Training Log Archive: blairtrewin

Came to this after watching the finish of the Tour (some nice forests to be seen on the later part of that stage). Some of it must have rubbed off because the first part of the ride, on the Yarra Boulevard, was better than usual, but didn't quite go on with it. Hamstring a bit uncomfortable in the last 10 minutes.

Closing playgrounds may well have saved lives, but perhaps not in the sense that the health authorities had in mind - a massive tree had come down on the one near the Gipps Street bridge (presumably in last week's storm).

And they say Melbourne has four seasons in one day: the 3pm forecasts for Denver next week are 36 and sunny on Monday, 2 and snow on Tuesday. (Something vaguely similar, although only low 30s in the first part, happened just before I made my one visit to Boulder in September 1993).

C • Rubbing off 1

Back doing something today, although pulled up a little earlier than planned when the hamstring started to fatigue, having seen what pushing through a final 10 minutes did on Sunday. Pretty hard work running compared with last week. Windy and quite warm, and there must have been a few spots of rain overnight (though nothing registered) because parked cars were well-decorated with samples of South Australia's finest (some big dust plumes were visible on the satellite images yesterday on the east side of the Flinders Ranges).

Picked off a few more streets, mostly in the small industrial pocket on the north side of Darebin Road between it and the creek. One of these was Ford Crescent, not to be confused with Ford Street which is only about 200 metres away (but on the other side of the creek and a council boundary). A look at the 1945 aerial photos revealed that the former didn't exist in 1945, the latter did but only its eastern end was built on, with the west end leading to what looks like a farmhouse. I wonder if they were named after the same Ford? (possibly somebody who had something to do with the farm, which could well have straddled the creek?).

(One of the three local cafes I get takeaway from - spreading my coffee custom in the name of helping to keep multiple businesses alive - has a large print of the local street map on its wall, good for planning the next mission while you're waiting).

C • Old maps 9

Gave it a go this morning but decided after a few minutes that it still wasn't quite up to it. Felt similar to last Friday so hopefully tomorrow will be OK.

I did a bit of a double-take when I saw that the people who've just moved in around the corner had the number plate 'APRL19', but it turns out I'd misremembered the date of Hitler's birthday (it's the 20th) so my suspicions that some Nazis had arrived in our midst are (probably) unfounded.

C • April 19 3

Hamstring close but not quite ready. Left it another day and went for a morning walk instead down to the gradually receding river.

The Herald-Sun ran a piece yesterday in which they reported that Northcote was one of the two Melbourne suburbs with the greatest "oversupply" of women (framing it as such indicates a certain attitude in itself). Someone commented on Twitter "I wonder if anyone's broken the news to the Hun yet?". (My initial search of the Census data failed to find info on the number of same-sex couples by suburb, but they're definitely not in short supply in this part of town).

C • over supply 3

In significant news for any northern suburbs Melbourne orienteer, the Coburg level crossing on Bell Street is no more.

Monday morning ride. Started up the Heidelberg hill as usual (which felt a bit easier than usual, probably because there was a bit of a tail wind), but somewhat different thereafter, partly in the name of avoiding a couple of magpie trouble spots. A bit of rain in the middle part but otherwise decent riding, and felt OK.

Hamstring pulled up sore this morning but somewhat better by the afternoon. Will see what it's like tomorrow before making a decision on running.

One of the numerous bits of news of the day is that Jim's Mowing is apparently suing the Victorian government for lost earnings by its franchisees. Presumably any payout would be based on the declared taxable income of the claimants in the last full financial year, in which case the government probably isn't too worried - the most they're probably up for is around $2.50.

C • Jobkeeper 4

With some level of uncertainty as to how my body would hold up, I decided not to go too far away from home and instead did some colouring-in for grown-ups. The run wasn't too bad in the end, although the hamstring did develop a bit of soreness in the last 10 minutes (not enough to stop me from using my full quota) and wasn't quite right afterwards, so will need to continue to watch this. Warmest run for a while, although not enough to be a problem.

As a result of my meanderings this morning I've now cleared the last remaining area south of the railway line and north of the river (apart from east of Darebin Creek), as well as everything east of Victoria Street and south of Separation. One of the dead-ends explored today was Bryan Street, named for the family of one of my uncles (the family dairy, which survived into the 1950s, was subdivided to create it). I suspect I'll get more opportunities yet to explore the neighbourhood because I'm not expecting any more than a cosmetic change to anything in two weeks' time.

Out to Eaglemont Flats again, doing the course from back in June, although a couple of wider route choices were needed because some of the billabongs were still flooded from earlier in the week (with abundant mud to show for it). Felt like I was moving OK in the more open bits of forest and was a couple of minutes faster than in June, so that's progress of a sort. Hamstring was fine on the run, but felt a little sore in the afternoon - hopefully nothing too significant.

It was probably the nicest day of the late winter/early spring so far, and plenty of people were taking advantage of it, in a law-abiding way as far as I could tell.

The interruption to the usual Saturday routine this week was a morning interview with breakfast TV (which my equipment dealt with OK despite an early worry). Also noted from the shopping expedition that the shelves were cleared of bottled water despite the fact that our area is unaffected by the current issues.

C • Bottled water 7