Run 21 – 1977 VFL Grounds : Part 2. Arden St 9/07/2019
Having already run the glorious Victoria Park (home of the Pies), I decided I would run all of the grounds of those teams in the 1977 VFL season. That’s the year I first trained with North Melbourne as part of the schoolboys championships. It was also the year that my team, Collingwood, played a draw in the Grand Final with my other team North Melbourne, so it was a significant year. And the suburban grounds were iconically Melbourne.
Into the city and north towards Arden St where I ran a lap around the football ground, very different to 1977. Got a selfie and then intended to head west but lost direction as Macaulay St curved into Dryburgh St and I missed the turn back onto Arden St. Cost me about 1km so changed the back half of the run.
Couldn’t really rely on looking at my watch too often as only 20% battery at the start and turning on the light in the dark used precious energy. Thought I had already learnt this charging watch lesson. Got back on track as I re-entered the city and through Bourke St Mall. So now I knew exactly how far back to Elwood in case my watch finally died.
I now know I can’t run all 100 halves at record speed so took the advice of my coach (wife) to try and keep my heart rate below 155, but that tended to slow me down. Watch gave up with about 1.5km to go, but estimated finish time would have been around 1:46:30 at the speed I was averaging at that point.
My Three Learnings
20% watch battery isn’t enough to make it through a 21.1km run.
Curved roads can cause you to lose your direction, especially in the dark.
Heart rate and speed appear to be linked.