If I Win, I Lose - Thursday the 26th of May, 2011

My new Garmin GPS watch is like the swiss-army-knife of watches, and among those many varied (and occasionally bizarre and useless) functions, the watch allows me to take all the data from any previous run and "race" myself. The watch tracks if I'm still on the same course, if I'm in front and by how much / long, if either I'm rest or my "virtual partner" is, etc and is able to display all this on the watch. The key screen is a visual representation of who's in front and by how much with numerical values at the bottom, but there's also another screen showing an elevation profile and where you both are, so you can judge if your "training partner" has reached the top of the hill yet, etc, and also map and compass screens in case you're following a trail that you're really not familiar with.

But enough about that... on with the race!! Let's have a look at the major differences between the two run:

	Tuesday's Run	Tuesday's Run
Weather	Heavily Overcast	Bright Sunset
Shoes	Brooks Cascadias	Asics Gel DS Trainers
Carry gear	Nathan Gel Pack + MutationX Waterbelt	Squeezed everything into the Waterbelt
Previous 3 Day's kms	Rest, Rest, 10.5km	10.5km, 18km, Rest
Misc Advantages	Shot fewer photos	Took 1 Gel Was daylight for longer Had MP3 Player

So let's take a look at the photos:


Heading up the first hill looking into the setting sun. Unfortunately for most of the course, the sun was either behind me, or hidden behind something else, so not too many wonderful sunset photo opportunities


Part of the way up the first hill I've already opened a small advantage on... err... myself


Spent a fair bit of time trying to get a good looking photo of this chicken/rooster... My other self must have been pretty happy to catch up a little


A photo from the same spot as one from Tuesday's run


The sun dips low with Kowloon Peak on the horizon


Checking my progress as I enter the village halfway along the trail... just before the serious hill climb... Yep! Still in front


Creepy statues halfway up the hill


After gaining a bit of altitude the sun reappears, only to sink into the haziness


Another replication photo from Tuesday's run. It's easy to see here how much lighter it was on this run


Looking east towards Tiu Keng Leng, where I'll soon be. The High Junk Peak Trail, pretty much covers the entire ridgeline visible directly behind the buildings


Rocky terrain as I work my way towards the road. Luckily I only have to climb one of the next two hills before dropping onto the road and cruising down to Tiu Keng Leng


I spent *ages* trying to take this photo, but just couldn't get the camera to correctly line-up the photos. To top it off, just after taking this, I turned back towards the track and caught the side of my knee-cap exactly on a protruding stump


After wasting a bit of time taking photos that didn't turn out, I hit the road still 4+ minutes in front and gaining


Wonderful lights and reflections as I cruise past Oscar by the Sea. I'd taken a gel about 5-10mins before this so was feeling in great spirits


Another replicated photo, the shadows probably looking better in black and white, but I had more light to work with on this run


Pushing hard through the last km to try to get my average pace down below 6:00min/km (I didn't quite make it) I ended up easily besting my Tuesday self by over 9mins.

Overall, I felt that I worked quite hard on this run, the competition with myself driving me faster. The exception was, I took my time and enjoyed the trail section, where I had already established quite a lead. I felt really great the whole time and was pretty surprised by the significant pick-me-up effect that getting a little sugar into the system had on me when I took the gel.

Overall a run that I was really happy with, despite just missing my speed target.

Being chased by my own shadow!
~ Joe

A World of Grey - Tuesday the 24th of May, 2011

A long Tuesday night run was in order but since the wife doesn't like me running on isolated trails by myself late at nights (I suppose I can understand that), the High Junk Peak trail was ruled out. So I thought I'd run the "big loop" out to Wilson Trail Stage 3, down towards Yau Tong, cutting it short and heading down to Tiu Keng Leng and lastly cruising back up to HKUST. I used to run this route a bit when I was living in Hang Hau, but since I moved have only ran it twice.

Similar to the day before, the sky was heavily overcast, ensuring that the run would be soaked in grey and I wouldn't get the wonderful sunset photos as I on the last Tuesday night run. So I thought, if the world was going to be grey anyway, why not shoot everything in black and white? So I did:


The mist rolls in as I head up the hill towards the start of the trail.

Personally, I really find that black & white photography can impart a lot of emotion, potentially more than colour photography, because you're focused on the contrast and conflict in the scene, instead of distracted by the colours.


