Training Log Archive: blairtrewin

WOC tour day 2 (I'd missed day 1 because of a clash with IOF meetings) on an area on the western edge of Kolding. Didn't have high expectations after a morning of meetings (got to the start a couple of minutes before call-up), so I wasn't too surprised that this was a run which lacked energy from the start, and lacked even more energy from about 40 minutes onwards. Had a rather oddball mistake on 16 getting pulled downhill from a compulsory crossing point, otherwise various hesitations but nothing too big. Pretty junky area for the most part with an abundance of undergrowth (and hence of tracking - starting first on Wednesday is going to be interesting if that area is similar), with only a couple of small patches of what I'd describe as typical Danish forest. Humid again.

An interesting sprint relay - good to see the use made of long legs (not always a feature of sprints). A pity that Australia came unstuck on the last leg but there were still a lot of things to like about parts of the race, given that the real target of this team is four or six years from now. (We also had some work as the jury, although not the most drawn-out of hearings this time).

C • Forbidden areas 11

The first warm run of spring is always a challenge. The first warm run of a trip into the summer is similarly a challenge. It wasn't even that hot, although quite humid (24/17), and I could well be dealing with another 10 degrees in Italy, but this was hard work, particularly once I got out of the shady rail trail which was a nice setting for the first 4k of this and came back through the suburbs. It was one of those days where I seemed to be going uphill for most of it, and in one sense I was right (each of the first seven kilometres had net elevation gain), but the gradients were considerably more minimal than what I was sensing - in fact I lost as much height in the last 400 metres as I'd gained in the first 5k. (East Jutland is not as flat as other parts of Denmark, but we're still not exactly talking the Alps here).

One of the less attractive bits of this run took me on a road with a big shopping mall on one side and a large Bauhaus (local equivalent of Bunnings) on the other - the Tour de France enters town this way which won't be the most flattering of visual introductions (but then I guess we get to see plenty of French hypermarkets and Bunnings-equivalents on early Tour stages too). The Bauhaus actually grabbed my attention for other reasons - I'd been checking out local hire car rates as a possible backup if I can't get a lift to day 5 (which I should be able to), quickly baulked on discovering the going rate for a day was $450, and wondered if Bauhaus rents out utes by the hour as Bunnings does. (I believe the Cairns Bunnings did quite a lot of ute rental business when cars were in critically short supply during the last tourist season).

Spent the afternoon and evening in IOF meetings (first time I've met this group in person for four years). Looking forward to the start of WOC tomorrow, and hoping that nobody breaks any rules (or that if they do, they consider themselves guilty as charged and don't bring it to the jury).

Moved across to Kolding today in preparation for WOC, and checked out the local pool in the late afternoon (another benefit of not being covered by the WOC embargo, though not as if I saw anything that you wouldn't be able to get from Google). Not a bad facility, and a reasonable swim, although a bit of right shoulder soreness later on for no obvious reason. Quite happy to be in the water as this was the hottest day so far (28); it probably won't get as hot again in the next week so full Italy heat acclimatisation will have to wait.

A walk around Copenhagen on a fairly quiet morning - Midsummer Day is not an official holiday here as it is in Sweden, but I get the sense it's a de facto one - revealed that it was the morning after the night before for various owners of sailor's caps (most of whom were to be seen at places of caffeination).

And I noticed that yesterday's effort, such as it was, means I've now registered more streets in Copenhagen than any other place outside Victoria (although I suspect Kolding and Geneva, at least, will probably have overtaken it before this trip is over).

Early evening, a sunny mild summer evening in Copenhagen. Every piece of canal front filled with people evidently enjoying themselves (some, but by no means all, of the revelry being associated with Danish end-of-Year-12 celebrations). One of those evenings where it feels a joy to be alive and out taking the scene in (and something I haven't seen the likes of in the last 2 1/2 years - at home there were still lots of people on edge during summer).

Unfortunately, the run completely failed to live up to its setting, which sent me a message (again) that it often doesn't work out to do these things at the end of a long day. I was struggling with the back from the beginning and numerous stops failed to do much about it; on a less stubborn day I'd have called it a day much earlier. The rough destination was the area where the WMOC finals were in 2018, which was a good place for a run but it would have been better if I'd been running better.

(One of the reasons for the late run was that I'd discovered that my phone wasn't charging, and given that travelling without a functioning phone in 2022 is extremely difficult at best, I needed to get it fixed - fortunately staying near the main station also meant being in close proximity to places that can replace a phone charging port inside an hour).

After getting in on the ferry during the morning, my main outing for the day was to Roskilde, mainly to see the Viking ship museum (which was worth the trip), although I'll probably better remember the trip for my first of several encounters with the aforementioned Year 12s, mostly seen on the back of trucks dancing and wearing sailor's caps (not quite sure what this is about, but it seems pretty standard because I saw plenty in Copenhagen too). Most of the banners on the side of the trucks were probably in-jokes but there was one which I translated approximately as "If Trump can be President then 3A can be students". It was also obvious in both Copenhagen and Roskilde that both places will be seeing some Tour de France action in a week or so.

C • Sailor's caps 2

A longer one today out to the northeast around the top of a golf course - at the less steep end of the offerings here but still hillier than I’m used to. Somewhat patchy but continuing to improve slowly, and happy with the way I was able to settle into a grind for the 1.6k@6% coming back - don’t think I’ve done a hill of that length since a run in Bonn three years ago.

That’s the end of the Oslo stage of the trip; on the ferry to Copenhagen this afternoon. Don’t think there will be any 1.6k hills in Denmark. Hoping it’s not another 2.5 years before I see the Norwegian arm of the family (in fact it should only be a few weeks because they’re on their way to Australia soon).

C • Norwegian arm 1

Headed into the local forest today to do a few Tur-Orientering controls (these are controls which are left out for the summer as quasi-permanent courses). These are set up as moderate navigation, and unsurprisingly after a couple of months there's a fair bit of tracking, but still good to have an excuse to get out into the terrain. Still struggling to run in the terrain itself - although Kolsas was a pretty physically tough area even when I was a lot fitter than I am now - but definitely felt stronger than I did on earlier runs on this trip, particularly on the last climb, so I'll claim this as progress...

Discovered, somewhat to my surprise, that Vieste (WMOC host town) has an internationally reporting weather station, and looked up its stats for last year - most days near 30, but for the 30 days ending 21 July, only one night dropped below 20 and dewpoints were generally in the high teens/low 20s. Given its proximity to a warm ocean this doesn't come as a massive surprise, but it still suggests the sprints will be hard work (the forest races are at 800m so should be at least a bit cooler and less humid).

Acquainting myself with the pool that is part of Baerum municipality's new sports centre - it's set up as a proper competition pool (i.e. no shallow end). It was pretty quiet when I was there but was soon to be a lot louder, as a group of kids, presumably on a holiday program (it's the first day of school holidays) arrived just as I was leaving. (Esten and Katinka were also on those sorts of programs today, for football and athletics respectively). Without many people in the water it wasn't so critical that I remembered to swim on the right here.

Felt good at times in the water, but this was still quite slow.

A shortish afternoon run, partly to start the process of getting myself used to warmer conditions (it was 23 today). Once again a struggle, notwithstanding this being not quite as hilly as yesterday's outing (though still not exactly flat). Perhaps a bit better in the last 10 minutes or so and do feel as if I'm making progress, but it's slow progress.