Training Log Archive: blairtrewin

Long States Series at Glenluce North - oddly enough the first time I've run a normal race here, depsite having covered the area comprehensively in the WMOC 2002 preparations. It's greened up a fair bit since 2002, particularly on the east side that we went to early on the course, and after the long fourth leg, where I was having trouble coming to terms with the terrain physically and picked up a bruise after altercating with a stray stump, I was thinking that this was going to be a very long day. It gradually picked up after that on a course that was kinder than it could have been, and while I always felt like I was enduring rather than racing, the second half wans't too bad and gave me some confidence for the tougher things to come this time next week. Annoyingly sloppy when we went back into the mining at the end.

Out of the woodwork department today: Andrew Scott, once a member of the ACT schools team (who would have been a member of the team a few more times had he not been a similar age to a couple of Walters, Tom Quayle, Paul Heiskanen and William Hawkins).

Middle distance on Deadman's Flat. This is a very technical area and my technical skills weren't up to the job today - a shocker of a middle distance not repeated since, oh, the middle Saturday of May last year? Two significant errors, 1.5 minutes at 2 and 3 minutes at 6, and generally struggling for concentration. Also struggling for strength with hills still weak.

Jenny started a minute in front of me, and it says something about my run that I passed her four times, not finally getting clear until after 11 (a leg where I really knew it wasn't my day when having to divert twice around flooded erosion gullies).

Sprint at Irishtown. Much better technically than this morning (which isn't saying much), although still battling as soon as I saw a contour, and consequently well off the pace in a decent field (one of the consequences of the current level of depth in Victoria is that there's usually a decent field). Certainly finding the detail a lot easier at 1:5000 (I hope that doesn't mean I'm getting old).

This weekend has brought a few out of the woodwork that I haven't seen for a while, one being former Victorian schools team member Alex Sinickas who's visiting from Canada (part of the Calgary Yarra Valley outpost). She's following a career line which is limited in Australian employment opportunities - avalanche research.

Through Eaglemont, shorter but hillier than the last few runs. Still not entirely well and it showed in weakness on the hills, but continuing fine on the injury front.

More budget news: in the unlikely event that I ever become a dependent spouse, I'm out of luck - the dependent spouse rebate has been abolished for those born after 1 July 1971 and my birthday's on the 8th.

Starting to return to a semblance of normality, on a morning of sleety rain. A run from Clifton Hill which looked like it would catch alight a couple of times early on, but settled into a bit of a grind. Still quite a respectable effort. Again no sign of soreness so hopefully I can consign this most recent injury to history.

As is usually the case, the Ivanhoe ALP's monthly meeting coincided with the Budget. Somewhat cheekily we passed a resolution congratulating the Government on adopting a measure called for in a 2006 resolution of ours (namely altering the fringe benefits tax on company cars so there is no longer a tax incentive to drive them further).

(While on the subject of the Budget, I'm not convinced that being at the 85th percentile of household income (which is about where $150K places you) qualifies as being a "battler".

C • Battler 8

Just started working on the results for the next Victorian newsletter. Two things to note:

(a) Henry Post (who, among other things, went to WMOC in 1999 to be officially certified as the worst M50 in the world) actually won something. In fact he won two things - Division 3 of C Course in the Western Summer Series and the C Course at the Macedon Ranges Series.

(b) After a bit of a hiatus we have a new nomination for the occasionally-bestowed title of most-frequently-misspelt name in the results list (previous winners include Morten Neve and Matthew Schepisi, whose name had almost as many different spellings as he ran events in his first year). I wouldn't have thought Mark Hennessy's name was too challenging but both series results got it wrong, in two different ways.

C • and he won it twice! 3

A loop around the Yarra Flats to Ivanhoe which was a little longer than I'd planned on. Never flowed but faster than I've become accustomed to of late for this type of run, and more importantly no sign of any meaningful trouble with the ankle.

An ominous black wall was looming on the southern horizon throughout, but I'd seen enough of the radar beforehand to be confident it would stay south of me, and so it proved. It was fairly icy even without any moisture.

First run back, on just about the flattest course that you can do from my place, a loop through Heidelberg Heights (no, that's not a contradiction - I'm already fairly high up). Still too clogged up for this to be a great run but managed OK once warmed up. No real indications on the run of trouble from ankle, just a twinge or two around halfway, but was a little sore in the afternoon/evening - will see what it's like tomorrow.

First frost of the season, but not heavy enough to get any entertainment from watching people struggling to cope with car windscreens.

Felt a bit better, although not entirely comfortable, on both the illness and injury front so decided to take the next step and try some pool running at Ivanhoe. Quite sore for the first five minutes and I was starting to wonder whether I should keep going, but it warmed up nicely after that with only a couple of slight twinges. Even more encouragingly, it seems to have improved substantially through the day - not even any real soreness driving across town tonight, which is the activity which has been aggravating it the most. All in all, encouraging enough for me to have a go at starting running again tomorrow.