Four minute k - Part 4

Saturday, 6 December 2025

I'd done some research and found that the public (i.e. chumps like me) are allowed to use the Domain Athletics Track whenever it isn't booked, which during work hours would be quite often as there are only so many school carnivals to be had. And sure enough, when I arrived there were only two other people using it - someone doing some sprints on the other side, and another person doing lap after lap.

With my new shoes on I did a few warmup laps and a few stretches, then running out of reasons to stall, I started my watch and set off. The first 200 metres always feels good, and I can convince myself that I'm running strongly, however as I approached the 350 metre mark things were starting to hurt. It crossed my mind that perhaps I should pull the pin and just come back another day but I quickly realised that the other day would be just as painful as this day so I may as well keep going and find out the truth about my progress.

I crossed the 400metre mark and glanced at my watch and was heartily surprised to see it showed 1:32, definitely faster than I'd done before. I was paying the price though, as the next lap felt awful and I was sure I was now well off the pace I needed. Imagine my surprise when I passed the 800 metre mark and another glance at my watch revealed I was at 3:11, well within range if I put in a good effort for the last 200metres.

So I put my head down and went for it. And I did it!! 3:54! I couldn't be happier! or more surprised! I still had 6 weeks of my program to go - I could tear it up and let the pieces flutter down on Jett's head!

For reference, here are my splits compared to the first trial:

Trial	400	400	200	Total
1	1:36	1:46	55	4:17
2	1:32	1:39	43	3:54

In the first trial, my slowest pace was at the 875 metre mark before it improved slightly as I approached the line, in the second trial, it was at the 660 mark, earlier but also a lot less slow than trial one, and from there I improved back up to the pace I was doing at the 300 metre mark as I gave it everything to get to the finish line.

So all up I'm pretty pleased with myself - I did it! - but it does raise two questions - 1. What do I do with the rest of the time before the Oceania Sprint Champs and 2. What will become of Jett?

I think now that it has proved that pain does equal gain, I'll adjust the intervals for the 2.5 km sprint race length, and continue doing them.

As far as Jett goes, we're in negotiations. I'm pleased he has passed is first year of Uni as it's in even more in my interest he secures a good future :)

cathy

Four minute k - Part 3

Saturday, 6 December 2025

While I was comforted by the fact my first real test showed I wasn't too far way, I had a niggle in the back of my head that reminded me of the time I was training for the World Ultimate Frisbee Championships. The whole team had done fitness testing at the NSW institute of sport, and although I'd performed really well in the endurance componant, in the vertical leap test I was dead last, meaning the difference between my standing reach and my jumping reach was the smallest of everyone. To address this before we went away to Hawaii I got a program and went to the gym two or three times a week for 8 weeks. At the end of that I tested it again and found that I hadn't even improved a single centimetre. Which goes to show that sometimes things just don't turn out how you want them to - even when you do the work!

So I was nervous that I wouldn't improve but I still plugged away for the next 4 weeks doing those 2 sessions in various locations as well as the runs in between. As the interval lengths were similar I could compare times from week to week and it didn't help that I really didn't see much change until finally this week my 400metre time ducked below 1:40 for the first time. Until then I'd been in the low 1:40s up to 1:50 - much slower than the training program said I should be doing them to make a 4 minute k. Buoyed by this I thought I'd brave another time trial. My biggest fear was that it was actually going to be slower than the first time but I figured I still had plenty of time to train if that happened.

Co-incidentally, the day before I planned the time trial, a new pair of shoes arrived in the mail. I hadn't been able to justify Nike Vaporflys so I had ordered a pair of carbon plated shoes from a cheap Chinese brand that Jon was using. By some fluke they fitted perfectly so I decided to give myself all the possible advantages by doing the 2nd time trial with these shoes AND at an actual tartan track at the Domain Athletic Centre.

cathy

Four minute k - Part 2

Saturday, 6 December 2025

The first week of training was as per the chatGPT training program and asked for two interval sessions. These filled me with dread but also made me wonder where I would do them. Our local little athletics track is handy but also definitely not 400m around and often used by actual athletes (all be them little ones). The thought of running around a random oval somewhere with cricket or any other sport going on also sent shivers down my spine.

In the end I decided I'd brave the little athletics track but when I got up there it was being used by a few people and I was too intimidated I just drove down to Kingston Beach and ran laps of a little bush path circuit at Kingston Beach.

The 2nd session was 3 x 8minute intervals which I decided I'd do on the pipeline track. In hindsight it was a weird (and hard) session and I ditched the chatGPT training plan completely after that and trawlled around the internet until I found a runners magazine article about how to train for a 1km race. From that I set myself a 12 week program featuring 2 interval sessions a week, one of 400s and 1 of 200s, plus 1 tempo session session and two nicer runs up to 50 minutes.

