Training Log Archive: blairtrewin

Ten years ago this would have been a routine run but I'm a bit mystified as to why I suddenly pulled it out today; after the (muddy and uphill) first 3km I was cruising along at 4.5 minutes per kilometre pace with no discernable difference in effort to the 4.8-5.1 that has been typical for the last few months. I wasn't trying to go faster - it just happened.

The venue was a novelty. I went up to the Wombat Forest, where the Victorian MTBO Championships were happening, (a) because I'd been delegated to present AJ with his athlete-of-the-year award and (b) because it was somewhere different for a long(ish) run. A cold and windy morning (about 4-5 degrees) but stayed dry throughout and quite comfortable while running. Headed essentially west on forest roads from the event centre, emerging into farmland just east of Trentham at the far end. Gently rolling for the most part, with some more solid hillwork from about 6-10km. A headwind for the first half and a tailwind for the second, although it was only really noticeable in the farmland.

It felt smooth but not spectacular, which made the pace more surprising, and there were a few more niggles from the groin on the hills than there have been over the last couple of weeks. Had plenty left at the end which is a good sign for the longer work ahead.

I suspect runs consisting of dirt tracks stretching to the horizon are something I'll see quite a lot of in June and July. Don't expect too much of today's weather in the Kimberley or the Gulf Country, though.

The Wombat Forest hasn't, in general, been used for orienteering since the early 1980s. The bits I saw were runnable enough to be usable, but looked very bland. Probably better for rogaining. Definitely good mountain bike country, despite the mess that the 4WDers and trailbikers have made of some of the tracks.

Not quite the usual 'home' Saturday routine here - I thought it seemed unusual and then realised that Anzac Day hasn't fallen on a Saturday since 1998, at which stage I was still living with my aunt and therefore not spending Saturday morning replenishing food stocks. Not quite the usual Anzac Day routine either, because this year I missed out on a ticket to the football (and what a game to miss out on!).

I was expecting to be awake early because I live pretty close to the local war memorial, but their dawn service didn't seem to be at dawn because the sounds of marching didn't appear until after 7. The run started a bit later than Saturday morning runs sometimes do, and ended up being reasonably routine. Still a bit of a runny nose but nothing worse in the cold department (yet).

Morning swim at Richmond. Arms didn't want to move at first but improved later on. Expected morning rain struggled to materialise.

One upside of the global financial crisis has been the general disappearance of ads promoting investment schemes of varying (mostly high) levels of dodginess, but there's a series of ads now on promoting currency trading - 'make money the way the banks do'! Given the amount of money the world's banks have lost of late (hundreds of billions, if not trillions) this might not be a great time to be running such a line.

Making the transition back towards base training routine - it will be a while (injury permitting) before I have another Thursday under 2 hours.

This was an improvement on yesterday, although still a little below par. Headed up the Yarra Valley, although starting on the streets because it was dark for the first 15 minutes, crossing the river above Westerfolds and then a reasonably hilly route back through Lower Plenty and Viewbank. The long gentle hills were reasonable, the short, sharp ones less so. Distance not an issue.

Sights of the day: (a) a large film shoot happening at the end of Martins Lane in Viewbank (don't know what they're filming, and neither does my work colleague who lives locally); (b) a line of ducks and a lone canoeist on a misty Yarra just up from Westerfolds. Also encountered some very deep dust on a few of the smaller tracks. which will presumably be less dusty by Sunday or thereabouts.

The ridge-valley temperature difference was bigger than usual this morning, probably about 10 degrees between the Yarra valley and the top of the Lower Plenty hill. (The minimum temperatures at Coldstream and Mount Dandenong were 3.2 and 12.7 respectively). Rather smoky from all the burning off.

A pretty disappointing morning; started out enjoying the nice autumn conditions but it was quickly apparent that this run wasn't really going anywhere. Started to pick up in the last 20 minutes but never much good. Continue to feel as if I'm on the margins of a cold, something that used to be a post-Easter tradition for me.

The balloonists put the conditions to good use. There was also a brilliant red sunrise, presumably a product of burning off.

A couple of familiar names have popped up in the newspaper letters columns this week. The Hoggster bravely put his head up over the top of the trench to get stuck into the way the 'Australian' in general (and Saturday's especially egregious edition in particular) covers climate change - you won't be surprised to learn they only printed half of it - while Hania Lada, not for the first time, had her say in the 'Age' on bushfire-related matters.

Still struggling to get used again to alarms that start with a 5.

This won't be the most demanding of weeks but I thought I'd still have a crack at doing something faster today. Started promisingly on a cool morning but didn't have an extra gear today. Fastest loop 9.42. Feel as if I'm in the process of fighting off a cold, which will hopefully not get any worse.

Got to see a couple of local transport initiatives en route - the new orbital SmartBus (promising if it works, although it probably needs to be a bit more frequent to have real impact) and some roadworks on Burgundy Street which look like they might be a long-overdue pedestrian crossing in the shopping centre (probably delayed until now by a lack of squashed pedestrians in the vicinity). It's been a busy week in the transport infrastructure department because two roads that Victorian orienteers will see a fair bit of, the completion of the freeway to Bendigo and the Deer Park bypass, also opened while we were away.

On the way into work, noticed a sign at the Fairfield premises of Doncaster BMW saying they were relocating to Bundoora. I would have thought it would make more sense for Doncaster BMW to relocate to Doncaster, but perhaps my mind's too logical. As I do not anticipate having any need for the services of BMW dealerships any time soon this is only of passing interest.

A slow and rather tedious session at Albert Park after getting off the boat (again a pretty smooth crossing).

Noticed that Devonport was the warmest place in Tasmania on Saturday, and Burnie on Sunday. This doesn't happen terribly often - in fact we get regular correspondence from local, state and federal politicians in that part of the world aggrieved by the alleged Bureau conspiracy to deprive their towns of tourists by understating their summer temperatures, something which has more to do with the fact that northerly winds come straight off Bass Strait at both locations, limiting the potential for high extremes (30+ days are very rare at both, and Low Head, further along the north coast, has never reached 30).

Unsurprisingly after Easter it was a small Monday night crowd from Torgeir's - only James, Hanny, Torgeir and myself. Normally that combination of people would mean a reasonable pace but that wasn't the case tonight, although this was partly through the influence of darkness on off-road running speed. Not exactly pushed, but felt better than I had for most of the day. Also managed to offload quite a bit of the gear that I brought back with me (various bits and pieces for Hanny, some SI equipment for Jim, and a box of Australian Meteorological and Oceanographic Society stuff that needed to get from Hobart to Melbourne). Just as well they don't ask you 'did you pack your bags yourself' on the boat.