Training Log Archive: blairtrewin

For the second week in a row I didn't get through everything I'd planned for Sunday, although I got closer to doing so than seemed likely 45-50 minutes in, when I had no energy and every step was a struggle. I suspect I wouldn't have got as far as 2.08 had it not been for Bruce dragging me along. It was a general lack of energy (the Achilles was behaving itself today). The time seems right to back off a bit for a few days and then set myself up for another big six-week block.

I had been pondering the question of what went so right three weeks ago, and although part of it was probably the setting and part of it was that -2 is a better temperature for long runs than +25, it's also occurred to me that that day was one where I started the run wondering if I'd overeaten for a pre-run breakfast; perhaps I'm not eating enough before these sessions? (If so, this would have been exacerbated today by an unusually early dinner last night, thanks to the cricket).

Speaking of the cricket, does anyone else think there was a bit of a sponsorship conflict created by the two major sponsors being KFC and Jenny Craig? Most new batsmen (I refuse to call them "batters") and bowlers were introduced with the line "thanks to Jenny Craig", although one who wasn't was Daniel Smith, who appears, by some margin, the player in most need of Ms. Craig's services.

A very similar run to Wednesday - the Achilles started hurting in the middle of the day yesterday for no good reason (I don't think working through some challenging data from Tennant Creek constitutes a "good reason"), and didn't really settle through the run although stayed at manageable levels (probably at least in part because most of the run was flat along the Yarra and through Wilsons Reserve before coming back through past the Repat). Might need to think about scaling back tomorrow if it's still bad although so far it usually hasn't had two bad runs in a row. Starting to come to terms with warmer weather a bit more now. (Had I stayed in Geneva, this was a day where stretching one's arms out would probably have been enough to end up in Lausanne - I'm assuming that the forecast of 155 km/h winds at 2000m was enough to put paid to a colleague's planned weekend on the ski slopes).

Cultural assimilation department: seeing a man with a Scandinavian accent playing cricket with two boys (presumably his sons) in an Ivanhoe park. This may be the approximate equivalent of the group of African cross-country skiers I saw on the trails at Holmenkollen in February.

My most impressive performance of the day was still to come, though: managing to get through Northland, with five shop visits en route, in less than an hour from car park entry to car park exit. This included performing the important uncle's function of buying noisy toys.

C • Such a feat is impossible 2

Stiff early but worked it out reasonably well in the pool.

I don't really enjoy bike commuting this time of year - everyone's on edge and the traffic is a bit too frenetic, with the environs of the Queen Victoria Market a particular trouble spot. Tonight could be an interesting ride home as half the Melbourne CBD (including us) has had their work Christmas parties this afternoon.

(And speaking of Christmas, we've seen our first sighting this year in the Daily Telegraph of a school which has "banned Christmas" in the name of "political correctness". Unusually for such stories, it does actually name a specific example, before going on to elicit outraged comments from the usual Dial O for Outrage exponents).

A longer long run than previously midweek, although the degree of difficulty on this was relatively low - a flat course (through Northcote to the Fairfield boathouse, along the river, then loops around the Boulevard and the Banyule ovals), a cool morning and a less demanding Wednesday night than a lot of them are. (I'd originally planned to do this from Fishermens Bend, where my car was getting serviced, but some tradespeople were coming in the morning so I did it from home instead).

The first half of the run was unexciting but fairly smooth. Hit a bad patch around 90 minutes when it felt as if my quads were going to struggle to go the distance, but got a bit of a second wind on the Yarra Flats section - as rural-feeling as it gets in middle-suburban Melbourne - and finished off pretty well. Will be interested to see how I come up tomorrow. Achilles a bit touchy up hills but there weren't many of those today.

My Achilles has good days and bad days. This wasn't a good day.

Once it became apparent that it wasn't going to be a good day I planned a reasonably flat run, including my first post-return inspection of the Banyule Flats single track (still pretty muddy for this time of year) before heading up into Macleod. A fair to middling run if I could ignore the soreness.

Street-O at Belmore Parklands. Wasn't feeling too sparkling but led for the first 50 metres before Bruce took over. Such touch as I had with Bruce and Ian Davies disappeared when I once again ran into fence trouble (a gate I was expecting to be open wasn't, I confused it with one which wasn't supposed to be open but was, and that one dropped me into an area with no exit). This proved to be a point of controversy because it turned out the whole area was out of bounds anyway but that wasn't visible on Bruce's map (or mine) because of a dodgy photocopy.

On my own after that, plodding a bit but enjoying myself more than in the second half last week, and then got a big stitch halfway through. This is the first time it's happened to me in ages and I'm not sure why - perhaps it was the mere thought of tobacco smoke after reading the draft-for-review-and-reissue* Bureau policy on smoking in the workplace, which takes three pages to say that smoking is not allowed in the workplace. (In practice, in Australia smoking scientists are almost as hard to find as smoking orienteers, although I've seen a few in Europe).

The stitch limited my enjoyment and enthusiasm for the last half of the course, although I kept plugging away. Definitely sluggish this week, but then I'm not trying to reach a performance peak in December. Also took a fair bit less out of me than last Wednesday did - in conditions which were a good deal kinder. No Achilles issues tonight.

(* - I can only assume that there is a requirement that every policy be reviewed after X years, because smoking in the workplace has been banned on all Australian government premises for more than 20 years).

OK, so maybe the reason for last week's performance was the lack of a long run in the preceding days, because this was back to the days of near-10 mediocrity. Lacking a bit of energy and still a bit stiff, especially early on (and not terribly energetic through the rest of the day, either).

And I'll have to wait a week longer for the massage I'd been hanging out for, as well (my regular one turned out to be away this week and the message hadn't reached me).

The ride into work was hard going into a stiff southwesterly wind, although I'd still much rather be riding into central Melbourne from the northeast than attempting to drive into it from the southeast (a crash closed the Monash Freeway and there were prangs on both the other alternatives, too).

Added a new entry to my list of swimming pools visited, thanks to the location of tonight's run - North Melbourne. It's not at the top of my list of best pools, partly because of the lack of proper showers (just cool outdoor ones). The pool was a bit on the cool side too, but that side of things I can handle.

Very stiff this morning but worked a bit of it out in the swim. Also slept until my alarm this morning (with a couple of interruptions) which is progress. Time is a guess as there was no clock.

Best protest sign I've heard of for a while: at a demo against alleged election-rigging in Russia, '146% of Muscovites support fair elections'.

And news which might be a bit alarming to some - apparently Warney is now down to 78kg, which means a lot of blokes now have to confront the knowledge that he weighs less than they do. (I've still got a few kilos in reserve but it's a little too close for comfort).

Monday night from Ilka and Vanessa's with a small bunch. Quads felt like bricks in the opening minutes but eventually freed up into a run which was passable but never brilliant (and slow even by Monday night standards). Parts were hillier than I had thought possible in Royal Park with Vanessa showing us some of her favourite haunts. Very nice cool evening; there's a lot to be said for cool summer days in Melbourne (assuming you're not into being on the beach).