Run 22 – 1977 VFL Grounds: Part 3. Moorabbin. 13/07/2019
My memory of StKilda’s home ground in the 70’s was that of a cold, wet and boggy place, and that was on a good day. So why not pick the worst day in months to run there. About 7 degrees, windy with rain showers and later hail. Nice. Full winter wear, long top and long skins. Warmth not speed was the goal today.
Started to use heart rate to control my speed. Tried to stay below 155 early on but that went pear shaped when I hit the first hill. Was able to get it back under control with a combination of downhill and stopping at traffic lights, but hardly a good race strategy.
Had a bit of trouble finding Moorabbin oval and turns out it is just near Moorabbin station, but not so obvious on google maps. Ran a lap and headed home into a head wind. Delightful.
Continued to try and control my heart rate in the back half but it just got harder. Changed my limit to 159 but still saw over 160 too often. Another poor decision saw me head back to Elwood along the path along the beach. Now I had showers from one direction and sea spray from the other – it couldn’t get worse.
And then it did – one big wave crashed onto the rocks and then onto me. Approximately 700,000 litres of chilled, salted sea water dumped onto me with only 1km to go. It was a long last kilometer and I no longer cared about my heart rate.
Ran 1:48:37 heart rate controlled (sometimes).
My Three Learnings
Too fast and uphill increases heart rate.
Stopping at lights, taking selfies drops heart rate.
Getting hit by a wave has no positives.