Training Log Archive: blairtrewin

A post of the waterfall there on the ABC weather Facebook page reminded me that today was supposed to have been the Victorian Long Championships at Kangaroo Crossing. The Harvey Norman block of South Preston, so named because it is totally interest-free, was a reasonable substitute for this - no, actually, it wasn't, but it was where I went, in search of flatness and uncovered territory. What I actually got, unexpectedly, was one of my best two or three runs of the year - settled down reasonably quickly and from 3k onwards was generally below 5.30 pace, and felt smooth for the duration. Definitely a day when I felt like I could go on to bigger and better things, but I'd set 50 as an upper limit for the day and more or less kept to it. Knee a little stiff afterwards but no issues during the run itself.

(Perhaps I should call it the Jeff Kennett block as said Harvey Norman is built on top of a school closed under his government, but that would be even less of a distinguishing feature than a Harvey Norman is).

I think I'd have to go back to early 2018 for the last time I had this sort of average pace on a non-speedwork run.

This completed the 3km radius on the north and west sides. There are still a few bits and pieces to do on the east side of Ivanhoe, and lots in Kew.

And I discovered the DVD player I haven't touched for about a decade still works - in the absence of much else to do, I've started going through various DVDs of that vintage (mostly Christmas/birthday presents) I'd never actually got around to watching.

C • DVD player 2

Eaglemont Flats again but a track/road run this time, partly because I didn't want to test my knee on rough ground just yet, partly because a lot of the better bits of the orienteering map are either (a) under water or (b) under mud as a result of being under water earlier in the week. (From the mud deposits, it looks like the main bike path went under in at least one spot, too). Instead headed north on the Yarra Flats trail, something of a common Saturday morning thing for me (in the opposite direction) back in my Heidelberg days but the first time I've done it for a few years. Back along the Boulevard. Hard going for the first 10 minutes or so, but a stop (this time to look at one of the signs about Heidelberg School artists, rather than for traffic) settled my back down, and from there it was pretty good. A bit faster than most recent runs, too.

No knee pain as such but a bit of mild discomfort (above the kneecap rather than below where the original issue was), and a bit of stiffness afterwards which had mostly settled by late afternoon. Will take this as a yellow light rather than a red.

Morning ride, initially down the Yarra, then up through Collingwood and Fitzroy to the CERES bridge. Rather stop-start in the bits that had traffic (especially on the bit that overlapped with a commuting route I don't expect to use again this year), got going a bit more in the last quarter. Lots of people out walking on the paths (and one in the middle of the road) which provided the odd hazard, and the pandemic hasn't put an end to builders blocking bike lanes whenever they feel like it, either, although at least there's not much traffic around when you go around them. Canning Street pelotons were conspicuous by their absence, too. Both the Yarra and Merri Creek were high but within their banks, and the former didn't seem to have left too much debris on the bits of the path that were submerged earlier in the week.

Knee was a little stiff before, and on the early stages of, the ride (no pain though), fine afterwards.

It was reported this morning that Northcote was dotted with "penguins" to find (organised by the Year 4 teacher at Westgarth Primary as a substitute for the cancelled school camp at Phillip Island), but I didn't see any - probably better on a bike to be looking for cars rather than penguins.

C • Blocking bike lanes 1

Back to something resembling a proper run, seeking out West Heidelberg for somewhere that was (a) different (b) flat (c) not yet totally covered - it's not the most inspiring patch of town but served its purpose. The good news was that the knee was basically OK with just a bit of mild discomfort at a couple of points (didn't seem to be linked to slopes, unlike yesterday). The run was pretty hard work for the first 10 minutes but settled reasonably after that (it probably helped that from that point onwards I wasn't going into the wind for more than a couple of minutes at a stretch).

Reached a milestone today, a week or so later than I'd expected to: 1000 streets completed since I started tracking early last year. (I've also completed the Malahang Reserve block, and most of the area between Oriel Road and the creek, filling in some of the gaps left by a street-O run late last year).

I've seen some "interesting" shapes before on weather forecast maps, but Hurricane Larry and Tropical Storm Mindy have combined to produce one of the more memorable ones of the genre (caution: NSFW).

(Speaking of tweets, do I really want to know why "New World Order" is trending with "Dr Chant"?).

Testing the knee out to see if it still worked. Didn't quite feel 100%, but close enough to it to make me think that I can build on this - not launch straight back in to a full (2021-style) load, but at least get a start. A little soreness on the one very slight downhill but it was fine again after the next 100 metres on the flat, which is a good sign (and it was a good morning to be out, too).

The day's proper session, taking advantage of the lunchtime sun (there will be a bit of it around the next few days) - a bit of a northerly but not too much of a problem. Not as much water in the river (or the creeks) as there was on Monday although I didn't put the path downstream of Dights Falls to the test. Pace back to roughly what I was doing last year, which I was pleased with.

Morning ride. Not super-sharp this morning, and a hard slog across the top of Preston into the wind, but started to improve later on. Felt like the sort of day where the wind was getting stronger as it went on, which meant it wasn't a bad thing that the one part where it was unambiguously a tailwind was at the end. Knee continuing to improve and I think I'll be in a position to at least test it out tomorrow.

Happened to be looking at a map of Kingsbury today (given its small size, a potential burbing target once our allowable radius expands). In close proximity you will find the street names Golf, Green, Club, Bunker and Flag, along with The Fairway. Don't think it's too hard to work out what was there before the suburb was built. (You'll find something similar in Rosanna for much the same reason, except there the streets built on top of the former course are named after famous golfers rather than golf course features).

Mix of Pilates (doing the bits I could without the knee hurting) and a physio session, which at least means I got an early assessment (and some tape). She thinks the basic problem is tightness in the upper leg (certainly sensitive when being worked on) which connects to both the groin soreness from last week and the knee issue. Doesn't sound too serious but might be a little time off (that said, it felt good enough by late afternoon that I haven't completely written off a small restart tomorrow).

A recent rarity seen this morning was traffic chaos trying to get into the only place you'll see traffic chaos in Melbourne at present - a Covid testing site. I suspected this meant local exposure sites and indeed there were, in the form of both the Coles at Northcote Plaza, which at least saved the Health Department from trying to find a way to distinguish which one was which. (The locals universally refer to them as "good Coles" and "shit Coles" but presumably such language would be inappropriate for official government communications).

Got the OK to do a ride which wasn't too hilly so did a ride which wasn't too hilly, which also gave me the opportunity to check out the state of various waterways containing more water than they normally do. Pride of place here was the Yarra, which was high enough to nudge above minor flood level at Abbotsford - certainly enough to make for an impressive spectacle at Dights Falls (no whitewater canoeists this time) and flood the path downstream of it (not too uncommon an occurrence). The path next to the freeway east of Chandler Highway wasn't too far from going under either, which is a somewhat more uncommon occurrence.

Lovely lunchtime to be out: crisp, dry and not windy. Wasn't pushing hard, but knee was fine.

And it looks like a South Australian import is finding its way to the neighbourhood: the former 7-Eleven at Alphington is being rebuilt as an On The Run (at least according to the signs).