Training Archive: blairtrewinIn the 30 days ending 2007-09-30:
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| S | S | M | T | W | H | F | S | S | M | T | W | H | F | S | S | M | T | W | H | F | S | S | M | T | W | H | F | S | S | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Sunday Sep 30 | ||
| Run race ((orienteering)) 1:50:01 [4]*** 15.4 km (7:09 / km) +625m 5:56 / km | |
| spiked:29/30c | ||
| ACT Championships at Antills Creek. A solid effort on a long course, but lacking the sparkle of the leaders - ended up coming 5th, although the only one of those ahead of me who I was disappointed to lose to was Liggo. Plenty of DNFs, although more of the big guns finished than I was expecting, given the middle race tomorrow. Claimed BJ's scalp for the first time in a very long time (7 years?). Julian did 92, Shep 97, Kerrin 103, Liggo 109.
I went in expecting a 100+ time - couldn't see how the course could be flat enough for long enough for my km rate to get into the low 6s or high 5s. Turned out it was a bit thicker than I expected in places too. If anything I was a little too conservative early - full of running in the last 15 minutes (the downhill helped), which is perhaps a sign that I wasn't trying hard enough early on. Didn't miss much - some controls in vague areas were a little tricky to pinpoint exactly, but 26 (where I wasn't too far off line but lacked confidence coming in and probably had 30-40 seconds worth of hesitation in the last 200 metres) was my only real technical time loss. A couple of questionable routes. Had plenty of altercations with the terrain or the vegetation - final score from four separate incidents was cuts on the head, right side, right arm and left hand, grazed knee, lump on head, bruised knee and broken compass. Only the last of these will cause any lasting damage (to my bank balance). ACT fallen timber is pretty unforgiving. Antills Creek was an area I last ran on circa 1986, and there were quite a few retro aspects of the day, including having controls on native cherry trees. (The only new map I can recall since the mid-80s with native cherry trees was Burra Creek in 1997). The only thing that was missing was a 1:20000 map. Unfortunately I didn't have the right sound system setup to add to the 80s ambience and play some Human League or Duran Duran (or Wa Wa Nee) over the PA system. Went home to hear Queanbeyan's most famous son dropping the f-word on international television after having Sebastian Vettel run up his backside in the Japanese GP. | ||
| C • Cherry trees 2 | ||
| C • f-word 4 | ||
Saturday Sep 29 | ||
| Event: Oceania Champs Carnival | ||
| Run 1:00:00 [3]13 km (4:37 / km) | |
| A morning jaunt in Canberra before the race tomorrow, starting out around Aranda and then going across to Weetangera and finishing across Mt Painter. Not a particularly special run - didn't have much energy on the hills (and I'd forgotten how steep the west side of Painter is) - but hip the best it's been in the last couple of weeks with only a minor twinge. Obviously the needlework on Thursday had the desired effect.
Lack of sleep might have contributed to the lack of energy given the long drive up last night (although I didn't have to do it all myself this time). I think Reuben was impressed that Wa Wa Nee featured in my music collection. (I didn't copy everything across from 80s compilation CDs to IPod - those who've travelled with me before will be relieved to know that the likes of 'Aga Doo' and 'Moscow' got left behind). One effect of the drought I noticed is that Weetangera Oval, scene of one of the two-runs-in-20-overs epics for which my cricketing career was (in)famous, has been abandoned to the weeds. Also noted the passing of one Geoff Mahoney, a name I used to dread hearing on the radio in my childhood. He was the ABC's Sydney racecaller and hearing the words 'crossing to Geoff Mahoney at' (insert name of NSW racecourse here) meant you weren't going to get any cricket or football for at least the next 5 minutes - and they used to do it even in the final minutes of close Grand Finals. These days horse racing (or such horse racing as is actually happening at present) has its own radio station and the ABC leaves it alone except for the really big races. | ||
Friday Sep 28 | ||
| Swimming 32:00 [2]1 km (32:00 / km) | |
| Inexplicably slow - maybe it was because various muscles were still seized up after the doctor did some serious needlework on my troublesome hip last night (seems to be hurting less so it must have done me some good). Getting in and out of the pool in a cold rain was invigorating.
