Training Log Archive: blairtrewin

Did the 2-hour score event in the Yarra Parklands. Plan was to treat it as a Sunday long(ish) run with a target of around 105 minutes. I thought they'd struggle to keep us out for 105 minutes on a map of that size, but you can put some pretty convoluted legs in when you've got a winding river through the middle of the map, and while I was always reasonably confident I'd get them all inside the distance it wasn't until the last quarter that it was an absolutely sure thing. The course took us a bit more off-track than I was expecting (runners weren't really the ideal shoes for grip, although there was enough bitumen for O-shoes to have been awkward too), and some fun bits on the narrow track which runs right next to the river east of the boathouse.

The run was OK without ever reaching great heights. Quads were a little sore after the big hills of yesterday, although not to an extent that really caused any problems with the run. Found the hills, where they existed, harder going than yesterday.

Quite a few of the other Nuggets had similar ideas to me when it came to this event, leading to a rather better field than you'd normally expect for a weekend park event. There were also a couple of familiar faces who we haven't seen for a short (Rune Olsen) and long (George El-Hage) time respectively.

C • George 2

Bendigo Series event at Mount Tarrengower. Even by the usual standards of this map it was a pretty physical course - went almost over the top of the mountain, and then a second crossing of the ridge later on. Most of the control features were rather easy which led me into a bit of complacency in the circle at 10 - lost 30 seconds or so. Happy with the way I was handling the big climbs. More hesitant than I would like running on bare rock, something which has often been a problem for me.

An earlier-than-usual session at Richmond, which meant riding there in the dark - starting for work in the dark is always harder than coming home in the dark. Swimmers, though, operate on an earlier body clock, because when I fronted at 7.10 there were more people leaving than arriving. The swim itself was pleasantly routine.

Got a set of photos in e-mail today purporting to show a frozen sea at Cape Town. Being well-travelled is quite useful because I fairly quickly recognised the location as actually being the eastern suburbs of Toronto (see my AP entry for 17 November 2006 for a description of my run along the beach in question).

Ran starting from near work as my car was getting serviced today and I didn't want to battle the peak-hour traffic bringing it in. Started out along the Yarra going east as far as South Yarra, then southwards through Fawkner Park and St. Kilda to the Elwood Canal, back along the foreshore. Quite a bit of familiar territory from my Albert Park days.

Started out by seeing the end of a 'nightclub incident' - someone being led out of the establishment that the ABC refers to as 'a Melbourne casino', presumably by one of his friends (the person doing the leading was far too small to be a bouncer), and yelling at those back inside 'I'll (expletive deleted) throw this (expletive deleted) chair through the (expletive deleted) window, you (expletive deleted) (expletive deleted)'. (I was tempted to use similar language this morning at work when I found out that the Baw Baw rainfalls after 4.30 yesterday have gone AWOL). Wouldn't have thought 7.15 on a Thursday morning was peak time for drunks at Crown but you never know.

Not too much parading being done on the St. Kilda foreshore this morning - it was pretty wild and woolly (and there wasn't as much beach as I suspect there was this time yesterday), although the showers were short and sharp. Finished up by heading back through Port Melbourne to Fisherman's Bend, passing my great-aunt's house which was in the news a few years back when it transpired that someone had dumped a body in the concrete foundations while it was being built back in the 1980s. It was quite bizarre to read the court reports and see someone I knew being referred to as ZZ (there was a suppression order on her name), although perhaps not as bizarre as it was during the NSW police royal commission when two of the witnesses were referred to as B1 and B2.

As for the run - essentially situation normal, nothing special, but not really any trouble either, and didn't tire to any significant extent.

C • Baw Baw rainfall 1

Not a brilliant run but gradually got better as it went on. Steady rain for the second half, and a fairly stiff headwind in places too (particularly in some of the parklands coming back from Latrobe), but manageable (and invigorated at the end).

C • SBS 1

On the Tan: 20 secs on, 20 jog. Not bad, with a bit of power on the hills. Conditions certainly not as bad as I'd feared (windy in some of the CBD wind tunnels, but only light rain). I was shocked to see that the usual lunchtime numbers of the Tan were down by about 90%.

Going to/from the Tan.

Felt lively but ran slowly, although second loop was better. Fastest loop 9.18. Still slower than I would like to be this close to a major championship period.

According to the NSW RTA, due to snow on the Monaro Highway, motorists between Bredbo and Michelago are advised to 'reduce speed and exercise'. Sounds like good advice to me (although a lot of people on that road are on their way to do some exercise).

(I can relate to this, having once almost issued a seasonal outlook which said 'Winter likely in southern Australia').

C • Dubbo Forecast 11

C • weather advice 1

A not-especially-stellar session at Northcote chiefly notable for a discovery in practical chemistry. On the weekend a shampoo bottle split in my bag, causing a big mess (the car still smells of it, although I guess there are far worse things it could smell of), and in particular smothering my swimming goggles. I cleaned them as best I could but probably not completely, and then discovered this morning that they don't fog up any more. Thought this might have been coincidence, but have since talked to a couple of people who know people who put shampoo on their car mirrors to stop them fogging up in winter. I've forgotten too much chemistry since Year 12 to think about how this works, but it's useful that it does.

C • Windscreens too 1

A bit of a slow session even by MFR Monday night standards. Seemed to hit a lot of red lights on the main road crossings and was rather stop-start generally. Did a loop from Nicola's place out towards Darebin Parklands, back through some of the industrial bits at the north end of Alphington. This area is chiefly occupied by factory outlets which are the target of lots of buses on Saturdays, and there is (or was) also an establishment called the House of Bulger - Shane Crawford has a lot to answer for. (It's a brothel).

Didn't feel great on the run, probably because of overindulgence in my capacity as a guest judge in the Bureau of Meteorology Research Centre Cake Bake-Off.