Training Log Archive: blairtrewin

Woke up with back still pretty bad, which at least saved me from a decision on whether I was feeling too run down to go out or not - a bit disappointing to miss out on my plan of doing a run from Basel that takes in three countries.

Headed down to Geneva today. The German railways may not be what they once were, but in Switzerland you can still take a route with a 6-minute connection with confidence that (a) you will make the connection and (b) the connecting train will probably be on the other side of the same platform.

Ventured into the water at Bains des Paquis in the late afternoon, by which time I was feeling a bit better (on both counts). Didn't do a session as such as the water was pretty choppy for swimming thanks to the wakes from all the boats on the water (I think it will be better first thing in the morning), but spending time in the water did loosen me up, a bit. I still don't get the sense that I'll be running tomorrow, though.

Sundays may be dead in Geneva in winter, but they're pretty lively in summer. As at home, not every business that was there in 2019 has made it through to 2022, although some things haven't changed (like the fact that the local prostitutes hang out in front of the nearest laundromat).

Getting out the door pretty early because of an 8.58 train out of town. This probably wasn't as bad as my last two sprints, and the hamstring was only troublesome on a long descent in the middle, but still not an awful lot of energy in this run - the early start might have had a bit to do with this.

This was a long travel day: train Kolding-Hamburg-Mannheim-Basel. The reliability of Deutsche Bahn is not what it once was (a combination of investment not keeping pace with patronage growth for many years, then currently a lot of big construction works trying to play catch-up), but today seemed a particularly bad day. I ended up missing my 40-minute connection in Mannheim by 15 seconds (the connecting train being what seemed to be the only train in Germany to be running on time today), but at least there was another train 20 minutes behind so the consequences weren't too significant. Always nice to watch the landscape go past, although my back was not always enjoying this - hopefully it settles down overnight (with what will be a badly needed night's sleep - at least the room won't be too hot here).

C • "Deutsche Bahn apologises for the delay" 5

Early start because I wasn't sure that the IOF meetings would finish in time for me to get to the pool before closing time at 6 (turned out they were all over by 2.30). Felt as seedy this morning as I would have had I been to the WOC party, possibly because I slept about as much as I would have had I been to the WOC party (this is not the fault of noise from the WOC party - I heard none, I just slept badly). Much better once I was in the water, though, and good to have this as a recovery session - I'd noticed last time that they had belts available for public use. As at Fitzroy, the numbers (never huge to begin with) thin out after 7.30.

Well, I did get elected to IOF Council. Somewhat to my surprise I topped the vote ahead of the two incumbents (I'd expected they would both get close to 100%). Takashi didn't miss out by much either - hopefully he can be involved in some other way.

As a rule I haven't engaged much in discussions about IOF here (except occasionally to point to relevant facts) and that won't change, but I do read those discussions and worthwhile points do get noticed.

C • Le Tour 11

For the second successive sprint day my body let me down - this time it was the hamstring that was giving trouble. Had to do brief walks several times to settle it down, although in between I was probably running a bit better than I was on Tuesday. Certainly didn't help myself with a 45-second mistake on number 1, going for a non-existent gap, although most of the other routes were reasonable (I think) on a course with a lot of traps - not quite as intense as the WOC final though.

Certainly a great day of WOC spectating though, with Aston's exceptional performance (and then vicariously enjoying the success of the British in the women's). I expected quite a bit from Aston but I certainly didn't expect that (I was thinking in the 20s would be a decent performance, in the 10s an excellent one). And the jury was not required...

I think my body will definitely appreciate a day off running tomorrow.

Minor disappointment of the day: Slavia Hradec Kralove doesn't appear to have a kangaroo on its running top any more. (There is a bit of a history of Czech sporting teams having a kangaroo as their mascot).

Final forest day of the WOC Tour. Certainly a better run (and nicer forest, plantation with sand dune contours) than the previous days, although still a bit below halfway - still didn't feel as if I had much strength running in soft ground (something I've done almost nothing of in the last three years apart from occasional Mornington Peninsula back beach track runs). Back a bit tight late but nothing like yesterday. Dropped probably 30 seconds at #5 (not seeing it in the vegetation) and a little wide on #9; a couple of my routes were also perhaps suboptimal.

