Xmas 5-Days Orienteering

This year's 5-Day orienteering carnival was in the Jindabyne region, using the same maps as the Easter Carnival.

Left home on Boxing Day feeling sore and out-of-sorts. Sore knees from the trail run the day before; sore neck from sleeping badly (I think); dehydration(?) headache; and tired and generally below par. Got about halfway along the Murray Valley Hwy before calling it a day. Veged out under a tree before pitching the tent to escape the flies.


Gang-gang cookatoos crunching seeds at the rest area

Next morning, drove through to Cooma for the first event. Big group of us staying in a lodge at Jindabyne.



All courses Red 3, Women's B (W35).

Day 1: Mt Gladstone

Start time: 16:19
Course distance: 4.9 km
Actual distance: 5.9 km
Time: 1:35

Very hot. No water left at the first water stop - I was wearing the fuel belt with 500ml water, but I was hoping for a top-up. Walked because of the heat, and had a straightforward run. Sore, hot feet in my orienteering spikes with hot-spots across the top of the smaller toes.

Day 2: Glenbrook

Start time: 08:54
Course distance: 5.2 km
Actual distance: 7.1 km
Time: 1:49

Crap run - just couldn't read the map detail. Very rocky terrain, and the contours just looked like a bunch of squiggles which I couldn't make sense of. Debrief with John afterwards, which helped. Wearing Trail shoes instead of spikes, and feet were a lot happier. Shoes covered in screw grass seeds. Hot.

Day 3: Cootralantra Creek

Start time: 09:00
Course distance: 5.0 km
Actual distance: 5.9 km
Time: 1:30

Same map as yesterday, but course looped in the opposite direction and went further out. Had a much cleaner run, and it all made more sense. Still very hot, even at 9 o'clock. Still walking. Terrain included a lot of open farmland, covered in grass which was going to seed, and millions of flies and grasshoppers. So we all ended up with our shoes (and socks for those who didn't cover them up) covered in grass seeds.


like at any sporting event, there's a loo queue

Day 4: Buckenderra

Start time: 09:16
Course distance: 5.1 km
Actual distance: 6.5 km
Time: 2:04

DNF'd. Hard, technical map. Hot, windy and dry. Millions of flies; and too many controls hidden out of sight amongst the rocks. After control 11 (out of 19), I'd had enough. I was getting stressed (heat and frustration), my head was tensing up, and I wanted out. Headed back to the finish by the shortest route I could find, and it still took half an hour to get back. As I clambered over the last fence into the finish area, another orienteer came up to me with a cup of water. I must have looked pretty bad at that point, and started to feel a bit weepy.

Had a swim in the lake and lunch under a tree, and felt much better afterwards.

Day 5: Wainui Bay

DNS. Same location as yesterday, but further north around the west side of the lake. I'd decided that I'd had enough of battling heat and flies, but went down anyway to be part of the action and pick up my map. Tried to look sympathetic as everyone came in hot and bothered and covered in scratches. No regrets that I didn't go out.


Lake Eucumbene at Buckenderra

Christmas Run

The plan was an out-and-back run along the trail from Monbulk toward Emerald, following the creek, with the turnaround point wherever. The DRNP Walking Tracks brochure calls this the Tourist Trail, so I was expecting something 6 feet wide, groomed, with a metal surface. Hah.

It's singletrack (my favourite), ranging from slightly overgrown (okay) to majorly overgrown with stickyweed and blackberry grabbing onto my running tights, and scratching my face, neck, and arms (not so okay). Sweat into blackberry scratches really hurts!

The bonus of an out-and-back run is that I avoided the worst of it on the return trip by running on the road.

Oh, and Mr Melway could do with some instruction in the difference between left and right. The track isn't marked at many of the road crossings, and the Melways has it incorrectly marked in several locations - causing me to spend a bit of time searching for the trail. I mean, how hard can it be to get the track on the correct side of the creek, and in an approximate location (not 50m further up the road). Grrr.

My turnaround point was Avard Picnic Ground where I had a 10 minute break and ate a whole Energy Gel and a cup of water.

I was happy with the way I ran - and I probably ran 80-90% of it, at what I call "Trotting pace". Because it was reasonably flat, I could keep my heartrate relatively level too - average 150bpm. Which had the added benefit of not tiring me out. It took 2 1/2 hours to tire my legs out - usually my energy levels give out way before that. Nice and cool - maybe 15 degrees.

16.2 kms in 2:46. (MB says 17.0 kms, elevation gain 914m - it didn't seem that hilly)

The scales were back to 73.4kg last night, and 71.7kg after this morning's run. Probably slightly dehydrated, so won't read too much into it.

Walking	21.4 kms
Running	32.0 kms

Detox Day

After tipping the scales at 74.8kg this morning, I realised that the last few days have caught up with me: 2 x BBQ on Wednesday, BBQ on Thursday, takeaways and general overeating on Friday. So today was a detox day: grapefruit juice (freshly juiced) for breakfast; regular muesli and banana for brunch; watermelon, green vege juice, and another small bowl of muesli during the afternoon; and rice and lentils for dinner. Followed by a walk to the shops and an icecream for dessert. :-)

Mowed the lawns (by handmower - hard work cutting those stalky things), and washed the car for my exercise during the day.

Speed Session #3

Well, these aren't getting any easier! Completely exhausted at the end of the second lap (actually, about 100m into it, and sooo wanting to stop!) - still breathing hard after my allotted recovery time, and a 4WD drove up with a couple of large dogs, so I called it a day. Sunny but cold (foggy breath).

lap	distance (m)	time (min)	pace (/km)
1: medium jog	488.7	2:27	5:02
2: fast jog	491.0	2:05	4:16

Total: 3.5 kms

Came home to a riot of Rainbow Lorikeets. About 50 of them all over my deck squarking at each other. Noisy creatures...

And my good deed for the day: I saw a wallet lying on the side of the road, so took it home. No Driver's Licence or business card, so no way of contacting the owner (does your wallet have a contact phone number in it?). Eventually thought to try the local phone book, and sure enough, Mr D lives just down the road. He was very pleased to get it back.

Street-O @ Templestowe Valley

Powerwalking. 5.3 kms. Stayed within Westerfolds Park, and did a bit of cross-country navigation. Nice walk - not too strenuous. Came in early: 55 mins.

BBQ dinner afterwards. I think I'm all sausaged out...

Street-O @ Canterbury Trails

Well, the cool change came and went, leaving it still pretty warm at 7pm. Bit of a struggle to start, but warmed up and was running well towards the end. 6.7 kms. Average pace 6:45, average heartrate 158 bpm, although I noticed it had dropped out at one stage.

We had the DROC Xmas BBQ in Canterbury Gardens afterwards, with probably 50 people staying back for a BBQ dinner.

I want to get my pace down to 6:00 - which works out at around 5:30 running pace, with the extra 30 seconds allowed for stopping at controls and reading the map. I think my running pace at the moment is okay - although I've been ignoring the Gizmo while I'm actually out there (I have it on the HR display). But I'm spending too much time walking - to rest, and to read the map. I really don't want to cut down on my map-reading efforts (that way leads to disaster!), so I guess I need to work on the resting part. Perhaps slow to a basic trot rather than drop back to walking.

