Training Log Archive: blairtrewin

I had a pretty rough night and was in two minds about whether to start this morning - although, unlike many of my companions from yesterday evening, my feeling lousy was the result of a virus and not excess alcohol consumption. (Our group, though, weren't as raucous as the class of 1983, last seen packing a rugby scrum in the lobby of the Lakeside Hotel).

I decided to start and see how it went, knowing that the course had plenty of bailout options if needed. The long climb up the track on the long 4th leg was a slog (in part because the track itself was extremely slippery after 24 hours of rain, which broke just before the start), but started to settle OK after that, although hills were never easy, and didn't seem to be flowing that well in the terrain. Kowen East, though, is a very enjoyable area to run in (if not especially challenging technically), and that lifted my enthusiasm considerably. I couldn't get through a whole long(ish) race without injury issues, though, and this time it was the knee stiffening up about two-thirds of the way through. The main consequences of this were lack of confidence in the terrain (especially downhill), and later an occasionally screaming quad as a result of its extra workload. Started to improve a bit towards the end. Also thought I was on track for a virtually clean run, but had small misses on the last two (the last didn't have a flag but I was a bit wide on it anyway). A finish, even a slow one, is a result I definitely would have taken at 9 (or 6, or 3) this morning, though.

I left fairly soon after I finished so don't know how the final results ended up, though Andrew Barnett did 74 and Jase about 90. I'd expect Craney to go sub-5s on a good day here, but given that he's been sick himself and it was slippery underfoot, he might be a bit slower than usual (but I'd still be surprised to see him much over 70).

And I didn't even notice that the map was 1:15000 and not 1:10000 until I was analysing my splits tonight....

The rest of the day was spent getting to Sydney, by a somewhat roundabout route in the name of adding site number 92 to my list, Point Perpendicular Lighthouse (on the north side of Jervis Bay). The thing which adds to the degree of difficulty here is that getting there involves crossing a Navy bombing range which is often closed at short notice (which was what happened in 2009). Made it this time, though (even if I almost got blown backwards by the southerly gale once I got there).

The Canberra-Nowra route through Tarago and Nerriga now has only about 1km of gravel - and it was apparent that I'm not the only person who knows about this route choice option judging by the number of vehicles with ACT plates coming in the reverse direction. Nerriga would once have been one of the most isolated settlements in south-eastern Australia - until the last few years getting there from any direction involved long dirt roads which became 4WD-only after rain - but is a bit less so now. There were a couple of signs which suggested that not all the locals are enthusiastic about this development (although I'll believe "truck gridlock" when I see it). It does strike me as the sort of place which might attract the sort of people who stockpile tinned food, bottled water and ammunition and await the apocalypse.

C • nerriga 2

Given one of the main purposes of the Canberra visit, it was fitting that today's event was at Red Hill - with the far end of the course featuring the saddle well-known to generations of Canberra Grammar orienteers, and the track leading down from it which I've run on many, many occasions.

I probably haven't orienteered on this area for the best part of 20 years, and the north end of the ridge is more vegetated than I remember it, now that old Charlie Russell and his cows are no longer around (the last I heard of him was some 1990s media controversy about the ACT government's plans to evict him - he attracted a fair bit of sympathy because he was over 90 by then, notwithstanding the fact that he hadn't paid any rent for the land for at least the preceding decade). Not as much up and down as there could have been here, but quite a few legs across slopes with not many features which offered potential to come unstuck. Didn't really miss anything, although I was grateful to Rob Jessop for showing me into 3, a control whose description was perhaps not quite in accordance with ISOM specifications.

Back was giving some trouble through 3, at which point Rob went through me and I couldn't respond, but settled down from 4 onwards. Had a bit of a throat tickle this morning but didn't seem to impact my running horribly. A couple of fences provided awkwardness - especially as the corner posts and rails were metal and hence very slippery in today's light rain. Rob did 38; Lizzie was 44, which surprised me a little as I wouldn't really have expected to finish ahead of her, but I guess I was on home ground.

Even the graffitists in Canberra are better-educated. I saw a sign on a reservoir fence which said "K9 (presumably shorthand for 'canine') Unit Patrol These Premises" and someone had written an "s" on the end of "Patrol".

