Thursday

No walk or run this morning - a day off.

I have the Bolero music on endless loop in my head. Arrgh! Serves me right for watching the Ice Dancing on Tuesday night. I reckon the other guy should have won it, but then, I didn't vote for him either.

Today's temptation:

Nothing in here of much interest. The Cherry Ripe Slice used to tempt me (top left corner), but I've gone off them in recent weeks. Still had my warm half croissant this morning though.

Only one more day to go.

Street-O @ Balwyn Central

Horrible little course. John had been particularly nasty and made us go to Control #10 FIRST. It was, of course, on the edge of the map, so there was a great long line of us all running the 1.3km to this one control. Jenny was waiting for us to make sure we hadn't picked up #9 or #13 or #17 on the way. Then we had an awkward route choice to figure out the best way of collecting them all on the way back in.

I ended up following Geoff all the way around - with him always about 40m in front. Comparing notes afterwards, we decided that we should have dropped #7 and #3 and gone for #19 and maybe #20 instead. Hindsight is a wonderful tool.

I struggled a bit with the run tonight - especially the uphills, which all seemed a lot longer than marked on the map.

Distance	Avg pace	Avg HR
7.3 km	6:21 /km	155 bpm (82%)

I didn't succumb to the chocolate fudge slice either. It was a close call though - after our staff meeting, I walked up to the tray and picked up the knife ready to cut the last piece in half. Dharmesh joined me and was waiting to retrieve the other half, when I came to my senses and said No! and walked away. Ten minutes later the rest of it had disappeared.

Humpday Double

But first, Temptation Island - and look, there's CHOCOLATE FUDGE SLICE in there. Ohhhh..... be strong Louise, be strong...



Cold and foggy outside this morning. Weatherzone says -1.1°C but there was no ice on the frog pond. Definitely glove weather though.

I don't usually run on a Wednesday morning (because of Street-O at night), but I headed out on the trail for a slow Zone 3 shuffle to Wandin and back. Lots of people on the trail this morning - not sure whether it's a Wednesday thing, or whether people have suddenly realised that Spring is nearly here.

Distance	Avg pace	Avg HR
8.0 km	7:52 /km	140 bpm (74%)

Eat me!

Tuesday

And the yummiest part is eating the croissants while they're still warm. Mmmmmm...

Too cosy to get out of bed this morning, but made it out the door eventually for a trundle around the block.

Distance	Avg pace
5.0 km	10:20 /km

Street-O chez Bryan

Bryan's speciality is radio orienteering, so he'd set out a couple of radio transmitter controls as part of a regular score course - the 2 radio controls were worth 10 points each. But you had to find them first!

I decided that I couldn't be bothered wandering aimlessly around a park listening to the antenna bleeping and burbling away, so opted for a straight running course.

Hilly area, and a fairly complex course, so while it felt like I was running well, I had a lot of pauses to figure out where to go next.

Distance	Avg pace	Avg HR
9.0 km	6:23 /km	158 bpm (83%)

Running for an hour (57 minutes) is also pushing my fitness at the moment - I can run 7-8 kms without too much effort, but I struggle over the last couple. I need to get back into my long runs...

The Bakery Tray is Evil

You didn't believe me, did you... sometimes the tray is nearly overflowing.

Someone's already been at the jam donuts. No Ultra-high sugar lumps to taunt me today, thank god. Only one more week of this evil to go.

Walk around Seville this morning. Pretty normal - talked to the cows (with apologies to LL) and a couple of horses.

Distance	Avg pace
5.8 km	10:26 /km

Quiet Weekend

Very quiet weekend - cleaned and stacked a few dozen more pavers and went for a walk around Seville. On Saturday, I dragged the deck chair off the deck and into the garden and sat in the sun for ages. Lovely.

