Facts? Will try to keep feelings out of this bit…. time for that later.

The first 5 breaks were held to 60 seconds or less (except for 1 at 4 hours when nature called and I had to go downstairs). Karam and I trialled those little gel absorbing plastic doohickeys quite some time back (in the squash doubles trial) which work really well but there wasn’t enough privacy during this trial run for that lark. I took in more fluids during each break this time – about 750 ml – but not quite the 1L I was aiming for. Lesson learnt: Less than that leads to no peeing which is not great. More than that may lead to too much of that which is also not great. But then again it will be July and we could have one of those 30 deg heatwaves on the go in which case …

Overall I managed to drink 3L of water and OJ (3:1 ratio with electrolyte drops), 1L of chocolate milk and 2L of plain water with electrolyte drops. There were no problems with those.

I had bought a milky caffeine bottle drink which went untouched. I did drink some yesterday and whilst it was ok it won’t be cheering me up much! Green and Blacks or Marshfield Chocolate ice cream (not to drink!), now that is a different story. Hmm wonder if there is a sponsor in there somewhere….

Food wise the intake was light given it was just an 8 hour run. I started the morning with porridge, butter and honey. Lunch consisted of fresh pasta with pesto and parmesean cheese which was a treat. I didn’t bring mini flapjacks that I have previously had and didn’t miss them. I did forget to buy the polos. There were no chocolate/sweets kicking around. I also had somesome vegan coconut/mango yoghurt which and grapes, both of which I didn’t use. Lesson learnt: Still not sure what the food regime will look like on the day but clearly somethings are better than others – keeping a list of that.

I banked enough time to have a 21 minute break at 6 hrs 8 min ish and had another 2 min unused I could leave in the bank. I took the break so that I could have a chat with Beth Bond who had watched from 2pm to the break, to to stretch and also see what effect a long break would have on the next hour. It was tough going to get started again as the body wants to shut down. Lesson learnt: Perhaps getting on a bike for 5 min before going back on may be a good idea.

The outside of my right knee got very sore from 4.5 hours in and it was then a mental battle with that until the end of the trial. It was not interested in bending and take weight. Also trying to split step off it (so we’re not talking about split step at high competition pace here but a split step is a split step in my book) was painful and not something it was willing to allow me to do. Walking afterward was difficult. I was able to walk up stairs slowly but properly. It was a different story going downstairs as the knee didn’t want to bend and take weight. However, within 24 hours I was haring up and down stairs and walking just fine. 48 hours later and I was back on court having a tough lesson working hard on both legs with no bother whatsoever. Go figure eh? Lesson learnt: The chimp is a tricksy creature. Don’t allow it free reign.

On the other hand, the left leg, which in all previous trial runs has caused me untold grief, was in rude health and there were no issues there. Whey Hey!

Pain is real but … When that knee started I could feel the bubble around me getting smaller and smaller and zeroing on the knee. Given the conversation I had with my physio Joanne 3 days earlier about this exact thing it was a little concerning I could not find my way out of it. However I kept going and completed the full 8 hours and walked off court knowing I could have kept going despite the pain. The fact I was able to play walk fine 24 hours later and play this evening clearly indicates, to me anyway, this is more a mental/body wanting to protect itself thing than some real physical thing. Well, I’m sticking to that story! Lesson learnt: Need to work on mental side of this whole process.

Playing with a double yellow ball and a very light racket is not a great idea unless the ball stays really warm. My right wrist got very very sore. The bottom of the racket also kept driving into the palm of my hand on some high backhand volleys. Lesson learnt: Don’t let the racket slip and don’t play high backhand volleys. Learn to hit the ball properly without knackering myself so the ball stays warm 🙂

Beth was very pleased with my progress. I can’t quite remember the exact words but they were something along the lines of “Best I have seen you move and for the first time it looks like your whole body is moving as one rather one bit at a time, even when picking up a ball and even with the pain in your knee”. Lesson learnt: I am making progress even if competitive results have not yet caught up. Take on board all the postive feedback received from all quarters – really listen to it and let it sink in, no REALLY listen to it and let it sink. This is vital free fuel.

The new courts are fabulous. The new floors are so much kinder on the body – so, so much kinder. Lesson learnt: Nothing really other than the correct equipment is probably quite important.

I ditched the double knotting of the shoe laces and the ankle gripping technique for normal lacing. As a result it was much faster to get the shoes off and on!

I was able to play at a slower pace and therfore didn’t feel the need to change my socks or shorts for the first 6 hours. I did change my shirt every hour (simply because I like feeling dry and it is really easy to get on during a drink break) and coz it feels great to show off the 1 and a half pack I have worked so hard for.

Most of the time the HR was around 115 except for the first 2 hours when it was in the 130-140 range despite taking it easy. Lesson learnt: More work is required on the first two hours when the adrenlin is high at the start to manage that better.

I was fortunate to have some good banter with most of the volunteers. This was a huge plus – coz as we all know laughter is good, reallly good. I must work on my jokes and see if I can make Karam chuckle (not too much mind or he’ll double over in hysterics and the attempt will fail).

If a ball is tight against the wall it is a far better thing to leave it be. The fewer clangs against the wall/glass the better. Less painful for the wrist and shoulder. There is no glory to be found in scraping a ball off the wall in this attempt.

During an interview on TMS, Australian fast bowler, Mitchel Johnson talked about singing “Let it Go” from Frozen whilst running into bowl. Perhaps I shall start singing Comfortably Numb or Sledgehammer!

That’s all she wrote for this post – I have a far more interesting thing to write about in the next day or so. Stay tuned ….