Training Log Archive: blairtrewin

Once upon a time I used to be a good orienteer. Today was an indication that I've fallen a long way - not so much technically, but in terms of strength in the terrain, of which I had none whatsoever today.

Bruce went through me 2 minutes on the way to 3 (by which time I'd already found a very marshy bit of yellow and struggled to run up a couple of modest hills). He then passed me again later in the leg, having found what was evidently a less good creek crossing, and I had him sort of in sight until 5. Reasonably happy with my (northern) route on 6 but not the speed of its execution. The time losses came later - missed a crossing on the way to 10 and unwisely tried to crash the green, which cost me a couple of minutes. Started to feel a bit better after that but had small errors in the circle on 13 and 14. Ended up 5th, 11 minutes behind Bruce, which was where I deserved to be - didn't beat Bruce (or Matt Sherlock) all week, and my only win over Craig was in the relays where he stopped to extricate a bogged sheep.

I seem to be making a habit of shockers on the second Sunday in January, although they're more often deployed on the Two Bays (where, in addition to Briohny's excellent run, a couple of my work colleagues did themselves proud).

Despite the disappointment with my own performance - clearly my decent running form of a couple of weeks ago hasn't translated into the terrain - from my official point of view I was very pleased with how the week went - everyone involved is entitled to give themselves a pat on the back.

C • Two Bays 1

World Cup long. Didn't plan to train today and didn't.

The day seemed to disappear very quickly - it wasn't until after finishing my commentary stint that I realised I'd been going more or less non-stop for 5 1/2 hours. Hopefully this meant it was an interesting day for the rest of you too (at least those at the venue - not sure how frequent the online updates were).

Today's World Cup race felt to me to have a sense (and I mean this in the best possible way) of old-school international orienteering - out in a forest in the middle of nothing much, and an uncompromising style of long distance courses (though a little short for genuine old-school, something I'd thought on the cards all week - unless it had thickened up a lot since Constable Creek 2002, I couldn't see an international field being kept to 7 min/km on it). Seemed to be received very well by the competitors from the feedback I've had so far. Feedback on the week was also very positive. I didn't see anything that went obviously wrong (other than one anthem mix-up), with the only negative of consequence in my view being something the organisers had no control over - a disappointing turnout by international teams.

The conditions were excellent for running. Certainly there was no chance that anyone was going to die as a result of excess heat - the subject of the headline on a rather over-the-top article (about heat risks to summer sport in Australia) on the ABC website this morning which contained numerous "quotes" from yours truly. This took me by surprise as the person I'd been corresponding with hadn't even said he was working on a story, let alone ask me if it was OK to quote me. (I didn't have any problems with the actual quotes, but thought giving them without checking with anyone might land me in hot water, though it looks like it hasn't - if I'd known he wanted quotes I'd have given them as "Orienteering Australia President and a professional climatologist" rather than on the Bureau's behalf.

Fairly easy run with Jenny, Zara and Lauren from the house at Coles Bay. Didn't feel too sharp but didn't expect to as this was very much a recovery session. Much cooler morning than yesterday.

Got to see a bit more of Freycinet in the remainder of the day, walking the Wineglass Bay circuit (surprisingly the first time I've been to Wineglass) - a nice part of the world even if it wasn't really beach weather. Plenty of people around.

Unsurprisingly, lots of familiar faces both on the walk and at St. Helens.

Started yesterday to the background of one of the local councillors giving a welcome speech. Last time we were here he was the mayor, but he lost that position last year after making some less than flattering comments about some of his constituents (the word "bogan" may have been involved).

Also on the theme of local councils in places we've been orienteering recently, the York council, which we heard a few rumblings about when we were there last year, has been suspended by the WA government and replvced with an administrator.

My one foray into the elite ranks for this week - the World Cup/Oceania middle (taking advantage of the fact that with the races on different days at different venues it was possible to run both M21E and M40). Had the first start, which, as noted previously, meant my main objective was to sit in the "hot seat" (first place in Oceania with its associated WOC place) for as long as possible.

This was probably my best run of the week, although still not strong enough to be as aggressive in the terrain as the terrain required - something which showed most on the grunt leg out of the arena passage. Probably dropped 2 minutes or so in increments of 30 seconds or less, 6 being the worst of them (a bit low). 20 was a scary downhill leg into green and I missed it a bit but got out without too much time lost. Very humid.

