Training Log Archive: blairtrewin

State Series at the Balt Camp. This isn't the most technically exciting area in the world but is a pleasant forest to run in, and is not overly physical (mostly fairly flat, although there is a bit of bracken and fallen timber). A good steady run on another nice day, although lacking a little bit of pace. Only one 10-second miss, almost overrunning 11 - the most difficult control on the course, a ditch on a vague spur. (Bryan and David Brownridge both lost significant time here). Just managed to get in under the 6 min/km mark. Bryan did 49 (and it should have been 46-47), Morten (whose home ground it is) 51, Jim 53 and David 55.

It's amazing how much more quickly things come up at 6 min/km at 1:10000 than they do at 12 min/km at 1:15000; this took a bit of getting used to. Today's map had the same number of visible point features as last Sunday's, but this time that was because none existed.

C • Canberra forecast 2

Southern Cross Relay after the State Series event. Went out on the last leg five minutes behind anyone else, and was consequently lacking in motivation. One small miss but only a few seconds.

The trip home suggested that a piece of political action I may have missed was the passage of the Utes (Speed Limit Exemption) Act 2010.

Mornings don't come a lot nicer than this for running. There had been some overnight frost - enough that I got to do some crunching of the frost in the grass and fallen leaves at one point - but the sun was starting to get some penetration from the clear sky. It was the sort of day when it would be difficult to have a bad one, and this one was pretty reasonable, especially as I took on quite a challenging course, doing the hilly North Balwyn-Bulleen traverse for the first time in a long time. A bit of soreness but quite happy with my strength. May was my favourite month in Canberra, and this was Melbourne imitating it.

There was another positive afterwards as some long-standing ill-feeling seems to have been resolved with the owner of the next-door unit (his nephew, with whom I get along OK, is the actual resident) - this dates back to an episode about eight years ago when he had some issues with the body corporate and was waiting for me outside after an AGM with a view to resolving his issues forcefully. We hadn't spoken directly since but I'd heard via another neighbour a few months back that he'd mellowed in his old age and wanted to let bygones be bygones, and today was the first time we'd met since.

Pool running at Fitzroy. Seemed a little cold early on but nice once it got going. Not getting anywhere near enough sleep this week - something I might be able to do a bit about this weekend (which means probably passing up the Champions League final).

It hasn't been a good week to be Michael Johnson. There were two of them in the news yesterday and both of them were in trouble: the politician (the soon-to-be-former local member of quite a few Queensland readers) for dodgy business dealings, the footballer for possession of a white powdery substance.

A good honest Thursday morning effort and the longest midweek run I've done since last winter. Started from near work and headed out through Essendon (past my grandmother's place) as far as Avondale Heights before returning along the Maribyrnong, more or less. The main geographical feature of the run was the crossing of Steele Creek between Essendon and Avondale Heights, which seemed a much bigger hill when I was a kid than it does now - I think I just wasn't used to roads that went across steep valleys in straight lines. (It's probably 300 metres at 12%, or thereabouts). The run, on the whole, was pretty solid. Some left hip soreness in the middle but that had more or less gone by the end. Tired somewhat in the last half-hour.

Often from this starting point I would have headed out through Royal Park instead, but this morning might not have been a great time to be running around that vicinity as there was a breakout from the juvenile detention centre overnight. Turned out it wouldn't have been an issue as the escapees were (allegedly) otherwise engaged holding up a supermarket in Dandenong. They're at least a bit less incompetent than the would-be muggers in Sydney who failed to notice that the scene of their attempted mugging was right outside the Sydney ninja warrior academy. (I'm always partial to a good incompetent-criminal story, although I'm sure Constable Frogga's got some better ones that didn't make the press).

(And, as it turned out, avoiding the scene of a past crime took me straight past the venue of a future one - this afternoon's police shooting).

C • Incompetent criminal stories 2

A morning run around the base of Eaglemont and Ivanhoe. Didn't quite live up to its early promise but certainly none of the extreme sluggishness that's been present the last two days - must be (sort of) recovering from the weekend's exertions. Starting to get quite chilly in the mornings now, although no frost yet, even on the Yarra flats.

Spent the middle of the day at a Sports Commission briefing on the new government sports policy (conveniently, of all the places in Australia they could have held it, it was within 10 minutes' walk of my office). The outcome that I've gleaned from what was said is that we should maintain our existing levels of funding, but it is unlikely we will make the cut of those sports slated for a slice of the new money announced in the Budget.

C • too cold? 2

An attempt at a track intervals session (400s) at Clifton Hill. It was an attempt because I had some unwelcome company, in the form of someone exercising their dogs. Dogs are not allowed on the track at all and are not allowed anywhere in the reserve except on a leash, but my companion was not interested in doing anything about controlling his extremely active animals, who seemed to think it was fun to get in the way of anyone on the track. As being taken out sideways at speed by a large dog offers considerable potential for discovering why Melbourne is supposed to be the best place in the world to get a knee reconstruction, this didn't exactly make for a smooth session. As it happened, I was feeling as unenergetic this morning as I was last night and didn't need too much of an excuse to pull the pin after three repetitions. Times are meaningless as I had to take evasive action around the dogs on all three reps. Spent the ride home mentally composing my complaint e-mail to the council, although I doubt they'll do anything apart from possibly put up a more prominent sign; there's not much chance of finding a local laws officer at 7.15 in the morning.

C • candid camera 6

10 minutes warmup to the track, then down the river to take the total up past 40 minutes after abandoning the intervals session. Not in the best of moods for the second part.

Expected to feel very ordinary this morning, for the obvious reasons (as well as staying up too late last night to watch Our Mark in Monaco). Actually felt fairly reasonable with no obvious signs of stiffness, and had one of my better swim sessions for a while. A bit of a scare when I had a twinge in my hip about halfway through, but that disappeared after a couple of laps.

Sights of a Monday morning in the big city: coming out of Fitzroy pool (which involves crossing Alexandra Parade, one of Melbourne's busier roads), a woman of reasonably advanced years and equally advanced size was crossing in the other direction, wearing a swimsuit and clutching a lit cigarette.

Monday night MFR run from Zoe's high-rise apartment in a small group. I didn't have any real muscle soreness and neither did Kez, our other returnee from yesterday's battlefield. It became apparent early in the run, down into the Fitzroy Gardens, that I didn't have any energy either, but managed to muddle through this run, more or less. Not really looking forward to an intervals session tomorrow morning.