Almost warm

Comfortable trot to Killara station again, but went out via Victoria Road (hilly, unsealed) and looped back along the trail (flat, unsealed). Much warmer this morning ~10°C, and lots more people out walking their dogs.

Distance	Avg pace	Avg HR
8.5 km	7:10 /km	150 bpm (79%)

I've now been doing this heartrate experiment for a month, and on occasion I've been a tad concerned that all I'm doing is learning how to run slowly. But I'm also learning how to run continuously. My Street-O runs are all about running fast (well, my "fast" anyway) for ~500m, then stopping to punch a control and check the map. Repeat for 8km. I never actually run solidly for an hour without stopping, so I guess I'm learning how to do that.

On the heartrate side, I haven't been particularly religious about keeping within Zone 3 (below 150 bpm), because... well... it's boring! But I guess my report card should read, "must try harder," because I need to learn to run efficiently at or below 150 bpm before I can run faster at or below 150 bpm.

Street-O @ Balwyn North

Very hilly run. Misjudged badly on the back half - I thought I had time to get #6 and #16. Turned out I didn't. The last leg home from #13 was up over a crest of a hill, then a looong run downhill (thankfully!) to the finish which seemed to take forever. Back 2½ minutes late and kiss goodbye to 9 points.

Distance	Avg pace	Avg HR
8.4 km	6:01 /km	164 bpm (86%)

Zoned in

MON: Zone 3 run from Seville to Wandin station. 0.2°C

Distance	Avg pace	Avg HR
8.1 km	7:13 /km	144 bpm (76%)

Myotherapy massage after work - Matthew says my body is "looking good." Bruises and all... lol.


TUE: Seville to Killara station (opposite direction). Nice balmy morning with pockets of warm (yes, WARM!) air. 6°C.

Distance	Avg pace	Avg HR
9.3 km	6:40 /km	146 bpm (77%)

Ugh, tagged. Thanks Spark Driver! How about I just list 4 train stations that I visit regularly that you will never drive your train to? :-)

Sunday Scoreboard

Another Do-Nothing Sunday where I slept in, pottered around the house, and read in front of the fire.

Weight	71.8 kgs ▼
Running	43.6 kms
Cycling	38.0 kms

Train to Woori Yallock

Still very sore across the front of the shoulders and chest, and my bruises have turned a lovely black colour. Still feeling a bit wrecked, and went to bed early again last night.

Dragged myself outside for a 2-hour shuffle this morning, an out-and-back along the Warburton Trail from Seville to Woori Yallock station. Started to tire about halfway back and took a few walking breaks, but otherwise a consistent (slow) pace and heartrate. Cold wind on the return journey too - WeatherZone tells me it was 8 degrees, and I was pretty cold by the time I got back home.

Distance	Avg pace	Avg HR
17.2 km	7:00 /km	146 bpm (77%)

Postmortem

I was so tired last night, only ate half my dinner (unheard of!), and headed for bed shortly after 9. This morning, I have three large red and purple bruises on my legs, grazing and a bruise on my chin (thankfully not purple), and sore pecs (from bracing myself??).

Hardware damage limited to breaking the swivel plate of my map board (which I can hopefully araldite back together), and a couple of scratches in my glasses (which is why I wear the old ones on the bike!). The computer stopped working too, which I didn't notice in the dark, but that's probably just an alignment problem.

Didn't go for a run or walk, but slept in, cleaned all the crap off the bike, and had a lazy breakfast.

And a stack...

There's a new building site in the business park where I work, which I always ride through. So there I was, riding through the piles of dirt, when it occurred to me that (a) it had been raining; (b) I had no steering; (c) no grip; and (d) NO CONTROL. I daren't brake. And it was dark. And I was getting faster and faster as I slid around down the hill and there was a corner coming up with a steep dropoff behind it. FUCK! I veered off the "road" and onto the rough stuff hoping that it would slow me down, but all that happened was that I bumped up and down faster until the front wheel dug itself in and I went sailing A over T into the dirt.

>splat!<

crap.

After picking myself up, spitting out a mouthful of dirt, and collecting bits of broken bike, I WALKED out of the worst of the dirt. Even a short stretch on a dead flat bit had the back wheel sliding out of control and nearly spat me off again. Ugh.

Made me a bit nervous about all the other unsealed bits I still had to go.

But on the bright side, as I was making hard work of the last steep bit before the trail, something young and sleek zoomed past me and called out, "tough hill, huh?"

"yuh", I puffed.

