Training Log Archive: blairtrewin

All Nations intervals, a bit earlier than usual (i.e. it was barely light at the start). Had felt pretty sleepy, and occasionally sore, warming up but seemed OK while I was running; not on the level of the last time I did this session though, and was going lactic a bit earlier than I did last time on the later reps. Still not a bad session (and no sign of hamstring trouble).

And here ends the Melbourne part of the story for now, because I'm about to embark on a proper big trip - starting with an IPCC meeting in Guangzhou next week (with a stop en route in Perth to catch tomorrow night's game), then onto WMOC, O-ringen and WOC, and finishing up with North American Championships in Canada. Will be away until late August all up. First leg is to Perth tonight.

C • Eagles vs Essendon 7

Warm-up and down. Pretty sleepy and slow going there (in part a consequence of staying up later than I should have last night for the endof Colombia-Japan), better coming back.

Tonight's historical results discovery is that Prong ran (unofficially) in the 1996 Australian Relays as a W35. (Writing that made me realise that Prong is now an M35; we're all getting older).

C • Relays 1

Headed out on a frosty morning - not a common occurrence in Melbourne (as demonstrated by the person who was attempting to clear their windscreen with their wipers, something which any Canberran would recognise as a rookie error). Started out reasonably well, and along the river should have been a good environment for it, but didn't really live up to its initial promise - felt a bit flat in the second half. No injury issues though, which is always good news.

Shattered that this clashes with the Australian Long Championships:

"The biggest WWE live event ever in Australia, Super Show-Down is coming to Melbourne Saturday October 6 at the iconic MCG.

Fans attending WWE Super Show-Down will be able to see The Undertaker™ take on Triple H™ for the first time since WrestleMania 28, plus all their favorite Superstars including John Cena, Ronda Rousey, Shane McMahon, Seth Rollins, Roman Reigns, Randy Orton, Nia Jax, AJ Styles, Charlotte Flair, Daniel Bryan, The Miz, Sasha Banks, Alexa Bliss, Big Show, Bray Wyatt, Australian tag team Billie Kay and Peyton Royce of The IIconics and many more."

C • Poor planning 2

Standard morning session - the last one for a while. Seemed to be getting easier today although I always wonder if that's an indication that I'm not doing some of the exercises quite properly.

Hit the road after that to do a series of talks in Ballarat (pretty tiring doing essentially the same talk three times in one day; I think they appreciated the bit where I was talking about things you can do in climate models which you can't do in the real world and mentioned Andy Hogg's demolition of New Zealand).

One drawback of travelling on a weekday close to the end of the financial year - roadworks everywhere. There were six separate lots between Rockbank and Ballarat.

After the talks, headed for the Federation University pool (thanks Roch for the tip). Once I'd navigated my way to the front door without the aid of an ISSOM map, worked out how to get in, and which lanes were about to be taken over by the swim squad, this worked out fine; the session was reasonably mundane but nothing went wrong.

Still not feeling 100%, but it doesn't seem to be impeding me so I thought I might as well go out and do something, even if it wasn't super-long. Definitely some of the more challenging conditions I've run in for a while (in the moisture department, anyway), with light rain interrupted at 15-minute intervals by short but intense downpours - definitely not a day for getting across Darebin Creek other than at bridges. Since the footbridge I would normally use on this loop is currently out of action, this meant coming back across the Bell Street bridge and then a stretch through the Thornbury industrial area (it was perhaps appropriate, given that my next engagement was a Jukola party, that one of the factories belonged to a company which I presume, by its name, is Finnish). Becoming a bit more sore in the last 10 minutes.

C • Shoulda come to Emerald - i... 5

Having a rare weekend in Melbourne (tonight will be the only Saturday night in my own house between early May and early September). Feeling somewhat better today and decided that I'd give it a go, and it more or less worked out although still not quite 100%. The new trail along Darebin Creek is a nice place to run; felt pretty good through there. May try something a bit more ambitious tomorrow.

The new pedestrian bridges near Grange Road, and a new bike path along the railway line (which I hadn't previously known about) look close to ready and should be done by the time I get back in late August. I don't think the Chandler bridge (which has apparently had some industrial strife) will be, which will stretch the advertised completion date of "mid-2018" - August could probably reasonably be claimed as mid-year, September is pushing it, October definitely not.

Still not much improvement, which is annoying.

Went to the OV meeting tonight, and with the Chandler bridge closed my route home took me via lands once very familiar, but largely untrodden for the last three years. I discovered that the Heidelberg Woolworths (whose car park was the final destination of my mechanically-challenged Fiat, at least after it had been pushed, with Liggo's help, into said car park from the road outside) is now a hole in the ground, and that a new set of shops has appeared on the site of the old gas factory on Bell Street west of the creek. (There seem to be an awful lot of supermarket renovations/rebuilds going on at the moment; given what time of year it is I'd suspect a tax-related reason, but can't think of one).

C • tax? 3

Still a bit of lingering hamstring soreness - at a stage where I think I could run on it, but keen to get it right well before Masters. Didn't feel entirely optimal even in the water. Pretty chilly at the moment (although not as much so as it will be over the next few days), and not a lot of people in the pool.

Unsurprisingly, the works at the Clifton Hill athletics track that were supposed to be finished by the end of April are still going. Presumably the builders have blamed the delay on bad weather. (Melbourne's year-to-date rainfall is running about 35% below normal). The Fitzroy pool is also going to be close to some long-lived building work as a fence has appeared around the park across the road; some post-session googling revealed that this is to be an entry point for a water main rebuild and is going to be there for the next 18 months or so.