Training Log Archive: blairtrewin

Didn't get the chance to get to the water today (in between finishing things off for work before going to Canberra for the OA conference, and going to the announcement of the new ASC/AIS high performance structure). Did manage to get out of Melbourne before there was too much thunderstorm action.

The Qantas safety videos, which have featured Olympians for the last few months, now feature Australian cricketers. Absent are any tips on in-flight relaxation from David Boon or Rod Marsh.

C • You could buy one of these for the trip 3

A rather frustrating day in a lot of ways - suffice it to say that it's challenging to operate in an environment where someone is telling you to do A, someone else is telling you to do B and then after you've just done A and B someone else again comes in and says you can't do A or B. Got off to a reasonable start, though, in a pool which was a lot less busy at 7am than I suspect it was at 6pm. Knee isn't making a lot of progress.

On the way into work I swung past a Fitzroy house whose mid-1990s purchase has attracted some media attention in the last few weeks. Might be fertile ground for some classic real estate euphemism the next time it's on the market. (One fine example earlier this year was "a colourful part of Melbourne's history", for a house which played host to one of Melbourne's most infamous murders).

C • Easy Street? 2

It really is very slow when you're trying not to use your legs that much. Not showing many signs of improvement which is a bit of a worry - although in late 2010 it took a couple of weeks to make much progress so maybe it will be the same again.

My busiest media day for a while today (although not as busy as it would have been had I been in Geneva, as I have on the equivalent day in the last two years), and tomorrow will be as well.

C • Legs 1

In the somewhat sub-optimal environment at Ivanhoe again - this time because early-morning thunderstorms made it likely that Fitzroy would be closed (I'm guessing that lightning strikes are considered a health and safety risk). A fairly standard session. Knee much as yesterday, perhaps very slightly improved?

A swim, trying not to kick too much (which meant being even slower than usual). Nothing too exciting, although keeping track of time was slightly challenging for the unwary - firstly the clock in the changerooms at Fitzroy has gone from being a few minutes slow for most of the last few weeks to 20 minutes slow now, then the 60-second clock by the pooldeck (which I use to keep track of my lap times) was running backwards.

This followed watching the process of it being demonstrated to the Formula 1 community that radar isn't necessarily very reliable at detecting drizzle.

The knee felt a little better this morning, more so after the swim (and coped with the ride in from Fitzroy better than I thought it might), but still feels a bit awkward and unstable walking and I think it's still a bit of time away - not such a bad thing as I don't think we'll see much change out of 30 degrees on Thursday night unless it starts raining before 9am.

Intermittently in the last couple of weeks I've had soreness in my right knee at the start of runs, but it's warmed up quickly and I haven't considered it anything to worry about. Yesterday it was fine on the run but came up sore in the afternoon and was awkward to do things like climb stairs on (although the thing which is most uncomfortable is standing on bike pedals going up steep hills). Thought I'd see what it felt like on a run but it was inhibiting my ability to run freely, so I thought pretty quickly that it wasn't worth taking a risk with. Doesn't like I'll manage three straight 100km or 10 hour weeks after all...(the original plan today was for the longest run of this cycle, aiming for something around 2.40).

At least this gave me more time to work on the WOC qualification paper (something which has been soaking up plenty of the last few weekends but finally went out the virtual door this afternoon). I don't get the feeling it's a terribly serious injury but might take a little time to settle down. Given the forecast it may not be the worst week to be on the sidelines.

After the abortive attempt to run I headed for the pool instead. This wasn't the ideal time and place - Ivanhoe is not the most spacious of environments for such occasions and it's less spacious when swimming lessons and aqua aerobics are both on. Went around in circles a lot. Knee not painful doing this but didn't feel right, so will need to be careful.

Had hoped for something good this morning after the last couple of Saturdays but it wasn't quite to be - instead a reasonably humdrum effort out along the Yarra as far as the Finns Reserve bridge. A bit of left Achilles soreness at times, something I haven't had much of in the last couple of months. Felt a bit drained on the bike later in the day but the first mid-30s day of the season might have had something to do with that.

