Training Log Archive: blairtrewin

Took on a somewhat tough combination, doing a long run off a 10k road race. Rolling along nicely on the flat for much of the way but hills (both up and down) were less than comfortable thanks to quad fatigue from yesterday. Managed the distance OK, although the last significant hill with about 10 minutes to go was hard going. Won't do anything as long as this again for a while.

The SES were out in force around the far end of the loop at Yarra Bend (looking for someone suspected of being in the river).

Foggy for most of the way, only breaking up in the last 30 minutes.

Pulled up quite sore - going down the ramps at the Dome was fairly painful (watching the game was painful too, but for other reasons). I suspect a night's sleep and a session in the pool in the morning should sort them out.

Sandown 10k. This promised to be a fast race and for a lot of people it was (especially Hanny and Kathryn who both took big chunks out of their PBs - 34.03 and 35.10 respectively). It wasn't quite the billiard table I thought it would be and the southeast wind (an unusual direction for these parts) made its presence felt on the home straight, but still a pretty favourable day.

My run was essentially a par result which was looking like something better than a par result before a poor finish. Had a slow first km while settling into a pace, then steady through the next few kilometres - was concerned by hints of a stitch around 5k (possibly related to the minor cold I've had over the last few days, which hasn't got beyond the runny-nose stage), but that went away quickly. A good 8th kilometre made me think that something around 37.15 or 37.20 was a possibility (through 8k in 29.50), but faded after that, particularly in the last kilometre which I had nothing left for at all and barely broke 4 for. A bit of quad tightness afterwards.

This is still my best 10k time since early 2006, but as the three 10k races I've run since then have involved one gale, one big night of post-election partying and one twisty course with a bit of wind and no opposition, that's perhaps not quite as impressive a stat as it looks.

I still have a faster 10k PB than Hanny - by 2 seconds. I suspect this state of affairs will not last much longer. If that means that she's in 2.36 marathon shape too then she's starting to get within striking distance of being a contender for national teams, for which she'd probably need to be sub-2.33.

Other times of note: Bryan mid 33s, Evan mid 35s, Sophie low 37s, Aaron something around 39.

C • binna burra 3

Thought I might as well give approximate plans for my upcoming round-Australia trip - at this stage I plan to be in the following places (sometimes plus or minus a day or two):

Adelaide - Thu 11/6
Perth - Wed 17/6
Darwin - 3-8/7 (including NT Champs)
Brisbane - end of July (would be keen to do the O'Reillys-Binna Burra run if anyone's interested in joining me to do the necessary car shuffle)
Sydney - 8-9/8 (including City To Surf)
Canberra - Tue 11/8

C • Thurs 11th 3

A fairly standard swim at Richmond. Lane crowded early on but emptied out as the magic hour of 7.30 passed - you'd be hard-pressed to clear the place faster if you said that there was a case of swine flu in the vicinity.

C • There probably is. 1

A little bit shorter than planned because I was running out of time (earlyish interview again - ABC Ballarat this time), starting from Port Melbourne because I was dropping my car off for a service there. Headed essentially south-east, inland in the first half as far as Elsternwick, back along the bay (figuring that the traffic would be worse in the second half so minimising road crossings would come in useful). Not the finest long run I'll ever do in my life but nothing really went wrong either.

The downside of bringing a car in is having to get it home; doing so in peak hour takes longer than riding (60 minutes compared to 50), and is infinitely more aggravating.

A morning cruise admiring various bits of vastly expensive real estate in Toorak. There are houses there which I suspect are worth more than an entire suburban block out in my part of town. Some of this real estate is being paid for by other people's taxpayers - my route took me past the Chinese consulate. (The Federal Police were parked outside, but I'm not sure whether it was to provide security, spy or all of the above). The loop was a bit shorter than I'd planned so there was an extra loop at the end. Felt reasonable but a bit slow. A bit earlier in the morning than I'd hoped for thanks to an 8.35 interview with an Adelaide radio station.

The ride in was lovely - until a puncture a minute from the office.

Wednesday night street-O as a not-particularly-fast training run, at Smiths Dell. Various minor misadventures (including a right arrow apparently stuck on red and a non-existent off ramp on a bike path I didn't know as well as some) conspired to make me pretty late, but having 5 minutes to prepare isn't so much of a problem when you're not planning to run fast.

Felt nice, and I think got the route essentially right. Finished with plenty of time to spare but so did numerous others. (Bryan somehow managed to do 2km more than the rest of us - I'm not quite sure how unless he took the controls in numerical order - and still finished ahead of me). Calves a bit tight uphill, and seemed to lack fluency punching controls.

There's a gathering next week to mark the first person to run 1000 street-Os. Not sure who it is but I'm guessing Mike Hubbert. I think I'm still seven-hundred-and-plenty short of this particular milestone.

Fairly similar to recent speed sessions - not particularly fast although I felt reasonable. Fastest loop 9.38. A bit of moisture around from the rain yesterday evening.

An unscheduled day off the bike when I got it out to discover a flat tyre - had time to pull out the responsible bit of glass but couldn't be bothered fixing it until tonight. This did give me the chance to read the latest R4YL on the train and discover that I'm probably going to be in Sydney at City to Surf time; I haven't done it since 1990 so it would be good to see what it's like these days. (What sort of racing shape I'll be in after two months on the road is anyone's guess).

Hawthorn in the morning was the original plan but I got there to discover that it was closed for two weeks for maintenance (this came as a surprise, if only because I've previously noted on these pages that it doesn't appear to have received any maintenance since the days when Peter Hudson was kicking eight goals a week next door). By then I was running a bit late anyway so Richmond in the evening was plan B.

Settled into a pretty nice session, feeling stronger than in most recent swims, but after several months missing the dreaded foot cramps made a reappearance towards the end (in both feet, on consecutive laps).

Monday night from Suse's. A small but fast group tonight, and with Hanny setting the pace it was definitely a good deal quicker than a normal Monday night (i.e. it was pretty close to a normal training pace). Had the novelty of going through rain in the first half but that had passed through by the end (the heaviest of it went through while I was in the pool). Felt better than I expected after a hard day yesterday.