Training Log Archive: blairtrewin

Went out with Jenny - a smaller contingent than the old-style Conference long run, and also a good deal less long (although she'd run to my place from the AIS so it was longer for her). Pretty happy with this one - it actually felt like a reasonably normal run, the first time since I started running again. None of the back issues on the hills from yesterday and handled the Painter climb more or less OK - think it's the first time I've actually been to the summit in many years. (There's a semi-paved path up now - it used to be a footpad across the paddock).

I was also reasonably happy with the Conference. In the lead-up I was concerned that most states were going to come in with entrenched positions on some of the key issues (especially around governance), but in fact we had two days of worthwhile engagement and I think we're moving forward. Fundamentally, all of us are in the business of trying to get more people orienteering and, whilst the connection of this to whether OA's legal structure is an incorporated association or a company limited by guarantee may seem tenuous, having sound governance structures is an important part of convincing the Sports Commission that we're worth investing in, and it's in our own interests too.

One challenge we do have is bridging a significant funding gap from the loss of ASC high-performance funding - we made some progress with this but still need to plug a shortfall of around $40K from 2018 onwards. Whilst we're looking at numerous options to contribute towards this, we're also on the lookout for creative fundraisers (and I've been keeping an eye on some of what's done in the US, which is much more dependent on fundraising than we are), so if you have any ideas, go for it.

My own crazy fundraising idea, providing that (a) I don't get injured (b) I don't have any immovable work commitments on the day and (c) can convince the relevant states to organise suitably timed and located events (ACT and Victoria will already have something suitable scheduled), is to attempt to do events in four different states on the same day on World Orienteering Day next year, and get people to sponsor me to do it. The flight schedules are such that it should be possible to do something in Brisbane first thing in the morning, go on to Canberra with a window of 6-7 hours there to do things on either side of the ACT/NSW border, and finish up at the Wednesday night event in Melbourne.

Easy to underestimate how much chairing a meeting for two days takes out of you - got back to home base and promptly almost fell asleep in front of the cricket.

Post-Conference park/street O, with just a bit of long grass, and the inevitable locked gate which wasn't supposed to be locked on the AIS campus. Felt awful initially and back troublesome in the first few minutes; loosened up a bit after the first downhill (after the control between the curved car parks which seems to be a compulsory feature of any event around Bruce CIT), and while I always felt like I was struggling, once again it was OK on the injury front once warmed up, and I didn't fall apart in the heat (29, hottest I've run in since last summer) like I thought I might have.

In the outdoor pool at Northcote, where I think I've now established that the clock shows an over-reading of the (air) temperature by a couple of degrees. Always seemed to be floundering a bit today but felt better for having done a session.

Up in Canberra now, for the OA Conference this weekend, followed by a work conference on Tuesday and Wednesday. I'll be up again the week after, too. The flight up might have been more productive had it happened a year ago, as I was in the same row as now-no-longer ASC head Simon Hollingsworth (and the CEO of Netball Australia for good measure), although it was still a worthwhile conversation regardless.

Another small step of progress - heading out on two successive days. Felt pretty ordinary as a straight run (the first couple of kilometres particularly so), but the calf was fine which is the main thing I'm worried about it at the moment.

This one took me to the southeast corner of Alphington, the section that's got the alpine-inspired street names, although some of the spelling is a bit dubious (I assume "Chamouni" is supposed to be Chamonix). There's a bit of progress on the bike path but only a bit.

Continuing in small increments with Mont Albert street-O as the basis (my four events this season have been on four different courses, which will have confused the scorers no end). Didn't think I was quite ready for the 50-55 minutes that A would have entailed so went for B. Did a decent job of the route this time, but again lost concentration on one control, going in a street too early on 10.

The run was again a struggle much of the way (better in the second half), but after a little tightness early the calf behaved itself, which was the main object of the exercise.

I spent the afternoon checking our sites database for anything interesting coming out of the 2014-16 site inspection reports (as prelude to a new dataset version). Sometimes fieldwork has its adventures, as the November 2015 inspection report for Dubbo Airport shows:

"Inspection performed and insecticide applied. Most unpleasant site. Rumoured six foot brown snake lives under cement blocks next to the AWS base, swarming flying ants and a filthy screen. Thankfully, I was only bitten by ants on the leg."

Reasonably standard swim at Fitzroy after a false start because my goggles strap had loosened. Steady pace throughout. Felt a bit sleepy before the start but fine once going.

And then it was almost deja vu - a near-identical incident to last Thursday's (although at a different intersection, Rathdowne and Victoria this time), but this time ending in a near-miss with the car suddenly changing lanes to try to get around a blocked intersection. (Part of the reason for the gridlock, as it turned out, was that a few hundred metres away another cyclist had gone under a truck). It is illegal in Victoria (and probably all other states) to enter an intersection you can't clear, and the penalty is a not-to-be-sneezed-at $466, but this must be the state's least-enforced law - I've never seen anyone booked for it. (If they cared to enforce this law, at $466 a pop I expect the police could raise a six-figure sum for the state's coffers in a single morning at any major CBD intersection).

Had another session with the physio tonight, including my first taste of needles for a few years. This is apparently nothing to be alarmed about. Shuffling a bit afterwards but not as tight or as painful post-session as I recall from many such sessions in the 2000s.

And I regularly give out brickbats for sloppy wording in the media, so kudos to the Herald-Sun for putting "allegedly" in the right place in a story that started "A Reservoir great-grandfather killed allegedly by his 90-year-old neighbour....". (Too often, you'd see "allegedly killed", but that fact that he was killed was not in dispute). Latest news, however, is that the police no longer consider it suspicious.

C • Allegedly 1

C • Entering intersections 2

Not sure whether I should count this as a celebrity endorsement.

Your eyes are not deceiving you - this was an actual run. I wasn't entirely sure after yesterday whether I should go through with it, but decided to do so anyway - it was short but you have to start somewhere (basically what I do as the warm-up and down when I do South Wharf intervals). Felt a little awkward at times but most of that was relating to parts of the body other than that where the original injury was. Pulled up fine afterwards.

According to the Guardian's politics live blog, the One Nation seasonal greeting cards have surfaced. There is no truth in the rumour that they contain the words "dreaming of a white Christmas".