There hasn't been much rain in recent weeks; the grass is getting crunchy in places, and the Banyule Flats singletrack is now dry for the first time in many months (although the overhanging vegetation has thickened to the point that anyone who isn't either a Key, a Casanova or under the age of 13 is going to be doing a certain amount of head-ducking).

Last night I might have felt like I could barely walk up the stairs at home but it's amazing what a difference a decent night's sleep (and some food) makes - back to normal this morning (although that might have been put to greater test had this been a running day). A good solid session in the water at Fitzroy, with some good company for most of it - one big difference between swimming and pool running is when your head isn't in the water you get to know the regulars.

Another long Thursday grind, never feeling great but seeming to hold it together most of the way. At the moment, though, I'm operating on the edge and this run took me past it - nothing particularly untoward on the run itself (apart from a light-headed moment with about 15 minutes to go), but after finishing I was drained in a way I can't remember being post-run since attempting to do a long run on a 29-degree morning after a 43-degree day during the 2009 heatwave - slightly better after eating something. I expect I'll be a lot better for a night's sleep this evening; I'd want to be.

Run from Surrey Hills out as far as Blackburn Lake as a prelude to street-O tonight. Blackburn is an area I very much like running (a real pocket of bush in the middle of the suburbs), and isn't in range from my place on anything except the longest of runs. Yet again, grinding in the first 15 minutes but reasonable after that. A nice morning to be out - a southwesterly change had just gone through (bringing with it a bit of bushfire smoke).

Right calf the tightest it's been for a long time before the run, following some cramping overnight, but was a non-issue on the run itself.

C • Surrey Hills? That's where ... 12

Street-O at Tally Ho in East Burwood. It was pretty obvious which two controls to drop but there was a wide variety of ways of not going to them, which broke the field up pretty quickly. I seem to have got the shortest route but this merely lessened the margin of defeat.

Took about 3k to get going (which took in most of the hills on the course, and a little bit of rough stuff), then hit quite a nice rhythm as I was trying to haul in Andrew Baker. Was hoping to do the same to Ian Davies but couldn't make enough of an impression - maybe next week. Tailed off a little bit in the last couple of controls. Enjoyed the nice evening - it's not going to be like that next week....

I then had a rapid exit for what I thought was an 8.30 date with ABC radio in NSW (seasonal climate outlook). However, they rang 10 minutes earlier than I was expecting them to and I was just getting out of the shower. It's not the first time I've talked to the media whilst naked, but it is the first time I've been on air in that state.

C • Seasonal climate outlook 2

250 on/250 off at the Tan at lunchtime (largely in the name of building some heat tolerance, albeit not as much heat tolerance as I would have got in Adelaide today). A session without a lot of spark although a bit more power uphill than I've been used to lately.

Going to/from the Tan.

Swim at Richmond, in anticipation of a Monday night at Kirsten's (which didn't quite happen as planned, as noted below). A pretty ordinary session with lower back tighter than usual, and accordingly slow. Not feeling particularly fired up.

I may have felt more fired up had I seen today's 'Australian' prior to the swim - they ran a piece claiming, in essence, that global warming had stopped because 2011 and 2012 (so far) were cooler globally than 2010 was. I was designated as the person to respond to this if required but the ABC decided not to go through with an interview, depriving me of the chance to use the line that that argument was a bit like saying that Michael Clarke should be dropped because he got 329 three home Tests ago and has only managed 210 and 259 in the last two.

C • Cooler 2012 4

Kirsten was sick so Dion took over the hosting at short notice; he's currently on the injured list so the run was just Ezy and myself. Felt better than I was expecting after the morning (and a hard weekend) - one of the more respectable Monday runs I've had for a while, especially with a bit of rougher stuff thrown in on the river bank.

Was proudly wearing the yellow and green today but didn't encounter any visible Man U supporters to sledge.

Life's little mysteries department: the yellow barrier blocking off a bit of the Docklands bike path which was under repair was labelled 'NYPD'. (My guess is that it's a leftover prop from the erstwhile film studios at Docklands; the other alternative is that the Melbourne City Council has been buying second-hand barriers from New York but it seems implausible that such a thing would make financial sense).

