Training Log Archive: TheInvisibleLog

Spent much of the weekend sitting in circles like this. Forgot to eat or drink much of Saturday.

Left to right. Tanja, a young classically trained violinist who is switching to fiddle. Lovely tone, will pick up many fiddle styles. In the photo is taking a break on guitar. Ian, extremely accomplished fiddler, with a memorised repertoire that is beyond belief. Can play all day and not repeat himself it seems. Just as accomplished on guitar. Never caught the name of the accordionist. She sat there. Listened to the tune a few times, and then just played by ear. I was envious. Forgotten the other fiddler's name. Plays fiddle and cello in a number of inpromptu bands, and impressed me by playing regularly with her mother, Di, who was missing from this photo. Di plays fiddle and lowland pipes. I was generally the lead in the circle saddlebags. But I learnt much, and my fingers are still sore.

I knew I was full of s**t

C • Training while injured... 8

First full week with no aerobic exercise logged. Five more to go unless I succumb to swimming. Given swimming triggered my last cartilege problem, I think it unlikely I'll try it for a while yet.

C • Alternatives to aerobic exercise 2

I may not be able to run or ride, but I have not been idle. Spent most of the weekend at the Guilford banjo jamboree. Played with quite a few impromptu groups. The more notable were:
Fiddle, banjolin, banjo-uke, guitjo (mine).
Fiddles, banjo-mandolin (mine), fretless 5-string banjo, banjo bass, banjo-mando-cello.
You don't hear line-ups like that every day. And before any of you respond 'and a good thing', I can assure you they were all competent musicians (perhaps yours truly excepted) and it sounded like a typical american string band with a few extra instruments. The banjo-bass sounds no different to a normal bass in an ensemble. The banjo-mando-cello sounds quite something. A bit like an oud. And yes, I also got to play a banjo-oud, a native of Turkey. A cumbus.
It was better than hanging around orienteering events feeling sorry for myself.

C • Guildford banjo jamboree 2

So should I enter the Victorian Middle Distance Champs for the walk? Thankfully we voted down the power walker class, meaning some people would miss out on their Rockhopper Trophy points. In retrospect, it would have been fun to enter as a power walker and deprive them of the points anyway.

C • Rockhopper points 1

If I stop logging these exercises, no-one will be able to harangue me on my log.

Exercise routine shorter now I can't do the achilles eccentric stretches. They exacerbate the knee problem. Perhaps they caused it....

C • Sorry to hear that you're injured 9

A short trip from car repairer to work. Not sure if even MTB is sensible at the moment. I regressed to pushing on the left leg stroke and easing off on the right leg stroke.

Decided its not safe to ride at the moment. A randy magpie almost knocked my helmet off. I have never been hit by one so hard before.

Soft. Soft? You ain't seen soft yet. This is SOFT. No running for at least 6 weeks. Diagnosis is meniscal tear in the knee. I suspected as such. The best outlook is rest for 6 weeks and it repairs itself. But I have been here before and I know the realistic outlook is 6 weeks wait, confirmation the damage remains, book in to an orthopedic surgeon, then get a booking on the operating table, then wait 2-3 weeks to start running again. I think at this stage I would be optimistic to enter the Xmas 5-days.

C • tough luck 4

In response to claims of softness on Sunday, I can report that we were very brave and decided to crack open that durian fruit we purchased in Colac. For many years I have been a bit of a tropical and sub0-tropical fruit nut. Well, any fruit nut. Comes from being raised on an orchard. On my one stopover in a truly tropical location we spent the day touring the fruit stalls and gorging. But Durian takes a special level of courage. The fruit has a notorious smell. So, to amuse you all, here is a report on the tropical fruits I have sampled according to their assessed value:

BUY IF EVER YOU SEE. AN UNBELIEVABLE TREAT.
Black Sapote, Jamaican Water Lemon

VERY VERY DELECTABLE
White Sapote, Duku, Lychee, Mango (Kensington Pride), rollinia,

