Training Log Archive: blairtrewin

This won't go down as one of my classic long runs, but it was the longest I've done in three months and good to get under my belt.

Joined with Bruce for the first 90 minutes; he had to be back early so this meant a 7.00 start, a bit earlier than I would otherwise do on a Sunday given the choice (unless, of course, it was going to be 40 degrees, not something which one has to worry about in May). Spent a lot of this on various bits of Yarra Bend singletrack, not especially strong on the hills (but with fewer outward symptoms than yesterday) but plugging away. Continued on for another hour after that was done, never really inspired but not really tiring either.

Today's random bit of soreness is brought to you by the letter 'H'. (Right hamstring, which was playing up a bit between 1.30 and 2 hours but seems to have settled down).

This is the longest week I've done in a while, but hopefully close to the level I'll be operating at through much of the winter. Next week will be more intense with two, perhaps three, races (and a trip to Sydney thrown in).

Was pretty tired at the end of last night and woke up with a bit of a runny nose which hopefully won't turn into anything worse. A lovely morning for a run but didn't really do justice to it, although I did get to explore the new bits of bike path along Darebin Creek. Knee better than it was midweek, although still a few twinges on the later hills.

In the interests of completeness, I list below all the things that I told the 'Australian' yesterday that failed to make it into print:

- despite the cold spell in the south at the end of the month, Australian temperatures were still 0.49 degrees above normal for April, and much of northern and western Australia was consistently warmer than normal
- temperatures approached record highs in the first week of April in many of the same areas that were approaching record lows in the last week
- most of the records broken in alpine areas are pretty soft because very few places took observations in April and May before the arrival of automatic weather stations in the mid-1990s (it's when ski resort people tend to go on holidays)
- recent warming in Australia has been weaker in autumn than spring, which is consistent with an expectation that warming will be stronger in continental than marine air masses (over the Australian continent as a whole the driest months, with the least marine influence, are August, September and October)
- the growth of the east Antarctic ice sheet only removes a trivial amount of water from the atmosphere and therefore isn't sucking away southern Australia's rainfall (as suggested by a letter-writer), but changes in the Antarctic circulation driven by ozone depletion may have an influence on both

The bits that stayed in were all the bits that made reference to abnormal cold. Draw your own conclusions. (I'm inclined to think the hatchet job was done at a fairly high level, because I haven't had any problems with the journalist who wrote the story in the past, and the headline matches what I told them better than the eventual story does).

C • 0.49C 3

A bit better than most of my recent swims, particularly early on - didn't feel like I was flailing around for the first two laps like I have for most of the last few weeks. Definitely warmer on the bike getting there than it would have been yesterday (the swim itself was at Richmond which is indoors).

I organised an annual Labor Party quiz night last night. One of the parts of this I most enjoy is coming up with the wrong answers to multiple-choice questions, and this was no exception - a sample:

'According to the 1978 Cabinet papers released in January by the National Archives, the Fraser Government considered a proposal by the Italian government to provide, in exchange for 7000 tonnes of Australian beef and offal:

(a) 2000 Alfa Romeo cars
(b) an Australian tour by the La Scala opera company
(c) the signing of Alan Jones to drive for the Ferrari Formula 1 team
(d) intelligence cooperation in the fight against organised crime syndicates in Griffith'

You don't see a lot of mornings like this in Melbourne at any time of year, much less in April (+3 in the city, -3 at Coldstream which is representative of the Yarra Flats). Brilliantly clear and nice for running once you got through the first 15 minutes.

Headed south through Balwyn and Mont Albert as far as Surrey Hills station before returning by a generally more westerly route. Always felt like the engine was functioning OK, although it took half the run for the pace to pick up a bit (early darkness and a reasonably hilly start may have a bit to do with this). Solid through the later stages across the hills of Eaglemont. Again some nuisance-level soreness at the front of my left knee, mostly up hills.

Randomness department: coming back across Canterbury and Balwyn in a general north-westerly direction (which in an area with a regular grid of streets means alternating between north and west), at one intersection I turned right instead of going straight because I didn't feel like waiting for some traffic. This ended up taking me into a pocket I've never been into before - and opened up a spectacular view (especially on a morning like this) over and beyond the northern half of Melbourne from the oval at the back of Fintona school.

One of my work colleagues (who, as it happens, won a W14 Australian championship in a past life) is currently in Mexico, and is reported to have been seen throwing up (she got seasick on a boat trip). I'm sure that if we tipped off a journalist we could turn this into front-page news (and it might mean there's less space for the nonsense that the 'Australian' has been printing on climate change for the last two weeks).

C • mis quote? 4

Thought I might have encountered my first frost of the year this morning but cloud cover kept it somewhat mild in Melbourne (a different story at higher elevations, with state records for April for NSW and Victoria).

First half of the run, down through Eaglemont to Wilsons Reserve, was not unpleasant, but felt a bit awkward pushing on some of the hills. This disappeared in the second half which was pretty nice. Building back towards full training; will be interesting to see how I come up tonight.

Cruised round street-O at Macleod as a training run on a cold night. Untroubled aerobically all of the way and came home nicely. A little soreness at front of left knee at times for no obvious reason.

Route choice was a little more challenging than I expected - given the size of the area used I expected getting all 20 to be a formality but it was actually a reasonably close-run thing (although not at racing speed). Ian Dodd was with me for the first two-thirds; not sure what he did after that as I don't think there was an obvious alternative route from there.

A not-exactly-stellar fartlek session - promising start but didn't go anywhere and felt slow on all the fast bits. Pulled up a bit tighter than I would have liked, too.

Sights of the big city: a busker playing 'Seven Nation Army' on a didgeridoo in Swanston Street.

The person on the counter at Fitzroy pool seemed most perturbed as he told me that the water temperature this morning was only 25.7 degrees. I replied that anyone who was worried about 25.7-degree water probably wouldn't be swimming at Fitzroy on a morning like this in the first place.

Was flailing around for the first couple of laps but settled into my best swimming rhythm for a while in the second half.

C • if the pool temp was 25.7 a... 3

MFR Monday night run from my place with a small contingent - Nicola and Amy. A bit slower than I was really comfortable with but a reasonable recovery session. Made good use of the radar beforehand on a wet evening; it suggested a window between about 7.15 and 7.45 and this turned out to be the case (it started pouring again about a minute before we finished).