Training Log Archive: blairtrewin

The good news was that I was able to get out to run today, for a limited definition of the term 'run'. (Actually, there was one other bit of good news - the knee was fine after the first few minutes). Jogged about 10 minutes from where I'm staying to the model event map and then plodded around (most of) the model controls.

That was about the limit of the good news, though - I'm struggling to remember a time when I've felt weaker on a run from the start (there have been some where I've felt worse after hitting the wall). My health does seem to be improving but very, very slowly, and I've just about accepted that making the final is the limit of my sprint ambitions now. One other worry is that it took a couple of hours for my body temperature to cool down post-run, although I don't expect to have anything as warm as today's 26 on any competition day. As an indicator of how I was feeling, I decided that trying to do the steady uphill run back home wouldn't achieve anything other than get me back 15 minutes earlier, and walked it instead.

As for the model, if it's any indication of what we'll face on the day, there will be some more OOB controversies - there were quite a few cases where private driveways which were outwardly identical to OOB ones were legal, so that controls could be put down them. Most oddly, one control was on someone's front doorstep, which had three apparently identical paths leading to it - only one of which was legal on the map. The model suggested that tomorrow's going to be, in essence, a running race involving a couple of parks and German suburbia, but the final includes Goslar's historic centre and should be challenging.

Had improved today to the point of at least being able to think about doing some training, which is still a bit short of actually doing some. Encouraging me in this decision-making (apart from it being hot) was that the only available forest training area is steep and not particularly relevant (Bad Harzburg is at the foot of the escarpment but the WMOC long distance maps are on top of the plateau). Should be up to going out on the sprint model tomorrow.

The Harz Mountains have a reputation for something of an elderly visitor clientele - I first heard them referred to as "Rentnergebirge" (literally "pensioner mountains") when here in 1989. Getting the bus into town I was starting to wonder if there was anyone else here under 70 (other than the bus driver and the hotel staff), but the centre does have a slightly younger crowd. The local vibe reminds me a bit of Hervey Bay, although I haven't (yet) seen any mobility scooter processions.

(On the 1989 trip I spent three days walking across the range from north to south, including most of a day tracking along the old West/East German border fortifications - at that stage it was just starting to appear possible that the border had a limited life expectancy and a certain amount of local anticipation was starting to build, but I can't imagine that even the most optimistic locals thought that the Berlin Wall had less than three months to live).

I was never planning to run today, it being a drawn-out travel day - starting a bit before 7 in Glasgow, and finishing up a bit before 7 in Bad Harzburg (with a 25-minute uphill walk because the town buses had stopped running and I was too stubborn to get a taxi). However, even had it not been a planned rest day it would have been an unplanned one - I would have really struggled to run today, although I did feel a bit less weak by the evening.

The trip was a bit more drawn-out than it could have been because I needed to leave some leeway in the train booking in case of a late flight, but there are worse places to have to kill a couple of hours than downtown Berlin - even if the Brandenburg Gate was rendered non-photogenic by a giant screen set up for tonight's European Championships semi-final. (The airport, incidentally, is the old East Berlin airport and looks like it - it was supposed to be closed by now but its replacement is running late).

Seem to have found a reasonable place to stay in Bad Harzburg, although it's on the opposite side of town to the event centre which will mean a bit of walking.

OK, so this cold is a bit worse than I thought it was going to be. Didn't feel too bad first thing in the morning, although still changed my planned faster run to something slow. Got through this more or less OK, but then felt pretty terrible for the rest of the day - I know all is not well when I don't really feel like eating. Got to the end of the conference at lunchtime, then slept most of the way on the bus to Glasgow, then flaked out on the bed in front of Wimbledon. Knee also iffy for a long time, although it settled down eventually.

I fly out to Germany tomorrow (suspect my ears won't appreciate this). Glad I've got four days until the sprint qualification, and five until the final. Would quite like to be able to fast-forward the next 48 hours or so.

What was a bit of a sniffle yesterday turned into one of the annoying not-too-serious-but-enough-to-be-a-nuisance colds that I've had several of this year (including for both the Ballarat and Newcastle NOL weekends). Wasn't too ambitious today and worked out more or less OK, although climbing was a struggle (none of yesterday's lower back soreness, though). Had a sharp but short-lived knee twinge on one steep downhill section. Got into some farmland at the far end - nice to have this less than 5km from the central city.

