Training Log Archive: blairtrewin

Spent the longest night of the year not sleeping very much of it (note to self: don't read internet comment threads with the potential to make you angry before going to bed) but felt OK in the morning. Reasonable morning's work and first time past the hour for a few weeks, heading out west towards Merri Creek and then back across Ruckers Hill (this bit featured a small group apparently trying to find the warehouse conversion that was on Grand Designs a couple of weeks ago, although there's no indication from the street of what lies within). Settled down reasonably after the first few minutes and handled the gradual climb better than I sometimes have been, although quads were a bit sore at one stage late (a traffic stop seemed to settle them down).

C • Annoying things to read on the internet to disturb you in bed 12

C • Northcote Vinegar Factory 1

Training at Glenluce. Warren had resurrected a 1980 5-days course and invited people to challenge the times that Oyvin Thon and Jorgen Martensson (along with Warren himself) had done - something Aston achieved, which was particularly impressive because Glenluce has greened up a fair bit, especially in the gullies, and is in my reckoning at least 30 seconds/km slower than it was at the time of WMOC 2002 (I can't speak for 1980).

I wasn't up for 11.6km - was aiming for 45 minutes - and decided that half the course would be enough for me (conveniently it came back close to the start point). Navigating OK and a bit more fluent in the terrain than I was at Creswick, but still couldn't run much up any of the hills (although interestingly small hills were a bit easier in the terrain than on tracks). Could also read the map fine, so it must have been a lousy map bag last time and not my eyesight. Was good to get into the forest on what was a rather depressing afternoon in the outside world.

First time on the Boulevard for a couple of weeks. Felt pretty reasonable, including on the hills, but pace drifted out of it a bit in the second half. Certainly no issues with excessively chilled fingers (or other body parts) this morning.

Some fencing I saw at the far end suggests that there's been a slip on the steep slope overlooking the Yarra there. The path across that slope was one of my favourite bits of track in inner Melbourne (at least when something that far away is within range for me) so hopefully it's still there.

One of the better name memes I've seen for a while: your ABC rural reporter name is the name of your youngest sibling along with the name of your nearest arterial road (Cassie Grange sort of works, I guess). I wonder what Kate Doyle or Jess Davis end up with?

C • Victoria Heidelberg 7

First attempt at intervals since the hamstring issues: 6 x 1 minute. Felt reasonable, if a bit lacking in sharpness, on the reps themselves, but back was a bit tight on the warm-down.

There were even more dogs in All Nations in the afternoon than there are in the morning (though none caused any significant trouble).

Warm-up and down. A bit of a struggle heading back but good to get a session on the board.

Getting used again to the starting-in-the-dark thing (it's still a few weeks before sunrises start getting meaningfully earlier, although we're already past the earliest sunset). Seemed to go fairly smoothly and was confident enough in my hamstring to restore those parts of my program I haven't done the last few weeks, but still stiffened up enough after a day sitting down to feel not up to a run late in the day.

A run which was a bit of a struggle early on (after a morning false start). Was just starting to get into it when I was confronted with a urgent need for some open public conveniences, something in short supply at the moment. Settled myself down enough to be able to get home - by then the running was going OK but ended up doing a bit less than I would have hoped for. Will chalk this down in the minor annoyances department (and at least the hamstring was OK).

Three days in a row was more than I was up to at the moment; probably didn't help that I was trying to do it in Horsham first thing (might have been better for me to do one out bush as I did yesterday; Wyperfeld would have had some nice places for it).

Wyperfeld National Park (via Rainbow) was the main target for today; mallee country with sand dunes and interesting vegetation changes - quite a nice spot. As I expected, the towns out there definitely had the sense that not much has changed out there in many years (I suspect that Rainbow is the sort of place where you'll be able to go back in 2040 and still find leftover 2020 social distancing signs). Back in Melbourne tonight.

C • rainbow 2