Training Log Archive: blairtrewin

Spent the day trying to stay awake. I'd originally had thoughts of getting out to tonight's street-O (which might not have ended well), but was feeling out of sorts in the afternoon - presumably ate something which didn't quite agree with me in transit (or perhaps it was just the airline feeding us dinner at 3.30am Sydney time?) - and decided to give it a miss today.

Politics clearly hasn't got any more edifying in my absence. Today's highlight was that news emerged that some Coalition sources were trying to circulate a rumour that Bill Shorten had made a former staffer by the name of Shannon pregnant. The steam rather went out of the rumours when it transpired that Shannon was a bloke. I guess people can be made to believe anything these days, as demonstrated by those who believed that Hillary Clinton was running a paedophile ring out of the basement of a Washington DC pizza shop. (That particular bit of fake news almost turned into something tragic when someone turned up, in possession of their full Second Amendment entitlements, with the apparent intention of liberating the "victims").

(My flight reading: Timothy Garton Ash, 'Free Speech: Ten Principles for a Connected World'. I've made it as far as number 7).

Even by my standards, Oslo-Frankfurt-Geneva-Doha-Sydney-Melbourne is a bit of an epic. Didn't go totally plan but the bits of it not going to plan were at the minor-nuisance level (getting picked out for extra screening at two different airports, and my original Sydney-Melbourne flight getting cancelled). Managed to get a bit of sleep on both of the longer legs, although not as much as I might have hoped.

It may be somewhat unfashionable to be such, but I definitely feel like a citizen of the world when I do this job. We had info from 80-odd countries this year.

Starting on the long haul back: Oslo-Frankfurt-Geneva-Doha-Sydney-Melbourne. Left Oslo a bit early to do something there (the -18 morning might also have been a deterrent, although with no wind it should have been manageable) and thought Geneva was the most promising prospect to do something. The not-quite-going-to-plan part (so far) is that my bag spent a few hours longer in Frankfurt than I did, but turned up in Geneva in time to be loaded onto the next leg.

I'd come prepared for this eventuality (and knew that Geneva Airport has lockers in its station). The conditions weren't quite as brutal as I thought they might have been, except in one spot where the buildings formed a wind tunnel, but you certainly knew that it was a cold day whenever you were running in any direction other than southwest. Started out feeling as bad as the last time I tried to do a run from Geneva Airport, but back settled down and was running OK by the end (but didn't feel like doing a few more minutes out and back at the airport itself).

One advantage of going out in -3, -18 dewpoint and 70 km/h gusts - no sweat. Waiting to head to Doha now.

This would get fairly draining if you had to do it every day for a couple of months, but was fun as a one-off. There was some new snow overnight and it was still falling when I headed out (probably about 4-5cm of new cover). The trails have deep snow on them, probably close to a metre, so I decided that the bike path alongside the Bekkestua road would be adventurous enough for the day. This gets ploughed but not salted/gritted, so was a few centimetres of fresh powder over a thin, hard-packed base - not too difficult downhill or on the flat (especially with my "winter tyres" - strap-on metal studs - on), but hard work uphill, especially in those areas where there was some additional debris from the ploughs which had just been working the road. Turned around just short of central Bekkestua; reasonably pleased with my handling of the long grind back uphill, but I still wasn't too upset to meet the plough coming the other way about a kilometre before the top. Felt a lot easier after that. Fairly happy with my body's response to this, but tired in the rest of the day so might have struggled with anything much longer.

Thought I'd have a try at some Norwegian cultural assimilation (not being quite sure of how much exercise I'd get by doing so), and went out to try cross-country skiing with Jim and Max. (Jim had already clocked up 40-something kilometres for the day). I've done a bit of downhill skiing over the years - although not since 2012 - but only one very brief foray into cross-country, when we came over for Christmas in 2005.

This started out fine but went pear-shaped as soon as I had to start going down hills - which meant I ended up on my backside several times (in fact probably the most exertion of the day was getting up again, upper-body strength not being one of my greater assets). Part of my problem was that I was never quite sure when my skis were going to start sliding - no doubt you get more of a feel for this after a while. I was also on heavily waxed skis, which were good for going uphill but caught somewhat unpredictably (at least to me) on the gentler downhills; it probably helps if you've got the confidence to go faster.