I've still got five days to the WMOC sprint qualifer, so should have plenty of time.

Didn't sleep well last night and woke up for good sometime not long after 4, but took advantage of this to head out around 6.30 into a very pleasant morning - cool and dry. Not a bad run early on but suffered a bit from lower back tightness on the climb up the Royal Observatory hill (and again later in the day). Did a bit of exploring coming off the south side of the hill and was wondering if I might find myself in a spot where there was no way out (other than returning the way I'd come) but found a way through. Finished OK, and before there was any significant traffic.

Second stage of the Monday session (not the Monday triathlon as I'm not riding anywhere) - the Commonwealth Games pool (which refers to itself as "the Commie" - evidently unaware that this term has different connotations in some other English-speaking countries) is near where I'm staying, and is open again after being closed for three years for renovations. A fairly normal swim session for the most part but had trouble with foot cramps towards the end.

One minor surprise: one swims on the right here, as in Switzerland (I'd assumed it would follow the rules of the road).

C • On the right 3

First taste of European orienteering on this trip, at Sluie, between Aberdeen and Braemar - a fair hike from Edinburgh but it sounded like (and was) interesting terrain, which the event closer to Edinburgh wasn't, and it gave me a good excuse to see some nice countryside on the way there and back too.

It's the first time I've orienteered in Scotland since the 2003 6-Days, and after a slightly odd track run to the first control (apparently to keep us out of the way of the people going to the start, it was straight into the most technical part of the map. It took me a while to get a feel for what was mapped as a cliff and what wasn't; lost confidence going into 4 (but got out of it with a minute lost, better than others fared from post-race discussion) and also small misses on 5 and 6. Not bad technically after that with only minor glitches. Found the soft ground hard work at times, and the bracken was making its presence felt at times too (although numerous unmapped motocross tracks were a help there at times). Started to tire a bit in the last 15 minutes.

Alasdair McLeod did 65 so 75 was at least vaguely respectable (although he lost a fair bit of time on 4).

The trip went pretty smoothly on the whole for the Melbourne-Dubai-Glasgow section (and the apocalyptic stories about three-hour waits at British immigration must only apply to Heathrow - I was through in five minutes). Didn't sleep as well as I sometimes do on planes but still not too bad. Only stumbled a bit at the last hurdle when the bus to Edinburgh got caught in a traffic jam caused by the Royal Highland Show (or to be more precise the attempts of cars to get into its muddy car park - possibly an indicator of what I have to look forward to at tomorrow's event).

It was mildly unsettling in Dubai to see that the lead story on the news was a Turkish plane being shot down over Syrian airspace; Emirates obviously felt likewise, as we diverted east of the straight line to pass over safe places like Iraq.

Once unpacked in Edinburgh I headed out for a turn-the-legs-over session, initially around Holyrood Park, without climbing to the top of Arthurs Seat but still with a bit of climbing. No rain but squelchy underfoot in places, and very windy on the more exposed parts. (Last time I was here it was four days before I saw the top of Arthurs Seat, so today's weather can't be that bad). After coming off the hill, the next leg was southward on something which the signs called the Innocent Cycle Path, wondering what it was alleged to have done. (A sign at the far end provided the answer - it gets its name by being the former route of the Innocent Railway, which in turn got its early-19th century name because the trains were horse-drawn and didn't use those dangerously newfangled steam engines). Came back through the suburbs. Felt OK at times, tired at times, but not the worst first-day run I've ever had. ITB seems to have suffered a bit from the trip (although Achilles coped better than usual).

3x1k on the Tan. Felt very sleepy during the morning after a poor (and short) night's sleep and thought this might be a horrible run. It didn't feel as bad as I thought it might, but still pretty slow, barely breaking 4s for the fast kilometres.

It was a bit disconcerting to feel at jetlag levels of sleepiness when I haven't got on the plane yet (that happens tonight). Edinburgh via Dubai and Glasgow is the plan.

Going to/from the Tan.

