Training Log Archive: blairtrewin

Eyre Bird Observatory and return from the top of the scarp.

I'd been anticipating this one for weeks (regular readers may recall an earlier comment about a meteorological site I wanted to go to where the last 12km of the track in was reputed to be extremely dodgy). Quite apart from the principal purpose of this bit of the trip, it was a pretty nice place to run, although reasonably hard work because of all the ups and downs over the sand dunes. The rain was a blessing and a curse; a curse because it made driving in as far as the scarp a bit dicey, a blessing because it meant the sand on the track I was running on was mostly pretty firm. Doing a session like this is also a reminder that 24km is a meaningful distance on foot, in a weekend where for most of the time it was 13 minutes of cruise control and if you're unlucky you might have to turn the steering wheel once or twice.

The run itself was at its best in the third quarter, the first 6km coming back out of the observatory (I thought I might stiffen up in the 15 minutes or so looking around there, but didn't). It was hard work at times otherwise, but still got through OK. Somewhat surprisingly, I wasn't that tired through the rest of the day, which is why I'm now in Esperance and not Norseman as originally planned.

A lot of the restoration work at Eyre was done courtesy of funds from an eccentric American millionaire who spent a lot of time there because he thought it would be the best place to see out the coming nuclear holocaust. Somewhat ironically, his unfortunate demise came as a result of injuries suffered in a mugging on a visit home.

And the Gibson Soak (a dodgy pub 25km north of Esperance) looks exactly how I remember it from when we stayed there in 1977 (although minus the drunk cricket team).

Could have done without the 2am fire alarm.

Headed out at first light (which is pretty late, being a long way west) at Streaky Bay. This proved to be a run of two halves, mostly because of the weather. The first half was into a strong wind and through heavy showers most of the way, and was very hard work at times (especially cresting a hill into the fiercest squall). The second half was dry and much more relaxed. They ended up getting 61mm in two days.

That was the start of a long day heading into the Nullarbor, a trip I've only done once previously, as a six-year-old in 1977. There are quite a few things I remember from this trip, and one which definitely came to mind as I approached Madura shortly before sunset was not being able to find anywhere to stay at Madura and picking our way through the kangaroos to the next stop at Cocklebiddy. This time there was plenty of room at Madura (in fact I seemed to be just about the only person in the place, not for the first time this week).

Like my last foray into a WA desert, it was raining (it started more or less when I crossed the border). It wasn't as dramatic as in 2005 where I managed to intercept a third of the area's annual average in the space of a couple of hours between Leinster and Mount Magnet.

C • Desert Rain 1

Had what I suspect might be my last swim for a bit at the Adelaide Aquatic Centre. This was the scene of an event in 1989 that potentially launched a good trivia question - why was the SA state record for the 1500 faster than the world record? (Glen Housman, who was briefly the world's best at that distance before being overhauled by Kieren Perkins, broke the world record there but it wasn't ratified because it was hand-timed - but hand timing was acceptable for SA state records). Not a bad session, and a nice start to a long day on the road. (The exit from Adelaide isn't so nice - is there an uglier piece of highway in Australia than Main North Road?).

Most of today was about getting kilometres under the belt before hitting the Nullarbor tomorrow; now in Streaky Bay. I was listening to the football previews on local radio on the way into town. The tipsters have some complications that their AFL equivalents don't have to deal with; for the Coober Pedy-Roxby Downs match, the strength of the Roxby Downs team will depend on which miners are on their 'on' and 'off' fortnights, while Coober Pedy might or might not have some extra indigenous talent depending on who wanders in from the APY lands (the Aboriginal land covering much of NW SA) looking for a game.

C • adelaide aquatic centre 5

C • swim record 1

A morning session from Penneshaw before the ferry. There's no way to get out of Penneshaw without a substantial early climb (south in my case, up the Cape Willoughby road). This wasn't as good a run as the last two, feeling a bit flat, and with a bit of groin tightness (particularly downhill) for the first time in a few weeks - blisters have settled though.

Got a final taste of the erratic local signage - saw two signs within 10 metres of each other, one saying 'Cape Willoughby 20' and another 'Cape Willoughby 27'. According to my road map the correct answer is 24.

After a somewhat indulgent day in Adelaide (knowing that tomorrow I'll pass the metaphorical sign 'no decent food next 2000km' - and even BYO offers limited options because you can't take fruit and vegetables across the WA border), went out for an evening run in Belair with some of the SA orienteers. This had its moments, being a run on bush tracks in the dark where my knowledge of my location was limited to 'Adelaide's that way', but quite enjoyable. Slow as would be expected in the circumstances. Groin OK so hopefully this morning will only be an isolated occurence.

A long run in Flinders Chase National Park which didn't quite turn out as planned. Jenny had given me advice on a Kangaroo Island long run but I'd forgotten where it was, so planned instead to head out to West Bay at the far end of the island, and parked at the sign 'West Bay 12km'. I learned a bit in the process about haphazard signposting on Kangaroo Island, because when I turned around at 13km I could only barely see the water, and decided I didn't want to get to West Bay badly enough to turn this into a 2.30-plus run.

The run itself was pleasant, on a deserted dirt road, mostly on a plateau of heathland (burnt out in fires in late 2007), occasionally dropping into sharp gullies. Handled the climbs OK although blisters occasionally troublesome. A very smooth run for much of the way but definitely tired in the last 20 minutes and was happy to finish.

There was more coastal scenery in the rest of the day and plenty of wildlife too (alive this time), in the form of two seal colonies and the Penneshaw penguins tour which I was the only person to show up for. There are also supposed to be lots of gourmet delights on the island but I'll have to take other people's word for it, because nearly all the places selling them were closed for winter (at least the honey ice-cream place was open).

First outing on Kangaroo Island, consisting of finding a back road, going up it for 20 minutes and coming back (the road in question being part way between Penneshaw and Kingscote). A pretty smooth run and faster than I would have expected. It was fairly inevitable on an unstable showery day that I'd get wet at some stage, and I did (but only for 5 minutes). Saw quite a bit of Kangaroo Island's wildlife en route; unfortunately all of it was in the form of roadkill.

Most of the rest of the day was spent making my way around the north coast (some nice coastal scenery and beaches, although I couldn't get to what's supposed to be the best of them at Stokes Bay because the walk around the point was cut off by a very high tide). Extremely quiet even by the standards of what I expected of off-season.

Weather station count up to 71 (Cape Borda).

After yesterday's frustrations it was nice to get a decent and enjoyable run under my belt. This was a multi-loop race from the top of Melville's Caves. My worst time loss was early; I got a poor line through the rocks on the way down to 2 and lost 45 seconds or so. Simon caught me there and we were together for the next two loops, until he went in too early on 10. Ran the rest of the course pretty well except for a bit of a wobble at the second-last. Won a sprint finish (with a decent start to be fair) against Jim; we were 2nd and 3rd behind Bryan.

After that it was time to hit the road, destination Victor Harbor (in preparation for getting the ferry to Kangaroo Island tomorrow morning). Not the most relaxing of trips with long weekend traffic, lots of roadworks, and the heaviest downpour I've seen in a while just out of Tailem Bend (I'd guess 5mm in 5 minutes, but it probably missed all the gauges). Victor Harbor, unsurprisingly, was pretty dead on a weeknight in winter, but will work fine as a base for the night.

Quirk of the day: a sign in Donald advertised land for sale in the Donald Industrial Estate. The local council must have been trying to sell the land for a long time because the sign sported an 054 phone number, which hasn't been current for about 15 years.