Training Log Archive: blairtrewin

Amazing what a bit of confidence will do. Set out from south of the river (car service today) and headed south as far as Elsternwick. After the requisite slow first kilometre it settled down nicely, turning into a steady accumulation of kilometres at a consistent pace, particularly once hitting the beach and coming back along the waterfront. Didn't really feel as if I was tiring until the last 20 minutes, and then only slightly. A nice one to get on the board.

I felt like I had something left when I finished, which meant it was a bit of a surprise to get cramps while getting changed for the shower (I'd also had one during the night). I'm assuming this was a lack of salt as there wouldn't have been much in what I ate last night (grilled fish and vegetables); did a certain amount of remedying of this during the day. Still felt a bit washed out during the day but at least it was because of a morning's solid work well done.

C • Magnesium 1

My best street-O run of the season - which isn't saying an awful lot, but it was good to have some signs of progress, with clearly my fastest pace of the season on one of its hillier areas, at the west end of Bulleen (some familiar ground here - the climb through 10 took me on the rollercoaster which was a common route home on runs from Heidelberg). Didn't always feel entirely comfortable, especially on the steeper climbs - felt as if I was in some danger of throwing up after the last big one - but held it together OK. Got the critical route choice decision right - turning left out of the gates to head south through 9, and picking up the 13-18-11-6 loop late - but Bruce picked a slightly better option than me later on. Hamstring fine, and felt up for it generally to a greater extent than has normally been the case this season, perhaps because there was a bit more riding on it.

This was the first qualifier for the park/street championships. It's the first time in its four years that I'll be around on championships night, but getting there may not be easy - it doesn't help that I'm not as old as I thought I was (I'm 45 for bush purposes but still 44 on the streets). I don't think I'll have got through tonight (needed to either beat Bruce for a 35-44 spot, or be in the first four overall), and will be away midweek next week so will have to have another crack on Monday.

A bit of excitement at work this morning - someone somehow found themselves on the ledge of our building (seems to have been skylarking gone wrong rather than someone with suicide on their mind) and the fire brigade had to be called to get them down, closing down a main road in the process.

Headed out to test myself out after a pretty lousy night's sleep (it wasn't great anyway and then I got woken up by some insect bites in the middle of the night). Didn't expect a lot and set out on a non-challenging course, but ended up being not too awful. Hamstring not quite right but definitely better than it was on Sunday (and pulled up reasonably well post-run).

Sights of the inner north: a man with classic hipster beard riding a bicycle wearing a helmet with Viking horns.

First session tonight with a new masseur (the previous one moved to new premises in Hoppers Crossing). I have acquired a new instrument of (self) torture in the form of a spiky foam roller.

C • I did wonder in my massage ... 3

Swim at Northcote, which fitted in a bit better with logistics for the rest of the day. A fairly routine session without being anything to get too excited about. Hamstring seems a bit better today; assuming it doesn't feel worse when I get up I'll have a go at running on it tomorrow.

A morning of promise that turned into frustration. Set out with the intention of 2.30 or thereabouts and my body (or most of it) felt from early on that I was up for it, helped by conditions as good as you'll get in mid-February. The left hamstring issue was always lurking away, though, and it gradually got worse from about 30 minutes onwards - enough to make me think that I'd better not get too much further away from home. Eventually I decided that it wasn't worth pushing on further with it, particularly with three races on the program this week; the way I felt in the last 10 minutes definitely made me glad I wasn't an hour from home at that point. Hopefully will settle down in a day or two; it usually does.

One of the early sightings of the run was going past one of the cafes next to Fairfield station and seeing advertised their range of shakes, which was sufficiently tempting for me to test out afterwards. As it turned out it was so indulgent that I should probably only do it in future on occasions when I've covered the distance that I originally intended to today.

I want to get at least one more proper long run in in the next few weeks. The last weekend of February is the available window now, but I can't necessarily assume the weather will be as kind as it was today.

Out earlyish today for a Saturday, partly because it was going to be warm and partly because I didn't want to miss too much of the cricket in NZ (which started at 8.30). Somewhat hillier than most of my recent training runs, and felt better than some of them too (certainly better than yesterday), although a bit slow on the hills and on the rougher sections near the river. Hamstring a bit twingey at times in the later stages.

Intervals session. Like yesterday, felt rather sleepy at the start but unlike yesterday didn't really snap out of it; not disastrous while the sprints were actually happening but felt rather out of sorts on the way back. Feeling rather tired at the moment (it's been a long week with the conference), and perhaps a bit sick - something which showed up more during the day but improved again by evening.

Definitely not one of my more vigorous warm-ups or downs, despite getting an unusually good run with the traffic on the two major road crossings.

Have discovered that the number plate YVV001 can be found just around the corner from me. Unlike NEV001 (which is, or was, owned by one of the Johnson clan), I think this is a perfectly normal number plate and nothing to do with anyone in Yarra Valley.

Also spotted later in the day was a car with the number plate '8COUNT', driven by a well-built bloke with plenty of tatts - probably not someone to get into a road-rage incident with. While on the subject of boxing, the news came through today of the passing of Arthur Tunstall at the age of 93 - which means he would have only been in his early 70s at the time of the 1994 Commonwealth Games (younger than he came across as at the time). Definitely an old-school amateur sports administrator, who appears to have done a lot for his sport even if he didn't make quite the same contribution to race relations.