Saturday Sep 30 |
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| Event: AUS National Championship Carnival
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 | Run race ((orienteering)) 53:51 [4]**** 8.6 km (6:16 / km) +265m 5:26 / km | |
| spiked:16/17c |
| One of my best runs for a while. Hit just about everything - even the dodgy ones - with only an annoying 15-seconder on the second-last to spoil a near-flawless technical run. Also felt stronger than in a lot of recent races, which quite often happens when the navigation is going well. 4th was my best National League result since 2000.
Control 2 was sufficiently suspect that it triggered a protest (which, somewhat to my surprise, was dismissed). When you hit the control you don't ask too many questions; from another look at the map I think it may have been in the right gully but 40-50m too low, but some others aren't convinced it was even in the right gully. |
Thursday Sep 28 |
| Run 1:01:00 [3] 13 km (4:42 / km) | |
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| Continuing to be in a flat spot at a time of year when I didn't want to be in a flat spot, despite another morning which was lovely for running (and less lovely for farming). Also seemed to hit every bunch of traffic going at the road crossings. last run before the racing starts - hope it goes better than this. |
Wednesday Sep 27 |
| Run race 13:25 [5] 3.83 km (3:30 / km) vdot: 56.9 | |
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| Tan: km splits 3.31, 3.37 (uphill), 3.32 (headwind), 3.27 (tailwind). OK without being startling. Windier than last week but km splits very similar. At its best in the second kilometre whilst getting onto the back of a pack (which promptly split apart as soon as I caught it). 30 metres off Bruce for most of the way. |
| Run 31:00 [3] 6.5 km (4:46 / km) | |
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| Warm-up/warm-down for the above. The former much better than the latter. Major excitement was seeing a semi-trailer on its side underneath the rail bridge at the corner of Spencer and Flinders Streets - they'll have some fun getting that out. |
Tuesday Sep 26 |
| Run 1:31:00 [3] 20 km (4:33 / km) | |
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| Last vaguely long one before the Australian Championships week. Would have liked to go in on a better note than this - felt a bit flat despite the lovely conditions, and I didn't even have the excuse of a hard day yesterday like I usually do on Thursdays. Stiffened up quite a bit after a railway-crossing stop about 15 minutes from home. |
Monday Sep 25 |
| Run 41:00 [3] 9 km (4:33 / km) | |
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| Found out pretty late in the piece that there was no MFR run tonight, so went out on my own in the evening, rather later than I'm used to (7.45 or thereabouts), on the Eaglemont loop that used to be a regular Friday run in the days before the medical people told me to have a day off each week. Flowing well on a cool, crisp evening at times, but not really comfortable on the hills. A dark night by Melbourne standards (new moon and no cloud for the city lights to reflect off), so some of the smaller paths were a bit awkward. |
Sunday Sep 24 |
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| Event: ACT Championships
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| Event: Victorian State League #11 Mt Tarrengower
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| Run race ((orienteering)) 1:28:30 [4]**** 10.8 km (8:12 / km) +460m 6:45 / km | |
| spiked:24/27c |
| One of those days where I never really flowed, and seemed to keep picking the rougher side of the line. Not particularly strong up the hills either. Lost 1.5 minutes at 8 and 30 seconds at 9, and got caught by Gareth at that point; sort of stayed in touch with him through the middle section of the course. Didn't miss much from there but not particularly quick (and picked Gareth up again at the third-last after he made an error).
7th was probably about a par result in the best M21 field in Australia this year, but should have been a bit closer to the big guns than I actually was. Very impressive effort of Julian coming off a long layoff.
Honeysuckle Creek isn't the lovely bit of bush it was before the fire, but the runnability isn't too radically different - not as many really thick bits, but also not as many really open bits (or maybe it's just that the courses didn't take us into them very much). |
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| C • SBS World News 4 |
Saturday Sep 23 |
| Run 1:04:00 [3] 14 km (4:34 / km) | |
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| Up in Canberra for ACT Championships weekend, assuming there is an ACT Championships and that we don't have a total fire ban declared on us tomorrow. (It will be a pity to lose the event, especially as it's got just about the best field on offer in Australia this year, but it's a definite risk, as Friday indicates that total fire bans are being declared on days which aren't genuinely extreme and I fear the same may happen tomorrow).
