Training Log Archive: blairtrewin

Vic Relays at Wildflower Drive just east of Bendigo - not the most technical area I've ever been on but enough on it to create a challenge. I thought we'd struggle to be competitive in a team in which I was the youngest member by some margin, but Bendigo (who won easily) was the only club able to put out three M21s (or close approximations thereof) so there was a race on for 2nd and 3rd.

I'd rather have run first in this team but Russell Bulman had to leave early so led off for us. Three years ago he ran an excellent leg for us, and today wasn't too bad either, 10 minutes down on the lead and just behind Jasmine for MFR. That meant that I went out with Reuben to chase 50 metres ahead. This gap widened a bit when I had a long split early on, and we were never right together, but I'd got just about back in contact by 8 when the courses split widely and didn't see him again. By this time it was apparent that this was a pretty good run - the only control I was even vaguely uncertain on was 2, and Reuben showed me in - and it stayed that way. Particularly pleasing to be nailing the flat controls (unlike last week), and had some decent strength for the late hills. Probably ranks with the SA Middle as my best run so far this year.

Reuben was a couple of minutes back. As expected, this wasn't enough to give Ted a realistic chance of holding off Max, but Ted did manage to run down Warwick Williams (Bendigo 2nd team, which led after two legs) and get us into the placings by 30 seconds or so. Leg times: Bryan well clear at 37, Toph, myself and Matt Schepisi 42, Eddie, Max and James Robertson 43.

Lower right leg was a little sore beforehand (but warmed up), and more so afterwards. Will need to be watched but don't think it's too serious.

There was a heavy police presence on the way up (especially in the 80 zone past Taylors Lakes which is even longer now than it used to be). The police are getting better at disguising their unmarked cars because I saw one which was a ute bearing stickers from various country pubs (although to be truly authentic as a bush ute, it would also have required stickers from assorted country B + S balls, the Deniliquin Ute Muster, the mountain cattlemen and something along the lines of 'Fertilize the Bush: Doze In A greenie'). Perhaps it would have come in useful as a chase vehicle for yesterday's Great Milk Robbery. (Someone did suggest that the police might have acquired it by confiscating it).

And I was shocked to see other orienteering people in the Bendigo branch of the Beechworth Bakery afterwards.

C • Rumour has it 1

Again a rather touchy Achilles but otherwise this was a much improved run on recent days, particularly on hills which actually felt reasonably comfortable. Probably didn't hurt having had a proper night's sleep for once. Thought I'd timed it to be clear of the rain but had some heavy showers a couple of times in the middle. The ground is very wet at the moment, more because of the frequency of the rain (and lack of warm days) than its quantity, and there might have been a substantial flood in the Yarra had the overnight rain been at the upper end of expectations, but as it turned out the heavy stuff was in the Maribyrnong catchment instead.

Hawdon Street was largely closed (and presumably powerless) today for electricity line works, which probably won't have pleased the owners of the house on it which was up for auction today. Still, they would have felt no more miserable than those of us who support Essendon were around 4.30 this afternoon.

Plan today was to get the elbow stitches out at lunchtime and then take advantage of my bandage-free status to take to the pool after work, but the cut wasn't sufficiently healed to take all the stitches out so I'm going to have to put up with them for another few days. Getting a bit over having showers with one arm in a plastic bag.

Had my first taste of football hooliganism on the way home as I rode past the stadium - someone took it upon themselves to fill a half-full can of something at me. Didn't get a good enough look to see if it was a Geelong or St. Kilda supporter.

(Speaking of half-full cans, the police have finally managed to find something to get the Alphington chapter of the Hells Angels for - running their clubhouse bar without a liquor licence).

C • You havnt washed your wound... 2

I'm not having a great week of running and today was no exception (although at least most of the sore bits have stopped hurting). Never really felt in touch today, although managed to keep plodding away on a reasonably hilly course through North Balwyn and Doncaster, and felt no worse at the end than at the beginning. The dark starts will start to become a thing of the past soon.

Historical discovery of the day: a report in New Scientist which discussed a review someone had done of the literature on children's sleep patterns, going back to 1897. Two things had remained more or less constant over 115 years: (a) children averaged about 40 minutes' less sleep than medical professionals of the time thought they should get and (b) this deficit was blamed on whatever the latest technology was of the time.

A pretty ordinary run from Kirsten's place (the venue due to logistics of an evening meeting to discuss plans for the Christmas 5-Days), mostly around the Yarra before cutting back through Richmond. As with the last couple of days, started out stiff (although the sore bits are gradually getting a bit less sore), and even when the stiffness went still felt pretty sluggish. Achilles not great either.

Also from Kirsten's, a little later than planned on (and hence a little shorter, as I didn't want to keep her waiting too long) - a look at the radar around 4.45 revealed a line of heavy showers that looked like it was going to unload around my planned departure time from work of 6 (and did), so I stayed around for another half-hour in the hope of missing most of it on the ride to Abbotsford. This was more or less achieved, setting the scene for the run, this time heading north through Clifton Hill. The first 15 minutes were as dismal as this morning was, but it improved considerably after that and was even in danger of becoming good in the last couple of kilometres.

Sign of the day: 'Power Street Closed 20 Aug to 17 Sept Due To Power Works'.

A repeat of last Wednesday's lunchtime speed session minus the laceration, the rain (for the most part) and, as it turned out, the speed. As with yesterday, took a long time to loosen up (plus Achilles were a bit touchy today, bringing the tally of body parts which hurt close to double figures), and never really got going, although second half was a bit better than the first.

Going to/from the Tan, including an inspection of the incident site from last Wednesday, which confirmed what I'd suspected as the cause of the injury - there was a light cable running up the tree and a metal clip holding it on at swinging-arm height with an end which was definitely sharp enough to do damage if hit at any speed. If I felt so inclined, no doubt various members of the legal fraternity would be willing to assist (in exchange for a small fee) in attempting to extract/extort some money from Crown, but I'm not so inclined.

Darwin to Melbourne is a long haul, and it's a longer haul when done via Sydney. When done (partially) in daylight, though, there's some good scenery to be had, notably the rugged sandstone gorge country inland from the NT Gulf of Carpentaria coast - very interesting-looking, and no doubt utterly inaccessible except by helicopter. (I got a small taste on the 2009 trip).

Certainly knew today I'd been in a race and had a few other misadventures. The scoreboard of bits that were hurting read: one left elbow (cause: last Wednesday's altercation outside Crown Casino, although normally altercations outside Crown involve bouncers and not trees); bruised/grazed areas on the left thigh (same area as in Switzerland), right shin and right hand (cause: all from a fall coming into 13 yesterday), and a stiff neck and two sore shoulders (cause: your guess is as good as mine).

Normally I'd have loosened all this up in the water but that isn't an option until I get the stitches out of my elbow later this week (not that two sore shoulders would have been ideal for swimming), so the Monday night run from Ilka's was the place where it happened. A slow-paced run in which I was the token bloke. Started to loosen up a bit as the run went on, which means it did its job.

Ilka seemed a bit surprised when told that a picture of a past Australian orienteering champion was hanging on her wall. (The thing hanging on the wall was the Bureau calendar, which this month includes a picture of three of the Bureau's tsunami researchers, one of whom is 1981 W14 winner Diana Greenslade; my intermittent suggestions of a comeback have fallen on deaf ears).

C • Depending on exactly where ... 1

C • Shoulders 3