As I turned onto the trail, I saw him waiting by the gate, and we rode together up the long slog to Mt Evelyn. It's funny how cyclists can talk about everything and nothing, when all they have in common is a weird fascination for riding in the dark! I don't even know what he looks like!! (except that his twin beam headlight makes mine look like a penlight). Anyway, it made that part of the trail - which I was dreading after being winded during my tumble - go a lot faster.

38 km for the day

Totally buggered.

Winter Solstice

The shortest, darkest day of the year - so I cycled in to work. A tropical 4°C, and I was nicely rugged up in my new winter cycling gear.

Toasty warm:

Street-O @ Wellington Village

Nice cold crisp run. Got lots of controls and timed it perfectly to finish with 20 seconds to spare.

Distance	Avg pace	Avg HR
8.3 km	5:55 /km	162 bpm (85%)

Did you know that sheep snore?

Last week's stats

Weight	72.2 kgs ▲
Walking	6.0 kms
Running	38.8 kms

I didn't get out for a run yesterday, but had a productive day cleaning, painting, hanging curtain rails, and sorting out a hard rubbish pile for collection. Went out this morning instead (usually my day off) for a "comfortable jog" without worrying too much about heart rate or distance.

-2°C and foggy.

Distance	Avg pace	Avg HR
9.1 km	6:44 /km	148 bpm (78%)

TUE: same again, in the opposite direction. An interesting Ruby incident as I was heading out though - she was on her front lawn as I wheeled my rubbish bin out (a noisy process, as you probably know). Barkbarkbark! I ignored her - didn't even make eye contact. She came outside her fence onto the grass verge and followed me down the road as I trotted off. She'd stopped barking as soon as I started moving, and I could sense her running perfectly at heel with her nose at my left calf. And Simon impotently calling and whistling her as she followed me, lol.

Distance	Avg pace	Avg HR
9.1 km	6:28 /km	148 bpm (78%)

Street-O @ Norris Bank

I should have known this was going to be a tricky navigation exercise when I missed the turnoff while driving to the event. I took the next left, intending to double back, and found myself in a complex system of dead-end streets.

It didn't get much better once I was out running. There's a nasty little creek running through the middle of the map, which caused a change of plan right from the first control. Then I completely mis-read the creek crossings on the way to my fourth control and ended up doing an extra 500m or so through lumpy grass and waist-high reeds before I decided to back up and go the long way. A couple in front of me took the short way over the creek and made loud splashing noises as they attempted to jump across - and missed. I caught up with their wet footprints a bit later on.

Not a very efficient route choice, but a well-set course with all those nasty surprises.

Distance	Avg pace	Avg HR
9.0 km	6:11 /km	161 bpm (85%)

MotionBased tells me that I spent 2 minutes not moving (standing still). I'd estimate that 1:50 of that was watching two people attempt to jump a creek. That brings my average pace down to 5:59/km (wahoo!)

Three Little Dogs

Zone 3 HR run along the Warby trail with the demented canary behaving itself. I guess proving the thought that when I'm rested, I can run (jog) at under 150 bpm. When I've been doing mad stuff the day before, I can't.

Distance	Avg pace	Avg HR
7.8 km	7:40 /km	140 bpm (74%)

The pace is a manual calculation, as I stopped for a few minutes to pet three really cute Border Terriers. I've seen them walking with their owner a few times, and today we saw each other twice as we were both doing out-and-back routes in the opposite direction.

It's been a while since I've had muddy paw prints all over my leggings. :-)

Street-O @ Bennettswood

Nice cold, hilly run. Dithered a bit working out the best way to run, and didn't really choose the most efficient course. Came in with several minutes to spare.

Towards the end as I was plodding uphill to control #11, I heard footsteps behind me. Then a breathless, "oh, shit!", and the footsteps slowed to a walk. Poor Phil had run out of steam. :-)

Distance	Avg pace	Avg HR
7.6 km	6:09 /km	157 bpm (83%)

Zoning out

TUE: I really shouldn't bother with this Heart Rate stuff unless I'm fresh and rested. I couldn't run slow enough this morning - about 2 km into the jog (at the start of the slow incline to Wandin), the HRM suddenly went nuts. 225 bpm. I don't think so! But it didn't ever calm down, and my wrist was bleeping like a demented canary for the rest of the way. A balmy 6 degrees, with misty cloud down to ground level.

Distance	Avg pace	Avg HR
7.5 km	8:16 /km	141 bpm (74%)

the sound of a demented canary

Started a new pair of Nimbus VIs that have been sitting in the cupboard since the last Rebel sale. The old ones (alternating with a pair of VIIs) have done 750km - which is a lot more than I usually get out of a pair of runners.

