Training Log Archive: blairtrewin

That's more like it. As is often the case, I was fine the next day after having issues one day. Whilst I wouldn't say this was a particularly strong run, by my 2017 standards it was decent, and I ended out coming up on top in a small but decent M45 field. The flattish early stages were good for settling down before we headed into the big hills. A couple of ferocious climbs into 4 and 6 which I couldn't run much of (the priority on route choice for 6 was finding a route where the downhill part wasn't too steep to be runnable, but otherwise pretty good - ran all of 4-5 which I hadn't really expected to do (on an increasingly rare outing on a 1:15000 map, it's not as steep on the ground as it looks on the map). Saw Ruhi at 5 - wasn't entirely sure who had caught whom - and Steve Cooper at 7, and we were dicing for the rest of the course, although I got away a little at the end when Ruhi lost a bit more time than I did on the last control (my 15-seconder there was my only time loss of consequence on the course). Ruhi did 63, Greg Morcom 64, Steve 67.

This map has one of the more offbeat names in Australian orienteering. When it was first used for Easter 1990, apparently the instructions were to call the map "whatever it says on the gate", and so it was that that map was named Paradise No Shooting.

Some impressive runs by some of the juniors today - the best kilometre rates in the whole event (assisted by Simon's DNS) were by Ethan Penck in M16, and Joanna George in W20 (although she's eligible for W16). I'm guessing that Ethan beating Joanna by three seconds (same course) is worth a few bragging rights.

Race fail (an occasional series): back threw a wobbly halfway through the SA Middle Championships at Wonna Creek. Obviously a disappointment after coming this far (although hopefully I'll be up for another go tomorrow). Had felt somewhat out of sorts from the beginning, although was technically clean and took longer than I expected to be caught by Simon (who was also somewhat out of sorts); perhaps a better indication of how things were going was that Bridget was running away from me on the sections of course we had in common.

A certain amount of exploring was done both before and after the event (as is a common experience when I come up this way with Casanovas), although with one false start when a track marked as a public road on the map ended up at a locked gate.

C • Next time we'll take a pair of boltcutters! 4

At Northcote on a chilly morning. Nothing particularly unusual about this session, which is a good thing in itself. Preparing myself for a busy day, as one would expect at the end of a winter which has sent many records. (My favourite - Bathurst has had its warmest average winter maximum temperatures on record, its coldest winter minimum temperatures since 1927, and its driest winter on record).

I've managed to go two complete calendar months without getting on a plane, but that sequence is over - to Adelaide tonight for SA Championships weekend, then straight on to Sydney for a conference Monday-Wednesday next week. (Did get round to downloading the Pyrmont sprint map before leaving).

C • Conference 8

A steady accumulation of distance without reaching great heights. Good to be able to spend a bit more time in the river parklands now that the sun is coming up earlier; headed down to the Gipps Street footbridge (which could, this morning, have used one of those 'bridge freezes before road' signs that you see in North America) and back through the hills of Kew.

All Nations intervals. Didn't sleep very well last night (had been dealing with a challenging OA issue) but it didn't seem to rub off too much on the session - a decent session even if it was without terribly much sparkle. Not too many dogs (or their owners) around this morning - not sure why as it was a nice morning.

I was wondering if my secret train would have disappeared, but it still exists, sort of. (The 8.32 at Fairfield used to start at Heidelberg - the only morning train which does - and was consequently the one train which was easy to get a seat on. It's now been extended to Greensborough, but there were still seats available this morning, albeit without a lot to spare).

Warm-up and down. A more lively start than is sometimes the case for this session.

A bit of a struggle through the first half but gradually picked up, and a decent last 10 minutes (despite a nuisance-level problem, some split skin on the side of one toe which periodically produces a bit of blood). Took the chance to check out what the Level Crossing Removal Authority has been up to while I was away (answer: not an awful lot that's visible, but they must be proud of it because - in what was presumably a very unfortunate piece of timing - a leaflet on the subject appeared in my letterbox today from our now sadly departed local MP).

The song running through my head for most of this run - 'Flagpole Sitta' from the one-hit-wonder 1990s band Harvey Danger. I wonder if they'll reform for a Houston benefit concert?

Back didn't enjoy the drive back yesterday (or, perhaps to be more pedantic, the couple of minutes after getting out of the car each time), so I was happy enough to confine myself to the water this morning. It seemed to help - certainly felt better by the afternoon. Not the most energetic of swims but found something at the end.