Training Log Archive: blairtrewin

Victorian Sprint Championships at Whitefriars - I was controller here last year so this is the first time I've competed here. A nice area with enough irregular angles to keep things interesting, although the complex building area is pretty small. Didn't miss much on this run, just a slight glitch not seeing the first entrance at #13 but that would have only cost me a few seconds. Went via the steep slope both up out of #11 and down into #18 - not sure whether or not this was the best option (I think it was going up, a bit more dicey going down in the damp conditions). Was gradually catching ground on Cian through most of the course and went through him when he overshot #18 (he got me again in the chute), but generally a bit down on speed.

Ended up 6th; Kym Barnett (over from SA for the weekend) won with high 16s, but Tim Hatley (M55) and Tash (W21) both got down into the 15s on the same course.

C • 14:45 4

The 'Mad Dash'. For most people this was a mass-start race in groups of 5-6 seeded according to your morning result (a bit like the knockout sprint experience). I was working on the start so didn't get to run in the main group (not necessarily a bad thing), instead going out at the end in a pairing with Jayne, who had been otherwise engaged looking after a small person (as opposed to looking after a small check unit) - not a bad pairing as we'd been five seconds apart in the morning, but that included a mistake from her so I suspected she'd probably be faster. She was, edging away from me at a rate of a second or two a leg, with neither of us really losing much time, just a slightly suboptimal line into #2.

My back was feeling a bit stiff standing in the start area, but came up better for a second run than it sometimes does.

Of the numerous sprint finishes, one noteworthy one was Matthew Layton edging out Tash for second in the Course 2 A heat. I suspect 38 years is at the larger end of the recorded age spreads in sprint finishes.

2 - Splits

Mad Dash 2 - Splits

Relatively close to home today with the number 45 coming out, which largely covers Kew and Hawthorn. I decided to take this as an opportunity to get to some areas on the southern edge of Kew that are harder to access from home (including passing a large number of posh schools), not as steep as Eltham last week but up and down for lots of it without many flat bits. The plan was to go a bit longer today given the short day tomorrow; was looking all right for the first half, but the humidity caught up with me and I was definitely struggling through the last 20-25 minutes. Pretty slow again.

An ambulance was pulled up near Kew Junction when I got back - I suspect a car-versus-bike because the car stopped with its hazard lights on didn't look greatly damaged from a distance, and someone in bike gear was talking to the cops. Hopefully nothing too drastic.

Back to an early Friday session before hitting the pool - first time I've done this sequence for a while. Pretty awful for the first 10-15 minutes but got a bit better after that and was sort-of-reasonable towards the end. Clearing lots of bits and pieces in the middle of Fitzroy so lots of ins and outs (perhaps contributing to the slow pace, although not that much).

I've got a sore spot on the top of my left foot - either a blister or an infection (I suspect the latter since it's an odd spot for a blister), which has been there for a couple of weeks in some form but blew up a bit. Not a problem running but a bit sore walking, seems to have settled somewhat during the day though.

From there it was into the water, felt as if I wasn't moving that well early on but got into it eventually. More pleasant going west (nice view of a flowering jacaranda next to one of the buildings) than east (looking into the sun). Felt quite summery when the sun was out (the humidity has taken another step up, as noticeable on the run).

Thursday morning long run. Almost didn't get started, but once I did headed down through Yarra Bend and into the southwest corner of Abbotsford. Never a particularly easy run - it hasn't been a particularly easy week - and slow throughout, but did managed to keep plugging away and probably at its best in the last 10-15 minutes, once again getting out to 80. Starting to get a bit more humid.

Didn't quite do all the colouring-in I'd planned on in that corner of Abbotsford because a railway underpass was closed for building work - not sure how long for. (There were quite a few construction sites around Studley/Yarra Bend Parks labelled 'completion late 2023' which are definitely not going to get finished in 2023, although I notice the powers that be have sensibly blanked out the completion month/season for the Gipps Street ramp, due sometime in 2024). I'll probably need two more goes to finish off this area.

Summer Series at Bulleen. This was once regular territory for me when starting from Heidelberg and looking for some hills. I don't look for hills so much these days and hadn't felt great through the afternoon, but managed to get myself round, never feeling especially comfortable but managing except on the steeper hills. One small glitch early when I was too busy planning a route to notice that I'd gone past a turnoff; route was reasonable, I think (others dropped 6 instead of 12, which I think was much of a muchness).

Last week I used the warm-up to pick out post-run eating options, today I saw a likely prospect next to one of the controls. (The food was good, although I could have done without a roundup of all Sky After Dark's greatest hits in the table conversation next door).

Had hoped to do intervals today; left hip was OK when running slower but still a bit of soreness there when trying to run fast. Once that was done with, an extended trip back worked out reasonably smoothly as lunchtime runs go (and there weren't even too many red lights).

Read today of a protest march by physios in Bern (something to do with funding apparently), which did make me wonder what a physios' demo would insert in the standard "What do we want?" (insert here) "When do we want it?" "Now!".

Felt a bit sleepy at various times today. Maybe it's a lot of online meetings (four different orienteering meetings in the evenings this week, although none at particularly absurd hours).

(Update - just looked at my calendar, there's another one at 11pm tonight I'd completely forgotten about :-( ).

C • What do we want? 3

Looks like a bit of overnight excitement in the vicinity of yesterday's control 22.

C • Oh wow. To add to that we s... 3

Monday morning Pilates - I was a bit slow to get there after spending a bit more of the night watching cricket than was optimal, but others (who I don't think were cricket fans) were slower. A bit of left hip discomfort again beforehand but didn't seem to be bothering me that much. Still building into the new set of exercises but seemed to be going relatively smoothly.

Onwards into the water. Took me some time to get going but a decent second half, not quite as slow as last week (or maybe the water in Fitzroy is faster :-)).

There was a certain amount of schadenfreude this morning on seeing various posts reminding me of the various commentators in the expected places who earlier in the year were saying that the reason our cricket team was losing was that Pat Cummins was woke (or words to that effect), with a particular note of Maurice Newman, with whom we've previously had dealings on climate issues.

I was on the way home in time to see various club delegations arriving for the AFL draft. Not quite sure why the Eagles needed to send 15 people across from Perth to call out Harley Reid's name.