Training Log Archive: blairtrewin

Headed for Westerfolds Park, partly in pursuit of some unfinished business - back in July I'd set out to do all the permanent controls (in numerical order, which means a fair bit of criss-crossing) over three or four sessions. That quickly became off the agenda for some months but I was back to it as the opportunity arose. The run itself was similar to others this week - finding it hard work but no significant pain. A little wobbly at times (and creek crossings were sometimes tricky), but am putting this down as another small step of progress.

The grass is not yet a problem - only picked up a few seeds - but is probably not too far away from being so, so I'm not sure if I'll be back in the immediate future.

Sooner after waking up than I've been used to exercising lately (coming off another late night), so perhaps not surprising that I wasn't that sharp, also threatening to cramp at times.

The crunch on swimming pool numbers seems to be easing; I noticed when I booked this on Wednesday morning that there were still some Wednesday slots available (whereas when things first opened, every slot had disappeared within a few minutes of bookings opening).

C • Opposite situation 1

Headed northeast this time for another step up in the return. Back pretty tight early on (sounds familiar) but not the soreness often present in the past, and settled down after the first 10 minutes or so. Still finding it hard work but some decent patches through the middle, was tiring a bit but a traffic stop with about 10 minutes to go was somewhat revitalising. A hint of hamstring soreness in the last few minutes but that was gone by the evening.

Picked off a few more streets in the area on and west of Oriel Road, mostly going around the outside. I think of this as Bellfield but Bellfield officially doesn't start until north of Banksia Street (which means that the former Bellfield Primary wasn't in Bellfield, at least on its current boundaries).

Someone rode in and out of a cul-de-sac at the same time as I was running in and out of it. I suspect we may have been on similar missions...

A check of the 1991 and 2001 street directories reveals that the northern boundary of Ivanhoe in this area hasn't moved (it has east of the Repat), although Bellfield wasn't identified separately from West Heidelberg in 1991. Still, it's probably not quite as oddball as the Malvern Central shopping centre (which isn't in Malvern).

The bike's not playing such a big role in training now that I'm starting to run more, and today was the first session since the weekend. Did the out and back ending up on the Koonung path, an old regular which became beyond limits for the last few months.

The paths seem a bit quieter than they were - perhaps a reflection of more people going back to work - although I'm not quite sure what the person wearing a bulletproof vest was expecting to find on the Darebin Creek trail. (I know some of the locals were none too pleased about the trail's creation, but as far as I know none have started shooting). Later on, on the way back, I found myself for a bit in a peloton of sorts heading for Kew High (potentially some more business for a certain Kew High parent).

Not the most energetic of rides; an earlier start than has been usual of late. Enjoyed actually sitting down for a coffee afterwards (it was slightly alarming when a fire truck turned up, but they were just looking for coffee too).

Comebacks are always hard work and this one is no exception. One of these days a slow 30 minutes will not feel as challenging as two hours once did, but there's a bit more recovery to be done yet. The positive, though, was that there was no pain, and while there was a bit of back stiffness it was well below the levels I've sometimes encountered on morning runs this year.

Today's mission: a pocket in between Westgarth school and the railway line. Will probably need a couple more goes (or one long one) to clear the rest of the area south of Separation Street.

Lunchtime swim, in a positive mood given the news already received during the day and in anticipation of what was still to come. Felt OK in the water but a little slow again. Felt the water was colder than usual, and on the way out confirmed that it was (in the 24s), but quite pleasant once moving.

Back out into something resembling a proper forest again, at Woodlands (just within my zone). I definitely wasn't the only one here, although I was the only one taking to the bush.

Hamstring again fine, back tight to start with but improved later on. Hitting sites well for the most part once I got into which things on the map could be relied on and which ones couldn't (was using a map 10 years old or so). My strength is not yet up to running consistently uphill through waist-high Patersons Curse, which was to be found on parts of the open area (particularly the southern side); a bit slower than I was in May but I think the vegetation mostly explains that. Nice to be out, and to see kangaroos in some abundance. Longest full week since 2016, although the amount of training time will come down from here as running (hopefully) becomes a larger proportion of the mix.

And one thing's changed in the four months since I've been to this side of town: the Coburg level crossing is no more. The Preston one will join it in a couple of years.

