Training Log Archive: blairtrewin

Took advantage of being at a workshop in Macedon for a couple of days to get out into some terrain for the first time in a few weeks. Took me a bit of time to get my 'terrain legs' back but pretty good once it settled down (despite a face-plant from a slippery log that left me with an annoying bruise), and handled the last climb well. The steeper parts of Macedon have opened up a lot in the last few years as the bushfire regrowth has thinned out - a lot of the stuff that was medium or dark green on the 1992 map (which was what I was using) is now white or at worst light green.

Squeezing a run in in a narrow window between the end of sessions and dinner. Didn't stretch properly and felt pretty awful on the first bit (which was also steeply uphill), but settled down nicely thereafter, exploring some back roads on the east side of Macedon where I haven't been before. There's some very extravagant real estate in that part of the world (some of which is for sale if you've got a spare $5 million or so).

Clocked up two 500k months in a row for the first time since 1999. However, the Falls Creek and Macedon trips have meant the car won the race to 100,000. My legs are currently on 99,895 - barring mishaps I should hit the six figures in Adelaide next week, probably on Wednesday.

Continuing spell of good recent form with my best fartlek session for some months (best loop 9.03). Really attacked the uphill sprints, probably much to the bemusement of the locals on the even side of the street. (Tuesday is a designated watering day for even-numbered houses so a lot of people are out in their front yards with the hose when I do this run).

A reasonably mundane session at Fitzroy. For some reason the squad lanes were on the other side of the pool to usual today.

Monday night from Rob and Anna's place. As usual on this run spent quite a bit of it discussing water policy with Anna (as well as her battles with the British immigration authorities, who sound as anal as ours). Early stages were a bit nondescript but lovely by the middle, almost floating along at times; obviously the weekend didn't take as much out of me as I'd thought.

C • Water 1

Powered up the initial climb from Falls Creek and thought that it might be as good as Friday. It didn't work out quite that well, but still a very decent effort. Did the big loop Pretty Valley-Cope Saddle-Wallaces Hut-Langford Gap, then added on an out-and-back along the Roper Lookout aqueduct when it became apparent that my originally planned loop was going to come in well under my 2.30 target. A little weak on some of the hills (according to the map there were hardly any after the initial climb, but you can hide an awful lot in 20-metre contours), but also some very good stretches, particularly around the 90-minute mark. Some of the tracks were very gravelly which was a bit hard on the feet. Tired a bit in last 15 minutes.

The strength of the sun at 1600-1800 metres elevation can be very deceptive. It was about 4-6 degrees for most of the run but didn't feel in the least bit cold, and I was walking around in T-shirt and shorts with comfort afterwards. It did get cold enough for snow last night (minimum -1) but there was no moisture.

Back in Melbourne now (and back to reality - a 6.30 a.m. slot on Radio National tomorrow). Still plenty of cyclists on the road (wasn't the Audax enough for them?). Got stuck on Tawonga Gap behind, of all things, a slow-moving Harley.

C • Awesome! 1

To see where I went today, have a look at:

http://www.mapmyrun.com/route/united-states/ca/fal...

(presumably there's a Falls Creek in California, hence the strange URL, but the map is the right place). Impressed how much track detail is on the map although it does straighten the tracks a bit compared to the O-map (explaining the 3-4% distance difference).

C • Blair now coming to you live for SBS 10

Not as good as yesterday but still pretty solid. Went to the top of Mount McKay and return. Handled the hills reasonably well, particularly the steep final climb to the summit. A bit of back stiffness on the steeper ground.

I haven't seen as many runners around as I thought I might (apparently most of the better ones were otherwise engaged at the A-series in Canberra, and some of the routes I've taken on are probably a bit rougher than most track runners are comfortable with), but did come across a couple of women (I presume they were British from their accents) about to embark on a hill session on the upper part of Mount McKay. Did see plenty of cyclists afterwards, Falls Creek being the turnaround point for the Audax ride.