And a Street-O update from last Wednesday: I obliterated Jacqui by 15 points! I also beat Robyn, Eric, and levelled with Lauris. That must have been some run...

Queen's Birthday Weekend

Bush orienteering up near Albury. I drove up on Saturday afternoon (after deciding that it was too cold at home to do any more painting) and arrived at the Lake Hume Tourist Park in time for "Suburu Salad" with Pete and Ilse and the Dodd's.

Ilse had rescued me from a couple of very cold nights in my (new) tent, and offered me one of the spare beds in their cabin. Very much appreciated, especially this morning when we woke to a sub-zero frost.

SUN: Mount Terrible

Not so terrible. Nice open forest and easy running. Doing well until I did my FIRST EVER 180. Headed off from control #4, cross the track, down the gully, found the control... hang on. That's not a pit... that's not my control. Checked my clue sheet - and found that I was at control #9. WTF?? "Oh, you stupid girl" (out loud). I'd taken a bearing with the map effectively upside down, and headed east instead of west. Grrr. 15+ minutes wasted.

Then after leaving control #15 I nearly knocked myself out. Running across a slope, my uphill foot slid about a metre down a slippery twig and I went down hard. I landed heavily on my hip and upper leg - creating a lovely bruise on my thigh and a matching one on my upper arm. Experienced a bit of brain fade after that (still in shock) and walked the last few controls home.

Course: 4 (W35A), 17 controls
Course Length: 5.4 km
Actual Distance: 7.7 km (MB has 8.4 km with 932m climb)
Time Taken: 1:51

MON: Barambogie South

Terrible. I was still fatigued from yesterday, and this map was a thousand times more physically challenging. Very steep climbs through thick scrub and large rocks. Found #1 easily; took the scenic route to #2; #3 was straightforward; a huge climb uphill to #4 (84m climb in 245m!). By control #5, I was starting to feel a bit flakey; I walked straight past #6; and by control #7, I was stumbling around looking behind every rock with no real idea of what I was doing. Time to call it quits - complete system failure: my brain was fried, and my feet weren't too far behind.

Course: 4 (W35A), 13 controls
Course Length: 5.3 km
Actual Distance: 6.9 km DNF (MB has 8.2 km with 1212m climb)
Time Taken: 2:11


Weekly wrap:

Weight	70.9 kgs ▼
Walking	5.1 kms
Running	38.9 kms
Cycling	37.5 kms

beedeleep!

Out in +2°C conditions for another Zone 3 trot this morning. Only the heart wasn't playing along. After a quick warmup walk, I'd taken about 2 steps when the HRM yelled at me to slow down. beedeleep! 171 bpm!! I slowed down. beedeleep! I stopped. beedeleep! Standing in the cold with my fingers on my pulse (definitely NOT at 171 bpm), with the HRM going nuts. I don't know if it was me - and why - or the HRM having a bad day. I started up again, and within a few steps the same thing happened. I gave up trying to reason with it, turned the alarm off, and kept to a slow trot as I headed east along the trail.

Distance	Avg pace	Avg HR
7.6 km	7:47 /km	139 bpm (73%)

Need thicker gloves

In my quest for a Zone 2 activity, I thought I'd try a 1 hr cycle. And I figured that if I was going to cycle for an hour, I might as well cycle to work. So - today being Thursday - I did. And faaaaark was it cold. I lost my fingers about 2 minutes from home and on all the downhill bits - wearing regular cycle gloves plus some thin training gloves underneath. I also need (yes, need!) a proper winter cycle top, although I wasn't cold on my core. Time to hit the groundeffect website today, methinks.



Seville reached a low of -3.0°C at 4am; it was -2.3° when I left home, and -2.1° an hour later. I must be mad.



Didn't work, huh.

Nice quiet spin home without the HRM for a total of 37.5 km. No speed records broken - mildly sore arse when I climbed aboard after work, and it got pretty cold after Mt Evelyn - but I enjoyed the ride in the dark.

Street-O @ Brandon Park

Another excellent run! I've worked out what it is that I'm enjoying at the moment - it's not having to take walking breaks to catch my breath. I'm at a level where I can keep running for the required time.

Although I gave myself a hell of a fright tonight. With 15 minutes to go, I unfolded the map to pinpoint the finish location, and was a bit disconcerted to find that it was considerably further away than I expected. I'll never get back in time... I'll lose all my points... - and worst of all(!) - Jacqui's going to beat me!

I cobbled together a route that let me pick up a few more controls on the way back, and hightailed it out of there.

Got back with 5 SECONDS to spare!!

