Training Log Archive: blairtrewin

This was a run done in the name of exploration (not for the first time in my travels), into the Cairngorms from the eastern side. I'd been sort of in the area in 1989, but as I didn't have my own transport then, was starting from Braemar and went about as far as the end of the road at Inverey. This time I started more or less where I left off in 1989, and headed west up the upper Dee valley and into Glen Geldie. After the first few minutes this is remote alpine valley country. Again the peaks were in cloud, but the remote starkness of the scenery was still something of beauty.

I was working hard at times on the first half, which was gently uphill and into the wind. Ended up turning around a bit early after hitting a river crossing (which would have been manageable, but there didn't seem much point when I was turning around in a few minutes anyway), and then hit my best spell of the run - the next 20 minutes went very quickly. Made up some distance (and saw some good scenery) with a side trip up a side valley. Hard work at times in the last 20 minutes, but had something to chase because a man and his two young sons (on mountain bikes) were going the same speed as I was 100 metres ahead. (I was to come perilously close to squashing the youngest of them on my way out of the car park, when he ran across the road without looking).

Got back to Edinburgh in the evening, in time to settle into my place of residence for the next week, and watch the World Cup final.

I'm not sure this really qualifies as a 'run' as I wasn't running for very much of it. My destination was the Trossachs, home of a WRE in March, running some controls from a course Godders gave me. I'd been warned it was hard going, and it was, but I don't think I can blame jet lag for my slow progress (although I may be able to blame seasonal vegetation, of which more below).

It's a steep area, fearsomely so in places, with a fair number of knolls and associated gully formations and a fair number of cliffs on the sides of the knolls (which are not as prominently mapped as one might anticipate). Reminds me a bit of some pre-alpine terrain I've run on in Switzerland and Austria. The thing which made it really difficult, though, was that a lot of the less steep areas (which would otherwise have been the optimal route choice) were overgrown with bracken which was anything from waist-high to head-high. I gather not much of this bracken is there in winter or early spring, but would be interested to hear more from those who know better. Glad to see what this terrain looks like (and also that I don't have to run on it every week).

The rest of the day was spent on the west side of the ranges as far north as Inverness (taking advantage of my knowledge that the weather was likely to be best on the west side today, and the east side tomorrow). Nice country although the peaks were under cloud. Also rather on the tourist track with plenty of buses, and foreign-plated cars, in evidence (although the latter is not always an indicator of being on the tourist track - I spotted a campervan with Austrian plates in Kalumburu last year).

My attention was also grabbed by a one-paragraph news item in the Guardian to the effect that Westminster trading standards officers had closed down an impotence clinic in London after undercover officers found they recommended treatments without medical examination and failed to produce any evidence for the theraputic claims made for their nasal spray. The offending business, was, of course, none other than our very own AMI: Aussie Aussie Aussie! Oi Oi Oi! (The fact that the Westminster local council has apparently succeeded where the ACCC and sundry state authorities have failed for years also suggests that Australia's consumer-protection laws could use improving).

C • Trossachs 1

The streets of Heidelberg were lined with posters, both 'Ja' and 'Nein', for a forthcoming referendum on 25 July. Not sure what the issue was but I think it's something to do with redevelopment of the town hall.

It took 33 hours to get from Heidelberg to Heidelberg. (In case you're wondering how I came to be in the German one when I said I was heading for Scotland, the answer is that I had 10.5 hours between flights in Frankfurt and the idea of spending that in the airport, or even in Frankfurt, was not particularly appealing). Past experience has told me that it's good to have a hit-out early in the day when you arrive (plus the forecast of 34 degrees was an incentive to get out early), so I dropped my gear in a locker at the station and headed out more or less along the river. Felt very ordinary for the first 5 minutes, then reasonable through the middle, but tired a bit at the end. This then set the scene for a few hours walking around the town (or its tourist bits at least).

