Training Log Archive: blairtrewin

Event: Victorian Sprint Champs, Monash University
 

Ran a reasonably good technical race for the most part, with the exception of 3 where I let my concentration slip on the previous leg and therefore arrived at 2 without a plan for what to do next - dangerous in a sprint race. Didn't cost me much time though. Felt quite sharp running while I was out there, but no closer on running speed than I usually am - although I can't expect too much when I do lead-up runs like yesterday's. Some morning rain but slippery ground not a major factor, despite my pre-race worries (given my rather unfortunate history in similar circumstances).

We will be doing plenty of racing in hot weather next year, so it is as well to get some more practice in handling it. It was a pretty tough morning today, rising to the mid- to upper-20s by 8 (as it turned out I would have had more comfortable conditions waiting).

My only concessions to the Sprint Championships tomorrow were doing 2 hours instead of 2.30, and doing it on Saturday rather than Sunday (this says everything that needs to be said about how seriously I'm taking tomorrow's race). It was a steady but unspectacular run for much of the way, initially going north into Bundoora and then south-east across Montmorency to the Yarra. Water availability was again a problem - I'm sure there used to be taps at Watsonia shops and Partington's Flat (maybe Banyule Council has taken them out as a water-saving measure?). Did get something at Montmorency. Faded a bit after a couple of tough hills around the 90-minute mark, but then revitalised a little when something bearing a vague passing resemblance to a cool change came through about 15 minutes from the end. Not the most comfortable of runs, but need to get sessions like this on the board if I want to be able to cope with Dubbo in March (or Portugal in July, or Queensland in September).

(By the way, it looks like I've added a sixth overseas trip to my schedule for the next seven months - this time Fiji in March for a Pacific Islands climate training workshop).

C • Water availability 3

Swimming at Richmond. Pace a bit more up and down than usual (even managed to go slightly lactic at one point in the process of passing someone who was even slower than me).

You usually get to see some interesting driving after work on a Friday night and today was no exception. Highlights were someone trying to turn left out of a right-turn lane and someone else driving the wrong way down a one-way street (and we're not exactly talking a back lane here - it was the end of Queens Parade in Clifton Hill). No accidents as far as I could see, although I did see the remnants of this afternoon's little train-shunting misadventure at Spencer Street.

Thought this was going to be a tough morning's work after a pretty hard day yesterday (and a bad night's sleep). The first 45 minutes, through the hills of Eaglemont and North Balwyn, were indeed tough (although never as bad as the equivalent run last week), but it improved considerably after that. The last hour was very solid which is pleasing, although I had most of the hills out of the way by then; the gradual descent through the Ruffeys Creek valley was particularly nice. Still had a bit left at the end (although the last climb up Hawdon Street - 200 metres at 15-20% - is tough no matter how good you're feeling).

Even political campaigns have their priorities - at a meeting on Tuesday it was suggested that we should run the local briefing session for scrutineers next Wednesday, and about half the meeting immediately said 'We can't do that - it's Chaser night'.

C • swedish rainfall 4

C • Chaser 2

A pretty nondescript morning's effort, rather on the slow side and didn't feel stunning at any stage. Not the stiffness that I had early on over the last couple of days. Unusually for this time of year, was running in dense fog early on, although it lifted to low cloud later on.

Acquainted myself a bit more with Indonesian geography today (had to convert the coastline into a set of coordinates for a figure in a paper I'm working on), finding out exactly where various islands are that one normally sees only in DFAT bulletins advising Australians not to go to them.

Street-O at Bulleen, a score event, which meant it was a bit longer than usual. For once it wasn't a formality to get them all, and it wasn't until the last two legs that I was confident that I was going to manage it. It helps in that respect when there's a freeway through the middle of the map requiring some more convoluted route choices.

I'd had a big lunch (someone's retirement at work) and paid for it a bit at times, with a bad patch (including a stitch) in the middle. Much better in the last third. I hesitated a bit at the start working out the best route and found myself about 20th in the pack heading for the first control, but bizarrely punched it first because everyone else played follow-the-leader and overshot it. It then settled down to a two-way race between Bryan Ackerly and myself. Bryan's running pretty fast at the moment and that was always likely to prove decisive, although the inevitable was delayed when he overshot 4. He pulled away over the middle part of the course when I was at my worst; I came back at him a little at the end but not enough to be in with any chance of winning.

This was a big day and tomorrow will be too. I'm appreciating the cool conditions while they last; this time next week has the potential to be ugly.

C • Cool conditions 5

C • Results.. 1

Sunday definitely took more out of me than I expected - still a little on the stiff side today. No real speed at any stage, but did feel quite strong on the uphill parts of the loop, which may suggest that I'm getting more into base mode. Fastest lap 9.24.

Pretty stiff when I got into the pool but seemed to loosen up nicely once in, which was the principal objective of the exercise. A good session with just the odd bit of goggles trouble proving a bit of an annoyance.

A pretty slow Monday night session from Dion's around Studley Park. I thought I might have got rid of remaining stiffness in this morning's swim but it didn't happen - the first half was a real struggle. Loosened up a bit later on but never really comfortable. Picked up the first grass seeds of the season - another harbinger of summer.

Reuben dropped off halfway round, having already done 4 hours of riding today. We weren't entirely sure he would find his way back to Dion's, being relatively new in Melbourne, and indeed he wasn't there when we got back. We had just started to speculate about which way he might have gone and where a search party might usefully be sent when it occurred to someone to check inside to see whether he'd beaten us back (he had).

Did my most oddball media interview for a while today: the ABC wanted comment about the meteorological background to the sinking of an oil tanker off the Black Sea coast near the Russia/Ukraine border. Flew by the seat of my pants a bit so I hope it went OK.