Training Log Archive: blairtrewin

Event: 2015 Australian Three Days
 

Easter prologue at Jamestown. It was a bit of a battle just to get a run in this race (a long story that I'll let others tell if they want to), so I didn't want to embarrass myself by coming last or close to it - something I thought was a real risk in a sprint I expected to be a running race. (Jenny and I explored for sprint areas here two years ago on the way back from the outback and didn't find a lot we thought promising).

Didn't feel super-sharp at the beginning, but got into it as the race went on. Gradually pulled in the Hong Kong runner a minute in front of me and had caught him by 8 (whereupon he was one of, I suspect, many to infringe on a poorly defined OOB area), then settled into a nice pace and generally didn't do anything silly until the school section - a reasonably technical finish to the run. Had my only time loss there, aiming to exit 21 through a southern gap which didn't exist (maybe 10 seconds?), but generally contented with the way it went - although the gap to the big guns is a bit scary. A virtually identical result to UNSW in terms of time behind the winners, ending up about 2/3 of the way down the field.

The course made the most of an unpromising area, and putting us into the most technical bits at the end caught a few people out.

And I knew Clive Palmer's mineral businesses were struggling a bit with low commodity prices, but perhaps he's fallen further than I thought, because Clive Palmer Photography and Framing is to be found on Jamestown's main street - not exactly a bustling place on Good Friday. (The bakery, missing a massive opportunity, is closed all weekend, but at least the supermarket was open, which provided a banana-acquisition opportunity).

C • Bakery 2

Elite Prologue Course 1 - Splits

Got this under my belt before an earlyish start at work (with the plan of an early getaway to SA - albeit not quite as early as I'd planned as the Etihad Stadium car park now doesn't give you the early bird rate if you leave before 1.30pm, so going at 12.30 as per my original plan would have cost an extra $22). Started well and truly in the dark, and not many other people around. Seemed to be working pretty well.

Oddity of the week: during school holidays, the morning traffic is much lighter than usual in the suburbs, but as bad as ever near the central city.

Broke up the road trip with a quick stretch-the-legs out jaunt up Mt. Wycheproof, advertised as the "world's smallest mountain" (43 metres above the town). The mountain will be known to those of you who've been around for a while as being the place where Jim won the annual race up it several times - the degree of difficulty being increased considerably by the fact that you had to do it carrying a 60-odd kilo bag of wheat on your shoulders. (Judging by my conversations in the shops afterwards, Jim's exploits are still remembered in these parts). Perhaps not surprisingly, the race became a casualty of insurance issues in the early 2000s.

I didn't have any bags of wheat to carry (although I guess I could have hauled my pack up if I'd really wanted to). Back was a bit tight which was expected given I'd been sitting in a car for three hours, but definitely better for having done this (thanks Hanny for the tip).

Despite the story which appeared on the Age website to that effect on April 1, there was no sign of any work to erect a giant statue of Peta Credlin (a local girl) on the top of the mountain.

The trip up was a bit slower than I'd hoped (including three stops in 800 metres in Charlton - one to buy a chair, one for a phone call and one for a random breath test). Some of the things spotted en route included a sign advertising a Thai restaurant in Korong Vale (prominent, alongside Licola and Lima South, in a discusson on my log a few years back on the subject of the biggest backwater in Victoria), and another sign noting that a certain street was the Leading Garden Street in Nullawil, an honour not contested by an especially large field as Nullawil only has about four streets. (I also suspect the 16-room motel for sale in Sea Lake probably costs less than the house I've just bought in Fairfield).

In Renmark tonight.

C • Lima South 5

Not terribly awake this morning, for a jaunt which initially took me along the Yarra in the approaching dawn (this featured the sighting of a wombat), then up into Macleod (no wombats there). Haven't been getting enough sleep lately but will hopefully be able to do something about that tomorrow night (not while I'm on the road).

Headed out through North Balwyn on a reasonably hilly course, at least through the first half. Hadn't slept terribly well and was a bit so-so through the early stages, but got progressively better, and the second half was probably the best I've run since Six Foot (with a couple of surges where gaps in the traffic demanded it).

