Training Log Archive: Mess Engineer

Was surprised to see that heart rate monitor communicated with the Keiser display on the bike and displayed heart rate there too.
I thought different brands would not communicate with each other.
Kept mostly in Zone 2 125-149 probably around 125-130 bpm.

Lights out for majority of class, and was watching heart rate, so forgot to watch km rate and then dropped really low.

Straight from Cycle to treadmill before going to Cardio room.
Now surprised again to see heart rate monitor communicated with Matrix treadmill. Is there a universal standard transmitter frequency ?

Meant to be doing 30 secs on, then 10 burpees, but I 'declined' at just remained on treadmill at 13 kmph.

Heartrate average something like 160+ whilst running.

C • lesser evil? 1

Remainder of class in a circuit type format.
For three sessions
Zone 1
5:35
Zone 2
43:35 (ie Cycle and Cardio)
Zone 3
9:15 (ie all the treadmill)
Average 140 bpm. Maximum 169 bpm.

Special note for tinytoes :P.
Down 2 - 2.5 kg in about 10 days. Can see difference around guts. Also body acclimatising and having the desired effect of reducing boredom snacking effect and making me feel fuller on less.

Today is 3 year anniversary on my self imposed workload of a 6 1/2 acre bush block.

At lot has been done in that time. Went for a walk last night with the dogs looking to plan Saturdays physical activity and could not find any dirt to move, stumps to pull out, grass that needed urgent cutting, fallen branches, firebreaks to clear (including neighbours). Taking a trailer to Neighbours to raid their dirt pile .... rather than patiently waiting for their contractor .... would be a real make work job. Could go to my brothers and slave there if its not raining. Bush-O on Sunday.

I may have to start planning some work for others which requires actual spending such as laying out the cabling plan / scope for lighting the shed and ring up Contractors to get quotes.

Decided to skip todays 'push to spew' Class.

OK time to see what this heart rate monitor shows when I go for a run.
Gym->Islington->Throsby Creek->Carrington->Return Loop (extended).
Wanted to get it under an hour but missed out.

Flipped yesterdays spend majority of time in Level 1 and ZIP in Level 3 on its head. Felt fine through the entire run, breathing well and no pains, and thought I maintained pace throughout, and found watching heartrate basically stay almost constantly > 160 bpm as a good source of inspiration (when I could actually see the watch in the pitch black morning). If I get a footpod so can see km rate this will be even better.

Seeing heartrate drop back to below 100 bpm in the 5 minutes it takes to drive across the road to work was also reassuring.

Average 161 bpm (80%)
Maximum 172 bpm (96%)

Zone 1 107 to 124 bpm
0:47
Zone 2 125 to 142 bpm
0:48
Zone 3 143 to 161 bpm
59:57

Need to figure out of to increase the max for Zone 3 as would have been very frequently beyond it.

Uploaded yesterdays first trial result so I could look at the graph but can't access it from work so will have to upload this run tonight to have a look.

C • dropping back 3

Reset limits to
Zone 1
100 to 124
Zone 2
125 to 149
Zone 3
150 to 175
which will be easier to remember.

Driving to gym around 5:20 am today I saw a large owl swoop down to catch something in the grass just to the right side of the road (I was in the outside lane). It then immediately took off back to the left and smashed into my windscreen at 90 kmph. No time to react, and no damage to car, but owl would have been a goner.

Tried heart rate monitor for first time in class today.
Back to full pre-Tasmania weights but really felt it in chest track and lunges after Sundays runs.

Summary is ... lift heavy weights and fatigue muscles but don't push heart much at all.

Average 108 bpm
Maximum 131 bpm
Zone 1 107 to 124 bpm
53:36
Zone 2 125 to 142 bpm
2:15
Zone 3 143 to 161 bpm
ZIP
So for cardio fitness need to be predominantly in Zone 2.
Based on average barely spending time in Zone 1.
May go for a run on Wednesday and see what that does.

Will experiment with downloading data later.

And first learning is need to tighten belt as when you are shaped like a V and stand up and down throughout class ... the belt slips to above belly.

C • You too? 1

Event: Newcastle NOY4
 

My dogs were going nuts barking at something around 6 am.
Setting off all the other dogs in our culdesac.
Went out to investigate.