Hah. This getting back to fitness lark is a lot harder than it looks.

I won't go for a walk tomorrow morning - it's nearly midnight already, and I need my beauty sleep. :-) But will walk the Street-O tomorrow night, and get another BBQ in before Xmas!

Morning walks

MON: jumped out of bed early, and headed out on a long loop along the road marked "steep". 5.8 kms

TUE: rolled out of bed after listening to the radio for 20 minutes, and followed my nose until I woke up a bit. 5.2 kms

WED: hot, hot, hot. 22 degrees at 6:30am, and 25.5° when I got back. 5.1 kms. Just hope the expected cool change comes through before Street-O tonight.

Street-O @ Dingley Village

Dead flat course, mild night (but still sweaty running weather). Did a quick warm up first, to try and shake the aches out of my feet (didn't work). Felt like hard work running around, but it was all over in just over 37 minutes. 5.6 kms. Average pace 6:41.

Heartrate monitor doing funny things all night. When I first switched to the HR menu, I was doing 240bpm (I don't think so). Every second time I looked down, it had dropped out. I'm pretty sure my heart was still beating. So I don't think tonight's stats are valid. The graph is way too spiky to get any meaningful information out of it.

LSR @ Olinda

Headed out to somewhere different this morning - to the Dandenong Ranges National Park at Olinda. I started at from the Woolrich Lookout, which is reached via a fairly hairy gravel road. It was cold and windy at the lookout, but cool and calm once in the forest.

large pond behind a wire fence

Lookout Rock

The plan was to be on my feet for 2 hours, and I didn't much care whether I ran or walked. I stopped to take a few photos on my way through R.J.Hammer Forest Arboretum, before navigating through the complex track network. I had a copy of the Melways page(s), but Mr Melway doesn't differentiate between wide open track, and overgrown tumbledown track. As a result, I spent about 1/2 hour fighting my way along Rifle Range Gully Trk. Note to self: don't do this again. If I wasn't climbing over fallen trees, I was crawling under them, or pushing through soaking wet ferns, or avoiding blackberry traps. I like singletrack, but this was a bit too much. Completely unrunnable.

I had half a gel once I made it out (at the 1 hour mark), and made a point of sticking to tracks called "Road", until I looped back to Georges Trk which I knew was more road-like than track-like. Had the rest of the gel 40 minutes later at the start of the long uphill trek back to the car.

I'd given up running at this point, but my heartrate was staying within Zone 3, so I figured I was still giving myself a decent workout.

12.1 kms, in 2:15. Average heartrate: 141 bpm.

Elevation profile


EDIT: MotionBased has me at 13.4 kms. Elevation gain +1403m. Strewth! Perhaps that's where the extra kilometre comes from, in which case, I'll take it. That 1.4 km climb was hard work!




Weekly Stats:

Weight	73.1 kgs ▲
Walking	18.9 kms
Running	27.7 kms

Speedy Friday

Even though I ran hills last night, I thought I'd try and stick to my Friday speed session. Even though it was raining this morning - pissing down, in fact. Wearing full body armour (both ankle braces), I trotted down to the footy field to warm up. About 2 minutes after I left home, I knew this was going to hurt!

Measured a slightly longer route around the paddock, avoiding grass, puddles, and anything ankle-biting. The Gizmo measured it as 477m and 519m, so I can either split the difference, or come down in the weekend with the bike/computer to measure it out. So take the distance and pace with a grain of salt. The times should be accurate though.

lap	distance (m)	time (min)	pace (/km)
1: medium jog	477.8	2:31	5:18
2: fast jog	519.0	2:07	4:06

After 2 laps, I'd had enough. The second lap was hard work on tired legs!! Trotted back home through the rain, to the amusement of two council workers taking shelter in the park.

Total: 3.4 kms.

Street-O @ Bundoora Parade

Did a Northern Series event tonight because I'd missed my run yesterday. Northern maps are always hilly, and this one was no exception - not as bad as Mooroolbark last night though. :-)

6.0 kms, average pace 6:48, average heartrate 159 (max 176). Hot and sweaty.

I've been experimenting with what to eat and drink after a hot run like that, and the combination that seems to work (ie, no dehydration headache or sugar shakes) is a 600ml bottle of Gatorade straight after the run, and a whey powder protein shake when I get home - sometimes an hour later. Oh, and tonight I'm having Rotary Club Whisky Cake for dessert, because Barry was selling them last night. Mmmm.

Street-O post-mortem

It's always fun setting a course, and getting the reaction from the suckers, um, participants afterwards. But boy, it's hard work! I crawled into bed last night feeling pretty knackered, and had problems getting out of it again 8 hours later.

So, no womble this morning.

But everyone seemed to enjoy the course, and yep - everyone complained about the hills. *grin*

Morning Perambulations

TUE: 5.0 kms. Sunny, not too hot.

WED: 5.1 kms. Overcast, cool.

No run tonight, as I'm setting the Street-O course. It's in Mooroolbark, and it's very hilly, heh heh heh...


thought for the day, from the orienteering email bulletin:

********************************************** There ought to be a better way of starting the day than by getting up in the morning. **********************************************

Street-O @ Valley Reserve

AM: actually got out of bed with the alarm, and headed off for a 5.8 km womble. Starting to heat up already...

PM: Street-O. Very Hot and Hilly. 6.2 kms. Plodded around fairly slowly with lots of walking breaks. Average pace 7:10, average heartrate 157 bpm. Ankle is fine... but the foot was sore across the top when I worked it in any way.

Weekend Wrap

SATURDAY: pottered, potted, and planted in the garden. Rested foot.

SUNDAY: run through Sherbrooke Forest before breakfast. String measurement of 8.4 kms. Average heartrate 146. Slow.

Foot was okay, but I took it easy. It got a bit sore, though, in the late afternoon - it would hurt when I flexed it suddenly, but not when I stretched it out. Damn thing.

Saw my first lyrebird! It's times like this that I wish my eyes were better (I don't wear glasses while running, and contact lenses are too uncomfortable for all but special occasions). I saw the bird at the side of the track forraging through some leaves, but couldn't see much detail until I crept closer. At which point it took off into the undergrowth.

Weight	72.9 kgs ▼
Walking	21.7 kms
Running	23.3 kms

Aborted Speedwork

In an attempt to bring a bit more structure to my "training", I've earmarked Friday mornings as a speedwork session (reps, TT, etc). So this morning, I trotted down to the local footy field, set the lap counter and jogged around the gravel drive to check distance (478m) and set a benchmark time (2:27; 5:08 pace). Nicely warmed up, I set the lap counter again and ran off. Stepped across a rabbit(?) hole and wrenched THE ANKLE. FUCK! Hobbled to the edge and sat down to contemplate what I'd just done to myself (not good), holding the ankle tight to prevent any swelling (not good). The pain stopped after a few minutes (good) and I walked home slowly with relatively little pain (good), just feeling a little delicate on my pins. Plunged it into a bucket of cold water, and dug out the compression stocking. Grrrrr.... not happy. 2.9 km in total.

Happy Birthday To Me

I don't usually do birthdays, but work has been frustrating recently, so any excuse to take a day off.

Headed down to Mornington Peninsula. First stop was a quick blast of sea air at Rye Ocean Beach. I've always lived close to the coast, and these last two years in Melbourne is the first time that I haven't been easily able to go for beach walks. I do miss them.

