers walk well and eat well, and drink a little bit, too! Whilst most people would consider using a car for a 100km trail , I'm looking forward to the challenge of making it to the finish line on foot, and meeting lots of new people along the way.
12 November
We need you to donate your clutter please!
Emma here … the Footsloggers team is holding a garage sale on Saturday 5 December to raise funds towards our target, but we need your help! If you have any items that are saleable, and you are happy to help us by donating them to us for the garage sale, then we would love to hear from you. We can arrange pick-up if necessary, and you would have the double benefit of getting rid of some clutter and helping us achieve our fundraising target. So far, we have a BBQ, a TV, a video recorder and some clothes …. with about three weeks to go, we’re going to need more than that to attract some attention! The garage sale will be held in Mitcham. So go on, please get decluttering!
11 November
Tea anyone?
Just a brief reminder that there will be a morning tea at Lisa's house on Monday 16 November from 10.30 - 12.30. Come along and have a cuppa, a chat and a cake or two! (Entry by donation.) For more details or to RSVP please contact Lisa - lroderick@optusnet.co m.au
10 November
Footsloggers on Phillip Island (part 2)
The rest of the weekend was spent in a far more leisurely fashion. We indulged in said G&Ts over lunch, then spent some time discussing our training schedule. We marked off dates and determined which sections of the trail we intend to tackle when, and discussed some of our training strategies. Importantly, we also planned the next phase of our fundraising schedule, identifying several events both before and after Christmas. Stay tuned for notices of a garage sale, movie night, Tupperware and Enjo parties, chocolate drives, girls nights in . . . Certainly there was also much eating and drinking too. Sunday was relaxed, and we walked in along the beach to Cowes for breakie -- my latest favourite is Cafe Laguna, where the coffee is marvellous. Then we cleaned up the house and dispersed early to mid afternoon. But not before mixing up our 12 boxes of fundraising chocolates: giant freddos & caramelo koalas, strawberry freddos and boost bars. In all, it was a lovely weekend, and great that our two support crew team members could make it at relatively short notice. The weekend was truly productive, allowing us to plan our fundraising and training, so that now it's just a matter of forging ahead and making it all happen.
10 November
Footsloggers on Phillip Island (part 1)
(Ellen here) Team Footsloggers – both walkers and support crew – enjoyed a rather warm sojourn down at Philip Island this past weekend. The aim was for everybody to ‘bond’, and particularly for our support crew, Helen and Allyson, to become inducted into the Footsloggers team. It’s really important to us walkers that our support crew feels part of the team -- and I think after this weekend they really do! I should also mention that team mascot . . . er, slavedriver? . . . Orinoco joined us for the first time this weekend as well. We congregated at my parents' beach house on Friday night/Saturday morning, with the plan being to get the weekly ‘long walk’ out of the way early. Helen, in her second official duty as support crew, dropped three of us walkers off at the cute fishing village of Rhyll, which marked the start of our walk (Emma missed the start of the walk, having been called to the vet to deal with chewed stitches . . .). Orinoco, on the other hand, made his presence felt, almost dive-bombing off one of the viewing platforms along the way. We walked along the beautiful Rhyll estuary, then down through Koala woodland (where Emma joined us), after which we traipsed along various roads on the island. One of the problems with Phillip Island as a trailwalker training destination is that all the pretty walks are short and disconnected. So although the first part of the walk was extremely picturesque, most of it was fairly dusty and dull. We joked that these long dusty roads were good practice for the notorious Warburton trail . . . On the way we came across a place called Wimbledon Heights, which caused Orinoco to get VE-RY excited . . . He even insisted he have his photo taken beneath the sign of Wimbledon Street. . . In total, we walked around 17km, our longest walk to-date, and by the end felt we had well and truly earned the G&Ts (or chilled white wine) we were hankering for.
08 November
Wine, women and a womble (Orinoco)
Orinoco here . . . If these women want to make 100km, they’ve got to stop drinking so much wine! And, they’ve got to stop ditching walking for eating copious quantities of chocolate and icecream — I believe Emma had three helpings last night, and Ellen had half the tub in one bowl! Don’t they know this is a serious physical challenge? I’m starting to question my role in this team . . . They pay little attention to me — shove me in the corner of their backpack (or a glass) and then proceed to chatter away as though I don’t exist. I notice they blamed me for sleeping in on the last walk, but that’s not really what happened . . . I had lots of ideas for our first training walk and Emma snuck off without me! So yesterday was my first opportunity to see how the girls have been coming along, and I have to say they’ve got a little bit of work to do . . . well, quite a lot actually. From my vantage at the front in Emma’s back pack, I have a good view of their progress: their postures are all wrong, their technique needs work, and they didn’t get their Tidy Bags out once . . . We passed a perfectly good cushion yesterday, but not one of them wombled it up. I hope their attitudes towards the environment are going to improve! They did do well on the long flat boring road sections, and it was a hot day — much hotter than on Wimbledon Common; I would have taken my hat and scarf off (if I could)! But hey, some of them got sunburnt. I’ve given them some tips to work on before the next walk — and they’re all fighting to be the one who carries me in their backpack now!