Mist Partially covers the hills further out towards Sai Kung


Passing through a village as I turn onto Wilson Trail. Most of Section 3 of Wilson Trail is paved, meaning I can move a lot faster, enabling me to get off the trail before sun-down.


Probably a little too dark, the trail winds through this valley


Finally hitting the dirt section of the trail, I really enjoyed getting a little altitude and looking down on the darkening world


Stairs on the shortish dirt section


Looking down towards Tiu Keng Leng, where I'll be in 40mins, the misty vista has an old time-y feel in the shot


I find one of the trigonometric markers scattered on almost all significant HK peaks. Whenever I find one, I feel compelled to climb atop, breathe deep and soak in all around me. Normally they're positioned in the open (so to be easily spotted), but the view from atop this one was a little disappointing, encircled by trees as it is


The light starting to fade a little prematurely due to the heavy clouds, I descend towards O King Road, and eventually Tiu Keng Leng, dropping roughly 260m in 2.5km.


As I get lower, the buildings rise around me


By the time I'm eye-level with the ~20th floor, the street-lamps have come on and windows are slowly lighting up


The Design School looks just as good at night as it does during the day


Almost to the last tough climb back up to UST, I loved the subtle shadows that played against these walls (I have quite a few obscure dark shots like this!)


Working hard up the final hills. The last climb was tough, but easier than I was expecting.


Once again, I've added the photos to the route where they were taken. Even though the thumbnail is small, you should be able to follow them top to bottom. Also easy to notice how much I prefer to take photos on the dirt trails!


The elevation profile clearly showing the three main climbs. Firstly just at the start, secondly onto the dirt trail and lastly almost back at HKUST.

Overall quite a good run, and although my overall speed was quite low, I finished strong and had a bit of juice left over at the end. I think I'll have to give this route another spin soon!

See you in the twilight!
~ Joe

A Drop in the Ocean - Monday the 23rd of May, 2011

Another weekend where I didn't get out on the trails, and another Monday where I wanted to make up lost distance. However, this time I was wise enough not to go out and slog a 15k-er in the barefoot shoes, and decided on a paved but hilly 10km.

Conditions were completely overcast, cooler than last week thanks to thunderstorms on the weekend, but very, very humid.


Small debris strew along all the roads and paths


Everything looking very grey and bleak


A crossing in the little bikepath I run along that tours Hang Hau


The little back-road track the cuts between two no-through roads. I've seen it much much more overgrown than this!


More reminders of the weekend storms. I skirted this pond on the little gutter on the right. The water was probably almost a foot deep in the middle!


Just after finishing, I noticed that I'd picked up a hitch-hiker along the way somewhere. I wandering back down to the gardens, putting him under a tree.

Overall a pretty uneventful run. Just another 10km for the tally.

I noticed halfway up the hill, that my average pace for the run so far was 5:02mins/km and wanting to go under, I made a note to work hard towards the end. By the time I'd finished the next series of hills, however, my average pace had ballooned out to 5:47mins/km. With only a couple of km left, I pushed hard to make a dent in it, knowing it was too much to totally catch. I was happy with the effort, but a little disappointed to miss my target. Best of all, no serious calf pain, just a little tightness afterwards.

See you out on the roads!
~ Joe

Going Backwards - Friday the 20th of May, 2011

After taking Thursday off, I decided on a Friday lunchtime run, but didn't wasn't to go out too hard since I was was planning a long Sunday run.

As I set out the weather was stiflingly hot. 32oC and 75%RH. Just take it easy, I told myself, don't want to burn out and not be able to run on the weekend. As I exited HKUST, I decided to run my intended route "backwards". I knew this was the harder way, but still feeling pretty positive since Wednesday, I thought that, so long as I took it easy, it'd be fine.


This little shelter is perfectly placed for a rest (not that I ever do!), right at the top of the ~1.3km climb


Already tired after finishing the road section, I move onto the trail, where the real work will start. The first section of this trail meanders past some village houses before dipping into the valley


This section is normally the hardest part of the "forwards" direction. As such, it's all downhill in the "backwards" direction. Unfortunately, because of the uneven, irregular rocks here, you can't relax and cruise, instead hopping from place to place


I finally reach the waterfall, the heat and effort so far really bearing hard on me

As I tackle the trails, the repeated hard climbs and descents grind and I slow to a walk on the uphill sections


Sweat beads on my glasses and the liberal amount of sunscreen visible sure isn't helping either


Repeated sets of stairs like this slow me to a crawl. The fierce sun beating down

Finally finishing the trail, I decide to run "the long way" back to HKUST, and enjoy a flat paved 2km where I can pick my speed back up and prove to myself that the terrain is a significant factor. Overall quite a hard run, and not the easy cruise I was hoping for. I still plan to cut back on my "barefoot" kms in the next couple of weeks, hopefully letting my calves recover a little!

