Blog

It's simple, I love running and most of all I love running in bare feet!  While I did start in shoes like almost all runners, I quickly moved into barefoot shoes.  Then, after about 5 years of road marathons I took the plunge and threw the shoes away altogether!  Since then I have run two road marathons in bare feet without a scratch.  Rocky trails were much harder and after about a year of trying I couldn't get past 25km without doing damage so I'm now back in minimal Vibrams which seems to be the perfect compromise.  I still do grass oval speed work barefoot which is awesome.  Fast forward a couple years I have completed two 100km ultras in Vibram V-Trails and while my feet were mostly fine for that distance, my goal of completing a 100 miler is not going to happen in such minimal shoes.  Research led me to Altra's Lone Peak shoes, which so far have been amazing.  Zero drop and barefoot feel might be the next compromise I need to reach my goal.  Guess we'll see!

 

Follow me on Strava

 

Friday 27th September 2019
Date:
By JP

I left it a little late to build up for this race due to sickness, recovering toes from kicking a tree root and a holiday.  All that said, though, I did have a good 4 week block where I could get in some good miles so I decided to go for it and register for the race.  I'd either make it through the training or break something. 

... more
Category: Trail Events
Saturday 17th August 2019
Date:
By JP

Little Wobby isn't technically a part of the GNW but it is a part of the GNW 100 course so I'm including it!

This exploration started off at Patonga beach, which is the start of the race.  I followed the GNW course up the climb to Warrah Lookout and wow was it incredible.  It was then mostly fire trail until near

... more
Category: Training Runs
Sunday 4th August 2019
Date:
By JP

UTA was a massive journey both physically and mentally and now that I had achieved the goal of completing it, it was time to focus on a new goal - getting moving again!

 

Honestly, I was pretty banged up after UTA and after a couple weeks of walking I started running again only to discover a cranky ITB.  It was only

... more
Saturday 6th July 2019
Date:
By JP

This week it was back to Girrakool but striking out towards Somersby to check out the other section of GNW.  Just like last week this was incredibly beautiful but subtly different.

I first made the descent along Piles Creek and over the suspension bridge then made my way along Mooney Mooney Creek and under the Mooney Mooney bridge,

... more
Category: Training Runs
Saturday 29th June 2019
Date:
By JP

Gearing up for GNW 100K it was time to do a little more exploration and see what I was in for!  This time I headed down to Girrakool to go visit Mt Wondabyne, the highest point on the Central Coast.

 

The route was 30km in total and was an out-and-back which consisted mostly of technical single trail and a little bit

... more
Category: Training Runs
Saturday 18th May 2019
Date:
By JP

Well, I made the start line!  A little undercooked but I made it!  I was told 20% of entrants don't make the start and then another 20% that start don't make the finish.  The odds weren't in my favour but I didn't care.  I just wanted to run and see how far I could go.

 

Standing on the

... more
Category: Trail Events
Sunday 5th May 2019
Date:
By JP

Still feeling a little bit limpy from my Jabulani fail I got into the physio as soon as I could.  With UTA only 6 weeks away I was feeling pretty shattered but hopeful things would still work out OK. 

My physio was quite confident that I hadn't torn anything, which is good.  She said my soleus is just super tight

... more
Saturday 6th April 2019
Date:
By JP

The last few training days before Jabulani I started with a niggle in my left calf.  It felt like the kind of niggle that will go away once warmed up but as it turns out,  I was wrong.

I started the race with the best intentions but after the first 5km I knew things weren't going to play out well.  The niggle was

... more
Category: Trail Events
Tuesday 22nd January 2019
Date:
By JP

Last week I hit 60km a week again, which is almost back to where I need to be in prep for Mount Solitary 45km in April and then UTA100 in May!  I still don't know how I'm going to manage UTA100 by May but I just need to trust my training and hopefully make it through without injury.

The last 6 weeks of building 10% per

... more
Category: Training Runs
Tuesday 25th September 2018
Date:
By JP

After an awesome weekend away I was keen to reach my goal of running again without walking intervals.  Hopefully by the end of this week that would be a reality.

I kicked off the week with running 800m per 1km for 5km.  I built this up over the next few days until finally knocking over 5km on Saturday.  Now, not sure

... more