Training Log Archive: blairtrewin

A close match for the classic Peninsula run, heading essentially along the bay side to Portsea, over to London Bridge, then back along the beach and tracks - only exception was saving the Koonya section of the track for tomorrow. Not brilliant for most of the way but kept plugging away and didn't really tire.

I would have hoped not to have been up before 6 during holidays (unless it was to escape a 40-degree day, something which has been refreshingly absent so far this summer), but the timetable of wedding-related activities, in particular a 9.15 hairdresser's appointment, meant the only option was early. (In a miracle of modern times, I found something at a hairdresser's worth reading).

So ends training for 2008, falling 9 hours short of my total for 2007, which isn't bad given the amount of time I've spent on the road this year, especially in the first half; December has been my biggest month since 2001. In domestic competition the year was a bit of a disappointment, especially blowing a big opportunity in Queensland, but WMOC was definitely a major highlight.

Competed in 8 countries this year, and trained in another 4.

Best race of the year: definitely the WMOC sprint final, not just because of its result, but because I managed to achieve an intensity on the day which I haven't managed for years. At home the pick of the bunch was probably the long WOC trial in Tasmania (especially because it came the day after returning from one of my abundant overseas trips). It's tempting to nominate the middle third of the Canberra Marathon, but nominating the middle third of a marathon is rather missing the point.

Best training run of the year: with the amount of travelling this year it's almost inevitable that it's one which happened elsewhere. I'm finding it hard to separate two in apparently unpromising settings: Seoul in February and Leeton in October.

Hopefully 2009 will be a less harrowing year off the field than 2008 was at times; being responsible for setting off a chain of events that saw us to the brink of the courts, and has probably resulted in the loss of three promising orienteers to the sport, is something that I will be dwelling on (especially in the middle of bad runs) for a long time yet.

A reasonable run from where I'm staying in Blairgowrie. Started along the beach for the first 20 minutes towards Rye, then headed inland for bits of suburbia built on sand dunes (with occasional sharp climbs). A steady if unspectacular effort.

There was no shortage of signs advertising local liquor bans. This is something that needs to be checked out in advance of the wedding - it would be awfully embarrassing if one or more of the party got themselves arrested for illegally drinking in a public place (although perhaps not quite as embarrassing as for the person this time last year who got picked up for drink-driving outside the Rye police station, to which he had gone to retrieve some confiscated alcohol - I presume he didn't get his grog back).

While on the subject of liquor, Jim's buck's afternoon/evening was yesterday. He was making noises as we came home in the early hours of today about joining me for this morning's run but I was not particularly surprised by his absence.

C • NYDay run 3

Second session of the day, sandier (in places) and hillier than the morning but otherwise not a particularly hard session. Briefly threatened to rise above the mediocre in a section through the middle with a tail wind but soon resumed previous patterns.

Took to the (very windy) back beach track for a while, in preparation for sightseeing (and telling any Norwegians present Harold Holt stories) on Thursday. Main sight today was seeing one of the rockpool jumpers in action (there's a deep rockpool with a rock hanging over it, with plenty of jumping points ranging from about 3 to 12 metres in height). The pool is deep and large and I've never heard of an accident there, but I'm still a bit surprised that Parks haven't tried to stop the practice (or at least put up an intimidating sign or two). Maybe the walk in is too long for the lawyers.

Another pretty good run which would have felt better but for Julian blasting past me from five minutes behind (although I did catch him again a control later after he made a mistake). Functioning well technically with only one minor wobble, and also running quite smoothly. Came third this time, with Julian and Ben again ahead, but got Reuben this time.

C • rain in Melbourne 2

A decent run. A little hesitant on the first couple of controls but didn't lose much time, and then settled down quite nicely, reading the rock well. Feeling a bit weaker than I would have liked up hills but otherwise running reasonably well.

Julian blew us all away but otherwise the result was decent - a few seconds behind Reuben in fourth. I've often performed quite poorly at the 5-days (often because I've been in the midst of heavy training) so this was reasonably encouraging.

No sign of the foot soreness from yesterday.

Event: XMAS 5 Days
 

A somewhat uninspiring run, although better in the last third. Had to work pretty hard on the Templestowe hills in the middle. A bit of soreness in my left foot at times, which will need watching - lower legs also tight.

Now off to a couple of days of the 5-days, then onto the Mornington Peninsula for the wedding. (If anyone down there is interested in joining me to train on the mornings from the 30th onwards, let me know).

