Training Log Archive: blairtrewin

Oceania Sprint Championships. A bit closer to expectations than Sunday was - lacking strength and speed and generally feeling below par, although avoided any major disaster (and did my main job, which was to beat the members of the NZ team). Ended up 4th (3rd Oceania) in M40, but blown away by the M18s on the same course.

The first three were in the forest on the side of Mount Victoria, with an uphill first which was an early strength test. Got through these OK. Lost a little time on 5, the first major 'you can't get there from here' leg, when I started on an option with no good way out before realising the error of my ways and turning around after a few seconds; also started down a dead end at 10. Maybe 20-30 seconds combined. Nice area and well-used, although (perhaps inevitably) it wasn't quite as epic as the World Cup courses.

Knee was fine in the race but gave a few twinges going to the start through the streets - this is the first time I've run on hard surfaces with it for any length of time so will need to watch this.

Sprint Champs - C4a - Splits

Swim at the Oriental Bay pool - a fairly routine session before the World Cup sprint qualifier. Ended up being a slightly longer stay than I'd planned on because I hadn't worked out that the clutch on the car has two stages and it has to be pressed beyond the first apparent stop before the car would start.

C • New colour, new category 12

10 days ago, I didn't expect to be starting today, and even yesterday I wasn't confident that I'd be able to do anything more than jog. I certainly didn't expect to emerge from the day as Oceania champion (and second in the race behind Mikko - although results from other classes on the course put my time in a bit more perspective). It was an area for brains rather than brawn, which was as well because I still didn't have a lot of brawn on offer - not much strength up the (many) dunes, but none of the muscular issues from my previous two runs (and no knee problems either).

Avoiding technical disaster was the order of the day today. Missed probably 2-3 minutes all up in small increments, the worst being about a minute at 11 - through others suffered much more badly there (judging by the number of places I gained there), most notably Ecmo whom I saw two-thirds of the way to 12 looking for 11. Didn't feel that fluent finishing through the forest patches but kept it together OK. We did enough to beat New Zealand in our class; not overall, although it was close enough (13-7, with three of NZ's wins being by less than a minute) to give us some hope for the remaining three races - would be a good one to win as no Challenge has been won by a visiting team since we won the relay in 1994.

(A Challenge quirk: Phil Wood and I have lined up against each other as juniors (M16, 1987), elites and now as masters. Not sure if any other pair has done this?).

A highly technical area where low speed was a plus was something which suited me very well today. The remaining days will be tougher, although I should pick up a bit of extra fitness with every run.

C • Congratulations! 1

Middle Champs C 3 - Splits

First foray into the terrain, going out early (before a commentary stint) with the plan of staying out for 30-40 minutes and doing a reasonable selection of controls in both the high-visibility and low-visibility parts of the terrain. The good news is that the knee gave no trouble whatsoever. The not-so-good news is that muscle tightness elsewhere was quite restrictive (today more lower back than groin) - this is something I'll just have to work through. Not exactly ready to race tomorrow but I think it will be a good day not to be trying to go too hard. Not always entirely confident with my navigation, but no errors larger than 15 seconds or so. Not aggressive in the least in the macrocarpa but still ended up with a red patch on my forehead (which I didn't notice but others noticed it for me).

Event 2 C 1 - Splits

Event: 2013 Oceania Carnival & WC Races
 

Made it into New Zealand but my orienteering shoes didn't (too much Rowdy Flat grass seed - get them back on the way out). After a quick shoe-purchasing expedition I headed to the waterfront pool at Oriental Bay. On a day as nice as this it's a pity that a pool in such a location is indoors, but as most Wellington days aren't as nice as this I'm not surprised it is.

I'd planned to swim but they had pool running belts available, so I decided to do that instead. Felt as if I had quite a bit of energy, perhaps surprisingly after sleeping badly last night. Quads are pretty sore though - hopefully these will warm up OK over the weekend.

C • Good thing you're flying out from the same airport! 1

No-one said comebacks were easy. Like the last time I came back from a layoff of this sort of magnitude, I had quite severe groin tightness, which eased a little bit through the run but was never great. (Hopefully history will repeat itself - last time the tightness disappeared within a few days). The good news was that the knee caused no trouble at all, just a couple of slight twinges up and down hills. Muscle soreness/stiffness during the day was much as I'd expect if I'd done my usual Thursday 2 hours, not 30 slow minutes on the Yarra Flats. Still, you have to start somewhere.

41 in Melbourne tomorrow (and 44 in Bendigo). Did I mention I was happy to be going to NZ?

C • Hobart 3

To work via the Yarra Boulevard. Again a bit lethargic this morning, and carrying more than I sometimes do which my back didn't like very much. The good news, though, is that the physio is pleased with the knee and doesn't seem to have any qualms about my running in NZ.

Today was as full-on as the first working day of the year always is - I thought I'd do well to get out of the office by 8pm (achieved, but with only one minute to spare). The annual climate statement comes out first thing tomorrow, and the impending heatwave (or existing heatwave if you're in WA) will get a fair bit of media attention too.