Training Log Archive: blairtrewin

Getting through eight events in 10 days was a bit too much to ask for; my back didn't feel good warming up, but I thought I'd see what it was like in the terrain, got an answer within a couple of minutes and became the first of many to do the walk of shame into the finish. Probably picked a good one to miss (suffice it to say that the M45A winning time, if expressed in hours and minutes, started with a 2) - not quite sure why the winning times were so out both days given that there's a reasonable amount of data on how slow Seldom Seen is (and unlike Gumble, I don't think it's thickened greatly over time; most of its slowness comes from the rocks and the fallen timber).

Somewhat unusual route choice as I have a meeting in Echuca tomorrow morning (which at least made the afternoon drive a bit shorter). Didn't take me through any completely uncharted territory, but it's the first time I've done the Jerilderie-Conargo-Deniliquin route since the early 1990s (it lies on a possible Kooyoora-Canberra route choice, albeit one which is relatively less attractive now that there's a lot more freeway on the Hume now than there was 30 years ago). I suspect the Conargo pub made more money from selling bumper stickers (you'll see them on utes and 4WDs all over rural Australia) than from selling beer, even before it burnt down in 2014 (only the facade remains).

C • Route choice 4

Results now out. Only one person in any A class from age 18 upwards broke 80 (Geoff Lawford, 74 in M65A).

"2020" NSW Middle Championships at Seldom Seen, a rugged granite area I'd last run on 2007 (in conversation with some of the juniors and younger elites later I realised that none of them were older than seven then). Since it was a 2020 event it was run in 2020 classes, which landed me in M45 (although Bruce was running up).

To quote the name of a local historical identity, Blind Freddy could see that the courses were going to be longer than 30-35 minutes. (The original "Blind Freddy" was one Sir Frederick Pottinger, who led the police force which sought - conspicuously unsuccessfully - to track down Ben Hall and his gang). I thought I'd do well to get under the hour, particularly as I wasn't feeling great before the start (I'm not a huge fan of afternoon starts). Got better once started though - didn't run much in the first bit (which featured some massive rocks similar to the top of Kooyoora), but I don't think anyone else was either, and started to settle after that. Got into a bit of a bunch by 5 (caught by Matt Stocks, caught Doug Jay and Brenton Gray), which also got things going a bit more. Matt eventually broke away from us after 8, and I dropped the other two on the very steep rough descent into 13.

At the better end of what I can do at the moment; didn't always get ideal lines, but hard to see an actual mistake (perhaps coming a bit high into 7). Coming in I knew there were two people in the field who would beat me if they had good runs; Matt did, Anthony Stoner didn't. On other classes (this course combined everything from 40s to 55s, along with 18s, 20s and W21), Ewan Shingler (who passed me going into 13 and apologised for a bump I didn't notice) did 37 and Jock was about 42, I think. Gives me a bit of confidence for tomorrow, although I still don't expect to see much change out of 90 for 7.5k here.

Coming back, Cudal, like the Manildra-Molong road, was a regular 1980s road trip landmark I've rarely visited since. In those days it was notable for having an airport of a size more appropriate to a town with 100 times its population (about 400), but the airport seems to be no more. (It was the home base for Hazelton Airlines - not sure why - which was ultimately taken over by Ansett, went bust with Ansett, and was then spun off along with some other regional bits of the Ansett group to form Rex).

C • Only 2 people? 3

At Orange pool. Seemed to drag on for a long time, and didn't seem to be moving that freely early on, but got better later.

Used the remainder of the rest day to check out the current status of Lake Burrendong (after a false start because the first access point I tried had a $12 access fee, payable only in coins) and explore the back roads between Orange and Wellington. This took me through various bits of interesting countryside (notably the first 10km through the range between Wellington and Yeoval), and a number of small towns, several of which were trying to claim a piece of the Banjo Paterson action (he left the district at the age of five, and spent most of his adult life in Sydney). Most of these towns looked fairly desperate places, although Cumnock (a place I know chiefly for its powerful ABC radio transmitter, which covers much of inland NSW) was a step up from this.