Options from prior encounters
1. Huge goanna - nope too early and too cold
2. Black snake - nope too early and too cold
3. Half mangled but still alive rabbit dropped by hawk - not this time
4. Echnida/Possum/Koala/Wallaby/Kangaroo - not that I could see
5. Other neighbours dogs - not this time

So decided there should not be anything out this early that could injure my dog so lifted him up over the fence to see what he was going off about.

He sniffed around for a minute then absolutely bolted (2 x faster than even Macey so I had no hope of keeping up - and he ignores me yelling at him once he is in hunt-kill mode). He sprinted down to the leaf pile by the shed and bailed up a fox. Fox was twice as big as him and they raced around with his nose just behind the foxes tail. The did several 'light speed' laps of the yard and then 200 m down the bush (well out of sight) before he eventually came back ... walked to the entrance to the dog yard and waited for me to let him back in. No signs of injury. Then he went back to bed!

So Buster the Fox Terrier became a Fox Terror-er.
Yet again I am amazed by his sense of smell for tracking and his insane desire to kill every creature he can regardless of how much bigger it is than him.

1st Run - Hard Medium
Nominal 4.5 km.
18 Controls.

Screwed up almost every control so was even more demoralising than last events one big 20 minute screwup. More later.

2nd Run - Moderate Long
Nominal 4.4 km
12 controls. (5 shared with prior course).

Pushed hard throughout. No significant screw-ups.
If I managed this sort of time for the (equivalent distance) Hard Medium I would have been in the Top 5.
So issue not fitness but hopeless navigation.

My vet Lynda Hewson started 42 minutes before me (10 am) and I overtook her at Control 6 so she wasn't happy.

3rd "run" - Easy Long
3.6 km Nominal
9 Controls. (5 shared with prior courses)

Lynda wanted to go out for a 2nd "run" (which ended up being 90% walk, 10 % jog). Can't remember ever fitting in 3 events before ... but we were outside the closing time and therefore totally unofficial. Easy easy navigation but generally discussed track options ie Lynda wanted to go along here ... whilst I would suggest along there.

She gave me her second Polar heart monitor to try out so I will experiment with that in upcoming runs and exercise over the coming weeks.

With three runs today that ought to be a good start to my plan to recover my cardio fitness post holiday.

Hard Medium - Splits

8:00 am - 8:55 am
Moved 5 more wheelbarrows of dirt from beside trench to valley near house.
Yard still fairly wet but managed not to bog the wheelbarrow by only filling it level to the top and taking a slightly different path the 150 m or so each time back and forth.

Break to change as was cold earlier but now warmed up enough to revert from tracksuit pants to shorts!

9:10 am - 10:55 am
Moved 10 more wheelbarrows of dirt from beside trench to valley near house. End in sight.

Break

12:30 pm - 1:50 pm
Moved last 7 wheelbarrows of dirt beside trench to valley near house. Probably half a wheelbarrow left if I levelled off the ground next to the trench a bit better but I may do this once it has rained and softened a bit.
But thats now pretty much all the various spare piles of dirt I have around the block (without creating more .. but if the trench gets made deeper I will hire an excavator and trailer this time)

From Wallalong Gardening Part 4

So this valley now has over 100 wheelbarrows of dirt fill in it. Raised up well out of the slushy swamp (can see the puddle to the right). If the downhill Neighbours yard ever dries out sufficiently for her excavator driver to come back hopefully he will dump more on top so I can get it back to a gradual slope draining to her side.

From Wallalong Gardening Part 4

Break

3:45 pm - 3:55 pm
Backfilled the decimated 'white ant crater' as they are showing zero signs of life or recovery after my poison attack. Dirt still stunk of poison even with the rain.

From Wallalong Gardening Part 4

From Wallalong Gardening Part 4

3:55 pm - 4:15 pm
One last wheelbarrow of decent topsoil from elsewhere by the trench which I used to fill in various small dips and hollows in the grass.

And the biggest positive out of today is I managed all this easily.
Last two weekends of stuggling effort with sniffles seems to have been overcome. If I pace myself I can go all day ... its only when I got flat out that the cardio capacity becomes the limit.

Looking forward to some Bush-O on Sunday.

Straight from Cycle Class to treadmill at 13 kmph

Class ran over.
I have lost so much cardio fitness since Tasmania.
With partial retreat of sniffles, and diet started this week, hope to work my way back.

C • ? 3

Debated whether to continue attending this class as not enjoying it at all.
Looked too cold and dark to go for a morning run.

