Training Log Archive: blairtrewin

Melbourne Bush-O at Tikalara Park at Templestowe, a new venue for me in an orienteering sense (although the bike path on the west edge of the map was occasionally at the far end of long runs from Heidelberg). Seemed pretty close to the suburbs but the deer which charged past the assembly area before I started felt otherwise....

Bit of a mixed bag today - most controls fairly technically easy (though a couple of interesting ones in some erosion detail), some open bush, some not-so-open bush (best avoided), some small tracks and some open land. Also had to cross Mullum Mullum Creek twice; it was pretty high and definitely required getting wet. The track coming out of it on #2 was also exceedingly muddy and slippery and didn't seem to fit the map that well, which made me momentarily confused as to whether I'd come far enough, my only mistake of the day (although a couple of my route choices were possibly sub-optimal).

As is often the case with these events, coming off a long run on Saturday meant I wasn't at my freshest, but I did feel somewhat better than I sometimes do on these, especially in the second half. Still got blown away for speed in the flatter and more open areas and on the tracks (Max Dalheim managed to take 40 seconds out of me in the 425 metres between the last control and the finish). At the back of a close bunch.

Spent some of the afternoon trying to convert people to the cause in the northern reaches of Batman (or, more often, preaching to the converted). We do this with a list of the electoral roll by address (partly so we don't waste time knocking on doors of houses where no-one is enrolled), and I noticed that one of the people on the roll in our patch went by the name of Harsh Overseer. One might speculate that someone with that name might not think very much of unions (but we didn't find out because no-one was home at that address).

I think many of my British friends can probably relate to this at the moment:

"We're setting sail to the place on the map
From which no one has ever returned
Drawn by the promise of the joker and the fool
By the light of the crosses that burned
Drawn by the promise of the women and the lace
And the gold and the cotton and pearls
It's the place where they keep all the darkness you need
You sail away from the light of the world on this trip, baby
You will pay tomorrow
You're gonna pay tomorrow
You will pay tomorrow

Oh, oh, oh
Save me, save me from tomorrow
I don't want to sail with this ship of fools, no, no
Oh, save me, save me from tomorrow
I don't want to sail with this ship of fools, no, no
I want to run and hide right now

Avarice and greed are gonna drive you over the endless sea
They will leave you drifting in the shallows
Or drowning in the oceans of history
Traveling the world, you're in search of no good
But I'm sure you'll build your Sodom like you knew you would
Using all the good people for your galley slaves
As you're little boat struggles through the warning waves, but you don't pay

You will pay tomorrow
You're gonna pay tomorrow, yeah
You're gonna pay tomorrow

Save me, save me from tomorrow
I don't want to sail with this ship of fools, no, no, no
Save me, save me from tomorrow
I don't want to sail with this ship of fools
Where's it comin' from?
Oh, where's it goin' to?
It's just a, it's just a ship of fools

All aboard now"

Visited my grandmother in the morning (she's back at the nursing home in Moonee Ponds) and took this as an opportunity for a run somewhere different, swinging initially out to the northwest before coming home across the northern suburbs.

For most of the first hour it didn't feel terribly smooth, but I was moving at a reasonable pace and handled the two short sharp climbs OK. Got going better from around the 13k mark after hitting Coburg Lake, which set me up for an excellent last part of the run, at a pace I rarely manage on training runs these days (including four consecutive sub-5 kilometres towards the end). Very pleased with this (although not hugely energetic through the rest of the day).

My route took me past where my grandmother's place used to be, in Essendon. At the time it was sold, the purchaser (who lived next door) had made mention of his Grand Designs ambitions and he hasn't disappointed.

First visit to Ivanhoe pool since I moved, mainly because it seemed a better option than outdoors on such a morning. There were plenty of signs up saying that the water was colder than normal but it seemed a nice temperature to me (I'd always felt Ivanhoe was a bit warm for my liking). Reasonable session but it's a bit of a change to be going round and round in not-very-big circles.

Not the most productive of days at work as I'm the go-to person for electoral interpretation (and of course I had a strong interest myself). Certainly didn't see that result coming. I'm not convinced that many of those who voted to leave know exactly what they voted for, but they're stuck with it now (with the possible exception of the Scots).

A run which felt promising at the start but turned into what felt like a bit of a plod (it was getting a bit quicker as it went on but the second-half tailwind might have had a bit to do with that). Still a steady morning's effort with nothing really going wrong.

Cassie (and Katinka) were still asleep when I stepped out the door to work at 8.20. I certainly wasn't about to disturb them.

Not the most lively of sessions, rather slow throughout, although reasonable strength for the climbs up through Eaglemont at the front end.

The house just up from the Hells Angels clubhouse has been on the market. I was hoping for a certain level of creativity in the advertising (as someone said on Facebook, this is one place where you know the neighbours won't call the police if there's a noisy party), but it was straight down the line. Must have been effective - the property has sold.

Bill Posters, who shows no sign of having been prosecuted, is playing an increasing role in this election. He's been active on behalf of the Liberal Democrats for a while now, and has now appeared on behalf of the Marriage Equality Party (who, as the saying goes, does what it says on the can) and, more surprisingly, Labor.

A bit of bruising seems to be showing up around the (presumed) leech bites from the weekend. Only a nuisance problem at the moment.

The swim that didn't happen yesterday. More or less par for the course; less crowded indoors than it sometimes is.

Cassie's visiting at short notice from tomorrow night (our grandmother is on a downhill slide). She's bringing Katinka out with her so I've been in the process of borrowing various bits of baby stuff (fortunately I have numerous work colleagues whose youngest children are around 3-4 and so have lots of recently redundant baby stuff). The slightly evil thought did cross my mind as to whether having a baby seat installed in one's car means that one can get away with parking in a Parents With Prams spot (just in case you're wondering, I didn't).

Lunchtime South Wharf intervals. Hard work on the upwind reps (the forecast rain largely failed to materialise but it was still pretty windy), somewhat easier on the downwind ones. A bit of an improvement on last week, and the hamstring held up this time.

Warm-up and down. Felt pretty stiff in the warm-up but fine once under way.

Just in case I hadn't had enough of being out in the rain in NSW yesterday, I spent another (short) spell out in the rain in Victoria this morning. (I'd probably have preferred a form of exercise which involved getting wetter still, but a puncture on my heel took a long time to stop bleeding yesterday - had yesterday's weather not been about as reptile-unfriendly as it gets, I might have suspected a snake and not some prickly vegetation, but I think it was just in an awkward spot - and I didn't think it was stable enough to put uncovered into the water yet).

As expected, this was a slow session, but after feeling pretty ordinary at the start, the second half was OK.

Rogaining brings a different crowd out to orienteering (probably only 20-30 of yesterday's field were people I recognised as orienteering regulars). This does mean the chance of encounters with people not normally encountered; among the other competitors were someone from my year at school, and the older brother of someone else from my year at school; I'd seen neither since Year 12. (The latter ran with his son, whom I'd guess to be about 12; they were only a couple of places behind us, which suggests the youngster may have some common genes with his uncle, who won our age group in the school cross-country a couple of times).

C • Puncture wound 3