Training Log: blairtrewin

Run race 14:45 [4] 3.83 km (3:51 / km) vdot: 51.1

Running the Tan - in advance of a scheduled Corporate Cup tomorrow. I didn't expect a lot from today (and expected even less when it was 32 degrees), and went in thinking that anything under 14.30 was a bonus. One positive was that one of my colleagues came to pace me.

The start was promising and I thought on the basis of my 500m split that low 14s might be a possibility, but those thoughts disappeared as soon as I hit Anderson Street; I've done virtually no hill running during the summer and it shows in a lack of strength. Nor was I able to get back on the pace once over the top of the hill. Still, you have to start somewhere and it will be easier next time.

Km splits: 3.44, 4.00 (uphill), 3.55, 3.53.

Run 31:00 [3] 6.5 km (4:46 / km)

Going to/from the Tan. Coming back was pretty hard work in the heat. Quads were fine going there (and during the Tan loop) but tightened a bit coming back.

I got back to discover I was doing a TV interview on 10 minutes' notice; I don't think the moisture on my shirt had dried totally, so hopefully only my head was visible. Fortunately it was SBS so nobody will see it.

I'm now up in Canberra for a science briefing at Parliament tomorrow (and am staying on for the weekend). Talking to politicians doesn't scare me in the slightest - I spend enough time around them to know that they're (mostly) human beings - but the idea of my talking to politicians seems to scare a few other people in the organisation.

C • We all saw it 1

Run intervals ((fartlek)) 40:00 [4] 9 km (4:27 / km)

Fartlek session from home. Much the same as the last two times I did it, which suggests that I haven't damaged myself horribly from my Friday exploits; feeling somewhat better today although still not exactly 100%. Did tail off a bit towards the end. I'm reminded that last time I felt like this, post-Canberra Marathon in 2008, my endurance a month down the track was probably as good as it's been at any time in the last five years, so hopefully history will repeat itself there (not that I'm expecting Easter to be especially physical by its usual standards).

Swimming 37:00 [2] 1 km (37:00 / km)

A slow session at Hawthorn which did perform the useful function of loosening various muscles up considerably (and the big toe isn't as swollen as it was over the weekend, although I'm not sure I can thank the swim for that).

Run 39:00 [2] 7.3 km (5:21 / km)

MFR Monday night session from Suse's, with Bruce, Clare and Eva (from Sweden). The first 500 metres was pretty ugly but fairly reasonable after that; certainly a considerable advance on yesterday. Nice to get out there, or perhaps it was just the change of scene from a day spent producing lines like '010579 19701224 2 208 -999 N H 0900-1 17.2'.

Run 1:31:00 [3] 18 km (5:03 / km)

Definitely a day for building HTFU reserves. My quads felt worse when getting up than they did yesterday, and as a bonus I also got to spend the early hours of the morning experiencing the greatest hits of AC/DC (there was advance warning this was likely to happen; it's just Murphy's Law that it was happening on the one Saturday night out of six when I was here). At least the conditions were reasonably benign.

I almost turned around in the first two minutes of shuffling but things improved after then. It could never be called a comfortable run, but I was able to keep grinding away without things getting any worse. A couple of minor Achilles twinges but nothing of significance. The route was a flat one, out through Kingsbury, Thornbury and Bellfield, but the few downhills were a reminder that going into the terrain today wouldn't have been a good move.

Sightings of the debris of a Saturday night in the big city: (a) a shattered bus shelter in Reservoir and (b) a burnt-out car in a back street of an industrial area in Thornbury.

Run 33:00 [3] 6 km (5:30 / km)

Woke up feeling decidedly stiff and sore, but quads weren't as bad as feared (i.e. I could actually go down stairs forwards) and decided to go through with plans to check out some terrain identified by other Yarra Valley people at Morang wetlands (north end of Plenty Gorge park, north of South Morang, west side of the river).

It's largely semi-open with some patches of heavier vegetation. The contours are somewhat unusual, with basalt ridges and numerous large depressions which I presume are old quarries (most of them have water in them, but I don't know if that's a regular feature). Some of the more vegetated sections around the old quarries might support a sprint; otherwise it will make a decent Metro area (and probably a good schools area as well, not least because of the high fence on three sides). Roos everywhere.

I couldn't describe this as a pleasant run, but the quads did loosen passably for the run (they tightened up again afterwards, as did various other body parts).

Run 3:57:00 [2] 35 km (6:46 / km)

A Wilsons Prom epic with Jenny; she was keen to go down there and I didn't need too much of an excuse to do it either. We did the Waterloo Bay-Refuge Cover-Sealers Cove circuit (the opposite direction to the way most people do it, partly governed by the timing of high tide at Sealers Creek). Ridiculously scenic in places, especially around Waterloo Bay and Refuge Cove (which we saw a bit more of than planned after missing the track off the beach).

As a run, the first two-thirds were comfortable, a little within myself at times but not inordinately so, with a bit of walking on the more scrambly bits of the Waterloo Bay exit but not generally otherwise. A run of this length, though, was always going to be a bit of a test of my limits given lack of recent training (I haven't been beyond 2.25 for more than a year), and my limit expired at 3.10, halfway up the biggest climb of the day, the 300m climb to Windy Saddle. Quads died at this point and I was starting to cramp; ended up walking the second half of the Windy Saddle climb, before running (not especially comfortably) back to the Telegraph Saddle car park. Very stiff afterwards, despite (or perhaps because of) a bit of time in cold water in the hope of expediting my recovery.

This took me into territory uncharted by me for a long time so I wasn't totally surprised not to be quite up to the task. However, the most encouraging aspect was no trace of Achilles trouble, despite some rough stuff and soft sand that I had feared would set it off. I'm not sure if I'm quite yet prepared to call myself cured but progress is encouraging.

(And one negative I didn't mention - my camera batteries were flat. Hopefully Jenny's photos turn out well).

C • 4 hours 1

C • Wow 1

C • I'm happy with them! 1