Recovery swim at Belconnen, much as usual. Was sharing the lane with a horizontally challenged man and we kept getting in each other's way, which was sort of annoying. Accomplished the mission of getting back in time for the cricket.

Returning to Canberra is often an opportunity to experience not-very-good low-budget local TV commercials, but the React Roofing one is the worst I've seen for a while (for those who have had the good fortune not to see it, this features four blokes on a roof singing very badly and holding up cards with the company name). Still not quite up (or down) to the standards set by Rods N'Tackle Queanbeyan or Glen Powell Furniture (and it's the wrong time of year for sheepdip ads).

C • canberra tv. 1

I suspect that if I did a ranking of average training volume by day of the year (and no, my records aren't organised enough to be able to do this calculation easily, whatever the rest of you might think) Christmas Day would be close to the top. Boxing Day is often a more awkward day for a long run (cricket plus grandmother's birthday) so I've sometimes reshuffled long runs which would normally be due for then to the day before. I've had some good ones over the years, notably a 40k epic in 1994 (it was my first year in Melbourne and I found myself at 1.45 rather further from home than I had intended) and a couple of hours in the Norwegian snow with my soon-to-be brother-in-law in 2005.

The aforementioned soon-to-be brother-in-law was my company again this morning, at least for the first two-thirds of it (he's coming off a foot injury and 90 minutes is roughly his upper limit at the moment). This part was a tour of the lower slopes of Black Mountain and Bruce Ridge. We weren't the only people with the same idea - I counted at least 20 other runners during the Bruce Ridge section (including someone who I think, looking from the rear, was Miss Jones, but we were 200 metres behind and couldn't catch up). Looped back through Bruce and Aranda, stopping briefly to say hello to Jase and BA on the way, before I continued on my final loop out through Belconnen and Macquarie before finishing across Painter.

It's becoming a bit of a broken record but this run again started poorly. It then improved gradually, but didn't really pick up until after 80 minutes. The last 30 minutes were good, though, cruising up several longish hills with some degree of comfort, and I didn't really feel like stopping. This is actually close to the longest midweek run I've done in a decade, but it doesn't really count because two of the factors that normally add to the degree of difficulty on a Thursday (the 5.15 wake-up and the race the night before) were absent. A bit on the slow side, but then it was also a bit hillier and rougher in places than my Melbourne runs usually are.

You will not be surprised to learn that I spent the rest of the day eating and drinking, something I expect the rest of you also did whether you ran 2.20 this morning or not.

Occasionally on a run one's thoughts will turn to a memorable race one has seen. For some reason this morning my mind wandered to an under-13 3000m race in 1986 (a head-to-head surge-trading duel which ended up with a time of something like 10.20, not bad for that age). Nothing much ever became (athletically speaking) of either of the protagonists, although one's injury-plagued career lasted long enough to become one of the vast number of people to win a sprint against me in the Canberra Times fun run a few years later.

C • Miss Jones' rear 1

I seem to be taking a long time to wake up properly in the mornings this week - again felt sleepy in the early part of this run, despite venturing out at the late (for me) hour of 7.15. Never felt that great but not disastrously slow (9.27). Got to see some evidence of pre-Christmas driving in the form of one flattened set of traffic lights.

As far as I can tell the media have been, thus far, unable to find the usual seasonal fare of an inner-city school or child-care centre that has allegedly banned Christmas in the name of multiculturalism (strangely most such stories seem very reluctant to name names), but we've been on the receiving end of a bit of it ourselves - someone in talkback radio in Perth was claiming we were kowtowing to political correctness because our forecast said 'Thursday' rather than 'Christmas Day'.

Up to Canberra for a couple of days this afternoon. Strangely everyone wants to get out of Canberra on Christmas Eve and it is consequently quite easy to get cheap fares there.

C • Flying to Canberra? 2

C • Happy Thursday :) 1

Swapping my usual Tuesday and Wednesday. Did this one from a little north of work (in preparation for a trip out to Brimbank this evening), based around the Maribyrnong River as far north as Highpoint (before it became a zoo during its 32-hour shop-a-thon starting at 9). Headed out along the top side of Edgewater, taking me past such landmarks as the old Kinnears factory. In the days when it was still a factory we went past it when I was giving John Morris (well-known for his leftward leanings) a ride up to an event in Daylesford; there was a picket line outside and he was so excited I thought he was about to jump out of the moving vehicle to join it.

