Training Log Archive: blairtrewin

Probably the best that could be said for this run is that nothing hurt (too much) and I completed more or less what I'd set out to do - past my old place and then along the Yarra flats - but felt rather sneezy beforehand and the run had a somewhat out-of-sorts feel to it. 86 minutes definitely felt as if it was plenty.

In the absence of any AFL games, ABC radio yesterday afternoon was bringing reports from football just about anywhere (it was grand final day in a lot of country and suburban leagues, and in Tasmania). Quite a few teams that had gone through the season unbeaten failed to perform on the day that counted - most spectacularly Keith, who hadn't lost all year but were last heard of 73 points down on Padthaway during the third quarter.

C • They got it back to 69 points by the final siren! 1

Objective number one was achieved today - getting through without any significant injury issues. The back didn't give any major problems, though I could hardly describe this as a sparkling physical effort - felt very plodding at times (especially the more open cross-slope bits), but did run most of the hills which is more than I could manage last weekend. Better technically than I often have been here too, although 30 seconds apiece dropped at 10 (in the excavations) and 12 (which I initially thought in the wrong place, but I'd found a gully buried under the circle). Despite slow pace, placed a bit better than I usually have at Bendigo events this season - the likes of Craig and Simon presumably made some largish errors. Bruce did 46.

Nice course, starting on top of the hill and thus not as physical as it sometimes is here, and generally an enjoyable day - helps when you don't have to do any of the driving (thanks Bruce). My mood was perhaps helped further by waking up to the words on the radio "former Prime Minister Tony Abbott", and further by my first visit to the Fairfield farmers market (at the primary school around the corner from my place once a month, but this is the first time I've been around when it's been on).

Fairly similar to Wednesday (albeit on a much flatter course) - definitely not 100%, but did improve a bit as it went on, and tightness didn't seem to be greatly affecting my performance after the first couple of kilometres. Starting to feel quite reasonable by the end. Still won't want to be racing hard in this condition, but at least there are signs of going in the right direction.

Continuing to play things cautiously in the hope of being OK for Korong on Saturday (always worth going to even if my record there is pretty ordinary). A rather later morning than usual thanks to a middle-of-the-night teleconference (discussing lots of exciting ideas which made me wish that I could clone myself several times over). Reasonably smooth, and felt better generally through today than I have earlier this week.

Noticed there was another run yesterday for the argument that Australia shouldn't do anything about climate change because we only make up 1.2-1.5% of global emissions (depending on how you count them). Strangely these people never seem to apply similar logic to Australian participation in wars.

Ventured out to North Balwyn for street-O tonight, but wasn't really ready for it, particularly the hills (which exist in some abundance on this map). Struggling through the first half, loosened up a bit in the second half, but even then well short of where I'd like to be. Knew from fairly early on in the piece that it was going to be hard to get all the controls; as it turned out I dropped one, which could have been got with a 400-metre out and back, but I didn't think I had the two minutes needed to get it (as it turned out I had only 15 seconds in hand).

It may not have been quite on the scale of Deer Park 2004, but the allegedly genteel streets of North Balwyn had their share of ungenteelness tonight, starting with someone who advised me to "get f***ed" out of their car window for no good reason early on, and culminating with the vigorous verbal altercation which was taking place in a side street on the way between 6 and 20. I couldn't quite work out what was causing the high-volume exchange of unpleasantries although it appeared a dog might have had something to do with it. I blame Tony Abbott.

Tried heading out for a bit of a run but wasn't quite ready to do so - so kept it to a short and (mostly) flat loop around my place. Should be right in another 36 hours (at least that's the plan). Also had a bit of foot soreness overnight but that didn't seem an issue overnight.

There certainly seemed to be a lot of joy this morning in my workplace, and also in my Facebook feed. The latter prompted me to reflect on the political realignments which have happened in Australia in the last 25 years - on the one hand, the traditional working class has moved away from Labor towards the Liberals, on the other hand, the educated/professional middle class has moved away from the Liberals and towards Labor (or the Greens). The group I went through school with was overwhelmingly conservative at the time, but most of them were as gleeful at Tony Abbott's downfall as I was (although some will find Malcolm Turnbull to their taste).

C • election 5

Felt a bit improved in the morning (if not necessarily in the afternoon after a lot of sitting down), but thought it best to save the running for another day, so headed for the pool. A warm morning but not too many people out. Didn't always feel that comfortable in the water either, but got through more or less OK.

Ended up getting to 26.7 today. Had this happened 15 years ago it would have equalled the record for Melbourne's highest temperature in the first half of September, but that bar's a lot higher now (thanks to a 29.9 in 2009, on a day that South Australians will remember for the duststorm on the way to the SA Champs). For records today you had to go to Tasmania.

And I'm enjoying watching the spectacle tonight (even if I don't have any popcorn).