Joined up with Roch's Sunday training for the first time. This was a paired map memory exercise in the gully-spur section of Surface Hill (the further-flung parts of which have been incompletely fieldworked) with Matt Doyle - ran alternate legs with one person navigating and the other person having the map (and memorising the next leg). Felt better than I was expecting to although without an extra gear, and only navigational issue was a tape which turned out not to be out.

Into the mining for the second set - mass-start training paired with Bruce, which was good although it would have been better if I'd been in a position to run more aggressively. (Bruce did do his best to turn it into more of a contest with a couple of wobbles). Still nice to do some mining nvaigation, even if it was a pretty small dose.

It's a long time since I've had a week as big as this (in terms of running time, my last one this big was in January 2009); seemed to handle it reasonably well, all things considered. Now to put together a few more like it.

C • Wobbles 2

A solid morning's work in my longest run since early June, heading south as far as Wattle Park. A bit ho-hum in the first hour (which was quite hilly), although still better than several recent long runs, but settled well after that and was getting into the zone at times in the second hour - certainly enjoying myself more than I have on some runs recently. Muscle fatigue starting to set in in the last 20 minutes but no more than you'd expect (I'm not exactly having an energetic afternoon, though). Hints of left heel soreness and calf tightness at times in the second half, but nothing bad enough to worry about, and no blister trouble this week, unlike this time last week (or for that matter Barcelona this time last year).

Enjoying the pleasantly cool mornings while they last; I will have tougher conditions for long runs than this later on in the summer, and will be wanting to get another half-dozen or so like this under my belt between now and February, all being well.

A reasonably honest session, feeling the quad fatigue working its way out as the session went on (and without any of the pesky cramps which occasionally plague my pool effort).

Feeling pretty good by the end, although my mood was darkened again by two drivers on the way into work - one annoying (blasting the horn because, in the act of legally turning right on a green arrow in a right-turn lane, I'd delayed her from reaching the next red light by at least half a second), and one dangerous (the truck which was reversing into the Etihad Stadium loading bay and then suddenly decided to go forward again as I was about to pass in front of it). Compared with that, taking one's chances with the drunks on the way home at 10pm was easy going.

A run which I expected to serve a major function of improving HTFU capabilities, beginning with the start time - the first time for a while (unless changed time zones are involved) that I've headed out at a time starting with a 5. Grinding in the first 10 minutes, then kept going in a steady if uninspired (and slightly sleepy) way for long stretches, down to the Fairfield bridge and then back up the Yarra. This was a pretty flat route but there were hints that any hills would be a test, something which was reinforced in the hillier last 30 minutes through Banyule - in particular, didn't have much left in the quads. Still managed to plug away, and was motivated enough to do an out-and-back-to-the-next-corner at the end to get the time up to my target of 2.10, but this was a tough day's work.

Didn't get off to a promising start - in particular, quite a bit of back tightness in the first 10 minutes - but settled down quite well after that. Would be hard to have a bad run on a morning as nice as this.

Living near the Austin Hospital has its advantages (in particular, being at the top of the list when it comes to having your power reconnected after an outage). At the moment it means that every power pole in the vicinity is plastered with posters advertising assorted candidates for the elections for the much-loved Health Services Union. You will not be surprised to learn that most of the candidates are keen to distance themselves as far as possible from the existing leadership.

Street-O at South Doncaster (masquerading as Blackburn North). Didn't take up where I left off last week - didn't feel lively at the start (unlike last week) and didn't feel lively at many other points, either. More or less on my own for most of it after doing a different option (which turned out to be a suboptimal one - getting 4 and 13 early and dropping 16, 11 and 19). Flowing sort of OK on the flat but nothing really for the hills.

Crime epic fail of the day goes to the miscreant on the run in Geraldton who jumped over a fence to escape his pursuers. Unfortunately for him, there was a trampoline on the other side of the fence and he bounced straight up into the arms of the chasing police.

Not very awake this morning (perhaps it was the dream about having the mega-long first leg but running to 4 by mistake), and not very fast. Left heel blister from Saturday looks ugly (and feels ugly in work shoes) but isn't really an issue when running.

Swim at North Melbourne - first time I've been there for a while (they have decent showers now). A not terribly fast but generally reasonable swim.