During week 2 I decided I needed to face the music and actually do a time trial for 1k just to see how far off it I was (and if it was even going to be feasible). As my only previous test had been 500m on the Tan track in Melbourne some months earlier, which was no-where near the 2 minutes it needed to be, I was quite concerned the gap between where I was, and where I needed to be would be too great. Avoiding it wasn't going to help either so just I had to do it. I was hoping for somewhere around 4.30-4:40, and fearing I'd be closer to 5minutes, so it was with great delight that it turned out to be just a very unpleasant 4:18 - proving it should be absolutely completely doable if I kept at it.

cathy

Four minute k - Part 1

Saturday, 6 December 2025

Almost exactly a year ago Jett, Jon, Zali and I were sitting in a hire car on the entrance ramp to the Essendon DFO shopping centre. It was close to Black Friday so the queues to get into the car park were hefty. So hefty in fact, that google maps reported that it would take us 4 minutes to cover the remaining 1km. Uff, I sighed, I could run that faster. " You sure about that mum?" asked Jett. Of course I could! I responded. One thing led to another and Jett, so confident in his assessment of my current and future athletic potential, bet 20% of all his future income that I would never run a sub 4 minute kilometre again. I should also say that Jett was not alone in this - Jon also expressed extreme dubiousness while Zali appeared to be a bit more split between both opinions.

Fired up by this exchange I got stuck into doing exactly nothing about it for the next 10 months. Part of this very one sided bet (I had no stakes except my honour and reputation) was that there was no time limit for me to acheive this - but obviously it wasn't going to get any easier.

The issue was that I really dislike doing interval training which was undoubtably what this challenge was going to demand. I should say that I had no real evidence that I could do this - it's been a long time since I would've been close to that sort of pace - but of course back in the day this would've been easy - in fact for a few years I was aiming for a 40 minute 10k, which would have involved 10 of these 4 minute kilometres in a row - I didn't actually manage it but I came close enough to suggest I wouldn't done a fair few 4 minute k's in my attempts.

Once the Australian Orienteering Championships were out of the way in early October, I decided it was time to start the journey to victory. In fact the journey would perfectly combine with training for the Oceania Sprint Champs happening on the January long weekend next year. So I set myself a date - 20th of January 2026, on which to attempt the feat or declare Jett to be completely correct his assessment of my feebleness.

With 12 weeks to the date, I asked chatGPT to set me a training program and it was happy to oblige with a16 week program (for the 12 weeks available) including building up my long runs to 20k. Which was completely stupid but I kept the interval portion of the training program and just added in a few easy runs in between.

With the program ready it was time to actually DO the training. ..

cathy

Walls of Jerusalem

Wednesday, 5 November 2025

It must have been the early 2000s or maybe even late 1990s when I last hiked into Walls of Jerusalem National Park after a frisbee tournament in Hobart. Our group walked in under heavy clouds and walked right out again through the snow the next morning.

The forecast wasn't much better for this trip but as Julie and Belinda had flown down from the mainland and Jo and I had also organised some days off we figured it would be worth the try anyway - in a best case scenario we would be able to get at least 1 and a half days of good weather before the rain closed in.

It's a long drive to the trailhead which probably accounts for why I haven't been there since we returned to Tasmania. Nowadays you have to register to avoid overcrowding - but it was still a surprise to arrive at about 1pm to see a jam packed car park.

Like the overland track, the first part of the walk is the most grueling as it relentlessly climbs up to the plateau. Unlike the Overland Track though, it's all over within about 90 minutes and then were able to breathe a bit easier as we walked through beautiful alpine terrain admiring the snowcapped mountains in the distance.

The track has been upgraded a lot since I was last here, and the campsites are incredible - despite it being busy there were still free platforms when we arrived at Dixons Kingdom at around 6pm that afternoon - delightfully still under sunshine. There's nothing nicer than basking in the evening sun and eating a great camping dinner after a long walk in. The views had been stunning the whole day so it really was a perfect hiking day.

After a very cold night, the sun was out again the next morning as we headed to the top of Mount Jerusalem. After the previous day's haul it was a joy to be out walking without heavy packs.

The views were fantastic from the top in a rare cloudless day - we could see all the way to Barns Bluff and Cradle Mountain and even beyond. Despite dawdling on the way down including stopping for Jo to take a dip in one of the tarns, we were back at camp by 11am. Our original plan was to take a lunch break and then head up another of the nearby peaks despite the route looking slightly perilous as it was covered in snow. When Jo suggested that instead we take advantage of the continued good weather to move ourselves to a new campsite, thus making the walk out in the rain the next day a much more managable distance we all immediately agreed and packed up our gear after lunch.

