Training Log Archive: blairtrewinIn the 30 days ending Sep 30, 2017:
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Saturday Sep 30, 2017 #
10 AM
Run race ((orienteering)) 1:04:44 [4] *** 7.7 km (8:24 / km) +250m 7:14 / km
spiked:13/14c
Australian Long Championships, 3rd in M45. Matched my result from last year, a result I would definitely have taken at the start of the day after a year when I've never really been able to get any sort of momentum in training.
Felt a bit lethargic on the warm-up, but got into it once running. Hit #1 pretty well and then went right on the long and hilly #2; couldn't run much up the two steepest climbs on this leg (although I don't think anyone else will have run up the second one either). Caught sight of someone coming out of #2, although it was a couple more legs before I knew it was Scott Simson (2 minutes ahead of me); whist I only caught him very briefly, at #11, I would have him in sight for much of the rest of the course.
#5 was another long leg back across the map into the mining and we diverged a bit on the last part; there were then some short legs through the detail which he was clean through (and I went in a bit early on #7 and lost maybe 15-20 seconds, my only mistake). A couple of longer legs after that before the last bit in the detail; starting to feel a bit stronger in the second half.
Couldn't have come close to matching the first two (Jon 55, Jock 58), but a solid day's work. Scott was 4th, a reversal of my very first Australian Championships 35 years ago in M12 when he just pipped me for 3rd (by coincidence, that was on the day Richmond last played in a Grand Final).
Felt a bit lethargic on the warm-up, but got into it once running. Hit #1 pretty well and then went right on the long and hilly #2; couldn't run much up the two steepest climbs on this leg (although I don't think anyone else will have run up the second one either). Caught sight of someone coming out of #2, although it was a couple more legs before I knew it was Scott Simson (2 minutes ahead of me); whist I only caught him very briefly, at #11, I would have him in sight for much of the rest of the course.
#5 was another long leg back across the map into the mining and we diverged a bit on the last part; there were then some short legs through the detail which he was clean through (and I went in a bit early on #7 and lost maybe 15-20 seconds, my only mistake). A couple of longer legs after that before the last bit in the detail; starting to feel a bit stronger in the second half.
Couldn't have come close to matching the first two (Jon 55, Jock 58), but a solid day's work. Scott was 4th, a reversal of my very first Australian Championships 35 years ago in M12 when he just pipped me for 3rd (by coincidence, that was on the day Richmond last played in a Grand Final).
Friday Sep 29, 2017 #
8 AM
Pool running 45:00 [3] 0.7 km (1:04:17 / km)
Early session on a competition rest day, at the Bathurst pool, in what they describe as the "leisurely" lane. Right quad felt a bit tight early on and the session seemed to drag on for a long time, but not too bad as far as it goes.
Went out to Kanangra Walls later in the day - spectacular once you get there (and nice country on the way), although I felt a little out of sorts during the middle of the day. Hopefully that's not a precursor of something more significant on the weekend, although things are feeling somewhat better now.
One of my items of interest was to see what The Boyd (1979 Australian Championships, and one of the first Australian granite maps) looks like. It looks lovely from the road (plenty of rock without being too extreme, and runnable forest). I assume access issues are the reason it hasn't been used for many years; everything east of the road is now declared wilderness, although I think a rogaine was held there last year? (Would probably be hard to find an arena capable of handling a national-level event, too).
Went out to Kanangra Walls later in the day - spectacular once you get there (and nice country on the way), although I felt a little out of sorts during the middle of the day. Hopefully that's not a precursor of something more significant on the weekend, although things are feeling somewhat better now.
One of my items of interest was to see what The Boyd (1979 Australian Championships, and one of the first Australian granite maps) looks like. It looks lovely from the road (plenty of rock without being too extreme, and runnable forest). I assume access issues are the reason it hasn't been used for many years; everything east of the road is now declared wilderness, although I think a rogaine was held there last year? (Would probably be hard to find an arena capable of handling a national-level event, too).