It was always going to be a bit of a rearranged day, thanks to the demo outside Parliament House (only cyclists would organise a demo for 7.30am) against the elimination of funding for bike infrastructure (this got a decent turnout, several hundred, despite the dismal weather).

Given the weather I was probably going to go Ivanhoe rather than Fitzroy anyway, but that decision was made for me when I left my gear behind in the morning. That meant sharing the aqua play area with the kids (mostly the older siblings of those having swimming lessons). We managed to stay out of each other's way for most of the time (i.e. I only got kicked about half a dozen times); the slightly frustrating bit is that we could easily have sorted everything out by my occupying the last metre of the lane and them having everything else, but an unknown man talking to kids in front of their parents (who were probably not too pleased that I was there at all) is asking for trouble. Still, it worked out OK. (Perhaps I'm just influenced by my deep-rooted tendency to expect that anyone who doesn't know me will think the worst of me, in a week when if you go to certain websites you can find plenty of people who are doing just that).

And now it's 11.30, and I've only just finished the last bit of OA-related paperwork before going away. Naturally I haven't even thought about starting to pack yet - that's tomorrow morning's job.

C • Hope you didn't have too many weird dreams 2

Pseudo-long run up through Watsonia and Greensborough - felt OK but rather slow in the hillier stretches. Picked up the pace a bit at the end, mainly in (successful) pursuit of the 8.23 train. (The 8.23 is a nice discovery of the new timetable - it starts at Heidelberg so you're guaranteed to get a seat). A bit frosty in the more sheltered patches. Last time for a while I'll start a run in the dark.

A 10x1min set on the south side of Docklands after dropping my car off for a service, on a morning which didn't feel that windy but was definitely easier on the even sets than the odd ones. As is often the case with this type of session, struggled to get into gear on the first couple but fairly respectable after that. Knee seems to be just about right now.

Docklands has a lot of building activity and hence plenty of cranes. These are often to be seen flying flags (usually Eureka or other union flags, except in September when football teams take over), but I was a bit surprised this morning to see the New Zealand silver fern flying proudly over Victoria Harbour. I wouldn't have thought a last-gasp home win over Ireland was worth getting that excited about.

Warm up and down going to/from the intervals site.

I've attracted some attention in the last 24 hours from a couple of the more prominent sceptic blogs (no abusive/threatening e-mails to me yet, although I believe there have been a couple to the Bureau's general enquiries address). Most amusing was being accused of being incompetent by someone who couldn't spell "incompetent".

Morning run with an evening meeting, after waiting for the paper to turn up - something I probably won't be doing this time next year because there won't be a paper worth reading (either because the Age has become Gina Rinehart's personal plaything or because it will have ceased to exist altogether). Pretty slow and sluggish in the first 10 minutes, got going a bit more after that but never brilliant.

C • Sad set of options 7

A somewhat uninspiring morning swim at Fitzroy, drifting out of it a bit in the second half. Calves felt like they wanted to cramp but didn't do so.

Last long run before heading to Europe, with Bruce from his place. Didn't really feel with it this morning and was battling a bit to hold onto the pace that Bruce wanted to set, more so in the first half than the second.

Saw plenty of familiar faces out, including Nicola, Tash and Aaron (all of whom we linked up with for sections of the run) and Keith (who wasn't running). Also lots of other runners out; seemed to be more than usual, but then I more often run here on Sunday mornings in summer than in winter. Took the opportunity to discuss a few bits of Orienteering Victoria and Australia business, as well as matters such as various Olympic-related controversy (and I may be president of a national sporting organisation now, but I would still find it very difficult to get outraged in the unlikely event two of our team members were pictured on Facebook in a gun shop - although I suspect the biggest sins of Messrs D'Arcy and Monk were (a) they had some history and (b) the media found out about it, and it requires more bravery than most sporting organisations have to say to the media in something-must-be-done mode that they've considered an issue and decided it's not worthy of any action).

C • where are you flying into? 2

C • Guns 5

Bendigo local event at Castlemaine, my last hit-out in the bush before leaving (and a chance to enjoy the sunny warmth of a 15-degree day before hitting Scottish summer). A bigger crowd than I expected (though not on our course) because it was the final Victorian Schools selection trial, something I hadn't known about.