REASONABLE EATING
Abiu, Atemoya (Pinks Mammoth), Babaco, Banana, Feijoa, Soursop, Mangosteen, papaya, pumello, passionfruit, rambutan, langsat, pineapple

WHAT ALL THE FUSS ABOUT? BORING
Atemoya (all other varieties), Avocado, Caimito (Star Apple), Canistel, Carambola (Star fruit), Guava, Jakfruit, Lime, Longan, breadfruit, Mango (execrable varieties such as the massive R2D2 or whatever it is), pepino, sapodilla, coconut, loquat,

WHY AND HOW DO PEOPLE EAT THIS STUFF?
Durian, Tamarillo.

Yes, I couldn't hack it. It has the consistency of custard, element of the flavour of pineapple and passion fruit, but all is suffused with the reek of the skin.

The adventure has only started. By my count I know of 99 varieties I have yet to try. I'm particularly waiting for the Attemoya, the red fleshed durian (purportedly has little odour, but good flesh), pedelai, miracle fruit (it turns of your acid taste cells, making lemon tatse sweet), meritan etc etc.

C • Durian 5

Knee problems meant orienteering was not on today's agenda. Easy bike ride was more sensible.

C • Too far from Bendigo? 12

Event: Victorian Relay Championships
 

Welsford Hill circuit. Main aim of the short run was spine mobility.

Easy run around the Dodder Track circuit. A short run to minimise risk of aggravating the various leg problems. The ground seems so hard after the Otways!

The end of the trip was marked with a visit to Stephensons Falls. NOt bad when you get there. But the road was closed because of heavy rain. This mean an extra 3 k walk. Couldn't see the problem with the road. The scenery left much to be desired. Call this the Grumpy Old Man Moment for the day. This image might convey the basis of the grumpiness.

If that was not enough, this little gem of a sign asked us to keep out of an area along the creek that was being revegetated... I think the occasional visitor is the least of the problem. Reminds me of an older photo somewhere in my archive. A hillside clear felled of all vegetation. All that is left standing is the sign saying native plants and wildlife were protected in that forest. Well done ACT Forestry.

C • Stevensons or Stephensons? 6

Drove home around the west side of Lake Corangamite. Gave the opportunity to check out three more areas of stony rise terrain. A couple were pretty rough. Not as tough (or as complex) as the terrain around Mt Napier. Alex described that as the most complex terrain he had seen, and the slowest. This stuff was trafficable. On the other side of the road was some more open farm land in amongst the rises. I can only say the potential deserves more investigation.

Magic Moment:
Purchased one of those Colac durians on the way home. Plan to break it open this weekend. Outside.

Today was devoted to beaches and cliffs. Both of us pulled up sore after the previous day. Unaccustomed steep descents is my excuse. So we did a lot of fast walking, interspersed with admiring the at times breathtaking views. The logged time is an estimate after removing slack walking, gazing etc. There was a long hit list, and unlike the previous day, we didn't come anywhere near completing it.

Wreck Beach: First on the list because it is only accessible at low tide. The attraction is two in-situ rusted anchors from long-ago wrecks. Add to that an atmosphere created a a pretty rough sea and a narrow beach. Followed that up with a walk to the Gable for an impressive vista and some great tunnel walks through the tea-tree.

