Training Log Archive: blairtrewin

State Series at Hepburn. I expected this to be physically tough and it was - even when the course setters are trying to avoid excessive climb it's hard to get under 5% here. (When the course setters are going out of their way to find extra climb we've had over 8% on this map - on that occasion they had a good reason to do so, as it was a selection trial for WOC in Japan). Course design was somewhat idiosyncratic but good in principle (big climbs and mostly gully-spur early, technical late once everyone was tired); could have done with a couple of big route choice legs in the steeper stuff.

I can't say I was ever really enjoying myself here but it will do me good to have a tough physical race - I expect Kangaroo Crossing to be at least as physical, and probably 30 minutes longer. Never really felt as if I was racing, not really letting myself go on the steeper downhills and traverses (which had their share of fallen timber and slippery ground) and not strong enough on the hills, but kept plugging away and hung in until the end. A few wobbles in circles but nothing bigger than 15 seconds. Also no trouble on course from various bits of myself which have been hurting in recent weeks, though the right leg is a little sore this afternoon (nothing like two weeks ago, though).

Took off straight after the run to get back to an ALP meeting in Melbourne, although didn't get there as quickly as I might have thanks to the impacts of the current State Government's 60% cut in road maintenance budgets (various bits of the Calder have lanes closed because of potholes which no-one seems to be doing anything to fix).

A reasonably classic Saturday run for me, along the Yarra Flats as far as Wilson Reserve and then back through Darebin Parklands. Had a late night last night (as a result of the aforementioned quiz night, on the other side of town) and didn't sleep that well, so thought it might be a struggle, but settled down well after the first few minutes and a good first half. (Perhaps going out later than usual was a contributor to that - a timing I paid for later in the form of traffic jams on the Saturday shopping trip, although the crash which reduced three lanes of Bell Street to one didn't help there). Faded a little on the generally uphill second half, although not to the extent of Thursday (and the Achilles didn't drop away the way it did on Thursday either).

Spent some of this session in the middle of the contest between 8-degree water above and 27-degree water below, which was an incentive to stay as deep as possible. Pretty stiff in various muscles early on, coming off yesterday's run, but worked some of it out of my system during the course of the run (and by the end it had even stopped raining).

Refereeing the annual Bureau-CSIRO-Monash-Melbourne soccer tournament, sometimes not as well as I would have liked. CSIRO took the honours this year; the standard of attack was mostly well ahead of the standard of defence.

It was on from there to a quiz night, where our table did very nicely (in fact we got about a quarter of our points) from a question to name as many countries in the world as possible that started with S. This is a question where I'd expect to do better than most under any circumstances, but particularly so after spending bits of the last two days at work checking the status of developing-country sites in the Global Climate Observing System.

A rare afternoon long run today, thanks to a 2pm body corporate meeting (in turn that meant starting work early, although not quite as early as I'd planned on because of the combination of a defective bicycle and a defective train). Headed out just behind the second (and, as it turned out, last) heavy shower of a cold outbreak day, trying to minimise the number of potentially challenging road crossings, with a flat first half along the Yarra to Lower Eltham and then a hillier return. Steady but not stunning for the first half, but the Achilles, which have been a bit sore walking the last couple of days, started to cause trouble and some of the later climbs were a bit painful. Pace dropped away alarmingly in the last 20 minutes, and I don't think it was just because it was getting dark.

Learn from the experts department: as part of the Banyule Seniors Festival, the area's older residents can learn how to use a mobile phone from an Ivanhoe Girls Grammar student.

A fairly hilly run around North Balwyn and Bulleen, reasonably strong uphill although not flowing brilliantly in other areas. Warmest morning for a while.

The unsettling moment on this one came towards the end in the form of a girl of six or seven who was screaming very loudly; I was wondering what she was frightened of and then realised as I came closer that it was me. Either she absorbed the stranger danger lesson too well or I arrived shortly after something else had happened; I suspect the former as there's nothing pertinent on the Victoria Police website (if it is the latter having the Garmin as evidence of where I was when, and of not having stopped within cooee, may not be such a bad thing).

This was followed up by a tough ride into work, nursing a slowly deflating tyre.

My first attempt to do something fast since the injury and it worked out fine, in the sense that there wasn't anything that wasn't supposed to hurt that did hurt. (It didn't work quite so well in the actually-running-fast department, but we'll come to that a bit later on).

Came across the tale of this colourful Canberra identity today. Might be a good reason for a certain ACT-based New Zealander to steer clear of Limestone Avenue.

Easy morning run before a swim. Quads very stiff early on - obviously they're not used to 4km of steady downhill. Loosened up after the first few minutes and a decent run thereafter, although a bit more of a twinge (now localised to the left side of the right ankle) than was the case on the weekend, so can't consider myself officially cured yet. Very nice morning to be out.

One for the "you couldn't make this up" department: a new Queensland government advisory panel appointed to reduce red tape around gun ownership includes "Firearms Dealers Association of Queensland president Robert Nioa, Paul Feeney from the Queensland Shooters Association, Sporting Shooters Association of Australia president Geoff Jones, Shooters Union secretary Rob Harrold, International Coalition for Women in Shooting and Hunting chairperson Dr Samara McPhedran and David Kelly of Halls Firearms.".

Next up in the pool, under the winter sunshine. Not always flowing that well but a steady session which seemed to go quicker than swims sometimes do.

At this time of year one thinks a bit about football senarios. If other results go as expected, Fremantle will go into their match on Saturday night needing a large win to be seventh, with any other result giving them eighth. Seventh, assuming other favourites win, means playing Geelong in Melbourne, with the winner away against either Sydney or Adelaide. Eighth would mean West Coast in Perth with the winner playing a struggling Collingwood. Something tells me this might be an incentive for Freo not to try too hard - if Messrs Pavlich and Sandilands are late withdrawals you heard it here first.