Training Log Archive: blairtrewin

Given how marginal it was yesterday I wasn't totally surprised that my back didn't come up today, although it was a bit disappointing - first time for a while I've missed a Sunday (and cool Sundays are a resource not to be wasted in summer). Plan B was on the bike, and wasn't super-inspiring either, but at least nothing hurt too much, and it is no longer spring so it is now possible to come home down Fulham Road without risking life and limb.

A pavlova shop has appeared in the Alphington shops where the butcher used to be.

56 was my lucky number today, which took me to Williamstown. As it happened, there was a Summer Series event there during the week so I ran that (the five westernmost controls weren't on map 56 but were best dropped on B anyway).

Williamstown the suburb is familiar territory for me - an aunt and uncle lived there for many years - but I haven't been out to the coast much (and definitely not to Point Gellibrand, where today's course took me), so this had some new experiences. Unfortunately I was struggling with my back today (despite the lack of hills) and had to walk every 10 minutes or so to loosen it up, so it won't go down as a great run.

Hadn't realised just how exposed the football ground is. Must be an interesting spot to play in a southwesterly.

Did today what I'd hoped to do yesterday, and it was mission accomplished, more or less. This was a reasonably hilly excursion into bits of Eaglemont and East Ivanhoe (finishing off the Maltravers block) - I needed to be up for this and I was, more or less. Rather slow, which might or might not have been something to do with the early start (first day back in the office), but happy with the way I was handling the hills - certainly by comparison with the last couple of weeks. Started to tire a bit around 40 minutes, and again at the end, but nothing to be too concerned about. No soreness on the run, although the glutes were a little sore after a day on a new chair.

This finishes off the last of the 3km radius north of the river (still quite a bit to do to the south).

Felt a bit blah this morning and it showed on an attempt to run, so went for the water this time instead. Felt a bit blah there as well initially but going a bit better by the second half. The sun felt reasonably fierce by this stage so perhaps a better day to be in the water (tomorrow will be much cooler).

Station Street was not a good return route choice.

Headed out to a section of Kew next to Willsmere. I'd kept this area in reserve for a while, in the aim of having somewhere new within range to go to if we were restricted to an hour again, hopefully now something that's not happening again any time soon. Gradually improving and I think if this had been flat it would have turned into quite a decent run; as it was, the hills were still hard work, but not in the two-contours-and-legs-turn-to-jelly sense of the weekend. No injury issues of any significance. Warm and humid, on a day which turned to thunderstorms later.

A name that's been in the news this week reminded me of one of the great moments in orienteering sponsorship, an IT company by the name of Amicron which signed up as an Orienteering ACT sponsor about the time I joined the OACT committee in the early 1990s. Not too long after the deal was done, the company's founder disappeared in the general direction of Hong Kong leaving a trail of creditors behind him the length of a WOC long distance course; as far as I know OACT didn't see a cent.

In the pool this morning, under a warm cloudless sky on what felt like the first day of summer (it ended up being the first 30-degree day of the season, about a month later than usual). Not a fast session but picked up a bit at the end.

Traffic again messy getting there - shutting down the Mernda rail line for works in the same week as the High Street bridge closure (which also shuts down the area's main train line) suggests that the coordination between different bits of the transport bureaucracy could have been done a bit better.

November was another solid month for training volume, despite occasional injury issues - not quite where October was but not too far short.

C • The beautiful people were d... 1

Monday morning Pilates. Getting here was half the fun - the High Street bridge is closed for works this week and I suspected the traffic would be messy, so rode instead. The traffic was indeed messy, not assisted by numerous people who didn't seem to grasp that a 'Road Closed' sign applied to them and had to turn around when they reached the work site. There was a helicopter hovering overhead (probably the traffic reporters).

Obviously others had more issues getting there than I did because only one other person turned up (we usually have 4 or 5). The session itself went OK, with a bit more ambition on a couple of the sets.

Street-O at Smiths Dell. With other plans for other evenings I decided to have a go at trying a Monday after a reasonably substantial weekend (by modern standards). Given the challenges I'm finding at the best of times with evening runs after a workday, I really shouldn't have been surprised that it didn't work out. The best that can be said for this is that on days when my back felt as bad as this in the last two summers, I'd have given it away inside the first 10 minutes, but now I have a better idea of what I can and can't do on such days, which still doesn't make it pleasant battling around (walking most hills, jogging the rest). Perhaps improved a little bit in the last third. Didn't do well with the route either, not spotting the most efficient way of getting the controls on the southwest side of the freeway, and lost a bit of time at #17 not spotting a narrow path, too. Think I'll appreciate a non-running day tomorrow.

At least I delayed my start enough to catch the arrival of the seabreeze (it's actually warm enough today for that to be useful).

Spotted an AFP vehicle parked outside a house (just around the corner from #9, which was described as "stink pipe"), which presumably means someone of political significance lives there - probably a Liberal in these parts. (Labor people do live in nice suburbs but generally at least try to be on the same side of the river as their northern/western suburbs seats; Ivanhoe is quite popular).