Training Log Archive: blairtrewin

Too much burning the candle at both ends as it turned out. I'd hoped to do something long today, but realistically thought I might struggle after another 2am finish (clearly I haven't developed the tolerance of sleep deprivation that's necessary for parenthood). Felt weak and light-headed throughout. Thought I'd give it until Greensborough - having taken my Myki in sort of anticipation - to see if things got any better (as they had on Thursday), but they didn't - that long run will need to wait until next weekend. Pity to waste such good conditions (for summer), but then excess heat won't exactly be a problem for me this time next week (current forecast for next Sunday morning in Geneva: -4 with light snow flurries).

Haven't been feeling quite right in other respects this weekend either (very dry and thirsty yesterday, and a slightly elevated temperature), so probably should make sure I get myself right.

On a Sunday morning you spend a bit more time waiting for trains than during the week; spotted while looking around on the platform at Greensborough was a lookalike for Alex Idnurm (early 1990s model). For those of you who weren't around then, Alex was part of the legendary 1991 ACT Schools team (he was its only member who hasn't gone on to represent Australia at some level), got a number of decent midfield junior results in the early 1990s, and was part of the team that won M16 in the 1991 Australian Relays (in somewhat contentious circumstances). He was last heard of in Kansas City doing scientifically interesting things with fungi.

This could be quite a challenging weekend given the late nights for IOF meetings (2am last night and I'm expecting similar tonight). Had planned to sleep until 8 or so but a media call on the global temperatures came through at 7.15.

The run was hard going in the first part - partly sleepiness, but also rather sore Achilles at the start (that eased over the first couple of kilometres). Much improved over the second half although still not stellar. I'm hoping to go long tomorrow and will want to be in better shape for that than I was today. (At least the weather looks like being kind).

Didn't have the most energetic of afternoons, and felt very thirsty for no obvious reason.

Back to the old haunts at Fitzroy for the first time since coming back from Tasmania. The sort of session which shows this session's usefulness - rather stiff at the start but much less so towards the end. Slightly to my surprise (in a session where it sometimes shows up in a susceptible state), no sign of cramp.

A few minutes from the end, one of the other regulars mentioned in passing that the Swiss franc had just gone up 30%. I worked out why this had happened fairly quickly but spent the rest of the time trying to digest its implications - after all, I'm heading to Geneva this time next week. Assuming the rate now stays fairly stable at its new level (which, once the initial spike was out of the way, is up about 15%), I should actually do OK out of it because the amount I get for expenses is paid in francs and I usually don't spend it all, but in a volatile situation there's plenty of potential for mismatch between the exchange rate when I get paid and the exchange rate when the bills are due.

This weekend's going to be one for weird sleep patterns, thanks to the IOF meetings (which run from midnight to 6am our time; I think midnight-2am on both days is probably going to be about as good as I can manage). Adding to the mix, reports (which I've already seen) are coming out overnight about 2014 global temperatures, which will probably create something of a splash (and may generate a bit more media action for me than I've seen recently).

One of those days I sometimes have where the time I woke up was somewhat after the time that the run started. That means the first 40 minutes of this run were pretty unpleasant going, but got it together after that and had a good middle section, sometimes bordering on very good. Started to fade away a bit in the final half-hour and had a couple of bad patches around 19-20k, but got enough of a second wind to think it worthwhile to do an extra around-the-block at the end to get it up past the 2-hour mark. Still have a fair way to go to double the distance (and more than double the time) in two months' time.

Had a couple of minor calf cramps on the ride in afterwards, which surprised me a bit given that it was cool both last night and this morning.

C • Cramps 3

Street-O at Smiths Dell. Promising start but ended up drifting out of it a bit, struggling somewhat on the hills (though without muscular issues). Closer to Bruce than I normally expect to be at halfway (i.e. I could still see him), but didn't keep that going. Most of us went the same way, I think; I was chasing Peter Hobbs for much of the way but he was pulling away at the rate of about 10 metres per control. (Peter had a much longer weekend's effort than I did, so he deserves points for that). Cool night, and a different map than usual, going south (other side of the creek/freeway) rather than east, taking advantage of the new bike bridge.

Perhaps my good start was due to being fired up from what I heard just before leaving work, namely that a political staffer in the NT government (also a weather nut, and the only person I've ever dumped on Facebook) has put in a formal complaint with the minister over an innocuous FB post of climate stats made by one of my colleagues. The complaint won't go anywhere (I hope) but it's still annoying. If you're a candidate for public office, having your opponents trawl every public utterance of yours for dirt is part of the game these days, but if you're not it seems a tad unreasonable.

On a happier note, two other work colleagues of mine, along with their 10-year-old son (who has already shown some significant trail-running talent), made their orienteering debut tonight and enjoyed it. If the name Baden Wheeler pops up in a team sometime in the early 2020s you heard it here first.

Felt pretty sleepy before I started but turned out to be a fairly reasonable run. Thought it might be a bit steamy ahead of the day's approaching rain (which, as it turned out, central Melbourne only caught the fringes of), but it was less humid than I anticipated. Felt better on the climbs in the second half than in recent days.

Since I'm clearly still in OK form for road/track running it's a bit of a question as to why I was so ordinary in the terrain last week; difficult to escape the conclusion that limited recent terrain training has a fair bit to do with it. In the days when I was sometimes running the 5-days moderately seriously, I usually didn't perform that well at it but had usually attributed that to the large volumes of training I was typically doing in December, but lack of terrain work at that time of year is also likely to be relevant.

Morning swim at MSAC after coming off the ferry from Tasmania - first time I've been here for a while. This was a reasonably bland swim but seemed to pass the time OK. Didn't seem excessively stiff from yesterday, which may say something about yesterday's performance (or absence thereof).

Number of orienteers sighted on boat: 24.

Evening run after picking my car up from a service in Fishermens Bend - a venue partly chosen in the name of not going home until a bit later and missing the worst of the traffic (though there isn't really that much traffic at this time of year).

Headed out to the beach at Port Melbourne, coming back through the middle of Garden City - a corner of town I haven't been into for a very long time (apart from a street-O or two, perhaps not since I lived in Albert Park). Heading for the beach was partly in the name of finding a seabreeze on a hot afternoon, but there wasn't much of one; 31 degrees is the hottest I'll run in for a while, because it probably won't reach that again in Melbourne before I leave for Geneva at the end of next week. Not the worst of runs in the circumstances.

I can't recall seeing a beggar (let along being hassled or abused by one) in two months in South America, but no such luck in a Melbourne lunchtime...