Training Log Archive: blairtrewin

Thought it was about time to see if I could still run without doing so much as to risk damaging myself unduly if the answer was "not really", so testing things out from a low base - going around the block. Seemed to work OK (initial soreness easing) so there doesn't seem to be anything too badly wrong structurally, although it was a bit painful on the limited uneven ground, probably because of where the tenderness is (left side of the foot/ankle, basically), which may not be encouraging for my chances of getting out orienteering on Sunday. Will be cautious returning to more substantial running, but this was a moderately encouraging start.

I'm progressively losing a bit more of the skin left over from the swelling. From a week where I'd been through the equivalent of doing an ankle without doing an ankle, I'm now at the point of the equivalent of having major blisters without having major blisters. Fortunately none of it is happening in weight-bearing areas but it's still annoying.

I don't as a rule show commuter rides as training, but clocked up probably two hours or a bit more on the bike today, in between dropping a Chinese visa application in on the way to work and a meeting at the far end of Docklands on the way home (plus detouring around a couple of bits of construction work I didn't know about in a part of town I don't go to very often). Felt pretty tired by the end of it, although that might have been because it was close to 9pm by then.

A very early start this morning, so I'd already been up for a while when it came to the Pilates session. Ended up a reasonably smooth session - handled it quite comfortably with a bit more mobility than I had on Thursday. (Another sign of progress is that I had none of the grounding-foot-at-traffic-lights problem on the ride in this morning that I had on Saturday). Not totally out of the woods yet, though - the latest issue (which I knew would happen sooner or later) is that some of the skin is starting to peel off where the swelling was and unsurprisingly it's pretty tender underneath.

Got as far as contemplating going out in the Bendigo ORingen, but still felt too painful on the warm-up to run. Don't think I'm too far away. Picked up a map and went out for a walk on one of the courses, which was OK for the most part although still feeling a bit uncomfortable on rougher ground and significant downhills.

This was intended as a short session to see what I could (and couldn't do). The answer is that I'm perfectly fine to ride, but getting the foot on the ground at traffic lights is a bit of a challenge if there isn't a gutter to help (so it's just as well there weren't that many lights). Good to get out, although I had a sense that a certain amount of fitness has gone in the couple of weeks that I've been sidelined.

I can now walk reasonably freely (although still with some discomfort), and am at least contemplating going out tomorrow. It still looks horrible.

Small increments count for something here - today it was managing the full walk to the station (in only 10% more time than it usually takes me). Probably could have down without the return trip at full crush capacity, thanks to an earlier cancellation. At least I'm being productive at work today - one paper finalised for submission, and a second well on the way.

Finally did something! (and definitely felt better for having done it). Fronted up to a pre-existing Pilates appointment, thinking I might be able to get through perhaps two-thirds of my usual set, but was in fact able to manage all of it - the exercises which involved the ankle put it through a vertical range of movement which it seemed OK with. That might encourage me to give it a try on the bike in the not overly distant future. Still limping, but perhaps not quite as badly?

C • Quote of the week 6

Last day of the SA trip, in Clare in the morning and then back home in the afternoon and evening. Didn't feel as if I'd improved that much, although driving did seem a bit easier (and something I'd been a bit apprehensive about, getting my manual car back from the airport, proved to be no problem).

Continuing to look for signs of slow improvement, and today's was being able to drive for 90 minutes straight. Hard to notice otherwise. The workshop was worthwhile though, giving me more perspective on things like what a big rain does for outback pastoralists (a fall of 50-100mm can set them up for a year), whether it matters what time of year it happens at (basically no), and how sensitive they are to extreme high temperatures (not terribly).

The local paper in Port Augusta had headlines about skyrocketing local house prices. It's a relative term (the average has gone from $200,000 to $272,000), but the local economy does seem to be travelling pretty well, thanks to a large extent to all the renewable energy developments happening in the area.

In Clare tonight, for another workshop tomorrow. Would have liked to have joined Simon on his late afternoon run but that isn't an option yet.

