Training Log Archive: blairtrewin

Felt a little tight this morning so thought it best to stick to alternate days at this stage. Did do a reasonable amount of walking during the course of the day, spent exploring some of the southern end of the Black Forest. (I thought the day might be a bit of a scenic write-off in the morning when I woke up to fog, but broke out of it 30km or so west of where I was staying).

The country isn't anywhere near as dramatic as the Alps, but still pleasantly scenic, and I finished off the day with a 1000m descent back into the valley near Freiburg (I suspect the cyclists have fun with this road). There was also a certain amount of indulgence during the course of the day.

Running again! And not a bad way to return - exploring the Freiburg old town by means of the sprint course from the 2015 Black Forest 3-Days (courtesy of Clare). Headed out as soon as it was light enough to read the map; went an unnecessarily long way around to 2 through a lack of concentration, but otherwise reading the map OK. Only one control site had turned into a construction site (and another construction site from 2015 was still there), with a second sort of going under the Christmas market. Didn't feel that fast - and definitely tentative on the bit which was going downhill on wet asphalt covered with wet leaves - but the main thing was that the calf was OK on the run, with just a little bit of fatigue towards the end. Cut the course a little short because the finish was in the opposite direction from where I was staying and I didn't want to do too much over 30 on a first run, but happy with this.

The plan for the rest of the day was to position myself by means of 100km north on the Autobahn, and then spend the rest of the day chasing green lines (these denote scenic routes on the Michelin maps) whilst making my way east and south. Lots of nice country with hills and forest, and some decent views, although I've learned that parts of the Black Forest close down as completely in November as the French Alps do (putting paid to thoughts of lunch in a nice mountain Gasthof, but at least I didn't have to sink as low as a petrol station baguette as I did on the aforementioned French occasion).

It was somewhere about this point when I got a text "Labor leading in Brighton with 19 year old" and learned that what was already looking like a decent result when I left Freiburg had turned into a rout. It doesn't look like Labor has won Brighton in the end, but they have won in plenty of other unexpected places; I'm particularly pleased to see Paul Hamer, a friend from Ivanhoe days, elected in Box Hill. Haven't see the booth numbers yet to see how my one piece of campaign advice played out (I suggested a few weeks ago that he put some time into the strongly Liberal Balwyn end of the seat, thinking that, as a middle-class professional - he's an engineer who works in transport planning - he was the sort of Labor candidate who would be well-received there).

It was my first experience of driving on the Autobahn. I wasn't too surprised (once the traffic thinned out enough for it to be possible) to see various BMWs, Audis and Mercs doing 200 or thereabouts in the left lane, but I was rather more surprised to see a Transit van doing 150+ (I didn't know a Transit van could do 150+). 140 was plenty for me, although when you're going with the flow it doesn't actually feel that fast.

Again not the best weather at lunchtime, and again a lunchtime session in the WMO basement. Not pushing it quite as hard as I did last time, and felt a bit more relaxed (it also seemed to go faster).

With no worthwhile events within range, orienteering competition hadn't featured in my plans for this weekend even before I got injured. I've got the train up to southwest Germany and plan to spend time exploring the Black Forest, assuming the weather clears (which it's supposed to).

Went out to the Vernets pool this morning - this time it was open. I prefer this one because it's a bit less frenetic - it's 50 metres rather than 33 and the lanes are wider so there's more room for people to pass. Felt pretty good by the end of this - seemed to be moving along quite nicely. Only the faintest hint of calf tightness post-swim.

A poster campaigning against the Swiss-law-primacy referendum I mentioned yesterday referred to it as "l'initiative Trompeuse". No translation required. (Meanwhile, the person whose name was turned into an adjective in that poster has been tweeting enthusiastically about an, admittedly significant, cold outbreak in the northeastern US).

Had thought of going outside but the weather was miserable (and the colleague's bike I was planning to borrow had some mechanical issues), so instead this was a stationary bike in the basement, something about as exciting as it sounds. Worked decently hard, though - always feel like I'm working a bit harder in a session like this than I am on the road (unless it's particularly hilly). Seemed to warm up progressively through the session.

Victoria isn't the only place going to the polls this weekend; it's referendum time in Switzerland again. The most exotic one, and the one that's most likely to get up, is a proposal for government payments to cows with horns - apparently this is an animal welfare measure to encourage farmers not to cut them off. A proposal to weaken privacy laws to make it easier for investigators for the Swiss equivalent of Centrelink to spy on their clients is somewhat surprisingly in with a chance, while likely to go down is a proposal to give primacy to Swiss judges over international law (which would have probably the effect of forcing Swiss withdrawal from such bodies as the European Court of Human Rights), which is getting support from the sort of groups you'd expect to support something like this. (It's interesting that Swiss voters vote for right-wing populist MPs in numbers greater than almost anywhere else in Europe, but don't usually vote for right-wing populist referenda, unless they involve immigration).

Didn't get the chance to get out for either a swim or a ride today. Might not have been the best day to get out on a bike - would have got fairly snowy outside the inner city (it had melted by morning in the inner city, but cars coming in from the suburbs still had plenty on them).

Needed two attempts to get this one done. Headed out to the Vernets pool in the morning to discover that I'd mixed the two pools up and it was their day not to open until noon (and I wouldn't have been able to get in anyway because the ticket machines are now card-only and I'd brought cash).

Second attempt was lunchtime at Varembe, and it ended up working pretty well. Felt considerably smoother and stronger than Saturday (not that that's an especially high bar to clear), and only got shoved aside once which isn't bad for a lunchtime swim here. Calf tightness post-swim continues to ease, too (only very slight this time), and a short instinctive run for a tram didn't cause it to freak out either, so I think I'm getting closer.

The walk from the office to the pool goes (by one plausible route choice) via the square outside the UN, often a venue for demos and sit-ins (Falun Gong are regular visitors). Today it was occupied by a giant inflatable toilet and various people giving out shirts saying 'THIS IS A T-SHIT'. This was all in the name of promoting World Toilet Day, which for all the piss that gets taken out of it is an eminently worthy initiative aimed at improving sanitation in poor countries.

The snow has come in late today (something I picked about four days before MeteoSwiss did; for some reason they always seem to under-forecast snow in marginal situations here). Not expecting huge accumulations; so far it's settling on cars but not on the road.