Training Log Archive: blairtrewin

Where did this one come from?

With hot weather forecast several days ahead, I decided not to attempt to get to midnight on New Year's Eve for the first time since I was a small child (discounting 1989/90, when I was flying back from North America and went in and out of 1990 three times before settling into it for the duration) - a decision which was made easier by a lack of alternative offers.

Nevertheless, I expected this run to be a battle - as regular readers will know, I've been struggling with my long runs in the last few weeks, the conditions were challenging (the forecast morning cloud failed to appear, although it didn't heat up quite as quickly as I'd feared and was mostly in the mid-20s), and I didn't have any company this time for the first time in a few Sundays. Knowing the distance would be quite challenging enough, I didn't add anything else to the degree of difficulty and plotted a course which was mostly either near the Yarra or in leafy suburbs (down to the Studley boathouse, then east to Camberwell).

The Achilles was a minor nuisance but by the first drinks stop, 35 minutes in, things were feeling quite encouraging, but it was the second hour which was the special part of this run - totally in the zone, something which occasionally happens on a long run in the cooler months but it's a long time since I've experienced it in summer. It wasn't until after the two-hour mark that fatigue started to set in at all, but only modestly so, nothing like the can-I-squeeze-out-another-five-minutes stuff of recent Sundays.

This was a very encouraging start to the year and should build my confidence on a number of levels, both with respect to distance and (relative) heat.

There were plenty of runners (and walkers, and cyclists) out early - I obviously wasn't the only person to think that the middle of the day was worth avoiding. Very few cars which is a good thing - you can't really count on the sobriety of drivers at 7 on New Year's morning.

Finished the year off with a Saturday morning jaunt southeast to Balwyn (although across the top rather than the hard way up and down the side ridges) and back across the Bulleen hills. A reasonable run with Achilles at manageable levels. Starting to get pretty warm by the end; this run was OK, but twice as far tomorrow in potentially more difficult conditions (although with an earlier start) will be more of a challenge.

Cracked 40 hours this month for the first time since 2009 and also had my biggest year of running for three years, mainly because this year I didn't have a major post-season injury - my only significant lost-time injury was the bizarre drivers' ankle after WA, which claimed a week which would have been an easy recovery week anyway. Hopefully 2012 will see some rewards for the groundwork laid this year (something which can also be said for other parts of my life; March is going to be a big month).

Best race of the year: probably Venice for intensity, the WMOC final for running a controlled race on a tough day (and it's a positive that my two biggest international races of the year both make this list). Locally I'd probably look at the Australian Middle Distance or the NSW Long as performances, although the best result on paper involved channelling Steve Bradbury at the SA Championships.

Worst race of the year: undoubtedly the Saturday night street-O on OA Conference weekend (I'm still trying to work out how I could make so many stupid mistakes on the same night). If you want something that actually matters, the Tasmanian middle NOL or day 2 of the Swedish 5-Days, although both had extenuating circumstances (illness and injury respectively). Tasmania was probably the biggest disappointment of the year because the long race would have suited me well had I been healthy and a top-six result was there for the taking with a good run (that said, one of the features of the last 18 months has been struggling more than I'm used to with the longer distances, hopefully something that a good summer will fix, although the last three Sundays have hardly been encouraging).

Best run (non-race): no contest here - the Pyrenees epic in late November. An honourable mention to the -22 degree one in Oslo in February.

Not a bad session, slightly later in the morning than usual, and no sign of the lower leg cramps which have troubled me occasionally in this session of late. Might have spoken too soon about the Achilles, though....

Somebody from the Herald-Sun must have been on holidays in the same general area as me and spotted people jumping off the cliffs at the back beach at Blairgowrie because there was a full-page spread today, complete with SMS poll, about how dangerous it was (although the lack of any reference to any deaths or serious injuries suggests pretty strongly that there haven't been any, in a spot which my parents tell me has been used for this purpose for at least 50 years; there's a rockpool below the cliffs which is several metres deep and very clear). The Herald-Sun in Something Must Be Done mode is a force which few public servants or politicians can stand up to and I expect the end result will be the closure of the beach to public access. Naturally this will not stop the Herald-Sun from railing against the evils of the nanny state.

And this may have been a short session, but I'm prepared to bet that it's longer than anything that Mace will be able to log for December 30...

