Training Log Archive: blairtrewin

Getting to the start of this session didn't quite go to plan - firstly a diversion because a light pole was leaning at a strange angle over the road in the Ivanhoe shops (presumably because somebody drove into it), then I arrived at Bruce's place for what I thought was the agreed 7.30 start, only to be told by a rather sleepy Anne that he'd already gone (presumably because he thought we were meeting at the pipe bridge). Fortunately he was still there when I arrived. Tash joined us later on, and once again we had some random encounters en route (Sophie Barker twice, Nicola, and a few of the Melbourne Midday Milers).

This was a reasonable run, loosening up fairly well and no sign of the calf tightness from Friday. I'm still weak on hills but that's lack of practice. As usual for a Sunday group run this was focused on the Yarra and included some of the rougher single tracks (and negotiating several new gates installed to stop mountain bikes from using said tracks). Started to get a little sore in the last 10 minutes, but certainly didn't fade to anywhere near the same extent as last week. I think this is progress. (It probably helped that it was less humid than last week, and less hot than last year - although on this day last year it was 'only' 24 early in the morning and I managed to get a run in - just - before the temperature started skyrocketing).

Those who remember the Kiandra snowball fight between the SA and WA schools teams after the 2001 Australian Relays (or, in our case, getting blow-by-blow reports on it via Mace's phone) will know that snow is a novelty to South Australians. I was engaging in some newspaper-trawling yesterday (getting info on a 1910 cold outbreak in southeastern Australia) and discovered that it was a novelty then too; it was reported that the then SA Premier, who was travelling by train from Crystal Brook to Adelaide, had the train stopped on several occasions to engage in snowball-throwing. (This suggests it was a very impressive cold outbreak indeed - I wouldn't have thought that railway line gets much above 100 metres).

Something else in the news on the same day was a bit more surprising: the upholding by a court of a noise pollution complaint (not that they called it 'noise pollution') involving church bells. It wasn't a great day for the church in Melbourne because it was also reported that a clergyman had gatecrashed a Muslim prayer gathering in the Melbourne Domain and (to the obvious pleasure of the reporter) left without any converts.

Also saw that, in addition to the usual betting options on the Superbowl, one bookmaker is offering odds on who the Most Valuable Player will thank first in his speech. God is the $1.80 favourite.

C • Crystal Brook to Adelaide railway route? 6

First (and last) training ride on my temporarily borrowed bike, on the usual Saturday route. A solid effort, a bit quicker than in recent times but that was probably the machinery. The machinery will take a further step up soon as I picked up my new bike today.

It was the sort of brilliantly clear morning that only happens in the big city if it's rained the day before. I was enjoying the conditions and so were a lot of other people; the path was a bit crowded at times.

C • bike 1

Almost the first run starting in darkness for six months or so; there was just a hint of light when I set out. Doubling up with a run and a swim so ran from Ivanhoe pool, around the suburbs. Once again didn't feel quite right - and calves were very tight at times - but not struggling as much as I have the last couple of days. The kinder conditions (cool with drizzle) will have helped.

There was a farmers' protest outside Parliament House the other day. Apparently someone had a sign decrying the great Fabian Society conspiracy. As a member of that august organisation I can confidently state that the outer limits of their conspiracy-organising capabilities is to conspire to book a restaurant.

Headed from the roads into the pool, swimming for the first time in a few weeks (a) because I no longer have any strapping on my hand and (b) because various aspects of my schedule meant today was Ivanhoe rather than Fitzroy and Ivanhoe isn't a great pool for pool-running. Not as sluggish as I expected, although 30-degree water is definitely too warm for comfort.

Last night wasn't the night I would have chosen for a comeback to fast running and this morning wasn't the morning I would have chosen for a follow-up; 28 degrees at 6 a.m. (not the first time this has happened in Melbourne this summer, but the first time I've tried to run in it). Legs were functioing passably but I didn't really feel myself, whether because of dehydration or not being 100% well for other reasons (I suspect the latter may have been a factor). I was reminded late in the piece, by lower leg cramps at a fence crossing, that my difficulties of the last couple of days are not purely a shortage of HTFU (although the cramps were nowhere near as bad as on a comparable occasion a year and a week ago).

