Training Log Archive: blairtrewin

2nd day Queensland Championships at Amiens. Took a while to get into this physically but eventually settled into a mode of plugging away for a long(ish) distance. Also a little wobbly early and had an odd mistake when I missed a track junction on the way to 3, but managed to recover that without more than 30 seconds or so lost, and generally navigated well for the rest of it, although never strong, especially on hills. This is a very enjoyable area, though, and moments such as ticking off features on the way down into 15 (and then nailing it) were a reminder of how enjoyable this sport can be.

Ended up maintaining 3rd; Tony Woolford had a good run and went through me, but Mark Nemeth had a blowout. At the start of the weekend it looked like there was a strong top four and then a long tail after that. As it turned out, those four were the only ones of the 14 starters left standing at the end of the weekend with the others all failing to finish one of the days (although at least one of those was amongst those who abandoned in order to assist Winnie, who appears to have suffered a serious knee injury).

This was definitely a weekend worth going to, for the outstanding terrain, and more generally for a weekend of being amongst friends. (I'm not so sure I'll be quite so welcome in some circles next weekend, although my work life should have taught me not to let a few vocal critics be representative of a wider community).

First day of the Queensland Championships at the Cascades - always an area worth coming to, and always a serious challenge. This was a long distance style course rather than a middle, so longer legs - not a lot of major route choice (it's not that sort of area), but you can't let your concentration slip for a moment.

I let my concentration slip once, at 5 - lulled into a false sense of security by bare rock near the control. Dropped perhaps 2 minutes there. Otherwise, it was a steady run without a lot of pace or aggression, with only minor wobbles on 7 and 11. Mark Nemeth caught me 4 minutes at 8; I knew I wasn't going to be able to outrun him so the only way I was going to beat him was if he made a mistake and I slipped through, so not worth staying with him. (This strategy sort of worked, but his mistake was only enough for me to re-catch him, and we finished together).

Mark did 61 and a visiting Swede 60. Belinda did 59 (the only person between 14s and 65s to break the hour) and Bridget 61 on the same course. I haven't seen full results yet but suspect they will have a long tail.

I knew I was in rural Queensland when I saw a One Nation billboard coming into Warwick. Thought that Warwick might have brought me undone when a roll I bought there contained some rather undercooked chicken, but nothing's happened yet (for good measure I caught a finger in a rubbish bin flap). Those with long memories will recall that I have some history with eating misadventures on Queensland Championships weekends in this part of the world.

Didn't feel especially energetic,especially in the first half, but turned into a decent session. A nice morning helped.

Dumb criminals (an occasional series): if you're reporting to police as part of your bail conditions for allegedly driving while disqualified, it's not a great idea to drive yourself to the police station, and it's an even worse idea to do it in a vehicle containing assorted drugs and prohibited weapons.

Back in Melbourne pretty late last night. Worked better with the logistics doing this session today rather than tomorrow. A totally standard and undistinguished session of this form, thinking through a few things which had blown up in the work-politics interface in my absence.

Headed out to do a bit of exploration into a part of Sydney I haven't been to before, except passing through on Victoria Road - Balmain. The exploration part was interesting, once I'd got across the Anzac Bridge and the industrialish area beyond, but wasn't feeling great as a run - small hills (not as many as you'll find in many bits of Sydney, but still a few) and the occasional stairs were hard work. Perhaps I was just feeling a bit frustrated at the overnight news from Saudi Arabia (following the evening news from AAMI Park).

There may not have been any basketweaving on display in Balmain, but there was plenty of evidence of the forthcoming local council elections - unlike Melbourne, this is an openly partisan activity (at least in the inner city), with posters for Labor, Liberal and Green candidates abundantly on display. (You'd probably need to be an optimist to be a Liberal candidate in Balmain).

Sprintervals at Pyrmont, using a course from the 2013 NSW Sprint Championships and doing alternate legs hard/easy. This was a lot of fun - it's hard not to like Sydney on a morning like this, with sea kayakers on the smooth water alongside and the Harbour Bridge in the background, and the area was good too with the topography making for multiple levels. (Only handicap was that the resolution of my map print wasn't great, making some of the stairways hard to see).

Going to/from Pyrmont. Felt pretty sleepy before I set out but fine once I was running.

I'm not sure if there's news from Big Foot I hadn't caught up with: the words "FREE JOCK" were spraypainted on one of the pillars for the overhead roadway.

A morning session before a big conference day. Headed for the Ian Thorpe Aquatic Centre (coming from Canberra, where there is a strict policy of not naming things after living people, it feels a bit strange for a civic facility to be named after someone relatively young) for a session. Getting there was half the fun - it's relatively close in a straight line but negotiating the Darling Harbour developments to get there was a bit like trying to solve a complicated sprint leg without a map. (I found a better route back). Session started OK but faded away a bit.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the foyer of the Ian Thorpe Aquatic Centre contains a poster for the Yes campaign.

The conference talk went well - also generated a fair bit of media follow-up which many of you will have encountered. Hopefully my colleagues aren't too jealous about the ABC describing me as "Australia's leading climate scientist".

C • Jealousy 4