Training Log Archive: blairtrewin

Around the Koonung/Doncaster loop. Quite pleased with this for a first 'proper' ride, pushing the hills reasonably well (and getting myself into the lactic zone in a way I find it difficult to manage in the water). Knee was fine once warmed up. Raining in the first few minutes but cleared quite quickly (wet roads for most of the way, though).

Traffic was occasionally adventurous - was expecting a zoo around Westfield but it wasn't too bad, the main action coming a bit further down the road outside a church (complete with someone who obviously believed that the Lord had given him/her permission to park across a pedestrian crossing, an excuse which I suspect won't go too far with the Manningham City Council). A bit further down the road, the emergency services trifecta were present as a result of someone's altercation with a median strip light pole.

Woke up wondering if the aforementioned Slater and Gordon were going to see some action as a result of something dodgy consumed yesterday afternoon. Whatever discomfort there was was reasonably short-lived, but enough for me to abandon ideas of a morning swim. Got the bike back today; only used it for transport purposes but plan to do a proper ride tomorrow.

Misadventure of the day was dropping my car keys on my trip to the Preston Market, which acquainted me for the first time with the Preston-Heidelberg bus on going home to retrieve the spare. I returned to find that some kind-hearted soul had put the original set on my windscreen (they must have been dropped very close to the car) - accompanied by some literature from the Jehovah's Witnesses.

And the radio programming fail of the day goes to the station on which I heard "I Don't Like Mondays" on switching on this morning. Presumably the person responsible doesn't know that that song is about a school shooting.

Almost as moist outside the pool as in this morning. Knee starting to feel a little bit better during these sessions (although still some way short of being runnable with any comfort).

It was the work Christmas party this afternoon (the taxpayers will be pleased to hear that they contributed absolutely nothing towards this). Had things gone pear-shaped help was close at hand; Slater and Gordon were having theirs next door.

At Northcote because it suited my transport logistics for the day better (perhaps I would have been better off with a slightly different set of transport logistics, as I ended up in the crush on the train immediately following a cancelled one). I haven't been here much lately and don't think I've ever been in the outdoor pool, which is a nice place to be on a warm morning like this.

They must have different types of commutes in Alabama because a law is currently being considered there (and in three other states) which would make it illegal for employers to stop employees from carrying guns onto their property, ostensibly because if they aren't allowed to carry guns into the carpark then they would have to (heaven forbid!) do their commutes unarmed. I don't know about the rest of you but I've never considered weapons a necessary commuting companion, although, that said, I don't travel on the Frankston line.

Doing some long number-crunching hours at the moment, which would have been made somewhat harder had I done a long run in hot weather this morning.

Last night saw one of my occasional midnight teleconferences (finishing up at 1.30 a.m.), and then plans for a sleep-in of sorts - which I'd defined as 7.30 - didn't really work because my room is not terribly well suited to sleeping much past sunrise in summer (I suggested to a work colleague that perhaps I could export this room configuration to his teenage daughters, who he quite often seems to be trying to get out of bed at 10.something or 11.something).

Had I been running I think this was a day when I would have settled for evening street-O (which would have been hard work in itself on a 34-degree day), but I'm not and made it a rest day instead. Didn't hit the wall at work to the extent that I expected.

I came across an article today which bemoaned Australia's poor performance in an international educational comparison test. You'd think you would make sure the proofreading was good in an article about allegedly poor education standards, and that it really wouldn't be a good look to have an ungrammatical sentence in the second line, and two spelling errors in the third. The people responsible for sacking all the subeditors have a lot to answer for.

C • The effect of this 2

Finally got the knee checked out today with unsurprisingly inconclusive results (pending an MRI scan next week) - the main progress, such as it was, was to eliminate tracking issues (which is a pity as they're easier to fix). Most likely scenario is cartilage damage of some description - in which case Oceania's not looking too good, and neither is the early part of the 2013 season (if it needs surgery I'm assuming late January is about the earliest it could be done, which might mean a return to running sometime around March). At least I'm fine to continue in the water and on the bike.

Armed with that cheery news I took to the Fitzroy pool, for a session which felt much as its predecessors did. The clientele at 6pm on a warm December day is somewhat different from that at 7am in July.

Morning swim at Ivanhoe. Felt as if I was working a bit harder than recent days which is borne out a bit in the time. Also feel as if I've got something of a cold - at least I'm getting it all out of the way at once. Booked in to get the knee looked at tomorrow afternoon.

Fact of the day: idiots were not legally allowed to vote in New Jersey until 2007.

C • Idiots. 2