Training Log Archive: blairtrewin

First of a pair of sprint races at Yuille Station, an area alongside the Yarrowee River at Ballarat. Off-track running isn't a good option in most of this area - too many blackberries, gorse bushes and thinnings in the pines - but still a bit of fun. Took a few seconds to get the key route choice on the first right, thereafter planning OK but couldn't really make my legs move quickly. Bruce was on me by 7, and I couldn't go close to holding him, although a good route from the last control to the finish limited the damage. Less soreness in the terrain than has been the case in training in the last couple of weeks.

Second race with a reverse-order start, 1-minute intervals, so went out a minute in front of Jim and two in front of Bruce. I expected to hold off Jim but not Bruce, but instead it was the reverse. I started a bit slowly and Jim, who was clearly going for it, gained ground quickly; he was pretty close to me by 5 although took a while to get much more ground. Felt like I was running faster than in the morning (although still not fast enough), and perhaps that showed in the gap to Bruce, who didn't catch me until the last control - and then ended up behind me on the ground at the finish after being a bit unlucky with his line out of the last control.

The field here was small - partly due to the lack of promotion of the event, I suspect - but it was still fun and gave me a bit of harder racing, something I need pretty badly at present.

And the best comment I've seen so far on a certain sorry saga which has been occupying a fair bit of media attention of late was that of someone who remarked that, whatever else happened, you could no longer accuse the Health Services Union of not being able to organise a root in a brothel.

Like Thursday, not always the most comfortable of runs but couldn't really fault the endurance - 90 minutes felt absolutely routine today. Thought I might have overcommitted a bit on the distance (going along the south side of the river as far as the pipe bridge, then back through Alphington and the west side of Ivanhoe), but ended up hitting the time I was looking for right on.

Most of the mud on the near-Yarra tracks has dried, and what hasn't dried now probably will have dried by this time next week. Might be a fair bit of mud to be seen on and near the east coast of the US though. (Wind damage probably won't be a huge player, but flooding will be).

Learned a route-choice lesson on the way to the afternoon's social engagement - just because Burke Road runs in a straight line between Heidelberg and Highett doesn't mean that it's a particularly fast way to travel between those two places.

The regular Friday morning session at Fitzroy. Pool seemed a bit cooler than usual. Some semi-regular company, discussing the goings-on in Libya as we passed in the lane, as you do. Felt reasonably good and loosened various muscles which is the main objective of the exercise.

Geography fail of the day goes to the Age (http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/cyclist-run-over... - last paragraph). If the truck was travelling west on Mitcham Road I'm not surprised it crashed - Mitcham Road runs north-south.

C • Story correction 2

Planned this to be a long one but wasn't quite planning on something this long, out through Bundoora Park as far as RMIT Bundoora, then across through some new suburbia to Greensborough before heading back. This was never a particularly comfortable run - too many bits hurting (most often the left Achilles) - but a reasonable amount of strength when it counted, and finished off well with the last 20 minutes probably the best of it.

Topographic influences on temperature were even more pronounced than they were yesterday; with the north wind starting to get up, it was easily 10 degrees cooler in the bottom few metres of the Plenty River valley where cold air pockets persisted than on higher ground. The warmth on higher ground meant I didn't see any unusual clothing items in the vicinity of Greensborough College, whose school council voted a couple of months back to add blankets to the school uniform (the principal purpose of which was to cause sufficient political embarrassment to get something done about the school's heating - I headed overseas the next week so I never found out the final result, if there has been one).

Getting back to something close to normal (at least after the first few minutes); even felt like I had a bit of sharpness on the second loop, although not quite enough to get a loop time in single figures. Managed not to be deafened by the workers cutting through concrete next to the path.

It was also a morning when topographic effects on early-morning temperatures were particularly noticeable.

Morning session from near work up around Moonee Valley. Not as bad as yesterday morning (at least after the first few minutes) but still a bit of a struggle; if the purpose of Sunday was to build up confidence in handling long distances it may not have worked especially well.

I found myself on the Western Bulldogs e-mail list after buying a present for my brother-in-law from their online shop once (and haven't asked to be taken off because the team lists are useful). I'd previously pondered the question of whether my Essendon 2000 Premiers T-shirt has reached the point of ceasing to be something of pride and starting to be an embarrassing reminder of how long it is since we last won one, so where does that leave the 1954 Premiers T-shirt that the Bulldogs are currently offering? (At least neither item is as ugly as the pre-season jumper from about 15 years ago that Hawthorn are currently selling as a 'heritage' item).

250 on/250 off at the Tan (now more or less devoid of building works). Again nothing to get excited about although the hamstring tightness which was there early disappeared pretty quickly.

Going to/from the Tan. Had some company for the trip back in the form of Nicholas Bignell, a Corporate Cup regular whom I've been dicing with for the best part of two decades. We had some additional company for a couple of hundred metres in the form of the group of schoolgirls on excursion who decided to try to keep up with us until they got bored.

Starting to flow more or less OK by the trip home.

Acronym of the day: Understanding Severe Thunderstorms and Alberta Boundary Layer Experiment (UNSTABLE). The group responsible for this have some form as they have previously being involved with the Effect of Lake Breezes On Weather study and the Convective and Orographic Precipitation Study. (A European group once came up with a project proposal which abbreviated to FUNDME, but sadly it failed to get funding).

Monday morning rather than Monday evening, and it wasn't pretty. Very stiff after yesterday - spending a fair chunk of the afternoon lying down was probably unhelpful in that context - and took a long time to get going with any sort of freedom. 2.30 in benign conditions shouldn't be taking that much out of me, although it was the first of that length for a while.

Second leg of a Monday morning triathlon at Fitzroy on a nice morning (and you know spring is coming because the sun is up early enough to hit the surface of the pool). The main purpose of this was to loosen up some muscles, which is as well because it certainly wasn't fast enough to be of much use from the aerobic exercise point of view.