Jim has a fair bit of experience in teaching people to cross-country ski from scratch (he's a PE/outdoor ed teacher at an international school) and thinks I'd get the hang of it given a few days, but I don't have that (at least this time round).

According to my watch, my average speed was 2.0 km/h. I think the winner of the Olympic 50km this morning averaged something like 24.

C • Extra tuition 2

The Achilles has been getting progressively a little worse this week - this often happens with an extended period without a calf massage - and was uncomfortable pushing off this morning. Hopefully a rest day will do it some good. Will be interesting seeing how it responds to the snow this weekend.

The fortnight in Geneva is now done with (except for passing through on the way back on Monday); I'm now heading north to Oslo for the weekend.

Seem to be struggling to shake my cold off at the moment and felt a bit indifferent last night, then when I couldn't get to sleep and was still awake at 2am, I decided that trying to go long probably wasn't a great idea (may give it another try tomorrow). Ended up heading out for something shorter, in conditions a little less tough than yesterday's (though only a little). A so-so run. Achilles a bit marginal.

Election time is coming up and I saw a row of poster boards blown over by the first hint of rational arguments high winds. Most prominent are the MCG, a local populist outfit whose main platform seems to be opposition to cross-border commuters - they're campaigning for local employers to be required to prove that no local resident can fill a job before going elsewhere. I'm not quite sure what problem they think they're trying to solve, given that unemployment in Switzerland is somewhere south of 3% and that it's estimated that Geneva itself has 50,000 more jobs than it does working-age residents. Last time round they got 19%, enough for a close second in a crowded field.

(As to why people might commute across the border, a hint comes from the experience of one of my former Australian colleagues who's been working here for a few years: to buy the apartment they've been renting, a decent place in a good suburb but by no means extravagant, would cost $2.5 million, but they've found something only slightly smaller a few kilometres away on the other side of the border for $600,000).

Welcome back to an old friend, the Geneva Bise. This is the northeasterly wind that the topography makes Geneva a tunnel for, and in winter it is not a warm wind. It wasn't as extreme as the 2012 vintage of the genre (think 0 degrees and 60 km/h rather than -10 and 80 km/h) - that may come next week - but still enough to make one think about what you do. In my case, this meant staying well clear of the lakefront (with its spray from breaking waves, although it's not cold enough yet for the spray to freeze) and long bridges, and heading southwest in mostly more sheltered areas. This took me through a mix of unfamiliar and unfamiliar ground, the latter a nice pocket on the south side of Onex. The last 15 minutes was hard work, mostly straight into the wind down Boulevard des Acacias and its continuation, and with a few traffic stops which you don't really need on a morning like this.

The run was reasonably slow, not so surprising in the conditions. Achilles iffy at times but manageable; it may help having an effective ice pack applied to it whilst running...

Work today took me, among other things, to looking for data quantifying the impact of 2017's extreme weather events. Tracking the source of the claimed US$400 million in indirect economic impacts in Macau from Typhoon Hato led me to conclude that most of that $400 million was probably money that wasn't lost in Macau's casinos. I don't know about you - although I'm assuming that not too many AP readers own casinos in Macau - but I'd regard that as a positive rather than a negative.

Intervals fail: Achilles was feeling iffy during the warm-up, which isn't so unusual (or necessarily anything to be too concerned about), but quite painful as soon as I pushed off for the first rep. That led me to switch to plan B...

...which was the Vernets pool in the evening (the one close to the office is closed for annual maintenance). Geneva pools have never been my favourite, but tonight was especially challenging - the section which was marked out with lanes was all being used by squads, and the remainder was a free-for-all, with no particular logic about who was going where. (Probably half the people in there - and there were plenty - were attempting to do laps, with the rest going every which way).

After observing for a couple of minutes to see if there was any order to the chaos before plunging in, my main objective was to get through without crashing into anybody, which had moments like looking up to see three side by side coming straight for you, and seeing them part to leave just enough of a gap to get through - reminded me a bit of trying to cross the road in Hanoi. Started to get a little less frantic towards the end as closing time got closer. After all that, the swim itself seemed somewhat incidental (and the distance is an underestimate because I wasn't always going in straight lines).

