Training Log Archive: blairtrewin

Little Forest. Had entered course 1 but given that it was only my second run back I had no great expectations, thinking that 45 minutes would be a good distance (probably should have switched to course 2 but that would have mucked the organisers around for no good reason). It's a nice area, with some good subtle gully spur, some very open forest and bits of regrowth (which the map hasn't completely caught up with).

In the first few controls I was far from certain that I'd get to 45 minutes, but a stop to work out where I was when I came across too high at 4 (probably dropping a minute or so) seemed to do me good, as I was running not too badly thereafter, except on the steeper hills. Got a reminder that I haven't done much intense stuff lately on the very steep climb into 12 (not runnable, but one of those ones where you have to throw yourself at the hill to avoid slipping backwards) - think it's the first time I've had a (small) mid-course spew. I'd already decided 12 was going to be the end of the day's proceedings for me.

Came up OK afterwards (unlike last week), so hopefully this is another bit of progress. Hoping to be up to doing something properly in two weeks time (will have more confidence about this if I actually start getting through runs over an hour in training).

Finally got out and did something, making use of the last cool morning for a while. A bit of a grinding start, but eventually felt as if I was moving at least moderately freely - certainly better than in any of the last few days of my last running stint. Will have to wait and see how it handles 8.8km tomorrow, but at least it's a start.

Was hoping to get out for a run this morning but wasn't too confident the way I felt last night, and so it proved. Did come through the day somewhat better than yesterday so hoping to give things a go tomorrow. (Might have helped that the mode I was in today was read one paper, stand up, read another paper, rinse and repeat 30 times or so).

I recall it being said after the first Gulf War that the Iraqi army had found a new way of slowing down the advance of their opposition - by inflicting more prisoners on them than the Americans could handle. I'm starting to wonder if the same logic applies to this week's broad offering of political scandals.

Session at Fitzroy. Didn't feel too bad this morning but back pretty ordinary by evening (spent too long sitting after getting onto a bit of a roll writing something).

With an IPCC draft deadline at the end of next week I'm fairly heavily stretched at the moment, which meant that I didn't appreciate it when I got an e-mail from an admin person at work saying with respect to some paperwork I'd lodged 6 months ago which hadn't been processed that now the form had changed, they wouldn't accept the old form (which was perfectly valid at the time I submitted it) and I had to go through the whole process again.

Felt somewhat better today and went out to street-O at Canterbury at least contemplating going for a run of sorts if the warm-up felt OK. It didn't, so instead I had my first venture into power walkers for some years. This gets a bit of a bagging from some people out there, but it does provide a chance to do some low-level exercise and think about route choice at the same time - unlike running street-O score events, there is no chance of getting the lot.

Key decision point for me was deciding after the first eight controls whether to be ambitious and go for a couple of further-flung high-scoring controls, or come in more directly but with the risk of finishing 5-10 minutes early with nothing else gettable. I chose the former, and there's nothing like an impending deadline to get the competitive juices going - especially when I made a bit of a mess of the passage under Canterbury station and had 90 seconds to get from one end of the carpark to the other. Made it with a couple of seconds to spare. (Another street-O regular, who shall remain nameless, was in a similarly tight position and got there with a technique which I think might well have got him the dreaded red disc on an Olympic course).

Felt pretty tight even walking, particularly in the first half, so I think I made the right decision.

C • I started 5 mins late, with... 1

Back felt a bit better than last night but still not great. Was wondering how it would respond to this session but it mostly worked out OK, with just a couple of exercises a bit awkward. Did seem to loosen up a bit during the session (at least that's what the instructor thought).

Then took to the pool. Thought it would be a more difficult session than it turned out to be, but still not great.

Back came up badly again in the afternoon. At least this gave the physio (who I was booked in to see anyway) something to look at, and work on - perhaps the one positive of the last couple of days is that bringing this issue to a head might make it easier to look properly at trying to identify and fix it.

In Sydney for work for the day - and yet another abortive visit to the ocean baths at Coogee. This time it was an unusually high tide combined with a large swell sending big waves right into the pool - it was open but I suspected I'd find it pretty heavy going. Had hoped then to get something in at the end of the day at the UNSW pool, but the meeting went on too long to get that in before going to the airport.

Back was pretty horrible sitting down this afternoon (which is unusual). Hopefully this isn't a portent for tomorrow.