Dinosaur Cove: This became the Grumpy Old Man moment. Parks has done all it can to expunge this location from the knowledge. Seems a response to vandalism problems. It is still marked on the older Vicmaps, but it has been expunged from guides to the Great Ocean Walk. The nearest road access has been cut off. It looks like it was a road reserve through private property. Also appears that Parks have made a sign that says 'Keep Out Private Property" and painted it pink rather than green. We took the Great Ocean Walk from Castle Cove instead. A good choice as it turned out. A great experience, and would be a superb trail run! In fact, much of the walk would. Well, at least those parts that are actually walking trails. As a continuous walk, the trail has many 'lame' sectiosn where you head away from the coast on roads and then come back in later. This walk could be so much more impressive if it wasn't constrained by an apparent imperative to make no new tracks. We reach edthe vicinity of Dinosaur Cove and, sure enough, the track to the Cove had been hidden. lamely. Instead, the trail heads up the old access road and away from the coast. We plunged down the hidden trail, but stopped at the top of the steep decent. The tide was in and we didn't feel like another long climb back out.
Finished up with a wander around Cape Otway. Seems the cape itself is commercialised. No access without paying. My original aim had been to walk into the massive sand dune area to the west of the Cape. No time, so another day. It would be another great trail run if a car shuttle could be arranged.
Wreck Beach




Dinosaur Cove trail


The hidden trail head

This was the first day of a short 25th anniversary holiday. We spent it in the most romantic way we could imagibe.

Magic Moment: Julie suggested we do a quick run to Marriners Falls before heading out for the day. It swas apparently 'just up the road'. Lacking a more specific indication of the distance, I declined the offer and instead popped two iboprufen and one paracetemol in the hope of controlling back, achilles and knee pain. We went by car instead. This still involved a 3 k run in to the falls. Turned out 'just up the road' would have entailed a 25 k run.

Highlight: Drove to five waterfalls and did the run in and out. Turned out to be 15 k of running. Not what I intended, but the rests in between, the easy pace, the soft surface, the cool and wet weather, the pain killers and the inspiring scenery all helped to mask the pain. Great day.

Grumpy Old Man Moment:
I am growing tired of being condescended to by people who aren't thinking. We ended up the day at the Otway Fly... a 600 metre suspended walkway through the upper story of the forest. It is an impressive structure, and I didn't grumble about the $20 entry fee. If someone is going to spen six million dollars on it, they have every right to charge that much. But why oh why do I have to endure those twee uninformative feel-good interpretation signs dotted liberally along the track. I thought Parks was the expert at this facility... in the sense of facile. But this company out does even Parks. Thet are gaudier than Park's fare, much much larger (think metres not centimeters) and they are even more politically correct! The final straw was on elabelled the 'First inhabitants'. If you read it, you learnt that the koori lived on the edge of the forest. Actually, they kept well out of the forest. No game, bad spirits etc. Its ironic that the first inhabitants were probably the early timber cutters! But that wouldn't be politically correct, would it. Its worth going there and just ignoring the signs.

Marriners an easy and pretty 3 k return trip


Sabine: The tough one. 3.8 k, steep and a long climb back out. Least impressive when you get there.


Beauchamps: Another 3 k. Very pretty once you get out of the pines. Best views require jumping the fence.


Hopetoun: Shortest access, most impressive falls.


Triplet: The full circuit takes one through a very impressive stand of mountain ash and massive beech trees. The fall aren't bad either. Has been somewhat spoiled by massive engineering works by Parks. They have created a poor man's Otway Fly. Keeps your feet off the ground. Reading between the lines, this was meant to be part of the payoff for curtailing Forestry. I don't think the timber workers would see it that way. Probably best seen as a monument to the naivety of either Government or the electorate.

Try to run again tomorrow.

Drive to Apollo Bay.
Highlight... a visit to Dreeite. Great stony rises terrain. Runnable and with some navigational complexity. Alex has been muttering about this area over the past months.



Magic Moment:
Stopped at the supermarket in Colac. Found a shelf stocked with durians! Why Colac? Never seen them in Bendigo. No sign of them at Apollo Bay wher eone would expect some catering to the foodie crowd. Expressed my amazement to one of the workers, and she expressed surprise at my surprise. Claimed they have them every year at this time and thought every supermarket would have them.

Hard to not run. The Whirakee Wattle is out. Many of my Bendigo runs over the next month will be through the best stands if I can arrange it. But the next few days will be at Apollo Bay. Hoping just some rudimentary running might be possible.