Training Log Archive: blairtrewin

Thought about trying to reintroduce the run/swim combination but didn't really feel like it this morning (and in any case was tight for time because of an earlyish interview, something I'll have again tomorrow), so headed for the pool after work - always feels a bit strange doing this in the dark. The swim was a bit up and down (figuratively speaking), but overall went off all right.

As for the rest of the day, it was best summed up by the moment when my phone went off with a call from one bit of the ABC when I was in the middle of talking to another bit of the ABC.

Event: Victorian Autumn Series 2 - Mt Lofty, Redesdale
 

Something of a rarity today: a new bush area for a State Series event. This one was Mount Lofty near Redesdale. It's a fairly small area (which is why it hasn't been mapped before), fairly similar to Sedgwick for the most part (gully-spur with quite a lot of gullies and spurs, and some fairly scrappy rock mostly along the slopes), but the southernmost quarter of the map had lots of low-visibility regrowth which added an extra element to the area.

Started early today with the aim of departing early (in pursuit of what was ultimately a successful football mission), in somewhat alien conditions in this southern Australian autumn - cool and drizzly (the sort of drizzle that isn't that wet on its own but you quickly get soaked in the vegetation). Didn't really miss a lot, although was a bit hesitant and/or a bit wide on a few (6, 12, 16, 20); the main negative was that I was struggling on the many short hills, this time without being able to use headwinds as an excuse, and this led me to not be aggressive enough in my route choices on an area where going straight meant a lot of two-contour climbs. Enjoyed myself most in the low-visibility section between 11 and 16, featuring a couple of tricky downhill legs.

Haven't heard what other times were posted, but I'd expect that the likes of Pat and Brodie would be able to get down well into the 40s.

I actually got through a full week of training as planned. That's the first time that's happened for a while.

A fairly wild morning. The usual Saturday morning routine was a bit disrupted because I had to go into work early to do a couple of breakfast TV interviews; knowing that the front was going to arrive around 11, I was hoping I'd get home in time to get a run in before serious rain started.

The run itself was reasonable for the first half, down along the Boulevard and into Wilsons Reserve. Harder work coming back, although I think that was partly because there was a bit of climbing, and partly because some of this (often the uphill bits) was into the wind (would have been tougher going on a bike, though).

It started raining 30 seconds after I got in the door (although, as it turned out, the most intense squall line, which definitely wouldn't have been a lot of fun to be out in, didn't arrive until a couple of hours later).

First time with the new belt (which packs a lot better than the last one did). Ended up as a reasonably mundane session, and feeling a lot fresher than I was before going to bed last night.

Woke up to the news that it was currently 26 degrees, which came as a bit of a surprise, and certainly isn't what one expects in the early morning at this time of year. (This meant that determining where the 6am temperature of 27.0 ranked in the all-time list was elevated to the top of my to-do-after-arriving-at-work list: the answer is that it's an April record by 2.1 degrees).

Again a bit creaky at the start, but otherwise this turned out to be a decent run, handling the conditions better than I did on Tuesday. (I think this is also the first time for ages that I've completed my midweek training as planned, although this is a bit shorter than I'll be aiming for for a Thursday going forward).

Once again took in some new infrastructure, this time the new path/ramp which leads down from near the Clifton Hill athletics track (which doesn't look like making its own completion date of late April) to the creek - saw Kerrin on this bit. (There was a bit of familiar-face spotting on this run, as I passed Rosie waiting at a bus stop towards the end).

Also spotted en route was someone who was aiming for peak North Fitzroy: riding a bike (didn't see whether it was a fixie or not) whilst drinking a coffee (in a keepcup, of course). They don't quite qualify as peak North Fitzroy because of the absence of a hipster beard.

It was a busy day at work. Can't work out why.

First speed session since the Melbourne Sprint Weekend. Didn't feel especially lively but a second or two faster than most of my recent goes at this. A little Achilles soreness on the first rep but that disappeared in the later part of the session.

I've previously remarked on numerous occasions of the off-leash: on-leash ratio of dogs in what's supposedly an on-leash section of the park, but today's tally was as lopsided as a Commonwealth Games match-up between Australia and a small island: 18-3 (and the three were all in the final minute).

Felt pretty sleepy when I set out but, as is sometimes the case for this session, starting an intervals session knocked some wakefulness into me.

Everyone must have been scared off Station Street by the traffic jams of the last three weeks; it was unusually quiet for a weekday. (The lack of level-crossing hold-ups probably had a bit to do with this).

A good day for sorting out bureaucracy, with my Chinese visa sorted (and it's multiple-entry so I won't need to do this again until next year) and the US electronic approval also coming through. The latter didn't come through immediately on applying (as it has in the past) and I was starting to wonder whether my climate activities had got me blacklisted, but evidently that hasn't happened (at least not yet).

The Conor McKenna case gave the headline-writers at the Age the chance to use one they've probably been wanting to use for a long time: "MAN BITES DOG". (You know there's a big tribunal case happening when you ride past AFL House in the evening on a weeknight and there's a line of TV vans and cameras out the front).

More up and down (in the figurative sense, not the literal) than usual for a run of this type; grinding the gears in the first few minutes, settled down reasonably well, hit a nasty bad patch around 35-40 minutes and then came good for the rest of it (with the help of taking in some water - it was a warm morning with a classic Melbourne north wind).

The Chandler Highway bridge is a bit more advanced now. The engineers obviously knew what they were doing because the support which I thought was on a bit of an angle is no longer on an angle now the beams have been placed on it (presumably they anticipated that one side would sink into the ground more than the other once the weight of the beams went on).

The heat only sideswiped Melbourne, but there were plenty of other records in northwest Victoria, southwest NSW and eastern SA, including Mildura breaking the Victorian April record by 1.5 degrees (and it might go up more once Ouyen reports in the morning).