You Yangs walk
I got up so early on Saturday morning that I arrived at the You Yangs main entrance gate in the pitch black at 06:30am.
My objective was to walk in the bush & on the undulations for about 2.5 hours in preparation for the ‘go the extra mile’ 50km charity walk/run that I’m doing on Sun 02 May (for more details refer to the coolrunning calendar).
As I set off I looked up at the flashing red beacon at the top of Flinders Peak, the highest point at the You Yangs & decided that getting to it was a must do.
The first couple of ks were on the moderately uphill sealed road leading up to the turntable car park. I had my bicycle headlight with me which I switched on every now & then to see what was about but mostly I just walked in the dark & looked at the stars. The sound of my footsteps on the road caused a bunch of cockys to rustle & squawk in the trees overhead. A few wallabies hopped away too.
When I got to the carpark I turned the bike light on again to read the signs. The light caught the eyes of a good sized kangaroo (at least 5ft tall) not far away. We looked at each other for a while, then I made the ‘skippy’ noise and it hopped away.
There was enough pre-sunrise light to safely make my way up the Flinders Peak track. My jacket & bikelight went into the backpack & some fruit came out. I was happy & slightly excited to be there, alone. It was all panning out better than I had hoped.
The walk to the peak includes 345 steps. I noticed I was much more aware of my heavy breathing and fast thumping heart during this vigorous walk compared to a run. Out of curiosity I stopped to checked my heart rate: ~120. On a typical run it in the mid 130s & I barely notice it.
I spent a couple of minutes at the top of the peak looking around. The sun was yet to appear but the sky was pink in the East. There was barely a breath of wind up there. Ate some more fruit on the way down. I got onto the East-West track and ran for about 1km. This track is basically a loop running around Flinders Peak about 1/3rd of the way up. It is mostly runnable & definitely one to re-visit. I did the full loop & then ran the 2-3ks down the road back to the car. All up 2hr 27 min on feet. A good workout, even though I only did about 3.5 ks of running.
This was my first time exercising at the You Yangs, pretty crazy considering I live only 25 mins from there. I will definitely be back. Next time I’ll do, or partly do, the great circle drive (12 ish ks).
The DOMS in the legs have been pretty bad. I’ve just done a 9k run which hopefully will free things up a bit. The troublesome shin is not too bad.
My objective was to walk in the bush & on the undulations for about 2.5 hours in preparation for the ‘go the extra mile’ 50km charity walk/run that I’m doing on Sun 02 May (for more details refer to the coolrunning calendar).
As I set off I looked up at the flashing red beacon at the top of Flinders Peak, the highest point at the You Yangs & decided that getting to it was a must do.
The first couple of ks were on the moderately uphill sealed road leading up to the turntable car park. I had my bicycle headlight with me which I switched on every now & then to see what was about but mostly I just walked in the dark & looked at the stars. The sound of my footsteps on the road caused a bunch of cockys to rustle & squawk in the trees overhead. A few wallabies hopped away too.
When I got to the carpark I turned the bike light on again to read the signs. The light caught the eyes of a good sized kangaroo (at least 5ft tall) not far away. We looked at each other for a while, then I made the ‘skippy’ noise and it hopped away.
There was enough pre-sunrise light to safely make my way up the Flinders Peak track. My jacket & bikelight went into the backpack & some fruit came out. I was happy & slightly excited to be there, alone. It was all panning out better than I had hoped.
The walk to the peak includes 345 steps. I noticed I was much more aware of my heavy breathing and fast thumping heart during this vigorous walk compared to a run. Out of curiosity I stopped to checked my heart rate: ~120. On a typical run it in the mid 130s & I barely notice it.
I spent a couple of minutes at the top of the peak looking around. The sun was yet to appear but the sky was pink in the East. There was barely a breath of wind up there. Ate some more fruit on the way down. I got onto the East-West track and ran for about 1km. This track is basically a loop running around Flinders Peak about 1/3rd of the way up. It is mostly runnable & definitely one to re-visit. I did the full loop & then ran the 2-3ks down the road back to the car. All up 2hr 27 min on feet. A good workout, even though I only did about 3.5 ks of running.
This was my first time exercising at the You Yangs, pretty crazy considering I live only 25 mins from there. I will definitely be back. Next time I’ll do, or partly do, the great circle drive (12 ish ks).
The DOMS in the legs have been pretty bad. I’ve just done a 9k run which hopefully will free things up a bit. The troublesome shin is not too bad.
posted by Also Ran at
3:20 PM
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