The next campsite was down at Lake Adelaide - about 5 kms away. This part of the route was new and made it possible to do a nice loop rather than having to just walk in and out. It was a beautiful trip down through a pencil pine forest then alongside Lake Walls with a final little saddle over then down to Lake Adelaide. Unfortunately the campsite wasn't as adjacent to the lake as we would have liked but it was still nice. I should say that the toilets at both campsites were incredibly civilised and pretty much brand new. Quite the hiking treat.

After a much warmer evening the rain we had been expecting earlier in the day finally arrived that night and continued through the morning, transforming the landscape again. We hit a break in the showers as we had breakfast and packed up which was lucky (although Belinda had gotten a bit drenched in a heavy downpour earlier in the morning hence her slightly sodden look below).

It rained intermittently during the walk out but the views were still great and it really didn't dampen our enjoyment.

We arrived back at the car by noon, both happy to get the packs off our back but sad to be finished with our super fun hike. The best part about the whole thing wasn't actually the amazing views or the great weather or even the incredible toilets, the best part was hanging out and laughing with great friends that I'm incredibly lucky to have.

cathy

St Helens Come and Try Orienteering

Sunday, 10 August 2025

One of the goals of starting the St Helens Orienteering Club was to put on some small events for the locals to try orienteering and yesterday was our very first one.

Getting to the day was quite a lot of work, I had to get permission from the council, organise the creation of a new map (thanks Mark) of the foreshore area, design (thanks Zali) and get banners made, sort out equipment and bring it all up to St Helens, plan and then try to promote the event so people actually showed up.

Yesterday was a lovely day for it, but we were pretty unsure that anyone would actually show up. Once we got the controls out and all our banners in the ground Jon and I sat back fully expecting to be spending the next 2 hours chatting amongst ourselves then packing everything up again. However much to our delight, lots of family groups turn up and nearly everyone did both the courses we'd set, some kids running the 1k course multiple times. As always the electronic timing is a big hit.

So all in all, a lot of work but ultimately a big success. I'm not sure any of our customers will convert to regular orienteers, but I know they'll all think fondly about orienteering if they cross paths with it again.

cathy

Before and After #59

Sunday, 10 August 2025

Another St Helens before and after. This one started with my mistake in ordering probably 5 x the amount of mulch we needed to re-mulch our garden area. I didn't get a good photo, but this resulted in a mulch mountain sitting on the front lawn, slowly killing off the grass underneath it.

So we decided it was time to extend the garden beds. We had a few rocks and grasses sitting out on the lawn slightly weirdly anyway - so putting a bed around it would finally make them look better, and use up some of the mulch. Unfortunately this meant we needed some more garden edging, which I had to go to Launceston to get, but since I was running out of some art supplies I was happy to spend half of Friday driving up to the big-smoke and getting supplies - including a little cart which would help us relocate our five zillion tonnes of mulch. This was worth the trip in itself (we had already looked locally but the options were too big and expensive at the local mitre 10).

So now we have a new bed, some new plants and rocks that don't look quite as much like they fell from the sky:

We still had 2/3 of the extra mulch so that has now been relocated to the side of the house - I think we probably had enough to cover the entire front lawn! I won't make that mistake again.

cathy

Green Space

Sunday, 16 March 2025

Even though our Melbourne apartment is surrounded by other apartment blocks in almost CBDish Southbank, I really love how our own street, and streets just around the corner are so lovely and green even in midsummer:

cathy

Is it Cake?

Sunday, 16 March 2025

Zali made the most amazing 'farewell' cake for her last day of blueberry picking this season. It was intended to replicate the gross icecreem container full of water they used for cleanup jobs in the sorting shed and I think it was a pretty realistic result!

And just to prove it was actually cake (and chocolate and gelatine)...

cathy

NZ - Oceania Champs 2025

Sunday, 16 March 2025

In late January Jon, Jett and I went to NZ for the Oceania Orienteering Championships. The trip was pretty quick - especially for me as I arrived a few days after Jon and JEtt on the Thursday and we all flew home on Monday night. Everyone had at least one really good run during the championships. Jon's highlight was a fantastic win in the long distance race in the rain and Jett had some really strong results in his class.

While the terrain was just fantastic - soft pine forest with detailed dune contours, the weather was very variable (mostly wet), and the location a few hours north of Wellington was not what you'd call a must-see destination.

Still, travelling with friends is always fun and we had a great time.

A sunny day for the middle distance.

We went for a swim at this beach before the thunderstorms hit later in the day. Not sure I love the black sand.

