Training Log Archive: blairtrewin

A pretty ordinary run off rather limited sleep - didn't get home last night until midnight (although did have the rare luxury of sleeping quite a bit in the car). Felt sluggish throughout.

Melbourne has done a reasonable job of shifting from summer to winter in the time I've been gone, meaning that the Fitzroy pool is now a place for the hard-core. Felt surprisingly good swimming (especially given the dismal run that preceded it) and got into quite a nice rhythm in the second half.

Mass-start race at Sparrow Hill, a pine forest with some areas of poor visibility and a lot of small scrappy rock. I grew up on this stuff so was reasonably comfortable in it, but others seemed to lack confidence at times.

Fell off the lead pack at the very start, but quickly found myself in a bunch with Glenn and Bruce, although I lost them with a bit of a wobble on 7 (I think Bruce had broken off on another split by then anyway). Running pretty solidly the rest of the way, although a poor line to 2 on the second loop cost me a chance to get onto Bruce and Andy again. The only other person I saw for the rest of the course was Rob Preston in the second half of the second loop. Finished reasonably strongly and ended up in what's becoming my traditional position - tenth.

Some excellent views from the finish of one of the more colossal wastes of public money in recent memory, namely the new Defence HQ (a.k.a. the "Gary Nairn Memorial", in honour of the now-former member for Eden-Monaro in whose name this particular piece of pork got barrelled). Allegedly the logic of putting it here was so it would survive if Canberra got nuked; it didn't seem to occur to anyone in Defence that the enemy could aim its nukes at the Defence HQ instead (or as well), and there are even lots of shiny buildings so they can see exactly where to send their bombs.

Event: ASC Galaxy & Canberra Cup
 

Galaxy sprint at Uni of Canberra. Made a horrible mess of the route choice from 7 to 8, anticipating a gap which didn't exist, which meant that instead of my usual 2.45 behind the winner I was 3.30 behind instead and failed to trouble the National League scorers. In my defence the map was pretty hard to make sense of - partly because some features were mapped oddly, but mostly because the multi-level areas were not really effectively mappable (which is why there's a guideline somewhere saying that they shouldn't be used). Didn't feel that comfortable going up and down stairs - in that sort of "terrain" I always feel as if everyone else is being much more aggressive than me - but stretched out pretty nicely once Robbie caught me about two-thirds of the way through. No issues with the knee.

Sprint relay at Radford with two loops. I may not be the world's fastest sprint orienteer, but the advantage of my relatively plodding speed is that it makes me more likely to manage things like actually visiting all the controls. Victoria had four teams in the race, and we needed all of them to get the necessary two across the finish line.

I was teamed with Sophie, which became less of a making-up-the-numbers prospect after her unexpected win in the morning. Ran pretty well (by my sprint standards) with only a couple of minor (<5 sec) hesitations and route-choice wobbles. I think we ended up seventh after all the carnage played itself out.

It was a fun race, although not especially fair as not all teams ended up with the same splits. A mixed relay is definitely worth repeating, although I wonder if a better model would be teams of 2+2, and perhaps a middle distance rather than sprint format.

We didn't spend much time on Radford's ovals, which got a bit of press a couple of weeks ago because the Radford First XI managed to get themselves bowled out for 7 (and Canberra's a small enough place that this performance scored a third of the back page of the paper).

Lake Ginninderra circuit from the swimming pool car park, taking it fairly easy. Knee still not brilliant but not bad once warmed up, and no sign of stiffening today (although if my long-downhills theory is correct that wasn't tested today).

Not sure if it's been recently rediscovered or whether I just haven't noticed it before, but the Belconnen skate park has a plaque stating that it was officially opened by one Craig Duby. I think I've mentioned Mr. Duby, probably the biggest rogue in the rogues' gallery that infested the inaugural ACT Legislative Assembly in 1989-92, before in these pages; Canberrans would probably prefer to forget him as quickly as possible (he must be the democratic world's only minister for transport and police who got done twice for drink-driving during his term in office and kept his job, although if I recall correctly he only managed about 200 votes in the whole ACT in his bid for re-election). I wonder where he is now?

