Training Log Archive: blairtrewin

This was rarely a comfortable run - this time the main issues were in the hips - but it was at a level where I could keep plugging away. Seemed to be managing a reasonable pace on the flat, where I saw a fair number of other runners, but struggling a bit more once starting to climb (even though the climbs were mostly fairly inconsequential). Probably at its best in the last 15 minutes.

The main excitement of this run was seeing the aftermath of this spectacular piece of lousy driving at the top of my street. Given the distance over which debris was scattered and the extent to which the car was smashed in I'm surprised the driver got out as lightly as she did.

From the run it was onto the Treasury Gardens as part of the rally for climate action, which drew a very substantial crowd (I think the 30,000 reported by the organisers is a bit on the high side, but not massively overstated). Not sure my back appreciated it as a post-run recovery (especially after a sardine-tin train ride in), but it's in the name of a good cause.

Event: Sprint Into Spring Race 5 Royal Showgrounds
 

Sprint series at the Showgrounds. The area didn't really live up to my expectations - too many big square buildings - but the courses made good use of what was there. Not a good day for me, though - the back was troublesome, particularly in the first half, and I never felt as if I was running freely. My performance was about a minute below par, and in the fields that are coming to this series, that means a lot of places.

Among those who claimed my scalp for the first time today were Asha Steer, along with Chris Godfred-Spenning, a Bureau colleague and intermittent orienteer (more regular in the last couple of years) who got me by 2 seconds. The latter result has been coming for a few weeks - Chris has had a good month and probably would have got me last Wednesday had his route choice not given me 700 metres' start. The former result has been coming for about four years but I thought I might have been able to postpone the moment to, say, 2015.

A decent session, and fewer people around than is sometimes the case at Ivanhoe so there was a reasonable amount of room to move. No sign yet of the redevelopment that's supposed to be happening (latest suggestion is "by Christmas" but no-one's specified which year).

It's been a long week, and I was definitely very tired by the time I walked in the door this evening. Probably a few more long weeks ahead, too.

Another step in the 'longest since' stakes but this was hard going, especially up hills - probably not quite ready to do the Wednesday night/Thursday morning double yet (and, like last week, had the post-run Thursday tiredness more consistent with a two-hour day). The hills weren't in short supply either, this being the Viewbank/Yallambie loop (with a few new buildings on long-vacant lots since I was last out this way). No injury concerns though.

The preliminary annual global climate statement came out overnight; I took my phone out with me on the run in anticipation of possible media calls, but there weren't any - quieter than expected thanks to being gazumped by Kevin Rudd. I did do a few interviews at other times, although I suspect not much of my SBS radio one will have gone to air because they kept asking policy questions and I kept ducking them. (I'd like to suggest that I learned my bouncer-ducking skills on the cricket field, but in reality not many bowlers in ACT Under 16 Division 3 are fast enough to bowl bouncers).

C • Threaten the big S 1

Street-O at Blackburn North. Once again appear to have nailed the route choice - very few others seem to have got much below the upper 8s - and this time ran fast enough to get some reward for the effort. We won't get too excited here - I'm still a long way below a pace I'd be happy with, and couldn't keep the initial promise going for more than 3k - but it's still a step in the right direction.

Started with 3 and 15, a key decision as it turned out. Thought I might be in for a good scrap with Rachel but she went her own way after three controls (we briefly merged again late in the course, but I was a control ahead of her by then). Had a good second kilometre but then started to find climbing a bit harder (not that this map had anything steep). Getting the control flow much better than I have been. Struggling a bit by the end but had just enough to hold off Fredrik (whose route had been less than optimal) between the last control and the finish. Steady rain most of the way - I made a rapid exit before too many people started blaming me for it.

An early start joining with the Hoggster and a couple of colleagues. Started with a full frontal assault on the Lorne hills (for those unfamiliar with the place, the streets off the beach climb straight up to a ridge - at a guess I'd say 400m at 20%), then onto the Erskine Falls road, a long, steady climb. Thought we'd be doing an out-and-back but found a 4WD track off to the side fairly close to when we would have been starting to think about a turnaround, and that track brought us into the back of town (no thanks to me, who was keen to take a turnoff which would have taken us into the never-never). After the others finished I added another 15 minutes, during which my quads were starting to feel the long descent. Got most of it in before the rain started. Reasonably happy with how I handled the climbing, although couldn't quite hold the pace of the others uphill without some serious effort.

The Australian is in fine form, publishing an opinion piece on the alleged non-existence of climate change by a professor at the University of Queensland - a professor of gastroenterology whose specialty is irritable bowel syndrome. This is perhaps fitting as this sort of thing gives me the you-know-whats. (The equivalent would be the Australian giving me space to put my views on what causes irritable bowel syndrome, something I don't expect to happen any time soon).

C • It's a syndrome... 2

Headed up the Erksine River valley from Lorne, on a single track which climbed reasonably solidly after the first few hundred metres. Matt Wheeler, who some of you will have come across at the Four Peaks, joined me for some of it (he was coming down as I was coming up, but turned around when we met), which gave a bit of company. Finished off with a loop on the flat, which turned out to be slightly longer than expected because the footbridge across the estuary was closed for repairs (but the river-sandbar crossing a couple of hundred metres down was narrow enough to be jumpable). Not the smoothest run I'll ever have, but a pleasant setting and OK in the injuries department.

As usual with meetings of this type, I've come out of today with about five times as many ideas as I actually have time to implement (although all of them are probably less grandiose than the Hoggster's planned experiment which involves the (virtual) demolition of New Zealand).

The buildings at the Cumberland Hotel are named for significant ships in local history (this being known as the Shipwreck Coast for good reason), including one in the 1880s which ran aground with a full cargo of liquor, which was enthusiastically salvaged by the locals after the police were unsuccessful in protecting the vessel. One notable ship of more recent local history has so far failed to get a guernsey.