The good old days weren't always so good (an occasional series):

"Australian Rules football in Melbourne is being ruined by a small minority of hooligans who made themselves a nuisance every Saturday. These hooligans come to the grounds with the deliberate intention of making themselves objectionable, pay little attention to the game, of which they are most profoundly ignorant, and spend the time shouting insults at the players and creating disturbances. Football enthusiasts generally are sick and tired of being pushed around and annoyed by these beer-sparring blatherskites".

These words were uttered by the commentator Norman Banks, in 1952.

C • 1952? 6

Another day of incremental improvement; I can now walk without significant pain (although still with a noticeable limp) and the actual appearance of the area has transitioned from ugliness type A to ugliness type B in the way it's supposed to.

I thought driving up to Port Augusta in an automatic would be fairly straightforward, but my foot did not like not being flat on the ground (something which wasn't possible with the seat and steering wheel configuration) and 40 continuous minutes was about as much as I could tolerate, which made it a pretty slow trip (we were also hours late because my Hobart-based CSIRO colleague - Simon Allen, who will be known to Tasmanian orienteers - missed his connection in Melbourne). This did give us the opportunity to try out the Crystal Brook pub (not the worst of its type I've seen). Definitely glad to make it in around 8.30.

Somewhat improved today, a relative term which means that (a) I had probably 40% vertical mobility in my ankle rather than almost nothing yesterday (b) I felt up to walking slightly awkwardly around a supermarket (c) I didn't feel the need to prop myself up against the wall whilst peeing (d) I didn't feel like I needed to lie down at any stage and (e) my appetite has returned to reasonably normal levels. The latter was tested, among other thing, by the cake at afternoon tea, produced for the visit of Fern, Amber and families; Patrick insisted that we have candles and birthday singing so we sang happy birthday to the moon landing (sorry Aislinn).

Following some of the links related to the moon landing revealed that Neil Armstrong and Edmund Hillary were part of an expedition which reached the North Pole in 1985. There must have been some interesting conversations on that trip.

At least things have improved to the point that I'm reasonably confident I'll be able to fulfill my work engagements (and the travel between them) this week, although I'll be pretty cautious about resuming running, partly because I'm not sure what other damage the swelling might do whilst it's in progress. At this stage I'll consider it a bonus if I make it back in time for Bendigo next weekend.

Another difficult day, although perhaps with some slight signs of improvement by the end. Definitely an inactive day; I doubt that I covered more than a couple of hundred metres today (most of it between rooms in the house).

Discovery of the day was that in 1989, strapped for hard currency, the Soviet Union paid for a shipment of Pepsi in (presumably redundant) submarines. This in turn made Pepsi briefly the possessor of the world's sixth-largest naval fleet before they onsold it all for scrap metal.

The second round of this, but this time the rash and swelling is in my ankle rather than shins (at least that meant the decision not to rogaine was very straightforward). Swollen ankles are something a lot of orienteering will have a fair bit of experience with, not so much me (the last time I did an ankle was in 2004). It was as much as I could manage to negotiate a work day in Adelaide following by getting to the football - the first time I've been to a football game at Adelaide Oval (and I certainly can't complain about the result).

Still a bit too much swelling to try running but felt up to doing something in the water. Felt a little awkward at first but moving OK after the first few minutes. Ended up pulling a little early after getting a cramp, a reminder that I'm not quite in balance properly yet.

The good news is that the swelling is steadily declining, the bad news (for now) is that it's localised in a painful spot around the side of the ankle. Hopefully that disappears quickly. I'm off to Adelaide for a diverse range of activities (meaning an even larger than usual bag); seeing Essendon play at Adelaide Oval for the first time tomorrow night, doing the rogaine on the weekend with Jenny (providing I get through a fitness test tomorrow morning), then hitting the road in the first half of the next week for a couple of agricultural workshops.

Felt much better in a general sense today after a reasonable night's sleep (first since Saturday) and was able to get back to work without any difficulty, but the lower leg swelling is causing me more trouble than last time, presumably because of its exact position rather than that there's more of it - I can't put weight on my left leg standing for any extended period of time, although walking is manageable. Hopefully the swelling will disappear as quickly as it did last time (or I'll have the opportunity to get through plenty of reading in a pleasant bush location this weekend).

This log entry from 2010 is relevant in light of receiving an ad today that a-ha are doing a tour of Australia in early 2020.

