Training Log Archive: blairtrewin

A solid effort after a very ordinary night's sleep which I suspect I'll pay for this afternoon. Steady climb through the first half-hour, then lost most of the altitude gained in one plunge - some sharp roller-coaster stuff in the final quarter to keep me honest. Saw various wandering farm animals and woke up quite a lot of the district's dogs, which won't have endeared me to the locals on a Sunday morning - maybe it's as well I'm leaving the district today.

C • Balloons 1

Not nearly as good as Thursday - a bit weak up the hills - but still no disaster. A bit longer than planned because a track on the map was overgrown (not a totally unknown experience in this part of the world).

Highlight of the Field Days so far: when we were setting up on Wednesday afternoon, someone drove a forklift into the pavilion (a no-no in itself with pedestrians about), then crashed it straight into an overhead gantry carrying power cables (fortunately without severing any of them and frying himself). Where was all this carnage taking place? Outside the Worksafe Victoria stand...(They weren't there at the time, but heard about it later and slapped a 'Look Up And Live' sticker on the offending forklift).

A bit stiff in the shoulders this morning but gradually improved over the second half. A new venue for this (Warragul), not as busy as a city pool would be at 7.15, and also not the sort of crowd you'd expect here (although Warragul likes to think of itself as the classy end of the Latrobe Valley).

C • Class 1

Buln Buln-Springsure Hill-Neerim South. In yesterday's entry I was hoping that the runs down here would be as good as they had been the last couple of years, and this one just about was - solid for the first half although with hints of a stitch at times, then a stellar stretch from 12-18k, strong up the hills and floating down them. Just tailed off a bit in the last 10 minutes as the last of the light went.

I suspect part of the reason why I run well here is that it's often the first cool spell of autumn, but the setting helps as well - rolling, splendidly bucolic dairy country (with occasional smells to match!) with a bit of forest around too. A few solid climbs, especially up Springsure Hill, but most of it's five-contour-at-a-time stuff. The road's been sealed since last year (a sign announced the 'Roads To Recovery' program, which translates approximately as 'You Are Now Entering A Marginal Seat. Please Vote Carefully') but very little traffic.

Reasonably mundane run around South Melbourne and Albert Park (still with its share of Grand Prix infrastructure). Quite a bit of wind about, particularly in some of the urban wind tunnels around the CBD.

Went to the World Swimming Championships last night. I picked a good night to go to (four world records) but the crowds were definitely on the small side - I think we almost had more at the last World Orienteering Championships, especially on the sprint day. (I'd guess there were 6-7000 there, of which probably one-third were team-mates or officials). It's being reported that the Victorian Government is spending $50 million on the event - it's hard not to think what we could do with 1% (or even 0.1%) of that amount.

Leaving aside the world records, points for a very impressive effort go to Laure Manaudou of France - in the space of an hour she won silver in the 100 backstroke, did the final of the 1500 freestyle and then qualified in the semifinals of the 200 freestyle. If nothing else she was well warmed up :-)

Lunchtime cruise around the Tan. Still windy but quite pleasant running conditions. Brief interruption when I encountered my old high school principal, who lives in Melbourne these days.

I'm heading down to Warragul for the next few days to work on the Bureau's stand at the Gippsland Field Days. Rain is expected tonight so the farmers should be in a good mood. I've had some terrific training runs down there the last two years so hopefully history will repeat itself.

Fartlek session. Never felt comfortable but a not-disastrous pace (9.14). Troubled by hints of a stitch at times, particularly on the second loop. Another very nice autumn morning.

Nice loosening session at Fitzroy, slightly bothered by intermittently leaky goggles.

MFR Monday night from Torgeir's new place, which is slightly larger than the last one (and slightly closer to the pizza shop). Fairly slow even by usual Monday night standards. A bigger bunch than is normally the case, and in the dark for the first time in several months. Fairly solid ride home afterwards - Burke Road on a bike is hillier than it seems in a car (or even on foot).