A magnificent run in a magnificent setting on a magnificent day. Went from Falls Creek to Mount Nelse West via Heathy Spur, returning via the fire trail. Handled the hills with ease (they were never that extreme, although Mount Nelse West is the third highest peak in Victoria at 1891m) and floating along for long stretches, especially in the middle. Tired a little in the last 20 minutes but by then it didn't really matter. This will take some beating for my best training run in 2007.

Saw the comet driving up last night, perfectly framed against Tawonga Gap in the last hint of sunset. Difficult to keep concentrating on the road.

Reviving the High-O looks like a project worth pursuing if Parks are agreeable. Most of the grasslands seem to be in pretty good condition, although a lot of the heath has gone (and most of the forest looks much more runnable than it was pre-2003). The area which burnt in December will be no go for a while yet (for those who know the area, it's the western section of the Pretty Valley map west of the central track - one of the nicer bits of the old area) but there should still be enough for a viable event if we can get the OK. Maybe this time next year or in 2009?

One other oddity of Thursday - I actually saw someone in possession of an item of Channel 9 cricket merchandise (just in case you were wondering if anyone actually bought the stuff).

C • I think January-February 2008 ... 6

Session at Fitzroy pool. Back a bit stiff early on but loosened up OK.

Heading for the hills for the long weekend (Falls Creek). The plan was to escape from the heat but it may end up being overkill - Saturday's system is cold enough that there might be an outside chance of snow on the peaks on Satuday night.

A bit shorter than I've been doing on a Wednesday morning of late - did it at work in the time interval available between a 6.45 interview with Radio Satan* and 8.15 with Alan Jones. Given how the latter interview went I should have stayed out for another 15 minutes. The run itself wasn't bad - thought I might suffer through not getting much sleep last night but it worked out OK.

(* Radio Satan = ABC Canberra, which broadcasts on 666 kHz. This frequency used to be used for parliamentary broadcasts but presumably somebody didn't think that was a great idea).

C • The Jones Boy 6

Never felt comfortable on this run (street-O) - always seemed like I was going against the current. Maybe it was the tough day at work. Started in a group with Liggo, Jase, Bryan Ackerly and Peter Hobbs. Liggo got away (he wasn't punching controls, but I doubt I would have been able to hold onto him tonight anyway), but I eventually got clear of the rest of them, helped in some cases by eccentric route choices. Tony Bird made a return to A course and won it.

For the benefit of North American readers who've never heard of Alan Jones: probably the nearest equivalents (in terms of obnoxiousness, self-importance, level of influence and political alignment) are Rush Limbaugh or Bill O'Reilly (or probably half-a-dozen other Fox News people I haven't come across). I think I'll handle it better next time, but I'm not anxious for next time to happen any time soon.

Ran the Tuesday night street-O as a 20 seconds on/20 seconds off session after initial warm-up. A bit of zip in the early reps but struggled a bit later on - a bit longer than usual for a Tuesday night. Won the race thanks to a good route, although that wasn't really the point of the exercise.

Good to get out on the streets after a pretty crazy day at work - our seasonal outlook came out and I've done 14 interviews in the last 24 hours. We also got asked in the late morning to prepare a media release on the outlook for the Parliamentary Secretary (something we view with a certain amount of distaste as most of us aren't that keen on politicians involving themselves in operational products). We then got back from lunch to discover that he was now the former Parliamentary Secretary.

Quite smooth after the first couple of laps. Northcote this time (thanks to the location of tonight's run) - indoor pool atmosphere is a bit stifling for my liking.

Took a long time to get going tonight - didn't really feel comfortable until after 30 minutes. Fairly small group tonight but a good one (and it's a bit of a change to see Warren two weeks in a row - he must be serious about his Easter build-up).

Another solid effort, in much less humid conditions than yesterday. As with last week, did an initial loop of 90 minutes or thereabouts with Bruce before striking out on my own, with the first loop up the Yarra as far as Banksia Street (getting within about 1k of my place), then the second southwards into Kew. Had the chance to reacquaint ourselves with foreign substances like puddles and mud in the early stages thanks to 15mm of rain overnight (doesn't sound a lot but it's the best we've had since May). Some very good patches in the middle, a bit more of a grind in the last hour but still lasted the distance well. Thought it was a bit faster than it actually was, particularly early - the slippery ground must have had a bit of an impact.