"There's no such thing as bad weather, just soft people." Bill Bowerman

Catch you on the trails!
~ Joe

Karmic - Wednesday the 18th of May, 2011

This run was the ying to the previous day's yang.

Setting out, the weather was completely opposite to the day before. Bright, sunny and blue skies. A very fast turn around. My calves were quite sore, but I wanted to get a bit of distance on the clock, so I took it easy, paying little attention to my time. I cruised. The wind was blowing. The sun bright but not fierce. A perfect day to be outside.


The tangle of roads and tunnels just outside of HKUST


I cruise up the only serious hill on the route, taking it easy and enjoying the ride. This hill should feel hard, but in opposite to the previous day's run, things came very easily to me.


I wanted to shot a photo of a brilliant metallic green beetle here, but it flew off just as I was setting up. Screw you beetle, I'm going to shoot a picture of this concrete embankment anyway!


Thanks to the previous days rain, beautiful vistas are bursting over the horizons


I cruise back the "hard" way, but find it relaxing

I really had fun on this run. The route was one I'd ran hundreds of times. It was hot. My calves were sore. But I was loving the rhythm and loving the movement. Pure pleasure.

I returned to the office still hot, but fully relaxed.

Chill!
~ Joe

Taking it too far - Monday the 16th of May, 2011

A weekend with no running and a Monday where I had a work meeting in the afternoon that crushed any run plans, meant that I was hungry for a long run on Tuesday. I decided on the long lunchtime run down to the High Junk Peak trail and back. I'd worn the Cascadias on my previous outing on Friday, and have a strict policy of rotating shoes to prolong life, so I decided to run the route in the Merrell Barefoot Trail Gloves.

Immediately setting out my calves were sore. Again. Now, last week, when I set sail on my 10km in the minimalist shoes and pulled up later with very sore calves, I didn't want to blame the trail gloves outright, since my calves were sore at the start of that run too... But I think I've got enough data points here to say that, while no single run in the minimalist shoes has caused my calf pain, I have probably been wearing them a little too often for someone just starting in minimalist shoes. So, yes, I am blaming the Merrel Trail Gloves for my current hobble, or perhaps, better put: I'm blaming myself for not transitioning into minimalist shoes at a slow enough pace.

Where was I?

Oh, right. Sore calves... and a misty mountain trail:


Heading out along the road to the mid-point on-ramp for the High Junk Peak Trail


When I hit the trail, there's a list mist of rain falling and things are wet!


Still heading up the hill towards the High Junk Peak Trail. The "on-ramp" I speak of is about a 1.2km trail that climbs about 130 vertical metres


Finally up on the trail real, I've got my head the clouds and my (bare)feet on the ground


The trail can be seen twisting away here on the lefthand-side


Things getting a bit wetter as I move into the second half of the trail


Beautiful, wet, overcast conditions as I slide down the bike trail (the "hiking" trail is a series of steps... boring!)


And I literally mean slide. The thin sole of the Trail Gloves, obviously not designed to cope with really muddy conditions


The other hoof


As I descend the final set of stairs, there's an old (50+) lady carrying these bricks up the hill! Impressive

I cruise the roads back to HKUST, arriving with sore calves and about 10mins behind my normal time. I think I'm losing the most time on the downhill sections where I would be landing on my heels in a normal pair of shoes. Uphills feel very normal, and flats have an increased cadence.


While the Trail Gloves aren't the best *in* the muddy conditions, they do shed the mud pretty quick, and on returning to HKUST, their sole was clean!

In retrospect this run probably wasn't a good idea. I certainly was pining for the trails a bit, and once up on the High Junk Peak Trail, I was right in my element, loving it. But running the 14-15km route in the minimal shoes set me up for another week of sore calves and completely blasted my post-work swimming plans out of the water (I barely got 1.2km before cramping calves wouldn't let me continue).

I think I'm going to have to scale back the distance I put in the Trail Gloves. At least until my calves recover and strengthen a bit.

See you all out on the trails!
~ Joe