Training Log Archive: blairtrewinIn the 7 days ending Jan 31, 2016:
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Sunday Jan 31, 2016 #
8 AM
Run 2:30:00 [3] 28.1 km (5:20 / km)
A solid effort and my longest run since May (in distance terms, anyway). Started out up Darebin Creek, flowing strongly after overnight storms, up to La Trobe, then across through familiar ground to Banyule Flats. Thought about going out to the Finns Reserve footbridge but that would have committed me to something a bit longer than I'd planned on, so instead headed south, then across through Hays Paddock before a final loop past the boathouse. Feeling OK for most of it, although was tiring a bit in the last half-hour - it's a long run, it's meant to be tough - didn't really show in the pace though. Didn't get the sense of having a lot left at the end, but still good to get this one on the board.
I went through the Two Bays distance 15 minutes faster than two weeks ago, and I don't think all of that was because this course was flatter. (For that matter, my pace from 14-24k was pretty much that of last Wednesday's street-O, although today there were no controls to punch).
Outside of major race periods I hope to achieve 35 hours per month. This is the third month in a row I've done this, the first time this has happened in four years. Might not make it four in a row, although February does have a bonus day this year.
I went through the Two Bays distance 15 minutes faster than two weeks ago, and I don't think all of that was because this course was flatter. (For that matter, my pace from 14-24k was pretty much that of last Wednesday's street-O, although today there were no controls to punch).
Outside of major race periods I hope to achieve 35 hours per month. This is the third month in a row I've done this, the first time this has happened in four years. Might not make it four in a row, although February does have a bonus day this year.
Saturday Jan 30, 2016 #
10 AM
Run 1:03:00 [3] 11.4 km (5:32 / km)
Procrastinated on this a bit more than I normally would on a weekend, partly because I was a little bit apprehensive about hamstring tightness when I got up (which turned out to be a non-issue once running). This meant I missed the really good running conditions and only got moderately good ones instead. A reasonable run, out through Darebin Parklands and Wilson Reserve and back along the south side of the river; a bit slow but I expected that coming off yesterday.
The latest sign says that the Darebin Creek trail extension across the river will be completed in mid-2017 "subject to the acquisition of land" (this may be a significant "if" depending on which land it is - the golf club has previously fought legal trench warfare trying to stop the trail altogether). We await developments. It was also announced during the week that the new Chandler Highway bridge is due to start in mid-2017 with completion in 2018; I think they'll be keen to stick to that timetable, if only because it was a promise from the last election and I think there will be a desire to have it finished before the next one (in November 2018).
Should have thought about the acronym a bit more closely: the former Fyshwick DFO is now the Canberra Outlet Centre (and bonus points because it's on Iron Knob Street).
The latest sign says that the Darebin Creek trail extension across the river will be completed in mid-2017 "subject to the acquisition of land" (this may be a significant "if" depending on which land it is - the golf club has previously fought legal trench warfare trying to stop the trail altogether). We await developments. It was also announced during the week that the new Chandler Highway bridge is due to start in mid-2017 with completion in 2018; I think they'll be keen to stick to that timetable, if only because it was a promise from the last election and I think there will be a desire to have it finished before the next one (in November 2018).
Should have thought about the acronym a bit more closely: the former Fyshwick DFO is now the Canberra Outlet Centre (and bonus points because it's on Iron Knob Street).
Friday Jan 29, 2016 #
6 AM
Run 2:00:00 [3] 22.1 km (5:26 / km)
Started somewhat apprehensively but finished as one of my better runs in recent weeks. I've been having some minor issues with knee soreness in the last week - it's been disappearing immediately on warming up previously but persisted through 10-15 minutes today, and I was worried it might have taken a turn for the worse, but it settled, and so did I (off a start not as slow as often with an early start). A steady run throughout and perhaps better than that in the final third, when I was accumulating kilometres without too many worries and not really tiring. Few hills; those that existed were awkward at the start but fine at the end.
The conditions didn't hurt - intermittent light rain, becoming heavier for most of the last 40 minutes. My midweek long run hasn't been on Thursday the last couple of weeks, and looking at
The conditions didn't hurt - intermittent light rain, becoming heavier for most of the last 40 minutes. My midweek long run hasn't been on Thursday the last couple of weeks, and looking at
6 PM
Note
Last session with the current masseur tonight (she's moving out to Hoppers Crossing). This one wasn't quite Attack of the Killer Physio, but it was certainly one of the more rugged ones I've had for a while.
Thursday Jan 28, 2016 #
7 AM
Pool running 45:00 [3] 0.7 km (1:04:17 / km)
In the pool; after last night decided that backing up for a long run this morning was probably not a great idea. A generally reasonable session although calf felt a bit strange (in an about-to-cramp-but-never-quite-did sense) at one point. Had a return of some old company I haven't seen for several months, which meant we were able to jointly not lament the (political) demise of Tony Abbott.
Australia can consider itself fortunate in the lack of competence of its would-be terrorists, although the latest one to hit the news does get a few points for imagination.
