Training Log Archive: blairtrewin

Set out with the hope of getting out to around 1.45 (which would make it the longest I've done since early 2018) and succeeded in that objective. Headed down into Kew, in a loop based along Sackville Street at the far end, which was also the far end of quite a few long runs in my Heidelberg days. (There was lots of vegetation on the ground today, but this time it was because workers were pruning trees along the power lines and not because all the leaves had fallen down because it was so hot and dry (ahead of more dramatic things to come the next day)). A reasonable number of ups and downs but not super-hilly for a Kew run.

The first 20 minutes were reasonably hard work (perhaps not being totally awake after a late night watching the end of the cricket) but settled quite well after that, with a good spell in the middle. A steep downhill at around 11k triggered my back and it was difficult going for the next few kilometres, but the traffic lights stop at Heidelberg Road seemed to settle it down and encouraged me to do the extra 15 minutes rather than come straight in - the last 2km were pretty good (perhaps because I knew by then that I was actually going to finish this).

Good to get something like this under my belt, although I definitely knew that I'd been for a run afterwards - in particular my calves (which had shown no sign of trouble on the run itself) were very tight, although they seem to have improved a bit later in the day.

And I may have been heard to joke in the past about going for a run some years back in Mosman Park (a very upmarket part of Perth) on hard rubbish day and half-expecting to see a yacht on the hard rubbish, but I did actually see a kayak today on the hard rubbish in one of the posher bits of Kew.

C • Different places... 1

The three maps which I had thought might be the most challenging to find places to run were 4, 85 and 95. For 4 and 95 it's that most of the map is taken up by places which are impossible (Melbourne Airport) or unappealing (the Dandenong South industrial area). For 85 it's that most of the map is taken up by ocean - there's just a small sliver of land on the west side of Black Rock.

85 was what came up today. Started out by heading along the coast (there was some planning in this - it was quite a blustery day and I chose to run with the wind on the most exposed bits), then weaved back and forth back through the suburb while staying within the map's limited bounds, only going back on myself a couple of times. (Even if the boundary extended further east, you quickly get into Royal Melbourne Golf Club, which as it turned out was hosting a tournament today - the Asia-Pacific Amateur, which has got no media but I wouldn't be surprised if the winner goes to Augusta next year). Never really felt as if I was flowing, but steady enough as a run, ahead of bigger plans ahead tomorrow.

A relaxed session at Fitzroy, on a bright morning sunny enough for sun glare to be a minor nuisance at times. Seem to have come up pretty well from yesterday, but tomorrow will be more of a test of that.

First of probably a few Thursday runs during the summer from Westgarth (pre-positioning for a physio session in the afternoon), heading up Merri Creek and drawing a few more lines in Coburg (not too many because it's at the end of my range for this distance). A reasonably solid morning's work. Some showers around (although the heaviest cleared out just before I started) and I thought the track on the west side of the creek (a past favourite of mine, but the first time I've done it in recent years) north of Normanby might be a bit slippery, but most of it has been laid with gravel since I was last up this way.

Rode to work after this (a rarity on a long-run today) because I had something on at Melbourne Uni on the way, so a reasonably demanding day all round.

Getting a new Pilates program sorted. The new one feels like it will be somewhat more demanding than the old one, but that's the idea....

Summer Series at Camberwell. Back still tight at times but a definite improvement on last week; I walked a few hills but certainly not as many as at Mount Eagle. Thought I had a reasonable route but was somewhat consterned towards the end when I saw that Maprun said I'd got 13 out of 15 when the map said I was only supposed to be getting 14. I wasn't sure which of the two would be right so thought I'd better get the extra one, which fortunately was only perhaps 300-400m extra (it's not every week that there is a spare control not too far out of the way at that point). Not the only setting glitch as #14 was misplaced (although fortunately for me it was on the approach side so I didn't lose anything).

The bonus control did mean I brought up the 4000 streets milestone, a day earlier than I was expecting to. Illustrating how different the last 18 months have been to the two years preceding them, none of the first 2000 were outside Australia (and probably fewer than 100 outside greater Melbourne), but 577 of the next 2000 were. (A bit under half of these were in greater Geneva, a number which should be augmented further in a couple of weeks' time).

Orienteering/science crossover of the day: I've been reviewing a paper which develops a high-resolution urban temperature data set for Bern, and one of the anomalies they note is a substantial change in vegetation height n the forest on the western edge of Bern between 2007 and 2022. As you'd expect, I thought that the orienteering maps of said forest would be a useful indicator of what's going on, and with some help from Vanessa tracked down maps from 2018 and 2009. The former had lots of green (so probably youngish forest) in the relevant area, the latter had a decent amount of probably-recently-felled yellow.

And I was impressed by a rule that a Facebook page devoted to NT football has instituted: if you are going to comment on a player's body shape, you must first post a shirtless picture of yourself. (I suspect this was triggered by the return to NT football of Anthony McDonald-Tipungwiti, who doesn't look like a footballer but definitely plays like a very good one).

Morning swim, much as usual. Back felt a bit tight at times during this (a bit unusual for a swim, but not a portent of worse to come as it turned out).

This was a windy morning (and a windy day more generally). It was a tail wind for the ride into work, but lots of bits of blowing vegetation to breathe in/cough up still made it a less than pleasant experience. (The hand is improving a little each day though).

South Wharf intervals, first time for a while. I thought this could be pretty exposed to the wind and I was right - even though the wind was blowing at a 45-degree angle (NW on a path that runs W-E), the difference between into the wind (odd reps) and with it (even) was very noticeable - doing 68-69 into the wind, 64 with it. Didn't feel too bad for a first session back. Some soreness at the front of my right ankle on the way there, which was noticeable in between reps but not really on the reps themselves.

Warm-up and down. Right ankle had settled down by the time I was done.

The amount of mask-wearing in Melbourne seems to be on the rise a bit (although if you're sufficiently concerned about Covid that you are still wearing a mask outdoors in the open in October 2023, I would have thought that you'd at least wear it properly), but I was still a bit taken aback on the way here to see a food delivery rider in essentially a full hazmat suit.

Monday morning Pilates. Seemed to take a long time to loosen up this morning, but in reasonable shape by the end.

For various reasons it's the first time I've been on the bike for a couple of weeks. The area of my left hand which I injured a couple of weeks ago is still pretty sensitive, which is OK when riding on smooth ground but doesn't like bumps. It particularly did not enjoy the various rumble strips placed in various parts of CBD bike lanes (one of which is to warn of a driveway which no longer exists).

MFR Monday night, which I took a couple of minutes longer to fall off the back of than last week. Was on my own from there, heading round the west side of the river past Dights Falls. Probably a bit better than last week, which at least indicates that doing a run after riding (something I haven't done for a long time) doesn't seem to be a specific issue. Nice night for it.