Then on to a spa and massage at Peninsula Hot Springs. Very nice. Haven't had a natural spa since leaving NZ, and the massage was a hundred times nicer than the one at the gym a few weeks ago. Bit pricy though, but nice to do for a special occasion.

Late lunch of Greek Fruit Salad (off the breakfast menu) at the Spa Cafe.

Then drove to Arthurs Seat State Park, and went for a two-hour walk around Arthurs Seat Circuit Walk, TC McKellar Circuit Walk, and the Seawinds Gardens. With camera, and wearing my new Fuel Belt for the first time (bought while I was injured). 6.8 kms.



Early dinner at Arthurs Hotel, before the 90-minute drive back home.

Street-O @ Mont Albert

AM: womble, 4.4 kms. The world was very fresh after the huge downpour we had last night. Took the camera and got a few interesting shots.



PM: Street-O, 6.1 kms. Made several bad route choices trying to get across the railway line, and took a long walking break while I tried to figure out how to get out of the mess I'd got myself into. Running okay though. Average pace 7:06 m/km, average HR 158 bpm (same as last time), max HR 180 bpm.

Tuesday

Morning womble 5.8 kms.

Have been reading our orienteering club's latest newsletter, full of newsy items about events that I missed for various reasons, including my ankle - the club champs, the club relays, the Oz champs, the season-ending novelty events... and regretting that I didn't do them.

I'm used to seeing my name in print all over the results pages, and I only got a single mention this time - apparently I got third in W35A for the State Series Bush Competition. Must check that on the VOA website.

Next year I will be a lot more involved in the club.

Street-O @ Cathies Corner

Fairly hot, fairly hilly, and definitely better than last time. I even think I was the first C course female home, but that doesn't necessarily mean much.

5.9 kms, average pace 6:59 m/km (under 7:00, wahoo!)
Average heartrate 158 bpm, max 175.




Morning womble for 4.8 kms.

Sunday Sleep in

Woke up this morning in a couldn't-be-bothered mood, so stayed in bed. Missed the CR Xmas Wobble (sorry guys). Couldn't-be-bothered doing anything more energetic than walking up the road to get the Sunday paper. Read, pottered in the garden, and went for another (unmeasured) walk.

Was tallying my mileage for November - 160 kms! I double-checked. Twice. That's huge. Most of it is walking - and the 5km morning walks are really adding to the total. I'd only just started doing them before I trashed my ankle, so this is the first month where they've been noticable.

Weight	73.1 kgs ▼
Walking	19 kms
Running	23.6 kms

Physio Visit #5 and Sherbrooke Forest

Physio Andrew says I'm cleared to run. Just as well really! He didn't ask if I'd started running again... and I didn't tell him. I passed the balance test, and he had me jumping and hopping down the corridor. All good.

Went for a run through Sherbrooke Forest in the late afternoon. Another long slow run for 8.3 kms. So not particularly "long", but the light was fading and I opted out of a second loop. Overcast and cool. Knee was taped and well behaved, and the ankles wore their braces. Kept my heartrate out of Zone 5, with an average of 148 bpm.

Friday

Yes, the knee was upset. I gave it the day off yesterday, and took it for a gentle walk this morning - mind you, it was too HOT at 7am already to do anything more than "gentle". It appears to have forgiven me for Wednesday's punishment. I'll tape it next time. 4.3 kms.

Results from Wednesday night: I wasn't last, and there were 3 DNFs. There were also a number of DNFs in the As and Bs, so I think a few of us found it hard-going.

Street-O @ Camberwell Central

Not Happy Jan.

Very long C Course - 9.0 kms. And given that C course is supposed to be ~6kms, I really can't see where I could save 3kms in my route choice. The As and Bs said their courses were long too - it's as though the course setter set it for a normal scale of 1:10,000 when this particular map is 1:12,000.

Ankle held out okay, although the right knee was complaining (hilly course), and my energy levels were very saggy. I actually got the sugar shakes when I got back in, and it took a muesli bar and most of my bottle of water to feel human again.

Average pace 7:09 m/km, average heartrate 161 bpm.



Bit worried about my knee.

Weary Tuesday

Weary womble this morning. 4.2 kms. No residual Bad Bits from last night's run apart from general tiredness. As I was getting into bed last night though, I noticed that my ankle had turned into a ping pong ball. So I wore my neoprene compression bandage overnight, and this morning it was back to normal.

Also forgot to mention yesterday's womble of 4.7 kms. Slight knee tenderness on downhill bits, but again, everything behaving okay.

Street-O @ Endeavour Hills

Very Hill-O

Up and Down-O

Legs of Jell-O

Out of Puff-O

Hard Work-O

Sore Legs-O

Ankle Okay-O :-)

Took the world's worst route choice for 6.3 kms. Average heartrate 158 bpm, max 186 bpm! Average pace 7:42 m/km, max 4:22 m/km. Lucky it doesn't record minimums.

Lazy Sunday

Slept in, and did nothing more energetic than walk to the shops to buy a Sunday paper and a bunch of yummy fruit and some Nestle chocolate (on special). Yum. :-)

Weekly wrapup

Weight	74.3 kgs ▲
Walking	16.0 kms
Running	20.4 kms
Weights	2

LvSR @ Sherbrooke Forest (DRNP)

Ventured back to the scene of both ankle injuries, wearing my "unlucky" running tights, compression stocking on the left ankle, ankle braces on both feet, and with the right knee taped. Thus armed, I planned a couple of loops from Grants Picnic Ground - one loop down to Micawber Tavern and back up Coles Ridge, and a second loop down Lyrebird Walk and Neuman Track. The Gizmo turned into an expensive wristwatch as soon as I was under the tree cover, but my string measurement showed that I covered 10.0 kms.

Perfect weather for a long run - cool, maybe 16 degrees, and overcast.

Wore the HRM, with the aim of keeping my heartrate within Zone 3 - which I mostly achieved with an average of 147 bpm (zone 3.7), and a max of 167 (4.7).

Probably ran (shuffled) about 80% of the way, walking up the steep un-runable bits, and one long walking break on one long uphill slope. Running VERY SLOW, but was comfortable, and the only ache came from my shins on the first long downhill. And I've figured why my inner thighs were sore - because I'm running so much slower than before, my legs aren't moving as much. So my strides cover a much shorter range of motion, which doesn't let the muscles stretch out. Towards the end of the run, I was a bit achy at the top of the legs, and really wanted to stretch out and go for it - even though it was an uphill section!

Soon.

Went for a remedial massage at my old gym this morning (before the above run), and got yet another new person. This one didn't really understand "sports" massage, and the only remedy she exacted was to lighten my wallet. So I ended up covered in oil (including in my hair - ugh, glad I didn't wash it last night like I'd planned to), smelling nice, but no better off than I was before. I might try the sports clinic where my physio hangs out - I'm pretty sure they have a massage therapist who should be able to do me a "butt and back" massage.

Threw some weights around last while watching The Biggest Loser. I don't generally like reality shows, but ones like this are good motivators!

rest dayz

Had trouble getting out of bed this morning, so skipped the morning walk for the second day in a row. Did a short weights workout last night, while watching the gymnastics and then some kid who wants to be a Line Dancing star. Guess I should have gone to bed earlier and saved myself the achy breaky heart...