Spotted a car in Kew with Arizona plates 'LOST IN OZ', and another one back at the Fairfield boathouse car park, 'TAXMAN' (it was a Mercedes). I don't think the latter belonged to Michael D'Ascenzo (the Tax Commissioner, and a reasonably regular sighting in M45AS up in Canberra - which may come in useful if I have any awkward GST questions).

A solid run but one I wasn't upset to have over - haven't run in humidity like this since Beijing a couple of years ago. Not something you see much of in Melbourne. Some steep hills in the middle out at the upper end of Templestowe to add a bit to the degree of difficulty.

Planned to go to the tennis today, but with intermittent rain I suspect there won't be a lot of play on the outside courts.

Noticed that the current Melbourne weather report on AP is 'unknown precip'. Presumably this is because the observers have forgotten what the word is for that strange wet stuff that is currently falling out of the sky.

(From the rainfall totals coming in from SA, might be worth keeping an eye out for unmapped new erosion gullies on the Easter maps).

C • In the media again 4

Swimming at Richmond. Took a while to loosen up but did so nicely by the end. Nice to see some of that strange wet stuff falling out of the sky again.

An unspectacular but solid effort, taking advantage (as with last night) of the narrow window of opportunity provided by 24 hours of southerlies. Hit a flat spot at about 90 minutes but came good again closer to the end, in marked contrast with some other efforts this year.

Another day with difficult conditions - I'm almost getting used to it being over 30 at 6 a.m. now. Held up better than I thought I would, although definitely appreciated being able to get some water with about 20 minutes to go.

Riding home last night was interesting, although only one set of lights was out and 40 degrees was almost manageable. Would have been much worse on the trains. Power stayed on at my place throughout - one of the advantages of living a block away from a major hospital.

Plan B for avoiding the eastern suburbs traffic was to leave the car at Surrey Hills station for the day and therefore stay south of the Springvale Road bottleneck. It proved to be about as successful as plan A from two weeks ago, thanks to Connex who decided to cancel the one train every 20 minutes which stopped at Surrey Hills rather than one of the expresses running every 5 minutes. (Actually, I suppose it was a bit more successful because I made it at 6.54 instead of 6.57).

I've always liked Bellbird Dell as an area (and it's where I ran one of my first ever Melbourne street-Os back in 1993). As someone who has only rarely been the fastest in the field, I've also often had my best results on "wild-card" nights where something unusual happens, whether that's extreme heat, heavy rain, big hills or an unusual event format. The extreme heat was gone, but the format was a little unusual - we only had to get 15 out of 20 controls, opening up a lot more options than the usual 18 or 19.

Given the constrained warm-up I thought it might be a struggle. I did get jumped early, but hit an excellent rhythm by the third control in what developed into my best street-O run for the season. I actually thought the route choice was pretty obvious - leave out the three in the steep and convoluted south-west cluster, plus two of the four in the east-central block - but it can't have been too obvious because no-one else did it. In a way it was a bit disappointing to see Adam Scammell and David Kipp go the other way because I was feeling good enough to fancy my chances in a running race, but it settled the result - I don't think I've won by as much as four minutes in years. Fell away a little from my peak in the third quarter, but revitalised again by a lovely finish, doing the last four controls downhill through the Dell (one of the nicest pockets of bush to be found in middle Melbourne suburbia).

Just heard that there have been "hundreds" of small fires started by lightning this afternoon in an area "west of Wadbilliga National Park". This probably means Badja. Hopefully they don't do too much damage but I'm not optimistic.

C • And how is the Dubbo fire going 5

Standard fartlek loop. Took a while to get into it but ended up being reasonable (fastest loop 9.12). Doing multiple loops means that you notice the specific sights more - in particular the fact that at 7.30 on a Tuesday morning half the even side of the street is out watering (Tuesday and Saturday are the allowable days for even-numbered houses).