C • Salvation Jane 1

Today's mission was to do as close an approximation as I reasonably could of a 5km circle around home - it might have been more fitting to do it while it was still a legal requirement (not totally convinced that isn't coming back tomorrow), but I'm not fast enough to do it in two hours, which was the limit before this week. A perfect circle (with the trip to and from the edge) is 41.4km, but I suspected beforehand it would be closer to 50.

It rained heavily overnight and through the morning, and I held off as long as I reasonably could before taking the plunge into the back end of the rainband. The rain stopped after 20 minutes or so, but for the next hour the roads were wet and I was holding a bit back in the more slippery areas, especially as the southern part of the circle is probably the most trafficked. Dried out after that, starting with a small deviation outside the zone (with the amount of overnight rain I thought the dirt parts of the Yarra Trail would be unrideable on a road bike, possibly even flooded, so went the Bulleen Road option instead). The Heidelberg hill was OK, and then it was a case of getting the rest done in relatively flat terrain; headwinds at times in this stretch, but I knew that meant a tailwind in the last 5km.

Happy with the way I lasted the distance, especially as I thought the timing might mean I was a bit down on food. I think it's the longest session of any kind I've done since 2016. It's also the first time in a while that my last-7-days total has topped 9 hours (the last full week where it happened, excluding rogaines, was in 2015).

There were a few houses decorated for tonight's game, although none in Richmond itself, where the only evidence of local loyalties I saw was someone in a tiger suit walking out of the street market.

Extending my distance a bit further, and headed north in the name of clearing the rest of east Thornbury east of Station Street - mission accomplished, although I was a bit further from home than I'd planned on when the allotted 30 minutes ran out. Fairly similar to Wednesday - felt like it was hard work, but no pain in anywhere that matters, so I'll take this as a positive.

Late afternoon session in the pool, hoping to get in before the arrival of any serious rain (still waiting for that). Started out all right but felt as if I was drifting a bit, and the time reflected that.

As flagged a few days ago, headed out north in pursuit of the Reservoir version of Ralph Street, although as it turned out I found something else out there which was more worth photographing and posting, a campaign sign for one Alice Maddineni who's spruiking her local credentials with the slogan "Living next door to Alice". Once through there, out east to La Trobe and then back south. A reasonable ride and slightly longer than I'd planned on.

Looks like today was the day for Book Week festivities at Fairfield (and Ivanhoe). Halloween decorations are also gradually starting to appear.

Took a long-overdue day off from work today (apart from anything else, I've clocked up about two days' worth of night meetings just in the last fortnight), and set out on an attempt at the first proper run. Not feeling at my freshest after one of the aforementioned meetings (a 2-2.45am affair after which I slept predictably abysmally, before surfacing just before 8 in pursuit of a Friday swimming timeslot), and the first proper run back is always hard work, but the most important mission was accomplished, namely no hamstring trouble (if anything there was more tightness in the quads).

There were quite a few people running in slightly unusual contexts this morning when I headed for coffee: in rapid succession I spotted an athletic-looking black girl (wearing a primary schools championships T-shirt) of late primary/early secondary age heading for school, someone running and clutching a couple of ballot paper envelopes (presumably their route was taking them past a postbox), and two separate people pushing strollers in the direction of the nearest childcare centre.

C • Pushers 9

I was using the day to do as much exploring as was permitted, meaning some novelties (packing a bag with a water bottle! food! sunscreen!). The first proper destination was Wattle Park but on the way I did a session on the Koonung Trail, an old favourite from Heidelberg days (it's 10km with no road crossings, and going east mostly gentle uphill with a couple of short steep ramps). Built into this pretty well, and not as crowded as some paths can be at the moment.

The Wattle Park stop was to see Dad (getting a car serviced nearby) for the first time in months. After that I headed off in pursuit of wilder places, in the form of the Yarra upstream of Warrandyte - wilder than I expected. The river is flowing strongly at the moment and this seems a good spot to look at the next time it floods (which, depending on the track of this weekend's low, might be as soon as Saturday). The return trip also reintroduced me to traffic jams - mostly because I made the mistake of going past Wonga Park Primary at pick-up time - but you can't have everything.