Had a pretty rough night last night - felt as if I didn't get to sleep until about 4am, although I probably was getting small bits and pieces of it. Improved somewhat through the day; hopeful of being back at work tomorrow, although it might be a day or two beyond that before I feel up to doing much exercise. (My appetite still hasn't really come back, though that may just be a response to using less energy than I usually do).

Improved somewhat through the day, but felt sufficiently bad at the start of the day that I actually stayed home from work (the last time I did this for any illness/injury which didn't involve time in hospital was in 1983) - at least there was plenty of distraction for a morning on the couch, even if the recording of the Wimbledon final cut out at match-point. The symptoms continue to match the July 2016 issue so hopefully the recovery will too.

One step forward, several steps back. Felt rather iffy when I got up this morning but decided to go out to Yellow Gum anyway. As it happened, hip tightness flared early but, given how I felt after 23 minutes out, I suspect I wouldn't have gone close to lasting the distance regardless. Just in case I thought I might have been soft, I then hit the wall in a big way and spent most of the rest of the day on the couch (and didn't even feel like eating anything). Hopefully a night's sleep will help; it feels a bit like the issue I had this time three years ago (in which case I'll hopefully be OK by next weekend).

Coming back, I was listening to an ABC segment where people were remembering their favourite milk bars. Someone said they lived next to an ice factory when they were growing up, something which had a different meaning in the 1950s/1960s to what it does in 2019.

The sort of run which would have been routine once but has become rather less so; this was my longest for a few weeks. Got going reasonably well and steady most of the way, and felt confident enough to take on the straight-up-the-clay track out of Darebin Creek (the slippery surface potentially good practice for similar things at orienteering tomorrow). Tired a bit in the last 15 minutes, which is a bit of a concern given that this time next week I'll still have another 14 hours to go; hopefully it's just getting over a cold.

Would have been a more interesting run had it been a bit further south or east, but all the hail showers missed us; we barely got a drop after sunrise.

Made it out today, although still slow and rather weak (no injury issues though - woke up with a bit of a sore neck but that didn't cause me any trouble when running). A bit earlier than of late but not in full darkness - I sort of miss (and sort of don't) starting longer runs in the dark at this time of year.

It's the last night of following JWOC, but Sunday night provides a dilemma for sporting night-owls - you can choose between the World Cup final, the Wimbledon men's final, the Tour or the British GP. Part of my IOF role is to keep an eye out for major international sporting events which might clash with potential WOC dates; I don't always succeed, but at least we usually manage to stay out of the way of the Olympics these days.

C • Plus.. 1

Still a bit weak, although I think I could have gone out today if I'd had to. Probably shouldn't have stayed up so late last night watching the end of New Zealand-India (staying up too late watching sport is a bit of an occupational hazard for Australians at this time of year, although New Zealanders have it worse).

We got asked a question by the media earlier this week about the alleged "Gladstone dome" (a non-existent feature which supposedly keeps rain away from Gladstone, in the fine tradition of people noticing rain that misses them and hits someone else but not the reverse). I suspected that googling this might turn up a basketball stadium but instead it turned up an establishment called the Pleasure Dome in Gladstone Street, South Melbourne (not to be confused with Gladstone Street, Fyshwick) which I suspect from its description - clicking on the link from a work computer wouldn't be a good move - is a house of ill repute. (It also turned up a news story about a feature in a local playground).

C • Finals 2

The cold that's been lingering the last few days took a turn for the worse overnight, and I thought it better to sit the morning out. Starting to feel improved later on in the day so hopefully will be up to doing something tomorrow.

Even by my usual standards, this was slow. I could try blaming a late night watching JWOC, but think it was just one of those days.

Early morning run before coming back up to Melbourne, a bit of a rarity for me on a Monday this year (although not exactly coming off the sort of weekend I was doing back in the day) - headed towards the front beach, which took me to the far end of what I wanted to do. Felt a bit sluggish - again didn't sleep much last night, but the cold doesn't seem to have developed - but again no real injury issues, so I'm happy with that.

Evening session with a bit more drama than usual - nothing to do with what we were doing, but rather lots of flashing lights on the street outside. Didn't see what happened but am guessing it might have been someone getting hit on the tram (there's nothing on the news at the time of writing so hopefully nobody died).