This was an ordinary effort. Very stiff early; that disappeared quickly but faded into a drift that persisted throughout the run.

It might be hard to imagine a link between the Otter Creek thread and the upcoming NZ trip, but I've got one - the last time I went to the South Island (1997), 'The Dam At Otter Creek' was the opening track on Jamie's Live tape which was played at regular intervals, being one of only about four that we had with us in a land largely without audible radio stations. (Younger readers may need to ask their parents what a "tape" was). I seem to recall BJ's Offspring and Nirvana collection got a fair workout too.

Saw a bumper sticker "I Barrack for Barack" - presumably produced for here. I had some fun first translating the slogan back into American English and then thinking what that would look like back here.

C • Live 3

C • Cross-cultural slang 1

Tuesday night at Brimbank Park. This is nominally a park/street O but we usually get to spend a bit of time in something vaguely resembling terrain and tonight was no exception. The long grass wasn't as long as usual (most of the time) and parts were very soft and dusty underfoot.

Sluggish again at the start. I got a close control early, which proved to be a good thing as I spent much of the run chasing someone else who was getting it at the end, giving me something to work for while knowing I was probably a control ahead. Got into the flow of it a bit more in the second half, and particularly the last kilometre.

On totally unrelated matters, one of the most spectacular tornadoes in recorded Australian history went near (or possibly through - the exact location is unclear from the info I've seen so far) Badja this afternoon. Pics in tomorrow's Canberra Times apparently (or you can find a version in the forums on www.weatherzone.com.au - go to 'Breaking Weather Updates' and then pages 9/10 of the NSW/ACT storms thread).

A fairly standard Monday morning session. Not as stiff as I was this time last week (presumably because I ran 30 minutes less on Sunday than I did last week) but still pretty slow.

Last MFR Monday night for the year. Quite a decent crowd (including our new WOC coach) but not too many takers for the run itself, so Dion and I set out on our own around Studley Park. Not the most brilliant run I've ever had, although it probably would have been worse had it been three hours early (before Melbourne's temperature did one of its occasional swan-dives, 35 to 22 in 10 minutes).

The 'Herald-Sun' professed to be shocked that there are drugs at rave parties. I was rather less shocked and I've never even been near one of the things.

C • New WOC Coach 3

Never touched the skies but a solid morning's work. One of the benefits of going beyond 3 hours last Sunday is that it makes 2.30 a considerably less daunting prospect psychologically. Like last week, there was a long, mostly gentle downhill, section on a bike path through parks starting at about 1.40, but I knew that this time, when I turned right at the end of it, I was 20 minutes from home and not 45. Also like last week, the hilly section was in the middle, although nothing as full-on as Plenty River Drive and Eltham North - instead it was crossing Templestowe and Doncaster from the Yarra to Koonung Creek.

With 30 degrees forecast and heat acclimatisation non-existent, I wanted to get out the door early. It only really started to warm up in the last 30 minutes (about 13 at the start, 23 at the end). Faded a little in the last 20 minutes and felt like it might have been a battle to go another half-hour, but that's often the way on runs like this.

With the Oceania Championships on the way this will be the last run as long as this for four weeks, although I do plan to go out into the 2.15 range a couple of times midweek between now and then. (Any Canberra readers interested in a Christmas morning long run?).

Sunshine hasn't been altogether common in the last couple of weeks in Melbourne. As a runner I don't regard this as a particularly bad thing - getting through three weeks without having to train on any 30-degree (let alone 40-degree) days (the only 30+ this month was a Friday) means three weeks less of summer that they have the potential to occur in. Anyway, this morning was brilliantly clear (if a little cool) and Melbourne was out enjoying itself in the morning sunshine before setting out to brave the Christmas rush.

There were a few niggles in the early stages of this run but it settled into a decent session, up through Macleod and around the edge of the army base. Explored a bit of unknown territory in the form of a newish development in Viewbank (on the old transmission towers site), and saw a bit more of it than I planned on because there is no way out other than the way in. A lack of through pedestrian access is an unfortunate feature of a lot of turn-of-the-century developments (often done in the name of 'security' - obviously people think burglars don't have cars); it certainly doesn't encourage the use of public transport when poor planning turns a 5-minute walk to the nearest bus stop into 15. I was tempted to comment that it was fitting that the park in the corner was named after former state Liberal MP Vin Heffernan, but this area doesn't feature on my 2001 Melway so I think we'll have to pronounce Vin's party innocent on this one.