Ankle was swollen last night too, and didn't want to stretch out. Possibly because I spend about 3 hours yesterday in boring unproductive meetings in boring uncomfortable chairs with no opportunity to move around and keep the blood flowing.

Park-O @ Yarra Bend

Stayed entirely within Yarra Bend Park, so the terrain was a mixture of hard-packed paths, grass, and lumpy stuff (taken carefully, so as not to upset the ankle). Started off slowly again, but after the first few controls, I had warmed up, and the aches went away.

I wore the HRM, and you can see from the half-way point in the graph below where I stopped watching my heart rate, and started watching the clock! Average HR for the run was 164 bpm, peaked at 181; average pace (including stops and walks) was 7:13 m/km.

5.64 kms in 40 minutes.



Was "sharing" my aches (and running progress) with Eric and Robyn afterwards, when Eric suggested a bath to ease my sore quads and dodgy knee ligaments, and Robyn suggested Radox. So I did... Had a lovely soak for half an hour. :-)

Tomorrow will be a REST DAY.

Wobbly Wednesday

Walked 5.0 kms this morning. Wore the HRM, and had trouble getting it out of Zone 1! Didn't have the energy to do anything too "brisk".

I'm full of achy bits - I presume as a result of Monday's trot:

• twingey right knee (last appeared in March); so it's taped already for tonight's "run". It's not really knee pain though... it's more like nerve pain when I swing my lower leg sideways, swivelling from the knee (does that make sense?);
• sore inside thigh muscles, like I've been doing side splits or something. This one's got me - I have no idea what's caused this (no, nothing kinky happening in the bedroom), and I've never had it before (unless I've been doing side splits);
• but the ankle's okay. :D

The knee's a bit of a worry, but it's a score event tonight (by time, not distance), so I'll go out for a 45 minute C course and see what happens.

oh, and had a d'oh moment last night. I was playing with the Gizmo through the Training Center (telling it my new Max HR) when I dragged the screen to a larger size... and noticed the graph appear at the bottom of my runs (the top window took up the whole space). Now, I've always known the graph was there - because I also have it installed at work. But the one at work is the beta version (since removed from the Garmin website), and the one at home is the version that came with the toy. I always assumed the graph was part of the beta version only. *slaps forehead*

Thoughts on heartrate training

Following on from this thread on heartrate training: for a while now, I've been meaning to wear the HRM on my morning walks, to see what HR a "brisk walk" generates. I then want to keep the same level on a "slow run"... so, in theory, I can continue slow running for as long as I can continue brisk walking.

Hitting the web for a Max HR for my age and gender (220 - age doesn't work for me), I found this one: 205 - 1/2 age plus 5 if female = 191. This site says to add 5 to 10 beats if elite or accomplished runner, so I'll keep that in mind for when I become an "accomplished runner"... :-)

I also need to "teach" the Gizmo what my Max HR is. I used the HRM a bit when I first got it, but I've since upgraded the software, which zapped all my history.

Tomorrow, if I remember.

Tired Tuesday

Morning plod took longer than expected - so I guess last night's run hadn't left my legs yet. 5.8 kms (in 68 minutes).

Just tired though, no pain and no swelling, so all is well in the world.

Street-O @ Glenfern *Run*

I RAN! I ran I ran I ran... ha ha ha. I'M BACK. *huge grin*

Short for a C Course - 4.7 kms - and it was all over in 36 minutes (average moving pace 7.36/km), but I managed to run the majority of it, even up that nasty hill, heh heh.

My goal was to run low and smooth, to keep the pounding to a minimum. Wore the compression stocking and the ankle brace, and the ankle never even twitched. The foot held out okay too - a bit uncertain at the start, but no pain, and no noticable swelling an hour and a half later as I write this. Tomorrow will tell the full story though.

Also went out for an hour's walk this morning for 5.1 kms. Very chilly 6.4 degrees.

In denial

So there I was, Friday night, sitting on the couch watching TV, when I notice that my left ankle is very swollen. Huh? What? How? Nooooooooo... no no no!

So the compression stocking is back on, and the swelling has gone back to "normal."

I will be running soon.

SATURDAY: long walk around Seville, taking in the Chandler Road loop plus the Howard Rd deviation back to Warburton Hwy. 7.8 kms.

SUNDAY: drove into Mooroolbark Heights to set a Street-O course for next month. Walked three separate sections looking for cool places to hide controls. 7.6 kms in total.

Weight	73.2 kgs
Walking	37.1 kms

Street-O @ Mt Eagle

After last night's "feel good" event, I decided to do another Thursday (northern) event. We all got a bit of a shock when the A3(!) maps were handed out. They're normally A4, and the scale hadn't changed... fortunately only the middle part of the map had been used, so just a cumbersome waste of paper.

Did the equivalent of a C course again. 6.0 kms. Came in with 40 seconds to spare. :-)

Foot seems a bit swollen, but maybe just because of the heat. Couldn't be bothered going for another little run - no energy, and I've developed a blister on my right/other heel. I never get blisters! Not on my feet anyway. Maybe my socks are too worn. Maybe too much walking in my running shoes.

Can't wait to start running!


Lots of dark alleyways and narrow walkthroughs. A fascinating corner of suburbia.

Does anyone know how to nudge Google Earth back onto the tracks? I wasn't really walking through houses and snake-infested grass.

Street-O @ Wattle Park

I feel so much better after this. It's amazing what a brisk walk will do for you! On my way to the event, all I really wanted to do was to go home and crawl into bed. Afterwards, I felt almost normal!!

5.7 kms. Ran out of controls, and came in 5 minutes early. Average pace 9.51 min/km. I wasn't pushing it at all - just walking at a comfortable, albeit "brisk" pace.

I even went for a little run after I finished - just to the toilets and back - to see how the foot felt. The ankle is fine - the foot is still sore. There is some swelling deep within the joint, and this is what hurts when I put more than my bodyweight on it.

However, it looks good for an attempt at C course on Monday. I actually did the equivalent of a C course tonight - 11 controls. So I know the distance is do-able, even if I have to walk lots.

Saw paulc in his CR cap in the crowd at the beginning, and saw a motorbike heading off as I came in. Was that you, Paul? Silver helmet. I didn't recognise the bike - but it was low and it purred. :-)

Wednesday

Still feeling very flat. The drugs combination of sudafed/telfast appears to be holding the worst of my symptoms at bay, although my nose is still congested. Didn't do anything much last night: did a bit of sewing, a bit of bird watching, a bit of cat chasing, and a bit of tele watching (CSI was a repeat). In bed before 9:30pm. Slept like crap - woke up at 2am, and stayed awake until 5ish. Then slept through til 7:30am. Cold: ~6 degrees. Hurry up and get better.

Tuesday

Where do birds go when it rains? Most birds seem to find a dry tree or something, but the very wet, bedraggled pair of galahs on my deck this morning were a sorry sight.

I opted out of my morning walk. It was still raining, and I woke up with a cold. My nose is all stuffed up, and my throat is still sore.

All winter, I didn't get so much as a sniffle, and now my body's defenses have gone haywire because some stupid plant is flowering somewhere. Ugh.

