Training Log Archive: blairtrewin

State Series Middle at Chewton Diggings. Ran this one early before a shift on the finish (one of the quirks of being in two clubs is that I've worked on two State Series events in the space of a fortnight).

Perhaps I wasn't in a properly focused state of mind for this, but the biggest problem was that I didn't have my terrain legs at all, and never really handled the rockier and rougher bits of this area, or getting in and out of the erosion. Also weaker than most recent runs and struggled with the hills (particularly 11 and 15). Probably dropped 3-4 minutes in 30-second increments. A bit disappointing to turn in such a poor run, but I do have my biggest running week of the year (and in fact since April 2016) behind me so that's a positive. Back didn't cause any real trouble on the run but was pretty sore driving back.

A bit longer than I've been doing on Saturdays of late, and a little more ambitious than a lot of my recent runs, featuring some of the hills of Kew. Thought after a promising start that this might catch alight; it didn't, but still a fairly solid morning's work (and a prelude to a certain amount of birthday-related indulgence).

Spent a bit of time on this run contemplating the rumoured Swiss protest at the WOC relay (see that thread for further details), so I'm glad it didn't happen.

C • Worst case scenario 3

Nice to be coming off a week sufficiently hard that a recovery session came in useful. Fairly standard as these things go, and didn't feel too sleep-deprived after a late night watching the WOC middle distance.

Yesterday wasn't much good but today felt decent from the start. Planned for 2 hours and started with the first sign of a proper long run, heading out at a time which started with a 5. Felt reasonably comfortable through the first half, although slow until it got light (which didn't happen until after halfway). Started to speed up once coming back through La Trobe and a solid last 8k; didn't feel as if I was tiring to any meaningful extent, which is very encouraging.

Spending a decent stretch of this run on Oakhill Avenue made me think of the idea of a JWOC theme run; some checking of the Melbourne street directory reveals that it would be a long one, given the distance between Burrill Court in Taylors Hill and Key Drive in (unsurprisingly) Keysborough. You will find 11 out of the 12 represented by either first or last names, with Asha being the one who misses out (the closest it gets is Steers Street in Sunshine North).

This one was a bit of a shocker - felt sluggish from the start and never got going at all, with the last part just as slow as the first (unusual for me). At least there were no injury issues of consequence. Came across Kirsten part of the way through and thought the stop for a chat might get things going, but they didn't (to any meaningful extent).

Something of a new phase at home as my parents have moved in after leaving Canberra. They'll be around for as long as it takes to build their new house on the Mornington Peninsula (probably 9-12 months), but the first part of their stay won't be long - they're leaving the country for a few weeks on Friday.

A bit of a milestone: first time I've done what I consider a standard intervals session (10x1 min) in about nine months. As you might expect of a first time, there wasn't a lot of sparkle and I didn't get appreciably faster as it went on in the way that I sometimes do in interval sessions, but still enough to be considered a solid morning's work.

Warm-up and down. Didn't feel too lively on the warm-up, but did feel as if there was no real sign of any injury problems, which gave me enough confidence to go through with the morning's plans.

A surprisingly good run. No sign of any injury issues and settled down pretty well after the first couple of kilometres, without quite hitting the heights of the patch the week before last. A nice confidence-booster.

I've sometimes mused that part of my scientific interest in local-scale temperature fluctuations comes from many years of early-morning runs (and rides), and today was an excellent example. There was enough wind on more exposed ground to keep things milder than the last two nights - Moorabbin went from -0.4 at 10.30pm to 10.2 at 1.30am as winds kicked in, before dropping again - but cold air pockets remained in the more sheltered valleys. I'd say that it was probably -1 or -2 in the Merri Creek valley, but even a few metres of climbing felt like stepping in front of the heater - probably about +6 or so.

C • Cold pockets 1