The run was pretty clean although drifted a little on a couple of legs; pleased with my flow through the controls after the first couple. A bit hesitant in a couple of spots where the presence/absence of tracks and fences on the map (which is 15 years old) didn't quite match the facts on the ground. Still lacking uphill power in an area which has more hills than those I've been in the last couple of weeks. David Brownridge went through me at 11, probably just a marginal difference in running speed (he started about 90 seconds behind me and finished 30 ahead). Knee not perfect but somewhat improved over the last day or two.

It's an indicator of how few Victorian events I've done this year that this is the first time in 2012 that I've ventured beyond Macedon on the Calder Highway for an event (although I've done it once for training). Some years I've spent a couple of months doing it almost every week.

At Fitzroy, half of it in the dark. A bit sore at the beginning but gradually loosened up as it went on (and seem a bit better now than I was this time yesterday).

Departure day is close enough now for me to start looking at weather forecasts for my first destination (Edinburgh), and a summery outlook it is: 9, 10, 10, 11 for the next four days, and nothing above 15 in the outlook period, which ends next Saturday (my arrival day).

C • Packing is challenging 2

C • forecasts 2

Starting to ease back on the volume but still reasonably long, heading out west as far as the Fairfield pipe bridge (and saw Nicola along the way). I've felt pretty good (aerobically/strength-wise) running this week and today was no exception, particularly through the middle which was one of my best stretches for a while. Drifted out of it a bit in the last quarter.

Knee a non-issue running but a bit stiff in the afternoon after sitting for a while; could do with a rest tomorrow.

C • ITB? 3

A pleasant session on a cool morning around the Yarra Bend precinct. Knee continues to be at slightly-annoying-niggle stage (and does warm up). Needless to say the building works at Dights Falls are still unfinished.

Quote of the day: "The Anglican Church has said it cannot support changing the definition of marriage. The Anglican Church was created for the specific purpose of changing the definition of marriage".

250 on/250 off at the Tan. My recent history of these sessions is not good but today was better, although still not really much real speed. A bit of right hamstring soreness at times. Saw Bruce twice in the opposite directions (both times when I was in an off section). Again a nice lunchtime to be out.

To/from the Tan. At least we know the finishing date for the Arts Centre renovations - tickets are already being sold for the reopening concert (end of July). Saw some impressive police vehicular firepower on the way back (including a pseudo-tank which I presume is used for riot control) - no bomb scares in Docklands today though.

Flew back from Adelaide first thing this morning, having had the usual lousy night's sleep I have when I need to be up for something in particular. Headed out for a standard Tan circuit at lunchtime on a nice day, and had a reasonably nice run without doing anything too exciting. Knee much as it was yesterday.

SA Middle Championships. Nailed it this time; drifted a little on a couple of legs but picked myself up without any major time loss (in fact, I think the route I ended up taking on 2 was probably faster than the one I planned to take), and no time loss in any of the circles. Also running reasonably well, at least by 2012 standards, in what was probably my best run this year (not that the competition for this honour is especially tough). Got within a minute/km of Simon which is respectable for me these days, and even managed to break 5s on a leg (mind you, Simon broke 4s on it). There was a time that I would have been looking to get under 5s for a whole course here, but that time is gone.

Right knee didn't feel quite right without impeding me in any meaningful way on the run; will need watching. Right hamstring/buttock also sore sitting down on the trip back, as it was coming back from the NOL in Newcastle; I hope this is a post-race response and not a sitting-for-a-long-time response or I'm in for an uncomfortable 24 hours a couple of weeks from now.

Yunta reached -6.6 this morning, the lowest temperature in South Australia for six years. Fortunately there was enough breeze in the Flinders to keep things stirred up a bit and overnight temperatures near zero.

Course 1 - Splits

Long day at Mannawarra. An enjoyable orienteering experience, as always on the Flinders areas, but too many mistakes in the first third of the course to be able to count this as a good run. Didn't feel as if I was really in control on the first three (and took a while to get used to what wasn't mapped as yellow), but hit them OK. Wasn't so fortunate on 4 with a small miss, and then a much larger one on 5, a classic parallel error which cost me about 3 minutes. Also a minute on 9 when I didn't see the flag in a scrubby gully. Much better technically in the second half. Also reasonably happy with this run physically, only really tiring in the last 15 minutes; 93 minutes seems relatively short compared with some of the long races we've done this year. Simon did 74 and Bruce 82; without mistakes I would have been around 89 which is probably close to par.