Will be away for the next week or so, at Oceania Champs with a conference in Sydney in between (good timing!). Spotted a car yesterday with the driver blasting his horn and making various obscene gestures at the vehicle in front - the sort of person that made you think 'where are the police when you need them'. That was until the offtending driver turned left into the Victoria Police Centre car park. | ||
Thursday Sep 27 | ||
| Run 1:29:00 [3]19 km (4:41 / km) | |
| This run was somewhat shorter than my usual Thursday session, in the run up to next weekend, and therefore might have been expected to start a bit later - except that I had to be at work early to do the 5AA interview that I mentioned in yesterday's log (this time with my clothes on), so it was another alarm in the early 5s.
The run itself was a nice one, moving smoothly and at a reasonable pace, hip seemed improved on recent days too. Managed to find a pocket of Hawthorn I've never been into before, something of an achievement after 13 years in the city. After speculating for some time as to whether we'd be sharing speaking honours at the same conference at some stage, Neil and I will be doing exactly that this afternoon. Admittedly it's cheating a bit - I'm organising the workshop and invited him to speak. | ||
| C • Sobering conference 1 | ||
Wednesday Sep 26 | ||
| Run 1:00:00 [3]13 km (4:37 / km) | |
| A fairly routine run as I ease up for the racing that's coming up from the weekend onwards. Pretty similar to most other runs in the last week. Started from near work and did a section along the beach and around Albert Park Lake, always a nice place to run as long as you don't want hills.
A bit of a first for me this morning: taking a media call (from an Adelaide radio station) whilst naked - I was in the shower room at the time. Would have made an even better story if I'd been on-air whilst naked, but in fact they were ringing to rearrange an interview which was already organised. | ||
| C • I hope that it wasn't a video phone! 2 | ||
Tuesday Sep 25 | ||
| Run intervals ((fartlek)) 37:00 [4]9 km (4:07 / km) | |
| Yet another run where I felt sore at the start but function OK once going - a definite improvement on last week. Fastest loop 9.13. This will be the last fast one I do before the Oceania Championships week starts.
Got to see (and smell) what's left of the Presbyterian Church on the way out. | ||
Monday Sep 24 | ||
| Swimming 28:00 [2]1 km (28:00 / km) | |
| A bit later than usual once I'd sorted out all post-trip matters (including fixing a flat bike tyre) and also a bit faster, not sure why. A useful recovery session from a big day yesterday.
As I was leaving I heard that Northcote pool is planning to bury a time capsule in their new diving pool in a ceremony on Wednesday. Not sure what they're intending to put in the time capsule but I hope that (a) whatever it is is waterproof and (b) someone remembers to document that there is a capsule there and where it is. I've only heard once in recent times of a time capsule actually being opened, and on that occasion it turned out that water had penetrated the capsule and turned most of the contents to rust or mush. | ||
| Run 49:00 [2]10 km (4:54 / km) | |
| MFR Monday night from Nicola. A struggle in the first 15 minutes but got better as it went on, especially as the pace picked up in the last couple of kilometres. My hip seems to feel better the faster I run - if you're going to have an injury that sort of injury isn't a bad one to have.
We declined the opportunity to watch the tail end of Brownlow red carpet arrivals. | ||
Sunday Sep 23 | ||
| Event: SA Long Championships | ||
| Run race ((orienteering)) 1:29:48 [4]*** 14.7 km (6:07 / km) +450m 5:18 / km | |
| spiked:19/23c | ||
| SA Long Championships at Twigham. Another warm day. An easier course physically than the long day at Easter (mainly because there were more 'around' options in the SE corner than there were then). Felt like I'd started well and then fallen away from halfway, but in fact the splits suggest the reverse was true - the gap to Simon blew out beyond 3 minutes by 7 and then stayed around the 3-4 minute range until 17. Caught Lachlan on the way to 14, and started having problems with my concentration at that stage with minor wobbles on 15, 16 and 20. Lachlan was fast on the downhills but seemed to be struggling up them, and I thought (correctly) that I'd be able to drop him on the climb through 20. I then proceeded to hand the hard-earned gap back on the dubiously-positioned 22. Probably about a par result given how well Simon is running now. Couldn't see myself getting much under 86-87. Simon did 82, Lachlan 97, Reuben over 100.