I was copied in on some detailed and useful advice Hanny sent today to the juniors. It was good advice for the rest of us too, although given that it's 10.45 and I'm only just home from work, I'm not doing too well against her point 3: "Start trying to ease back on outside stressors. If you can have an early minute with your uni or school study then do. Try to work efficiently during the day so you can get some extra rest and sleep in the evenings. Don’t be afraid to ask for a little extra help in order to relax a bit more."

Of course, the big news of the day was the (possible) resolution of the Essendon saga. (Appeals are still possible, but I can't recall a case where there has been a successful appeal against a finding of insufficient evidence that banned substances were taken at all - the successful appeals I'm familiar with involve inadequate penalties or inadequate explanations for the presence of a banned substance). My own thoughts are that a very messy process has arrived at approximately the right result 18 months later than it should have; even if no banned substances were involved, there were clearly serious failures of governance and due diligence, and the club and its officials have rightly been heavily penalised for that (and may well be penalised further once WorkSafe gets involved), but the culpability of individual players was at a much lower level (if it existed at all). Unlike many of my fellow Essendon supporters, I certainly don't believe that no-one did anything wrong.

C • "extra help to relax a... 1

First time I've swum for a couple of weeks. Shoulder was a bit stiff early on but generally felt like a reasonable session. Numbers starting to dwindle from the summer peak towards the hard core, though the weather isn't too bad yet.

It appears from the NSW election result that we have missed out on getting someone with orienteering experience into Parliament, although to describe Cameron Murphy as an enthusiastic orienteer would be as much a stretching of the truth as some of the things that were said about him in the last week of the campaign - he was definitely amongst that group (we had a few) at school who were only doing orienteering because they had to do a sport and they disliked it less than they did rugby.

Out on the Tan at lunchtime, a bit earlier than usual prior to three back-to-back meetings (the joys of being acting sub-section head this week). Quite a nice run on a nice day.

It's the first day of school holidays and there appeared to be quite a lot of people out having some quality grandparent-grandchild time. There also seemed to be a lot of builders working on the basis that now that there's less traffic around they can block whatever they like (particular brickbats to those who reduced the broad promenade outside Crown to something which was a metre wide if you're lucky).

The masseur this evening had a much easier job than she did two weeks ago.

If only I'd gone across to South Australia a bit earlier, I could have taken in the header demolition derby in Keith.

Victorian Relays at Eppalock South. Back in the day, the Eppalock areas (along with Lyell Forest) were places I went in pursuit of the fast-terrain holy grail of a kilometre rate starting with a 4. Today would have been a good day for that in terrain which was fast even by this area's standards (in fact it would surprise me if Bryan went close to or under 4.5).

My days of running kilometre rates starting with a 4 are over (except on the streets), but I was hoping to get one starting with a 5 and did. Two long legs early; on my own fairly quickly after the start (not sure how much was speed and how much was route choice), but eventually got into the eclectic second group, which at various stages comprised myself, Tash, Aston, Simon Rouse and one of the Goonans; I filled my usual function in such groups of being the slowest but the most accurate. We split after the sequence of short legs 6-10, with Tash getting ahead a bit, although I saw a bit of Simon at various stages. Had my first wobble of the day on the way to the last control, drifting a bit low, which cost me enough time (maybe 15 seconds) to place Aston within run-me-down-in-the-chute range, an opportunity he accepted with open arms. 8 down on Kez and Eon, probably a slightly better-than-par result for me these days. Good to feel like I was racing, although still feel questionable on such hills as the area had.

This is the first time I've seen much of Aston in competition. He's technically confident in detail and I liked that he was prepared to make his own decisions in a pack situation (reminds me a bit of a previous tussle with a junior of similar age who went on to bigger and better things), but sometimes had trouble holding a line in vaguer country.

I took off pretty quickly afterwards to make the start of the World Cup final (a mission accomplished with 30 seconds to spare), so I don't know where my team ended up - although as I was its only member under 60 (Ted and Russell being the others) I'm not expecting miracles.

C • Fairly wide variantions at times 3

On this occasion, a run was a good opportunity to get out of the house while it was swarming with potential purchasers (which meant the run was a bit later than it normally would be). This was another one on familiar territory which is soon to become less familiar - the Banyule Flats singletrack then out to the Finns Reserve bridge (although I came back along the riverbank on the other side for longer than I usually do), with the first hint of dampness on autumn leaves and the associated smell. Not the greatest of runs, though; never really felt as if I'd loosened up.

C • Kosher? 2