Training Log Archive: blairtrewin

Another go at running, on a flattish course from my place out along Darebin Creek out to Latrobe Uni. Didn't have the specific discomfort in a specific place that was the case on Friday, but still tight all the way down the left side - further evidence that it probably is related to the back (or something else). I wouldn't be too alarmed by a run like this in isolation but I still feel like I've got some way to go in a recovery.

Someone in West Heidelberg obvious doesn't have much of an idea as to what a runner needs because he offered me a cigarette out the window of a taxi.

Feeling a bit unsettled this morning, partly because of a rather unsettling dream. When I'm feeling unsettled one of the ways it tends to manifest itself in thinking that the outside world doesn't really appreciate my presence. I doubt this was actually true at the pool, although I was certainly out of place there, as I expected of a Saturday morning: the median age of the clientele at Ivanhoe on a Saturday morning in months is about mine in years.

The swim itself was quite reasonable; the lap lanes weren't particularly crowded and the water was not as stifling as is usually the case here. There was more disturbance halfway through when I surfaced to hear a fire alarm. This lasted for just long enough to have visions of having to evacuate to the nearest park on a winter's day in wet swimmers and nothing else (if that had been the end result, though, far worse days could have been chosen for it), but no-one else seemed too perturbed and a few seconds later I heard the announcement I hadn't heard the first time, that it was a tone test.

Hamstring had improved enough at rest to encourage me to try it running today, but it still isn't right running - not enough to stop me but enough to indicate that there is still a problem, and it didn't really improve with warming up.

I had a scheduled physio appointment today anyway so it was looked at thoroughly. He thinks it may be back-related; doesn't think it's too drastic but wants me to take it fairly easy this weekend, which means no Sunday long run and no Mount Alexander tomorrow - a pity as it will be just about my last chance for a technical event before going to Europe.

Hamstring considerably improved today but still not 100%, so decided to give it another day. Should be back in action tomorrow if things go to plan.

In other news I've missed out on being a lead author for the next IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) report. In one sense this is disappointing; on the other hand it does mean that I won't become public enemy number one on right-wing blogs and their mainstream media offshoots the length and breadth of the known universe.

The hamstring wasn't any better this morning (although it is a little better this afternoon), so I decided not to try to run on it and instead swam - at Richmond, a previously regular venue I haven't been to for a while. Didn't feel entirely comfortable in the water but didn't seem to do any further damage.

Given that I didn't feel any pain on Monday I find it hard to believe that this is a serious injury, but it is a nuisance-level one which is annoying, in what was going to be my first week back training at more or less full intensity.

Came back from the Flinders with a bloodied knee and a photogenic face scratch (which will be interesting should I be called on for any TV interviews this week), but it was a less visible injury which caused me some grief today; I tweaked a hamstring during yesterday's run and while it didn't caused me any trouble then, it tightened overnight and more so on the plane back from Adelaide.

I was hoping for it to loosen on the run, a lunchtime one from work. As a run it was not unpleasant, and felt quite fresh post-weekend, but the hamstring was noticeable throughout (without impeding me except on one staircase). The route was a variation on the common lunchtime theme of the Tan, carried out for semi-political purposes. I have long suspected that the Institute of Private Enterprise consists of Des Moore and a fax machine, and on seeing its address (it's playing host to the Melbourne gig of a touring climate change sceptic next week) I thought I'd check out what their premises looked like. As I suspected from the address, it looks like a normal apartment.

The injury seems similar to one I've had a couple of times before (including during the debacle that was my 2008 Norway World Cup campaign). On those occasions it was OK within a couple of days, but this one feels a little bit worse. Unless it improves overnight I may have a change of plans tomorrow.

Final day of the Flinders weekend, the SA so-called Middle Distance Championships at Rawnsley Park. This started a little erratically, not quite nailing controls at 1 and 4 but not losing a lot of time. Things kept taking a long time to come up, and I looked at my watch at the drinks control: 24 minutes and still short of halfway. Something was obviously wrong: either the map was 1:15000 or the course had been measured with the wrong scale. I suggested the former and more or less confirmed it a few controls later when I looked at the distance between the north lines.

The race rather fell apart after that, in the thicker terrain of the second half of the course. Struggled with the low visibility (not always reflected with the green on the map) and to adjust mentally to the new scale; lost 90 seconds apiece on 14 and 19 and generally lost confidence in my navigation. Probably about 4-5 minutes slower than I should have been. The 50% extra length didn't concern me too much, but a lot of people will have been out for a long time.

All in all, not performing quite as well as I would like to have done, but an enjoyable weekend all the same (which is why I came).

C • How often does this happen? 4