This race will do me good; it felt tougher than it should have for the length (felt more like a 110-minuter than a 90-minuter), which may be because it's the first proper long race I've done since Dubbo, or because of first-warm-race-of-spring syndrome. The hip was noticeable on occasions but doesn't seem to be an impediment, which means it's probably much the same as the injury I had last August/September. It's an enjoyable area to run, but I though the course could have made more of the area's potential for route choice, particularly in the SE corner where the longer legs all had obvious flat options. Of course, the biggest endurance test of the day came after the finish: the drive home, all 940km of it, including an unbroken 400km stretch between Waikerie and Sea Lake. (I know this isn't how you're supposed to do it, but I was feeling good and wanted to get as much distance behind me as possible while I was still feeling good, knowing that the last couple of hours would be a struggle). All went reasonably well with the only negative being the lack of any open eating places on an early Sunday evening in any of Murrayville, Cowangie, Underbool, Walpeup, Patchewollock or Speed (eventually found a fish and chips shop still functioning in Sea Lake). Made it home around 11.45. | ||
| C • Speed sounds like the right place to stop for a trip like that. 3 | ||
Saturday Sep 22 | ||
| Event: SA Sprint Championships | ||
| Run race ((orienteering)) 20:29 [4]*** 3.3 km (6:12 / km) +140m 5:07 / km | |
| spiked:16/17c | ||
| SA Sprint Championships at Twigham. Started off pretty well once I got a feel for the peculiarites of the map. A lot of scrambling in and out of erosion gullies, and I went quite lactic in the second half, presumably from too many sprints up the sides of the gullies. Also made a careless 20-second error on 11. Ended up 3rd, just being squeezed out by Lachlan on the finish split (both well behind Simon). A warm day but that didn't make a lot of difference in a short race.
The map was a blown-up version of the 1:15000/5m, which was a pity (although I can understand why extra fieldwork wasn't done for a relatively small event). The erosion area was quite interesting anyway but would have been more interesting with the extra detail possible on a 1:5000/2m (or 2.5m) - plus a smaller contour interval would have allowed the steep banks (which are a significant obstacle in places) to be shown more accurately. | ||
Friday Sep 21 | ||
| Swimming 30:00 [2]1 km (30:00 / km) | |
| Session at Richmond before heading off to SA. Started very slowly but picked up well later on. Hip a bit improved on yesterday and in any case wasn't a problem when swimming.
The church on the corner 50 metres down from my place burnt down last night. Obviously the fire brigade sirens weren't especially loud because I slept through the whole drama. | ||
| C • if it burnt down 2 | ||
Thursday Sep 20 | ||
| Run 1:44:00 [3]23 km (4:31 / km) | |
| Starting to ease back a bit on the distance now. Not as weak as I can be fronting up on Thursday morning after a double race on Wednesday, but hip was again a nuisance - didn't appreciate being slept on, although it's better running than walking (and meets the first definition of a minor injury, one that feels better as a run goes on). Hopefully a couple of easier days will make a difference. | ||
Wednesday Sep 19 | ||
| Run race ((Corporate Cup)) 13:25 [5]3.83 km (3:30 / km) vdot: 56.9 | |
| Would have hoped for something a good deal better. The conditions weren't as good as last time (quite windy) and I spent more time on my own, but would still have wanted to at least better the last time, given that I'm supposed to be peaking. A reasonable first half but fell away in the second. Was about 40-50 metres off Bruce most of the way after he jumped me at the start, but never got closer (and he wasn't having a great day either).
Km splits: 3.29, 3.37 (uphill), 3.30, 3.31. | ||
| Run 30:00 [2]6.5 km (4:37 / km) | |
| Going to/from the Tan. It is International Talk Like A Pirate Day and three suitably-dressed people had got into the spirit of the occasion, standing by the side of the Yarra with two improvised rafts flying the skull and crossbones.
My hip still isn't especially comfortable sitting or walking but seems to be OK once warmed up, and didn't really impede me on the run. Will need watching but seems similar to the problem I had last August-September. | ||
| Run race ((street-O)) 52:00 [4]* 12.5 km (4:10 / km) +170m 3:54 / km vdot: 50.4 | |
| spiked:19/20c | ||
| First time for a while I've attempted to do the Tan/street-O combination and it doesn't get any easier. Made a substantial error on the way to my intended first control - turned in one street too early - but turned it into an alternative route choice which worked out OK. Moving reasonably but never had any real pace, or power on the hills (not that there were too many - Mont Albert is flatter than I remembered).