Anyway, went out for a pleasant, steady run on Black Mountain and Bruce Ridge - a solid run with little sign of soreness and reasonable hill strength, on a morning which felt like it belonged in December. Ran into Grant, Shannon et al in the middle and turned around to go with them for a bit, then encountered some familiar MTBers on Bruce Ridge.
The latter group were useful as they were able to tell me how to get out of Bruce Ridge now that the routes I was used to using have been cut off by the road construction - normally it would have been tempting to cut across anyway but there was actually work going on in the area today. This detour made the run a bit longer than planned, as well as introducing some unscheduled (if straightforward) terrain running. |
Thursday Sep 21 |
| Run 1:46:00 [3] 23 km (4:37 / km) | |
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| Never felt particularly comfortable - hip more of a nuisance than in the last week or so, and like last night, feeling lethargic on the hills. At its best in the last 20 minutes after long stretches of plugging away. |
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| C • Multiple sessions 1 |
Wednesday Sep 20 |
| Run 1:01:00 [3] 13 km (4:42 / km) | |
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| A pleasant session, much of it on the small tracks along the Yarra between Gipps Street and the pipeline bridge. Picked the pace up quite nicely at the end.
Waking up to the radio reporting a round-up of where all the bushfires are and their current status is not something one expects in Victoria in September. (No maps affected as far as I know). |
| Run 52:00 [3] 11 km (4:44 / km) | |
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| Ran a street-O event, not very fast. Made a route choice error from the start and was playing catch-up from there onwards, not that I was that concerned about the result (otherwise I would have run faster). Not a great run - took a while to get going and lacked energy on the hills. |
Tuesday Sep 19 |
| Run intervals 39:00 [5] 7 km (5:34 / km) | |
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| 8 x 400 session on a 2.5 minute cycle, 10 minutes each way to warm up/warm down. Lap times: 81, 78, 78, 78, 77, 75, 75, 77. First time I've done a track session for a while, partly because the Clifton Hill track was being rebuilt - nice surface now.
Not a bad session, particularly in the second half. Went a little bit lactic on the last couple of reps but nothing like the DS session two weeks ago.
The north wind was well and truly in. In January that would mean 40 degrees was awaiting us; it's not quite like that in September but it was still pretty warm. If there's going to be a wind at all on this track a northerly's not a bad one to have, as it's a headwind on the first bend and a tailwind when it really starts hurting around 300. |
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| C • clifton hill track 3 |
Monday Sep 18 |
| Run 48:00 [2] 10 km (4:48 / km) | |
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| The MFR Monday night run. Felt pretty smooth at a fairly easy pace. Spent a fair bit of it with Tash and Anna Skarbek trying between us to work out how to solve Victoria's water problems.
(On the evidence of today's radio talkback, most people here seem to think that the main reason for Victoria's water problems is all those people wasting the stuff in (insert name of place a safe distance from where caller comes from here), which isn't exactly productive). |
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| C • Water politics 2 |
Sunday Sep 17 |
| Run race 37:46 [4] 10 km (3:47 / km) vdot: 55.6 | |
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| A pretty disappointing effort - I was hoping for a 36 and expected something under 37 as a minimum. Didn't feel too bad, just ran slowly. Can't blame the conditions (perfect) and can't blame the course (just about dead flat). Might be able to blame overdoing it a bit yesterday but that's self-inflicted. Also a rather thin field, but spent much of the second half trying to run down the person ahead of me (and, after finally succeeding 1.5k from home, he went through me again in the last 100).
