Training Log Archive: blairtrewin

Another small step forward, taking on a hillier course than the last two, but lasting for a bit longer than the last two runs; only a bit of mild hamstring discomfort in the last few minutes. Headed out from the Lake Catani campground to the chalet and back, then around the lake (some lovely singletrack across a granite slope on this bit); was wondering how my body would respond to a long gradual descent but it seemed to work out OK.

A fairly relaxed remainder of the day, apart from a walk (in amongst more big granite boulders) in the afternoon. A few work colleagues are here (I was gatecrashing on their campsite booking) so some good company too.

Original plan was to head out after my 5-6am conference session (I was presenting at this one), but I was still feeling tired and went back to sleep for a bit, so this was a bit later than I'd planned on. The ride, on the La Trobe loop, was also fairly sluggish and not especially awake.

Headed up to Mount Buffalo during the day. In some ways I was a bit too late for the real meteorological excitement (it snowed on the higher parts of the plateau on Friday night) but it was still pretty cold.

Stretching things out a bit further on the flat loop around Thornbury High. Felt like there was a bit more progress; there was a bit of hamstring discomfort again later on, but the onset was later than Wednesday and it was less significant, both during and post-run, than Wednesday. Another incremental step of progress. Not as sleepy as I thought I might have been, either.

One part of the roadside next to the school was marked "Kiss And Go Zone". I appreciate the sentiment but suspect most of the students are past the stage of being kissed by parents at drop-offs (at least anywhere where there's any possibility their friends might see them).

Even by my usual nocturnal-meetings standards the last couple of days have been epic: with meetings scheduled at 7.30pm, 11pm-1am and 5-6am, yesterday and today the longest break I've had is four hours. (At least I managed to sleep reasonably in between those engagements).

I thought this might have been a bit of a disaster area, but it turned out to be not too bad. For the first time this summer there were actually people at the pool other than lap swimmers/exercisers, but it still wasn't exactly at normal summer levels of custom (perhaps because it was a cooler-than-normal summer day). Hamstring seems OK with only the slightest of niggles.

Observation site name of the day: Sweet Home. Somewhat to my disappointment, it's in Oregon and not Alabama.

Testing things out a bit more with a run down into Westgarth (where, judging by the signs, a few locals would like a bit more money spent on the school), and past our local Plague Central. Didn't feel too bad to start with but definitely hurting more beyond 20 minutes; was also quite sore afterwards but had settled down by the evening, so I'll call this a cautious step forward. Once again out earlier than I've been used to of late, partly to avoid the impacts of heat that I'd been hearing about in the 5-6am session (although today was pretty tame compared to some parts of recent summers).

Less hamstring tightness than yesterday but still not quite right, so decided to rest it from running for another day and went out for a ride instead - a very early one as I was coming off a 5-6am conference session (early enough that it was only just light, although drizzle contributed to that). Did the Koonung out and back, the first time I'd done this for a while, knowing that the trails would be relatively unpopulated. Most interesting part about this was that there was a lot of leaf litter on the trail in the more heavily treed areas - possibly a result of yesterday, the first proper hot day for a while? The ride itself was reasonably mundane.

Back to the early Monday morning sessions (in a week when I'll have a lot of early mornings, thanks to a US-based conference). Seemed to go reasonably smoothly, and the company was good.

C • Where do you do pilates? 3

Moved on to the pool (a good place for a hot day). Started out OK but drifted out of it a bit later on. Hamstring pulled up a bit tight after yesterday - certainly wouldn't have considered running on it today - but gradually loosened up through the swim.