Didn't get back until close to midnight last night (and not the most comfortable of flights, with a large, slightly inebriated and manspreading neighbour), and had a meeting running from 8.30-12.30 in the morning, so lunchtime was the first opportunity to get out. Didn't expect much but still headed out with the hope of doing the run over the top of the Pregny hills; after the first kilometre uphill past the UN it was apparent that this wasn't the day for hills, so turned around and settle for minimum-respectable-run territory. Into a bit of a northeasterly coming back, something which will be making somewhat more of a presence as the week goes on.

Middle distance chasing start. Felt better running than yesterday, and only a couple of 10-second wobbles, but the terrain didn't play to my strengths as much as yesterday - mostly either flat or really steep - so I wasn't quite as close to the front end. Ended up dropping one place (effectively two, as the overnight leader didn't start) to finish 7th overall, still a result I was fairly happy with.

The dynamics of a chasing start are a bit different when you don't recognise your competition (and where there are lots of other people running around in a small area). I suspected at one point in mid-course I was in a small pack, which meant I wasn't going out of my way to get out of the way going downhill on a very steep track which I knew others could do faster (apologies if you weren't in my class).

Headed back to Madrid afterwards, a trip which partly demonstrated that I didn't miss a lot through being unable to see through darkness and/or fog, except for hundreds of wind turbines - since these are installed in a non-English-speaking country, presumably they don't give people migraines or cause chickens to lay yolkless eggs - and the Big Bull. Some nice country before I got on the freeway, though.

Long distance day of the Costa Calida event - adding Spain to my list of countries competed in. Arriving at the event (finally getting to see the scenery after breaking out of the fog) it looked like it was going to be physical, an impression not dispelled by a set of winning times which suggested that the setters thought Olav Lundanes was going to do 7 min/km (they were right). It was indeed physical; the ground and the formations in many places reminded me of the steep bits of some of the Burra/Worlds End terrain, although the vegetation is very different, with low shrubs making it hard work to run through even when level.

I feared the worst when I struggled with a modest hill on the way to #2 (which I then compounded by doing more climb than I needed to when going past the control, a one-minuter which was my last mistake of the day of any size). At this stage it was already apparent that the advertised 5% climb bore about as much resemblance to reality as a Donald Trump tweetstorm. I did gradually get into it, getting a bit stronger as it went on (although still not running much of the steeper hills); the splits suggest that I didn't handle the very steep descent into #4 well, but at least I hit the control. Had a good stretch from 8 to 11 - perhaps the most South Australian bit of the terrain - with three top-six splits and thought I might have a chance of getting under 70, but I'd underestimated the gnarliness of a couple of the late control placements.

I knew others would be finding it tough too, but still placed higher than I expected, 6th in a field of 50-odd. There's a chasing start tomorrow, with the times sufficiently closely bunched on both sides that anything between 2nd and 13th is well within the bounds of decent-run plausibility. I'll be particularly pleased if I manage to stay in front of the bunch of six 1.20 apart between 1.30 and 3.00 behind me.

Spanish orienteering seem to follow a similar approach to their young to that of the ancient Spartans. The winning times in M12 and W12 were 54 and 46 respectively, and there were finishers in times beyond three hours in both classes.

(In my early orienteering days you still sometimes got the odd young junior course which was shorter than the adults but almost as technically hard; M12A on day 1 at Easter 1982, 4.3km with controls which I'd consider bingo controls if I got them on a course now, was probably the last major example).

Not quite sure what the organisers were thinking when they scheduled a late afternoon sprint after a tough physical long - unsurprisingly elite no-shows were in ample supply (it doesn't count towards the final result). I was in two minds myself but liked the idea of a Mediterranean old town sprint, and felt better than I expected. Nice enough course but didn't really get into rabbit-warren territory in the way that it sometimes can in that part of the world, and got blown away for speed, about three minutes off the lead.

C • Orienteering junkie :) 1

Event: XXX COSTA CALIDA
 

A late evening thanks to a delayed arrival in Madrid: almost a carbon copy of last year's equivalent event except that the delay was before leaving Geneva rather than at the car rental counter, and that I didn't take the chance this time on eating on the road. Ended up getting to where I was staying (about halfway to the event) about 11.30, having spent some of that time wondering whether 120 was a sensible speed to be doing with patchy fog about - unlike Portugal, you don't see many going much faster - and some putting places to names I'd previously identified primarily with the relegation zone of La Liga. (Some would say that the relegation zone of La Liga normally starts at about fourth...)

