Training Log Archive: blairtrewin

Down on the Mornington Peninsula, including a reasonable amount on the sand (my classic London Bridge loop).

If one took a glass-half-full approach, you'd say this was a moderate success - after a couple of weeks of being unwell, getting through something 40 minutes longer than anything else I've done in that time, on a warm and humid morning, and pushing through on a day when the quads were reluctant to function from the start (for no obvious reason) - and of course I've had other things to think about this weekend. If one took a glass-half-empty approach, one would focus on the fact that I'd started the weekend hoping (perhaps unrealistically) for three hours and didn't make it, and this means that I'll feel as if I've gone into Six Foot underdone; we'll see how that works out.

This run was a struggle throughout, although it finally got into some sort of rhythm in the last 10 minutes, which is one positive sign.

I've already started the process (along with Mum) of packing things and cleaning things out. No doubt this will turn up a lot of interesting historical artefacts - the best finds so far are two tickets in the fundraising raffle for the 1999 state election campaign (the winners will have wanted to use their prizes quickly - they were Ansett vouchers), and the paperwork for the 2003-2005 Victorian schools teams (Clara, do you want the copy of your birth certificate back?).

C • Packing already! 4

Run on a soon-to-be-former regular Saturday scene, along the Yarra Flats to Wilsons Reserve then back up through Ivanhoe (with some meanderings). Felt like the first more-or-less normal run for a couple of weeks; not ridiculously weak uphill and no coughing outbursts. Still not exactly stellar but I'll take it as another sign of progress.

As most of you will know by now, this was only the prelude to the day's activities, and the news is good: although the price ended up being a bit higher than I would have hoped for, I am now (or rather will be once the settlement happens) the owner of a new abode in Fairfield. It's a terrific place for what I want out of it and I'm definitely looking forward to moving there, especially as I had friendly conversations with more neighbours in five minutes than I think I've managed in five years at my current address. The only slight disappointment expressed was by my local state MP (who will be losing my vote, though probably not my campaigning involvement as I'm not exactly needed in the ultra-safe Batman), and the kids in the street who were hoping that I might bring some of my own with me.

C • Congratulations 7

Pool running at Ivanhoe, where the renovations will certainly not be ready by the end of February as currently advertised. Ended up a fairly routine session.

My mind has been somewhat elsewhere this week; will know a result one way or the other pretty soon. I did manage to get myself into full weather-nerd mode today for long enough to generate assorted (hopefully) interesting stats on cyclones (and the 48 degrees that happened up in the Pilbara while no-one was looking).

C • Pool 2

Two steps forward, one step back, and today was a step back. Feeling flat and struggling most of the way, although perhaps improved slightly in the final third (particularly after a pitstop). Weakish on even small hills; probably not yet ready to back up from a harder run last night.

On a more pleasant note, all systems are go for Saturday (and I'm not referring to anything related to running).

C • Not running related? 1

Street-O at Heyington, for once not starting at Scotch - this time we were on the west side of the river at Kevin Bartlett Reserve. This is a map where the number of barriers makes for quite a bit of macro route choice, but once you realised that it made sense to get all the controls on the Toorak side it simplified things a bit. (My route wasn't bad, but Bruce's was better).

Took another step up on the physical front today - was able to run at a reasonable pace at times, although still weak on the hills. Probably at something like 80% today rather than 60% last week or 70% on the weekend. Thought I might have been set for a decent scrap late in the course when I was 50 metres or so behind Lanita through a stretch in mid-course, but it turned out she was running B. Finished OK.

Today's missive of the day came from someone who described themselves as a retired accountant who had performed an "audit" on the Australian temperature data and had "found" that the observed warming was artificial because we now use more sites in hot places. You will not be at all surprised that we've already thought of that (that's we generally report national or regional averages as degrees above/below normal rather than absolute values - we compare each site to its long-term average and then average those anomalies). The thought did cross my mind that if I did some mucking around with a spreadsheet and announced that the Commonwealth Bank accounts were wrong and they'd actually lost $5 billion last year, at best I would be laughed out of town and at worst I'd receive an invitation for a friendly conversation with the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (or possibly the Federal Police).

We also found that the claim published in a certain national newspaper on Monday (to the effect that southwest WA has been no drier in recent years than it was in the 1890s and 1900s) is clearly false. In a parallel universe this would lead to a retraction of, and apology for, the offending comments, but the only place you'll see flying pigs these days is in footage of greyhound tracks.

A loop which extended from my current place to (possibly) my new one, doing a certain amount of checking out the neighbourhood. (One unsurprising discovery is that the traffic on Grange Road at 7.30 is not nice, but I'll rarely be using that direction at that time, and in any case it should be improved by the new Chandler Highway bridge due to be built at some time in the next four years). Passed through Darebin Parklands, which may become a more familiar location than it already is.

The run was rather slow and seemed a little awkward up hills (including the long climb back up from Darebin Creek), but continuing to feel a bit better, at a rate slower than I would have liked.

Undeterred by the news that a seven-year-old is faster than me, I took to the pool this morning. Not too bad as a session apart from what seems to be the obligatory coughing outburst (this time coming about 30 minutes in). Nice morning to be in the water.

The Tan at lunchtime. Felt a bit tight early on but the run was something of an incremental improvement on recent efforts - still not brilliant, but not terrible either.

The path in front of Crown had been narrowed to next to nothing by temporary fences serving a purpose which was not immediately obvious. It was congested enough with pedestrians at lunchtime; I wouldn't like to have been there once bike commuting was under way in earnest.