Training Log Archive: blairtrewin

After a rough week I'd definitely have taken this performance had I been offered it at 7.45 this morning, a start time determined by the juggling act between wanting to get a reasonable amount of sleep, wanting to run before it got too hot and wanting to watch the Norwich-Chelsea match from last night before doing so. It wasn't as good as the New Year's Day run (and was definitely slower than Bruce's run from last week), but was a good steady accumulation of kilometres, starting out east to Ruffeys Lake via the river and then doing a big semicircle as far west as Kew. Not an especially hilly run but felt reasonable on the hills which were there, in very marked contrast to most other runs this week (especially Wednesday night).

No real signs of tiring until 2.20, but once I started to fade I started to fade quickly (I won't blame stopping to have a quick chat with Cracker about 10 minutes earlier), and was hanging on at the very end. The reason why became apparent when I hit the scales before stepping in the shower - 5 kilos lighter than at the same time yesterday, presumably mostly lost in the course of the run (I guess that's one way to get one's weight into the 60s). Not sure why I lost quite so much fluid on a morning that was a bit warm and a bit humid but hardly exceptional in either respect (23/16), and surprised it didn't hit me harder earlier.

I'd still like to be able to hit 2.30 a bit more convincingly than is happening at the moment. At least heat or fluid replacement are not going to be concerns the next time I try, in Geneva two weeks from now if things go to plan.

Romantic of the day: the Norwich supporter who proposed to his girlfriend via the PA system at half-time of the Norwich-Chelsea match. I haven't heard what the answer was.

Starting to get back to something closer to normal, although still a bit slower than usual and didn't test myself particularly hard, staying on the river flats for the most part before coming back through Ivanhoe. The Achilles, which has been pretty good for the last 10 days or so, was a bit touchy today. Rather humid but cloudy until early afternoon; hopefully tomorrow is the same.

In the pool. Reasonably relaxed for most of it but starting to be troubled by cramps towards the end. Starting to feel better generally (although working until almost 11 tonight may not be the best thing for continued recovery; I'm very much in need-to-get-this-done-before-leaving mode) - am hoping for some signs of improvement running tomorrow.

My ambitions were scaled back considerably from a normal Thursday. By normal standards it was an ordinary run but by the standards of this week it was modest progress, although still decidedly weak on the (few) hills. Good to explore the Banyule Flats singletrack again; not so good to see someone doing burnouts and fishtails at a back-street roundabout at 7.30 on a Thursday morning. (Down on the Peninsula they have an easy-to-remember number to report such people but I'm not sure what the northern suburbs equivalent of 1800 NO HOON is).

Tweet of the day: "The Wikipedia blackout presents a horrifying picture of a world with no knowledge. So does the Fox News website, which is running normally."

Street-O at Mooroolbark, far enough into the outer fringes that we started next to the premises of the local branch of the CWA and were in territory where main roads don't necessarily have footpaths on both sides. (There was also some evidence of an elevated local bogan concentration, most notably the two shopping trolleys hanging off the fence west of 12).

This is starting to get rather frustrating. I feel better during the day than I have for the last couple (and have been eating properly for a couple of days now), but am still turning to mush when I attempt to run. A jog was as much as I could manage tonight. More frustrating was that tonight, instead of conceding 400-500 metres on route choice like last week when I was running well, I was the one who gained it, on a night when all it did was cut the margin from nine minutes to seven.

Started out with the thoughts of attempting to do something faster. It was fairly obvious in the first 10 minutes that that wasn't going to be happening and it turned into another easy and shortish run; still felt weak but not as ghastly as yesterday. Also wanted to be watchful for dehydration given the warm conditions - definitely a good thing that the change will have gone through by tomorrow afternoon. (I'm not sure if I'll run fast tomorrow night - will leave a decision on that until closer to the time - but should at least jog).

It's beginning to look as if a reasonable chunk of this week may be something of a write-off for training, which is annoying.

I may have had worse runs but I'm struggling to remember one - didn't feel too bad when I got up but quickly weak and listless on the run, especially when it came to any sort of incline. Not horrendously stiff. Became a little less bad towards the end. No doubt a lack of fuel had a fair bit to do with this - as of this morning I still hadn't eaten a lot post-yesterday (a deficiency I've been making up since, hopefully with some results tomorrow).

After a tough day I do like to do something, to loosen myself up if nothing else; would rather have been swimming but my illness ruled that out.