Thursday Sep 28, 2017 #
1 PM
Run race ((orienteering)) 51:37 [4] *** 5.6 km (9:13 / km) +320m 7:10 / km
spiked:16/17c
This was definitely a day when my mouth was working better than the rest of my body. Felt OK warming up after a morning on the mike; knew I'd be dropped straight away on the mass start but still hoped for a nice run. Those hopes were dashed pretty quickly; back was suspect on the first hill and I was almost tempted to turn around straight away, but decided to give it a few controls to settle down and it did, more or less. Still a struggle on the hills, of which there were many (although at least I wasn't reduced to walking up the hill into the spectator control). Was 30 seconds or so behind Ian Davies for much of the course but he blew the third-last. Will certainly want to be stronger than that on the weekend, but then I'll have a better preparation on the weekend.
As always, Schools relay day was a great spectator day. For the first half of the day it looked like Queensland had a shot at making up the deficit to ACT, but in the end ACT ran away with it (thanks in no small measure to big last legs by both Melhuish sisters). The Schools does seem to run in phases where one state is dominant for five years or so (initially ACT in the early years, then NSW in the later 1990s, Queensland in the late 2000s and Tasmania in the early 2010s), and now it seems to be ACT's turn again. They'll lose a couple next year but should still be pretty strong.
As always, Schools relay day was a great spectator day. For the first half of the day it looked like Queensland had a shot at making up the deficit to ACT, but in the end ACT ran away with it (thanks in no small measure to big last legs by both Melhuish sisters). The Schools does seem to run in phases where one state is dominant for five years or so (initially ACT in the early years, then NSW in the later 1990s, Queensland in the late 2000s and Tasmania in the early 2010s), and now it seems to be ACT's turn again. They'll lose a couple next year but should still be pretty strong.
Wednesday Sep 27, 2017 #
10 AM
Run race ((orienteering)) 20:33 [4] *** 3.6 km (5:43 / km) +30m 5:29 / km
spiked:27/28c
Public race before the Schools sprint, but not quite on the Schools course (one thing which took me, and plenty of others, by surprise is that at these events, the longest public course is not the equivalent senior schools course, but something a bit longer). Main question was to see if the ankle stood up, which it did, more or less - probably helped doing this before rather than after a commentary stint, too. Didn't have a lot of speed about me today (and can't have been a pretty sight in the leg across the over), but not too many issues on a fairly straightforward course technically - just one minor glitch exiting 22. At least I punched all the controls, which seemed to be a bit of a problem for some people later in the day.
The afternoon activity was a trip out to Evans Crown. I only ever ran here once (I missed the Australian Championships there, but ran a sodden QB3 opening day in 1995) - tough area to orienteer on, but great for climbing on top of boulders and rock slabs and having good views.
The afternoon activity was a trip out to Evans Crown. I only ever ran here once (I missed the Australian Championships there, but ran a sodden QB3 opening day in 1995) - tough area to orienteer on, but great for climbing on top of boulders and rock slabs and having good views.
Tuesday Sep 26, 2017 #
Note
(injured)
Ankle still somewhat sore today - would have gone out had it mattered more, but after a brief test on the warm-up decided not to risk it today. Probably wasn't really in the mood for racing after a couple of hours on the microphone (occasionally having to resort to old-school methods with a start list and a stopwatch after some early technology glitches). A good day of competition with three states and NZ separated by only a point.
My attention was drawn to the fact that the Hill End Gold company still exists - and had we had the foresight to invest OA's money in it, we might have done well as their share price has doubled this year (from 3 cents to 6). I get the impression it's one of those companies where you wouldn't want to spoil the share price by actually drilling the mine. (It seems that these days their main potential operation is about 40km north of town, with a few side activities in Laos).
My attention was drawn to the fact that the Hill End Gold company still exists - and had we had the foresight to invest OA's money in it, we might have done well as their share price has doubled this year (from 3 cents to 6). I get the impression it's one of those companies where you wouldn't want to spoil the share price by actually drilling the mine. (It seems that these days their main potential operation is about 40km north of town, with a few side activities in Laos).
