Training Log Archive: blairtrewin

Not nearly as good as Thursday - a bit weak up the hills - but still no disaster. A bit longer than planned because a track on the map was overgrown (not a totally unknown experience in this part of the world).

Highlight of the Field Days so far: when we were setting up on Wednesday afternoon, someone drove a forklift into the pavilion (a no-no in itself with pedestrians about), then crashed it straight into an overhead gantry carrying power cables (fortunately without severing any of them and frying himself). Where was all this carnage taking place? Outside the Worksafe Victoria stand...(They weren't there at the time, but heard about it later and slapped a 'Look Up And Live' sticker on the offending forklift).

A bit stiff in the shoulders this morning but gradually improved over the second half. A new venue for this (Warragul), not as busy as a city pool would be at 7.15, and also not the sort of crowd you'd expect here (although Warragul likes to think of itself as the classy end of the Latrobe Valley).

C • Class 1

Buln Buln-Springsure Hill-Neerim South. In yesterday's entry I was hoping that the runs down here would be as good as they had been the last couple of years, and this one just about was - solid for the first half although with hints of a stitch at times, then a stellar stretch from 12-18k, strong up the hills and floating down them. Just tailed off a bit in the last 10 minutes as the last of the light went.

I suspect part of the reason why I run well here is that it's often the first cool spell of autumn, but the setting helps as well - rolling, splendidly bucolic dairy country (with occasional smells to match!) with a bit of forest around too. A few solid climbs, especially up Springsure Hill, but most of it's five-contour-at-a-time stuff. The road's been sealed since last year (a sign announced the 'Roads To Recovery' program, which translates approximately as 'You Are Now Entering A Marginal Seat. Please Vote Carefully') but very little traffic.

Reasonably mundane run around South Melbourne and Albert Park (still with its share of Grand Prix infrastructure). Quite a bit of wind about, particularly in some of the urban wind tunnels around the CBD.

Went to the World Swimming Championships last night. I picked a good night to go to (four world records) but the crowds were definitely on the small side - I think we almost had more at the last World Orienteering Championships, especially on the sprint day. (I'd guess there were 6-7000 there, of which probably one-third were team-mates or officials). It's being reported that the Victorian Government is spending $50 million on the event - it's hard not to think what we could do with 1% (or even 0.1%) of that amount.

Leaving aside the world records, points for a very impressive effort go to Laure Manaudou of France - in the space of an hour she won silver in the 100 backstroke, did the final of the 1500 freestyle and then qualified in the semifinals of the 200 freestyle. If nothing else she was well warmed up :-)

Lunchtime cruise around the Tan. Still windy but quite pleasant running conditions. Brief interruption when I encountered my old high school principal, who lives in Melbourne these days.

I'm heading down to Warragul for the next few days to work on the Bureau's stand at the Gippsland Field Days. Rain is expected tonight so the farmers should be in a good mood. I've had some terrific training runs down there the last two years so hopefully history will repeat itself.

Fartlek session. Never felt comfortable but a not-disastrous pace (9.14). Troubled by hints of a stitch at times, particularly on the second loop. Another very nice autumn morning.

Nice loosening session at Fitzroy, slightly bothered by intermittently leaky goggles.

MFR Monday night from Torgeir's new place, which is slightly larger than the last one (and slightly closer to the pizza shop). Fairly slow even by usual Monday night standards. A bigger bunch than is normally the case, and in the dark for the first time in several months. Fairly solid ride home afterwards - Burke Road on a bike is hillier than it seems in a car (or even on foot).

Event: NSW State League #2 (badge)
 

NSW State League race at Connorton. This is a nice area - a fair bit of granite, mostly open forest but with some grazing land. It's a bit overmapped but I managed to handle it for the most part - I've certainly seen far, far worse (after all, I grew up on 1980s ACT granite maps).

Not entirely confident early on but hit things OK, and running built up as the race went on. Wobbles in the circle at 4 and 9 but only 20-30 seconds at each. Kept expecting to see Shep on my shoulder (he started 2 minutes behind me), then after halfway thought he might have pulled out. Finally saw him at a crossover about 75% of the way through, and thought I was just in front of him, which was an extra incentive for the end. (It turned out he'd lost a lot of time at 2).

I seem to be making a habit of claiming significant scalps at this venue (last time it was Julian) but Julian wasn't about to see it happen again - he cleaned the lot of us up, doing 61.