Forgot to mention on yesterday's run that there was a sign stating that Environment ACT was carrying out a "Warren eradication and fumigation programme". I presume it was a reference to rabbits.

Followed up the run with a swim at CISAC under the watchful eye of lazydave (who resisted the temptation to sledge my eminently-sledgeable swimming technique). Less slow than recently. Quads seem pretty stiff - I don't think Red Hill was steep or long enough for quad destruction, but running with a somewhat unnatural style towards the end yesterday with a knee not quite right might have done it.

Missed the bus to ANU by 30 seconds and had to wait 35 minutes for the next one, but if I'd made it I wouldn't have seen Nicki and family en route to Aranda Pre-School (I think it went over Annabel's head to hear that I was a fellow student of that august institution 32 years ago). There are worse places to do 30 minutes' file sorting on the laptop than a bus shelter on a cool, bright morning, too.

The main target today was probably my favourite run in Canberra, the Red Hill ridgeline, on a perfect morning for it - sunny and about 5 degrees (hopefully we get conditions as good as that for the marathon). Started from Barton and spent the first few kilometres taking in the streets of old southern Canberra before heading up the ridge from the Deakin 'telephone exchange' (occasionally rumoured to be a top-secret ASIO installation), and along the ridge all the way to Hindmarsh Drive before coming back, initially north parallel to Mugga Way, and then east.

There's now a vehicle track along most of the ridge (and even some bitumen sprayed on it near the Davidson trig), with only the southernmost section remaining as the old rocky single-track, but the views are as good as ever. It's probably at least 10 years since I've done this run as it's not in range from my house on anything except the longest of runs, but many of the features are still there, right down to the Argentine ambassador's residence which doubled as the 1km to go marker on our school cross-country course. (The ambassador and/or his colleagues treated us to several horn-blowing laps around our school when Argentina won the 1986 World Cup). There's a 'no bicycles' sign on the single-track down from the saddle (the windiest place in Canberra, and my idea of the start triangle for the (insert distant year here) Canberra WOC sprint final), but unless people's travel modes from Garran and Hughes have changed a lot in 20 years I suspect this is honoured more in the breach than the observance.

The run felt pretty good on the whole, with plenty of strength on the numerous climbs. The knee was essentially fine for most of the run but again stiffened suddenly with about 20 minutes to go - it seems to be long gradual downhills that set it off.

C • deakin exchange 1

First post-Easter run on what felt like the first day of real autumn - fresh after yesterday's rain. Felt very ordinary in the first 5 minutes with Achilles tightness, then gradually improved and feeling pretty good by the middle - before my right knee suddenly started feeling numb and stiffening up after about 40 minutes - no pain but annoying. This is something that used to happen to me a bit as a teenager but I can't remember it occurring for about 20 years (and I don't have any real history of knee problems) - will need watching. Two obvious potential suspects are the bruising from Sunday's fall, and the first run in new shoes.

A bit more bikepath-alongside-main-road running than I'd planned on because I remembered halfway through that the Uni of Canberra and Gossan Hill (which I'd planned to come back through) were embargoed - not that having prior knowledge is going to help me much in a sprint race.

Recovery swim at Belconnen in the evening (found myself with a few too many things to do in the morning). Not bad for the purpose although the pool was a little too crowded to make it genuinely relaxing.

Damage from the weekend: one bruised right knee, one left heel blister, one stiff right shoulder (although I'm not sure orienteering's responsible for that) and various scratches, bumps and brusies. Nothing too serious, pretty standard really. Woke up with a bit of a sniffle this morning but that seems to have been just from a lousy night's sleep (possibly something to do with the last line of yesterday's entry).

It rained almost all day today; I'm struggling to remember the last time I saw such a thing happen in Australia (the only such day I can recall in recent times was the day of the Georgia Navigator Cup). There was ample evidence on the roads that, like their Melbourne counterparts, a significant number of Canberra drivers have water-soluble brains.

The 'Canberra Times' column for 'On This Day: 50 Years Ago' reported that the NSW Department of Main Roads had plans for a new alignment of the coast road which would remove the steep grades on the Clyde Mountain. We're still waiting (although I'm not quite sure how they proposed to go about eliminating the steep grades, short of demolishing the mountain).