Australia can consider itself fortunate in the lack of competence of its would-be terrorists, although the latest one to hit the news does get a few points for imagination.
Wednesday Jan 27, 2016 #
7 PM
Run race ((street-O)) 52:00 [4] * 10.0 km (5:12 / km)
spiked:16/18c
Street-O at Gardiners Bend. Two hours before the start I wasn't sure this event would be happening; as many of you will have seen, a severe thunderstorm unloaded on the Geelong area in spectacular style (54mm in 30 minutes at Avalon) with major flash flooding, and it wasn't certain whether Melbourne was in the firing line. We did get some rain in the hour before that start, but probably only one-tenth of that amount, and it was easing off by the 7pm start.
The main discovery tonight is that, even if the distances are relatively short, I'm clearly not currently up to running hard five days in a row. Never got into stride, and any hint of a recovery was scuttled mentally when I made a mess of a control about halfway through (went in one street too early and lost maybe 1-1.5 minutes), although my route was a dud anyway. At least I got it all out of the way in the same night. Fading alarmingly in the last 5-10 minutes.
The main discovery tonight is that, even if the distances are relatively short, I'm clearly not currently up to running hard five days in a row. Never got into stride, and any hint of a recovery was scuttled mentally when I made a mess of a control about halfway through (went in one street too early and lost maybe 1-1.5 minutes), although my route was a dud anyway. At least I got it all out of the way in the same night. Fading alarmingly in the last 5-10 minutes.
Tuesday Jan 26, 2016 #
10 AM
Run race ((sprint-O)) 21:37 [4] *** 3.8 km (5:41 / km)
spiked:15/16c
Last day of Sprint Canberra at ANU South - an end of the campus I know less well. Probably my best run of the four urban sprints, reflected in being not quite as far off the pace as on previous day (although that may also be because a hard weekend of training has brought the squad people back to the field a bit). A little slow at the start and Tate had more or less caught me a minute by 5; later Duncan and Andrew Barnett (2 and 3 minutes respectively) also got through me, but pulled me along a little in the second half. Fairly clean with only a minor hesitation on 10 where I wasn't sure what was or wasn't olive green. Definitely a fun few days, even if this isn't really my most favoured form of racing.
Took a somewhat original route choice home - across the Brindabellas to Tumut, then through Tumbarumba and Jingellic to Hume Weir. (It's actually slightly shorter in distance, although about 45 minutes longer in time). I last went this way in 1976, which means I don't remember very much about it (although I did do the Brindabella Mountain part en route to a rogaine in 1991). Certainly a change of scene from endless hours on the freeway. There's still about 45km of dirt between Tumut and Canberra; I notice from some googling that the idea of sealing it is in the news again, but to do it would require some pretty serious engineering work on the Brindabella Mountain section, which at the top is a single-lane track across a very steep slope.
Saw an impressive variety of wildlife dead and alive; more dead than alive, but alive forms crossing the road included an echidna (coming out of Batlow), a goanna (along the upper Murray) and a kangaroo well within the Benalla town limits.
Took a somewhat original route choice home - across the Brindabellas to Tumut, then through Tumbarumba and Jingellic to Hume Weir. (It's actually slightly shorter in distance, although about 45 minutes longer in time). I last went this way in 1976, which means I don't remember very much about it (although I did do the Brindabella Mountain part en route to a rogaine in 1991). Certainly a change of scene from endless hours on the freeway. There's still about 45km of dirt between Tumut and Canberra; I notice from some googling that the idea of sealing it is in the news again, but to do it would require some pretty serious engineering work on the Brindabella Mountain section, which at the top is a single-lane track across a very steep slope.
Saw an impressive variety of wildlife dead and alive; more dead than alive, but alive forms crossing the road included an echidna (coming out of Batlow), a goanna (along the upper Murray) and a kangaroo well within the Benalla town limits.
5 PM
Note
Didn't see much in the way of potential orienteering terrain on my route. Uriarra Forest has never had much in the way of orienteering (much of it steep gully-spur with lots of blackberries), although Dad and I did set a rogaine there in the early 1990s which I remember chiefly for a stolen control in the middle of nowhere - something which may or may not have had something to do with a nearby marijuana plot. Also lots of blackberries in the pines on the NSW side. Ti Tree Gully (used for the 1986 Australian Schools) has regrown enough to be a viable orienteering forest, but also looks to have major blackberry issues near the road - not sure what it's like further in.
Monday Jan 25, 2016 #
10 AM
Run race ((orienteering)) 21:15 [4] *** 2.7 km (7:52 / km) +50m 7:12 / km
spiked:14/16c
Sprint relay at Stromlo, in the bush (most of the interesting bits around the main erosion gully). The idea here was supposed to be one person from each of the four elite classes, but due to a bloke surplus I was deemed to be a junior girl for the purposes of today - part of a lineup of Marina, Ewan Barnett and Peter Bray.