Weight	73.5 kgs
Walking	15.4 kms
Running	25.0 kms

I deliberately didn't go for a run this weekend - I really want my hip to get fully better before I start pushing up the mileage again. And besides, my energy levels are still low, and I don't want this cold to come back. One week of misery was enough. Unfortunately though, I'm not burning enough calories...



Spring Diet Goal #1: no added sugar
eg, chocolate fudge slice, chocolate, fudge, jelly beans, etc. I can get my sugar fix from dried fruit and plain biscuits.

Friday

Very late start this morning, after a 90-minute conference call at 7am. When I finally got out the door, the air was very steamy after 20mm of rain in the last day or so. One pile of mulch outside a neighbour's yard had steam rising off it.

Did a usual route out along Victoria Rd and back along the Trail - walking the first and last kilometre to stretch out the hip. It's still not 100%, but any residual pain disappears after a couple of voltarin and a few hours sleep (or work).

Distance	Avg pace	Avg HR
2.2 km	9:32 /km
6.2 km	7:21 /km	151 bpm (79%)

I've been unusually tired this week - even falling asleep after the alarm went off yesterday. I think I still have a bit of residual cold leftover from last week. There's 2 days of bush orienteering this weekend, which I think I'm going to skip - I'll stay home, mend the letterbox, do some more digging, and generally have a quiet one.

Street-O @ Forest Chase

Actually felt like I was running tonight, although I started out with a really lousy route choice, and then I got lost within a maze of tiny streets. After about 2km, I sorted myself out, and it felt like I was running strongly. Not pushing it - just letting my legs pull me along.

On the way towards Control #2, I had several people - including a bunch of kids - tell me, "don't go to #2"... and, "he's about to hit somebody". Robyn got told that he was going to "put her away".

I decided not to go to #2.

Very occasionally we get neighbours that get unnecessarily agro at people running down "their" street. Normally you can just laugh it off and tell them to get a life, but this one sounded particularly unpleasant. Someone suggested calling the police - if this guy is intimidating mature-aged women and young kids, there's got to be something seriously unstuck upstairs.

Distance	Avg pace	Avg HR
7.8 km	6:08 /km	163 bpm (86%)

Presentations for the Iceberg Series afterwards - no placing for me this time (not enough non-injured runs to get a decent score), but plenty of good food to be had.

Cupboard Love

It's all over. The company that's loved us for 24 years is taking away our breakfasts to save US$2.2 million per year (Newsday story).

On the upside, nothing like a spring diet resolution to help kick that, erm, "winter padding" that's crept on in recent months. It should be so much easier without having the bakery tray crying out for attention every time I walk past it.

Went for a walk yesterday (got rained on again); slept in this morning. Run tonight.

Street-O @ Mullauna

Another Monday Special - no chocolates tonight (Judy really did set a very high standard!) although Lauris gave us 25 controls to chase instead of the usual 20.

I found it hard going tonight - really struggling on anything slightly uphill for the first half hour, and my breathing was all over the place. Heartrate was still relatively low. I settled down for the second half for a more relaxed run with the HR steady in Zone 4.

I guess I'm out of practice.

Distance	Avg pace	Avg HR
8.8 km	6:37 /km	157 bpm (83%)

Bloody kids

So there I was, late last night just heading off into the land of nod, when there's a loud crash... thump... youthful laughter, and running footsteps. I peer out the window, it's pitch black, and no sign of movement. This morning, I discover my letterbox lying on the ground, having been knocked off its post. Grrr.

Late getting out of bed again this morning, and it started drizzling on the way back - if I'd left on time, I wouldn't have got wet. Sigh...

Just walking. Took the camera to get some photos of the Trail in full wattle bloom.

Distance	Avg pace
5.9 km	10:18 /km

Spring has sprung

SATURDAY

Did a few hours digging and clearing rocks and pavers, then headed out for a late afternoon trot around the block - Victoria Rd to Killara, and back via the Trail. Wasn't watching either the HR or the time, but ran at a comfortable pace with several walking breaks.

