Training Log Archive: blairtrewin

Headed down in the first half to check out the Yarra and Darebin Creek after heavy overnight rain; there's a minor flood warning for the former but it was still within its banks (though flowing very strongly) in this section, with plenty of puddles to dodge on the bike path (but not many bikes). By this stage it was clear that this was going better than the last few Sundays and, although the quads started to feel it a bit as it got hillier round the Ivanhoe side of Darebin Creek, the day's mission was accomplished.

Covering more streets within the radius wasn't the primary mission today - you don't get a lot of opportunities to see the river in flood - but I still picked off a few otherwise fiddly-to-get ones in Ivanhoe. I expect to have quite a few more opportunities to do this before it's over - I've almost convinced myself that there isn't going to be any significant relaxation until December (although if that actually does happen, Victoria will be going much further than any other democracy has attempted, and the politics of trying to maintain severe restrictions through weeks of a handful-but-not-yet-zero cases will be challenging at best).

With licence now given to drive somewhere to do exercise (as long as it's within 5km), I decided that Eaglemont Flats was a worthwhile new option for a Saturday morning, doing a course left over from an event in, I think, 2017 or so. Struggled to get much fluency in the terrain on a day of sleety showers, though starting to improve in that respect later on, and probably should have brought my compass for a couple of legs across the flat bit in the southwest. Became quite enjoyable later on. Lots of mud, especially close to the river, which was quite high even before the rain in the afternoon (one control site was in the water).

It's striking how much the track network (mostly unofficial MTB tracks) has changed over time. Quite a few of the tracks on my map had disappeared, and there were quite a few new ones, but a comparison with the original map (2004) is even more striking; apart from the Main Yarra Trail and its offshoots, probably less than 50% of the tracks on the 2004 map are still there, and less than 50% of the tracks on the ground now were on the 2004 map.

And home printer ink doesn't cope with moisture too well (although #18 was the only circle that significantly degraded before I got to it).

C • I think that's probably the... 9

Didn't sleep well last night - I understand exponential decay functions too well. Run wasn't too bad, though, although pretty slow - it wasn't until the last 10 minutes that I started going under 6 min/km. Thinking that a high degree of difficulty probably wouldn't work this morning, so went for something flat and set about clearing as much as I could of the area south of the railway line (unintentionally creating some Strava art in the process, although the "art" was very much of the five-year-old's animal drawing level).

There's been some interesting things done of late with creating automated orienteering maps of very large areas, but such exercises are only as good as the input data, which is how Microsoft Flight Simulator came to have a 212-storey tower in Fawkner.

First failed session in a couple of weeks - back a bit too tight to press on after the first few minutes. Felt like the sort of day that in other circumstances might have worked on a second attempt at lunchtime, but that's not currently a (legal) option. Instead turned it into a walk down to the river; it was at least a nice morning for that.

Similar Eaglemont loop to last Wednesday. Got out reasonably early but body up for this a bit more than it sometimes has been early in recent times, and the climbing went more or less OK. Quite windy at times, and a few spots of rain (but not as much as there was in the middle of the day, which is why I went out early).

Princeland was my rabbit hole of the day.

All Nations intervals. Was feeling pretty good through the first few and was looking to do something a bit longer, but tightened up on the 5th and 6th reps.

Unsettling thought of the run was wondering whether it's constitutionally possible (if the normal requirements for a constitutional amendment are met) for a state to be expelled from Australia against its will (I suspect not, but I'm not a constitutional lawyer). I know I shouldn't take comment threads as a representative sample, but it's hard not to get the sense that Victorians are so unloved in the rest of the country at the moment that such a referendum, if anyone put it up, would have a decent chance of getting the requisite majority in four of the other five states.

C • Herd mentality 21

Warm-up and down. Thought the return trip might be a struggle but the back tightness disappeared as soon as it arrived. Also completed the last of the set of cross streets to go between parallel street A and parallel street B, which is another small step in clearing part of the 2km circle.

Northcote Plaza has an appreciation society on Facebook. Of course it does.

C • It also apparently has a go... 7

C • Are you a member thereof...? 2

I haven't slept well the last couple of nights; the prospect of continuing more or less in our current mode until December (not being publicly countenanced by anyone official, but probably what it would take for a realistic chance of getting down to zero) is unsettling. Weekends are probably worst for that sort of unsettlement; there's more time to think, and none of the (virtual) interaction that happens during a working week.

Given that, I didn't have high expectations for the ride, but it worked out reasonably well - taking the Ivanhoe option and then out west into the middle of Thornbury. Used all but 15 seconds of my allocation so judged that part of it pretty well.

Questionable real estate marketing claim of the day goes to the sign outside the tower at the top of Burgundy Street (which made some serious money for the person - a local doctor, I think - who spent something like $200,000 to buy an apparently useless block left orphaned by the diversion of Bell Street in the early 1990s), saying that if you wanted a similar apartment, there were some on offer in "leafy Alphington". There are certainly leafy parts of Alphington, but the part of it where the apartments in question are being built (the old paper mill site) is definitely not one of them.

C • Reasonable expectations 5