1 - Splits

Event: Flinders Ranges June Carnival
 

First day of the Flinders weekend and the first proper night race I've ever done (closest previously has been the odd course on a training camp). It took me a few controls to get the hang of doing it in the dark, and by then I'd dropped five minutes on the first three controls, including a major parallel error at 1 which I was lucky to get out of with only four minutes lost. Got the hang of it after that and was pretty good through the last two-thirds of the course; starting to feel more comfortable running in the terrain later on, too. It certainly helps having a decent light. This will be good preparation for the Darwin NOL event, although I'll be wanting to get out at least once more before then.

Despite the early mistakes, I didn't expect to be quite as far down the results list. This included Tyson claiming my scalp for the first time, and Greg Morcom doing so for the first time since 1985 (although I'm not sure exactly when - he definitely beat me by a second in M14 in one of that year's WOC carnival events at Mount Alexander, but I have forgotten whether it was Greg or Karl Hollamby who beat me into second place at the Australian Schools - which had one-year age groups in those days - a few weeks later).

Marketing claim of the day: the drinking water casks being used at this event proudly proclaim that the water contained therein is both fat-free and sugar-free.

C • First night event! 3

Course 1 - Splits

Some crowdsourced advice via Tooms' log suggested that Claremont pool was the most convenient to where I was (mainly because both it and where I was staying were on the same train line), so headed down there - a nice spot even if the locals were remarking on how cold it was (meanwhile I was thinking that it was pleasantly mild). A pretty good swim; felt like I was moving through the water well (by my standards at least).

After giving three talks in 24 hours, next stop is Adelaide, then the Flinders.

The trip over had its share of minor annoyances and mishaps, starting at the Melbourne end when someone in the next row of seats on the bus threw up spectacularly, then continuing at the Perth end when my taxi voucher didn't work (this after negotiating a half-hour taxi queue; Perth generally has decent public transport but the airport is a big black hole in the network) and a glass fell out of the fridge where I was staying and shattered comprehensively. I also discovered that the place I'm staying in doesn't have very thick walls courtesy of the Bollywood music next door at 5am...

Once I was running it was an OK, but not sparkling, session, and never really tired - all those 2+ hour runs of the last fortnight must have done me some good. Not that strong uphill. Started out due west from West Perth (initially along the railway line bike track), then a loop through Bold Park - after three attempts I still haven't quite worked out the track network there - back through Shenton Park and finished through the top end of Kings Park. A little longer than I'd planned.

The last half of this run was in steady light rain, although I missed the main meteorological excitement of the day, a lunchtime tornado in the northern suburbs - was doing a talk at the Bureau at the time and could see some impressively angry clouds in that direction.

Saw it reported last night that a prostitute felt 'screwed over' by Channel 9. I guess she'd know what it feels like.

Fartlek on the usual loop. Again felt reasonably springy (with some help from the new shoes). A bit faster than the last couple of weeks (once deducting a shoelace stop - an occupational hazard of new shoes) but still not breaking 10. A bit of left calf tightness early but seemed to be OK as the run went on.

I've now completed 13 consecutive days without setting foot in an airport (close to the longest such stretch I'm likely to experience between March and August), but that's at an end - am off to Perth now for a couple of days, then SA for the Flinders weekend. It looks like I may be in danger of actually experiencing some rain in Perth.

C • Rain in Perth 3

All the ingredients for a slow session today, despite feeling reasonable; early, dark and doing newsletter deliveries (which also means a decent number of hills). The result was much as expected. Plenty of wind around still (but no rain); none of the excitement to be found in Gippsland.

Media Watch brought us one of the more unfortunate TV news stuff-ups of recent times (assuming it was a stuff-up): introducing a story about Usain Bolt's 9.76 last week, ABC News 24 said 'A return to form for the world's fastest man', and showed pictures of - Tony Abbott and Christopher Pyne scurrying out of the House of Representatives chamber last week in their attempt to avoid catching Craig Thomson germs.

