Training Log Archive: blairtrewin

Back not good this morning, which I'd sort of anticipated after it was borderline through yesterday's run - a pity because I'd earmarked this morning for something long, and it would have been a good day for it, at least after the sun came up.

It being the coldest morning in 20 years through the eastern suburbs of Melbourne (my good deed for the morning was giving some Canberra-sourced advice to my neighbour struggling ineffectually with windscreen ice), I didn't really want to go to an outdoor pool so headed for Ivanhoe. Quite a lot of other people had the same idea judging by the difficulty of finding a parking spot. Once there, didn't have a lot of space to work in (there's never much here, and was also competing with aqua aerobics), but managed to cope OK. Loosened up eventually.

Football this afternoon was pretty dismal, on a weekend that's otherwise been largely devoted to the IOF meetings (4-10 both days) and WOC spectating.

C • Did the advice involve a cr... 3

Bendigo event at Mt Korong - a long haul for a day (especially as I then had to dash back for an IOF meeting), but the terrain's worth it. The course was kinder physically than it often is here (didn't really go onto the main mountain at all) but still had its technical challenges. Back was troublesome on the climb into 2 (probably through trying to run with an inadequate warm-up after arriving, with a tight schedule), but I'd looked ahead and saw that there were no other big climbs, so hoped it would settle down (it did). Never really running smoothly but technically good - just a 15-second hesitation on 12 - and got a bit of a move along after catching Warwick Davis at 13, as he pushed the next few legs pretty hard.

About 10 minutes down on Matt Schepisi, who's back (indefinitely). He'll probably be a good pick-up for the Nuggets for the remainder of the season.

C • Placings 2

Felt like a fairly relaxing session after one of the bigger weeks I've put in in recent months. Hip better than it's been at any time this week, although woke up with a little bit of left calf tightness (which disappeared during the day).

To no-one's surprise, the latest deadline ("late June") for the completion of the changeroom renovations has been missed. It does actually look within striking distance of being finished (word on the street is a couple of weeks). Wasn't the best morning for the hot water in the temporary facilities to run out, either.

A southside run this morning because of plans for the evening. A pretty dire opening half-hour; I'd started out with thoughts of 1.40-1.45, but early on thought I'd do well to get to an hour. Gradually improved after that, although never flowing particularly freely, and started to progressively extend my thoughts, first to 1.15 and then to 1.30. Once it became apparent that my route would bring me back a bit after 1.30, I decided I felt good enough to go back out to my original plans.

This certainly wasn't the high of the equivalent session from last week, but definitely pleased to have been able to fight it out on a day when things weren't going smoothly.

All Nations intervals. Hip a little sorer than in recent days but wasn't a major impediment on the run. Feeling better running than I did yesterday, although still not particularly sparkling. (My watch told me it was going to take three days to recover from yesterday, although I'm not sure quite how they came to that conclusion).

Warm-up and down. Not as many traffic issues as there sometimes are.

Maybe the end of last week was a flash in the pan, because this one was also a struggle - albeit a bit hillier than most of my recent runs have been, out into Ivanhoe. Very slow on bits such as the climb out of Darebin Parklands. Thought a railway crossing stop at 25 minutes might have been a chance to hit the reset button on this run, but it didn't really start to feel reasonable until the last 10-15 minutes.

First time for a while I've attempted the Monday morning triathlon (a sign of growing confidence after the weekend). This one was much more in line with what I'd expect of a recovery run after a hardish day yesterday; slow and never really got going, although there were a few flashes. A little hip soreness but not enough to get in the way of anything.

Next step of the day (before riding to work), at Fitzroy, which seemed quieter than unusual, perhaps because I was a little later than usual - the weather wouldn't have been a deterrent for the usual hard-core mornings group here. (Wouldn't have been a good morning to go to the Northcote pool after a certain amount of overnight excitement pretty much outside the front door). Not the smoothest of swims, and enough threads of cramp in the later stages that I used the ramp to get out of the pool, remembering what it was like in Mildura.