Apparently, I'm not alone though. When I came in early at Street-O last night and made my excuses, several of the others mentioned that they'd been sneezing a lot and had scratchy throats too. Great, but I'm kinda over it. I'd like my body back thanks. By the time I got home, my nose was out of control and my whole face was itchy. And my arsenal of drugs wasn't working.

Street-O @ Rowville Lakes. 5.1 kms.

Had a dentist's appointment this morning to replace a couple of fillings (one of which had chipped). I was tossing up whether to postpone or not, given my current unpleasant state. But it's amazing how the body reacts when it has something more interesting to stress over. My nose was fine, and the only tingling on my face is the anethestic wearing off.

I have the morning off work, so we'll see how it behaves this afternoon. I have something new to go to tonight, but I might skip it until next week if this hayfever/cold doesn't subside.

Introspection

I'm a bit disappointed that I didn't lose any weight last week. If I'm walking off 900 calories (with I think is overrated, but never mind) on any particular day, then that's... 900 calories at 9 calories per gram of fat... 100 grams of fat, right? So why aren't I 100g lighter?


And... *laughs* ... this injury has finally made me take notice of what I eat - specifically how much JUNK I eat. My diet has been a LOT better in the last 7 weeks. Oh, except for right now where I'm eating a Boost bar because I feel ratshit with hayfever. Have just taken a sudafed on top of the telfast I took this morning. You're probably not meant to mix the two, but right now I don't care. I just want to chop my nose off. Would look prettier than the red mess it's turning into.

Mondayitis

Major hayfever attack on Sunday night (same as last Sunday - coincidence?) which didn't respond to drugs. Then woke up at 3am this morning with a really sore throat. Urgh. No better at 7am when I went for my walk. 5 kms. 8 degrees. brrr.

Oh, and then the bloody car wouldn't start. Again. grrrr. Fortunately this time, my wonderful mechanical neighbour got it started with his superpowered battery. The car obviously doesn't like being started (yesterday), driven for about 30 seconds (to move it out of the way), then stopped. Something electrical perhaps...?

Weekend Wrap

FRIDAY: our work Xmas party. A cocktail party at the Rialto, with live band, free booze, bad finger food, and a dance floor.

My ankle held out perfectly in my 2" heels. I'm very impressed with it - it feels so strong, even though I was being carefull on the dance floor. It's currently at the 7-week mark, and I think I'll start some slow runs at 8 weeks (shhh, don't tell Andrew).

Little black dress: $130
Hairdressing: $50
The look on people's faces when they recognised me: priceless


sorry about the focus. It's hard to take pictures in the mirror!

SATURDAY: moved rocks.

SUNDAY: dug out a small corner of the garden (where the rocks were), and finished the last of the mulch. Short walk around Seville. 3.4 kms.


I'd moved this feeder to the deck, and the lorikeets were letting me come within 1m!

Oh, and I am winning the battle with the neighbour's cat. Turn the garden tap to "Nuke", dial the trigger attachment to "Jet", and from the deck, I can reach the far corner of the garden. Nyah, nyah, nyah...

Weight	73.2 kgs
Walking	37.2 kms

Street-O @ La Trobe University

After deciding that I needed to stay in bed for a bit longer this morning, I thought I'd go to Street-O tonight to make up for it.

The La Trobe map is always "interesting." It's a love/hate relationship really - fantastic map and area, a real bitch to navigate in! Had to abandon my hunt for control #8 after I took a short cut (hah hah) and wasn't exactly sure where I popped out. And with only 5 minutes to get back, I didn't have the luxury of hunting around for it. Raining off and on all evening, and fairly chilly.

5.7 kms.

Taking it a bit easier to let the ankle recover from the last few efforts. I need it in tip-top condition for tomorrow night.


nice to finally get a map that's within the hi-res part of Google's Earth.

Street-O @ Ringwood Wilds

oh, oh. I've become a Competitive Power Walker, lol. Nothing casual about this stroll in the wilds. 6.6 kms, average pace 9.17 min/km.

11.9 kms for the day, 952 calories.

Wednesday wobble

Problems getting out of bed this morning. Eventually stumbled out the door and plodded around for 5.3 kms.

I went down a dead-end road that looked like it might join up with another dead-end road. It did, but the houses along this road are amazing. At the "good" end of the street are houses with huge cottage-style gardens, meticulously kept, and really stunning to look at. And as you get towards the rough end of the street, the houses get more and more derelict, until you get to the last one - sitting on probably a couple of acres of prime real estate, with a hillbilly-style ramshackle patched weatherboard house, a barn at a crazy angle, and about a dozen vehicles ("cars" is too polite a term) in various states of disintegration. I have to confess to just staring at all this for a few minutes before moving on.

And then there was the late-middle-aged woman on the Warby Trail, with a late-middle-aged german shepherd plodding quietly by her side. She started talking to me when we were about 10 metres apart, and I didn't get away from her for about 5 minutes! Is it going to rain today, did you hear about the raids in Sydney, shocking, how can people think like that, they view women as objects/slaves, don't like the West because women are equals, and so on and on and on... I guess she was an active feminist in her youth, *shrug*, now she's probably just lonely.

mud fingers

I'm testing my willpower. I'm sitting at my desk at work, and I have half a chocolate mud finger in front of me. How long can I hold out before I eat it...? ha ha.

Walkies this morning: 4.3 kms. Slight drizzle. I ran a few steps across Warburton Hwy this morning (damn traffic), and IT DIDN'T HURT quite as much as it did the last time I tried it.

Physio Andrew says that the pain is coming from the residual swelling deep within the joint - so I'm not doing anything bad to my ligaments, and the only reason that I'm not allowed to run yet is because my balance isn't good enough. Oh, and the reason that my balance is shot is because I tore all the nerves along with the ligament, and it's the nerves that give you the sense of where you are in space (ie, they tell you to land on the bottom of your foot, not your side, for eg). And nerves don't regrow once you've cut them, you have to grow new ones. Hence the balancing act to train the new nerves in what to do.

Street-O @ Clarinda Circuit

am: walkies - 5.3 kms

pm: massive powerwalking PB at Street-O: 6.5 kms, and back with 20 seconds to spare. Raining at start, and included a toilet stop near control #9 - so thoughtful of Steve to include conveniences on our route! AND... a single-digit average pace (9.45 min/km).

11.8 kms for the day (977 calories). WOW!

Gallery-O @ Flinders

What? I hear you ask. Well, "Gallery-O" is an excuse to travel to Flinders to visit the art galleries. The "O" part is an informal Metrogaine/Street-O set by Judy on a Melways map. Followed by lunch at the Bakehouse Cafe.

The walk was good. It was Q&A style, so no one had to put out any controls. I did 5.2 kms, and the ankle was happy the whole way around.