Km splits: 3.40, 3.42, 3.47, 3.44, 3.45, 3.45, 3.53, 3.53, 3.51, 3.46. |
Saturday Sep 16 |
| Run ((terrain)) 1:40:00 [3] 17 km (5:53 / km) | |
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| Two laps of the Yarra Bend terrain loop with Bruce and Rob Lewis (for the first loop). Wasn't going too hard because I've got a 10k to prepare for tomorrow. Felt good on the first lap but lacked energy on the hills the second time around - despite this ended up doing the same time for each loop (43). Bruce decided to go for it on the second loop and ran away from me. |
Thursday Sep 14 |
| Run 2:02:00 [3] 26 km (4:42 / km) | |
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| Didn't feel great before I started, but gradually built into it and got better and better over the course of the run, particularly after halfway. Had several patches in the last 40 minutes where I was flowing and felt almost detached from the surroundings, a sign that a run is going seriously well. A definite boost to confidence after a few so-so days.
Had my first significant encounter with a magpie for the spring, in the somewhat unlikely setting of the West Heidelberg industrial estate (perhaps it was attracted by the smell of the Chocolatier Australia factory). They are neither as common nor as dangerous as Canberra magpies (Collingwood supporters are another matter altogether).
(if you're wondering why I was running in the West Heidelberg industrial estate, a few hundred metres spent traversing it is the price paid for several very nice kilometres in Bundoora Park and Latrobe Uni).
Clocked up 98,000 career kilometres this morning - hoping to crack the six figures sometime around January/February. My car's on 95,000 so it's touch and go which will get there first. |
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| C • Major Service.. 6 |
Wednesday Sep 13 |
| Run 1:00:00 [3] 13 km (4:37 / km) | |
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| Another not-particularly-inspiring run in a not-particularly-inspiring week. Hip a bit more of a nuisance than in recent days. |
| Run race ((Tan)) 13:24 [5] 3.83 km (3:30 / km) vdot: 57.0 | |
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| The Tan, 13.24. Km splits 3.31, 3.38 (uphill), 3.30, 3.27.
Again felt a bit on the flat side, particularly in the first half. Fought it out pretty well in the end (7 seconds behind the time from two weeks ago at 2k, but only 8 seconds down at the end). Definitely a loss not having Bruce there to chase - fell between two packs and was on my own for quite a bit of it. Mild again which meant plenty of people to dodge again (seemed to be an inordinate number of pram-pushers today, not sure why as school holidays aren't until next week and most of the kids visible weren't of school age anyway), but I don't think that has any real impact on times.
There was a bit of wind, but not as bad as I'd feared - I was expecting to hit a brick wall at the Shrine but it didn't happen. |
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| C • Tan time 2 |
| Run 30:00 [3] 6.5 km (4:37 / km) | |
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| Running to/from the Tan. |
Tuesday Sep 12 |
| Run tempo ((fartlek)) 37:00 [4] 9 km (4:07 / km) | |
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| Didn't feel especially fluent at any stage, but 9.08 per loop is still quite a respectable pace for this, if not quite on the level of two weeks ago. Lovely morning, brilliantly clear and 4 degrees or thereabouts. |
Monday Sep 11 |
| Run 47:00 [2] 9 km (5:13 / km) | |
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| MFR Monday night run based from Suse's in South Yarra - the men were definitely in the minority tonight. Didn't feel any more energetic than I did on Sunday, particularly on the hills. |
Sunday Sep 10 |
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| Event: Victorian State Series #10
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| Run race ((orienteering)) 1:12:59 [4]*** 10.9 km (6:42 / km) +450m 5:33 / km | |
| spiked:15/18c |
| Kept expecting to warm up but never really did - lacked energy and zip for most of the course, and concentration also not quite what it could have been. Only one significant error (1.5 mins at 4). A bit of lower back tightness at times. Probably at my best on the tough climbs in the last couple of legs.
Bruce wasn't in yet when I left, but Toph did 71 and Jim 81. If I was going to have an ordinary run in September this was the place to have it, but still a bit disappointing. |
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| C • Results 4 |
Saturday Sep 9 |
| Run 1:02:00 [3] 14 km (4:26 / km) | |
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| A very unusual event in recent months - a Saturday morning training run from home (albeit a bit earlier than usual because I was heading off to check sites for an event I'm controlling in a couple of weeks at Tarrengower). Flowed nicely once I warmed up, and hip best it's been for a while. |
Thursday Sep 7 |
| Run 1:53:00 [3] 25 km (4:31 / km) | |
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| Unusual for me to do a long run in the afternoon, but with a conference finishing at lunchtime (to say nothing of a conference dinner the previous night, although I didn't manage to live up to the efforts of some of my colleagues), I thought I'd give the 5.15 alarm a miss for a week and take advantage of an unusual free (late) Thursday afternoon for a jaunt through the Canberra suburbs.