The other three all had decent runs and I went out in third together with Phoebe Dent, about 3 minutes down on Ella Johnson and 2 on Zac Needham, and well ahead of anyone else. Zac was the one out of these I thought could be a potential threat because he's fast enough to stick with me if we had a common split (and do me in the sprint), but I never saw him (turned out I went through him early). Decided to stay out of the gully as much as I could and go round the tops; went in a bit early on 3 but didn't lose much time, and saw Ella there so knew I was in a good position. Dropped 15 seconds or so coming into 5 a bit wide, but otherwise pretty clean and knew I was well clear at the spectator control. From there it was just a case of not doing anything stupid.
Trying to remember the last time I've brought a team home to win a relay - I normally run second leg (including in all five of our M21 Australian Relays wins). Maybe a Victorian club relays in the mid-1990s? Looking at the results we won because we were one of only a couple of teams to put four good legs together, and also because I was running out of my division a bit - the best junior girls are faster than me on urban sprints these days (as Tara, Lanita, Anna and Caroline demonstrated in the afternoon), but none of them got within three minutes on a moderately technical forest course. Pretty happy with this as a run, though, and nice to be navigating properly in the bush again.
The other three all had decent runs and I went out in third together with Phoebe Dent, about 3 minutes down on Ella Johnson and 2 on Zac Needham, and well ahead of anyone else. Zac was the one out of these I thought could be a potential threat because he's fast enough to stick with me if we had a common split (and do me in the sprint), but I never saw him (turned out I went through him early). Decided to stay out of the gully as much as I could and go round the tops; went in a bit early on 3 but didn't lose much time, and saw Ella there so knew I was in a good position. Dropped 15 seconds or so coming into 5 a bit wide, but otherwise pretty clean and knew I was well clear at the spectator control. From there it was just a case of not doing anything stupid.
Trying to remember the last time I've brought a team home to win a relay - I normally run second leg (including in all five of our M21 Australian Relays wins). Maybe a Victorian club relays in the mid-1990s? Looking at the results we won because we were one of only a couple of teams to put four good legs together, and also because I was running out of my division a bit - the best junior girls are faster than me on urban sprints these days (as Tara, Lanita, Anna and Caroline demonstrated in the afternoon), but none of them got within three minutes on a moderately technical forest course. Pretty happy with this as a run, though, and nice to be navigating properly in the bush again.
6 PM
Run race ((sprint-O)) 21:17 [4] *** 3.6 km (5:55 / km) +50m 5:32 / km
spiked:19/21c
Backing up for a late afternoon sprint at ANU, although I had no excuse for not being properly warmed up, having downloaded an old start list and reaching the start line to be told that, no, it wasn't my start time and I should come back in 30 minutes. (I'd been at work in the Canberra office in between, but it wasn't the most strenuous of workdays, my major accomplishment being to recruit my successor as editor for the Australian Meteorological and Oceanographic Journal over a flat white at the Coffee Grounds).
The big disappointment of the day was to fall into the main trap (despite being warned about it, at least in general terms, by Bruce before I started) - not seeing the building near 7 which was mostly buried under the control circle. I then compounded the error by planning my plan B route as if I was starting from 6 instead of from where I was and thus dropped another 30 seconds by going left rather than right, for a total loss of a minute or so. OK technically after that, only losing a couple of seconds on an original error - running to a reflection of a control in a window rather than the real thing - but not running terribly fast. (I had no excuse for getting the route from 11 to 12 wrong, having travelled it many hundreds of times - the geography department had most of its lectures in the vicinity of 11 and maths in the vicinity of 12).
It wouldn't be a series of sprints without a mapping controversy, and this one involved a possible route to the last control (used by a few people) which crossed a wall which I think was meant to be uncrossable but the line was well below regulation width.
I'm impressed that Sprint Canberra was deemed worthy of an Air Force fly-past. (OK, so it was probably for the Australian of the Year festivities on the other side of the lake). More noise was provided by a brief but intense thunderstorm, but we were well out of the place by the time it hit.
The big disappointment of the day was to fall into the main trap (despite being warned about it, at least in general terms, by Bruce before I started) - not seeing the building near 7 which was mostly buried under the control circle. I then compounded the error by planning my plan B route as if I was starting from 6 instead of from where I was and thus dropped another 30 seconds by going left rather than right, for a total loss of a minute or so. OK technically after that, only losing a couple of seconds on an original error - running to a reflection of a control in a window rather than the real thing - but not running terribly fast. (I had no excuse for getting the route from 11 to 12 wrong, having travelled it many hundreds of times - the geography department had most of its lectures in the vicinity of 11 and maths in the vicinity of 12).
It wouldn't be a series of sprints without a mapping controversy, and this one involved a possible route to the last control (used by a few people) which crossed a wall which I think was meant to be uncrossable but the line was well below regulation width.
I'm impressed that Sprint Canberra was deemed worthy of an Air Force fly-past. (OK, so it was probably for the Australian of the Year festivities on the other side of the lake). More noise was provided by a brief but intense thunderstorm, but we were well out of the place by the time it hit.