Training Log Archive: blairtrewin

Melbourne Bush-O at Plenty Gorge. Felt a lot better running than I did on either Thursday or Saturday, but still a bit surprised by just how far down I was (and some of the people who claimed my scalp). Reasonable technical run in the first half; a slight wobble at 9, then dropped 30 seconds to Jim (who'd caught me at 6) on a route choice 9-10, then an annoying 45 seconds or so at 12, where I couldn't work out whether the control was in the depression inside the knoll and climbed it to no avail.

Impressed that we got 128 entries on a wet day; my usual rule of thumb is that rain knocks 30% off the numbers, suggesting that we might get close to 200 next time if the weather is decent.

Like Thursday, this was an early morning run (unusually so for a Saturday - I was off elsewhere at 8). Like Thursday, it was a run which was lousy for the first hour - in a fairly similar manner, no strength on even the smallest hill - and then picked up after that. Unlike Thursday, I didn't have very long to appreciate the better part of this run.

Next door was up for auction today; given some of the goings-on in the lead-up I was relieved to emerge this morning and see no obvious vandalism. Since I've been out of town all day I only know the price ($598K, at the upper end of my expectations), and not yet anything about who's bought it (which will be a fairly strong influence on my decision on whether to stay myself).

Making one of my not-terribly-frequent forays to Ivanhoe because of the logistics for the rest of the day. The renovations there have become more substantial (among other things, the changerooms are in one shed and the showers in another, which was all the encouragement I needed to have a shower once back home instead), and there was quite a bit of demolition work happening on the other side of the partition - something I'm familiar with from my first six months in the current Bureau building, which was far from finished when we moved in. (Highlight: hearing someone on the other side of the panels saying to his co-worker "Now, don't put that through the window or you might kill someone").

None of this made for the most peaceful of environments, but the session itself went OK. A bit emptier than I'm used to here - probably the state of the complex has discouraged some people.

Something of a run of two halves. The first half was dark, sleepy, slow and weak, struggling with fairly modest hills and generally not going at all, but picked up considerably in the second half, with the last 5k being the best of it (a reasonably familiar experience on longer runs this year). Still not a lot of energy for anything much faster than a plod. Longest run I've done since before Easter, and no significant injury issues (although hamstring was a little twingey at times).

10 reps at lunchtime (61-67). Was originally planning a fartlek session in the morning but realised on getting up that my loop wasn't really runnable in the dark and it wasn't going to get light until too late, so switched to the Yarra's Edge intervals session instead. Started out as some pretend speedwork of the sort I've been fairly familiar with of late, but got better as it went on and was starting to look like real speedwork in the second half. Went a bit lactic in the last 20-30 metres of the last couple of upwind reps.

Noticed that one of the properties I was running in front of was advertised as having 4 bedrooms, 4 bathrooms and a 4-car garage. Presumably the target demographic is families with three uni-student-aged daughters.

One wonders if Alan Jones might be regretting launching Roger Rogerson's book a few years ago, and in particular saying at said function that the streets of NSW would be safer if there were police like Rogerson these days. At least the whole sorry affair is introducing a new generation to the expression "colourful Sydney business identity" (I expect to see "colourful racing identity" before too long). The sense of schadenfreude would be more complete if the aforesaid Mr. Rogerson had got the "you're nicked, sunshine" whilst speaking at a local Liberal fundraiser (an activity which he's reportedly not entirely unfamiliar with).

C • I met 3

Warming up and down. Pretty sluggish heading out (and foot soreness - in a new place - initially, but it only lasted 50 metres), better coming back.

Ivanhoe, which I wouldn't have thought was fertile territory for such things, has acquired one of the billboards you sometimes see with a biblical quotation and a PO Box in Burleigh Heads. At least the billboards which depict foetuses don't appear to have made it south of Stanthorpe yet.

Didn't have much energy riding home tonight. Hopefully this was merely a product of it being 8.15 and not having eaten yet, otherwise it doesn't augur so well for my plans tomorrow.

A very slow start - climbing out of my place (and uphill starts in general) don't get any easier, but at least the foot seems to be behaving itself. Started to get going a bit better after the first couple of kilometres but this was never a fast or strong run.

I don't expect to have to think about heat on early morning runs in Melbourne in the last week of May. In what's been an unusual month, this morning was particularly bizarre - it jumped to 22.1 around 4.30am as northerly winds strengthened, which was only 0.3 short of the highest ever maximum in Melbourne this late in the season. (By the time I actually started running, it had dropped back to about 19).

Tonight's engagement was a big integrity in sport forum which featured several high-powered speakers (Andrew Demetriou and John Bertrand being the highest-profile). Inevitably discussion focused on the big professional sports but it was still worthwhile; I can't help but think that sport is merely a reflection of the society it exists in, and if we have built a society which, at the highest levels, rewards a lack of integrity (whether you think this is a comment on the current government or the last one depends on which side of the political fence you sit on), it's a serious challenge to build the right culture in the sporting sphere.

I did have the chance afterwards to catch up with Simon Hollingsworth, the CEO of the Australian Sports Commission. In conjunction with a meeting that our Canberra-based people had with the ASC today, this reinforced that the ASC will be shifting its focus to building junior participation, which will probably mean a shift in our strategy too - something we'll need to think about over the coming weeks. It's something that NZ already does very well in my view; here, some states are better than others.

The good news this morning is that my latest attempt at a swim doesn't seem to have run into any foot-related problems (although it did cause a little soreness in various unemployed muscles, mostly in the shoulder area). Was floundering a bit at the start but started to get going pretty well in the second half, and particularly right at the end.

It continues to be exceptionally warm for this time of year (Adelaide added its name today to the list of places which have set most-May-days-in-a-row over 20 records, although only just). Featuring in the business section of the Age today was a piece in which the Australian Retailers Association, never slow to latch onto an explanation for poor results which doesn't involve their members selling things nobody wants to buy at prices that no-one is willing to pay, were blaming the warm weather for the lack of sales of winter clothing and various other winter-related items. I await with bated breath their strident support for the continuation of a carbon price and the renewable energy target.

Felt a bit more lively than in most recent lunchtime runs, although not that much faster. The most memorable thing about this run was a historical throwback; I understand the Tan was originally constructed for exercising police horses, and there was abundant evidence today that it is still occasionally used for that purpose.

Stat of the day: Birdsville's 34.7 today is the highest temperature ever recorded so late in the season at any Australian location outside the tropics.