Training Log Archive: blairtrewin

ACT Long Championships at Awoonga, 5th. Enjoyed this, which I didn't yesterday, and I suppose it's an improvement to be 37% behind Jules instead of 45%, but still nowhere near good enough on speed - failing to break 7s on a not-especially-steep ACT gully-spur course is not good enough.

This race was run in steady rain (which attracted some adverse comment from those who were listening when I said I expected the heaviest rain to stop around 10, but not when I said lighter rain would continue intermittently into the early afternoon - although there was a bit more than I was expecting). Started well technically but dropped a minute on 5, going to a termite mound low when I should have gone high. That was my last mistake of significance, but by 6 Josh had got through me from 4 minutes back and Shep was about to do likewise from 8. Being blown away by Shep (and OIle Poland, running 20s) up the hill into the saddle on 7-8 (one of four times we went through that saddle on a rather convoluted course) was rather eye-opening; only just hanging onto Jase on the same hill later on was more eye-opening, even if it was earlier in the course.

Did feel as if my endurance was OK and lasted the distance OK. Caught Devil at 15 and we were together for the rest of the course in a bit of a slowdown. I'm used by now to being a long way back on Jules and Shep, but conceding 14 minutes to Josh was a bit of a shock. Hopefully it says as much about his form as it does about mine. Don't think I'm going to get much of this form back in two weeks, though.

Event: ACT Championships
 

ACT Middle Championships at Collector. Probably not quite as ghastly a run as I thought it was when I finished, but still pretty ordinary. It was rougher than I'd remembered it - lots of fallen timber and rock, and very few fast bits - and needed someone who was strong and aggressive. I was pretty weak today, feeling in just-about-to-get-sick mode (hopefully it doesn't develop any further). A bit scrappy, but only substantial time loss was at 12, where a route choice around the base of the cliffs fell squarely into the 'seemed like a good idea at the time' category - probably a minute or so dropped there. Wasn't that far out of third, but it would have been a travesty if I'd placed with this run.

Pool running, usually a relaxing session when it's on a Friday, once again at Ivanhoe because of flow-on from logistics involved in an afternoon trip to the airport. Amazing what a decent night's sleep will do, too, even if I was up a little earlier than usual for a Friday - something necessitated by needing to be at work in time for a 9.00 meeting, the first 90 minutes of which turned out to be irrelevant. (I'd sort of anticipated this, and got a paper revision done in said 90 minutes).

North Balwyn/Elgar Park loop. Didn't quite live up to its initial promise but still better than recent midweek long runs, although a bit weak on the hills later on. Another pleasant morning for it - the dry season seems to be under way in Melbourne.

I noted yesterday that one of the notable local derelict buildings is having something done about it. Today I found out that so is the other one - a house in North Balwyn that's been left to rot for a decade by a bloody-minded owner after the council turned down their development application.

And someone obviously has a higher opinion of my importance than I do myself - I was on the receiving end of an e-mail screed of shock-jock talking points on asylum-seekers, and the other three addresses in the 'To' field were Robert Oakeshott, Tony Windsor and Nick Xenophon. I hate to disappoint Mr goldco9@tpg.com.au, but I have no intention of switching my support to Tony Abbott, and even if I did it won't result in another election or a change of government.

Didn't feel sparkling but a reasonable performance on a nice morning, given the hilly course around Eaglemont and a number of mail drops.

Something's finally happening to the derelict shell of a house that's been occupying prime real estate on Burke Road North for as long as I can remember (which probably means as long as I've been living in the area) - a board has gone up advertising a mortgagee sale.

3x1km at about 4-minute pace on the Tan, with jog in between. Not the easiest of sessions but good to do something hard in conditions very similar to normal late April conditions in York (mid-20s). Pace not as abysmal as I thought it might have been - at least I did my first sub-4 minute kilometre anywhere for several months (and tried not to think too much about it not being that long ago that I put 32 of them together back to back) - but didn't feel as if I had a huge amount in reserve, which doesn't fill me with confidence about getting anywhere near 14 when I try to race it next week. Still missing the top couple of gears, but at least there are some signs I'm getting third gear back....

Going to/from the Tan. Lots of traffic interruptions.

Felt pretty tired by the end of the day - this is the first time for a long time (quite possibly since the first half of 2009) that I've combined two running sessions with riding the full distance in both directions. Not eating until 8.45 probably didn't help matters much either. Body temperature seemed to stay quite elevated for most of the afternoon (but is back to normal now).

8x400 at Clifton Hill (82-88 on 2.30 cycle). A bit slower at its peak than last time but more consistent after the first couple (although it's a bit scary to think that my pace on the first couple was my 1996 marathon pace). Started to relax a bit more in the second half of the set and was better for it. Achilles better than in recent days. Good conditions for it with no wind.

New technology they didn't have 25 years ago: a Facebook poll (spotted via Eon) on who was going to win the Canberra Grammar cross-country (I can definitely imagine myself organising such a poll had Facebook existed 25 years ago). 25 years ago this was a race which I treated as a seriously big deal, although the only year I won was when I caught everyone by surprise in under-14s by actually doing some training (our year was a pretty good one, filling four of the top five places in the ACT one year). The 1986 race was run on Canberra's hottest-ever April day and our field was treated before the start to the confidence-building sight of the leader of the previous race staggering from side to side across the oval and seeing his lead shrink from 200 metres to 2 in the space of a couple of minutes.

Warm up/down from the intervals, ahead of a much-needed massage.

It was also ahead of meeting up with Ruth Goddard in pursuit of the goal of closing down the Victorian Junior Squad bank account and transferring its remaining $6.79 to the main VOA account. It turned out that the bank had never processed the change of signatories form (or maybe the paperwork is just taking a long time to make its way from Melbourne to Ballarat) and that I'd therefore been writing cheques on an account I wasn't a registered signatory of for the last 15 years without anyone noticing. This doesn't fill me with a great deal of confidence about the security of the banking system (although I guess they'd check if there was a complaint).

A routine Monday morning at Fitzroy. It's getting cooler but not yet cool enough to feel seriously cold when you get out of the water (or seriously warm when you get in).

MFR Monday night from Kerrin's in Carlton, up through Royal Park. Mostly pretty slow but faster when it needed to be (such as when trying to catch up from one of many traffic interruptions). Achilles again a bit sore but otherwise quite pleasant for a recovery run.

Can't quite remember how it came about, but dead bodies and places where they turn up was a major topic of conversation over dinner.