Training Log Archive: blairtrewin

Thought yesterday indicated that something wasn't right, and this morning confirmed that, with multiple bits not performing. Hoping for better luck some other day.

Plan B was the water - went to Fitzroy (wouldn't normally do this on a weekend, but I think the outdoor pool at Northcote is still closed). Went more or less OK although still rather tight. Caught up with a couple of regulars who I haven't seen in the usual weekly timeslot for a long time, which provided the opportunity for us to collectively lament the current state of Australian governance.

A largely blank Sunday did give me the opportunity to get some other things done, such as some OA Conference papers, and my tax.

C • SA governance 3

Sprint into Spring at VU Edgewater. The best that can be said about this is that it doubled my number of successfully completed Sprint Into Spring events (for a certain definition of "successful") in the last four seasons - I missed most or all of the last three seasons either through being away or being injured. That's about all that can be said for it, because this was one of those days when my body didn't want to function, something particularly apparent on the first half of the course, which was a running race. About the only thing I took away from this was a decent split on 15, where I avoided falling into the trap (Lachlan Cherry had just gone through me before it and wasn't so fortunate); did hit smaller traps on 14 and 19 but didn't lose much time on either. Behind a lot of people I would hope not to be behind (although it must be said that Clare's in a bit of a purple patch at the moment).

Did a couple of the short training sets of sprintervals in the park afterwards, but struggling for concentration and not running a lot better than first time round. Didn't see a small path on the first one which cost me quite a bit of time on 6 (I thought initially that Alex Ikin had gone through the OOB but his route was perfectly legal).

A get-the-stiffness-out session on a morning when there was a reasonable amount of stiffness to get out. Seems to have done the job OK. First time I've been at Fitzroy for a while - there's a bit of building work out the front associated with the rebuilding of a main drain down the middle of Alexandra Parade. (It's also the first time for a while I've done a 7pm Friday bike commute through the CBD - the highlight being almost getting doored by someone who emerged from their car clutching a half-drunk stubbie).

It hasn't got much news on the mainland, but a big bushfire has been burning for the last 10 days out the back of St. Helens. From the fire maps I've seen, it looks like it's burnt most or all of Transit Flat (World Cup/Oceania long 2015) - something the local orienteers don't seem too distressed about - but is so far staying west of the other St. Helens maps, and will probably continue to do so unless there is a period of strong W/SW winds (something not currently forecast).

(For non-Australian readers, most eucalypt species are adapted to fire and not killed by it. Often post-fire regrowth of small trees and shrubs will make forests less runnable, sometimes dramatically so, but that depends on the forest type and how intense the fire was).

First attempt at the Wednesday street-O/Thursday long(ish) run combination for a while (the last time I actually managed to finish a Wednesday night A course, I broke down in the process of doing so and didn't run again for weeks). This felt like a fairly solid morning's work for a lot of the way; struggling a bit in the final half-hour (although still with enough enthusiasm to do a few convoluted moves at the end to get to the 90). Then rode to work (something I don't normally do after a long run) and got some tangible evidence, in the form of a couple of cramps, that I wasn't imagining being tired later on in the run. Fairly tired through the day as well. The masseur certainly earned her money tonight.

Around the halfway point of the run, I was reflecting that at about the equivalent point of the equivalent run last week, I was crossing an international border (although I think the signs for the City of Moreland are more prominent than the ones for France).

Not sure where that came from. Last year's Summer Series was an almost complete write-off for me (I only completed one A course all season, my first of the season), thanks to a combination of a calf issue, a hamstring issue, a back issue, and being out of town during the narrow window when none of the above applied. (Towards the end of the season, running in the evening after sitting down at work all day wasn't appreciated by my back).

I didn't have a lot of confidence before this one - mostly through having woken up at 4.30 and hitting some afternoon flat spots - but settled nicely after passing through my first control (one, #10, which I might have been better off missing). The plan was a jog but I was clearly doing better than that - cruise speed rather than tempo, but still definitely faster than standard. Degree of difficulty was fairly low - Dandenong Creek has some hilly parts, but some weren't used tonight and I only hit the others late - but I'm happy with this. A bit of haven't-had-a-massage-for-too-long Achilles soreness late (that comes tomorrow).

(Perhaps I should thank a difficult-to-catch admin person who I needed to sign something this afternoon, forcing me to get up and walk to the other side of the floor four times in the process of trying to find her).

The numbers weren't great tonight, and I was probably close to being in the bottom decile of the age range of those who were there.

Back to All Nations intervals. A couple of real low points early on - first some sudden Achilles soreness which caused me to stop briefly (but disappeared within a minute), then a very weak second rep. After that, I was reasonably happy to get through it, albeit not especially convincingly - better on the uphills than the downhills. Sometimes I have really good runs a couple of days after getting back, but not today...

The on-leash compliance rate hasn't improved since I've been away.

Warm-up and down. Not especially convincing, especially for the former.

As might have been expected, slightly absent-minded this morning, without too many consequences. At an unusual venue (North Melbourne) in the name of later-in-the-day logistics; didn't feel very energetic early on, but a bit better later in the session. Made an attempt at a run as well but it didn't work out. Lasted through the day more or less OK, apart from a flat spot in the late afternoon.