By lunchtime though, it was all starting to unravel. I had a slight (dehydration?) headache, which didn't help my mood much; and after I'd had my sandwich, I developed a clogged throat feeling that I get sometimes when I've eaten something my body doesn't agree with. It feels like a huge blob of something stuck in my throat, yet drinking fluids doesn't do anything to "push it down". So opted out of gallery-hopping and drove home. Flopped onto the bed for a 90-minute nana nap, then had a massive hayfever attack. Really explosive sneezes, and a nose that stuffed itself as soon as I'd blown it. It eventually settled after bombing it with various drugs. But I feel wrung out, and completely incapable of doing anything more energetic than veging out on the couch.

weekly wrap:

Weight	73.2 kgs ▼
Walking	23.4 kms

Physio Visit #4

We have attachment! Andrew tells me that the 3rd ligament is now nicely attached back onto the bone where it should be. He's also happy about the occasional puffball effect on those hot summer nights. He's not so happy, though, about my shocking stand-on-one-foot-with-eyes-closed performance this morning. My goal is to stand on one foot, on a cushion, with my eyes closed, for 30 seconds. HAH. My few attempts at this feat (feet?) without the cushion and with eyes open have highlighted how much leg strength I've lost over the last 6 weeks. I stand on one leg until my quad screams enough, then I swap legs.

Then spent a productive afternoon in the garden. I finished forking over the last of the weeds, then (after lunch and a nana nap) went for a walk past the local shops. I'd noticed the Seville garden centre was still open, so I called in to order 3 cubic meters of mulch. Would I like it delivered today? Sure! So I walked straight back home again to lay out a tarp on the front lawn. Half an hour later, I was shovelling mulch onto the garden. I'd done about 3/4 of it, getting more and more tired with each barrowload, when I stumbled and landed on my bum. And called it a day.

Friday walkies

Thurs pm: dug dirt for an hour

Fri am: walkies. 4.5 kms

It occurred to me that I've been making too many excuses about why I shoudn't go for walks in the morning. There is no good reason why I can't walk the morning after a Street-O walk/run - I can cut it short(er) if required, but the ankle is a lot happier in the morning coolness than it is in 30 degree temperatures after work.

I'd bought a new bird feeder a while ago for the sunflower seeds. It took the birds a while to figure it out, but the lorikeets have taken to it with enthusiasm.

Street-O @ Bellbird Dell

It must be the heat that's making my foot swell (well, d'uh. *rolls eyes*). I'd worn sandals again to work, but also wore the compression stocking underneath - trying not to look too dorky.
:-)

At lunchtime, I gave the foot a careful rubdown - no swelling. By 6pm though, it was swelling a bit. By 7pm, it was decidedly puffy between the top of my running shoe and the strap of the ankle brace.

Not as sore as Monday, but I still came in early again, for 4.0 kms. Very hot: ~30 degrees.

Horse race holiday

Woke up far too early, looked at the fog outside (no birds), and thought no way is it going to reach the expected temperature. At 4 o'clock, it was 34 degrees on my deck, and 35% humidity. Spent most of the day on the deck chair reading (resting foot!).

Headed out the door at 5pm for a "long, slow, walk" I was out for 70 minutes, and covered around 3.5 kms. Including photo stops.

Street-O @ Wellington Village

To celebrate the start of summer, I wore open-toed sandals to work. Flat heels, and crossover straps. These shoes give my foot no support at all, and it was also the first time that I hadn't worn the compression stocking. And by 6pm, when I changed into my Street-O gear, my foot had swollen up around the leather straps. Not pretty.

The half-hour drive to Street-O was a bit achy, and by 7pm when the event started, it was decidedly sore. And it didn't get any better. I limped in 10 minutes early, for 4.5 kms. And the last km or so was done very slowly.

I felt like chopping it off on the drive home, and was so exhausted by the time I got there, it was all I could do to have a drink and duck under the shower.

Slack Arse

I realised last night that I've done no bloggable exercise since Wednesday night.

A few walks to the local shops over the weekend, and maybe 4 hours gardening (digging over weeds and levelling ground).

Had an aborted visit to the Physio on Saturday - after sitting in the waiting room for half an hour, I walked out. Andrew phoned about half an hour after that to apologise, and gave me a 5-minute phone consultation. Handed over some dive gear to a mate in Ringwood (which is really why I had to leave), and wandered through a few gardening shops on the way home. Then a reasonably lazy weekend.

Street-O tonight. With the start of daylight savings, I'll do Street-O on Mondays and Wednesdays, and maybe Thursdays if I'm feeling enthusiastic. Which is going to make it hard to also run (walk!) in the mornings if you're meant to let your body rest. So *lightbulb on* I do renovating/gardening stuff in the mornings. Best time of the day really, before the heat kicks in. So I said to myself last night, "get out of bed at 6am". Ha ha... well, I was awake at 6, but didn't emerge until well after 7. So groggy... with no real excuse as to why.

confessional:

Weight	74.3 kgs ▲
Walking	12.6 kms

Bird tails

1. Got back from a walk to the shops to hear a very angry squawking coming from the clothesline. Two galahs with their crests erect, sitting up tall at the feeder, not feeding. And my neighbour's white cat sitting on a pile of bricks about 5m away.

2. The cat wears a collar with a bell attached, so you can hear her coming. Three pigeons pecking at leftover seed on the ground, and I hear the bell of the cat. The pigeons didn't, and got a hell of a fright when the cat comes screaming around the corner and launches itself into the air after them. Heh heh.

3. Pecking order. The species don't mix - one species will either drive another away, or wait until they've finished.
* one galah beats two crimson rosellas
* male rosella beats female rosella
* two lorikeets beat two galahs
* two lorikeets beat one king parrot
* any parrot beats any number of pigeons
The rosellas are funny - there's one pair that visits every evening. They'll sit together at the feeder for about 5 minutes, then the male will walk across the table and chase the female off. I guess she told him to wipe his beak, or something...

Gone to the Birds

One galah, sitting on the summit of the clothesline; two rainbow lorikeets at the feeder. I didn't go for a walk this morning - I had some urgent stuff to do before work, but there I was, sitting on the deck minding my own business when a king parrot lands on the railing and starts talking to me. Man, these birds are big! (especially when they're only 2m away from you). Anyway, it hangs around waiting for the lorikeets to finish, and then flies to the feeder. In the meantime, I'm wandering around the garden watering seedlings and pulling the odd weed, and this parrot is happily muching away on sunflower seeds. So I go inside to get my camera, and sit about 3m away from it taking photos. Bird is completely unafraid of me, and only flies off when the lorikeets come back. Also had a wattlebird land on a grevillea which nearly collapsed under its weight, but it saw me with the camera and took off again.

Thursday thoreness

Ankle is sore. I think I Overdid It last night.

am: christened the hand mower. Upper body workout. It doesn't like clover, or weeds, or that long stalky stuff, or wet stuff. Did about 1/3 of the back lawn, will do the rest tonight once it's dried out a bit more.

Street-O @ Kerrimuir

am: 0510 a huge thunderclap rolled on (didn't see lightning, although I was awake at 0500); 0600 the wind started howling through the valley; 0700 still in bed. :-) Read the paper, watered the wheatgrass, and cleaned the birdfeeder. Had breakfast on the deck in the sun. My lovely neighbour had finished mowing the front lawn yesterday, so only what's left of the back lawn to do, maybe tomorrow.

pm: Street-O. In the interests of Not Overdoing It, I decided to aim for around 4kms, and set off fairly quietly. Ha ha... the gizmo thought otherwise. At the halfway point, I'd done 2.5kms. Time flies when you're having fun. Much easier course than last week though - less hilly, although far from flat. We'll see how I pull up tomorrow. 5.4 kms.