C • What is with the weather? 2

Even by my usual standards my technique wasn't functioning today; in particular my left arm was even more than usually useless.

Never a particularly inspiring run but one of those days where I kept grinding away, not fading away even in the last few minutes. Could have done with more sleep than I got.

Started from a slightly different point, the Fairfield Boathouse (where our work Christmas lunch is about to happen) and headed north as far as Edwardes Lake. In an interesting coincidence, for the second successive morning run I encountered one of my work colleagues, at locations about 12km apart (yesterday she was riding in as I was heading out in the first few minutes of my session, today she was walking dogs near her house next to Merri Creek). Hopefully she doesn't think I'm stalking her :-)

C • Wednesday's rainfall 1

Made it out for a run from work once I'd got through my first round of media engagements (which seemed to go pretty smoothly). Started out by having a look at the new bits of Docklands (including the so-far non-operating wheel), then out into phatmax territory in Fishermans Bend - industrial but few road crossings.

Felt reasonably mundane in the early stages, but got going quite nicely later on. Down below 4.5 mins/km for the last 20 minutes which is faster than I've been doing runs of this type for a while.

Street-O at Bellbird Dell, an area where I've had some very good runs in the past, not so much tonight.

The field split quickly (thanks to Bryan taking what turned out to be a highly non-optimal route choice). I split with Adam early on, but only for two controls. That left me with a lead of something like 50 metres, and for much of the rest of the way, feeling like I was never quite in top gear, it seemed a bit like being the breakaway that's just about to get reeled in by the peloton. That happened on the way to the third-last control (with some help from Adam's more efficient fence-jumping technique). I got the narrowest of leads back going into the last control when he ran a bit wide, and kept the sprint closer than I thought I might, but still went down by 5-10 metres. A bit slower than last week, although a brief bit of terrain running may explain that. Shorter than usual (and 2k shorter than advertised!).

A bit of hamstring tightness at one stage but pulled up fine afterwards. I had a bit of a stiff back last night too, probably at least indirectly attributable to what's normally a Thursday session as a pincushion (shifted because of our work Christmas party tomorrow) - my equivalent of Jenny's Attack of the Killer Physio.

This will be my last race of this set. I currently share the lead with Bryan but will lose it other than in the highly unlikely event of his failing to place in the top two in any of the last three weeks with both Adam and myself missing for the last two.

I have orienteering dreams occasionally (most of which seem to involve missing the start, which is strange when I've never gone close to doing so in real life) but last night was the first time I can remember having a course-setting one - something about trying to set an Australian Schools on a map with a river running through it and not being able to get a loop short enough for the junior girls using the only two bridges on the map. (Must have been inspired by next year's sprint, which does have a river running through it and is constrained by available bridges).

C • Just send them out and back... 8

Usual fartlek loop, a bit later in the morning than usual because I was supposed to be doing a radio interview in Sydney at 7.45. The interview fell through (got gazumped by a train fare increase), which didn't upset me greatly because I wasn't really looking forward to having to sidestep questions on yesterday's somewhat underwhelming announcement.

Felt a bit strange for the first few minutes after hitting the streets but settled OK. A bit faster than last week (9.25), although still well below a peak. Suggests that I only smashed myself for one day with Sunday's run, which is pleasing.

Tomorrow's media timetable so far:

ABC radio AM: 6.05 and 8.00 (this one's being prerecorded - and they're making the trek out to Heidelberg to do it)
ABC breakfast TV: 7.15 (live in the studio)
2GB Sydney: sometime between 8 and 9
Media conference at Bureau (only backup for this one): 10.30-11.30
Liveblogging at news.com.au: 12-1 (if anyone feels like going on there and lobbing some friendly questions in amongst the grenades from the Bolt army, I'd welcome it).

Hopefully I'll manage to fit a run in somewhere :-)

Did this one in the morning as I won't be at the MFR Christmas gathering until late (and there won't be much of a run there anyway), and lunchtime is being devoted to a union meeting (the fact that it's at lunchtime says something for the level of militancy in industrial relations in our part of the world).

Yesterday felt good at the time but definitely took its toll - something I was well aware of when I fell asleep on the couch in front of the golf yesterday afternoon. Was very stiff indeed (particularly in the quads) in the opening stages today; that loosened up within a few minutes but the run was still a struggle. Still good for it to have been a struggle because I'd done such a hard session yesterday rather than it being a struggle because my form was rubbish.