C • did u see him or hear him? 2

Event: NSW Sprint Champs (NSW SL1)
 

Easy sightseeing cruise around Griffith in the morning, ending up at the top of the unoriginally-named Scenic Hill. Not a bad view and would have been a better one had it not been raining (it was the first time I've run in rain for ages, although it had just about finished when I went out). It's not exactly a huge mountain - about 50m climbing - but there's nothing bigger to the west until you're well across the South Australian border, so I guess they can be forgiven for getting excited about it.

7th in the NSW Sprint Champs. Didn't miss anything but again too slow. Had hoped to at least defend a 3-minute start on Julian but didn't quite do it. I don't seem to be able to get the most out of myself in these races, when one compares to running races. It's a similar time to what I do for the Tan, and 3.05 ahead of me on the Tan puts you in Craig Mottram territory. Julian's good but I don't think he's quite that good.

Pretty good map for a sprint - certainly a complex set of buildings on the University campus - just a couple of dead legs in the middle. The campus is a fair way out of town, perhaps because they need to keep the uni students and the army boys apart (the main boot camp for the Australian army recruits is 10k out of town in the opposite direction).

Up in New South Wales for a few days, initially for work (speaking to the conference of the NSW Rural Lands Protection Boards in Hay), then the two NSW events on the weekend.

When looking for somewhere to stay somewhere between Hay on Friday morning and Wagga at Saturday lunchtime, I decided on Griffith, mainly because of its reputation for having the best food west of the ranges in NSW. (Based on a sample of one this reputation is deserved - best pasta I've had in years). I haven't been to Griffith for a very, very long time - so long that the last time I was here Donald Mackay was still alive. (Younger readers may need to ask their parents who Donald Mackay was).

I thought I might have been asking for trouble going swimming just after the end of school on a hot day (Griffith and Hay both set records for the latest date in autumn that it has ever reached 100F/37.8C), but the local kids did a pretty good job of staying out of the lap-swimming lanes. Nice to have some time in the cool water on a day like this, and felt pretty good during the swim.

A pretty solid effort, particularly after a hard day yesterday. Moving well for the most part although lacking a bit of strength on some hills; handled the late climb through Eaglemont well, though.

Last dark long run for a bit (daylight savings ends this weekend) - in fact probably the last run this long until after Easter. A foggy and very humid morning - drenched with sweat after it.

The Tan (turned up on the right day this time). Started slowly and gradually built in - in a good pack for a lot of it which helped. Didn't quite finish off as well as I would have liked. Warm and humid, no wind. Felt strong uphill but split not spectacular. An OK time but certainly nothing special, and suggesting that I've got a long way to go to be in the low 13s (let alone anywhere near Bruce's 12.49).

Splits: 3.33, 3.42 (uphill), 3.32, 3.29.

Jog to/from the Tan.

I might have got away with doubling up three weeks ago but it didn't work this time. Realised fairly early on that I wasn't going to win on speed tonight and split on route choice, but all that meant was that Adam was chasing me with a control in hand. The extent of my ambitions by that stage was to avoid being 'lapped', which I managed (just) before going sideways to get the extra control. About a minute down.

8x400 on a 2.5 minute cycle at the Clifton Hill track. Quite similar to last time - very slow start (83) but down to 76 for the last few reps. Felt a bit lactic (and hint of stitch) on the last couple but still held the pace which was good.

Had to deal with a strange foreign substance during the run - I think this is the first time I've experienced it running since New Year's Eve. It was starting to appear as if rain, like coral reefs and crocodiles, was something one had to go to the tropics to experience.

C • rain 1

Routine Monday morning swim after spending the early morning cooking in preparation for tonight. At Collingwood this time because Fitzroy's been taken over by people who do three laps in the time it takes me to do one (and that's the female breaststrokers). Water a bit warm for comfort but otherwise good.

For reasons best known to Yarra City Council they chose the foyer of the Collingwood pool to display the plans for the duplication of the Clifton Hill rail bridge (a cause close to the heart of Bruce and myself, and anyone else who commutes from that direction). Looks like they're putting a new deck on top of the old one.

MFR Monday night run from my place. It was Canberra Day so I made this as a theme, dragging my old early-90s ACT Academy O-top out for the first time in more than a decade, running through the Burley Griffin estate at Eaglemont (after some nice bits on single-track along the river - last time for a few months we'll be able to do this on Monday night), and finishing off by doing a lap of a convenient local roundabout. Also had a few distinctly Australian items of food. The overseas contingent in MFR didn't quite understand what I was referring to when I said to BYO fireworks and X-rated videos (no-one did).