(Speaking of schools, from the outside, Donvale Christian College looks like it might have sprint potential, with the combination of what look to be some fairly intricate buildings and quite steep slopes).

Did something I haven't been able to do for the best part of three months and kept going straight rather than turning left at the Southern Road intersection, heading out onto the La Trobe loop. A bit sleepy early on (I'd gone out earlier than I often have of late to get back in time to catch what turned out to be a somewhat underwhelming Bureau appearance at Senate Estimates), settled after that though not as fast as I've sometimes been in the later stages of this. Also a bit interrupted at times, thanks in part to builders making up for lost time (who have perhaps got used to the idea that driving a bobcat back and forth across a main road in the middle of peak hour is a perfectly reasonable thing to do).

There were a few things to make for a positive mood though: the change of scene (even enough forest for a proper forest smell going past the La Trobe sanctuary), seeing golfers get ready for their first hits, a sunny morning, and the discovery that the Oriel Road magpie appears to have called it quits for the season (I'm not yet brave enough to put the Fulham Road one to the test).

C • On guard! 3

Not at my most energetic this morning but continuing to make progress, with generally no injury issues (just the slightest of niggles in a section on cobbles). Again headed west and cleared a few more streets on the Northcote side.

It seems to be Book Week this week (otherwise occasionally known as Competitive Parenting on Social Media week). Judging by the costumes on display in the western and eastern halves of the run respectively, I am assuming that Westgarth Primary was having associated festivities today, and Fairfield Primary wasn't.

C • I approve of this activity 2

Late afternoon swim, getting a bit better each time, and had just got a big piece of work done so I was in a generally decent mood. The allowed numbers in a pool have increased (and Northcote has also opened the kids' pool for swimming, although it would be a stretch to do laps in something so shallow), but I haven't yet put to the test whether there are still spots available for booking as late as 8.02am.

Another semi-circle from the west side to the east side (maybe even a bit southeastish), going across much of this area in the opposite direction to normal and taking in a few new bits of Preston, like the Australian Corrosion Association - presumably they're against it - and Jessie Street, presumably not named after Jessie Street. (A post-ride check of the Melway revealed that Melbourne has five Ralph Streets, the nearest being in Reservoir and Bulleen - possibly meriting a mission this week now that they're legal?).

Seemed to be a bit off pace in this ride, but at least the distance was no issue (and once again no hamstring soreness or fatigue in the later stages).

7 x 2 on/1 off. Continuing to make progress - again no pain, and felt more comfortable running than on Thursday. Did something other than around an oval this time (and even ticked off a few more streets). Humid enough to get something of a sweat up.

Fairfield has historically been quite a Greek area, although that community is ageing (one of the two old-school Greek cafes closed a few weeks ago, although there are still quite a few restaurants). As usual on my Saturday morning newsagent visit, though, there was a group of older men there with newly-acquired Tattslotto tickets and copies of Neos Kosmos.

Headed up on the Yarra Boulevard, fresh from seeing it in a video on Rage this morning - it must have been a while ago (about 25 years to be precise) for it to be possible for three minutes to pass in daylight hours on the Boulevard without the presence of a bicycle. Wasn't feeling especially fresh myself at the start, but gradually built into it.

There were a couple of very visible police camera installations en route (and what I think was an unmarked car towards the southern end, although they didn't seem to be doing anything). One might hope that they were looking for people dropping tacks but I doubt it.

Lunchtime swim. Getting a bit better each time and this was a solid session under the modestly warm midday sun. The system still favours the organised so that works reasonably well for me.

Brazilian police investigating alleged corruption found an MP with several thousand dollars of cash between his buttocks. Gives a new meaning to "dirty money".

And I received today a reply from someone at work to an e-mail I sent in 2004 (16 years later, the reply was still useful, although not for the reason I originally asked). This still doesn't match up to the time lag where I wrote, in 2000, a response to something originally written in 1976 (I'd identified a suspect rainfall observation from 1971 and, on checking the files, found a note requesting its correction) - the author of the 1976 note was still at the Bureau in 2000 so I thought a reply wouldn't go astray. (The suspect observation itself was eventually fixed in 2008, by someone who hadn't been born yet in 1976 - I'd like to think that 32 years is a record for a memo to be actioned in the Australian Public Service, but it probably isn't).

