Training Log Archive: blairtrewin

The nicest running day we'll see for a while - even a few puddles in evidence - and used it to do my longest run for a while. As with last weekend, it was slower than I would like, and lacking strength up hills, but not seriously troubled by any of the various injury issues I've had problems with - which is good as it means the back issue is probably manageable without too much drama. Hard work in the hilly first half through Balwyn, but feeling quite smooth at times in the flatter second half. Also reasonably happy on the endurance side; didn't feel as if I would have had inordinate trouble adding another 30 or 40 minutes to this.

Feared the worst on this one when the back tightened on the initial climb out of my place, but it sorted itself out within a few minutes and gave no further trouble. After that it was a reasonable run, certainly not at the level I'd like to be, but at least feeling like one step (or perhaps a little bit of shuffling) forward. Fairly warm, something we'll have plenty of opportunities to get used from midweek onwards (looks like mid-30s for both days of the Bendigo weekend).

The RiotACT website has long kept me entertained with, among other things, tales of the misadventures of Canberra's petty criminals (like the person who did a burnout out the front of the Belconnen Police Station during the week), but there was a particularly good one today - someone was arrested outside a Civic nightclub in the early hours of the morning for allegedly assaulting a security guard and then assaulting the police who arrived on the scene for good measure, which doesn't sound too remarkable for a Friday night in the big city, except that the alleged perpetator is 90.

Around Ivanhoe on a newsletter-delivery run, and then finishing off with a loop in the Banyule Flats. No repetition of the dramas from Wednesday - there were a few lower back twinges early on uphill, but nothing remotely close to that scale - but still have the feeling that I'm only just keeping my head above water. The one positive was not seeming to tire.

Pool running at Fitzroy. Back felt OK doing this but wasn't great standing up for extended periods of time, which doesn't fill me with confidence, but I'll at least see how it feels tomorrow.

I spent a bit of time during this reflecting on the extent to which the buck stops with the person at the top if something goes wrong in a sporting (or any other) organisation, not knowing that a couple of hours later it would become apparent that Essendon is potentially only the tip of a very large iceberg, and would I expect to find out about it in the event that someone (or lots of people) were doing something dodgy in our sport? Probably the best protection there is that drugs cost money, and the spending of organisational money on things it shouldn't be should raise red flags pretty quickly. (In fact, I suspect that's how the Essendon probe got started - the ostensible reason why their sports science person was sacked late last year was unauthorised spending). The capacity to follow money trails (and tap telephones, and so on) also gives the Crime Commission a better chance of being able to get to the bottom of things than sports can themselves.

C • I think the difference 5

Street-O at Greythorn on a 36-degree night. I expected this to be a struggle but as it turned out it was over quickly - the lower back tightness that's been an intermittent nuisance in recent weeks became more than a nuisance on the first hill, to the extent of not being able to generate any power at all. On a nicer night I might have tried to push through and see if it improved on the level/downhills. Hopefully it isn't anything too serious, but I'll still swap pool and running sessions in the next two days.

Looked like an interesting (if longish) course - I hadn't finalised my plan when I pulled the pin.

After two street-O DNFs in nearly two decades, I've now scored two in successive weeks.

Street-O at Kensington - went out because it was a reasonably convenient venue and because the conditions would be less unfriendly to trying to run hard than tomorrow's will be (unless the change, currently expected around 8, is a bit early). Had a go at something I sometimes do on Tuesday night, running alternate legs hard/easy, but didn't seem to be making much of an impression on the hard legs. Achilles already improved significantly after a massage this morning, though a bit sore afterwards. Seemed to make a good job of the route.

This would make an excellent sprint area, but I don't think the locals would appreciate it. As it was we had one control disappear and another one was vandalised.

Morning swim at Fitzroy. Promising start (despite not feeling that awake beforehand) but drifted out of it a bit in the second half.

First MFR session of the year, from Kirsten's, in one of several bunches, this one involving Ezy (running OK despite arm in plaster) and Clare. Struggled a bit at times with Achilles again troublesome (hopefully it will ease after a massage tomorrow) - not generally a run which I had a lot of enthusiasm about, despite the nice conditions and good company.