It stayed dry for the run, but a squall went through towards the end and there was lightning out towards the west at the finish. News of the day is that some Mildura irrigators are considering suing over the lack of water. I'm not quite sure who they're going to sue over not being given water that doesn't exist - perhaps they could follow the lead of Billy Connolly in 'The Man Who Sued God' and, in the absence of a sueable God, sue His earthly representatives instead. (In the unlikely event that this case ever sees the inside of a courtroom, there's a fair chance that I or one of my colleagues will end up as a witness, which isn't a hugely appealing prospect). No doubt there will be some pertinent signs on the way through Mildura going to the SA Champs, to join the 'No Toxic Dump' ones. (I noticed that there was a horse running around at Ararat last week called 'Toxic Free Mallee'. Not sure how that got through when 'Johnny Say Sorry' was rejected by the powers that be, but there you go). | ||
| C • The logic 1 | ||
Tuesday Sep 18 | ||
| Run intervals ((fartlek)) 37:00 [4]9 km (4:07 / km) | |
| A bit disappointing after a promising start on a lovely morning (a bit earlier than usual for this session) - not really flowing in the faster sections. Fastest loop 9.14. A hint of left hip soreness, although nothing of any significance. | ||
Monday Sep 17 | ||
| Swimming 30:00 [2]1 km (30:00 / km) | |
| A strong cold southwesterly made for some uncomfortable moments getting in and out of the pool at Fitzroy, but a nice session once in. | ||
| Run 45:00 [2]9 km (5:00 / km) | |
| MFR Monday night run from Jasmine's through Royal and Princes Park and Melbourne Uni. Reasonably comfortable at an easy pace. Took in the less-than-daunting slope that Melbourne Uni Athletics Club use for their hill intervals, then went past the stadium at Princes Park which is probably about to be sold brick by brick to pay for Chris Judd. (I suggested to the West Coast supporter at work that a suitable trade might be Mark Bolton and a fifth-round draft pick; strangely he didn't seem impressed). Finished off with some twisting in and out of the buildings at Melbourne Uni, including going through what must be the world's only heritage-listed car park. (It was Australia's first underground car park, and the ceiling arches do have a certain elegance about them). | ||
Sunday Sep 16 | ||
| Run race ((orienteering)) 33:49 [4]*** 4.3 km (7:52 / km) +140m 6:46 / km | |
| spiked:12/15c | ||
| Sydney Metro event at Parramatta Lake. I wasn't expecting a lot, coming off a night without a lot of sleep post-party (but then most of the opposition combined the same disadvantage with a hangover). Felt reasonably good running but my concentration was often poor on what should have been a pretty easy course - blew 2 minutes on 7 after misreading a small track as a line of cliffs. Nice to get into some new terrain - maybe not too exciting for us as experienced people, but we'd love to have an area like this in suburban Melbourne to blood newcomers in.
The lake meant some routes were much longer than the straight line. 11 to 12 was particularly so. The lake was below its usual level and I was thinking of cutting across the mudflats at the end, but decided not to. This was as well because Jose went up to his waist in it and had quite some work to get out. I'm entering this from Sydney Airport. A few years ago I arrived early for a flight out of Sydney and took up an offer to get on an earlier flight, only to find that it was delayed and ended up getting to Melbourne after the one I'd originally been booked on. The same is in danger of happening here. | ||
| C • Mud photos 3 | ||
Saturday Sep 15 | ||
| Event: 70's Disco | ||
| Run 1:54:00 [3]21 km (5:26 / km) | |
| Somewhat more adventurous than my long runs usually are. In Sydney in the lead-up to Ben's 30th, and went out from Jose's place at French's Forest in a group which started out quite large but ended up being whittled down to three (Rob, Julian and myself - although Prong only fell off late in the piece). Spent several minutes early on acquainting ourselves with the pleasures of Sydney bush, scrub-bashing uphill to get to a track, before dropping down to Narrabeen track, then up a long single-track (a really nice section) which came out at Oxford Falls. Also had plenty of opportunities to reacquaint myself with a substance foreign to Melburnians, mud.