The bad news is that I felt tired and sluggish (not surprising after finishing at 12.45am), the good news is that the run was pain-free for the first time in ages, despite going to a longer rep length (2 on, 1 off). This is very encouraging although I'm not about to rush things back given earlier setbacks. (I'm wondering which will come first - being able to do a proper run, or being legally allowed to do it more than 5km from home?).

Today's name from the past in the news was 1984 W18 Australian champion Karen Barbey. Unlike a certain other scandal-plagued Australian junior champion of similar vintage a few months back, her deep and meaningful conversation with the Independent Commission Against Corruption appears to have been as a witness rather than a suspect.

C • whom 2

Lunchtime ride, feeling somewhat better than I was in the morning. Initially down into Yarra Bend, then west as far as the Edinburgh Gardens, scene of a heavy police presence from time to time this week - although not as heavy-handed as Sydney Uni (picking on a law professor may not have been the smartest of moves for the cops). Fairly quiet outside, and a fairly smooth ride. Got some enthusiastic crowd support from Fairfield Primary in the last bit.

Feeling pretty sleepy this morning, which had absolutely nothing to do with this being the second of three successive nights of meetings lasting to midnight or beyond (I'll be feeling it's an early night when tomorrow night's OA Board meeting finishes at 10 or thereabouts). Got going a bit better later, after an initial loop through the east edge of Kew (or, as it's known by those unimpressed by the antics of the local member, Far Kew) and North Balwyn, then back through Ivanhoe and a finish to the west.

Stretching things out a bit further (9x1 minute this time). Felt a bit of a niggle but definitely improved on the last two, and no tightness afterwards so I seem to be making decent progress.

A sign that traffic is getting more noticeable is that I actually used the pedestrian lights to get across Grange Road (although that was partly because I thought that dashing across in a gap might encourage a nearby three-year-old to attempt to do likewise).

A lunchtime ride with a bit of a mission - on Sunday I'd seen a flash of the relevant colours on the other side of the road and went out today to see if I could confirm the continuing existence of a Carl Kirkwood ALP For Preston sticker (once upon a time these could be spotted on power poles the length and breadth of the electorate but they're becoming fewer and further between). This mission was indeed accomplished. It's something of a historical artifact - the last election that Carl Kirkwood was a candidate in was in 1985 (and for historical bonus points, the small print reads "Part of the John Cain Team").

The ride itself was pretty smooth. Paths quieter than I've become used to, perhaps a consequence of (most of) the kids being back at school now.

2020 life lesson learned: now that the kids are back, do not attempt to get coffee at 9.05am at a cafe in close proximity to a school drop-off area.

Evening session (since that was the time I could get). There were a few squad people who didn't seem to have noticed that their usual lanes are currently the slow lanes, which meant being overtaken at rather high speed on occasions, but I wasn't going too badly myself (by my usual standards).

A scoreline from the WA-SA Shield game which will have been noted by fans of backyard cricket: Wes Agar c & b Ashton Agar 4.

C • Agar 2

7x1 minute with 1 minute walk, which got me four-and-a-bit times around Pitcher Park instead of three (once the jog parts get longer than a minute I'll look for more varied alternatives). Pretty similar to Friday: not entirely comfortable while I was doing it, but didn't get any worse through the session and pulled up OK afterwards.

The day's proper session, essentially doing the northern and western half of the circle (the bits I didn't do last Saturday), from Heidelberg around through Preston and East Brunswick to Collingwood. Not a bad ride; felt comfortable on the initial climb (a light tailwind helped), and didn't really tire, nor did the hamstring give any trouble as it sometimes has later on rides.

A bit of bike infrastructure has been done since I was last out this way: a proper opening has been put in the gate at the end of the footbridge at the northeast corner of Northland (you used to have to negotiate a narrow gravel, and often puddled, gap between two posts).

Street signs in some places bear details of who it was named after - the bit in East Brunswick that Victoria Street was named after Queen Victoria was something of a statement of the obvious (although the bit about her being the world's longest-reigning female monarch has been overtaken by events) - but in West Heidelberg, where the 1956 Olympic Village was, the small print details which teams stayed in which street. The streets themselves are mostly named after things to do with World War 2 - one wonders what the Germans and Japanese would have thought (particularly as a few of the older athletes would probably have been returned servicemen). Also noted in the names department was the Carringbush Hotel, although I'm not sure whether it takes its name from its home suburb's fictional name or whether the fictional name was taken from the pub (the pub looks reasonably old so possibly the latter).

