Training Log Archive: blairtrewin

Mornington Peninsula series at Tootgarook, a bit east of the last one at Rye (with a decent amount of overlap), and an area where there (mostly) aren't any contours whether the interval is 20 metres or 5. Felt a bit tight before I started and was taking short breaks every 5 minutes or so, so not quite as good as yesterday. Hamstring was starting to fatigue a bit by 30 minutes and I thought it best not to stay out for the full hour, but I think still more positives than negatives from this one. A better course than last time - lots of decisions about when to get controls in the middle, and getting the lot in 60 minutes wouldn't have been the formality it was last time (although I still think I would have managed it had I gone the full distance).

Felt OK this morning so I thought I'd least try a continuous run, in rarely explored territory - I needed to take something to the tip resource recovery centre so did something around the Edwardes Lake park, partly in the name of collecting a few of the City of Darebin's streets I wouldn't otherwise get to (it's a long time since this was in long run range). Certainly not 100% but went about as well as I could reasonably have expected, and pulled up well afterwards (in fact probably better than before the run), so I'll take this as progress.

Going home via Northland (mostly to get a lid for a pan I got for Christmas) as discovered that they now have a Japanese-style vending machine with cans of hot coffee, among other things. They also have a sign about what to do in the event of a terrorist attack (hasn't anyone told them that terrorism is so 2010s?). A new purchasing opportunity closer to home, which I suspect I'll be making good use of in due course, is a new bulk foods place in the Station Street strip, whose 2020 vacancies are mostly now accounted for or about to be.

C • Tip 4

The other part of the day's physical activity was a ride (mostly) during the lunch break of the cricket, on the Heidelberg Road loop as far as Dougharty's Road (home of a bike lane which would be a strong candidate for this, but the traffic lane is wide enough that it doesn't really need it). Not a bad ride, although starting to feel the heat (around 30) at the end, and found out afterwards that whatever the shelf life of a jar of Gatorade powder is, the length of time mine has been around (which I suspect is two years) is beyond it.

One of the new buildings is starting to take shape. Once upon a time the site was a small maternity hospital, and my aunt and uncle were born there (a few days apart), but the new development deals with the other end of life. (Many of us have learned enough about aged care homes in the last year to have a very strong desire to keep ourselves and anyone we know as far away from them as possible).

Annual climate statement day so a long day (which wasn't made any shorter when you have a meeting which runs until almost 1am, not ideal with the first interview booked for 6.45). Was feeling pretty tired through a lot of the day (wonder why?) but a bit less so by the time I headed to Northcote pool early in the evening. Swim didn't feel too bad, although a bit slower than recently which isn't that surprising. Inside of left leg still a bit tight.

First time out on the Yarra Boulevard for a while. Not terribly awake at the start but a reasonable pace, close to the best times I've been doing for this. Not a lot of traffic around, which isn't hugely surprising for the first week of January.

Went out to Thursday street-O at Eltham (mainly because Dad was up and planned to go), with thoughts of staying on the flatter bits of the map, which I promptly ignored. Still not feeling entirely comfortable with 2 on/1 off, but seemed to handle the hills (both up and down), which I wasn't really expecting given recent experience. Did some unwanted extra distance when I missed a path on the way to 15.

On a day when the news was dominated by people with a loose grasp of reality, it was perhaps fitting that the contours (or lack of them) were similarly detached from the truth. A check against a previous Eltham map revealed that the contour interval over most of the map was actually 20 metres (the legend said it was 5).

C • ...and you tried to convince me that I wanted to go to that event on my way to Tasmania. 13

Had my first (but definitely not last) 3.30am meeting of the year this morning, and unusually was able to get back to sleep properly after it, so slept in and did this at lunchtime (which was always the plan - you can't be spontaneous with swimming pools these days). Reasonable session although inside of the hamstring a bit tighter than it was yesterday.

The bit of the day which didn't go quite to plan was discovering that the very slow puncture on my car had become a bit less slow (last time it took a month to deflate to 1/3 pressure, this time it was a week), which meant an afternoon trip to the local repair place. The day might have gone rather less to plan had I been sitting in the western half of the Southern Stand at the Test rather than the eastern half.

C • sitting there 1

Original thoughts were running in the morning and riding at lunchtime but the rain had stopped by the time I got up, so I thought I might as well get the ride out of the way early (given the choice, I'd rather run in rain and ride in the dry than the reverse). Took my first outing onto the new Heidelberg Road bike lanes before heading up along Merri Creek as far as the Ceres bridge, then made my way back across Thornbury and Northcote on a route which encountered an inordinate number of garbage trucks. Never really got going properly on this ride, which was perhaps a reminder that this route as a training route is best left for weekends.

2 minutes on/1 off for 30 minutes, heading up into the industrial area of easternmost Thornbury, which isn't very exciting but is at least flat (I don't want to test things on hills yet, and even the very slight downhill coming back was noticeable). Managed the step up from Sunday, but again tight on the inside of the left leg and feel as if I'm still a bit away from a continuous run. Had a physio session tonight and she agreed it's very tight still.

Definitely a morning for the committed, with low cloud and drizzle (which continued through most of the day). Continuing to improve slowly in the swimming, presumably through doing a bit more of it. Seem to have pulled up reasonably well after yesterday too.

It would have been a rather wetter session some distance to the southwest: Mount Sabine in the Otways scored 194.4mm, the highest daily fall in Victoria since 2012. The Otways can sometimes get spectacular totals in moist southeasterlies (including a 375 in March 1983, the state record). The Strzeleckis can do well out of southeasterlies too but the trough wasn't quite far enough east for them.

The usual 7am slot this morning was cancelled (not sure if this was because of lack of demand or because someone critical to it was stuck in NSW), so went this evening instead (after my first day back at work). Seemed to go OK and only one of the exercises felt a little awkward.