Final day of Easter with a chasing start, the first one of these I've run in for a while, and a lot of fun. Went out 19 seconds behind Andy, 8 seconds ahead of Dave Meyer and about a minute ahead of Reuben in the battle for positions 9-12. Not surprisingly, there was a certain amount of pre-race banter (I am reliably informed that Dave was writing out his intended sledges in the car on the way to the event).

Once we were actually under way, Dave predictably caught me quickly (at least he didn't do it before the start triangle) and went ahead when I got caught in a fence on the way to 1, which suited me fine. Reuben had caught us by 2, and I dropped behind a bit on a route choice to 3 (the route itself was fine, but I didn't commit to it quickly enough), at which point I was about 20-30 seconds behind the other three. I'd made this up by 5, partly through going wider on legs across steep gullies, partly through being able to run up hills on the less steep angles. (I must have done something right on 5 because it's the first time in living memory I've won a split in a national event). 7 offered a left/right option around the hill and we split - Andy and Reuben went left, Dave and I went right. I dropped Dave on a climb on this leg and didn't see him again, but the other two reached the control about 50 metres ahead of me. This gap remained until 12 when Reuben surged away; I then lost another 50 metres to Andy on a route choice into 14, had minor wobbles and hesitations on 15 and 16, and that was that. Ended up 10th courtesy of Shep's injury.

Reasonably happy with my endurance, something which has let me down on the last day of recent Easters, and also to get through three days at Sappa Bulga with only one fine navigation error larger than 15 seconds (and that about 45), although I'm not aggressive enough in the rock - I'd really like to have a look at someone like Julian here to see what they're doing that I'm not.

(and, now that it looks like there is going to be an appeal over the JWOC selection, please do not ask for comments on that selection as a refusal may offend).

C • it was 1

Second day of Easter. Went out last, which I thought would be a disadvantage but turned out to be a slight advantage - it rained in the morning and stopped about 30 minutes before I went out, giving the rock a little bit of a chance to dry out.

This was an excellent run for fine navigation, with my only mistakes being a 15-second hesitation coming into 19 and a similarly-sized wobble at 24, although I lost probably about 2.5 minutes in total on poor route choices at 5 (along the ridge) and 21 (to the south). Lacked physical confidence running in the heavier rock in the wet, especially after a fall coming out of 6, but I suspect I wasn't exactly alone in this. Faded away a bit physically in the last 20 minutes but not to the extent of some Easter long days. Didn't get into any packs as I went more or less straight through everyone that I caught.

I was about where I expected to be relative to the winner (11 minutes down), but placed a bit worse than I was expecting; a couple of people who I thought would struggle to last the distance didn't.

Just noticed that this failed to make it up the first time I posted it.

First day of Easter. Didn't get a good line on the way to 1 but hit the control OK, then running quite well through the first half of the course. An annoying 45-second mistake at 8 which should have been quite an easy control, then fairly reasonable to the finish. Not aggressive enough in the heavy rock, but I'm not sure too many are.

For reasons discussed elsewhere it was declared a no-race. I didn't see either of the offending phantom controls so didn't lose any time; it was a bit disappointing to have a reasonable result wiped from the record books (although in the end it made no difference to my final placing).

Event: Australian Easter Three Days and Prologue
 

Pretty standard sprint for me - reasonably clean (only one very minor wobble and a couple of brief hesitations), too slow (my usual 2.30-3.00 behind the winner), and just managed to get in the points. Interesting venue but the course was far too easy - it's fitting that I've been having a revisiting-the-1980s fortnight because this was the first time I've run a green course in serious competition since 1983. It says everything that needs to be said that, from the splits, by far the most difficult control on the course was the spectator control. Felt reasonable and set for the more significant days ahead - today was damage limitation.

A very sluggish session at Belconnen. Wouldn't normally read too much into this type of session but it would be nice to have a bit more energy so close to a major competition.

Spending a couple of weeks based at a university has reintroduced me to some of the features of campus life, including the lunchtime demonstration with more speakers than audience (this one was about education funding). No-one's tried to sell me a copy of Green Left Weekly yet.

