Training Log Archive: PrueD

I have decided to adopt Uncle Jim's suggestion for a New Year's Resolution and try for 5 training sessions a week, including 3 runs. It *sounds* achievable. I just scraped it in for this week (in practice for next) with a final swim for this year in the Benalla pool.

I suppose I had better comment on this year. The latter half is better left forgotten. But I had a few memorable moments earlier in the year - the highlight being the podium finish in the Aus Sprint champs at Mandurah (yes, I was pleased) and some really nice orienteering trips. I enjoyed the sledge competition (particularly against the Sprite and the Young One) in the local events and am looking forward to more this year.

My (mis)quote of the year would have to be - 'oh, that won't take long' - which I erroneously made in reference to, well, almost everything!

Happy New Year everyone.

C • Happy New Year Prue! 4

C • the Young One 12

Street-O at North Ringwood (Mullum Mullum reserve - but not the same Mullum Mullum as last week which was further downstream). I think I wore too many clothes and overheated a bit, but managed to jog most of the way although I did a little bit of walking up the final bit of a couple of hillls. I made a few errors at the start and lost a bit of time. I also had trouble keeping track of the number of controls I visited and had to stop and recount several times (counting up to 12 is hard, you know). Overall I was overjoyed that my 'mojo' was back and I could jog/run for a third day in a row (new year's resolution happening already) with no injuries. I am looking forward to being injury free and a lot fitter in 2012. I spent the rest of the day at work but had some difficulty getting the motor going.

Swim in the Benalla pool. I almost had to share a lane but a friend fortunately got out in time. Towards the end of my swim, a woman started to get into my lane but luckily the woman in the next lane got out in time. We don't share in Benalla.

Toe is a bit sore. I stubbed it on the couch on Christmas Day - an occupational hazard of not wearing shoes. It and the foot surrounding it are bruised, but they don't hurt if they are taped up. I'm going to try and make it to Royal Park tonight as another run on soft grass is sounding quite appealing - 2 runs in row - and you might like to hazard a guess about my forthcoming New Year's resolution.

C • New Year's resolution 5

Street-O at Royal Park. It was a really well set course with route choice important. I jogged although there was a little bit of walking looking at the map. I felt Ok and am quietly optimistic that my injury period has passed.

Part of the area would have made for a good sprint map - but if that had been last night most competitors would have been disqualified - lots going into the out of bounds areas and crossing garden beds.

The zoo was surprisingly quiet - I was looking forward to hearing the odd lion roar etc. Passing there reminded me of my last visit. At the 'Bear' enclosure (with no further qualification as to the type of bear), my friend and I had our noses pressed up against the glass looking for the bear. 'Is that it over there.... or over there...?' Then the great big rock against the glass where our noses were pressed moved. We looked up in horror ... so there's the bear. It was so big we couldn't see it!

Run with Peter around tracks at Eldorado near Woolshed Creek - including one long steep uphill walk and 2 cautious creek crossings. The creek was flowing well and I had to be careful not to fall in and wet my Garmin. The ground was lovely and soft. I taped my feet again and this strategy for stabilising my knee is working well. This was followed by a picnic lunch at Wooshed Falls - turkey and ham rolls of course.

I cooked Christmas dinner yesterday in Benalla with an assorted collection of guests. Our family dinners have always been at my sister's place at Mornington but, now my parents are gone, I didn't feel obliged to go and could cook for friends in Benalla. We had big storms in Benalla but nothing like Mebourne experienced. I can't have been very good this year because Santa bought me one runner. I have to buy the other one myself!

C • One runner? 2

C • wet Garmin 3

Street-O at Jells Park. I felt like running and the grass was nice and soft - so it made for a good jog. I even jogged up (almost) all the hills (it was very hilly). There was an apre-O Christmas BBQ with the different clubs all sitting separately. I forgot to turn the Garmin off until about 5 minutes after I returned - so time is an educated guess.

A walk around Heathmont and Ringwood. I have revised my Christmas wish list down to a new pair of shoes.

I have been really busy lately and it is getting harder and harder to fit in some exercise. Hopefully things will settle down after Christmas.

Street-O at Mullum Mullum last night - one of the better places for street-O in Melbourne and not to be missed. The course did not disappoint and the course setter (Ian Greenwood) would have been please to see people standing confused on street corners and running in all sorts of wrong directions. It is a hilly area and I walked up most hills and jogged down. I made an error running past a control and went around in a big circle (collecting 2 other controls) before returning! Not the best route choice, but definitely the most scenic as it was around the creek area.

