Training Log Archive: blairtrewin

Good news and bad with this one. The good news was that my back was probably as good as it's been for a long time and didn't quibble even when presented with a few more ups and downs than it's had for a while, the bad news was that those ups and downs were a bit more than my quads were ready for. Settled for getting an hour on the board and did, perhaps improving a bit in the last 10 minutes, and added a further small increment onto the most-running-in-a-week-this-year benchmark so can't be too upset about that. Also can't be too upset about finding an interesting (if small) park whose existence I had previously been unaware at, between the river and the end of Perry Avenue (and also tested out some new local infrastructure, the pedestrian lights where the path crosses Livingstone Avenue in Ivanhoe).

C • Coate Park 2

Saturday morning orienteering training closer to home today - back to Darebin Parklands, running an old course from the mid-2000s on the 2002 map - which I fairly quickly discovered represents a terrain which has changed a fair bit, both in expected ways (new tracks, and old ones that no longer exist) and unexpected ones (clearings which have been made into ponds and wetlands). This made it hard to pinpoint control sites and I often had trouble being exactly sure of where I was. Happy with the running side, though - after an early reminder that the scarp on the west side of the creek is best avoided if you want to get anywhere fast, was going reasonably well - not running the steepest bits but the more gradual climbs out of the valley passed without my back (or anything else) throwing a wobbly, which I'll take as a positive.

Don't think there were as many people around in the park as there were on weekends in April, although of course the weather is colder (although sunny).

Late afternoon ride on the La Trobe loop, sandwiched between a couple of meetings - certainly nicer than it would have been doing it in the fog this morning. Was full of energy for this one for no obvious reason; hills felt relatively easy and although a few traffic delays slowed things down early on, settled in very well in the second half. Seemed a pity to use this mood on a ride rather than a run; hopefully it will stick into the weekend.

Didn't expect much for this morning but worked out OK; the first (small) incline set things off but a bit of stretching settled that, and although the rest didn't feel as good as the later stages on Tuesday, still got another session under my belt - in 2020, managing to get three weekday runs in is a triumph of sorts. Very slow early on but a bit less so later. Not going to try for four in a row tomorrow.

Once again out in the late afternoon after a reasonably full-on day. Felt a bit marginal going there; past experience is that if I can manage the warm-up, I can usually manage the session, but today I started to tighten up during the last couple of reps (which is unusual). Plenty of activity in the park, both on two legs and four.

Really struggled on the way back; I'll be pleasantly surprised if I manage to come up in the morning.

After a morning false start, got out in the afternoon in what was a welcome break in a day of otherwise almost unbroken meetings between 9 and 7. (In the days before my back started to become troublesome, I used to very much like running close to sunset on clear winter evenings, perhaps more so in Canberra as the colder air settled in). First 10 minutes was reasonably hard work, but gradually settled down after that and was moving fairly well in the last 15 minutes, to the point where I think I would have been quite comfortable going further had I felt so inclined.

Morning Pilates session. I have some interesting company for this at present - someone semi-retired who was a lawyer for the Fitzroy Legal Service (well known as advocates for the downtrodden). Did a certain amount of swapping of stories of media adventures and misadventures (OK, so I'm not the only person who's done an interview out of a bathroom because it was the quietest space available).

Session went OK, but back was not the best today, so maybe it's as well the MFR runs are on hold for now. An attempt to go out myself later in the day was abortive.