Training Log Archive: blairtrewin

My first go at running in Hanoi. Traffic was predictably chaotic, although a bit easier to cope with once I took a 'when in Rome,do as the Romans do' approach and let all the motorbikes get out of my way rather than vice versa. At its most enjoyable picking my way through the back alleys of Hanoi suburbia - I always enjoy using runs to explore bits of cities that a normal tourist wouldn't touch, plus there were mazes of narrow passages and more than a few dead ends (would make great sprint terrain without the motorbikes).

As for the run, it was only so-so, as you'd expect coming off a flight and a long day yesterday. Pollution a little bit of a factor too.

I had my first experience for a while on Thursday of starting a run at a time with a 5 in front of it, but today was even earlier, thanks to wanting to get a long run before the OA meeting. Somewhat to my surprise, Rob Walter was keen to keep me company (obviously being a new parent has turned him into an early-morning person) and joined me for the middle half.

Started from my parents' place in Aranda across Black Mountain to the city, then up Ainslie, then back across the northern suburbs and Bruce Ridge before a final loop around Aranda Hill and Cook. Not a bad run on the whole, and handled the climb up Ainslie better than I thought I would - I haven't done a climb like that for a while (and have been struggling at times on much easier hills). Started to fade away around 1.45, but kept plugging away and never looked like hitting the wall the way I did in the last 10 minutes on Thursday. Very humid after last night's heavy rain.

Updates may be a bit sporadic for the next week while I'm in Hanoi. If you haven't heard anything from me by next Sunday I may have had an unfortunate encounter with an errant motorcycle.

Up in Canberra for the OA meetings (before heading to Vietnam on Saturday night). Got a swim in at Belconnen after a long day of Board meetings. OK on the whole but a bit of back stiffness later on.

Swimming generally is pretty boring because there isn't much to look at other than the black stripe, but Belconnen seems particularly devoid of in-water "landmarks". At least Fitzroy has the (heritage-listed) 'ACQUA PROFONDA' sign written on the bottom of the pool to look at as you're approaching the deep end.

Quite an impressive light show in Canberra as I write.

Something of a midweek epic - equalling the longest I've done midweek this century (and certainly the longest I've done the morning after a Summer Series), a big loop starting from Clifton Hill, along the Yarra for a while, then along the Outer Circle through Camberwell, back along Gardiners Creek and through Richmond. I expect next week's training to be a bit curtailed (for long runs at least) so am trying to get a big week in this week.

Steady without sparkle for much of the way, then had a good stretch beyond 100 minutes, but I was obviously taking it beyond reasonable limits because I hit the wall in a reasonably big way in the last 10 minutes. Managed to struggle to the finish but I wouldn't have appreciated even another 5 minutes. Hopefully this is only because I did this backing up after a big day yesterday; I'd be worried if I'm struggling to go 2.18 in normal conditions.

Off to Canberra tomorrow, then Vietnam on Saturday night. Updates may be somewhat intermittent.

Started/finished in Surrey Hills, getting out as far as Blackburn Lake - a very nice place to run. Blackburn as a suburb is a nice place to run too, especially along the creek. Quite a humid morning; didn't feel sparkling, but steady enough.

It's been reasonably quiet for me in the last couple of months on the media front, but not today - took a call from 3AW at 6.15 this morning. This all followed from an interview yesterday for the Australian, in which I spent as much time (off the record) discussing preference flows in O'Connor as I did talking about the weather. (I'd like to think that I'd be able to do a reasonable job as a stand-in should Antony Green ever fall under a bus).

C • Antony's magic moment 2

A somewhat mundane performance, on a pretty good course - the pack was split up quite early on thanks to some interesting route choice. I'm not convinced I got the best option but I'm not convinced anyone else did either. Running somewhat mediocre, a bad patch about two-thirds of the way in but better at end. Lost a bit of time again courtesy of a mapped lane being non-existent on the ground, although it didn't have a major impact on which controls to go to. Saw Bryan 100 metres in front and heading in the opposite direction at my second-last control - thought I might have had a chance if he still had a control left as well, but he didn't.

Had to negotiate a traffic jam on the way to the event caused by a stray tow-truck from Kerrigan's Towing. Fans of 'The Castle' will be impressed.

C • when will it stop? 1

Improved by a little on last week (fastest lop 9.21), seem to be working my way out of a bad patch. Starting to get humid - we'll see more of this over the next week.

I noticed in the process of searching detailed results from rural Queensland in pursuit of largely non-existent evidence of political impact of council amalgamations that Labor won Stanthorpe, which must be a first, and got close to winning Warwick. Sam Wilson will be pleased.

A morning session at Northcote, generally reasonably mundane although a bit faster than it felt.

Monday night from Nicola's in the People's Democratic Republic of Westgarth. (The ALP two-party-preferred vote here was 84%, which I suspect is pretty close to the highest in the country except for Aboriginal communities, and the Greens topped 30%. Unsurprisingly, the only two booths in Australia actually won by the Greens were Nimbin and The Channon, which is just up the road from Nimbin).

The run was pretty patchy, although it's always nice to get into Darebin Parklands, a nice patch of bush for the inner city (sort of).