Training Log Archive: blairtrewin

A classic run in a lot of German towns and cities is to run uphill from the centre; many have hills or escarpments quite close to the centre, often with a fair bit of forest (and quite often topped by a TV tower, sometimes bearing some resemblance to Black Mountain Tower, although Bonn's is just a mast).

The way I've been going the last week I wasn't sure that I would handle this, but decided to give it a go anyway, and it worked out OK. Almost continuously uphill for the first 4km, and handled the grind reasonably. Went up the road on the way out whilst I got my bearings, but on forest tracks for some of the way coming back - as I sort of expected, these stayed on a flattish ridgeline for a while and then dropped off steeply, something I'm not sure I would have managed in the reverse direction. Quads, which haven't done anything like this for months, were starting to feel it in the later stages of the downhill, but overall this was a pretty good one to chalk up. Also decent running conditions, which I'm appreciating while they last - this time next week looks like being well into the 30s (on some of the more extreme forecast scenarios I might even be on the scene for Geneva's first 40).

Something I wasn't expecting was that today is a public holiday locally (though the meeting I'm at went ahead regardless) - put a bit of a spanner in the works of a few plans I had, but definitely good for traffic.

C • Rain 4

Not much chance for anything today, with the late night last night, a lunchtime meeting and travelling from mid-afternoon onwards - I'm on the way to Bonn for a couple of days to present at a UNFCCC meeting. This being Europe, I'm doing it on the train (flying wouldn't have been much faster in any case, because the closest place with a direct flight from Geneva is Frankfurt).

I did wonder when I saw the information beforehand for yesterday's car rental whether they actually wanted any customers - I quote:

"For this rental you will also need two original forms of proof of address. These must be original documents issued to you by post and feature the same address as on your driver’s licence.

The following rules apply:

a) One must be a credit card or bank statement for the credit card presented at the desk.

b) The other must be a utility bill (gas, electric, water use bill etc.).

Please note that mobile phone bills, council tax bills, electronic bills (such as emails and online statements) or their printouts will not be accepted.

Both documents must be dated within 8 weeks of date of hire."

Precisely none of this was actually asked for, saving me from having to tell any fibs about my bank statement not being a PDF printout (the water bill was original).

C • Harsh 5

Somewhat improved today on a warmer morning, particularly in the second half. Started out northeast along the lake with a bit of a false start because the underpass I remembered is only open during botanical gardens opening hours, then climbed to the UN complex and through Servette. A bit interrupted with traffic at times but not too bad.

There was a smoke plume on the other side of the lake (can't have been too significant a fire because there was nothing I could see on the local newspaper website), so inevitably this was the earworm of the morning. The fire brigade were on the scene for a while on Sunday afternoon of the building next door to where I've been staying , but there was no sign of fire (or any great concern for the surrounds) so I'm not sure what they were doing; perhaps someone sent the Greek consulate (contained therein) some white powder?

The evening's activity was going down to Grenoble (about as far from Geneva as Melbourne is from Bendigo) to watch the Matildas play Jamaica. Definitely a worthwhile occasion (and the Stade des Alpes has a very impressive backdrop), though Australia's defence will need to improve if they want to get past Norway on Saturday. (I'll be in Oslo on the weekend, which could make for some interesting uncle/nephew interaction when the game is on). Didn't get back until after 1am, not helped by a long (and unsignposted, but I didn't get too lost) detour for motorway roadworks around Annecy, and a somewhat suboptimal route choice through downtown Geneva - not having driven in Geneva before, I was familiar with the roads but not which ones you're allowed to drive down/turn into.

Stayed up until a reasonable hour last night and then didn't sleep too badly (awake for a bit in the middle of the night - and it's definitely middle of the night here at this time of year if it's dark outside - but otherwise slept until my alarm), so hopefully through the worst of the jetlag. Still struggled with the run, though - as sluggish as I was in Darwin, although without fading as alarmingly as I did then. Possibly I'm not 100% well as the recovery time on the watch (which I assume is picking up on heart rates) is still unusually high.

The redevelopment of the public beach on the other side of the lakefront is approaching completion after a couple of years of work (there are signs which variously say it will be open next week or in July). A project which has been even longer in its gestation (160 years or so in the thinking, and probably close to a decade in the building) is also not too far away, the new rail link to France - there's even a countdown clock in the station so they must be reasonably confident that the scheduled opening on 15 December is actually going to happen.

Not up to running straight off the plane these days. Not a bad flight as these things go - feared the worst when someone who looked like Lasith Malinga (and was definitely built like a fast bowler) sat next to me on the Adelaide-Dubai leg, but we managed to stay out of each other's way and I got a reasonably long block of sleep. Only issue was the #firstworldproblem of the lounge in Dubai being too crowded to get a shower in the hour or so I had there (this after a bus ride from the plane to the terminal which was so long I was half-expecting to see a "Welcome To Oman" sign).

Route choices between Dubai and Geneva are a pretty good indication of the current state of Middle Eastern politics. For years they'd tracked through western Iran (or less commonly Saudi Arabia), staying clear of war zones in Iraq and Syria. More recently they've started giving Iran a wid(ish) berth and going through Iraq instead, and today we stayed a little further away from Iran than usual, probably not unrelated to the current tensions there. If the US is stupid enough to launch a proper war against Iran, though, I wonder if Dubai itself might be too close for comfort.

(There is a history in Australian orienteering of people getting caught out by their planned flights going through war zones; Grant had to find another way home after JWOC 1991, having booked on JAT Yugoslav Airlines just in time for the civil war to break out).

Geneva itself was at its best this afternoon. I've previously remarked that it can be a dead place on Sunday, but not on a pleasantly mild June weekend with the sun shining (this after 100mm of rain in the last 8 days). There were people out everywhere, half-block queues for gelato places, and even the demonstrators (who I think are in favour of more democracy in Algeria) seemed in a good mood.

Got back to Melbourne (briefly) late last night - it was definitely the conference flight, but I still didn't expect to find myself sitting next to the person I sit next to at work (this wasn't pre-arranged), with someone else I know well in front of me, who was one of the three people I dropped off on the way home. (All three live in Coburg or Preston, suburbs much hated by airport taxi drivers - many of whom aren't shy of making their displeasure known to their passengers by all accounts - because they're just outside the radius of short-trip destinations which allow drivers to skip the queue when they return to the airport).

Back had been OK in Darwin (or maybe I just didn't notice it in amongst other issues) but wasn't good today, so I took to the Northcote pool instead - last time I'll be doing this for a bit. Felt like I was working pretty well in the water. It's a lot quieter here in the middle of the day than it is on a Saturday morning.

Next move: my next stint in Geneva. In the process of flying out this evening, something which involves a slightly creative route choice (presumably the Melbourne-Dubai leg was very full judging by its price, so I'm going via Adelaide instead). So far so good.

I suppose it counts as progress that it took me a bit over 30 minutes to run into a brick wall today rather than 25 like it did yesterday. Maybe if I stayed around for another week I'd acclimatise to a decent level, but I won't be (that said, I suspect my next destination will be almost as humid in the second half of next week).

Checked out Mindil Beach (surprisingly little litter after last night's market), and a nice patch of tropical suburbia in Stuart Park (certainly nicer than the semi-industrial strip along the highway itself).

Heading home this evening, briefly.

C • Snakes 10