Distance	Avg pace	Avg HR
8.5 km	7:24 /km	150 bpm (79%)

SUNDAY

More digging, then a lazy afternoon. Went for an afternoon stroll through Seville with the camera. 3.7 km. Everything is flowering, and I still haven't pruned the neighbour's plum tree, or my snowball tree. Guess they'll have to wait until next winter now.

weekly wrap:

Weight	73.2 kgs
Walking	11.8 kms
Running	28.4 kms

doona-itis

Trouble getting out of bed this morning - eventually headed out the door very late for a quiet trot along the trail. I've decided to integrate more walking into my runs, as the striding out stretches the hip (whereas slow running has the opposite effect). So I walked the 1km to and from the trail, and ran the trail. Slow trudge, watching the heartrate. Nice sunny morning - t-shirt and vest. 6°C.

Distance	Avg pace	Avg HR
2.2 km	9:35 /km	110 bpm (58%)
5.2 km	7:05 /km	150 bpm (79%)

Street-O @ Camberwell Central

Easy run around the hilly suburb, finding that I could still pull myself up hills without too much extra effort, although I was starting to tire towards the end during the last uphill bit home. I'd worked out a route that made sense at the time(!) with a couple of 2-pointers to collect near the end if I was early. I was halfway towards the first of these when I realised that it was further away than it looked, and I was fast running out of time. I abandoned the chase, and got back with 10 seconds to spare, with the heartrate sitting in Zone 5 for the last 500m.

Slightly faster run than on Monday, with the same average HR. Well on the road to recovery... :-)

Distance	Avg pace	Avg HR
7.3 km	6:32 /km	161 bpm (85%)

Visit to the magician last night, and the hip looks good. He found a tight spot on the TFL(?) which HURT LIKE HELL as he massaged it out - we think probably caused by the run on Monday, rather than anything related to the hip injury. It's still bruised to touch.

Street-O chez Judy

Judy had a fun variation on a regular Score course: we had to write the first letter of the street name on the lamppost at each control point. If the post had more than one street sign, we had to write the first letter of each. And we had to get the *correct* lamppost, as marked on the map.

And there was a special control at #28 - a letterbox filled with wrapped chocolates. There was no space on the control card to mark, so we had to take a chocolate and carry it with us to the finish, for an extra 5 points.

I tucked mine inside my sock, so I had a warm, slightly flattened caramel chew at the end.

I ran 90% of the course - the first real test of the hip - and took guilt-free walking breaks when I needed them. I tried to keep it slow and light, not pushing anything, and I was pleased at the level of fitness I'd managed to retain. Came in early - not wanting to tempt fate too much.

Distance	Avg pace	Avg HR
7.3 km	6:46 /km	161 bpm (85%)

Tues am: still no phoneline (could be up to 3 days), but the hip hasn't complained about last night. Yipee! Appt with the Magician tonight.

Groggy Monday

I rolled out of bed this morning to find that none of the lights in the back of the house were working. Oh great - still no phone line, and only half my lights. What next?!

Still groggy from this cold, but a nice mild 7°C morning. Went for a slow plod around Seville.

Distance	Avg pace	Avg HR
5.9 km	11:20 /km	117 bpm (62%)

Maxi 3-hour @ Whroo

Bush orienteering near Whroo - 3 hours to get as many controls as you can. I teamed up with Pete, and we planned an optimistic walking route, with a bail-out plan of running if we got desperate.

The terrain was gentle and open, the course was well set, and we hit all our controls dead on. Except we gave ourselves a bit of a fright with 55 minutes to go, and realised that we had a lot of distance to cover to get back in time. Time for Plan B. We made it with 3 minutes to spare, collecting 19 controls in all.

No complaints from the hip, and only a minor "hot spot" on the side of my heel. Have had a stuffy head for the last few days, though, which didn't help. Fortunately keeping active stops the worst of it.