The flight wasn't too bad. The Melbourne-Bangkok leg was only a quarter full, so it was a pity that it was a leg I didn't really want to sleep on. Got some sleep on the next leg, but not as much as I would like, and today has been hard going (especially the trip back from Heidelberg to Frankfurt, 90 minutes on a very hot day on a train without air conditioning). Have made it to Scotland now.

Last hit-out before departure. It will also be the last time for a while that I run in the dark (indeed it will probably be the last time for a couple of weeks that I even see the dark). A reasonable session up north as far as the bush at the back of Macleod, coming back through Springthorpe, although again a little slow. Definitely felt better for having actually slept last night.

Noticed on the last bit that the redevelopment of the public housing further up Darebin Street has started. We're a fairly broad-minded bunch on Darebin Street so, unlike the public housing plans at Hodgson Street (a km or so to the east), there have been no resident complaints that I know of. Naturally, as with the Islamic school at Camden and the mosque at Baulkham Hills a few years back, the complainants are only concerned about the traffic.

Out to the airport in a couple of hours (I couldn't stay in the country for my entire birthday!). I've got just about everything done that I wanted to get done which makes me a bit more relaxed.

C • Elongated birthday 2

Caffeine abuse in the AFL has been much in the news this week. It was also caffeine that brought me unstuck last night - at least I'm assuming that a rare post-dinner coffee was the reason why I wasn't able to get to sleep until something like 3.30. As I was getting up at 4.30 this didn't exactly make for the best night's sleep.

Frankly I expected this run to be terrible. A lot of the time it didn't actually feel too bad, and flowed nicely at times (particularly down hills), although it was a bit slower than I would have liked (newsletter delivery would have contributed to this). Felt a bit tired, and a bit sleepy, in the last 20 minutes, but all in all as good as I could reasonably have expected in the circumstances.

I'm slowly whittling down my before-departure to-do list, which is just as well because today is my last full day at home before five weeks away. I fly out tomorrow afternoon. Edinburgh is forecast to be a whole 1 degree warmer than Melbourne was today (but 32 in Frankfurt, where I will spend a day in transit, will be a shock to the system).

A couple of nice pre-departure bonuses though. My application for funding for the conference week had disappeared into a black hole, and I assumed it had been knocked back and nobody had told me, so it was quite a surprise to find out today that it had gone through. Last year's tax refund also turned up in the mail. Between those two I've got about $3K more to play with than I thought I did.

On the Tan, for reasons to do with later-in-the-day logistics - 250 on/250 off. Never really got going this morning and I don't think I can use the cold as much of an excuse. Back also rather tight, although didn't really flow through to the hamstring.

Only 17 items left on my to-do-before-departure list....

It sounds like the sort of thing you'd expect to find on the front page of the NT News after Territory Day, but this particular genius actually hails from Sunderland:

"A man suffered internal burns when he tried to launch a rocket from his bottom on Bonfire Night.

Paramedics found the 22-year-old bleeding, with a Black Cat Thunderbolt Rocket lodged inside him, when they attended the scene in Sunderland.

He suffered a scorched colon and is now recovering in hospital, where his condition is described as stable.

A spokesman for the North East Ambulance Service (NEAS) said the prank could have been fatal.

Douglas McDougal, from the NEAS, said: "We received a call stating there was a male who had a firework in his bottom and it was bleeding."

C • What a blast! 3

The Northcote pool is exceedingly warm and good for trying to send you to sleep, which may explain the sedate pace of today's session. The principal mission was accomplished, though - to loosen some of the stiffness from yesterday's unexpectedly long session.

Monday night run from Bruce's place - not as common an occurrence as it once was, now that it only happens during school holidays. A bigger crowd than has recently been the case for Monday nights (i.e. you needed both hands to count them).

Pretty stiff at the beginning but got going better once the early soreness was shaken out. Thought I had a bit of a quad twinge on cooling down but it seems to have disappeared again now. No sign of hamstring soreness tonight.