Managed the first 2/3 OK but then burpees pushed me very close to brink of vomit town again so spent the last 5 minutes trying to not step over this edge.
Instructors think this is fine which I find bizarre.

And I don't think I will following their recommended solution of doing 200 burpees a week until my body adapts to it.

C • comment 1

Sniffles much reduced but still hanging on.

8:15 am - 10:00 am
Felt physically better today.
10 more wheelbarrows of dirt from next to trench.
The clay has set solid so hard work breaking it back up.
After more than a year of sitting there its basically like digging it up all over again.
10:00 am - 10:10 am
Spreading all the dirt out with rake then rest whilst twin brother visited.

Checked the towing capacity of his 4WD (2.5 tonnes) versus my station wagon (1.6 tonnes) as I am right on the limit of towing the smallest excavator you can hire. He is doing a lot of manual labour building a stairway down his steep block so we may end up doing a labour 'swap for a day' at each others houses so I can get him to tow an excavator here and help for a day.

12:15 pm - 1:30 pm
5 more wheelbarrows of dirt.
Had to quit as forearms getting too sore (with the combined effort of swinging mattock and then wheeling the full wheelbarrow 150 m) as kept having to stop 4 times along the distance from trench to dumping area.

19 wheelbarrows done this weekend so half my usual capability (but its a longer distance and dirt set harder). Still have about the same amount to go.

From Wallalong Gardening Part 4

7:45 am - 10:30 am
Whippersnipping long grass, and raking up multiple wheelbarrows of leaves, around LOTS of natural wattle seedlings around dog yard perimeter.
Partner wanted it all back to bare dirt after the snake dramas of the last weeks.

Would be a LOT less time consuming if just pulled out all the seedlings but I want a small grove of trees rather than yet more open space.

Still felt physically sniffly rubbish when I woke up so started with something light and easy.

10:45 am - 11:30 am

From Wallalong Drainage

Back in October 2011 (photo above ... having a photo gallery history proves useful) when manually constructing the trench got sick of moving dirt after about 150 wheelbarrows worth, so dumped about 30 wheelbarrows next to the trench. Now that I am filling the valley hollow by the downhill Neighbours fence line I have decided to move this there to get rid of it. So digging it back up.

Almost recovered from last weeks sniffles but still feeling the exertion doing this.

Started with 4 wheelbarrows worth and this proved to be too much to continue today.

11:30 am - 11:45 am
Started Fire Pit to dispose of this weeks fallen stick harvest.

This block is much easier to maintain in Winter as
(a) can burn off each week to keep the backlog down
(b) when mow / whippersnip it can last up to 3 months rather than 2 weeks so finally can get on top of the backlog.

12:30 pm - 2:50 pm
Pottering around with Partner raking up yet more leaves and whippersnipping yet more grass.

3:10 pm - 4:00 pm
Quick couple of wheelbarrows trip around back tracks to pick up the last fortnights fallen branches (and burn in the still warm Fire Pit)

Still run down.
For the normally following Cardio Class Instructor wanted us all on treadmills ... and there were none left .... so I took that as my excuse to skip it. Hope to be feeling more motivated for weekend.

Fully back to pre-Tasmania weights but totally run down.
Was contemplating walking out in the first 3 minutes prior to starting as feeling rubbish.
Probably best if I give Wednesdays torture session a miss this week.

Still waiting for these sniffles to disappear.

Event: NOY 3 - Southam's Road-West
 

Hard Medium
5.2 km Nominal
13 Controls.

Run this map on 3 prior events and had very mixed results. Had my first ever State League event here and took 15 minutes to find the first control (once I completed course I returned back to start and found the first control in less than 1:30).

Attempted to 'run' despite being sick but kept it at a jog as I didn't think I would last otherwise.

No issues for 1, 2, 3 (passed 8 first), 4 (very happy with how I broke this long leg up into components to check where I was along the entire length), 5, 6.

Tim Tew left 2 minutes before me and I lapped him prior to 4.
We tag teamed through 5, 6 and onto 7 and then it all fell apart.
Totally and absolutely screwed up Control 7 .. taking 25:50 to find it.

<- UPDATE ->
Looking at the splits I was the 2nd SLOWEST competitor to find this control (30th of 31).
I was coming 5th overall at Control 6 and then plummeted to 25th after Control 7.