It was a good solid run, one of those days when you get to the top of a hill, look back down it and think 'was it really that steep?'. Slower pace than usual for my long runs but the terrain was responsible for that. | ||
Friday Sep 14 | ||
| Swimming 31:00 [2]1 km (31:00 / km) | |
| Up in Canberra for the first stage of the long weekend (Dad's Order of Australia ceremony at Government House this afternoon) so tested out the new Belconnen pool, which is pretty impressive (no wonder the Jamison one's reported to be on the verge of going bust). A decent enough session although a little bit of right elbow soreness at one point. The timing pads were in operation so my slow laps were flashed up on the scoreboard if anyone was paying attention (hope they weren't). | ||
| C • band aid central 1 | ||
Thursday Sep 13 | ||
| Run 2:01:00 [3]26 km (4:39 / km) | |
| A rather flat and uninspiring run, never felt brilliant, but no worse at the end than at the beginning. Also felt rather weak on anything that resembled a hill, so it was as well that there weren't too many of them.
| ||
| C • Peak has passed? 1 | ||
Wednesday Sep 12 | ||
| Run 1:02:00 [3]13 km (4:46 / km) | |
| A run which will be remembered mainly for turning a corner around halfway and stepping into a scene straight out of a TAC commercial - suburban back street, police and ambulance with flashing lights, and motionless body mostly under blanket on the ground. Fairly obviously a pedestrian who had come off second-best from an altercation with a car. I didn't look too closely at the centre of the action, but there was a bag off to the side which suggested its owner was probably of late primary-school age. Didn't look good, although there's nothing on the news (yet) so I'm assuming they survived (for now at least).
As a result of this my mind was everywhere except running for the second half, after a reasonably mundane first half (very sluggish in the first 5 minutes but settled after that). The biggest challenge early on was sidestepping the obstacles supplied by the City of Boorondara's hard rubbish collection day. I'm not sure whether this happens in other cities (it certainly doesn't in Canberra) but it's something of a Melbourne institution. Sometimes it can be somewhat unfortunately times, as happened during the Commonwealth Games when the Shire of Yarra Ranges scheduled their collection day for the same day as the shooting at Lilydale. Perhaps the Sierra Leone team could have used the discarded couches and electrical goods lining the road to the event to furnish their post-defection premises. I'm street-Oing in Hawthorn tonight, so started near Scotch and headed south, taking in such sights as Melbourne's oldest known political graffiti, now almost invisible (it's on the Glenferrie Road railway bridge at Malvern and says 'MENZIES OUT' and 'VOTE NO', dating from the 1952 referendum to ban the Communist Party), and the wonderfully-named Harold Holt Memorial Swimming Pool. (For the benefit of non-Australian readers, and possibly younger Australian ones, Harold Holt was a Prime Minister who disappeared without trace, presumed drowned - although there were some more colourful theories involving Chinese submarines - off a Victorian beach in 1967). | ||
| C • Council Collection 1 | ||
| Run race ((street-O)) 42:00 [4]* 10.3 km (4:05 / km) vdot: 50.9 | |
| spiked:19/20c | ||
| Street-O at Smiths Dell. A nice area, although a pretty mundane course with only a couple of significant route choice decisions. Terrific spot for the start/finish, in a park on a hill with a great view to the Melbourne central city skyline. An added element was supplied by the Holden airship, which from certain angles looked remarkably like a flying saucer as it hovered in the dusk over the inner suburbs. Expect a lot of UFO reports tomorrow.
I forgot to turn my torch on until we got the 'go' signal so wasted a bit of time doing that and was 100 metres off the back by the time I started thinking. Settled well and was running strongly by about the third leg, from which point it was a nice run. Felt like I was going a bit faster than I actually was, and didn't get close to Adam. Had a good scrap with Bruce Paterson for a couple of legs - he's very fast downhill, but not so elsewhere. No horizontal pedestrians this time. | ||
| C • doing the rounds 1 | ||
Tuesday Sep 11 | ||
| Run intervals ((fartlek)) 37:00 [4]9 km (4:07 / km) | |
| Another sign that I'm starting to build into some pretty reasonable form, getting close to the 9-minute mark for the fartlek circuit (9.02) despite not feeling ultra-sharp, and a bit of slippery ground (it actually rained this morning). My best in recent times is 8.55. Not a bad place to be with a string of significant races coming up.
The ride in to work on wet roads had its moments, and I acquired quite an impressive amount of facial mud in transit considering that I didn't go off bitumen en route. Also starting to look like we might be denied the satisfaction of seeing John Howard defeated at the ballot box. | ||
Monday Sep 10 | ||
| Swimming 30:00 [2]1 km (30:00 / km) | |
| Actually remembered all relevant items of equipment today and therefore did swim as scheduled, at Northcote. Felt like I was going at it harder than I usually do but speed not significantly different. | ||
| Run 50:00 [2]10 km (5:00 / km) | |
| A little longer and faster than most recent Monday nights. Hadn't felt great during the afternoon but the run went OK.