On the last day of competition we had to leave the event at 12pm at the very latest in order to just make our flight back to Australia. As it was a relay day this meant that we had to run either in 1st or 2nd spot, and if in 2nd spot, we really had to hope that the first leg runner had a good run. The rest of us were all fine, but unfortuately for Jett who was 2nd leg, his first leg runner Niko didn't have a clean run, and even if he had, it was still doubtful whether he'd make it back in time as the courses were longer than expected. This meant Jett had to pull out half way though his race basically keep running all the way to our minivan so we could jump in and drive away at the last moment feasible. The 2 hour drive back to Wellington was a bit slow with some traffic hiccups but we made it comfortably in the end. On the way there was some grumbling about our choice to fly home Monday (so we could all go to work Tuesday) - but once we got back to Australia we heard that everyone who didn't get out of Wellington on Monday was stuck for days as all flights out were cancelled on Tuesday and then delayed on Wednesday. I'm really relieved as I had a crucial event at work on Tuesday I really needed to be in studio for. So phew.

cathy

Before and After #58

Sunday, 16 March 2025

Our first visit back to St Helens after a busy summer of guests revealed a bit of a to do list, starting with the garden..

No matter, it didn't take long to weed and get it back into shape:

Looking at the garden in this angle really reminds me of what was a large inspiration for the curved path and grasses - from one of our favourite spots nearby..

The beautiful pathway leads to one of our favourite beaches:

cathy

Tracy's 50th

Sunday, 16 March 2025

A few weeks ago Jon, Zali and I had the most magical weekend at Tracy's 50th Birthday weekend at Currawong Beach, nestled in the Kuringai Chase National Park. Getting there was an adventure itself, we flew to Sydney where we met Zali who had come up from Melbourne, then Andy picked us up for the longish drive from the airport up to Palm Beach. From there it was a 30 minute ferry across Pittwater to the beach where we were welcomed by the caretaker like on Fantasy Island.

The beach is round the corner from the popular camping spot The Basin where we spent a very wet weekend for Andy's birthday a number of years earlier, but Currawong Beach only has about 8 cabins that you have to book many many months in advance. Tracy booked the biggest house that fitted 16 of us, and Andy's family had a little cottage for 3. All the beach's facilities were at our disposal - volleyball, tennis, golf (or disc golf), swimming and just relaxing and hanging out on the long picnic table in front of our house.

While there were about 20 of us staying on the beach, another 20 or so friends arrived just for the day on Saturday so we had a big BBQ lunch with everyone.

The weekend went by in a blur of laughter and games and fun - it feels like a bit of dream really. Once again I'm so grateful that we have a great group of friends.

cathy

Before and After #57

Sunday, 16 March 2025

I have my mosaic stuff out for the first time in many years as I'm working on another project that's been waiting for me for about a decade. With all my equpment at my fingertips it was hard to ignore the fact that my mosaic blackboard by the front door was looking pretty ratty.

I've already restored it but that was probably more than 5 years ago, definitely time for more TLC

Once I took it off the wall it took about 2 weeks of small daily efforts to re-tile, repaint and then, in an effort to discourage tiles from dropping off the bottom every time it got bumped, frame. I'm happy with the final result.

cathy

4 days of Melbourne culture

Sunday, 5 January 2025

Jon and I are in Melbourne at the moment soaking up some local sports and culture via a jam packed schedule of activities.

After a 2am arrival (thanks Jetstar) we thankfully only had a musical at the Playhouse on the agenda the next day. We saw Dear Evan Hanson with Susannah, which was really enjoyable. We followed that up the next morning with a visit to the unauthorised Banksy exhibition - where we were able to stencil our own t-shirts with a Banksy design which was really fun - then we crossed town to see the Yayoi Kusama exhibition at the NGV. We rounded off the day with some soccer watching in the scorching heat of the late afternoon - although we'd both agree that the soccer itself was far from scorching.

The next day Jon went for a long run while I swam, then strolled to the South Melbourne Markets which is huge and has something edible or arty for everyone. After lunch at home we headed out into the very hot afternoon to visit to the Van Gogh exhibition at Lume which I'd been meaning to go and see for years - it was cool inside and very relaxing and calm so a lovely experience. Afterwards we strolled home via the Southgate DFO which had a decidedly different pace.

Today I seem to have picked up a cold of some sort so we have slowed down a bit with just a trip to Ikea in the morning (where we missed the breakfast menu by 1 minute which was very dissapointing). This afternoon we've taken advantage of our air conditioning as it's still super hot outside - we might try our pool later on which has been absolutely heaving with people in the last few days (although I always manage to get a solo swim in the early mornings)