Training Log Archive: blairtrewin

Objective number one on the first day is to get a reasonably normal amount of sleep at a reasonably normal time. I thought I might have got this wrong when I needed to get up at 3am (one's internal functions usually don't adjust as quickly as sleep patterns), but got back to sleep without trouble and was still asleep when my alarm went off at 7, so hopefully that mission was accomplished.

Today's adventure was to hire a bike and get out on that. It was described as a "city bike" and was a bit heavier and slower than what I usually use, but worked OK (it had decent gears, which helped). I was never going to take on a col somewhere on this machine, but going along the southern shore of the lake was a decent workout, particularly in the first half with a headwind. A couple of modest climbs but otherwise reasonably level. Continued for a few kilometres into France just because I could, and then turned around to come back (would have preferred to do a loop but didn't see a good way to do it without spending time on the main highway). A few muscles were a bit tired in the second half (and again a hint of cramp at some points - so my system must still be a little unbalanced), but not too bad on the whole.

As expected, this was a good environment for riding - paths and bike lanes for the first few kilometres from the city centre, then a secondary road. In Australia a two-lane road with no verge and a bit of traffic would be a nightmare for cycling (you would probably do well to last five minutes without getting abused or worse), but Europeans - even the Porsche drivers who are commonplace in the lakeside towns of Geneva's outskirts - seem to have worked out that the world is not going to come to an end if you arrive at your destination ten seconds slower because you had to wait for a safe place to pass a cyclist.

Normally, after a long flight, I get out for a not very convincing run. That wasn't an option this time, so instead I went for a not very convincing swim. Probably a bit less crowded than it is at weekday lunchtimes, but I felt like I was floundering like a drunken octopus. Felt as if I was about to cramp several times (mostly in the right leg, not the left), but never quite did.

Inflation is not a feature of Switzerland: the cost of pool entry was 6 francs when I first starting coming here eight years ago, and it still is. (There's inflation if you're an Australian, though - the franc has gone up about 30% against the dollar in that time). Showing that certain types of people have as much contempt for the law in law-abiding Geneva as they do in other places, I saw using a bus/taxi lane a very expensive black car which was definitely not a bus and, unless it was very well disguised, wasn't a taxi either. (No, it didn't have diplomatic plates).

The flight was as routine as they get, and slept a bit on the first leg. Perhaps a positive sign for peace in the Middle East is that Iraq is now considered safe enough to fly over (we went more or less over the top of Baghdad).

Extended commute via Yarra Boulevard and the river - managed to avoid the tacks, which have resurfaced in recent weeks. First sighting was that riding across the pipe bridge (something people have been doing for as long as I've been in Melbourne) is now legal. Got passed by a few people of the Boulevard but settled down once warmed up, until the traffic (of all kinds) got a bit heavier and more awkward in the city.

Now at the airport waiting to head off. Got all my 'want to get this done before leaving' things done at work with a couple of hours to spare, and my Melbourne Airport transit was as efficient as they get - 16 minutes from stepping inside the terminal door to reaching the departure gate.

Not the strongest of swims, but got through it OK. Calf continuing to improve very slowly (but the physio tonight thinks it's still at least a week away, which means I've spent a bit of the evening doing searches for bike hire in Geneva). Quite a chilly wind once out of the water (although, again, not chilly compared to what I'll be looking forward to soon).

Saw something today about a new Australian climate sceptic group, the Saltbush Club, who are trying to portray themselves as a low-budget grassroots group. Prominent amongst their number is that well-known Aussie battler, Hugh Morgan. I once found myself sitting next to Mr. Morgan at an MCG lunch (Dad knew the former chairman of Cricket Australia, which scored us a few invites during his tenure to the chairman's box); thought it in the best interests of diplomacy that the conversation was kept strictly to cricket.

Getting some work done on the car today so an out-and-back from Fishermans Bend down to St. Kilda. Dead flat, but at least there aren't many road crossings (and the headwind on the outward half made up for the lack of hills). Rain had just about cleared out by the time I got under way. Felt reasonable, if a bit sleepy.

Went to Ivanhoe this morning because it fitted in better with a subsequent engagement. My left shoulder didn't particularly enjoy the first few laps (not sure why), but after that it sort of got going. As with last Friday, calf felt fine in the water but a little tight coming out of it (less so than Friday), probably a sign that I'm not quite ready to start running yet - hopefully this will change by the weekend as alternate options aren't quite as accessible in Geneva.

A pilates session, still doing a limited set of exercises to keep pressure off the calf (which is continuing to improve, although slowly).

Did my democratic duty at lunchtime (since I'll be in Europe on election day itself) - it's the third time in a row that I've missed the Victorian election, although the process of voting was a fair bit easier than trying to do it from the back blocks of Patagonia last time. Public service announcement #1: "Labour DLP" are not Labor, the Health Australia Party are anti-vaxxers, and the Transport Matters Party are the taxi lobby trying to ban Uber and stop a rail link to the airport. I was singularly unimpressed by all three attempts at misleading and ranked them almost at the bottom of my ballot paper, ahead only of the Nazi-wannabes at the Australian Liberty Alliance. Public service announcement #2: if you want to be sure your preferences don't spray in a direction you don't want them to (like to any of the aforementioned organisations), vote below the line - unlike the federal Senate, you only need to number a minimum of 5 boxes.

C • Strong competition at the bottom of the ticket 1