A see-if-things-still-work run which was essentially answered in the affirmative (once I'd spent bits of the first kilometre coughing up stuff). Second half of the run was basically normal. Achilles tight early but gradually loosened during the run, and not a problem during the day.

Did a bit of exploration today, heading right down to the point at Jonction, the point where the Rhone and Arve rivers meet and used at warmer times of the year by the locals for swimming/picnicking/hanging out (and reputedly a certain quantity of commerce involving illicit substances). The bulk of the junction itself is occupied somewhat unromantically by a bus depot - but then, Sydney used to have something comparable (the Opera House is built on the site of a former tram depot). There was also a bit of adventure in this section on some muddy riverside paths, at a time of year when I definitely didn't want to fall into the river - even if it was the warmest morning so far.

Now on the way to add a new country (Spain) to my orienteering list. It's a completely new area but the model map looks very Australian.

I'd made the decision not to run this morning before going to bed last night, and wasn't too upset to have a reason not to get out of bed too early this morning. Felt somewhat better by the afternoon (and got on a bit of a writing roll late in the day as well), so hopefully I'll be right to head out tomorrow (and in reasonable condition for the weekend).

Achilles felt tight walking around today for no obvious reason.

Yesterday's high couldn't last for long; by evening I had a sore throat, and had a fairly rough night. Didn't feel too horrible when I got up and decided to press on regardless and see how it felt. This wasn't the most sparkling of sessions, but not too bad. Faded quickly through the day, though, and I'm starting to think that a long run in cold (possibly freezing) rain tomorrow morning may not be the smartest of ideas if I want to run well in Spain this weekend.

Warming up and down to/from the lakefront. There had been a bit of snow overnight; in the old town where I'm staying, it had settled only on roofs and elevated surfaces, but once away from buildings there was a couple of centimetres even on pavements, except where it had been cleared or salted. (The section of the lakefront where I actually did the intervals was one of those).

Somewhat out of the blue, one of my smoothest and most enjoyable runs for months. Based on one of my classic Geneva routes, out along the Arve to the old Vessy power station before coming back through the suburbs on the northern bank (territory I also went into yesterday, but these runs were chalk and cheese). Flowing particularly well in the last 15 minutes as it shifted to being mostly gently downhill.

The invigorating conditions may have been a help: clear, dry and around -6 degrees. I'd forgotten how nice this was to run in (yes, I mean it seriously).

A struggle throughout; partly this was because my back wasn't great and caused difficulties on any significant hills (which made it as well that they were all gradual), but felt pretty flat even throughout that - perhaps because it's a bit of a novelty these days to run the morning after something long. As with Saturday, distance is probably a bit underdone in the old town section but even outside that things were slow. Dry when I was out, but it looked like there had been a bit of snow not long beforehand, with some settled on cars and grass in the highest parts of the run.

I spent most of today reading large numbers of national climate summaries in search of information for the report. My music shuffle happened to throw up "Vienna" as I was reading the Austrian one, whereupon I took the track list as cues for where to go next, through the likes of "One Perfect Day" , "Rasputin" and "Mexican Radio". (The 2017 answer to "is it still raining there in England?" is "about as much as it usually does").

Sergeant Frogga in the spotlight (in a good way).

A longer run today, mercifully feeling considerably better than yesterday after a decent night's sleep. (Made it through to 9.45 last night, with some help from the Winter Olympics, and slept until about 7, with only one interruption from the crowd disgorging from a nearby nightclub).

The forecast had been for light rain, but forecasting rain/snow boundaries in complex topography is tricky so I wasn't totally surprised to be heading out into snow - rather wet snow (occasionally mixed with sleet) which wasn't settling on anything except grass and parked cars. The first 45 minutes, much of which was gently uphill (and into the wind), was a bit of a slog but nothing in particular went wrong. That took me into some rural areas out the back of Bernex, before dropping down to the Aire "river" (in reality not much more than a drain). The path along the Aire should have been the nicest part of the run, but it was during this section that my back started to act up a bit - unusual for this to happen well into a run, and even more so for it to happen on flat ground - and I decided to head straight home rather than push it out beyond 2 hours. Picked up a bit later on, and got to see a Sunday market I hadn't known about (a place which I made a return visit to at lunch).