The key difference between 1.3 km long leg 3 to 4, and 1 km long leg 6 to 7 was an attack point (or total lack of one).

For 3 to 4 headed NE and counted crossing road, creek, road, creek, road then creek and up prominant N-S gully (know this well since I was lost here for 15 minutes at 1st State Event!), up to road, then SE along road to minor track, up minor track and N to control. So I knew where I was on entire run.

For 6 to 7 just headed 'west' and counted crossing road, creek, creek, road, creek, road, creek. So when got to creek was too far south but didn't use ANYTHING to work out where I was. Could have at least refound Control 3. Tim Tew was there with me but he only spent 15 mins finding it! Scrub was very thick unlike shown on the map. So mucked around running south (to within sight of the start car park), then north (to the bend in the road on the top of map), and even tried counting power poles on the main road (which had been replaced since the map was drawn so was useless). Only stumbled upon it eventually in the most shallow dry ditch I have encountered. Apparantly the correct answer was to follow the dry ditch up from the bottom but I didn't (and still can't) see this extending this far down to the creek on the map.

So fail to plan means plan to fail.

And anyone thinking of twisting the knife ... this isn't worthy of an annual tortoise award.

<- END UPDATE ->

Then back to 3, south to 8.
Sickness fatigue, and demoralisation of 7, meant I couldn't really be bothered pushing to run.
West coming midway between 9 and 10 and seeing people run both N and S to each control I guessed and went to 10 first.
Back to 9 then 10.
No issues for 11, 12 and 13.

Didn't hang around for 2nd run as feeling rubbish.

C • Tortoise award 1

Pottered around in the front yard all afternoon.
- Pruning hedges at front of house
- Pruning hedges along uphill Neighbour boundary fence.
- Cutting dead branches off trees.
- Whippersnipping parts I hadn't mowed around trees in a year and front spoon drain.

Probably about 4 hrs but wasn't tracking the time and only stopped due to lack of light and that I had totally filled the garbage bin despite multiple stompings.

Hard Medium - Splits

Partners son previously filled one bay of my 12 m x 12.5 m shed with all his junk prior to leaving Newcastle. Been there for over 3 months and its getting destroyed by bush rats eating all the foam, paper and fabric. Happily today his ex-wife came to claim her portion of it so I could get some space back.

Whilst waiting for them to arrive (supposedly at 7 am but ending up being after 10 am) I filled in time, with my currently limited aerobic capacity, in very easy activities like burning contents of Fire Pit and picking up multiple wheelbarrows of sticks throughout the yard.

11:15 am - 12:35 pm
Hadn't mowed since 6th April (upon return from Tasmania) and grass hadn't really grown much.
Didn't do next to the shed this last time so this was a bit long so jumped on intending to just do this in about 10 minutes.

Almost as soon as I jumped on the mower it started to rain.
Typically rain = wet grass = clogged blades = stressed motor.
But it kept being intermittent so I persevered.

Decided to go out and do the entire front lawn and this was interesting as since it wasn't too thick I could drive at full speed and hoon around and the motor barely laboured at all. In fact had to keep checking the discharge chute to see grass clippings coming out (to ensure the protective shear pin hadn't failed) as it was so quiet.

Based on the low growth rate may be 2 months before I need to do this again.

Still feeling weak and sniffly so rest of day vegging out watching DVDs.

Didn't last through this well. Underlying sniffles meaning I get flogged doing anything at speed. Not sick enough to check the box yet.

Any manual labour plans for Fri/Sat will have to be slow and steady.
Sunday Bush-O Event going to be a struggle.

Tried digging dirt to fill wheelbarrow and only got half full before realised body incapable so will have to wait until better.
So went for a walk with Partner but even felt taking the dogs for a slow walk up the street.

This class is a race .... to see if I vomit or die of a heart attack first.
Continue to keep eye on watch waiting for it to be over.

C • next event? 2

Really felt the lunge track today for some reason.
Managed to survive a bit better with my pre-Tasmania holiday weights.

Slept in until 6 am and then was dark by the time I got home.

6:30 am - 7:45 am
Miscellaneous raking and wheelbarrowing of leaves filling in time prior to Bush-O event.

Club Novelty Pairs Event.

Idea was you and your running Partner could do whatever method you wanted (ie one wait at pivot control whilst Partner did a loop of several controls before returning) but had to get controls in order on one SI stick.

