Training Log Archive: blairtrewin

Headed out with Bruce at Macedon before the VOA meeting. Sluggish early as expected after a pretty hard day yesterday, but loosened well and a good solid run. Both of us lost concentration a bit at the end and drifted into unexpected territory, which at least provided some relocation practice (I'm definitely looking forward to doing some actual orienteering again next weekend). Another hot day, but still reasonably pleasant while we were out there.

At this time of year 38-degree days at least come with the hope that this might be just about the last serious heat of the summer (definitely no promises though). Got out early enough to miss the worst of it; there was high cloud around and it stayed around the mid-20s.

Did a long one on Saturday rather than Sunday this weekend (will be going into the terrain at Macedon tomorrow before the VOA meeting), out to Eltham as far as the path along the river from Griffiths Park. Hilly for the first 60% then quite flat. Uncertain start, good middle then faded a bit at the end, still better than I thought it would be given how exhausted I was at the end of yesterday. (I think I underestimate how much the bike commutes - 50 minutes each way - take out on a hot day).

In a textbook case of slamming the stable door with the horse halfway down the Flemington straight, as soon as I crossed into Nillumbik Shire there were council workers out felling trees anywhere near any picnic area or piece of playground equipment (this follows an incident last weekend when a tree fell in high winds in Eltham and narrowly missed a playground).

Translation of the day, from the Portugal O Meeting website (courtesy of Cassie): The POM2007 is nearer and nearer ... This competition will be going to
dispose of a record number of athletes in Portugal, around 1,500.

Went to Kew this time - a convenient location on the way to my regular Friday massage in Richmond. This is the only thing to recommend the facility, which I remembered not-so-fondly for congestion and unfriendly natives, and not a lot has changed. 32-degree water indoors is a bit stifling for my liking too.

Took the opportunity to mention Ust-Kamenogorsk, Kazakhstan, in the monthly briefing I give at the Bureau on Australian and global climate. (It hasn't been below -22 yet this winter when its average January minimum is around -25 - a symptom of an exceptionally warm January in most of the former USSR, which in turn has meant that January was the world's warmest on record by a substantial margin).

Thought this would be a hard morning's work after yesterday and it was. A bit of a struggle most of the way, although a few good stretches in the middle. Thought it might have been in danger of falling apart completely after a weak effort on a steep climb around the 85-minute mark (the same hill where I started hitting the wall on 7 January), but came through that and finished quite strongly.

There was a hint of impending autumn in that the first 20 minutes were in the dark, and that there was a hint of mist around early, but the humidity was enough to be a reminder that summer is still alive and well - you know it's humid when drips start falling off your gear in mid-run. Weight afterwards was 69kg which is starting to get into the fluid-loss danger zone (my normal at present is around 72) - the water cooler at work will be getting fairly regular visits for the rest of the day.

C • Well done, 70 minute run start... 2

One for the 'wish you were here department': Onslow on the northwest coast of WA was 36.6 degrees at midnight last night (quite hot enough) - then jumped to 42.2 just before 1 a.m. as a result of downdrafts associated with a nearby thunderstorm. And we complain when we get a night in the high 20s.

Started in Clifton Hill, headed through Yarra Bend out to Kew and back across the Studley boathouse bridge (sounds vaguely similar in places to Bruce, although I didn't see any balloons so we must have been out at different times). Not one of my great runs - feeling a bit flat and uninspired. Didn't see any snakes this time.

Not one of my finest street-O performances - felt weak from the start and didn't get much better, although did fight it out to the end. Not sure whether to blame this on the heat (central Melbourne's sea breeze didn't get to Nunawading, so it was 32 rather than 24) or spending the afternoon dealing with paparazzi (well, actually, a paparazzo to be precise).

It was a score event, but Mulluana is too small to keep us occupied for 60 minutes so it was simply a case of getting all 20 controls as quickly as possible - which spoils it a bit. Got the route choice right in the sense that it was probably the shortest one, but Adam and Bryan had the tactical advantage because they'd got an extra control early (one I ended up getting last) and were therefore chasing me with a control in hand. Neither ever quite caught me on the ground, but Bryan was close enough to go through me when he was able to go directly home from 12. Got Adam by 10 metres (we were coming from opposite directions so it wasn't really a head-to-head sprint), a result which has a fair chance of being critical in the overall pointscore. I've never won a series title outright - the closest I got was in 2003-04 when Tony Bird won a sprint finish from the last control in the final race to tie overall - so it would be a nice one to get on the board. Despite how bad I felt, the pace wasn't disgraceful, which I guess is a good sign.

Some tangible evidence that the hard summer is paying off; a week after finishing the base training phase I pulled out my fastest time for my fartlek loop since at least 2001 (8.53). Didn't even feel as if I was going that fast; a very encouraging sign at this stage of the season.

Felt good but even slower than usual. Discovered an occupational hazard of outdoor pools in the early morning at this time of year - sun glare.

Slow even by the standards of MFR Monday nights, and didn't feel all that brilliant. Rather warm which is something we'll need to get used to this week (I think the 38s forecast for the weekend are a little overdone, but only a little).

We spent much of the time on the small tracks on the east side of the Yarra at Studley Park. Got to see some of the local wildlife in the form of a tiger snake - first snake I've seen in years. (I've only ever seen one in competition). Jasmine survived despite being in the perilous number 3 position - the general rule is reputed to be that number 1 wakes up the snake, number 2 treads on it and number 3 gets bitten, although it's not exactly common, given that only two people have been bitten in the entire history of Australian orienteering (neither significantly injured) and the average annual number of snakebite deaths in Australia is roughly 1.

C • Who 12