Was the first male finisher (which meant I got to turn on the control that the organisers forgot about, and open the drink cups packet), and spent about 20 minutes in the Oceania lead before Mark Gregson took it over. (In the end Matt Ogden took the small matter of 21 minutes out of my time). Messrs Hubmann and Lundanes certainly provided a bit of perspective on just how far I am off the elite international pace these days.

C • Control Descriptions 3

Public race after the Schools relay. Warm-up a bit limited for this (due to late finish of my commentary stint) but that didn't seem to do me any real harm - felt stronger than I have earlier in the week (though still some way short of where I was a couple of weeks ago). Slightly rattled when Bruce went through me at 4, a control I'd gone downhill a bit early on and lost 30 seconds or so - thought he'd caught me 3 minutes in 13 but it was actually 2. Then got through him again in the rough stuff on 7 (where he lost some time) before he went through me again. Fairly clean through the rest but without massive speed, but felt like I was flowing better in the terrain. Great views across to Freycinet from the top, if you had time to appreciate them.

It was a pity for the Schools relay that two of the four races were over because of mispunches before they were halfway through. Thought we might have had a bit of dead air to fill on the microphone but we seemed to manage it reasonably well in an occasionally somewhat flippant performance, some of which might have gone over the head of late arrivals such as whether CSIRO could develop a machine to make time run backwards and allow Jarrah Day to run the final loop in minus six minutes, which is what he would have had to do to beat NZ from the position his team were in. (Jemery works with CSIRO Marine and Atmospheric Research in Hobart, and yesterday in M50, along with Mike Burton (astronomy, UNSW) and Simon George (geology, Macquarie) formed possibly the most intellectual podium seen in Australia since the Trewin-Hawkins-Schulz one in an early 2000s Queensland Championships).

Very strong seabreeze in Swansea tonight which spoilt the planned waterfront festival. World Cup middle tomorrow - my one chance to match it with the big guns (or perhaps not).

Oceania Middle Championships (M40), 4th. This was another rather disappointing run in what hasn't been a great week for me. Somewhat scrappy, again weak up hills, and often seemed to be getting bad lines (although it's the sort of terrain which looks more open than it is, so I suspect there aren't that many good lines). Probably would have struggled to get to the placings even with a clean run, though. Bruce did 29.

Came in a bit low on 1, which I suspect was a contour or so too high (quite a few others had trouble on 2, perhaps through starting the leg in the wrong place). Fairly clean through the rest of the first half though my route to 7 wasn't great on the micro route choices. Once again a bit low on 10, but the biggest time losses, around 45 seconds apiece, were on 13 and 16 - dropped low too early on 13 (a leg where I had a lot of trouble reading the yellow), and also a bit low on 16, both of which meant crashing bits of green.

Once again this event went well and it was a good area for a middle - introducing the visitors to our rocks (they'll get many more chances to enjoy them in the remainder of this week).

Probably more ambitious than I would have done on my own, but worth it. We were staying at Western Creek, at the foot of the Great Western Tiers, and Jenny was keen to go up to the Higgs Track creek crossing - a solid climb and further than normal for a recovery run, but suitably scenic, especially at the far end. Felt pretty reasonable and quite a good pace on the return after a slow start.

The rest of the day was from there to Ross via the Central Plateau, with side trips to Liffey Falls and Lake Ada. The latter was last visited in 1988 as the start/finish for what I think is the only UK-style mountain marathon run in Australia (for those unfamiliar with the format, this is a two-day event with very long courses and an overnight camp for which you have to carry packs; teams of at least 2). Adam Smith, one of the other top M18s of the day, and I were both entered on C course with our respective fathers; both of us, once we knew we were both entered, were keen to dump our partners and run together on B (which, as it turned out, would have taken us into the Walls of Jerusalem, a largely unknown area in those days), but couldn't convince the organisers to give us an exemption from the rule that all teams had to have at least one member over 18.

And a priceless paragraph from an article today about anti-vaccination campaigners:

"Messenger is an activist who runs the Vaccination Awareness and Information Service and has published a book, Melanie’s Marvellous Measles, extolling the upsides of preventable childhood diseases."

C • mt marathon 1

C • Don't tell me 1