Training Log Archive: blairtrewin

"Long" QB3 day (is this the last time it will be QB3 and not KB3?). With a course that seemed rather short for a long day (even given that the difference between the two is less in M50 than in younger age groups), and the faster terrain on this side of the map, my target was to do a shorter time than in the middle yesterday. Didn't achieve that, but this was a significantly better run than yesterday, flowing much better in the terrain (the lesser amount of fallen timber helped). Dropped probably 30 seconds-1 minute hesitating into the scrubby #3 (I wasn't alone there), but otherwise didn't do a lot wrong. It is a bit puzzling that today was so much better - using the splits as a benchmark, I was only under 50% behind fastest on three legs yesterday, but was only outside that mark on three legs today (one of which was the finish chute). Steve was just under 40.

Definitely not a day for lingering, with occasional chilly drizzle added to the cold wind (reminding us that Burngoogee is the first bit of topography that westerlies run into), but OK for running.

Spent some time afterwards doing a bit of back-roads exploration, introducing myself to the likes of Humula and Wantabadgery, discovering that you can pick up a retired ACTION bus in Tarcutta (a much quieter place than it once was) for $8500 "or nearest offer", and ending up with excursions to the Junee chocolate factory and Wagga Beach, which doesn't have a beach at the moment because the river is pretty high. Spotted Laurie Daley Oval in Junee, but not the Ray Warren statue.

C • Ray Warren 1

Day2 Long Hard 4 - Splits

Event: 2022 QBIII, NSW State Leagues 7, 8 and 9, and ACT League 6, 7 and 8
 

QB3 middle at Little Burngoogee. Enjoyed this but my biggest issue was that I still don't have the strength to run (much of) the major hills, despite the back being in better shape than I thought it might have been after a long drive up. There were a few of these today even though we started 100 metres above the finish. Also wasn't aggressive enough at getting through fallen timber (which was pretty heavy in places). Perhaps thought I was doing better than I was because I was around Emily for a lot of the second half, but it turned out that she was taking it easy (particularly downhill) on medical advice, coming off a leg injury. Navigationally not bad - came in too low at 14 and a small wobble in the circle at 5, but not much else. Probably 5 minutes or so further back than I would have been happy with, given what others did.

Something spotted in the arena today which I haven't seen for a long time is areas of granite soils which had liquefied underneath the crust - definitely not something you want to drive onto. Various kids were making merry with this. There's a fair bit of surface water around coming into Wagga, too.

"Hard 2 Day 1" - Splits

Water session early on at Fitzroy. Generally pretty smooth and performed its recovery function. Pretty quiet, although there was a photo shoot setting up (not sure what for) which I may or may not end up in the background of.

Lunchtime run from the office, clearing some bits in the industrial area south of the freeway which I hadn't got to last Friday. Not bad as the Friday runs go; had a bit of right hamstring soreness early on but a short stop settled that down (this has happened a bit in the last month).

I discovered in the process of this that the Port Melbourne football ground is now the ETU Stadium; appropriately I learned this via a sign about a project to install new lighting there (presumably providing some employment for the sponsor's members). The unions seem to be well represented at the ground although I'm a little surprised that the CFMEU signs haven't been updated to CFMMEU given the historic link of Port Melbourne FC with the wharfies (for those who don't keep track of this particular alphabet soup, the CFMMEU was formed a few years ago when the CFMEU merged with the Maritime Union of Australia, who represent dockworkers).

Bit of a flying visit to Bendigo to do a talk last night (which seemed to go pretty well), and headed out for a run in the morning. I was staying in Kangaroo Flat so headed out mostly along the creek towards Crusoe Reservoir, with the intention of going around it, but it was a bit further out there than I thought and it wasn't the sort of day when I wanted to go further than planned (partly through a timetable, partly because I was feeling a bit flat) so just went across the wall, which as it turned out left enough time for a bit of a loop at the end. This loop took me past the hall where I did some scrutineering for the 1999 republic referendum (most memorable bit being that someone had written on their ballot paper for the other question, inserting a preamble to the Constitution, "Stick It Up John Howard's Arse", and this was ruled to be a valid No vote because 'the voter's intent was clear').

Also added Bendigo to the list of Victorian local government areas in which I've collected streets. Maybe doing all of them is an eventual long-term target?

C • Long term targets 3

The semi-regular Wednesday thing of finding somewhere a little afield to run; last week was southeast, today was northeast and filling in a bit more of Heidelberg Heights. Not too bad a run; lots of (mostly gentle) uphill early which was hard work, and as with Sunday coming off the hill didn't seem to quite suit some muscles, but generally OK. Managed to dodge most of the showers.

Doing intervals on South Wharf for the second week in a row - this time because it was raining heavily first thing in the morning (not ideal for intervals, especially as All Nations is gravel and has some turns) so decided to go into work and do it from there. Not too bad as a session, although starting to tighten up a bit on the later reps and not very fast (66-68). Not as much wind as I thought there might be, although the Yarra was quite high (suspect it wouldn't have been a good day for bike paths that go under bridges).

Warm-up and down. Not feeling too bad.

Discovered today, in the course of looking for information about impacts of significant weather events in the Pacific in 2021, that Australia sent four mobile sawmills to Fiji after a cyclone (I didn't even know that a mobile sawmill was a thing). This actually sounded like a pretty sensible foreign aid idea (turning fallen trees into (re)building materials), certainly more sensible than sending 70,000 tons of coal to Ukraine on a ship which didn't exist to a port which isn't functioning. (Some cynics would suggest that the real object of that exercise was to divert (70000 x the current price of coal) of taxpayers' money to a coal company).

Monday morning Pilates. Didn't sleep well but it didn't seem to have too much effect on me once up. Core stability seemed unusually good this morning - don't think I'll suggest any causal link with the quantity of weekend activity. Once again at the stage of it being dark at the start, a sign of getting closer to the core of winter (if the temperature wasn't already providing such).

The second stage of a morning where things went better than I expected them to was in the water, where things felt like they were going smoothly (as opposed to fighting against the current) and I went 2-2.5 minutes faster less slow than the last few weeks (and this started before I began looking at the clock, which is now fixed again). Drifted out of it just a little in the last couple of laps, but happy with this.

For the removal of any doubt, The Shovel is a satirical publication and this story is therefore presumably untrue.