Training Log Archive: blairtrewin

Having a fixed schedule is a bit of a motivator; not sure I would have responded to the 6am alarm this morning had I not needed to be somewhere at 7. Was reasonably awake by 7, and a decent session once I was there. Progress is incremental but noticeable.

Those who've been following the Albuquerque thread may be wondering why the US Navy has a presence in Albuquerque (which is an awfully long way from the ocean). I'm assuming it has something to do with pilot training, the standards of which have hopefully improved since 1954. (I spent a week in Albuquerque for a conference in 2001, a week I remember chiefly for almost getting frostbite after going for a long run, wearing not as much as I should have, on a morning which I thought was -8 but was actually -16).

Another attempt at a lunchtime run, and this time a successful one (for a certain value of "successful"). A bit tight in the first 10 minutes but managed to keep myself moving, not always entirely convincingly, but well enough. Nice lunchtime to be out, and a nice route once clear of the central city, down the linear park through Port Melbourne next to the light rail line.

Apart from the abovementioned inattentive pilots, discoveries in my trawling of historical newspapers today included the founding of Eurovision (the TV networks' consortium, not the song contest they organised, which came two years later), and the more-optimistic-than-warranted headline "UN Hopes For End To Refugee Camps By 1960". The approach to crime in Western Australia was also a bit different in those days; a couple of miscreants who appeared before a Perth magistrate on a charge of disorderly conduct were bailed on the condition they left the state within seven days and didn't come back.

Event: ACT Middle Distance Championships: ACT League #6 & NSW League #6, Orroral C
 

ACT Middle Championships at Orroral Crossing. When I first started orienteering this had the reputation as the ACT's most fearsome area (it had been used for the 1977 Australian Championships) - at one event a friend of Dad's bravely/foolhardily decided to take on a hard course here in his first attempt at the sport (I don't think there was a second attempt). It gradually opened up in the 1990s before being burnt again in 2003 (the original thickness having been in response to a 1952 fire). This was the first time I'd been back since then.

I'm not quite sure why the first control was on a track junction, but after that it got more interesting - some decent running areas and some patches of green, a stretch in the open on the other side of the river, then some pretty tough green coming back. This was generally a consistent run, hitting the more dangerous controls OK, and playing it safe on 14 and 16 which both had major potential for trouble. As with yesterday, not quite as far off the pace as I've been for most of this year. Found myself in the midst of a junior train at the end, which may have helped me to what will surely be a season highlight - beating Martin Dent on the finish split. (He managed to lose the small track which ran for some of the way in). Matt Doyle did 38, Matt Crane 40.

Course 1 - Splits

Event: ACT Sprint Distance Championships: ACT League #5 & NSW League #5, Canberra
 

One I've been looking forward to for a while - coming back to the old home turf (although in reality, probably close to 50% of the buildings are new since 1988, and large parts of the course were in the primary school section which I rarely went to) - and home ground it was because the finish was in our house's lunchtime gathering area, as well as the finish area of the then school cross-country course, which meant many runs starting and finishing there. (The infamously hot 1986 race has been mentioned here before, and I've given it a few runs in the media of late in the context of many of the April records set that day being threatened or broken in recent weeks; this year's edition, which took place yesterday, was at the opposite extreme).

Probably the only real home ground advantage was knowing which sets of stairs were least likely to be awkward (in slightly slippery conditions), and I had to force myself to take straight lines across the grass in the main quadrangle, something which might have landed one a detention 30 years ago. (I did notice, wandering back in afterwards to take photos, that not too many of the current Grammar participants were game to take straight lines there).

The run was generally decent. Only a couple of minor time losses, a few seconds going around the non-optimal side of the hedge into 20 (I could perhaps be forgiven for being distracted here, having recognised the control site as the location of my brother's memorial stone), then going wider than I needed to on 22. Finished up 5.5 minutes down on Craney, which is probably a slightly above-par result for me by the standards of the last couple of years. (Martin was a bit faster but had a wrong control). Well down the list as expected, but did manage to edge out Seb - also returning to old haunts - in his orienteering comeback; the course was probably about 2000km too short for him.

Took a slightly wide route choice this morning on the way up (having stayed in Holbrook last night) in the hope of finding some snow, and did find some above about 950m between Tumbarumba and Batlow, although it was melting rapidly.

After my first long(ish) run for a while came the first attempt to run the day after, starting from work (and managing to avoid most of the rain). Never felt particularly sparkling but did manage to get myself going reasonably well after the first few minutes.

On the road this weekend, to Canberra for the ACT Sprint and Middle Championships. Looking forward in particular to actually competing on the Grammar map for the first time.

A pleasant surprise, with one of my better runs for a while. Felt from the start as if it was going to be reasonable (although took a while for the pace to pick up at all). After a couple of false starts in earlier weeks, got out as far as the new Rosanna station (which is impressively large from the lower side) before heading back; handling the climb back past my old place smoothly was a sign that this was a good one. Finished with plenty in reserve, and no sign of any problems (including with the Achilles which has struggled with longer runs in recent months).

Adding to the positive mood, I thought I'd left it too late for the train I wanted, but it turned out it was running a bit late and I just made it. (I then discovered that the train I was on wasn't the 8.20 running 2 minutes late, it was the 8.12 running 10 minutes late).

Ground sponsorship comes to local footy: De Winton Park in Rosanna is now Get Wines Direct Oval (or at least that's what it says on the sign).

And my attention was drawn today to the current ASADA sanctions list. One Johnny Whenuaroa, a bodybuilder, seems to have decided that if he was going to go down, he was going to do it properly; he got busted for no fewer than 18 different substances. Seems slightly incongruous that he still only gets four years.

That's more like it. An early start (with a similarly early start at work), but had more energy than I've recently had for early starts and got through the run reasonably well. No trace of trouble with the calf - can only assume a nerve was doing something strange previously - and no other issues of consequence either. A nice morning to be out, on the last day before atmospheric armageddon unloads, although it now looks like the most intense of the rain action is going to be in Gippsland. (The system is also sufficiently cold that I'm tempted to divert via Tumbarumba and Batlow for a snow chase on the way up to Canberra this weekend, although Saturday morning might be a bit late).

My cough is taking longer to go away than I would have liked, but at least it doesn't seem to be interfering with exercise. (I suspect that I might have taken whatever it was to China with me; my weakness on NSW Championships weekend seemed indicative of illness on its way).

At the moment I seem to be acquiring an impressively diverse ways to put myself out of action. Today's version (actually last night's) was an abrupt pain in my calf for no obvious reason while riding home last night, which was still intermittently painful this morning (although there didn't seem to be any loss of function). Thought it best to be careful with it. Whatever it was, the pain was gone by lunchtime so hopefully it was only very temporary.

Most obscure Budget measure so far: celebrities will no longer be able to license their faces to a company or trust to avoid tax. This is expected to raise an "unquantifiable" amount of revenue (probably not very much).

C • The phase in life 5