Followed the run up with a swim, whose main function was loosening up various muscles. It worked well in this department - quite relaxed by the end. Certainly not working especially hard in this session.

The rain over the last couple of days has had numerous positive impacts, including giving a new lease of life to gardens, topping up tanks and dams, and giving John Daly a rare opportunity to play golf on a Saturday (the abandonment of Friday's play due to heavy rain meant he had to wait another day to miss the cut).

It also provided a good opportunity for an epic. I didn't actually have anything quite this epic in mind - the original plan was around 2.40-2.45 - but I'm not complaining. Started well which gave me some early confidence, before hitting some serious hills through Greensborough and Eltham North in the middle. (The latter took me into unexplored territory, but I know enough about the local topography to know that a straight road on the map was going to be steep, which it was).

The second half was fairly flat. Tired a little, but even the worst bits today were better than the good bits of last week. Finished along the Yarra from Westerfolds Park; unusually for a Sunday morning, there were more runners than cyclists (the weather must have scared the cyclists off, although apart from a two-minute downpour and a bit of drizzle it was mostly dry). Saw Lisa Jane Weightman with about 6km to go (going the other way, which was a pity as I could have used a tow at that stage), and then took on the interestingly slippery single track on the Banyule Flats. By this stage it was apparent that going the short way home was going to be about 2.57 or 2.58, and I was feeling OK so I thought I might as well do some minor deviations to crack the three hours. Longest run in time since early 2006, and one which will do a lot for my confidence.

The Saturday run on this program is a bit of a nothing run, but often one of the more enjoyable ones of the week, as it was today.

We were coming off Melbourne's wettest day in nearly four years so naturally I headed straight for Darebin Creek to check out the spectacle (definitely running very strongly). Started out in the morning dry slot mentioned yesterday but it didn't last long, with solid rain from 20 minutes onwards. Once I'd finished with flood-watching, headed for the Boulevard in Ivanhoe where the annual Christmas lights are just getting under way (don't like their chances of having carols by candlelight tonight, though).

The run was pleasant, but rather on the slow side.

Another early start today, waking up to the distinctly retro news that the Victorian police had shot somebody overnight - when I first moved here this seemed to happen just about every week.

Swim session at Richmond, a bit earlier than usual. Very slow early on but settled down quite well in the second half. A bit of shin soreness early on, not something one would normally associate with swimming (especially as I hadn't experienced it on the run), but it disappeared within a couple of laps (and wasn't discernable during the follow-up massage either).

We're now eagerly anticipating the closest Melbourne gets these days to a Big Wet. Suspect I might end up taking the train home tonight; Friday evening CBD traffic is crazy enough at this time of year (last night was bad enough) without being lubricated by water as well as alcohol. Might miss most of it for training because tomorrow morning, at this stage, looks like the best chance for a dry slot in between the two main periods of rain.

A similar start to yesterday with 30 minutes of sleepiness. Kept expecting the run to catch alight as it did in the last 15 minutes yesterday, but it didn't happen (despite the perfect conditions). Still plugged away steadily and at its best on the hills, a pleasing sign. A bit slower than I thought it might have been. Finished well.

Spotted outside a Toorak house: an expensive red sports car with the number plate '007'. I imagine both the car and the number plate cost a fair bit.

Whilst on the subject of numbers and making money, I notice that next year's Scottish 6-Day auctioned off its number 1 on Ebay - an interesting fundraising idea (although I think they made the grand total of 21 pounds). Back in the deep dark ages of the mid-1990s, before you had to be good to get number 1, I managed to score it at the Australian Championships three times in four years (thanks to my habit of sending in entries for events I know I'm going to as soon as I see the form, so I don't forget).

Zatopek night tonight. There was talk some of the Africans would stay on from the 15km but no sign of it on the start list. I expect most of the focus tonight will be on someone who isn't there rather than those who are.

To vary a cliche, this was a run of three thirds; a half-asleep and light-headed first third where I was grateful that it was mostly downhill, a mundane middle third, and a good final third with more strength than I've had for a while, particularly on the finishing climbs to Wattle Park and through Surrey Hills (where I was finishing at the station). Having an incentive (in the form of an 8.15 train which, unlike most this week, was actually on time) may have helped in the later stages.