Monday Sep 25, 2017 #
9 AM
Swimming 33:00 [2] 1.0 km (33:00 / km)
Recovery swim session at the Bathurst aquatic centre, in the company of Zara, who kindly declined to show me up too much and swam on the other side of the pool (I think her pace is close to double mine). Felt quite good in the water once I got going, though, and that showed up in a faster session than usual. Ankle a little sore this morning, though not enough to be of any great concern.
Sunday Sep 24, 2017 #
11 AM
Run race ((orienteering)) 50:28 [4] *** 5.2 km (9:42 / km) +175m 8:18 / km
spiked:21/26c
First of three outings on the Hill End map. Technical mining through significant parts of the map, quite reminiscent of Castlemaine terrain - certainly needed concentration throughout. In the end, though, my most significant error came on one of the easier legs, making a parallel error on the gully-spur 8 - picked it up before it got too catastrophic, but still dropped 1.5 minutes or so. Also 45 seconds or so at each of 4 and 22, losing my line a bit on both. Felt a bit stronger than I have for most of the last month, but still not competitive on speed - can't imagine I'll run too many national championships at elite level.
Rob Walter caught me 8 minutes at 13 (not so surprising after my indifferent start), but took a while to get away properly - he kept making small mistakes and I kept getting within sight of him. Also dicing at various times with Brian Poon, Richard Goonan and Rob Bennett (who threatened to emulate Bryan Keely's Rowdy Flat effort a few years back of passing me eight times in a course).
Think it will be bigger hills and less continuous detail next weekend, but we'll find out in due course.
Hill End is an 1870s gold mining town with a lot of historical plaques, and I noticed one which showed a chemist's ad for "Holtermann's Life Giving Drops". Unfortunately, there was no information provided on whether any of the ingredients in said drops were on the WADA prohibited list. I am also somewhat sceptical of some parts of Hill End's Wikipedia entry, which states "at its peak in the early 1870s it had a population estimated at 8,000 served by two newspapers, five banks, eight churches, nine adult book shops, thirty seven hot chip shops, a dagwood dog stand, four roller coasters and twenty-eight pubs". (Wikipedia does say (citation needed)).
Rob Walter caught me 8 minutes at 13 (not so surprising after my indifferent start), but took a while to get away properly - he kept making small mistakes and I kept getting within sight of him. Also dicing at various times with Brian Poon, Richard Goonan and Rob Bennett (who threatened to emulate Bryan Keely's Rowdy Flat effort a few years back of passing me eight times in a course).
Think it will be bigger hills and less continuous detail next weekend, but we'll find out in due course.
Hill End is an 1870s gold mining town with a lot of historical plaques, and I noticed one which showed a chemist's ad for "Holtermann's Life Giving Drops". Unfortunately, there was no information provided on whether any of the ingredients in said drops were on the WADA prohibited list. I am also somewhat sceptical of some parts of Hill End's Wikipedia entry, which states "at its peak in the early 1870s it had a population estimated at 8,000 served by two newspapers, five banks, eight churches, nine adult book shops, thirty seven hot chip shops, a dagwood dog stand, four roller coasters and twenty-eight pubs". (Wikipedia does say (citation needed)).
Saturday Sep 23, 2017 #
3 PM
Run race ((orienteering)) 21:40 [4] *** 3.9 km (5:33 / km) +30m 5:21 / km
spiked:26/27c
Australian Sprint Championships at Charles Sturt University, Bathurst. Not competitive for speed (three from the bottom), but a reasonably smooth run - only time loss was perhaps 5-10 seconds at the second last where I started up a set of stairs I didn't need to. Also felt like I was pushing it reasonably hard compared to recent weeks (having Ciaran to chase through the middle part of the course helped). A course which kept you concentrating without being super-technical. No injury problems which was a plus after the preceding week.
As those who were there will know, this was also a very significant day in NSW's climatic history, and Bathurst was one of the most significant of all: the 31.5 degrees there was 2.1 above the previous September record, so far the largest margin of the day at a long-term site (although I'm still waiting for final numbers from Kerang). In all it looks like 22 of the long-term sites (16 in NSW, 5 in Victoria and 1 in Queensland) have set September records, with records set over around 80% of NSW.