The Economist does deadpan very well: "El Salvador’s president, Nayib Bukele, announced an inquiry into whether El Faro, a digital newspaper, had engaged in money-laundering. El Faro recently reported that Mr Bukele’s government secretly asked imprisoned leaders of MS-13, a big criminal gang, to reduce violence in exchange for privileges."

The second attempt at the pool was a lot better than the first - actually felt as if things were functioning and got down to a reasonably normal time. It helps somewhat when it's under the sunshine (it's getting to the point of the year where the sunscreen needs to start coming out - those of you further north would already be there, of course).

Trying this route back on the advice of my physio - at least it's a start. Didn't feel as if I would have been up to a proper run today, but at least things didn't get any worse through three laps of the oval at 1 minute on/1 minute off, and I pulled up more or less OK afterwards (even if the hamstring didn't especially like kicking the football back to the kids across the road).

There's traffic again on Grange Road. When did that happen?

The council election ballot papers arrived today. We've ended up with five candidates, making (a) to (d) on my earlier list, and arguably (g) (someone who doesn't think the Greens are hardcore enough). We've also had the compulsory feature of any modern election, a candidate - this time a Labor one in the north end of Darebin - going down in flames after being sprung having said something racist/homophobic/misogynistic (delete where inapplicable) on social media. (Someone, presumably not a candidate, ticked all three of those boxes in 30 seconds while ranting, mostly to himself, outside the bakery at Fairfield at lunchtime).

The morning hardly constituted a proper session so this was a late afternoon outing on the Boulevard, not always at my sharpest but got through it all right (including the hills). A few bikes out, which is usual, and a few fast vehicles, which is less so - one motorbike's speed wouldn't have been too far short of three figures.

Lunchtime session after a late night last night (my plans were also influenced by the wet forecast for this morning, although as it turned out it had cleared by sunrise). Headed down to Yarra Bend initially then through Clifton Hill and North Fitzroy. Quite blustery, and felt good going south, working harder going north but that's the idea.

Heidelberg, then west, on something akin to the usual loop on a misty morning of the sort we don't often see at this time of year. Not always super-awake for morning rides but the hill was OK this time. A few more interruptions than I would have liked for traffic and construction people holding up lollipops, although there perhaps should have been a few more lollipops for the trees being lopped with some enthusiasm in the streets around me this morning. (Perhaps I should redirect their attention to the tree that's now overhanging the path on the Merri Creek bridge on Heidelberg to an extent that you now have to duck pretty low underneath it).

Seeing news that Berlin's new airport is (supposedly) opening at the end of the month reminded me that I was booked to fly into it once. In 2012.

A landmark reached today was that I've now done more training hours in 2020 than my annual total in 2019. I thought the annual total of rainfall for Melbourne might also reach a significant benchmark today - it's about to pass the long-term annual average, giving Melbourne only its third above-average year since 1996 - but today's rain is taking its time arriving and giving us the 5mm or so required.

C • Well... 1

I'd felt good enough the last day or two to think it was worth a try again, and for the first few minutes it felt OK - not quite right but no pain - but thereafter the hamstring went down the same general slide as it did last time. At least I was seeing the physio this afternoon so she could have a proper look at it at its worst, but this feels like another slide backwards (a feeling which is probably pretty common in this part of the world at the moment).

I'd planned to go for a ride post-physio, but after some needlework I wasn't really in the shape for anything more substantial than getting home (perhaps this was a good thing as it was pretty bleak and drizzly by then in any case).

The effort to organise this session probably outstripped the effort to do it. Pools have reopened in Melbourne, but with a maximum of 20 people per session (like last time) and outdoor pools only (not like last time). As only a smallish proportion of pools are outdoor (two out of eight within my 5km radius), this unsurprisingly leads to demand greatly outstripping supply. I went online on Saturday morning 15 seconds after bookings for today opened, found out that by the time I'd entered my details my preferred session had booked out, got the same result second time, but had success the third time.