C • swim 3

Out along the side of Mount Painter and the Pinnacle, back through the suburbs (including an excursion past the Macquarie Primary grounds where Michael Bevan is reputed to have batted every lunchtime for six months without getting out). A bit better than the last two days, especially in the second half, but definitely still not brilliant.

The jokes about police and doughnuts are true: Grant confirmed on the weekend that the AFP get a 50% discount at Krispy Kreme. (I also noticed on passing said establishment that their products are 'halal certified'. I'm not sure exactly what makes a halal doughnut, except that possibly if you eat too many of them you increase your chances of meeting Allah more quickly).

Around the lower slopes of Black Mountain. Again felt pretty flat, although a bit less so than yesterday. Probably not the best of times to hit a low spot so hopefully it's very temporary (no sign of any illness).

Ended up with last start on Friday and Sunday, first start on Saturday, and hopefully first start on Monday (some may be thinking of a line from 'The Castle' at this point). Probably as good a solution as could have been hoped for in the circumstances. At least it's not going to be ultra-hot.

C • Jousting sticks? 16

Cross-country at Stromlo; I wouldn't normally race this close to Easter but wanted to have a look at the new course. Very enjoyable for the first 1.5km - and then got the worst stitch I've had in years. At this point I decided that there wasn't a lot of point in flogging myself into the ground three days out and eased off a bit. Was probably heading for something around 18.

It's a nice course with plenty of twists (reminds me a bit of Lotus Bay in that sense, although not as tight) - would prefer a bit more variation in the ground surface but then my idea of real cross-country differs from most runners' idea of real cross-country. I also pondered whether there is anything left on my 1991 map of the area which is still there in 2008; even the contours look like they've been significantly remodelled.

Caught up with a few people I was expecting to see, some I was sort of expecting to see, and some I definitely wasn't expecting to see (one being Lauren Shelley who's over here preparing for a tilt at a qualifier in Rotterdam; another being an old school friend I haven't seen in 15 years, who wasn't a runner in those days either). Also remarkable how many people asked me whether I've moved back here on the strength of appearances here and at Commonwealth Park last week.

C • Moved back 18

Lap of Lake Ginninderra with a bit extra at each end. Have run a couple of very good races around this lake but today definitely wasn't it - sluggish throughout, perhaps a bit better later on. More building work in the vicinity then there was last time I was in these parts.

Interesting interview venues part 103: underneath a tree outside the Hancock Library at ANU (on the mobile with ABC radio in Mount Gambier). I spent a fair bit of my Honours year in the Hancock and you could do far worse as a place to work from (as long as you don't get easily distracted by views).

I don't normally log bike commutes, but I'm tempted to today because getting my father's bike (which was pretty basic when it was new and certainly isn't new any more) up the hill back into Aranda from the lake was pretty hard work.

Also discovered the downside of being the first guinea-pig for the Easter online entry system - it didn't work (something I only found out when Bruce pointed out I wasn't on the start list). All sorted out now. I assume I'm starting either first or last every day (except for Monday, obviously) but haven't checked my times against the overall lists yet.

C • obviously? 3

C • Weather update for Dubbo 2

A mundane swim at Belconnen. I'd call it a slow pool but every pool's a slow pool for me.

ACT event at Buckenderra, always a fun area. A 30 control course in 8.5km, which suited me fine given that technical training is what I need at the moment. A solid run with only one error of any size, going into the green a bit early at 7 and losing 45 seconds or so. Probably my best section was in the middle, after catching Jo at 9 and working reasonably hard to get clear (yes, I'm comparing myself to the women again), and was fortunate enough to nail the bingo 15 (in a swathe of unmapped green). Shep caught me 3.5 minutes at 25 (after a long uphill slog through the open on 22 and 23), but was obviously cruising because he didn't get away at any speed until I suffered a Catastrophic Shoe Failure coming out of 27 (there's always something new to experience, even after 1500 events). It would have been a real problem if it had happened earlier but I was able to manage the last few hundred metres (not very fast), although it felt like running in thongs. Not a bad hit-out. A pretty warm day (high 20s) but not impossibly hot; good preparation for what I expect in Dubbo.

(To insert another gratuitous 1986 reference and make a connection to today's Grand Prix at the same time, my left shoe now isn't in much better condition than Nigel Mansell's tyre in Adelaide that year).