Not much happens in Geneva on Sunday (apart from the aforementioned market), and my planned trip up the La Saleve cablecar would have been a waste of time becuase of low cloud, so I spent most of the rest of the day on the couch in front of the Winter Olympics (unsurprisingly getting blanket coverage on Swiss TV).

It's referendum time coming up and the posters are out in force, mostly for local ballots. There's a poster which says "no to the destruction of the festivals of Geneva", which makes you wonder who is in favour of the destruction of the festivals of Geneva. (Given that the posters come from a right-wing populist outfit, I suspect the answer is "nobody", and that this is another piece of culture-war virtue-signalling of a sort which will be familiar to anyone who's recently experienced Australia Day).

Probably the best that can be said for this run is that it wasn't as bad as the last time I tried to do a run straight off the plane in Geneva (the fact that it was 25 degrees colder this time possibly had something to do with this). Don't think the Garmin was giving me full value in the old town - I'm staying in the same apartment as this time last year - but even on the lakefront I was only doing 5.45s at best. Did enough walking before starting the run to shake off post-flight Achilles syndrome, but still feeling very tight in both calves on the run.

The flight itself - via Doha, this time - was unusually turbulent on both legs, but otherwise uneventful. Sydney-Doha is probably just about the longest leg I've ever flown, with some help from headwinds and the detour required through having to avoid Saudi and UAE airspace (a consequence of a neighbours' tiff). Geneva is just about the last of the wave of morning flights out of Doha, so the airport was busy when I arrived but almost deserted by the time I left.

Running conditions were quite pleasant - cloudy, dry and about +3. January was very wet and very mild (which meant massive snowfalls in areas high enough to be above the main snowline, 1500m or so - as the signs put it, risque avalanche maximale), but it's turned colder over the last week. The snowline looks like it's around 600-700m (the city itself is at 375).

Finally took properly to a section of the coast (although only a smallish one, from Bronte to a bit past Clovelly), after going up through Queens Park. Thought I'd run out of time to get as far around as Coogee. Certainly an improvement on Wednesday, although the climb back from the coast was still fairly hard work; no sign of injury trouble though. More humid than it has been, and got to see some evidence of the June 2016 storm - having to divert up through the cemetery because the track below it was taken out by a landslide.

This will be the last humid run I do for a while, because I'm off to foreign fields again - Geneva (with a bit of Spain and Norway on the side). Flying out of Sydney tonight, assuming the light show currently visible doesn't throw a spanner in the works.

I'm also indebted to Claire Davill for sharing with us a selection of the names which were used exactly once for South Australian babies last year. I'm not sure which parent(s) is/are the ones most likely to come to the attention of child protection authorities - those who called their daughter Fizza, those who called their son Meth, or those (presumably not of Vietnamese origin) who called their daughter Khe-Sanh.

C • A regular run 1

Plan A was to go to Wylie's Baths, an oceanside sea-water pool at Coogee. I've had a somewhat cursed experience with this pool and it was to strike again: my 2012 attempt to swim here was scuttled by a storm and in 2015 it didn't open in time. This time it was a new one - I arrived to learn the pool was full of stingers. (Don't think a run this morning would have gone well - felt sleepy for a long time, which might well have been trying to get up early the morning after the conference dinner).

Not feeling especially like being stung, I switched to plan B, which was the rather less scenic surrounds of the UNSW aquatic centre after the end of the day's conference proceedings. The swim itself was reasonably routine, but had a couple of short-lived episodes of knee soreness later in the swim - not sure why.

Definitely not one of my better running days. Started out towards Maroubra with the intention of coming back along the coast and aiming for 90 minutes, but felt pretty awful from the start, even on the downhill sections, and by the time I got to the beach settled for coming more or less straight back. Felt a bit better after a bit of a break before coming up from the water, although it was still one of those days where the traffic stops were a blessing rather than a curse. Suspect I'm fighting off an illness of some kind - have been feeling a bit congested although without a lot of other symptoms.