C • Watering 1

Back into Fitzroy pool for the first time in a long time. This is probably my favourite spot for a swim - partly because it's right on the way to work and partly because the place has a fair bit of character to it. (Getting between the change rooms and the pool, which is outdoors, also requires a certain amount of character on mid-winter mornings, although it's lovely once you're in).

Fitzroy pool became a cause celebre in the mid 1990s because of the attempts to close it down, which became the symbol of everything that was unpopular under the previous government's local government "reform". It didn't meet national cost-recovery averages but hardly any Victorian outdoor pools would (something to do with being cooler than Queensland), and was almost certainly in the firing line because it sits on potentially valuable inner-city real estate. Anyway, it's still there and will hopefully remain so.

The swim itself - a nice recovery effort and the shoulder seems fine. A few twinges in the elbow this time round but I think this is just rebuilding muscles.

MFR Monday night run from Warren and Tash's place. Got into quite a bit of reasonably rough stuff around the smaller Yarra Bend tracks, including a couple of very steep climbs. Felt good after working a bit of initial stiffness out of system.

What a difference a week makes. Last week, at about the 2.25 mark, I was wondering if I was going to be able to manage the last few minutes to get home, and hoping for red lights so I had an excuse to stop. This week at the equivalent mark I was looking for other places to go. The cooler conditions had something to do with this, as did the 4kg of fluid that I didn't have this time last week.

Started out for the first half with Bruce on the small tracks (and a few non-tracks) around Yarra Bend as far as the Gipps Street bridge. All quite pleasant at a fairly comfortable pace. We then ran into Dion on his way home - spent about 10 minutes with him going back to Clifton Hill, then struck out on my own back up to the Burke Road bridge and back to the car through Darebin Parklands. That bit was a bit longer than planned on but the way I was feeling I didn't really care - it was tempting to stretch it out further and go for something like 2.50 or even 3 hours, but this was supposed to be an easy week, after all.

With the pleasant conditions there were plenty of people out running and doing various other things, and not the sort of people who were seen running in the vicinity at 10.30 p.m. a few days back. (Three characters, described by the Age and the ABC as 'intellectually impaired sexual offenders' and by the Herald-Sun as 'DEPRAVED SEX FIENDS', did a runner from the local mental health institution before being picked up the next day). I did encounter a woman stridently objecting to people riding across the pipeline bridge (they're not supposed to but everybody does). She probably calls 13WATER if she sees somebody with a hose at 5.58 a.m. too. I resisted the temptation to point out that her dog was illegally off-leash.

Next week will be tough - plan to ramp the training up a bit again and the conditions will be difficult for at least some of the week, and possibly most of it.

C • You should not have resisted t... 1

Felt reasonably good, probably because it's the first time for a while that I've had the chance to run in temperatures under 20 (and possibly the last for a while the way things are looking). The last 10 minutes were particularly nice. Pace slower than I thought I was going, even after factoring in time lost at a railway crossing.

Woke up with a bit of a sore left shoulder today. No surprise after yesterday's swim and almost certainly nothing to worry about. Should be easier next time.

After a couple of false starts (courtesy of missing goggles last Friday and a flat tyre on the bike on the way to the pool on Monday), I finally got back into the pool today for the first time in a couple of years. I found this quite useful for recovery in 2003-04 - my technique is too poor for it to qualify as any sort of serious aerobic training.

There was no soreness at all in the elbow so obviously getting some extra bits taken out along with the metal in October did the trick. A few other arm/shoulder muscles showed signs of long-term unemployment but nothing to worry about too much.

C • Swim 2

I'm looking at going up to Falls Creek over the long weekend, assuming it's not on fire - will be in touch with the Victorians by e-mail but if any of the ACT/NSW people are interested in coming down, drop me an e-mail by next Tuesday or so.

C • Falls 1

30 degrees at 6 a.m. is ridiculous even by recent standards (second warmest January night on record in Melbourne). Today was largely about survival (and rebuilding confidence at performing in the heat), and the route was determined largely by the location of known taps - started up around the Yarra to the Finns reserve footbridge (with a little bit of exploring looking for new routes on the far side of Odyssey House), then up through Ruffeys Lake park, then back along the path that parallels the Eastern Freeway.

