Training Log Archive: blairtrewin

With an 8am media engagement (annual climate statement day) it would have been hard to find enough time for a long run even without last night's issues. Took to the pool instead, feeling through the first half as if trying to go for a run wouldn't have been an especially pleasant experience, but woke up eventually.

You learn something new every day: amongst the offences which led to Ned Kelly's first prison term was sending a cow's scrotum through the post. (Apparently he was trying to send a message to a neighbour with whom he was aggrieved).

C • Cows don't have scrota. 3

Another night of frustration - the back/hamstring/buttock issue (which the physio has pinpointed to the top of the hamstring) may be fine to run on in the mornings, but it didn't like trying to run on it after a day spent sitting at a desk (which may indicate I need to do less sitting). Can't say I was really in the mood to start with on a night when the humidity is back, although Mooroolbark seems like it would be a nice area to run on a good day.

The course was certainly one to keep you thinking - I was still trying to pick between several possible options at the point when I pulled out.

This is territory I don't venture into terribly often. Stopped in Croydon to get some milk on the way home and saw a sign on exiting the centre car park 'please come back soon'. I think it's something like 20 years since I was last there - whether it will be another 20 years before I'm back is an open question.

Least surprising news of the day: the limited edition Dave Warner Century Before Lunch commemorative bat is already on sale. Didn't check whether they cost more or less than an OLED TV.

From the south end of Northcote up Merri Creek, taking in lots of flood debris (including a big tree across the bike track - somehow I don't think a tree across a road would have stayed untouched for four days), then back through the suburbs.

Didn't feel that great before starting, after a late night getting home from Geelong last night, but worked out OK. Similar to Sunday, not sparkling but fairly steady, taking advantage of the least humid conditions since before Christmas. Again a bit of DOMS in the quads early on - part of me is saying that it's a positive indication of a good day's work on Sunday, another part of me is wondering what it's going to be like after the first big downhill in two weekends' time.

Different world department: was reading today about how after Dick Reynolds won his third Brownlow Medal in 1938, Essendon weren't sure that they would be able to keep him because he'd lost his (day) job and they hadn't been able to find him another one - in similar circumstances in more modern times you'd think that club sponsors would be queueing up to offer him a job (probably not one involving actual work). In that era, and for some time thereafter, the VFL had a strict maximum on player payments (one too low for being a professional to be a viable option), and it was relatively common for players to move interstate or to the country towards the end of their careers - one of my great-uncles, a premiership player at Essendon in the 1940s/50s, retired to take up a better-paying offer to coach in the Ballarat league.

Northcote on a drizzly morning - swimming in the outside pool (something I don't think I've done before here) with the indoor area being crowded. Felt OK for the most part but rather slow. The dreaded foot cramp made a brief appearance later on.

Made what's becoming an annual trip down to Geelong for Melbourne Victory's annual match there (the locals must think soccer's full of goals - last year it was 3-3 and this year it was 4-2). Original thoughts involved one of the local beaches but it wasn't really a beach day, so instead meandered around back roads, taking in the Brisbane Ranges - perhaps surprisingly my first trip there. This was one of the earlier orienteering areas in Victoria but hasn't been used since the 1980s because of access issues related to dieback; we'd heard on the grapevine that the authorities might be receptive to parts of it being used again, but I didn't see a lot that inspired me (much of the area close to the road was burnt out in about 2007 and has grown back thickly).

Ended up doing a run in Torquay along the coast to the east - mostly on a track which turned into a dirt road, out to Point Impossible. It turns out that Point Impossible is a nude beach but no nudity was on display - it was far too cool for Australian nudists (I doubt if German ones would be deterred). Original thoughts were to come back along the beach but the tide was up, so returned the way I came. Felt a bit sluggish and quads tight early, which reflects that this is the first post-long run run for a while.

Got off the mark for 2017 by hitting two hours for the first time since September (rogaines excluded) - not going through to midnight last night had its benefits, although I didn't sleep that well in an unfamiliar bed. (The carpet's still drying out in my normal one, although it should be OK by tomorrow).

A solid morning's efforts without getting much sparkle, initially along the river and then up through the bottom end of Macleod and Rosanna (seeing in the process the evidence of the flooding on Salt Creek a couple of days ago - must have been at least a metre over Lower Plenty Road from the debris marks). Had a bad patch around 12-14k, coinciding with the warmest and sunniest period of the run, but came good and did a reasonable job of grinding up the biggest hill of the day coming out of Rosanna. As to whether I'll be up to finding another 45 minutes or so in two weeks' time - I guess we'll find out on the day.

No significant injury issues on the run itself, but the sore buttock sitting down was a bit sorer than usual post-run.

C • You have carpet in your bed? 2

Mostly down along the river. Longer than I'd originally planned on, on a day when I felt like this was something that I wanted to be doing (which is more than can be said of most of the last week). Pretty slow, although many of the tracks were muddy (several of the ones closer to the river had clearly been under water on Thursday night) which would have slowed things down.

Not for the first time in recent years, 2016 was a year with a certain amount of frustration on the competition side (not least at the Ultra-Long, which was going so well until a hamstring let me down), and various interruptions were reflected in a tally of 345 hours (scraping in 31 minutes above 2013 to avoid being my shortest full year on AP). Still had some good moments, and ticked off an orienteering bucket-list item in the London City Race.

Best race (personally) of the year was probably the Australian Long Championships. Most enjoyable run of the year was a no-contest - the Abel Tasman coastal track run in NZ in June (stunning scenery, a stunning day, and a pretty good run too).

Quite a lot to look forward to in 2017 (including a more extended excursion to NZ), although I'll need to get a couple of solid months under my belt before I can feel as if I'll be remotely competitive there.

Spent some of the morning (after a somewhat sleepless night) sorting out exactly what the water had done to my place and why (looks like the damage is ultimately minor, although some of the carpet is still drying out).

Eventually took to the pool in the afternoon on the way back from seeing Cassie and family off at the airport. Northcote pool in the middle of a 30-degree school holiday afternoon is a rather different proposition to a midwinter morning (and walking across the concrete to the pool edge was something my feet are still telling me about), but managed to find a reasonable amount of space, even if it was going round and round in circles.

Then it was home to see the end of one of the more bizarre cricket matches in recent memory.