Training Log Archive: blairtrewin

As long runs go the degree of difficulty on this one was pretty low - the coolest day for months (15 at start time) and a flat course until the last half-hour, initially upriver to Finns Reserve and then back as far as Wilson Reserve before coming back across Ivanhoe. Still, I was pleased to be able to get this one under my belt - and generally to have a more substantial weekend's training than seemed likely on Saturday morning.

For the first 40 minutes this ranked alongside the last 20 minutes in Noojee as the best I've felt on a run this year (which is another way of saying that it felt like a fairly normal run in earlier times). Faded away a little after that and was starting to feel a bit tired from 80 minutes onwards, but not too bad. As with yesterday, only mild discomfort in the back climbing, but a sensation of not having the upper body doing any of the work (and it showed in the pace).

Longest training run I've done this year (and less slow than other long runs too). Would be nice, for my confidence if nothing else, to hit the 2-hour mark at least once before Easter but I'll see how I feel on the weekend before committing to that.

Bendigo Saturday event at Browns Reef. I almost didn't go - I wasn't feeling comfortable sitting during the morning (unusual with this injury, which normally only manifests itself when active), but thought I'd at least test it out around the block before resigning myself to a day feeling miserable on the coach. Having felt reasonable in that sort-of-fitness-test, I decided to make the trip and was glad that I did. Not really any soreness except on the climb into the last control (the steepest of the day on a not-especially-steep map), but any time it was uphill I had the sense that it was only my legs doing the work, and the upper body was making no contribution whatsoever. Flowing OK away from the hills and only drifted slightly on one leg, 3 (which I was shown into by Aston). Didn't quite succeed in getting under 6s, but I knew others would be much faster and that Bryan would probably get well under 5s (he did). Ended up dead-heating with Steve Doyle - it was a day for close finishes in the Doyle family because Matt and Brodie were only a second apart.

Names from the past: Richard Goonan (Victorian junior of the mid-90s) put in an appearance today. He's still in Bendigo.

C • Ben Goonan as well! 1

Pool running session at Fitzroy, starting well and truly in the dark now. Slightly blah.

This was a big day for a journal editor - for a paper to be considered for the next IPCC report it has to have final acceptance by today. You will not be surprised to learn that no fewer than 7 recommendations for acceptance lobbed in from reviewers lobbed in during the course of today (the last of them at 7.30pm). I've finally cleared the list at 10.53.

This wasn't a good day either - although I guess I shouldn't really have expected any radical change in 12 hours. Never felt comfortable and back muscles weren't working on even small hills (given where I was, these mostly took the form of bridge ramps and the like). I'd already scaled back my original plans of 1.45 to 1.30 before starting, but by 30 minutes in it was apparent that I wasn't going to loosen up today and I started looking for exit strategies. Pretty frustrating.

Another career milestone has been reached today - I've been attacked in the (virtual) pages of Quadrant. (For those of you who have never heard of Quadrant, you haven't missed much; it's a magazine which seems to consist mainly of ageing Cold War warriors - rumour has it that it was funded by the CIA back in the day - convincing each other that they're all terrific).

I have good days and bad days. This wasn't a good day - thought the worst of the back issues were behind me after it behaved over the weekend but it was causing trouble again tonight (not as bad as Beckworth, but enough to severely limit uphill power). Struggled on the uphill legs and rather blah for the rest of it. The only consolation was that I picked a night when I couldn't run properly to make a mess of my route choice (didn't see the southern 20-8-11-14 loop, instead going 8-20-14 and dropping 11, committing me to getting both 17 and 18), and intermittently get caught behind Scout groups at controls too.

A pity to waste the nicest running conditions we've had for a while. (Much excitement in the office early in the working day: 9am is the cutoff for minimum temperature and today's was hovering at a record 26.5 with minutes to go and the change sweeping towards us. It held off until 9.02).

Garmin battery was flat - measured the distance on the map the old-fashioned way but maybe the scale wasn't quite right, as I find it hard to believe that my km rate was similar to a couple of weeks ago.

Hopefully this is my last 30-degree run for the summer. Hopefully (underlined) it's my last 30-degrees-at-7-in-the-morning run for the summer. Headed out with Jenny to explore her regular haunts at Shepherds Hill, which was reasonably enjoyable (especially the bits in the valleys where a few cool air pockets lingered, cool being a relative term in that context). Definitely an improvement on the later stages of Sunday - not walking two-contour hills for a start - but still not especially energetic; maybe milder conditions will help in that department too? No injury issues.

Spent most of the rest of the day on the road, expecting to but not quite seeing a number on the car thermometer starting with a 4 (in a remarkable display of evenness, every station in the Mallee and west and central Wimmera topped out somewhere in the range from 38.0 to 39.0). There were a few other oddities I noticed on parts of the road I'd normally be doing in darkness, including the collection of women's undergarments hanging off the fence of the Lillimur phone tower, the classical music in the public toilets in Nhill, and the Wicked campervan with crime scene tape around it off the side of the road west of Dimboola. (From subsequent Facebook discussion it appears that the first of these, or variations on the theme, is by no means unique in regional Victoria). Got through before the Dimboola fire started - don't think it was that big in the end, but it generated plenty of excitement on the ABC.

I enjoyed the last few days, both the orienteering (except for the last half-hour on Sunday, which was definitely enduring rather than enjoying), and the chance to explore a bit more around the region south of Adelaide than I've previously had the chance to do (eating probably more than was good for me in the process). Did think it was slightly odd that Normanville's sign says "By The Sea", which fails to distinguish themselves from a lot of other places, but perhaps the hidden subtext is "we've got a beach so up yours Yankalilla".

Suspect I'll have a fair bit to catch up on tomorrow (not least catching up with today's records).

Certainly felt a lot better for a good night's sleep this morning than I did last night, but still not too upset to have an excuse for a rest day - most energetic things done were some short walks on a day trip down the Fluerieu Peninsula and round to Victor Harbor, plus a bit of time in the water at Somerton Park early(ish) in the morning.

C • In the water 3