Training Log Archive: blairtrewin

Mud, mud, glorious mud! It was terrific to reacquaint myself with such things as mud, puddles and slippery ground, things I've always enjoyed right back to the days when I used to hope for rain on school cross-country day (our course turned into a skating rink as soon as it got wet and I thought such conditions would be to my advantage, but never got the chance to put it properly to the test). It drizzled steadily for the first 45 minutes, which is, I think, the first time I've run in steady rain since Canada in November.

Had a terrific first half-hour, heading out over the hills of Templestowe. Didn't quite develop as well as I thought it might given that start, and was definitely ready to finish when I came in, but still a pretty good effort. Slightly faster than most of my long runs during the summer. I realised on the Candlebark Park section that this is the first time I've run that track in that direction, and therefore got to see a few new sights.

C • surprised i didn't see you out there blair. 2

Event: Training day for WOC trials
 

Training day at St. George's Lake. Was feeling half-asleep before the start and expected it to be unpleasant physically. It wasn't actually too bad, particularly in the second half, although I wasn't pushing that hard. Handled the mining detail OK but then lacked confidence in a flat section where there seemed to be a lot more detail on the ground than there was on the map; my other time losses (non-major) were partly products of flags on the ground or not quite in the right place.

Early on there was a lot of fallen timber on the ground; with the overnight rain I wasn't very confident on this, especially on the steeper ground. Will want to be better at this next weekend, although I don't expect as much fallen timber on the other side of the road.

A session at Kew. It's a convenient location for when I have a massage at Richmond on Friday morning, but not my favourite pool, rather crowded and one always feels that you're trespassing on the locals' turf. Swim itself went fine though.

Another sign of autumn: the smell of wood smoke in the air. Melbourne doesn't have anywhere near as much of this as Canberra or Launceston but it can still be noticeable.

Most unusual interview request: SBS radio rang yesterday and asked for someone to do an interview on the drought - in Portuguese. As my Portuguese is pretty well non-existent that one was handpassed to a Brazilian in the meteorology area at Melbourne Uni. (Enough of the terminology is common that I can usually make a reasonable go of understanding written climate material in most European languages - one of the major sources I use for European climate is met.no's media release page - but putting sensible sentences together is another thing altogether).

I was also gratified to see that in the list of nominees for the Fugly Awards, one of the nominees for Worst Female TV Personality is the woman from the Australian Pensioners Insurance ads.

C • fugly's 2

Longest run for a few weeks. Original plan was to take the radio out and be accompanied on the run by the sound of the World Cup semi-final, but the dismal performance of the South African batsmen meant this didn't happen (at departure time of 6 there were only 14 runs to win).

Another cool clear morning. Much better than yesterday morning; it was a run that occasionally threatened to turn into something special and never quite did, but still a good solid effort and didn't really tire until the last few minutes (and even that, I think, was mostly stiffening from a long wait at a road crossing).

Latest accessory spotted: in the first few minutes of the run (when it was still dark) I saw a dog with a flashing white light on its front. The owner (who wasn't flashing) came shortly afterwards.

C • What world cup? 4

Listless and lacking energy for most of the way. Usually that sort of run doesn't come good, but this one did, picking up greatly in the last 10 minutes.

Started to the tones of the national anthem filtering up from the Anzac Day service (the local war memorial is a block down the road).

Out at Monash. The main purpose of this run was to test out some route choices after a morning checking the NOL sprint map and controls. It's a bit of a last-minute job but I'm now confident that everything's under control, and it's definitely a good area for a sprint. Another nice day for running - sunny and pleasantly cool. (Nice day for watching football too - just a pity about the result).

C • Error 6

Back to the fartlek loop with the usual accompaniment of the Tuesday morning even-number waterers (hopefully the forthcoming Big Wet - at least I hope it's forthcoming because I was telling everyone about it yesterday - will reduce the need for this). Felt good and a reasonable pace (9.07 fastest loop), helped along by a gorgeous morning, at least if you're not a farmer or gardener.

C • big wet? 2

Morning session at Fitzroy. Rather stiff in the shoulders this morning. Another sign of advancing autumn - first sighting of mist over the water at the pool.

Looks like I'll have to change my cycling route in - one bit of it in Ivanhoe has been turned into a one-way street (the wrong way). This is a pity as it allowed me to avoid about 2km of pretty heavily trafficked road.

C • Risk It 5

A not particularly stellar, slow run from Dion's place, the main highlight of which was a couple of excellent views of the Melbourne night skyline from Quarries Park and the Studley Park golf course. A bit of a stitch towards the end.