Training Log Archive: blairtrewin

All Nations intervals. Struggling a bit with the back at times today, and was fading in the last couple (going out to 10 will have to wait another week), but maintained a reasonable pace and managed to get through it. Not many people around despite a nice day (and didn't even get tangled up with any loose dogs).

Reaching the mid-49s in Canada (still a bit unclear whether the final number was 49.5 or 49.6) is one of those things that isn't really supposed to happen.

Warm-up and down. Got through more or less OK.

Not quite as much training as in May (but then it's a shorter month), still more running than any other month since 2018 though. Feel as if I'm continuing to consolidate.

An early one today for various reasons (mostly the fact that by the time today's done I'm going to have spent about 11 hours of it in meetings). Struggling a bit at the start, but fine from 10 minutes onwards (by which stage my fingers had also got used to the temperature on a morning with a touch of frost), and going along nicely for much of the way, including rolling ups and downs (nothing big). Cleared most, but not quite all, of the block between the valley path and Waterdale Road in Ivanhoe.

Back to the Monday morning Pilates session, and back to the start in pitch darkness outside (sunrise has almost reached its latest for the year so this will be starting to change soon). Starting to get more used to the new program, which generally seemed to go pretty smoothly (certainly the instructor seemed happy with how it was going).

I'd warmed up for this, so to speak, by checking up on the progress of western North American temperatures, although it was not until after I got home that the likely obliteration of the Canadian national record high became the actual obliteration of the Canadian national record high. (46.6 at Lytton, 150km northeast of Vancouver, which was 1.6 above the previous record). Could go again either tomorrow or the next day; it's certainly a novelty to see 47 on a Canadian forecast (unless it has a minus sign in front of it).

Followed up with a swim at Fitzroy on a nice-once-you're-in morning. Never really got going and slower than most recent sessions.

Had hoped for something big today but my back wasn't in the mood to cooperate. My first attempt in the morning was a non-starter and I eventually went out in the afternoon hoping to get something on the board, at least. That was done, not especially convincingly - coloured a couple of lines on the map and that was about it. Perhaps improved a little in the last few minutes.

Decided Beechworth was a nice spot for a run. Not having expected to be here, I hadn't brought any maps (and some of the good ones are embargoed anyway), so did some exploring of the town instead. Started with a lap of the lake (a bit of mud and stairwork on the far side, which slowed things down a bit), then looking at a few other corners of the town I haven't previously been to - normally when I've been here the priority has been the forests. Not feeling brilliant early on, but really got going from about the 25-minute mark.

Beechworth was less busy than I expected for a weekend in school holidays.

Made my way back via some back-road wanderings between Beechworth and Benalla. Not quite the trip I'd planned on (I think we'll end up calling this plan H), and not always as relaxing as I'd hoped, but still saw a number of interesting places I hadn't previously been to.

C • Lunatic ayslum 1

As flagged earlier this was a long day on the road: Forster to Wodonga is not exactly a short trip even by the shortest route, and having to avoid Sydney doesn't make it any shorter (the route was Forster-Hexham-Denman-Rylstone-Bathurst-Cowra-Cootamundra-Gundagai). Ended up a 13.5 hour day all up.

Broke this up with a session in the pool at Bathurst: (a) because I knew it had a proper indoor pool (b) because Bathurst is a big enough place that not being recognised isn't going to mean you get treated as a leper. It also proved to be well-timed, coming at a stage of the day when I was starting to flag; after the first 10 minutes or so it was going nicely in the water, and the session had a revitalising effect on me for the rest of the day too.

One major part of this route I hadn't done before, round the northwest side of Wollemi between Denman and Rylstone, was suitably scenic, especially if you like sandstone (and who here doesn't?), even if I got a bit more of a chance to look at the scenery by virtue of being behind a couple of very slow-moving horse floats on the windy bits. Rylstone's main street has also gone a bit more upmarket since I was last here (I assume Kandos's hasn't but didn't go in).