As those who were there will know, this was also a very significant day in NSW's climatic history, and Bathurst was one of the most significant of all: the 31.5 degrees there was 2.1 above the previous September record, so far the largest margin of the day at a long-term site (although I'm still waiting for final numbers from Kerang). In all it looks like 22 of the long-term sites (16 in NSW, 5 in Victoria and 1 in Queensland) have set September records, with records set over around 80% of NSW.
Friday Sep 22, 2017 #
Note
A little bit of ankle soreness still today - certainly would have given it a go had it not been the day before a race, but it is so I didn't. Hit the road this afternoon (a bit later than some) to Bathurst, with Gundagai the Friday night target, and lots of temperature variation after dark to keep myself amused (ranging from 20 on top of Kyeamba Gap to 9 in the dips before Tarcutta only 20km or so later).
Hasn't been an ideal couple of weeks leading in with two nuisance-level injuries in rapid succession. This weekend I'm hoping only for respectability, but next Saturday is the one where I'll really be aiming for a result; will do pretty well to match my third from last year.
Hasn't been an ideal couple of weeks leading in with two nuisance-level injuries in rapid succession. This weekend I'm hoping only for respectability, but next Saturday is the one where I'll really be aiming for a result; will do pretty well to match my third from last year.
Thursday Sep 21, 2017 #
7 AM
Run 31:00 [3] 5.3 km (5:51 / km)
Might have been a bit of a token session but it was good to get out running again. Ankle at nuisance-level discomfort (perhaps improving a little as the run went on), and no sign of a flare-up afterwards, so I think this one might be behind me (in the nick of time). Didn't feel great as a run but that's often the case for the first run back after an injury. Made a brief stop en route to drop my Yes in the postbox.
Wednesday Sep 20, 2017 #
Note
(injured) (rest day)
Continuing to improve and would have gone out if it was a competition day, but it isn't, so left it another day. Felt unusually good on the ride in this morning (probably partly because it was such a nice morning and partly because I'd had more sleep than I usually do).
Tuesday Sep 19, 2017 #
8 AM
Pool running 45:00 [3] 0.7 km (1:04:17 / km)
Ankle has improved significantly today and is hopefully only a day or two away from being properly runnable (there's still discomfort walking on it, but not the I-don't-really-want-to-be-doing-this pain that there was yesterday). Fine in the pool, if a little uninspired. I'd got word of another attack in the Australian before starting (the message I got about it suggested that I might have been named personally in it, but that wasn't the case), but that didn't seem to rattle me very much.
Watching the forecasts for the weekend closely. Still looks like record or near-record temperatures in Bathurst on Saturday (probably 28-30) but a change on Saturday night which should take fire danger out of play for Sunday. A good chance of the first ever September 40 in NSW on Saturday (coincidentally, the nearest miss previously - a 39.6 at Wanaaring - was the last time we were in Bathurst for a national carnival, in 2004). Looks like a nasty fire weather situation for northern NSW and southern Queensland on Sunday - extreme fire danger is something rarely experienced in southeast Queensland, and I don't think Brisbane is prepared in anywhere near the way that Melbourne, or even Sydney, is for something really big, so hopefully it doesn't happen.
Watching the forecasts for the weekend closely. Still looks like record or near-record temperatures in Bathurst on Saturday (probably 28-30) but a change on Saturday night which should take fire danger out of play for Sunday. A good chance of the first ever September 40 in NSW on Saturday (coincidentally, the nearest miss previously - a 39.6 at Wanaaring - was the last time we were in Bathurst for a national carnival, in 2004). Looks like a nasty fire weather situation for northern NSW and southern Queensland on Sunday - extreme fire danger is something rarely experienced in southeast Queensland, and I don't think Brisbane is prepared in anywhere near the way that Melbourne, or even Sydney, is for something really big, so hopefully it doesn't happen.
Monday Sep 18, 2017 #
7 AM
Swimming 36:00 [2] 1.0 km (36:00 / km)
(injured)
Swim at Northcote, not too inspiring but not too bad either.