Felt good for about 10 minutes after every drinks stop. Otherwise it wasn't especially comfortable, but it certainly wasn't as bad as several of last week's efforts and I'm happy to get something like this on the board in the conditions. Hadn't planned to go quite as far as 2.01 (had been thinking more 1.50-1.55) but now it's in the book I'm not complaining.

C • Mr Media 2

A steady run from Clifton Hill up around Northcote and the Merri Creek, a little shorter than I've been doing Wednesday mornings of late. Still reasonably cool, which won't be the case this evening. Not really looking forward to that and looking forward to next week even less - if the models are right we could be looking at several successive days in the high 30s/low 40s. They're not always terribly reliable 6-8 days out and I'm hoping that this is one time they're not reliable.

C • Swedish Newspapers 5

It was 37 degrees for the start of this, probably the highest temperature I've run in 10 years. Was hoping I might not have to try too hard but was greeted by the best field of the season - Bruce, Adam, Warren and Simon Goddard were all there. (Studley Park tends to bring people out of the woodwork, partly because they live nearby and partly because it's a nice area).

Not being particularly confident of my ability to last the distance in the heat after last week's experiences, I decided to start conservatively and come through the field later on if I still had something left at that stage. As it turned out I also took a different route early (with some nice opportunities for terrain running) and hit halfway behind Bruce, Warren and Adam. The plan worked, more or less - both Adam and Warren fell away dramatically in the last quarter. I think I was catching Bruce a little at the end too, but he was too far in front (a bit over a minute) to be in range. Felt considerably better at the end than I did on any of the last four runs of last week.

C • Melb city 7

Again good to get back to some semblance of normality, although the real test will come over the next couple of days. A little on the slow side (9.24 fastest loop) but I wasn't really in the mood to attack the course in a big way today.

Sounds like there's a rival bid for the title of 'Antipodean orienteer with the highest media profile' this week:

http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/0,2106,3921153a10,00....

Sounds from the media coverage as if Kate got out of it essentially OK, but it must have been a seriously scary experience. It's not unheard of for orienteers to encounter the evidence of past murders (the Belanglo case being the most obvious), but to encounter one more or less in progress is something else again.

C • Makes the feralness of the Can... 1

Was meant to be the first of the MFR runs for the year but Nicola was the only other one who turned up. A pleasant enough jaunt around the hills of Eaglemont once early stiffness worked its way out of the system, on a very pleasant night. Gratified to discover that I am still capable of running up hills, despite the evidence to the contrary over the last few days. Ate a bit too close to starting out which was a little uncomfortable at the end.

I wasn't really looking forward to this one, but for the first half it looked like the last couple of runs might have been an aberration, cruising along nicely in somewhat cooler conditions. Paid a visit at the far end to the old Templestowe Hill Climb track (a former motor racing venue which features the steepest bitumen road in Melbourne, albeit less than 100 metres long) and handled it without too much difficulty, but somewhere around 1.50 slipped into the same hole as I'd been in for the last half-hour on Thursday and Saturday. Probably even worse at the end this time - felt somewhat dizzy in the last 5 mintues and ended up dry-retching at the end. I don't think I'd have tried to keep going if I'd felt as bad as that 15 or 20 minutes out.

Something is definitely not right. If it's just not replacing fluids properly that's fixable (and it's unlikely there will be another week as difficult as the last one has been), but I'm concerned there might be something more significant underlying it. Looks like an easier week this week is called for.

C • problem 8

The plan today was to join Bruce on a hills run and I did, sort of. I saw 'sort of' because this run started unpromisingly and quickly deteriorated into the worst I've felt on a run since the last 40 minutes of the WA Champs - had no energy whatsoever and got a few good views of Bruce disappearing into the distance on various hills. Will have to reassess plans for tomorrow - going out to 2.30 or thereabouts will be difficult, and perhaps foolhardy, if tomorrow is as bad (although the weather should be more friendly than today's 29 at 8 a.m).

I suspect the cumulative effects of dehydration through this hot spell have had an impact. I dropped 4kg between Wednesday and Friday evenings, and while I've been trying to keep fluids up there's a limit to how much one can replace how quickly.

