Training Log Archive: blairtrewin

Actually managed to get through a post-flight run for a certain value of "get through" and "run" - this was not the most pleasant of half-hours and had multiple stops, not surprising with my level of whole-body stiffness. Started to loosen up a little later on. I'm not sure what I achieved with this other than proving to myself that I could do it, although an indicator of progress in the last couple of years is that 2 years ago, a weekly distance starting with 4 was a big week; this week I managed it in a week which included two long-haul flights.

The venue for this one was Airport West, which I've used a couple of times for going for runs on the way to the airport but not previously for ones coming from it. It was on the way into the city, and also has the important post-long-flight feature at the shopping mall (whose car park I started in) of a toilet that's open at this hour on a Sunday.

Didn't sleep that well on this leg, just one of those things, I think. (Had I not wanted to get any sleep, I could have watched World Cup cricket and Premier League football all the way from Dubai to Melbourne). The automatic gates didn't like my passport which I think is probably a sign of old age (for the passport) but I'm not going to have a trip-free window long enough to do anything about this until after Oceania in February.

It was then more or less straight into a most-of-the-day OA Board meeting, which I only fell asleep in once (and I have been known to fall asleep in 2pm meeting slots previously without needing any assistance from jet lag). I won't attribute staying awake thereafter to the sounds from outside of "What do we want? Free Gaza! When do we want it? Now!" (the demo went past the building we were meeting in). If things go to plan I'll be doing a day of work coming off this flight twice in the next 2 1/2 months, so pleased to cope with it more or less OK today.

Stationary bike session in the Dubai Airport gym between flights. Felt surprisingly good considering it was 3.30am Geneva time (I'd got a couple of hours of sleep on the preceding leg). Stationary bikes haven't got any more interesting since I last did it, although at least the TV this time had BBC News rather than the shoot-em-up they had last time (had I waited a bit longer, if what was showing in the lounge was anything to go by, I could have had the Dubai half-marathon or the camel races), and there was someone on the treadmill next to me for the last 10 minutes.

Once again failed to sleep until my alarm, but since it's my last day I'm not concerned about that (and if I was concerned I wouldn't have been going to bed before 9.30). Thought it might have been a damp run when it was raining as I warmed up, but it stopped as the run began and that was it (though with a bit of surface water in places). Headed broadly south with a target of the bridge across the Arve at the old power station (getting a bit outside the suburban limits), then back across some of the posh suburbs. I'd started out thinking I might aim for 90 if things went well, but it was feeling rather flat through the first half-hour and I settled for the basic loop for the most part. Improved later on in terms of how I was flowing, but back a bit iffy at times. A run which was a bit broken up by road crossings and pedestrian and construction-dodging (the pedestrians particularly involved schools, which seem to start at 8 here).

On the way back tonight - it's definitely been one of my shorter long-haul trips.

Mostly around the inner city on both sides of the lake, on a morning which wasn't as wet as I thought it might have been (emphasising how much of an aberration yesterday was in the context of this autumn, it had almost as much sunshine (8.5 hours) as the previous 16 days put together (9.3 hours)). Struggled to get myself going in the first half but a bit better in the second half. Pretty slow again - some of that was GPS issues in the inner city but even on the waterfront I wasn't going much under 6s.

One thing that's the same as back home is that running in the CBD involves a lot of dodging construction sites. One thing that isn't the same as back home was reading that, with a mountain railway shut down for works, one of the communities on it (presumably one without any other access to the outside world) has a rail replacement helicopter. Don't think a helicopter would have been much help with this morning's shutdown of the main Geneva-Lausanne line, though...

A day most notable for a Significant Running Milestone - bringing up 150,000 kilometres since I started training regularly in 1985. Like the 100,000 (done in Adelaide in 2007) this one was done while away with work (and I didn't have any fellow attendees to share it with this time, the one potential prospect being currently injured).

It was an unexpectedly clear morning for it, which also meant it was unexpectedly cold - probably ranging between about +4 and -1 depending on how built-up it was and local topography - nice weather to run in although there were a couple of moments where I was thinking I might have been better to bring my gloves with me. I planned things so that the milestone moment (7.5km in) would come at a spot with a good view over the lake and the mountains beyond (although sunglare affected the views, which were better the other way onto the snowcapped Jura). Got to the area quicker than I expected, so there was a bit of circle work in back streets to fill in the distance.

The run itself was not great, but definitely a considerable step up on yesterday. Seemed to be climbing a lot - it's one of those runs where you gain height gradually and then lose it all at the end. A bit tight again after the major downhill.

Hopefully the "liquidation grande: materiel militaire" I saw advertised refers only to clothing and the like, and not to things that go bang.

I'll need to last a long time to get to 200,000 (at my current distance it would take into my mid-70s), but let's see how we go.

On recent trips it's taken me a couple of days to find my feet and this was no exception - started out with plans of trying to get to an hour but it was quickly apparent that that wasn't happening (back was fine, just no energy and very slow). Managed to battle through a session such as it was; if past experience is anything to go by tomorrow will be better.

The Arve river was flowing very strongly, not surprising given how wet it's been (256mm in Geneva in the last three weeks), but the ground isn't as saturated as I thought it might have been with those numbers.

The meeting starts tomorrow so I decided to do some exploring of the south side of the lake as far as Evian (going to another country for lunch just because I can) before getting a ferry across to Lausanne and then the train back from there. Nice countryside, although Evian itself is a lot quieter on a damp Tuesday in November than it would be in the summer (and a lot of places are closed for holidays at this time of year, although not as universally as in the Alps). Following the scores on Cricinfo was also increasingly interesting as the day went on.

Flight went reasonably smoothly as these things go (and had an extra seat next to me on the first leg, which always helps). I was tight all over after it though, which meant that a brief attempt to run was abortive. Instead I headed for the water, returning to the Varembe pool (which has been closed for the last two years while they fix the roof). Went OK for the most part, but sharp cramps in both calves during the last 10 minutes were a reminder that things aren't entirely in balance.

Views entering Geneva were as spectacular as usual (and there was also the Sri Lanka-Bangladesh match to occupy me during the last few hours of the trip).