(I did learn a few things about Banjo Paterson's later life, which included being a broadcaster in the early days of ABC radio and writing about rugby league for the Sydney Sportsman; I think it fair to say that most of what I'm currently hearing on Channel 9 at the Penrith-Raiders match is less poetic than what he might have come up with).

Other news of the day was that there is now a mural of Jim Russell (with bag of wheat on shoulders) in Wycheproof - I assume this will be a semi-mandatory stop for Victorians en route to/from the Renmark NOL events - and that the Hallett/Casanova family were splashed across the front page of this week's Molong Independent.

C • Cumnock 1

Midweek event at Ophir. Back to the future with this one - I hadn't pre-entered and got to the event to discover that entry on the day wasn't being offered on the two longest courses, which meant I ended up doing the moderate course for the first time, I think (at events where something harder was being run), since M14 at the 1985 Australian Championships. (The other option was the shortest hard course, but it was shorter). It was actually at the hard end of moderate and I found myself a little offline at 2 and 6 (without losing much time on either). Feeling better running than yesterday but still didn't run much on the hills later (and am unconvinced that a route choice to 9 which involved crossing a substantial creek four times was optimal). The tunnel leg was fun (and, unlike some people, I managed to avoid hitting my head on the roof).

Spent the afternoon on Canobolas, including a couple of walks (found the climb out of Federal Falls hard work, even walking).

C • DNF 5

I guess if there was going to be a day this week for my body to fail to function then a low-key midweek event at the Orange Botanic Gardens wasn't the worst day for it. One of those days where even jogging up the slightest uphill wasn't happening. Nice area to be out in, although hard to tell what was mapped as olive and what wasn't.

The afternoon was spent heading out to the Age Of Fishes museum in Canowindra (based around some extensive local fossil discoveries). The museum was interesting enough but the weather was considerably more interesting, with a hailstorm arriving not too long after we did - 2cm would be amongst the larger hailstones I've seen (though not quite in a range to get too worried about the car). This also marked something of a career milestone as my reporting of this to my Sydney colleagues prompted the issuing of a severe thunderstorm warning.

Didn't feel as stiff this morning as I was expecting but still thought a session in the water was a good option for the day, and a country pool under a bright sun is a good place for it to happen. (There was a slight speed bump when I realised I'd left my swimmers in Melbourne, but it was about time I got some new ones anyway). Session was slow but fine for a recovery day.

The day managed to fill up - I went along to present at the controllers' course later, and also caught up at lunch with a former Bureau colleague now at NSW Agriculture (or whatever it calls itself these days), along with meeting some Orange Council people to discuss local climate change adaptation. (I'm the climate lead for the forthcoming federal State of the Environment report and one of the issues I'm exploring is the capacity of local governments to manage climate risk, so I'm trying to take the chance to meet councils when I'm on the road).

Local headlines of the day were yesterday's fire in a cafe in the main street (which was still closed today).

To say I went into this lacking confidence would be an understatement. Coming up on the last day of Easter hasn't got any easier, and I could hardly make myself move on my first attempt to warm up. I'd eventually got myself more or less mobile by the time I started, but it was quickly apparent that my back was in a jog on level-or-downhills-only mode. The gradual climbs and open paddocks of the first couple of kilometres of the course are the absolute last sort of terrain you want in that sort of situation, knowing that others are taking time out of you in large quantities; at least I was hitting all the controls OK.

At about 35-40 minutes, as it had at Kooyoora last weekend, my back decided to function, and from there it turned into a reasonable run. By then we were heading into the highly technical terrain, and I dropped a little time on #14 and #15 (a small mistake on #14 providing to be a way of inducing others into making a larger one), but from there it was pretty reasonable - didn't hurt that by then I knew I was actually going to finish. 6th on the day, just ahead of Matt Stocks and just behind Paul Marsh, but held my overall 4th position. (I haven't seen the splits yet but suspect that Matt may well have closed the gap to me before losing lots of time late).

I'd said before the start of this Easter that my main objective was to get through all the days, which I managed, more or less. Also gives me a bit of confidence that I might be able to stand a bit of a step up in the training load, which might or might not get me a bit more fitness for events ahead.

C • Seismic realignment 1

Day 3 Course 8 - Splits