Running hadn't formed part of my plans today in any case, but just in case it had, some quite sharp soreness had developed overnight at the front of my left ankle - sort of feels like it would warm up, but it isn't great (quite painful to walk on, especially in my work shoes). Hopefully it sorts itself out fairly soon, but it might put a bit of a hole in this week's plans (or, to put it another way, create an enforced taper). Reminds me a little bit of the injury I had at the end of the Easter 2011 carnival (which I attributed at the time to overuse of the accelerator pedal in a hire car without cruise control, not relevant here).
Woke up to hear on AM someone saying that the Gold Coast was becoming a free-for-all for property developers. I was under the impression that the Gold Coast already was a free-for-all for property developers, and had been for about the last 50 years.
Running hadn't formed part of my plans today in any case, but just in case it had, some quite sharp soreness had developed overnight at the front of my left ankle - sort of feels like it would warm up, but it isn't great (quite painful to walk on, especially in my work shoes). Hopefully it sorts itself out fairly soon, but it might put a bit of a hole in this week's plans (or, to put it another way, create an enforced taper). Reminds me a little bit of the injury I had at the end of the Easter 2011 carnival (which I attributed at the time to overuse of the accelerator pedal in a hire car without cruise control, not relevant here).
Woke up to hear on AM someone saying that the Gold Coast was becoming a free-for-all for property developers. I was under the impression that the Gold Coast already was a free-for-all for property developers, and had been for about the last 50 years.
Sunday Sep 17, 2017 #
11 AM
Run race ((orienteering)) 1:01:11 [4] *** 6.9 km (8:52 / km) +285m 7:21 / km
spiked:14/14c
Vic Long at Creswick Diggings, M45A. Again not a particularly strong physical performance - hills were a struggle - but a good technical one; didn't quite hold the line I wanted mid-leg on a couple of legs, but didn't lose more than a few seconds on any control. Moving quite smoothly in the second half after some back issues initially. Mining detail early and late with some long gully-spur legs in the middle - not a lot of route choice on those, but there was on a longish leg across Slaty Creek and its associated green on the second-last. (I went straight and didn't find it too bad, but those who went around on the road didn't lose a lot).
In some ways it was a similar scenario to last year, except that my late night was through an IOF teleconference rather than a flight halfway around the world - the field was such that I thought I would be OK as long as I didn't do anything stupid (and the DNSs of Dion and Geoff Lawford made it easier still). Ended up around 9 minutes up on Shane Doyle.
Unsurprisingly, I hit the wall pretty sharply later in the day (although fortunately not before driving back).
In some ways it was a similar scenario to last year, except that my late night was through an IOF teleconference rather than a flight halfway around the world - the field was such that I thought I would be OK as long as I didn't do anything stupid (and the DNSs of Dion and Geoff Lawford made it easier still). Ended up around 9 minutes up on Shane Doyle.
Unsurprisingly, I hit the wall pretty sharply later in the day (although fortunately not before driving back).
1 PM
Note
W21E today will take some beating for race of the year - the top four (all of whom ran in WOC) were separated by just over a minute, with Liis just edging out Tash, Krystal and Belinda.
Saturday Sep 16, 2017 #
2 PM
Run race ((orienteering)) 54:55 [4] *** 5.4 km (10:10 / km) +230m 8:23 / km
spiked:20/22c
Vic Middle at Petticoat Gully. A mostly consistent run on a technical area, but not remotely competitive on pace (Brodie did 35). Only significant error was at 19 in the steep eroded stuff - thought the depression was higher up the slope than it was and dropped maybe a minute or so. Knee a bit iffy on the warm-up but held up OK in the race itself. Acting my age tomorrow.
Friday Sep 15, 2017 #
Note
(injured) (rest day)
Knee a bit dicey again this morning (seemed to stir it up again on the ride home from work yesterday). Wouldn't be an issue most of the time, but just at the moment my main training priority is not to do anything which will jeopardise the weekend (or next weekend), which today meant not doing anything. Didn't ride into work either, although that was partly because I was well aware of the forecast for the afternoon, on what turned out to be our wettest day since April.
Busy weekend coming up - in addition to the two Victorian Championships races, there's an IOF meeting tomorrow evening (5pm start our time), and I'm just coming off an international meteorological hookup at 11pm, too.