Distance	Avg pace	Avg HR
8.3 km	5:46 /km	162 bpm (85%)

A nicely paced Zone 4 run. Not sure about the spike near the 6km mark - probably where I realised how far away the finish was! Also notice how the blue line (pace) creeps downwards as I warm up. The spikes in the pace line are where I stop to punch a control.

666

Zone 3 training again. Trotted down to the trail and headed west. The 4km to Wandin is a very gradual incline, and I got the shuffle thing happening much better today. So much so that on the return trip (downhill) I was in danger of dropping out of Zone 3, so had to pick up the pace a bit.

Distance	Avg pace	Avg HR
8.3 km	7:14 /km	139 bpm (73%)

Mondayitis

This morning didn't happen. I'd given myself a dehydration headache yesterday, and tried to drown it with a bottle of Powerade late in the evening. But all that did was make me have to get up every few hours to relieve myself. And the thick layer of ice on the frog pond (-2.5° at 5:30am) was enough to send me back to bed for a final lie in after the alarm went off.

Knee is okay.
Head is (now) okay.

In more exciting news, I beat Jacqui by 2 places last Wednesday, and as my lowest was lower than her lowest (best 6 of 10 count), I am now 2 points ahead! But her lowest is now lower than my lowest, so she has a 1 point advantage going into Wednesday. Which means that I have to beat her by 2 points to retain first place.

And just in case you're thinking that this is something really special, it's not! Because I hadn't run Course B for 6 months, I got handicapped into the lowest division. And Jacqui had dog issues, so she was handicapped low as well. But comparing my current points total against the other divisions, I'd be 4th in the next division up, and lower mid-field in the one after that (no regard for age or gender, it's every man for himself). I'd rather get first and walk away with a coffee cup prize. :-)

Blodslitet @ Bostock

Long-distance orienteering at Bostock Reservoir. The course was made up of four loops, and you chose various combinations to make up the distance you wanted. I entered Course 1, which included all four loops for a total of 18km, with a bail-out plan after Loop C.

As it happened, I bailed after Loop B. I'd had a few navigation problems in Loop A (compass wasn't pointing in the same direction that I was running); then near the end of Loop B, I tripped and twisted my knee as I fell. It hurt, and I stayed put for a few minutes to assess the damage, then walked the next two controls before deciding to be sensible and call it a day.

Hopefully, it'll be fine tomorrow.

Apart from a few navigational embarrassments and the tumble, I was running quite well - trotting through the forest with no walking breaks.

Loop A - 5.1 km - 47 min
Loop B - 8.5 km - 1:36
+ walk back to the finish

14.1 km total


weekly stats:

Weight	71.1 kgs ▼
Walking	12.7 kms
Running	39.5 kms

Street-O @ Cathies Creek

Well, that worked. Course A. Running really well, worked out a fairly efficient route, and still managed to come in 5 minutes early. Was chatting to Geoff (who'd done Course B), when I realised that I'd forgotten to get control #3 on the way in. Quick! Where's my control card?! And a quick sprint up the road to punch the control. Back with 25 seconds to go, and a small crowd cheering me on!! Boy, that last sprint hurt!

Distance	Avg pace	Avg HR
9.6 km	5:51 /km	163 bpm (86%)

In the Zone

Zone 3, that is.

This morning's aim was to stay in Zone 3 (70%-80% Max HR) by running really really slowly. This was more successful than yesterday's attempt to stay in Zone 2, although my pace tended to creep up when I wasn't watching. After my 1km warmup trot to the Warby Trail, I set the HR alarm to yell at me when I hit 150bpm (this is the dip into Zone 1 on the graph). From there, it was just really boring slow running along the only flat part of Seville, checking my pace when Giz bleeped at me.

Distance	Avg pace	Avg HR
8.0 km	7:30 /km	140 bpm (74%)

Calling Zone 2

I fully intended to surrender to the Doona Demon this morning, but as luck would have it, I was wide awake shortly after the alarm went off. Typical. So out I went. MINUS 0.2 degrees.

I've been following 2P's Heartrate Experiment with interest, as I think it's something that I should look into too. And I finally got around to reading Hadd. So this morning, I strapped on the HRM to see what I could do. I wanted to stay within Zone 2 (60%-70% Max HR).

Well, I had trouble. My normal walking pace is around 50%, and on 2 occasions when I trotted downhill at the start it shot up to Zone 4. The only time I could comfortably walk in Zone 2 was uphill. On the flat I had to walk too fast for comfort (even with the arm swinging thing going on) to even get out of Zone 1.

Distance	Avg pace	Avg HR
6.6 km	9:48/km	116 bpm (61%)