Training Log Archive: blairtrewin

Down on the Peninsula today. Had a bit of a rough night and woke up with a sniffle and a bit of a sore throat, so scaled back my ambitions a bit from what I originally had in mind, but still reasonably satisfied with this - hard work on the dunes (especially the softer ones), but some nice bits too - the track towards Number Sixteen beach has long been a favourite and remains so. No real injury concerns, and in particular my Achilles didn't blow up on the dunes like it did last time.

I've not been to this part of the world in mid-winter before; it may not be as busy as it is in January, but it certainly isn't dead. One thing that's happened since I was last here, though, is that part of the clifftop path at Bridgewater Bay has become a halfway-down-the-cliff path; there's an alternative but it's not quite the same without the view...

Another small step back; not as lively as Thursday, but again got through with no undue difficulties. Went down to Yarra Bend for the first time in a while (late enough that parkrun had finished for the morning), on a very un-wintry morning; not an awful lot has changed there (not as much as closer to home, anyway).

The afternoon saw a rarity - seeing my team play at the MCG on a sunny Saturday afternoon (normally the only way we get to experience this is make the Grand Final, or when Anzac Day falls on a Saturday). Obviously I'm not the only person who likes going to games on Saturday afternoon (even if TV doesn't like them) because 60,000 turned up to a match between two teams not in the eight, one of them from interstate. It wasn't a brilliant match, but at least we got the win.

A nice-once-you're-in morning at Fitzroy. Feeling fairly sluggish and flailing a bit, but managed to get through the session OK. Starting in semi-darkness, not something which happens very often (the sunrises get earlier from about now).

This was a prelude to doing a talk to a water industry workshop. Following me was someone from Water NSW talking about the drought in the northern Murray-Darling Basin, parts of which made me wonder if the expression "up shit creek without a paddle" is still appropriate when the creek has no water. I think he was joking when he said that if Dubbo runs out of river water (projected March 2020 at current flow levels), Western Plains Zoo would have to release its lions.

And Twitter has been having fun with Donald Trump making reference to the Revolutionary Army securing the airports (not too many of those in 1776) in his Independence Day speech, to say nothing of making reference to a battle which actually happened in the War of 1812.

C • Lions 3

A more lively start than I've been used to of late (i.e. I managed to get under 6s as early as the second kilometre), and no significant injury issues. The sort of run that I would have considered mundane not too many months ago but counts as significant progress here. Got my first look (although from a bit of a distance) at the new bike underpass of the Chandler Highway - I crossed the river there instead, where they're still working on restoring the old bridge. The builders seem somewhat confused as to where they actually are because also on the hoardings is a sign advertising for public comment on the plans for a park in the City of Hobsons Bay (on the other side of Melbourne).

Back running, after some fairly heavy-duty work with the physio last night. Fairly stiff and slow early on but gradually got into it, and actually appeared in danger of being nice in the last 10 minutes. Not a bad starting point. Always nice to get some exercise done in the morning, although my bubble deflated in sync with my rear bike tyre (valve failure when I tried to pump it up - and it turns out it's tubeless, which means I can't have changed it in the 8 years I've had this bike; not a bad run).

Did a bit of a short test jog this morning to see if things were still as they were before a physio session this evening. The latter seemed to be doing its job although tomorrow will tell the tale on this; it was certainly much overdue.

Normally I'm OK with jet lag after the first night, but waking up at 3.15 and not really getting back to sleep suggests this time is different. Hopefully tonight.

Having told work I'd be in mid-morning, got up somewhat later than usual and headed for Fitzroy, unsurprisingly uncrowded. Nice once you're in, although the views aren't as good as Lake Geneva's.

Return to Pilates. Laughably stiff on the first exercise but did eventually get better, and even managed to avoid falling asleep for the duration (although had my first hitting-the-wall wave of the evening shortly thereafter).

It gets dark in the evening. I'm not used to this.