15.7 kms in 2:57

went to dial in to post this on Sunday night, and found that my phone line was broken. Nice one Telstra.

late edit

Weight	can't remember
Walking	51.1 kms
Running	8.9 kms

Street-O @ Dandenong Creek

I was sensible... imagine that!... and walked. Fairly quickly, as it turned out. Stretched out the hip when I got back, and enjoyed the spoils of "Cake-O". Nice sunny afternoon.

Distance	Avg pace	Avg HR
6.8 km	9:07 /km	142 bpm (75%)

Woke up with a head-cold: stuffy nose, sinus headache. Great. All the yellow stuff has started flowering - I wonder if it's the start of hayfever season already.

Did 2 hours of digging dirt in the morning, so an active day all around.

Run 3x 1km

Late start this morning, but still only 1.6°C at 7:30am - clear and sunny. Headed straight for the Trail, and did 3 run legs of 1km each, with a 600m walk in between each. No hills.

Distance	Avg pace	Avg HR
3.7 km	9:40 /km	120 bpm (63%)
3.2 km	7:00 /km	146 bpm (77%)

My hip is not yet 100%, and it still aches occasionally. It sort of feels a bit unstable/wobbly - not as strong as the other one, and I still take a Voltarin after each outing (but only 1, and only after a run). Mathew's also limited me to 2km runs, but hey. :-)

I now need to decide whether to run at tomorrow's Street-O (~9km) and try to get back into contention as a Swiss Roll, or whether to walk again.

The bakery tray is evil.

Street-O @ Wattle View

Nice strong walk - just sort of got into a flow and floated down the streets. Cold when standing still waiting for the start, but pleasant enough once on the move.

On the final leg home, I had to wait maybe 30 seconds for traffic on Scoresby Road, and got in 22 seconds late. Grrr. But I'd made the detour to pick up a 4-pointer, so I'm still ahead.

Shortly after I got in, Deb asked me if I could collect a few controls - so I decided to pick up a couple of close ones, and go for a jog.

So I've had a busy day - two walks and two runs. Sleep in tomorrow, I think. :-)

Distance	Avg pace	Avg HR
6.6 km	9:21 /km	130 bpm (68%)
1.72 km	6:30 /km	n/a

Run 1.7km

And today's weather is... drizzly and overcast. 11°C.

Not wet enough to warrant a parka or staying under the duvet. I had a poor night's sleep, and felt groggy as I headed out. The run went okay (all the way to the cow paddock), but the walk back over the hills knocked me out. Felt very tired, and plodded home.

I've separated the 2 walks in the table below to illustrate how knackered I was!

Distance	Avg pace	Avg HR
1.2 km	10:06 /km	105 bpm (55%)
1.67 km	7:08 /km	144 bpm (76%)
2.8 km	11:27 /km	128 bpm (67%)

Run 1.3km

A repeat of yesterday, only instead of pea soup we got frosty icing. Sunny and -0.8°C.

I'm enjoying walking again, and I think it's good for the hip because it stretches the legs more than running does. But it always seems like the poor cousin because it takes so much longer to cover the same distance. I guess I need to think of it in terms of time, rather than distance, and schedule it as a "walk" even when I'm running fit again.

Extended the run by another 250m this morning - from the start of the trail to the fence near the cow paddock. All flat, and slightly downhill. Tomorrow, I'll make it all the way to the gate at Chandler Rd.

Distance	Avg pace	Avg HR
4.5 km	10:30 /km	116 bpm (61%)
1.29 km	6:43 /km	141 bpm (74%)

Street-O @ Croydon Hills

Another "Monday Special" (I've missed a few because of myotherapy appointments), this time in Goal format. There were three courses on offer: A, B and C, with a different map and controls for each course. The goal was to get 53 points exactly. On Map C, the 20 controls were close together, to give a course of around 5.5 km. Map A, at the other extreme, had its 20 controls spread out over a much larger area, resulting in a 10+km run.

