Training Log Archive: blairtrewin

NOL long race at Pittwater. I had one basic objective for this - to get through it - and this mission was accomplished (in fact I lasted the distance a good deal better than I thought I was going to). Not competitive for pace but I knew that before I started. Happy with the race technically, too; a bit unsure of myself on 4 on the third loop (once again being reminded that packs of juniors should be treated with extreme caution in this sort of terrain) without much time loss, but nothing bigger than 15 seconds on any other control.

This was a mass-start race but that was always likely to be of fairly academic importance for me as I fell off the pack immediately, but there were a few reasonable head-to-heads at various stages. Actually ended up winning a sprint finish, the victim being Matthew Cohen, which was enough to get me on the NOL scoreboard for season 2017 (just).

Hopefully a few solid weeks of training will get me back into some sort of shape, but this weekend is a good starting point, with the added bonus of getting some sand-dune confidence back.

Event: NOL 2017 Round 1, race 1 - Middle Distance Pittwater / NOL 2017
 

NOL Middle at Pittwater. The good news was that I handled most of the yellow at the end of the peninsula OK - a terrain type I lost confidence in totally in NZ last year - and that I got through the course, including uphills on soft sand which I thought might be a test for the hamstring, with no injury issues. Slow, but I expected that. The frustration was, having been reasonably clean through the rest of the course, I had two significant errors - 2.5-3 minutes at 14 where I must have gone within a few metres of the control, and a minute pulling up short at 7. In the former case I was in amongst a group of juniors and I think we led each other astray (I got the control before they did, but they recaught me a few controls later). Should have been around 47, although that would have only gained me a couple of extra places. Pittwater a pretty special area, as always.

I may or may not have mentioned here before that Patrick and Tristan Miller's uncle (who lives in Hobart) was in my year at school. His orienteering debut was definitely jumping in at the deep end - an M45A course at Pittwater. I'll be very impressed if he found all the controls (we left before he was back).

No back issues today but not exactly sparkling - struggled round an early morning run up the Darebin Creek. Not exactly the ideal preparation for the opening of the National League season, although at least having technically difficult terrain to deal with might slow the others down (a bit). Heading down to Hobart tonight.

Still feeling a bit tight this morning so decided to swap today's session with tomorrow's and headed for the pool. Didn't feel as if I was really loosening up in the pool either, but got through a session so can't be too upset about that.

There was a film shoot of some kind happening on the other side of the pool, featuring a couple of people with swimming costumes of very limited extent. The Fitzroy pool has a distinguished cinematic history (although that one wasn't actually shot there), but this looked to be a considerably lower-budget exercise.

One of my newer colleagues got a call on a wrong number today, which provided an opportunity to pull out our wrong-number stories. Another colleague once had a number which differed by one digit from that of a well-known Melbourne house of ill repute, and got quite a number of "interesting" calls. Once someone asked him "what services do your girls perform" and got the response straight off the bat "well, one of them prepares the Climate Monitoring Bulletin, and another one manages our agricultural services....".

C • Close numbers 1

Clearly there's something about the way I'm sitting at work which my body is not coping with - I haven't had a trace of back trouble on morning runs for ages, but this is the second successive week when it's simply refused to function in the evening after a day at work. Doesn't seem to happen after sitting in other places (even running after a couple of hours of driving in Portugal, it was fine, although there were a few other body parts which weren't at their best on that occasion). Will have to try the standing desk next week (and perhaps a new chair at my regular spot as well, if I can convince the powers that be to replace the somewhat ancient incumbent).

As always, the Scotch/Heyington event is an opportunity to see how the other 0.1% live - a new science building and underground car park are the additions since we were last here.

C • Chair 4

Planned to head out early but was awake earlier still than I'd planned on. Had the first sign of approaching autumn, stepping out into the dark at 6.30 - round the suburbs for a bit, then once there was light, to Darebin Parklands to have another look at a couple of control sites which aroused a bit of comment on Sunday (verdict: controls in right place but mapping in some parts of vicinity left something to be desired). Felt OK - no obvious issues coming up after yesterday - but pretty slow.

Doing the triathlon (finishing up with the ride to work) for the first time in a while. Swim felt fairly relaxed, perhaps a bit too relaxed until the later stages, in an outdoor pool under a blue sky, the way it's supposed to be.

It was a long and productive day, but it caught up with me in the end; felt like I was struggling to stay awake on the bike as I made my way home sometime around 9.30. Maybe it was just the letdown from the cricket.

A rare Monday long(er) run - didn't feel quite ready for this on Saturday but today was much better (helped by slightly kinder conditions). Fairly slow, especially on the Kew hills, but felt like I still had a reasonable amount left in me at the end, which gives me at least some level of encouragement about being able to get through 10km in the dunes on Sunday (if not necessarily very quickly). Only occasional and slight twinges.