Training Log Archive: blairtrewin

A run which fluctuated from high points to low, some terrific bits but also some rather weak stretches, especially on some of the hills. Actually felt some moisture at one point.

As intense a street-O as I've done in a long time. There wasn't a lot of route choice and someone jumped out of the start, which got us all chasing. Ended up with a pack of three - myself, Adam Scammell (not a surprise) and Bryan Ackerly (a surprise). I kept expecting Bryan to crack but he never did, and in the end I was the one who cracked, dropping away at about the 40-minute mark. A couple of controls later and 50 metres down, I decided to take a risk on a route choice (just about the only one on the course) - had nothing to lose except an extension of the margin, which was exactly what happened.

It was disappointing to fall away at the end, but this was a big day - starting to wind up the volume significantly, and I guess it wasn't surprising not to be able to go the distance.

Definitely not too upset that my colleagues screwed up - a few days back the forecast for today was 38, but it ended up being half that. There's some seriously hot air to our north - 47 in Birdsville today and plenty of 45s and 46s in SA. Glad it's there and not here.

C • ? 5

Nothing special, not attacking the sprints as much as I should have been but felt reasonable. Fastest loop 9.15.

MFR Monday run, around some of the rougher tracks on the Yarra with Dion, Tash and Nicola. A bit faster than usual for a Monday night. A little stiff early on but pretty good in the second half. A bit of a twinge in the front of the right ankle towards the end - hope this doesn't turn into anything.

A pretty solid effort and the longest since May. Cruised through the flat first hour along the Yarra and Diamond Creek, then took on some tougher hilly stuff for the next 10k across St. Helena, Apollo Parkways and the top end of Watsonia. Was finding the going fairly tough at the end of that, but became increasingly good in the last half-hour - it's always nice at the end of a long run coming in from the north to have the long, gradual descent home, with the Rosanna Parklands stretch especially good - it's great to hit a few minutes of gently downhill parkland 3k from home on a run like this.

Thought this might be tough going after a long day yesterday (and less-than-ideal eating) but it went OK. Was originally planning to go out with Bruce but he couldn't make it (possibly baseless speculation on my part: keep your eyes open for a possible early finish to the sweep).

C • sweep continutes 1

Went out during a short break in the middle of a long election day and felt about as good as I expected to feel after seven hours on my feet (i.e. not very). Eating patterns also rather screwed up as always on election days, which are not compatible with healthy nutrition (think lots of sausages, chicken and soft drink cans).

It looks like we might have an orienteer in Parliament - Nick Wakeling is currently leading (just) in Ferntree Gully. We haven't seen a lot of him in the last two or three years (presumably because he's been concentrating on his political activities) but he was a regular before that. I'll even forgive him for standing on behalf of the forces of darkness. We've had a few near-misses before, notably Julie Flynn (a.k.a. Jools on AP) in Bendigo East in 1996, but I think he's the first one to look like getting there.

The Liberals won the seat I was working in (Doncaster) pretty comfortably, but after throwing $400K at it (money they might have been better off spending in places that actually mattered) they'd want to have done. My own booth wasn't too bad (1.5% swing against) but across the seat it was more like 6%.

Feeling much better today so got out for the long run that I was planning to do yesterday. Faded a bit in the last 40 minutes but better than I thought it might have been - even though there's been no recurrence of Wednesday night's stomach upset these things can often take a bit out of you. Nice morning for it, particularly early on along Gardiners Creek (I started from Richmond because I was having a massage afterwards). Always feels virtuous when one starts a morning run at a time which has a 5 in front of it (although I know for the swimmers it's pretty tame).

Bit of a stomach upset overnight, so decided to bring my weekly rest day forward and (hopefully) get out for something long tomorrow. Doesn't feel like anything too serious (and at least I was only going from one end, unlike AJ last week).

It was tempting to take a sickie today, but given it's the first day of the cricket questions might be asked (although I don't think I've had a day off work/school for illness since 1983 or thereabouts).