At work I exercised some power beyond my station in life and accidentally restructured the department. Somehow, when scrolling my mouse across the screen with Windows Explorer on, it collected the entire (and I mean ENTIRE) state planned burning folder and moved it to a new location under operations. Now the Dept is currently being restructured and my preferred location for this section would definitely be operations - but that is not what is intended at this stage. When the problem and its source (err....me) was discovered (popularity - nil), I could not move it back. Seems I am the only person in the Dept with access to this folder, which is odd since I am a contractor.

Street-O in North Balwyn. I wasn't really up to running last night as I was feeling like a bit of a blob - so did a combination of walk and jog - but of course I broke into a jog if anyone was watching. This was the complete opposite of certain power walkers, who ran most of the way butdropped into walk when anyone was watching.

Time is a guess because I forgot to turn off my garmin.

A walk around the hills of Heathmont tonight. The last km was a bit slow due to me carrying a large terracotta pot someone had put out for the rubbish. It looks nice at my place.

I had a bit of a mishap on Sunday night when I got back from Benalla. My key wouldn't go in the lock and I was stuck outside for sometime - contemplating breaking a window. Fortunately I had some furniture polish in the shed and, following the advice of my brother-in-law (I rang a friend), the lubricated key then worked.

It is times like this that you need a m... (did I say that?). That annoying song playing everywhere at this time of year has reminded me of a friend who, at a party, plonked herself on Santa's knee and when asked the question, replied 'YOU!'. Christmas wishes sometimes come true because they are still happily marrried a number of years on.

I jogged around the Benalla lake and felt OK (back to my usual lake time). I have taped up my foot which seems to have stabilised my knee. I was passed by some middle aged triathletes doing a mini-triathlon but not by the 8 month (or so) pregnant woman. It took me ages to cool down at home because it was so humid.

I haven't been swimming for ages (in fact since late October). My bathers disintigrated in the surf at Caloundra and so I tested a new pair (which is oddly what you call a one-piece) today in the Benalla pool. The water was quite cold (they must have expected a heatwave) and I started quite slowly but got going after a while.

At Christmas I usually steal a wildling pine tree out of the forest near Benalla (after eyeing off a well shaped one some time in advance [and I have been tempted to prune one into shape some months beforehand]) or cut one down in the middle of the night from beside the railway line in Melbourne (after spotting it beforehand on the train going home). There is a perfectly shaped one right beside the Laburnum station at the moment.

However, for the first time ever I bought a gold artificial tree for Benalla. It didn't have any instructions - but how hard could it be? It seemed to be tied up with some sort of white string - so I unwound a considerable amount of this, waiting for the branches to pop out. But not only did they pop out - they popped off - rendering this strategy a big mistake! So I attempted to wind the string back on to re-attach the branches, which worked to a limited extent - but now the tree looks a bit lop-sided. Hopefully it will make it through Christmas without collapsing. I guess it is back to thievery again next year.

Day off today. I spent the day hacking through the jungle at Heathmont and made 2 trips to the tip before 1000. Returned to Benalla in the evening.

A walk around Heathmont, the Dandenong Creek trail and some parts of Bayswater (very ordinary) exploring the area while I am here.

Street-O at Forest Hills last night. I just jogged really really slowly.
I would have liked to have gone for an hour but I entered C course not realising it was a score event. Then I didn't listen to the instructions at the start and thought I only had 40 minutes, rather than 45. This was probably a good thing as I really need to build up my running slowly, rather than rushing in. I actually felt like running tonight!

I am awfully busy otherwise. Amongst other things, I am writing the state plan for fire (in a hurry - by next week) and it is like writing a university essay - 'Write everything you lnow about fire'. It covers every aspect - prevention, planning, preparedness, response and recovery.

At the moment I am living in 3 houses and have 3 jobs (all of which would like a bit more of my time)!

Perhaps mentioning that I was 'back' last week was a little premature. I have been so busy with houses (getting Heathmont ready to sell, Blackburn ready to move into and Benalla habitable) as well as catching up on all the work I haven't done since late July, I haven't had much time for myself. None of the situations are resolved but I am feeling better. I came up to Benalla for the weekend (with a car load of Mum's boxes for sorting) and went over the Shep for shopping today. I plodded around the river in the sun with Peter. We were going to do 8 km but I faded after 5.5. Still, a start - first run in a long time. Oh, and sore knee seems to have appreciated the rest.