I think I over-indulged a bit on the offer of someone else's excess potato wedges at lunch because my inside didn't feel comfortable for most of the first half, but a decent run on a nice night, often threatening to turn into something special but never quite did. Had an intimate encounter with some asphalt at halfway after failing to notice a sprinkler head whilst in daydream mode, but didn't take much skin off and felt a bit better after that for no obvious reason.
Tightened up a bit in the legs afterwards - maybe my usual walk to the station after a Thursday morning run (usually quite a fast walk because I'm normally leaving it to the last minute) has more warm-down benefits than I realised? |
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| C • Changing greenhouse policy settings? 1 |
Wednesday Sep 6 |
| Run 1:00:00 [3] 10 km (6:00 / km) | |
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| Taking advantage of being in Canberra to spend some time in the terrain (apart from the bits on tracks necessary to get around the Caswell Drive roadworks). Not a bad run, handling the hills reasonably strongly and flowing OK through the forest. |
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| C • weather balloons 10 |
| Run 43:00 [3] 9 km (4:47 / km) | |
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| Started out as a pretty nondescript effort after a long day, and the hills around the back of the Botanic Gardens were a bit of a grind, but started to flow pretty well in the last 10 minutes. Steady rain throughout. |
Tuesday Sep 5 |
| Run hills 53:00 [4] 11 km (4:49 / km) | |
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| Joined the DS hills session, and got a bit of a shock - my usual fartlek session has a couple of short sharp hills in it but nothing of this level of intensity. Travelling OK (80 seconds each time) for the first 3 reps, but went badly lactic on the 4th and was running on empty for the last 4. Shows this sort of workout requires some practice. |
Monday Sep 4 |
| Run 40:00 [3] 9 km (4:27 / km) | |
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| An unsurprisingly lacklustre effort after a hard weekend. Didn't have a lot of energy, especially for the hils later on. |
Sunday Sep 3 |
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| Event: NSW Long Championships
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| Run race 1:42:00 [4]*** 14.5 km (7:02 / km) +570m 5:53 / km | |
| spiked:20/22c |
| A long race, which suited me well. Knew it was going to be a long race from the first couple of controls when it was obvious that this was not going to be sub-6s country, and adjusted both my mindset and my running speed to a 100+ minute race, which served me well. (There are those who would suggest that the difference between my 19-minute pace and my 100+-minute pace is non-existent, but it is visible providing you have a sufficiently powerful microscope). Wobbled a bit on a couple of legs, and one poor route choice which lost me 40 seconds or so, but a very steady run on the whole.
In 3rd place less than two minutes down; given that I was so close it would have been nice to win (and it would have left WA as the only state champs I've never won in M21), but I can't be too upset with the result, and claimed a few worthwhile scalps in the process (I think it's the first time I've beaten Eric for several years). From the splits, surprised how competitive I was on running speed, particularly later on.
The area was excellent, definitely one of the 3-4 best gully-spur areas I've run on Australia. Lots of subtlety in the contours, and enough casuarina to reduce the visibility and force you off the straight line all the time, without having a huge impact on running speed. |
Saturday Sep 2 |
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| Event: NSW Sprint Championships
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| Run race 19:09 [4]*** 3.1 km (6:11 / km) +100m 5:19 / km | |
| spiked:14/16c |
| Felt half-asleep before the start (a product of an early flight), and didn't go in with a lot of confidence, but felt reasonable on the course (by my sprint standards anyway). Missed 5 a little but it sounds like everyone else did too (hard control to see and a couple of small unmapped tracks), and didn't get a great line through the green towards the second last, but a decent run on the whole - 5th not bad for me in this field at this distance. |