The Dragon Runner

March Recap

8 Apr 2019

March was a very tough month training wise, with the standout being our holiday in Adelaide.

The month started with a new strength & flexibility program designed for me by coach Jimmy Owens. On paper the routine looked easy enough... but I found it to be challenging & definitely focussed on my core strecgth deficiencies. Within the first week I was really struggling to keep up with the schedule, but with Jimmy's encouragement & some tweaking to suit my current abilities I managed to continue into the second week before the wheels completely fell off. My body was so sore that I wasn't able to get down to the floor & back up again very easily which led to the program being dropped for the duration of our week away. Following my return to Sydney I have yet to restart the program, but I commit her to doing so this week.

I made a return to fun runs on March 10 with the Shellharbour City Festival of Sport Fun Run conducted on the walking paths & streets of Shell Cove. This was a very small low-key event, but had wonderfully friendly volunteersout on the course & a drink station that was passed four times in the 9km course. There were a few short steep hills to be negotiated which proved challenging, but I found that catching & passing the back of the 6km walkers field helped me to keep going on the second loop. Overall a great event & one I will be keen to do again.

During the third weeek Aaron & I drove to Adelaide for a week of relaxation & playong tourist. On our first full day in Adelaide we undertook a cycling adventure from the Adelaide CBD to Henley Beach & back - 34.7km that was both exciting & exhausting. Unfortunately this triggered a lot of knee paid for me throughout the remainder of the month that really hindered my fitness & training activities (I shouldn't be too surprised... I have only logged 80km of cycling in the two years prior to this ride!)

For the remainder of the holiday we stayed off the bikes, but we got plenty of walking & sightseeing done. On Wednesday we walked through Hahndorf, hiked to Giants Cave in Morialta Conservation Park, played a game of ten pin bowling (2 wins by Aaron) & finished with dinner by the beach at Semaphore. Thursday saw us visit the two big zoos - Adelaide Zoo in the CBD & Monarto Zoo about 60km away - providing vastly different experiences with Monarto unfortunately suffering very badly from 18 months of drought. Friday morning saw us walk around the Adelaide Botanic Gardens as Aaron began to get used to his new camera, followed by tours of the National Railway Museum, South Australian Aviation Museum & South Australian Maratime Museum at Port Adelaide after lunch. Our final full day on Saturday began with a run for my at Lochiel parkrun where I ran my fastest parkrun of the year before meeting Darren Linney & his family over coffee & a chat. For the rest of the day we visited Gorge Wildlife Park at Cudlee Creek (including a large population of very rare albino kangaroos that I have not seen before), the National Motor Museum at Birdwood & Cleland Wildlife Park near the summit of Mt Lofty.

Our diet proved to be very hard to follow in Adelaide - my first attempt at cooking in the kitchenette quickly triggered the smoke alarm that was located too close to the stove & so that was the end of cooking in the unit. After this we were not very strict with reducing carbohydrates & as a result I returned home 4.5kg heavier than when we left. Over the course of the last week I strictly followed the diet & lost this extra weight to finish the month 1.7kg lighter, while dipping just under 100kg for the first time in 18 months.

Unfortunately my motivation & confidence with running took a hit late in the month, and was the subject of my blog post last week.

#reset #refocus #rebuild #health #fitness #wellness #beactive #challengeyourself #pushlimits #becomebetter #dowhatittakes #nevergiveup #metime #newlife #fitter #faster #stronger #jorg #upandrunning

March Events

Date	Event	Time	Temp & Elevation	Weight
March 9	Kamay parkrun	35m 35s	18c ~ 64m	101.4kg
March 10	Shell Cove Fun Run (9km)	67m 15s	22c ~ 113m	100.5kg
March 16	Shellharbour parkrun	38m 11s	19c ~ 72m	99.9kg
March 23	Lochiel parkrun	34m 21s	21c ~ 21m
March 30	Shellharbour parkrun	Timekeeper

March Statistics

Running: 34.4km	Walking: 41.5km	Cycling: 34.7km	Steps: 283,326	Weight: 1.7kg loss
YTD: 131.6km	YTD: 86.6km	YTD: 40.4km	YTD: 787,349	YTD: 12.2kg loss