Training Log Archive: blairtrewin

Couldn't come up after the run yesterday, which was a bit unfortunate, but took to the bike instead and not too bad. Did the Springthorpe/La Trobe loop, which has most of its climbing in the first 5km; not a bad route to ride (if we're still allowed to). Got hit by a sharp shower in the middle, although it wasn't quite as dramatic as it was on the equivalent session last September (and there were no magpies this time either).

Bendigo not-really-an-event at Kooyoora (no timing but the controls were out). I was in two minds about going to this but felt I could manage it without making much contact with anyone, and if this is going to be the last time for several months (and perhaps the last time out of the city for several months), going to a special place isn't the worst way to do it - particularly the leg to the last control, across the top of the Melville Caves slope with the expansive view over the rocks below.

The body wasn't really playing ball today - couldn't really run any of the hills - but there was no way I was going to pass this one up in the circumstances. At its best on the long gentle downhills from 2 to 5, although I made a bit of a parallel error mid-leg on 5 and picked it up without too much time loss. Also minor wobbles in the circle on 6 and 7. Pretty tired on the way home (which perhaps stopped me from getting too emotional about it).

A lot of things in the world are getting worse at a rapid rate at present, but one thing which has improved in the last couple of days is the state of the shops - I was able to get almost everything I wanted this morning (and they even had some toilet paper, albeit in single industrial-sized rolls). Maybe all the people stuffing every cranny of their cupboards and freezers have finally achieved their mission.

Trying to preserve such semblance of normality as is still possible for as long as is possible. Being, as far as I know, the closest pool to inner Melbourne which is still open, I was wondering if Ivanhoe was going to be the aquatic equivalent of a supermarket rumoured to have a supply of toilet paper (and had thus planned a swim rather than a pool run because of limited space for the latter - Ivanhoe's deep end isn't very big), but in fact it was reasonably quiet. Swim went a bit better than Monday's; who knows if there is another one ahead?

On Friday this week, having moved my timetable in anticipation of a trip to Canberra which never happened. This class is taken by the manager of the clinic, who's understandably concerned about what lies ahead. (I'm only too conscious that personally I'm in a very fortunate position to ride this situation out compared to an awful lot of people, with an ongoing government job, no debts and generally good health). Reasonably good as far as a session went.

Quads feeling weird today, but otherwise got through OK - the sore spot was starting to flare up 25-30 minutes in but a traffic stop was enough of a reset to settle it down. There are a few things about the way I'm feeling which seem a bit strange at the moment, but I think at least some of that is mental (and some is through not sleeping well, although that seems to have improved over the last day or two).

Didn't feel especially energetic, but at least got through a set without too many dramas, other than with dogs (clearly the other users of the park were under the assumption that the City of Darebin's partial shutdown extended to the enforcement of on-leash areas).

Numbers of people in the city seem to be gradually dwindling, although there's still a fair bit of traffic - I suspect some train users are swapping to cars (and some to bikes, still to be found in some abundance).

Don't intend to try to brave any food shops until the weekend - hopefully by then the craziness will have settled down a bit (and the local shops seem to have held up better so far than the big supermarkets). My version of panic buying is that I've bought five new books since the weekend.

Warm-up and down. Neither of these were especially convincing but at least my back was functioning, and will hopefully be functioning better now that the physio (still working, at least for now) has had another go at it.

An updated statement has come out from the Government on the current situation. Working through recommendations now but looks like local events should be able to continue for now in some form (of course what's current on Wednesday may not necessarily be current on Friday).

C • Guidelines 9

Things didn't work out today, although I spent long enough out at lunchtime to discover that the City of Melbourne's parking inspectors are definitely not working at home at present.

The roads didn't seem much quieter than usual when I was riding - I'm guessing that the number of people working from home is offset by people who are driving in rather than using public transport - but I didn't have to take the usual 17 March diversion around the Dan O'Connell.

It's difficult to plan anything too far ahead at the moment. I started today not knowing which city I'd finish the day in (just as well I don't have to do drug-testing whereabouts forms) - I was supposed to be going to a meeting in Canberra but thought there was a good chance either the Bureau would stop interstate travel or the meeting would be called off. The former hasn't happened (yet) but the latter did, so I'm still in Melbourne.

Sessions which rely on public facilities also can't be planned too far ahead at the moment, and I suspect the pools won't be open for much longer (the City of Melbourne ones are already closed). Until it gets too cold the river might be an option (especially for water running which don't require putting one's head under the water), although I don't know how strong the current is.

The swim was pretty ordinary at best, and featured the return of a long-lost friend, the foot cramp (on two separate occasions, one for each foot).