Dodginess in the horse-racing game has been in the news a bit in the last week (although in reality it's probably been with us for as long as people have been betting on horse racing). One of the less-publicised stories which took my fancy was that of a Geelong stable which the Racing Victoria integrity people paid a visit to on Cup Day; they had to climb over a locked gate to get in, found various bits of stomach-tubing equipment and then the trainer refused to allow them to look in his car. I wouldn't have thought that was exactly the way to remain inconspicuous and the powers-that-be agreed; the trainer had a date with the stewards on Friday and will now have to find something else to do for the next 12 months.

C • Tubing 1

On the subject of dodgy characters not exactly doing their best to remain inconspicuous, there was some excitement in our part of the world this afternoon when an alleged car thief apparently responded to being told "you're nicked, sunshine", or words to that effect, by pulling a gun on the attending constabulary. The police tend to take a fairly dim view of that sort of thing and started shooting back, although the standards of Victorian police marksmanship have clearly declined in the last 20 years because he's in hospital and not the morgue (for those who haven't been around for as long as some of us, the Victorian police had a rather unfortunate reputation for killing people around the time I first moved to Melbourne).

Having successfully found my way around the crime scene and made it to Ilka's new place in North Melbourne, it was a fairly gentle run around Royal and Princes Park - didn't feel any fresher than usual for a Monday night despite the fact that the long run was 24 hours further in the past than it usually is.

And the "you'd think they'd have better things to do" award for the day goes to one Charles Bill, a Brisbane man who has lodged more than 270,000 complaints against aircraft noise since the current Brisbane airport opened in 1988. By my reckoning that's about one complaint every 46 minutes for 24 years. I feel sorry for the poor unfortunates in the responsible bodies (Airservices Australia?) who have to respond to all the complaints.

Had a letter in yesterday's Age - decided that it was about time that I deployed my (Australian Meteorological and Oceanographic Society) presidential pen in response to a piece of climate non-science (the Kininmonth and Carter piece on Thursday).

It's about 20 years since I last had a letter in a newspaper - on that occasion it was when I was secretary of Orienteering ACT and the Tobacco Institute (I wonder if they still exist?) was claiming that the then-current proposal to ban tobacco sponsorship of sport was going to send poor, struggling smaller sports (most of which didn't actually see a cent of tobacco money) to the wall. Our response was in essence that we didn't get tobacco money, had no interest in getting tobacco money and would do quite fine without it. The Tobacco Institute sent us a response in the hope of converting us to their cause - they didn't.

C • Letter 2

In Ararat for an ALP gathering, and did a run out from where I was staying past the golf course (classic Australian scene: kangaroos grazing on the edge of the green) and onto a bush track to the northwest of town, although not right up onto the One Tree Hill ridgeline (how many Australian towns have One Tree Hills nearby?). I didn't expect a lot from the run, coming off a tough one yesterday, and was also pretty sleepy through the first 10 minutes, but settled into something reasonably normal after that on a gentle climb through Ararat Hills Park. Longest week for a while.

One of today's activities was to go out to a block south of town that's being used for 'carbon farming' (planting trees on cleared land to get carbon credits). Naturally I'm all in favour of this activity and I'm especially in favour of it when it involves granite ridges. This was one of three areas I saw today which might have 2015 potential - too small for any of the Australian Championship events but could potentially support a Schools Relay. (The others were the Ararat Hills Park itself which looks like reasonable gully-spur and could perhaps be an Australian Relays area, and the TAFE college, based around the former mental asylum, which would seem to have sprint possibilities).

Came back through the Mount Cole forest, which has areas which are open, runnable forest, areas which aren't too steep, and areas with granite, but I didn't see anywhere near the road where all three occurred in the same place. (Mount Langi Ghiran also has heaps of rocks - it was written off in Alex Tarr's late 1990s report as "at its best similar to Mount Hickey/Warrigul Rocks terrain" - for those of you who never ran on either of those areas you missed some pretty hard slogs. On the mountain itself that's probably true, but with shorter events and Sportident it might be possible to make better use of the strip around the base than would have been envisaged in 1998, so it might be worth another look?).

