Training Log Archive: blairtrewin

First time on the Boulevard for a couple of weeks. Felt pretty reasonable, including on the hills, but pace drifted out of it a bit in the second half. Certainly no issues with excessively chilled fingers (or other body parts) this morning.

Some fencing I saw at the far end suggests that there's been a slip on the steep slope overlooking the Yarra there. The path across that slope was one of my favourite bits of track in inner Melbourne (at least when something that far away is within range for me) so hopefully it's still there.

One of the better name memes I've seen for a while: your ABC rural reporter name is the name of your youngest sibling along with the name of your nearest arterial road (Cassie Grange sort of works, I guess). I wonder what Kate Doyle or Jess Davis end up with?

C • Victoria Heidelberg 7

First attempt at intervals since the hamstring issues: 6 x 1 minute. Felt reasonable, if a bit lacking in sharpness, on the reps themselves, but back was a bit tight on the warm-down.

There were even more dogs in All Nations in the afternoon than there are in the morning (though none caused any significant trouble).

Warm-up and down. A bit of a struggle heading back but good to get a session on the board.

Getting used again to the starting-in-the-dark thing (it's still a few weeks before sunrises start getting meaningfully earlier, although we're already past the earliest sunset). Seemed to go fairly smoothly and was confident enough in my hamstring to restore those parts of my program I haven't done the last few weeks, but still stiffened up enough after a day sitting down to feel not up to a run late in the day.

A run which was a bit of a struggle early on (after a morning false start). Was just starting to get into it when I was confronted with a urgent need for some open public conveniences, something in short supply at the moment. Settled myself down enough to be able to get home - by then the running was going OK but ended up doing a bit less than I would have hoped for. Will chalk this down in the minor annoyances department (and at least the hamstring was OK).

Three days in a row was more than I was up to at the moment; probably didn't help that I was trying to do it in Horsham first thing (might have been better for me to do one out bush as I did yesterday; Wyperfeld would have had some nice places for it).

Wyperfeld National Park (via Rainbow) was the main target for today; mallee country with sand dunes and interesting vegetation changes - quite a nice spot. As I expected, the towns out there definitely had the sense that not much has changed out there in many years (I suspect that Rainbow is the sort of place where you'll be able to go back in 2040 and still find leftover 2020 social distancing signs). Back in Melbourne tonight.

C • rainbow 2

A run in the Little Desert NP while my parents (who are travelling with me) did a nature trail walk; the first 10 minutes along the Nhill-Harrow road and then onto a track into the park. This was quite sandy (and muddy or slippery in low-lying places) and quite hard work; my back and hamstring were basically OK to start but were starting to tire, so decided to cut short initial ambitions of an hour; still my longest since the hamstring issues (and first back-to-back days).

Also featuring today were Mount Arapiles (looking magnificent from below in the morning light, although a bit too misty for expansive views from the top), and a number of well-decorated silos, notably at Sheep Hills (which has no hills and, at least at present, no sheep). Also lots of very quiet small to mid-sized towns on a Sunday, with Nhill without most of its usual highway traffic given that it's just about the end of the practical road at the moment, unless you're a truck.

(Central Nhill, like central Innisfail and central Napier, has lots of buildings of about the same age - circa 1900 in Nhill's case - and for the same reason of having been flattened by a natural disaster. For Nhill it was being the most prominent victim of probably Australia's most significant tornado outbreak, in November 1897).

Felt like a struggle for most of the way - perhaps a bit better in the last 10 minutes - but not too bad in the injury department after a bit of early back stiffness, so that's progress. Earlier than I'd normally do on a Saturday before hitting the road for an extended weekend in western Victoria - doing a bit more exploring than I'd normally do between Melbourne and Horsham (including the wet forests and waterfalls of the Mount Buangor State Park). The hot chocolate at the Vines in Ararat is still as good as I remember, too.