Street-O at Blackburn South. Not as much route choice as last week - this week there were three nasties and we had to get one of them, otherwise there weren't a lot of decisions to take. Ended up as a drag race with Bryan. We were together for the first half but he edged away in the second; at first I wasn't too upset to see him in front at a key decision point, but then the 10 metres turned into 20, and then 30, and then 40. Thought I might have been a chance of pulling the gap back when we did the last two in different orders; got caught a bit on an unmapped wall, but not by enough to alter the result. Lost by about 100 metres in the end.

It was a very pleasant night indeed - enjoying it while it lasts - and felt better and sharper than I have on a Wednesday night for some time; the confidence gained in this morning's finish will have helped. An encouraging day despite the result.

Woke up a bit earlier than planned - I'd forgotten to reset my alarm from yesterday.

Felt better on the run than I have the last couple of days, but still pretty ordinary - rather on the slow side (fastest loop 9.35). I mused the last time I ran here that the Banyule Flats might have a freeway bulldozed through them in the not-too-distant future - instead it looks like they will have a freeway drilled under them (although I still won't be hugely shocked if this government, or the next one, ends up wanting to put it above ground on grounds of cost). The shambolic trains this morning certainly weren't a good advertisement for the transport system as it currently exists.

Swim at Belconnen early in the morning before going back to Canberra. A tiring week caught up with me yesterday evening - I felt like I could have quite happily crashed at 7 but did manage to last until close to 10.

The swim wasn't great, although not terrible. Still pretty sluggish.

C • swim 3

MFR Monday night from Torgeir's place (the second attempt after last week's false start). A pretty slow session, but not a great one; felt like anything much more than this would have been a struggle, although it might not have worked like that in practice. Tomorrow will be a bit more of a test.

Noticed on the weekend that one of the ACT Government's funding conditions for Summernats is that the organisers do something about behaviour towards women. I wish them the best of luck - this is an event where, some years ago, the then Chief Minister got about four words into her opening speech before someone yelled out 'show us yer tits'. I guess at least it keeps Australia's bogan population in the one place for four days.

Also saw that there are limits to the tolerance of New Orleans for political corruption - the Congressman who had several hundred thousands dollars in $50 bills in bags in his freezer when the FBI visited narrowly lost his bid for re-election.

The Conference long run with a better turnout than usual - the peak pack size was 10 (most of whom had at least something to do with the conference, and were ranked in the top 20 in Australia). Started out with a 30-minute loop through Macquarie to meet Andy and others in Cook (and to have a look at the famous hoggster letterbox), then to the Aranda underpass to link up with another group, then some fun and games on Black Mountain, including a certain amount of bush-bashing when we failed to find a track which Rob Walter assured us was there (which partly explains the slow pace).

I've been a little out of sorts recently, perhaps because of accumulated lack of sleep (and today, with its 6.00 start and hard run last night, was more akin to a Wednesday/Thursday combination than a normal Sunday). Whatever the cause, I didn't have much strength on the hills at the best of times; coped with the biggest climb OK, but by the time we came off Black Mountain I'd run out of legs for anything except downhill. Peeled off to ANU with Eric and Bruce; my plan was to do an extra loop to take it out to 2.30, but for once I wasn't bloody-minded about this (definitely shouldn't let cbf mode get addictive, though).

C • Didn't think you had one! 1

OA conference weekend in Canberra. As is usually the case on this weekend (last year being an exception given my mid-conference departure to Vietnam), the running started with a terrain run on Aranda Hill and Black Mountain, pleasant enough without pushing it too hard. Seems more open underfoot than it sometimes is, especially on the Aranda Hill side.

The weather was a good deal less exciting than some recent years - 2005 and 2007 both featured spectacular thunderstorms on the Friday afternoon/evening. The 2005 one was particularly spectacular and took place as Workchoices was going through Parliament: the much-lamented Matt Price headed his column the next day 'IR Bill Passes: Sky Does Fall In'.

Another tradition - the Saturday afternoon event, this time on the ANU campus, sprint style but longer than a standard sprint. As is also traditional, I wasn't especially sharp after the conference sessions (and some over-indulging on food at the breaks) - settled in the second half but never brilliant. The map was showing its age (although it wasn't that old); three of my four time losses could be attributed to map errors, and the fourth was marginal. Still a fun event - it's a good sprint area. Julian blew us all away as expected.