C • circuitous route 7

Fairly predictably, I didn't sleep terribly well last night and wasn't in the mood (or really in the right physical state) for a run first thing, so instead decided to do one when I was on the road. This took me back to the scene of an enjoyable orienteering experience, Boambee at Coffs Harbour, but I didn't have a map so just went for a run up and down the beach, almost to its end. This is a very good beach for running - not much slope to it and the sand is the right level of firmness - and it ended up a decent run, though harder work coming back into the wind. A few bits were starting to be a little sore towards the end.

Today wasn't much of an improvement on yesterday in the friendly-locals department, although at least in Forster (my endpoint for the day) they've worked out that Victoria is not the place they need to be worried about. It's an easier trip than it would have been a decade, or even a couple of years, ago now that the freeway is more or less complete (a few places where I ventured onto the old highway made me wonder 'was this really the main highway so recently?'). New infrastructure does mean the opportunity to name things after worthy locals, so Macksville gets the Phillip Hughes Bridge and Kempsey the Slim Dusty Interchange (not the first NSW road Slim's had something to do with).

A reasonably quiet day in Evans Head - a pleasant enough place (and Chinaman's Beach is definitely a quality spot) but I think I'd get bored if I was here for more than a couple of days. This was interrupted by a run, where I headed out to a beachside path on the north side of town to do a set. Not too bad, but was starting to fade a bit by the last couple so decided that taking it out from 8 to 10 reps could wait another week. Quite humid.

Warm-up and down.

Evans Head lost a few brownie points in my estimation when I got refused entry to the bowling club (one of the few eating places open in the evenings) for being a Victorian (having seen a separate Victorians-not-welcome sign at another business earlier in the day). I thought before the trip that this might happen at least once but it doesn't make it any less pleasant when it does happen, especially when Victoria is no longer the place to be worried about. I think part of what's going on is that people are on edge and in a small town with an older population, people are quick to throw up the locals-only signs, metaphorically speaking. I suspect that Evans Head is not the only place where this will be happening, and that - plus the risk of having trouble getting back into Victoria, although regional NSW is OK for now - is making me think seriously about cutting the trip short and heading home on Friday.

C • Tourism 1

C • Discrimination and border clousers 10

The place I was staying in Glen Innes offered breakfast, so I thought I'd go out beforehand so as not to feel too constrained when it came to the eating. Thus headed out before breakfast on a route which was steadily (if modestly) uphill for the first 1.5k - something I mention because there are few times in the last three years that I would have been confident that my body would handle that. My confidence is building, though, and this proved to be the sort of run which was a routine run a few years ago - so it's good to be back to that. No frost, but a chilly easterly wind.

Today was perhaps the most adventurous route of the trip, the old (back) road from Glen Innes to Grafton, which drops into the major river valleys and then edges along them. It's actually had a bit of work done on it at the Glen Innes end (bushfire recovery money?) so there's now only 60km of dirt rather than 80, but it's still not a route for those in a hurry. Lots of scenery, though, along with plenty of evidence of climate extremes (fire in the forests - recovering reasonably well - and flood in the rivers).

Dropped into Yamba, which has become a lot more suburban since I was last there (i.e. it's got a shopping mall and a Maccas), via some back roads and a river ferry from Grafton, finding out in the process that (a) it is most definitely hard rubbish week in the Clarence Valley Council and (b) there's a bridge which bears, presumably from a long time ago, the last name of Grafton's most infamous citizen. Ended up in Evans Head where I'll be the next couple of nights (partly on Bridget's recommendation).

Saw a couple of billboards for over-50s housing developments. 16 days to go :-).

C • Lazarus :( 1

Narrabri is big enough to have an indoor pool that's open all year. I didn't expect it to be deep enough for deep-water running and it wasn't, but it was good for a swim on a day when they certainly weren't in danger of breaching their capacity limits. The swim felt pretty good although times similar to recent weeks. No real sign of stiffness after yesterday, which is a good sign.

Followed this by going up Mount Kaputar, which had views as impressive as you'd expect for a 1500-metre summit overlooking 200-metre plains (which I expected). What I didn't expect was how much impact the snowfall (35-40cm according to the rangers) had had - there were trees down everywhere, and still some remnant snowdrifts in places. I'm quite surprised the road was cleared.

