Training Log Archive: blairtrewin

Just because I'd been sitting on a plane for 24 hours was not a good enough excuse to skip the Sunday long run. (I might have been tempted by the Maxi 3-Hour at Whroo but thought driving a couple of hours each way was asking for trouble).

The course was based around the Yarra, initially up to the bridge at Templestowe, in the name of seeing its current state (strongly flowing but not really in flood), before coming down as far as Hays Paddock. (This part of the route was determined by the availability of public conveniences - I've learnt from past experience that they are often required at short notice on just-off-the-plane runs). The run was nothing special for a normal day but quite satisfactory in the circumstances, with the second half being the better. Some hamstring tightness which presumably means some back tightness (in turn almost certainly plane-induced); will watch but no cause for alarm.

Ran with Lisa Weightman's bunch for a bit later on; I've seen her out a few times but this was the first time we were going in the same direction. You will not be surprised that the main topic of conversation was potential Commonwealth Games weather. At least the marathoners don't have to worry too much about incomplete facilities. The bunch was going a bit faster than I really wanted to be today, and I peeled off after a bit.

The final part of the run took me past the residence of a just-reappointed minister (and it says something for Australia that there is less visible security on her house than there is for the neighbours on either side). I did think it was a bit strange that the only thing the ABC radio news this morning thought was worth reporting about the new ministry was that Christopher Pyne doesn't like it, although any leanings displayed are nothing compared to those of News Limited. Perhaps Julia can engage the services of Barry Hall to sort out the editor of the Australian?

(On the other hand, perhaps the media just love negativity. I saw a nice demonstration of this while I was in Britain; there have been some problems with a new tax office computer system which has led to large numbers of people getting incorrect assessments, and the media was full of stories with people with substantial "unwanted" tax bills (is there any such thing as a wanted tax bill?). It wasn't until I'd been there for three days that I found out that the number of people getting bills is half the number of people getting refunds).

Event: NSW Middle Championships State League #12
 

Had better luck with seats on the trip home - scored an exit row on the Dubai-Melbourne leg, always a nice bonus. Did something dangerously radical and actually bought something at an in-transit airport duty-free shop - a drink. (Emirates, like a lot of other airlines, don't really provide you with enough fluid to offset in-air dehydration; this is something Qantas are very good at).

It's been rather in the news this week that sporting identities have demonstrated via their use of Twitter that they are twits (one hopes Brendan Fevola never starts tweeting). One which might not have got as much attention in Australia was the effort of one Dimitri Mascarenhas, a sometime member of the England 20-20 team, who called the chair of selectors a "F***ing prick" after being left out of this week's team. Can't imagine this is exactly the way to win friends and influence people (JWOC candidates for 2011 should perhaps take note).

C • Emirates 6

Final session in Exeter, this time heading into town to see what the area along the river looks like. Pretty stiff in the first few minutes but developed into a fairly standard recovery run after that.

There were local elections in Exeter yesterday. There were still a few leftover signs at polling booths but not the wholesale decoration of any wall within cooee with banners extolling the virtues of one or other of the candidates (I'm not sure if this is because of custom, law, or because no-one - apart from the five Labour leadership candidates who were all in town - really cares that much about who gets elected to the Exeter City Council). Also not a sausage sizzle in sight.

So began the journey home, with a stop at Bristol to catch up with Grace and Matt for lunch. I really liked Bristol on my previous visit in 1989 (despite getting the worst sunburn I've ever had in my life while I was there, after a sunny day at the cricket) and it looks like it's still got a good vibe. I've never been so much of a fan of London and only spent a few hours there this time.

Didn't get home from the conference dinner until 11.30 last night but that was not enough to deter me from this morning's session (at least I was only lacking sleep and not hung over). This one was also based on the hills north of Exeter, using a route occasionally frequented by my host (who's been far too busy this week to even contemplate coming out with me - yesterday she was preparing a talk at 4am).

There was just enough light when I started to be able to manage the off-road sections (although not enough to be able to see all of the mud before treading in it). For the most part it was a mix of country lanes and 'public footpaths', some of which were merely a straight line across a field. At one point I lost the path and ended up in a dead-end field; making my exit I stood up too quickly and thus had an altercation between my head and some barbed wire. This produced a certain amount of blood but if you're deterred by a bit of blood you're in the wrong business. Later on 100 metres of floodwater from yesterday afternoon's thunderstorm had to be negotiated on one of the lanes (although the morning itself was very pleasant).

As a run it was reasonable, although having a bit of an off day on the injury front on the later hills.

The global surface temperatures project we're embarking on is a very long-term one. I suspect this means that, as the only three seriously involved at present whose ages still start with a 3, this week won't be the last I see of two other occupants (one permanent, one similarly temporary to me) of 23 Stuart Road. There's a fair chance my involvement with this project will last to (or possibly beyond) my retirement.

(On a slightly offbeat note, one thing which was mentioned was options for getting numbers taken from images of old data forms or hard-copy publications entered into computer databases. The British have had a bit of this done in prisons and have noticed marked differences in the quality of the work according to the crime. Apparently the paedophiles are the best - I guess most of them have good computer skills).

A very pleasant run on a nice crisp autumn morning heading for the low hills north of Exeter, taking in quite a few paths and narrow English country lanes (the only negative being the intermittent presence of cars on said country lanes; there's sometimes not a lot of room to get out of the way). A slightly longer run than planned after being reminded of an occasional hazard of English maps, the "public footpath" that doesn't exist.

Again tight early, but freed up well and running quite strongly on the hillier parts.

Headed for the Heavitree Pleasure Ground, a name which, for reasons which may be apparent only to fellow children of the 80s, put me in mind of Frankie Goes to Hollywood (in fact probably only fellow children of the 80s have heard of Frankie Goes to Hollywood). It's actually a fairly standard park which I employed for a fairly standard travelling intervals session, 10 reps with about a minute in between them. Ended up at 67 seconds uphill and 61 down after being a few seconds slower at the start, not awe-inspiring but fairly reasonable by the end. Achilles tight on the warm-up but OK once going harder.

Going to/from the park. Perhaps at this point the more appropriate lyric might have been "can you tell me, is it still raining there in England" (actually, more appropriate still in the light of the events of the preceding couple of hours might have been "The Red Flag", if I could remember the words).

This run got reshuffled a bit through the day. Plan A was a standard morning run. I'm staying with one of the conference organisers (*), who's into endurance sports herself (although more cycling, and starting to dabble in adventure racing), and she mentioned that she was planning to run at lunchtime, so plan B was to join her. She then decided she had too much to do to go out (I'm not sure if the heavy rain which fell for most of the day encouraged her in this decision), and getting in and out of the Met Office building without having someone with a pass to do it with is more hassle than it's worth, so I rescheduled again for the evening.

It being peak hour, I chose a route on the map with the principal aim of minimising the number of significant road crossings. This turned out to take me into some of Exeter's grittier suburbs, although Exeter's grittier suburbs are still reasonably tame (no burnt-out cars or discarded needles in sight). Not the greatest run I'll ever have with quads pretty stiff after yesterday's session, but loosened up, sort of, in the second half. Not an awful lot of strength on the hills either.

(* - those who think that public servants live it up in five-star luxury - i.e. readers of the Herald-Sun - may be interested to know that this week I'm on an air mattress on the floor of somebody's spare room - while this is partly because the funding I could get was only enough to cover the flight, in a lot of ways this is actually preferable to an anonymous hotel room. Still gives me a good comeback if my travel details are ever on the end of a Herald-Sun FOI request).