Training Log Archive: blairtrewin

Probably my best run of the week, physically at any rate, and kept my navigation together on a day when quite a few others made some surprisingly big mistakes on a relatively easy area (I'm particularly mystified as to how anyone managed to make a mess of 23 or 24, both of which stood out like sore thumbs in the middle of paddocks).

Caught Lee Andrewartha at 4 and spent the next 5km trying to get away from him. Trying to make and sustain a break on someone who's just a little bit slower is something I really enjoy doing, especially in this sort of country where it's possible to miss a bit in the circle; you need to be absolutely precise or you'll get swallowed. Didn't get properly clear until 17, having also gone through Dane in the interim. After that I soon had another target in Craig, who appeared about 300 metres ahead on the way to 20. This gap stayed pretty constant the rest of the way but he was still a useful target, not least because I saw him bend down to punch the second-last, a control which caused some grief (very publicly) to several people, not least the race winner.

4th, 3 minutes down, was on paper probably my best National League result since around 2000, although in reality it owed more to others having ordinary runs - Matt sounded like he was all over the place and Simon made his biggest mistake for several years at 7 (i.e. he lost more than 2 minutes). In the end I missed out on getting a place because Simon was able to find another gear when he caught Matt Parton and I couldn't do likewise once I sighted Craig.

Thumbs-up to the post-event catering - lots of goodies courtesy of the Hellenic Gun Club, whose premises we were using. I'm not sure how what happens at a Hellenic Gun Club varies from your average everyday firing range, although Craney suggested that they shoot at plates instead of clay targets. (I did see a shattered plate on the ground near the start, although I'm not sure bullets were responsible).

All in all - a steady race week but I'd hoped for something a bit more, especially over Easter and in the longer races. Definitely good to see the Nuggets in prime position though (and a shock to see the Cockatoos in wooden-spoon territory).

Australian Middle Champs at Pewsey Vale, 8th. Another run more or less from the standard mould - didn't miss much but not as fast as I'd like to have been, and at the back of a fairly close bunch which meant the placing wasn't great.

Continued a close tussle with Craig over the week - this now stands at 3-3 with a cumulative margin of 14 seconds to him. Bizarrely, two of my three wins have been in the two sprints. Today we were within 12 seconds of each other on every split and even made the same mistake (a 15-seconder missing the first one after the spectator control a bit to the left - a miss we had in common with plenty of others).

Felt slow and sluggish even by my usual not-exactly-stellar sprint standards - certainly well down on last Friday. AJ caught me reasonably early on, and obviously decided that he enjoyed that experience so much that he did it again (having navigated from 13 to 14 via 15 in the interim). At least avoided doing anything stupid, and saw my placing rise from 18th when I crossed the line to 11th at the end of the day courtesy of the transgressions of various people.

Another not-exactly-stellar recovery run in Port Lincoln. Hope that I'll feel a bit sharper on returning to racing tomorrow.

An easy run around the Parnkulla trail on the Port Lincoln waterfornt. A nice setting for a run - some very nice views and interesting sea birds in places - but a less than stellar performance. It was emphatically obvious for the smell near the wharf that this is a fishing town.

Over on the Eyre Peninsula for a couple of days in between races. A gentle recovery session in the Whyalla pool, conveniently close to where we were staying.

A tough final day. Again just about optimal perfectly with only tiny wobbles. Perhaps a bit ambitious in my early route choices in the steep country and paid for it in the last 15 minutes, although I think it also hit me hard mentally when AJ (and later Eric) caught me after what I thought was a reasonable run to that time. Ended up dropping a place when Craig edged 2 seconds ahead of me - didn't help that I had to wake all the SI units up on Sunday as second starter, but them's the breaks. Still, 8th is my first top-10 finish at Easter since 1998 (surprising as I have five top-5 results in Australian Champs in that time).

One thing that's evident from the Easter results is that we had better hope our best four are all fit and available. If we lose any of them there isn't a lot around, with Simon, AJ and Eric all not nominating for various reasons. The selectors will be desperate indeed if they have to call on me but it's hard to see what their alternatives are if they need to find an extra person, given that the younger prospects who might be considered aren't really plausible candidates for the long. Here's hoping everyone is OK.

C • Except of course that candidat... 43