Unlike the last couple of days, much of the rest of the day was on previously covered ground, but not covered for a long time (namely the somewhat ill-fated 1993 trip to Stanthorpe with Rob Walter, whose features included food poisoning and a headlight-destroying collision with a flock of galahs). The Bingara road's been sealed since 1993 but the budget doesn't seem to have extended to bridges, with water over the road in numerous places even though it hasn't rained for a few days (I suspect snowmelt off the Kaputar plateau probably had a bit to do with this). My parents had given me a tip about an old-school Greek milk bar/cafe in Bingara but sadly it's closed down. Swung south from Inverell through Tingha and Ben Lomond hoping to find rocks and only partially succeeding (and the forest where I went for a run with Rob on the 1993 trip is rather jungly these days after a February 2019 fire), but still a nice trip, if only for a truly spectacular rainbow entering Tingha. Ended up at Glen Innes.

The initial plan was to find the most obscure dirt road I could from town in Nyngan and do an out-and-back. That came unstuck when I discovered, not for the last time on this run, that the optimism of Nyngan's planners about the town's growth prospects were not matched by reality and that some of the streets and roads on the map did not actually exist, but by then I'd spotted that there was a track on top of the town levee and decided that was a good alternative (not least because of Nyngan's significance as perhaps the largest town completely flooded out in modern Australian history, in 1990). That got me going for the first 4.5k until the levee ran into private land, and from there it was doing loops of the outer edges of the town, on a run which started uncertainly but built nicely in the last half-hour - I might have considered going longer had I not been staying somewhere which made it very clear that you'd be charged the full rate for an extra night the moment the clock ticked 10.00.01, but it was still my longest this year.

Today's route was Nyngan-Carinda-Walgett-Wee Waa-Narrabri - a lonely road for the first 170km, a bit less so after that. The Carinda pub is famous for featuring in a David Bowie video (although the bit I find somewhat disconcerting is the scene where a mushroom cloud rises behind the Warrumbungles - I mean, why would anyone want to nuke Coonamble?). It's also a cotton-growing district, although I'm wondering how much of the cotton on the road train I was following for the last 30km into Walgett is actually going to reach its destination - between that and all the flying grass (the council had slashed the verges but had left all the cut grass on the road) I was collecting plenty of debris on that bit. (Probably best not to ask too many questions in these parts about whether the water used to grow the crop was legally acquired). Walgett itself, which I'd remembered as being a bit desperate on my previous visit in 2007, had more life to it than anywhere else I'd been since Griffith (and has acquired a very flash new supermarket to replace the one which burned down last year).

Hit a bird on the way into Narrabri (some may recall I have some history in this respect in this part of the world), but no damage appears to have been done this time.

C • No damage 6

In what's becoming almost an annual event, yesterday's temperature in Berlin surpassed the then-record high of 35.7 set on JWOC relay day in 1991.

C • Records 1

First "tourist run" of this trip, at Cocoparra NP, a sandstone range northeast of Griffith. The tourist part of it was the Jacks Creek walking track, a loop track up and then above a gorge - some good views as you might expect. An out-and-back on the access road made up the distance. Run felt a bit iffy at times (and I didn't try to run the steepest bit of the climb out of the gorge), but still a good experience.

The route north took me through a slice of central NSW I mostly haven't been to before (Rankins Springs-Lake Cargelligo-Condobolin-Bogan Gate-Tottenham-Nyngan). Not as heavily cleared as I thought with plenty of areas of bushland (and not much cropping any further west than Condobolin), though it opened up a bit in the last 50km, which was good because it was Skippy time by then (not that I saw any) as I was in a bit of a rush to make an IOF meeting at 5. Most of the towns looked like their best days were several decades behind them, and even Condobolin - the largest - was very quiet indeed on a Saturday afternoon.

C • Condobolin 1

Back to the pool before hitting the road. First time swimming for a while; shoulder has settled down and was only a minor nuisance, but this still wasn't a great swim, drifting out of it a bit later on. Raining quite a bit at the start (definitely a deterrent for crowds at an outdoor pool), but that stopped soon enough.

