Training Log Archive: blairtrewin

Had planned to join the MFR "long run" (at least in spirit) but nobody else was at Fairfield Boathouse, so either I went to the wrong place or nobody else came today (perhaps supporting Brodie's marathon effort?), so headed out on my own. I may not have been that good to run with today anyway as I'm still not up to running the steeper hills, although managing the smaller ones is gradually building confidence. Back never felt 100%, which deterred me from trying to push out to the hour, but didn't get any worse through the run.

Cool Sundays in summer are definitely not to be wasted.

I did take the opportunity to get onto some of the Yarra trails for the first time in a while, noting that quite a lot of work (presumably not officially opened by the local state MP) has been done in the bat-frequented area, and that more of the path has fallen into the Yarra than it has last time I was here. I also picked up the remaining bits of road south of the Yarra and within the circle - a couple of bits of the Yarra Boulevard, and the road into Willsmere from the bottom.

A few final checks at Kensington before running a more general loop (which means anyone who thinks my track is an indication of the course next week is likely to be disappointed; it's more of an indicator of potential routes to the arena from parking areas and public transport routes). Something of a struggle of a run - very slow early, and I don't think that was just my watch failing to pick up twists and turns in the more complex bits - and the wind got up later on with lots of grit and dust. Definitely minimum viable session territory.

On the subject of public transport, the 404 seems an appropriate number for a route on which buses cannot be found (at least on Sundays), not that it was a particularly useful route for accessing the event unless you live in Footscray or Moonee Ponds.

At Fitzroy under the bright sun of a summer morning (now is just about the earliest sunrise of the year). As I thought I might last night, felt a level of tightness which suggested that trying to run wouldn't have ended well, but eventually loosened up in the water. The pool experience is a bit more relaxed now than it was, too.

Spent some of the afternoon looking at sea level rise maps. Don't think I'd be investing in property in Port Adelaide. (The Power might become the first AFL team to represent a place which no longer exists). On the other hand, I can definitely endorse the aspiration in the ACT Climate Change Strategy to plant up to 5700 hectares of forest as a carbon sink (although I'm not sure whether or not this includes those pine forest areas which were never really replanted post-2003).

C • coastal areas 2

Couldn't come up for an evening run twice in a row; tried a few walk breaks to loosen my back up but that didn't work, and the downhill bits (through Heidelberg Heights) didn't work either. Eventually decided to pull the pin at 30 minutes, a decision made easier by knowing I wasn't going to get a result anyway (having failed to sync Maprun properly to my watch). Still had a tech problem to solve once I got back because I couldn't work out how to make Maprun think I'd actually returned, so switched to my phone and walked out to the nearest control, which seemed to work.

Think I'll appreciate some time in the water tomorrow.

My latest gig (somewhat neglected in recent months but my main focus for the next couple of months) is as the climate lead for the next federal State of the Environment. Part of this involves looking at state/territory and local government climate change plans and initiatives (when I mentioned this to someone they asked "how many staff do you have?"), which took me today to the ACT Living Infrastructure Plan. This revealed that (a) the ACT has a target of 30% tree cover in urban areas by the mid-2040s (those of you who have never been to Gungahlin may be under the misapprehension that it's already more than that) and (b) the City of Brimbank has an identical target. I think it would be fair to say that the latter has more work to do to get there than the former.

(I suspect someone I know wrote that report - there are several plausible candidates - because the paragraph on the increasing number of 40-degree days in Canberra is more or less a direct quote of one of my Facebook posts).

C • Gungahlin 2

MFR Wednesday training but in a completely different venue - Highett (the home base of Toby Cooper, who set it). I wasn't sure what to expect, but what we got as the centrepiece was a public housing estate which was a super-interesting pocket of sprint terrain - buildings, fences and gardens everywhere. I don't think we could get permission to run a proper event there (although the estate is rumoured to be up for redevelopment, so there might be a window between the residents moving out and the bulldozers moving in) - it would be perfect for a knockout sprint, especially as opening/closing gates could completely reconfigure the area between rounds.

Warmed up with a corridor course in the park, during which my back did what it sometimes does on evening runs, but the 7-minute conclusion of this was a perfect time to rest it for a couple of minutes and it gave no further problems. On the third part of the session, a longer part centred around route choice, I probably felt as good running as I have at any time in the last three months.

Caught up afterwards with friends who lived nearby, who suggested it was as well we run too fast to get mugged. (I understand that in Scotland the general rule of thumb is that the dodgier the estate, the better it probably is for sprint orienteering).

A bit of progress compared with the last couple of weeks - still not exactly sparkling but did feel as if it was going along OK in the second half, and two-contour hills weren't as scary as they have been (baby steps). Longest run since returning from injury (baby steps there too). Slow at the start but early back stiffness quickly disappeared. Also made some significant inroads into the remaining western parts of the circle - just one more small bit of the northwest to go (there are also a few areas on the Bellfield side and one south of the Yarra).

Online wanderings today took me to the 1990 England World Cup song, which unusually engaged the services of a proper band (New Order), although it's probably still best remembered for John Barnes' rap (which has its own Wikipedia page). Originally the song was supposed to contain the lines "E is for England, England starts with E/We'll all be smiling when we get to Italy", but some spoilsport at the FA belatedly realised that in 1990 references to smiling and the letter E, shall we say, had other connotations, and that bit was ditched.

Back to Monday morning Pilates. Generally seemed to go OK - I'm getting back into the swing of things. Obviously Bright is popular because both the other people in this class are heading up there later on this week (one of them with somewhat more ambitious riding plans than I had).

Then onwards to the pool. They've now gone to 75-minute sessions and I entered 25 minutes in, which meant it was busy at the start, rather less so at the end. Felt a reasonably routine swim.

This was the prelude to a hectic day at work (including writing four monthly or seasonal climate summaries, coming up to speed on the significant numbers from the heatwave of the last few days, preparing my bit for a briefing tomorrow, and preparing for an interview that ended up falling through). November 30 or December 1 is quite often my busiest day of the year (especially as almost every spring in recent years has set some kind of record), and today would have been busier still except that the WMO global statement is coming out on Wednesday and not today as originally planned.