C • getting old? 2

A pretty nondescript run, especially in the first half, although good to get into some areas I haven't been into for a while - I drove to Surrey Hills station early to position myself for street-O tonight. (This proved to be an extremely good move, because my usual train line was shut down because - wait for it - somebody stole the overhead wiring, presumably for the copper). Particularly nice at the Blackburn end, and there was a new track around the back of the Box Hill golf course that wasn't there the last time I was in these parts, but my run didn't really do justice to the surroundings.

The change came through about midnight, and there was a definite smell of smoke in the air this morning from yesterday's fires to the west. Summer is definitely here.

C • clever 3

Melbourne Street-O at Highbury Hill. Most of A course went the same way at the start this week, and the early jump Adam and I got on the field proved to be a disadvantage when we missed a hole in the traffic the people behind us got, which meant we had to pass them all again. I then put a bit of pressure on through the 5th and 6th controls and opened up a gap of about 50 metres on Adam, which was enough to convince him to look for other route choice options. Didn't feel quite so sharp or so motivated on my own, but certainly had the mind concentrated when I turned the corner into the third-last control and saw Adam coming in from the other direction with the same 50-metre gap. From there it was a head-to-head run home for the last 1.5k. I didn't like my chances - you don't come 7th in the Australian Sprint Champs without a certain amount of speed. He'd caught me by the last control, and while I was still within a stride or two of him as we hit the finish oval, he opened up a gap of 5-10 metres by the end. Great to have a head-to-head race (even if I lost it), and went sub-4s which is not bad for me these days. Also a good course on a relatively plain area, with ten minutes of post-race discussion failing to produce a consensus on the best option (we had to get 17 controls out of 20).

First time out on the usual circuit since the operation, a chance to gauge my speed at the moment - the answer is OK but not spectacular (9.17 fastest loop), feeling OK but not really attacking the surges. Nice early on thanks to the not-uncommon cool surface layer on the river flats, but that had broken down by 7 so it was as warm there as it was everywhere else.

MFR Monday night run. New starting point (at least for me) from Torgeir's place near Swinburne Uni, but we headed east into what is fairly familiar long-run territory for me in Camberwell (particularly the outer circle track). Pretty slow which was no bad thing on the first day back; my body clock is better adjusted than I thought, but the 30-degree temperature jump (it was still 32 at 8.00) took a bit of getting used to. Didn't feel great on the run but handled heat better than I thought I might have.

Event: The Olympic Dream
 

Originally had plans to meet up with Nick Duca and go for a run somewhere near the North American Champs area, but that fell through because he's (a) working and (b) injured, so used the opportunity for a bit of urban exploration in Toronto instead. The first section heading east was pretty scenically challenged (just because there's a waterfront doesn't mean it's pretty), but nice once I got out to the beaches, and then into the Taylor Creek and Don valleys going back. A bit of an unplanned detour when I went up the side of the valley one spur too early trying to get up to Rosedale, and ended up hitting a dead end and having a close encounter with some mud. (1:45 probably wasn't a bad stage of the run for some adventure, though). Easily the longest run I've done in the last couple of months, and generally pretty good, flowing well even at the end. Perfect conditions (and I mean that seriously) - still, partly cloudy and 2 degrees. It will be about 30 degrees warmer for my next run on Monday, which will take some getting used to.

Not sure what it is about Rosedale but I also managed to get lost running there on my first visit to Toronto, in December 1989. On that occasion my navigational strategy (go for about 30 minutes and then come back towards the CN Tower) came unstuck because it started snowing heavily and the tower was invisible. It's the only time in my life I can recall having to ask someone (who was probably pretty shocked to see someone in shorts and T-shirt in -7 degrees) where I was - it turned out it was at a 90-degree angle to where I thought I was going and I was heading for Montreal.

Canadian Cultural Assimilation Department: I got into this fairly quickly on arrival by spending my first night watching Hockey Night In Canada with Toronto playing Montreal, and am finishing the same way by having breakfast at Tim Horton's.

C • mmm timmy hortons! 27

A fairly nondescript performance despite a nice setting along the Toronto waterfront. Much colder and windier today (and still raining) which made it hard work going out, although much better after turning around to have the wind behind me.