Spent a chunk of the rest of the day on the road, with Griffith as the day's objective (prompted partly by wanting to partake of that town's Italian dining scene). Crossing the border was a non-event - in fact there wasn't even a sign marking the entrance to NSW, although the pokie palaces left one in no doubt as to one's arrival in a new state (somehow I don't think the premises of the Mulwala Water Ski Club were paid for by running water-skiing competitions).

While it was nothing like the Dandenongs (or Trentham, or parts of Gippsland), there were still numerous uprooted trees along the Hume - most heavily concentrated in the 10km on the north side of the divide, but some as far north as Violet Town.

C • La Scala… 3

Another step forward - while this didn't feel as good as the last two days, it was still a solid accumulation of distance and the first time in this phase I've managed to do this on the end of a three-day midweek sequence. Probably picked up a bit in the later stages although that might be because the hills were out of the way by then.

My target today was the block of Thornbury north of Clarendon and between Victoria and High. I've now completed the north-south streets and the boundaries of this, but it's quite a big block and will need at least a couple more sessions to complete (though there are a few bits I've picked up on Penders Park/Boulder Dash Maprun courses). It will be a while before I do this, because I'm finally heading out of town tomorrow morning. (For those who are counting, I think this is currently plan G).

The body seems to have been particularly responsive to the physio's needlework this evening (which is another way of saying that various bits are hurting at the moment).

All Nations intervals at lunchtime. Continued progress - a bit faster than last week (down to 57/60), and feeling significantly better (particularly in terms of the speed of recovery between reps). Feeling very positive about this session - overall probably the best of its type I've done for a few years. Could certainly have stretched it out to 10 had I wanted to; that's the next step (perhaps next week).

Warm-up and down. Felt reasonably comfortable in both directions. Roadworks were in sight on this run too.

Wasn't quite sure what to expect after yesterday, but it turned out I was fine apart from a sore shoulder at the injection site, and once I was warmed up it turned into quite a good run, certainly at the better end of my current range. Headed up through Ivanhoe to go into an area north of the shops; handled the climbs well, although they were long rather than steep.

Lots of roadworks being done today (both Banksia Street and Waterdale Road had one side blocked off for separate works). I'm not sure how much of this was already planned, how much was taking advantage of the lighter traffic and how much was a good old-fashioned end of financial year burnoff (any public servant knows what those look like, although they've been somewhat lacking in our particular agency in recent years).

New shoes got their first workout today.

Followed up with a Pilates session in the afternoon. I wasn't sure if my shoulder would be a major hindrance to this, but as it turned out I was able to get through all of my normal exercises (a bit of soreness for some, although I don't think it's any bad thing to mobilise the area a bit). Otherwise went reasonably well.

Back to the pool this morning. Reasonably busy for early on a public holiday, probably because only outdoor pools are open at the moment so people were coming from a fair way around. Felt like I was working fairly solidly (even got a bit of a cramp at one point).

The foot has improved greatly in the last 24 hours and is now only at minor-nuisance level. I would hope to have a reasonably normal week of running this week providing that vaccine side-effects (got my first one today) don't flare up too much.

Went looking for something flat today with the aim of just getting something on the board (if things go to plan this week, next Sunday's run is going to be flat whether I like it or not). Foot was a bit better than yesterday (and coped with the few small ramps), though still not exactly comfortable. Running a bit better than yesterday though faded a bit in the last 10 minutes or so.

Cleared up a few loose ends in Clifton Hill; have now completed the area east of Hoddle and north of Ramsden, although still plenty to do in the western and southern parts of the suburb.

Foot felt a bit better this morning so I thought it was worth seeing what it was like to run on, using the park/street "training" at Kerrimuir as my venue. The answer was that it was not too bad on the flat and gentle downhills, but was still too painful to run on on most uphills (except ones steep enough to be on the balls of one's feet). There were a few more of these than I anticipated because this particular incarnation of the Kerrimuir map goes north of the freeway as well as south. Good to get a first run on the board but still a reminder that there's a bit to go to return to normality (and certainly I'll be seeking out flat ground for my next couple of outings).

