Training Log Archive: blairtrewin

Good to be back, on the close to home and tricky Granite Hills Park. It was the chance to put some rusty techniques (both terrain running and navigation) to the test, as well as to catch up with lots of people I haven't seen for a while - one of those days where you see new bumps (one of which I knew about, one of which not) and teenagers who've grown 20 centimetres since you last saw them (I haven't checked the results to see if they've become 20% faster at the same time).

Early on it was across sodden slopes that reminded me a bit (at least in terms of the hardness of pushing through them) of sub-alpine Norway. Got into the rocks and contour detail later on. Didn't feel as if I was flowing navigationally but generally muddled through with just a few minor wobbles (including finding two wrong controls). Also didn't have any fluency in the terrain - noticeable particularly in the rougher stuff, and crossing steep slopes - but that will hopefully come with a bit of practice. A bit further back than I thought I might have been.

C • Now I’m wondering who the 2

Second run of the day. I thought I might struggle to come up a second time and so it proved; back was tight and I couldn't really run any hills of any size, which made for a pretty slow start given how uphill it was. Mostly memorable for dicing with Ricky, who I thought was going for Bryan Keely's record of passing me eight times in the same course, but in the end he settled for six. Again a little scrappy but no major time losses. Clare got a little ahead of me at 24, and although we were reasonably well matched through the rest I couldn't find the extra bit of speed (or extra good line) to run her down.

On a day with numerous squally showers (which we largely missed), it was looking very black indeed out to the west during the later part of the course (it unloaded on the way to the car park). Views are a feature of this area - one of the houses was for sale and mentioned the views of the CBD (strangely they didn't mention the equally prominent views of the several hectares' worth of electricity infrastructure at the South Morang Terminal Station).

The three leading men finished their second run before I even started it.

One plus of the two runs is that I've replenished my supply of split printouts and control description sheets, having had to, in recent weeks, fall upon expired fuel vouchers and unsuccessful Melbourne Cup betting tickets for my shopping lists.

The glute, which had hitherto been reasonable, complained very loudly when I trod awkwardly in a hole coming out of 8. Thought briefly it might be race-ending but it settled soon enough (a bit sore this evening, though).

Race 1 - C1 - Splits

Race 2 - C1 - Splits

The latest bit of urban exploration brought to you by the number 81. This took me to a corner of Melbourne which I've often crossed but rarely spent any time in - centred on where Eastlink crosses Dandenong Creek. I've only touched the edge of the area once on a street-O a few years back.

Main centrepiece of this was a place whose name was familiar to me from many years of Victorian flood warnings - the Police Road Retarding Basin. There's been a lot of rain lately - I timed this well, heading out just as the last heavy rain finished - but the eastern suburbs are relatively sheltered in southeasterlies so the heavy falls (and flooding) were elsewhere this time. Thought this would be a relatively flat run, but there was a bit of up and down on the east side of the creek (I was a bit tentative on some of this with the slippery ground). The run itself was a struggle with soreness again in the glutes, although it didn't flare up on downhills as much as it did yesterday and seems to have come up OK afterwards.

Local mysteries department: why is the school Rosewood and the tennis club Rosswood?

Collected streets on this run in three different local council areas (Knox, Monash and Greater Dandenong, none of which are likely to imperil my ability to enter other states). There are plenty of places where you can go through a few council areas in a short space of time (doing the Darebin Creek trail south from my place will get you four in as many kilometres), not so many where you can complete streets in each of them easily.

Overtook my 2020 tally of hours trained today, which makes it the longest year since 2017. Should also pass 2017 before the end of the year if things go to plan. Definitely won't pass 2016.

C • Eastlink crossing 2

With downhills troubling in the last few days, I decided to go for a flat route, out west to cover some ground on the west side of Merri Creek south of CERES. However, the gentle descent off Ruckers Hill was enough to set things off, and from there it was a case of trying to keep the glute soreness under some sort of control in a run which was quite hard work (and quite slow). The positive was that, after spending most of the second half thinking I'd do well to get to a 60-minute target, the last few minutes improved enough for me to do the extra to get to the front door. Quite sore afterwards. Not as wet as anticipated.

Did something this morning somewhat akin to what I was planning to do last night, except in a different place (from a base at the Fitzroy pool before a planned session in the water). A bit of a struggle - this was earlier than usual and my back wasn't in great form today - but at least my other issues seem to have settled down. Cleared up various fiddly-to-get alleys in the southwest corner of North Fitzroy. Pretty slow, but I think a few dead-ends in small alleys weren't giving me full value.

Followed up with the originally planned session in the water (that is, immersed in the water and not with lots of water landing on me - that's tomorrow). Not the most convincing of these I've ever done, but got it on the board at least.

MFR Wednesday night from Aislinn's. Was looking forward to re-exploring some of my old haunts, but I pulled up sore after last night and, although it improved somewhat through the day, I decided after a few minutes that it wasn't quite ready for a proper run. Hopefully OK tomorrow.

Tuesday night at Gaffney Hills. You wouldn't think approaching this area from the east that it plays host to some of the steepest streets in Melbourne. The steepest of all, O'Hea, is named for the priest who baptised, and gave the last rites to, Ned Kelly, and has no doubt left a few cyclists and runners who've taken it on wishing that the Lord had mercy on them. (I've run it once, a decade or so back, but made no attempt to do so tonight).

The best that can be said for this was that it was the first time for a long time that I've got through a B course in an evening event (am stepping up from C where I've been the last couple of years). It wasn't easy and I didn't run the sharp climbs, but it was probably the downhills which caused me more grief - the glutes flared up after the longest one, and although it settled down a bit after a free pitstop at the Gaffney Street level crossing, it made its presence felt the rest of the way. Think I got the route basically right, although the results aren't up yet so I don't know for sure.

Put a couple of new bits of gear to the test tonight: a new pair of shoes and an arm holder for the phone. Both seemed to work OK.

Monday morning Pilates. A full contingent now (which for this session is 5), another indication of things starting to return towards normality. Glutes not totally right but certainly improved on yesterday (and the foot soreness has disappeared).

Moved on to Fitzroy for the water part of the day's activities, in a pool that is also becoming increasingly well-populated. Starting to get back into the groove a bit more and was slightly less slow than I have been the last two attempts. Occasional mild spasms in my quad early for no obvious reason (also noticed this walking yesterday before I started running), but doesn't seem to be getting in the way of anything.