Training Log Archive: blairtrewin

Still a bit iffy in the first 15 minutes today but pushed through it. Felt rather slow and sluggish, particularly early - think I might be fighting off a cold.

This was a fairly early start, but not early enough - I've got a workshop at Monash in the remainder of this week and thought that a 7.45 departure should give me a reasonable amount of time to get there for a 9.00 start (Google said 55 minutes). It took 25 minutes just to get onto the Chandler Highway bridge, then going south on Middleborough Road took forever too. By 9.05 - with my own talk due to start at 9.15 - I was still 3km away, at which point I decided to ditch the car and use the bike that I still had in the back of the car. Walked in the door at 9.14.55...

C • Workshop 2

Thought this morning might not work out when I felt pretty tight last night, and so it proved. Plan B was to head for the water - the plan being a pool running session, but I'd forgotten the flotation belt so it was swimming again. This was a listless and sleepy session and won't be one I remember with any great fondness, but at least it got done.

I was preparing for some OMG-it's-snowing-in-summer media (something which happens on the peaks a couple of times every summer, although more often in December and January than February), but that didn't happen. Not much of the snow seems to have happened either (by the time it got cold enough the system had more or less run out of moisture). We missed out on the dust that southern NSW, and Canberra, got to enjoy.

Early Monday pilates - back to what I think of as the routine even though it hasn't been followed too much lately. A few variations on the usual program which seemed to work me a bit harder (which was presumably the idea). Felt OK once doing it, having felt not quite right when I got up (probably better it was this session than a run).

Evening session at Fitzroy, having decided that I didn't have quite enough time after pilates to squeeze it in before work and still get in at a respectable time. For the first couple of laps, felt as non-functional in the water as I did last time, but got going quite well after that - having to pull out a burst of extra pace to pass people is sometimes worthwhile to get oneself going in such circumstances.

Earworm of the day was "We're going up and the Town are going down" (to the tune of 'Yellow Submarine').

C • Someone tried to pass me by... 5

Another step forward, actually going beyond the hour mark for the first time in a while. Didn't feel quite as energetic as yesterday; not too bad on the injury front after a few early wobbles, although Achilles was intermittently awkward in the last 20 minutes. Better at the end without a sense that a second hour would have been particularly easy; had thoughts of going out past 70 had it been a good day, but reasonably happy to settle for what I did.

Dropped in on the Darebin velodrome on the way back (discovering in the process that a new Bunnings is sprouting on Darebin Road) to see how Liz Randall was going in her bid for a W75 one-hour world record. She was well ahead of pace at that stage and still was at the finish line; over 36km (which I think is several kilometres beyond the previous mark - drug test results pending). I think I'd do well to get close to that now, and will certainly be pleased with how life has treated me if I'm up to anything remotely like that come 2046.

A perfectly routine Saturday morning run, which made it anything but routine by the standards of recent months. Felt like I was actually fit enough to do this and minor Achilles soreness was the only issue. Headed out after the heaviest of the rain and enjoyed myself in the cool post-frontal air, even if the rain had scared most other people away from Yarra Bend.

I headed down the street three times this morning - the first to get a paper, the second to run, the third to do food shopping. The first time there was a car parked across the road with its lights on. When I started my run it was still there with its lights off and I was wondering whether the owner had turned them off or if it had run out of battery. That question was answered on my third trip when an RACV van was just pulling up next to it. (Coming back, I caught up with one of the neighbours with an overflowing library bag who said she had a problem that a lot of parents wouldn't mind having - her kids read too many books).

Mission successfully accomplished today - no sign of foot soreness either during or after the run (and no sign of anything either when the physio poked around during our regular session this evening, apart from a bit of shin swelling). Felt rather sluggish through the early stages, as is normal these days, but got moving reasonably well in the 5-10 minutes. Hopefully that continues as this looks a good weekend to get things done.

Had a go this morning - no pain before the start but still felt a little awkward running on it, so didn't think it was quite ready. Also a bit sleepy after a late-night teleconference last night.

Crunching a lot of numbers at the moment (and talking about them a bit as well). Today's favourite is that the number of months which have been more than 2 degrees above average over Australia since September 2013 (9) is the same as the number of such months which occurred between January 1910 and August 2013.