Training Log Archive: blairtrewin

Initially out past Eaglemont into the west end of Balwyn and East Kew, then west across the river, then north as far as Arthurton Road. Quite a number of short sharp hills in the eastern section and my hamstring was a bit sore after those (I'd been thinking about trying to run today but this was a signal I probably made the right call not to), but settled as the ride flattened out. Somewhat hard work through the first half but again improved later on, contributed to by a more supportive wind. Mostly on roads today of varying degrees of importance; I've learned that dry weekend days are not great ones to be trying to ride on paths at any speed.

Tightness seems to have moved a bit further down the leg, but still thought it best to take to the bike again, doing the Heidelberg climb for the first time in a while (the tailwind must have made a difference because I was at least a minute faster than usual). Not a bad ride despite blustery showers early and late. Also a nice change that I was looking for options at the end to push it beyond an hour rather than wondering whether I would go under an hour.

Rare sighting of the day was seeing a boy on the streets of Heidelberg Heights wearing the colours of the Green Machine (this is rare enough in Melbourne that it's usually a conversation-starter, but they were on the other side of the road).

Held off a bit this morning (having woken up late after the midnight meeting) in the hope that the rainband would clear out. It almost did and then redeveloped, so the delay was only minimally effective and I was doing most of this in a cold steady rain. Ride not too bad after that, although it seemed to drag on for a while.

Perhaps I should offer my geographic knowledge to the campaigns of the local Labor people, because having seen on Tuesday one of Emily Dimitriadis's posters on the turf of Chiara Lawry (of whom more will be heard, win or lose this time), today I passed one of Chiara's posters on Emily's. A lot more Council posters are starting to sprout, which made me think about the usual cast of characters for local government elections:

(a) a Green
(b) a socialist
(c) a Labor person who may or may not be officially endorsed (this year they're not for reasons connected with the fallout from the branch stacking scandal in June) but usually doesn't hide their affiliations
(d) a Liberal pretending to be an independent
(e) someone in the pockets of a developer, pretending to be an independent (not necessarily mutually exclusive with (d) or, if it's NSW, (c)).
(f) various people who have no interest in getting elected themselves but are running to direct the preferences of low-information voters to someone else (usually (e))
(g) a disgruntled former member of one of the parties (in the case of Darebin candidate Brian Sanaghan, given the boot for persistent disruptive and abusive behaviour at meetings, the disgruntlement is very much mutual)
(h) a racist
(i) someone last heard of as having absconded from a mental health facility

Was a bit unsure whether my knee would appreciate being on the bike, and thought my exercise for the day might be a walk down to the boathouse after a 5am meeting, but it settled enough during the day that I thought I'd give it a go at the end of the day (in the process giving my lights perhaps their only use this year). Felt nice for a lot of it, a bit slow but that was partly spending a lot of time on paths (with plenty of people and a few dogs to stay out of the way of).

The far end was along Merri Creek, taking me past the alleged site of a secret tunnel. Things supposedly going on in tunnels in Melbourne have been the subject of a certain amount of imaginative discussion lately (once upon a time I was reasonably imaginative in this department too - obviously influenced by exposure to Famous Five books - but was past it by the time I was about 12), but there was no indication of anything unusual here. (Yes, for American readers, we've imported our own version of Pizzagate, although as far as I know no-one here has yet showed up in possession of their full Second Amendment entitlements with the intent of doing some freelance liberation).

Ended up at the impressive new bridge outside CERES, which meant that I was out for a bit longer than I'd planned on, but the body raised no objections.

C • CERES bridge 1

My teleconference schedule today (not including internal work meetings): 5-6.30am, 4-6pm, 10pm-midnight.

First attempt at a comeback run. A struggle, as comeback runs often are, and when the hamstring started to feel a bit uncomfortable about 20 minutes in I decided that it wasn't time to push it any further. Also had a bit of right knee soreness that settled during the run, but both the hamstring and the knee have pulled up a bit sore post-run, so perhaps not the return I was hoping for.

Found myself going down a few conspiracy theory rabbit holes last night. Someone is going to be disappointed that Dan Andrews did not get arrested between 8.30 and 9 this morning, as was being confidently stated on certain online channels last night. (Part of me enjoys taking the mickey out of bizarre conspiracy theorists, but some of these people are actually dangerous).

And my "no, I am not making this up" award for the day goes to the NRA, who put out a tweet referring to ammunition as "freedom seeds".

Set out with a target of visiting another point (close to) my boundary, where the Eastern Freeway path crosses Bulleen Road (a regular riding route of mind in earlier times). Started quite early by my recent standards and took a while to get going; winds again occasionally made their presence felt. Looped back later on down Heidelberg Road and through Westgarth. The Heidelberg Road part was definitely not as I'd previously seen it; in the days when it was my standard commute and the morning traffic was banked back from Chandler Highway for a kilometre on a good day, two kilometres on a bad one, I wouldn't have imagined it possible that at 8.15 on a Tuesday morning I'd have to wait for a car to turn up to trigger the lights (unless the Tuesday in question was Cup Day or Christmas).

(I suspect the 'normal' traffic jams shrank quite a bit after the new bridge was installed, but not that much).

On the final loop I saw Bill Posters in action near Westgarth Station (without any sign of anyone around to prosecute him). As I saw later in the day on a trip to the physio, this particular bill was being posted in support of a cause which I'm also doing some work for, electing Emily Dimitriadis to the Darebin council; had I known this I might have stopped and suggested that the poster might more usefully have been deployed in the part of the City of Darebin for which Emily is actually a candidate (the boundary, depending on where you are, is Rathmines St or Victoria Rd). Name recognition counts for a lot in council elections (as evidenced by the pair of ratbags who kept getting re-elected in my Banyule days), and with many of the usual forms of campaigning off-limits this year and suburban papers all but extinct, it's hard for new candidates to build a profile; I expect this will be very incumbent-friendly, but our ward doesn't have an incumbent.

And the physio is sufficiently happy with my hamstring that she's given me the OK to start running on it.

C • Council election posters 2

Headed out after an early ABC TV interview - done, as is the way of 2020, in my dining room on Skype using a phone propped up against a couple of books. (Absent were any endearing small children to provide random interruptions, although I'm sure the people across the road would have lent me some if I'd asked nicely). Took a while to get going heading northwards but moving along nicely in the second half (wind directions may have had a bit to do with that). Hamstring feeling not quite right at times without actually hurting.

C • Books 4