05 November
Did somebody mention hills? (Lisa)
I spent the Melbourne Cup long weekend camping in The Grampians with my family. As previously mentioned, I live in one of Melbourne's flattest suburbs and thus, hill training has so far not featured in my training regime. I have been itching to get out on some hilly trails to get a taste of what we're in for on the big day(s)! So the weekend was my big chance to test my fitness and my nerve! Sunday morning I set off (with David and the kids in tow) to conquer The Pinnacle. Summer has come early to Victoria this year and Sunday morning was unusually hot for late October. With my new Camelbak for hydration and plenty of sunscreen we set off from the Sundial car park. The scenery on the way up was lovely, with lots of dense, shady bush to shield us from the full impact of the sun. Still, about half way up I was having serious doubts about my sanity. What was I thinking, committing myself to a 100km walk? The 4.5 km walk to the Pinnacle was making me hot, sweaty and definitely breathless. It didn't help my confidence to have my ten year old racing ahead, calling out, "Come on, Mum," every so often! I also discovered on a narrowish ledge that my fear of heights is alive and kicking! Eventually I did make it to the top unscathed. And as you can hopefully see from the photo, the view was definitely worth the climb.
29 October
More on slogging it solo . . . Ellen
This period before Christmas is going be tough from a training point of view, I think, because of our lack of team training time. I’m reading with envy all the posts of other teams who are managing long team walks! We seem to be battling pre-planned trips, work commitments, and family stuff. As I mentioned in an earlier post, we identified three, possibly four, moments in time when we can get together before Christmas! At the moment all our focus seems to be on our Phillip Island weekend in another week’s time. This is where and when we are going to plan everything — particularly fundraising. We were rather chuffed with all our friends and family donating so generously in the first few weeks and shooting us to the top of the table! But now reality has set in: we can no longer rely on good fortune, and the hard work begins. For my solo training I am not doing quite so well as Lisa! My target is to walk 23km (in total) to and from work during the week — which I’m achieving for the most part — but it’s the 10-15km weekend long walk I seem to be skipping. I plan to turn this around this weekend, when I have four days down at Phillip Island a week ahead of our group trip. I’ll be planning/trialling some long walks I suspect! However, in addition to power-walking I am also doing some weight/circuit training three times a week, so this must hopefully be helping with my overall fitness.
25 October
P.S.
Oh dear, Ellen has just informed me there are no hills on the island! I'm not sure whether to be relieved or disappointed!
25 October
Individual Training... Lisa
The team training so far has been great and we're all looking forward to spending a training weekend at Phillip Island in a couple of weeks time. In the meantime, though, we're all slogging it out individually. For me this has meant increasing my running distance slightly and adding one longish walk into my weekly exercise regime. Being the tortoise of the group, I am determined not to let the others down by lagging too far behind. I've been trying to put in a fairly consistent training effort in order to increase my stamina. This week I managed 3 x 5.2 km runs (+ a 2 km walk each run), 1 x 10.5 km walk and 1 x 6 km walk so I clocked up about 38km in total. Next week I hope to increase my runs to 6km and fit in a long walk somewhere. I'm headed to the Grampians with the family for the Melbourne Cup Weekend. There should be no shortage of nice places to walk there. I have a Personal training session booked for Wednesday, so hopefully I've got all bases covered! At the moment the greatest weakness in my training schedule is hill walking, or should I say lack of it? I must live in the flattest suburb ever! I'm pretty sure the Phillip Island weekend should give me a taste of hill taming. Only hope I don't collapse at the first hurdle!
22 October
The Wombles theme goes to a new level (Emma)
I received a treat in the mail yesterday ... a CD from UK Amazon called The Very Best of the Wombles. Some of the songs are favourites from my childhood (cue Minuetto Allegretto) but some I hadn't heard before. One track is called The Orinoco Kid, and I'm going to discuss with my fellow Footsloggers the prospect of that being 'our' song. The CD is excellent, funny as a fight (even has a Peer Gynt song, In the Hall of the Mountain King). I also ordered the complete set of Wombles TV show, ostensibly for my little friends William & Callum, but I think Auntie Memma might be snitching a go with that one!