For those who are wondering, the corrections to Sunday's splits (course 3) are as follows: 1 - add 0.42 2 - subtract 0.32 3/4 (combined) - add 0.49 5 - add 0.07 6 - subtract 0.20 7 - subtract 0.37 8 - subtract 0.04 9 - add 1.09 10 - subtract 0.26 11 - subtract 0.33 12 - add 0.56 13 - subtract 0.13 14 - subtract 0.41 F (last leg) - subtract 0.17 | ||
Sunday Sep 9 | ||
| Event: Victorian State Series #7, Mt Franklin Gorge | ||
| Run race ((orienteering)) 50:29 [4]*** 8.9 km (5:40 / km) +415m 4:36 / km | |
| spiked:12/14c | ||
| State Series at Mount Franklin Gorge. Not quite the running intensity of yesterday and felt a bit ordinary in the warm-up but built into it nicely, and starting to become quite strong on the hills in the second half. Fine navigation almost flawless but exited a couple of controls slightly poorly, and lost a bit of time on my route choice on the last section of 10. Still a solid run.
Bruce was a bit over a minute ahead of me, and Warren got me by 6 seconds (almost exactly reversing yesterday's result). Still reasonably happy with my current form. | ||
Saturday Sep 8 | ||
| Event: Victorian Relay Championships | ||
| Run race ((orienteering)) 42:33 [4]8.6 km (4:57 / km) +240m 4:21 / km | |
| As hard as I've run on an orienteering course for years (not entirely coincidentally, it's also the fastest km rate I've done in a bush event since the late 90s). Had a limited warm-up after switching from third leg to first at the last minute and dropped off the lead bunch at the very start, but had them back by the first control because of a slightly better route. From there it was a lead group of three, which became two when we dropped Leon Keely about halfway around. Liggo and I took several different routes but were never far apart at controls, and I was just about thinking about my spring finish prospects when I ran above the (split) fourth-last and lost 30 seconds. I thought the race was gone there, but in fact it was exactly what was needed to break the race open - Liggo missed his by more.This left me to come in 40 seconds clear - which then became 2.30 because Liggo had punched the wrong last control and had to go back for it.
Yarra Valley didn't have MFR's depth so I never expected us to win, but I thought if we were lucky we might be in the mix for second. Evan's great second leg for Bendigo put paid to that, and in the end Warren (MFR second team) got Ted in a sprint finish. Pretty happy with the intensity of this run. I've now been in three intense head-to-head battles in the last couple of weeks, which will hopefully set me up for some of the more significant races ahead. | ||
Friday Sep 7 | ||
| Swimming 31:00 [2]1 km (31:00 / km) | |
| For the second time in a week a planned morning swim became an evening swim because I'd left some gear behind - this time at home (must have been the annoyance at whoever it was who parked across my garage). Once the session finally happened, it was OK but nothing special at the end of a long day (coming off an hour of riding).
As I've posted elsewhere, the leader of the free world really distinguished himself today, starting off by saying how pleased he was to be at the OPEC meeting and then expressing his thanks to John Howard for the work of the Austrian troops in Iraq. You couldn't make this stuff up. | ||
| C • George is just proving Latham correct 3 | ||
Thursday Sep 6 | ||
| Run 2:05:00 [3]26 km (4:48 / km) | |
| Struggled through the streets of Eaglemont for the first hour, as weak on the hills as I was yesterday morning. Gradually started to build into it and the last half-hour was respectable if not brilliant (the long gradual descent through Rosanna Parklands is one of the kinder ways to get back to my place, too).
Another indicator of spring: there was at least a little bit of light when I started. | ||
Wednesday Sep 5 | ||
| Run 1:02:00 [3]13 km (4:46 / km) | |
| Felt very flat for much of this run, despite the lovely morning. Was glad to get it over and done with which isn't normally the case for this type of run.
