Training Log Archive: blairtrewin

Canberra Tour de Mountain. Did this with the intention of it being basically a training run - significantly longer and tougher than anything else done so far in this cycle - and perhaps winding it up in the later stages if feeling good. It took me into some previously unknown territory - I've never run up Mount Taylor from the south, or Isaacs Ridge at all.

The first two-thirds of this were reasonably encouraging - much stronger uphill than I have been. It helps when the biggest climb is early. There were five major climbs, and I'd got four of them out of the way when my quads started to struggle. From there the run was a struggle - walked the steepest bit of the final Isaacs climb (not that I was exactly alone there) and plodded home around the back of Isaacs and Farrer, finding even two-contour hills a bit of a challenge. Still, I got through something that I probably wouldn't have got through last week, and the knee, which hasn't been quite 100% at times this week, pulled up fine. Suspect there'll be quite a bit of stiffness in other places to be worked through in the pool, though....

Up in Canberra until Monday. Did a run in the middle of the day, taking me past landmarks which will be known to many of you (the hole where the Hoggster tree used to be - if reports of its size are to be believed, the volume of material produced by its demise is the largest single reason why Gunns are phasing out native forest logging in Tasmania), and some which aren't (the Hawker oval where I saw 79 runs made with such elegance that for a couple of hours it was possible to imagine their maker a decade hence, at the G on Boxing Day underneath a baggy green). As with my previous Canberra run, another feature of this was seeing water in places where I haven't seen water for a long time. I also expected to see wildlife in unusual places, but it was still a surprise to see a pony grazing next to the bike path between Macquarie and Jamison.

The run was nothing to get wildly excited about, although my hill strength is returning slowly. It will be tested more severely tomorrow.

And the Stating the Bleeding Obvious Award: the sign at the Virgin check-in in Melbourne which says that it's illegal to carry explosive devices on planes. This doesn't appear to be accompanied by any receptacle for getting rid of unwanted bombs.

C • Tiny 1

Pool running at Fitzroy on another nice morning. Came out of the session with quite a few ideas for work, as I sometimes do (for some reason pool running seems to be more productive than swimming for this). Seemed to be working pretty hard today.

The knee has given me no real issues running in the last couple of days but is a little stiff walking today. Will need watching.

In Canberra over the weekend (including Monday).

Had to work pretty hard for this but continuing to feel as if I'm making some progress, getting through the challenging Wed night/Thu morning combination with a bit more of a ramp-up in the distance. Certainly not as dire uphill as at times last week. Half-asleep for the first half-hour but then improved after that. Legs pretty fatigued at the end (and afterwards) - the long descent through Rosanna wasn't quite as relaxed as it can be.

Looks like a job for Constable Frogga:

http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/dreadlocked-fugi...

Street-O at Croydon. Drew some positives from this, even if I lost to, among others, an M55 and someone currently undergoing chemo. Definitely an improvement on last week, although that wouldn't be hard.

I was actually in front briefly tonight - for about 30 seconds on the way to the first control, by virtue of being the first person to make their mind up where they were going. That turned out to be just about the last bit of decision-making of the night on what was a pretty unexciting course in a reasonably flat area. It quickly developed into a pack race. I fell off the lead pack after a few controls and settled into a spot about 50 metres behind Ian Davies and a similar distance in front of Rachel Johnson. Held ground there for a while, but was struggling a bit to hold my pace (a similar problem to yesterday). By three-quarters distance it was looking like it was only going to be a matter of time before Rachel caught me; I have beaten Ian from this position before, but tonight wasn't the night. It ended up as a five-way sprint from the second-last control (thanks to a couple of mistakes from people in front); Rachel won it comprehensively and I was at the back. Bruce was about 3 1/2 minutes ahead, Bryan a minute behind that; if I can get two minutes closer I'll be starting to feel as if I'm getting back into some sort of shape.

Minor knee twinges at times but nothing to worry about.

First time back out onto the usual course. Was hoping for something not totally embarrassing and got it (where "not totally embarrassing" is defined as loop times which start with a single-digit number). A bit closer to pre-injury speed than I thought I might have been but still struggling for endurance at high intensity - tired more than I usually do in this session. This may be tested a bit more tomorrow.

A few knee twinges on the later uphill reps. I'm hoping that this is merely a response of muscles being worked for the first time and not a sign of deeper problems; the fact that the soreness disappeared on the warm-down is an encouraging sign in that respect.

Hard to beat a mild sunny morning at Fitzroy (except for the sun glare). Started this well but tailed off a bit in the second half. A little soreness in the left shoulder later on.

MFR Monday night run, the last one of the year, from Kirsten's. A lot of this was on the rough tracks on the east side of the river but even considering this it was pretty slow. Still, running felt a good deal less unpleasant than it has for the last week, so hopefully this is a sign I've turned the corner. I'll have a better idea tomorrow.

We had some extra company this evening (and probably a few more evenings during the summer) in the form of Georgia Whitla, who's over here for the summer doing engineering work experience with ExxonMobil (I won't hold that against her). Also saw Dion for the first time in a while.