Training Log Archive: blairtrewin

As well that I ran today and rode yesterday rather than the other way round; my route from yesterday went past the scene of this morning's demonstration of the laws of physics as applied to large trees and fast-moving vehicles.

Joined the first part of the Sunday long run with Bruce, Simon and Johan (visiting from Sweden). Achilles felt a bit iffy for most of the run but handled it OK, with today being another slight step up both in terms of the distance and the terrain (taking in the rough tracks on the south side of the Yarra). A nice morning for running and there were plenty of others out there doing it.

It's been a successful sporting spectating weekend for me - after watching Victoria's massive win on Friday night I saw an equally massive win by Melbourne Victory last night (the third Melbourne goal is well worth seeing if you get a chance). I've been working most of the time that I haven't been exercising or sports-spectating but you can't have everything. Further afield there was also a 5-0 win by Norwich over Colchester, which is a bit of a turnaround from the 7-1 loss in the equivalent fixture in the first week of the season. Norwich responded to that loss by sacking their coach and hiring Colchester's, which has generated a certain amount of bad blood (and some gainful employment for the legal fraternity); the bad blood must have slipped over onto the pitch because I noticed from the match stats that four players, two from each side, got yellow cards in the 19th minute.

Saturday morning session but a bit longer this time, out on the Yan Yean road as far as Doreen and then back down Plenty Road - quite hilly for the first half and flat for the second half. Working pretty hard through the first half and found it a bit of a struggle; for the second half I felt like I was on the edge at times, but never really fell away and kept a pretty reasonable pace going - I think 27 km/h is as high as I've sustained for an extended period on level ground on my piece of machinery.

As with other parts of the outer northern suburbs, suburbia has extended considerably along the Yan Yean road since the last time I was out this way. The road is a good one to ride from the training point of view, but doesn't always have a lot of space and I wouldn't want to be there at a busier time of the week.

C • bendigo addy 3

Pool running session at Fitzroy. I often think with these sessions that I'm not working as hard as I would be on land, but the feeling must be deceptive as I got a fairly significant cramp in the last few minutes today. Did feel as if I'd had a reasonable workout once it was done.

C • pool running 1

Lunchtime session from work, the hilliest I've done so far - the Tan in reverse. (I thought Anderson Street was a little too ambitious at this stage). Felt a few twinges on the longer climbs but nothing to worry about too much (and, as I've been told, it's how it feels tomorrow that matters), and very nice along the river later on.

Bruce and a Midday Milers group were going the other way, so I saw them twice.

Towards the end of the football season one occasionally hears of a team's finals prospects being described as "still mathematically possible". A fine example of this expression can be applied to the NSW team in the 20-20 Big Bash. In order to make the finals from their current position they require all of the following:

(1) NSW to beat SA
(2) Tasmania to beat Victoria
(3) WA to beat Queensland
(4) the NSW winning margin being more than 120 runs (or the equivalent if batting second) more than the Tasmanian winning margin
(5) the combined margin of the NSW-SA and WA-Queensland games being more than 240 runs

I don't like their chances.

C • NSW 9

C • Nail in the coffin of NSW 5

Street-O at Mill Park; as with last week, I chose my venue this week based on its being the flattest (with last night being at Quambee it wasn't a marginal decision), hopefully something I won't have to do for much longer. It's about 10 years since I've done an event out here, and I remembered it as a suburb which made you wonder if you'd taken a wrong turn and ended up in Tuggeranong - probably a similar vintage of urban planner. (You can see the same design elements in some suburbs of Calgary, too).

