March has come and gone

I'm not sure where the past month has vanished to. I guess the combination of my regular swimming activities and the school swimming have really consumed a great amount of the month. Still, I have managed to get walks in most days.

Having tackled the loop around the western end of Lake Burley Griffin early in the months (see earlier blog), Trevor and I tackled the eastern circuit of the lake. We started at Kingston and managed it in pretty good time. I felt that the western circuit was the more pleasant of the two circuits and will probably tackle it again.

I can never tire of circuits of Mt Taylor. There is always so much to see from the views over the Tuggeranong and Woden valleys to the ranges, kangaroos turning up in both expected and unexpected places as well as delightful sunset lighting. This circuit is a little over 9km from home to home via the Colquhoun Street access to the Taylor Nature Reserve. The track offers some challenging ups and downs, particularly if you are doing the circuit at a fast pace. Adding a loop around the ovals near home brings the distance up over 10km and I have been doing this extra bit of late.

I've also done some loops around Lake Tuggeranong. From home to home this walk is a little over 13km. It is fairly flat with only gentle rises. The biggest challenge is coping with all the other people and creatures using the circuit.

I have continued to do my 6km walks between home and Tuggeranong Town Centre, Cooleman Court and Woden Plaza. Each have some pleasant aspects and I still enjoy walking through the Taylor Nature Reserve on the walk between home and Woden as well as the amble along the Stanhope Highway which is part of the walk between home and Cooleman Court.

On Saturday Trevor and I walked from home to Antony's via Cooleman Court and then home via the same route. That clocked up around 18kms.

On Sunday I tackled a walk from the National Library home. The first part of the walk took me along the south western shore of  Lake Burley Griffin before cutting off towards Weston Creek. There were interesting sections on the route with views across to the new Molonglo suburbs. I did enjoy a sit down and coffee when I got to Cooleman Court. To extend the walk I took a deviation from my normal route between Cooleman Court and home by walking around the outside of Allchin Circuit. All in walk this was a pleasant walk and totalled over 21km.

So, my stats for March ...

Distance: 370.42 (11.95km per day)
Duration: 65 hours 18 minutes 18 seconds
Calories: 15,039
Elevation gain: 4,721m
Elevation loss: 4,435m

My left heal has finally healed ... about time. Having blisters on blisters was no fun. I now need to ensure that I don't blister either of them again.

Forward planning is to consider adding some running in to my regime in April and in May I'll start doing some serious climbing again. By May the snakes should have disappeared and no longer present a problem on unformed tracks.

All in all I feel pretty confident that I can handle the Coast to Coast walk. Yes, I know that the average distance for the 13 walking days is 23.5 but we do have all day to do it. The average height gain is 450m per day with the biggest climb being 970m on one of the longest days ... one of the 32km days. Fortunately, that is near the end and the climb can't be any worse than tackling Grouse Grind was and I'm a lot fitter now, too.