Training Log Archive: blairtrewin

Two Bays Trail Run. Treated this as a long training run (not that I suspect I would have been able to race it a lot harder). This starts off with 270m climb in 3km up Arthurs Seat (the top of the track being about 20 metres away from the spot where Cassie got married), then drops off again, before undulating the rest of the way to Cape Schanck.

Handled the initial climb pretty well, but realised on a short climb at 5.5k that I had no strength in my quads (a common problem in recent days). This was somewhat alarming and made me realise I had to be careful or I was going to blow up a long, long way from home. Settled a bit after that but still found any climbs, of which there were a few in the 8-12k section, hard work. From 12 to 22k was through forest, mostly flat or slightly downhill - still not totally comfortable but accumulated the distance without undue difficulty. That left the final section across the top of Bushrangers Bay. Had a good patch at the start of this section, but had to walk a steep set of stairs with about 2.5k to go and struggled home a bit from there. Did manage to find a bit for the last 100 to get in under 2.30 (at least according to me).

This is a nice course and well worth the effort. I shouldn't, though, be finding 2.30 at training pace as difficult as this, even on a hilly course. In particular the lack of quad strength is a major concern.

Sluggish early, picked up somewhat later, but never particularly comfortable, especially up hills. Struggling for confidence at the moment.

Went to Richmond rather than my usual Fitzroy, partly because Melbourne was continuing its attempt to imitate Darwin in the monsoon and I thought things might get a bit uncomfortable in the outdoor pool, although as it turned out the serious rain didn't return until just after I got to work. (It says something for recent conditions that the environs of an indoor pool felt less humid than the outside world). One thing that's changed in the 18 months since this was a regular Friday morning haunt - it's a lot harder to park (I think more restrictions have been introduced in nearby streets). A reasonable session, although didn't feel as if it was flowing quite as well as it usually does (and of course there was less to recover from in a recovery session than would normally be the case).

There might be a few new erosion gullies on the Golden Fleece; there were numerous falls in excess of 250 millimetres yesterday in the St. Helens area.

The conditions got the better of me today. It was just as humid, if not more so, as last night (for sustained high dewpoint the current event ranks second only to one in February 1955, a record which may well fall by tomorrow morning), I hadn't slept well, and expected it to be tough going, which it was. Sluggish in the first half-hour but thought I might be able to fight my way out of it as I have a couple of times in recent weeks, but taking on water had no real effect. By 45 minutes I was starting to entertain the possibility that I might not last for two hours and readjusting my course to one with reasonable bailout options. By 60 minutes I was really struggling, and holding out to reassess at the next water point. There was no improvement after that, either, and I decided I wasn't going to achieve much by pressing on (and ran the risk of getting into real trouble; it was a definite danger sign that my pace had slowed by 20 seconds/km in the last 3k, something which never happens on a normal run).

A failed attempt at a long run (and a sleep-deprived night) probably wasn't the best of preparations for a stressful day, either...

Street-O at Lilydale Heights, one of the more far-flung venues and one I haven't run on before. A semi-tropical night with dewpoints almost as high as they've ever been on a sustained basis in Melbourne (22-23) and intermittent showers of warm rain. Street-O control cards aren't made of particularly robust material, and keeping mine in one piece was quite a challenge.

No real route choice tonight. Felt OK at the start but still no extra gear for the hills or for extra speed. Settled into a pace 50 metres behind Ian Davies and 50 ahead of Rachel Johnson (clearly having an on week). Ian made a couple of small mistakes which put me ahead of him, but then I didn't see a gap in some vegetation which brought us back together with two controls to go. Rachel then kicked home as hard as she did a few weeks ago and once again there was nothing I could do about it, but at least I got Ian for the first time this season, which reinforces yesterday's impression of slight progress but progress none the less. Bruce wasn't there tonight; 5 minutes behind Bryan.

Not sure if the course-setter was a Gerry Rafferty fan, but there was a control in Baker Street.

I'm putting a note here so people can post in comments info about orienteers affected by the Queensland floods, or anything else relevant to the situation.

C • Queensland Floods 21

Seemed to take forever to wake up this morning. Still felt half-asleep when I set out despite it being 90 minutes after getting up, and that filtered through into a struggling first section. Got into it a bit more in the second half, and even felt as if I had a bit of strength attacking the final uphill rep, not something which has been a familiar experience lately. Just made it under 10, which is still well short of where I want to be (9.30 would be respectable), but at least heading in the right direction now.

It was one of those mornings where it feels pleasantly cool until you start trying to do something (21/20). Still, humid as it is here, it's nothing compared to what is happening further north. I don't have much involvement in the current phase of the situation (although I probably will in post-event reporting), but had a lot of trouble concentrating on what I was supposed to be working on this afternoon (going through 1926-56 temperatures at Cape Otway).

Once again, a bit of a struggle to get out on a Monday morning after a long run on Sunday. Stiffness was gone within a few minutes but still pretty sluggish for most of the way. I imagine doing a run before a swim makes things worse here - normally I'd be doing it the other way round.

Started reasonably promisingly but drifted away in the second half. Will still do me some good in loosening myself up, although I'll find out how much good tomorrow morning. A couple of bits of me threatened to cramp on occasions (and one bit actually did when I was lifting myself out of the pool at the end, resulting in a somewhat ungainly exit if anyone was watching, which they probably weren't).