One aspect of the day was its logistical challenges - as previously noted I had organised first start (it wasn't the sort of terrain that tracks, which was a help), and wanted to be back by 12 for the start of the IOF pre-General Assembly (at which, among other things, I was to be making my pitch as a Council candidate). Organised a ride out with Tash and those team members who were running, which cut things a bit fine for time (especially after a minor side excursion) but we made it in time for me to get to my start with a couple of minutes to spare. With Ewan starting after 11 they were going to come back too late, so my plan was to start at the exit and get a ride with whoever would take me. It turned out that the person who picked me up was Takashi Sugiyama, one of my fellow (I hesitate to use the word "rival") Council candidates. Don't think you'd see this happening in FIFA (or an ALP preselection ballot).

C • Takashi 3

This isn't my first time in Fredericia - I stayed here overnight while travelling in Europe in the summer of 1989, a stop determined by the primary criteria I used on that trip - it had a station and a hostel. I presume I went for a run here but have no recollection of where it was, and certainly wouldn't have been sizing up the town's suitability for sprint orienteering when sprint orienteering didn't exist in any meaningful sense for the best part of another decade (even middle distance, or short as it was then, was in its infancy - I ran my first in early 1990).

The run was an interlude on a long day. I had hoped for something better than earlier in the week but it was quickly apparent that my back wasn't happy today (I sort of knew this when bending down earlier after watching the qualifying). Walked for a couple of minutes in the hope of settling it down, and did so enough to be able to jog the rest of the course (except for the short steep climb up onto the fortifications coming back), but second-last was about what this run deserved. Hopefully this doesn't happen on any of the WMOC days. Lots of fairly simple legs but a few interesting route choice (though not really on the two long legs). And at least my SI Air card was found...

The event itself was very successful - it's unlikely ever to be more than a niche format in the broader orienteering community but it's a great spectacle (especially when you get races like the slightly crazy final women's semi). I thought it was almost certain we'd have some significant jury work, given all the things that can go wrong in a knockout sprint, but we didn't (only a preliminary discussion on a complaint which wasn't carried through to a protest over Alexandra Hornik's disqualification). Impressed with Aston's performance, and Ewan should be happy with his day's work too, having got closer to qualifying than I think anyone expected (although it will still be frustrating to be four seconds out).

Very late return back to town, although at least, unlike a previous such occasion at WOC, the existence of a pizza place near the station that's open until 2am meant that I didn't have to resort to Macca's (Danish Macca's, on the evidence I've seen, seem mostly to be at motorway service centres anyway).

C • Jury duty 12

C • Yeah Olomouc’s Maccas 1

WOC tour sprint event in Kolding. I had an online meeting through most of the day (a meeting of a science working group in Ireland that I would have been at had I not already committed to being here this week when I joined said group), with the plan of ducking out for long enough to have a run, meaning I left myself a lot less time than usual. This came a bit unstuck when I discovered I didn't have my SI stick (still have my old non-Air one, which is fine here because they're not using Air mode), and rather more unstuck when I followed the line of pink flags that were supposed to be going to the start. I was starting to get suspicious (a) because it seemed a lot longer than the advertised 250 metres (b) it crossed a road which seemed implausibly busy to be crossing on the course and (c) not many people were going that way and those who were seemed to be overdressed. It turned out I was actually following the line of pink flags that went from the arena to the car park...

This meant a career first - missing my start time (I actually got to the pre-start with about 40 seconds to spare but the organisers preferred to put me through the late start process rather than rush through everything). At least I was well warmed up, and this was definitely a better run physically than the last two although still without a top gear. Rather annoyed with myself for making a 30-second navigation error on the short #8 (running straight past it for another hedge beyond) but not too bad otherwise.

My concentration has been a bit below par over the last couple of days, including leaving my stool behind yesterday on two separate occasions, and (presumably) leaving my SI stick behind at yesterday's event (hopefully someone picked it up). Hopefully that's not the case tomorrow when I expect (not yet confirmed) that it will be my turn to be a finish line judge for at least one of the three rounds.