Tuesday trundle

Short loop down to the Warby Trail, and back up along an unsealed road I haven't been on before. As it wound around in the wrong direction, I began to wish I'd brought the map, and hoping the road led out to the Hwy sometime soon. It did, although not where I was expecting it to! 3.6 kms.

Monday Power Stroll

No, not a power walk, just a purposeful stroll down the road. I headed down a narrow track I'd seen on the opposite side of the creek, and followed it until it got too muddy to risk my ankle. The track appears to run along the back of some dead-end streets, and I came out at the end of one of these when I called it quits. Looped back around the shops, past the horses, and back through the sports ground. 3.6 kms.

pm: knocked off work early and got home to find that half my front lawn had been mowed! One neighbour also had freshly mown lawn so I went over to see who my good fairy was. Simon confessed, and offered to finish the job! He'd only stopped mowing because he thought my usual lawnmower man might be coming around - I'd actually planned to phone him tonight.

I then headed down to the bottom of the garden to finish off mattocking the ground. The neighbour over the back (the Sullen Bastard, because he won't acknowledge any of the neighbours) is building an extension to the house (as you can see from the birdfeeder photos), and the builder stuck his head over the fence to say hello. Turns out he's the Sullen Bastard's father, and a lot friendlier than the neighbour and his wife.

As light stopped play, I'd finished the bottom section - just as well, as my legs were starting to shake. They'd had a good workout over the last few days, as well as my shoulders.

And after some food, I did a light weights workout. My halo is glowing.

Sunday 5k Wobble

CoolRunning thread

Met lots and lots of Melbourne CoolRunners at the Brighton Baths for a 5km time trial. I'd offered to do timekeeping, but Wobbly Man had that all under control, so I just took lots of photos.

I've uploaded them here
If anyone wants a fullsize image (~1.5mb) please leave a comment or email me though CR, and I'm happy to email it to you. Please note the filename, as I won't remember all your names.



Ankle was a bit achy on the long drive home, after doing so much standing around, but eased off after a lunch break at McDonalds(!).

Spend a productive afternoon in the dirt mattocking the lower garden. The backbreaking stuff is mostly done - just another small section to go, then I can fork over the weeds, and lay mulch.

Oh, and either McDs or sweating in the garden has driven away the headache. For now. Touch wood. Go figure?

weekly wrapup:

Weight	73.9 kgs
Walking	23.0 kms

Headache

Yes, another one. Left temple, and not responding to paracetamol, sudafed, sports drinks, or salty chips. I'm not dehydrated or constipated, and the only thing left that I can think of is a trip to the chiropractor.

Short walk to the shops (1.7 kms), and some quiet pottering in the garden in between the raindrops.

Casual stroll

Casual stroll down to the sports grounds and back. 3.0 kms.

I wish I could remember what my ankle looked like before Wednesday's Street-O so I could tell whether it's more swollen today, or just the same. But it's a bit puffy and slightly discoloured just behind the anklebone. It's not sore, but I'll be nice to it for a few more days.

Street-O @ Maroondah Triangle

My old stomping ground. Light rain. Set off at a fairly brisk pace, and with about 15 minutes to go, decided to make a dash for #20, picking up #1 on the way. Got to the top of the hill between the two, and was puffing and exhausted. And only walking! Great view over Croydon though. Debbie steamed past me, and I slowed down a bit before making it back with a few minutes to spare. My ankle definitely had a good workout, and was uncomfortable standing around afterwards. 5.0 kms in 57 minutes.

Decided against going out again this morning, as the ankle was definitely sore once I got home. I'd left the alarm off again last night, woke up early, checked on the birds (2 galahs, and the seed cone is worn down to a stump already), and went back to bed. :-)

from this

to this

pm: walk to Bunnings at lunchtime (always so much more cost-effective than driving, bcause then I can't buy anything too heavy or bulky). Foot is a bit swollen behind the anklebone, and a bit tender to walk on. Not sore, exactly... just a bit overcooked.

Box of Birds

Despite all the happy things that happened to me yesterday, I still felt like crap for most of it. My head hurt, my eyes felt puffy, and my brain never cleared from the fog that descended on Melbourne overnight. As I crawled into bed last night, I turned the alarm off, deciding that I would get up when my body was ready.

Six o'clock and I'm wide awake. Typical.

Four galahs and a lorikeet at the bird feeder. The lorikeets are such trapeze artists. This one was hanging upside down and keeping the 4 larger birds at bay. One of the galahs tried his luck on the clothesline wire, promptly tipped over, and looked so undignified as he struggled to get upright again. So funny.

Walked one of my old running routes. Took nearly 9 minutes to get to my "5-minute hill", for a total of 59 minutes, including camera stops. 4.4 kms. More photos in the Seville album...

Shocker

I just bought a little black dress.

** shakes head in disbelief **

I guess that means I'm going to the work Christmas Cocktail party next month. I don't go to little-black-dress outings very often - and certainly not wearing a little black dress.

Had an interesting chat with the boss's boss yesterday and today, about where I fit in the lab and what I want to do. Today he offered me a project that sounds like a good fit - needing someone capable of big-picture stuff with enough perseverence to pay attention to detail. Sounds interesting, and I can make it mine. Big Fish stuff, even though it's a little pond. Suits me.

Still can't get over the little black dress purchase though...

Tuesdayitis

Feeling very out-of-sorts this morning. I went to bed with a headache last night, and it was still there this morning - it's not responding to drugs, and it's not a sinus headache (yet? it's behind my right temple).

Cheered up considerably when I saw the feeding frenzy at my bird feeder: 2 crimson rosellas, 1 galah, and 3 rainbow lorikeets - one of whom was doing some impressive high-wire acrobatics on the clothesline.

Funny thing, this bird feeder. I'd originally hung it on the outside of the deck, slightly under cover (out of the rain), but in clear view of the gum trees. No takers. So I moved it to the clothesline (which I don't use anyway, but my grandmother won't let me rip it out), and still nothing but pigeons and blackbirds. Then a solitary rosella on Saturday. Then a couple of galahs. And finally the crowd this morning. Way cool. Only I really want it back on the deck so I can see it from my kitchen window (and take decent photos of it).

Went for a short walk - 2.8 kms - because I think I overdid it yesterday, and because I'd spent so much time watching the birds.

Another long trundle

I'm back on my hour-long walks before breakfast. This morning I headed out to the Chandler Road loop, with my camera. Hills, no problem. Rough roads, no problem; but I was tiring a bit on the last km to home, and my pace slowed considerably. Including camera stops, I took 70 minutes to do the 5.9 kms.

Have set up a Yahoo Album [here] with photos from this morning's jaunt.

Week 3

Week 3, only 5 more to go...

