Training Log Archive: blairtrewin

Setting out on the comeback trail and did so successfully, in the sense that I didn't really have any injury concerns - hamstring just fatigued a bit in the later stages. That's not to say that it was a good run though - often the first run back after a layoff is pretty ordinary, but this was worse than ordinary, perhaps just about getting into the ordinary range towards the end. Felt weak throughout, and also rather sleepy.

Took the chance to check out the newly-opened Bunnings in Darebin Road, as well as trying to work out what the crane was doing in the middle of Separation Street on Sunday.

Something I've been tracking is the race to 100mm of rain for the year between Melbourne, Adelaide, Perth and Hobart - none had made it before today (there is no previous occasion when all four had been under 100 this far into the year, although it isn't a record low at any of the individual locations). As of yesterday, Melbourne, Adelaide and Hobart were all in the 90s, but it's Hobart which got across the line first, reaching the ton this afternoon. Adelaide's currently sitting on 99.2 and, depending on whether any showers produce tomorrow (the last forecast moisture for a while), might get stuck in the 99s for a bit, while Melbourne's on 94 and should get the necessary tomorrow night.

C • Perth 12

Fairly straightforward session - the instructor has clearly noticed that I found it straightforward because she's said she's going to increase the difficulty of my program next week (probably no bad thing). Hamstring feels OK today which will hopefully mean a more successful attempt at running tomorrow than the weekend ones.

Winter arrived with a certain panache overnight, which made for the sort of morning where I was keen to get into the water as quickly as possible because it was a lot warmer than the air. Clear when I started out, as it often is just after sunrise on cold-outbreak days, but I could see it getting dark to the south and so wasn't all that surprised when in the closing laps, the 27-degree water below was supplemented with 8-degree water above. (That said, my goggles make the black clouds look darker than they actually are - it didn't actually rain that much).

The swim was OK, and a little less slow than last week.

The ride in was hard work into the wind, which meant that the ride home was quite nice with the tail wind. My advice to one other rider is that riding down Heidelberg Road wearing black and with no rear light has the potential to seriously endanger your health.

Failed a late fitness test to make the trip out to orienteering, so instead took to the bike - out through Ivanhoe and Macleod as far as Bundoora. A reasonable amount of climbing in the first 20 minutes (much of which was part of my regular commute pre-2015), and also a headwind which made it solid work at times, but definitely easier coming back. Didn't feel too bad though a little sore later on; seemed to handle the climbs OK.

A return to once familiar territory revealed that there is no apparent sign of anything happening (even the demolition of the ruins) at the Ivanhoe RSL, which was destroyed by fire two years ago. There were also a couple of reminders that hostility to cyclists (possibly emboldened by last weekend's result) tends to increase as one gets further from the CBD.

Opening part of today's Crikey e-mail - at least they know about us...

"A map of Australia with Queensland wiped out was shared and re-shared on social media this week. It was a hasty, stupid response to the election and managed to be disrespectful to traditional owners, Queenslanders, and people around the world who are actually losing land to climate change.

But the revisiting of maps is a fine idea at this juncture, with the country re-adjusting after a surprise Coalition win. In orienteering, which you might remember from school, the quality and richness of information on maps is what leads the victor to her spoils. From fake news in polling to shifting sands between city and country, plenty of new maps need to be drawn on all sides of politics and media. "

Had a short go at running this morning but it wasn't quite ready (haven't completely written tomorrow off yet), so instead took to the pool, where as usual on a Saturday morning I was definitely in the upper decile of the age distribution (with the median probably being about 7). Had a last-day of autumn feel to it with a relatively warm wind. A fairly mundane session, although the hamstring didn't fatigue in the last 10 minutes the way it did on Thursday, which I take to be a good sign. (It, however, didn't feel quite so good after sitting at the football, which I attribute to the seats and not to my team's performance for the first three quarters).

Back to Fitzroy for the second day in a row. Not a bad session but drifted out of it a bit in the later part of the swim. Hamstring still feels reasonable, and I think I'm at the stage where I'll try out running on it tomorrow.

The OV AGM tonight was pretty drawn out (despite the lack of particularly contentious business) - a second successive three-hour evening meeting is stretching things a bit, especially as I'd had another meeting run overtime beforehand and thus didn't get the chance to have dinner until 10.45. (Unsurprisingly, the options at such an hour run roughly to pizza, kebabs or Maccas; I went for pizza).

Back into doing some exercise, at Fitzroy. Sometimes by this time of year it's very much "it's nice once you're in" territory but not this year - today and yesterday were within a degree or so of the warmest on record this late in autumn (it will be a different story next week). Hamstring wasn't too bad, although fatiguing a bit later on, and it came up fine during the day, to the point that I'm no longer as pessimistic as I was a couple of days ago about my prospects of doing some orienteering this weekend.

The long-running water main works near the pool look like they're just about done, and hopefully will be by the time I get back from my next trip. Also diverted around what I thought was another lot of works on the ride in to the office, but it turns out only the eastbound lanes of La Trobe are being dug up so I needn't have bothered.

The evenings have been pretty full this week: a Labor meeting/wake on Tuesday, an OA Board meeting tonight and the OV AGM tomorrow (plus going to see a friend/colleague perform in a 'science in the pub' night last night).

This week is Volunteer Appreciation Week (lots of appreciation to be done in orienteering). Yesterday was also the International Day of Biodiversity, World Goth Day and Flexible Working Day. I guess you could have best marked all of these by leaving work early to go and count endangered species while wearing black.

C • Leaving work early 1

Improved somewhat today but decided to leave it another day before doing anything more challenging than a walk (which I haven't gone as far as logging). Nice morning to be out doing that, at least - it's about as warm as it gets in autumn this far into autumn in Melbourne.