Training Log Archive: blairtrewin

Day 2 of Easter at Primrose Valley (at least as I know it), a place which I last ventured to in 1986. (In the latest instalment of crazy things I did when I was fourteen*, on that occasion, naturally since I'd run my first M21 course the previous week and did OK, I did that class again that week - so what if it was a 21k Long-O?). The forest was a bit greener than I remembered it (less grazing?), but otherwise pleasant gully-spur.

A better run than yesterday - still didn't feel terribly strong on any sort of gradient, but there weren't as many areas of small rocks for me to feel awkward in, and only a couple of minor hesitations coming in to 1 and 6. Certainly not too upset I didn't have to go out for another lap at the end of this (whilst remembering that this will only be a quarter of the way through in four weeks' time). 3 minutes or so better relative to the field than yesterday, which means I've edged in front of Scott (although the top three are out of reach unless they make a mistake).

(* - actually, I think it might have been a week or two after my fifteenth birthday (it was July 1986, but I forget the exact date)).

C • Funny 2

Day 1 of Easter - acting my age this year (which is a bit more advanced than it was last year). Went in thinking a par result for me in M45 is probably fourth, with Steve Craig clearly the best on recent form, and Eric and Greg also likely to be somewhat better (at least if sprint times were anything to go by).

This turned out to be a somewhat disappointing run on the physical side after yesterday's promise; feeling a bit flat, and struggling for fluency in the terrain in an area with a lot of small rock underfoot. Two small errors, probably 20-30 seconds apiece, at 5 and 11, and probably didn't get a great line on the long 13. Steve went through me (6 minutes) about halfway round; caught up to Sticks about the same time and took a while to get clear (assisted by his having an ankle issue). Ended up in 5th, just behind Scott Simson in addition to the aforementioned three.

Having the finish arena in the suburbs isn't something we're used to - did mean a kilometre or so of fairly dead running at the end but was a good set-up (though the remote finish for the shorter courses wasn't entirely ideal).

Event: #NIN3DAYS
 

There is a place (a very small one) south of Bombala called Mila. Unfortunately, it was too dark on the way through last night to take a picture of the road sign "10 Mila".

Easter prologue at Uni of Canberra - a good course with a nice mix of complicated route choices early on, and some more intricate work in amongst the student residences later.

Pretty happy with this run - technically clean with no significant time losses on either fine navigation or route choice, and definitely feeling better running than in most recent weeks. In general felt as if this was a 30-60 second better run than those over the Melbourne weekend, and the results were consistent with that.

As usual for a sprint WRE, I started further into the start list than my current form warrants and therefore was being chased down, although only two went through me. Spent most of the last part of the course dicing with Ben Goonan and David Brownridge, who wasn't having a good day (seeing his exit from the second last control meant this was running through my head for the last part of the course).

A good event for the first day of Easter. The opening ceremony was slightly held up whilst Jase and I were discussing marathons with the Minister.

Morning session from work trying to get a few cobwebs out before hitting the road after lunch for Canberra. Headed for Fishermans Bend - pretty industrial but its advantage at this time of day in the inner city is not many road crossings. Diverted along the waterfront to get a picture of the 'Cyclists Reduce Speed' sign about a metre from the end of a pier which I'd spotted a couple of weeks ago (this may or may not have been another reason why I came this way).

Came via Gippsland, collecting Kathryn on the way. Surprised how much traffic was streaming out of Canberra southwards, even at 11pm (presumably most were heading for Merimbula or thereabouts via Brown Mountain).

Started better than most recent runs and ended up as a reasonable session, although rather slow on the Yarra singletrack (no mountain bikes coming the other way this time). Definite hint of smoke in the air - burnoff season is under way.

A trip out to the west (Yarraville Greens) because I was asked to do the Western Series presentations (bookending a day which started with the IOF meeting). Like Sunday, this run started feeling bad but came good one I got going - the difference tonight was that it happened after 15 minutes rather than 45 (not that there were any hills to test it here). Not flat out but definitely at a higher tempo in the last two-thirds; the competitive juices got going a bit once it became clear that I'd have some work to do to get them all inside the time cutoff (something ultimately achieved by 90 seconds).

Lesson learned: will definitely need to make sure I don't cut corners on the warm-up over Easter.

Spotted on the way into the event was a sign for the building of the Yarraville Mouth Organ Band; the newness of the sign suggests that it still exists.

Some shuffling of the post-Easter week so I was in at the pool this morning. Not feeling especially energetic this morning - hopefully whatever is causing this will have passed by the time we actually get to Easter.

I have an IOF Foot O Commission teleconference tomorrow morning but I think the FIA's effort over F1 qualifying has ensured that, whatever we do, we won't be responsible for the silliest decision this week by an international sporting governing body.