Training Log Archive: blairtrewin

First race of sprint double at Yarra Valley Grammar, a decent sprint area. Wasn't sure about this beforehand given that I haven't run since Wednesday, but the hip felt reasonable in the warm-up and decided it was worth a shot if I could tolerate it. (Tempting to try and work a musical reference in here but I'm struggling to see a context in which "then your children will be next" is relevant, although I did beat a couple of juniors I wouldn't normally expect to in a sprint*). Rather slow to get going, but a good second half, some of which was spent in a good scrap with Martin Steer. Got the key route choices right.

(* - although I think Aston was nursing an injury in the second race)

Second sprint race with a paired start (I was paired with Carl Dalheim, who'd been only a few seconds behind me in the morning). Once again felt as if I was grinding the gears on the first couple, and missed 4 by a few seconds because I was concentrating too much on planning 5 (a long leg), but pretty good after that, and got the right option on the very roundabout 17. Running pretty hard in the later stages across the ovals, partly because I was chasing Chris Norwood (who'd started a minute before me) - ended up eight seconds ahead of him, having been three seconds ahead in the morning. (Finishing ahead of fast M60s in sprints is a sign of modest progress, given that Messrs Norwood, Lawford and van Geldermalsen have had my measure more often than not over the last six months).

The best news from this is that my hip feels better after running two sprint races than it has at any other time in the last four days. Go figure. (Also positive is being comfortably under the benchmark of 40% behind the elite winner that passes for respectability these days). Doing two events in a day will also be good preparation for doing four on Wednesday.

The head-to-head format made for a few interesting duels, the best of them being the Steer v Steer sprint finish (Asha reversing the result from the street-O championships by a few metres). Belinda looked like she'd held off Tash in a close one but she'd missed a control.

C • Hip 5

C • she'd missed a control 2

Staying in the water for now, reasonably early in the day at Northcote in the outdoor pool. (Even had I felt inclined to go indoors - which I don't think is deep enough for pool running anyway - the indoor pool on a Saturday morning is almost wholly devoted to swimming lessons). Quite a warm morning by recent standards. Fairly mundane session; hip still not 100% but I'll put it to some sort of test tomorrow.

Going on to the Saturday morning shop (via the post office to take possession of the World Orienteering Day rabbit), it was apparent that there had been some overnight excitement in the 'hood, with a number of police outside one of the Station Street banks. On closer inspection the front door was shattered. I'm not sure what the crims were hoping to achieve, unless they think that banks leave their money on the tellers' desks when they go home on Friday night. (Whatever they did do wasn't significant enough to get a mention on the Vic Police News website).

C • WOD Wabbit 3

Gave it a go but not quite ready - hip soreness was mild enough that I could have pushed through it had I wanted to, but I don't want to risk jeopardising what I have in mind for next Wednesday so decided that caution was the best option today.

Thought it best to take to the pool today given that my hip was rather sore last night. Ended up a reasonably mundane session in the water but nothing hurt, which was the principal objective.

Hip was considerably better today than it was yesterday, so I'll plan to go out for a run on it tomorrow (albeit not as long a run as I'd originally planned for today).

Had my first experience of an attempted orienteering-related scam today - took a call from a Philippines phone number, from someone claiming to be a Colombian IOF delegate who was supposedly trying to come to Australia but was stuck in Manila airport without the cash to pay for a visa. This was backed up by an e-mail purporting to be from Leho Haldna asking for my assistance (I smelt a rodent at this point, if I hadn't already, because the e-mail signoff, from an address I hadn't previously seen him use, made a reference to "prayers" and I've never seen evidence of Leho being overtly religious). Eventually hung up on him and shortly afterwards got another e-mail from "Leho" asking if I could lend his friend US$950 (whereupon I advised the IOF office to send out an all-points warning that their President's name was being used by a scammer). I'll give the scammer points for doing his research - he knew all the right names to drop to sound credible (and that Leho was Estonian). Hopefully he was working through the IOF member federations list in alphabetical order and we stopped him before he managed to con anyone. (Perhaps I should have asked him what a control flag looks like).

Slight variation today: 15x40sec (still at All Nations). Seem to be gradually getting stronger but didn't kick on in the later part of the session as I sometimes do.

Warm-up and down. Had a bit of left hip soreness last night, which didn't trouble me during the intervals session but was a little sore on the way home (and a bit more so at times during the afternoon). Will need to watch this, and will be doing a bit of tweaking of my plans for the rest of the week.

Almost ended before it really began when I felt a twinge in my quad just after the start, but that disappeared after a couple of hundred metres. (Left hip feels a little sore tonight, though). Feeling a little flat this morning, probably a product of what's been happening at work, but did get into it eventually, particularly in the last couple of kilometres after coming of Ruckers Hill.

Changing things round today because I needed to be in early for a major review meeting at work - at least this meant that I actually got through a Monday run for the first time in ages. Certainly felt like a post-race run, but gradually got into it as it went on. No obvious injury issues.

Might have been as well that I swapped the swim to the evening - there was dense fog and I'm not sure the pool would have been open (it closes if the lifeguards can't see the other side of the pool).

After a reasonably stressful day (albeit one which went about as well as could reasonably be expected), it was good to get to the pool. I can't say I felt especially relaxed in the water, but it was a decent session, notwithstanding occasional annoyances such as intermittent goggles trouble and a couple of foot cramps. Certainly felt better afterwards.