Training Log Archive: blairtrewin

First event of the day - park/sprint event in Roma Street Parklands (probably not as technical as a full-on sprint), once again using the phone app rather than controls (but a printed map). Felt a bit stiff and sore walking down to the event but OK once I was running - although not really pushing it (there's a lot ahead of me today) and so was predictably creamed by Rachel. Only one time loss, from the last control to the finish - I didn't notice until too late that a low wall along the lakeside path was forbidden to cross (and with GPS tracks uploaded as part of the system there's no getting away with doing anything dodgy :-).

The next challenge will be to get out of Brisbane, with fog and low cloud about, although as I write (7.15) it's starting to break up. My flight to Canberra is currently showing a 30-minute delay which will be OK; much over an hour would start to make things tight for the Canberra/Queanbeyan leg.

One advantage of the phone app system I didn't think of last night - it allows you to do things in parks where the authorities are OK with you being there but don't want you sticking things in the ground. (I understand this is the biggest obstacle to running events in what would otherwise be the superb urban area of Central Park in New York?).

C • Sticking things in the ground 12

The fog may have lifted, more or less, by 7.30, but I wasn't going to get out of Brisbane that easily - the incoming flight (as it turned out) didn't leave until Brisbane was clear for landings, and the boarding time slipped from 30 minutes late to 50 to 65. It ended up being 90, with the 'help' of some taxiway congestion, and I knew I'd lost all of my margin for error.

At least there were no hold-ups at the Canberra end; my bag came out just as I stepped up to the carousel, picking up a car was quick, and I thought I would be OK as long as I was away from Mount Ainslie by 1.30. With a start around 1.05 there wasn't going to be much to spare, but I did the short course so thought a time in the low-mid 20s was likely.

This was switching from high-tech to low-tech (phone apps to control cards). Didn't find it easy running, particularly on the second leg which contained more than half the course's total climb. Navigating reasonably well - as it turned out, better than the setter on 5, which probably cost me 90 seconds or so (it was in another watercourse about 50m NE of where it should have been).

And then finished, handed my card in, and got pretty well straight back in the car for the next stop...

The third event of the day was an indoor event in the building which David Poland's office occupies. (This was set up mainly for me but was open to the public all day - only one other person had done it though).

Those who've seen the Stockholm Indoor Cup maps will know how fiendish multi-level indoor events can be (for those who can find it, I challenge you to look at the 2017 map and work out a legal route from 3 to 4 in under five minutes). A small two-storey building in Queanbeyan was never going to offer that level of challenge, but there were a few legs which made you think about how to go about doing it. Only walking for this one; think you'd have trouble finding anyone willing to let you run around a multi-storey building.

I was thinking that it would make my timetable challenging if this took more than 15 minutes, so I was glad that was a bit short. Even got back to the airport in time to have a shower and have something to eat.

Eating something at the airport might not have been the best idea - I was feeling a bit off-colour when I got off the flight but was OK by the time the Mitcham event started. Unlike Brisbane-Canberra, the Melbourne leg offered few logistical problems; the flight was a few minutes early and the traffic across to Mitcham was not as bad as I expected (it helps that I was going against the flow most of the way).

Being safely at Mitcham was one thing (and one advantage of the event starting in the Coles carpark was that it made it easy for me to replace my headlamp batteries, which had been found severely wanting last night), but if I was going to do this event (a 60-minute score) properly it was going to be as long as the other three events put together, so I wasn't sure how my body would hold out. (I guess notionally, as a score event, finding one control would theoretically suffice). Felt OK at the start and in the mostly downhill first kilometre; back tight again on the hills, especially early on, although the hills weren't as steep as those on offer in Brisbane. Not really running smoothly but kept plugging away (losing a bit of time on the misplaced #5, which was on the next street junction). Had a bit of a hip twinge halfway which eventually settled down; but was feeling every bit of the day's work in the later stages; several legs later on were long gentle climbs and I felt every bit of them, especially as my quads were starting to go in the last 10 minutes. Definitely wasn't too upset that it was a short course tonight (even at my slow pace tonight, I got them all with plenty to spare). A definite sense of mission accomplished when it was done.

C • WOD 1