There was a big tree down near the start, which people whom I presume to be locals were taking to with chainsaws with some enthusiasm. I guess somebody's going to have lots of firewood. (There was plenty of other evidence of storm damage in my post-event excursion, doing a tour of Yarra flood sites within the allowed radius - which included seeing a torrent at Banksia Park (on the south side of the ridge) where the river had just reached the level of going over a bank and was rapidly filling a billabong a couple of metres below the main river level.

Once upon a time, there was a Northcote and District Poultry, Pigeon and Canary Improvement Society. (Wonder if it lasted long enough for Bill Lawry to be involved in it?).

Lunchtime ride, having decided that my foot is not yet up to being run on (not quite sure how far away it is). Riding was fine, though, at lunchtime (morning was rather foggy so a good one to miss). Out through Heidelberg initially then out into the middle of Thornbury and Northcote. Still seems pretty quiet despite the overnight changes, and still plenty of small debris on some of the roads (meanwhile a lot of the outer east is still waiting to get its power back).

One difference to the previous fortnight is that Pilates is back (at least as individual sessions, which seemed to be overlapping a bit). Starting to get the hang of the new routine and don't seem to have lost too much in the last couple of weeks.

Foot still uncomfortable to walk on today (the cut has gone but there's some bare skin, so it's more like a burst blister), so thought it best to do something non-weight-bearing. With high winds persisting until the middle of the day, I left the ride as late as possible whilst still being in daylight. Ended up feeling quite good on the bike - one of those days when you feel like there are more tailwinds than headwinds.

We got off more lightly than areas further east in both the wind and rain department, but there was still plenty of small debris on the road in places where there were trees upwind of it.

Found a creative way to injure myself this morning - got up in the early hours of the morning and trod on my trousers on the floor, and more significantly their belt buckle. The end result of this was a cut on the sole of my right foot.

From past experience of injuries in this area (most significantly when I ran the last hour of an NT Championships on rocky ground without a functional sole on my shoe), I suspected I'd be able to run on it on even ground. This proved more or less to be the case, although it made its presence felt on anything which wasn't smooth straight concrete (I certainly knew about it when I hit a stretch of bluestone). It was a pretty ordinary run though, and 10 minutes shorter than I'd originally been hoping for, but getting something on the board was something on the first day after an injury. Past experience suggests it will take its time healing, but should be OK to run on (whether I'm prepared to take it into terrain - which we will now have a slightly wider choice of - on the weekend is an open question).

Made good use of weather forecast information to make sure I got out reasonably early. It looked like it would get ugly after 9am and it did. (If things had gone to plan, I would have spent today at the Bungle Bungles).

All Nations intervals at lunchtime, taking advantage of a gap between showers (certainly wouldn't have been too pleasant doing it in the morning). Another incremental step up, managing a set of 8 and getting down around the best times I've done this year (62 up/58 down) despite sometimes wet and slippery ground. Starting to go a bit lactic on the last couple. Not as many people around as usual, but the conditions probably had a bit to do with that (there will be fewer this time tomorrow).

Warm-up and down. Felt like hard work coming back, an indicator that I'd been doing some hard work beforehand (calves and quads were both a bit tight at times). Stopped at the end of my street to admire the SES's work and get a bit more info from the householder whose tree it was this time yesterday.

La Trobe loop after an early-morning IOF meeting. This route is always harder in the first half than the second because of its elevation profile, but doubly so today because of a stiff north to northwesterly wind - normally the northward stretch through the top of Heidelberg and Macleod is pretty straightforward but not today. Definitely easier once the wind was behind me though. More traffic around than I expected.

Last year it took about a month before wildly unhinged Dan Andrews conspiracy theories started circulating. This year it's taken a bit over a week (and I don't think any shadow ministers were promoting said theories in media releases last time, either). Won't say much about the content except that QAnon is sane by comparison.

C • conspiracy theories 3

It may be a rather empty long weekend coming up but at least I've got something to do with the Monday: first vaccination is booked for the oddly specific time of 1.12pm. (Only took me 15 minutes to get through on the phone, too).

