Wed 21 Dec 2005 - First You Yangs Run

After yesterday's reconnaissance I headed back out to the You Yangs with Glen for my first run. From home it took us 35 mins to get there, about the same time it takes me to get to my Brimbank Park group run ( well maybe a little longer). Weather wise it wasn't as warm or hot as it has been the previous few days and was overcast. Humidity was still high though. Great Circle Drive (clockwise) On arrival I made my mind up that I'd run the Great Circle Drive in a clockwise direction, with the traffic, the same way I drove the road/track yesterday. I say 'with the traffic' but only one car passed us. Pack the mule Glen wore my old Polar HRM, which is now my day to day watch. He was also using his friend's (Benji's) mountain bike. Since Glen was on a bike I thought he might as well carry the supplies, the fuel belt, extra water, phone and the camera. The plan was, Glen would follow me around and take a heap of snappies along the way. Start I know that I'll be running this course again and probably quite a number of times and so decided that my start/finish point is alongside the car park just up from the Park Office at the first 'car park' sign. About 12.20 pm we were off. Initially Glen stayed with me and he was taking a heap of photos from behind and in front. In a way I felt like a director giving instructions on how to frame the photos, long shot, close up, me on right, get that windy bit in etc etc. He didn't complain though. Hills - Where are you Glen I failed to realise that Glen would not be able to just amble along as he did yesterday on our 16 km flat river course. Running in a clockwise direction, as the elevation chart shows, the first 5 km is all up hill. About 15 mins or so I started to leave Glen, though I didn't notice at the time. About 20 mins into the run, still on the ascent, I had to stop and wait for Glen. I'm not sure how long, maybe a couple of minutes and then I saw him in the distance. I was a little concerned not knowing if he fallen off his bike or injured himself somehow. I continued, still on the climb and it took Glen another 5 or so minutes to catch up. He actually caught up when we I was on the descent part. He couldn't help himself, he came screaming past and locking his wheel up just in front of me. He told me that he actually had to walk his bike up one of the steep parts and that he couldn't work out the gears properly. Thunder and Lightning About 35 minutes into the run it started to pour along with the thunder and lightning. This lasted for about 10 - 15 minutes. I didn't mind the rain so much, it was the lightning, it looked very, very close. Lightning's a funny thing, it makes me run faster, which I did. From this point on, as the elevation chart shows, it's basically all downhill. Glen had no trouble keeping up with me and again was taking heaps of photos. At one point just behind me he did come off his bike and I later saw that he'd grazed his right leg on the pedals or chain. Only one car passed us and that was about 55 minutes into the run, just as we were getting to the bitumen part of the track (near the end of the run). Finish I stopped Mr. Garmin where I had started, at the 'car park' sign just up from the Park Office. I finished in a time of 1:04:10 for a distance of 13.06 km which equates to a pace of 4:55 /km. Overall I'm quite happy with this performance considering I was held up a little along the way. Stats at a glance

• Distance - 13.06 km
• Time - 1:04:10
• Pace - 4:55 /km
• HR Max/Avg - 192/151
• Elevation Gain - 189 m
• Glen's HR Max/Avg - 235/159
• More Data Details here

Graphs

Stats as of 21 Dec 2005

Weight : 76.4 kg Last 7 Days : 100.0 km Last 28 Days : 336.0 km December 2005 : 252.8 km YTD : 2364.8 km Weekly Avg (2005): 45.5 km Monthly Avg (2005): 197.1 km Yearly Avg (2001 on): 1540.5 km Total (2001 on): 7702.3 km