I didn't make a good job of the route choice (although it was one of those nights where all options probably felt bad), but as this was a training run that didn't matter too much. In one of the flatter areas of a fairly flat suburb it was a bit strange to see a sign 'Mill Park Heights Primary School'; given the height of the fence around it I was half-expecting that it would read 'H.M. Prison'. High fences were to cause me a bit more grief a control later, in the form of an uncrossable one (across the end of a cul-de-sac that extended into a park) that wasn't on the map and added 800 metres to the route. I wasn't sure whether I was more annoyed with the mapper for not mapping it or for whoever it was on the council who had it erected, thereby adding 15 minutes to the daily travel time of anyone in that street who wanted to use public transport. Presumably it was done for 'security' - everyone knows that burglars don't use cars because you can carry much more loot on foot than you can in a vehicle.

As far as the running side was concerned it wasn't too bad, although I started to feel a bit sore in the last 10 minutes. The advice I have now is that that doesn't matter so much; it's how it feels in the morning that is important.

To work via the northern route. A really good ride this morning - felt pretty strong, especially in the first half. Started to flag a little later on as the wind became increasingly strong on approaching the coast, but never significant. Particularly happy with strength on the initial climb.

The conditions were a good deal more friendly for exercise (and for life generally) than they were 24 hours earlier, but some people must have acclimatised more than I did because I passed someone riding in gear that would have been more appropriate to a January commute in Oslo.

I'm not sure which piece of news coming out of America yesterday surprised me less:

(1) that Mark McGwire was using steroids during his record home-run season in 1998
(2) that Sarah Palin is becoming a pundit on Fox News

(those of you who've never heard of Mark McGwire are allowed to skip this comparison)

C • Swap them around 2

Among other things, this morning set records in Melbourne for the highest temperature recorded at 3am (33.3) and 6am (32.3). The previous record for the latetr was set on 29 January 2009. Given what happened last time (http://www.attackpoint.org/viewlog.jsp/user_1491/p...) I'm glad today's plans involve running in the evening.

MFR "Monday" night run from Suse's, which had been switched to Tuesday a few days back in anticipation of yesterday's conditions (or something approximating to it). Just Zoe and Clare Hawthorne (in town for a few weeks) for company. A pleasant session and a bit more rolling than anything I've done so far; quite pleased with how it felt on the hills on the run but the test will be what it is like tomorrow.

21 degrees was a lot more civilised, too.

C • Temperature 6

Another session at Fitzroy, a good deal less crowded at 7.30 a.m. than it would have been at, say, 4 p.m. Moving pretty well. Tried a rubber glove on the hand this time and it worked better, although a bit of moisture still got in. (The hand, by the way, has improved dramatically over the last day or two).

A lot of numbers-watching today; thought there might have been a bit of media but none of it came my way. Maybe 43.6-degree days in Melbourne aren't as exciting as they used to be. (There were four in the 19th century, four in the 20th, and we're up to five so far in the 21st).

The heat made for an interesting challenge later in the day; getting to a physio appointment in East Melbourne. I took the bike because I thought the trams would be worse (karma must have been with me because I got four successive greens on a stretch of Flinders where you're normally lucky to get one). The appointment itself was pretty productive and I have a better idea of where I'm headed; this is an injury which I'll have to live with for some time, but it should be capable of being managed, and he's comfortable with the idea of putting a bit more difficulty into my training and seeing how it responds. Also have many more exercises to do, which shouldn't come as a surprise.

I returned to the office to find a fire alarm in full swing. Most people would take a 6 p.m. fire alarm as a 'go home' signal but I can be a very stubborn person; my plan for today was to go home after dark (partly because of the slightly-more-civilised riding conditions, partly because I still have masses of work to do). I went and got something to eat and the all-clear came a few minutes later.

There is a place called Flasher, North Dakota. I doubt, though, that much flashing is happening there at present, given the reason why I know of its existence (an appearance on the American weather report as the coldest place in the continental US on Friday, at -37). Reminds me a bit of the famous Raiders-Tigers game in the snow at Bruce Stadium in 2000 and the brave (or foolhardy) streaker who took to the field clad in nothing but a Wests Tigers scarf. Constable Frogga may be able to advise as to whether it is a defence to a charge of indecent exposure in the ACT that there is nothing left to expose.