Had been planning to do some laps in the pool this morning for the first time in a couple of years now my elbow's (apparently) up to the job, but this plan was aborted when I couldn't find my goggles at home and the pool had run out of ones to sell. Will try again Monday.

Commuting on the bike (which I don't list on AP) was hard enough tonight - it's 36 degrees (I've drunk 1.5 litres since getting home and am still thirsty) and my bike is just about at the end of its useful life - it's heading for the back of the garage as soon as the Melbourne Bicycle Centre can muster a replacement from the warehouse.

Expected this to be pretty awful - not much sleep (woken up at 2.45 when a possum barbequed itself on the power lines outside and hardly got back to sleep), plus a warm morning and a tough day yesterday.

Was actually quite good for the first 90 minutes, but then fell apart - I suspect this was mostly dehydration as the low sun angle in the early morning led me to underestimate the conditions and not take on enough water. By the time I realised there was a problem there wasn't any water in easy range, and the last 30 minutes were very hard going, although picked up a little bit in the last 10 minutes. Dropped 2.5kg on this run (busily putting it back now).

Never really got going today; one of those mornings when I felt half-asleep for most of it. Perhaps a bit better towards the end but never great. On the warm side even early in the morning.

Getting to this event was a large part of the drama. Expecting first-week-of-January traffic (i.e. none), I'd expected 35-40 minutes from Clifton Hill to Lilydale. Instead I was confronted with the worst Springvale Road traffic I've ever seen - at a standstill from the freeway to Whitehorse Road, courtesy (I presume) of the shutdown of the main eastern suburbs rail line for construction. What's it going to be like in four weeks time?

Got to the event at 6.57 for a 7.00 start, which obviously meant my warm-up was pretty much limited to running from the car park to the start. Didn't feel as awful early on as I expected, but quickly ran out of zip; the second half was a struggle. Some very interesting route choice, which was what separated the field because there was no way I was going to beat Adam or Bryan on running speed tonight. Felt a bit better towards the end once it was downhill and with the wind (on a 32-degree night). Only negative to the course-setting was some sketchy mapping around the Lilydale town centre - someone got a big jump on the field by using an unmarked lane.

January 3 wasn't quite as frantic as it was last year, but I still clocked up eight interviews for the day. The scoreboard reads Channel 10, ABC radio Melbourne, SBS radio, the Australian, the Herald-Sun, the Northern Territory News (they'll probably put it on page 27 because there are no crocodiles involved), the Gold Coast Bulletin and Agence-France-Presse.

C • The Australian 4

This time used a street event as the basis for a fartlek session - warmed up over the first 4 controls, then ran 20 seconds hard/20 seconds jog. (I've done the street-O fartlek session before, but more often running alternate legs hard/easy). Held it together pretty well and had a bit of zip. Route was decent too.

Tomorrow's annual climate statement day - expect to see a fair bit of me in the media tomorrow. Our minister has already been talking about its contents to anyone who would listen (although his grasp of the details has been less than perfect).

C • Climate Day? 2

I haven't done a street-O in nearly a month for various reasons - unusual for me in summer - but plan to make up for lost time with three in the first three days of 2007. This was the first of them at Beaumaris. Wasn't pushing it too hard but quite enjoyable, especially the legs along the shoreline. There was one particularly nice control out on a rocky point (although I think I might have been better off staying on the beach rather than trying to cut across some pretty slippery tidal rock shelves and mudflats). Control placement and mapping were a bit erratic.

A friendly local on the way to control 8 was offering bourbon and Coke to passers-by. Not sure if he had any takers. Brought back memories of the bogan convention at the Blackburn South event.

I was the first entry tonight in the year's first event in Australia, which I think makes me the first person to pay the new OA event levy. Fitting given that it was my idea.

Spent a bit of time at the beach before the event and had my first go at swimming since the elbow operation. It seemed fine (which it hadn't been at any time since the pins went in) so I'll probably start doing a bit more - found it useful for recovery in 2003-04 (even if my technique is so appalling that Hanny would probably be able to do three laps in the time it takes me to do one).