Training Log Archive: blairtrewin

Had to be back in Melbourne for something at 10.30 so couldn't stay around for the Sunday morning run on Baw Baw (which I'm sure would have been nice). Instead I decided to break up the trip back and did something which is a classic road trip style run for me, stopping somewhere en route and doing a run up a side road or track. In this case the start point was Noojee, and the side route was a road going up a side valley north from there.

One thing I discovered immediately is that Noojee is the start point for a lot of people aiming to ride up Baw Baw, and 8 is the start time for a big bunch - probably at least 50. (I'd seen earlier starters on my way down, although judging by the way some were struggling on such relatively minor climbs as those out of Noojee or into Tanjil Bren, I'm not confident all of them were going to get to Baw Baw). I suspect they were quite surprised to see someone get out of a car and strip off an outer layer to reveal running gear rather than bike gear.

The first 15 minutes were a bit nondescript running-wise, although in a nice setting with rolling gentle hills and a mostly shady valley with a small river below (the only jarring note being that classic rural feature, a piece of reasonably fresh roadkill). It was about at this point that I was starting to question the wisdom of my route, not because of anything which was happening with the run, but instead because I'd just been passed by two police vehicles (I didn't know Noojee had two police vehicles), followed closely by the local CFA. I assumed that if there was a reason not to continue they would have told me so, and from that point it picked up through the turnaround point, and more so in the last 20 minutes which were definitely the best I've felt on a run this year. I'll refrain from getting too excited until it happens again in a less congenial setting and on a section that isn't 70% downhill, but it's a positive to take from the weekend.

State Series at Mount Baw Baw, orienteering but not as we know it - designated as a middle distance course but on a 1:5000 map, and if it reminded me of anything it was the 2008 World Cup sprint in Salen around the ski resort (first half of that was on the slopes, second half was around the lodges). I've only been to Baw Baw once before (in 2009, when it was a lot more lifeless in summer than it is now), and was wondering how we would run through the forest. The answer was that, by and large, we didn't - for the most part the navigation technique was to go along a ski run or a small track and duck a few metres into the control. Not quite orienteering as we know it, but it was still fun (and would have been more fun if I was actually fit).

One of these days I'll learn how to run up hills again, but it hasn't happened yet, and that made today a real struggle - only occasionally did I feel comfortable, and some of the steeper hills had to be walked, particularly into 21. A bit scrappy on the navigation, particularly in the first half when I made several 10-15 seconders in the circle - after that I worked out better how the rock was mapped. Excellent run of Brodie to do 35 - Bryan and Bruce were 38.

One for the life's little mysteries department: why do bushfire warnings always say that the fire is moving in a southwesterly direction, and not that it is moving southwest.

C • SWerly 2

First time swimming for the best part of three weeks, for assorted reasons. Started out OK but drifted out of it a bit in the later part. Back a bit tight at times.

There was a certain amount of changeroom discussion about the shenanigans associated with the Olympic team, the media coverage of which seems to me to be somewhat out of proportion to the seriousness of the crime (except that the real crime was failing to take away any gold medals - one can safely assume that all would have been forgiven if they had won some).

And, in other news, the state of Georgia is trying to fast-track a number of executions before the drugs they use for the purpose expire on 1 March. Presumably they're worried that if the drugs are used after their expiry date they might kill someone.

A longish morning run from near the bike shop (where I was picking up some new pedals to replace the one that broke on Tuesday night), basically along the river for the first half and then back through Kew. Quite promising in the first half but then faded away, feeling rather drained in the final half-hour - the humidity may have contributed a bit to that. As usual of late, finding hills challenging, the gentle ones more so (relative to normal) than the big ones. Stretched out the midweek run distance a slight increment further.

The other news of the day is that I have a second nephew, a few days earlier than expected. The news came from proud but sleep-fogged grandparents (it was 6am in Oslo by then) and I don't have any other details yet (such as name or vital statistics).

