Training Log Archive: blairtrewin

Long run on Dartmoor. I was hoping for decent weather but didn't get it; the plateau was shrouded in mist for most of the run (although the visibility was mostly in the 500-1000m range, not enough to cause serious navigation issues). The rain, though, stopped when I started and only came back briefly.

This was a very enjoyable run, especially the first half, running free across the moors on a loop east, then south from Princetown (roughly based on the half-marathon route from the Dartmoor mountain marathon). A bit rough and/or boggy in places but not enough to cause any real problems, just slow me down a bit. It was a long climb back along the disused railway but handled it reasonably well, and the biggest positive of all was that my Achilles was the best it's been since World Masters with only minor twinges on the steeper climbs. The only negative was that my camera batteries had run out (although it wasn't really photo weather).

The best of the day was spent exploring the coastline of north Cornwall and Devon; naturally as an extreme-weather person I had to check out Boscastle, the scene of a famous flash flood in 2004. Today the worst thing that happened was having difficulty finding a spot in the car park. (This wouldn't have been a problem in 2004, once all the cars that had been in the car park had been forcibly relocated to the harbour).

C • Course setting exercise 3

I managed to get the worst seat on the plane (middle, last row, didn't go back properly), but got to sleep eventually and ended up surviving the trip OK. The only part which didn't go to schedule was the Dubai-London leg (compounded by a long immigration queue, Dubai flights containing a fair number of people from countries which arouse the suspicion of immigration officials), but this just absorbed most of the time that I would have had to have waited for the train to Exeter. Managed to stay awake until 10, which was the principal objective today.

Always too much to do in the last couple of days before going away (and hence too little sleep); wouldn't normally run on a Friday but thought it would be logistically easier than attempting to do it after the flight tomorrow (especially as I'm not due into Exeter until 6.30pm).

Took a little bit to get going but better than I thought it might have been after yesterday. Achilles so-so but stable. A reasonably flat route starting from the Ivanhoe pool.

The second stage of this morning: the regular pool running session, in the not-as-large-as-I'd-like surrounds of Ivanhoe. A decent session though; working reasonably hard at times.

Went out with a bit of a spring in my step after hearing of the issues with the Liberal Party costings (I would have gone out with even more of a spring in my step if I'd seen the "Fred Nile in web porn scandal" headline before the run instead of afterwards), and also had a bit of daylight when I started a long run for the first time in a while.

Took on a hillier course than I have since coming home, heading out through North Balwyn and North Box Hill before coming back along Koonung Creek. Handled this OK initially but started to have some issues around halfway. The last third was flowing nicely aerobically, but a nagging niggle was still there.

Run from Clifton Hill around the Yarra in steady light rain - which would be getting me ready for this weekend except that I won't be here. (It looks like I'll instead get to experience rain on Monday and Tuesday). Not a bad morning for running, not so nice for riding afterwards. A bit more touchy on the hills than in recent days but finished off reasonably well, in a run that had its moments but never caught alight.

Looks like things might get a bit more interesting in Boothby:

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/08/31/2998...

I think there's a fair chance that the High Court will order a by-election if there is a legal challenge (although I'm not sure there will be - such challenges tend to rebound on the party that makes them, voters generally taking a dim view of such things).

If it happens this will obviously be a by-election of some significance. Boothby readers (and I know there are quite a few of you) are invited to post your pork wishlists here.

C • weather 4

8x400 (81-87) on a 2.30 cycle, at the Clfton Hill track. First speedwork I've done since returning and a bit of rust in the system but no injury issues. Quite a windy morning, but in a 400s session on a windy day there are worse places to hit the headwind than the first bend.

Someone else was doing what looked like 1k reps at about the same pace as my 400s; I thought chasing him might speed me up but it appears to have had no discernable impact. No dogs today.

Going to and from the track; quite a bit faster going back but that might have been because I was running late.

Got a dream run to Fitzroy: only one red light between my place and the pool (and not a huge number of vehicles on the road either: must have been a builders RDO). The swim itself was a reasonably routine one. Probably won't have many more cold mornings here this season.

The pool gives one time to ponder (it's not as if there's anything else to look at). On this occasion I was pondering election results, and a particular aspect which had puzzled me: why, when outer suburban Sydney and Brisbane swung strongly against Labor, did outer suburban Adelaide swing strongly to Labor - and why is it that the boats which seem to excite Sydney and Brisbane's bogans so much don't seem to draw any interest amongst Adelaide's bogans? One clue as to the answer was an analysis today which reported that Kingston, which had the biggest swing to Labor in Australia, also has Australia's highest percentage of atheists (this surprises me - I would have expected it to be Sydney, Melbourne or one of the ACT seats), and that numerous seats in outer suburban Sydney and Brisbane have a high percentage of fundamentalist Christians - fertile ground for hostility to Islam, and through that hostility to boat people. Adelaide and Melbourne don't do religion in quite the same way.

C • Swings against Labor 4

Monday night at my place with the usual small turnout. Very slow early on, but sped up a bit in the second half after we broke into two pairs. Achilles a little touchy at times but otherwise running reasonably well. Warmest night for a while.