The run itself was quite pleasant, at the usual relaxed Monday night pace.

C • canberra day 1

Long race at Buckenderra. First part of the course was really middle distance style (18 controls in the first 30 minutes), then opened out into some longer legs. Didn't feel good at the start but quickly settled down and felt better the longer the run went on; particularly pleased with my strength on some of the later climbs (having struggled on hills a bit in the last three or four weeks). Felt as if I had quite a bit left in me at the finish, a good sign for real long-distance races, and didn't miss much either - three 15-seconders in a 30-control long race in reasonably technical country.

That was the good news. The bad news was the result - Matt completely blew me (and everyone else) away. Without anyone else at the front end of the field (Grant pulled out early) it's hard to know how much of the 13-minute gap was me being slow and how much was him being very fast. He went through me at 13; I didn't attempt to stay with him (not that I would have been able to for long anyway), figuring that I had a better chance of beating someone as fast as that but inexperienced in Australian granite by letting him go and hoping he made a mistake. He didn't. I find it hard to believe that a full-strength field would have produced a much better time. My other head-to-head on the day was with Geoff Lawford; I caught him 2 minutes at 11 and he stayed more or less in range until I pulled away at 23, before dropping back in the last 20 minutes.

It was disappointing how thin the field was - I know a few of the ACT elites had good excuses for being elsewhere, but surely Buckenderra was worth the trip for somebody? Hopefully Wagga next week will have a few more takers.

Other reports from the trip:

Potential 2009 areas: Lima South is too physically tough for a mass-participation event, and setting a relay at Reef Hills would be limited by the likelihood that there would be fewer features on the map than controls on a typical relay course, but the riverside area at Benalla looks like it has potential for a sprint area. Only major worry is that I suspect a critical footbridge would go under in even a modest flood.

Route choice: Went back via Bombala-Delegate-Bonang-Orbost. Didn't expect it to be fast and it wasn't - it's a few km shorter than the Cann River and now only has about 20km gravel, but is relentlessly winding almost all the way from the Victorian border to Orbost. Nice country but probably 15-20 minutes slower than Cann River. Closer to Melbourne, saw quite a bit of typical Grand Prix-evening driving.

C • 2009 10

C • 2009 1

ACT Middle Distance Champs at Buckenderra. A middle distance on the most heavily forested part of the map. A pretty reasonable run technically - almost lost it on 3 drifting in a vague area, but picked it up quickly enough to get out of it with only 30 seconds or so lost. Apart from that only a couple of 15-seconders in the circle. Some of the controls were a bit too visible for their own good.

More competitive on running speed in the more physical terrain than I have been in the open country back in Victoria, and ended up getting 2nd thanks to Grant bombing the second-last (which will do my ranking score no harm whatsoever). 2.5 mins behind Matt Crane.

Swim at Richmond. Loosened up nicely as it went on. Richmond's an indoor pool, so sheltered from the foreign moist substance that was attempting to fall from the sky outside.

I'll be up at Buckenderra over the weekend, up against what looks a disappointingly small field. Where are all the ACT people? Also plan to check out a couple of possible 2009 areas on the way up.

A fairly mediocre long run. Felt slow, particularly on the hills (and, given that the run was out to Greensborough and Montmorency, there were a reasonable number of them). A bit of left hip soreness for the first time in a while, especially early on.

6 a.m. is full darkness now - there wasn't even a hint of light for the first half-hour. With 33 degrees forecast that isn't a bad thing - there were even some quite cold air pockets in the deeper valleys (saw my breath for the first time this year).

Took the radio out with me for the Australia-Scotland World Cup game. When Scotland were 5/42 inside the first 5 minutes of the run I thought I'd be lucky if the game lasted as far as Watsonia, but it ended up just about going the distance. I'll be doing this again a few more times in the next six weeks, hopefully with some more competitive fixtures.

For those who thought it was a little warm at street-O last night, Melbourne actually reached its maximum for the day (27.0) at 7.30, as the winds went NE temporarily and pushed out the seabreeze.

I thought it was a Corporate Cup day and had spent the morning getting myself psyched up for it, so it was a bit of a surprise to jog down to the Tan and find - nothing. Later found out that the three-week break that I thought was after Round 2 was actually after Round 1 (Troy - hope you didn't go down?).