C • Langi Ghiran 1

Longest run since early June and a much improved long run compared with the last couple of Thursdays, although still not quite at the pace that I'm used to with this session. Started out with a flat first third along the river to Eltham Lower, then a hiller middle section across Eltham and Greensborough before coming back in from the north. Felt reasonable without being startling through the first half, but got better in the middle section, handling the hills reasonably well (at least by recent standards). A bit of muscle fatigue later on but not the listless drifting that I've experienced a bit lately, and felt at the end as if I had another 12 minutes left in my if I'd wanted to go to 2.30 (whereas I didn't feel as if I had another 31 minutes left in me two days ago). A little bit of blister trouble with the left heel.

A decent session, working pretty well and seeming to be recovered quite reasonably from yesterday (although that will be put to the test tomorrow, when I bring my weekend long run forward because of other commitments at various points of the weekend). Nice morning to be out at Fitzroy as well (certainly nicer than it was this evening for the ride home).

First instance this summer of the Wednesday night/Thursday morning combination; perhaps I'm getting a bit old for this but I'll give it a few more chances. This run was from near the city south as far as Brighton (for reasons of complicated logistics relating to the afternoon and evening) - which meant the route was almost dead flat. Never a terribly sparkling run, and energy started to run out in the second half, but again found a little bit extra at the very end just as it seemed things were about to fall apart altogether.

Somebody must have voted for Mitt Romney, but if anyone in my circles did they're staying very quiet. As I remarked on Cristina's log, I get the distinct impression (even if you only count those who are actually eligible to vote in the U.S.) that if AP were a state, Barack Obama would have carried it by a margin at least as large as the one he had in Washington DC (which, for the record, was 91% Obama, 7% Romney, 2% others).

C • Washington DC 1

Street-O at Smiths Dell tonight which meant the annual (or sometimes bi-annual) opportunity to run through the richest bits of Melbourne (which looked a bit posher than the richest bits of Perth because it wasn't hard rubbish day in Toorak). Even made a confirmed sighting of a 4WD which showed tangible evidence of having been used in rural areas (other than the roads to Portsea or Mount Hotham), in the form of a decent splattering of mud and a couple of mountain cattlemen stickers.

The run was pretty ordinary, particularly in the first half. Continuing to lack energy in climbing up the hills.

First Summer Series of the season at Smiths Dell. A score event, which on an area this size means getting all 20 controls as fast as you can, and if you got the key decision - when to get the three controls on the far side of the freeway - right, there wasn't a lot to the route choice.

Somewhat to my surprise I felt sharp from the start - being on the bike for 30 minutes beforehand obviously helped the warm-up - and actually hit the first control first. Bruce, who lost a bit of ground on a route choice four controls in (and risked losing a lot more because his route involved an unnecessary railway crossing, but he got through just before the bells started), was still just ahead five controls in, but gradually pulled away. That left me dicing with Fredrik Johansson, who was running a bit faster than me but didn't seem to have his control flow quite going, so I would often get 10 or 15 metres on him there. I expected he was going to blow me away in the sprint anyway, but in the end he conceded it because he'd punched controls in the wrong boxes - something he didn't need to do (I doubt it would even have been checked). I suspect we'll have a few more scraps before the year's out. Felt at times as if I was going to struggle to sustain the effort, but held it together.

Quite pleased with this - suggests I'm at a similar level to where I've been the last two summers, which is better than I thought might have been the case after Sunday's shocker. A bit over 3 minutes down on Bruce (as close as I've been for a while) and 90 seconds on Andrew Hester.

Naturally I wasn't too upset with the day's events on the other side of the Pacific. The Presidential result wasn't really that much of a surprise if you'd been paying attention to the marginal-state polls rather than the national aggregates, but it was especially pleasing to see several of the more egregious Tea Party types go down in House and Senate races (although it looks like Michele Bachmann has just held on). The Republicans could, but probably won't, reflect that they might well control the Senate now had they not thrown away five very winnable seats over the last two elections by nominating candidates too extreme for the general population to countenance.

Took advantage of Cup Day to do this session somewhat later in the morning than I usually do. Seem to be pulling out of the worst of the hole that I've been in recently although still rather slow.

There were a few of the usual sights of the first Tuesday in November, including well-dressed people walking to the station (in somewhat better condition than they would be coming home eight or nine hours later), and a stretch limo on Rosanna Road.

