Training Log Archive: blairtrewin

Recovery session at CISAC, not my favourite pool - would much rather be doing this in the open air as it is at Fitzroy (although an outdoor pool in mid-winter in Canberra would be interesting). Major distraction was working out which bits of the old-style digital timer on the wall were stuck on/off and therefore which patterns on the display corresponded to which numbers.

Quite a bit of peeling skin on the soles of my feet after the weekend. Not sure if this was a consequence or a cause of the soreness there whilst competing, which I'd attributed to newish shoes which don't seem to have enough cushioning for rocky ground.

Easter brought quite a few people out of the woodwork for the first time in anything between 10 and 30-plus years (some of whom, like Mounty, did very well indeed) - on Sunday I was in a scrap for a while with Finn Marsland, whom I think I last encountered in about 16s. Four of the top five in M45 ran M16 at Easter in Wagga in 1985 (Steve 1st, Scott 6th, Eric 9th and me 10th, consisting of two wins and a massive day-2 blowout).

Easter terrain was somewhat slower on the other side of the Tasman - M21E in the NZ Long Championships was won in 95 for 8.2k. The map makes me tired just looking at it.

Day 3 of Easter at Foxlow Flats. My chances of a good run disappeared at 2, a cliff in a green gully, where a good initial line tempted me to cross the main gully - not a great idea - and then I dropped back in at the wrong place and wasn't quite sure where I was. Dropped 2-2.5 minutes there; Ruhi went through me there, and for the rest of the course I was playing catch-up. We often diverged in route choice but converged at controls, and it wasn't until the second-last before I was finally able to break away - far too late to make meaningful progress towards getting back the two minutes. I suspected that the initial time loss would be enough to cost me fourth against Scott if he had a decent run, and so it proved; he finished just over a minute ahead overall. Once again very underpowered on hills, although at least I didn't walk any of them today (except in medium green). Very impressed with Steve's three days; he would clearly still be competitive, not with the very best Australian elites probably, but definitely with the next tier.

Pretty disappointed with my performance this Easter - never got my running together (except on Friday), and I shouldn't be making mistakes like today's either. I'm obviously not going to be competitive at elite level again, but have some work to do to at least be competitive in my (new) age group (or to have a decent crack at WMOC next year). Very good event on the whole though, and an excellent turnout, reflecting our continued growth in participation (we found out a few days ago that we cracked 100,000 for the first time in 2015).

One benefit of not running elites at Easter: I didn't get a massive cramp in the middle of the presentation ceremony this year.

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.