With another race tonight I wasn't too upset not to have a lunchtime one (and definitely wasn't committed enough to do a time trial instead) - the doubling up will be next week instead but the evening stakes will be lower then. Instead I turned it into a steady hour run, the sort I'd normally do on a Summer Series morning. Gradually built into it after an uncertain start, and some very good stretches in the second half around the back of the MCG. Only disappointment was that, after a succession of hot Wednesdays, there wasn't the chance to post a good time the day we finally got a nice one.

C • 3 week break 3

Street-O at Heyington. My chances of getting the win I needed nose-dived once Bruce and Warren turned up. Went a different way to most of the others from the start and was on my own by the fourth control, which usually means you have either a very good or very bad route choice. Heyington, with several major obstacles with limited crossing points, is prone to route-choice disasters but I didn't think I'd done anything too badly wrong (as it turned out I was doing exactly what the others were, except in reverse - the usual Tony Bird strategy). Felt OK but not really fast, but after passing the others halfway thought that 37 might be enough - which meant that getting to the last control, 300 to go, in 35 was a good sign. I then set forth on the last leg, down the same path on which I'd had a ding-dong sprint with Alex Randall circa 1999 - and discovered that there was now an uncrossable fence in the way. That turned 300 into 700, not that I would have got Bruce anyway (and it would have been an injustice if I had because he lost time at the railway crossing). Finished just behind Adam, meaning he won the overall title with a bit to spare. Maybe next year...

Felt like the first day of autumn - even genuinely cool on the river flats. Enjoying it while it lasts. It must have come as a bit of a shock to the body, though, because I struggled with lower back tightness through the first half. Much improved later on and ended up with a respectable, if unspectacular, 9.12 loop.

As usual, a loosening-up session without any great incident. Surprised how much a bit of cloud turns people away - I thought the place would be packed at 1.30 on a public holiday afternoon.

C • Swimmers 1

Reasonably standard Monday night run at fairly standard Monday night pace, doing somewhat convoluted loops in the Princes Park area with a gender imbalance as large as that of last week. Started earlier than usual because of the public holiday - the good light will be a thing of the past before too much longer.

C • Public holiday? 3

Liberal MP in Age Class Scandal

State Liberal MP for Ferntree Gully, Nick Wakeling, faced calls for his resignation today after it was revealed that he was entered for State Series 1 under an incorrect age class. Mr Wakeling, 35, was listed in the results on Course 5 as an M60.

"This strikes at the heart of Mr. Wakeling's credibility", an ALP spokesman said. Brushing aside explanations that an error by registration officials was to blame, the spokesman went on to accuse Mr Wakeling of seeking to evade responsibility for his action. "If he can't get his age group right at the State Series, how can he possibly be trusted to manage the State's economy?".

Brian Burke and Tony Mokbel were not believed to be present at the event (although some of the route choices employed between 4 and 5 on the M21A course were as inventive as Tony Mokbel's one between his home and the Supreme Court).

C • Funny as... 5

First State Series on Bungal. This is a gully-spur area, very fast on top of the plateau dropping to some mountain-goat stuff along the edges. Main problem today was simply not being fast enough - 7 down on Troy and 4 on Bruce and Warren. Lost a minute or so on 5 - plan was to drop to the riverbed (which was predictably waterless) but couldn't get through between a cliff and the green and had to go over the top of the cliff. Also lost a bit on 8 through being worried I was about to make a massive parallel error and going out to the side to make sure. One of the deepest local M21 fields we've seen for a long time.

Event: Eureka Challenge Weekend
 

Sprint training on the south end of Nerrina with various mass and tight chasing starts. Got left for pace at various times, but got the last laugh on the final sector when Troy's pack went astray and I went through the lot of them. Not bad for a first crack this season at technical mining.

Felt half-asleep an hour before the start, which I didn't think was a good sign (and it wasn't). Very slow to get going, particularly up hills, although the easy first couple of kilometres meant that I didn't pay for this as heavily as I might have somewhere else. A terrific technical course on Nerrina from there (thumbs-up to Geoff Lawford). Handled the navigation well for the most part, but then lost it a bit at the end - a couple of 30-seconders in the detail on 22 and 24, then made a mess of the final route choice looking for a dubious gap in the green at the bottom of a big erosion gully I didn't really need to cross at all.

C • A strong early candidate for the course setting award. 3

Par for the course. No massage on Friday morning this time (he's otherwise engaged at the athletics nationals) so went to Fitzroy.

