Training Log Archive: blairtrewin

Travel Geneva-Istanbul-Singapore. Nothing terribly noteworthy about this trip; didn't sleep as much as I would have liked (hopefully that will be addressed tonight). A more northern route than usual on the first leg to avoid a major storm which was affecting the French Riviera (daily rainfalls in the 200+ range in places; Geneva is rainshadowed from this direction). Had a missed approach coming into Singapore - the pilot was (quite reasonably) worried about potential outflow winds from a nearby thunderstorm.

I'd originally had thoughts about doing a short session in the hotel gym on arrival, but with the late flight (thanks to said go-around) and a slow passage through immigration, it was nearly 8 by the time I got to the hotel (by which time it was a case of go directly to hawker food complex, do not pass Go).

Calf seems to have settled down a fair bit and was only at minor nuisance level this evening, so I'm still hopeful of getting out on a map tomorrow.

Didn't quite go to plan. After a successful effort on Wednesday and with no urgently pressing commitments this morning, I decided to aim for 70-80 minutes and head up through the Old Town on the way to the Cologny hills. Left Achilles gradually warmed up, but the problems proved to be elsewhere; my right calf was becoming increasingly tight from about 20 minutes onwards. By 30 minutes I'd decided that I should probably head for home, and by 40 I decided that I wasn't even up to running the rest of the way back. The pity of it was that it was shaping up as a reasonable run.

It's been uncomfortable to walk on through the day (although a bit less so in the afternoon), so I don't think there's much doubt I made the right call to come in early. The question is how long-term an issue it is; hopefully not very (and the fact that it was a gradual deterioration and not an abrupt event like this time last year is perhaps encouraging in that respect). Might struggle to add a 30th orienteering country to my list though - the Monday morning plan was to run a sprint course in Singapore.

The flight's at 6pm so during the day I went into when-in-Rome-do-as-the-Romans-do mode - doing a fairly standard Geneva thing on a gloomy November day of heading for higher altitudes in search of brighter weather (in my case, St. Cergue, close to the one decent area that was used in WOC 2012). At 1050m it's pretty much right on the snowline and provided much better mountain views than under the haze at lake level (as well as a good lunch mostly of local cold cuts).

Lakeshore intervals. Ankle stiffness had gone but Achilles quite sore. Almost gave it away after the first rep but persisted, and ended up gradually improving as the set went on (although not at what I'd consider close to full pace until the last three). Got through the full set again, so that's another indicator of progress.

Warm-up and down. Found a new way of getting along the length of the Paquis quarter which didn't involve going out to the main roads (surprising that I haven't seen this before given that I've stayed in this quarter on multiple occasions over the last decade). This took me to past a new addition in the plethora of Swiss recycling bins - there's now one for "capsules de cafe".

C • Déchèterie 1

Ankle was stiff and sore when I got up this morning - not quite sure why. Awkward to run on so I decided to swap today's planned session with tomorrow and took to the water after work instead. It's a bit less crowded in the evening than it is at lunchtime but there were still moments when negotiating the turns was a bit like negotiating the roads of Laos or Thailand. A rather slow session but otherwise OK.

The news came through not long before I started that there had been a significant (6.0 or 6.4 depending on whose numbers you believe) earthquake in the vicinity of Luang Prabang. Reports so far suggest not too much damage (and no casualties), which surprises me a little given local building standards (or the absence thereof).

The plan was to head out to one of my favourite old Geneva haunts, the path along the Arve river (although this run wasn't long enough to get out to the power station). It was clear from early on that as long as my Achilles was prepared to play ball (which it eventually was), I was up for this, and it ended up being perhaps my most enjoyable run over the last few months - surprised it wasn't a bit faster. Flowing quite well over the later stages, after a decent climb up the hill out of Bout-du-Monde. Nice running morning, still, dry and about +4.

With the new railway (connecting Geneva with the French commuter towns to the south) only a few weeks away from opening, I thought the bit of the path which had been blocked off for building works for about the last three years would be open again, but no such luck :-(.

I haven't quite managed to adjust to the time zone yet this time, which is an advantage in the morning, but not so much so in the afternoon.

Achilles pretty bad today - definitely the worst it's been on this trip. Probably overdue for a bit of treatment, so will appreciate next week's version of Attack of the Killer Physio (tm), I suspect. Closest I got to exercise was walking to and from the office (about 20 minutes each way), and an excursion outside at lunchtime during which I noted that there was no giant inflatable object outside UN headquarters to mark World Toilet Day this year.

This picture looks familiar - not because of fire but because I think it was the scene of the most serious road accident I've been in, when a motorcyclist lost control on a bend and hit us head-on on the way back to Brisbane from the 1997 WOC trials. The motorcyclist went over the top of the car and was badly injured but survived (which he probably wouldn't have had he hit a tree instead), the car was a write-off but none of us were badly hurt; Ben Schulz, who would have only been about 19 at the time, was driving, and didn't panic and try to swerve wildly as I imagine a lot of inexperienced drivers would in that situation.

(Walking away from that did place not being picked in that WOC team in some level of perspective).

The (rather generalised) fire maps I've seen take in a number of 1990s vintage O maps (most of which I gather had become unusable because of lantana), as well as the Perseverance Dam camp - wonder if it's survived?

Woke up somewhat earlier than I had planned on, but at least that meant I was awake when I went out at sunrise. Ended up as a reasonable run once loosened up (I was going to say "warmed up" but that may not be entirely appropriate); an out-and-back along the lake shore. Back tightened a little in the last kilometre which is slightly unusual, and chafing I picked up walking around on Saturday in Singapore was a bit of a nuisance at times.

No snow in Geneva, but there was a bit on cars (mostly ones with French plates), so I suspect it wasn't too far away - maybe at 500-550m? (Geneva's at 375).

If Israel Folau is looking for an extreme climate event to blame on the legalisation of same-sex marriage, surely the heatwave in Sodom - which in July reached 49.9, the highest temperature in Israel since 1942 - is a more obvious candidate?

C • Don't... 1