The locals in Toronto might complain about the local public transport, but compared with Melbourne (a city of vaguely similar size and population density) it's amazing. I was visiting the Climate Research Division of Environment Canada today, who are out in Downsview (a suburb about 20km from the centre). I just missed the bus connection from the subway station. If it was a similar trip in Melbourne (Heidelberg to Preston will do as a translation) I'd be reaching for my bag to get a book out to pass the half-hour or hour before the next one turned up. Having been to Toronto before I thought it might be 5 or 10 minutes. It was less than one...

Nothing lasts for ever, even cold November rain, but this lot kept going for 24 hours. It actually wasn't too bad - Niagara-on-the-Lake is in a bit of a local rainshadow in a southerly system like this one and it was only raining very lightly in the town (although much more at the far end of the run, close to the escarpment around Queenston), but from the amount of surface water around there must have been a fair bit overnight. Avoiding deep puddles in the dark first 40 minutes was an interesting challenge. The first half of the run was a bit of a grind, but the second half was much better, although tired somewhat in the last 10 minutes.

Doesn't look like I'll get to see any snow, or even any sub-zero temperatures, on this trip - before today every day had been mostly cloudy and/or misty with temperatures steady in the 5-8 range, and the only time the sun has been out has been for a couple of hours on Wednesday.

C • i'll just end up walkin 4

A steady run around the town. Felt fairly flat most of the way.

This one was mainly about getting used again to going out twice in a day. Quite pleasant after the first 5 minutes - I never expect much of evening runs (particularly after a long day working like today), but they often pleasantly surprise. A bit of rain starting but nothing to worry too much about.

An intervals session in a park on the Niagara-on-the-Lake waterfront - 10x1 min reps, 1 minute jog recovery in between. Pretty good run on the whole, definitely felt a lot better than yesterday and the sprints went well.

The meeting I'm here for got under way today. This is in an establishment which is normally a long, long way out of my league - the regular rate for rooms here is as close as makes no difference to A$1000 a night. We're paying one-fifth of that, which is still a bit out of the league I'm used to (presumably the market for $1000-a-night hotel rooms in a small Canadian town midweek in mid-November is a bit limited). It's very nice, but I certainly wouldn't be here if I was spending my own money.

Another day, another country - came across to Rochester to catch up with William (most Australian readers will know, but North Americans may not, that we go back a long way - we went to the same school, although not quite at the same time), before going on to visit someone in Cornell who's working in my field, and then back to Niagara. In between that, fitted in a morning run in Rochester. Started out with William, who'd raced the weekend, but jumped out of the blocks a bit faster than I'm used to starting these days. A pretty good run along both sides of the river, at least until William cut back (he was doing a shorter one), whereupon my quads promptly fell apart. A bit of a struggle after that but better by the end.

Regular readers will know from accounts of my European travels that I have a bit of a habit of making split-second connections, and there was another one today. I was aiming to get my rental car back to Niagara Falls by 6 (could have returned it the following morning but that would have been a hassle). After 3 1/2 hours of driving from Ithaca (and a border crossing) I made it just as the outlet manager was walking out the door. I had previously worked out that, although the official speed limit on the NY freeways is 65 mph, everybody drives at 75 and therefore it was OK to do likewise - couldn't do this at home! (unless you've got as much money to throw around as Liggo).

In Canada now. Raid the Hammer was on but I thought 3 hours on my first day in the country was a bit ambitious, so got hold of a map through Hammer (Mike) and went for a run on that. The area was used for the 1986 World Cup - decent gully-spur terrain. I hadn't orienteered in a deciduous forest in winter since 1989, so took some time on the first leg to reacquaint myself with the basics (like that most of the green on the map didn't exist, and that fallen leaves can hide everything from tracks to small rocks to marshes). Pretty good technically once I'd got the hang of that. Also reasonable physically, although glad that I wasn't going much faster or longer. Quads pretty good most of the way but started to struggle a bit on the last hill. Also reacquainted myself with mud, something I haven't seen a lot of in Australia (or Europe for that matter) this year.

Thanks to Mike (Hammer) for organising the maps - I really appreciated the chance to get out into the terrain.

For the first half, the best run since my return. Quads much better - the massage yesterday definitely made a difference. Tailed off a bit in the second half - maybe the usual frantic preparation for going away caught up with me a bit (as usual, I didn't really start packing until 6 a.m. on departure day).

