Time to get my feet out on the trails

I've read a great review about the ALTRA Lone Peak from fellow Austrralian and CWU competitor, Andy Hewat: "They (Lone Peak) perform well on any trail, the rougher the better and the refreshingly roomy toe-box coupled with the zero-drop makes them attractive to the barefoot brigade looking for a shoe to wear in ultras."

After some rain in Cairns I was keen to head out in my new ALTRA Lone Peak 3.5s to do the Crystal Cascades - Lake Morris - Redlynch circuit on Saturday. Didn't get as far as I would have liked for a number of reasons:
1. Tried to figure out how to put on a plaster on my foot. Yip, that was a new experience. I had no idea and it took like three plasters to get it right. Sounds ridiculous, but for someone who never wears the stuff, it was a bit of a learning curve for me. Will need get some more practice with this over the coming months.
2. Distance was further than what I remember. Once I got up to the top of the hill (a nice steep climb of about an hour), I discovered that it's another 9km on the road before the next trail to come back down and another 3km back to the car from there. Was already 5pm by the time I got to the top of the hill so decided to just head back down the way I came.
3. Forgot my poles.

I had a seriously informed visit with Dr Jeremy Hawke from Tip to Toe Podiatry Cairns on Thursday last week. I got so excited, I booked a second appointment and saw him again yesterday. WOW. What an eye opener that was. I just wanted to get a few minor calluses removed, but Jeremy is helping me with a bunch of other stuff, most of which I can't pronounce the names for! I've got a few stretches to do, some nice foot cream to moisturise my feet and a pair of toe separators to try out. Both my little toes do the 'bend under the fourth toe' thing, and that does sometimes result in blisters.

As soon as I step up my intensity of my running by just a very small margin, I get a sore back. Jeremy thinks he knows a possible reason for this and he's going to work with me to see if we can fix it. I'll have to update you on this later, as I don't know the names of the muscles involved - they are at the front, in the pelvic area.

My training was a bit hampered this week with other commitments. And as it turned out, I was tired so needed a few days rest.

• Sunday morning we have the Dynamic Running Clifton Beach Series #2, Race #2. 70-odd competitors. 
• Year 12 Graduation Dinner (5 or so of my students graduated) on Monday - normally I do the Arrows circuit, so I had to head out at 3pm and do the short Blue Arrow to get back in time for dinner. Forgot my poles AGAIN. What the?
• Tuesday I went out to dinner with the Zonta Club of Cairns and I'm looking to sign up as a member, so that will mean more volunteer work on top of everything I already do with Dynamic Running.
• Wednesday - gym session with 'Train with Elaine', followed by an easy run with a few ladies from the Beginner Runners' Clinics. We went to the Botanical Gardens to do a couple of mile repeats. Finally got the new charger for my Garmin GPS watch so recording my  runs on Strava again. For the past few weeks, I've just been running on time, not distance. May work out how  
• Thursday - ended up at the Botanical Gardens again, and a few other spots. 

The 5 sessions of Pilates is adding up and making me tired. Will settle into a routine soon enough.

I didn't run on Sunday or Tuesday and that was good. In my training cycle I'm on the lowest mileage week of the 4-week block, so it was good to have a bit of a rest.