Partnered with Andrew Power and both of us fit enough to do 5.5 km so didn't see any advantage in splitting up. Even in hindsight we wouldn't have gone any faster if we did split up. I ran with the SI stick which meant Andrew could short cut a few metres / elevation on each control (as didn't have to go up to it) and then start leading the way off to the next one.

25 controls but 10 of these taken up by 4 pivot controls.
The pivot controls became like "Bus Stops" as there were so many people standing around them could see them from far far away.

Mass Start which I absolutely hate.
So we all run off frantically following the faster competitors and doing close to no map reading or navigation of our own.
This revealed how much faster others were because some of them were totally out of sight after the 3rd control.
Only done one Mass Start before at a State Event.
But basically following others until about Control 11.
Would have enjoyed it much more if I competed unofficially or there were staggered starts (but this imposes more work on the Organisers). Alternatively have different versions of map so reverse order loops back to Pivot control.

The only controls we found with no-one else around were 13, 14, 18, 19, 20, 22 and 24.

Jigadee Jog is such a limited map had also been to at least half of these features before and could remember every track.

Anyway got a run in the bush and must be the fastest km rate I have achieved in a bush event.
Never really stopped. Cold/Sniffles better than last week but still affected by it.

Thanks to leepback for setting the event.
I will get my own minor event setting experience in August so I will have to see what I can dream up.

1:45 pm - 4:25 pm
Post run relaxation with more raking. Also spent time digging up spiky trees and pulling down vines strangling trees in two areas - next to the leaf pile and along the downhill side of the trench. Wanted to tidy up strip about 1 m either side of the trench as plan to get a small excavator in.

When took socks off at 4:35 pm a big fat blood filled leach came out.
A cigarette lighter and then heel of steel cap boot finished it off.

Tips of toes of my "MkB" Slazengers started to peel back 5 mm in only their first race so tried a Sam Howe trick. Stiched them up with fishing line before it gets a chance to open up and start flapping around like the "MkA" pair. Bush-O events seem to wreck shoes about 3 times faster than Street-O.

7:00 am - 8:30 am
Raking leaves on road down to back block.
Partner been doing this around the yard all week and I have rushed around in the almost pitch black each night wheelbarrowing her leave piles around.

Spent the day at Tocal Field Day.
The guys in a time competition to split logs into 8 fence posts with a chainsaw, wedges and sledge hammer was unbelievable.
That chainsaw must have be super sharp to cut like that.
Went to the Onesteel Waratah fencing demo and actually learnt a few tips myself.

3:10 pm - 4:10 pm
Phase II of attempted white ant nest elimination.
Knocking over their sky scraper didn't do much (apart from give me a workout a few weeks back).
They have been busy steadily rebuilding each day.

So dug up their basement with shovel and crowbar, and then chased out the underground side extents of the nest with shovel.
Dug large round hole about 30 cm deep and piled up all the white ant / dirt mix around the edge of the hole.

Then progressively flooded with 60 litres of BIFENTHRIN emulsion.
Drenched sides of hole, outer edges and dirt and then half filled the hole with liquid.
Washed out all the buckets with another 20 litres of water and added this to the hole.

So will see if they recover from that.
If a week or two if no signs of recovery I will rake all the dirt back into the hole.

Break for full shower (although was kitted out in long clothes, glasses, rubber gloves etc and didn't get any on me ... best to be sure).

4:30 pm - 4:55 pm
Raking continued inside, and along sides of the trench. Hadn't thought to rake out the trench before as gets a lot of leaf buildup which acts as a dam.

Still getting the sniffles so didn't hang around for the 2nd Cardio half of the class.
Save myself for the 5 km in the Bush on Sunday.

Relief Instructor so wasn't very inspired anyway.

Definitely getting the start of a cold so no running today.

The little white ant buggers down the back (whose skyscraper I demolished a few weeks back) are busy recovering. On Monday night there was a tea saucer sized disk of mud coming out of the ground. By last night it had grown to dinner plate sized. The mud they are building is really light weight so can push through it with a finger so no where near the concrete like barrier they had before.

But on Tuesday I was at a rural store looking at gates and they had termicide for killing nests there. So eventually attack phase II is on its way little guys.

High speed burpees 24 minutes in made me want to spew badly so the last 6 minutes were pretty much a write off as having to slow down to prevent a horrible event.
And unco-ordination getting worse. Getting start of sniffles too so see how far that develops.