Now in LA airport, which means I've made it into the US OK (only hassle was a succession of long queues). 6 hours and I'll be in Toronto. Feeling OK so far.

C • the club 5

Fairly slow and shortish run. Quads still pretty ordinary but a bit better than yesterday, especially in the second half, on quite a hilly course. Had a massage afterwards and I think the masseur was quite taken aback by the state of them.

Back to revisit an old friend, the 5.15 Thursday morning alarm. If nothing else it will help with doing the adjustment to North American time on Saturday.

Quads still not in good shape - you know they're not in good shape when you start going down stairs sideways and find it easier to run than it is to walk. (You know they're really bad when you start going down stairs backwards - definitely not at that stage yet).

Apart from that it was quite a reasonable run. Never really comfortable because of the aforementioned quads, but the rest of the body seemed to be working pretty well. Avoided the hills this time.

C • Backwards 1

First crack at Melbourne street-O for the season. Quads felt much as they did on the equivalent evening last year, which is a bit of a worry because on the equivalent evening last year I was coming off the Four Peaks. Not quite sure how one 57-minute run after a two-week layoff compares with three 1000+-metre climbs in successive days, but that's the way it worked.

The run itself wasn't too bad, although never comfortable. Got the critical route choice right at the start, although the price of that was being on my own for the entire run, something which tends to be either a very good or a very bad sign. There wasn't much real opposition (Adam Scammell really was coming off the Four Peaks, Tony Bird ran a shorter course and Bruce obviously used up everything he had at the Tan at lunchtime) so I probably wouldn't have had anyone to run with for long anyway. Actually made a bit of a mistake at one point, starting up the wrong street for 30 metres or so after coming across a big stretch of parkland at it.

Street-O often brings a bit of interaction with the locals, and so it was tonight as we had quite a reception committee waiting for us at 10, including cups of water and kids offering to punch our cards for us. I took up the first offer but not the second. Noel McVey, who punched just in front of me, said he took the opportunity to tell the parents to vote Labor. Personally I'll be impressed if they're sober enough to fill out the ballot paper correctly - definitely had a feel of Bogan Central about it.

C • Bogan Central 6

Back in action after a couple of weeks out - I was aiming for a Cup Day return and made it. It wasn't particularly pretty but then it rarely is the first run back after a layoff (and this was more ambitious than usual for the first run after a layoff). Hint of elbow soreness early on but that quickly disappeared. My inside has obviously got out of practice at being shaken around - felt like I was about to explode for the last 10 minutes.

Had a nice collect on the Melbourne Cup (Maybe Better each-way). I've had four wins and three other places in the last 15 years - perhaps I should do this more often? Rob Garden certainly suggests it from time to time. I used to detest horse racing in the days when its principal function was to interrupt cricket or football on the radio, and my interest still rarely extends beyond Cup week.

The Bureau came second (again), beating CSIRO and Monash but losing, pretty comprehensively, to Melbourne Uni. Melbourne scored 15 goals in three games and only conceded two (one of which was an own goal).

I refereed three of the games - not something I've done much of. Had its moments, most of them courtesy of a rather crazy Bosnian who was playing for Melbourne; had it been a more serious game I would have been tempted to book him for dissent (or possibly for making too many disparaging comments about 1860 Munich). Also a bit awkward because a few people weren't playing in the right colours; someone was wearing something identical to the 2006 Australian orienteering top when they were supposed to be in green (but then 2XU can't tell the difference either).

Have been up at Marysville for a work meeting the last couple of days. It would have been absolutely magic to go for a run this morning - forest tracks everywhere, clear and cool. This made it rather annoying that I was restricted to an hour's brisk walk (which I refuse to log as training on AP). Still on track to be back in business next week, though.

Any Melbourne Uni-based people who want to see some of the worst soccer players in the western world (with the possible exception of the NZ Kings) are invited to come and have a look at what's going on in the centre of the aths track tomorrow from 4.30 - it's the annual tournament between the Bureau of Meteorology, CSIRO and the meteorology sections of Melbourne and Monash. I'll be spectating/possibly refereeing/turning sausages on the post-game BBQ. We're in the red shirts.

C • soccer 8