Busy weekend coming up - in addition to the two Victorian Championships races, there's an IOF meeting tomorrow evening (5pm start our time), and I'm just coming off an international meteorological hookup at 11pm, too.
Thursday Sep 14, 2017 #
8 AM
Run 40:00 [3] 7.1 km (5:38 / km)
A see-if-things-still-work run. Knee still not quite right but had settled down a fair bit from yesterday, and OK on the run. Felt rather sluggish in the first half of the run but flowing reasonably well by the end.
A potentially interesting route choice problem: according to Google Maps, each of three widely separated routes from Canberra to Bathurst (via Boorowa/Cowra, Gunning/Crookwell and Taralga/Oberon) each take exactly 3 hours 27 minutes.
A potentially interesting route choice problem: according to Google Maps, each of three widely separated routes from Canberra to Bathurst (via Boorowa/Cowra, Gunning/Crookwell and Taralga/Oberon) each take exactly 3 hours 27 minutes.
Wednesday Sep 13, 2017 #
8 AM
Pool running 45:00 [3] 0.7 km (1:04:17 / km)
Knee still a bit dicey today and a few other niggles - could certainly run on it if I had to but didn't want to risk making it worse with races coming up. Wasn't entirely free in the water either, but good enough to end up as a reasonable session.
A certain amount of record-watching was done during the course of the working day - don't think it's the last bad fire day we'll see in coastal NSW this spring.
A certain amount of record-watching was done during the course of the working day - don't think it's the last bad fire day we'll see in coastal NSW this spring.
Tuesday Sep 12, 2017 #
7 AM
Run 1:01:00 [3] 10.3 km (5:55 / km)
River tracks, pretty slow in the rougher stuff and didn't really get going. A bit of knee soreness in the first few minutes which disappeared on the run but was evident later in the day; will need to watch this. Most humid morning we've had for a while; haven't done much sweating lately (even in Queensland, which was exceptionally dry).
Monday Sep 11, 2017 #
8 AM
Swimming 37:00 [2] 1.0 km (37:00 / km)
Running a bit later than usual after a fairly late night returning last night, and a bit slower than usual after a reasonably tiring weekend. Seemed to be plodding a bit (or whatever the aquatic equivalent is of "plodding"), but still a reasonable morning to be out, and the tailwind on the way into work was nice, too.
Wasn't quite so nice once I got there to the news that one of my colleagues had been the subject of a flagrantly defamatory article in the Spectator. (I caught up with Rachel Nolan on the way back from the event yesterday - first time I've seen her since she was a minister - and you probably won't be too surprised to learn that a certain amount of swapping of News Corp war stories was involved).
Wasn't quite so nice once I got there to the news that one of my colleagues had been the subject of a flagrantly defamatory article in the Spectator. (I caught up with Rachel Nolan on the way back from the event yesterday - first time I've seen her since she was a minister - and you probably won't be too surprised to learn that a certain amount of swapping of News Corp war stories was involved).
Sunday Sep 10, 2017 #
9 AM
Run race ((orienteering)) 1:23:32 [4] *** 8.6 km (9:43 / km) +260m 8:26 / km
spiked:14/18c
2nd day Queensland Championships at Amiens. Took a while to get into this physically but eventually settled into a mode of plugging away for a long(ish) distance. Also a little wobbly early and had an odd mistake when I missed a track junction on the way to 3, but managed to recover that without more than 30 seconds or so lost, and generally navigated well for the rest of it, although never strong, especially on hills. This is a very enjoyable area, though, and moments such as ticking off features on the way down into 15 (and then nailing it) were a reminder of how enjoyable this sport can be.
Ended up maintaining 3rd; Tony Woolford had a good run and went through me, but Mark Nemeth had a blowout. At the start of the weekend it looked like there was a strong top four and then a long tail after that. As it turned out, those four were the only ones of the 14 starters left standing at the end of the weekend with the others all failing to finish one of the days (although at least one of those was amongst those who abandoned in order to assist Winnie, who appears to have suffered a serious knee injury).
This was definitely a weekend worth going to, for the outstanding terrain, and more generally for a weekend of being amongst friends. (I'm not so sure I'll be quite so welcome in some circles next weekend, although my work life should have taught me not to let a few vocal critics be representative of a wider community).