Arrived at work to see some numbers which can only be described as shocking - the Arctic sea ice area for August is nearly a million square kilometres (or close to 20%) below the previous lowest on record for this time of year. This is starting to look horribly like a runaway process. The ugly picture can be seen at http://nsidc.org/news/press/2007_seaiceminimum/ima... | ||
| C • Not Good 1 | ||
| Run race 13:20 [5]3.83 km (3:29 / km) vdot: 57.3 | |
| Expected very little on the Tan after this morning's dismal effort, but ended up pretty similar to last week after an indifferent start - 4 seconds down at 1k but only 3 at the end. Lost a little time dodging some wheelchairs on the Botanic Gardens bend which might explain some of the initial split. Got in a good pack which always helps. Definitely encouraging to do a time like this on a day when things didn't go right - suggests potential for a sub-13.10 further down the track. Conditions perfect.
Splits: 3.32, 3.35 (uphill), 3.27, 3.26. | ||
| Run 30:00 [2]6.5 km (4:37 / km) | |
| Going to/from the Tan. Running a bit late heading down so a bit faster than usual. | ||
Tuesday Sep 4 | ||
| Run intervals ((fartlek)) 38:00 [4]9 km (4:13 / km) | |
| Didn't expect a great deal after the way I was feeling last night. Not the worst run I've ever had but not brilliant, and seemed to be struggling to find any real speed despite working hard. Fastest loop 9.18.
A panelbeater in Melbourne will be several thousand dollars richer after I saw someone on the way into work drive straight into the back of another car for no obvious reason. They were on the other side of the road so I wasn't close enough to see whether or not a mobile phone was involved. | ||
Monday Sep 3 | ||
| Swimming 32:00 [2]1 km (32:00 / km) | |
| Did this in the evening after discovering in the morning that I'd left all my swimming gear at work last week (and you can imagine how pleasant the towel was after having being rolled up wet in a bag for four days :-). Was rather wishing I didn't because I never got going at all - shoulders pretty stiff for no obvious reason. First time I can ever remember being rained on during a session at Fitzroy (being rained on at all in Melbourne these days takes a bit of doing). | ||
| Run 49:00 [2]9 km (5:27 / km) | |
| Very slow Monday night blob with Dion and Nicola - the crowd has got pretty thin lately. Leg 3 of the Monday night triathlon (although I haven't logged the ride to get here). Felt very ordinary throughout, perhaps a little better on the final loop. Maybe I haven't got through the cold I thought I was getting last week as well as I thought I might. Best part of the night was definitely the food at Lentil as Anything afterwards.
As regular readers of this log will know, I often use my runs when travelling to explore places that most tourists wouldn't get to, and a piece I read on the weekend emphasised that I really have got into some weird and wonderful places. The run in question was through the industrial back blocks of Ust-Kamenogorsk, Kazakhstan during the APOC tour in 2004. It turns out that, in a past life, the Ulba Metallurgical Factory was a top-secret Soviet nuclear installation, and the article on the weekend was about what happened next. The Kazakhs inherited several hundred kilos of highly unstable weapons-grade uranium on independence. They didn't want it. The Russians didn't want it. The Americans didn't really want it either, but they wanted even less for those who might want it (like Iran, Iraq, North Korea or Osama bin Laden) to get their hands on the stuff, so they arranged to haul it away under cover of darkness and fly it halfway around the world (refuelling in mid-air because no country would allow them to land with such a cargo) to be reprocessed in Tennessee. Not sure how long all of this has been public knowledge for, but it would have been fun to have known it while we were there... | ||
Sunday Sep 2 | ||
| Run 2:31:00 [3]33.5 km (4:30 / km) | |
| Some nice symmetry to this one - spent the first part of the morning watching Catherine Ndebera running for 2.31 and then ran for 2.31 myself (although at a considerably slower pace and in vastly better conditions). Started southwest from my place through Eaglemont and Kew as far as the Gipps Street bridge, then north and east before a final loop up through Macleod. Encountered some Father's Day pedestrian traffic jams around the Collingwood Childrens Farm.
It was a fairly humdrum run for the first half, although not as sleepy or as congested as the last two days, and handling the many rolling hills passably. Somewhat to my surprise it then picked up considerably and the fourth half-hour was excellent. Tired a little at the end but still had a bit left in the last 10 minutes. It was a very pleasant day for running (or for a lot of other things), but it was difficult not to think about what's going to be left of Mildura if it stays dry for another few weeks... I don't expect to go this long again in this training cycle. | ||
Saturday Sep 1 | ||
| Run 1:01:00 [3]13 km (4:42 / km) | |
| A pretty nondescript and very early effort around the river at Richmond prior to spending most of the day up at Ararat. Still on the fringes of a cold but don't seem to be getting any sicker (although I could do with some more sleep). | ||