One of my better midweek long runs in recent weeks, feeling comfortable through most of it. A hilly first hour around Ivanhoe and Eaglemont (including a bit of dropping political newsletters in letterboxes en route), then flatter out along the Yarra and through Viewbank/Macleod later on. Actually encountered a bit of rain for about 15 minutes (and it was enough to register the princely sum of 0.4mm in the Viewbank gauge - bring out the sandbags!). Tired a little in the last 15 minutes but still not a bad finish.

Lovely morning for it, the coolest we've had in weeks. Not quite such a lovely run - didn't really get going, although handled the hills in the second half reasonably well. Glad I'm not in WA at present.

On other matters, looks like I'm the only taker from these parts for Jindabyne. Before I start looking for something, are any ACT/NSW readers staying at Buckenderra or nearby and interested in sharing accommodation on the Saturday night?

C • Oven 4

A respectable time trial at last (by my standards at least) on the Tan. Started a bit slowly but built nicely through the run and an excellent finish. Threatened to get a stitch around 3k but it didn't develop any further, and had no more than the usual number of distractions on the Tan (including having to do a bit of a sidestep to avoid flattening a couple of wandering Grade 1s outside the Observatory). Once again running solo but passed the Midday Milers bunch at one stage. Again warm, and windy, but not as humid as the last few Wednesdays.

My time for the full loop (taking off the first bit) was 13.49, only 3 seconds slower than last week with 1.17k extra at the start, no-one to run with and a morning run. Probably says something for how bad last week was.

Splits: 4.05 (1.17k), 3.41, 3.45, 3.35, 3.29 (last two overlap slightly).

C • which race? 3

Run to/from the Tan.

In the days when I was living in Albert Park, the signal for me to switch from fartlek to track intervals was when they started building grandstands on top of my then fartlek circuit. I don't think anyone is going to be building grandstands on Banyule Flats and adjacent areas any time soon, but this was still a good opportunity to shift to the track.

8 x 400 on a 2.5 minute cycle. Very slow start even by my usual standards (83), but got much better as it went on and a succession of 76s in the second half, pushing much more strongly through the later part of reps. Conditions perfect except for sun glare - first sub-15 morning for 25 days (as readers of this morning's 'Age' would know).

Swimming at Fitzroy. Felt a bit stronger in the upper body than usual. One interesting moment when someone passed me and moved across so quickly that I thought it was certain that his legs were going to collect me - until I noticed that he didn't have any legs.

C • Is the message? 5

Monday night from Zoe's place near Melbourne Uni, up around Royal and Princes Park. Felt smooth and comfortable most of the way. Definite gender imbalance tonight - the women outnumbered the men 6-2 (7-2 if you count the Melbourne Uni meteorology postgrad who joined us for a few hundred metres).

Club event at Boundary Creek. Tougher going than I was expecting - used the east side of the map (three loops) which is pretty steep and has its share of regrowth (unlike most of the areas in this region where the only thing that slows you down is the steepness).

Not all that happy with the way I was running - lacked a bit of confidence attacking the terrain, particularly downhill. Hopefully a few more weeks of practice will sort this out. Not much zip either after yesterday, which suggests that the work I've been doing over summer to make myself better at coming up on successive days hasn't had much effect yet.

There were two suspect controls - one in the wrong place and one master map error. Probably lost about 1.5 minutes on each from the splits. Apart from that navigation was OK with only a couple of minor wobbles, although many of the controls were very visible which made things easier.

Not sure what all the results were, but Kathryn did a very respectable 76.

A good solid run, my best for a couple of weeks. Felt smooth throughout. Most of it was pretty flat along various parts of the Yarra between Ivanhoe and Templestowe, but finished off with some hills and handled it OK. Out of bed a bit earlier than I would have liked for a Saturday morning (courtesy of a 36-degree forecast), but that didn't seem to cause too many troubles.

Fairly standard swim at Richmond. Felt very tired last night but much better after a decent night's sleep.

The end of a pretty tough sequence of runs. Had some unwanted distractions in the form of a couple of pitstops in the first 10k - obviously ate something that didn't quite agree with me last night - but otherwise a steady if unspectacular run, south as far as Camberwell and back through North Balwyn and the pipeline track in Bulleen - so rolling hills most of the way. Humid again (this is getting boring), but looks like a significant change on the way early next week - we might even be in danger of getting a sub-15 night!

The equinox and the tail end of daylight saving are approaching, which meant doing the first 40 minutes in the dark - good practice for winter. Being up at 5.30 did mean being able to ring Norway at a reasonable time for them (it was Cassie's 30th yesterday).