(I don't know whether a "secondary market" has developed - it would be very 2020 if the scalpers who would normally be dealing in Grand Final tickets around this time of year instead turned their hand to swimming pool timeslots).

The swim itself was nothing to get too excited about as a session, except to remind me about various unemployed muscles and that my technique has got even worse with three months of no practice. Felt like I was about to cramp a couple of times later on but never actually did. Still good to do something different.

There was possibly a bit of karma about the fact that it poured with rain throughout my originally preferred timeslot (8-9am), although even with the rain cleared it was a chilly day (coldest in October since 2010) - especially with a bit of wind.

And then I got out to discover that I was wanted for a TV interview in 15 minutes. Hope I didn't look too disheveled (if anyone was watching Channel 7 in Sydney they may be able to advise).

Northeast Melbourne is now officially a rona-free zone: the last case in Greensborough was cleared today, meaning that there are now none north of the Yarra anywhere east of Reservoir.

The longest ride I've done so far in this period, essentially going around the southern and western side of my circle (this time going as far south as Bridge Road in Richmond, which is right on the edge). Generally a reasonably solid session, coping better with the climbs than is sometimes the case (particularly the one back up past my old place on the east side of Heidelberg); hamstring didn't fatigue as much as it has on the last couple of longer rides either. Wind not as much of a presence today - its flukiness illustrated by the fact that the Australian, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander flags on different parts of the Collingwood town hall were pointing in different directions - but still nice to have it behind me at the end.

At one of the Trump-related media conferences it was mentioned that he was "asking for documents to review". It did not take long for someone to notice that in the Boris Yeltsin era, his staff were regularly saying "the President is working with documents", to the point that "working with documents" has entered the Russian language as a euphemism with much the same meaning as "tired and emotional" in English.

C • Classic! 2

Today was supposed to be the day of the Australian Long Championships. I was clearly fated not to run in a 2020 Australian Long Championships. Had the event not been cancelled because of Covid, it probably would have been cancelled because of high winds (which claimed the Tasmanian Middle at Littlechild Creek), and had it not been cancelled because of high winds it probably would have cancelled because of a nearby bushfire - and if the event had actually taken place I was injured anyway (although it's an unknowable unknown as to whether I would have been had I spent August in Slovakia's forests rather than on Fairfield's streets).

The high winds were present in Melbourne too, if not quite on the scale of St. Helens (unless you were at Melbourne Airport, ideally positioned for mountain waves in the right sort of northerlies). This called for some route choice thinking, with the additional nice-weekend-day-of-2020 imperative of spending as little of the ride as possible on paths that people might be walking on (especially people likely to be accompanied by creatures on four legs or small people on two), as well as avoiding a couple of inconveniently-positioned magpie attack sites. Eventually settled on something zig-zagging north through West Heidelberg, not going continuously into the wind for too long at once, before west across the top of Northland as far as St. Georges Road. The St. Georges path was the reward for the earlier slog - gently downhill, with a very solid tailwind (and a favourable run with the lights) - which is why that part of the ride was comparable to one a few years ago on the Hay Plains with a similarly favourable tailwind. (The difference on the Hay Plains was that it was the first half of the ride and I knew what I had to look forward to in the second half).

Lost more fluid than I thought, judging by the amount I drank in the rest of the day. The first warm day of spring will do that.

C • Littlechild Creek 2

I have driven the grand total of 177km since I last got petrol - in the last week of June. In that time, I have certainly ridden, and run, more than 177km, and although I haven't kept track of it, I suspect I've walked more than 177km too.

C • Ks 2

A warm, windy morning but mostly a fairly sheltered ride, out to Eaglemont Flats and back through the suburb (diverting along my old commute route along the railway because of roadworks on Studley Road). Got a full-force blast over the top of one hill which was enough of a reminder that it was worth staying away from exposed areas today. Felt OK riding but don't get a sense that a run is that close.

It would be fair to say that a certain amount of schadenfreude was being expressed by those I know this afternoon.

Once again failed a late fitness test so instead it was late afternoon on the bike, this time on the Boulevard with the Darebin Creek extension. A bit more traffic than I've become used to, and some sunglare too (although the greatest hazard was the rollerskiers taking up all the bike lane and a bit more besides). Felt pretty solid on the climbs, though a bit sore later on.