Ended up maintaining 3rd; Tony Woolford had a good run and went through me, but Mark Nemeth had a blowout. At the start of the weekend it looked like there was a strong top four and then a long tail after that. As it turned out, those four were the only ones of the 14 starters left standing at the end of the weekend with the others all failing to finish one of the days (although at least one of those was amongst those who abandoned in order to assist Winnie, who appears to have suffered a serious knee injury).
This was definitely a weekend worth going to, for the outstanding terrain, and more generally for a weekend of being amongst friends. (I'm not so sure I'll be quite so welcome in some circles next weekend, although my work life should have taught me not to let a few vocal critics be representative of a wider community).
Saturday Sep 9, 2017 #
1 PM
Run race ((orienteering)) 1:05:50 [4] **** 6.2 km (10:37 / km) +190m 9:12 / km
spiked:11/14c
First day of the Queensland Championships at the Cascades - always an area worth coming to, and always a serious challenge. This was a long distance style course rather than a middle, so longer legs - not a lot of major route choice (it's not that sort of area), but you can't let your concentration slip for a moment.
I let my concentration slip once, at 5 - lulled into a false sense of security by bare rock near the control. Dropped perhaps 2 minutes there. Otherwise, it was a steady run without a lot of pace or aggression, with only minor wobbles on 7 and 11. Mark Nemeth caught me 4 minutes at 8; I knew I wasn't going to be able to outrun him so the only way I was going to beat him was if he made a mistake and I slipped through, so not worth staying with him. (This strategy sort of worked, but his mistake was only enough for me to re-catch him, and we finished together).
Mark did 61 and a visiting Swede 60. Belinda did 59 (the only person between 14s and 65s to break the hour) and Bridget 61 on the same course. I haven't seen full results yet but suspect they will have a long tail.
I knew I was in rural Queensland when I saw a One Nation billboard coming into Warwick. Thought that Warwick might have brought me undone when a roll I bought there contained some rather undercooked chicken, but nothing's happened yet (for good measure I caught a finger in a rubbish bin flap). Those with long memories will recall that I have some history with eating misadventures on Queensland Championships weekends in this part of the world.
I let my concentration slip once, at 5 - lulled into a false sense of security by bare rock near the control. Dropped perhaps 2 minutes there. Otherwise, it was a steady run without a lot of pace or aggression, with only minor wobbles on 7 and 11. Mark Nemeth caught me 4 minutes at 8; I knew I wasn't going to be able to outrun him so the only way I was going to beat him was if he made a mistake and I slipped through, so not worth staying with him. (This strategy sort of worked, but his mistake was only enough for me to re-catch him, and we finished together).
Mark did 61 and a visiting Swede 60. Belinda did 59 (the only person between 14s and 65s to break the hour) and Bridget 61 on the same course. I haven't seen full results yet but suspect they will have a long tail.
I knew I was in rural Queensland when I saw a One Nation billboard coming into Warwick. Thought that Warwick might have brought me undone when a roll I bought there contained some rather undercooked chicken, but nothing's happened yet (for good measure I caught a finger in a rubbish bin flap). Those with long memories will recall that I have some history with eating misadventures on Queensland Championships weekends in this part of the world.
Friday Sep 8, 2017 #
7 AM
Run 57:00 [3] 10.1 km (5:39 / km)
Didn't feel especially energetic,especially in the first half, but turned into a decent session. A nice morning helped.
Dumb criminals (an occasional series): if you're reporting to police as part of your bail conditions for allegedly driving while disqualified, it's not a great idea to drive yourself to the police station, and it's an even worse idea to do it in a vehicle containing assorted drugs and prohibited weapons.
Dumb criminals (an occasional series): if you're reporting to police as part of your bail conditions for allegedly driving while disqualified, it's not a great idea to drive yourself to the police station, and it's an even worse idea to do it in a vehicle containing assorted drugs and prohibited weapons.