C • German economists tackle weather forecasting 5

I was feeling a bit more relaxed this evening after the Senate hearing went off pretty smoothly; it didn't hurt that of the three Coalition standing members of the committee, one didn't turn up, one left part way through and the third declined to ask a question. (Meanwhile, Cory Bernardi was otherwise engaged spruiking the Geert Wilders tour).

The event was at Scotch and surrounds. Having been burnt before, this time I remembered to check the train timetables, ascertain that no trains were due through Kooyong between 6.59 and 7.12, and therefore that going that way first was a good strategy. (Trains take even longer to clear the Kooyong crossing than a normal one because Glenferrie Road has tram tracks). This didn't exactly give me a jump on the field, though, because most of the others went the same way (whether they had checked the timetables or not is an open question). The run itself was a pretty similar one to last week, although a whole second per kilometre faster (at least the change is in the right direction); major negative, again, was lacking any power or aggression on the climb up the hill behind Scotch late in the course. Route choice was pretty straightforward tonight.

Out a little later than usual because my day was starting with a meeting at Melbourne Uni (which also gave me an excuse to check out Kez's new cafe in transit between the university and work at lunchtime). Didn't feel especially energetic but did make a bit more progress, 10 seconds faster than last time (10.27), which takes me into the bottom end of last year's frequency distribution (and didn't fade out on the second loop later, unlike last week). Managed to get across Rosanna Road despite the lights going into flash mode just as I got there, and enjoyed the novelty of a bit of light rain in the first part of the run.

Tomorrow I front up, in my role as President of the Australian Meteorological and Oceanographic Society, to a Senate inquiry on extreme weather events in Australia. This isn't actually a first for me - back in the early 1990s I fronted as Orienteering ACT secretary to an inquiry the parliamentary committee responsible for the ACT was doing on forest management. (The main thing I remember about this is that one of my uni lecturers must have been impressed with the originality of my reason for requesting an extension for an assignment which was due on hearing day, because I asked for 24 hours and he gave me a month). Depending on the committee's inclination, I may need to make some use of the straight bat as deployed in making not many runs in a great many overs for the Canberra Grammar Third XI back in the day - this could be the equivalent of fronting at Sabina Park to face up to Marshall, Garner, Ambrose and Walsh (although I suspect it's more likely to be the equivalent of Roger Harper and Larry Gomes). I am taking the occasion seriously enough to get a haircut and pull out the suit last used (I think) for Cassie's wedding.

C • Pictures 2

A fairly standard Monday morning grind for the Monday mornings when there isn't a Monday night run. This one was most memorable for the graffiti on the back of a sign on the Merri Creek bike path, "behead climate change deniers". Unless the graffitist actually wants the Andrew Bolts of this world to have an excuse to conflate climate science and Al-Qaeda, this sort of thing is not helpful to the cause.

C • spelling mistake? 3

I was supposed to be hosting the MFR run tonight but didn't think I'd get many takers to make the trip out to Heidelberg in 37 degrees, so suggested the Fitzroy pool instead, a challenge taken up by Ezy and Reuben. Normally on a Monday I'd swim but the lap lanes were predictably packed, so thought it might be more productive to do a pool running session instead, manouevring around people as necessary. Lacked intensity but otherwise pleasant. Not too much smoke from the Epping fire despite being more or less directly downwind of it.

One of the books I've been reading lately is a travelogue of the worst features of Britain, involving locations such as the place designated by the Ordnance Survey as the most boring place in Britain because there's only one feature in a 1x1km grid box (I wonder what they'd make of the 1:250000 sheets in places like outback WA or the central NT which have 10x10km grid squares with no features at all?), but also a lot of industrial places which have seen better days. Perhaps saddest of all was the small town in Fife where the largest employer was the factory which made leather straps used for disciplinary purposes; the bottom rather fell out of the local economy, so to speak, in 1987 when corporal punishment was abolished in Scottish schools (although a small number continue to be made for what the author coyly describes as "a specialist market").