This route took me past Moonee Valley racecourse (having started in North Melbourne). The racecourse was in the news this morning because of the original reason for having to reschedule tomorrow's race meeting - a flock of cockatoos have nested at the ground and chewed through half the floodlight cables.

The competition is tough given that Lord Monckton's around, but we had a strong contender in today's paper for the most bizarre statement in a public policy debate. It came from a spokesman for the Australian Hotels Association, trying to put the case that his organisation's members have nothing to do with alcohol-related violence in Melbourne: his argument was that young people today don't have respect for the consequences of violence because they don't get beaten up at school as much as they used to (or words to that effect).

And I've achieved a milestone in the career of any Australian climate scientist: being the subject of a complaint to the ABC.

C • Melbourne Temperature 1

C • Complaint, why? 2

This was to be my first race in more than three months: Wednesday Summer Series, Lillydale Lake, 33 degrees. I didn't feel great before the start and was wondering if this might be asking a bit too much for a first fast session, and so it proved. My speed wasn't great at the start, but it was still obvious by 3k that it was more than I could sustain. By 5k I was in survival mode; between 4 and 17, at about three-quarters distance, I started to feel a little dizzy and decided enough was enough. I remember too well how badly I smashed myself in the heat this time last year. Don't feel the worse for wear now, though.

The good news is that the Achilles, which was very tight through the day (although strangely not on getting up), loosened up well on warming up and coped fine with running hard(ish) up hills early on. The fitness is no good but a few weeks' more work will fix that problem. Having not run much during the summer (and avoided the heat for most of what I have done), my heat acclimatisation is also not what it normally would be at this time of year.

Morning run based on the Yarra at Hawthorn before a physio session. Fairly flat early on and took my time loosening up, but reasonable on that front by the time I started to hit some hills in Toorak at around 20 minutes. Not the strongest run I've ever had; felt at its best when I got to the Kooyong level crossing to find the gates closed and decided to fill the time it takes for a train to crawl across the crossing (they have to go at walking pace because the train tracks cross tram tracks) by running up the Glenferrie Road hill and back. The hot spot continues to be largely trouble-free.

When I finished my PhD I was told that once you had 'Dr' in front of your name you got a better class of junk mail, such as ads for BMWs or upmarket investment properties. I'm still waiting (not exactly anxiously) for this, but I did get a call at work today from an 'investment advisor' (probably = 'scammer') in Hong Kong. They appear to be seriously deluded about the amount of money that a climate scientist might have to invest (perhaps they've been reading all the sceptic blog sites which list the grants allocated to various lead investigators and imply that they all go into that scientist's pocket, rather than most of it being used to pay supporting staff or pay for other research costs). I'm guessing they picked on me because I've been in the media a bit lately; it's a little surprising that none of the Bolt army have (yet) done likewise.

A paper I'm editing for the Australian Meteorological and Oceanographic Journal contains the sentence:

"This paper presents the processing of NAVOCEANO's GAC AVHRR L2P SST for use in BODAS"

It's just possible that the Hoggster knows what this means (more or less), but I'm guessing that not too many others here do. (At least they define all their acronyms elsewhere so you can look them up if you're sufficiently keen).

C • NAVOCEANO's GAC AVHRR L2P S... 2

Achilles felt much better getting up this morning than it has in recent days; perhaps doing a long run yesterday was good for them? I wouldn't be surprised if a contributing factor was bobbing up and down in the surf for a while yesterday afternoon, not something I'll be able to repeat on a routine basis.

This was a reasonably routine session. I've taken the strapping off my fingers now (although the hand is still not quite 100% right), so this was the first time for a while that I've done this session without a rubber glove on my left hand (something which usually raises a few eyebrows from others present).

C • rubber glove 1