Training Log Archive: blairtrewin

Morning session at MSAC. Definitely not 100% well but didn't seem to affect this session too much, and quads definitely much better than in recent days (they weren't hurting in the pool, whereas they were on Saturday).

Finished up just as the crowds were arriving for the Victorian Primary Schools Championships, thereby avoiding being shown up by 8-year-olds who can go twice (or three times) as fast as I can. (In my last couple of years of school I found excuses to do my trials on the same day as the year 7s so I wouldn't come last by such an embarrassing margin, but I don't think that would help in this company).

Noted that a fair bit of newspaper space was given on the weekend to the pronouncements on climate change of that well-known climate scientist, Archbishop George Pell. I trust that in the interests of fairness and balance the 'Australian' will give me an equal amount of space to comment on whether the Catholic Church is doing enough to weed paedophiles out of its priesthood.

Hit the wall in a big way this afternoon - a combination of being unwell, not very much sleep last night (partly illness, partly dwelling more than I should - still - on matters JWOC) and trying to do too much. Probably should have given this a miss but thought the low intensity of a Monday night might be OK. It was - just - but felt weak throughout the run, and even weaker afterwards. By the end of the evening was even contemplating the possibility of an unscheduled sick day from work, something which I'm even more reluctant to take than unscheduled sick days from running (I haven't had one in a quarter-century).

This was all done from Susannah's soon-to-be-former premises in Prahran - they've bought a new place in Glen Iris which will give us new grounds to explore (although it's almost as deep into the outer-suburban wilderness as my place is).

C • Unscheduled sick day.... 5

Doing my best to get back to normal but not quite ready to get there as yet. Quads improving to the point that they were only a minor nuisance, and therefore failed to provide a distraction from overall sluggishness in the way they had for the last few days. I've got a bit of a sniffle which may explain that. Not a disastrous run (and a little bit longer than planned on), but I'd just about had enough by the end of it. A couple of days behind where I'd like to be in the post-marathon process, but then I tend to be pretty unforgiving on myself (as is apparent in another orienteering context at present).

The first half was the Capital City Trail loop from the Fairfield end, partly to pick up something (small) which I thought I'd left in the changerooms at work and hadn't (subsequently found it in the bottom of my bag, which will teach me that 11.30 on a Friday night isn't a great time to check one's bag for things). Came back through the CBD and the inner north-east suburbs without too many traffic interruptions. A very pleasant day for all sorts of outdoor activities (and less smoky than yesterday), and plenty of people were taking advantage - although it was a little on the warm side for a run in the middle of the day.

The 2020 summit has had one positive impact already - Andrew Bolt is threatening to emigrate. (I didn't nominate for the summit, partly because my travel schedule at present is already heavy, but in any case David Karoly and Amanda Lynch are representing the world of climate science more eminently than I could have).

Thanks to everyone for their AP logs - I'm currently writing my Easter report for the AO and your comments have saved me from having to ring everyone up and find out where the decisive breaks were made in the chasing start, and why.

C • Perhaps we could all chip in 7

Still plenty of soreness but running with much more strength and freedom than I was yesterday, on a significantly hillier course (around Eaglemont) than anything I've done in the last three days. Didn't see too many local swelled heads (or wallets) from the glowing review the suburb got in this morning's 'Age' real estate section (that said, when was the last time a newspaper real estate section said of a place 'this place is a dump and no-one with any brains would even think about buying real estate here'?). A sunny morning but with heavy smoke haze, presumably from burning off. We might be stuck with this for a while as there doesn't look to be any significant wind in the forecast until late next week.

The Essendon and St. Kilda supporters last night could agree on one thing - they booed Connex en masse when it was announced 'Connex have advised of lengthy delays...'. It was allegedly due to a 'police operation', but there's been no report in today's news of any significant crimes anywhere near the City Loop so I'm still at a loss as to what was going on (and even if it was a suicide you wouldn't expect it to take all evening to sort the situation out).

Saturday morning at Ivanhoe, which was a pretty regular session for me back in 2002 and early 2003 when I wasn't running much. Doing laps here in this timeslot one feels rather out of place, mainly because the demographics of the crowd are those one more normally associated with a Wiggles concert. The instructors do a pretty good job of keeping them in the bits of the pool they're supposed to be in so it doesn't usually cause any trouble.

Still not the easiest of sessions - not kicking especially freely - but being in the water will do me good. Making progress, very slowly.

This was hard work - probably a bit more flexible than yesterday but no less painful. Definitely progressing more slowly than I was in 2005. A long stop at a railway crossing wasn't hugely helpful in the circumstances, but did handle the hills OK when they came.

As mooted yesterday, going through a massage this morning was challenging.

Noticed on the ranking list yesterday that four of my five scoring events at present are state long distance championships (ACT, NSW, SA and Vic). The fifth, strangely, is the Oceania long - which was probably my worst race of 2007 (although everyone else stuffed it up too, which is why I got reasonable points out of it).

C • act champs weekend 7

Gradually building back into things. Still sore and without much maneouvrability from side to side - I suspect I've got the turning circle of a Mack truck at the moment - but able to run reasonably normally without short-striding as I was yesterday. (I had a bit of knee soreness after yesterday's run, probably through running with an unnatural stride, but no sign of a recurrence today). Coped better than I thought I would with the descent through the west side of Macleod (a prerequisite to the very nice gentle downhill finish through the Rosanna Parklands).

Still no real power in the quads, which makes hill-climbing on a bike challenging. I haven't tried to do the full ride home (with a reasonably solid climb out of Darebin Creek) yet - the La Trobe Street bridge past the PhoneDome is enough of a challenge at present.

The masseur will earn his money tomorrow morning - two marathoners to deal with in successive timeslots. (Lisa Jane Weightman, who narrowly missed Olympic qualifying in London on the weekend, usually fills the slot before me).

C • My speed 1

C • Lisa JW 4

First attempt to run - very slowly. As expected the first kilometre was highly unpleasant; after that it was still hard and rather painful going, but gradually loosening up (slightly). Not exactly the most enjoyable half-hour I've ever spent in my life, but on the evidence of past post-marathon weeks it will do me a lot of good.

Further progress was that I can now go down stairs forwards and get up from chairs without needing to use my arms :-)

Swim at Fitzroy. Hard work initially, given that I wasn't generating much power in my legs, but got better the further it went on. Good to get some exercise into the system (and then rode from Fitzroy to work which will also have helped).

Considered taking some Harden Up (some would say I don't need any extra supplies of Harden Up) and going out for a token run, but it was apparent from the first couple of steps (as well as from my near-total lack of uphill power on the bike) that I'm not yet ready to do so. Hopefully tomorrow. I feel about one day behind where I was last time; can (sort of) handle stairs now.

Expecting to ride past a media scrum tonight - my route home takes me past the front of the building in which the AFL Tribunal sits.