My route did take me past the scene of yesterday morning's incident. Looks like the errant driver drove straight through the end of a T-intersection and through the wall.

10x1 minute on/1 minute off down at Centennial Park. Felt a bit out of sorts when I started - and I don't think I can blame this on being nauseated by being exposed to 10 minutes of someone from the IPA talking on ABC News Breakfast - and pretty sluggish through the session as a whole, but picked up a little bit in the later reps. Calf tightness not an issue during the session, but again appeared a bit during the afternoon.

Nick Earl (aka the World's Fastest Climate Scientist - he's done mid-29s for 10k) was doing a supposedly identical session just down the road, but I suspect his 'off' minutes were faster than my 'on' ones.

Warm-up and down. Coped with the steep bit of the climb back better than I thought I would.

A bit of excitement in the neighbourhood this morning - someone managed to drive/roll their car into the Randwick cemetery. You will not be surprised to hear that a breath test (allegedly) returned a positive result.

C • Headline 2

Given how tight my calf was yesterday afternoon/evening I was in two minds about whether I should go out (it was still a bit tight this morning), but there were no issues once running. Headed for the flattest option available in the local area, essentially a lap of Centennial Park, which was perfectly satisfactory, and did manage to handle a sharpish climb back to base without any dramas. Not humid by Sydney February standards.

The conference sessions today weren't on my specific areas (that's tomorrow and Wednesday) so I was able to go around talks and focus on whatever looked interesting. The last time I was in this part of the UNSW campus was in the vicinity of control 14 at the NOL race in 2015, and I was able to put my navigational skills to good use in the morning in identifying the fastest route from conference room to coffee (it was conference coffee so nothing to get too excited about, but at least I didn't have to wait for too long in a queue for it).

Ended up a letdown after yesterday. Started with the intention of 2 hours, and the first 40 minutes or so were encouraging, if not quite as good as yesterday. This time, though, instead of starting iffily and warming up, the Achilles started flaring up about 40 minutes in and got progressively worse - not that it was excessively painful, but I was clearly limping and didn't want to do further damage. I sometimes think that I'm giving it away too easily in these situations at the moment, but there was enough post-run tightness in the calf to suggest that pushing much further would have been more trouble.

Hopefully it will be more settled this week, although it will be tested - I'm at a conference at UNSW this week and there aren't too many options around the local area which don't involve some sharp ups and downs: Centennial Park is perhaps the best of them.

A bit of a change of scene today: my parents were keen to go to a nursery in Mount Evelyn to check out plants for the new place (among other things), so I dropped them off and then went for a run on the Warburton rail trail, turning around somewhere between Wandin and Seville. I expected, and got, long gradual hills, and a decent amount of shade on a warmish day (about 25).

The first 2km was downhill (with obvious consequences for the finish), which was good for settling down, and from there it was a pretty solid run - had a decent amount in hand for when the hills did come, and handled them reasonably well. Achilles a bit sore in the first 10 minutes but fine after that. Not sure it was quite as good as the time suggested, though - it's the first time I've been under 5.30 pace on a "normal" training run for more than a year. (Perhaps being more awake counteracts being warmer). Still, I'll definitely take it as a positive.

At Northcote, earlier than normal - which meant it was somewhat suboptimally crowded (the squads take up a lot of lanes here) and I spent a fair bit of time trying to stay out of other people's way. Still seemed to work out OK.

A physio appointment was the reason I was early (normally I do these in the evening not the morning, but the timing didn't work this week). The Achilles is still intermittently troublesome (there was a bit of soreness coming off the long downhill yesterday) and she decided to try shockwave treatment - which involves applying an instrument which sounds a bit like a jackhammer. This sounds painful and is, but it does seem to have had the desired effect, at least for today.

Last day in the usual office for a while. Got everything I wanted to done, more or less.

Able to come up OK on Thursday morning after a bad Wednesday evening, which doesn't always happen these days - it probably didn't hurt that the first half of the run was pretty flat along the Yarra Flats, but coped OK with the climb back across Heidelberg. Slowed a bit in the later stages, and Achilles a bit iffy after the long downhill back into Ivanhoe.

It was the coolest morning for a while, and I spotted someone else out running who looked like they were dressed for -12, not +12.