Training Log Archive: blairtrewin

Longish run from Bruce's place. I'd felt pretty tired driving back from Kooyoora yesterday considering the relative shortness of the race, and woke up with a bit of a stiff back this morning. This loosened quickly but was perhaps an indicator that I was going to find today fairly hard going. The first hour was OK, but I was struggling to respond when Bruce picked up the pace a bit, and more so when we headed for the Kew hills (I didn't try to push the hills but still found them hard going). Achilles was starting to struggle a bit by the later hills, too). All in all, not a run to fill me with confidence about how long hilly races (of which there will be a few) are likely to go the week after next.

Event: Bendigo Rocks 4 - The Bermuda Quadrangle
 

A very enjoyable Bendigo event in the most difficult square kilometre in Australia, the gentle slopes on the north side of the mountain at Kooyoora. I made a horrible mess of a control here last year - it's the sort of area where you can pay very dearly for a mistake - and was intent on something better this year.

I did get something a fair bit better. I wasn't super-agressive physically in the terrain, but stayed in control for the most part, and got it back quickly when I lost it. Not really any major mistakes as such; a couple of times I drifted and pulled it back, and a couple of times I got poor lines in the terrain and lost time without really losing track of where I was. My luckiest break was at 14, the first control of the second loop: I was unsure and thought 'if the control isn't behind this rock I don't have a clue where I am', but it was.

Bruce and Bryan were late starters so I don't know how my time will rank, but I was pretty happy with this run. A good day out a week before the Australian Championships carnival (and good to get this under my belt: it's only my 3rd event in Australia since Queens Birthday).

C • Times 6

Pool running session at Fitzroy. I seem to be able to push a bit harder in this session than I could earlier this year, which I guess is something to be pleased about.

Apparently the fact that it's been raining a bit this year means that Victoria doesn't have to worry about water supply ever again. I wonder if there is a journalist in Victoria who has enough of a memory to remember that at the last election a desalination plant wasn't Labor policy, but was Liberal/National policy?

C • Nice one! 1

This run never even looked like catching alight - I think not enough sleep this week was starting to catch up with me (although this one wasn't especially early by Thursday morning standards). A bit of a slog but did manage to work reasonably well through the last third despite not particularly enjoying it. Still haven't got my internal clock quite sorted which meant a section in the middle was spent in search of a suitable facility. On the good-news sign, the Achilles has been a bit better this week and I'm reasonably confident it's not going to be a major obstacle in SA (could be famous last words!).

A run which sometimes threatened to catch alight but never quite did. A bit earlier than usual; I woke up at 5.30 (obviously still doing a bit of time zone adjustment) and thought I'd put that to good use. Spent quite a bit of time along the river, which is still running strongly.

There's been some minor rearrangement of the title of our minister. Possibly somebody noticed that Sustainable Population, Environment and Water made for a somewhat unfortunate acronym.

C • SPEW 2

8x400 (78-86) on a 2.5 minute cycle. In performance terms this was probably my best run of 2010 - it's the first time that I've got within striking distance of what I was doing last year (when I typically peaked at 77s). Not a bad time of year for it to happen. Didn't always feel as sharp as it looks - and a hint of a stitch at one stage - but it didn't seem to make a lot of difference. Excellent conditions for it.

Warm up and down. Didn't take quite as long to get going as I have on some recent days.

Somewhat to my embarrassment (especially as I'm chair of the responsible VOA subcommittee), I'd forgotten that Victorian Long Champs have a 21E class and put my entry in for 21A. It will be fixed (if I'd really wanted to back out of the top class, I'd be running 35s).

And tragic news on the home front: the local KFC is closed for renovations until December. I don't know how I'll be able to cope.

C • Bigger and "better" 1

C • E, A and AS 16

Monday morning swim at Fitzroy. Woke up early this morning but that was more or less by design (to watch the tape of the GP that I couldn't stay up late enough for last night). It turned out to be one of the better swims I've had for a while (i.e. the water didn't feel like treacle).

MFR Monday night from Simon's place in Carlton. A bit longer than usual for a Monday night (and one of the better crowds for a while), heading up around Princes Park and the zoo before finishing through the university. Felt rather tight after an afternoon of sitting down but got going after 10 minutes or so, and felt like I was flowing pretty well through the second half.

Awake for the run, but staying sort of awake during a drawn-out meeting this afternoon was a serious challenge (I have been known to fall asleep in drawn-out 2pm meetings even with no travel involved).

Job application Epic Fail of the Day: we currently have a vacancy and part of the application process is having to answer some questions online about the Australian climate. One applicant cut and pasted something directly off our website. Unfortunately for him/her, the person handling the applications was the same person who wrote the text in question in the first place.