C • Vaccination 29

Spent most of the first half of this run thinking I'd be lucky to get to 30 minutes, let alone 60 (I'd hoped for 70 but quickly adjusted expectations). The back was giving a fair bit of trouble but not enough to actually stop me (though I was taking a break at anything which looked like a significant road crossing; it was as well that there were no ambitious hills here). Gradually eased up from the middle of the run onwards and felt reasonably normal for the last 15 minutes, so good to get this on the board on a day when things weren't going all that smoothly (and to get a solid week's total on the board in a week when things weren't always going smoothly).

Today's target was Clifton Hill, starting with the southern half - still have some way to go here but made some progress. The first part down through Yarra Bend was well populated despite the chilly morning.

Back to familiar territory in such situations, Eaglemont Flats, using the same course I've used the last couple of times (the navigation is a desirable part of it but the real interest here is getting to run into the terrain). A reasonable run and continued signs of incremental improvement - a couple of minutes faster than February - though the green is still pretty hard to get through, as it always is here. Starting to get pretty muddy on the single tracks near the river, and still a couple of ponds which I think must be left over from floods last year. Wasn't close enough to the inner city to see any wildlife.

C • Euthanasia 1

Still felt too tight to run in the morning, and not brilliant before I started in the evening - thought the best I could hope for was a minimum viable session, but it actually turned out considerably better than that - certainly the first time for a very long time that an evening run has felt reasonably normal. The degree of difficulty was low - it was more or less flat - but I'll take this. Slowed down a bit at the end as it got darker.

One of the streets I collected today bears the name of a politician who's been giving us some grief. I resisted the temptation to make any rude gestures in the vicinity of the sign (not that there was anyone around to see them anyway).

And it's taken eight days from the start of this lockdown to see the first letter in the Age from someone complaining about the alleged health hazard posed by runners.

C • Running health hazards 2

Had thought of running longer this morning but the time was going to be squeezed by an 8.45 ABC interview, and I felt distinctly unenthusiastic (and a bit stiff) when the alarm went off at 6.15, so instead settled for a run tomorrow (hopefully) and a lunchtime ride. (Think it would be fair to say that I was feeling flat in life in general today).

It was a nice lunchtime for a ride - plenty of sunshine, although not as warm as yesterday (which was the warmest June day in Melbourne since 2005, something which slipped under my radar a bit). Had a bit of a hamstring twinge early which was a bit of a concern, but it feels OK walking afterwards so hopefully it will be OK running tomorrow as well.

Doing what I did in lockdown last time and going out to explore a bit within the 5km circle but close enough to its edge to be out of range on a normal run. The plan here was to do the north-south streets in the westernmost block of Thornbury. Bit off a bit more than I could chew at the start - there are a couple of sharp hills coming up off the east side of Merri Creek, which weren't ideal when not properly warmed up - and the rest of the run suffered a bit for that, although it was starting to improve in the last quarter as it flattened out.

Looks like all my plans for June have gone by the wayside. Not sure when the next chance will come.

Lunchtime intervals was the plan, but felt a bit of left hamstring tightness on the first couple of reps and decided not to push it any further - I've had enough experience with this not to take risks with it.

...but that was transitory: it seemed to be able to cope with slower running fine, to a sufficient extent that I felt confident enough to add some extra to the return home to get the total session time up to something more or less respectable.

Posted today by a friend in regional Victoria:

"Me: I’d like to change my home phone plan.
Telstra: Certainly Plan A will provide xyz.
Me: Sounds great, sign me up.
Telstra: What is your address?
Me: Strathlea Rd, Strathlea, 3364.
Telstra: Please hold while I set this up.
25 minutes later
Telstra:Thank you for waiting. We are unable to provide a home phone to that address.
Me: I am calling from my home phone at this address.
Telstra: Please hold while I try again.
Another 25 minutes.
Telstra:Thank you for waiting, we definitely can’t provide a home phone service to that address.
Me: Well I am calling from my home phone at this address.
Telstra: How long have you had the service?
Me: My grandparents had the phone connected to this address in 1926, my grandmother operated the local telephone exchange from this address until 1968, then we switched over to an automatic exchange 5 km down the road, so my family has had a phone at this address for 92 years.
Telstra: Oh, there must be a problem our end, I’ll get it fixed and call you back. Do you have a mobile number?"

C • Missing bits 2