A slow run on a warm morning. Really struggled to get going but settled into something sort-of-OK after the first 10 minutes.

Very slow, and in full cough-and-splutter mode in the second half - not the obvious vegetation in the shallow end like there was a couple of weeks ago, but it was a windy morning so may well have been smaller stuff to ingest.

Albury-Wodonga club championships on a new area at Walbundrie, well-marketed and thus drawing a field from all over the place. Walbundrie is a very small and quiet place, although large enough to be worthy of a 'W 35' on the road signs coming from Albury (take that, Burrumbuttock!), and the hill next to it has some interesting rock and some interesting contours (the latter being on what I think is a rehabilitated tip). I'm not sure if the area quite lived up to the marketing - good granite but not extraordinary, and very small - but it was fun. Even day 1 of an Easter would be a stretch (I'd been thinking of it as a possible Saturday area for 2018), but it sounds like there are similar but larger areas around.

There wasn't any advance hype about my run but whatever expectations might have been had were dismally unmatched. I lost 2 minutes at 4 and another minute at 5 (the former through not seeing a flag tucked in near a big rock, the latter through carelessness), but the main issue was that I couldn't run fast to save my life, especially uphill - yesterday was definitely an omen there. (Possibly trying to fit too many things into my life this week is catching up with me a bit). Josh went through me at 4 and Bruce at 10 (2 and 4 minutes, I think, although I won't be shocked if it was more), and I couldn't even consider trying to stay with them. A bit scrappy on the second loop but nothing major. Pretty warm.

My upper hamstring has gone back to disliking road trips, too...

Got home at about 12.30 a.m. (having not crashed into anything or been crashed into between the airport and home), and went out in the morning before heading up to Yackandandah. This was my first outing since autumn on the Banyule Flats singletrack (which gets very muddy in wet winters) - always fun but the vegetation is growing over the top of it and I think it's now better suited to those who are significantly shorter than I am. Pretty slow even when you take out the singletrack section - in particular I don't seem to have any uphill speed at the moment.

The afternoon was spent taping sites at Rowdy Flat - got them all done in about 2 1/2 hours, having to move a few (mostly ones on high points, which don't always stand out from bumps which aren't on the map) but not too many. Basically the same assembly area as Oceania except the finish chute will be in the shade. Should be fun.

Wouldn't have really expected to be going to the Claremont pool twice in a year, but that's the way it worked out - it was a 20-minute walk from where I was staying (the two shopping trolleys underneath the 'Abandonment of Shopping Trolleys Prohibited: Penalty $100' sign which were there yesterday had gone today). A pleasant day if a fairly standard swim.

My navigation skills were put to the test this afternoon - the taxi driver who picked me up from the National Archives office was on his first ever job, and clearly still has a bit to learn as I had to give him directions to the airport.

C • Abandonment of trolleys 1

C • The *knowledge* .. 1

C • Claremont Pool 1

I expected a 5.15 wake-up to be easier than usual and it was - I was awake, more or less, from 4.30 onwards.

Headed out with two hours in mind. Initially this went south through the poshest bits of Perth, although Mosman Park did not look as posh as usual because it was evidently hard rubbish day (mind you, I suspect the stuff on nature strips on hard rubbish day in Mosman Park is better than most of what's in houses in various eastern and northern suburbs of Perth). Then headed out to Cotto, with good views out to Rotto and down to Freo, and northwards, initially along the coastal path and then along Swanbourne beach, a five-kilometre stretch that I'd had in mind last time I was out this way in 2010, but gave a miss that time because it was dark. Got as far north as Floreat Beach and then finished around the top of Bold Park.

As a run, this was somewhat ho-hum through the first half. Had to work hard on the beach - the tide was low but was still going in and out of soft stuff all the time (and getting a hint of Achilles soreness for the first time in weeks). I then hit a pretty bad patch around 1.30-1.45, but got a bit of a second wind in the last 15 minutes. A solid day's work and my longest for several months.

Today's piece of unearthed political incorrectness was even better than yesterday's - in a file note on alleged vandalism at Menzies, north of Kalgoorlie, in 1965 it was said that "the district abounds with semi-wild natives".

C • File trawling? 4