Training Log Archive: blairtrewin

Event: The Olympic Dream
 

Originally had plans to meet up with Nick Duca and go for a run somewhere near the North American Champs area, but that fell through because he's (a) working and (b) injured, so used the opportunity for a bit of urban exploration in Toronto instead. The first section heading east was pretty scenically challenged (just because there's a waterfront doesn't mean it's pretty), but nice once I got out to the beaches, and then into the Taylor Creek and Don valleys going back. A bit of an unplanned detour when I went up the side of the valley one spur too early trying to get up to Rosedale, and ended up hitting a dead end and having a close encounter with some mud. (1:45 probably wasn't a bad stage of the run for some adventure, though). Easily the longest run I've done in the last couple of months, and generally pretty good, flowing well even at the end. Perfect conditions (and I mean that seriously) - still, partly cloudy and 2 degrees. It will be about 30 degrees warmer for my next run on Monday, which will take some getting used to.

Not sure what it is about Rosedale but I also managed to get lost running there on my first visit to Toronto, in December 1989. On that occasion my navigational strategy (go for about 30 minutes and then come back towards the CN Tower) came unstuck because it started snowing heavily and the tower was invisible. It's the only time in my life I can recall having to ask someone (who was probably pretty shocked to see someone in shorts and T-shirt in -7 degrees) where I was - it turned out it was at a 90-degree angle to where I thought I was going and I was heading for Montreal.

Canadian Cultural Assimilation Department: I got into this fairly quickly on arrival by spending my first night watching Hockey Night In Canada with Toronto playing Montreal, and am finishing the same way by having breakfast at Tim Horton's.

C • mmm timmy hortons! 27

A fairly nondescript performance despite a nice setting along the Toronto waterfront. Much colder and windier today (and still raining) which made it hard work going out, although much better after turning around to have the wind behind me.

The locals in Toronto might complain about the local public transport, but compared with Melbourne (a city of vaguely similar size and population density) it's amazing. I was visiting the Climate Research Division of Environment Canada today, who are out in Downsview (a suburb about 20km from the centre). I just missed the bus connection from the subway station. If it was a similar trip in Melbourne (Heidelberg to Preston will do as a translation) I'd be reaching for my bag to get a book out to pass the half-hour or hour before the next one turned up. Having been to Toronto before I thought it might be 5 or 10 minutes. It was less than one...

Nothing lasts for ever, even cold November rain, but this lot kept going for 24 hours. It actually wasn't too bad - Niagara-on-the-Lake is in a bit of a local rainshadow in a southerly system like this one and it was only raining very lightly in the town (although much more at the far end of the run, close to the escarpment around Queenston), but from the amount of surface water around there must have been a fair bit overnight. Avoiding deep puddles in the dark first 40 minutes was an interesting challenge. The first half of the run was a bit of a grind, but the second half was much better, although tired somewhat in the last 10 minutes.

Doesn't look like I'll get to see any snow, or even any sub-zero temperatures, on this trip - before today every day had been mostly cloudy and/or misty with temperatures steady in the 5-8 range, and the only time the sun has been out has been for a couple of hours on Wednesday.

C • i'll just end up walkin 4

A steady run around the town. Felt fairly flat most of the way.

This one was mainly about getting used again to going out twice in a day. Quite pleasant after the first 5 minutes - I never expect much of evening runs (particularly after a long day working like today), but they often pleasantly surprise. A bit of rain starting but nothing to worry too much about.

An intervals session in a park on the Niagara-on-the-Lake waterfront - 10x1 min reps, 1 minute jog recovery in between. Pretty good run on the whole, definitely felt a lot better than yesterday and the sprints went well.

The meeting I'm here for got under way today. This is in an establishment which is normally a long, long way out of my league - the regular rate for rooms here is as close as makes no difference to A$1000 a night. We're paying one-fifth of that, which is still a bit out of the league I'm used to (presumably the market for $1000-a-night hotel rooms in a small Canadian town midweek in mid-November is a bit limited). It's very nice, but I certainly wouldn't be here if I was spending my own money.

Another day, another country - came across to Rochester to catch up with William (most Australian readers will know, but North Americans may not, that we go back a long way - we went to the same school, although not quite at the same time), before going on to visit someone in Cornell who's working in my field, and then back to Niagara. In between that, fitted in a morning run in Rochester. Started out with William, who'd raced the weekend, but jumped out of the blocks a bit faster than I'm used to starting these days. A pretty good run along both sides of the river, at least until William cut back (he was doing a shorter one), whereupon my quads promptly fell apart. A bit of a struggle after that but better by the end.

Regular readers will know from accounts of my European travels that I have a bit of a habit of making split-second connections, and there was another one today. I was aiming to get my rental car back to Niagara Falls by 6 (could have returned it the following morning but that would have been a hassle). After 3 1/2 hours of driving from Ithaca (and a border crossing) I made it just as the outlet manager was walking out the door. I had previously worked out that, although the official speed limit on the NY freeways is 65 mph, everybody drives at 75 and therefore it was OK to do likewise - couldn't do this at home! (unless you've got as much money to throw around as Liggo).