Training Log Archive: blairtrewin

Took a tip on this one from Asha (for whom it's a reasonably regular haunt) - I was looking for something which was flat (because of the Achilles), interesting and preferably shady, and the O'Shannassy aqueduct track ticked all these boxes - it runs along the north side of the upper Yarra valley, along the lower slopes of Mount Donna Buang, perhaps 100-150 metres above the valley floor. (The idea of going out east of Melbourne had also been planted in my mind when I thought I might have had to go to the Marysville half last weekend for a Two Bays qualifier, but the organisers decided that my record of several finishes in 2016 and earlier years was good enough).

Started with plans of something between 60 and 90 depending on how it felt (having walked up the hill from the Don Rd car park to the aqueduct initially - starting on a 20+% climb would have been asking for trouble). There were just enough twinges from time to time to make me happy to settle for the lower end of this range, which took me as far as the end of Dee Rd. A steady run on the whole in a nice area, and I appreciated the forest cover on another warm and humid day (plenty more of those to come).

Some of the rest of the day was spent doing the Warburton-Reefton Spur-Marysville loop - winding hilly roads (very popular with those on two wheels, with or without engines), and nice forests where they haven't been burnt out. It's the first time I've been to Marysville since the fires; it's not obvious in the centre of town that virtually nothing here is more than eight years old (90+% of the town's buildings were destroyed on Black Saturday), although the damage is still starkly visible in the surrounding hills. Lots of people around, so at least the local economy was doing OK today.

I've developed a reasonably sore throat in the second half of the day, so probably won't be at my best through the early part of next week.

C • That is some hill 1