20 October
meet the team . . . Ellen
Hi, I’m Ellen, and like Lisa I’ve decided to post a photo of me not looking hot & sweaty. There’ll be plenty of those to come! Instead, this is me during one of my favourite pastimes — enjoying a meal in a cafe with friends. I am a great frequenter of cafes, particularly those in Elsternwick where I live, my hot beverage of choice being a large skinny cafe latte, and my current breakfast of choice being the ‘Olive Bread Breaky’ at Pound2. An engineer by training, I am a technical media/marketing communications consultant by day, and at othertimes attempt to be a writer of fantasy genre fiction. I have a great love of opera, although don’t get to the theatre often enough, am an active member of a eclectic reading group, and also belong to the (nearly) renowned Supernova writers group. My devilcat, Chenna, is my not-very-companionable housemate. As far as exercise goes, walking is definitely my thing. Three hiking trips in the Cradle Mountain region of Tasmania over the years eventually led me to Nepal, which I would like to revisit and maybe one day get to Everest base camp. Perhaps after Trailwalker I’ll be fit enough! On a more regular basis, I enjoy walking to and from work (3.8km each way) as often as possible, and hate to get the car out on the weekend if I can help it. Trailwalker is not only an opportunity for us to raise money for a really important cause, it’s also giving me the chance to spend time with some amazing women — including our support crew, Helen and Allyson. We’re a fairly disparate bunch, each with quite different interests, united by aligned attitudes and a determination to succeed. We know it’s going to be really tough, but I don’t doubt for a second that we’ll make it!
16 October
Money, money, money! (Lisa)
This week Footsloggers have swung into fundraising mode. As Ellen said in her last post, we have some very generous friends and family members who have helped us to raise $700 in just two weeks.Thanks again to everyone who has contributed. We are blown away by your support. But there's still a long way to go to hit that magical $5000 target we set for ourselves, so this week we've organised a couple of fundraising activities to make supporting us even more fun! On the 16th of November I'm holding a morning tea at my place (10-30 to 12-30). Everyone is welcome!! Come and have a cuppa, a cake and a chat. Please RSVP by contacting me or one of the other Footsloggers (just so I know how many cup cakes to bake!) I'm pretty excited about our second fundraising idea. We're selling Village Cinema Movie Ticket Packs, at discounted prices. These tickets are great value and would make excellent Christmas presents. I know I'll be purchasing a few packs myself to wrap up and put under the tree! If you're interested feel free to contact any of us for a list of packs and prices.
15 October
Thankyou . . .
. . . to all our fabulous friends and family who have already donated to Oxfam on behalf of the Footsloggers team. We are completely overwhelmed by your generosity. In a mere two weeks, you have helped us reach a total of $700 raised. When we first contemplated doing Trailwalker, the task of raising the minimum $1000 looked really hard, but you have all made it look incredibly easy! Thank goodness we pledged a trifle more ($5000) to give us a challenge.
12 October
Brighton to Beaumaris: team training underway!
(Ellen here) Well, Footsloggers team training is now officially underway. For the first time since the adventure began, all four of us yesterday donned runners and daypacks for a stroll along the picturesque beach path from Brighton to Beaumaris. Dodging numerous cyclists and the occasional jogger, we soaked up the gorgeous spring sunshine and started to put ourselves through our paces. The only notable absentee was Orinoco, our womble team mascot, who slept in. For my part, I was wearing my new trailrunners and camelbak hydration pack, and both proved comfortable with no sore spots. In fact, I believe everyone pulled up very well indeed today — even taking into account Emma’s flaky feet, and Jenelle’s toenail, which was operated on a week earlier. The fact that I am prone to blisters and was walking in new-ish shoes, might go some way to prove the worth of the expensive thorlo socks! Our specific destination was the Ricketts Point cafe, where we met our support crew teamleader, Helen, for lunch. It was a lovely reward after the morning’s exertions, and great that we can start to get our support crew involved. Yes, OK, it was also a convenient way of getting back to our starting point! In total, we walked (from Elsternwick) about 15km in 3h 12 mins, which is a speed of 4.7kph. I think we will be looking to build up from here for the “shorter” distances (<20km?), so that we might be in the position to average 4kph for the full distance. (Although I am secretly thinking we might be able to average 4.5kph for the entire distance – ssshhh!) Next team training will hopefully be a weekend down at Philip Island in early November. The plan is to spend a day at Wilson’s Prom doing “hills” and a day/night walking around the island. In the meantime, I’m thinking it might be good to go check out the 1000 steps . . .