Thursday Sep 7, 2017 #
8 AM
Pool running 45:00 [3] 0.7 km (1:04:17 / km)
Back in Melbourne pretty late last night. Worked better with the logistics doing this session today rather than tomorrow. A totally standard and undistinguished session of this form, thinking through a few things which had blown up in the work-politics interface in my absence.
Wednesday Sep 6, 2017 #
7 AM
Run 1:30:00 [3] 15.3 km (5:53 / km)
Headed out to do a bit of exploration into a part of Sydney I haven't been to before, except passing through on Victoria Road - Balmain. The exploration part was interesting, once I'd got across the Anzac Bridge and the industrialish area beyond, but wasn't feeling great as a run - small hills (not as many as you'll find in many bits of Sydney, but still a few) and the occasional stairs were hard work. Perhaps I was just feeling a bit frustrated at the overnight news from Saudi Arabia (following the evening news from AAMI Park).
There may not have been any basketweaving on display in Balmain, but there was plenty of evidence of the forthcoming local council elections - unlike Melbourne, this is an openly partisan activity (at least in the inner city), with posters for Labor, Liberal and Green candidates abundantly on display. (You'd probably need to be an optimist to be a Liberal candidate in Balmain).
There may not have been any basketweaving on display in Balmain, but there was plenty of evidence of the forthcoming local council elections - unlike Melbourne, this is an openly partisan activity (at least in the inner city), with posters for Labor, Liberal and Green candidates abundantly on display. (You'd probably need to be an optimist to be a Liberal candidate in Balmain).
Tuesday Sep 5, 2017 #
7 AM
Run intervals ((orienteering)) 15:30 [4] 2.3 km (6:44 / km) +50m 6:05 / km
Sprintervals at Pyrmont, using a course from the 2013 NSW Sprint Championships and doing alternate legs hard/easy. This was a lot of fun - it's hard not to like Sydney on a morning like this, with sea kayakers on the smooth water alongside and the Harbour Bridge in the background, and the area was good too with the topography making for multiple levels. (Only handicap was that the resolution of my map print wasn't great, making some of the stairways hard to see).
Run 24:00 [3] 4.3 km (5:35 / km)
Going to/from Pyrmont. Felt pretty sleepy before I set out but fine once I was running.
I'm not sure if there's news from Big Foot I hadn't caught up with: the words "FREE JOCK" were spraypainted on one of the pillars for the overhead roadway.
I'm not sure if there's news from Big Foot I hadn't caught up with: the words "FREE JOCK" were spraypainted on one of the pillars for the overhead roadway.
Monday Sep 4, 2017 #
7 AM
Swimming 36:00 [2] 1.0 km (36:00 / km)
A morning session before a big conference day. Headed for the Ian Thorpe Aquatic Centre (coming from Canberra, where there is a strict policy of not naming things after living people, it feels a bit strange for a civic facility to be named after someone relatively young) for a session. Getting there was half the fun - it's relatively close in a straight line but negotiating the Darling Harbour developments to get there was a bit like trying to solve a complicated sprint leg without a map. (I found a better route back). Session started OK but faded away a bit.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, the foyer of the Ian Thorpe Aquatic Centre contains a poster for the Yes campaign.
The conference talk went well - also generated a fair bit of media follow-up which many of you will have encountered. Hopefully my colleagues aren't too jealous about the ABC describing me as "Australia's leading climate scientist".
Perhaps unsurprisingly, the foyer of the Ian Thorpe Aquatic Centre contains a poster for the Yes campaign.
The conference talk went well - also generated a fair bit of media follow-up which many of you will have encountered. Hopefully my colleagues aren't too jealous about the ABC describing me as "Australia's leading climate scientist".
Sunday Sep 3, 2017 #
10 AM
Run race ((orienteering)) 58:58 [4] *** 7.5 km (7:52 / km) +310m 6:31 / km
spiked:12/13c
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.
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.
Saturday Sep 2, 2017 #
2 PM
Run race ((orienteering)) 25:00 [4] *** 3.0 km (8:20 / km) +125m 6:54 / km
spiked:10/10c
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.
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.
Friday Sep 1, 2017 #
7 AM
Pool running 45:00 [3] 0.7 km (1:04:17 / km)
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).
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).