Training Log Archive: blairtrewin

I'm not quite sure what led me to set my sights on Timboon, but in doing some searching I found out it was one end of a rail trail, which I thought might make for a nice place to run. Having never been to the area, I was expecting flat to rolling country and lots of cow paddocks (not that I've got anything against cow paddocks - have had some lovely runs on dirt roads through that sort of country, especially in Gippsland).

What I actually got was an almost totally forested run; the old rail line runs down the side of one creek into the Curdies River valley, and then up the side of another on the other side, and the forest remains more or less intact in both valleys. You couldn't ask for a much nicer running environment. Got a bit rougher at times on the northern side of the river, where the bridges haven't been restored and there are therefore a few (sometimes muddy) single-track scrambles in and out of the creek.

My run didn't quite live up to the surroundings, with various niggles surfacing at various times. Got to the road crossing at the top of the valley around 55 minutes and found a gate I couldn't get open on the other side; could have climbed over it, but by then I was starting to think that committing myself to 2.30 might not be the best of ideas. The trip back seemed to (but didn't) go faster, but was starting to fade away, and by the end I was happy enough to do a short loop of town to take it up beyond 2 hours.

There's a parkrun here (an out-and-back on the first 2.5km of the trail), and for those who collect them it would be well worth the trip.

As a town for apres-run, Timboon was also well beyond expectations - with a population of 800 I hadn't expected much beyond a pub and a general store. I'd got a hint that there was more yesterday on seeing signs to the Timboon Ice Creamery (whose products you will find for sale quite widely in these parts), and the town also has several decent-looking eating and drinking places (and the setting in the valley is nice too). About the only negative was that, having planned to spend an afternoon taking in the football in a country pub, it didn't have Fox, so I decamped down the road to Colac instead to watch Essendon lose - although not before sampling the products of the aforementioned ice creamery (in the company of the Warrnambool Wolves under-12 soccer team celebrating their away win).

Back home tonight, after encountering a spectacular rainbow on the way into Geelong.

C • Did you find Timboon Cheesery? 2

A run at Apollo Bay which was most memorable for the wind - gusting to something around 80-90 km/h. Whilst the early part of the run was more with than against the wind, an indication of how strong it was was provided by the roadworks signs unceremoniously deposited in the roadside bushes. A bit more sheltered once round the point at Marengo, on the start of the Great Ocean Walk, and got out onto some rock platforms (slow but fun) at the far end - wouldn't want to try that in a southwesterly rather than northwesterly. Had to grit my teeth for the return - the beach, below the dunes, might have been a bit less windy but I didn't fancy a sandblasting - and probably 30-40 seconds/km slower than par on the most direct headwind sections. Felt like a solid run without being too exciting (in a running sense).

The rest of the day was spent making my way around the coast to Warrnambool. This definitely wasn't a day for back roads in the forest - on three occasions, I saw the sawdust evidence of recent chainsaw work and fallen trees by the roadside - but Cape Otway and Melba Gully still felt off the beaten track. That certainly couldn't be said of the Twelve Apostles, where the crowds were out in force (probably at least 80% Asian).

The wind was a crosswind for Apollo Bay's football ground and I thought it might make for a game where it was very difficult to find the goals, but the teams don't seem to have managed too badly - 14.8 to 8.15. (Apollo Bay lost). I suspect the worst of the winds would have been over by game time.

Taking an extended weekend and heading southwest (a corner of Victoria I haven't spent a lot of time in). This session was done at Northcote on the way out, somewhat later in the morning than I would normally do this. Seemed to drag on for a long time, but nothing particularly difficult, and the sun was nice.

The rest of the day was spent making my way, not especially quickly, to Apollo Bay, with a few sidetracks, most notably to one of the state's newer (natural) geographic features, Lake Elizabeth (created during the 1952 floods when the headwaters of the Barwon were blocked by a landslide, and named for the installed-the-week-before Queen).

C • Trails round lake elizabeth... 1

After yesterday's debacle I reassessed what I had in mind for today; have a big weekend planned (after which I'll make a call on the Ultralong) and don't want to wipe myself out ahead of it.

The good news is that although this was slow, it was certainly a large improvement on yesterday - none of the all-pervasive weakness, although the few climbs were a reminder that all is still not completely well, and I faded away a bit in the last 10 minutes.

A run which I'd had reasonable hopes for ended up feeling so awful that I cut it short, not because of anything to do with injury - just horribly weak. Had a definite sense of an about-to-get-sick run but nothing's happened in that department by the end of the day, so will have to wait and see how things feel tomorrow.

Perhaps I was subconsciously absorbing the bollocking we were receiving from Alan Jones on Sydney radio at about that moment, in the process of his interviewing one of the authors of an Institute of Public Affairs publication called 'Climate Change: The Facts' (as someone said, the title would be considerably more reflective of the content if the colon were moved one word to the left).

All Nations intervals. Had been on a teleconference last night until nearly midnight and didn't sleep quickly after that, so it wasn't surprising that I didn't feel very awake in the early stages. The first couple of reps were dire but woke up at about that point, and the rest of the session could be considered reasonable without being brilliant.

Warm-up and down from the intervals. Even less awake on the warm-up than I was in the first part of the subsequent session.

Decent session for the most part. The usual morning crowd didn't seem too deterred by the fact that the water temperature has dropped into the 25s. Maybe I was moving a bit faster to stay warm.

Headed out for a lunchtime run, and this time it worked out. Original plan was to go with some colleagues but I was running a bit late so went out on my own. Didn't feel totally smooth but no issues on the injury front once warmed up, which is better than I've managed at lunchtime for a long time.

It's also the first time I've been to the Tan for a while (this year, I think) - getting there is a little more complicated than it was because the path under the Swan Street bridge had been blocked off. Once there, it seemed as busy as usual, and perhaps that pulled me along a bit because this was faster than I've been on a "normal" run this year.