11 October
Meet the Team (emma)
Hi, I’m Emma, and I’ve got my fingers crossed that I have the mental toughness to make it through 100km of walking in one weekend. I am an industrial relations consultant, and in my spare time I volunteer with the Doncaster SES, I sail and I am exploring the concept of vegetable gardening (although I am eating my broad beans one at a time because that’s how they’re ripening!). I live with my two small dogs – Shari, a miniature wire-haired dachshund who’s a little anti-social, and Muppet, an ex-stray Chihuahua cross Jack Russell with the sweetest personality. Yes, they are my fur-kids! I took them on a training walk a couple of weeks ago, and Muppet was keen the whole way, but Shari gave up after about 5kms, and I had to carry her the rest of the way in my backpack, poor catatonic soul. I’m in the ‘I’ll give it a go but I’ll probably be the slowest’ kind of sporting basket – in school, I was the girl wagging sports day to go & get a spiral perm. I saw the light in my late twenties, and I spent a few years in long distance triathlon, did a couple of Half Ironman races, but found the running was too much for ankles that had been smashed years earlier in a skydiving accident. I also enjoy ocean racing, and am proud to say that I have done several races to Hobart, both from Sydney and Melbourne, mostly on a yacht called Addiction. Now I really love spending time outside, walking or cycling, and I have come to understand that provided I do a moderate amount of training, when push comes to shove, whether or not I finish an endurance event depends on my mind. Self-talk is incredibly powerful, so I’m also trying to train my brain to make it easier! Let the journey begin ... BTW - that photo? Me after 2 days of hiking at Wilson's Prom, so probably a fairly accurate representation of how I'll look apporaching the finish line.
07 October
Meet the Team (Lisa)
Hi! I’m Lisa. I took this photo today because I thought it might be nice to have at least one of photo of me on this blog where I am not looking hot, sweaty or otherwise dishevelled! Here’s the essential facts about me… I'm a writer and a mum. I live with my husband, David, and our three boys in Werribee (Melbourne's outer west.) In my spare time I enjoy reading, writing, walking my loyal staffy (Buffy), running (OK jogging… well, more like the Cliffy Young Shuffle!) blogging (www.themumfiles.com.au), coffee/wine/dinner with friends (you name the place, I’ll be there!) At 43 I’m the oldest of the Footsloggers and quite possibly the slowest! I imagine I’ll be at the rear of the pack for most of our training, but I am determined to keep up with my younger and fitter team mates, so I’m training hard. I first heard about Oxfam Trailwalker in 2007, when my friend, Kerrie, completed Sydney Trailwalker. I was really inspired by Kerrie’s commitment and enthusiasm, but at the time I never imagined that I would have the stamina to even consider tackling such an event. Still, I figured if Kerrie could walk 100km, it wouldn’t kill me to get off my behind and walk a few kms around my local neighbourhood. Thus began my journey to a fitter me. To my great surprise I discovered that I enjoyed running and so I began to enter a few small fun runs. I am by no means a great athlete but over the past couple of years I have enjoyed setting myself challenges and working towards them. When Ellen mentioned Melbourne Trailwalker I was excited, but scared. Was I really ready for the challenge of 100 km on foot? I consulted Kerrie, who encouraged me to go for it! So here I am. (Wish me luck!)
04 October
'Gearing up' for Trailwalker (Ellen)
Throwing myself into Trailwalker prep, I have spent a fortune in gear over the past couple of weeks: Runners (from Active Feet) — Went with Emma last weekend and got the full treatment from the Active Feet podiatrists. Was convinced to purchase new runners for pounding across the pavements. Apparently my netball shoes just wouldn’t do! (My birkenstocks got the thumbs up for recreational walking, however ) Trailrunners (also from Active Feet) — Runners with big tread for the trails. Itching to get onto a trail to test them out! [see picture of new Asics Gel Trabuco 12 -- Emma has the same!] Thorlo socks — Recommended by absolutely everybody, including the Active Feet staff. But at $35 a pop, can see me spending $300 just on socks for this expedition, if I’m to have a new pair for every stage! Currently have just one pair to try out. Skins (full length) — I had never heard of these, but now know there are about five different brands of compression gear (or ‘high performance clothing’), which costs ~$140-180 for a pair of full length tights. Decided to go full length to help calf muscle recovery, which is where I tend to feel it. It remains to be seen whether they’ll be bearable in hot weather. Camelbak (pack with hydration system) — This is today’s purchase. Spent over an hour in Anaconda, traumatising the staff with my indecision and wanting to try the various ones on. Ended up with the Camelbak brand — model is Helena, which is a womens fit, with cargo of ~22 litres and 3 litre water bladder. It’s a bit larger than I had planned, but I figure I don’t need to fill the whole thing up, and the larger size will be more flexible in the long run. Which I would appreciate, given the $180 price tag! That’s it for the moment. Still on the shopping list are a heart rate monitor and appropriate shorts/tops to walk in . . . No doubt there is more I haven’t thought of yet!
