Training Log Archive: blairtrewin

Headed down to the Peninsula today to a near-completed house (the certificate of occupancy is expected to come through this week) to deliver a carload of stuff and then spend most of the rest of the day in front of the cricket.

Something I've had sort of in my mind for a while is to seek to visit at some point all of Victoria's national parks (for these purposes, driving along one edge of it doesn't count as a "visit", so I'm not counting Murray-Sunset or Hattah-Kulkyne, bisected by the Ouyen-Mildura highway). I haven't had much in the way of spare weekends this year so haven't made any inroads into this, but thought I'd bag some low-hanging fruit here, in the form of Churchill National Park in Melbourne's southeast suburbs. (Presumably its "national park" status is a historical quirk as it's really just an area of remnant bush on the suburban fringe).

It was actually quite a nice spot for a run, starting out along an old aqueduct before climbing gradually to a spur, before dropping back. I imagine there would be some good longer runs here too, linking up with the tracks in Lysterfield. Probably not a lot of orienteering potential though (even if we had access, which I presume we don't) - most of the bush is pretty scungy, as it is across the road in the Police Paddocks which used to be mapped, although I've never run there.

Calf a little tight in the second half but seemed to handle it reasonably well, so I'm thinking that I can probably start to step things up a little. Felt somewhat better running today than Friday, too (probably because I've actually had proper sleeps the last two nights).

C • Churchill NP 4

A warm morning where I was happy to be in the water (and also a morning when the water felt cool). Fairly routine; didn't feel much tightness afterwards.

Feel as if I'm rather tired at the moment, which I guess isn't surprising given my recent travel schedule. This week isn't going to be any easier on that front (except that I shouldn't have any 11pm arrivals).

It's Friday so it must be Canberra. Staying in somewhat more upmarket surrounds than I'm used to (at the expense of the organisation I was giving a talk to), and headed down to explore new territory in the form of the Kingston Foreshore. Strictly speaking, it's not new territory - in its previous incarnation as The Causeway it had such features as the Canberra morgue and a cricket ground whose outfield grass was long enough to constitute a fire hazard. I think the only feature from then which is still there now is the electricity substation.

Felt pretty ordinary running, but the good news was that my calf was better than it has been at any time this week (and didn't come up post-run, either).

First session of this type for a while, in a Northcote pool which was a good deal less crowded at 7am than I suspect it was going to get at 5pm (first 35+ day of the summer). Felt as if it was a fairly routine session. Calf OK when in the water, a little tight afterwards (similar to swimming).

In Sydney for the day for work and, with Summer Series pretty close to the centre (in Balmain), thought I'd have a go at squeezing an event in before flying home. This was a bit of a logistical challenge (nice, though, to go to an event by ferry, not something you'd do in Melbourne), but managed that side of it OK.

The running wasn't so good - back was troublesome early, at which point I remembered that my physio had said to avoid running up hills for now (something I may have conveniently forgotten on a better day). For the remained, walked the hills and jogged the rest (and didn't do quite the full 45, although the way the course was configured I'd probably have needed to do at least 40 to get any more points). Some nice exploring to be done - although I was a bit disappointed that they didn't put a control on the rock with the plaque marking the founding of the NSW ALP - and even started to loosen up a little in the later stages. Managed to butcher the levels on 129, mixing up a vertical wall for a track on the map (was thinking ISOM and not ISSOM). Calf similar to yesterday, a bit sore but not causing too much difficulty.

C • Rockface = track 2

A bit of a mixed bag today; a bit tight early (both calf and back), settled into a nice groove after a few minutes, but then the calf started fatiguing in the last few minutes (and was tighter post-run than it has been of late, although the physio, who I saw this evening, didn't seem too concerned).

Saw a parked 4WD near where I started which was comprehensively splattered with mud; so there is at least one such vehicle which goes off the bitumen.

And a very seasonal crime story was that of the person who was arrested after getting stuck in the chimney of a pharmacy he was attempting to burgle in Lancefield. Perhaps he should have had a bit less of the Christmas cake.

Back to pilates. Calf strong enough that I felt I could have a go at getting through the full set, and did so. Muscles somewhat unused to this as I felt a bit stiff afterwards.

Not sure where all the traffic was; it's usually light on builder-RDO Mondays at this time of morning, but not that light.

On to Fitzroy, which was also reasonably quiet, although that's partly because I arrived after the early-morning peak. Felt lively at times, less so at others, but ended up bringing it home reasonably well.

Unsurprisingly, the building works which were supposed to be completed in November weren't.