Melbourne

Recovery, “maturity”, and track as Eden

My Achilles is almost fully recovered. I’ve started to introduce spikes back into my training – the final piece of the puzzle for Achilles injury recovery. I feel a bit like a computer that’s started a system update unexpectedly and my progress bar has been stuck at 98% for far longer than it took to reach 98% in the first place.

This year has gone totally off my standard script. I’ve now spent months building a big aerobic base because that’s the only training that my body allowed. I’ve always been a bit insecure about my endurance, so I’m actually pretty excited to see how this translates onto the track. I looked up a “road to Tokyo” plan I made in 2020 which had some aerobic performance goals that I hadn’t been able to meet at the time or in the years subsequently – but I’m able to do them now. For example: I had it in my head that I wanted to be able to run multiple km reps at sub-3:10 with short recovery. I realised after one session recently that I’d ticked off that goal without even setting out to do it.

I turned 31 last week. Lately, medical practitioners have been calling me a “mature” athlete, saying that I “need to be more careful” than younger athletes, and other subtle and overt forms of ageism. Despite having a clear reason for my current injury (big change in training program), as well as becoming less injury prone as I’ve aged, it’s too easy to blame everything on being old. Some people around me seem to expect my bones and tendons to start crunching like a rusty bike left out in the rain just because I’m in my thirties.

Track of the week: George Knott Reserve

Baller drone photo.

My emotional connection to this track was what kicked off my thesis research into how community tracks function as public spaces. It’s a very short bike ride from where I live and I train there at least once a week. The following pictures and sketches are from said research.

Like most tracks around the world, the most-used innermost lanes are often sectioned off to prevent them from wearing out unevenly compared to the rest of the track.

George Knott Reserve is my home track. The concept of a home ground in sport feels romantic to me. ‘Home’ gives a cosy and safe feeling, a word we don’t use that often for places outside of where we live or work. What we call this feeling of home in architectural terms is “sense of place”. This phenomenon is actually a whole field of study because it’s such an important part of designing successful spaces. And sport has a special way of cultivating your connection to a building or landscape: repeated activity and movement.

Sticks, leaves and gum nuts constantly litter the track surface.

One of the loveliest elements of this track is its proximity to the Merri Creek. The creek slices deeply through the nearest bend, leaving the back straight of the track facing a rocky cliff.

I could talk about this track for hours – I have joked about having my ashes buried here – but for your sake, I will stop here. Maybe in the future I will release a book (lie).

A sketch of … a plan of the track and the track as Eden

In this plan you can see what I was talking about in terms of its proximity to the creek (the band that begins left-middle to bottom-right). I might even colour it one day but I kinda love the subtle line work.

Here’s my impression of how a track that’s connected to landscape can make you feel:

Bye! x

P.S. Let me know if you’d like me to turn any of these images into a print for purchase.