02 October
So who is the cute, furry little guy? (Lisa)
Meet Orinoco, our lovely team mascot. Why a womble? Well, why not? Jenelle and I used to live not too far from Wimbledon Common and we spent many hours walking around the surrounding area (occasionally even searching for wombles!) Emma is a bit of a closet womble fan (I believe she may even own some womble music), so when a team mascot was discussed she bravely volunteered to hunt down a womble to accompany us on all our trailwalker adventures. Within hours of taking on the challenge Emma located Orinoco, who was kind enough to agree to tag along for the ride. Expect to see a lot more of our furry friend.
01 October
Start Walking (Ellen)
So now we have a team, and a name, and a philosophy, we have to start walking. Being four busy women hailing from different locations in Melbourne, we already know that it’s going to be hard to schedule in team time. We’ve identified three dates before Christmas when the four of us can be in the same place at the same time. Just three. We’re trying for a fourth, but as it’s around Christmas we can’t quite seem to pin it down. The plan for pre-Christmas training is to build up base fitness. ‘Experts’ recommend walking 30-40km per week, including a longer walk of 10-15km. Given our busy lives, the blip of Christmas, and the fact we’ve got over three months to prepare in the new year, I don’t think there’s much point doing any more than that. As far as I’m concerned, it means I walk to/from work three times a week (23km), which I’m already doing, plus fit in a 2-3hr walk (10-15km) on the weekend. Our first ‘official’ team training walk is on October 11. But last Sunday (20 Sept), three of us met up at Studley Park for a preliminary walk (unfortunately Jenelle missed out due to a stomach bug). We started at the Studley Park boathouse, looped out past the Fairfield boathouse, then returned via the Collingwood Children’s Farm. It was a gorgeous day and our spirits were high. We kept the pace pretty low, not wanting to stretch ourselves too much just yet. We’re feeling our way and testing our boundaries. Not all of us are regular walkers, so it will take a little time to build up speed as well as stamina and toughness. The 13km took us just under 3 hours, which is 4.3 km per hour.
01 October
Journey begins (Ellen)
Trailwalker is something I heard about a couple of years ago and immediately wanted to tackle. It was at about the time I was doing a series of 15km charity walks, and Trailwalker sounded like the logical next step. (Yes, OK, the next BIG step!) Yet Trailwalker is not something you can decide to do next weekend if you happen to be free. It’s a challenge that requires much training and preparation. Somewhat fortuitously therefore, I was reminded of Trailwalker a month or so ago and made the decision almost immediately. With more than six months to plan and prepare, I was going to put a team together. Several of my friends answered my call for expressions of interest. Lisa in particular was majorly enthusiastic and we fed off each other’s energy in a mad frenzy for a week or so until Lisa convinced her friend Jenelle to come onboard and Emma (first of my friends to put her hand up) also took the plunge. So we had a team. After our first team meeting, where some of us met for the first time, we had a team name, first team training date, and general team philosophy (our goal is to finish, nothing fancy!). In the end, Lisa, Jenelle and I nattered on until 3am, convincing me that our team is going to get along famously! We have plenty of organising to do: fundraising to achieve, training to schedule, gear to purchase, support crew to marshall (although I must admit we’ve got several volunteers already!). It’s going to be a long, all-consuming journey for each of us, and we’re going to come out the other end different people in one way or other. (Certainly fitter people!) The more we plan, the more I realise just what a huge challenge it’s going to be — physically, mentally, logistically. But I am so looking forward to it. Hey, who am I kidding? Trailwalker is not something you ‘look forward’ to, it’s something you experience for the entire lead-up to the event. From here until April 16-18, my life is Trailwalker. Go Footsloggers!