Lucky for us, Marta let us look at the map beforehand, so we could work out a route that collected exactly 53 points. For me this equated to 15 controls, only 300-400m apart. Nice for a walking course.

Cold, clear night, with a full moon lighting the way. 10 degrees, and falling rapidly.

Distance	Avg pace	Avg HR
5.6 km	9:59 /km	131 bpm (69%)

Run 1km

Brrrr, chilly one this morning: 1°C and pea-soup fog. It's so easy to get into the habit of staying under the doona, but I eventually bullied myself out into the cold. I did my usual Chandler Road loop, but in reverse, so I could run along the ever-so-slight downhill on the Trail before walking back through the hills.

Kept the run much slower this morning, and kept an eye on the HRM which I haven't worn for a while. At the end of the kilometre, I just wanted to keep going!

Distance	Avg pace	Avg HR
4.9 km	9:30 /km	110 bpm (58%)
1.0 km	7:38 /km	144 bpm (76%)

More short runs

SAT: meander around the streets of Seville, with a 535m run along the only stretch of Trail that I included. The last 700m stretch (walking) carrying a handfull of fruit and veges after passing the greengrocer on the way. Yummy leek and potato soup into the crockpot when I got home, and yummy strawberries with my muesli.

Distance	Avg pace
4.4 km	10:40 /km
535m	6:02 /km

SUN: 90min walk along a previous running route, along the horse trail on Victoria Rd to Seville East then linking up with the Warby rail trail at Killara Stn for the return trip. I did two short runs of 500m - one along a slight downhill on the sealed connecting road, and the second along the trail on the flat. Struggling a bit towards the end of the second leg - I probably needed to slow down.

Then home for breakfast and straight outside again into the garden, where I dug up some more back lawn for nearly 4 hours.

Hip (and back!) feel okay.

Distance	Avg pace
7.4 km	10:50 /km
1.0 km	6:06 /km

Weekly stats:

Weight	72.5 kgs
Walking	19.9 kms
Running	9.4 kms

Run 286m

Okay, so I can learn from my mistakes. I followed doctor's orders this morning and ran for 200m. Well, okay, 286.78m because I wasn't watching the lap display on the Gizmo. I ran along a short section of the Warby Trail at the halfway point of one of my usual walking routes.

And the hip felt okay.

It still feels okay three hours later, so I guess I can run a bit further tomorrow.

Distance	Avg pace
5.7 km	10:18 /km
286m	6:19 /km

Mo' Massage

My number came up for a free 15min massage at work today, so I told him about my hip misbehaving after last night's run. He gave it a good work over and found all the trigger points that I missed with the tennis ball. He does pressure-point massage, so a different approach than the Myo', but he's freed it up considerably - and confirmed that it's "only" a muscle thing and that the joint itself is fine. I got a lot more than my allocated 15 minutes - he said that it's "research" and he's going to discuss me in the next clinic that he attends. Wahoo - my hip will be famous!

Street-O @ Gresswell Hill

Only run 200m? Bah - can't make that work at Street-O. I entered my usual B Course, and did a "walk one - run one" between controls, coming in after 42 minutes. Ran about 2.5 km.

Nice flat area, pleasant running conditions.

My hip had been aching all day for no reason - probably trying to put me off my plan for tonight. I ignored it, and now it's sore. But it's no sorer than it was during the day, and I've taken drugs, so we'll see how it wakes up in the morning. I'll do some tennis ball torture later tonight - I have to stay up 'til midnight for a conference call anyway... plenty of time!

Distance	Avg pace
2.8 km	~9:30 /km
2.5 km	~6:00 /km

postscript: I didn't actually find any sore spots with the tennis ball - the ache seemed to be deep within the hip, out of reach. It's 95% okay this morning (Thurs), and I've thrown some more Voltarin at it for good measure.