Training Log Archive: blairtrewin

In Ararat for a Labor gathering, and headed out in the morning beforehand. It was my longest run since the Australian Championships, and turned out to be my best for a long time - probably since returning from Europe. Thought the signs were promising in the first 4km, mostly uphill into Ararat Hills Park, when none of the bits which have caused me trouble going up hills caused me trouble, but the run really got going on the next 5km - mostly gently downhill on meandering fire trails through the forest. Reached the end of the park, crossed the highway (on a road considerably less significant than the map suggested it was), and then came back along the railway line, only hitting the bitumen on the edge of town. This section was a bit hillier than I expected for a railway section, but coped with it well. Slight hamstring tightness later but that was only a small negative. Lovely morning to be out.

I think it reasonable to assume that the "Prescribed Burning Operations: Sep 2015 to Nov 2015" will not be happening.

Ararat acquired a certain notoriety a year or two back for having one of Australia's highest obesity rates (something I must say I've never really seen much evidence of on my visits here - and I don't think it can all be blamed on the excellence of the hot chocolates at the Vines cafe). This may have been a bit of a wake-up call to the council as I spotted quite a few bike lanes and signs for walking routes. Also spotted a couple of people engaging in healthy exercise, although in general there weren't a lot of people out and about early on a Sunday morning (the only vehicle I saw, other than in the first and last kilometre, was a campervan which was using the forest as an overnight stop).

First event in the Melbourne Sprint Series at St. Albans (and the last for me, because I'll be rogaining next Saturday and overseas thereafter). Felt generally fairly smooth and running more comfortably than I have at my last couple of outings (not that hills were exactly tested here, although the up-the-stairs leg was OK), but as usual somewhat lacking in speed and finished about where I thought I might. Got a bit confused on the longish 14 and ended up not with my planned route; didn't think I'd lost much but the splits suggest that I might have dropped 15 seconds or so. A decent area (although a bit macro in the second half); not always easy to determine on the ground what was and wasn't olive green.

A fairly relaxed session at Fitzroy. Got so absorbed in a conversation in the changerooms afterwards on the machinations of AFL trade week that I forgot to have a shower. (We're obviously running low on trade news because this afternoon's highlight was someone who played one game this year for GWS being swapped for pick 70). Also found out in this process why I haven't recently seen the woman with whom I used to overlap for about the last 10 minutes of the session - apparently her partner died and she's moved elsewhere. I'll miss discussing the latest outrage of the Abbott government. (Actually, no, on second thoughts, while I miss her, I certainly don't miss having an Abbott government to be outraged about).

Noodle awards in orienteering are given for the most convoluted, circuitous and time-consuming route to reach the control point. Normally they are reserved for performances on the course but I think the discussion on State Series fees and start time windows at tonight's Orienteering Victoria Council meeting is worthy of consideration, too. If the discussion had a GPS it would have looked like Minna Kauppi's at the first control of the 2011 WOC distance (although I guess that, unlike Minna, we did get to the control eventually - I think).

(I did accomplish one mission post-Council meeting - getting tickets to see Norwich at Carrow Road for the first time. I'm going to go across for a weekend while I'm in Geneva next month).

And we got an interview request on El Nino today from SVT Swedish Television. You won't be surprised to hear that I was quick to put my hand up for that one.

Thought this might not have been pretty when my back was a bit tight getting up this morning, but knew from past experience that the way it feels before a run doesn't necessarily have any connection to how it will behave during a run. I did give it an easy time, picking a course that didn't have any meaningful climbing in the first 5km (down to the Gipps Street bridge, then back along the singletrack and through Yarra Bend Park). Not the most inspired of runs, though got a bit of a second wind in the last 10 minutes or so.

Spotted in the ABC report on the United Patriots Front earlier this week was the former Fuhrer of the National Socialist Party of Australia. This outfit ran in 1970s elections, campaigning in Nazi regalia and running on a full-blown Nazi platform (up to and including the exterminating-the-Jews bit). They actually got 1.5% in a Senate election in Queensland, although this probably says more about the number of donkeys amongst Queensland voters (they were drawn first on the ballot paper) than it does about the number of Queenslanders who were in favour of exterminating Jews.

Once upon a time we got excited about 34-degree days in the first half of October. (Before this year, this was something which had only happened in 1940 and 2006, but we've had three of them this year).

Went out to street-O for a jog around; it will be on in earnest next week. This one was at Canterbury Trails, a regular haunt for such things, and I knew it would be a fairly short course when there were no controls on the west side of the Alamein line, and nothing in the far southeast corner. The middle of the map also wasn't as convoluted as it sometimes is here, but I made a big mistake early by not getting 18 and 1 and the start, and found myself going to them late and then having to go back to 7 and 13.

I woke up with soreness in the left hip for no obvious reason. It disappeared after lunch, but my back wasn't at all good in the first 10 minutes - definitely the worst it's been since mid-September - and I was thinking about pulling the pin. It settled reasonably well after that but I never felt especially comfortable. A warm evening - 27 or so - which didn't feel too bad while on the run itself, but certainly knew I'd been sweating after I'd finished.

The laneway between 7 and 18 featured three young lads who I suspect either had just done, or were just about to do, some freelance decorating.

C • Laneway decorating 2

I'm used to doing some interesting things with runs to fit best in the day's logistics but this was one of the better examples. I was dropping Mum off to the airport for a 7.15 flight, didn't fancy battling back through back-end-of-peak-hour traffic to get home, and thought this would be an excellent opportunity to get out for a terrain run in Woodlands Park.

It turned out to be one of the nicest runs I've done in ages, on a cool, sunny evening, at Skippy time with Skippies out in abundance. Thought it might not go so well when my back arced up on the first erosion gully exit, but it quickly settled and from there the run went smoothly. It says everything that needs to be said for this run (and perhaps one of three months ago) that, re-running my course from an event in early July, I was only 10 seconds slower despite not trying particularly hard. (Of course, not having to punch controls counts for a little, and I think I got better lines across the main erosion gully this time).

I needed a nice run, because it was a somewhat disturbing day at work. Sometimes in this game one has the sense that one is documenting an unfolding catastrophe, and if that sense wasn't already there over the last week at home, it certainly was today when the monthly numbers came in from Brazil, and revealed that Manaus, at the core of the Amazon basin was running 4 degrees above normal for September, and 80% below normal rainfall for August/September. (A single day 4 degrees above normal is rare in equatorial regions; Darwin's record is something like 5.5). Drying out of the Amazon is one of the big "tipping points" we worry about (in that, once it starts happening it is probably irreversible - and that's even without encouragement from people clearing it or setting it on fire, something the Brazilian authorities have got a lot better at stopping in the last couple of decades). I hope that what we're seeing now isn't the beginning of that process, but those are not numbers I like the look of.

(I had been thinking of posting online the Brazilian temperatures map for September alongside another image that's been seen a bit this year, and labelling it something to the effect of "one of these images strikes fear into the heart of anyone who understands its significance, the other is an ISIS flag", but on the day that the new metadata laws came into effect, searching for websites where one might find an image of an ISIS flag might be asking for trouble).

Swim at Fitzroy on the way into work; already damp when I got into the pool thanks to drizzle on the first stage of the ride. Only marginally quicker than last week, although a little bit of that was a goggles adjustment stop.

Thought I would have some impressive numbers to look at when I got into work. Ararat (where, by coincidence, I'm discussing climate change at a meeting this weekend) is currently running 10.7 degrees above average for maximum temperatures for the month, and has already had five 30-degree days (the previous record for October was three).