Things you wouldn't have seen 10 years ago: Shep sitting calmly behind me for 100km as I drove the Monaro Highway from Cooma with cruise control set at 102 or thereabouts.

Reinforcement of suburban stereotypes department: The Charnwood fete was taking place yesterday (we saw it on the way out to the wedding), and one of the featured events was the Best Mullet competition. (Lachlan was stuck out there for a lot longer, playing in a band).

C • 102km/h 5

Sprint orienteering intervals at ANU, four different loops with 2-3 minutes in between. Went pretty well on the whole although courses weren't, on the whole, as tricky as a sprint course can be (although the loop with 23 controls in 9 minutes was a lot of fun). Feeling quite sharp at times. Lost a fair bit of time on the first loop through committing myself to a route choice through a marked gate which turned out to be locked. Thrown a little at times by the angled north lines. Again pretty warm.

Warm-up for the sprint training session.

Joined Ecmo for his last run as a free man. Surprisingly, much of it was an area I've never run in before - probably because when I lived in Canberra I wasn't in the habit of driving somewhere to run, and it was too far from home to be reachable running from there. Started high on the hill near the sewage works (we send our crap to Adelaide as well as our hot air), then down into and across the Molonglo and Murrumbidgee rivers and into some terrain on the far side - reasonably rough. Mostly small tracks for the remainder. Distance is a guess.

To continue the 1986 references, the run took us into some bush on the west side of the Murrumbidgee near our base for a two-week camp in year 10. At the time I thought it looked potentially mildly interesting but too small to be usable (of course, in those days there was no such thing as a middle distance, let alone a sprint). Came back through another occasional school camp venue, Camp Sturt (or the remnants thereof - it wasn't rebuilt after the 2003 fires).

The run itself was nothing particularly special but handled the grind uphill at the end OK. Nice to be out before it got too hot.

Down at Belconnen pool. Pretty slow and sluggish. Didn't see any band-aids.

The general consensus at the meeting I was at was that the single action which could best facilitate inter-organisational cooperation in climate change research would be to shoot all CSIRO's lawyers. In Victoria we have considerable capabilities in such fields, although a number of the leading practitioners are deceased or currently incarcerated.

Up Black Mountain in the early morning, with Nick (a friend of Cassie's who's currently staying at my parents' place) and a friend of his. A bit sluggish on the early climbs but not too bad on the major ascent, and coming back was fine. Nice morning for it but I wouldn't have wanted to have been out too much later.

It seemed just like old times when I was standing at the bus stop this morning alongside some of the people from my old school, but I was reminded that it definitely wasn't 1986 when my mobile phone rang with a request for an interview from a radio station in New Zealand.

C • Easter Weather? 6

ACT twilight event at Commonwealth Park. A few good sprint-type controls at the start and end (although 1:7500 wasn't really a large enough scale to do justice to it), and a running race in the middle which I wasn't fast enough for, although felt reasonable. Rob did 24 and Eric 26. One slight miss when I couldn't tell the difference between the end of the pond and the start of the watercourse.

8x400 at Clifton Hill on a 2.5 minute cycle. First track intervals session I've done this year. Took a long, long time to get going - progressively got faster, but even on the fastest reps I was only doing 78s, which is a second or two slower than I was doing this session last year, not a hugely encouraging sign.

I went up to Canberra tonight for a while - I'd always planned to work from there for the weeks either side of Easter with the combination of the various events and Ecmo's wedding, and then it turned out I had a meeting here Wednesday/Thursday anyway. Will be nice to spend a while on the old home ground - the longest time I will have spent in Canberra since I moved out in 1994.

Did my first interview today on the Adelaide heatwave, and probably not the last (they set a new record today - for any month - with their ninth straight day over 35, and if current forecasts are correct look like they might stretch it out to 16 or more days). Southern Victoria hasn't got the worst of it yet but will from Thursday onwards. The most spectacular numbers so far are from Eucla - averaging 14.5 degrees above normal for the month so far, and they've already equalled their record for the most 40-degree days in a month.

Pretty sluggish early on, as is to be expected after a hard day yesterday, but got going reasonably well in the second half. Got out there before the heat was too excessive. Some sore spots on my feet, which were trying to develop blisters yesterday but didn't quite manage it.