I was a student at ANU in the early 1990s but I don't think it helped much - not sure what percentage of the buildings on campus now either didn't exist then or took a radically different form, but I wouldn't be surprised if it's getting towards 50%.

Thought I might have had a bit more energy for the swim than this, as I had enough for a few sprints to catch green lights on the way there (and on the way back, proving a point about the efficiency of modes of inner-city transport by racing against a Ferrari down Flinders Street and beating it). Ended up a reasonable mundane session, but did get a lot of stiffness and tightness from yesterday out of my system.

Spotted en route to work: a couple of ASADA people at one of the Bridge Road cafes, presumably either just before or just after a mission - quite possibly a distance-running related one as Craig Mottram and Benita Johnson both live close by.

A long slog off too little sleep (up until after 11 last night writing last-minute OA conference papers), but still much better than last week's equivalent, which owes a lot to the much kinder conditions (around 10 degrees). Only briefly felt comfortable but kept plugging away, solid in the last half-hour. Felt at the start as if I had a slight strain in my left quad - it loosened up fairly quickly but then went tight again after the run (and my left calf, which had felt fine running, responded very strongly to its fortnightly needlework session at lunchtime).

A bit longer than I'd planned on, not really a bad thing at this end of the season. Not a brilliant run but a reasonably solid effort in the second half.

Street-O at Croydon Hills. A terrific course - well up there with the best street-O courses I've ever run. The top six took six different routes (with four major variations), and since the event I've seen two other options which I think could have been better than any of those.

My running wasn't quite as good as the course-setting. Started quite smoothly (after seeing someone I don't recognise get a 50-metre jump on the field, reeled in by the first control). By the third leg the pack had split and and it was Bryan and myself. We took the same route through the first half, with Bryan getting 20 metres or so on me on a downhill leg. He then took off in a different direction to what I'd planned - it looked a good option that I hadn't previously seen, so I changed my mind but probably lost another 50 metres in doing so. (I should have stuck with the original plan - Ian Dodd went that way and it was 90 metres shorter).

To my surprise Bryan went a different way at the next control. I thought it was a poor option, and spent a lot of the second half thinking I might be in a strong position, perhaps as a result taking my foot off the pedal a bit. Also didn't feel brilliant on the hills (which were not as abundant as they can be here). As it happened we came together again at the third-last control, with Bryan about 50 metres in front; his route was better than I thought it was (only 90 metres longer, and some of that was a mistake). I didn't think I'd be able to pull that in with no remaining route choice, and as it turned out he ran away from me to win by 150 metres. I thought Rachel Johnson might have been a threat too when she was within 100 metres at the second-last, but she was a control behind us.

First foray this season into the world of street-O intervals - this is something I sometimes do at those Tuesday night events I go to, running alternate legs hard/easy after an initial warm-up.

This was at West Essendon. It's the first time I've run an event here but it's very familiar ground - my grandmother lives 300 metres from the start (which gave me a good excuse to combine the event with a visit) and Buckley Park, where the start was, has been the scene for many a game of cricket on Christmas holiday visits (and, with its views to the south, was also a good place to watch the tornado outbreak of 22 December 1990, not that I actually sighted any of the funnels). Lots of familiar sights were seen during the event, although inevitably some of what used to be there is there no longer (there's no longer a sign proclaiming that Roberts St was the tidiest street in Essendon in 1983).

I got the route choice right. Predictably dropped well behind Bryan Ackerly and Matt Schepisi during the warm-up stage, but on this sort of run I'm not really racing against anyone. Got going quite nicely on the surges, although it was apparent by the end of what was quite a long race that I'd been working pretty hard. Someone I don't know ran past me at the end, probably surprised that I didn't put up a fight.

A comfortable if rather slow session at Hawthorn, with even more leaves floating on the surface than usual (probably because of some strong winds when last night's change went through). Felt quite relaxed which was the objective.

The usual Monday night fell through for lack of interest so I ended up doing a run at the end of the day from where I'd parked in anticipation of the run that didn't happen (at Glenferrie).

The first 10 minutes were badly lacking in enthusiasm and felt very ordinary, but picked up considerably at around halfway and had a good last third. A runny nose again which makes me think I'm still fighting off a cold.

The first working day of the month is always pretty full-on, and December 1 is more full-on than most because I've got three summaries to write instead of one (monthly, seasonal and southern growing season). Got the first two done, although not until well after 6.