Definitely looser than last time, which wouldn't be hard.

This was a day with a lot of ups (and a certain amount of indulgence), and some downs, one of them being that my car threw a wobbly (probably clutch) while in Dad's possession (he was going out to check street-O control sites while his own car was getting serviced).

Down on the Peninsula today. Had a bit of a rough night and woke up with a sniffle and a bit of a sore throat, so scaled back my ambitions a bit from what I originally had in mind, but still reasonably satisfied with this - hard work on the dunes (especially the softer ones), but some nice bits too - the track towards Number Sixteen beach has long been a favourite and remains so. No real injury concerns, and in particular my Achilles didn't blow up on the dunes like it did last time.

I've not been to this part of the world in mid-winter before; it may not be as busy as it is in January, but it certainly isn't dead. One thing that's happened since I was last here, though, is that part of the clifftop path at Bridgewater Bay has become a halfway-down-the-cliff path; there's an alternative but it's not quite the same without the view...

Another small step back; not as lively as Thursday, but again got through with no undue difficulties. Went down to Yarra Bend for the first time in a while (late enough that parkrun had finished for the morning), on a very un-wintry morning; not an awful lot has changed there (not as much as closer to home, anyway).

The afternoon saw a rarity - seeing my team play at the MCG on a sunny Saturday afternoon (normally the only way we get to experience this is make the Grand Final, or when Anzac Day falls on a Saturday). Obviously I'm not the only person who likes going to games on Saturday afternoon (even if TV doesn't like them) because 60,000 turned up to a match between two teams not in the eight, one of them from interstate. It wasn't a brilliant match, but at least we got the win.

A nice-once-you're-in morning at Fitzroy. Feeling fairly sluggish and flailing a bit, but managed to get through the session OK. Starting in semi-darkness, not something which happens very often (the sunrises get earlier from about now).

This was a prelude to doing a talk to a water industry workshop. Following me was someone from Water NSW talking about the drought in the northern Murray-Darling Basin, parts of which made me wonder if the expression "up shit creek without a paddle" is still appropriate when the creek has no water. I think he was joking when he said that if Dubbo runs out of river water (projected March 2020 at current flow levels), Western Plains Zoo would have to release its lions.

And Twitter has been having fun with Donald Trump making reference to the Revolutionary Army securing the airports (not too many of those in 1776) in his Independence Day speech, to say nothing of making reference to a battle which actually happened in the War of 1812.

C • Lions 3

A more lively start than I've been used to of late (i.e. I managed to get under 6s as early as the second kilometre), and no significant injury issues. The sort of run that I would have considered mundane not too many months ago but counts as significant progress here. Got my first look (although from a bit of a distance) at the new bike underpass of the Chandler Highway - I crossed the river there instead, where they're still working on restoring the old bridge. The builders seem somewhat confused as to where they actually are because also on the hoardings is a sign advertising for public comment on the plans for a park in the City of Hobsons Bay (on the other side of Melbourne).

Back running, after some fairly heavy-duty work with the physio last night. Fairly stiff and slow early on but gradually got into it, and actually appeared in danger of being nice in the last 10 minutes. Not a bad starting point. Always nice to get some exercise done in the morning, although my bubble deflated in sync with my rear bike tyre (valve failure when I tried to pump it up - and it turns out it's tubeless, which means I can't have changed it in the 8 years I've had this bike; not a bad run).

Did a bit of a short test jog this morning to see if things were still as they were before a physio session this evening. The latter seemed to be doing its job although tomorrow will tell the tale on this; it was certainly much overdue.

Normally I'm OK with jet lag after the first night, but waking up at 3.15 and not really getting back to sleep suggests this time is different. Hopefully tonight.

Having told work I'd be in mid-morning, got up somewhat later than usual and headed for Fitzroy, unsurprisingly uncrowded. Nice once you're in, although the views aren't as good as Lake Geneva's.

Return to Pilates. Laughably stiff on the first exercise but did eventually get better, and even managed to avoid falling asleep for the duration (although had my first hitting-the-wall wave of the evening shortly thereafter).

It gets dark in the evening. I'm not used to this.