A pretty mundane loosening-up session at Ivanhoe, not one of my favourite pools.

A dose of reality after yesterday on the steep slopes of Mount Beckworth. This was a two-loop race with one horrendously steep loop and one much flatter one (half the field did in one order, the other half in the other). I had the steep loop first; out on the course I thought this was an advantage but the results suggest otherwise. (I suspect it didn't make a lot of difference).

This was a scrappy run, sometimes more than scrappy as when I lost 2 minutes at 18. Also lost time at both the 'first controls' after the pivot controls and various other bits, probably 4-5 minutes in all, and dropped 3 more minutes with an awful route choice on the mountainous 8 when I made the mistake of committing myself to a final approach through heavy bracken, and compounded it by failing to cut my losses and drop down out of the thick stuff. Felt OK physically in the first half but tired in the second; on the point of cramp several times later in, even on the token hills at 26 and 27. David Brownridge, who I'd gone through at 12, recaught me after my mistake at 18 and we were together until 27 when he fell off on the last hill. It was a career-best result for him so I guess I at least did something useful for someone.

Ended up 8th; a good time for me would have been 97-98, which wouldn't have gained me many more places but would have felt a lot better. Glad to get through a long race on another hot day but that's the only real positive to draw from the day (apart from clocking up 1500 career events). Fastest Victorian again, but that says more about everyone else than it does about me.

This weekend told us a few things about the 2008 WOC team (namely that Shep's still got it and Simon will be there), but no-one really made a compelling case that they're going to be taking a grip on the fringe places. Maybe it will be one of the ones who wasn't here who ends up going to WOC.

The most agility I displayed on the day was when I got home - my front door lock stuck and the key snapped off trying to open it (and the locksmith I rang helpfully suggested that he might be able to make it round by Thursday), and getting into the back courtyard involves going via the neighbour's fence, over a trellis and down a tree. Haven't heard from the police yet so obviously no-one saw it.

And - can someone explain to me under exactly which criteria Melton won Victorian Sustainable City 2007? (as their sign proudly boasted - at least it's an improvement on the last one which proclaimed 'MELTON CONTROLS WEEDS'). The very existence of Melton and places like it as a significant population centre is a symbol of the unsustainable way in which Melbourne is sprawling. At least in Casey most of the people are employed reasonably locally.

Event: NOL event 1 & 2
 

National League relays at Spring Gully. I didn't see this one coming. As noted earlier I wasn't at all confident about my speed going into this, and when it came to selecting the teams I didn't think I was up to running in the first team and said so. (Part of my reason for thinking this was that I'd struggled to outpace Kathryn in recent weeks, but her results this weekend suggest that this says more about her than it did about me).

Ran second leg in the second team with Toph and Warren. I took over in 3rd place, a couple of minutes behind the other Victorian team and 7 down on SA. Started a bit slowly, drifted a bit wide on 2 without major time loss, lost a minute avoiding some green that didn't need to be avoided on 3, and by 4 Rob Walter had swallowed me. The surprise was what happened next; I expected him to blow me away but it didn't happen, and if anything (with the help of a couple of lucky lines in rough stuff and one decent route choice) I was leading more than trailing through the middle section of the course. He finally pulled away in the last quarter; by then we'd caught Evan, and by the end Rob had gone through Reuben too, which I almost but not quite matched. Rob Preston almost got us at the end too.

As it turned out it was a day when speed wasn't at a premium; the course was technical and the heat meant it was a tougher proposition than a 50-minuter normally would. Shep blew everyone away on the last leg with 45, Simon did 48; my splits after 4 were competitive with everyone except those two, which was a big surprise. We ended up third because Evan mispunched (Victoria 1 were a couple of minutes ahead of us across the line), and I had the fastest Victorian time - obviously the selector responsible for the decision to put me in the second team is a poor judge and should resign forthwith from all selection positions :-)

A very pleasing start to the season personally; as one gets older the fear at the start of every season is that the pack will leave you behind in the dust, but perhaps the day is still some way away.

