Our first group training camp with a small but motivated group heading up the Hume Fwy on Friday night – Rhiannon, Tim, Vince, Joel, Aemilia, Danni, Mike & me – with Shaun driving up early on Saturday morning. We stayed in the Not Out Inn at the Hume and Hovell Cricket Ground, an English style cricket ground built into the country side just out of Strath Creek, complete with white picket fence, weatherboard pavilion and a gentle slope down the pitch. Did I also mention the magnificent views of the green as green coutryside??

Saturday morning featured a few sessions – Shaun, Joel, Rhiannon & Vince went for a 97km ride through Wittlesea, Tim & Danni went for 55km up through Flowerdale, Mike punched out some great hill reps and Aemilia completed a good 7km run.

Saturday afternoon included a walk to the top of the northern end of Mt Disappointment, from where the view was magnificent and included a clear view of nearby land that was burnt out during the Black Saturday fires – it came very close to burning the cricket ground and buildings. The sun and blue sky made for a breathtaking view in 360 degrees. Later we completed a drills and core strength session on the cricket ground after the Twenty20 match had finished – lovely green grass. At night we hit the Strath Creek pub for dinner of mostly chicken parmas and kievs…then the tired bodies were in bed with lights out by 9:30pm!!!

Sunday dawned beautifully again as we headed out for a long run along the roads and tracks. Unfortunately some of the planned tracks I’d seen on Google maps were in fact on private land / inaccessible / otherwise, but we still found a fire trail to run a little and then back down the road to Strath Creek – the setting was fantastic through the countryside, and capped off a good weekend of training.

Thanks to the athletes who went up for a relaxing, fun and challenging weekend away. Special thanks to Anne & Don McQueen for having us to stay, and their daughter Gretchen for the great suggestion to go up there. It’s set the standard for our future camps!!

Here’s some photos from the weekend:
http://lovetherun.com.au/2010/11/07/photos-strath-creek-run-camp/