Training Log Archive: blairtrewin

Boulevard loop again. Incrementally faster again. Forgot to change my watch from running mode to cycling mode which meant that (a) I was getting kilometre splits rather than 5k ones and (b) my watch thinks I now have 5k and 10k PBs on a par with Mo Farah's. The kilometre splits were more even than I thought they would be - I guess the Boulevard has very few kilometres which are either all uphill or all downhill (and is almost never flat).

C • Awesome splits 3

Another pretty good one by modern standards and ended up being my longest training run since September 2018 (which is a sign of how far things have fallen). Started out by heading down to Dights Falls to check out the state of the river (which had fallen below the bike path by then), then up through Clifton Hill and back through Westgarth. After the first few minutes, felt reasonably comfortable throughout and definitely not struggling with the distance in the way that I was this time last week (although the fact that it was 10 degrees colder might have had something to do with that). Continuing to feel as if I'm making some progress here, even if it's anyone's guess as to how long it will be before I can put that to use in a forest.

Got an e-mail from my MP's office yesterday saying that they were doing everything they could to get me out of India. I assume it was intended for someone else (I replied to the effect that I appreciated their concern but I was actually alive and well in Fairfield).

C • Missing in action? 3

Seems to be something about Saturdays at the moment; this felt as good as any run I've done this year (i.e. it was a reasonably normal run from some time ago), with no sign of trouble. (Perhaps I should take advantage of my current working arrangements to run at this time of day more often). I'll take these where I can find them. Got a good look at the swollen Darebin Creek early on (there was 36mm overnight, following on a similar amount over Thursday-Friday); the colder, damp conditions were a bit of a deterrent to others being out, although there wasn't much rain while I was running.

Went back to an old Saturday morning ritual of mine, the trip to Preston Market (in the name of getting a bit further afield whilst still undertaking legitimate business). It hasn't changed much. One thing I did note is that while on the south side of the hipster-proof fence payment by plastic is strongly encouraged at the moment (and the only form accepted in some places), most of the market business is still done in cash.

Domestic goal of the day achieved: labelling, and arranging in a reasonably coherent manner, all the magazine folders in my study.

Had hoped to get out for a run this morning but woke up with tightness which wasn't really eased by a walk, so instead took to the bike mid-afternoon (one of the benefits of working from home is that it's easier to swap a blank hour in mid-afternoon for an evening teleconference). Not a bad ride, although playing a certain amount of dodgem, as I should have expected on a major path on a sunny Friday afternoon in school holidays (current constraints notwithstanding).

Not altogether convincing and think I would have found anything more demanding a challenge, but got around this, through the top end of Yarra Bend and out to Westgarth. Giving everyone a wide berth; runners haven't had a great press in the letters columns the last couple of days. (One of the less edifying features of recent times is that it's given lots of people carte blanche to publicly unload on anyone else who's Not Like Them, whether it's old people on young people, country people on city people - the Corangamite councillor who referred to Melbourne people as "spreaders of death" was a particular lowlight - or everyone else on the Chinese).

I'm currently making my way through a book on 1001 days that changed the world, and have got as far as the Roman defeat in 9 AD in the Teutoberger Wald in northern Germany. This was commemorated by the construction of a very large statue (a.k.a. "Hermann the German") which will probably be remembered by anyone who was at WOC 1995 (especially the long distance finalists - ranks I didn't quite manage to join - who started next to it).

Knew I couldn't hold it together for too many days in a row and so it proved. After a failed attempt to run in the morning, plan B was a lunchtime ride, which was a good option on a nice day to be out (there have been a lot of nice days to be out lately). Headed out on the La Trobe loop; seem to be getting progressively stronger on the climbs.

Fairly borderline today, but managed to get through something even if it wasn't quite as much as I'd hoped for - it's a while since I've got through four days out of five so this counts as progress. Hip started to feel a bit sore after the small ups and downs on the Darebin Creek bike path. Saw Nicola on the way which provided a pretext for the first sort-of in-person conversation (more substantial than a shop transaction) I've had with anyone for a week.

While it's still well short of where I'd like to be, this was the biggest month I've put together for a while (April 2019 was the last bigger one for running distance, September 2018 for training time). Calves feeling rather tight so a physio session at lunchtime was welcome - they're still functioning, at least for the time being, although somewhat lacking in customers. (Although it's not exactly the message which is being communicated, it's clear from reading the small print that if it's legal for a business to open, it's legal to leave home to do business with it).

Hungary overnight became the first nominal democracy to use the current situation as a pretext to give themselves the powers of a dictatorship. I suspect they won't be the last.