Training Log Archive: blairtrewin

Not surprised to come up a bit sorer today - always knew I was taking the risk by running yesterday that I'd set myself back a bit.

It was a long haul home (with Clare for company) - didn't attempt to get back last night (unlike some) and therefore took the scenic route (probably 30-40 minutes slower than the fastest option), through Abercrombie Caves, Crookwell and Gunning and taking in such metropoli as Trunkey Creek, Tuena and Grabben Gullen. Nice trip through fairly remote country and not as much gravel as there was the last time I did the trip in 1991 (probably about 15km in four separate sections), though my search for random bits of en-route granite largely drew a blank.

Stayed in Albury last night and did the rest in the morning. Random thoughts of the morning:

#1: you know you've been exposed to public service acronymitis when you see a sign erected on behalf of the North Eastern Maintenance Alliance, and you think it would have been much better if they'd called themselves an Organization instead.

#2: how to know you're getting older: when you spot a Ford Cortina, a make which you can remember being your family's car, and notice that it has historic vehicle plates on it.

Also, note for future reference (though probably more useful for Sydney people coming back from Wagga or Victoria): Gunning has a free caravan park with free public showers.

C • No random granite 11

NSW Long Championships. Tested the foot out in a warm-up and while it clearly wasn't 100% right, I felt it was good enough to start on and see how it went. A decent start technically, though chose a wider route than I probably needed to on 1 (and, comparing my splits with Jim, was probably being slowed unconsciously by the injury). The pain started increasing, though - and one should always be cautious with injuries where the pain increases as a run goes on - 5 was a point of no return (next leg was a long one to the far side of the map), and I felt it was better to be safe than sorry, jogging a few interesting controls on the back side on the way in. Probably needed another day or two to be ready, with hindsight. Frustrating to have the later part of the week spoilt by injury, especially as today would have been one of my better chances to get some individual points.

NSW Long Champs Hard 1 - Splits

Event: NSW Sprint Championships / NOL Sprint Relay / NSW Long Championships
 

Had progressed today from "might be able to run if I really had to" to "could run if I had to", but given that I didn't have to - I wasn't in an official team thanks to Victoria's surplus of men - it made sense to give the foot another day's rest, maximise my chances of coming up for tomorrow, and sit this one out. As an event, it was good to watch, although the technical issues (which have had a fair airing elsewhere) were unfortunate.

C • Where is "elsewhere 2

Soreness seems to have improved a little bit but makes sense to give it a bit more time to recover. Not a morning on which things went terribly smoothly - a flat battery followed by leaving something on a train. Heading back up to the mountains tonight.

Went into the pool near our Sydney office at lunchtime today. The foot was not too bad to walk on (something it got a bit of, because the terminus of the bus from Lane Cove is 20 minutes' walk away from the Bureau's Sydney office), but quite painful once swimming - the times also indicate that I wasn't getting much out of my legs today (even less than usual). I think working it through the water will do it some good, though.

There weren't a lot of other people around in the Sydney office, so I had a more relaxed day than Tracy did, trying to work out what was going on with the NSW government reshuffle.

(I note with interest that there is a NSW Minister for Veterans Affairs - one Victor Dominello. Given that the last time the NSW Government sent military forces overseas was in 1899, this would seem to be a prime candidate when it comes to eliminating federal-state duplication).

The original plan was to head out for a short run in Kandos before today's controllers' workshop but the top of my foot was sore walking yesterday afternoon and worse this morning (it seems the natural angle at which I fall asleep is an angle it doesn't like), so I thought there was no sense in attempting to go out on it. It's improved somewhat during the day but I think I'll still stick to the water tomorrow (at least). The soreness is somewhat similar - front of the ankle - to the "driving overuse" injury I've had a couple of times after driving long distances without cruise control, but it's the wrong foot for that to be the cause.

Headed back to Sydney (where I'm working for the next couple of days) in the evening, managing to avoid squashing any wildlife on the way across the Blue Mountains, or either of the lightless cyclists (one of whom was on the wrong side of the road) in the Richmond area. Northwestern Sydney (under no circumstances to be confused with western Sydney) is not an area I know especially well, but going up (or perhaps down?) the Windsor Road reminded me of one of the many chapters in the long and glorious history of NSW political scandal. This one concerned one Tony Packard, who in his pre-political life selling used cars was (in)famous for late-night TV ads screeching "come up the Windsor Road to Baulkham Hills and let me do it right for you!". Not too many years into his political career it was abruptly terminated after he was sprung engaging in some used-car dealer dodginess (illegally recording conversations between his staff and his customers, if I recall correctly), whereupon one of his opponents sent him on his way with the doorstop grab "now that Mr. Packard has disappeared back up the Windsor Road, the people of New South Wales can finally say that he's done it right for us".

Also featuring on the way in was a street, and associated stop on the busway, named after Samantha Riley (always a bit of a risk naming things after living people, although I have no reason to believe that she's likely to fall into disrepute). I guess having a bus stop named after you is one form of immortality.

Last day of Easter, with a fairly similar result to yesterday - moved up two places in the overall standings thanks to DNFs ahead of me, to a final position of 28th.

I felt less tired and stiff beforehand than has been typical of recent Easters, but knew this would be a more physical final day than most recent Easters. The soreness at the top of my left foot was also a concern, although settled down after the first 15 minutes or so. Got the critical route choice, the low option to 2, right, and then kept plugging away through the heavy sandstone sections, not really getting anything wrong but not displaying a great deal of strength either. That was demonstrated in no uncertain terms by the climb out of 21, the last control in the sandstone - I was with Anna, I was running (or attempting thereof), she was walking, and we were moving at roughly the same speed. Found the last loop a struggle and missed 30 seconds or so on the third-last; obviously my finish was very slow too, because Andy Hill got me to the tune of 16 seconds to 26 to finish 3 seconds ahead of me on the day.

Being as far down the list as I was this weekend, even on the days when I was running well, was another reminder that I'm no longer really competitive at this level (and with the fields having become as large as they have, even getting into the National League points is a rarity now). I'll still probably run 21E in WA as I doubt many of those who ran M40 this weekend will travel, but next Easter might well be time to make the move.

Today was an excellent arena and in general it was a very well-organised four days of competition. I would, though, welcome ideas for making presentation ceremonies more efficient - 75 minutes is definitely too long. (At one stage it was a particularly agonising experience for me - not sure how many of you noticed, but when I got up in anticipation of doing my bit of the presentations, I got a fairly spectacular cramp in my quads and was hopping around the field for a couple of minutes trying to get rid of it).

C • presentations 23

Day 3 1 Hard (1) - Splits