Training Log Archive: blairtrewin

Line course then control picking on the forested range above the Buckenderra camp (nice on top, not so nice on the sides). Went out with three of the juniors (Tristan Miller, Ryan Gray, Amy Enkelaar) and shadowed each of them from time to time (though only one leg with Tristan). Quite a lot of stopping and waiting so not much intensity to this, although I didn't get the sense that there was much intensity to be found.

First part of a prologue and chasing start, with mass starts in groups of 8 (the bunch I was in was mostly junior girls). Struggling a bit on the hills, and also struggling to pinpoint rocks in the circle with several small mistakes across the top, although the most embarrassing one came at the end - I ran to the wrong last control (no codes, just tapes) and was coming into the finish when Simon (the setter) suggested I might want to go back. Not a lot of pace to this, and Joanna and Mikayla were outrunning me in the open stuff early, although I'd picked that up before the last-control misadventure.

C • "Simon says" 1

I might have struggled yesterday with two sessions in a day but really struggled today with three (it will do me good, I told myself). Had problems running up the hills (and there were a few), but perhaps the biggest problem was with a fence crossing from 4 to 5 - others got through a gap I couldn't and I had to drop down lower and lost probably at least 30 seconds. That then set the scene for another stretch of erratic navigation (losing 30 seconds apiece on 6, 7 and 8), but did improve significantly in the second half, until a small miss at the second last. Took one actual fall and one near-fall, which somehow ended up with whacking my left arm with my right arm (decent bruise now). Not happy with my erratic navigation - didn't really get the rock mapping properly sorted out on this section of the map with either run.

Junior development training camp, at Boboyan Divide. This session was to go out in a group with one person taking the lead on each leg and explaining what they were doing as they went along. I went out with a group which was basically the JWOC girls - hope I managed to pass on a few bits of wisdom (especially the wisdom which comes from having grown up on Namadgi granite - and there are some seriously nice bits on this area). Felt OK physically, although the pace wasn't especially hard.

Sprint relay at Buckenderra with a certain amount of randomness in the teams (I ran second for a team which also included Sam Garbellini, Aston, and Felicity Crosato). Sam put us in a good position to start but I couldn't really carry it on - felt pretty ordinary throughout (perhaps something to do with it being the first time in ages I've run twice in a day), and had trouble getting into the map too, especially in the caravan park sections. Still good to get into training camp mode.

Headed for the Tan for the first time in a while after driving in early (in preparation for the afternoon road trip to Canberra). Was moving at a reasonable pace but felt like a bit of a struggle, especially the Anderson Street bit. As usual, plenty of people out (including bikes, because it's still being used as a diversion from the months-overdue Swan Street bridge works).

Up to Canberra this afternoon/evening to help out with the junior squad camp.

Still not feeling great this morning so switched to the water. A fairly mundane session, a little earlier in the day than usual. Change started to come through properly while I was there.

The list of announced transport shutdowns during January makes me glad that I do most of my commuting by bicycle.

No, I still can't seem to be able to do evening runs after a day sitting at work (maybe I'll have to try standing up next Wednesday afternoon and see how that works). This is frustrating.

This one wasn't a bad one to cut short - 36 degrees and a long one (would have been close to an hour).

One positive from today: it's now been demonstrated that there are limits on what you can do and still get elected as a Republican in Alabama.

C • limits 6

C • chair 1

Didn't feel great on the warm-up and still a bit light-headed when I started running hard, but the actual performance level was reasonable, perhaps downright good on the last few (think I might have had a season's fastest time for the last couple).

Whether or not my rep times were a season's best, the number of illegally unrestrained dogs certainly was (13). At least none of them caused any trouble.

Warm-up and down. Fewer traffic breaks than is sometimes the case.

One of those post-travel mornings where I woke up before the alarm, for a certain value of "woke up", but then remained 50% awake for an extended period. Possibly unhelpful in this respect was a flight where I was in the close company of someone whose weight was well into triple figures, followed by a taxi ride which was more indirect than it needed to be (the Bell Street exit was closed for works, but my suggestion that the driver might actually want to follow the signposted detour, and not try his own alternative on a route which also turned out to be closed, fell on deaf ears).

Headed down into Yarra Bend and back up the creek. Not very energetic (and that applied to the rest of the day too), but at least got through it without any significant injury issues.

Headed home at lunchtime to wait for an electrician (and review some papers whilst doing so), the circuit that runs my lights having failed during the storm the weekend before last. (The problem turned out to be a faulty circuit-breaker and the fact that it went during the storm was probably coincidental).

He didn't end up coming until around 5, which left my planned post-visit swim a little later than I'd planned on, but that was no drama. It was one of those nice summer evenings Melbourne sometimes turns on - a cool southerly breeze but lots of sunshine after morning cloud - but it was clearly too cool for most because the outdoor pool was fairly empty of people (perhaps the fact that it was close to dinnertime cleared most of the kids out). Felt reasonable on the swim but slower than I expected. A little soreness on the inside of my right knee towards the end.

Five of California's 20 most damaging fires in history have occurred this year. The October fire in the Napa valley and surrounds are, by some margin, the most damaging bushfires in world history in terms of property loss (something like US$9 billion at last count). I'm not sure whether or not that includes something like half of northern California's (legal) marijuana crop going up in (presumably sweet-smelling) smoke. (A fair proportion of the proceeds of previous harvests also reportedly went up in smoke, this still being largely a cash-based business).