0 Hit The Dirt. Your Fitness Will Thank You

Best way to get an extra fitness boost from your weekend long run?  You don't have to go longer or faster.  You just need to hit one of the off-road trails that abound in Melbourne.  I took this photo this morning as I ran through the bush, next to the Yarra River less than 7kms from the centre of Melbourne.

There are so many benefits to running off road.  Let's start with fitness.  I could definitely feel myself working harder than I normally would on a smooth concrete path.  The trail undulated, twisted and was covered in rocks and roots that needed to be dodged.  This means that I had to adjust my stride and speed and direction constantly, working muscles harder and pushing my heart rate above where it would normally sit.    Experts agree that trail running has a definite fitness advantage over a similarly paced road run and apparently the constant adjustments to your body position are great for working your core and improving your overall balance.

The first thing you notice when running on dirt is how much softer and more forgiving it feels than concrete.  As someone that does quite a few miles on the roads around Melbourne, I definitely notice the constant jarring that road running inflicts on my body.  Running off-road, whilst making me work harder, leaves me feeling a lot less banged up after a long run, and I find that my body recovers a lot faster.

Running with music is great.  I love zoning out to music when I run, putting together playlists depending on the length of my run.  As I ran through the bush this morning I made a point of taking out my earphones to just enjoy the sound of birds, river and distinct lack of cars.  It was amazing how great it felt to not have SUVs and annoying trucks whizzing by a couple of feet away.  There was also the fact that I had the whole trail to myself.  We've all had close calls with people on bikes not paying attention, or got annoyed at the folks that like to walk two abreast on a narrow pathway, preventing anyone else from getting past.

Bottom line though, it's just great to run somewhere different, where your mind is forced to be present and you can feel like you have escaped the concrete jungle, if only for an hour or so.

The Yarra River around Fairfield and Studley park is the perfect place to get off-road, without having to leave the city, and if you plan your route right, you're still close to great cafes.

Shoe company Salomon are putting on a Trail Running Series around some picturesque locations in Victoria during the colder (muddier) months.  You can find some more info here.

0 A Cold Morning Commute

This morning was the first really cold morning of 2012.  It was a real struggle dragging myself out of bed this morning at 6am, and I could very easily have stayed in my nice warm bed.

I made a great purchase last year and bought a long sleeve Merino wool jersey from Vintage Velos .  Not only is it warm on a chilly day, but super comfortable and harks back to a time when men were real men.

Suitably layered, I set out to ride some hills along Yarra Boulevard in Kew before work.  While Kew is a bit out of my way, I love being able to incorporate some hill climbing into my morning commute.  The great thing about Yarra Boulevard is that there is almost no traffic early in the morning, and there is usually some other cyclists around to either provide a cheeky draft if you're tired, or someone to chase if you're feeling fresh.

It was a nice easy trip to work after this along the new and improved Main Yarra Trail.  Because of the cold and rain, there was very few cyclists or pedestrians to contend with.

As you can see from the picture above, there was some absolutely cracking weather this morning in Melbourne.  Unfortunately there was also a LOT of icy showers that set in to an annoyingly constant rain by the time I was 30 minutes into my ride.  This is where the Merino wool became a liability, and by the time I got to work, I was soaked, freezing and feeling and looking like a drowned rat!

A great plus of my ride this morning was the performance of my new Continental GP4000 tires.  They are fast, smooth and corner with real stability in the wet.