Officially we're supposed to be on a break until 3 January but if I did such a thing an awful lot of stuff that needs to be ready to go on 3 January wouldn't be, so my break is over - but at least there are positives to working when no-one else is, such as half-empty trains and not needing to get up at 5 to get a Thursday long run in because there's no-one around to care that you got in after 10.

Today wasn't the grinding-the-gears start that many recent runs have been, but never got above a simmer. All the small hills felt like hard work but strangely the big one (across Montmorency) didn't. Took advantage of the last cool day for a while. Achilles continuing to improve with only occasional twinges, so I'm hoping the most recent flare-up was simply a case of not being able to handle sand well.

The side mission today was to get a more comprehensive look at flood damage than yesterday. There's lots of it in the Diamond Creek valley below Eltham (much less so in the Plenty River valley, which suggests that Eltham got a fair bit more rain than Greensborough's 92 in six hours and 61 in one) - perhaps most impressively, the stripping of all the decking from the footbridge next to the Main Road bridge (the one near the old McCrae residence for those who know the area).

Headed north, partly to check out some storm damage - and found some, most strikingly a formerly gravel path in Macleod which had been stripped right down to its base. Nice in the bush part of Gresswell even if the footing was a bit rough at times. Still a little sore climbing, but as a run this felt as good as anything has for a couple of weeks.

The rest of the day was spent at the cricket, once I had finally made it inside - this year all the seats are reserved which slows the queues down to about 10% of their usual pace. I would have got a ticket online but Ticketek's computer doesn't give you any say in where your seat is within a given price category and kept trying to put me in the middle of Bay 13 or behind the sightscreen.

Summer Series at Mullum Mullum - for the second successive week a fair bit shorter than advertised. Also a weaker field than usual (no Bruce or Bryan, and Ian Davies jogging round with his kids), but it ended up being one of my better head-to-head scraps of the season.

The warm-up was quite encouraging and I went into this with some optimism, but had it knocked out of me pretty quickly after botching the creek crossing between 13 and 18 - I saw an easy crossing, took it, and then realised I was on an island with a deep crossing beyond, and a simple one 50 metres to the left that everyone else was using. That mishap cost me 45 seconds or so and left me playing catch-up for a while. By halfway most of the catching up was done and it was down to a head-to-head, with someone I didn't know who was hesitating a bit on some of the navigation but running at comparable speed. He then slowed coming into 6 (the 14th control) and I thought he might have run out of steam, but then blew back past me coming into the second-last. I tried a last-roll-of-the-dice route choice from the last control to the finish and made up a bit of ground (and would have made up more had the bridge I was using not had an angled ramp), but I think he would have been able to sprint away from me at the end if he'd needed to.

Not as good a run as I'd hoped beforehand - still having trouble finding something extra uphill - but probably the best since coming back from Geneva (which isn't saying much), given a few bits of terrain running.

Event: Xmas 5 Days
 

Regular fartlek loop. A bit better than last time and felt a little lively at times but mostly nothing to get too excited about. Achilles continues to be annoying without really impeding anything. Got to see a bit of flood damage too, although I expect most of the really significant stuff remains to be discovered on runs later this week (a damage inspection tour is planned for Greensborough on Thursday's long run).

A shorter run out to Koonya and then back along the coastal track - another classic run (or a minor variation thereof) here - it's been an intermittent regular of mine since I was 13. Took some time to get going and again Achilles wasn't great on the softer dunes, but settled down again once on firmer ground which wasn't really the case yesterday. Track seemed to be in slightly better condition than last year when parts of it had almost disappeared.

Swim at Northcote, a location governed partly by where I was at 12.30 and wanting to fit as much of the swim as I could into the lunch break of the Test (a task made considerably easier by virtue of said lunch break having its length doubled by rain). The water is always very warm here, which wouldn't be ideal for serious training but is probably not a bad thing for muscle recovery, which is a major reason why I do this session. Felt a bit unenergetic. Hardly anyone else around.

Given yesterday's events I was a bit apprehensive as to what I might find when I got home, but all looks OK (apart from the tree most badly burnt in the fire a couple of weeks ago). The really serious action was a few kilometres to the north - checking out what this has done will provide a theme for a couple of runs later on this week.