Training Log Archive: blairtrewin

I wouldn't normally expect to feel happy after a run which contained a 4-minute, a 2-minute and a 1-minute error (even if Winsplits failed to notice the last two), but I was pleased just to get through a run of this length without significant physical trouble, in interesting terrain which always felt enjoyable. The limestone terrain in the Eyre Peninsula, as I've noted before, is like nothing else in Australia (reading the vegetation is a bit like Cantara before it got overgrown), and provides a major challenge - not just for me judging by the number of big blowouts.

I got out of the car stiff and wasn't even sure at that point whether I'd be able to go out, but was pleasantly surprised that things loosened up well on the warm-up (maybe Bridget was sending me positive vibes). Got the first three OK, then was very hesitant on the way to 4 - this is unforgiving terrain if you lose contact - but didn't actually go too far off the line, which is probably how I still won the split despite regarding it as a mistake. The other two misses were at 6, where I struggled to pinpoint a small depression (in the company of Ethan, for whom this was the start of a day he'd probably like to forget, culminating in punching the wrong last control), and 9, where I thought I'd found a gap in the green which would lead me to the control but had got the wrong gap, and was sufficiently confused on the other side that I ended up dropping 4 minutes or so. From there it was pretty good, and I even started to feel as if I had a bit of flow in the running at times.

Ended up further ahead of my opposition here (Greg, Ruhi and Ben) than I might have expected, although Ruhi is carrying an injury. Simon put all of us into perspective by doing 72 for 12.something.

Wildlife log: one dead roo and one live (and fast-moving) emu.

Coffin Bay event which I was treating as a warm-up for the more interesting stuff to come with the limestone on Sunday and Monday. Back wasn't great from the start, and eventually decided that 30 minutes or so would be enough for it today so called it a day early (not that the compilers of the results seem to have noticed the last time I checked). Nominally a park/street event but in fact a few patches of bush too (of the might-be-worth-crashing-this-50-metres-of-green variety). Didn't help that two early controls were misplaced (I never found #5, but didn't spend too long looking for it).

Did some pleasant exploring around the national park afterwards (and put a face to the name of Point Avoid).

Travel day today and didn't get the chance to get out; Melbourne to Adelaide first thing in the morning, then Adelaide to Port Lincoln late afternoon after working the day out of our Adelaide office. (I'm going to get to know Adelaide Airport pretty well - these were the first and second of four visits in just over a week, the last of them to come as a result of a slightly creative route choice to Geneva). A few minor annoyances at the start of the day - including the automated check-in not coping with the fact that my "connecting flight" was nine hours after the first one (eventually sorted - I didn't really want to haul my bag around Adelaide if I could help it).

You know you're an orienteer when #149: you walk/run/drive past a school and immediately start sizing it up for sprint potential. (The one which caught my eye here was the block that Pulteney Grammar and another primary school are on - our Adelaide office is at the junction of King William and South Terrace - but it might be a bit small and I'm not sure there's a way to link the bits together other than coming out to the main road).

I've joined the Casanova clan for the weekend and part of the accompanying reading material is a book on the 'Deceptive Lands' (country which will be familiar to those who've orienteered around Burra), published in 1968 by the Terowie CWA. Opening this at a random page, my attention was captured by the following account (undated, but other searching suggests late 1890s):

"An attempted demonstration of great interest was that given by Matthew Eyes, the engine driver, when he attempted to prove his worth as a rain-maker. The Government, assisting his project, provided the necessary equipment and Mt Packer, a hill to the north-west of the town, was chosen as a suitable site for the demonstration.

All was in readiness as government officials, newspaper reporters and a large crowd of spectators gathered nearby; land-owners who had ridden over from all directions to witness the event, stood around tightly gripping the reins of their horses. The procedure went as planned until the balloon was half full when something apparently slipped and Whang! - over went the whole contrivance on top of men and horses. Fortunately no-one was injured and a disgusted crowd straggled disappointedly homewards".

(Other accounts of the event I found online suggests the plan was to send explosives up in a balloon; what could possibly go wrong?).

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Something of a replay of yesterday, except that I went northwest rather than northeast, and an unusually good run with the lights meant I didn't get the chance to put the stop-at-10-minutes theory to the test but my back loosened up after that anyway. A struggle in the first couple of kilometres but got better as it went on. Originally had thoughts of doing something longer before the start of the day, but got squeezed a bit for time because my parents dropped in their way through from the airport (they've been in Norway), and things are still sufficiently fragile that a shorter run probably wasn't such a bad thing ahead of the weekend.

Looks like I really will be doing the crime scene tour in Darwin: I sent my conference poster to Darwin Officeworks for printing and discovered that they're across the road from the Buff Club.

Another day which was hard going at the start but improved as it went on. This time it seemed to be a traffic stop about 10 minutes in which did the trick; perhaps a stop-and-stretch at that point comes in useful? Did some exploring of the top of the east bank of Darebin Creek, knowing that the stepping stones that I sometimes use when on the east side would probably be under water after the recent rain.

Big day at work, but did get my conference poster for next week done. (Probably as well that the conference, in Darwin, is next week and not this week - suffice it to say that in the place I'll be staying, there will be some fresh bullet holes next door to look at should I feel so inclined, which I probably won't).

A see-if-things-work-again session. Pretty borderline early on but loosened after the first 10 minutes, enough to make me think that something more substantial is viable tomorrow (especially if the work of Attack of the Killer Physio this evening has done its job).

The drainage on the Merri Creek bike path north of the St. Georges Road bridge has not improved since the last time I was there the day after a significant rain event.

Sign of the times: the event information for Saturday's event at Port Lincoln includes the line "IF YOU ARE UNFAMILIAR WITH USE OF A PUNCH CARD when orienteering, PLEASE SEEK GUIDANCE BEFORE YOU START.". (Perhaps I'll have an advantage as a Victorian here, as most Melbourne park-street events still use them).

Felt like I was struggling a bit to loosen up this morning, although back seems somewhat improved on the weekend. Probably a better morning to be doing things inside than outside (although the heaviest of the rain had cleared by the morning).

Earworm of the day came thanks to news that the Vengaboys "We're Going To Ibiza" has become a theme song of left-wing protests in Austria (this is a reference to a scandal, which has led to the collapse of the coalition government they were part of, which involved the leader of the hard-right Freedom Party being caught on tape meeting in Ibiza with someone posing as the niece of a Russian oligarch, and discussing a deal which involved said oligarch buying Austria's largest newspaper and turning it into a Freedom Party propaganda sheet in exchange for government contracts), and that this week the Vengaboys themselves had turned up in Vienna and parked the Vengabus in front of the Chancellry to perform it at a protest. In turn this led to a possibly inevitable Twitter thread putting Vengaboys lyrics to use in the name of anti-fascism, the best being:

The Vengabus is coming
And everybody's jumpin'
We're playing at your rally
The Internationale

(Seeing far-right politicians going down in (metaphorical) flames anywhere in the world is something which gives me a certain amount of Schadenfreude, as the Austrians would put it).