C • Classic - it can't have been a stuff up 1

3x1k at the Tan, after work (which means after dark). Felt better than last week (and definitely no stitch) but a little slower, not sure whether or not I can blame the light (the Tan is lit but only modestly). This was the first run in new shoes and felt like I had a bit of a spring going uphill. Some big groups going the 'wrong' way, although they didn't really get in the way (the largest was setting out just as I was finishing).

One milestone for the numbers nerds only: last week was 10,000 days since I started training seriously enough to record it. Haven't yet counted up on how many days out of those 10,000 I've run (except that 2,388 of them were consecutive) but would guess somewhere in the mid to upper 8000s.

Going to/from the Tan. Suspect this is the highest my weekly total's been in a while.

C • Training kms 2

C • streak 2

Swapped this session with the usual Monday swim because I didn't feel like hauling a flotation belt across the country. Felt pretty good, perhaps because I'm not coming off the usual sleep deprivation as I would be on a Friday. Went a little longer than usual through being engrossed in a conversation by the other person in the lane (a regular I've seen here most weeks for the last couple of years). Also felt pretty good for the ride in to work; the bike cage at work was only half full, probably because my colleagues had taken note of the forecast.

Hosting a Monday night for the first time in a long time. I didn't expect a lot of people to make the long trek past the Darebin Creek, especially on a rather wild evening (although the rain wasn't that heavy, and the route was planned so that the higher more exposed bits were the ones with the tail wind). Dion and Clare came out to brave the conditions with me. A bit faster than usual for a Monday night; felt better than a usual Monday night, probably because the long run of the weekend was further back in the past. Didn't even get sledged too much today about the football (perhaps because the most likely potential sledgers at work were Carlton supporters).

C • Same out our workplace 1

Melbourne Bush-O at Eaglemont Flats. Fairly similar to last week in many ways - didn't feel too stiff or sore after a big day yesterday but no real speed, despite my best efforts, and got beaten by quite a few people I wouldn't normally expect to get beaten by. Missed 1 a bit as I hadn't quite got into the map yet (and hadn't worked out which brown dots were mapped). Some interesting bits of the course linked by some track or street running.

A big turnout today, and lots of people I didn't know - I get the impression the publicity machine was working overtime through various schools attended by various MFR juniors.

I've had a few very good long runs in recent years on the first weekend in June (it's often a weekend without significant orienteering activity because it's the week before the long weekend). This won't go down as a classic on the scale of the equivalent effort in 2007, but was still a solid day's effort and my longest run for a couple of years.

The most pleasing aspect of the set of four long runs in ten days which I've now completed is that I can get to around two hours without too much difficulty. The problem today was when I hit two hours there was still a fair way to go and that fair way was pretty hard going, with a fair bit of tiredness and a bit of soreness in the right hamstring making its presence felt, but managed to fight it out and didn't find the final hill the nightmare that seemed possible at one point.

The route went north though not quite the normal way, through a pocket of Springthorpe I haven't been through before, past the defunct Smorgy's and a small yellow sign advertising a development application that's been in the news this week, and through a bewildering array of flags which were presumably there to mark courses for junior cross-country in Bundoora Park. Hit the Apollo Parkways hill, perhaps the steepest road hill within running distance of my place, at about halfway - not a bad place to hit a big hill - then back through Greensborough and Watsonia.

(Smorgy's is the sort of place that I suspect we would have frequented in junior/post-junior years had we been in Melbourne - I recall in particular a pillage-and-plunder raid carried out by robw, feet and myself at the Liverpool Sizzler on the way home from a day at the Sydney Test in 1993 - but I think I only set foot in one of them once in my time in Melbourne).

This very un-lazy morning was followed by a very lazy afternoon in front of the football (including a certain amount of sleeping).

C • Sydney Test 3

A session whose principal purpose was recovery and which succeeded reasonably well in that aim. After a decent night's sleep I seem to have come up pretty well from yesterday, although tomorrow will be the real test in that respect.

Got a chance to display my inner Canberran (including pulling out a 20-year-old ACT top) tonight, too, with the Brumbies in town. Not the most attractive game I've ever seen but at least they won.