The other part of the day was controlling work for the Australian Sprint - although not as much of it as I expected, because the mapper had had a computer meltdown and his last few weeks of backups also proved to be corrupt (Canberrans who know who the mapper is will appreciate the irony here), so we're running further behind than I hoped and we couldn't do much more than check out assembly/start/finish configurations. I'll be back in late July. One added complication announced during the week was the $8 million donation which will become a construction site by September, reducing the area we have to work with (this will probably mean map changes on the longer courses).

And they didn't have a coffee van on school premises on a Saturday morning when I were a lad....

C • Aust sprint champs 7

Pool session at Ivanhoe. After yesterday I half-expected to wake up with a sore throat, a temperature or both, but it didn't happen and this was a reasonable session - a decent night's sleep works wonders.

Now on the way to Canberra - initially for a school reunion, then going on to work in Sydney on Monday and Tuesday and a talk in Moss Vale on Tuesday night. (Was thinking of Fitzroy Falls for a Wednesday morning run destination - I seem to recall that a few of you have been there before, any pointers?).

OH+S e-mail of the week goes to the one which went around at work yesterday to the effect that there had been a number of reports of snakes entering Bureau premises. Presumably the premises concerned are in places more remote than Docklands.

Last Thursday wasn't a great day for my regular running routes - two of them were the scenes of this and this. (If the second incident happened where I think it did, I passed through about 90 minutes before it took place).

C • Could be worse 3

Got the train in first thing and started from work, mainly because I had to be there by 8.30, which would have meant a pre-5 wake-up if done from home. I've been burning the candle at both ends in the last week or two and today was where it all blew up; I wasn't feeling very enthusiastic at the start, got started and was sort of OK for the first half-hour, but the wheels started falling off pretty rapidly after that and I decided there was little point pushing on, cutting what was planned to be a 1.45-1.50 effort short by cutting back from Beacon Cove. This had all the hallmarks of a run which indicates that I'm about to get sick; will have to look after myself as best I can and hope it doesn't happen.

It's the first time for a long time that I've been on the track, and it was ugly. Didn't speed up through the session (400s) either as I usually do - think I had mentally dropped my bundle by the second half. Hopefully it will be easier next time. It's a long time since I put 105 of these (plus a bonus 195 metres) back to back...

C • 98.2 for those wondering 3

Warm-up and down.

Did it pretty tough in the first half, across the high part of Sandy Bay with plenty of sharp climbs (and it feels a little frustrating when you lose all the altitude in one go). Was reasonably happy with my strength on the hills by the middle, though, after an uncertain start, and carried that through to the later part (although the very steep, short pinch into Battery Point was still hard work). Two runners (one male, one female) passed me at a very rapid rate of knots in the later stages - it made me feel a bit better when it became apparent within a couple of hundred metres that both were in the midst of interval/fartlek sessions.

Even though it was cold, the reward for getting out early on a clear morning in Hobart was seeing the first rays of the morning sun catching the rock columns on the top of Mount Wellington - magic.

Got done almost all of what I came to get done, reacquainting myself in the process of a few names I'd previously associated with Easter 1984 (the last one I didn't run for reasons other than being overseas) - the likes of Lanes Tier, Osterley and Waddamana. (The last two of these look likely prospects for the rainfall data set - one of my main objectives here was to find good central and western Tasmanian sites which could be patched together into 100+ year series, since no single site does the trick in those regions).

This morning's run was tangible evidence that I put in a pretty solid day's work yesterday - i.e. I was tired and the run wasn't very good. A bit tight (and very slow) on the initial climb through the Domain and not flowing that well on the downhills either. Very nice morning to be out, though.

Continued from a not-very-good run to a not-very-good swim (in one of Australia's more expensive pools), although hopefully it will do me good from the recovery point of view - will find out more on that subject tomorrow.

Archives highlight of the day, although it wasn't a particularly historical one (2010), was the issue with a structure being built next to the rain gauge in Swansea - the structure in question being a snake pit. I get the impression the inspector was pretty taken aback when he turned up. (I'd already pretty much crossed Swansea off my shortlist, because the site has moved seven times and there's better within 20km both north and south).