C • Have you always used girls ... 3

Swim session at Richmond. Felt pretty energetic on the bike on the way there, but not so much once I actually got into the pool.

Up before 5.30 for the last time in a while (even if the start times on Sunday get brought forward). Starting to ease back on the Thursday distance but still reasonably long. The first two-thirds was a reasonably hilly route through Ivanhoe, Eaglemont and Heidelberg dropping off the branch newsletters, then finished off going up into Macleod and back along the high road (imaginatively named Mountain View). It was a run which felt iffy from the start, lacking in energy at times, but picked up every time it looked like it was about to fall apart.

It started to warm up a bit by the end, but still nothing in comparison to the mid-30s we'll see this weekend. These days anything that increases the degree of difficulty is normally to my advantage, but apart from two weeks at New Year there hasn't been a lot of extreme heat (and I've spent lots of summer in cold places anyway), so my preparation may not be as good as I would like. (Looking back at my records, I've only done two runs in temperatures over 30 this summer, both of them relatively short fartlek/interval sessions). With no break likely in the heat away from the coast until at least the end of next week, I'm starting to wonder if it's going to be another 1986 when a nondescript summer (at least in southeastern Australia) was followed by a very warm March and early April. Orienteers of sufficient vintage may remember the very hot first day of Easter at Kooyoora that year; more notable in my mind was running our school cross-country the following Friday on Canberra's hottest April day ever, and seeing the leader of the age group above me staggering across the oval to the finish line, his lead shrunk from 200 metres as he stepped onto the oval to 3 metres at the finish. Not exactly what you want to see when you're a few minutes from racing yourself....

Clueless driver watch: the person who was driving in heavy traffic along Rosanna Road as I ran past, with both hands clutching a copy of a magazine ('New Woman' for the record) and neither discernably on the steering wheel. Reminded me a bit of an episode many years ago when an American orienteer, whose name I have forgotten, got booked for reading a map while he was driving and successfully got the charge overturned in court on the grounds that if he could successfully read a map while running in rough terrain then he could certainly do it while sitting in a car.

The usual fartlek loop from home on a slightly unusual day (this meant that the hose-wielders were on the right side of the street instead of the left like they usually are). Not disastrous but would want to be faster than this at this stage of my preparation - fastest loop 9.21 when I would have hoped to be sub-9.10 at this point. A lovely cool autumn morning, which won't be especially relevant to this weekend.

Ran from near work down to the waterfront and then to St. Kilda. A reasonably mundane run which was a little longer than I'd planned on. Found a few back streets in Middle Park I hadn't previously been in, which is a bit of a surprise given that I lived in the area for four years.

Street-O at Kensington. The west end of this map would make an excellent sprint area (although the residents probably wouldn't like it) with a maze of small laneways and a few parks thrown in. Last night's course didn't make the best of this part of the map but was otherwise enjoyable. I was expecting it to be short - the map is too small to set a 10km+ scatter course on - but yesterday was a bit longer than it usually is here.

I was with Bryan Ackerly most of the way - got a bit of a jump on him on a route choice early on but he had hauled me in again by halfway and we were more or less together for the rest. He was keeping a bit in reserve and chose not to contest the finish sprint - understandable from his point of view (he's doing the Six Foot Track this weekend) but a bit frustrating from mine, because I needed the race preparation more than I needed the result and would have appreciated having to contest a sprint even though I would almost certainly have lost it.

As with a few recent faster runs, I felt reasonably good going at slightly under 4 mins/km pace but lacked an extra gear to do anything faster. This may be a good thing for the Canberra Marathon but probably not for the other races I'm running in the next month.

Related piece of trivia: according to a survey which came out yesterday, the public housing estate we went through between 14 and 20 is the most disadvantaged Census collection district in Victoria. (The same survey reported that "Corio" was the least disadvantaged, which sounded bizarre at first glance, until you took a closer look at the result and saw that the CCD in question is the bit of Corio on the eastern side of the highway whose population, I suspect, consists almost entirely of Geelong Grammar boarders).

C • Social disadvantage 4

A morning session at MSAC. Had forgotten that it's the lead-up to the Grand Prix and anything at Albert Park is therefore a little challenging to get to. A nice swim on the whole, with sunglare a bit of an issue at times in the outdoor pool. Speed seemed to be changing quite a bit during the course of the swim but the clock didn't really bear that out.