MON	7am walk - the plan was to stick to the sealed roads and stay on the flat. *laughs* Maybe tomorrow.	1.6 kms
TUE	am: walk - stayed on the flat by following the roads that follow the creek. Down to the sports ground, a lap of the playing fields, and back. Raining. Also did a short weights workout when I got back. pm: sinus headache. :-(	2.6 kms
WED	am: walk - same route as yesterday, in reverse. Momma Duck, Papa Duck, and 7 ducklets crossed my path and waddled into the long wet grass. Very cute.	2.7 kms
	pm: Street-O @ Belmore Parklands Slow walk, and came in after 42 minutes. The controls are so far apart when you're slow walking! I only got 5 - about half what a runner (ie, paulc) would get in the same time.	3.0 kms
THU	am: short walk around the block, then a weights workout. No complaints from the ankle about last night.	1.0 kms
FRI	am: TUE loop + MON loop + sun = very pleasant "long" walk. Ankle is so unbelievably better than it was a week ago.	3.1 kms
SAT	Street-O @ Croydon Hills nothing structured, and I wasn't wearing the gizmo, but plenty of walking bits during the afternoon.	~ 2 kms
SUN	am: "long" walk, along a pre-injury route, stopping at the shops for juicables and the Sunday paper. My pace was almost back to normal, and the casual observer would not have noticed anything amiss. Gosh, it feels good to stride out again.	5.3 kms

---

Weekly stats

Weight	73.9 kgs ▼
Walking	18.3 kms

late afternoon visitor to my garden

Physio Visit #3

My injury is progressing ahead of schedule. Yipee! I'm still not allowed to run - but I kinda figured that anyway. :-) At this stage though, it looks like it'll be closer to 8 weeks than 12, which is all good.

Andrew had a young med student observing his consultations which was fun because as he explained things to her, he was also explaining them to me. And I got some inside knowledge which customers wouldn't normally get to hear - like what happens when you don't move the ultrasound around (it gives a bone burn, which you can smell).

Spent the afternoon at Street-O: setting out controls (with the assistance of some able-bodied helpers), manning the finish chute, and "supervising" the collection of controls afterwards. Lovely fine day spent outside - what more could you ask for.

Sunday update

SAT	walk to shops.	1.7 kms
SUN	walk to shops. Swelling has come down a LOT since yesterday's physio. It actually looks like a foot again. pm: weights workout	1.7 kms

---

Weekly stats

Weight	75.1 kgs ▲
Walking	3.4 kms

Physio Visit #2

Much happier outcome this time. The swelling has gone down enough for him to have a decent poke around, which included some tentative heavy-duty manipulation of the joint. Good news and bad news. The good news is that there's nothing wrong that time won't heal. The bad news is that one of the three outside ankle ligaments (the downwards one) is a grade 3 tear - ie, the ligament has come away from the bone. And that means it'll be 8-12 weeks before I'm allowed to run again. Christmas. If I don't misbehave and damage anything further.

I'm allowed to walk for short distances to keep the joint mobile and stretch out the archilles and PF. But not for too long or too far because ANY weight-bearing exercise will cause further swelling of the joint. Apparently this is "not good", and we had an entertaining discussion as to why this is so.

I like this Physio (Andrew) - he's either very good at the personality-reflecting thing, or he really is a bit like me. :-) He's of slavic origin (with an unpronouncable surname to match) but obviously Aussie-raised, about 30, and with a keen sense of humour. Apparently my ankle is the best (as in worst) he's ever seen, and he reckons he should start photographing the best injuries to start a wall of fame. My ankle can be Miss October!

He's given me some exercises to do, including striding out in the pool. I also have to eat celery - which I don't like much - for its diuretic effect which will help reduce the swelling. I've become a raw juice convert in the last few years, so I dug out the books and put together a diuretic, anti-inflammatory blend. So we'll see how that goes.

Walkies...

Went for another walk around the business park at lunchtime. With my (new, tiny) camera.

Picture time

Foot a bit achy after today's lunchtime walk. Was good to get out though.

Actually quite useful having the photos from a week ago - I can see there's less swelling. Just.


This doesn't really show the extent of the bruising - right up the outside of the leg to just below the calf.


I still have a fairly solid band of swelling where it first blew up - between to top of my shoe and the bottom of my running tights. When I squeeze it, there is no give at all.


detail of my black toes

I Walked!

Not hobbled, or limped, or hopped. Real walking: heel-toe weightbearing stuff. And it's all good.

Probably less than a kilometre in total, around the sealed areas at work (a huge business park). Sat down on a drainpipe at one stage and gently stretched out my archilles (which is getting worryingly tight). Oh, it's so good to be out there again. All the grevilleas are coming into flower and the place is humming with life.

Life sucks

I'm injured. I can't walk, run, hop or skip. Actually, I can hop... especially first thing in the morning before the blood has settled in the foot and it's still throbbing from having been horizontal for the last 8 hours. I'm sick of hurting, and I'm sick of NOT BEING ABLE TO DO ANYTHING. :-(

I had a meeting with my boss the other day and told him I wanted to do something different. He was okay about that. Then yesterday I had a talk with my boss's boss who basically told me that the only place for me in this lab is where I am now. Which SUCKS, because I've been doing this sort of work (consulting, getting people out of the brown stuff when it hits the fan) for 5 years, and I really want to get back into what I enjoy and am good at (application design and development). :-(

They also want us to be on 24-hour call, which also sucks big time. All because the bunnies in the US can't do their job. :-((

And my boss is also pissed at my boss's boss, and my teammate is pissed at my boss, so all-in-all we're set for some fireworks around here.

Weight 73.9kgs

Now is that going down because I'm actually losing FAT, or is it going down because I haven't moved much further than an inch for the last week and I'm losing MUSCLE. I'm going to have to be extra careful until I can get out on my feet again that I don't pile on the kilos.

I did the Bodydoctor routine again this morning - out on the deck in the sunshine. Very nice. :-)

I did it on Saturday afternoon as well, listening to TripleJ which had some clap-clap(?) theme thing going on - no ads, no drivel, and nothing but really cool 70's and 80's tracks for an hour.

Joined the NSAIDs Club

After finally admitting to myself that the ankle wasn't getting better, I went to see the physio this morning. Poke... ow!... poke... ow!... poke... ow! And the verdict: I have a level 2 ligament tear - 50%-80% of the ligament is torn, and I'm not allowed to do any weight-bearing exercise for 6-8 weeks.

6-8 WEEKS?!!!!

He asked if I was a "sporty type", and I mumbled yeah (thinking that if it wasn't obvious, then perhaps I wasn't!). So then he said that this must be killing me, right? Oh, yeah, too right! I can feel my fitness slipping by the minute. I'm not even allowed to walk any more than necessary for another 2 weeks.

At one point he said "tough lady". Nah, not tough... feeling a bit fragile right now.

He wrote a note to my GP recommending a prescription for some potent anti-inflamatories (and we both wished that physios can prescribe) which I took up the road to my medical centre. The receptionist wasn't exactly rude... more just very blunt and uncaring. It was going to cost me $50 to see a GP and get a piece of paper. So I went next door to the pharmacist and asked what I could get without a scrip. During our conversation, I started to cry. I guess all the stress and emotion of the last week, plus the attitude of the receptionist, all became too much. I managed to stumble away with some Voltaren Rapid-25, and drove to a local park where I bawled my eyes out for the next half an hour.

It's always so much worse in the morning, after being horizonal for 8 hours. It's still uncomfortable now, 3 hours after I got up. Oh, and I can tell that I'm a bit run-down because my sinuses flared up last night. My collection of pills this morning consisted of:
1 x multivitamin
1 x glucosamine
2 x ibuprofen
1 x pseudoephedrine
I'm turning into a pillaholic!

Some pics I took last night:



spot the difference.