Training Log Archive: blairtrewin

The frustration I've felt this weekend was exacerbated by the morning's conditions; the change was earlier and stronger than expected, and it would have been as close to ideal as it gets in February for a long run.

Felt considerably less sick this morning, but back was the tightest it's been for a very long time - certainly not from overuse (possibly from underuse?). Wasn't sure how it would respond to running (though sometimes the days when it's bad beforehand are fine once running), so headed for the pool instead. Not entirely comfortable in the pool either, though gradually loosened up. Not a lot of room to work in in Ivanhoe on a weekend morning, although didn't have too many bombs in close proximity.

Should be right to do a run of some description tomorrow if things go to plan.

Possibly the least energetic day in my memory which hasn't been spent in a plane. Started to feel somewhat better in the second half of the day but still some way from being in a position to consider doing anything as vigorous as training - going to the Preston Markets was fairly close to my upper limits today.

Felt no better (in fact probably worse) on waking up. Wouldn't have considered running, thought about going to the pool but didn't think I had the energy for that either. Think it's a cold rather than a full-blown flu (not running enough of a temperature for the latter), but at the nasty end of such - last time I was in this sort of condition was in Scotland in 2012 in the run-up to WMOC.

Probably shouldn't have dragged myself in during the day, but taking a sick day on a Friday in summer is potentially asking for trouble (not internally - I hope - but part of the price of working in the field that I do is that anything you do is potentially subject to hostile external scrutiny, and I'm not prepared to rely on "they won't find out" - have seen too many others be the subject of hacks and/or broad-ranging FOI requests). Was in bed within five minutes of getting home, and asleep not much after that.

Was thinking 1.30-1.45 in anticipation of something big on the weekend, from Northcote back towards Ivanhoe and then returning via Darebin Parklands. Didn't sleep much but running more or less OK for the most part, but starting to fade away towards the end - which was a bit of a worry given plans for something twice as long on the weekend.

And then I hit the wall in a big way on the ride into work, and struggled through the day. It might be just tiredness and will be sorted with a good night's sleep, but at the moment it feels like I might have brought back one of the numerous bugs circulating in Geneva - in which case the weekend might be a non-starter. Will await developments.

Summer Series at Blackburn - usually one of my favourite areas (although we were starting at the opposite end to usual tonight).

Calves were a bit swollen today - not sure if it was the flight or running in snow which did it. Decided to see how it went early on before deciding whether or not to race, but they didn't feel comfortable on any sort of hill so I settled for a jog. Perhaps it was as well that I wasn't trying tonight because I managed to make three significant errors (despite having a decent overall route choice) which cost maybe 90 seconds all up - maybe my brain was still frozen. Calves felt better in the second half, so I don't think it's anything long-term (and the masseur will hopefully work their magic on them tomorrow).

The flights both went smoothly and I scored reasonably well on both - an empty seat next door on the first leg and an upgrade to premium economy on the second.

The same cannot be said for getting between those flights in Dubai. The connection was supposed to be 1.30 and we were 20 minutes late, which shouldn't have been too much of a problem even in an airport the size of Dubai. The problem started because we didn't stop at the terminal, but on the tarmac with a bus to the terminal. These are normally pretty quick, but this time the bus seemed to do almost a full lap of the airport, and got stuck for a while at walking pace behind a water-spraying truck.

By the time we actually got to the terminal it was 38 minutes to departure time, during which I had to get through security, get between terminals and cover an unknown distance to the gates. The first bit didn't take up too much time despite being sent back for walking too fast through the metal detector, whereupon I embarked on the first rep, to the inter-terminal train. This normally comes every couple of minutes but none came for about 5 minutes due to a "technical fault" (which then meant it was super-crowded and took a long time to get everyone on). Finally at the other end, I turned this into a hills session too by running up two long escalators, was reasonably relieved that my gate wasn't too far away from the top of them, got to the gate, and thought I was sunk when the person in front of me got turned away, but for some reason I was OK. (My guess here is that they automatically rebook people whose incoming flights arrive within X minutes of the connection departing, but because mine landed 1.10 beforehand - even if it took forever to get to the terminal - that was considered OK). Had quite a sweat up by this stage - hope it didn't cause too much grief to the person I was sitting next to.

(Had I missed this connection, I'm guessing I would have been rebooked on the Emirates flight a couple of hours behind, but would presumably have missed out on the upgrade).

They like their ice hockey in Kloten - there were statues of hockey players on all four sides of the roundabout outside the hotel. The local team, named the Kloten Flyers for its proximity to the airport (another appropriate name I've seen lately is the Tromso Storm, currently leading the Norwegian basketball league), plays in the national league. They're currently in the relegation zone. The Rapperswil/Jona Lakers are deeper in the relegation zone, which may be why there appears to have been what passes in Switzerland for a riot at the weekend's game there (our local correspondent may have more details).

C • Relegation 1

The flight back to Switzerland went a lot more smoothly than that from it. I had a night in a hotel in Kloten (the small town/suburb next to Zurich airport) before getting a morning train to Geneva.

There was time to squeeze a run in this morning, although not to wait for daylight. Once again, it was a process of learning about running in the snow - the optimal areas are either where there's proper snow cover or it's completely clear, the awkward bits are where it's in between (e.g. footpaths which have been scraped but not salted). In the icy areas it's often a matter of avoiding sudden movements (as a Canadian road safety ad put it, "Don't Jerk While Driving").

Enjoyed myself much more once I was outside the town, thinking it takes a certain amount of self-confidence to run on a snow-covered farm road barely distinguishable from the field it was crossing, in the dark (not that it's ever really dark when there's snow on the ground and you're close to a city - the light reflects remarkably). Not as stiff as is often the case on a Monday, probably a reflection of yesterday's relatively short haul.

Now at Geneva airport after Swiss trains were their usual efficient selves. Good news is that it isn't (currently) snowing and the incoming flight was on time, bad news is that some of the luggage handlers are on strike but I think (touch wood) that the company whose handlers are on strike isn't the one that Emirates uses. We'll find out soon enough.

And more from the what-might-have-been file (prompted by reformatting some 2003 results for the website while I was on the train): wonder what might have become of Orla Murray's orienteering career if she'd won the W21E Australian long distance by one second instead of losing it by that margin? (I'd completely forgotten about this, having thought of her as one of those juniors who didn't long outlast their JWOC years; I'd also forgotten how good a year Tooms had in 2003 with several top-five results).