Training Log Archive: blairtrewin

An early one with Jenny from the AIS (where we're staying for the OA Conference), trying to leave enough time for a visit afterwards to a certain Aranda coffee establishment (that mission was accomplished). Headed around the edge of Aranda down to the bottom of the bushlands, then the lower part of Black Mountain Reserve and Bruce Ridge. The rain had cleared out, but still plenty of water around (not as much mud as I thought, though).

Not the fastest of runs (partly due to the slippery tracks), but pleased to hold up OK - Achilles started to deteriorate in the last 5-10 minutes, but that's 20 minutes further in than last week, and this was hillier than anything I've done in the last fortnight (although still nothing steep) - as well that I can now handle going up and down because I wouldn't have a lot of running options in Auckland next week if I couldn't.

The OA Conference went pretty well although I suspect I'll hit the wall tonight - chairing for two days is fairly draining. I think the Conference is evolving well into being largely a forum for the states to share information, now that it no longer has much of a role in formally making decisions. Lots of good ideas floating round; consolidating it all (and finding a way to pay for it) is the next challenge.

Really shouldn't have been surprised that my back wouldn't like doing this after 8 hours sitting at the OA Conference. Attempt at the post-Conference park-street event at Bruce. At least the rain had cleared. (I did take the precaution of bringing shoes with me that I don't intend to take to New Zealand).

Headed for the indoor pool at Ivanhoe given the threatening weather (although the threat was mostly unrealised whilst I was there). This involves going round and round in circles a lot because Ivanhoe doesn't have much of a deep end.

The weather was a big talking point in Melbourne today, with a major storm spinning up over today and the weekend. Most of the action today was east of the central city (although a brief downpour found me in the course of walking to the station), but Melbourne stands to get a fair bit more on the back side of the system Saturday night into Sunday. Canberra's turn comes tomorrow, which means it's just as well we'll be spending more time talking about orienteering than actually doing it (it's OA Conference weekend).

I wish some religious people could make up their minds; apparently some have claimed the storm is the result of God's wrath for same-sex marriage passing through the Senate, and some have claimed it's the result of God's wrath for Victoria legalising voluntary euthanasia. Clearly none of these people paid attention to the bit in the Bible about taking the Lord's name in vain.

C • Hmm 3

A bit of a struggle on a warm morning, perhaps less so in the second half, but the positive from this is continuing minor improvement in the Achilles - whilst discomfort was at nuisance level throughout, the deterioration beyond 45 minutes which was evident the last couple of times I tried to go longer was missing this time. Physio (who I saw tonight) seemed reasonably satisfied with progress as well.

Decided to give All Nations intervals a crack and see how it went. (A clash with a dinner meant that Wednesday night street-O was off the agenda, something I wasn't too upset about on a 35-degree evening). Slow at the beginning but ended up going reasonably well, and no real trouble with the Achilles (it's not flat either), so hopefully I should be able to shift to more quality sessions if I can't manage the volume.

Warm-up and down. Pretty tight all over early on but obviously loosened myself up enough to be able to handle the faster stuff. Already pretty warm.

Completed (more or less) what I set out to do last Friday, on the coolest morning we've had for two weeks (i.e. it was only 2 degrees above the November average). Felt reasonable for much of it, including on the bits that we're flat, but Achilles became noticeably more painful in the last 10 minutes, suggesting that 60 minutes might be close to an upper limit at the moment - in which case I might need to recast my training a bit. Will see how it responds to something faster tomorrow.

An early start today thanks to needing to be at work by 8.45 for a workshop and needing to fit both parts of today's session in early because of the aforementioned workshop and a post-work meeting. Didn't go too badly; Achilles warmed up OK, bit of a twinge on the one substantial ramp (you wouldn't call it a hill), but finished feeling like I had something still to give, which is more than can be said of any session last week. Drizzly and humid, but cool at least.

Second stage of the morning at Fitzroy, arriving to the not-entirely-wanted news that the main changerooms are closed again so the builders can fix all the things they got wrong the first time (and there are plenty of them). Swim felt OK but never really got going, and was the slowest I've done for some time.

Construction of a different sort is going to encourage me to go somewhere else this time next week; the Queens Parade/Smith Street intersection is going to be closed for tram works from Saturday to Tuesday, which will make traffic conditions in our part of the world challenging at best. (Fortunately I'm only going to be in town for one of those four days).