Monday night from Susannah's, which usually means a trip around the Tan and did again tonight. After a hot day the change came through just as we were waiting on the corner for Morten to arrive. Morten obviously doesn't have much experience of Monday nights as he and Simon took off at high speed once we hit the Tan - I thought a 4.00 kilometre was pretty quick for a Monday but they must have been down around 3.40. Felt pretty good in the second half, including on the hill.

A name from the past was spotted on the Tan, one Shura Jones.

Discussion at the end turned to Rosie Dalheim's upcoming campaign in the election for captain of Westgarth Primary (a full bells-and-whistles affair, complete with the AEC running the show). We now have a graphic designer (Dion), a marketing person (Torgeir), a strategy consultant and preference deal adviser (me) and perhaps most importantly a campaign finance coordinator (Nicola). Simon offered to be chief dirt-digger but I suspect none of the rival candidates have visited a strip club or had any meetings with Brian Burke.

C • Do preps get a vote? 2

C • Shura 2

So-called season opener event at Bostock Reservoir. This is a reasonably mundane (but pleasant) gully-spur area - this year they used the east end which had a fair bit of pine (not as green as it's mapped). The control placement was easy on the whole (which made it annoying to screw up), but there were some decent route choice legs. Lost about a minute on 10, on top of a vague spur - ran close to the flag without seeing it. The other mistakes were minor, and I don't think one of the controls in question was quite in the right spot.

I felt reasonably good running, but still not really letting myself go in the terrain, which is something I'll need to work on. Hard to read the result but I think I was a bit below par. Morten beat me by 90 seconds (on the evidence I saw quite a bit of this came between the last control and the finish), and David Brownridge would have been very close had he not lost 5 minutes at 1. I'd expect to be a bit more than 5 minutes clear of Ted van G as well.

Another solid week of training with more of an emphasis on speed, but I still feel below par in the sharpness department. I've managed to maintain training through my summer travels better than I thought I might have been able to, but I think it's the quality that has suffered a bit.

C • Location of 10 10

Technical training at Tarrengower with Kathryn, Jasmine and Liggo. Ran the senior girls relay course from the 2003 Australian Schools (mainly because it happened to be the set of maps I had in my cupboard), with a big climb to start because we started from the shelter the usual State Series events start at.

Really happy with the way I was navigating in the rock - picking features well and (in as much as you can tell such things with no controls out) spiked everything. Not as strong on the hills as I'd like, but is anyone ever as strong on the hills as they would like? Not running flat out, but definitely faster than a jog, especially when I was around Kathryn through the middle of the course (nothing like running against a woman to motivate the blokes!).

When the time to/from the start is subtracted this probably equates with 31-32 for the relay course itself - as a point of reference Hanny did 34 in 2003.

A lot of the larger prickly pears are dying or dead; not sure if they're drought casualties or have been poisoned. Whatever their cause of demise, they stink.

C • Dying vegetation 2

Multi-loop Hagaby race at One Tree Hill. Got off to a bad start when I slipped down the side of an aqueduct and tripped over a rock in the first 200 metes, and my rhythm in the terrain didn't get a lot better from there. Also several annoying small mistakes, although partial mitigation because it was a map with most of the black removed (mainly to get rid of the many small tracks) and it was not always easy to pinpoint controls; nothing bigger than 20 seconds or so.

Had similar early splits to Liggo and Kathryn and was with them at the second common control on the first loop, but then had a different split and didn't see them for a while (or, in Liggo's case, again). Saw more of Kathryn on the second loop and we were again together at the last common control, but by then I knew I had a much shorter split so wasn't too concerned in that duel; the gap was a bit under 3 minutes in the end. Thought I'd be behind Evan and Liggo nevertheless, but Evan pulled out and Liggo lost time later on. Wonder if Kathryn gets brownie points under the theory that the best way to impress a selector is to beat them?

This was my first bush event in Australia since October; a lot of cobwebs to shake out (I found the fallen timber and small rock much harder going than Tarrengower), but at least I did it here and not next week. A solid day's training.

C • Tough terrain for bendigo 1